The event of that day determined the fate of the two rival republics.

In the back of the hall, officials of the rival republics and news photographers were exchanging reports that President Yeltsin had been seen looking unsteady on his feet at the end of the meeting and needed help to get to his limousine.

The leadership in Moscow also ripped into the Communist Party and government leaders of the rival republics for failing to halt the wave of rioting that has killed at least 28 people.

In Yugoslavia, newspapers in the rival republics of Croatia and Serbia provide shamelessly one-sided coverage of ethnic disputes.

The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy.

A1 Two rival Soviet republics, Armenia and Azerbaijan, were warned by President Gorbachev that they have two days to negotiate an end to an extraordinary rail blockade that has paralyzed Armenia.

The smoldering dispute between Armenians and Azerbaijanis continued in the legislative halls of their rival republics as well as along tense crossroads and in empty food shops of Nagorno-Karabakh, the enclave that is the focus of the unrest.

Inside the country, where its value remains important, the authorities cannot agree on whether to divide it up among the rival sovereign republics or put it toward the national budget deficit, which lately has risen to 300 billion rubles.

Economic War in Yugoslavia As rail and air traffic falters and rival republics reject checks from each other's banks, the Yugoslav economy is paying the price.

The breakdown in order includes the faltering of rail and air traffic, as well as the rejection of checks by banks from rival republics.