World IN BRIEF : SOVIET UNION : Ex-Chief of Latvia ‘Black Berets’ Shot

The man who commanded Soviet “black beret” Interior Ministry troops in the Latvian capital of Riga was shot and wounded at his apartment. The attack on Cheslav Mlynnik occurred Saturday, the first anniversary of Latvia’s declaration of independence, although it was not clear whether the events were related. Mlynnik, who no longer heads the commando unit, was shot twice in the chest, but the wounds were not life-threatening, the independent Baltfax news agency reported. Mlynnik had commanded the special riot troops known as the “black berets,” the pro-Kremlin units that stormed the Latvian Interior Ministry headquarters in Riga on Jan. 20.