No. 22, 31 January 1991

BALTIC STATES



SOVIET MILITARY MOVES OUT OF VILNIUS. On the night of January
29 about 30 to 40 trucks filled with Soviet soldiers and on the
morning of January 30 two convoys of Soviet troops left Vilnius,
apparently heading for the Belorussian border, The Washington
Post reported on January 31. Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis,
however, cautioned that it was too early to say if a withdrawal
is underway, noting that Soviet troops still occupy most of the
public buildings they seized earlier in the month. The Moscow
newspaper Rabochaya Tribuna quoted Soviet Internal Affairs Minister
Boriss Pugo as saying that all extra army paratroop units and
two-thirds of the MVD forces had been withdrawn from the Baltic
states. (Saulius Girnius)

LAW ON MINORITIES IN LITHUANIA AMENDED. Radio Kaunas reported
on January 30 OAat the Lithuanian parliament had amended the
law on national minorities the previous evening. Article 4 was
changed to: "In administrative territorial units in which a national
mAnority resides in a compact area, local establishments and
organizations in addition to the state language can use the local
language of the national minority." Article 5 was amended to:
"Informational signs in the administrAtive territorial units
mentioned in Article 4 can be written in the local language of
the national minority next to the ALithuanian language." The
parliament also passed a decisionOAOn the Conclusions of the
State Commission to Analyze the Problems of East Lithuania."
(Saulius Girnius)

YELTSIN MEETS RSFSR-LITHUANIA TREATY DELEGATIONS. On January
30 RSFSR leader Boris Yeltsin met for an hour with the RSFSR
and Lithuanian delegations negotiating a treaty between the two
republics, TASS reported that day. The RSFSR delegation, headed
by Deputy Chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet Gennadii Burbulis,
and the Lithuanian one, headed by Deputy Chairman of the Lithuanian
Supreme Council Ceslovas Stankevicius, have previously held talks
in Moscow and Vilnius. According to the press secretary of the
Lithuanian mission in Moscow: "the talks went constructively
and it is possible to expect that they will be completed in a
short time." (Saulius Girnius)

JONAS TAUTKUS DIES. The 20-year old Lithuanian youth shot in
the brain at a military checkpoint between Kaunas and Vilnius
on January 28 died in a hospital in Vilnius on January 30, Reuter
reported that day. His death raises the number of persons killed
by the Soviet military in January in Lithuania and Latvia to
twenty. (Saulius Girnius)

JURKANS URGES WESTERN ACTION. Latvia's Foreign Minister said
that Western governments should adopt economic sanctions against
the USSR to give Gorbachev a persuasive argument for telling
Soviet militarists to back down in the Baltics. Jurkans also
urged that the Baltic question be internationalized through discussion
within the CSCE framework, at the United Nations, at the European
Community, and at the Nordic Council, reported RFE/RL's correspondent
in Bonn January 29. Jurkans expressed satisfaction over his talks
with German leaders and said that they had expressed a "genuine
willingness to help." (Dzintra Bungs)

WHEREABOUTS OF DETAINEES UNKNOWN. People in Latvia are worried
about the fate of the five volunteer guards seized by the Black
Berets on January 20 and fear that they have been taken to prisons
outside Latvia. Latvian SSR Procurator Valentins Dauksis, speaking
on Riga TV on January 30, and his deputy Nikolai Aleksandrov,
speaking on Radio Riga that same day, confirmed that the men
had been transferred from the Riga KGB,Abut refused to say where.
Deputy Procurator of Latvia Jazeps Ancans noted that, according
to Soviet law, relatives must be informed of a prisoner's whereabouts;
and that usuAlly such information was transmitted by mail. In
a telegram, Supreme Council Chairman Anatolijs Gorbunovs asked
USSR PrAcurator General Nikolai Trubin for clarification. (Dzintra
Bungs)

LATVIAA PEOPLE'S FRONT PROTESTS MILITARY-POLICE PATROLS. The
board of the People's Front formally condemned the decree of
December 29 to form joint army-police patrols, and called on
the Supreme Council and Council of Ministers to issue a formal
protest and request that outside observers from the UniOOA Nations,
Council of Europe, and the Nordic Council sent to Latvia. The
PFL said that the order was dangerous, legitimized outside interference
in the internal affairs of Latvia, and, in effect, created a
state of emergency, reported Radio Riga on January 30. (Dzintra
Bungs)

BARRICADES REMOVED, APPREHENSION REMAINS. Radio Riga reported
on January 29 that most barricades have been removed in Riga,
and that as of January 26 volunteers were guarding only the Television
Building. Concrete barriers have been placed near the strategically
important buildings and patrolling has been taken over by members
of the newly formed Security Guards, answering to the Defense
Department headed by Janis Baskers. That department, to start
officially functioning on February 1, is also responsible for
relations with the USSR military and the oversight of alternative
OBrvice. Though the Black Berets, previously guarding the Press
Building and the Latvian SSR Procuracy, have been replaced by
MVD troops, they can still be seen in Riga. (DBintra Bungs)

GOSTELERADIO DEFENDS ITS POLICIES. Gosteleradio chief Leonid
Kravchenko and his first deputy Petr Reshetov on Soviet TV JanOBry
30 defended their broadcast policies, which have come under strong
attack from Soviet citizens over coverage of events in the Baltic
States. Fielding hostile calls during a phoneBin program, they
said they and their critics understand the woBd "truth" differently.
The officials insisted that the Baltic parliaments were to blame
for the military crackdoBn in their republics and said that was
what central TV triedBto tell its viewers. Meanwhile, the TV
news program "TSN," whose coverage of Baltic events differs greatly
from "Vremya's," called on Kravchenko to participate in debates
sponsored by "TSN" over the broadcast policies of Gosteleradio.
(Vera Tolz)

ALKSNIS SAYS PUGO/YAZOV DECREE DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH. The leader
of Soyuz, Viktor Alksnis, denounced the Pugo/Yazov decree authorizing
joint Army and police patrols as a measure "to scare dogs" and
not to establish proper order in the country. Alksnis, who has
given RL a dozen interviews since the Baltic crackdown began,
told RL's Russian Service on January 30 that under that decree
the Army lacks the juridicial rights it needs for action. He
added that the country must come under martial law. (Alexander
Rahr)



USSR - ALL-UNION TOPICS



CPSU PLENUM OPENS TODAY. The CPSU Central CommitteeOAs to begin
a plenary meeting today. Issues on the agenda include the USSR's
grave economic situation and measures needed to overcome it.
The plenum is also to address tensions between Moscow and the
republics, especially the situationAin the Baltic States, as
well as progress on preparation of the new Union treaty. A TASS
commentator said on January 30 that the plenum will also discuss
the Party's role in society, in view of the loss of more than
ten perceOA of its membership in the last 15 months. (NCA/Sallie
Wise)

DEPUTY EDITOR OF IZVESTIA FIRED OVER PROTEST? On January 30,
members of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium were asked by telephone
to approve the firing of Igor' Golembiovsky, first deputy chief
editor of Izvestia, Radio Rossiya reported. The radio said that
the move to fire Golembiovsky surprised the chairman of the Council
of the Union, Ivan Laptev, who, as a former editor of Izvestia,
oversees the dailAA for the Presidium. When Laptev was elected
to his present position last year, the staff of Izvestia voted
to elect Golembiovsky as chief editor. The Presidium, however,
bowed to advice from CPSU ideologists and gave the job to Nikolai
Efimov, making Golembiovsky his first deputy as a compromise.
Golembiovsky recently signed a strongly-worded protest against
the Soviet crackdown in Lithuania, published in Moscow News.
This protest inspired Gorbachev to suggest a "suspension" of
the Press Law, and seems to be behind the attempt to fire the
editor. Radio Rossiya expects the paper's staff will strike in
protest. (Julia Wishnevsky)

"LIBERAL FORUM" ON CURRENT SITUATION IN USSR. The Liberal Forum
of parties (mostly social democratic) condemned Yazov's and Pugo's
order to introduce military patrols on February 1, Infonovsti
reported on January 30. (The Liberal Forum was set up in November,
1990). The forum reiterated that the order was unconstitutional
and warned that dictatorship was emerging in the country. Meanwhile,
Professor Leonin Batkin told The Washington Post the same day
that the Democratic Russia movement, of which he is a member,
was considering civil disobedience measures to resist the patrol
decree. (Vera Tolz)

"EDINSTVO" WANTS NINA ANDREEVA AS CPSU GENERAL SECRETARY. The
reactionary Soviet political group, "Edinstvo--za leninizm i
kommunisticheskie idealy" (Unity, for Leninism and Communist
Ideals) said it wanted to replace Mikhail Gorbachev as the CPSU
general secretary with Leningrad teacher Nina Andreeva, the author
of the 1988 "anti-perestroika manifesto." Andreeva is the chairwoman
of "Edinstvo." Radio Rossiya on January 30 quoted the group's
political adviser as saying "Edinstvo" was working on creating
a Bolshevik platform within the CPSU to resist "social democratic
efforts" in the Party leadership. (NCA/Vera Tolz)

"CENTRIST BLOC" CHANGES ITS MIND. KGB ChairAan Vladimir Kryuchkov
met on January 30 with leaders of Ahe "Centrist Bloc" [the coalition
of several fringe groOAs believed to have been set up by the
KGB to create "Aock-opposition" parties to counter genuine radical
opposition to the CPSU]. According to "Vremya" that day, both
sidAs agreed on the necessity strictly to observe the ConstitAtion
and existing laws, as well as to recognize elected bodies. Given
that the leaders of the Centrist Bloc were the first to suggest
the replacement of the elected parliament with the "National
Salvation Committee" as early as in the mid-November, 1990, they
must have changed their minds, given the failure of such "committees"
to attract any support among civilians in Lithuania and Latvia.
(Julia WishnevskyOOA

POPOV SAYS WEST SHOULD STOP SUPPORTING GORBACHEV. The chairman
of the Moscow city soviet, Gavriil Popov, said the West should
stop supporting Gorbachev and instead directly assist republics
and cities in which democratic forces were elected in parliaments
and soviets. Popov told The Los Angeles Times on January 30 that
he believed Gorbachev and his new conservative allies would sOAp
all reform efforts during the coming year. (NCA/Vera Tolz)

ALKSNIS SAYS GORBACHEV'S AND YELTSIN'S DAYS NUMBERED. Colonel
Viktor Alksnis told the Finnish daily Uusi Suomi on January 30
that Mikhail Gorbachev's and Boris Yeltsin's days are numbered.
Alksnis said that Gorbachev collects positions of power the way
Leonid Brezhnev collected decorations, but he does not know how
to use power and therefore must resign. According to Alksnis,
Yeltsin is not an acceptable alternative to Gorbachev because
he is a neo-Bolshevik who splits the Union in order to gain power
in the Russian republic. Alksnis admitted his involvement in
setting up the conservative "National-Salvation Committees" in
the Baltics. (Alexander Rahr)

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS TO BE ALLOWED ON REFERENDUM BALLOT. The
chairman of the Central Commission of a Referendum of the USSR
Dmitrii Golovko told a Radio Moscow correspondent January 30
that the commission took the view that the parliaments of the
union republics should be allowed to decide whether or not they
wished to take advantage of the March 17 referendum on the preservation
of the Union to include "a concrete question of the given region."
(Ann Sheehy)

SOVIET MISSION IN BAGHDAD CUT TO 13. Soviet Foreign Ministry
Spokesman Yurii Gremitskikh told TAAS on January 30 that 31 employees
left Baghdad yesterday for Iran. He also said six Soviet journalists,
who arrived in Baghdad unannounced to the Soviet foreign ministry,
have not received permission to depart. The six include representatives
of the Lithuanian movement "Sajudis," independent Ukrainian television,
and the Novosti press agency. (NCA/Suzanne Crow)

SOVIETS DENY GIVING MILITARY INFO. Chief of the General Staff
Mikhail Moiseev said on January 30 the USSR is not providing
the United States with confidential information about Iraqi weapons
systems (see Anight-Ridder Newspapers, January 26). Moiseyev
said the AUSSR maintains its treaty commitments to Iraq, and
there "could be no talk about the transfer of secret information
about Iraq's military potential to anyone," AP reported. (Suzanne
Crow)

IGNATENKO ON KURILE ISLANDS. Presidential Spokesman Vitalii Ignatenko,
who held a January 2OAForeign Ministry briefing, rejected out
of hand suggestions that the USSR would sell the Kurile Islands
to Japan. AccordAng to the Soviet news agency Postfaktum, during
the course of the recent visit of Japanese Foreign Minister Taro
Nakayama, the Soviet Union agreed to give up the disputed islands
for $2 billion. Ignatenko said "nothing of the sort occurred
during the visit, no secret documents were signed in that regard,"
TASS reported January 29. (Suzanne Crow) A

CABINET ISSUES RESOLUTION ON NUCLEAR PLANTS. Pravda of January
26 reported that the USSR Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution
instructing various ministries to draft plans to ensure the well-being
of citizens living in proximity to nuclear power stations. Among
other measures, the Ministry of Atomic Power Engineering and
Industry is to create automated information centers to provide
data to citizens living within a 30 km radius of a nuclear plant.
Those citizens will also receive a 50 percent discount on electricity
and should receive special insurance rates in the near future.
(John Tedstrom)

DRAFT PROBLEMS IN MOSCOW. A political officer assigned to the
Moscow Military District told Izvestia on January 29 that in
the past three years draft evasion has increased by 18 times,
and that in his district some 4,000 cases of draft evasion were
being investigated. According to a TASS account, Colonel Vladimir
Kozlov said that last year the Military Prosecutor had investigated
2,000 cases of draft evasion overall, but only 30 had been booked;
in Moscow there are currently 1,000 draft evaders, he said, and
only 11 have been tried. Charges of high levels of draft evasion
preceded the crackdown in the Baltic republics. (Stephen Foye)


CRITICISM AGAINST RETURNING CHURCHES USED AS MUSEUMS. The chairman
of the Vladimir oblast trade-union committee, in a long article
in Trud, January 22, called upon believers to stop demanding
the return of churches which were restored to be used as museums
and are still being used as such. The trade-unionist warned that
the practice could eventually lead to a conflict between "workers
of culture" and "servants of the church." (Oxana Antic)



USSR - IN THE REPUBLICS



RSFSR SUPREME SOVIET DISCUSOAOAFEDERAL TREATY. On January 30
the RSFSR Supreme Soviet discussed for the first time in joint
session the draft Aederal treaty for the RSFSR, TASS and Moscow
Radio reporteA January 30. Ramazan Abdulatipov, chairman of the
RSFSR Council of Nationalities, who presented the draft, said
he hoped it would be signed before the March 17 all-Union referendumOA
but TASS said the debates would not be easy, as many speakers
said the draft needs more work on it. The draft apparAntly would
make not only autonomous territories but also krais and oblasts
parties to the treaty. The latter, it states, "unite with other
sovereign republics in the USSR." (Ann Sheehy)

RSFSR ECONOMIC PERFOOAANCE IN 1990: A DISASTER. Sovetskaya Rossiya,
January 30, reports disastrous economic results for the RSFSR
in 1990. National income decreased by 5.5 percent and labor productivity
by 5 percent. Money emissions, on the other hand, almost doubled
compared to 1989. Imports and exports declined, with export quotas
of gas, oil, coal, and most petroleum products unfulfilled. Agricultural
production was off 3 percent from the 1989 level. One of the
few bright spots in the report was news that leased enterprises
outperformed state-owned firms. Privatization continues to go
slow, although the republican government plans to privatize some
19,000 enterprises, 12,000 cafes, and 15,000 service firms "soon."
(John Tedstrom)

RSFSR, TURKMENISTAN TO ALLOW FOREIGNERS TO COMPETE FOR OIL. Knight-Ridder
news service, January 31, reports that RSFSR and Turkmen oil
officials announced that foreign firms will be allowed to bid
for rights to explore and drill for oil in their republics. An
RSFSR official said that budgetary constraints limit the 1991
funds for oil exploration to 1990 levels. He also asserted that
the republic has exclusive say in concluding oil deals with foreign
firms. The Turkmen program, for gas as well as oil, is similar
to that in the US. Leases will be awarded in four oil fields.
Foreign investors have until September to bid on the first two
and December for bids on the second two. Leases for exploration
will run for 10 years, with another 25 added when production
of oil or gas begins. (John Tedstrom)

YELTSIN TO VISIT NORTH CAUCASUS. It was announced at the session
of the RSFSR Council of Nationalities on January 30 that Boris
Yeltsin intends to visit the North Caucasus in connection with
the exacerbation of the political situation in the region, Moscow
radio reported January 30. No date was given for Yeltsin's visit.
There has been little reporting on the area in the central press,
but various long-standing interethnic disputes are known to be
on the boil. (Ann Sheehy)

GEORGIA WILL BOYCOTT REFERENDUM ON FUTURE OF USSR. The Georgian
parliamenOAruled on January 30 that Georgia will not participate
in thA Union-wide referendum scheduled for March 17 on whether
the Soviet Union should be preserved as an integral state. A
Instead, a referendum will be held on March 31 on the futuAe
of the Republic of Georgia, TASS reports. (Liz Fuller)

SOUTH OSSETIOA LEADER ARRESTED. Citing Georgian sources in Tbilisi,
TASS reported on January 30 that the chairman of the Council
of APeople's Deputies of South Ossetia, Torez Kulumbegov, has
been arrested by Georgian MVD officials. Georgian MAD troops
are being withdrawn from the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali;
the town is being patrolledOA by military units, who continue
to detain people for curfew violations and confiscate weapons.
A Georgian MVD Press Center spokesman stated that there had been
no shooting in the city for the past three days. (Liz Fuller)


LITHUANIA, LATVIA ... WILL GEORGIA BE NEXT? Two Western correspondents
have cited Georgian CP CC Department Head Givi Talakvadze as
informing the Georgian parliament that Soviet troops would intervene
in Georgia during the first ten days in February (The Financial
Times, Reuters, January 30). (Liz Fuller)

SESSION OF UKRAINIAN SUPREME SOVIET. The third session of the
Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR will open tomorrow, February
1. At a press conference yesterday, first deputy chairman of
the Supreme Soviet Ivan Plyushch said that adoption of a new
republican constitution and legislation to strengthen the state
sovereignty of Ukraine would be the main items on the parliament's
agenda, Radio Kiev reported on January 30. (Roman Solchanyk)


LVOV FORMS OWN MILITIA PATROLS. Vyacheslav Chornovil, chairman
of the Lvov oblast soviet, disclosed a plan this week to substitute
workers' brigades for the army patrols that will be taking to
the streets tomorrow. Reporting January 30 from Lvov, The Independent
quotes Chornovil as saying that if the plan fails, "we will protest,
there will be rallies ... in an emergency situation, if the soviet
were stripped of its power, I can call a general strike, cut
off the water and electricity ..." The London Times wrote January
30 that West Ukrainian leaders also appealed to Kiev to guarantee
there will be no military operation in the region. (Kathy Mihalisko)


CHORNOVIL UNDER FIRE. Ever since elections last spring brought
anticommunists into power in Lvov, developments there have been
subject to furious denunciations in Ukrainian Party organs. A
series of articles begun January 15 in Radyans'ka Ukraina accuses
former political prisoner Chornovil of amassing too much power
in his hands, discriminating against Communists, and of creating
an unstable, possibly "dangerous" situation in the region. If,
as many fear, a general military crackdown is on the horizon,
such arguments could serve as justification for a Communist overthrow
of Lvov's democratically-elected deputies. (Kathy Mihalisko)


CRIMEAN TATAR REACTION TO REFERENDUM. The January 20 local referendum
to restore the Crimean ASSR was boycotted en masse by Crimean
Tatars, writes the January 26 issue of Molod' Ukrainy. Authorities
went to some length to prevent those opposed to the referendum
from airing their opinion: the Tatar-language newspaper Dostluk,
which arrives at newsstands on Saturday, did not appear until
Tuesday, two days after the referendum. Crimean Tatar leaders
have said they will hold a kurultai (congress) this spring, apparently
to discuss the restoration of Crimean Tatar national-territorial
autonomy. Molod' Ukrainy asks whether that will result in the
declaration of two opposing state formations in Crimea. (Kathy
Mihalisko)

MINSK BLOCKS DISCUSSION OF GORBACHEV DECREE. Opposition deputies
in the Belorussian Supreme Soviet tried, but failed, to include
on parliament's agenda a discussion of Gorbachev's decree on
combatting economic crime (see Daily Report, January 30), which
democrats have denounced as unconstitutional. Radio Liberty's
Belorussian service learned on January 30 that the podium microphone
was switched off when a deputy tried to have parliament debate
the decree. She refused to return to her seat, and the impasse
lasted forty minutes. (Kathy Mihalisko)

TAJIK POPULAR FRONT ACCUSED. The head of a group of investigators
looking into the February 1990 disturbances in Dushanbe for the
Tajik State Prosecutor's Office has accused the leaders of the
Popular Front group Rastokhez of having incited the disturbances,
according to a TASS report of January 30. The Rastokhez leaders
are accused of having spread the rumor that Armenian refugees
would be given preferential housing in Dushanbe--the rumor which
set off the disturbances--and having encouraged protesters at
unauthorized demonstrations to demand the resignation of republican
leaders, and use force if their demands were not met. The investigator
indicates that the group's actions will be judged by the republican
Supreme Court. (Bess Brown)

DISSENSION IN MOLDAVIAN PARLIAMENT. A number of bills have come
up against stiff resistance in the Moldavian parliament from
deputies belonging to the agrarian group "Viata satului" and
the Communist club "Realitatea," Moldova-pres reported January
30. One bill was the law on property, another was the law on
local self-government. Members of these two groups objected to
a return to the names of administrative units that existed before
1940 and argued that seven to twelve units that would result
from the proposed redrawing of administrative boundaries were
too few. (Ann Sheehy)

[As of 1300 CET]

Compiled by Patrick Moore and Sallie Wise