No. 25, 05 February 1991

BALTIC STATES



USSR DELEGATION TO LITHUANIA. On February 1, Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev appointed delegations to the three Baltic republics.
The delegation to Lithuania consists of First Deputy USSR Prime
Minister Vitalii Doguzhiev; Deputy Prime Minister Yurii Maslyukov;
Chief of the General Staff of the USSR Armed Forces Mikhail Moiseev;
USSR Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Nikolai Demidov; Chairman
of the Committee of the USSR Supreme Soviet for Legislation Yurii
Kalmykov; USSR Minister of Justice Sergei Lushchinov; Acting
Chairman of the Commission of the Council of Nationalities of
the USSR Supreme Soviet for the Development of Culture, Language,
National and Internationalist Traditions and the Protection of
the Historical Heritage Sergei Shuvalov; and USSR Deputy Minister
of Foreign Affairs Viktor Komplektov. (Saulius Girnius)

LANDSBERGIS COMMENTS ON DELEGATION. Lithuanian President Vytautas
Landsbergis regretted that the decree on the delegations referred
to the no longer existing Lithuanian SSR and said that the move
is "not the sign of good will from the Kremlin that we expected,
but it seems that some talks and discussions will take place.
Maybe there will be better prospects," The Los Angeles Times
reported on February 2. (Saulius Girnius)

LANDSBERGIS INTERVIEWS WITH REUTER AND DER SPIEGEL. In a Reuter
interview on February 4, Landsbergis said that reaction in the
West to the deaths in Lithuania and Latvia was for the first
time concrete "because for the first time they linked their attitude
to the Soviet Union with Moscow's actions. This extended even
to political and economic sanctions. For the first time, they
woke up. They understood." In another interview in Der Spiegel
of February 4, Landsbergis noted that there might be another
attack in Lithuania and that the republic must be prepared for
more violent acts. He expressed hope that RSFSR leader Boris
Yeltsin would continue to maintain his own position with the
Kremlin. (Saulius Girnius)

POLL ON LITHUANIAN INDEPENDENCE BEGUN. On February 4 Lithuanians
unable to vote on February 9 were allowed to answer the question:
"Do you support the idea that Lithuania must be an independent,
democratic republic?", AP reported on February 5. Nineteen groups
in Lithuania issued a statement calling on all residents "to
declare for an independent Lithuania." The pro-Moscow Lithuanian
Civil Committee has urged a boycott of the vote on the grounds
that the question is deceptive: "there can be different kinds
of independent democratic republics, presidential, parliamentarian,
people's, Soviet, and so forth," Krasnaya Zvezda reported on
February 5. The Lithuanian CP also urged a boycott because Lithuania's
citizenship law would not allow many Soviet soldiers to vote.
(Saulius Girnius)

LITHUANIA-RSFSR TREATY. Excerpts of the treaty between Lithuania
and the RSFSR were released on February 4, agencies reported
that day. The treaty, not yet officially signed, stipulates that
both parties "guarantee equal rights to their citizens regardless
of nationality or other differences." Russians who were permanent
residents of Lithuania prior to the passage of the Lithuanian
citizenship law on November 3, 1989 were given the right to "retain
or acquire Lithuanian citizenship without any knowledge of the
Lithuanian language." People arriving in Lithuania after that
date could become citizens by following "procedures established
by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania" that require five years
residence and knowledge of Lithuanian. (Saulius Girnius)

CIVILIANS BEATEN BY ARMED PATROLS. Radio Kaunas reported on February
2 and 3 incidents of violence against civilians in Lithuania.
On February 2, 22-year-old Valdas Puzonas was hit by a rifle
butt at a military checkpoint when stopped for an identity check.
On February 3 the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported
that soldiers beat up 3 people in separate incidents in Klaipeda
and Kazlu Ruda. In another incident that day an intoxicated military
unit ensign fired two shots into the wall of a building in Vilnius.
(Saulius Girnius)

NORWEGIAN DELEGATION IN LITHUANIA. On February 1, 3 Norwegian
parliamentarians visited the session of the Lithuanian Supreme
Council that was being broadcast live over Kaunas Radio. Ingvar
Godol said: "To be invited to speak in this parliament is the
greatest honor of my life. Your parliament is the most exclusive
parliament in the world. It looks today more like a fortress
than a parliament and a fortress is exactly what it is." He also
added that there cannot be peace in Europe until all Europe is
free, and noted that it had been proposed that the three presidents
of the Baltic republics be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. (Saulius
Girnius)

NORDIC COUNCIL CHAIRMAN IN LITHUANIA. Nordic Council Chairman
Thor Pedersen also spoke at the session. He said that the principal
purpose of his visit was the opening of a Nordic Council information
bureau in Vilnius. He also explained that Danish policy toward
the Baltic states could be summarized in one sentence: "We want
to establish normal relations with our neighbors." (Saulius Girnius)


USSR DELEGATION TO LATVIA. Appointed to hold talks "with representatives
of the Latvian SSR" on "political, social, and economic issues"
were First Deputy USSR Prime Minister Vladimir Velichko; Deputy
Chairman of USSR Gosplan Valentin Ogorok; USSR Deputy Defense
Minister Valentin Varennikov; USSR Deputy Foreign Minister Valentin
Nikiforov; USSR Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yurii Kukushkin;
Deputy Chairman of USSR Supreme Court of Arbitration Venyamin
Yakovlev; Georgii Tarazevich, Chairman of the Commission for
Nationalities Policy and Relations Between Nationalities of the
USSR Supreme Soviet's Council of Nationalities; and Yurii Komarov,
Chairman of USSR Supreme Soviet's Construction and Architecture
Committee. (Dzintra Bungs)

ARRIVAL OF USSR DELEGATION IN LATVIA NOT KNOWN. Radio Riga reported
on February 5 that although the USSR delegation for talks with
Latvia was expected to arrive in Riga on February 4, it has not
yet come to Latvia. It is not know when the delegation can be
expected. (Dzintra Bungs)

FIVE BLACK BERETS VICTIMS STILL NOT BACK IN LATVIA. Radio Riga
reported on February 4 that relatives of the five Latvian guards
seized by the Black Berets on January 20 in Riga appealed to
the international Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations for
help in extending medical care for the detainees and in obtaining
their release. Agris Kreismanis, has been on a hunger strike
since January 20. Their families, including 12 children, were
worried that, despite promises of a prompt return to Riga made
by the Latvian SSR Procuracy, the five men have still not been
returned from Belorussia to Latvia. (Dzintra Bungs)

RUSSIANS SUPPORT LATVIAN GOVERNMENT. On February 3, Russians,
taking part in a meeting called by the Russian Cultural Society
of Latvia, adopted a resolution supporting the Latvian government
and Supreme Council. Radio Riga reported on February 4 that the
participants also issued a statement "dispelling the myth that
there is discrimination against the non-Latvian population in
Latvia." (Dzintra Bungs)

BLACK BERETS INVOLVED IN ANOTHER SHOOTING IN RIGA. Around 2 AM
on February 3 unknown assailants fired upon a Volga carrying
Leningrad TV journalist Aleksandr Nevzorov and 3 Black Berets.
The car was burned, but no one was injured. Nevzorov, known for
his anti-Baltic independence reporting, was able to film the
entire incident. TASS of January 3 said that Latvian Customs
officials were suspected of involvement in the shooting. Radio
Riga reported on February 4 that the incident was being investigated
and that the possibility that it was staged cannot be ruled out.
(Dzintra Bungs)

STOCK EXCHANGE TO OPEN IN RIGA. After Latvia's Supreme Council
adopted a law on stock markets on January 29, concrete steps
were taken to reopen the Riga Stock Exchange that was built about
150 years ago. Trading in goods and securities is expected to
start in April, reported Radio Riga on January 30 and Radio Moscow
on February 2. The stock exchange is a private, joint-stock enterprise.
(Dzintra Bungs)

USSR DELEGATION TO ESTONIA. The eight-member delegation appointed
by Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev on February 1 to hold discussions
with Estonia includes the following: USSR Deputy Foreign Minister
Boris Chaplin; USSR Deputy Interior Minister Vasiliy Trushin;
USSR Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Laverov; Chairman of the USSR
Supreme Soviet Commission for Labor, Prices and Social Policy
Nikolai Grichenko; Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Commission
Aleksandr Troshin; First Deputy Commander in Chief of the Soviet
Navy Ivan Kapitanets; Director of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Institute of the State and Law Boris Topornin; Chairman of the
Council of Nationalities Commission for the Social and Economic
Development of Union and Autonomous Republics, Oblasts and Okrugs
Yuri Sharipov. (Riina Kionka)

MORE ON MURDERED SWEDES. The two Swedish trade union leaders
murdered on January 24 had been drugged, according to AP (February
4), quoting a Finnish tabloid. A woman helping Tallinn police
with the investigation reportedly told Ilta Lehti that "we mixed
a whole bottle of clophelin into their drinks." Clophelin is
an eye medication that can have lethal effects if taken orally,
Ilta Lehti said. AP also reported that local police have now
arrested all six members of the gang suspected in the murders.
Paevaleht of February 3 added that one of the male suspects was
arrested after police found him wearing the trousers matching
the suit of the victims was wearing when found. (Riina Kionka)


FOOD POISONING IN ESTONIA. Seventy-seven children are suffering
from salmonella in the northeastern Estonian city of Kohtla-Jarve,
according to TASS on February 4. Local health authorities blame
poor hygiene for the outbreak, which is being investigated by
the city's prosecutor. (Riina Kionka)



USSR - ALL-UNION TOPICS



NEW ANTI-CRIME DECREE. On February 4 Gorbachev issued a decree
ordering the creation of a new main directorate within the Ministry
of Internal Affairs, TASS reported. Ostensibly a response to
accelerating rates of crime, the new directorate will be tasked
with battling organized crime, corruption, and drug dealing.
To be set up within a month, it will cooperate with the KGB and
is to coordinate the activities of new inter-regional and local
MVD units (controlled jointly by Moscow and republican Internal
Affairs Ministries), the latter to be created within a two month
period. Progressives are likely to view the units as another
means of reasserting Moscow's control. (Stephen Foye)

PUGO PROMOTED. USSR interior minister Boris Pugo has been promoted
to the rank of Colonel General, TASS reported on February 4.
Pugo said that the newly created Committee for Coordination of
the Work of the Law Enforcement Organs will improve cooperation
between the MVD and the KGB. He noted that the committee will
coordinate and not direct the activities of the two institutions.
Pugo indicated that, in recent months, problems had arisen in
coordinating the activities of the KGB and MVD. He stated that
the Soviet leadership will not tolerate the existence of two
separate interior ministries in some republics. (Alexander Rahr)


CENTRAL COMMITTEE PLENUM "A WATERSHED." Speaking to Party activists
at a Moscow factory on February 4, Ivan Polozkov, the arch-conservative
leader of the RSFSR Communist Party, called the January 31 Central
Committee plenum "a watershed in the Party's work" and "a signal
to launch a political battle." Western commentators are also
saying that, with its calls for the Party's return to economic
management and its denunciations of "bourgeois morality," the
plenum showed the CPSU back on the offensive. (CMD/Elizabeth
Teague)

NOT SWEDEN, BUT CHILE... Moscow Communist Party boss Yurii Prokof'ev
says countries such as South Korea, Spain, and Chile, all of
which developed strong market economies during periods of authoritarian
rule, offer better models for Soviet economic reform than Western
democracies such as the USA and the countries of Western Europe.
Prokof'ev told a press conference in Moscow on February 4 that
whereas the Western democracies took centuries to build their
market economies, in countries such as Chile "developed market
infrastructures were created in a short period of time...and
in an organized way." Quoting his remarks, Reuters noted that
the USSR long denounced the Pinochet regime as a reactionary
state that kept its workers in poverty. (Elizabeth Teague)

SHATALIN IN SOUTH KOREA. Former Gorbachev adviser Stanislav Shatalin
is in South Korea to attend a seminar on Soviet economic reform,
AFP reported February 4. Shatalin, who has published several
recent articles harshly criticizing Gorbachev's economic policies
(Komsomol'skaya pravda, January 16 and 22), said the Soviet people
have no confidence in their country's economic future. What's
more, he said, "they also lack the will to learn from other countries."
Writing in Sovetskaya Rossiya on January 29, the conservative
economist Mikhail Popov blasted Shatalin as "a nervous lumpen-
academcian." (NCA/Elizabeth Teague)

QUADRILATERAL INTERREPUBLICAN TREATY BY SEPTEMBER? Representatives
of Belorussia, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation, and Ukraine
met February 4 to discuss the drawing up of their draft treaty
on a union of sovereign states that could be a substitute for
Gorbachev's Union treaty, TASS reported February 4. A communique
on the meeting stated that the draft was to be approved not later
than September 1991. This suggests that the matter is more complicated
than originally envisaged by Yeltsin. When the quadrilateral
treaty was first mooted during the Fourth USSR Congress of People's
Deputies Yelstin said he hoped it would be concluded during the
congress. (Ann Sheehy)

UN MANDATE ON IRAQ "ALREADY EXCEEDED": SUPSOV. The Supreme Soviet
Committee on International Affairs said on February 4 that military
action in the Gulf "is already exceeding the UN mandate." Committee
Chairman Aleksandr Dzasokhov called for all necessary measures,
including the intervention of the United Nations, to find a political
solution. The committee decided to recommend to the USSR Cabinet
of Ministers that an interdepartmental group of experts be created
to oversee the situation in the zone of military action in the
Gulf, TASS reported February 4. (Suzanne Crow)

CPSU STATEMENT ON GULF. The CPSU Central Committee published
a statement on February 4 urging Moscow to "take the necessary
additional steps in the international community and United Nations
to end bloodshed" in the Gulf. Expressing deep concern over developments
in the war, the Central Committee said Soviet diplomatic efforts
would help to "preclude irretrievable damage to the environment
and redirect the military conflict so that it is in the spirit
of UN Security Council resolutions." The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs said yesterday it is giving its "complete attention"
to the CPSU's recommendation and pointed out that it does not
contradict the USSR's known position on the Gulf crisis, TASS
reported February 4. (Suzanne Crow)

BELONOGOV IN TEHRAN. TASS reported February 4 a meeting between
Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Belonogov and Iranian
President Ali Akbar Rafsanjani. No details of the meeting were
offered except that the USSR Foreign Ministry welcomes the prospect
of a meeting between Saddam Hussein and Rafsanjani as long as
the meeting is dedicated to the topic of getting Iraq out of
Kuwait. Several days before, on February 1, Belonogov met with
Nematollah Izadi, Iranian ambassador to the USSR. TASS reported
the same day that the two discussed the situation in the Gulf
and measures both their countries were taking to stop the war.
(Suzanne Crow and Sallie Wise)

SYRIAN DEFENSE MINISTER TO MOSCOW. Syrian Defense Minister Lt.
General Mustafa Talas arrived in Moscow on February 4 for a four-day
visit. He will hold talks with Soviet Defense Minister Dmitrii
Yazov on "questions of bilateral ... cooperation in the military
sphere, the worsening of the situation in the Middle East, and
the extension of the Persian Gulf war." Talks with Deputy Prime
Minister Igor Belousov and Minister of Foreign Economic Relations
Constantin Katushev are also expected, TASS said February 4.
(Suzanne Crow)

DZASOKHOV MET ALGERIAN, TUNISIAN AMBASSADORS. Aleksandr Dzasokhov,
Politburo member and chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet's Committee
for International Affairs, met with the Algerian and Tunisian
ambassadors to the Soviet Union, according to TASS on February
1. Dzasokhov assured the ambassadors that the Soviet leadership
and the USSR Supreme Soviet are constantly working on finding
a political solution to stop the Gulf war. The ambassadors complained
that the allies' military actions have exceeded the scope of
the UN resolution. (Alexander Rahr)

USSR DENIES UPPING DEMANDS FOR WITHDRAWAL. A Soviet official
in Bonn denied reports appearing in the February 4 Berliner Zeitung
saying the USSR was demanding more money and time to get its
troops out of Germany. The official, who was unnamed in AFP's
report of February 4, said there were no such demands. (Suzanne
Crow)

GENSCHER WARNS GORBACHEV. West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich
Genscher warned on February 3 that Gorbachev was calling into
question his place in history and endangering a new era of East-West
cooperation. Genscher, who was one of Gorbachev's earliest and
staunchest Western supporters, said "the old thought patterns
are returning in the Soviet Union" and "reactionary forces might
attempt to restore a totalitarian regime throughout the country,"
the Washington Post reported February 4. (Suzanne Crow)

USSR-VIETNAM RELATIONS "READJUSTED". Vietnam's Vice Premier Nguyen
Khanh said on February 4 his country "has started to try to find
other sources" of supply for oil and fertilizer. Last year, the
USSR failed to supply what it promised in oil and fertilizer.
Khanh said relations between the two countries had been "readjusted"
due to the drastic changes in the USSR and Vietnam. Last week
Hanoi and Moscow signed an economic cooperation agreement for
1991 but apart from the fact that trade is now conducted in hard
currency and at world prices, no details were reported, Reuter
reported February 4. (Suzanne Crow)

JAPAN DENIES KURILE ISLANDS DEAL. The Japanese foreign ministry
on February 1 denied reports that Japan had concluded a deal
to buy the Kurile Islands from the USSR, TASS said. On January
29 the Soviet side denied a Postfaktum news agency report claiming
the islands would be sold. (See Daily Report January 31, 1991.)
(Suzanne Crow)

NO PARTIES REGISTERED IN USSR YET. A spokesman for the USSR Justice
Minister said no political parties or public associations had
been registered yet under the new law on public associations,
Radio Moscow reported January 4. Vladimir Shbankov said only
24 organizations had filed the necessary documents with his office
yet although there had been about 350 inquiries. He said he believed
the first organization would be registered in the middle of this
month. Shbankov told Radio Moscow that the CPSU would have to
submit the same documents as any other organization. (NCA/Vera
Tolz)



USSR - IN THE REPUBLICS



YELTSIN TO MAKE TELEVISION SPEECH. Novosti Press Agency announced
yesterday that RSFSR Supreme Soviet chairman Boris Yeltsin plans
to deliver a major television speech today (February 5). No time
has yet been announced. Novosti quoted Yeltsin's aide Lev Sukhanov
was saying the speech will cover a wide range of topics with
emphasis on the general political situation "in Russia and the
country." Yeltsin himself told a meeting of RSFSR trade union
officials in Moscow last week that he had applied for television
time to make a live speech to the RSFSR on February 5. (NCA)


TWO RSFSR PARTIES MAKE STEP TOWARD CONSOLIDATION. Representatives
of the RSFSR Social Democratic Party and the Republican Party
(formerly the Democratic Platform within the CPSU) discussed
ways the two organizations could unite at a joint plenary meeting,
TASS reported February 3. The two parties have similar platforms;
their members constitute a joint bloc in the RSFSR Congress of
People's Deputies; and finally, their factions in Moscow, Novosibirsk,
Volgograd, Komi ASSR and Tataria have already merged. However,
the plenary meeting failed to pass a final decision on the unification,
postponing it to April or May. (Vera Tolz)

RSFSR SUPSOV PREPARING DECREE ON RESTORATION OF SOVIET GERMAN
STATEHOOD. Commenting on the fact that the RSFSR Supreme Soviet's
Human Rights Committee was to discuss the Soviet German problem,
Radio Moscow reported February 2 that the RSFSR Supreme Soviet
was drawing up a resolution on measures to restore the statehood
of the Soviet Germans as the only means to put a halt to Soviet
German emigration. The resolution would set up a state committee
to work out a concept and programme for restoring the Volga German
republic to be submitted to the RSFSR Supreme Soviet within three
months. The restoration of Soviet German autonomy will be the
main topic of a Congress of Soviet Germans to be held in Moscow
from March 11-15. (Ann Sheehy)

REPUBLICAN LEADERS TO BECOME MEMBERS OF DEFENSE COUNCIL? The
Russian parliament has issued a resolution calling, among other
things, for the inclusion of republican leaders in the USSR Defense
Council, TASS reported on February 1. It also urged President
Mikhail Gorbachev to include the chairmen of local soviets as
members of regional military councils. This initiative of the
Russian parliament was in line with Boris Yeltsin's recent moves
toward more control over the Soviet armed forces. (Alexander
Rahr)

PRIVILEGES FOR STALIN'S VICTIMS IN KARELIA. The government of
Karelia adopted a resolution giving privileges to victims of
Stalin's repressions, Radio Moscow-1 reported on February 1.
The privileges include a 25% increase to those receiving the
minimum possible pension, reduction in prices for medicine and
housing, as well as the right to use public transport free of
charge. (Vera Tolz)

TYPHOID OUTBREAK IN CENTRAL RUSSIA. TASS reported on February
2 that ten people have been hospitalized with typhoid fever in
the city of Barysha [Ul'yanovsk oblast]. An extraordinary anti-epidemic
commission has determined that the administration of a local
textile factory caused the outbreak through negligence. The factory
released unpurified water used to clean sheepskins into the drinking
water supply. TASS said the raion procuracy has initiated criminal
proceedings. Meanwhile, measures are being taken to contain a
possible epidemic. (Sallie Wise)

RAILROAD TRANSPORT JAM IN LENINGRAD REGION. Railway stations
along the Leningrad line are jammed with goods awaiting transport,
according to a Radio Moscow report February 2. Some 27,000 tons
of goods are waiting to be moved, while more than 900 railroad
cars have yet to be unloaded. Radio Moscow said that the backup
is creating a shortage of raw materials in industry and of goods
in shops. (NCA/Sallie Wise)

VLADIVOSTOK AIRPORT OPEN FOR FOREIGN AIRLINES. The USSR defense
ministry granted permission for the Vladivostok airport to open
to foreign airlines, Komsomol'skaya Pravda reported on February
2. A Japanese firm immediately offered its services to the city's
executive committee in modernizing the airport and building hotels
in Vladivostok. The defense ministry is also considering opening
Vladivostok for international navigation. (Alexander Rahr)

UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION AGAINST REFERENDUM. The Narodna Rada, which
groups the democratic opposition in the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet,
and "Rukh" qualified the March 17 referendum as "unconstitutional"
at a press conference yesterday, Ukrinform-TASS reported on February
4. Speakers at the press conference emphasized that a republican
referendum on whether Ukraine should be independent must precede
the referendum on maintaining the USSR. The Narodna Rada, said
its leader, Ihor Yukhnovs'kyi, will pursue policies aimed at
establishing an independent Ukrainian state. (Roman Solchanyk)


UKRAINIAN COMMUNISTS FAVOR UNION TREATY. A statement by the Central
Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party expresses support
for the proposed union treaty without which, it says, there can
be no political or economic stabilization in the country and
the republic, Ukrinform-TASS reported February 4. (Roman Solchanyk)


CONFERENCE ON UKRAINIAN ARMY APPEALS TO SUPREME SOVIET. A two-day
conference in Kiev devoted to the "internal and external security
of Ukraine and the concept of a Ukrainian army" ended Sunday,
and Radio Kiev reported February 4 that participants were satisfied
with the results. They adopted a four-part appeal to parliament
calling on it to pronounce on the status of the USSR armed forces
in Ukraine and to establish a Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
They also worked on the creation of "Committees for the Resurrection
of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," taking into account that the
military had a key role to play in the proclamation of the independent
Ukrainian state in 1918. (Kathy Mihalisko)

NEWCOMER TO BELORUSSIAN PRESS CALLS FOR SLAVIC UNITY. A new Russian-language
publication appeared last week at Belorussian kiosks, sources
have told the RFE-RL Belorussian service. Called Slavyanskie
vedomosti, the first issue promotes the unity of the Great Russian,
White Russian and Little Russian [i.e., Belorussian and Ukrainian]
peoples and is said to contain anti-Semitic material. It is being
printed at the facilities of the Belorussian Communist Party,
but, in apparent contravention of the law, ownership of the paper
has not been identified. (Kathy Mihalisko)

NEW MOLDAVIAN PARTY FIRST SECRETARY. A plenum of the Moldavian
Central Committee on February 4 elected Grigore Eremei first
secretary of the Moldavian Communist Party in place of Petru
Lucinschi, who last week was elected a secretary of the CPSU
Central Committee, TASS reported February 4. Eremei, a Moldavian
born in 1935, has headed the Moldavian trade union organization
for some years. He appears to have spent his whole career in
Moldavia, and is a rather gray figure, lacking the talents of
his predecessor. This could bode ill for the future of the Party
in Moldavia, but there appears to have been no more attractive
candidate. (Ann Sheehy)

STIMULATION OF FOOD PRODUCTION IN KYRGYZSTAN. TASS reported on
February 4 that a special commission to ensure food supplies
and combat "economic sabotage" has been set up by decree of president
Askar Akaev. The commission has until February 15 to inventory
existing food resources and create food reserves. The decree
also calls for measures to stimulate production of foodstuffs;
half of the private autos, television and radio sets available
for sale are to be reserved for sale to persons engaged in agriculture.
The report notes that rationing of foodstuffs was begun in Kyrgyzstan
at the end of 1990, and now includes nine different products,
including sugar, flour and vegetable oil. (Bess Brown)

COSSACK OKRUG PROCLAIMED IN KARACHAI-CHERKESS AO. A congress
of Cossack deputies of all levels elected from the Zelenchuk
and Urup raions of the Karachai-Cherkess autonomous oblast has
proclaimed the two raions the Zelenchuk-Urup Territorial Okrug,
TASS reported February 3. A Cossack ataman had complained earlier
that Karachai attempts to regain a separate Karachai national
territory would cut the predominantly Russian-speaking Zelenchuk
raion in two and had suggested the raion be subordinated directly
to Stavropol' krai. The proclamation is part of the general revival
of Cossack national identity in the North Caucasus, which is
adding to interethnic tensions in the region. (Ann Sheehy)

[As of 1230 CET]

Compiled by Patrick Moore and Sallie Wise