No. 115, 19 June 1991

BALTIC STATES



NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE IN ESTONIA. The Estonian Supreme Council is
likely to consider a proposal by 26 deputies (see Daily Report,
June 18) for a vote of no-confidence in the Savisaar government
today (June 19), according to Estonian Radio. The parliament's
presidium and commission heads met on June 18 to consider the
matter, but decided to forward the decision on whether to place
the proposal on the agenda to the entire Supreme Council. Depending
on the final wording of the motion, either the Supreme Council
directorate or, more likely, the full body will decide whether
the proposal will go on the agenda. According to reports, some
15 non-Estonian deputies have decided to vote against Prime Minister
Savisaar, bringing the total probable "no-confidence" votes to
41. The parliament needs 53 votes to oust Savisaar. (Riina Kionka)


BALTS AT CSCE. Baltic delegations to the CSCE meeting in Berlin
this week will participate as guests of Scandinavian countries,
Radio Independent Lithuania reported June 19. Denmark invited
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Algirdas Saudargas, Latvian Foreign
Minister Janis Jurkans will be Norway's guest, and Estonian Foreign
Minister Lennart Meri, Sweden's. German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich
Genscher, the conference host, met with the three Baltic representatives
in the Reichstag on June 18, and explained that as guests, they
would only be allowed to participate in the formal public ceremonies.
Informal talks with the Baltic representatives are expected,
however. US Secretary of State James Baker is scheduled to meet
the Baltic representatives on June 19. (Gytis Liulevicius)

NO-GO FOR NGO? In other CSCE news, the Frankfurt-based International
Society for Human Rights protested against the participation
of Edmundas Kasperavicius as a member of a non-government organization
at the Berlin conference, Western agencies reported June 18.
Kasperavicius, who is part of the USSR delegation, has been broadcasting
from the television tower in Vilnius since the violent Soviet
takeover last January. (Gytis Liulevicius)

MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN LITHUANIA. A Soviet border guard killed
two Lithuanians near Klaipeda and seized their car early June
18, Radio Independent Lithuania reported that day. The soldier,
Aleksei Kolmachev, drove as far as Kaunas, then fled into a forest,
where police took him into custody. An investigation showed that
Kolmachev had recently been treated in a psychiatric hospital.
Later that day, Lithuanian Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas
Landsbergis received a telephone call from Valentin Goponenko,
Baltic border army district commander, who apologized for the
tragedy, and said that the officer in charge of protecting weapons
at the Palanga base had been relieved of his duties. (Gytis Liulevicius)


LITHUANIAN DRAFT RESISTER SEIZED. After midnight on June 18,
Soviet soldiers broke into an apartment in Pasvalys, Radio Independent
Lithuania reported June 18. The troops seized Sigitas Inselis,
a Lithuanian who had refused to serve in the Soviet army, and
took him to points unknown. In another development, a group of
armed soldiers gathered at a busy intersection in Vilnius on
June 17, waving their weapons at passersby, but later dispersed
without incident. (Gytis Liulevicius)

OMON CONTINUES ATTACKS. On June 18 in the early afternoon 12
armed OMON troops coming from Latvia attacked the Lithuanian
customs post at Vegeriai in the Akmene Raion and the neighboring
Latvian customs post, Radio Vilnius reported that day. Both posts
were burned down and the 2 customs and 4 National Defense Department
officials, including one woman, at Vegeriai were beaten up. The
OMON forced the defense workers to take off their uniforms, which
they confiscated. Deputy Prime Minister Zigmas Vaisvila sent
a telegram to USSR Internal Affairs Minister Boriss Pugo protesting
the attack. (Saulius Girnius)

USSR-LITHUANIA WORKING GROUP MEETING. On June 18 Radio Independent
Lithuania reported that the working group preparing for the USSR-Lithuania
negotiations on independence met in Moscow. The Lithuanian delegation
was headed by Minister without Portfolio Aleksandras Abisala
and included National Defense Department head Audrius Butkevicius
and parliament deputies Kestutis Glaveckas and Egidijus Bickauskas.
The Soviet delegations was headed by USSR Minister of Justice
Sergei Lushchikov. Bickauskas described the meeting as "constructive"
and the meetings of the various groups of specialists should
begin soon. (Saulius Girnius)

ARCHBISHOP STEPONAVICIUS DIES. On June 19 Radio Independent Lithuania
reported that Julijonas Steponavicius, the Archbishop of Vilnius,
died in Vilnius the previous evening at 9:30 P.M. One of the
most outstanding fighters for the rights of the Catholic Church
in Lithuania, he was not allowed by the Soviet authorities to
serve as bishop from 1961 to 1989. (Saulius Girnius)



USSR - ALL-UNION TOPICS



PAVLOV VERSUS GORBACHEV. Soviet Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov,
supported by the conservative parliamentary faction Soyuz, has
openly challenged USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev in the Supreme
Soviet by asking for additional powers for his government. TASS
on June 18 quoted liberal deputy Sergei Ryabchenko as saying
that "a coordinated campaign to remove the USSR President from
power" has started. Pavlov, who apparently fears that Gorbachev's
new cooperation with the republics will undermine the center
and leave him without job, acknowledged that he had not coordinated
his demands with Gorbachev. Gorbachev asked the parliament to
postpone its decision on Pavlov's additional powers. (Alexander
Rahr)

UNION TREATY: MUCH STILL UNCLEAR. To judge from remarks by Gorbachev,
USSR Supreme Soviet Chairman Anatolii Luk'yanov, RSFSR President
Boris Yeltsin, and Gorbachev aide Grigorii Revenko on June 18,
there are still many important points regarding the Union treaty
that are not finally settled. Luk'yanov and Revenko said that
agreement had been reached to preserve the present quotas for
the Union and autonomous republics in the future Supreme Soviet,
while Yeltsin told reporters in Moscow that this was still not
decided. Yeltsin cited other areas where agreement had not been
reached: delimitation of functions between the center and the
republics, and taxation, TASS reported June 18. Gorbachev, speaking
on Vremya June 18, more or less confirmed that the Federation
Council would be abolished. (Ann Sheehy)

BAKER SAYS "EURO-ATLANTIC COMMUNITY" IS OPEN TO USSR. Secretary
of State Baker, in an address to the Aspen Institute in Berlin
on the eve of the CSCE foreign ministers' meeting, called on
the USSR to continue on the path of political and economic reform
and for the West to support that process, RFE/RL's correspondent
in Berlin reported June 18. Baker said "it is in the interest
of the Soviet peoples to embrace a real market economy, democracy,
and the rule of law. It is in our interest to help them." He
noted that perestroika has achieved much in the USSR, but that
it must continue. Baker declared, "the door to the Euro-Atlantic
community is open, but only the Soviets can decide to step over
the threshold." (Sallie Wise)

GORBACHEV, KOHL TO MEET IN "NEXT FEW DAYS." Presidential Spokesman
Vitalii Ignatenko said at a June 18 briefing that Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev will meet German Chancellor Helmut Kohl "in
the next few days on the territory of the USSR." Ignatenko said
the exact date was still under consideration and added he would
not rule out a meeting before June 22, TASS reported June 18.
(Suzanne Crow)

BONN CONSIDERING MORE AID. According to the Handelsblatt (June
18), Bonn is considering bridging loans to help the USSR with
its payment problems. Currently the USSR is DM 2 billion to DM
3 billion behind in payments to German firms. German bank industry
insiders estimate that the new credit might go as high as DM
5 billion. It is envisioned that the sum would be fully guaranteed
by Bonn and would be part of a multilateral Western assistance
program. (Suzanne Crow)

JAPAN WILL SAY NO TO AID IN LONDON. The TASS correspondent in
Tokyo reported June 18 that Japan is planning to argue against
financial aid to the USSR at the meeting of the Group of 7 in
London. Japan's negative stance is attributed to lack of progress
over "territorial problems." The Japanese position was expressed
by Japan's finance minister Ryutaro Kasimoto at a speech in Tokyo.
Kasimoto also argued that aid to Eastern Europe ought to be channelled
through and organized by international organizations, not carried
out bilaterally. (John Tedstrom)

DELORS BEGINS TALKS IN MOSCOW. Jacques Delors, president of the
European Community's Executive Commission, begins talks today
(June 19) in Moscow with Soviet officials, Western agencies report.
Gorbachev spokesman Vitalii Ignatenko told reporters June 18
that the talks would focus on Gorbachev's planned meeting with
G-7 leaders in London next month, as well as on prospects for
Soviet cooperation with the EC. (NCA/Sallie Wise)

FOREIGN MINISTRY ON SOUTH AFRICA. On June 18 the USSR Foreign
Ministry issued a statement terming the recent changes in South
Africa a "major step in the right direction." But, the MFA said,
"the country still retains a constitution that deprives the majority
of the population of political rights....In addition, major problems
still await solution, including the release of political prisoners
and the return home of political emigres." The MFA also called
for "negotiations with the participation of all influential forces
of the country on the basis of the interests of all major social
and ethnic groups," TASS reported June 18. (Suzanne Crow)

HANOI EMBASSY OFFICIAL SAYS SOVIET PULLOUT CONTINUES. Andrei
Levin, a counsellor at the Soviet embassy in Hanoi, yesterday
contradicted other Soviet officials' recent remarks to the effect
that the USSR will retain a support base at Cam Ranh Bay (see
Daily Report, June 17). According to Western agency reports June
18, Levin said the USSR has already removed about 75% of its
ships and aircraft from the base, and that the withdrawal should
be complete by 1994. (NCA/Sallie Wise)

INVITATIONS TO SOVIET NAVAL EXERCISES. A Soviet diplomatic source
said on June 18 that the Soviet Pacific Fleet has invited representatives
from the US, Japan, and other Asian nations, including South
Korea, to observe the staging of naval drills in the Sea of Japan
from August 14-16, Western agencies reported the same day. About
20 vessels, 35 aircraft, and 10,000 troops will be mobilized
for the exercises. The US and Japan declined a similar invitation
in 1989, the diplomatic source said. (Stephen Foye)

GORBACHEV PROMISES TO REASSESS AGRICULTURAL PRICES. Facing an
angry congress of peasant farmers in Moscow June 18, Gorbachev
promised that his government would consider raising agricultural
procurement prices. TASS reported that Gorbachev addressed the
congress of the conservative Peasant's Union on its second day
after a speech by prime minister Valentin Pavlov so enraged the
delegates that they threatened to call a protest strike. TASS
said Gorbachev promised he would press the government not only
to pay higher produce prices but also for to ensure that the
farmers have access to the agricultural equipment and consumer
goods they need. (NCA)

CONFLICT IN IZVESTIA CONTINUES. Izvestia staffers yesterday again
called for the ouster of two top editors who they say have prevented
the paper from properly covering the news, RSFSR TV and Radio
Rossii reported June 18. The media said that the two editors
(Izvestia chief editor Nikolai Efimov and chief editor of the
newspaper's supplement, Nedelya, Vladimir Sevruk) were appointed
by Lukyanov. Yurii Markov, a staff member of Izvestia, was quoted
as saying he and his colleagues had considered withholding one
issue of the newspaper in protest, but then decided against that
action because they worried it could hurt the paper's circulation.
The media reported that on June 18, RSFSR Minister of the Press
Mikhail Poltoranin also called for the two editors to be ousted.
(Vera Tolz)

MOSCOW JOURNALISTS MAY SPLIT OVER KRAVCHENKO. The Moscow branch
of the USSR Union of Journalists is on the verge of a split after
the majority of its members voted to expel Leonid Kravchenko,
head of the All-Union TV and Radio Broadcasting Company, from
the union, RSFSR TV reported June 18. Some representatives of
central television and CPSU periodicals protested the expulsion
and said they were not consulted when the decision was taken.
Now, according to RSFSR TV, twelve staffers of Pravda, TASS,
and Central TV have announced that they are leaving the Journalists'
Union and are creating their own "Independent Association of
Democratic Journalists of Moscow." The twelve demand that the
Moscow branch of the USSR Journalists' Union agree to divide
property between the branch and the newly created organization.
(Vera Tolz)

MORE ON SUPSOV DEBATE ON ENTRY ON "NATIONALITY" IN DOCUMENTS.
According to Soyuz, No. 26 of June 1991, in the recent USSR SupSov
debate on a draft decree that would make the entry on "nationality"
in identity and other documents optional, Luk'yanov said that
the draft constitution of 1977 had envisaged citizens being allowed
to choose their own nationality, but the provision had to be
dropped after the vast majority of Union and autonomous republics
rejected it. Anatoliy Sebentsov, presenting the draft decree,
said that about a million people, including large groups of Tajiks
and Crimean Tatars, had appealed to be allowed to change the
entry on nationality in their internal passports. (Ann Sheehy)




USSR - IN THE REPUBLICS



YELTSIN IN US. RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin said after his arrival
in the US that "Russia has suffered through a Marxist experiment
but is now determined to follow the Western road to democracy,"
according to Western news agencies on June 19. He emphasized
at a meeting at the USSR embassy that Russia will travel the
road the West travelled some time ago. Before his departure for
the US, Yeltsin said that "Russia has become very independent,
in foreign policy as well," according to The New York Times on
June 19. He promised to create conditions in Russia that would
have foreigners "rushing over with great willingness." He also
said that an aim of his visit to the US is to study how to organize
executive power. (Alexander Rahr)

YELTSIN PRAISES GORBACHEV. Yeltsin praised Gorbachev on his arrival
in Washington, saying that the USSR President had been the father
of democracy in the Soviet Union, according to Western news agencies
on June 19. He told journalists that, in principle, he and Gorbachev
back the new Yavlinsky economic reform plan. He urged the West
to hold a dialogue with both Gorbachev and him. Gorbachev welcomed
Yeltsin's trip to the US and declared through his spokesman that
he had discussed the trip with Yeltsin and considered it "very
useful." (Alexander Rahr)

LENINGRAD COMMUNISTS PROPOSE COMPROMISE ON NAME CHANGE. First
Secretary of the Leningrad Party Committee Boris Gidaspov has
suggested a compromise over a plan to restore the city's original
name of St. Petersburg. Leningrad journalist Aleksei Volovikov
told RFE/RL June 18 that Gidaspov has recommended merging several
of city's central districts into a new one to be called "Saint
Peter" (Svyatoi Petr) and retaining the name Leningrad for the
city as a whole. (55% of Leningrad voters in the June 12 referendum
favored restoring the city's original name. The Communists oppose
such a change, which now must be approved by the RSFSR parliament).
A member of the RSFSR CP CC, Evgenii Krasnitsky, said the Leningrad
Party Committee will continue to campaign against the change
and will call for an all-Union referendum on the issue. (NCA/Vera
Tolz)

MINERS HOLD UNDERGROUND STRIKE TO PROTEST CLOSURE. TASS reported
June 18 that 90 miners at a copper mine in the Urals region of
Chelyabinsk were staging hunger strike 850 meters underground
to protest the planned closure of their mine. TASS said the mine
has gone bankrupt because the Soviet government failed to fulfill
promises to give the mine the equipment necessary to clean up
serious industrial pollution. The agency said more than one-third
of the workers at the mine have been laid off and those that
remain have not been paid since last month. (NCA)

REPRISALS AGAINST BELORUSSIAN STRIKE ORGANIZERS. Minsk journalist
Yas Valoshka reported June 14 that the chairman of the Gomel
Strike Committee, Yauhen Murashka, has been arrested. No further
information was available, but the move appears to be part of
a crackdown on labor activists. Mikalai Razumou, chairman of
the Orsha Strike Committee, was recently demoted from his job
as computer technician at the Orsha Instrument Factory. Razumou
claims that since his demotion he has led a successful campaign
to force Communists to hold their meetings off the factory grounds.
He faces criminal charges in connection with the blockade of
the Minsk-Moscow railroad line during the April strikes. (Belorussian
BD/Kathy Mihalisko)

STRIKERS' DEMANDS ARE REJECTED. The Belorussian Supreme Soviet
voted by a majority June 18 to reject demands put forth last
month by Belorussian strikers that had been included on the parliament's
agenda, on the grounds that "departification" of enterprises,
"depoliticization" of law enforcement agencies, and the nationalization
of Communist Party property would be unconstitutional and in
violation of international laws, according to Belta-TASS. CP
First Secretary Anatolii Malofeev maintained that the Belorussian
Party's holdings are "not large," amounting to only 101 million
rubles. (Kathy Mihalisko)

BELORUSSIAN CHERNOBYL' COMMISSION ABOLISHED. Belorussian People's
Deputy Syarhei Navumchyk told RFE/RL that the Supreme Soviet's
commission on Chernobyl' was abruptly abolished June 14 after
it became known that its members had incriminating evidence of
official misdeeds after the 1986 nuclear plant explosion. A commission
report, according to Navumchyk, described the actions of former
Party First Secretary Nikolai Slyunkov and Prime Minister Mikhail
Kovalev as "irresponsible and even criminal" and called for an
investigation by the Belorussian Prosecutors' Office. The Communist-controlled
Supreme Soviet also turned down a proposal to account for funds
spent on Chernbyl' victims. (Belorussian BD/NCA/Kathy Mihalisko)


BELORUSSIAN 'COMMUNISTS FOR DEMOCRACY.' As reported June 18 by
Radio Rossii, a group called "Communists for Democracy" has been
formed in the Belorussian Supreme Soviet, composed of Party members
who are dissatisfied with the policies of the Belorussian CP
leadership. They intend to push for implementation of the sovereignty
declaration and to transform the CP into a parliamentary party.
(Kathy Mihalisko)

UKRAINE TO MARK "INDEPENDENCE DAY". Radio Kiev announced June
18 that the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet has proclaimed a new official
holiday in the republic, Ukrainian Independence Day. It will
be celebrated July 16, the anniversary of the Declaration of
State Sovereignty. USSR Constitution Day will no longer be observed
in Ukraine. (Kathy Mihalisko)

DRAFT IN UKRAINE GOES WELL. Radio Moscow (M-1) reported on June
15 that the spring draft in Ukraine is going well, and that more
than 700 youths have consented to serve in the Transcaucasus
and other "hot spots." The majority of those consenting to serve
outside Ukraine have done so by signing a written agreement,
as Ukrainian law requires, the report said. Roughly a third of
those drafted in Ukraine have already been sent to their units.
(Stephen Foye)

MOLDAVIA SEEKS WESTERN SUPPORT FOR PERSONNEL TRAINING. In a statement
cited by the government daily Moldova Suverana June 15, Moldavian
President Mircea Snegur said that the republic was badly short
of the skilled personnel that could ensure a successful transition
to the market economy. Moldavia needs to educate entrepreneurs,
international trade specialists, banking personnel, and modern
farmers, he said. The republic is planning to institute training
programs for young personnel in these areas and seeks Western
support in this effort, Snegur said. (Vladimir Socor)

MOLDAVIA TO SEARCH FOR WESTERN ECONOMIC ADVISERS. Interviewed
by the weekly Tineretul Moldovei June 6, Moldavian Prime Minister
Valeriu Muravschi said that Kishinev plans to set up an Economic
Council with the participation of Western specialists to chart
the republic's economic policies. Moldavia seeks "distinguished
economists" from the West to serve on the Council, Muravschi
said. He added that Moldavia "would make everything possible
and even the impossible" to eventually qualify for "integration
with the European Community," and that attracting Western investments
in joint ventures in Moldavia would be a first step on that long
road. (Vladimir Socor)

KAZAKH SUPSOV DEBATES PRESS LAW. On June 17 the Kazakh Supreme
Soviet debated a draft law on the press and mass media, Moscow
radio reported June 17. Under the draft law journalists of central
publications would have to receive accreditation from the press
service of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Accreditation
could be refused if the journalist violated the sovereignty and
dignity of the republic by his lack of objectivity. (Ann Sheehy)


UZBEK PRESIDENT ON SIBARAL. At a press conference for foreign
correspondents in Tashkent on May 21, Uzbek President Islam Karimov
described as "mistaken" the halting of work on the diversion
of part of the flow of the Siberian rivers to Central Asia, Pravda
Vostoka of May 24 reported. The cancellation of the project has
never been accepted in Central Asia, and Karimov said that any
delay could have sad, irreversible consequences. Even if work
was resumed straightaway, he added, Siberian water would only
reach Central Asia in 2007. Karimov did not suggest how the scheme
would be financed. (Ann Sheehy)