No. 120, 26 June 1991

BALTIC STATES



SOVIET PROTEST TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE DISMISSED. Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly President Anders Bjoerk rejected Soviet
complaints about a hearing on the Baltic States scheduled for
June 27, an RFE/RL correspondent in Helsinki reported June 25.
Speaking at a press conference following the opening of the Assembly's
session in Helsinki on June 25, Bjoerk justified international
discussion of Baltic affairs by saying that "in today's Europe,
human rights questions are never strictly internal." The USSR
had warned the Council not to "meddle" in what it considers an
internal matter. Bjoerk also said that the Council of Europe
would protest if Soviet violence continues in the Baltic States.
(Gytis Liulevicius)

LITHUANIA TO SIGN NUCLEAR NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY. The Lithuanian
parliament voted to join the signatory nations of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty on June 25, Radio Independent Lithuania
reported that day. The parliament, acting under Section 9 of
the Treaty, requested Parliament Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis
to send the necessary documents to the governments of the United
States, United Kingdom, and the USSR, the original signatories
of the 1968 treaty. (Gytis Liulevicius)

BALTIC POPULAR FRONTS MEET. Lithuania's Sajudis and the Popular
Fronts of Latvia and Estonia will meet in Riga today (June 26),
Radio Independent Lithuania reported June 25. The joint meeting
is to discuss concerted action to mark the anniversary of the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed on August 23, 1939, which resulted
in the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States. The Popular Fronts
are also expected to set a date for a meeting of the Baltic Assembly
in Vilnius later this year. (Gytis Liulevicius)

LANDSBERGIS IN STRASBOURG. Continuing his visit to Western Europe,
Lithuanian Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis visited
the European Parliament in Strasbourg on June25, Radio Independent
Lithuania reported that day. Landsbergis expressed his hope that
the European Community would go a step beyond its previous declarations
and offer the Baltic States "concrete help." The EC invited Landsbergis
to attend the next session of the European Parliament beginning
July 8. Landsbergis will meet with French Prime Minister Edith
Cresson today (June 26). (Gytis Liulevicius)

SAUDARGAS IN LONDON. Speaking at a discussion in Britain's Houses
of Parliament in London on June 25, Lithuanian Foreign Minister
Algirdas Saudargas said that Lithuania needs a stable Soviet
Union, Radio Independent Lithuania reported June 26. Saudargas
warned that if Gorbachev were to lose power before the signing
of the Union Treaty, the resulting instability would lead to
a clash between conservative forces and Yeltsin, perhaps ending
in a dangerous split of the Soviet army. Saudargas also drew
attention to the continued Soviet violence in Lithuania, calling
the periodic OMON attacks on customs posts "very clever," since
they "keep our society tense, but have not resulted in any serious
response from the West." (Gytis Liulevicius)

USSR DAMAGE TO LITHUANIA ESTIMATED. Soviet damage inflicted on
Lithuania from January to May this year totals about 80 million
rubles, Radio Independent Lithuania reported June 26. According
to a government study released to parliament on June 25, the
sum covers property damage caused by the Soviet army and USSR
Interior Ministry OMON troops. The parliament resolved to submit
a bill for the sum to the USSR. A parliamentary commission will
produce an estimate of Soviet damage to Lithuania over 50years
of occupation, in preparation for talks on independence with
the USSR. (Gytis Liulevicius)


USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS


YAKOVLEV AND SHEVARDNADZE TO LEAVE THE CPSU? On June 26, Gorbachev's
former closest associates, Aleksandr Yakovlev and Eduard Shevardnadze,
are going to announce their departure from the CPSU, RSFSR Television
reported June 25 citing a Japanese newspaper. The television
said that the two men intended to set up their own party of democratic
orientation. It added that its attempt to get in touch with Yakovlev
had failed and therefore the news could not be verified, but
RFE/RL was told June 25 that Yakovlev, although sympathetic to
the idea of creating the party, was not going to be a formal
member of it. The same news was given by The Washington Post,
June 26, which said Shevardnadze and Yakovlev as well as Moscow
and Leningrad mayors Gavriil Popov and Anatolii Sobchak had been
holding secret meetings with leaders of new independent pro-democratic
groups to form an all-Union social democratic party that would
be a rival to the CPSU. (Vera Tolz)

SOYUZ VERSUS GORBACHEV. The hardline group Soyuz has collected
450 deputies' signatures--enough to demand an emergency session
of the USSR Congress of People's Deputies, but they realize that
this is not enough to oust President Mikhail Gorbachev, according
to Vesti on June 25. Soyuz leader Yurii Blokhin said that the
group must collect 1,000 signatures before considering a no-confidence
vote against Gorbachev in the parliament. Viktor Alksnis, another
leading member of Soyuz, deplored that the present USSR Supreme
Soviet was too weak to defend itself and resist the nine-plus-one
agreement. (Alexander Rahr)

PLAN FOR G-7 MEETING. On June 26, President Gorbachev met with
Grigorii Yavlinsky and Graham Allison in Moscow, as widely reported
in the Soviet and Western media. Presidential spokesman Vitalii
Ignatenko emphasized that the president is drawing up his own
"personal" plan for presentation to the G-7 leaders after their
July 15-17 summit. Gorbachev was quoted as saying that he appreciated
90% of the "grand bargain/window of opportunity" plan, but Yavlinsky
had not inquired about the other 10% lest it prove to be the
indispensable keystone to the reform. Gorbachev was also cited
as praising the cooperation with American scholars, adding: "It
will be useful, even if nothing comes of it." (Keith Bush)

FIRST CONFERENCE ON ENTREPRENEURSHIP HELD. "Vremya" reported
(June 25) on the opening in Moscow of a two-day conference on
the development of entrepreneurship in the USSR. The conference
is being held under the auspices of the Soviet employers' association,
the League of Scientific and Industrial Associations (NPS). Its
aim is to work out ways of resolving problems arising "during
the transition from an administrative-command to a normal economy."
(Elizabeth Teague)

ABALKIN ON REFORM AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE. Leonid Abalkin told
the conference on entrepreneurship in Moscow that Western financial
aid would only serve a purpose if the Soviet Union develops alternative
economic structures, DPA citing Interfax reported June 25. Abalkin
announced that national income in May was 11% lower than one
year ago. The state budget deficit had grown to 32.3 billion
rubles by May, although the deficit planned for the entire year
was 27.6 billion rubles. The actual deficit this year is expected
to amount to "up to 240 billion rubles." (Keith Bush)

INCOMES INDEXATION LAW. The USSR Supreme Soviet passed the fundamental
legislation on indexing incomes on June 25, TASS reported that
day. The state budget will finance the indexation of pensions,
stipends, other transfer payments, and the salaries of employees
of "budget organizations." The indexation of salaries of employees
of "profit-making" enterprises will have to be negotiated in
collective agreements. USSR Minister for Labor and Social Issues
Valerii Paul'man ruled out 100% indexation for all incomes within
the minimumcon-sumer budget as "hyperinflationary." Indexation
will cost 3,550 million rubles for each percent of growth in
the retail price index. (Keith Bush)

ABOLITION OF COMECON. The USSR Supreme Soviet gave its assent
on June 25 to the signing of the protocol on the abolition of
Comecon, TASS reported that day. The USSR's representative at
Comecon, Stepan Sitaryan, told the assembly that the council
had been inactive for a year. He said that all of the member
countries are in favor of seeking new forms of multilateral cooperation,
but theEuro-pean members wanted this cooperation to be limited
to a "regional context," excluding such countries as Cuba, Mongolia,
and Vietnam. (Keith Bush)

ATOMIC ENERGY COUNCIL ESTABLISHED. An interrepublican council,
with representatives from all 15 republics, has been set up to
oversee safety issues in industry and atomic energy. The Interrepublcian
Council for Safety in Industry and Atomic Energy was confirmed
by the USSR State Industrial and Atomic Energy Inspectorate.
The Council will have mostly consultative functions. (John Tedstrom)


YAZOV ON ARMY'S PROBLEMS. The Defense Minister said in a June
22 Komsomol'skaya pravda interview that the army's biggest problem
is managing the withdrawal from Eastern Europe. Yazov complained
that the Germans have not met all their commitments with respect
to housing, and ignored altogether the withdrawal from Poland.
Yazov also criticized living conditions for soldiers in the Baltic
and Transcaucasus regions, and said that the Nagorno-Karabakh
conflict could be solved if all forces "observed the law and
constitutional order." He appeared to criticize the reestablishment
of Cossack troop units. Finally, he said that his speech to a
closed session of the SupSov last week involved revealing facts
and figures related to defense that couldn't be done publicly.
(Stephen Foye)

KRASNAYA ZVEZDA SLAMS US "MILI-TARISM." A commentary by two military
theorists in the June18 issue of the army newspaper charged that
the US is continuing to build up its armed forces because it
intends to dominate the new world order through a liberal application
of military force. The article described alleged American intentions
in Cold War style language, complaining of "continuing militarization"
and of the Gulf War victory as having "dangerous consequences."
The authors also criticized democratic groups in the Soviet Union
itself for ignoring the military threat from the West and potentially
undermining Soviet security. (Stephen Foye)

PARKINSON'S LAW AT TRADE UNION HQ. A letter-writer to Ogonek
(No. 23, 1991) wonders how many staff the revamped General Confederation
of USSR Trade Unions (VKP) really has. When the All-Union Central
Council of Trade Unions was dis-banded last year, only half of
its 750-member staff were supposed to be reemployed by the successor
VKP, which now claims 230 staffers. But, Ogonek's informant writes,
there are 660 people on the register of the VKP's Communist Party
organization; 400 people are on the payroll; and 560 offices
are occupied in the grandiose "Palace of Labor" on Moscow's Lenin
Prospect. (Elizabeth Teague)

PREPARATIONS FOR LAW ON CHURCH PROPERTY. The central television
news program TSN reported on June 26 that cultural workers held
round table talks in Moscow on June 25 with rep-resentatives
of the Moscow Patriarchate. The two sides discussed the forthcoming
RSFSR law on Church property and the problems of joint use ofhis-torical
and cultural monuments, meaning first and foremost churches of
historic value. (Oxana Antic)

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CRITICISM OF THE LAW ON FREEDOM OF CONSCIENCE.
The official organ of the Russian Orthodox Church, Zhurnal moskovskoi
patriarkhii, No. 2 of 1991, has published the resolution passed
by the Bishops' Council in October, 1990 (see Daily Report No.206,
1990). In this resolution the Church noted that some very important
principles, in particular the recognition of the Church as a
juridical entity, were not included in the law. It is noteworthy,
that the journal, which has a reputation for reporting historic
events several months late, has not yet changed in this respect.
(Oxana Antic)

A NEW USE FOR LENIN'S MAUSOLEUM? Western agencies reported June
10 that a man from Siberia's Irkutsk Oblast had been arrestedfor
throwing two bottles of ink at Lenin's mausoleum in Moscow's
Red Square. Meanwhile, a reader from Leningrad, writing to Ogonek
(No. 24, 1991), raised again the proposal that Lenin's body should
be buried alongside that of his mother in Moscow's Volkovo cemetery,
and suggested that the mausoleum should instead be turned into
a monu-ment to the victims of repression. And schoolchildren
from Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast wrote to the same issue of Ogonek
to say they had refused to recite aloud at an examination Mayakovsky's
"immoral" poem "The Party and Lenin." (Elizabeth Teague)

MAN GETS TWO YEARS FOR SELLING "NAKED GORBY" CALENDAR. A court
in Kazakhstan has sentenced 28-year-old Viktor Leont'ev to two
years in a labor camp for selling calendars depicting a naked
likeness of Mikhail Gorbachev, RFE/RL's Russian Service was informed
June 21 by telephone from Moscow. Leont'ev was found guilty under
the law, passed last year at Gorbachev's insistence, that makes
slandering the "honor and dignity of the President" a criminal
offense punishable with up to six years in prison. Leont'ev,
who is said to have fled to Moscow to seek help from Amnesty
International, is the latest of some 15 Soviet citizens charged
under the law. Gennadii Smirnov, a Muscovite aged 40, was sentenced
to a year in prison for displaying a portrait of Gorbachev covered
with insulting words; two Soviet women were fined; the majority
have been acquitted. (Jean Riollot/Elizabeth Teague)

ISLANDS TURNED OVER TO CHINA. Soviet Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Vitalii Churkin confirmed on June 24 the transfer of the island
of Damansky to China as a result of documentssigned during the
recent Sino-Soviet summit, TASS reported June 24. Damansky, which
lies in the Ussuri River, was the site of violent clashes between
Soviet and Chinese troops in 1969. Churkin por-trayed the settlement
not as a concession of Soviet territory to China, but as the
arbitrary result of the newly-drawn borderline falling north
of Damansky. According to a separate Soviet television report
(June 25), other islands in the vicinity were also turned over
to China, but they were not named. (Suzanne Crow)

SOVIET FOREIGN MINISTERS TO MEET. Soviet Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Vitalii Churkin announced that a meeting of the Foreign Ministers'
Council of the USSR and union republics will take place in Minsk
on June 28, TASS reported June 24. The ministers will discuss
improving the coordination of the central and republican foreign
ministries activities related to international Chernobyl relief
efforts. They will also discuss central and republican coordination
of consular activities. (Suzanne Crow)


USSR--IN THE REPUBLICS


YELTSIN MEETS PRESIDENT OF FINLAND IN MOSCOW. RSFSR President
Boris Yeltsin met Fin-land's President Mauno Koivisto in Moscow
June 25, Radio Moscow reported on June 25. Both agreed to de-velop
closer economic and cultural ties betweenRussia and Finland.
Koivisto expressedhope that Finland could have the same kind
of beneficial relations with the republics as it has with the
Soviet Union. Yeltsin informed his guest about the new cooperation
between the center and the republics. (Alexander Rahr)

RSFSR SENDS REPRESENTATIVES ABROAD. The RSFSR foreign ministry
has signed an agreement with the center to send its own representatives
abroad as of this fall. Komsomol'skaya Pravda on June 20 reported
that RSFSR envoys will work in Soviet embassies, but that the
RSFSR government will finance them. RSFSR diplomats will be sent
to 20 countries, starting with Great Britain. Their task will
be to explain the processes under way in the RSFSR, including
peculiarities of RSFSR legislation. The average age of the Russian
diplomats is 35 and their political convictions will be their
own affair, according to RSFSR deputy foreign minister Andrei
Fedorov. (Alexander Rahr)

LENINGRAD CITY COUNCIL APPROVES NAME CHANGE. The Leningrad city
Soviet formally endorsed a proposal to restore the city's historical
name of St. Petersburg, TASS reported June 25. The agency also
said the council asked the RSFSR Supreme Soviet to make the name
change legal. (On June 12, Leningrad residents voted in a non-binding
referendum to change the city's name back to St. Petersburg.)
(Vera Tolz)

DE BEERS DENIES PROMISE TO MINE DIAMONDS. The South African mining
company De Beers denied, June 24, earlier reports that it had
signed commitments to mine diamonds in the Soviet territory of
Yakutia, Western agencies reported. According to Western reports,
the Soviet independent news agency Interfax had earlier reported
that the deal signed by De Beers president Nicholas Oppenheimer
and local leaders in Yakutia included a De Beers commitment to
"develop diamond deposits." De Beers says that only a good will
protocol signed by the two sides is binding and there is not
commitment to develop diamond deposits. (John Tedstrom)

SILAEV STRESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP.
RSFSR Prime Minister Ivan Silaev stressed the importance of entrepreneurship
in the RSFSR gov-ernment's program for economic reform at a major
conference on Russian industry, TASS reported June 25. The four-day
conference in Archangel focused on privatization and other reform
measures. Silaev said he wants as much as 76% of the repub-lic's
industry in the hands of the public in the form of joint stock
companies and the like. (JohnTedstrom)

GEORGIA PUBLISHES DRAFT LAW ON CITIZENSHIP. TASS reported June
25 that the long awaited draft of the Georgian citizenship law
has been published. Georgian citizenship will be open to all
persons who have lived in Georgia for the previous 10 years,
know the language, recognize the Georgian Constitution and have
a legal source of income. Residents in Abkhazia must in addition
speak the local language. The draft represents a considerable
modification of Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia's previous
pronouncement; he had formerly argued that only those persons
whose ancestors were resident in Georgia prior to the 1801 annexation
by Tsarist Russia should be eligible for citizenship. (Liz Fuller)


ARMENIA (AND POSSIBLY AZERBAIJAN) TO HOLD DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTIONS. The Armenian SupSov voted June 25 to create the post
of president of the republic and scheduled direct presidential
elections for October 16, Radio Moscow reported June 25. The
issue of direct presidential elections will likewise be debated
at today's session of the Azerbaijan Supreme Soviet on the basis
of a written proposal by the current president of the republic,
Ayaz Mutalibov, who will run as a candidate, TASS reported June
25. (Liz Fuller)

MOLDAVIAN PRESIDENT ON INDEPENDENCE REFERENDUM.
In an interview with AsahiShimbun, reported by Interfax June
24 and Rompres June 25, Moldavian President Mircea Snegur said
that Moldavia will hold a referendum on the republic's independence
this autumn. "Moldavia never agreed to join theUSSR . . . and
was included in the USSR under the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, not
by the will of its people," Snegur was quoted as saying. An independent
Mol-davia would seek to maintain economic links with in-dividual
republics of the present USSR and, hehoped, also with the union
as a whole. Moldavia would also seek cultural and economic "integration"
with Romania but would do so as an independent state under the
formula, "one nation, two states," Snegur was further quoted
as saying. (Vladimir Socor)

USSR MVD TROOPS DETAILED TO KISHINEV. In President Snegur's absence
abroad, special troops of the USSR MVD were detailed to central
Kishinev June 23 to prevent the planned relocation of the Lenin
monument from the central square. Kishinev's Communist Party
organization has attempted to ethnicize the issue by calling
on local Russian residents and communists to block the planned
relocation of the monument, and to justify the presence of the
troops as allegedly needed to prevent clashes. Kishinev's deputy
mayor told a Western agency June 25 that the monument's relocation
is scheduled for June 27, and that if the special troops resist,
the monument might then be spontaneously removed on June 28 by
participants in a mass rally of mourning to mark Kishinev's occupation
by the Red Army on June 28, 1940. (Vladimir Socor)

TAXATION LAW ADOPTED BY UKRAINIAN SUPREME SOVIET. Radio Kiev
reported June 25 that after heated debates the Ukrainian Supsov
rejected a proposal of its Economic Commission to tax total sales
income of enterprises and decided to adopt the government's proposal
of the government to tax profits only. Volodymyr Pylypchuk, chairman
of the Economic Commission, said that its proposal was based
on the need to fight hyper-inflation. He said that the government's
version of the law will be ineffective in fighting inflation
and will bankrupt the republican budget, which already suffers
from a Ruble 40 billion deficit. The law on taxation will become
effective October 1 and contains clauses on rent for the usage
of land, ecological and forest taxes, and customs dues. (Valentyn
Moroz)

KRAVCHUK WANTS TO INVESTIGATE ANTI-UKRAINIAN BIAS IN THE SOVIET
MEDIA. Leonid Kravchuk has instructed the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet
Commission on Glasnost and Mass Media to investigate the "increasing
anti-Ukrainian bias in the central Soviet press and television
in their coverage of events in Ukraine," Radio Kiev reported
June 25. (Valentyn Moroz)

UKRAINIAN CUSTOMS LAW ADOPTED. The Ukrainian Supreme
Soviet has adopted a law on republican customs and excise, Radio
Kiev reported June 25. The law sets the legal basis for the organization
of a Ukrainian customs service, its relations with those of other
Soviet republics and foreign countries, and its participation
in international customs unions and organizations. (Valentyn
Moroz)

NEW TAJIK PRIME MINISTER DESCRIBES REPUBLICAN CRISIS PROGRAM.
Izatullo Khaeev, the new Tajik Prime Minister, told the republic's
parliament June 25 that the situation was extremely difficult,
and presented an anti-crisis program for economic reform. Among
the 55 year-old Khaeev's plans are an acceleration of destatization
and privatization, and a strengthening of foreign economic activities,
according to TASS June 25. Khaeev made his remarks to a session
of the Tajik Supreme Soviet. Khaeev is the former Tajik vice
president, a post which the republic's Supreme Soviet has abolished.
(John Tedstrom)