No. 121, 27 June 1991

BALTIC STATES



OMON RAIDS VILNIUS TELEPHONE EXCHANGE. At 4:48 p.m. on June 26,
about fifty OMON troops stormed the central telephone exchange
in Vilnius, Radio Independent Lithuania reported that day. Telephone
and telefax communications between Lithuania and the outside
world were severed. Radio Independent Lithuania went off the
air briefly, but resumed broadcasting from Kaunas. The heavily
armed OMON troops withdrew from the building at 6:50 p.m. Normal
telecommunications were restored in about two hours. OMON activity
continued in Latvia as well--the customs office in the Riga railway
station was raided at 10:10 p.m. (Gytis Liulevicius)

CONTRADICTORY EXPLANATIONS. OMON commander Boleslav Mokutinovich
said his troops' mission was to search the telephone exchange
for weapons and ammunition allegedly stored there illegally,
Radio Independent Lithuania reported June 27. According to Mokutinovich,
a pistol and some cartridges were found in a ventilation shaft.
Jonas Jagminas, the director of the exchange, said that any weapons
found must have been planted as a provocation. A duty officer
at the USSR Interior Ministry told the Lithuanian representation
in Moscow that the OMON confiscated rifles, pistols, and explosives.
Lithuanian Supreme Council Vice-Chairman Ceslovas Stankevicius
called the attack a "rehearsal" for the overthrow of the Lithuanian
government. (Gytis Liulevicius)

LANDSBERGIS CONDEMNS ATTACK. Speaking after a meeting with French
Prime Minister Edith Cresson in Paris on June 26, Lithuanian
Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis condemned the OMON
attack, citing it as proof of the Kremlin's "terrorist policies"
against Lithuania, Radio Independent Lithuania reported June
27. Landsbergis said that the USSR is trying to provoke Lithuania
into armed conflict. (Gytis Liulevicius)

MOSCOW AGAINST INTERNATIONALIZATION. More details have come to
light about the Soviet protest against the Council of Europe's
committee hearing on the Baltic crisis today (June 27). According
to the text of the protest, lodged two weeks ago by the Soviet
Embassy in Paris, the USSR considers "unacceptable all attempts
to internationalize the problem by involving [the USSR] in a
discussion of the future status of the Baltic republics. We intend
in the future to reject all such attempts categorically." Western
diplomats attending the Council of Europe meeting in Helsinki
made the major part of the protest text available to an RFE/RL
correspondent on June 26. (Riina Kionka)

POPULAR FRONTS GEAR UP. The three Baltic popular movements will
mark the fifty-second anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
in August with a torchlight procession from Vilnius through Riga
and on to Tallinn, according to agency reports on June 26. Representatives
of the Popular Fronts of Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania's Sajudis
took the decision at a Riga meeting on June 26. (Riina Kionka)


BUSH ON BALTIC STATES. In a report to Congress, US President
George Bush expressed support for the Baltic peoples. The report,
released on June 25, outlines US support for the Baltic States,
emphasizing the diplomatic effort "designed both to help avert
future violent confrontations in the Baltic States and to enable
the Baltic peoples to realize their legitimate but long-denied
aspirations." The report says US diplomacy has "played a critical
role in galvanizing global support for the cause of the Baltic
peoples." The report details expanded US contacts with the Baltic
States: medical, agricultural, and technical assistance. (Gytis
Liulevicius)


USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS


DRAFT UNION TREATY. A text of the draft Union treaty was issued
by TASS June 26; it appears to be identical to that published
in Nezavisimaya gazeta on June 22. The latest draft states that
the new Union is the successor state to the old Union as a subject
of international law, which would seem to make the position of
the republics not signing the treaty even more anomalous; that
the adoption of the constitution is again the exclusive prerogative
of the Union, and not a joint Union-republican matter, as in
the March draft; that the armed forces may be used inside the
country only to deal with natural disasters and as provided for
in the legislation on a state of emergency; and that control
of defense enterprises is a joint Union-republican matter. The
article on federal taxes, one of the main sticking points, is
virtually unchanged. The latest draft abolishes the Federation
Council and proposes yet another, and probably unworkable, structure
for the Supreme Soviet. (Ann Sheehy)

MORE DETAILS OF YAVLINSKY PROGRAM. In an address delivered June
25 to the first all-Union conference on the promotion of entrepreneurship
in Moscow, Grigorii Yavlinsky disclosed some more details of
his "Window of Opportunity" program, Interfax reported that day.
The program covers a five-year period, broken down into six-month
stages. For each of these, detailed economic and political reform
targets are set, together with coordinated Western responses.
The massive inflow of Western goods is scheduled for the outset
of the program only. Western aid would be in the form of credits,
rather than grants, and would be tied to specific projects, such
as conversion, ecology, and employment. (Keith Bush)

SLOWDOWN IN TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GERMANY. General Matvei Burlakov,
the commander of Soviet forces in Germany, announced on June
26 that the withdrawal of Soviet troops will be slowed, starting
in July, and might also be temporarily suspended, Western agencies
reported that day. The justification given was that Germany has
not yet started to build the 36,000 apartments in the USSR for
returning Soviet forces and their families. The statement added
that Moscow still wants to withdraw its troops from Germany by
the end of 1994 in line with treaty obligations. Bonn expressed
surprise at the announcement, noting that construction of the
housing had already begun. (Keith Bush)

GERMANY SUMMONS SOVIET ENVOY. A German foreign ministry spokesman
said on June26 the German government summoned Soviet ambassador
Vladislav Terekhov that day. The foreign ministry said it pointed
out that the German-Soviet transitional agreement related to
troop withdrawal called on Germany to provide funding for but
not to implement housing projects in the Soviet Union. Furthermore,
the ministry pointed out that the Soviet-German agreements signed
in 1990 contain no provisions for the synchronization of the
Soviet troop withdrawal and the housing construction program,
DPA reported June 26. (Suzanne Crow)

NATO CONCERNED ABOUT SOVIET HIGH COMMAND. Sources within NATO
are concerned that top Soviet generals, embittered by Moscow's
loss of power in Eastern Europe, are starting to cut back contacts
with the West and to speak increasingly in hard-line terms, Reuter
reported on June 27. One source said that the General Staff is
no longer "being open" with Western officials, and that it has
also closed itself off from the rest of Soviet society. The NATO
sources pointed especially to a very harsh article authored by
former Warsaw Pact Chief of Staff Vladimir Lobov that was published
in issue No. 2 of Voennaya mysl' this year. In it, Lobov renounced
the CFE treaty and demanded qualitative military superiority
over the West. (Stephen Foye)

GORBACHEV TO REQUEST NATO INVITATION. US and Western sources
say the Soviet President is likely to request an invitation to
attend the November NATO meeting in Rome, The Washington Times
reported on June 26. Bush Administration and NATO officials said
that they would oppose neither Gorbachev's attending, nor his
addressing, the meeting. They cautioned, however, that the Kremlin
has yet to make a formal request. The report suggested Gorbachev
might use the November meeting to promise substantial cuts in
arms and arms production--a policy that could further alienate
the Soviet High Command but that would help him in gaining Western
economic aid. (Stephen Foye)

FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT ON YUGO-SLAVIA. The USSR Foreign Ministry
said in a statement published in Pravda on June 27 that the documents
adopted by the Slovenian and Croatian parliaments "have not been
recognized by the SFRY state bodies and cannot be regarded as
promoting the resolution of Yugoslavia's complex problems." The
MFA said "the Soviet Union continues to ad-vocate the unity and
territorial integrity of Yugo-slavia, the inviolability of its
borders (including internal borders) and the right of the peoples
ofYugo-slavia to decide their own future. It also supports the
federal structures of authority that are striving to preserve
the Yugoslav state." (Suzanne Crow)

SOVIET ARMY TO FACE "MAC ATTACK?" In a bizarre commentary on
changing times, General Staff Chief Mikhail Moiseev met on June
24 with George Cohon, a top McDonald's executive, to discuss
"the potential of supplying food services for some large military
bases in the USSR," The Daily Telegraph and The Times reported
on June 26. The Soviet general reportedly told TASS he was ready
for "broad cooperation" with the American fast food chain. The
Big Mac may be just what notoriously ill-fed Soviet conscripts
need to supplement their standard diet, The Times suggested.
(Stephen Foye)

COMPENSATION FOR INVALID CARE. The USSR Cabinet of Ministers
has adopted a decision on paying compensation to those caring
for invalids, Radio Moscow-1 reported June 24. Able-bodied individuals
who are looking after invalids of the first group, disabled children
up to the age of 16, or elderly persons over the age of 80, will
receive 60rubles a month to offset the April 2 retail price increases.
(Keith Bush)

RSFSR TV NEWS PROGRAM MORE POPULAR THAN "VREMYA." The flagship
of RSFSR television, the news program "Vesti," is more popular
than Central Television's main news show, "Vremya," a recent
opinion poll conducted by the All-Union Center of the Study of
Public Opinion demonstrates. According to "Radio Rossii," June26,
the poll showed that 57% of those questioned prefer the RSFSR
TV newscasts, while 43% still stick to "Vremya." (Vera Tolz)


GORBACHEV HOLDS TALKS WITH MAXWELL. Mikhail Gorbachev held talks
in Moscow on June26 with British media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
TASS said discussions focused on matters regarding the media
and the Soviet economy. No further details were given. (Vera
Tolz)

MERGER OF DEMOCRATS WITH REFORMIST COMMUNISTS. The press conference
which, according to Russian Television of June 25, was to have
been held on June 26 to announce the departure of Aleksandr Yakovlev
and Eduard Shevardnadze from the CPSU, did not take place. When
it contacted Yakovlev's office on June 25, Russian TV's "Vesti"
was told that he was in hospital. On 26, however, "Vesti" quoted
Arkadii Murashev and Garry Kasparov as insisting there is still
a real possibility of a merger between the reformist wing of
the CPSU and the RSFSR democratic movement. "Vesti" also reported
mounting discontent within the Russian Communist Party over the
policies of its conservative leader Ivan Polozkov. "Vesti" said
demands for his ouster are increasing. (Vera Tolz)

NEW GROUP WITHIN DEMOCRATIC MOVEMENT TO BE CREATED. A conference
was held over the weekend in Moscow to discuss the creation of
a new organization to be called the "Liberal-Conservative Union,"
AP reported June 26. Participants included leading members of
the "Democratic Russia" movement--Yurii Afanas'ev, Garry Kasparov
and Arkadii Murashev. The AP gave few details, but another "Democratic
Russia" leader, Galina Starovoitova, revealed that radical members
of "Democratic Russia" have for some time been considering setting
up their own group, which would have a broader aim than merely
supporting the policies of Boris Yeltsin. Starovoitova explained
that, now that Yeltsin has been elected RSFSR president, he needs
a "constructive opposition." The Liberal-Conservative Union may
intend to play such a role. (Vera Tolz)

DEPUTY BELOZERTSEV FILES SUIT AGAINST LUK'YANOV. A leader of
the RSFSR democratic movement, USSR people's deputy Sergei Belozertsev,
has filed a law suit against the chairman of the USSR Supreme
Soviet Anatolii Luk'yanov, "Radio Rossii" reported June 26. Belozertsev
is accusing Luk'yanov of abusing his powers and of harassing
outspoken, pro-democratic deputies in the Soviet parliament.
The radio quoted the Moscow city Soviet newspaper, Kuranty, as
saying the court hearing of the case opened in the Moscow city
court on June 26. (Vera Tolz)

ASSOCIATION SET UP TO PREVENT "BRAIN DRAIN." The first international
association has been set up in Moscow to prevent Soviet scientists
and technicians from leaving the USSR for abroad, Radio "Mayak"
reported June 26. The radio did not identify the Soviet and Western
organizations sponsoring the new association, and was also vague
about the concrete program of the new association. But it cited
a representative of the association as saying his organization
seeks contacts with Western firms who are interested in joint
projects (especially industrial ones) with Soviet enterprises
and institutes. There is a growing exodus of scientists from
the Soviet Union at present. The Soviet government and the USSR
Academy of Sciences appreciate its danger and are trying to work
out policies to preventing the emigration of scientists and technicians.
(Vera Tolz)


USSR--IN THE REPUBLICS


DISCUSSION OF DRAFT UNION TREATY INSUPREME SOVIETS. The Tajik,
Kirgiz, and Azer-baijani Supreme Soviets approved the draft Union
treaty on the whole June 26, Soviet media reported. Belorussia
and Kazakhstan did so earlier. The RSFSR Supreme Soviet is due
to discuss it June 27, "Radio Rossii" reported June 24, and the
USSR SupSov in the first half of July, according to "Vremya"
of June 25. The unofficial Russian news agency RIA reported June
26 that a session of the USSR Congress of People's Deputies has
been called for August 27 to discuss the draft. While the draft
does seem to be moving through the parliaments, there are still
major points of disagreement, and it is obvious from the timetable
above that the treaty will not be signed in July. (Ann Sheehy)


YELTSIN COMMENTS ON UNION TREATY. RSFSR President-elect Boris
Yeltsin told the RSFSR Supreme Soviet June 26 that several points
in the new draft Union treaty remain to be resolved. Yeltsin
said these include the division of powers between Moscow and
the republics, taxation, and who the signatories to the treaty
will be. It seems agreement has still not been reached whether
the autonomous republics will sign the Union treaty individually
or as parts of the Union republics to which they belong. (Elizabeth
Teague)

YELTSIN RECOUNTS HIS TRIP TO USA. Yeltsin went on to give the
RSFSR Supreme Soviet an account of his recent visit to the USA,
TASS reported June 26. Yeltsin said the most important result
was that the Bush administration had agreed to establish independent
ties with the Russian Federation. Stressing that a renewed Russia
will have to convince its new partners that it wants to play
a stabilizing role in world politics, Yeltsin said he does not
want, in his foreign policy, to act in opposition to USSR president
Mikhail Gorbachev. The RSFSR, he repeated, has no intention of
asking the West for credits. Yeltsin urged the RSFSR parliament
to adopt a law on foreign investment. (Alexander Rahr)

UKRAINIAN "SOLIDARITY." Representatives of strike committees,
"Rukh," and the Ukrainian Republican Party have formed a Ukrainian
"Soli-darity," Radio Moscow reported June 26. The All-Ukrainian
Organization of Solidarity of Workers is headed by Oleksandr
Ivashenko, a Donetsk miner, and its consultative council by Stepan
Khmara, who is currently on trial. The new organization's first
step was to protest against Ukraine's entry into any kind of
union until the attainment of complete state independence. (Roman
Solchanyk)

KRAVCHUK ON UNION TREATY. Chairman of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet
Leonid Kravchuk has raised serious objections to the draft Union
treaty in an article in Trud, TASS reported June 26. Kravchuk
argues that the draft posits the new Union as a sovereign state,
which is unacceptable. In his view, the new formation should
be a "state union." (Roman Solchanyk)

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENCY UPDATE. Draft legislation on the institution
of a presidency in Ukraine was approved June 26 by the republic's
Supreme Soviet, Radio Kiev reported. The president would be the
highest executive in Ukraine and the "guarantor of state sovereignty."
The president and vice president would be chosen simultaneously
by universal ballot, with a limit of two five-year terms in office.
The draft legislation was opposed by both leaders of the Communist
majority bloc in parliament, Oleksandr Moroz and Communist Party
first secretary Stanislav Hurenko, who absented themselves during
the discussion and voting. (Kathy Mihalisko)

UKRAINE CLAIMS EXCLUSIVE TAXATION RIGHTS. The Ukrainian Supreme
Soviet on June26 approved a bill claiming exclusive tax collection
rights for the republic, according to TASS. The bill flies in
the face of the provision in the draft Union treaty allowing
for separate republican and all-Union taxes. (Kathy Mihalisko)


IMPRISONED MINSK JOURNALIST APPEALS FOR HELP. Radio Liberty's
Belorussian service learned June 25 that journalist Valerii Sedov
has appealed to the US embassy in Moscow for help. Sedov was
imprisoned May 7 without trial for his part in a November anticommunist
rally in Minsk and faces up to five years in jail for "hooliganism."
The letter protests conditions in his prison. In addition, the
Belorussian Prosecutor's Office has circulated a letter asking
that the republican Supreme Soviet strip Belorussian Popular
Front Zyanon Paznayk of his deputy's immunity so that he can
be charged with leading the demonstration in November. (Kathy
Mihalisko)

ADZHAR ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCED. The ruling Round Table/Free
Georgia coalition won 47.5% of the vote in the June 23 Adzhar
ASSR Supreme Soviet elections, Iberia News Agency announced June
26. The Adzharia bloc won 19.3% and the independent Georgian
Communist Party won 17.6%. The elections had been postponed three
times as a result of domestic tensions, specifically opposition
to Georgian President Gamsakhurdia's proposal to hold a referendum
on whether or not to preserve the republic's autonomous status
within Georgia. (Liz Fuller)

AZERBAIJAN SETS DATE FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS. The Azerbaijan
Supreme Soviet June26 scheduled direct presidential elections
for September 8. Ayaz Mutalibov, named president by the parliament
in May, 1990, has announced that he will run as a candidate,
TASS reported June 26. A spokesman for the Independent Azerbaijan
Democratic Bloc told RL's Azerbaijani service that it would nominate
a candidate only on condition that the state of emergency in
Baku is lifted, that an independent non-communist commission
be created to monitor political developments in Azerbaijan, and
that an international commission oversee the actual election.
(Liz Fuller)

AMOCO JOINT VENTURE WITH AZERBAIJAN. AP and The Wall Street Journal
reported June 26 that an AMOCO subsidiary has received permission
for joint development of an offshore oil field in the Caspian
Sea off Azerbaijan. A feasibility study is to be undertaken over
the next 18 months. Exact details of the deal have still to be
hammered out. Azerbaijan currently produces 2-5% of the entire
Soviet oil production. (Liz Fuller)

MOLDAVIA HOSTS CONFERENCE ON RIBBENTROP-MOLOTOV PACT. An inter-national
conference on "The Ribbbentrop-Molotov Pact and its Consequences
for Moldavia" opened in Kishinev June 26, sponsored by the Moldavian
parliament and with the participation of Western and Eastern
European scholars and parliamen-tarians. Moldavian parliament
chairman Alexandru Mosanu told a press conference that Kishinev's
decision to organize the conference came in response to Gorbachev's
December 22, 1990, decree on normalizing the situation in Moldavia;
that decree ordered Kishinev to rescind its appraisal of the
Ribbentrop-Molotov pact and the ensuing Soviet annexation as
illegal. (Vladimir Socor)

MOLDAVIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR REMOVING PACT'S CONSEQUENCES. Addressing
the opening session of the conference, Moldavian President Mircea
Snegur said that a truly new, integrated and democratic Europe
cannot exist until the consequences of the Ribbentrop-Molotov
pact and of Stalinism are removed from the Baltic states and
Moldavia. Snegur said Moldavia and the Baltic states had for
the past 50 years been "excluded from international life" and
"had an alien form of statehood, hostile to and incompatible
with their civilizations," imposed on them by the USSR which
"cut them off from the progress of mankind." The Baltic and Moldavian
problems are not local but international problems, he said. (Vladimir
Socor)

USSR MILITARY OPPOSES REMOVAL OF LENIN FROM KISHINEV. Kishinev
Mayor Nicolae Costin told Moldovapres June 26 that the planned
relocation of the Lenin monument from Kishinev's central square
was being resisted by the CPSU, the USSR MVD (which has detailed
special troops to downtown Kishinev to guard the monument), and
the command of the Southwestern military district. Costin said
the district command "is putting pressure on the Moldavian authorities
to give up their decision" to move the monument. The mayor has
met with the district command to reassure them that the "conservative
forces and all those who worship Lenin will have the opportunity
to lay as many flowers as they wish at the monument" at its new
location, in a park on the outskirts of Kishinev. (Vladimir Socor)