No. 133, 16 July 1991

BALTIC STATES



LANDSBERGIS DEMANDS WITHDRAWAL OF OMON. Lithuanian Supreme Council
Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis called for the withdrawal of the
OMON from Lithuanian territory, Radio Independent Lithuania reported
July 15. In a telegram sent to Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev,
Landsbergis expressed his fear that the OMON will be used to
create provocations which could be used as "a pretext for new
Soviet army actions in Lithuania." In a July 12 press release,
the Lithuanian government information bureau warned of a possible
provocation, planned by the Soviet army, in which the OMON would
clash with Soviet troops in civilian or Lithuanian police uniforms.
(Gytis Liulevicius)

LITHUANIAN PROSECUTOR CRITICIZES TRUBIN REPORT. On July 15 a
4-page letter from Prosecutor of the Republic of Lithuania Arturas
Paulauskas to USSR Prosecutor General Nikolai Trubin was released,
Radio Independent Lithuania reported that day. Paulauskas criticized
Trubin's preliminary report of June 3 on the Soviet military's
attack on the Vilnius TV tower on January 13 as "a gross falsification
intended to stabilize the situation in Lithuania and to protect
the organizers and executors [of the attack] whose aim was to
carry out an armed coup d'itat." Paulauskas condemned as illegal
the efforts of the USSR Procuracy to obtain false statements
from witnesses exonerating the military. (Saulius Girnius)

LITHUANIAN PROTEST IN MOSCOW. Lithuanian TV employees protested
in Moscow on July 15,Radio Independent Lithuania reportedthat
day. Ten demonstrators picketed the press center and marched
from the Defense Ministry to KGB headquarters in protest against
the continuing occupation of the television tower and other media
facilities in Vilnius. "More than 2,000 radio and television
employees were forcibly put out of work," said one protester.
"The USSR is denying our right to receive and impart information."
The group will continue its protest and petition drive today
(July16) at the central television building. (Gytis Liulevicius)


MVD OFFICIAL ON OMON. Doctor of Juridical Sciences and professor
at the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy Anatoly Maidikov
told Megapolis Express of June 13 that a common strategy has
been developed for OMON forces in Latvia, Lithuania, Moldavia,
and Sumgait. The principal guidelines for crowd control are:
cooperation, compromise, restraint, and finally the use of force.
Latvian security department head Janis Baskers commented to Diena
of July 15 that such guidelines have been used in the past by
the KGB. Baskers said that the first guideline is particularly
dangerous; he views it as an effort of the OMON to infiltrate
various key organizations. (Dzintra Bungs)

MORE SOVIET OFFICERS AND FAMILIES SETTLE IN LATVIA. In the first
half of 1991, 45 Soviet army officers and their families (altogether
138 persons), plus 43 other individuals (from Ukraine, Lithuania,
Kazakhstan, Estonia, Buryatia, and the Sakhalin region) settled
in the Liepaja raion in western Latvia. Although migration to
Latvia is limited by law, loopholes continue to exist. In this
regard, the Soviet military and their dependents appear to have
ignored existing restrictions in Latvia. Diena also reported
on July 11 that in the same period 212 persons had left the Liepaja
raion for other regions of the USSR. (Dzintra Bungs)

ALLOCATION OF FARM LAND IN LATVIA. In conjunction with agricultural
reforms taking place in Latvia, 75,000 persons have requested
land to start their own farms. Zigurds Veitners, head of the
land allocation department, said the land requested by individuals,
together with the land that kolkhozes and sovkhozes would like
to retain (72% and 75%, respectively, of what they had), exceeds
the available farm land in Latvia by about 25%. Currently there
are about 9,000 individual farms in Latvia. About 100,000 former
farm owners or their heirs have requested the return of their
farms; of these, 1,400 requests have come from Latvians living
in the West, reported Diena on July11. Novosti reported on July
12 that altogether 334,756 requests for land have been made in
Latvia. (Dzintra Bungs)

MERI IN LONDON. Estonia's Foreign Minister Lennart Meri told
reporters yesterday that any Western aid to the Soviet Union
should target the republics, RFE/RL's correspondent in London
reported July 15. "We have nothing against your helping the democratically
elected governments of Eastern Europe and the Soviet republics.
We would like only that this help be directed to the real problems,
and not be directed by the central government modernizing the
army." Meri is on a seven-day visit to London to outline the
views of the Baltic States on Western aid to the USSR. (Riina
Kionka)


USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS



G-7 AND AID FOR THE SOVIET UNION: WHAT'S NEW? Some information
about the contents of Gorbachev's letter to G-7 leaders has emerged
in the past 24 hours. First Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shcherbakov
told a press conference in Moscow that one aim was to persuade
Western governments to press Western firms to invest in projects
on a list that Gorbachev will present; another is to obtain full
membership in the IMF; and a third is to get Western assistance
with a $12billion stabilization fund to support a move to ruble
convertibility (Christian Science Monitor, July 15, The Los Angeles
Times, July 16). The first request assumes Western firms will
make decisions they otherwise would not, if their governments
tell them to. (Philip Hanson)

SPECTER OF "TURMOIL" IF AID IS NOT FORTHCOMING. Two Soviet officials
in London yesterday echoed past warnings of instability in the
USSR and abroad if Western countries do not provide economic
aid to the Soviet Union. Presidential Spokesman Vitalii Ignatenko
said "if we do not achieve close cooperation between the Soviet
Union and other countries, there could be turmoil not only for
the Soviet Union but elsewhere," The Chicago Tribune reported
July 16. Presidential adviser Evgenii Primakov said on BBC television
July 15, as reported by an RFE/RL correspondent in London, that
unless the West aids the Soviet economy, the USSR faces "the
real menace of social uprising." (Sallie Wise)

JAPAN STICKS TO ISLANDS FOR AID. During the first round of G-7
talks on July 15, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu called
for the Soviet Union to provide specific "proof of the application
of new global thinking" by resolving the Islands dispute with
Japan. Japan also noted that Gorbachev's elaboration of his reform
plans came too late for the G-7 to consider a massive aid package
during the London summit, Western agencies reported July15. (Suzanne
Crow)

JAPANESE OFFSET PAYMENT. Citing the Japanese daily Yomiuri of
July 11, TASS of the same date revealed that Kaifu is bringing
a commercial credit of $200 million to the USSR with him to the
G-7 summit. This has been put together by several Japanese banks,
and will be transferred to Vneshekonombank to reduce the $515
million current arrears in Soviet payments to Japanese firms.
(Keith Bush)

SHCHERBAKOV SAYS CONVERSION TO EXPAND. Shcherbakov said July
15 that current plans for converting Soviet defense industries
could expand to affect as much as 80% of the Soviet defense complex,
according to Western reports July16. The statement is clearly
designed to raise the profile of the Soviet conversion effort
as the USSR campaigns for aid from the industrialized West. An
all-Union program for conversion is scheduled to be examined
by the USSR Supreme Soviet this fall. (John Tedstrom)

GRAIN PROCUREMENT TARGET RESTATED. The USSR Cabinet of Ministers
has reminded Union republics of the need to meet this year's
grain procurement target of 77 million tons, Radio Moscow and
TASS reported July 15. This is considered to be an unrealistic
goal, being well above last year's procurement outturn of around
70 million tons from a record harvest. Farms that exceed their
quotas of grain sold to the state are offered a variety of scarce
consumer and producer goods, ranging from passenger cars to cement
to sewing machines, at state retail prices. Similar offers of
goods and hard currency have been largely ineffective during
the past two years due to poor administration of the scheme and
unavailability of products. (Keith Bush)

TROOPS MOBILIZED TO SAVE HARVEST. In a related move, the USSR
Ministry of Defense has allocated the troops and vehicles of
60 motorized battalions to help bring in this year's harvest,
according to Pravda of July 15, as cited by Western agencies.
Some 30,000 army vehicles will be involved. This mobilization
has been a regular feature of the annual harvest crisis for many
decades, but the situation this year is particularly acute. The
grain harvest is projected at 180-190 million tons; farmers are
reluctant to sell grain to the state because of the unfavorable
terms of trade; with exports of oil and arms down, the USSR's
hard-currency earnings have declined; and the general disintegration
of the economy has impacted on the agricultural sector. (Keith
Bush)

COAL MINERS' PAY SETTLEMENT. The USSR Ministry of Coal Mining
and the trade unions have concluded a tariff agreement that provides
for a doubling of miners' wages by the end of 1991, Trud reported
July 12. The pay hike was one of the principal demands made by
striking miners this spring. By the beginning of 1992, a 30-hour
workweek will be introduced for miners, and minimum wages in
the industry will be raised considerably. (Keith Bush)

TWO GROUPS TO JOIN MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS. A new Party
of Communists for Democracy, set up on the basis of the RSFSR
Supreme Soviet's faction of Communists for Democracy, is going
to join the newly created Movement for Democratic Reforms, TASS
reported July 15. The faction and the recently proposed party
are headed by RSFSR Vice President-elect Aleksandr Rutskoi, a
founding member of the movement. Rutskoi hopes that his new party
will oppose the conservative RSFSR CP and eventually drive it
out of the republican political arena. The same day, TASS reported
that another group, the Republican Party of Russia, also has
decided to join the Movement for Democratic Reforms. The Republican
Party was set up last year based on the radical wing of the Democratic
Platform within the CPSU. (Vera Tolz)

PROBLEMS WITH REGISTRATION OF CPSU. The CPSU was officially registered
this year under the law on public associations although its rules
have not yet been revised according to this law, Argumenty i
fakty (No. 26) reported. Last January, a CPSU CC plenum promised
to revise the rules by the end of the year, i.e., to add a required
chapter regulating the procedure for disbanding the Party. Argumenty
i fakty emphasized that the CPSU has not yet published even a
draft of the chapter. It quoted rank-and-file Communist Yurii
Kol'tsov as saying the CPSU leadership still does not know how
to solve the issue of the CPSU's property and archives in case
the Party is disbanded. Kol'tsov said 80% of average Communists
will support nationalization of the CPSU's property, but the
CPSU leadership cannot be satisfied with such a solution. (Vera
Tolz)

"SOYUZ" STILL AIMING AT VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE IN GORBACHEV. At
a press conference July 15, the leaders of "Soyuz" reiterated
their criticism of the draft Union treaty and accused Gorbachev
of pursuing a consistent policy of breaking up the country, TASS
reported the same day. Yurii Blokhin, chairman of "Soyuz"' Coordination
Council, said they were delaying the summoning of the Congress
of People's Deputies for a vote of no confidence in Gorbachev
only because they wanted to be sure they had the necessary qualified
majority to carry the motion. (Ann Sheehy)

POLOZKOV SAYS SPLIT IN PARTY IS "LONG OVERDUE." The hardline
leader of the RSFSR Communist party, Ivan Polozkov, was quoted
by TASS July 12 as saying a split within the CPSU is imminent
and even "long overdue." Polozkov called for a reregistration
of Party members to rid the CPSU of the "adventurists and careerists"
who, Polozkov said, had joined it in recent years. (Elizabeth
Teague)

MOSCOW REJECTS FORCE AGAINST IRAQ. Presidential spokesman Ignatenko
said July 15that Moscow opposes the use of military action to
force Iraq to abandon its nuclear weapons development. Speaking
at a London news conference, Ignatenko said that every method
except military action should be used to influence Iraq. (Suzanne
Crow)

TASS OBSERVER ON US THREAT TO IRAQ. TASS observer Yurii Tyssovsky
said in a July 15 commentary that it "does no honor to US diplomacy"
to take a "selective approach" toward Iraq with respect to its
nuclear weapons building potential. "Israel already has . . .
at least hundreds of nuclear warheads with their means of delivery,
and on the banks of the Potomac they aren't planning to take
sanctions against Tel Aviv." (Suzanne Crow)

BESSMERTNYKH WARNS YUGOSLAVIA'S NEIGHBORS. The Austrian magazine
Profil published a letter from Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksandr
Bessmertnykh (July 15) warning against intervention by Yugoslavia's
neighbors. He deplored recent arms deliveries allegedly made
to Yugoslavia without the knowledge "of the legitimate government"
of Yugoslavia. Bessmertnykh also condemned the "numerous overtures"
of "supporters of the disintegration" of Yugoslavia and concluded:
"unless there is a stop to attempts to meddle in the Yugoslav
internal crisis, all the conditions will be present to bring
about the same situation that existed at the beginning of the
century." (Suzanne Crow)

IRANIAN COMMANDER ON TALKS. Iranian Air Force Commander Brigadier
General Mansour Sattari said in an Islamic Republic News Agency
interview (July 11) that military ties between Tehran and Moscow
are good and that "continuation of the contacts between the officials
of the two countries can serve as a positive step in promotion
of cooperation and good neighborly relations between the two
countries." During Sattari's four days of talks, he met with
Defense Minister Dmitrii Yazov, Army General Ivan Tretyak, and
Air Force Commander General Evgenii Shaposhnikov. (Suzanne Crow)


SOLDIERS KILL TEN MATES. On the night of July14, two Soviet soldiers
shot to death ten of their sleeping mates in the Ulyanovsk district
on the Volga River east of Moscow, Western news agencies reported.
The two soldiers then fled, taking two submachineguns and 600
cartridges with them. An investigation has been launched. (Stephen
Foye)

DEFENSE MINISTRY TO SET UP OWN NEWS AGENCY. Defense Minister
Dmitrii Yazov has ordered the creation of a news agency to circulate
what he calls objective information on the USSR Armed Forces,
Soviet television reported on July11. The agency is to be called
"Intervoyeninform." The move undoubtedly reflects the military
leadership's dissatisfaction with what it considers unfair treatment
in the national media. (Stephen Foye)

SOVIET WOMEN'S COMMITTEE APPEALS AGAINST UNLAWFUL DISMISSALS.
The Soviet Women's Committee, noting the mass character of unlawful
and unjust dismissal of females, has appealed to heads of enterprises,
organizations, and councils of work collectives to put an end
to the situation. The appeal was reported in Rabochaya tribuna
on July 6. On July 1, the RSFSR opened its first unemployment
offices. Five thousand people visited these in Moscow in the
first week, which does not reflect an excessive level of unemployment.
As marketization begins in earnest, however, this will increase
dramatically. Both Soviet and western experts have predicted
that unemployment will hit women hardest. (Sarah Ashwin)


USSR--IN THE REPUBLICS



RSFSR CONGRESS REMAINS DEADLOCKED. The RSFSR Congress now has
been deadlocked for five days over the election of a new Supreme
Soviet chairman. A fifth ballot today (July 16) again failed
to produce a clear majority for any candidate. As TSN reported
July 16, the leader of the Communist faction, Sergei Baburin,
again outflanked the candidate of Democratic Russia, Ruslan Khasbulatov,
in the fifth round, and garnered ten more votes than yesterday,
but failed to get an absolute majority of votes. The democrats,
who form a majority at the Congress, are split on the candidacy
of Khasbulatov. Some accuse him of authoritariarism, others charge
that he has made too many compromises with conservatives. A third
group rejects Khasbulatov because he is non-Russian. (Alexander
Rahr/Julia Wishnevsky)

SOBCHAK ORDERS JOINT POLICE-MILITARY PATROLS. The new mayor of
Leningrad, Anatolii Sobchak, has ordered joint patrols by police
and military personnel to handle growing crime in Leningrad,
Radio Mayak reported on July 15. When Gorbachev ordered such
joint patrols throughout the country by presidential decree last
December, the decree was denounced as a step towards dictatorship.
Sobchak's order foresees that every day about 25 police and 75
military servicemen will participate in joint patrols. The crime
rate in Leningrad has risen by 15% this year, and the local police
is not technically equipped to deal with the problem. (Alexander
Rahr)

KASPAROV CRITICIZES YELTSIN. A co-founder of the new Conservative-Liberal
Party of Russia, Garry Kasparov, said that RSFSR President Boris
Yeltsin made a mistake in siding with Gorbachev. He told The
Sunday Times on July 14 that "in trying to save Gorbachev, he
[Yeltsin] will probably go down with him." Kasparov criticized
Yeltsin for having nominated as his deputy the Communist Rutskoi.
He also stated that by trusting Gorbachev's word on economic
reform or the remaking of the USSR along federal lines, "Yeltsin
has condemned himself." Kasparov said the greatest obstacle for
renewing the union will be Ukraine, which may elect a "nationalist"
and "straight-forward secessionist" as its president in elections
at the end of this year. (Alexander Rahr)

NEZHNYI ON CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOP OF MOSCOW. Noted religious publicist
Aleksandr Nezhnyi reviewed in Moskovskie novosti No. 26, incon-nection
with the enthronement of the first Catholic archbishop of Moscow
and the European part of RSFSR, Tadeus Kondrucievicz, the state
of Catholic-Orthodox relations in Russia. Nezhnyi appealed for
the unity of the two churches, saying they should remember the
common dark past. He also recalled the persecution of Catholic
priests at the beginning of the twentieth century. (Oxana Antic)


CONGRESS OF LUTHERANS IN LENINGRAD. TASS reported on July 13
that a Congress of Lutherans of Russia met that day for the first
time in 67years. This Forum will discuss vital problems of reviving
the Evangelical-Lutheran Church, pass Church statutes, and elect
its leadership. (Oxana Antic)

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON DEVELOPMENT OF THE NORTH. The
first international conference on the development of the north
and the problem of recultivation of areas damaged by mineral
extraction ended in Syktyvkar, the capital of the Komi SSR, July
11, TASS reported the same day. The conference recommended that
the experience accumulated in the Komi republic, Alaska, Yakutia,
and Tyumen' be used. A permanent coordination council for the
organization of scientific-production work on the recultivation
of the northern territories was set up. (Ann Sheehy)

250 YEARS OF BUDDHISM IN RUSSIA. TASS reported on July 14 that
the head of the Buddhists, the fourteenth Dalai Lama, arrived
in Ulan-Ude the same day and led a service to commemorate the
250th anniversary of the recognition of Buddhism in Russia as
a state religion. More than 20,000 believers came to join the
service, including many pilgrims from China, Mongolia, Japan,
Korea, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. After the service an announcement
was read, according to which the government decided to return
more than 2,000 sacred items to Buddhist monasteries. The Dalai
Lama arrived in the USSR on July 10 for a visit at the invitation
of Soviet Buddhists. (Oxana Antic)

MORE KILLED ON ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI BORDER. Interfax July 15
quoted Armenian Minister of Internal Affairs Ashot Manucharyan
as claiming that two villagers and three Azerbaijani soldiers
were killed in a clash in the Armenian-populated village of Erkend
when Soviet troops and Azerbaijani police units tried to implement
what were described as "passport controls." Also on July 15, both
Azerbaijani and USSR MVD, KGB and Army spokesmen denied any involvement
in an attack on three Armenian villages in Azerbaijan on July
13. (Liz Fuller)

UKRAINE'S "INDEPENDENCE DAY." Celebrations will take place today,
July 16, to mark Ukraine's first "Independence Day." The date
was chosen because it is the anniversary of the republic's Declaration
of State Sovereignty. (Kathy Mihalisko)

MALOFEEV IN FAVOR OF EXCHANGE OF PARTY CARDS. In an interview
published July 12 in Sovet-skaya Belorussiya, Belorussian CP chief
Anatolii Malofeev complained that the opposition was still trying
to force the issues of "departification" and nationalization
of CP property despite the republican Supreme Soviet's recent
rejection of these demands as unconstitutional and counter to
international laws. Malofeev said that a reregistration of CP
members should be carried out for the sake of strengthening Party
discipline. (Kathy Mihalisko)

TAJIK SUPREME SOVIET FORBIDS DEFAMATION OF PRESIDENT. TASS reported
on July 15 that Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet had passed a law
calling for up to six years imprisonment for individuals who
defame the president of the republic by disseminating "slanderous
materials." The report adds that public criticism of the president's
actions and policies is not subject to prosecution. The Tajik
law appears to be patterned on the USSR law passed in 1990. (Bess
Brown)

MORALS POLICE SET UP IN MOLDAVIA. The Moldavian MVD told journalists
July 15 that a morals police was being set up in Moldavia to
protect young people from the cult of violence, cruelty, and
pornography, TASS and Novosti reported July 15. An MVD spokesman
said the rapid growth of prostitution and the pornography business
made creation of the new body necessary. There are now about
800 prostitutes in Kishinev, compared with only about 200 three
years ago. Units of the morals police will be created in all
major population centers and on international routes through
the republic. (Ann Sheehy)

MOLDAVIA: NEW CENTER OF DRUG TRADE. In an interview with Vechernyi
Kishinev, police captain Igor' Shmelev stated that Moldavia was
becoming the drugs raw material base for the whole of the Soviet
Union and, seemingly, even the countries of Eastern Europe, Novosti
reported July11. Shmelev said that drugs are traded at virtually
every fee-paying parking lot, in underground passages, even at
hotels and in the youth center. Drug addiction is spreading like
an epidemic as each addict persuades at least five people to
take up drugs a year. Last season the police destroyed 120 hectares
of hemp and con-fiscated over 155 kilograms of drugs. (Ann Sheehy)


[As of 1300 CET] Compiled by Patrick Moore and Sallie Wise (END)