No. 144, 31 July 1991

BALTIC STATES



VIOLENT NIGHT IN LITHUANIA. Six dead and two injured Lithuanian
border guards were found at the Medininkai customs post on the
Belorussian border early this morning (July 31), Radio Independent
Lithuania reported. Travelers passing through the post at 5:00
a.m.discovered the guards, apparently victims of an armed attack.
The Lithuanian prosecutor's office is currently investigating.
In another incident, a bomb exploded outside a Soviet army building
in Vilnius at 2:50a.m.this morning. No injuries were reported
in the blast, which shattered some windows in the area. (Gytis
Liulevicius)

LITHUANIA DEMANDS WITHDRAWAL OF OMON. The Lithuanian government
called on the USSR to take "decisive measures to halt the illegal
actions of OMON divisions on Lithuanian territory," Radio Independent
Lithuania reported July 30. The July29 statement demanded that
the USSR either disband the OMON or withdraw it from Lithuania.
OMON units attacked the Salociai customs post near Latvia twice
on July 28, bringing the total number of OMON-inspired border
incidents in Lithuania to25. The Lithuanian government accused
the USSR and its Interior Ministry of "not taking any concrete
actions" to control the OMON. (Gytis Liulevicius)

LITHUANIA RECOGNIZES SLOVENIA AND CROATIA. In a resolution adopted
July 30, the Lithuanian parliament recognized the "independent
republics of Slovenia and Croatia," Radio Independent Lithuania
reported July 31. "The legal aspirations of these republics are
an expression of the sovereign will of their people," the resolution
read, empowering the Lithuanian government to "establish relations
with the governments" of Slovenia and Croatia. The resolution
drew parallels between the Baltic and Balkan independence drives,
formalizing earlier Lithuanian declarations of support for Slovenia
and Croatia. (Gytis Liulevicius)

BUSH ON BALTICS. In his speech to the Moscow State Institute
for International Relations on July30, US President George Bush
raised the Baltic issue as an obstacle to further improvement
of US-USSR relations, an RFE/RL correspondent in Moscow reported
that day. According to Bush, "only good-faith negotiations with
the Baltic governments can address the yearnings of their people
to be free." The brief remark followed Bush's announcement of
plans to extend MFN status to the USSR, which may be complicated
by Senator Bill Bradley's intention to introduce a bill requesting
separate MFN status for the Baltic States, reactivating existing
treaties concluded in the 1920s. (Gytis Liulevicius)

BUSH, YELTSIN AGREE ON BALTIC POLICY. RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin
said last night (July30) that he and Bush share the same policy
on the Baltic States. In an interview with CNN, Yeltsin said
he was pleased that he and Bush concur, and that it was very
unfortunate that USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev pursues a different
policy on the Baltics. (Sallie Wise)

GERMAN HELP FOR LATVIAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. During a recent
visit to Riga, representatives of the Chamber of Commerce and
Industry of the city of Hagen in Westphalia offered their expertise
to improve the structure and operation of the Latvian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry, reported Diena of July 30. Robert Dick,
president of the Hagen organization, also expressed interest
in greater economic cooperation between Germany and Latvia. (Dzintra
Bungs)

LATVIAN POLICEMEN TO GET TRAINING IN CANADA. Latvian policemen
are to get additional training in Canada. This agreement was
reached between Canadian representative David Warnerand Latvian
officials, according to Diena of July 30. Warner, speaker of
the Ontario Provincial Parliament, is visiting Latvia this week.
(Dzintra Bungs)

POLITICAL PARTIES IN LATVIA. According to the latest issue (No.
16) of Awakening, the English-language publication of the weekly
newspaper Atmoda, there are nine political parties in Latvia:
Communist Party (126,000 members), Democratic Labor Party (7,100
members), Social Democratic Workers Party (800), Liberal Party
(100), Rebirth Party (100 members), Republican Party (membership
figure not available), Farmers' Union (400), and the Free Citizens'
Conservative Party (200). The membership figures are approximate.
Except for the Latvian Communist Party, which is a branch of
the CPSU, all other parties support Latvia's independence. Not
included on the list are three important political organizations
also advocating independence: the People's Front of Latvia, Latvia's
National Independence Movement, and the Citizens' Congress. (Dzintra
Bungs)


USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS



SUMMIT CONTINUES. The first day of talks between US President
Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev July 30 yielded few surprises,
as reported by TASS and Western media. Both presidents were upbeat
about the "new age" in US-Soviet relations. Economic concerns
appear to have predominated the talks. In a speech at a Kremlin
banquet last night, Gorbachev appealed for still more economic
assistance to the USSR. This morning (July 31), Bush told a group
of Soviet and US businessmen that the US wants to expand economic
cooperation with the USSR. The two presidents today are scheduled
to sign the START treaty and to discuss the Middle East, Afghanistan,
and Cuba. (SallieWise)

YELTSIN MEETS BUSH SEPARATELY. It was RSFSR President Yeltsin
who provided the surprise yesterday. He did not appear as planned
for a meeting and working lunch as part of the Soviet delegation,
and instead met with Bush later as RSFSR President in his Kremlin
office. An RSFSR government spokesman said Yeltsin had informed
Gorbachev the previous evening that he preferred to meet Bush
on those terms; Igor Malashenko, deputy spokesman to Gorbachev,
played down Yeltsin's absence from the joint meeting. After meeting
Bush, Yeltsin announced that the RSFSR intends to establish formal
links with the US, to be spelled out in a document to be signed
after the Union treaty is signed, Western agencies reported July
30. Yeltsin did attend the Kremlin banquet last evening, as did
Eduard Shevardnadze. (Sallie Wise)

BAKER, BESSMERTNYKH SIGN BILATERAL AGREEMENTS. US Secretary of
State James Baker and Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksandr Bessmertnykh
yesterday signed several agreements expanding bilateral US-Soviet
cooperation, RFE/RL's correspondent in Moscow reported July 30.
Among the agreements are a protocol on technical and economic
exchange, a memorandum of understanding on disaster relief, a
memorandum on security cooperation to prevent hijacking and terrorism
in aviation, an agreement on assistance in housing development,
and another agreement on medical emergencies. According to Western
agencies, the protocol on technical economic cooperation would
permit the US to extend aid to Soviet republics as well as to
the central government. (Sallie Wise)

BUSH PROMISES MOVEMENT ON MFN. During his speech to the Moscow
State Institute for International Relations on July 30, Bush
announced that, upon his return to Washington, he will ask the
US Congress to approve the US-Soviet trade agreement that was
initially signed in 1990. This would pave the way for granting
most favored nation trade status to the Soviet Union, a step
delayed until an acceptable emigration law was passed by the
USSR Supreme Soviet and by a dispute over intellectual property
rights. (Keith Bush)

BUSH CALLS FOR RETURN OF KURILES. Before his first round of talks
with Gorbachev on July 30, Bush noted that Moscow's territorial
dispute with Tokyo "could hamper [Soviet] integration into the
world economy." Later in the day, in a speech to the Moscow State
Institute for International Relations, Bush referred to "conflicts
and quarrels rooted in a world war fought 50 years ago . . .
disputes like Japan's claim, which we support, for the return
of the northern territories," Bush said. Bush's comments were
headline news in Japan on July 31. (Suzanne Crow)

AND REDUCED AID TO CUBA. In the same speech to the International
Relations Institute, Bush said: "the United States poses no threat
to Cuba, therefore, there is no need for the Soviet Union to
funnel millions of dollars in military aid to Cuba, especially
since a defiant Castro, isolated by his own obsolete totalitarianism,
denies his people any move toward democracy. Castro does not
share your faith in glasnost'. Castro does not share your faith
in perestroika," Bush said. (Suzanne Crow)

GORBACHEV AND YELTSIN REACH COMPROMISE ON TAXATION. The last
major obstacle to the RSFSR's signing the Union treaty was removed
on the night of July 29-30 when Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Kazakhstan
President Nursultan Nazarbaev agreed to a compromise on the question
of taxation, Western media reported July 30, citing Interfax
and the Russian Information Agency. Gorbachev yielded to Yeltsin's
insistence that all taxes should be paid to the republics, rather
than some taxes being paid directly to the center. At the same
time, Yeltsin conceded that a fixed percentage of the taxes should
be paid to the center rather than a lump sum, as he had earlier
demanded. It is not clear from the reports how this percentage
will be decided. The compromise is clearly a setback for Gorbachev,
who had been insisting on federal taxes, and may not be welcomed
by some of the Central Asian republics who depend on subsidies
from the central budget. (Ann Sheehy)

WILL UNION TREATY BE SIGNED IN AUGUST? Yeltsin has been cited
as saying that he is now ready to sign the Union treaty tomorrow,
and in a Radio Rossii interview on July 30 he referred to a start
being made on signing the treaty in August. However, when the
RSFSR Supreme Soviet agreed at Yeltsin's urging to endorse the
draft in early July, it insisted that the RSFSR should not sign
the treaty until the RSFSR Supreme Soviet had voted on it again,
and the next session of the Supreme Soviet is not scheduled until
the fall. (Ann Sheehy)

HINTS ON TIES WITH ISRAEL. Soviet Foreign Minister Aleksandr
Bessmertnykh said on July 30 that speedy recognition of Israel
by the USSR depends on success in convening a Middle East peace
conference. The day before, the USSR stressed that the conference
should be held before the end of the year to avoid losing momentum.
The USSR restored consular ties with Israel in 1990. (Suzanne
Crow)

PRAVDA COMMENT ON MIDEAST. A Pravda commentary of July 30 praised
US work toward convening Mideast peace talks and said it has
"long been time to talk to all the countries of the Middle East
without any exceptions." The commentary also criticized the Palestinian
Liberation Organization for "having miscalculated badly by their
uninhibited 'romance' with Baghdad," Western agencies reported
July 30. (Suzanne Crow)

YAZOV ON MISSILES. Defense Minister Dmitrii Yazov said in a Novosti
interview published in Bratislava Pravda (July 26) that "the
American press, apparently in a quest for sensation, reported
that these missiles 'must have been fitted with Soviet nuclear
warheads after the treaty was signed.' The authors of this lie
did not even bother to consider the fact that the USSR strictly
abides by the nuclear arms nonproliferation treaty and therefore
could not, nor did it ever attempt, to offer nuclear weapons
to other states." Yazov did not address the issue of Soviet failure
to inform the US of the presence of SS-23 launchers in East European
countries. (Suzanne Crow)

GOSBANK TIGHTENS MONEY SUPPLY. The USSR Gosbank has introduced
measures to tighten the money supply, according to Interfax of
July 30 as reported by Western agencies that day. The central
bank disclosed that the money supply had risen by 41.6% during
the first half of 1991, and the budget deficit had grown to 60
billion rubles, i.e., roughly twice the planned level. Most of
the money in circulation was being used to repay the national
debt of around 800 billion rubles, while only one third of the
amount was utilized for new lending. The bank was reported to
have limited the interest rate on credits for financing the budget
deficit to 6% and to place a ceiling of 600 billion rubles on
credits intended to finance medium- and long-term debt. (Keith
Bush)

PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMS INITIATED. The USSR Cabinet of Ministers
has issued a decree on the organization of public works programs
for the unemployed, TASS reported July 30. Contracts will be
concluded with enterprises on a two-month basis with the possibility
of extension. Public works projects will be financed by local
authorities or, if necessary, through state subsidies. Among
the types of jobs listed are those in construction, a whole range
of agricultural operations, and care of invalids and the elderly.
The decree is part of a package of measures connected with the
recognition of, and dealing with, unemployment with effect from
July 1. (Keith Bush)

ANOTHER FORECAST OF BUDGET DEFICIT. The budget deficit in 1991
is expected to reach 172billion rubles. This is one of the projections
made concerning Soviet economic performance this year by a team
at the Institute of National Economic Forecasts, as reported
by APN July 26. The specialists rule out a catastrophe and even
forecast a "shaky balance" in the nation's economy, albeit with
growing structural instability and a considerable inflationary
potential (quantified at 258 billion rubles "in the sphere of
consumption"). The limited stabilization is predicated on the
adoption of "an effective anti-crisis mechanism of economic management."
The APN item does not explain whether this refers to the new,
improved Pavlovian program. (Keith Bush)

FREE RIDES ON MOSCOW METRO TODAY. Muscovites will be able to
ride the subway for free today (July 31), thanks to the 3M company,
TASS reported July 30. TASS quoted Izvestia of that day as saying
that in return, 3M will be allowed to broadcast advertisements
through the metro's loudspeakers all day. The company reportedly
plans to "buy" two more days before the end of this year. (Sallie
Wise)


USSR--IN THE REPUBLICS



ECONOMIST APPOINTED YELTSIN'S PRESS SECRETARY. As cited by Radio
Rossii on July 20, Pavel Voshchanov has been appointed press
secretary to Yeltsin. Voshchanov, who was born in 1948 and graduated
from the Tashkent Institute of the National Economy, has worked
in the scientific research institute of the USSR State Construction
Committee, in the Institute of Economics of the USSR Academy
of Sciences, and as a journalist for Komsomol'skaya pravda. According
to Radio Rossii, Voshchanov has been closely associated with
Yeltsin since 1985 (probably, that is, since Yeltsin's stint
in April-December 1985 as head of the CPSU Central Committee
Construction Department.) Voshchanov, who was elected to the
RSFSR Congress of People's Deputies in 1990, appears to be replacing
Valentina Lantseva as Yeltsin's press secretary; it is not known
whether Lantseva has a new assignment on the Yeltsin team. (Elizabeth
Teague)

STANKEVICH NAMED YELTSIN ADVISER. Sergei Stankevich, former deputy
chairman of the Moscow city soviet, has been appointed a state
adviser to the RSFSR President, Vesti reported July 30. (Sallie
Wise)

YELTSIN SAYS HIS DECREE DIVERTED CONSERVATIVES. Yeltsin was cited
by Interfax July 30 as saying he timed the publication of his
decree banning the Communist Party from workplaces in the Russian
Republic deliberately, in order to help Gorbachev ward off conservative
opposition. Yeltsin said he helped divert "the thrust of the
reactionaries" at last week's plenum of the CPSU Central Committee.
Conservatives at that plenum urged Gorbachev to overrule Yeltsin's
decree, which had been announced five days earlier, but Gorbachev
has not yet obeyed. Yeltsin said he doubts Gorbachev will do
so since it could destroy a "certain stability in our relationship."
(Elizabeth Teague)

DEPARTIFICATION DECREE MAY INCREASE EXODUS FROM PARTY. First
Secretary of the Novosibirsk oblast Party committee Vladimir
Mindolin, one of the architects of the pre-plenum anti-Gorbachev
campaign, told TASS on July 30 that up to half of the oblast's
CP members may leave the Party after Yeltsin's departification
decree takes effect. A district secretary predicted that two-thirds
of the local Communists would quit the Party; neither explained
why. Mindolin said the Party's task now is to form cells based
on profession, age, and other criteria. (Dawn Mann)

MEMBER OF RCP POLITBURO COMPLAINS OF "FASCIST DECREE." Gennadii
Zyuganov, chief ideologist of the RSFSR CP, said in an interview
with RSFSR television July 30 that he had studied the laws of
many countries and concluded that only fascist dictatorships,
not democratic countries, have laws like Yeltsin's decree on
"departification." Apparently Zyuganov did not understand that
the decree bans Party cells only from the workplace, since he
wrongly claimed that it bans political activities altogether.
Zyuganov acknowledged that Yeltsin's decree came as no surprise
to him, since Yeltsin had promised to issue such a decree more
than once during his campaign for the post of RSFSR president.
He promised that the RSFSR CP will not obstruct the decree. (Julia
Wishnevsky)

"DEPARTIFICATION": WHERE TO INFORM ON ADULTERY? An amusing illustration
of possible ramifications of Yeltsin's decree on "departification"
appeared among letters to the editor of Trud (July25). In the
past, wrote a woman from Ivanovo, "if I noticed a husband or
a wife distracted aside for intimate relations, I always threatened
[the man or woman in question] with a [primary] Party committee."
Such a threat, the letter writer testified, had its effect--i.e.,
it preserved many families. Today, the woman complained bitterly,
she has nowhere to turn "in order to fight sexual perversions
[to ensure] the purity of morality," because no one in the Soviet
Union is afraid of the Party committees any more. (Julia Wishnevsky)


"DEMOCRATS" UP IN ARMS AGAINST "DEMOCRATIC" MAYOR. Vesti reported
July 30 on a rally organized near the Moscow City headquarters
by that backbone of the "Democratic Russia" movement, the Voters
Club of the USSR Academy of Sciences. The demonstrators protested
against an appointment by Mayor Gavriil Popov of one of his deputies,
Boris Nikol'sky. (Nikol'sky, then the second secretary of the
Georgian CP, is believed to have been primarily responsible for
the Tbilisi massacre of April 1989. Moreover, he was singled
out by none other than Popov's close associate, Leningrad Mayor
Anatolii Sobchak, who chaired the parliamentary commission investigating
the massacre.) The rally of the Voters' Club was not the first
occasion when activists of "Democratic Russia" rallied against
Popov's appointment of discredited CPSU officials to crucial
positions in the Moscow administration (see also Kuranty, July
11, Nezavisimaya gazeta, July 9). Popov (who is a co-chairman
of "Democratic Russia") justifies his choices by pointing out
that the appointments are not political ones and that these people,
such as Nikol'sky, proved to be good economic managers. (Julia
Wishnevsky)

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH AND CONGRESS OF COMPATRIOTS. Radio Rossii
reported on July 30 that a festive church service in the Kremlin's
Uspenskii cathedral will be held at the beginning of the International
Congress of Compatriots on August 19. The organizing committee
of the congress sent out about 800 invitations to members of
famous Russian families now living abroad. A roundtable talk
of scientists, Russian cultural representatives, and Orthodox
clergy is planned at the congress. (Oxana Antic)

MOSQUES OPENED IN DAGESTAN. In the last two years over 300 mosques
and prayer-houses, closed in the 1930s, have been restored and
returned to believers in Dagestan, TASS reported July 30. In
many villages officially-registered Muslim religious communities
are once again functioning. (Ann Sheehy)

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT RECEIVES NEW POWERS, APPEALS TO BUSH. Moscow
Radio reported July 30 that the Georgian Supreme Soviet had amended
the Georgian Constitution to give the republic's president the
power to suspend legislation enacted by the Supreme Soviets of
Georgia's autonomous republics that is at variance with the Georgian
Constitution. Also July 30, the Georgian Presidential press service
released to RFE/RL a copy of a letter from Gamsakhurdia to US
President Bush requesting that the US take a stand against what
are termed Soviet government "provocations" in the form of small
scale military incidents against Georgia. (Liz Fuller)

GEORGIAN SUPREME SOVIET WANTS TALKS WITH MOSCOW. TASS reported
July 30 that the Georgian Supreme Soviet has sent a letter to
the USSR Supreme Soviet affirming Georgia's readiness for talks
with the Soviet leadership on mutual relations. (Liz Fuller)


MESKHETIANS DEMAND RIGHT TO RETURN TO GEORGIA. Western news agencies
reported from Moscow July 30 that up to 1,000 Meskhetians --
the Muslim ethnic Georgians deported by Stalin from their homeland
in southern Georgia in November 1944 -- demonstrated outside
the Kremlin July 30 in the hope of bringing their plight to Bush's
attention. Many Meskhetians fled Uzbekistan following the violence
of 1989, but have not been allowed to resettle in Georgia. Vremya
July 30 quoted a Georgian presidential decree permitting Georgians
made homeless in the April30 earthquake to settle in the raions
formerly populated by Meskhetians. (Liz Fuller)

ARMENIA DENIES MOBILIZATION REPORT. TASS July 30 quoted the Armenian
news agency Armenpress as stating that an appeal to Armenian
youth broadcast July 28 (see Daily Report, July 29) was not the
call for mobilization it had been interpreted as by the Soviet
central media, but merely a request that young men register in
their home raions if they would be willing to serve in self-defense
units should the need arise. (Liz Fuller)

"RUKH" AND THE BUSH VISIT. President Bush's visit to Kiev tomorrow
(August 1), the first by a US president in 19 years, is being
acclaimed in the Ukrainian media as a further step in the development
of Ukrainian sovereignty. At the same time, according to a Radio
Kiev report on July 30, the democratic opposition in the republic
is planning to protest the possibility that President Bush might
use the occasion to express his support for a speedy conclusion
of the new Union treaty. (Roman Solchanyk)

NUMBER OF EMIGRANTS FROM MOLDAVIA UP. The authorities in Moldavia
this year have issued more than 10,000 exit visas for permanent
residence abroad, TASS reported July 30. This is more than double
the figures for the same period last year. Over 9,000 were for
Israel, more than 300 for the US, and about 200 for Germany.
Moldavian experts are said to be concerned at the growth in emigration,
but have so far found no way of halting it. (Ann Sheehy)

OPPOSITION TO MOLDAVIAN LAW ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT. Implementation
of the law on local government recently adopted by the Moldavian
parliament is encountering serious difficulties, TASS reported
July 30. In southern raions inhabited by Gagauz and Bulgarians
and in the predominantly Russian-speaking Dniester area, the
new law is seen as a dismantling of Soviet power, according to
TASS. Deputies and the local population say that the law turns
the soviets into purely advisory bodies while strengthening vertical
executive power not subject to the soviets. (Ann Sheehy)

MOLDAVIAN GREENS PUBLISHING JOURNAL. The "Green" movement in
Moldavia and the republican Department for the Protection of
the Environment and Natural Resources are to publish a weekly,
Abe natura, devoted to ecological problems, Novosti reported
July 30. One of their main concerns is the state of the Dniester
river, which is still suffering from the effects of the discharge
of hundreds of tons of chemical fertilizers into its waters seven
years ago. The editorial board will organize expeditions to particularly
badly affected areas, but will also seek decisions at the government
level since cooperation with both Ukraine and Romania will be
necessary. (Ann Sheehy)