No. 190, 07 October 1991

USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS AND RSFSR



GORBACHEV ANNOUNCES NUCLEAR ARMS CUTS. In a televised speech
on October 5 that was reported by TASS and Western agencies,
Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev matched most of the nuclear
arms initiatives announced earlier by President George Bush and
added some additional measures of his own. He declared that the
USSR would cut its strategic nuclear arsenal to 5,000 warheads
rather than the 6,000 allowed under the recently signed Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty (START) and announced a unilateral one-year
moratorium on nuclear testing. In a major reversal in Soviet
policy, Gorbachev said that the USSR was willing to discuss American
proposals on anti-missile defenses and proposed a joint land-
and space-based system to warn of nuclear missile attack. He
also called on all the nuclear powers to declare that they would
not be the first to use nuclear weapons. (Doug Clarke)

. . . AND CONFIRMS SMALLER ARMED FORCES. In his October 5 speech,
Gorbachev confirmed that a further 700,000 personnel would be
cut from the Soviet armed forces. Last week Soviet the military
would be reduced from 3,700,000 to 3,000,000. Gorbachev also
suggested that the Strategic Rocket Forces, the Air Forces, and
the Air Defense Forces would be combined into one new military
service. (Doug Clarke)

BATTLE IN RSFSR OVER SIGNING ECONOMIC AGREEMENT. The question
of whether or not the RSFSR will sign the economic agreement
reached in Alma-Ata on October 1 could depend on the outcome
of fierce infighting between different members of Yeltsin's teams,
to judge by the latest reports in the Soviet media. In an interview
with Central Television on October 5, Yavlinsky put a brave face
on it, saying that there were fairly heated discussions going
on and the parliament would decide. RSFSR Justice Minister N.
Fedorov said on Central Television the same day that the treaty
was unacceptable since it contained an attempt to reanimate former
Union structures. According to Nezavisimaya gazeta of October
5, the RSFSR Council of Ministers had in effect disavowed RSFSR
Deputy Premier Evgenii Saburov's signature under the Alma-Ata
documents, and he and RSFSR state secretary Gennadii Burbulis
had flown south to see Yeltsin. (Ann Sheehy)

RUTSKOI TRIES TO DEFUSE SITUATION IN CHECHENO-INGUSHETIA. RSFSR
vice-president Aleksandr Rutskoi talked for more than an hour
on October 6 with the leader of the Chechen national movement,
retired general Dzhakhar Dudaev, under the protection of armed
men from both sides, TASS reported October 6. Rutskoi had flown
in urgently after supporters of the Executive Committee of the
Congress of the Chechen People had stormed the local KGB offices.
The congress had earlier disbanded the Supreme Provisional Council
set up after the Supreme Soviet had dissolved itself under pressure
from the congress,and set up a provisional revolutionary committee
to exercise power until new structures were created. Rutskoi
said he feared a second Karabakh in Checheno-Ingushetia. He reminded
Dudaev that there were laws forbidding the storming of buildings
and told him to stop "politicizing" the people. (Ann Sheehy)


RUTSKOI ADDRESSES INGUSH CONGRESS. While he was in Groznyy, Rutskoi
addressed the Third Congress of the Ingush People, which was
in session at the time. He proposed that the question of the
return of the Prigorodnyi raion of North Ossetia to the Ingush
be decided by a congress of elders of the North Caucasus. He
said he would ask Yeltsin to entrust him with the organization
of such a congress. (Ann Sheehy)

CHECHEN MUSLIMS WITHOUT LEADERS. On October 5 a congress of Muslims
of Checheno-Ingushetia disbanded the former religious board of
the Muslims of the republic, but dispersed the next day without
electing a mufti and other members of the board, Radio Moscow
and TASS reported October 6. The previous board had sharply condemned
the activity of the leader of the Chechen national movement Dzhakhar
Dudaev, who addressed the congress. The congress also apparently
marked a split between Chechen and Ingush Muslims, the latter
apparently taking no part in the congress. (Ann Sheehy)

STATEMENT BY FIVE REPUBLICS IN ALMA-ATA. Radio Kiev broadcast
on October 4 the full text of the statement signed in Alma-Ata
by the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belorussia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
The radio said that it was being issued at the request of the
Ukrainian premier's office because certain mass media, in particular
Pravda, had distorted its essence. The document states that discussion
of the draft treaty on an economic community had brought to light
serious difficulties between the republics, and as a result "the
signing of the interrepublican agreement is pushed aside for
an indefinite period." In view of the crisis situation the five
republics had therefore agreed to sign by October 15, 1991, "a
multilateral agreement on economic cooperation." It would seem,
in effect, that little of real substance was decided in Alma-Ata.
(Ann Sheehy)

"PAMYAT" BARD ASSASSINATED. Prominent pop singer Igor Tal'kov
was shot dead during a concert in St. Petersburg on October 6,
the TV news shows "Vesti" and TSN reported later that day. Tal'kov's
killer escaped but his identity is known to the police, said
"Vesti," adding that killing could have been politically motivated.
Tal'kov was well-known for his controversial political beliefs,
and performed at meetings of the anti-Semitic "Pamyat'" Society.
"Pamyat'" leader Dmitrii Vasil'ev counted the singer among "Pamyat's"
most ardent supporters. (Julia Wishnevsky)

GORBACHEV DENOUNCES ANTI-SEMITISM. On October 6, Western news
agencies reported a statement by Mikhail Gorbachev condemning
anti-Semitism. The statement was read by Aleksandr Yakovlev,
who represented Gorbachev at a ceremony commemorating the 120,000
Jews killed by the Nazis at Babii Yar during World War II. Gorbachev's
statement said that anti-Semitism as a government policy was
reintroduced in the Soviet Union by "the Stalin bureaucracy,"
which sought to isolate the country from the outside world. Gorbachev
added that anti-Semitism is widespread in the USSR today and
that it is used by certain reactionary forces which oppose reforms.
Although Western leaders have long urged Gorbachev to denounce
anti-Semitism, he seemed to fear that doing so would upset Party
conservatives, among whom anti-Semitism was an article of faith.
(Julia Wishnevsky)

DISARRAY IN RUSSIAN LEADERSHIP CONTINUES. With RSFSR President
Boris Yeltsin on vacation and reportedly writing a book and the
republican government still without a premier, the acting head
of the RSFSR parliament, Ruslan Khasbulatov, accused RSFSR State
Secretary Gennadii Burbulis and RSFSR State Counselor Sergei
Shakhrai of incompetence and demanded their resignations. Shakhrai
acknowledged on Central TV on October 6 that the decrees issued
by Yeltsin during the coup had to be corrected later but noted
that Yeltsin had not consulted him about them. Shakhrai stated
that Khasbulatov's accusations were the result of a nervous breakdown.
(Alexander Rahr)

PARTY OF LEFT-WING SOCIALISTS PROPOSED. A group of RSFSR and
USSR people's deputies, including historian Roy Medvedev, have
set up an initiative group which is to create a Russian party
of left-wing socialist forces to replace the discredited CPSU.
Sovetskaya Rossiya on October 2 and Pravda on October 3 published
the group's appeal, which described the dissolution of the CPSU
as a tragedy for millions of communists. According to the appeal,
however, this tragedy is "nothing compared to the abyss of troubles
into which our poor Russia is currently plunged." (Vera Tolz)


DEMOCRATIC PARTIES HOLD MEETINGS. Two of the RSFSR's major parties
with a democratic orientation, the Democratic Party of Russia
and the Democratic Party of Communists of Russia, held meetings
over the weekend, TASS reported on October 6. The board of the
Democratic Party of Russia, headed by Nikolai Travkin, discussed
the party's participation in the upcoming local elections in
the RSFSR and adopted a new program for the DPR. The board of
the Democratic Party of Communists of Russia, which has abandoned
it communist course, introduced changes in the party's program.
(Vera Tolz)

KUPTSOV DEMANDS BAN ON RCP BE LIFTED. The leader of the RSFSR
Communist Party, Valentin Kuptsov, has said he will attempt to
convince Boris Yeltsin to lift the ban on the activities of the
RCP. On October 4, "TSN" quoted Kuptsov as saying that if this
is not done, ultra-conservative Communists will set up underground
organizations. (Vera Tolz)

RSFSR KGB TAKES OVER FROM USSR KGB. RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin
has issued a new decree on the status of the Russian KGB, Radio
Rossii reported on October 5. The decree stipulates that the
Russian KGB is the legal successor of the central KGB on the
territory of the RSFSR, and states that a federal state security
organ should be created for purposes of coordination after negotiations
with other republics. The republics must agree on the financing
of such an organ. Sergei Stepashin, head of the state commission
investigating the involvement of the KGB in the putsch, said
that he had appealed to Gorbachev to halt any restructuring of
the central KGB until the investigation is completed. (Alexander
Rahr)

PRIMAKOV ON NEW FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE SERVICE. Evgenii Primakov,
newly appointed head of the KGB's foreign operational branch,
said at a press conference that his main tasks will be to democratize
the spy service and oversee its separation from the main KGB,
Western news agencies reported on October 2. Primakov asserted
that the new Soviet foreign intelligence agency will have "completely
new functions," concentrating on fighting drug traffic and terrorism.
He ruled out a large-scale purge of the KGB's 12,000-person foreign
branch and indicated that he will continue to rely on KGB agents
working under diplomatic cover in Soviet embassies abroad. Primakov
promised to open some of the service's files. (Alexander Rahr)


JUNTA PLEADING FOR MERCY. A secret video recording of the first
interrogations of the leaders of the August coup has been sold
to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, which summarizes the
contents in its October 6 issue. These include former defense
minister Dmitrii Yazov calling himself a fool and appealing to
Gorbachev not to put him on trial before a military court but
to let him simply retire. Yazov also said that he never took
the coup seriously. Ex-Premier Valentin Pavlov said that he was
completely drunk when the coup started. Former KGB chief Vladimir
Kryuchkov insisted that he had counted on Gorbachev eventually
joining the coup, so physical liquidation of the Soviet leader
had never been considered. (Alexander Rahr)

YAZOV SAID PLOTTERS WERE DRUNK. According to the Spiegel summary,
Yazov told an interrogator that one reason for the coup had been
Gorbachev's break with the Kremlin tradition of collective leadership.
Yazov complained that Gorbachev often refused to give an account
of his foreign trips, particularly his meeting in London with
the G-7 leaders of Western industrial nations, and Yazov said
that the Soviet leaders were afraid that Gorbachev was selling
them out to the West. The former defense minister said that Kryuchkov
initiated the plot; Yazov admitted that the entire junta was
drunk when the coup started on August18. According to Yazov,
Gorbachev assumed full control over nuclear weapons twelve hours
after his return to Moscow. (Alexander Rahr)

JUNTA'S ARREST LIST. Argumenty i fakty No. 38 contains a list
of 69 Russian politicians who were supposed to be detained during
the August coup. According to the weekly, the arrest order was
issued by former KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov at 7:20 a.m. on
August 19. In addition to Boris Yeltsin and his close associates,
the list included Aleksandr Yakovlev, Eduard Shevardnadze, present
KGB chief Vadim Bakatin and the former head of the CPSU Central
Committee's ideological department, Aleksandr Degtyarev. The
article states that the original list was destroyed, but it has
been reconstructed by the State Commission investigating KGB
activities. A list of RSFSR deputies who were to have been detained
was published in Nezavisimaya gazeta on August 27, but KGB officials
declared this a forgery. (Julia Wishnevsky)

CPSU CC MONTHLY FOLDS. Publication of the CPSU Central Committee
monthly, Izvestiya TsK KPSS, has been terminated, according to
a statement of its editor V. Belyanov in the October1 issue of
Pravda. (Officially its chief editor was Mikhail Gorbachev.)
The journal made its reputation through publication of material
from Party archives; these were seized by RSFSR authorities after
the August coup. Belyanov wrote that at first Rudolf Pikhoya,
the RSFSR deputy responsible for the Party archives, and RSFSR
deputy minister of justice Mikhail Fedotov wanted to continue
publishing the journal under a new title, but later changed their
minds, apparently under pressure, though Belyanov did not know
from whom. (Julia Wishnevsky)

SEARCH FOR CPSU MONEY. According to Moscow News No. 38, recent
sociological surveys show that the finding and nationalizing
of CPSU funds is the main concern of the Soviet population at
the moment, even surpassing worries about the winter food crisis.
The weekly said that the search for CPSU investments, especially
foreign ones, is proceeding very slowly. In the meantime, the
Party has already put much of its savings into various business
enterprises. According to Moscow News, the profits of businesses
that have been set up with CPSU participation in the past few
years should be examined on an individual basis. Otherwise, former
CPSU officials will still have a strong influence on society,
through economics rather than politics. (Vera Tolz)

OLD STALINISTS' WEEKLY TO CHANGE ORIENTATION? The staff of Veteran,
a conservative Soviet newspaper for the elderly, has voted to
make the publication into a progressive weekly, according to
the September 28 issue of Trud, which also reported the resignation
of Veteran's chief editor, Valentin Svininnikov. Under Svininnikov,
who had been on the editorial board of the ultranationalist Nash
sovremennik, many pro-Stalinist and anti-Semitic articles appeared
in Veteran. Intellectuals were scandalized, and the editors of
Trud, of which Veteran was formerly a weekly supplement, severed
the connection between the two publications. (Julia Wishnevsky)


PROTEST OVER PROPOSED RENAMING OF BURYAT SSR. Pickets on the
main square of Ulan-Ude are protesting the legislative initiative
of the Buryat SSR Council of Ministers calling for the republic
to be renamed the Buryat-Mongol republic, Radio Mayak reported
October 4. The protesters are demanding a referendum on the matter.
The republic was known as the Buryat-Mongol ASSR until 1958.
Since Buryats constitute only 24% of the population, what is
presumably an attempt by the Buryats to assert their ethnic ties
to the Mongolians could well be defeated in a referendum. (Ann
Sheehy)

IMF ASSOCIATE MEMBERSHIP GRANTED. After some initial delay and
confusion, documents certifying International Monetary Fund associate
member status for the USSR were exchanged on October 5 between
President Gorbachev and IMF Managing Director Michel Camdessus,
Western and Soviet agencies reported that day. The agreement
took effect immediately, and a team of IMF specialists is due
to arrive in Moscow on October 7. The exchange of documents was
originally expected to take place on October 4, but Gorbachev
reportedly told an Interfax reporter that the meeting would be
delayed for at least ten days until the republics had first signed
the new economic community agreement. (Keith Bush)

FOOD AID IMPOUNDED. Customs officials in St. Petersburg have
impounded European Community food aid to the value of 250 million
ECU (about $300 million) and have demanded duty in hard currency
before they will allow the food to be distributed, The Independent
reported October 5. About one third of the foodstuffs has "disappeared"
and is presumed to have been siphoned off to the black market.
This incident is expected to be discussed at the meeting of EC
finance ministers in Luxembourg scheduled for today, and it will
probably result in calls for closer Western supervision of aid
distribution within the Soviet Union. (Keith Bush)

ABALKIN WARNS OF DISINTEGRATION. Interviewed on the "Vesti" newscast
on Russian TV on October 3, Leonid Abalkin warned that the government
has only one month remaining to take decisive measures to stabilize
the economy. In the absence of such measures, the process of
disintegration would, in his view, become complete and uncontrollable,
with the nadir being reached by next spring. (Keith Bush)

MORE PROJECTIONS OF BUDGET DEFICIT. On the same program, Abalkin
said that this year's budget deficit will be five times greater
than in 1990 and will amount to 15% of the GNP. In an interview
with Interfax on October 4, USSR First Deputy Minister of Finance
Vladimir Rayevsky forecast a budget deficit of 300 billion rubles
this year. He called for a comprehensive restructuring of the
budgetary and tax systems, and prescribed more privatization,
the suspension of future social programs, the cancellation of
tax benefits, the preservation of existing tax rates, and the
introduction of a value-added tax. (Keith Bush)

CREDITS FOR GRAIN PURCHASES. Interfax on October 4 quoted Yurii
Luzhkov, the member of the Committee for the Operational Management
of the Economy responsible for, inter alia, food supplies, as
saying that the Soviet Union needs 10.5 billion rubles (about
$7 billion) in credits to buy 40 million tons of grain between
now and mid-1992. Luzhkov reportedly added that the credits would
be guaranteed by both the central authorities and the republics,
but that Moscow would be responsible for distributing the food.
It would be physically difficult to ship such a volume of grain
within nine months. The current world price for a mix of food
and feed grains plus transportation costs would be closer to
$5 billion. And we have seen no independent confirmation of this
report. (Keith Bush)

GORBACHEV DROPS REFERENDUM DEMAND. On October 4, President Gorbachev
told a meeting of farmers and agro-industry officials that he
had dropped his earlier insistence upon a referendum on the private
ownership of land, Interfax reported that day. Gorbachev was
quoted as saying that the idea of a referendum had been overtaken
by events, and that the question should be decided by individual
republics. He is said to have added that such a referendum could
lead to divisions between rural and urban regions. (Keith Bush)


USSR--OTHER REPUBLICS



GEORGIAN SITUATION DETERIORATES. At least one person was killed
and 80 injured in clashes in Tbilisi during the night of October
4-5 between pro- and anti-government demonstrators. There was
further shooting during the morning of October 5; many opposition
supporters were arrested. Georgian President Gamsakhurdia made
a TV appeal for an end to the violence and a peaceful solution
to the ongoing crisis. Opposition leaders called for Gamsakhurdia's
resignation at an emergency session of parliament on the evening
of October 5. The parliament adopted an appeal to the population
October 6 to restrain from violence. A former ally of Gamsakhurdia
claimed October 7 to have blockaded the main road and rail links
between Tbilisi and the Black Sea, Western news agencies report.
(Liz Fuller)

SITUATION IN TAJIKISTAN. Gorbachev's special representatives,
St Petersburg mayor Anatolii Sobchak and Evgenii Velikhov, arrived
in Dushanbe on October 4 to try to defuse tensions, according
to a TASS report of the same day, and met with representatives
of the opposition parties that have been demonstrating for a
liberalization in Tajikistan. A Radio Moscow report of October
6 said that the acting president of the republic, Rakhman Nabiev,
had resigned. This was one of the major demands of the opposition.
The presidential election has been deferred till November 24.
(Bess Brown)

UKRAINE AND POLAND SIGN ECONOMIC COOPERATION AGREEMENT. On October
4, Ukrainian Prime Minister Vitold Fokin paid an official visit
to Warsaw. According to TASS on the same day, he was assured
by President Lech Walesa and representatives of the Polish government
that Poland wants to continue developing goodneighborly relations
and fruitful cooperation with Ukraine. That same day, the two
neighboring states signed an agreement on economic cooperation
and bilateral trade. (Bohdan Nahaylo)

MOLDAVIA TO INTRODUCE FACILITIES FOR PRIVATE ENTERPRISE. At a
"working meeting" with Moldavian private entrepreneurs, Prime
Minister Valeriu Muravschi announced that the government is preparing
a series of legal and fiscal measures, to go into effect on January
1, to stimulate private enterprise, Moldovapres reported October
4. Muravschi also reassured the entrepreneurs that the government
intends to introduce a republican currency. Private entrepreneurs
will form a permanent Consultative Council attached to the Prime
Minister and will sit on the Higher Economic Council to be set
up shortly by the President of the republic. (Vladimir Socor)


UKRAINIANS IN MOLDAVIA DECRY RUSSIFICATION. A delegation of Ukrainians
from Moldavia's Dniester area has brought to Kiev an appeal declining
the label "Russian-speaking people" and complaining of the lack
of Ukrainian schools and other cultural facilities in the area,
Radio Kiev reported October 3. The appeal said that the Ukrainians
there live on friendly terms with the Moldavians. The appeal
appears to be prompted by the fact that the Russian communist
authorities dominant on the left bank of the Dniester have blocked
the extension there of Kishinev's recent measures promoting the
establishment of Ukrainian schools and cultural facilities. (Vladimir
Socor)

ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANTICIPATES REUNIFICATION WITH MOLDAVIA.
Interviewed by Reuter in Washington October 3, Romanian Foreign
Minister Adrian Nastase predicted that "the normal course of
history" will bring about Moldavia's reunification with Romania,
"whether in 5, 20, or 50 years." Without mentioning Moldavia's
independence, Nastase added that Moldavia needed first to "settle
its relationship with Moscow" and that any border changes had
to take account of the Helsinki Final Act. Nastase's remarks
reflect the Romanian government's reluctance to lobby internationally
for the recognition of Moldavian independence and its apparent
inability to fully accept Moldavia's concept of "two Romanian
independent states." (Vladimir Socor)



BALTIC STATES



BALTIC COUNCIL DEMANDS SOVIET TROOP WITHDRAWAL. Estonian, Latvian,
and Lithuanian leaders comprising the Baltic Council adopted
a joint statement in Vilnius demanding the withdrawal of Soviet
troops from their countries start immediately and that the troops
be removed from the Baltic capitals by December1. The Council
also agreed that legislative delegations should coordinate economic
and foreign policy of the three countries, Baltfax and Western
agencies reported on October 5. (Dzintra Bungs)

LANDSBERGIS ON SOVIET TROOPS. On October 6, Lithuanian Radio
reported an exchange of telegrams between Soviet Defense Minister
Evgenii Shaposhnikov and the Lithuanian head of state. Shaposhnikov
wanted a meeting with the Lithuanians on October 8, but Landsbergis
replied that all USSR troops must leave Lithuania by the end
of 1991 and that other military issues should not be discussed.
Landsbergis called on the West to press for the withdrawal of
Soviet troops from the Baltic States, especially since an assembly
of USSR officers stationed in Lithuania have announced that they
would not obey any orders to withdraw without social guarantees.
He said that one reason for the Soviet officers' resistance is
that they live better in Lithuania than in the USSR. (Dzintra
Bungs)

LATVIAN-RUSSIAN DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS FORMALIZED. A protocol to
establish diplomatic relations at embassy level between Latvia
and Russia was signed in Moscow on October 4 by the RSFSR Foreign
Minister Andrei Kozyrev and his Latvian counterpart Janis Jurkans,
TASS reported that day. The relations will be guided by the UN
Charter, CSCE documents, and the RSFSR-Latvian accord of January
13, l991. Kozyrev said: "Russia intends to develop relations
with Latvia on a 'two-tier principle.'" Without further elaborating,
he added that RSFSR representatives will take part in the Latvian-USSR
talks on issues that the Russia considers as being within the
competence of the Union, specifically the USSR armed forces and
security. (Dzintra Bungs)

NEW ESTONIAN DELEGATION FOR TALKS WITH THE USSR. A new Estonian
delegation for talks with the USSR has been appointed, Baltfax
noted on October 4. According to the Estonian Supreme Council,
the previous delegation, led by Ulo Nugis, was no longer needed
after its main goal--the restoration of Estonia's independence--had
been reached. The new delegation includes Foreign Minister Lennart
Meri (responsible for negotiations on territorial issues), Minister
of State Raivo Vare (responsible for negotiations on withdrawal
of Soviet troops), Minister of the Economy Jaak Leimann (responsible
for economic issues), and Minister of Justice Juri Raidla (responsible
for civil issues). (Dzintra Bungs)

JAPAN: DIPLOMATIC RELATIONS WITH BALTIC STATES. Japan will establish
diplomatic relations with the Baltic States. Japan said on October
3 that it will send a high-ranking official to Estonia, Latvia
and Lithuania, according to an AFP report of that day. Japan's
Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Muneo Suzuki, is to visit
the three Baltic States beginning October 5, on a five-day trip
until October 10. (Jan Trapans)

ESTONIA ESTABLISHES TIES WITH CHILE. Estonia and Chile have established
diplomatic relations. Both countries said in a joint communique
issued at the United Nations on October 3 that they want to develop
economic, commercial and cultural contacts. Estonia's Ambassador
at the United Nations Ernst Jaakson signed for his country, according
to the RFE/RL correspondent at the UN. (Jan Trapans)