No. 205, 28 October 1991

USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS AND RSFSR



RSFSR CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES OPENS. The RSFSR Congress
of People's Deputies opens a new session in Moscow on October
28, the RSFSR media reported. President Yeltsin is expected to
announce major economic plans for his republic. The congress
agenda includes election of the chairman of the RSFSR Supreme
Soviet, election of the constitutional court members, and the
confirmation of Russia's prime minister. TASS said October 27
that the Democratic Russia movement supports the candidacy of
Ruslan Khasbulatov as the parliament's chairman. [He is now acting
chairman]. The congress will also debate supplements and amendments
to the RSFSR Constitution. (Vera Tolz)

YELTSIN TO UNVEIL REFORM PACKAGE? RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin
is expected to outline radical economic measures in his speech
to the special session of the Russian Congress of People's Deputies
today. Izvestia of October 25 suggested that Yeltsin would announce
the freeing of most prices, reductions in budgetary outlays,
the liberalization of foreign trade activity, the demonopolization
of wholesale trade, and a drastic curb on credits. (Keith Bush)


DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA CRITICIZES YELTSIN. At a plenum of the Moscow
branch of Democratic Russia on October 26, the movement's leaders
said the RSFSR leadership has proved ineffective since Yeltsin
was elected president June 12. The movement also expressed dissatisfaction
with Yeltsin for failing to introduce radical economic reforms
more quickly. A Western agency quoted Professor Yurii Afanas'ev
as saying the group might have to become an opposition movement
if the Russian government does not take a "responsible" position
toward solving problems. (Vera Tolz)

YELTSIN SUGGESTS NOMINEES FOR PRIME MINISTER POST. At a meeting
with the RSFSR's industrial officials, Boris Yeltsin suggested
nominees for the post of the RSFSR prime minister and his deputy,
TASS reported October 25. At the meeting Yeltsin reportedly mentioned
eye specialist Svyatoslav Fedorov as a nominee to head the Russian
government. On October 27, Fedorov confirmed the report and told
TASS that he was considering the offer. On October 25, TASS also
said that Yeltsin suggested Yurii Skokov as first deputy prime
minister. Skokov is State Counselor of the RSFSR, and formerly
was first deputy chairman of the RSFSR Council of Ministers.
The prime minister's post has been vacant since Ivan Silaev took
over as acting Soviet prime minister. (Vera Tolz)

NEW RUSSIAN PARTY FOUNDED TO SUCCEED CPSU IN RSFSR. A new party
has been formed over the weekend to succeed the Communist Party
in Russia. The new party is called the Socialist Party of the
Working People, TASS and Postfactum reported October 27. Posfactum
said 300 delegates to the party's inaugural conference announced
that the aim of the organization was "to restore fairness and
legality as regards to the CPSU." TASS called the SPWP "virtually
a legal successor to the CPSU." The agencies did not say whether
the new party had made any claim to CPSU property. (Vera Tolz)


COUP LEADERS TO STAY IN JAIL FOR NOW, OFFICIAL SAYS. A leading
member of the group to investigate the activities of the junta,
deputy Soviet procurator general Yevgenii Lisov, said the leaders
of the failed coup should stay in jail. Pravda quoted him as
saying on October 26 that the alleged conspirators were still
somewhat influential, and could use their freedom to impede the
criminal investigation. He also said members of the group might
commit suicide if they were let out of jail. Lisov's comment
came in response to a request by defense lawyers of those arrested
in connection with the attempted coup to let their clients out
of prison during the preliminary investigation. (Vera Tolz)

PROTESTS AGAINST REMOVING LENIN'S BODY FROM MAUSOLEUM. Nearly
300 people rallied in Moscow's Red Square on October 27 to demand
that the mausoleum containing Lenin's body not be disturbed,
a Western agency reported that day. Several prominent democratic
leaders, including St. Petersburg mayor Anatolii Sobchak, have
called for the removal of Lenin's body from the mausoleum and
its burial. President Gorbachev has called for the issue to be
discussed in the USSR Supreme Soviet, but so far this has not
been done. (Vera Tolz)

RUTSKOI'S PARTY HOLDS FIRST CONGRESS. The Democratic Party of
Communists of Russia, headed by the RSFSR Vice President Aleksandr
Rutskoi, began its first congress in Moscow on October 26, TASS
reported. Opening the congress, Rutskoi said the party is not
going to continue the political and ideological line of the RCP
nor it is going to be an instrument in the hands of the Yeltsin
leadership. He said the party supports the idea of the creation
of a new Union on the territory of the USSR. On October 27, the
congress confirmed the renaming of the party as People's Party
of Free Russia and elected Rutskoi the party's chairman. The
congress also said that all the CPSU property on the territory
of the RSFSR should be transferred to Rutskoi's party. The RSFSR
government has so far spoken about the nationalization of the
CPSU property, and not about its transfer to any other political
group. (Vera Tolz)

ECONOMIC COMMUNITY APPEAL. On October25, the USSR Supreme Soviet
issued an appeal to the four republics which have not yet signed
the economic community agreement, TASS reported that day. "Today,
it is obvious to our peoples and to the whole world," the statement
read, "that the complete, uncoordinated disintegration of the
former Union might lead to further destabilization and aggravation
of inter-republican relations." The four dissenting republics
are Ukraine, Georgia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan. That same day,
both Leonid Kravchuk and his deputy, Vladimir Grinev, were quoted
as saying that Ukraine will sign the treaty soon, although the
Ukrainian prime minister's appeal for a quick signing was defeated
in the republic's legislature on October 24. (Keith Bush)

GLOOMY PROJECTION FOR 1992. USSR First Deputy Economics Minister
Aleksandr Troshin told the Committee for the Operational Management
of the Economy on October 25 that the recession will continue
in 1992, TASS reported that day. His projections for 1991 were
a 12% fall in the GNP, an unemployment total of 3 million, and
a budget deficit of 240 billion rubles. Of three scenarios offered
for 1992, the rosiest saw a 5% drop in GNP, 4 million jobless,
and a budget deficit of 389 billion rubles. The "catastrophic"
scenario provided for "twofold fall in production, hyperinflation,
and unforeseeable social disturbances." (Keith Bush)

FOOD IMPORTS CUT. At a meeting of the 12republics on October
26, RSFSR Deputy Prime Minister Gennadii Kulik said that regular
imports of meat and other foodstuffs will be cut by as much as
one half because of the shortage of hard currency, TASS reported
that day. Shortfalls in grain imports would amount to 7 million
tons for the same reason, he said, and there was only enough
grain to last until the end of the year in several regions of
Russia. (Keith Bush)

G-7 REPRESENTATIVES IN MOSCOW. To judge from the Western agency
reports and Soviet media of October 27, not a great deal was
accomplished during the first day of the meeting between the
Group of Seven team and representatives from Moscow and the 12
republics. Ukrainian Prime Minister Vitold Fokin proposed the
creation of a special central bank to handle the payments of
the Soviet Union's foreign debt. His proposal was supported by
9 of the 12 republics. The Western side was said to have warned
of the adverse consequences of any reneging of the Soviet debt.
Soviet officials were reported to have disclosed full details
of their country's holdings of gold and foreign currency. (Keith
Bush)

WARNING OF DISCONTENT AMONG DISCHARGED TROOPS. The chairman
of the USSR Supreme Soviet Commission on National Security, Viktor
Minin, warned of dissatisfaction among discharged servicemen
in an interview published in Krasnaya zvezda on October 25. The
reduction of the armed forces from 3.7 million to 3 million will
worsen the country's housing and unemployment crises, he pointed
out. "The army has become the sixteenth republic, hungry and
unsettled, but well armed and trained." Minin spoke of a real
possibility of a social explosion which "could sweep away democracy
and the market." (Keith Bush)

GLOBAL STRATEGIC SECURITY SYSTEM PROPOSED. A joint Soviet-American
space-based strategic security system might eliminate not only
the risk of nuclear confrontation, but also the danger of local
conflicts, Academician Nikita Moiseev wrote in Polis, No. 5.
Moiseev's system, called "Black Diamonds," would contain elements of the
Soviet and American SDI programs; it would use a weapon based on new physical
principles, which could make the nuclear arsenal of the superpowers obsolete
by the third millenium. Moiseev is close to the Experimental
Creative Center (ECC) headed by Sergei Kurginyan; the ECC publishes
Polis together with the Soviet Peace Defense Council and the
former Institute of the World Workers' Movement. (Victor Yasmann)


ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY COUNCIL CREATED. The Soviet Foreign Policy
Association headed by Eduard Shevardnadze has set up a Council
for Environmental Security to carry out global environmental
projects, "Vesti" reported on October 23. Among the founders
of the Council are also prominent scientists who have worked
for the military-industrial complex: Academicians Andrei Avdevskii,
Nikita Moiseev and Jarmen Gvishiani. (Victor Yasmann)

KGB OFFICERS CRITICIZE BAKATIN, LACK OF REFORMS. Officers of
the KGB central apparatus complain in a letter published in the
October 25 issue of Rossiiskaya gazeta that the new chairman
of the KGB, Vadim Bakatin, cares more about his own image than
about reform of the agency. The letter asks if the USSR President,
who already has at his personal disposal the KGB foreign intelligence,
government communication and elite special forces, will pay the
salaries of the 50,000 officers of the central KGB in Moscow
and the 20,000 elsewhere in Russia. The letter states that Russia
must quickly create its own powerful and capable state security
apparatus as a legal successor to the KGB. (Victor Yasmann)

MOSCOW POLICE CHIEF SUPPORTS FREE SALE OF WEAPONS. The chief
of the Moscow MVD Administration, Arkadii Murashov, was quoted
in the October 15 issue of Vechernyaya Moskva as saying that
he supports the free sale of weapons to citizens, because if
every citizen has the right to defend his own life and property,
"it will secure us the life without a fear." The proposal for
free sale of arms, with preference given to former and retired
law-enforcement officers, was drafted before the coup by the
MVD USSR and supported by the KGB, Ministry of Defense and State
Procuracy. (See RFE/RL Daily Report, August 13, 1991) (Victor
Yasmann)


USSR--OTHER REPUBLICS


UKRAINE TO SEND OBSERVERS TO SUPREME SOVIET. The Ukrainian Supreme
Soviet decided last Friday that it will form a delegation from
among its members to attend the revamped USSR Supreme Soviet
with the status of observers, Radio Kiev and Ukrinform-TASS reported
October 25. Ukraine was absent when the Supreme Soviet convened
last week. (Roman Solchanyk)

UKRAINE WARY OF INTER-REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS. The decision to
send observers to Moscow was part of a resolution adopted by
the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet which states that Ukraine considers
it inappropriate to participate in any kind of inter-republican
structures that could lead to its inclusion in another state,
Radio Kiev and Russian Television reported October 25. As for
the economic union treaty, the Ukrainian parliament said that
it would continue to take part in the negotiations and does not
exclude the possibility of joining the union on condition that
its demands are unconditionally accepted. (Roman Solchanyk)

KRAVCHUK ON ECONOMIC UNION. Ukrainian Supreme Soviet Chairman
Leonid Kravchuk told Radio Mayak on October 25 that within the
next ten days Ukraine will sign "horizontal" economic treaties
with other republics, including the RSFSR, and that, after familiarizing
itself with the details of the recently signed economic union
treaty, it will adhere to the treaty within fifteen to twenty
days. The Ukrainian leader told Argumenty i fakty that although
Ukraine should be part of a single economic space it would not
join a single market. (Roman Solchanyk)

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST GEORGIA. The RSFSR
Supreme Soviet voted October 26 to empower President Boris Yeltsin
to impose economic sanctions against Georgia in the campaign
to transfer Georgia's South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast to the
RSFSR, TASS reported October 26. (Liz Fuller)

GEORGIAN OPPOSITION DECLARES "INFOR-MATION WAR." TSN October
26 cited Georgian opposition leader Tengiz Sigua as stating that
the political opposition would begin its own TV broadcasts this
week in an "information war" against the Georgian authorities.
(Liz Fuller)

MASS DEMONSTRATION IN BAKU. Some 100,000 people demonstrated
in Baku October 27 to protest Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov's
support for the appeal issued October 22 to the Ukraine to remain
within the Soviet Union, Radio Rossii reported October 27. The
demonstrators also called for the publication of three resolutions
adopted by the republic's parliament, including one on the creation
of a republican army, and for the upcoming session of parliament,
scheduled to open October28, to be televised live. (Liz Fuller)


ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI NEGOTIATIONS OPEN. Delegations headed by
the first deputy chairmen of the Azerbaijani and Armenian parliaments
met in Armenia's Idzhevan Raion October 26 for the first formal
round of talks aimed at achieving a settlement to the Nagorno-Karabakh
crisis within the parameters of the September Zheleznovodsk agreement
brokered by RSFSR President Yeltsin, TASS reported October 26.
Both sides described the talks as encouraging but stressed that
progress would necessarily be slow. Participants adopted an appeal
to the Armenian and Azerbaijani people to desist from violence.
The next round of talks will be held November 15 in Azerbaijan.
(Liz Fuller)

TURKMENISTAN REFERENDUM ON INDEPEN-DENCE. Radio Moscow reported
on October 27 that 94.1% of the population of Turkmenistan had
voted for the independence of the republic in the previous day's
referendum (presumably the report meant 94.1% of the eligible
voters). In view of the overwhelming sentiment in favor of republican
independence, Turkmenistan's Supreme Soviet adopted a law on
independence on October 27, according to a TASS report of the
same day, and proclaimed that October 27 shall be celebrated
as Independence Day. The declaration on which the voters cast
ballots declares Turkmenistan to be a democratic state based
on law, but opposition groups doubt the present leadership's
commitment to democratic principles. (Bess Brown)

ISLAMIC RENAISSANCE PARTY HOLDS CONGRESS. The newly-legalized
Tajik branch of the all-Union Islamic Renaissance Party opened
its founding congress on October 26, TASS reported the same day.
The party's leaders said that the group is the largest political
organization in the republic after the Communist Party. The TASS
report speculated that the Islamic Party may decide at its congress
to continue its association with the other two opposition parties
in Tajikistan and support liberal filmmaker Davlat Khudonazarov's
candidacy in the upcoming presidential election. (Bess Brown)


BANNING OF TAJIK CP PROTESTED. Tajikistan's Constitutional Oversight
Committee has protested the republican Supreme Soviet's ban on
the Tajik CP until its role in the August coup is investigated,
TASS reported on October 25. The committee objected that Tajikistan's
legal codes contain no concept that could be used to support
the Supreme Soviet action. (Bess Brown)

DEFENSE COMMITTEE CREATED IN KAZAKHSTAN. TASS reported on October
25 that Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbaev had issued a decree
creating a republican State Committee on Defense. According to
the report, the decree described the committee as intended to
protect the "independence, territorial integrity and vital interests"
of the sovereign republic of Kazakhstan. The republic has not
ventured to declare its independence, presumably because of the
ethnic balance of its population. (Bess Brown)

MOLDAVIA LONE HOLDOUT ON USSR FOOD AGREEMENT. Moldavia is the
sole republic withholding its signature from the interrepublican
agreement on food deliveries, already signed by 11present and
former Soviet republics and additionally adhered to by the Baltic
States as associates, TASS reported October 26. Moldavian Prime
Minister Valeriu Muravschi told TASS that Kishinev objected to
the provisions requiring Moldavia to supply the foodstuffs under
the multilateral agreement [into Union stocks] while making the
compensatory deliveries of goods to Moldavia a subject of further,
bilateral negotiations by Moldavia with the individual republics.
Muravschi said that Moldavia would sign the agreement once this
problem was settled. Moldavia is a major supplier of foodstuffs
to the USSR market. (Vladimir Socor)

MOLDAVIAN OFFICERS IN USSR BORDER TROOPS SUMMONED FOR HOME SERVICE.
Moldavia's Ministry of Internal Affairs has called on Moldavian
officers and NCOs serving with USSR border troops outside Moldavia
to return home and join the republic's planned border guard,
Moldovapres reported October 26. The Ministry also called on
civilian reservists in Moldavia to join the republican border
guard. The calls were issued in fulfillment of President Mircea
Snegur's decrees of September 3 and 11 which ordered the formation
of a Moldavian border guard, claimed exclusive Moldavian jurisdiction
over the republic's borders and over USSR border troops and their
assets in Moldavia, and initiated negotiations on the withdrawal
of the troops. (Vladimir Socor)

MOLDAVIAN-ROMANIAN RELATIONS MARK TIME. The Moldavian and Romanian
Foreign Ministers, Nicolae Tiu and Adrian Nastase, conferred
October 25 in Kishinev on the long overdue establishment of consular
relations and simplification of border-crossing formalities between
Moldavia and Romania, Radio Bucharest reported that day. Interviewed
by Radio Bucharest the same day, Tiu indicated dissatisfaction
with Romania's procrastination on those issues. Tiu implied that
Bucharest had not reciprocated Kishinev's steps toward simplifying
two-way travel procedures and that Romania continued to treat
the reciprocal opening of consulates and of diplomatic missions
as subject to Soviet consent even after Moldavia's declaration
of independence. (Vladimir Socor)


BALTIC STATES


BALTIC STATES ADMITTED AS ASSOCIATE MEMBERS OF NORTH ATLANTIC
ASSEMBLY. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were admitted as associate
members of the North Atlantic Assembly in Madrid on October 24.
The North Atlantic Assembly, founded in 1950, is a parliamentary
body for NATO countries. East European countries are also associate
members of the North Atlantic Assembly. The October 25 Daily
Report incorrectly reported that the Baltic states had become
associate members of NATO. (Dzintra Bungs)

LITHUANIA, BELORUSSIA SIGN GOOD-NEIGHBOR ACCORD. According to
a Baltfax dispatch of October 24, earlier that day in Vilnius
leaders of Lithuania and Belorussia affirmed that the relations
between the two countries would be based on principles of equal
rights, territorial integrity, and inviolability of borders.
Vytautas Landsbergis of Lithuania and Stanislav Shushkevich of
Belorussia, chairmen of the respective parliaments, signed the
document. At the press conference following the signing, both
leaders indicated that the Lithuanian-Belorussian border issues
would be discussed later.(Dzintra Bungs)

IZVESTIA: USSR WANTS LITHUANIA TO HELP FINANCE TROOP WITHDRAWAL.
On October 26 Izvestia reported that, according to USSR Deputy
Minister of Defense Pavel Grachev, Lithuania must provide material
and financial aid, and must help with the construction of new
installations to house the Soviet troops being withdrawn from
Lithuania. He also said that the USSR forces would not leave
Lithuania completely until the end of 1994. Grachev noted that
teams from both sides were trying to iron out the details of
the withdrawal process and expressed regret that the negotiations
were taking so long. (Dzintra Bungs)

INTERLATVIA BECOMES A JOINT STOCK COMPANY. Baltic News Agency
reported on October 25 that Interlatvia, a foreign trade firm
established under the auspices of the Latvian SSR government,
has become a joint stock company. In the future, Interlatvia
would be owned by the Republic of Latvia (40% of the shares),
Nordex GmbH, which is based in Austria (20% of the shares), with
the agrofirm Adazai and Software House Riga owning the remaining
shares. It was also reported that financial irregularities was
one of the factors prompting the reorganization of Interlatvia.
(Dzintra Bungs)

RUSSIAN DEMOCRATS MEET. The Russian Democratic Movement of Estonia
held its second congress on October 26 in Tallinn, Paevaleht
reported the next day. The RDME takes in a broad spectrum of
political thought ranging from former Intermovement supporters
to democratically-minded non-Estonians. Because the RDME was
formed after the Estonian government outlawed the Intermovement
in the coup aftermath, some commentators have suggested that
the movement represents an Intermovement front operation. RDME
organizing committee secretary Larissa Jokvleva denied these
allegations, and said the RDME was indignant "at the apathy toward
the RDME by the Estonian press, with the exception of Radio Free
Europe." (Riina Kionka)

MORE PARTY NEWS. Conservative and Christian-Democratic parties
from Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea states met on October 25
in Tallinn for a conference on "Postsocialist Europe," Paevaleht
reported on October 27. The group discussed the recent victories
for conservative parties in Finland and Sweden, as well as continuing
leftist influence on the Baltic mass media. Estonia's Union of
Republican Parties also met over the weekend to elect new officers,
according to Paevaleht of October 27. The group, which was established
last year, takes in many of Estonia's rising stars in government
and journalism. (Riina Kionka)