No. 222, 22 November 1991

USSR--ALL-UNION AND RSFSR

G-7 MEETING ENDS WITH AGREEMENT. After four days of meetings
between leaders of the group of seven industrial nations and
representatives from eight of the Soviet republics, an agreement
was reached on a debt-relief package which includes a $1 billion
loan and a deferment of $3.6 billion in foreign debt payments,
Interfax and Western agencies reported on November 21. The meetings
had been extended due to a disagreement over G-7 demands for
Soviet gold to be put up as collateral for the loan; this demand
has now been dropped. Eight republics signed the accord, and
three of the remaining four (Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia)
are expected to sign the agreement soon. Uzbekistan reportedly
opposed the agreement and is insisting on paying separately.
The Baltic states did not participate. (Carla Thorson)

GORBACHEV ON IRKUTSK VISIT URGES RENEWAL OF UNION. USSR President
Mikhail Gorbachev travelled to Siberia on November 21 for informal
meetings to promote economic reform and the new Union treaty,
TASS and Western agencies reported. In Irkutsk, Gorbachev visited
a military aircraft factory subject to conversion, a school,
a children's hospital, and privately run food shops. Gorbachev
indicated that his primary task would be to "win the confidence
of the people." In a speech covered by Central television and
in interviews with reporters, Gorbachev stressed the need to
renew the Union. Interfax reported that Gorbachev warned of a
situation not unlike that in Yugoslavia if the republics do not
stay together, and that economic reform would be impossible without
a political union. (Carla Thorson)

YELTSIN APPEALS FOR TRUST. RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin said
in an interview on Soviet Central TV on November 20 that he will
retire, together with his new young government team, if his reforms
fail. He stressed the need to strengthen individual farms and
said he would not subsidize kolkhozes any more. Yeltsin added
that he does not expect famine in Russia and revealed that minimum
wages--just raised to 200 rubles--will be increased again in
January if prices rise steeply. He also said that harsh measures
will be taken against criminals and corrupt elements. Yeltsin
expects no more than eight republics to sign the new Union Treaty.
Finally, he praised Gorbachev for his change of attitude since
the attempted coup. (Alexander Rahr)

GORBACHEV DOES NOT DECIDE FOR RUSSIA. RSFSR Justice Minister
Nikolai Fedorov said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung
published on November 21 that should Gorbachev "adopt a disturbing
position," "he will not remain as president very long." Honecker,
said Fedorov, is small fish "compared to what we have here in
our own country." Fedorov went on to describe the greater "monsters"
in his country as "the former Politburo members or secretaries
in the CPSU, and the leadership of the CPSU." Asked if he included
Gorbachev among the monsters, Fedorov said only, "I've said all
[that I'm going to] and have clearly delineated the circle of
people involved." (Suzanne Crow)

GERMANY, RUSSIA SIGN ACCORDS. On December 21, RSFSR President
Boris Yeltsin and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl signed a statement
pledging cooperation between the RSFSR and Germany, TASS reported
that day. RSFSR Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev and his German
counterpart Hans-Dietrich Genscher signed a separate agreement
calling for consultations between the two foreign ministries.
(Suzanne Crow)

YELTSIN ON HONECKER. Speaking to reporters in Bonn after the
signing of the German-Soviet joint statement, Boris Yeltsin said:
"I originally didn't involve myself with the details of [the
problem of returning Honecker] because it fell in the competence
of Mikhail Gorbachev. I have taken a lot of powers away from
him anyway and would like to leave him this one," Western agencies
reported on November 21. (Suzanne Crow)

YELTSIN TURNS TO OUTSIDE ADVISORS. RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin
has invited leading economic specialists from Eastern Europe
to a conference in Moscow in November, Radio Moscow reported
on November 21. Yeltsin has also invited the head of the Swedish
Institute for the Economy of Eastern Europe, Anders Aslund, to
become his economic advisor. Aslund said that he has agreed to
become Yeltsin's advisor but that his appointment has not yet
been approved by the Russian government. (Alexander Rahr)

MURASHEV WANTS RUSSIAN FBI. Moscow police chief Arkadii Murashev
was quoted by TASS on November 21 as saying that the Russian
KGB and MVD forces responsible for the fight against crime in
the republic should eventually be merged into a single republican
organization similar to the FBI in the US. Since he became Moscow
police chief, Murashev has sought to make the city's police conform
to Western standards and urged police officers to study the English
language. Murashev said that at present the expenses for the
Moscow police force amount to only 1% of the city's budget. Murashev
expressed hope that after the recent wage increases, police service
will become more prestigious. (Alexander Rahr)

SOVIET OFFICERS STUDY DEMOCRACY IN GERMANY. Dozens of Soviet
officers stationed in Germany are currently attending seminars
on political pluralism, constitutional law, and the reconstruction
of Germany following World War II, Western agencies reported on
November 19. The seminars, launched by the Institute for Foreign
Relations and funded by the Federal German government and the
Saxony state government, began in September as part of a German-Soviet
cooperative agreement. According to the reports, they have been
greeted with enthusiasm by a number of Soviet officers. (Stephen
Foye)

SOVIET OFFICER ARRESTED IN FORMER EAST GERMANY. The German tabloid
Bild said that a Soviet officer was arrested by German authorities
for spying near the town of Wernigerode on the evening of November
18, Western agencies reported on November 21. According to Bild,
Colonel Viktor Sherdev, identified as head of Soviet Military
Intelligence (GRU) in Saxony-Anhalt, was seized while making
contact with a German whom he hoped to recruit as a spy. Sherdev
reportedly had 20 bottles of cognac in his car as a gift for
his contact. Sherdev was taken into custody, but a second Soviet
officer was said to have escaped and been quickly flown back
to the Soviet Union. (Stephen Foye)

CPSU CC INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT AND INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM.
On November 18, RSFSR television aired a two-part program. The
first part was devoted to a secret room in the CPSU Central Committee
International Department that housed equipment for forging foreign
travel documents. Viktor Yaroshenko, the head of the RSFSR State
Committee for Licensing, surmised that the equipment had been
used to send communist terrorists into foreign countries, including
those that had provided humanitarian aid to the USSR last winter.
A USSR Foreign Ministry lawyer branded such a practice as "a
crime" against the international community. The second part of
the show advertised the services of Gorbachev's new Government
Communications Committee. TASS reviewed the show very favourably--
without even mentioning the first part of the show. (Julia Wishnevsky)


KGB DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN FINANCIAL WORLD. The Public Relations
Center of the Interrepublican Security Service (MSB) has issued
a statement saying that allegations that state security officers
hold key positions in RSFSR financial institutions are aimed
at compromising Russian business circles and the security agency,
Radio Moscow reported on November 21. The statement says that
the reports published by TASS, Stolitsa and Vesti (see RFE/RL
Daily Report of November 18) are "fiction" and that the MSB supports
an investigation into the allegations. (Victor Yasmann)

"NEZAVISIMAYA" ACCUSES KGB OF PSYCHOTROPIC BEHAVIOR CONTROL.
The USSR Ministry of Defense, the CPSU Central Committee, and
the KGB were the main contractors of the Soviet scientific community
for the development of biophysical and psychological techniques
of manipulation of human behavior, Vladimir Shchepilov of the
Scientific Research Center "Eniotekhnika", writes in Nezavisimaya
gazeta of November 19. While special parapsychological methods
were used to turn an individual into a kind of "biorobot," other
techniques employing specially designed "psycho-generators" were
aimed at controlling the collective behavior of crowds. Shchepilov
stresses that the KGB Fifth and Sixth Administrations were the
prime operators of psychotropic manipulation and that such a
practice is forbidden in the West. (Victor Yasmann)

WINNERS AND LOSERS IN 1992 SUBSCRIPTION CAMPAIGN. Komsomolskaya
pravda and Trud, the two Soviet dailies with the highest circulation,
have held their positions in the 1992 subscription campaign,
Izvestia and Radio Moscow reported on November 19. The current
circulation of both newspapers is around 18 million. 1992 subscriptions
to Literaturnaya gazeta and Ogonek, on the other hand, are 25%
lower than in 1991. Argumenty i fakty, the weekly with the largest
circulation in the world, will retain its record circulation
of over 30 million. Interestingly, some former CPSU publications
such as Rabochaya tribuna and Selskaya zhizn have registered
a 150% increase in subscriptions. (Victor Yasmann)

NON-STATE SECTOR GROWS. The non-state sector (cooperatives, leased
firms, and joint ventures) of the economy produced some 15% of
Gross Social Product in the first half of 1991, according to
data provided by the analytical service "TASTA." TASTA has produced
a survey of the non-state sector titled "The Non-state Sector
of the Soviet Economy: Results and Trends." As of July 1, 1991,
there were about 4,200 joint ventures registered in the USSR
with a capital base of over 10 billion rubles. The total number
of active joint ventures is much smaller, however, and their
number is not likely to increase quickly in the current chaotic
political-economic situation of the former USSR. (John Tedstrom)


YELTSIN OFFERING SOVIET GERMANS FORMER MISSILE SITE. Yeltsin
said in an interview with Radio Rossii on November 20, the eve
of his visit to Germany, that in their search for relatively
uninhabited territory on the Volga River on which to establish
Soviet German's autonomy. The RSFSR had found a former Soviet
weapons test ground (Kapustin Yar) of around 3,000 square kilometers
and another 3,000square kilometers, making 6,000 square kilometers
in all. Yeltsin said , that after Germans had settled there,
a decision could be taken on reestablishing German autonomy.
Germany's first TV network, commenting on the interview on November
20, said the offer meant Bonn could now expect hundreds of thousands
more Soviet German emigrants. (Ann Sheehy)

MARTIAL LAW LIFTED IN CHECHENO-INGUSHETIA. Dzhakhar Dudaev, president
of the self-styled Chechen republic, has issued a decree lifting
martial law in the republic, TASS reported on November 21. The
national guard has been returned to barracks. Dudaev had declared
martial law in response to Yeltsin's decree declaring a state
of emergency in the republic. Moscow Radio reported on November21
that an action had been planned to disarm the USSR internal troops
in the republic. Dudaev said he knew nothing of the move and
promised to stop it, which he did. (Ann Sheehy)


USSR--OTHER REPUBLICS


UKRAINE WANTS SEPARATE RATIFICATION OF CFE. According to RFE/RL
correspondent Michael Wall, German officials in Bonn said on
November 21 that Ukraine is refusing to join in Soviet ratification
of the Conventional Forces in Europe agreement but is considering
a ratification act of its own. The officials were reporting on
a trip last week to Kiev by disarmament experts of the German
and French Foreign Ministries. Ukrainian authorities promised
to abide by the USSR's arms control commitments but they ruled
out direct participation in a ratification vote by the Supreme
Soviet's Council of Republics, saying that would conflict with
Ukraine's goal of dissociating itself from the USSR. (Kathy Mihalisko)


CRIMEAN PARLIAMENT MEETS TO DISCUSS REFERENDUM ON SECESSION FROM
UKRAINE. On November 22, an extraordinary session of the Supreme
Soviet of the Crimean Autonomous Republic was convened to discuss
the adoption of a local referendum law. At issue is the future
status of Crimea, which since 1954 has been part of Ukraine.
In January of this year, the inhabitants of the peninsula, which
is the only territorial administrative unit in Ukraine with an
ethnic Russian majority, voted in a referendum in favor of the
restoration of Crimea's statehood in the form of an autonomous
republic. Shortly after Ukraine's declaration of independence
on August 24, 1991, the Crimean Supreme Soviet asserted the state
sovereignty of Crimea as a constituent part of Ukraine. A movement
seeking Crimea's secession from Ukraine, however, has successfully
pressed for an extraordinary session of the local parliament
to be convened to give the go-ahead for a referendum on thisquestion.
(Bohdan Nahaylo)

BELORUSSIA BOLSTERS BALTIC BORDERS. Belorussia's government has
ordered the republic border authority to establish temporary
border checkpoints with Latvia and Lithuania, BNS reported on
November 21. The checkpoints, scheduled to be in place by December
1, are, intended to stem the flow of goods out of Belorussia.
(Riina Kionka)

GAMSAKHURDIA DISBANDS GEORGIAN KGB. Georgian President Zviad
Gamsakhurdia has issued a decree reorganizing the republic's
KGB into a National Security Department under his personal supervision,
TASS reported on November 19. The Georgian parliament is expected
to pass a law specifying the functions of the new department.
(Liz Fuller)

SABOTAGE SUSPECTED IN NKAO HELICOPTER CRASH. Azerbaijani officials
have claimed that the helicopter crash in Nagorno Karabakh's
Martuni raion on November 20 in which at least 21 people, including
the Azerbaijani Procurator and a deputy chairman of the Council
of Ministers, were killed, was caused either by a bomb or a missile
attack. Initial TASS reports on November 20 stated that the helicopter,
carrying officials to a new round of talks on the Armenian-Azerbaijani
dispute, had crashed in heavy fog. Later reports imply sabotage.
Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov has decreed three days mourning
and called for an emergency session of parliament to debate the
incident. (Liz Fuller)

KARIMOV AGAINST LATEST DRAFT OF UNION TREATY. Addressing the
Uzbek Supreme Soviet on November 19, Uzbekistan President Islam
Karimov said that Uzbekistan could not sign the latest draft
of the Union treaty, UzTAG-TASS reported on November 19. Karimov
said the draft did not take full account of the state independence
of the republic; the Union states should not only be members
of the international community, but also subjects of international
law. The draft also did not make plain that the treaty participants
should build their relations on a basis of equality and non-interference
in each others affairs. This could reproduce the old division
into "elder" and "younger" brothers, Karimov added. (Ann Sheehy)


MOLDAVIA'S DEBT COMMITMENT TERMED "FINANCIAL SERVITUDE." In a
statement released through Moldovapres on November 21, the Moldavian
Popular Front's parliamentary group charged that the Moldavian
government's adherence to the Moscow memorandum of November 19
on the sharing of USSR external debt obligations among republics
was "reattaching our republic's economy to that of the empire
for purposes of debt repayment." Moreover, the commitment was
"consigning us and our descendants to an unprecedented financial
servitude." The deputies declared that there was no moral or
legal justification for "forcing occupied peoples striving for
independence to pay the debts of their conquerors." (Vladimir
Socor)

ROMANIAN ORTHODOX PATRIARCH CALLS FOR RETURN OF NORTHERN BUKOVINA,
SOUTHERN BESSARABIA. In a statement released through Rompres
on November 19, Patriarch Teoctist, the head of Romania's Orthodox
Church, called on the Romanian government to initiate talks with
Ukraine for the return of northern Bukovina and southern Bessarabia.
The patriarch's call caps a series of statements by Romanian
political parties and civic associations in connection with the
impending referendum on Ukraine's independence. The Romanian
parliament adopted a resolution along similar lines in June of
this year. The government has not spoken out, but on November
19 Western agencies cited Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesman
Traian Chebeleu as saying that the government "recognizes that
these are stolen Romanian territories. The only question is how
the reparations should be made." (Vladimir Socor)



BALTIC STATES



ESTONIA JOINS EC YUGOSLAVIA SANCTIONS. Estonia has agreed to
abide by EC sanctions against Yugoslavia, BNS reported on November
20. The Netherlands--currently chairing the EC--this week asked
Estonia to comply both with the EC's November 8 decision to impose
economic sanctions against Yugoslavia and with any possible further
moves by the UN. Estonian Foreign Ministry press secretary Tiit
Pruuli told BNS that the government agreed to the request at
its November 19 meeting. Estonia's decision to comply is of greater
symbolic than economic value, and will not apply to Slovenia,
which Estonia recognized on September 25. (Riina Kionka)

LATVIA CREATES PROPAGANDA MINISTRY, SELF-DEFENSE FORCE. Latvia's
government reorganization creating two new ministries but abolishing
or combining six others is now complete, according to Diena of
November 21. The new Ministry of State, headed by Janis Dinevics,
will be in charge, among other duties, of popularizing the work
of the Latvian government and prime minister "among the masses."
The Ministry of Defense, headed by Talavs Jundzis, will run an
8-9,000 strong self defense force drawn from among volunteers
and conscripts. Both of Latvia's new ministers are members of
the Supreme Council. (Riina Kionka)

ESTONIA CONGRATULATES SHEVARDNADZE. The Estonian government has
joined wellwishers worldwide in welcoming back Eduard Shevardnadze
as Soviet Foreign Minister. Estonian Deputy Foreign Minister
Rein Mullerson sent a congratulatory telegram to Shevardnadze
on behalf of Foreign Minister Lennart Meri on November 20, BNS
reported the next day. Mullerson noted that much has changed
in the USSR since Shevardnadze last served in his current post,
and called on him to act in the spirit of the Paris Charter.
Mullerson also invited Shevardnadze on Lennart Meri's behalf
to visit Estonia. (Riina Kionka)

UZBEK-ESTONIAN AGREEMENT. Uzbekistan has agreed to sell Estonia
23-25,000 tons of cotton next year, BNS reported on November
21. The agreement is the first step toward concluding an general
trade agreement between the two republics, BNS said. (Riina Kionka)


LITHUANIAN-ARMENIAN TIES. Armenia and Lithuania have decided
to establish diplomatic relations, TASS reported on November
21. The foreign ministries of both republics made the announcement
that day. (Riina Kionka)

ESTONIA PASSES BORDER LAW. The Estonian Supreme Council passed
a law regulating border traffic on November 18, Rahva Haal reported
the next day. The law specifies that those entering Estonia may
cross into the country only at government checkpoints, and that
individuals--as well as vehicles or cargo--will be controlled.
The law aims to reduce Estonians soaring crime rate by clamping
down on drug and other illicit traffic through Estonia's porous
eastern border. (RiinaKionka)