No. 113, 16 June 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

YELTSIN IN THE UNITED STATES. Russian President Boris Yeltsin
arrived in Washington on 15 June for his first full-scale summit
meeting with US President George Bush, Western news agencies
reported. On his arrival, he stated that the political gap between
the US and Russia has been closed. Yeltsin will receive the full
state honors that were denied to ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
On the same day, Yeltsin called his compatriot, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn,
in Vermont and discussed the writer's possible return to Russia.
Yeltsin has stated that he is prepared for more radical arms
cuts in negotiations with the US. He is also expected to sign
several business agreements with US companies. Yeltsin is accompanied
by the new Russian premier, Egor Gaidar. (Alexander Rahr)

KHASBULATOV THREATENS RUSSIAN MILITARY INTERVENTION IN SOUTH
OSSETIA. In a statement carried by Radio Mayak on 15 June Russian
parliament chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov warned that Russia may
take immediate measures to neutralize Georgian military units
engaged in what he termed a policy of genocide and expulsion
against the Ossetian people. He also claimed that the Russian
parliament might consider the South Ossetian oblast soviet's
request for the region to secede to Russia in order to unite
with North Ossetia. Georgian State Council chairman Eduard Shevardnadze
attacked Khasbulatov's statement as insulting to the Georgian
people and likely to exacerbate the already unstable internal
political situation on Georgia, Radio Rossii reported. (Liz Fuller)


CONFLICTING REPORTS OF FIGHTING IN NAGORNO-KARABAKH. On 15 June
Azerbaijani forces expelled Armenians from Shaumyan raion on
the north-west border of Nagorno-Karabakh, but an Armenian spokesman
later claimed that the Azerbaijani offensive within Karabakh
had been halted, Russian and Western agencies reported. Meanwhile
the Azerbaijani Popular Front issued an appeal to all democratic
states to condemn Armenian aggression, ITAR-TASS reported. Preparatory
talks for the CSCE sponsored Karabakh peace conference resumed
in Rome on 15 June, but the Armenian delegation from the Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic was prevented by the fighting from attending. (Liz Fuller)


STANKEVICH ON NEED FOR ORDER; TRANS-DNIESTR, BALTIC. Presidential
Counsellor Sergei Stankevich called for the promotion of law
and order in an interview with Trud on 12 June, stating that
if the Russian leadership can not feed its people, it should
at least defend them from crime. He also suggested that the armed
forces and the security forces should be strengthened and criticized
the absence of a strategic planning staff for reform, adding
that the newly created Security Council may take over this function.
Finally, Stankevich denounced Moldova for conducting what he
called "genocide" against the Slavic population in the Trans-Dniestr
region and called for economic sanctions against the Baltic states
if they continue to engage in what he called discrimination against
the Russian population. (Alexander Rahr)

KOZYREV'S TERRITORIAL CLAIMS PROTESTED BY MOLDOVA. Moldovan Foreign
Minister Nicolae Tiu protested in Le Monde of 15 June against
the implicit territorial claims on Moldova and other republics
raised by Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev in Le Monde
of 7-8 June. Asked in that interview whether Moldova's Dniester
area "would some day become part of Russia," Kozyrev answered
that "he would not rule that out". He urged Moldova to grant
its eastern regions a federal status "for the time being within
Moldova, as there is no other solution for the time being. There
may be various solutions afterward." Kozyrev also recommended
that Ukraine, Moldova, and the Baltic states accept on their
territories the creation of certain "regions" with a special
status and "very close links, privileged links with Russia".
Kozyrev further suggested that referendums in such areas would
form a "democratic" basis for negotiating border changes with
those republics. (Vladimir Socor)

KOZYREV WARNS OF REVENGE BY HARDLINERS. Andrei Kozyrev has warned
of a "very real danger" of revenge being taken by members of
the former Communist apparatus. Although he dismissed the possibility
of a coup today, he told Le Monde on 8 June that conservatives
were seeking to take over control over the army, the Interior
Ministry and the former KGB. He added that opposition to democratization
is also felt in the Foreign Ministry, asserting that "for men
who for 30 years have been accustomed to regarding the US, the
West, and NATO as enemies, it is very difficult to admit that
what was black has become white."(Alexander Rahr)

CHANGES IN THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. Commenting on reports of Egor
Gaidar's promotion to the post of acting prime minister, Yeltsin
spokesman Gennadii Shipitko said on 15 June that the appointment
was not a temporary measure. Yeltsin has also decreed the creation
of a federal migration agency and a federal employment agency,
headed by Tatyana Regent and Fedor Prokopov, respectively. (Alexander
Rahr)

NEW LABOR MINISTRY. Yeltsin's 15 June decree transformed the
Ministry of Labor and Employment into the Ministry of Labor,
and appointed Gennady Melikyan head of the new ministry. According
to ITAR-TASS, the reorganization was made in connection with
the formation of the Russian Federal Employment Service and Federal
Migration Service. Melikyan was former first deputy director
of the State Committee on Economic Reform under the USSR Council
of Ministers, and was involved in earlier attempts to convert
enterprises into shareholder companies. (Sarah Helmstadter)

OPPOSITION DEMANDS BROADCASTING TIME ON RUSSIAN TV. Ongoing mass
protests organized by the so-called Russian Party in front of
the "Ostankino" TV center in Moscow intensified on 15 June, the
Russian media reported. The protesters alleged that programs
broadcast by the first channel of Russian TV were anti-Russian;
they also demanded the recreation of the USSR and the dismissal
of Boris Yeltsin and his government. On 15 June, the leadership
of the "Ostankino" TV channel and Russia's information minister,
Mikhail Poltoranin, met with a group of protesters. The latter
demanded that the Russian government allocated an hour each day
for broadcasts of the pro-Communist opposition organization,
called Labor Russia. ITAR-TASS reported that no decision on the
issue was adopted on 15 June and that the negotiations would
continue. (Vera Tolz)

SHOKHIN SAYS GOVERNMENT MUST SOFTEN REFORMS. Russian deputy prime
minister Aleksandr Shokhin told The Independent on Sunday on
14 June that the government must "soften" its reforms to avoid
"a social catastrophe." Shokhin, whose remarks were summarized
by ITAR-TASS on 13 June, said that the government had altered
its policy in April when it decided to provide softer credits
to keep cash-strapped enterprises afloat. Otherwise, "tens of
millions of people would have lost their jobs," Shokhin said,
adding that the government does not have enough money to pay
unemployment benefit to more than 3-4 million people (about 5%
of the workforce). (Elizabeth Teague)

RUSSIAN MINISTER ON INFLATION. Russian Minister of Foreign Economic
Relations Petr Aven told an economic conference in Washington
on 15 June that Russia cannot control inflation unless it is
allowed to take full control of the CIS ruble zone with a single
central bank. Otherwise, he said, the other republics will quickly
establish their own currencies, an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington
reported. Aven said inflation was increasing at more than 20%
a month and that it was caused by other CIS states printing rubles
at will. (Ann Sheehy)

YELTSIN DECREE PAVES WAY FOR BANKRUPTCIES. A June 15 presidential
decree states that enterprises that fail to pay their debts to
the state budget and creditors in the next three months will
be considered bankrupt and will be auctioned to private investors.
A New York Times report on 16 June claims that the auctions will
be open to foreign investors. Upon acquisition of the property,
the new owners must present a rescue plan to the state committee
in charge of state property. If the plan fails, the state will
hire an independent manager to design an alternate rescue plan.
The closing of unprofitable enterprises raises the specter of
massive unemployment. The Supreme Soviet earlier this month rejected
a similar measure drawn up by the Russian government. (Sarah
Helmstadter)

DECREASE IN INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT IN MOSCOW SUBURBS. The Russian
Information Agency reported that industrial output in outlying
regions of Moscow decreased in the first 5 months of this year,
compared with the same period in 1991. The production of everyday
household items decreased by 7.4%, the production of foodstuffs
decreased by 28.7%, and non-foodstuff goods by 2.5%. (Sarah Helmstadter)


FIRST MEDICAL INSURANCE COMPANY CREATED IN RUSSIA. "MEDSTRAKH,"
the first company working in social insurance in Russia has been
created, Radio Rossii reported on 11 June. The share holders
include leading Russian scientific and medical centers. (Sarah
Helmstadter)

OVER TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND REFUGEES IN RUSSIA. Currently 222,000
refugees are officially registered in Russia, "Novosti" reported
on 15 June. Thirty-seven percent are Ossetians, 20 percent Armenians,
20 percent Meskhetian Turks, and 23 percent Russians. (Ann Sheehy)


NEW DRAFT LAW ON REPRESSED PEOPLES. The presidium of the Russian
Supreme Soviet decided on 15 June to submit to the parliament
a draft law "On establishing a transitional period for implementing
the territorial rehabilitation of repressed peoples," ITAR-TASS
reported on 15 June. "In connection with the changed legal bases
of the state administration in Russia after the signing of the
federal treaty" it is proposed to establish a transitional period
of five years. The 1991 law on repressed peoples rashly promised
the latter that they would get back lost territories, and its
implementation has inevitably encountered serious difficulties.
(Ann Sheehy)

AZERBAIJAN'S KURDS DEMAND AUTONOMY, LEZGHIANS WANT TO SECEDE.
Sixty Kurdish delegates from the former Soviet Union met last
week in Lachin on the Azerbaijan and Armenia border and resolved
to create an independent Kurdish state on the territory of the
former Kurdish autonomous formation, and called upon Kurds to
return there. A president of the new Kurdish state is to be elected
on 19 June, Western agencies reported on 12 June. "Vesti" reported
on 14 June that the 400,000 Lezghians living on the Azerbaijan-Daghestan
border have organized a series of demonstrations and addressed
an appeal to the Russian parliament to unite the territory inhabited
by the Lezghians both north and south of the border within the
Russian Federation. (Liz Fuller)

NABIEV TRYING TO HOLD TAJIKISTAN TOGETHER. Tajik President Rakhmon
Nabiev's latest scheme to prevent the disintegration of the country
is the appointment of personal representatives tasked with explaining
the decisions of the new Government of National Reconciliation
to the inhabitants of Kulyab, Kurgan-Tyube and Leninabad Oblasts.
Kulyab and Leninabad Oblasts flatly refused to recognize the
new government and armed bands in the former are refusing to
surrender their weapons. Nabiev's representatives, according
to the ITAR-TASS report of 15 June, are also supposed to report
back to him about the situation in the rebellious oblasts. (Bess
Brown)

"DNIESTER" RUSSIAN FORCES AGAIN BLAMED FOR CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS.
In its second weekly report, the quadripartite Joint Group of
Military Observers again concluded that "practically all" violations
of the ceasefire in eastern Moldova were caused by the "Dniester"
forces, Moldovapres reported on 12 June. The Joint Group's first
weekly report had also blamed all the violations on the "Dniester"
forces. Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania are each represented
by 25 officers on the Joint Group, with Ukraine currently holding
the rotating chairmanship. The group has been mandated to monitor
the ceasefire by the joint commission of the Foreign Ministries
of Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania which was set up in
April to seek a political settlement of the conflict. (Vladimir
Socor)

KRAVCHUK TO MEET YELTSIN 23 JUNE. The meeting between Russian
President Boris Yeltsin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk
to discuss outstanding problems between Russia and Ukraine, initially
planned for the beginning of June, is to take place in Dagomys
in Krasnodar krai on 23 June, ITAR-TASS reported on 15 June.
On 16 June Kravchuk starts a two-day visit to France, during
which he will sign the Paris Charter and a friendship and cooperation
treaty with France. (Ann Sheehy)

ANOTHER AMMO DUMP EXPLOSION. One CIS naval officer was killed
on 15 June and two others injured in an explosion at a Baltic
Fleet ammunition dump in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast.
ITAR-TASS reported that military officials said the mishap was
caused when gunpowder "ignited accidentally" during a routine
inspection of shells. However the agency also quoted a local
newspaper, Yantarny Krai, which claimed the men were smoking
while taking apart some shells in order to recover and sell the
metal cartridges. In May, a Pacific Fleet ammunition dump in
Vladivstok exploded, injuring several people and forcing the
evacuation of thousands. (Doug Clarke)

F..................................................................M...........M
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

HAVEL MEETS MECIAR. Czechoslovak President Vaclav Havel, after
meeting with Vladimir Meciar and other leaders of the Movement
for a Democratic Slovakia (HZDS) on 15 June, said that the talks
confirmed their fundamental differences on the future of the
federation. CSTK quotes Havel as saying that the HZDS, the second
largest party in Czechoslovakia, insists on Slovakia seeking
international recognition as a sovereign state. Havel said he
told the Slovak leaders that the transfomation of Czechoslvakia
into two states should be peaceful and suggested a referendum
be held as soon as possible in both republics. Meciar said he
repeated to Havel that the HZDS will not support his candidacy
for federal president. Havel will meet with a delegation of Vaclav
Klaus's Civic Democratic Party on 16 June. (Barbara Kroulik)


MORE ON CZECHOSLOVAK CRISIS. Earlier the same day presidential
spokesman Michael Zantovsky said Havel wants the country's political
crisis solved quickly. He noted that the uncertain political
future has caused economic damage. Czechoslovak Central Bank
Chairman Josef Tosovsky echoed these sentiments. Also at its
last meeting on 15 June, the presidium of the outgoing federal
parliament recommended that presidential elections be held on
3 July. In Bratislava the Slovak parliament's presidium agreed
to ask a representative of HZDS to form a new republican government.
Zantovsky also discussed the HZDS proposal for separate Czech
and Slovak presidents who would alternate as federal president.
Zantovsky called this a purely confederative element, an RFE/RL
correspondent reports. (Barbara Kroulik)

CONTINUED DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST MILOSEVIC. For the third straight
day some 10,000 young people called for the Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic to resign. The 16 June Washington Post reports
that Bosnian Foreign Minister Haris Silajdzic has again asked
for NATO air power to relieve Sarajevo, adding that "those waiting
for weeksnow 10 weeksfor the outside world to help them . . .
can't wait any more." Meanwhile, Western media report that the
latest cease-fire in the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina is generally
holding, although Serbian sniper and artillery fire killed three
people. Finally, in Belgrade the rump "Yugoslav" parliament,
consisting only of Serb and Montenegrin delegates, elected Serbian
nationalist writer Dobrica Cosic president of the new state.
It is unclear exactly what the power relationships between him
and Serbian and Montenegrin republican leaders, including Milosevic,
will be. (Patrick Moore)

BULGARIAN-GREEK EXCHANGES OVER MACEDONIA. On 15 June Bulgaria
reacted officially to Greek criticism of statements by Foreign
Minister Stoyan Ganev on Macedonia and Greece. Ganev told Sueddeutsche
Zeitung that Greece is endangering regional stability and could
widen the Yugoslav conflict by its continued refusal to recognize
the Republic of Macedonia. BTA has now released a foreign ministry
statement expressing "great regret" over the Greek criticism,
saying "nonexistent" statements are ascribed to Ganev and suggesting
that the Greeks' emotional reaction was probably due to imperfect
information. Deputy Minister Valentin Dobrev later called in
the Greek ambassador to express the same view; the ambassador
said he hoped there would be no chain reaction that might damage
bilateral relations. (Rada Nikolaev)

ALBANIAN WARNS OF BALKAN WAR. The 16 June New York Times quotes
President Sali Berisha as calling for "any effort to prevent
the shift of the [ongoing Yugoslav] conflict to Kosovo, which
means at the same time the involvement of Macedonia and Albania
and the precipitation of a Balkan War." Berisha blamed Milosevic
as being the one mainly responsible for the fighting, Western
news agencies report. The Albanian leader is on a visit to the
US and met on 15 June with President George Bush, when the two
signed a trade treaty. Elsewhere, the 15 June issue of the Vienna
weekly Profil carries an article on Serbian repression of Kosovo's
over-90% Albanian majority and on Albanian underground schools
and hospitals set up in response. Finally, European media report
that EC officials on 15 June again postponed a decision on whether
to recognize Macedonia over Greek objections. (Patrick Moore)


NEW ESTONIAN MINISTERS, DIPLOMATS. The Estonian Supreme Council
on 15 June confirmed two new cabinet ministers, BNS reports.
Former Minister of Construction Olari Taal became Minister of
the Economy, replacing Heido Vitsur, who resigned last week.
Estonian-Canadian Arvi Niitenberg of Toronto was confirmed as
Minister of Energy Resources. Niitenberg, formerly a top official
at Ontario Hydro, follows Foreign Minister Jaan Manitski as the
second emigre Estonian in government. The same day Leili Utno,
a biologist by training, and Valvi Strikaitiene, former adviser
to the Lithuanian representation in Estonia, were appoiunted
ambassadors to Latvia and Lithuania, respectively. (Riina Kionka)




PAWLAK'S APPOINTMENTS UNLAWFUL? Controversy continues to rage
about the legality of Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak's
decision to turn two key ministries over to newly-appointed officials.
The Sejm's vote on 5 June to remove the Olszewski government
simultaneously instructed the cabinet to remain on the job in
an "acting" capacity. Pawlak promptly relieved Internal Affairs
Minister Antoni Macierewicz and council of ministers office head
Wojciech Wlodarczyk of their duties. Although Olszewski's supporters
have called these moves unconstitutional, Pawlak has protested
that he cannot work with uncooperative ministers. Macierewicz
made a well-publicized attempt to enter the internal affairs
ministry on 15 June, but was barred from doing so. Pawlak then
ordered him to await instructions at home, a move Macierewicz
condemned as "house arrest," according to PAP. In the meantime,
Polish politics veered further toward burlesque as President
Lech Walesa announced plans to expose an agent with the code
name "[cigarette] lighter," whom he charged with attempting to
compromise high officials by accusing them of collaboration with
the secret police. (Louisa Vinton)

POPIELUSZKO TRIAL OPENS IN POLAND. After nearly two years of
preparation, the trial of Gen. Wladyslaw Ciaston, a former deputy
internal affairs minister and security police chief, and Gen.
Zenon Platek, former head of church surveillance in the internal
affairs ministry, got underway in Warsaw on 15 June. Ciaston
and Platek are charged with being the "higher-ups" responsible
for organizing the murder of Father Jerzy Popieluszko in 1984.
Four lower-ranking police officials were convicted of the crime
in 1985. PAP reported that deliberations were postponed until
22 June after Edward Wende, the Popieluszko family's attorney,
requested consideration of additional secret internal affairs
documents. Wende argued that these could show that figures still
higher in the communist power structure instigated the murder.
"We must see to it," Wende said, "that this time all those who
share guilt in the murder find themselves accused." (Louisa Vinton)


ROMANIAN SENATE APPROVES SEPTEMBER ELECTIONS. On 15 June the
Senate set 27 September as the date for both presidential and
parliamentary elections, Romanian and foreign media report. The
bill must be passed by the Chamber of Deputies (lower house)
before it becomes final, and it is likely to provoke disputes.
President Ion Iliescu's supporters, especially the Democratic
National Salvation Front, want simultaneous polls, while opposition
parties and the pro-Petre Roman National Salvation Front hoping
to unseat Iliescu favor separate presidential and parliamentary
polls. (Crisula Stefanescu)

CONTINUED TURMOIL SURROUNDS HUNGARIAN SMALLHOLDERS. The Hungarian
ministers of interior and defense initiated legal proceedings
at the chief prosecutor's office against suspended Smallholders'
chairman Jozsef Torgyan, MTI reported on 15 June. The ministers
said that Torgyan's allegations that units from their ministries
participated in an attempt on 11 June to take control of the
his party headquarters "undermines public confidence" in those
ministries. On 11 June some Smallholders' party officials tried
to oust Torgyan and he was suspended from his post as party chairman
by the party's general secretary. Torgyan plans to present evidence
to the media on 19 June that the attempted takeover was a "military
action" backed by the government. (Edith Oltay)

BULGARIAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS HOLD CONGRESS. The 39th congress of
the BSDP on 12-14 June was marked by lively discussions of an
alternative program presented by executive bureau member Anton
Antonov calling for expanding the party's contacts, even to include
the UDF, which the BSDP left last year. A further split was avoided,
however, and BSDP leader Petar Dertliev was reelected chairman
with 395 votes to Antonov's 118. Dertliev rejected contacts with
Kurtev's rump social democratic party and with the Union for
Social Democracy in the BSP. He expressed support for the Bulgarian
Democratic Center but will not join it under its present leadership.
(Rada Nikolaev)

LOAN TO ROMANIA TO HELP SMALL FARMS, ENTERPRISES. The World Bank
has approved a $100 million loan to Romania to help support private
farmers and enterprises in rural areas, an RFE/RL correspondent
reports on 15 June. Romanian banks and others will provide an
additional $64.7 million to this project, the main objective
of which is to strengthen rural business. The money will be channeled
through local financial institutions. (Crisula Stefanescu)

IMF GREEN LIGHT FOR ESTONIA. A delegation from the International
Monetary Fund visiting Tallinn told Prime Minister Tiit Vahi
on 15 June that it has revised its recommendation to wait on
introduction of Estonia's new currency, the kroon, until fall.
Now, seeing the advanced state of technical preparations for
the reform plus the government's new stabilization program, the
visitors agree that reform is possible within the next week.
Vahi told the press that the IMF will help underwrite the kroon
starting in September. The RFE/RL Estonian Service carried Vahi's
remarks. (Riina Kionka)

LATVIA EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR LAND COMPENSATION CLAIMS. The Supreme
Council extended the deadline for submitting applications for
compensation for land confiscated by the Soviet regime in Latvia
from 20 June 1992 to 31 December 1992, BNS reported on 11 June.
(Dzintra Bungs)

SHOULD WORLD COURT CONSIDER MILITARY PRESENCE? Ole Esperson of
the Political Commission of the European Parliament, visited
Latvia to evaluate its readiness to become a full-fledged member
of the Council of Europe. According to BNS on 11 June, he told
Valdis Birkavs, deputy Supreme Council chairman, that the Baltic
States should ask the World Court to examine their common complaint
of the continued presence of ex-Soviet troops on their territory.
Birkavs said that Latvia had tried to do this last August but
its efforts were unsuccessful because it was not a UN member
at that time. (Dzintra Bungs)

RUSSIA SEEKS "PERMANENT BALTIC PRESENCE." Baltic leaders believe
that the Russian military wants to keep its troops on their territory
indefinitely because they are vital to Russian security, according
to an article in the Financial Times. Col. Gen. Ilya Kalinichenko,
commander of the CIS border guards, told Lithuanian National
Defense Minister Audrius Butkevicius on 10 June: "The Polish-Lithuanian
border is seen as our [Russian] border and our soldiers are there
to defend the interests of Russia." Similarly, in a draft Russian
position paper released to the press by Endel Lippmaa, head of
Estonia's delegation to the troop withdrawal talks, the Russians
placed the Baltic States in the category of countries described
as "ours." The paper suggests that Russian troops should remain
in place and be paid for by the Baltic States in return for security.
(Saulius Girnius)

RUSSIAN SOLDIERS DON'T WANT TO SERVE IN LATVIA. Radio Riga reported
on 15 June that the Latvian Defense Ministry is looking into
the request of four Russian conscripts stationed at a base in
eastern Latvia to be returned to their home towns in Siberia.
Deputy Defense Minister Valdis Pavlovskis said that, despite
the base commander's request for the return of the four, Latvia
would provide them with temporary asylum until their situation
is investigated and their options under international laws are
examined. (Dzintra Bungs)

NAVAL DELEGATIONS IN LATVIA. On 15 June a French navy vessel
arrived at the Riga passenger harbor to make an official visit
to Latvia's fledgling navy and to bring humanitarian aid. Earlier,
on 10 June, four German warships with some 400 commanding officers
and sailors arrived in Riga. The German delegation proposed educational
programs and invited Latvian naval specialists for a return visit,
Radio Riga reports. (Dzintra Bungs)

ESTONIAN: NOT THE LANGUAGE OF LOVE. A recent opinion poll suggests
that Russians living in Estonia are not fond of the Estonian
language. According to an EMOR poll published in Eesti Ekspress
on 12 June, every tenth Russian considers the sound of Estonian
unpleasant. One quarter of all Russians polled said they felt
insulted if two Estonians within earshot spoke Estonian and one
third of all Russians said they regarded themselves the ethnic
majority in Estonia. The poll was commissioned by the Estonian
Language Authority, whose mandate is to enforce a 1989 law making
Estonian the state language. Estonia currently requires applicants
for citizenship to demonstrate competence in the state language,
set at the very low level of 1500 words. (Toomas Ilves & Riina
Kionka)

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Stephen Foye and Charles Trumbull



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