No. 129, 09 July 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

G-7 ECONOMIC PACKAGE FOR YELTSIN. President Boris Yeltsin left
Munich with a modest basket of incentives to encourage self-help.
He diplomatically remarked: "I certainly didn't expect any more
than that, and I didn't want any less." Russia received: endorsement
of the IMF offer of $1 billion in credits; conditional assurances
on the rest of the $24-billion package; encouraging words on
debt rescheduling; a promise of coordinated aid on nuclear safety;
pledges on the granting of most favored nation status; and the
unlocking of a $500 million export cover commitment by the UK.
Yeltsin offered to trade Russia's foreign debt for equity--mineral
rights, oil leases, industrial plants, and land. He also undertook
to pursue the path of radical economic reform. (Keith Bush)

RUSSIAN DEFENSE, SECURITY OFFICIALS DENY COUP RUMORS. High-ranking
representatives of Russia's ministries of defense and security,
reacting to recent statements by Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev
and others, held a press conference on 8 July to deny that they
are planning a coup, ITAR-TASS and Russian TV reported. Top Security
Ministry analyst, General Ksenofont Ippolotov, suggested that
the rumors were being spread in order to exclude the defense
and security agencies from the policy-making process. None of
the spokesmen, however, ruled out the possibility that extremists
could incite unrest among a population worn out by economic hardship.
(Brenda Horrigan)

STANKEVICH ATTACKS KOZYREV. The struggle over Russia's foreign
policy course has intensified. Presidential advisor Sergei Stankevich
attacked Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev for lacking
a clear concept in foreign policy in an article in Izvestiya
on 8 July. He maintained that Kozyrev's indecisiveness in tackling
the Trans-Dniester problem has led to bloodshed. He criticized
Moscow's diplomacy toward the Baltic states and called for sanctions
against Estonia and Latvia, where, he asserted, millions of Russians
have been denied basic rights. He noted that although Russia
would never become an empire again, it will be a great power,
which should, however, concentrate on Russia's basic needs and
refrain from expansionism. (Alexander Rahr)

CEASE-FIRE AGREEMENT IN MOLDOVA. Col. Gen. Vladimir Semenov,
commander of Russia's land forces, arrived in Moldova on 7 July
as a plenipotentiary of the Russian president. A cease-fire was
then signed by Moldovan First Deputy Minister of Defense Pavel
Creanga, "Dniester republican guard" commander Stefan Kitsak,
and Semenov, Russian and Moldovan media reported. Effective as
of midnight on 8 July, the agreement provides for an immediate
and unconditional cease-fire; the redeployment of all armored
vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers, and mine and grenade throwers
to designated locations behind the front lines; the withdrawal
of snipers and the recall of covert operations units to their
barracks; the wide dissemination of these orders through the
mass media; and the creation of joint groups of monitors from
Moldova's Ministry of Defense, the "Dniester guard," Russia's
14th Army, and Russia's Ministry of Defense. The cease-fire is
not part of the multilateral peacemaking operation initiated
by the CIS on 6 July but, rather, an outcome of a recent agreement
between Yeltsin and Moldovan President Mircea Snegur to act jointly
as "guarantors" of a cease-fire. (Vladimir Socor)

MILITARY COMMANDERS ON GENERAL LEBED. Russian TV reported on
8 July that the military leadership of the Russian Federation
has ordered Gen. Aleksandr Lebed to cease meeting with representatives
of the central media. Lebed, recently appointed commander of
the 14th Army in Moldova, has since made a number of provocative,
anti-Moldovan statements. In Moscow, meanwhile, a group of high-ranking
Russian officers, including at least one member of the General
Staff, refused to condemn Lebed's statements, and one called
him a patriot, The New York Times reported on 9 July. Western
agencies on 8 July reported that Shaposhnikov had also refused
to condemn Lebed. (Stephen Foye)

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES CFE. The Russian parliament on 8
July ratified the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty (CFE),
ITAR-TASS reported. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Valerii Mironov
defended the treaty before parliament, arguing that the treaty's
requirements have had an important impact on Russian military
reform. The parliament also adopted a resolution on Russia's
international obligations with respect to chemical and biological
weapons. According to ITAR-TASS, the resolution says that Russia
is the legal successor to the USSR in its obligations on biological
and chemical weapons. (Stephen Foye)

SHAPOSHNIKOV ON CIS COMMAND STRUCTURE. According to the CIS commander
in chief, Evgenii Shaposhnikov, the main functions of his command
will include centralized control over strategic nuclear arms,
coordination of military doctrines and military reforms of CIS
member states, and the settling of armed conflicts both inside
the CIS and along its borders. The newly appointed deputy CIS
commander, Boris Pyankov, will be in charge of the latter task,
according to Shaposhnikov, and will head a special structure
created for that purpose. Shaposhnikov added that the CIS command
would consist of some 300 military and 100 civilian employees,
that the CIS commander will remain subordinated to the Council
of Heads of State, and that he will also run meetings of the
Council of Defense Ministers. This council will have a committee
for coordinating nuclear strategy and a secretariat. (Stephen
Foye)

TENSIONS FLARE OVER BLACK SEA FLEET, STRATEGIC FORCES. The commander
of the Black Sea Fleet, Adm. Igor Kasatonov, on 8 July accused
Ukraine of violating the Dagomys agreement on the Black Sea Fleet
by re-subordinating a marine regiment of the fleet to the command
of the Ukrainian Odessa Military District, ITAR-TASS reported.
On the same day, the Coordinating Council of the Black Sea Fleet
Officers' Assembly threatened to take resolute measures if Kiev
did not halt what the council called the "Ukrainization" of the
fleet. The pro-Russian officers charged that Ukraine was behind
a massive propaganda effort to destabilize the fleet, ITAR-TASS
reported, and they threatened to join "the political struggle
for the holding of referendum on the future of Crimea." Also
on 8 July, Shaposhnikov accused Ukraine of violating the Lisbon
agreement by putting strategic nuclear forces under Kiev's command.
(Stephen Foye)

CPSU HEARINGS: NOT A "POLITICAL TRIBUNAL." At the close of the
first day of the Constitutional Court hearings, chairman, Valerii
Zorkin, called on both sides to show more restraint in their
remarks and to avoid turning the hearings into a "political tribunal,"
Russian and Western agencies reported on 7 July. According to
Radio Rossii, Zorkin noted that the court, "examines matters
of law and not matters of political expediency." His remarks
followed a rousing defense of the CPSU and an attack on the Russian
president made by Dmitrii Stepanov in which he threatened an
armed seizure of power. Stepanov was then barred from the proceedings.
In an apparent effort to avoid turning the hearings into a trial
of communism, the court has decided to consider the constitutionality
of Yeltsin's decrees banning the Party first, and only then to
address the question of whether the Party itself had acted unconstitutionally.
(Carla Thorson)

YELTSIN'S LAWYERS PRESENT ARGUMENTS ON CPSU. On 8 July, after
Zorkin again warned the participants to refrain from turning
the hearings into a political show, lawyers for the Russian president
launched their defense of Yeltsin's ban on the Communist Party.
Sergei Shakhrai argued that the Communist Party was not a political
party in any sense of the term. He called the CPSU the "most
powerful organization of the 20th Century"--a "phantom government"
that stole state funds, repressed dissidents and assassinated
its enemies, Russian and Western agencies reported. As evidence
of the Party's involvement in the August 1991 coup attempt, Shakhrai
also presented telegrams from various party leaders declaring
their full support for the Emergency Committee. Shakhrai concluded
that Yeltsin had not only a legal right, but a constitutional
obligation to ban the Party. (Carla Thorson)

SOME PARTY ARCHIVE MATERIALS SAID TO BE FORGED. On 8 July, "Vesti"
cited a warning, issued by the Russian governmental commission
responsible for the declassification of the CPSU archives, which
noted that some of the documents published in the Russian and
Western press amount to forgery. The commission referred specifically
to materials that allegedly came from top secret CPSU files and
Soviet security bodies, and which had been turned over to the
media by a former senior official in the CPSU Central Committee
International Department, Anatolii Smirnov. Immediately following
the August 1991 attempted coup, Smirnov had released documents
on the Party's financing of foreign communist parties. (Julia
Wishnevsky)

TV PROGRAM PARTIALLY REHABILITATING GORBACHEV CENSORED. A Russian
TV program called "7 Dnei," (7 Days), announced that a documentary
on the Communist Party was scheduled to be broadcast in the regular
series, Chernyi Yashchik (Black Box), on 8 July. The program,
however, was replaced by another in the same series. According
to "7 Dnei," the censored program included a letter, sent on
26 April 1986 by the USSR deputy minister for energy, which claimed
that there was no radiation or public health threat following
the Chernobyl accident. This assertion would appear to confirm
the version of events presented by the Gorbachev leadership,
(namely, that they were misinformed by state officials). This
evidence would also contradict recent speculation in the media
that Gorbachev and Yakovlev knew everything about the disaster
from the onset but deliberately covered up the truth. (Julia
Wishnevsky)

UKRAINIAN ECONOMICS MINISTER TO STAY ON. Ukrainian Economics
Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Lanovy told a press
conference in Kiev on 8 July that he will not step down from
his post, Radio Ukraine and ITAR-TASS reported. The day before
Lanovy had said that he was prepared to resign because of lack
of support from the president. Lanovy told reporters that he
would continue to push for economic reforms, but that he had
no intention of heading a new government. (Roman Solchanyk)

AZERBAIJAN DECLARES UNILATERAL CEASE-FIRE IN KARABAKH. Addressing
delegates to the CSCE conference in Helsinki on 8 July, Azerbaijani
President Abulfaz Elchibey announced that Azerbaijan will observe
a unilateral cease-fire in Nagorno-Karabakh, beginning on 9 July,
Western agencies reported. An Azerbaijani delegate to the CSCE
Karabakh talks in Rome said that the decision had been taken
in compliance with an appeal from the Italian chairman of the
talks, Mario Raffaelli, last weekend. The Armenian mission in
Moscow charged that Azerbaijan had nonetheless launched a new
offensive in the Mardakert raion of Karabakh, CIS TV reported
on 8 July. The Armenian parliament passed a decree affirming
its support for the rights of the population of Nagorno-Karabakh
and rejecting any international document stipulating that the
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is a part of Azerbaijan, ITAR-TASS
reported. (Liz Fuller)

TURKISH "PEACE CORPS" TO AID MUSLIM REPUBLICS. Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan will receive
groups of Turkish professional volunteers, financed by Turkey
and the United Nations this fall, an RFE/RL correspondent reported
on 8 July. Priority will be given to aiding the banking, legal,
and telecommunications systems as well as agriculture in these
states. The United States, Japan and the European Community are
expected to join the United Nations Development Program in funding
the project, which was unveiled in Ankara on 8 July. (Cassandra
Cavanaugh)

NEW CENTRAL ASIAN SIGNATORIES TO HELSINKI FINAL ACT. Among the
nine states to sign the 1975 Council on Security and Cooperation
in Europe treaty on 8 July in Helsinki, three were former Soviet
Central Asian republics: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.
Uzbekistan became a signatory to the treaty during an official
visit by President Islam Karimov to Helsinki in February 1992.
ITAR-TASS reported that Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov
emphasized the significance of the inclusion of Asian states
in the Helsinki process, and the hope that trade and economic
relations with CSCE states can be built. (Cassandra Cavanaugh)


KYRGYZSTAN: 98% LIVE BELOW POVERTY LEVEL. According to the chairman
of the Kyrgyz Federation of Trade Unions, 98% of Kyrgyz citizens
have a monthly income below the subsistence level of 2,723 rubles
calculated by that organization, Radio Mayak reported on 8 July.
This fact was given as a warning that the continuation of economic
"shock therapy" measures in the republic would be socially dangerous.
Kyrgyzstan recently announced a slate of policies intended to
stabilize the economy by the end of the year. (Cassandra Cavanaugh)


EXPATRIATE INCOME TAX TO BE HALVED. Russian Economics Minister
Andrei Nechaev has announced that the top rate of income tax
on resident foreigners will be cut to 30% this year, The Journal
of Commerce reported on 9 July. The previous top rate of 60%
on income over 420,000 rubles a year (about $3,000 a year at
the current rate of exchange) on the worldwide income of expatriates
residing more than 183 days a year in Russia was understandably
unpopular. The Journal suggested that few Western businessmen
intended to pay the exorbitant tax anyway. (Keith Bush)

YELTSIN FIRES CORRUPT OFFICIAL. Yeltsin dismissed the chairman
of the Trade Committee of the Ministry of Trade and Material
Resources, Aleksandr Khlystov, in connection with corruption
charges, "Vesti" reported on 2 July. Yeltsin will reportedly
also fire Khlystov's deputies--Viktor Kozlov and Vladimir Tikhonov.
Meanwhile the conservative parliamentary faction "Edinstvo" has
called for the resignation of the government and the exclusion
of the president from all decision-making concerning the economy,
ITAR-TASS reported on the same day. "Edinstvo" wants to set up
a "government of people's trust" which would establish emergency
rule in the country for solving economic problems. (Alexander
Rahr)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

CSCE SUSPENDS YUGOSLAVIA. Meeting in Helsinki on 8 July, the
Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe voted to suspend
the rump Yugoslav state from further participation in the organization
until October 14. This roughly coincides with the 100-day grace
period Yugoslav prime minister-designate Milan Panic asked for
to initiate peace talks among the former Yugoslav republics.
Russia has resisted harsher action against Yugoslavia, arguing
that expulsion would only make it more difficult to find a solution
to the conflict. The chief Yugoslav delegate to the conference,
Vladimir Pavicevic, told reporters afterwards that the suspension
would give the new government time to initiate democratic elections
and work toward ending the year-old civil war. (Gordon Bardos)


CROATS BACKPEDAL ON SEPARATE ENCLAVE IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA. The
proclamation on 3 July of the "Croatian Community of Herceg-Bosna"
at first met with icy silence in the Zagreb press close to President
Franjo Tudjman's governing party. On 7 July Vjesnik ran an editorial
saying that Croatian state interests require Zagreb to support
Bosnia's territorial integrity and not back any secessionists,
since Croatia seeks to recover breakaway Serb parts of its own
territory. The paper also ran the text of a Tudjman press conference
and a statement by Herzegovinian Croat leader Mate Boban, while
on 8 July Vecernji list carried a letter from Tudjman to Bosnian
President Alija Izetbegovic. The gist of these messages is that
Herceg-Bosna is a purely temporary entity to facilitate administration
amid wartime chaos and that it in no way threatens Bosnia-Herzegovina's
territorial integrity. Tudjman and some of his Herzegovinian
advisors are believed to favor partition of the neighboring republic,
while the rest of the government is opposed. (Patrick Moore)


OTHER BOSNIAN DEVELOPMENTS. Regardless of what official Croatia
says about partition, Bosnian Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic
has offered Bosnian Croats a "confederation" of their two respective
areas. The 9 July Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quotes a recent
Politika article to that effect. Karadzic's Serbian enclaves
recently introduced their own currency. On 8 July in Sarajevo,
Reuters quoted Sadako Ogata, UN High Commissioner for Refugees,
as saying that other Bosnian cities will need relief assistance
as well. (Patrick Moore)

SERBIAN MEDIA REPORT "INCIDENTS" WITH ALBANIANS. On 6 July Politika
ran a long article cataloging alleged recent violations of the
Serbian and Montenegrin frontiers by Albanian civilians and troops.
The paper added that Tirana has not replied to Belgrade's protest
notes, and claimed that Italian and American military personnel
are stationed in Albania near the Yugoslav border: "units of
the two countries are carrying out 'humanitarian aid' as a reason
for their presence." On 7 July Tanjug said that one Serb policeman
was killed and another wounded that day by ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo. (Patrick Moore)

ROMANIA DENIES SUPPLYING OIL TO SERBIA. On 8 July Traian Chebeleu,
a spokesman for the Romanian foreign ministry, rejected allegations
that oil is flowing through Romania to Serbia and Montenegro
in violation of the UN embargo. Talking to an RFE corespondent,
Chebeleu insisted that his country is "unhappy" over such allegations,
wondering how they could reach the G-7 summit meeting in Munich.
He said that a ship that sought to pump oil into Yugoslav river
barges at Constanta was refused permission to enter the Romanian
port. On 6 July Borba quoted the vice president of the Serbian
parliament as saying that Romania is secretly supplying 25,000
tons of crude oil a week to his country. On 8 July Prime Minister
Theodor Stolojan told the press that his government is determined
to strictly observe the UN sanctions and is ready to receive
foreign observers to check oil transportation facilities, Rompres
reports. (Dan Ionescu)

ROMANIA PONDERS JOINING PEACE-KEEPING FORCE IN MOLDOVA. Chebeleu
also told an RFE correspondent on 8 July that his government
sees no problem "in principle" with sending troops to join a
peace-keeping force in the Republic of Moldova, if that country
agreed. Inclusion of Romanian troops in a force mainly consisting
of Russian, Ukrainian, and Belarusian contingents was suggested
by Russian president Boris Yeltsin in a proposal addressed to
the Romanian parliament on 4 July but not yet discussed. The
force would try to establish a buffer zone between warring Moldovan
troops and forces of the self-proclaimed Dniester republic. (Dan
Ionescu)

WALESA ACCEPTS PROPOSED CABINET. Despite what he called a "moral
hangover," Polish President Lech Walesa endorsed the candidacy
of Hanna Suchocka for prime minister and voiced no objections
to her cabinet lineup. The president said he was "bowing to the
will of democracy." Walesa met with Suchocka and the leaders
of the major coalition parties before his departure for Helsinki
on 8 July. Reluctant to part with his own concept, Walesa suggested
that the current prime minister, Waldemar Pawlak, might have
headed a more lasting government, but admitted that "democracy
has constructed a more promising option." For her part, Suchocka
expressed confidence in the notion of a "government of national
consensus." (Louisa Vinton)

NEW POLISH GOVERNMENT IN POWER BY WEEKEND? Thanking the prime
minister for having helped to ensure calm and order in Poland
at a "dangerous moment," President Walesa submitted a formal
motion for Pawlak's dismissal on 8 July. The Sejm leadership
decided to convene a special parliamentary session on 1011 July
to vote on Pawlak's resignation. Only then can Walesa submit
Suchocka's candidacy for consideration. The seven-party coalition
can count on support from 236 of the 460 Sejm deputies, so the
new cabinet seems assured of confirmation. Polish TV reported
that the value of Poland's debt in New York rose from 22 to 26.5
cents on the dollar at the news of the imminent formation of
a majority government. (Louisa Vinton)

EC SHOULD PREPARE FOR SPLIT, CZECHOSLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS.
Czechoslovak Foreign Minister Jozef Moravcik (a member of Vladimir
Meciar's Movement for a Democratic Slovakia) said in an interview
with CSTK on July 8 that he intends to open talks with the European
Community on the possibility of the Czech and Slovak Republics
separately joining the EC. Moravcik said that the most likely
date for a split of Czechoslovakia is 1 January 1993. He said
that he has the obligation to prepare the international community
for the possibility of a breakup. (Jan Obrman)

NATIONAL COUNCIL TO DISCUSS CZECH CONSTITUTION. Czech Prime Minister
Vaclav Klaus announced on 8 July that the Czech parliament will
soon start discussing a draft constitution with the aim of Czech
statehood, according to CSTK. Klaus said that his government
will submit to the Czech National Council a program which includes
plans to establish the post of a Czech president. (Jan Obrman)


YELTSIN PLEDGES FULL TROOP PULLOUT FROM BALTIC STATES. On 9 July
Russian President Boris Yeltsin said that Russia has "set a precise
deadline--the second half of 1992 and first half of 1993"--for
the withdrawal of the remaining former USSR troops from the Baltic
States, Western agencies report. He said that no more troops
will be sent to replace those whose tours of duty expire; he
did not, however, mention a completion date for the troop pullout.
Arriving in Helsinki, he told an impromptu news conference that
it is impossible to meet the Baltic demands that the more than
100,000 troops be withdrawn by the end of the year because of
the lack of housing, but he confirmed that an agreement on a
timetable "is to be signed shortly." Meanwhile, in Munich on
8 July Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told his German counterpart
Klaus Kinkel that Russia will speed up the withdrawal. Kinkel
also asked Kozyrev to give the Baltic States a "detailed time
schedule" but indicated the withdrawal would not have to take
place "at a breakneck speed." Kozyrev asked Kinkel to remember
Russia's economic difficulties. Kozyrev had told BALTFAX on 7
July that the terms of the withdrawal would depend on the volume
of aid given Russia to settle this issue and recommended an international
program to facilitate resettling the withdrawn troops. (Saulius
Girnius & Dzintra Bungs)

BILDT: TROOP PULLOUT NOT TO BE TIED TO MINORITIES. Swedish Prime
Minister Carl Bildt stresses: "there must be no coupling of the
troop problem to the minority issue. Statements from some Russian
politicians that the Russian Army is needed in the Baltics to
protect Russian interests there demonstrate an ignorance of international
law, are not substantiated by the facts and are counterproductive."
In his commentary in the International Herald Tribune of 8 July,
Bildt points out that "'minority' is a misnomer. The Latvians
are probably outnumbered by the Russians and other groups in
their own country. Most of the Russians [and other Slavs] in
the Baltics do not speak the language of the country where they
live. At the same time, Russian-speakers in the Baltic States
are in many ways victims themselves of a deliberate Stalinist
colonization policy which, among other crimes, deported and killed
thousands of Balts." (Dzintra Bungs)

LITHUANIA TAKES OVER MILITARY SCHOOL. On 8 July the Russian military
signed documents officially transferring the Vilnius Higher Radioelectronic
School, including its training center for anti-aircraft defense
officers, to the Lithuanian army, Radio Lithuania reports. Col.
Algimantas Vaitkaitis, the head of the Lithuanian National Defense
Academy, said that most facilities were not in particularly bad
repair, in part since Lithuania had begun discussions on its
transfer as early as April. According to information supplied
by the Northwest Group of Forces there were 1,436 students at
the school on 1 January 1992. (Saulius Girnius)

POWELL IN POLAND. Continuing his visit to the Central European
"triangle," US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Colin Powell
met with acting defense minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz, presidential
security chief Jerzy Milewski, and Polish General Staff Chief
Gen. Zdzislaw Stelmaszuk on 8 July. Powell said there was no
discussion of possible US aid to Poland in the form of military
equipment. Onyszkiewicz added that the most important assistance
the US could provide was advice on the structure of the armed
forces and officer training. (Louisa Vinton)

MORE BULGARIAN STRIKES. Continuing an action that began a day
earlier, some 70,000 medical personnel on 8 July refused to offer
other than emergency services, BTA reported. Trade union representatives
said medical staff across Bulgaria are dissatisfied with the
promised 26% pay rise, but they also demanded the government
funnel more resources into the national health care system. At
the same time dock workers in Burgas concerned about job security
laid down their tools, and miners in several districts have threatened
to follow their example as well. (Kjell Engelbrekt)

DROUGHT HITS LITHUANIAN AGRICULTURE. On 8 July the Lithuanian
Cabinet decided to ask parliament to declare a state of emergency
in Lithuanian agriculture because of the two-month drought, Radio
Lithuania reports. Rainfall has been only 510% of normal. This
year's grain harvest will be 1.81.9 million tons, down from 3.4
million last year. Agriculture Minister Rimvydas Survila noted
that primarily due to lack of fodder, sales of milk and meat
in the first half of the year decreased 17% and 29% respectively
compared with 1991. This year's harvest of sugar beets will be
only 56% of last year's, flax--42%, vegetables--55%, and potatoes--67%.
(Saulius Girnius)

COST OF LIVING, UNEMPLOYMENT RISE IN LATVIA. Radio Riga reports
on 8 July that 20,427 persons are actively seeking employment
in Latvia and that 9,524 persons have already been registered
as unemployed. Some 2500 persons are receiving unemployment compensation.
By the end of this year the percentage of labor force that is
unemployed is expected to exceed the earlier estimated 12%. BNS
reported on 7 July that the Latvian government now estimates
1,900 rubles as the minimum subsistence-level per capita monthly
income, while Latvia's Free Trade Union Association gives that
figure as 2,319 rubles. (Dzintra Bungs)

CZECHOSLOVAK GOVERNMENT ON GABCIKOVO-NAGYMAROS. According to
Czechoslovak TV, the new federal government expressed the intention
to continue constructing the controversial dam on Czechoslovakia's
border with Hungary, which has considerably increased tensions
between the two countries. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ludek Krajhanzl
made it clear that the federal government will stick to the 1977
agreement between the two countries on the construction of a
joint hydroelectric project. Hungary withdrew from its part of
the Danube project in 1989 and unilaterally canceled the agreement
earlier this year. (Jan Obrman)

POLISH-LITHUANIAN RAIL LINK. On 7 July at the recently renovated
Sestokai train station Polish Transportation Minister Ewaryst
Waligorski and his Lithuanian counterpart Jonas Birziskis signed
a treaty establishing a railroad link between the two countries,
Radio Lithuania reports. Passenger trains able to carry 300 passengers
will travel the 60-km route between Sestokai and Suwalki every
day. The tickets will be sold for hard currency. The agreement
establishes Lithuania's first direct railroad route with the
West--i.e., not passing through the territory of the former USSR.
(Saulius Girnius)

[As of 1200 CET]