No. 131, 13 July 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

SHAPOSHNIKOV CALLS FOR COORDINATED MILITARY POLICY. The commander
in chief of the CIS Joint Forces, Marshal Evgenii Shaposhnikov,
said on Russian TV on 11 July that a coordinated military policy
among CIS member states was essential both to protect CIS borders
and to maintain peace within the commonwealth. According to ITAR-TASS
and Radio Rossii reports, Shaposhnikov said that there was the
potential for conflict between Armenia and Turkey and between
Tajikistan and Afghanistan. Inside the CIS, he emphasized the
need for peacekeeping forces--suggesting that they could be deployed
in Moldova in a matter of days--and urged the leaders of the
Baltic states to sign an agreement on the status of former Soviet
forces in the region and to cease their calls for a quick withdrawal
of those forces. He also said that CIS member states were fully
capable of handling internal problems, and said he saw no reason
for the introduction of UN forces. (Stephen Foye)

US-RUSSIAN TALKS ON MISSILE DEFENSE. The New York Times reported
on 12 July that the Bush administration has sent a high level
delegation to Moscow in hopes of persuading the Russian leadership
to agree to joint deployment of an anti-missile defense system.
The talks, which were arranged during last month's summit meeting
between presidents Bush and Yeltsin, are to take place on 13-14
July. Moscow has apparently balked at the idea of involving itself
in a system of "Global Protection against a Limited Ballistic
Missile Attack" (GPALS), because of concerns that the US will
not share sensitive technology and because the US would like
to use a GPALS agreement to justify revision of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty, a prospect the Russians view with concern. (Stephen
Foye)

CIS STATES SIGN CFE AGREEMENT. Twenty-nine states, including
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Kazakhstan,
formally signed the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty
in Helsinki on 10 July, Western agencies reported. (Stephen Foye)


MOLDOVA CALLS FOR CSCE PEACEKEEPING MECHANISM. In his speech
to the CSCE summit in Helsinki on 9 July, Moldovan President
Mircea Snegur called for the use of CSCE peacekeeping mechanisms
in Moldova, without mentioning the CIS plan to send CIS "peacemaking
forces" to Moldova--a plan to which Moldova had given preliminary
consent on 6 and 7 July. Officials from Moldova's Presidential
Office and Foreign Ministry have told the RFE/RL Research Institute
that Snegur's appeal to the CSCE supersedes the earlier consent
to the CIS plan. The officials also said that, during the Helsinki
summit, Russia failed to obtain a CSCE mandate for the dispatch
of CIS "peacemaking" forces to Moldova. (Vladimir Socor)

RUSSIAN MILITARY ACTION IN MOLDOVA URGED. During the Russian
Supreme Soviet's debate on the resolution on Moldova on 9 July
which called for deploying Russian troops as peacekeepers there,
several speakers, including military officers, urged that paratroop
units be sent into Moldova to supplement Russia's 14th Army,
Moldovan media reported on 10 July. On 11 July, Col. Gen. Vladimir
Semenov, Yeltsin's military plenipotentiary, requested President
Snegur's consent that Russian paratroops be immediately deployed
for "peacemaking" operations in Bendery (where Russian observers
have determined that "Dniester" forces are the only violators
of the ceasefire). Judging from Moldovan and Romanian media reports,
the Moldovan leadership finds itself in a quandary over the Russian
proposal. (Vladimir Socor)

ANOTHER LEBED FOR MOLDOVA. The unit that Semenov proposes to
immediately deploy in Bendery is a paratroop regiment stationed
in central Chisinau and which is not a part of the 14th Army.
The regiment's commander is Colonel Aleksei Lebed, brother of
the 14th Army's recently appointed commander, Maj. Gen. Aleksandr
Lebed, whose threats to use force against Moldova have been widely
publicized recently. (Vladimir Socor)

CHORNOVIL IN MOLDOVA. The cochairman of Ukraine's "Rukh" party,
Vyacheslav Chornovil, visited Moldova at the invitation of its
parliament on 10-12 July. In interviews with Moldovan media and
in meetings with representatives of Moldova's Ukrainian community
on both banks of the Dniester, Chornovil strongly criticized
the would-be "Dniester republic" and Russia's support for the
creation of a new state formation under its influence in eastern
Moldova, on Ukraine's border. At the same time Chornovil urged
Moldova to allow the left bank to determine its own status in
the event that Moldova unites with Romania (an option that Moldova
itself does not favor). (Vladimir Socor)

RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY GIVEN SPECIAL POWERS. Russian
President Boris Yeltsin has issued a presidential decree entrusting
the secretary of the Russian Security Council, Yurii Skokov,
with special powers to implement the council's decisions and
presidential decrees on security issues, Interfax reported on
9 July. By extending the authority of the Security Council secretary,
Yeltsin has simultaneously restricted the responsibilities of
the acting prime minister, Egor Gaidar. (Alexander Rahr)

NAVY OFFICERS READY TO REBEL. Captain Valerii Novikov, director
of the CIS Navy press service, said on 10 July that Naval officers
throughout the CIS were becoming very upset over delays in receiving
their pay and over the failure of local authorities to allocate
housing to officers that was mandated by a Yeltsin decree issued
early this year. According to ITAR-TASS (as reported by AFP),
Novikov claimed that the CIS currently owes Naval officers some
1.5 billion rubles in salaries. He said that local authorities
had been particularly remiss on the housing issue in many cities
in the Russian far east, and that in the Kaliningrad and St.
Petersburg regions officers had received less than 6% of the
housing that they had requested. (Stephen Foye)

GERMAN-RUSSIAN PROTOCOL ON VOLGA GERMANS SIGNED. A protocol on
cooperation in the stage-by-stage restoration of the Volga German
republic was signed in Moscow on 10 July by Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Valerii Makharadze, the chairman of the Russian State
Committee for Nationalities Policy, Valerii Tishkov, and Bonn's
special envoy for ethnic Germans, Horst Waffenschmidt, Russian
and Western media reported. According to Reuters, Tishkov said
that the local authorities had agreed that German autonomy would
be restored before the end of the year, but this seems overly
optimistic given that Yeltsin has said it will only be restored
when there are a sufficient number of Germans in the area. (Ann
Sheehy)

CONSTITUTIONAL COURT FOCUSES ON FINAL YEARS OF CPSU. On 10 July,
the Constitutional Court asked lawyers to focus their arguments
on whether the Communist Party had changed into a law-abiding
parliamentary party after 14 March 1990, when Article VI, guaranteeing
the CPSU's monopoly on power was officially removed from the
Soviet Constitution. Among other things, Andrei Makarov, representing
the Russian president, argued that two days after the CPSU supposedly
gave up its monopoly on power, it secretly created KGB teams
to fight its domestic enemies, Russian and Western agencies reported.
As evidence, Makarov cited a secret 16 March 1990 decision by
the Politburo to create five regional KGB "Alpha" groups. He
further accused these groups of involvement in the crackdown
in the Baltics in early 1991. (Carla Thorson)

KRAVCHUK FIRES ECONOMICS MINISTER. Ukrainian President Leonid
Kravchuk, over the weekend, fired Volodymyr Lanovy from his posts
as economics minister and deputy prime minister, Western agencies
and Radio Ukraine reported on 12 July. In a television interview
on 11 July, Kravchuk argued that it was "nonsense" for a cabinet
minister to criticize the government. Lanovy had earlier threatened
to resign over the slow pace of reforms in Ukraine, but later
insisted that he would continue to push for his program of liberal
reforms. Lanovy told journalists that he does not believe that
Kravchuk is sincerely interested in market reforms. Kravchuk
appointed Valentyn Symonenko as first deputy prime minister,
Radio Ukraine reported. Previously, Symonenko was Kravchuk's
representative in the Odessa Oblast and a former Communist Party
functionary. (Roman Solchanyk)

MORE ARMENIAN-AZERBAIJANI FIGHTING. Interfax, quoting Azerbaijan's
Defense Ministry, reported more fighting between Armenians and
Azerbaijanis in Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan and on the border
of the two countries on 11 and 12 July. AFP reported on 12 July
that Armenian forces claimed to have killed at least 30 Azerbaijanis
in the Mardakert region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Villages in the
region were occupied by Azerbaijani forces in June. Armenpress
reported on 11 July that 10,000 refugees from these villages
have arrived in Erevan, and another 10,000 have sought refuge
in Stepanakert. (Bess Brown)

ARMENIA WANTS REGULATION OF RUSSIAN ARMY STATUS. Western agencies
and ITAR-TASS reported on 12 July that Armenia has called for
the speedy signing of agreements with Russia to regulate the
status of former Soviet troops on its territory. The appeal by
Armenian Vice-president Gagik Arutyunyan followed an incident
on 10 July in which five Russian soldiers were reported to have
been killed in a gun battle with Armenian security forces. The
Russian Foreign Ministry lodged a protest over the attack; Arutyunyan's
proposal was contained in a message of apology for the incident.
(Bess Brown)

CIS INTERSTATE ECOLOGY COUNCIL ESTABLISHED. Seven CIS states
(Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan,
and Uzbekistan) signed a protocol in Minsk on 10 July on the
creation of an Interstate Ecological Council, ITAR-TASS reported.
Ukraine attended the meeting but did not sign. Azerbaijan, Moldova,
and Turkmenistan apparently did not attend. The protocol implements
the agreement on ecological cooperation signed on 8 February
1992 by the heads of government of the CIS states with the exception
of Ukraine. Attached to the new council will be an Interstate
Ecological Fund with a capital of 60 million rubles. The fund
will open a central bank in Minsk with branches in each state
to finance interstate ecological programs. (Ann Sheehy)

COAL MINERS RALLY, PLAN STRIKE. In Moscow on 11 July, over 200
coal miners from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan held
a solidarity rally, ITAR-TASS reported. Siberian participants
declared they will cut shipments to enterprises owing them money.
Chairman of the Independent Union of Miners of Russia, Aleksandr
Sergeev, said the miners sought reforms that benefit workers
"and not an elite." An RFE/RL corespondent says the Russian Independent
Coal Miners Union also called for a one-day nationwide strike
on 15 July to protest overdue pay. (Brenda Horrigan)

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT REDUCES INCOME TAX. During its 10 July session,
the Russian parliament passed most of a bill that amends taxation
rates, Interfax reported. The biggest changes were said to affect
personal income tax rates. The minimum tax rate of 12% will be
applied to earnings of up to 200,000 rubles a year. The maximum
rate will be reduced from 60% to 40% and will apply to earnings
over 600,000 rubles a year (the previous threshold was 420,000
rubles). Acting Prime Minister Egor Gaidar has threatened that
a presidential veto will be applied to tax cuts proposed by the
parliament, and he has invoked the IMF's insistence on a more
balanced budget. (Keith Bush)

CHANGES ENVISAGED IN RUSSIAN SOCIAL SAFETY NET. At a Moscow news
conference on 10 July, Evgenii Yasin and Sergei Vasilev elaborated
upon their "program for deepening economic reform" that was unveiled
in June, Reuters and Interfax reported. Yasin said that until
now, the state has paid for social security, health care, education,
and housing, but that in future consumers will contribute by
means of vouchers to the cost of the services they need. He explained
that the 260-page document covering the second stage of economic
reform is merely a draft and that it could be changed after consultation
with specialists and with parliament. (Keith Bush)

RUSSIAN GOLD CHIEF RESIGNS. Valerii Rudakov, the head of Rosalmazzoloto,
the Russian State Monopoly for Precious Metals and Diamonds,
has resigned, Rossiiskaya gazeta reported on 11 July. Rudakov
claimed that the chain of command in the industry had broken
down and that the state had failed to fund new mining equipment
and supplies. He reckoned that these shortfalls would lead to
a sharp drop in output by 1993 and 1994. In Kazakhstan, the situation
of the gold industry was said to be "catastrophic," according
to Kazreview News Agency, ( as cited by Reuters on 11 July).
High taxation and the exorbitant prices for equipment were blamed
for the production fall. (Keith Bush)

RUSSIAN HARVEST FORECAST REVISED. Russian Agricultural Minister
Viktor Khlystun was quoted by Interfax on 10 July as putting
this year's grain harvest at 94-98 million tons. (An earlier
forecast gave the figure as 98 million tons). He compared this
with the 1986-90 annual average of 150 million tons. Meanwhile,
a presidential decree, also cited by RIA, puts planned grain
imports this year at 29.1 million tons, although specialists
believe that 20 million tons is a more realistic figure. (Keith
Bush)

PRIVATIZATION OF HOUSING IN MOSCOW. An official of the Moscow
statistical office told RIA on 12 July that more than 146,000
apartments were privatized in the city during the first half
of 1992. The figure for the first half of 1991 was 553 apartments.
She also disclosed that the city is behind schedule in providing
apartments for military officers. In the period, April-June 1992,
only 275 apartments were provided. Plans call for a total of
2,740 apartments to be made available for military families.
(Keith Bush)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

TUDJMAN CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION IN BOSNIA. The BBC
on 13 July quoted Croatian President Franjo Tudjman as urging
once again that the UN provide armed support for relief missions
to Sarajevo. On 12 July a convoy succeeded in briefly supplying
food and other supplies to the embattled suburb of Dobrinja,
where residents had spent months indoors and said they had eaten
grass to stay alive. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali has asked for additional peace-keeping forces to
be sent to the Bosnian capital. (Patrick Moore)

SERBS BEGIN NEW OFFENSIVE. The mainly Muslim town of Gorazde,
about 45 miles southeast of Sarajevo, came under fierce attack
by Serb forces on 12 July. Approximately 70,000 people (including
30,000 refugees) are trapped inside the city, which has been
under siege and without water or electricity for three months.
The Bosnian News Agency BH reported that the situation in the
town was "critical." Elsewhere in Bosnia, Serbs are reported
to have "retaken" the strategic towns of Ozdak and Gradacac in
the north, which are mainly Muslim but provides an overland link
between Serbia proper and the Serb enclave of Krajina in Croatia.
Serb forces are also reported advancing on the Herzegovinian
capital of Mostar in the south. (Gordon Bardos)

PANIC MAKES SURPRISE VISIT TO HELSINKI. The Serbian-American
prime minister-designate of the rump "Yugoslavia," Milan Panic,
made an unscheduled visit to Helsinki on 10 July and succeeded
in meeting with US Secretary of State James Baker, Croatian President
Franjo Tudjman, and Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev.
Baker told Panic: "the world now demands deeds from Yugoslavia,
not just words," while Tudjman said after meeting Panic that
"I believe he has good intentions." Panic told reporters Kozyrev
had promised that Russia would prevent any attempt to expel his
country, now consisting only of Serbia and Montenegro, from the
United Nations "even if Russia has to veto the idea 100 times."
International media carried the reports. (Gordon Bardos)

HUNGARY ACCUSES ROMANIA BREAKING THE UN EMBARGO AGAINST SERBIA.
A Hungarian delegate at the Helsinki conference said that the
planned joint WEU and NATO blockade of the Otranto Channel will
not be enough to enforce the UN embargo against Serbia, because
supplies go through Romania. The British televison service ITN
ran the report on 10 July. WEU's spokesman agreed, said that
the blockade is nonetheless a further political sign of international
dissatisfaction with Belgrad. (Karoly Okolicsanyi)

ROMANIA SEEKS TO TIGHTEN ITS EMBARGO ON SERBIA. On 10 July Romanian
Prime Minister Theodor Stolojan met officials of the defense,
transport, interior, trade, and tourism ministries, as well as
with the customs directorate, in order to review Romania's compliance
with the sanctions. According to Radio Bucharest, the meeting
concluded that Western reports on Romania violating the embargo
"failed to prove true." Participants recommended, however, that
controls be tightened and invited foreign observers to acome
to Romania in order to remove any doubts. On 11 July the transport
ministry announced that Romania would establish 13 control points
on the Danube and on the Black Sea to monitor sea and river traffic.
(Dan Ionescu)

POLAND GETS A GOVERNMENT. The Sejm confirmed constitutional law
specialist Hanna Suchocka as prime minister on 10 July, hours
after it voted to dismiss her predecessor, Polish Peasant Party
leader Waldemar Pawlak. The vote on Suchocka's confirmation was
233 to 61, with 113 abstentions. Suchocka's twenty-four member
multi-party cabinet was approved on 11 July. Backing Suchocka
were the seven-party coalition, the Solidarity trade union, and
the German minority. Opposed or abstaining were the postcommunist
Democratic Left, the Polish Peasant Party, the KPN, the Center
Alliance, and former Prime Minister Jan Olszewski's Movement
for the Republic. (Louisa Vinton)

SUCHOCKA CALLS FOR "NATIONAL AGREEMENT." In a pithy and resolute
inaugural address on 10 July, Suchocka stressed that her government's
formation "must put a definitive end to the period of conflict
and quarreling between political forces." Ideological battles
must remain outside the government. "Poland can and will be a
strong state," Suchocka continued. The law must not be degraded;
"always, when necessary, the state will manifest its power."
A "European orientation" remained Poland's foreign policy priority;
integration with the EC was the most pressing task. The government's
three central economic challenges were to overcome the crisis
of public finances; improve the functioning of enterprises through
privatization and better management; and modernize agriculture.
Concluding with an appeal to the public, Suchocka said that the
time for making demands had passed; "the time has come to ask
what we can give Poland." President Lech Walesa predicted on
10 July that Suchocka's would be "the best of all four" Solidarity
governments. He pledged to put his own ambitions "in his pocket."
(Louisa Vinton)

LANDSBERGIS SPEAKS AT CSCE. On 10 July Lithuanian Supreme Council
Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis spoke twice at the CSCE session
in Helsinki, the VOA Lithuanian Service reports. In his scheduled
speech, he noted that Lithuania had already given Russia a detailed
timetable for the latter's army's withdrawal in four months and
saw no reason why it could not be completed by the end of the
year. He said that the Russian troops continued to violate Lithuanian
laws and that their presence remained a threat to the region
and to all small countries, "for the powerful of this world are
quick to see how easy it is to place the so-called global interest
above the global right." In an interpretative statement on the
accepted document, he noted that its Article 15 showed that the
presence of the troops was not a bilateral problem, but a violation
of international law that the CSCE states should monitor. (Saulius
Girnius)

CSCE:GORBUNOVS MORE POSITIVE, RUUTEL MORE CRITICAL. Latvian Supreme
Council Chairman Anatolijs Gorbunovs told the press upon his
return to Riga on 10 July that the CSCE meeting was "a new step
toward safeguarding Latvia's security." The withdrawal of ex-USSR
troops was generally endorsed and the issue has been internationalized,
in that it was discussed in Helsinki and referred to in the final
document. "This provides a new basis for talks with Russia, "he
said, and "affirms also Russia's responsibility for negotiations
and the pullout of troops," Radio Riga reported. Estonian Supreme
Council Chairman Arnold Ruutel was disappointed by the CSCE:
"We have hoped and believed in its ability to help resolve one
of [our] most important problems--the need for complete withdrawal
of all-ex-Soviet troops. Unfortunately, our expectations have
yet to be fulfilled," Reuter reported on 11 July. (Dzintra Bungs)


FIRES, DROUGHT HIT LATVIA, ESTONIA. Due to very dry weather,
Estonia and Latvia are expected to harvest only one-half of the
quantity of grain produced last year and to suffer from food
shortages next winter. Consequently, while in Helsinki for the
CSCE, Estonian and Latvian leaders asked Finland for aid in overcoming
the anticipated crisis, Finnish radio reported on 9 July. Forest
fires are raging in both countries. The situation is gravest
in Latvia, where over the weekend 60 fires had to be fought.
The worst fires are in northern Courland, around the Slitere
nature preserve, and in the Riga raion, especially around the
ex-USSR military base near Adazi. Finland, Sweden, and France
have sent fire-fighting experts and equipment to help overcome
the critical situation. So far no human lives or homes have been
lost, Western and Baltic media report on 6-13 July. (Dzintra
Bungs)

LITHUANIA DECLARED A DISASTER ZONE. On 10 July the Lithuanian
parliament declared the republic to be a disaster zone due to
the drought that has already resulted in damages of 22 billion
rubles, Radio Lithuania reports. The parliament appealed to the
EC for emergency deliveries of 800,000 tons of fodder, 400,000
tons of grain, and 150,000 tons of soybeans. It began discussing
a financial relief program for farmers that is expected to be
approved at the session on 14 July, which will also continue
to discuss a proposed no-confidence vote against Prime Minister
Gediminas Vagnorius. (Saulius Girnius)

ROMANIAN PRESIDENT LEAVES HELSINKI FOR TALLINN AND MINSK. In
his address to the CSCE summit on 10 July, Ion Iliescu described
"the presence of Russian troops in the Baltic republics, the
Republic of Moldova, and other foreign territories" as "unjustified"
and "a dangerous legacy of the Soviet system." He accordingly
called for those troops' withdrawal, Rompres reported. On 11
July Iliescu arrived in Tallinn, where he conferred with Arnold
Ruutel, the chairman of Estonia's Supreme Council. The two leaders
signed a friendship and cooperation agreement, providing for
closer ties between the two countries. On 12 July Iliescu signed
a declaration of friendship with Belarus in Minsk. (Dan Ionescu)


ROMANIA'S PARLIAMENT ADOPTS DECLARATION ON MOLDOVA. The two houses
of the Romanian parliament adopted on 10 July a common declaration
on the situation in the eastern region of the Republic of Moldova.
Radio Bucharest quoted the text as calling for a political solution
of the conflict, in accordance with the understandings reached
at the Istanbul Black Sea regional conference on 25 June. The
declaration described Russia's 14th army in Moldova as "a foreign
army stationed on the territory of an independent and sovereign
state," and demanded its withdrawal. In case of continued violence
in Moldova, the Romanian government should ask for the UN Security
Council to intervene, the communique said. (Dan Ionescu)

GERMAN-TURKISH TALKS. German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel, who
began a two day visit to Turkey on 12 July, held wide-ranging
talks with his Turkish counterpart Hikmet Cetin and other high
officials. Kinkel, who expressed German support for bringing
Turkey closer to the EC, doubted whether Turkey would achieve
full membership in that organization in the near future. Other
topics on the agenda include talks on the Balkans and the former
Soviet Union, as well as Turkey's higher political and stragetic
profile in Central Asia, the Balck Sea region, and Southeastern
Europe. (Duncan M. Perry)

BULGARIAN MIDYEAR INFLATION FIGURES. According to reports in
Pari and 24 chasa of 9 July, prices in the first six months of
1992 rose by 40.7%. An official of the National Statistical Institute
said that inflation reached 5.76% in June. The NSI estimates
that two factors--the 15.1% rise in tobacco prices and a 13.3%
increase in taxes and other charges were largely responsible.
The NSI expects about 5% inflation in July, although uncertainty
about gasoline prices makes it difficult to predict. (Kjell Engelbrekt)


CZECHOSLOVAK GOVERNMENT SUBMITS DRAFT PROGRAM STATEMENT. On 10
July Czechoslovak Prime Minister Jan Strasky presented to the
Federal Assembly a draft policy statement on how his government
plans to operate until a decision is taken on whether the federation
should split, Czechoslovak media reported. The policy statement
restates plans for the republican parliaments to negotiate between
now and the end of September on how a split into separate states
could best be handled, if such a decision is reached. Until the
country's fate is decided, the government plans to maintain control
over finance, foreign policy, defense, transport and communications,
economic policy, and environmental affairs. The program also
says that starting next year the federal government will no longer
distribute budget funds to the Czech and Slovak republics; the
republics will operate exclusively on the basis of their own
budgets. (Jiri Pehe)

HAVEL ON CZECH PRESIDENCY. On 12 July Czechoslovak President
Vaclav Havel said during his regular Sunday radio address that
he would be willing to become president of an independent Czech
Republic if Czechoslovakia splits up. He suggested, however,
that his decision would depend on how the job would be constitutionally
defined. He said he did not want to be merely a symbolic figure.
Havel suggested that a future Czech constitution should contain
provision for a state president to be elected directly by the
Czech people. Such a president should act as a "safeguard" between
legislative and executive powers. At present, the federal president
is elected by the parliament. (Jiri Pehe)

CATHERINE LALUMIERE VISITS SLOVAKIA. During her visit to Slovakia
on 12 July, Catherine Lalumiere, the General Secretary of the
Council of Europe, met with Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar,
CSTK reported. Meciar asked Lalumiere for assistance in drafting
a new Slovak constitution, building a pluralistic political system,
and establishing foreign trade contacts. Lalumiere said that
if Czechoslovakia breaks apart, the Council would treat the two
new states in the same way it treats any other countries applying
for membership. In response to Hungarian concerns, Meciar assured
Lalumiere that an independent Slovakia would respect all human
rights and asked the Council to establish an international commission
to monitor human rights in Slovakia. (Jiri Pehe)

[As of 1200 CET]