No. 139, 23 July 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

RUSSIAN MILITARY ADMINISTRATIVE AND PERSONNEL CHANGES. On July
22, the Russian Defense Ministry Press Center announced that
the Volga-Ural Military District, joined in September of 1989,
had once again been split into separate administrative units.
According to ITAR-TASS, Yeltsin had also ordered a number of
personnel changes. The new appointments were as follows: Col.
Gen. Anatolii Sergeev, formerly commander of the Volga-Ural Military
District, was named commander of the Volga Military District;
Col. Gen. Yurii Grekov, a former first deputy commander of the
Transcaucasus Military District, was named to head the Ural Military
District; Maj. Gen. Vladimir Churanov was appointed chief of
Rear Forces; Col. Gen. Leontii Kuznetsov, formerly chief of the
Main Operations Directorate of the CIS General Staff, was named
commander of the key Moscow Military District; Col. Gen. Leonid
Mayorov was named to command the Northwestern Group of Forces
(in the Baltic republics); and Col. Gen. Leonid Kovalev was officially
named commander of the Northern Group of Forces (in Poland).
The extent to which the personnel changes were related to Yeltsin's
criticism of the high command the day before was unclear. (Stephen
Foye)

RENEGADE WARSHIP STIRS BLACK SEA FLEET DISPUTE. The small warship
from the Black Sea Fleet that was spirited to Odessa on 21 July
flying the Ukrainian flag is creating large waves in the long-standing
dispute over the future of the fleet. Western agencies on 22
July quoted Admiral Igor Kasatonovthe CIS commander of the fleet
who was attending a meeting in Moscow when the incident occurredas
saying he would have never allowed the ship to escape. He accused
Ukraine of "snatching warships out of the fleet." The officer
appointed to head the Ukrainian Navy, Rear Admiral Boris Kozhin,
said that the crew had taken their "extreme unilateral actions"
because they were being oppressed and humiliated. Meanwhile,
the small ship itself has been nicknamed "Potemkin No. 2" after
the Tsarist battleship that docked in Odessa in 1905 after being
seized by revolutionaries. (Doug Clarke)

RUSSIA WANTS MILITARY COOPERATION WITH ASEAN. Russian Foreign
Minister Andrei Kozyrev said on 22 July that his country was
prepared to develop military cooperation with Southeast Asian
countries to maintain a balance of power in the region. He made
the offer during a meeting in Manila with the six foreign ministers
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kozyrev
said that Russia was "prepared to develop cooperation in the
military and military-technological area with the ASEAN states
with the aim of maintaining their security at the level of reasonable
sufficiency," Western agencies reported. He assured the ASEAN
ministers from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand that Russia was "ready to follow the rules
of the game." (Doug Clarke)

RUSSIAN GENERALS STILL BUILDING DACHAS? Andrei Gontar, deputy
chairman of the Independent Union of Military Servicemen, told
"Vesti" on 22 July that despite the fact that some 600,000 servicemen
currently lack adequate housing, Russian generals continue to
build private dachas. His charge that "Top Brass privatization"
goes on as before comes, perhaps not coincidentally, only a day
after a stinging attack by Boris Yeltsin on corruption within
the Russian high command. (Stephen Foye)

YELTSIN RETREATS FROM REFERENDUM IDEA. Russian President Boris
Yeltsin seems to have retreated from the idea of conducting a
referendum in order to change the existing political system in
Russia. Interfax on 22 July quoted him as saying that Russia
cannot solve its political structure problems quickly since society
is "too pressed now with all manner of difficulties, to be saddled
also with creating a new political structure." He stated, however,
that the problem of new political structures is becoming more
and more urgent. He expressed his desire to try to achieve some
kind of cooperation between the executive and legislative branches.
He also criticized attempts by regional soviets to stifle executive
power on the local level. (Alexander Rahr)

BURBULIS ON REFORM. Gennadii Burbulis, the Russian state secretary,
told Ekho Moskvy on 21 July that recent changes in the government
were necessary in order to create a balance between various political
forces. He deplored the fact that the majority of the Russian
population have not yet shown initiative and wait for reform
to be carried out from above, while, at the same time, criticizing
the reemergence of old Communist thinking in Yeltsin's entourage.
He stated that he intends to continue to play the role of chief
reform strategist and to act as head of an intellectual brain
trust for Yeltsin, despite attacks against him from all sides.
(Alexander Rahr)

FURTHER SPLITS WITHIN DEMOCRATIC RUSSIA PREDICTED. On 22 July,
Interfax quoted the chairman of the Novosibirsk branch of the
Democratic Russia movement, Aleksei Manannikov, as saying that
"the central leadership of Democratic Russia (Gleb Yakunin, Ilya
Zaslavsky and Lev Ponomarev) seeks to turn the movement into
a presidential party," which Yeltsin might try to use as a power
base for the establishment of "unlimited dictatorship." Manannikov
criticized the unquestioning support offered to Yeltsin by the
movement's leadership and said that, instead the movement should
develop into a "constructive opposition" to the Russian government
and president. Unless the Democratic Russia changes its position,
he warned, the movement may split into two different political
organizations (pro-government and oppositionist) at its extraordinary
congress scheduled to be held on 25-26 July. (Vera Tolz)

PRESS MINISTER REFUSES TO REREGISTER IZVESTIYA. In a press conference,
Russian Minister for Press and Information Mikhail Poltoranin
said that he will not reregister Izvestiya as the official newspaper
of the Russian parliament, as decided by a controversial resolution
passed July 17. "The measure will not be fulfilled because it
is illegal," Poltoranin remarked, and went on to say that as
soon as he is formally given the order to reregister the daily,
his office will bring the matter before the Constitutional Court.
Poltoranin further commented that the conflict between the parliament
and the media came to a head because there are many incompetent
people in the parliament who react extremely negatively to the
existence of an independent press. (Kathryn Brown)

MEDVEDEV TESTIFIES ON BEHALF OF CPSU. Prominent Russian historian
and Communist Party supporter, Roy Medvedev, testified on behalf
of the banned CPSU at the Constitutional Court hearings on 22
July, Russian and Western agencies reported. Addressing the question
of the CPSU's activities since March 1990 when its guaranteed
monopoly on power was removed from the USSR Constitution, Medvedev
argued that "Party was transforming itself with difficulty, painfully.
Psychologically it was a very difficult process for many Party
leaders." He noted, however, that the process had begun and was
interrupted by Yeltsin's ban. Medvedev is one of many witnesses
expected to be called over the next week in support of the Communist
Party. (Carla Thorson)

CHISINAU RUSSIANS APPEAL TO YELTSIN. The Russian and "Russian-speaking"
deputies to Chisinau's City Council (who make up 50% of the Council's
membership) addressed a message to Yeltsin asking him "to protect
us not against [Moldovan president] Snegur, for whom our people
voted overwhelmingly and who does not divide people by nationality,
but against ["Dniester republic" president] Smirnov who has cut
off gas and electricity supplies to the right bank." Pointing
out that three quarters of Moldova's Russians live on the right
bank, and that more Russians live in Chisinau alone than on the
left bank, the deputies assured Yeltsin that the rights of Russians
are being respected and that "all Moldovans gladly speak Russian."
(Vladimir Socor)

TRANSCARPATHIANS TO CHOOSE NATIONALITY. The Transcarpathian
Oblast Council has ruled that inhabitants of the region will
be permitted to redefine their nationality if they so wish, Radio
Ukraine reported on 22 July. According to the ruling, anyone
wishing to change their national identification can approach
the local authorities, who will then make the appropriate change
in the applicant's passport. This move is in response to the
long-standing demand of the Ruthenian [Rusyn] movement in the
region, whose supporters do not consider themselves to be Ukrainian.
The only problem with the procedure is that the proposed new
passport for Ukrainian citizens does not provide for listing
one's nationality. (Roman Solchanyk)

YELTSIN REPLIES TO COSSACKS ON FRONTIERS. During his visit to
Krasnodar krai on 22 July, Yeltsin told local Cossacks who expressed
concern about Russia's frontiers that the question of the frontier
with Georgia, the one of most concern locally, had yet to be
decided, ITAR-TASS reported. He said that about 20 mobile units
had already started to form the frontiers with the Baltic states,
and the establishing of a frontier with Azerbaijan would come
next. The frontier with Ukraine would be only a customs border
for the time being because of the large Russian population in
Ukraine. Vechernyaya Moskva reported on 22 July that taxi drivers
in Sochi has demanded the closure of the frontier with Georgia
after a driver had been killed by two bandits from Georgia. (Ann
Sheehy)

GROWING FRICTION BETWEEN CHECHEN PRESIDENT AND PARLIAMENT. Three
deputies of the Chechen parliament led by Yusup Soslambekov,
the chairman of the committee for foreign affairs, issued an
ultimatum to Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudaev on Chechen TV
on 22 July calling on him to restore order in the republic within
ten days, ITAR-TASS reported. Soslambekov said that the economy
was in the hands of "mafia structures" and that, if Dudaev was
unable to get rid of the good-for-nothings around him, "the Chechen
people are capable of chucking out any dictator who is unwilling
to take account of their interests." The parliament had earlier
protested appointments made by Dudaev against its wishes, and
there have been many other indications of growing dissatisfaction
with Dudaev. (Ann Sheehy)

SECOND AZERBAIJANI JET SHOT DOWN. An Su-25 Azerbaijani attack
plane was shot down by an Armenian missile over Nagorno-Karabakh
on 22 July according to Interfax and ITAR-TASS. They quoted the
Armenian Nagorno-Karabakh self- defense staff as saying the plane
had just completed a bombing raid. The agencies reported that
the bomber was the second Azerbaijani aircraft shot down this
week. Azerbaijan acquired its first Su-25 (a close-support jet
used extensively by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan) in April
of this year when an Azerbaijani pilot in the CIS forces landed
his plane at an airbase which was in the hands of Azerbaijani
militants. (Doug Clarke)

PRIMAKOV, LEBED, YAZOV IMPLICATED IN 1990 BAKU ATTACK. An Azerbaijani
parliamentary commission, tasked with investigating the killing
of hundreds of innocent civilians in Baku in January of 1990,
handed over the results of its investigation on 22 July to the
republic's procuracy, "Vesti" reported. The commission members
charged that the order to open fire had come from then Defense
Minister Dmitrii Yazov, currently in jail for his role in the
August 1991 coup attempt; that the main executor of Yazov's order
on the ground in Baku was General Aleksandr Lebed, the current
commander of the 14th Army in Moldova who has been instrumental
in provoking tensions there; and that the main organizer of the
operation in Baku as a whole was Evgenii Primakov, currently
the head of the Russian foreign intelligence service. (Stephen
Foye)

NEW LANGUAGE LAW DEBATED IN TAJIKISTAN. A draft of a new law
on language, prepared by experts of the official Tajik (Farsi)
Language Fund, has appeared in the press in Tajikistan for public
discussion, Khovar-TASS reported on 22 July. The Fund was created
in 1989 to advance the use of the Tajik language in public life;
the Fund, and many Tajik intellectuals, apply the term Farsi
to their own language to stress linguistic and cultural ties
with the Persian-speaking world. The new law would require that
government and service employees be competent in Tajik, and that
government business in Dushanbe be conducted in that language.
A 1989 law declaring Tajik the state language was subsequently
watered down to meet the objections of non-Tajiks. The Fund's
draft appears to be a stricter version of the 1989 law; it apparently
does not give Russian a special status. (Bess Brown)

CIS PEACEKEEPING FORCE SOUGHT FOR TAJIKISTAN. Officials of Tajikistan's
Kurgan-Tyube Oblast have demanded that President Rakhmon Nabiev
declare a state of emergency in the oblast and requested that
a CIS peacekeeping force be sent to the region to stop fighting
motivated by political, religious and inter-clan disputes, ITAR-TASS
reported on 22 July. The fighting in Kurgan-Tyube has claimed
dozens of victims and has resulted in more than 150,000 refugees.
According to the report, most of the members of the Presidium
of Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet support the Kurgan-Tyube request,
but the opposition and higher Muslim clergy have objected. The
reasons for their reservations were not given, but they could
be motivated by unease over potential interference by CIS military
units in internal Tajik affairs. (Bess Brown)

BIRLIK LEADERS COME TO TRIAL. Leaders of the "Birlik" party in
Uzbekistan are being put on trial for "forcibly resisting law-enforcement
officers," Russian TV reported on 23 July. The report erroneously
called "Birlik" a Pan-Turkic organization, but did not give the
names of the defendants or the city where the trial is being
held. Most likely, the arrests were in connection with the 2
July demonstration organized by "Birlik" and an allied group
"Erk" in Tashkent to protest the opening of the Uzbek Supreme
Soviet session, and to demand new, genuinely democratic elections.
Russian TV has reported the arrest of over twenty Birlik activists
in the past two months. (Cassandra Cavanaugh)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

KLAUS AND MECIAR REACH AGREEMENT. The Czech and Slovak prime
ministers, Vaclav Klaus and Vladimir Meciar, met in Bratislava
in the night 22-23 July to discuss the future of the Czechoslovak
federation. According to CSTK, they agreed to propose to the
Federal Assembly a law entitled "On the End of the Federation."
Should the federal parliament fail to approve the legislation,
there would be other ways to dissolve Czechoslovakia, the two
leaders said. One of them would be an agreement between the two
national councils. Another would be a declaration of the Federal
Assembly stating that it ceases to exist. Unlike a constitutional
law, the declaration would only require a simple majority in
the parliament. They added that the federal parliament should
ideally pass the law on 30 September or 31 December of this year.
Klaus and Meciar also agreed to split up the Federal Security
and Information Agency, and proposed to privatize state radio,
television, and the press agency CSTK. (Jan Obrman)

KLAUS ON CZECH INDEPENDENCE. According to various agency reports,
Vaclav Klaus said on 22 July, before the meeting with Meciar,
that his government is determined to pave the way for Czech independence.
Klaus made the remarks after a meeting of his cabinet at which
the Czech draft constitution was discussed. Klaus said that the
government "considers it entirely legitimate to prepare all necessary
institutions able to provide for the future independent functioning
of the Czech Republic." (Jan Obrman)

BOSNIA UPDATE. Fighting continued around Sarajevo's airport on
22 July, prompting the commander of UN peace-keeping forces in
Sarajevo, Maj. Gen. Lewis Mackenzie to warn that "the thread
is very thin that is holding this thing together." Meanwhile,
Bavarian Radio reported on 23 July that the mayor of Gorazde
has said the town will fall within two days. Gorazde has been
besieged by Serbian forces for three months, and is the last
major Muslim stronghold in eastern Bosnia. Fighting was also
reported in the central Bosnian town of Travnik. The widespread
fighting appears to have shattered any hopes that the ceasefire
that was to take effect on 19 July might hold. (Gordon Bardos)


BELGRADE PRESS REVIEWS ALEXANDER'S VISIT. Crown Prince Alexander
Karadjordjevic, the pretender to the Serbian and Yugoslav thrones,
left Yugoslavia on 18 July after a twenty-day visit. Although
the Serbian government shunned any official contacts with Alexander,
he did receive a generally positive reception in the many cities
and towns he visited. Alexander has emerged as a symbolic figurehead
for the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS) in its efforts
to oust President Slobodan Milosevic. In Belgrade Politika on
16 July published the results of a poll of 3,100 citizens in
eight cities throughout Serbia taken before Alexander's visit,
which show that 44.57% favor a return of the monarchy, while
26.24% said they are in favor of a republic. Alexander is due
to take up permanent residence in Yugoslavia sometime in August.
(Gordon Bardos)

NEW CHARGES AGAINST ZHIVKOV. On 22 July Todor Zhivkov, the 80-year-old
former Bulgarian communist leader who has been on trial for embezzlement
of state funds since February 1991, is now being accused of having
used public money to provide Third World communist regimes and
movements with military assistance and arms. Two more trials
concerned with Zhivkov's responsibility for the brutal conditions
in the Lovech and Skravena labor camps and the 1984-89 assimilation
campaign against ethnic Turks are expected to follow, Western
medi report. (Kjell Engelbrekt)

BULGARIAN TURKS LEAVE. Bulgarian newspapers have lately published
reports indicating that tens of thousands of ethnic Turks have
emigrated to Turkey this year. On 22 July Kontinent writes that
almost entire villages in the Kardzhali region have been vacated,
although it also quotes local Turkish politicians as saying many
might return in the fall. The secretary of the MRF Osman Oktay
told Otechestven vestnik that the situation is radically different
than in 1989, when 320,000 Turks left with the encouragement
of the communist authorities, but he suggested that nationalist
extremism, along with economic dislocation, remains an important
factor. (Kjell Engelbrekt)

ROMANIA DISMISSES ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PREFECTS. The prefects of
Covasna and Harghita counties in Transylvania, where the Magyar
population constitutes a majority, have been dismissed and replaced
by ethnic Romanians by a 18 July de-cree of the Romanian government,
Radio Budapest reports. The county leaders of the Democratic
Union of Hungarians in Romania, who had unsuccessfully tried
to prevent the dismissals with the support of several local Romanian
parties, now plans to organize street demonstrations to protest
the action. (Alfred Reisch)

ESTONIAN DEPUTY SUES FOR CITIZENSHIP. A deputy to the Estonian
Supreme Council has filed suit for Estonian citizenship, ETA
reported on 22 July. Vladimir Lebedev, an ethnic Russian who
came to Estonia as a 5-year-old, said the Estonian government
is ignoring the Estonian-Russian treaty of 1991 and violating
his human rights in not granting him citizenship. BNS did not
say whether Lebedev, one of the most pro-Soviet political figures
in Estonia, has followed procedures for naturalization. According
to Estonia's citizenship law put into motion last February, all
those who have lived in Estonia for two years (counting from
March 1990) and can demonstrate minimal competence in the language
are eligible to apply for citizenship, which will be granted
after a one-year waiting period. (Riina Kionka)

ACCIDENT AT IGNALINA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT. On 23 July Radio Lithuania
reported that there had been an accident on 20 July in the cooling
system of the first reactor of the nuclear power plant at Ignalina.
As a result the radiation increased by 15 curies to a level of
95 curies per day, which was still significantly below the accepted
norm of 750 curies per day. The leak was brought under control
within 40 minutes, and the defect in the cooling system was fixed
within the day. Both Finnish and Swedish radiation monitoring
stations had not noted any increase in radiation. (Saulius Girnius)


MORE STRIKES IN POLAND. The FSM auto plant in Tychy joined the
rising strike wave in Poland on 22 July. Strikers there are demanding
wages equal to 10% of the market price of one of the Cinquecento
cars produced at their plant. Negotiations are underway with
representatives of Fiat, which has purchased a 90% stake in the
plant. Mill workers in the Glogow branch of the Polska Miedz
copper combine moved to shut down one of their furnaces on 22
July, despite the strike committee's decision to hold off on
such measures for 48 hours. The Glogow workers also began an
"occupation strike" on 23 July. A one-hour strike has been called
for 23 July at the Katowice steel mill. Workers at the Mielec
airplane factory (once a center for military production) continue
their strike, despite the opening of talks in Warsaw. (Louisa
Vinton)

POLISH GOVERNMENT TO RESTRUCTURE MINING. During negotiations
with the five coal miners' unions on 22 July, the government
side emphasized that there would be no return to the provision
of state subsidies for mining. Instead, the government pledged
to draw up a list of eighteen unprofitable mines destined for
liquidation by 17 August, and prepare a comprehensive restructuring
and financing plan for the remaining mines by 30 September. A
World Bank representative who took part in the talks pledged
$200 million in low-interest loans for mine restructuring and
said that an additional $200 million was available for retraining
the unemployed, which could include miners. (Louisa Vinton)

SOLIDARITY THREATENS GENERAL STRIKE. Meeting in Gdansk on 22
July, Solidarity's National Commission announced it would organize
a "national protest action," extending even to a general strike,
should the government fail to provide solutions for basic economic
problems by 31 July. The union demanded "antirecessionary" measures,
such as debt relief and easier credit for state firms, elimination
of wage controls, wage guarantees, and the public supervision
of privatization. Solidarity warned that "postcommunist forces"
would manipulate public dissatisfaction "for their own ends,"
should the government fail to react. Some Solidarity leaders
criticized the union's Sejm deputies for brokering the coalition
agreement that produced the new government. (Louisa Vinton)

CZECHOSLOVAK GOVERNMENT APPROVES CONVERSION FUNDS. According
to Czechoslovak TV, the Federal Government agreed on 22 July
to allocate about one billion koruny for converting the arms
industry to nonmilitary production. The report said that the
cabinet instructed economics minister Jaroslav Kubecka and finance
minister Jan Klak to issue instructions for the use of funds
by the end of the month. (Jan Obrman)

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN TRADE. According to Bela Kadar, minister of
international economic relations, Hungary's exports in the first
half of 1992 rose by 16.5% compared to the same period of last
year, while imports dropped by 6%, MTI reports. Exports reached
a value of $5.1 billion, and the adjusted foreign trade turnover
showed a surplus of $133 million. Some 70% of Hungarian exports
went to developed countries, over 5% to developing countries,
and nearly 25% to former socialist countries. Kadar said $800
million worth of foreign capital entered Hungary in the first
half of 1992, bringing the total to more than $4 billion, and
over 2,000 new joint ventures had been set up, for a total of
some 13,000. (Alfred Reisch)

ROMANIAN FOREIGN DEBT, INVESTMENT. Romania's foreign public debt
at present is $3.2 billion. In the last six months the debt has
grown by $916.1 million. The country is negotiating credits worth
a total of $2.9 billion and debt servicing for 1992 will amount
to $133 million. The figures were provided by George Danielescu,
minister of economy and finance on 22 July and reported by Radio
Bucharest. According to figures provided by the Romanian Development
Agency and cited by Romanian TV on 21 July, some 87% of foreign
investments in Romania in the first half of 1992 came from EC
countries. This compares with only 5% in the same period last
year. (Michael Shafir)

LATVIAN-RUSSIAN ECONOMIC ACCORD. On 22 July in Moscow Latvian
prime minister Ivars Godmanis and Russian acting prime minister
Egor Gaidar signed an agreement to cooperate on financial matters,
notably since Latvia has abandoned the Russian ruble. The two
described their meeting as useful and indicated that they also
discussed facilitating trade and establishing mutual accounting
procedures, Radio Riga and ITAR-TASS report. (Dzintra Bungs)


"PACKAGE DEAL" ON TROOP WITHDRAWAL. While in Moscow Godmanis
discussed with Russian leaders ways to speed up ex-USSR troop
withdrawal from the Baltic States. Gaidar said that the pullout
process could be made speedier and linked again the pullout to
the construction of housing for officers. Russia's Deputy Foreign
Minister Vitalii Churkin said the pullout could be hastened if
a "so-called package solution to a number of problems" were accepted,
and explained: "We have to define the status of the Russian troops
on the territory of . . . the Baltic States and reach an agreement
on preserving some of Russia's strategic installations [in .
. .] these countries for longer periods of time, along with the
solution of the Russians servicemen's social constraints," ITAR-TASS
reports. (Dzintra Bungs)

MORE ON RUSSIAN-ESTONIAN BORDER. Russia began patrolling the
Russian side of the border with Estonia on 22 July, according
to BNS, quoting Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Twenty mobile
troops began guarding the frontier in an action Yeltsin said
was intended both to stop the outflow of goods and to establish
the border in political terms. Meanwhile, BNS reports that starting
1 August, Russian border troops will no longer guard Estonia's
northern and western borders. Andrus Oovel, director-general
of the Border Defense Department, told BNS on 21 July that this
will mean that Estonians control the entire border. (Riina Kionka)


UKRAINIAN SOLDIERS FLEE TO KLAIPEDA. Seven Ukrainian soldiers
serving in the CIS army fled to Klaipeda by train and sought
refuge at the Klaipeda Ukrainian Association, Radio Lithuania
reports on 23 July. The soldiers said that they had been transferred
from Sevastopol to Liepaja for training. There officers threatened
them and tried to force them to take an oath of allegiance to
the CIS. Wanting to remain faithful to Ukraine and to serve in
its army, they decided to desert from the foreign CIS army. (Saulius
Girnius)

DALAI LAMA IN HUNGARY. Tibet's exiled religious leader arrived
in Budapest on 20 July for a private visit, Hungarian media report.
On 21 July the Nobel Peace Prize winner visited the headquarters
of the Hungarian Democratic Forum, Hungary's largest governing
party. Speaking at the Budapest sport stadium, the Dalai Lama
called for compassion and understanding between human beings.
On the 22nd, in the presence of Hungarian Church leaders, he
inaugurated a Buddhist shrine dedicated to the memory of Sandor
Korosi Csoma, a Hungarian Asian scholar. The Dalai Lama was also
scheduled to meet President Goncz and the Catholic Primate Laszlo
Cardinal Paskai. (Edith Oltay)

[As of 1200 CET]