No. 146, 03 August 1992

POLTORANIN OUTLINES YELTSIN'S STAND ON KURILES DISPUTE. Russian
TV quoted Press and Information Minister Mikhail Poltoranin,
currently in Japan, as saying that Yeltsin will honor a 1956
Soviet-Japanese agreement that called for the return of two disputed
Kurile Islands in exchange for a peace treaty. Poltoranin's five
day trip is in preparation for a visit to Japan by President
Boris Yeltsin in September. Meanwhile, Valentin Fyodorov, governor
of the disputed Kurile Island territory, said on 2 August that
Yeltsin should postpone his negotiations with Japan, maintaining
that the government should wait until Russia's economy improves
so as to allow Yeltsin more leverage in his talks with Japan.




LIBERALS ASK FOR POSITIONS IN KEY RUSSIAN MINISTRIES. Boris Yeltsin
told members of the liberal Russian parliamentary group "Reform"
on 1 August that he would consider placing liberals in key posts
in the Russian Defense, Security, and Interior Ministries, Reuters
and AFP reported. Viktor Sheinis, one of the eight deputies who
met with Yeltsin, said that the group was upset at the lack of
influence liberals had in these ministries and that he and the
others were "quite satisfied" with the president's response.


SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN TO RECALL YELTSIN COMPLETED. The "Working
Russia" movement, which is headed by Viktor Anpilov, says it
has completed its campaign to gather enough signatures to demand
a referendum on recalling Yeltsin from the presidency before
his term officially expires in 1996, ITAR-TASS reported on 31
July. For a referendum to be held by popular demand, the law
requires the collection of one million signatures.

TWO COMMUNIST LEADERS TO BE PROSECUTED. Criminal proceedings
are to be undertaken against two of the leaders of the communist
opposition to the Russian government, who are alleged to have
called for the forcible overthrow of the legally-appointed Russian
authorities. The two are Viktor Anpilov, leader of the "Working
Russia" movement that conducted the recent siege of Moscow's
"Ostankino" television center, and Aleksandr Sterligov, a former
KGB general who once worked for Russian Vice-president Aleksandr
Rutskoi and who now heads the Russian nationalist and pro-communist
Russian National Assembly. The announcement, made by President
Boris Yeltsin on 24 July, was reported by ITAR-TASS.