No. 187, 29 September 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

RUSSIA SENDS REINFORCEMENTS TO TAJIKISTAN AS FIGHTING CONTINUES.
The head of Kurgan-Tyube's city council, Nurali Kurbanov, told
a press conference that hundreds of people, including the city's
chief law enforcement official, were killed on 27 September in
an attack on the city by Tajik forces loyal to deposed President
Rakhmon Nabiev, Interfax, as quoted by Western agencies, reported
on 28 September. Kurbanov also claimed that Russian troops stationed
in Tajikistan were helping the pro-Nabiev forces from Kulyab
Oblast. Tajik Radio was quoted as having said that acting President
Akbarsho Iskandarov had sent a protest to Russia over the use
of Russian tanks by Kulyab forces. The tanks were supposedly
stolen by Kulyab fighters from a Russian unit. ITAR-TASS reported
that additional Russian troops were being sent to Tajikistan
to help those already there defend themselves. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL
Inc.)

YELTSIN-SHEVARDNADZE MEETING ON ABKHAZIA. Following Georgian
State Council Chairman Eduard Shevardnadze's protest on 27 September
against the Russian parliament's statements on the conflict in
Abkhazia, Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with Shevardnadze
for talks at the latter's request on 28 September in Moscow.
According to Vyacheslav Kostikov, the Russian president's press
secretary, the two leaders discussed ways to implement the Russo-Georgian
agreement of 3 September on settling the Abkhazian conflict.
Yeltsin and Shevardnadze also agreed to hold regular talks and
scheduled a meeting for 13 October. Shevardnadze said he was
satisfied with the talks. Speaking at a news conference after
the meeting, Shevardnadze said Yeltsin is determined to follow
through on democratic reforms in Russia, ITAR-TASS reported.
(Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL Inc.)

FIRST NORTH CAUCASIAN VOLUNTEERS LEAVE ABKHAZIA. The first group
of fighters sent to Abkhazia by the Confederation of Mountain
Peoples of the North Caucasus left Abkhazia for Groznyi on 28
September, ITAR-TASS reported. About one hundred were flown out
in a Russian plane. The Abkhaz had stated earlier that their
departure had been suspended. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES LAW REDUCING YELTSIN'S POWER. The
draft law "On the Council of Ministers and the Government of
Russia" is currently being examined by the presidium of the Russian
parliament, Interfax reported on 28 September. The draft law
gives President Yeltsin the right to appoint the prime minister
and other leading cabinet members only with the approval of the
parliament. If the parliament does not approve the president's
candidate, the president will have the right to appoint an acting
prime minister for three months. If the law is adopted, Yeltsin
will loose his present powers to appoint ministers without the
parliament's approval. The presidium of the parliament also proposed
two alternative dates, 15 December and 12 January, for convening
the Seventh Congress of People's Deputies. (Alexander Rahr, RFE/RL
Inc.)

CIVIC UNION INCREASES PRESSURE ON THE GOVERNMENT. The three principal
leaders of the Civic Union have increased their pressure on the
government. Russian Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi told a youth
gathering that some ministers should resign because "their radicalism
gives nothing to society," ITAR-TASS reported on 28 September.
Arkadii Volsky, the president of the Russian Union of Industrialists
and Entrepreneurs, urged the government to make way for a team
of industrial managers who understood how to run the country.
Nikolai Travkin, the leader of the Democratic Party, said that
it was necessary to remove from the government State Secretary
Gennadii Burbulis, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, Deputy Prime
Minister Anatolii Chubais, and Economic Minister Andrei Nechaev.
All three Civic Union leaders emphasized, however, that Prime
Minister Egor Gaidar should stay. (Alexander Rahr, RFE/RL Inc.)


VOLSKY PLAYS DOWN DIFFERENCES WITH GAIDAR. Despite his increasing
criticism of specific Gaidar economic policies, Arkadii Volsky,
president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs,
seems reluctant to be branded as an anti-reformer. At a press
conference in St. Petersburg, Volsky said that his group's recently
released 13-point "anti-crisis" program is not an "alternative
to the present economic course" of the Gaidar government, "Vesti"
reported on 27 September. "We never set ourselves the task of
creating an alternative program . . .[T]here can be no alternative
to a transition to the market," Volsky emphasized. (Erik Whitlock,
RFE/RL Inc.)

NECHAEV ON FALL IN INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION. Russian Minister of
the Economy, Andrei Nechaev, told a conference of young business
and political leaders on 28 September that the nation's industrial
production is expected to fall by 20% this year, ITAR-TASS reported.
According to official statistics, last year's drop was 2.2%.
Nechaev also disclosed that state orders from the defense industry
this year were cut by 68%. In a subsequent interview with an
ITAR-TASS correspondent, Nechaev said that the government intended
to limit the decline in 1993 to 8%. In a related story, Nechaev
announced that the government had reached a compromise with the
Central Bank on a limit of new credit creation to increase enterprise
liquidity, according to "Novosti" on 27 September. There were
few details. (Erik Whitlock, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN DEFENSE BUDGET FOR 1993. Russian Economics Minister Andrei
Nechaev on 28 September provided details about the 1993 defense
budget. According to Interfax, defense expenditures will total
between 1.55 and 1.65 trillion rubles in July 1992 prices, compared
to 632 billion rubles in 1992. (Comparing real outlays is complicated
by rapid inflation and the arbitrary pricing structure of Russian
arms.) Most of the increase is due to personnel and housing construction
costs. Procurement spending has been set at 170 billion rubles,
a rejection of the Industry Ministry's call to increase it by
60%. Weapons production levels would reportedly remain at the
same level as in 1992. (John Lepingwell)

RUSSIA NEGOTIATING WITH DEBTORS. Russia is making some progress
in settling debts with less-developed countries. According to
Interfax on 28 September, Minister of Foreign Economic Relations,
Petr Aven, announced that India is soon to begin payments on
its $15 billion debt to Russia. Negotiations are also progressing
with Tanzania and Poland. Last week Aven said that less-developed
nations, many of them former Soviet client states, owed Russia
some $142 billion. Aven said he does not expect much of this
to be repaid. Cuba, for example, has officially informed Russia
that it will not pay back its $28 billion debt. Others owing
sums of $10 billion or less, such as Iraq, Angola and Zaire,
are in such bad economic condition that repayment is similarly
unlikely. (Erik Whitlock)

GORBACHEV REFUSES TO TESTIFY AT THE CPSU HEARING. Russian TV
newscasts on 28 September cited a press release made by the Constitutional
Court, which quotes a letter sent to the Court by former Soviet
Communist Party General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev. Asked to
testify in the current trial of the party, which was banned by
President Yeltsin after the failed coup of August 1991, Gorbachev
expressed in the letter his "profound respect" for the court
as an important democratic institution, but added that he will
not take part in the hearing, because the two opposing sides,
i.e., those supporting Yeltsin's ban of the party and those defending
the CPSU, are eager to exploit it for their own political purposes.
(On Friday, 25 September, "Novosti" reported that one of the
judges on the Constitutional Court had declared Gorbachev's refusal
to appear contempt of court. According to the press release,
other former Party leaders have agreed to testify. (Julia Wishnevsky)


...AND PROBABLY WITH GOOD REASON. A 25 September article in the
emigre weekly Russkaya mysl', written by its Moscow correspondent,
quotes Yeltsin's supporters at the CPSU hearing as saying that
no matter what he might say, Gorbachev's testimony may enable
his democratic opponents to diminish the former General Secretary's
popularity in the West by putting him in the dock for the "party's
crimes." Meanwhile, writing in Gudok on 1 September, a representative
of the communist side, Anatolii Salutsky, predicted that an "unlimited"
opportunity for hardliners to question Gorbachev and Aleksandr
Yakovlev in court could bring about "dramatic political consequences
. . . on a world scale." (Julia Wishnevsky)

CHINA WELCOMES RUSSIAN WITHDRAWAL FROM MONGOLIA. A spokesman
for the Chinese Foreign Ministry on 28 September welcomed the
announcement that all Russian troops have been withdrawn from
Mongolia. ITAR-TASS said that the announcement of the final withdrawal
was made on the previous day. The last troops left in September.
Then Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev had announced
a partial Soviet troop withdrawal from Mongolia in January 1989,
and talks on a complete pullout began in February 1990. At one
time there were as many as 70,000 Soviet troops in Mongolia.
(Doug Clarke)

PLUTONIUM REACTOR SHUT DOWN. On 29 September, ITAR-TASS reported
that the second plutonium production reactor near Krasnoyarsk
has been shut down, ending plutonium production for nuclear weapons
in Russia. The Krasnoyarsk site housed two reactors deep underground,
which for 30 years produced the weapons material that allowed
the rapid buildup of Soviet nuclear stockpiles. Specialists at
the site are proposing that it be used to build a prototype small
nuclear reactor that could provide power to remote locations
in Siberia and the north. (John Lepingwell)

INTELLIGENCE SPOKESWOMAN EXPLAINS PRIMAKOV'S PROPOSALS. The moratorium
on foreign espionage offered by the director of the Russian foreign
intelligence service, Evgennii Primakov,(see RFE/RL Daily Report
28 September) can be realized only if there are "collective guarantees"
by the NATO countries, said the agency spokeswoman, Tatyana Samolis,
ITAR-TASS reported on 28 September. Even if Great Britain, for
example, agrees to cease intelligence activities in Russia, it
will still be able to obtain intelligence information about Russia
from its NATO allies. Therefore, Russia must receive a collective
guarantee from all NATO countries which have "an integrated military
and intelligence structure," she added. In light of this statement,
it is noteworthy that the Primakov initiative may have the practical
effect of dividing Western military and intelligence services
at the time when European integration is experiencing a crisis
over currency and other issues. (Victor Yasmann, RFE/RL Inc.)


FOKIN TO DETAIL ECONOMIC REFORMS. Ukrainian Prime Minister Vitold
Fokin is scheduled to address the Ukrainian parliament on 29
September, Interfax reported. The parliament is expected to hear
details of the government's new economic program, developed by
First Deputy Prime Minister Valentyn Symonenko. Both Fokin and
President Leonid Kravchuk are also expected to propose changes
in the composition of the government. (Roman Solchanyk, RFE/RL
Inc.)

UKRAINIAN STUDENTS DEMAND CHANGES. The Third Congress of the
Ukrainian Students Union (USS) opened in Donetsk on 25 September,
Ukrainian TV reported. The USS is taking part in the campaign
for new parliamentary elections and supports radical economic
reforms. Together with the All-Ukrainian Association of Solidarity
with Toilers (VOST), the USS issued a statement calling for new
elections and the formation of a government worthy of the public's
trust. (Roman Solchanyk, RFE/RL Inc.)

STATE OF EMERGENCY REVOKED IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA. The state of
emergency proclaimed in Kabardino-Balkaria on 27 September was
revoked on 28 September, Radio Mayak reported, and Musa Shanibov,
the president of the Confederation of the Mountain Peoples of
the Caucasus, was released, an RFE/RL correspondent in Moscow
was told by a local official. The state of emergency had been
proclaimed after supporters of the Congress of the Kabardian
People staged violent protests in Nalchik to protest Shanibov's
detention on 23 September for his role in the despatch of volunteers
to Abkhazia. Shanibov is to address an extraordinary congress
of the confederation in Groznyi on 2 October. The events in Kabardino-Balkaria
are reminiscent of last year's events in Chechnya when the Russian
authorities also found it necessary to back down in the face
of local resistance. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN CEASEFIRE OBSERVERS ARRIVE IN BAKU. A first batch of
Russian observers who will monitor a ceasefire in Nagorno-Karabakh
arrived in Baku on 28 September, Azerinform-TASS reported. Additional
observers from Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine are expected soon.
Meanwhile, both the Azerbaijani and Armenian sides accused each
other of violating the ceasefire. On 28 September Armenpress-TASS
quoted a report from Stepanakert stating that Azerbaijani forces
had fired on the road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia,
but traffic did not stop moving. Interfax reported the same day
that Azerbaijan's minister of internal affairs had rejected the
idea of inviting in CIS troops for peacekeeping duties in the
Nagorno-Karabakh dispute. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER ON CRACKDOWN. Uzbek writer Muhammed Salih,
chairman of the tiny opposition Erk (Will) Party, was quoted
by Reuter on 28 September as warning that he will call for street
demonstrations if the Uzbek government crackdown on the opposition
does not stop. Uzbek President Islam Karimov fears that unrest
will spread from neighboring Tajikistan and has taken various
measures to silence and intimidate the opposition in Uzbekistan.
Erk, the only genuine opposition party to be registered, has
had its newspaper closed and its bank account confiscated, according
to Salih. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

PARTIAL RESULTS IN ROMANIAN ELECTIONS. Latest figures released
by the National Statistics Board on 29 September (as of 3:00
a.m.) confirm forecasts from exit polls made by a German and
a Romanian survey institute two days before. The partial results,
based on complete counts from roughly 65% of all stations, show
the incumbent Ion Iliescu leading in the presidential race with
47.3%. He is followed by Emil Constantinescu from the centrist
Democratic Convention (DC) with 31.2%; Gheorghe Funar from the
nationalist Party of Romanian National Unity (PRNU) with 11%;
Caius Traian Dragomir from the National Salvation Front (NSF)
with 4.7%; Ion Manzatu from the Republican Party with 3.1%; and
Mircea Druc, an independent, with 2.8%. Though a runoff between
Iliescu and Constantinescu on 11 October seems inevitable, the
former's reelection appears almost certain. The results also
show the Democratic National Salvation Front (DNSF), the party
backing Iliescu, as leading the vote for the 143-seat Senate
with 28.6% and for the 328-seat Chamber of Deputies with 27.6%.
It is followed by the DC with 18.6% and 18.7%, respectively;
the NSF (10.2% for both); the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania
(9.1% and 8.9%); the PRNU (8.2% and 7.8%); the Greater Romania
Party (3.7% and 3.8%); the Democratic Agrarian Party (3.3% and
3%); and the Socialist Labor Party, the reborn communist party
(3.2% and 3%). Most analysts see a coalition government looming,
and believe that the DNSF might form a alliance with nationalist
and leftist parties. (Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL Inc.)

NEW WAVE OF "ETHNIC CLEANSING" IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA? The 29
September Washington Post quotes international relief officials
as saying that Serbian forces have begun a systematic drive to
expel the remaining 200,000 Muslims from northwestern Bosnia
centering on Banja Luka. The account describes "bombings, burning,
torture, and murder," with one relief worker saying: "there's
more of this, and worse than anyone can imagine." At least four
Muslim villages were destroyed by masked Serbs going "from house
to house lobbing grenades, shooting--killing dozens . . ." during
the week that peace envoys Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen visited
the region. Desperate Muslims are paying Serbs large sums of
money to be allowed to make the dangerous trip to the Bosnian-held
enclave of Travnik, their one chance of escape. Meanwhile, the
29 September New York Times says that the Bosnian government
has again appealed to the UN Security Council to allow it to
buy arms to prevent what the Bosnians claim is the Serbs' "final
assault" on Sarajevo. (Patrick Moore, RFE/RL Inc.)

CROATIANS DEMAND TO RETURN HOME. Reuter on 28 September and the
Los Angeles Times the following day report that up to 10,000
male Croats have threatened to march on their former homes in
the Baranja region bordering Hungary. UN peacekeepers are trying
to pressure the Croatian authorities, who may be encouraging
the refugees, to stop what the UN fears could be a massacre if
unarmed civilians walk into areas that have been held by Serbian
militias since the summer of 1991. The Croats are impatient at
the UN's failure to disarm the Serbs and enable the refugees
to go home, and this has become a major issue in the Croatian
media and in politics. The UN has succeeded in opening some formerly
Serb-held areas in the Dalmatian hinterland, but the Croatian
authorities and press warned civilians not to go home until the
area has been cleared of mines. Some 600,000 people have been
displaced in Croatia since local Serbs with the backing of the
former Yugoslav army began taking control of Croatian territory
in early 1991. (Patrick Moore, RFE/RL Inc.)

KOSOVO DEVELOPMENTS. According to Radio Serbia, 19 Kosovo Albanians
went on trial in Pec on 28 September. The defendants, members
of the National Front of Albanians, have been charged by Serbian
authorities with the intention to stage an armed rebellion to
sever the Serbian province of Kosovo from Serbia and set up an
independent state or annex it to Albania. The defendants are
accused of buying foreign-made arms and ammunition and smuggling
them into Kosovo. Other charges include unlawful entry into a
local textile plant and the manufacture of military uniforms
marked with Albanian military insignia. Belgrade Radio reports
that one defendant has confessed that he discussed "the defense
of Kosovo" with Albanian officers during a visit to Albania.
He also admitted smuggling a significant amount of weapons from
Switzerland. Before the trial began, the court denied the defense
attorneys' request to turn the case over to an international
organization. (Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

TALKS ON THE DIVISION OF CZECHOSLOVAK ARMY. The State Defense
Council, the body supervising Czechoslovakia's defense policies,
met in Prague on 28 September to discuss the division of the
Czechoslovak army. Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Federal
Prime Minister and Defense Council Chairman Jan Strasky said
that the council asked the chairmen of the republican defense
councils to work out details of the army's split. Defense Minister
Imrich Andrejcak was asked to prepare draft agreements on cooperation
between the two new armies after the split. Andrejcak told CSTK
that the federal command of the army will cease to exist on the
day of Czechoslovakia's split. Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir
Meciar walked out of the council's meeting in protest against
what he saw as unacceptable demands by the Czech side that each
republic keep those installations and assets now situated on
its territory. Speaking on Slovak television, Ivan Gasparovic,
chairman of the Slovak parliament, argued that Slovakia could
lose as much as 80 billion koruny if the territorial principle
were applied to the division of the army's assets. (Jiri Pehe,
RFE/RL Inc.)

BULGARIAN ECONOMIC NEWS. European Community Finance Ministers,
meeting in Brussels on 28 September, discussed awarding additional
funds to Bulgaria and Romania. Last week talks between Bulgaria
and the EC moved Bulgaria closer to associate status and trade
terms have been agreed upon, according an RFE/RL correspondent.
Further talks will be held on 15 and 16 October. The Sofia government
hopes for an agreement by year's end while EC leaders are more
reserved, awaiting results of the forthcoming discussions. Also
on 28 September Bulgaria, together with Australia, Greece, and
Luxembourg, signed an agreement to prohibit money laundering
by organized crime. The pact, already signed by 20 other countries
but ratified only by Great Britain so far, will make police detection
of illegal money flowing into subscribing countries easier. (Duncan
Perry, RFE/RL Inc.)

PROCEEDINGS STARTED IN 1956 HUNGARIAN KILLINGS. Hungarian TV
reported on 27 September that the Christian Democratic People's
Party (CDPP) has initiated proceedings against those who ordered
soldiers to fire into a crowd at Mosonmagyarovar during the 1956
Revolution. Some 100 died and 200 were injured. A 25-page brief
has been filed at the Gyor-Sopron County chief prosecutor's office
by two lawyers for the CDPP, against the former officials, who
not only have not been punished but currently receive substantial
state pensions. The chief prosecutor turned the case over to
the military court in Gyor. This is the first attempt by a political
party to press legal charges for a crime under the communist
regime but that has not yet been prosecuted. A law allowing prosecution
of such crimes was ruled unconstitutional by the Constitutional
Court earlier this year. The CDPP argues that 1956 offenses constitute
war crimes and as such do not fall under the statute of limitation.
(Judith Pataki, RFE/RL Inc.)

MEDIA WAR AT HUNGARIAN TV CONTINUES. According to Hungarian media
reports on 28 September, the president of Hungarian TV, Elemer
Hankiss, has fired Palfy G. Istvan, the progovernment chief editor
of two influential news programs. The decision is expected to
increase the tensions between the government and Hankiss, who
was dismissed earlier this year by Prime Minister Jozsef Antall.
President Arpad Goncz has repeatedly refused to sign Hankiss's
dismissal. Hankiss claims that Palfy's programs were not objective
and failed to live up to "European standards." Only one progovernment
chief editor remains at the state-owned TV. (Judith Pataki, RFE/RL
Inc.)

LITHUANIAN PRIME MINISTER IN WARSAW. Aleksandras Abisala met
with President Lech Walesa and Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka
during a one-day visit to Warsaw on 28 September. It was Abisala's
first foreign visit as prime minister. Agreements were signed
on investment protection, the fight against organized crime,
and border controls. Although both sides presented the visit
as a step forward, the tensions that have slowed work on a bilateral
treaty were also very much in evidence. Polish officials pressed
for more equitable treatment of the Polish minority in Lithuania.
Abisala insisted that Lithuania's policy meets European standards.
For his part, he criticized the position of Poland's Lithuanian
minority and pressed for a reckoning with the past, especially
the Polish occupation of Vilnius in 1920. Lithuania's defense
minister, Audrius Butkevicius, begins a three-day visit to Poland
on 29 September. (Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL Inc.)

LANDSBERGIS AT UNGA. On 28 September Lithuanian Supreme Council
Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis addressed the UN General Assembly.
The speech, broadcast live by Radio Lithuania, focused on the
need for the Russian military to leave the Baltic States. Landsbergis
noted that Russian conservatives were dividing foreign countries
into "inner" and "outer" spheres, with Russia marking out its
"special interests" in the former--states that could be taken
over much as was done in 1939. Landsbergis held talks with UN
Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali that day and on 29 September
will meet former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British
Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd before returning to Lithuania
in the evening. He cancelled a planned trip to Chicago on 30
September. (Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL Inc.)

GROMOV ON TROOP PULLOUT FROM THE BALTICS. Russia's Deputy Defense
Minister Boris Gromov told Krasnaya zvezda of 25 September the
pullout of Russian troops by 1 September 1993 from Lithuania
is "by no means synonymous with a readiness to flee." He noted
that specific accords on the withdrawal remain to be ratified.
(On 23 September Gromov told Interfax that Russian troops in
Estonia and Latvia are to be pulled out in 1994, though the final
date must still be negotiated.) He pointed out that Russia intends
to keep the presence of its Baltic Fleet in the region. Gromov
said that there are still about 35,000 Russian officers and enlisted
men in Lithuania, over 15,000 in Latvia, and about 24,000 in
Estonia. These figures differ from those recently given by other
Russian officials. (Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)

TROOPS CLASH OVER BUILDING IN KAUNAS. On 28 September, as a group
of unarmed Lithuanian soldiers began to take inventory of a building
in Kaunas that had been used by the Russian army, ten armed Russian
soldiers burst into the building, threw the Lithuanian soldiers
out, and barricaded themselves on the second floor. The Russians
later left the building, Radio Lithuania reports, but three unarmed
officers remained on the second floor. The first floor is controlled
by Lithuanian troops. (Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL Inc.)

RIGA AVIATION SCHOOL MAY LOSE ITS FOREIGN STUDENTS. BNS reports
that as of 1 October the Riga Aviation University may lose nearly
500 of its foreign students because the Latvian government will
not take over the costs of their stipends--$2-3,000 per student
annually--from Moscow, which sent them for study in Latvia. What
is more, Russia has not paid off its debt of 36 million rubles
for the education of its students over the last academic year
nor made any payments for the first semester of this year. (Dzintra
Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)

IS RUSSIA PREPARING ESTONIA SANCTIONS? The Russian government
plans to adopt a political resolution regarding relations with
Estonia in the next few days, BNS reports on 28 September, quoting
Interfax. The resolution may well direct the government to introduce
"political and economic sanctions" against Estonia for its alleged
discriminatory treatment of ethnic Russians, especially with
regard to Estonia's parliamentary elections last week. (Riina
Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

CONGRESS OF ESTONIA HOLDS FINAL SESSION. The Congress of Estonia
movement held its tenth and final session on 28 September, local
media report. The meeting adopted a resolution stating that Estonia
has restored the constitutional state structure according to
the will of the republic's citizens--this had been the goal of
the alternative parliament ever since it was established in March
1990. (Riina Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

POLAND'S COL. KUKLINSKI: HERO OR TRAITOR? The Washington Post
of 27 September carried a lengthy report on Col. Ryszard Kuklinski,
the highly-placed Polish officer who spied for the US for 11
years and revealed the plans for martial law to the CIA before
escaping from Poland in 1981. According to sources quoted in
the report, Kuklinski, who now lives in the US under a false
identity, provided the CIA with 35,000 pages of documents that
one specialist said "virtually defined our knowledge" of Soviet
military plans and equipment. The account has evoked discussion
in Poland because of Kuklinski's foiled attempts to have his
1984 death sentence for treason (later reduced to 25 years imprisonment)
overturned. Defense Minister Janusz Onyszkiewicz called the case
a "moral dilemma" because of the implications Kuklinski's exoneration
could have for the Polish army. (Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL Inc.)


[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull