No. 198, 14 October 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

NEW UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER CONFIRMED. The Ukrainian parliament
on 13 October approved by an overwhelming majority Leonid Kuchma
as Ukraine's new prime minister, ITAR-TASS and Western correspondents
reported. Kuchma, fifty-four, is director of the "Yuzhmash" production
association in Dnipropetrovsk, which is said to be the world's
largest armaments manufacturer. The new head of government holds
the degree of candidate of technical sciences and is said to
be a technocrat favoring a gradual transition to a market economy.
Observers have likened Kuchma to Arkadii Volsky, one of the leaders
of the Civic Union in Russia. Vyacheslav Chornovil, who leads
the opposition, is quoted as saying that nothing can stop the
collapse of the economy and that sooner or later the new government
will have to change. (Roman Solchanyk)

RUSSIA REJECTS PROTESTS OVER BLACK SEA FLEET DEPLOYMENT. The
Russian Navy reacted harshly on 13 October to charges by Georgia
that it had violated its territorial waters. According to Reuters,
the Russian Navy questioned the current Georgian government's
legitimacy and sovereignty over the waters, stating that "when
the [Georgian] State Council issues such statements it should
explain how, after illegally toppling President Zviad Gamsakhurdia,
it established its sea border and how this was made known to
sailors around the world." The tone and content of the statement
tend to confirm reports that the Russian government is adopting
a tough stand towards Georgia in the conflict over Abkhazia.
According to ITAR-TASS, most of the ships returned to base on
13 October, although some Gwere still conducting exercises at
sea. (John Lepingwell)

GRACHEV CALLS FOR RESUMPTION OF NUCLEAR TESTING. On 13 October
after returning from a visit to the Novaya Zemlya nuclear testing
ground, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev called for a resumption
of nuclear testing, according to Interfax. Grachev claimed that
two to three nuclear explosions per year are essential to improve
weaponry, although tests couldn't be resumed before the middle
of 1993. Although Grachev did state that Russia would halt all
testing if the US did the same, he did not comment on the recent
signing by President Bush of a measure that would impose a nine-month
moratorium on US testing, followed by limited testing and a complete
halt to testing in 1997. (John Lepingwell)

POLTORANIN ACCUSES KHASBULATOV OF ABUSE OF POWER. On 13 October,
Deputy Prime Minister Mikhail Poltoranin gave an interview to
ITAR-TASS, in which he accused the Russian parliament's speaker
Ruslan Khasbulatov of trying to usurp power in Russia and attempting
to create a "nest of revanchist forces directed against President
Yeltsin." The interview followed Khasbulatov's demand that Yeltsin
should fire Poltoranin. The latter denied, however, that there
was any connection between his latest accusations against Khasbulatov
and the speaker's demand. Poltoranin alleged that Khasbulatov
was gathering communists around him while supporting everyone
opposed to Yeltsin. (Vera Tolz)

POLTORANIN CRITICIZES PARLIAMENT. Mikhail Poltoranin also criticized
the parliament's decision to convene the Congress of People's
Deputies on 1-December, ITAR-TASS reported. He said illegal communist
party forces were planning to act precisely at that time against
the president and that their actions were being coordinated by
the parliamentary leadership. (Vera Tolz)

RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS RAID MOSCOW NEWSPAPER OFFICE. Twenty-five
members of the Russian nationalist organization "Pamyat" raided
the offices of the newspaper Moskovsky komsomolets, Interfax
reported on 13 October. Interfax said the intruders tied up a
guard and demanded the names and addresses of the authors of
several newspaper stories about "Pamyat." They also said the
newspaper should "stop humiliating the Russian people." They
made various threats in case their demands were not met within
three days. Police arrived twenty minutes after the intruders
left, Interfax reported. But a newspaper employee said he photographed
several of the intruders and wrote down their license plate numbers.
The same day, an official from "Pamyat," Aleksandr Potkin, confirmed
that his organization was responsible for the incident, but he
denied that the intruders tied up the guard. (Vera Tolz)

YELTSIN FORMS GOVERNMENTAL MONETARY AGENCY. President Yeltsin
has created a new commission composed of top government officials
to oversee the use of state credits, Interfax and "Novosti" reported
on 13 October. The commission will coordinate its work on these
matters with the Russian Central Bank, and may be interpreted
as a means to smooth out the antagonistic relationship between
the government and the bank. The nine-member commission will
include Prime Minister Gaidar, Deputy Prime Ministers Aleksandr
Shokhin, Anatolii Chubais, Georgii Khizha, Finance Minister Vasilii
Barchuk, and Economics Minister Andrei Nechaev. (Erik Whitlock)


GERMAN STUDY ON WESTERN AID TO RUSSIA. A-joint report on the
Russian economy by three leading independent German economic
institutes was released on 13 October, Western agencies reported.
The authors are the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW),
the Institute for World Economics (IW), and the Institute for
Economic Research (IWF). A principal conclusion of the report
is that Western aid to Russia must be strictly targeted and that
untied aid should no longer be given. This is because the Russian
central government is unable to put its reforms into practice
because of blockages on lower political levels. The report calls
for legal reform in Russia, the reduction of internal economic
barriers, and safeguards for foreign investment. (Keith Bush)


RUSSIAN CONVERSION AND ARMS EXPORTS GOALS RESTATED. On the eve
of the Moscow conference on conversion, senior Russian officials
gave a news conference on 13 October, Reuters reported. President
Yeltsin's adviser on conversion, Mikhail Malei, restated his
earlier estimates that it will cost about $150 billion and take
some fifteen years for Russia to convert 70% of its military
industrial complex to civilian use. The funding for such a program
must come from the sales of Russian arms to convertible-currency
customers. Malei said that the former Soviet Union's peak annual
income from arms trade was about $14 billion but that only $4-5
billion of this was in cash. (Keith Bush)

GORBACHEV ALLOWED TO TRAVEL ABROAD. President Yeltsin asked the
Russian Constitutional Court to permit Mikhail Gorbachev to travel
abroad despite his refusal to attend the court's hearings on
the CPSU, ITAR-TASS reported on 13 October. (The Russian Ministry
of Security and the Foreign Ministry imposed a ban on Gorbachev's
travel at the request of the court after the former president
ignored the court's summons). Several Western countries have
pressed Yeltsin in recent days to let Gorbachev travel abroad.
The court's chief justice, Valerii Zorkin, said that the court
still "deems it possible to hear Gorbachev's testimony either
before or after his scheduled visit to Germany. . ." Gorbachev
is to attend the state funeral of former West German Chancellor
Willy Brandt. Gorbachev's aide, Vladimir Tumarkin, told Interfax,
however, that Gorbachev was willing to answer the court's questions
only "outside" the hearings-i.e. at an informal meeting with
the court's officials. (Vera Tolz)

RUBLE EXCHANGE RATE HOLDS STEADY. The dollar ended the Tuesday's
trading on the Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange valued at
334 rubles, Interfax reported on 13 October. The ruble has remained
more or less steady for two straight trading sessions after losing
some 30% of its value during the previous two sessions. Trade
volume on Tuesday was $46.8 million. (Erik Whitlock)

NEW ST. PETERSBURG SECURITY CHIEF OPPRESSED DISSIDENTS. Viktor
Cherkesov will replace Sergei Stepashin as the chief of the St.
Petersburg state security service, DR Press and Sankt-Peterburgskie
vedomosti reported on 11 October and 3 October, respectively.
Stepashin, who is also the chairman of the parliamentarian commission
on defense and security, left his position because the law prohibits
officials from serving simultaneously in elective and administrative
capacities. Cherkesov, who since the mid-1970s headed the investigative
branch of the Leningrad KGB, was responsible for conducting investigations
of Mikhail Meiman, Rostislav Evdokimov, and dozens of the other
dissidents. Former political prisoners, the historical society,
"Memorial," and the St. Petersburg division of "Democratic Russia"
have protested this appointment to city authorities. (Victor
Yasmann)

KRAVCHUK MEETS WITH PROTESTING STUDENTS. Ukrainian President
Leonid Kravchuk met with leaders of the Ukrainian Students' Union
on 12-October, Ukrainian TV reported. The students have put up
a tent city on Kiev's main square and are demanding new parliamentary
elections next year and Ukraine's withdrawal from the CIS. The
following day, student protestors clashed with police outside
the Ukrainian parliament. Several were injured and others were
detained. (Roman Solchanyk)

KIEV, ASHKHABAD REJECT MOSCOW-DOMINATED "INFORMATION SPACE."
As more details emerge about the recent CIS summit in Bishkek,
the Ukrainian media has reported that, among other things, Ukraine
and Turkmenistan rejected the idea of a "single information space"
covering most of the territory of the former USSR but still centered
on Moscow. The two states declined to support the idea of forming
an "international" TV and radio company that would utilize existing
Ostankino facilities. (Bohdan Nahaylo)

BELARUS TO SPEED ELIMINATION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS. President Stanislav
Shushkevich has stated that Belarus will eliminate all its nuclear
weapons in two and a half years, according to an Interfax report
of 13 October. While Belarus had earlier agreed to eliminate
the weapons in seven years, Shushkevich had recently ordered
studies of ways to accelerate the process. There are fifty-four
SS-25 single-warhead missiles in Belarus. (John Lepingwell)

US DOUBTS KAZAKHS SOLD NUCLEAR WEAPONS TO IRAN. US State Department
spokesman Joe Snyder on 13 October said that the department had
no evidence to confirm recent claims by an Iranian resistance
organization that Kazakhstan has sold four tactical nuclear weapons
to Iran. Western news agency quoted Snyder as saying the department
had made "aggressive" attempts to investigate these claims. At
one time Western analysts estimated that there were as many as
650 former Soviet tactical nuclear weapons in Kazakhstan. The
Kazakh government agreed to repatriate these weapons to Russia
and indicated in January of this year that the transfers were
complete. In March, however, there were rumors that three weapons
were missing. (Doug Clarke)

AZERBAIJAN SOFTENS POSITION ON NAGORNO-KARABAKH. Speaking to
journalists in Moscow on 12 October after signing a bilateral
security agreement with Russia, Azerbaijani President Abulfaz
Elchibey ruled out the deployment of CIS peacekeeping troops
in Azerbaijan as his country is not a CIS member, ITAR-TASS reported.
Elchibey claimed that "reactionary forces" in both Armenia and
Azerbaijan were actively hindering a settlement of the Karabakh
conflict, but that the participation in negotiations of such
world figures as George Bush, Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterand
could contribute to reaching a settlement. In a letter to the
UN Security Council, which is to debate the Karabakh issue on
14 October, Armenia's representative to the UN, Alexander Arzoumanian,
called for the immediate deployment in the area of UN peacekeeping
observers as Elchibey no longer opposed their presence on Azerbaijani
territory, Western agencies reported. (Liz Fuller)

TAJIKISTAN'S NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT DISSOLVES. Chairman of
the Democratic Party of Tajikistan Shodmon Yusuf (Yusupov) announced
on 13 October that the National Salvation Front was dissolving
itself because its task was completed, Ekho Moskvy reported.
Yusuf called for support of Acting President Akbarsho Iskandarov,
suggesting that the Tajik opposition sees an identity of interest
between themselves and the government. The Front was created
by the coalition of Tajik opposition parties after some oppositionists
became members of the government in May. Its most prominent spokesman,
filmmaker and former presidential candidate Davlat Khudonazarov,
saw the Front as a means to restore peace to the country, but
officials in Kulyab Oblast who oppose the government in Dushanbe
were unwilling to accept the Front's peacemaking efforts. (Bess
Brown)

KABUL ACCUSES UZBEKISTAN AND TAJIKISTAN OF INTERFERENCE. Gulbuddin
Hekmatyar, leader of the Afghan fundamentalist Hezb-i-Islami
Party, issued a statement on 13 October accusing Uzbekistan and
Tajikistan of arming the formerly Communist militia forces of
Afghan Uzbek General Rashid Dostum and forces loyal to the Afghan
Tajik General and Defense Minister Ahmad Shah Masood, Reuters
reported. The Uzbek and Tajik forces control northern Afghanistan.
Leaders of both Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have complained that
Afghanistan is supplying weapons being used in Tajikistan's civil
war; according to various reports, these weapons have come from
Hekmatyar's group. (Bess Brown)

CLARIFICATION OF KYRGYZ POSITION ON CIS. The press service of
Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev has refuted an earlier report that
Kyrgyzstan plans to leave the Commonwealth of Independent States,
Interfax reported on 13 October. The refutation refers to a Reuters
interview of 12 October with Akaev, who was then quoted as saying
that his country intended to seek complete independence and that
the CIS was a "transitional institution." The press service stated
that, on the contrary, Akaev "favors a stronger CIS and closer
cooperation between its members in the economic, military, and
humanitarian spheres." In another interview with Le Monde, cited
by ITAR-TASS on 13 October, Akaev referred to the transitional
nature of the CIS, "although it could last for a decade." (Keith
Bush)



CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

KOSOVO UPDATE: CLASHES REPORTED, TRUCE ANNOUNCED. On 13 October,
Radio Serbia reported that Serbian police prevented a protest
of ethnic Albanians in Pristina, capital of Serbia's province
of Kosovo. Several thousand Albanians tried to gather in front
of Pristina University but were stopped by police using tear
gas and batons. For a second consecutive day Albanians protested
in several Kosovo towns to demand the reopening of Albanianlanguage
schools closed by Serbia in 1990. The demonstrations were organized
by the Association of Albanian School Teachers. Radio Croatia
quoted a protest leader as saying that the demonstrations had
been temporarily suspended pending the outcome of talks with
Serbian and federal officials. Milan Panic, Prime Minister of
the rump Yugoslavia, appealed for calm and announced he would
travel to Kosovo on 15 October. Panic reiterated his promise
to reopen Albanian schools despite Serbian government opposition.
The protest took place as international representatives of the
Geneva conference on the former Yugoslavia began a factfinding
mission in the predominantly Albanian populated province. (Milan
Andrejevich)

WAR OF WORDS IN BELGRADE. Belgrade's independent youth Radio
B92 commented on 12-October that new battle lines have been
drawn between Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic and Milan
Panic. Panic is said to have met with Milosevic for more than
six hours this past weekend, according to B92 and Belgrade TV.
Panic emerged from the meeting blasting Milosevic for his insensitivity
and stubbornness and called for his resignation. No further details
have been made public. On 10 October, Milosevic criticized both
Panic and federal President Dobrica Cosic. In an interview with
Belgrade TV, Milosevic criticized a recent agreement signed between
Cosic and Croatia's President Franjo Tudjman which called for
the return of Croatian refugees to UN protected zones in Serbheld
areas of Croatia. Milosevic stated that he would "never have
signed any agreement" that did not take into consideration the
"legitimate interests" of the Serbs of Croatia's Krajina region.
He added that it was Serbia's task to help all Serbs. On 13 October,
the government of the selfproclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina
accused Cosic and Panic of working "for American interests."
(Milan Andrejevich)

BOSNIA ROUNDUP. International media on 14 October reported that
an agreement was reached in Geneva between EC mediator Lord Owen
and Bosnia Serb leader Radovan Karadzic calling for the transfer
of Bosnian Serb military aircraft to SerbiaMontenegro under
UN supervision and safekeeping. Radio Serbia quoted Karadzic
as saying that the agreement was aimed to dispel accusations
that Serb aircraft were bombarding Bosnian towns controlled by
Muslims. Several UN Security Council members have begun talks
aimed at reaching a new resolution on enforcing the ban on flights
over BosniaHerzegovina. Radio Croatia reported on 13 October
that Bosnia's President Alija Izetbegovic would condone the use
of chlorine gas in selfdefense against Serb forces whom he described
as "murderers." (Milan Andrejevich)

GROWING AUTHORITARIANISM IN CROATIA? Following President Franjo
Tudjman's overwhelming reelection victory in August and the corresponding
strong position of his party (HDZ) in the legislature, many observers
across the political spectrum fear that Tudjman and the HDZ might
try to stifle opposition and the independent media. The weekly
Novi Danas has effectively been hounded out of existence, administrative
pressure was applied to Rijeka's Novi list, and more recently
to the leading independent daily Slobodna Dalmacija. Vecernji
list of 11 October also reports that some liberal spokesmen are
warning against apparent government plans to jail neofascist
leader Dobroslav Paraga and to ban his Croatian Party of [Historic]
Rights (HSP). Paraga and his party are accused of supporting
terrorism, but many feel Tudjman and the HDZ simply want to silence
their most vocal rightwing critics. Paraga and the HSP finished
fourth in the August poll and did especially well in embattled
districts of eastern Slavonia where their paramilitary group
HOS is credited with holding the Serbs at bay. (Patrick Moore)


CZECH GOVERNMENT COALITION AGREES ON DRAFT CONSTITUTION. On 13
October, Czech Premier Vaclav Klaus's government coalition agreed
on the basic principles of a future constitution of the Czech
Republic. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Jan Kalvoda told CSTK that
a special government commission could have the final version
of the constitution ready within 12 days. The coalition agreed
on four previously disputed points, namely the need to amend
the current Bill of Fundamental Rights and Liberties before incorporating
it into the Czech Constitution; the creation of a second chamber
of parliament (a Senate) elected for eight years; a new territorial
structure of the Czech Republic based on municipalities and higherlevel
selfgoverning units of at least one million inhabitants; and
a proposal that constitutional laws need to be approved only
by a simple majority in both chambers of parliament. The opposition
parties have already said that they will not support a constitution
that would require less than a threefifths majority for the
approval of constitutional laws. (Jiri Pehe)

REFERENDUM APPROVED FOR LITHUANIAN CONSTITUTION. On 13 October
the Lithuanian parliament passed a draft Constitution by a vote
of 98 to 2 with 6 abstentions, the RFE/RL Lithuanian Service
reported. The parliament also approved holding a referendum on
the draft Constitution on 25-October when elections to the new
parliament, Seimas, will be held. Elections of a president should
be held in January 1993, but the Seimas was authorized to postpone
them for several months if necessary. (Saulius Girnius)

CALL FOR RESIGNATION OF LATVIAN GOVERNMENT. After hearing reports
of ministers accounting for their own and their ministry's work,
the Satversme faction of the Latvian Supreme Council has called
for the government's resignation. According to the faction's
deputy chairman, Rolands Rikards, the government has not performed
its job satisfactorily, either in the economic nor in the political
realm. According to the law on the council of ministers, the
motion will be discussed next week and at least 61 deputies have
to vote for it for it to be approved. The Satversme faction has
34 members. (Dzintra Bungs)

COALITION MANEUVERING CONTINUES IN POLAND. Deputy Prime Minister
Pawel Laczkowski told a press conference in Radom on 12 October
that there might still be place in Poland's ruling coalition
for the Center Alliance, despite its opposition to the government's
economic policy guidelines. To join the coalition, however, the
Center Alliance would first have to accept the government's program.
The Center Alliance announced on 10 October that it would opt
for "determined and responsible opposition" to the government,
which it charged with pursuing "leftwing policies." This exchange
reflects the bargaining now underway in Warsaw as the government
strives to add one more party to the coalition to ensure a parliamentary
majority for revisions to the 1992 budget and other vital legislation.
(Louisa Vinton)

ILIESCU PROPOSES EMERGENCY MEASURES AGAINST CRIME AND CORRUPTION.
In the first press conference held after his reelection as Romania's
president on 13 October, Ion Iliescu identified areas for immediate
action, Rompres and Western agencies reported. In particular,
he proposed a sixmonth period in which emergency steps against
crime and corruption should be instituted to "remove dishonest
people from office." (Michael Shafir)

FINAL RESULT OF ROMANIA'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. According to
the Central Electoral Bureau, the final result of the presidential
runoff elections held on 11 October was 61.43% of votes for
Ion Iliescu, the candidate of the Democratic National Salvation
Front, and 38.57% for Emil Constantinescu, the candidate of the
Democratic Convention of Romania, Radio Bucharest reported on
13 October. The turnout was 73.2%. (Michael Shafir)

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT STARTS ABORTION DEBATE. Laszlo Suranyi,
Social Welfare Minister, presented the draft of a new abortion
law to parliament on 13 October 1992, Hungarian radio reported.
The draft offers parliamentarians two options: one, staunchly
supported by the Christian Democratic Party, would forbid abortion,
giving personal rights to the fetus. The other would somewhat
restrict the present abortion law and require mandatory education,
but still be liberal. The ruling Hungarian Democratic Party allowed
its members to vote as they see fit. Suranyi said that there
have been over 4 million abortions in Hungary since 1956. The
draft also introduces prenatal benefits from the fourth month
of pregnancy. (Karoly Okolicsanyi)

PROGRESS ON THE HUNGARIAN MEDIA LAW. Prime Minister Jozsef Antall
and the six political parties represented in parliament agreed
to set up a committee that will hammer out a compromise draft
media law, MTI reported on 13 October. The committee, which includes
two members from each party, has two weeks to come up with a
result. In a related development, Antall said that he agreed
with President Arpad Goncz that if no agreement was reached by
27 October 1992, whoever was able to muster a twothird's majority
in parliament's cultural committee should be appointed the new
head of Hungarian radio and television. (Karoly Okolicsanyi)


FIRST ANNIVERSARY OF UDF'S ELECTION VICTORY. On 13 October, at
a public meeting marking the first anniversary of the UDF's election
victory over the BSP, UDF chairman and Prime Minister Filip Dimitrov
spoke about the challenges facing the ruling coalition. According
to BTA, Dimitrov told UDF sympathizers his government's struggle
against resistance to radical reforms was often more demanding
than the preelection campaign itself. In a clear reference to
the recent political clashes with the mainly Turkish MRF party
and President Zhelyu Zhelev, he said the UDF wished no confrontation,
but would "not retreat a single step." In a written statement,
Zhelev gave a positive assessment to the achievements of the
UDF, but urged the coalition to help reestablish "dialogue"
with Bulgarian society. (Kjell Engelbrekt)

NATO MILITARY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN VISITS BALTIC STATES. On 12
October NATO Military Committee chairman General Vigleik Eide
held talks with Estonian defense forces officers. At a press
conference in Tallinn Eide noted that the three Baltic States
belonged to NATO's sphere of interest because "NATO is interested
in maintaining the stability and freedom of European countries."
He also said that surplus military equipment could be sent to
the Baltic States, but that specific arrangements should be made
by individual NATO states. On 13 October Eide visited Riga where
he held talks with the Deputy Parliament Chairman Andrejs Krastins
on the consequences of the Russian army's presence in Latvia,
BNS reported. He travels on to Vilnius on October 14. (Saulius
Girnius)

ROMANIAN OFFICIAL ON RELATIONS WITH MOLDOVA. Theodor Melescanu,
Secretary of State at the Romanian Foreign Affairs Ministry,
said on 13-October that Bucharest wanted close ties with Moldova,
but that depended on Moldova's own policies. Melescanu told an
RFE/RL correspondent in Bucharest that if Moldova were to integrate
with the CIS states, "as desired by some elements in Chisinau,"
it would be difficult to maintain the type of relationship envisaged
by Bucharest. He said Romania's policy was "based on the existence
of two independent Romanianspeaking states coming closer together
and reunifying sometime in the future" but the formal entry of
Moldova into the CIS would destroy this concept. The proponents
of the entry into the CIS, Melescanu continued, argued that Moldova
could benefit from the low prices of energy, but the energy situation
could change since Russia was under strong pressure to upgrade
energy prices even in internal trade. (Michael Shafir).

CIA CHIEF VISITS WARSAW. CIA director Robert Gates paid a visit
to Poland from 11 to 13 October, State Security Office officials
announced late on 13-October. Gates met with President Lech Walesa
and Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka, as well as with the foreign,
defense, and internal affairs ministers and the heads of civil
and military intelligence. Although US officials described these
as "routine consultations," the visit was kept secret until it
ended. The unusually elaborate security measures used during
the visit nonetheless alerted reporters that something was afoot,
and Gazeta Wyborcza broke the story in its 13 October issue.
PAP reported that Gates is now due to travel on to the countries
of the former Soviet Union. (Louisa Vinton)

NEXT ROUND OF LATVIANRUSSIAN TALKS: 21-OCTOBER. Eriks Tilgass,
adviser to the Minister of State, told the press on 13 October
that the next round of LatvianRussian talks has been postponed
from 14 to 21 October; the talks are to take place in Moscow.
The agenda includes technical problems of troop withdrawal, border
issues and economic problems. The previous talks in Jurmala in
September ended in a stalemate. Meanwhile Russian aircraft have
continued to violate Latvian government regulations and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs has sent a protest note to its Russian counterpart,
Diena and BNS reported on 13 October. That same day the Foreign
Ministry also issued a document expressing concern over Russian
President Boris Yeltsin's recent statement linking troop withdrawal
from the Baltic States with Baltic legislation on human rights
and the rights of Russians living there. (Dzintra Bungs)

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Anna Swidlicka