No. 240, 15 December 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

CHERNOMYRDIN ELECTED RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER. During the evening
session of the Congress on 14 December, President Yeltsin named
Viktor Chernomyrdin as his final choice for the post of Russian
prime minister. Chernomyrdin, who won 621 votes during the preliminary
vote earlier that day, came in second after Yurii Skokov, the
head of the Russian Security Council. The final round of elections
for Chernomyrdin followed: 721 deputies voted in his favor; 128
against. In his address to the Congress, Chernomyrdin said that
he supported the reform policy but without "a profound pauperization
of the people." The 54 year old Chernomyrdin has worked in oil
fuel industry. He served as the minister of the oil and gas industry
in the Gorbachev government. Chernomyrdin was appointed deputy
prime minister after the sixth session of the Congress, held
in April 1992; at that time he recommended to Yeltsin that he
"strengthen" the Gaidar government of "theorists" with experienced
economic managers. (Julia Wishnevsky)

RESPONSE TO CHERNOMYRDIN'S ELECTION. After the election of Viktor
Chernomyrdin as prime minister on 14 December, Egor Gaidar told
journalists that he would resign from the government and not
return. ITAR-TASS quoted him as adding that he would recommend
that some ministers stay in the government. A leader of the Civic
Union, Vasilii Lipitsky, hailed the election of Chernomyrdin
as a "reasonable compromise." He said that the Civic Union thinks
Gaidar should stay in the cabinet in some capacity. Deputy Nikolai
Pavlov from the nationalistic "Russia" faction called Chernomyrdin's
election a "victory of the people," ITAR-TASS reported. In contrast,
the Democratic Russia movement called the election "catastrophic,"
and said it was a "betrayal of reform." A leader of the movement
Lev Ponomarev told an RFE/RL correspondent that Democratic Russia
should announce its formal opposition to the government. (Vera
Tolz)

CONGRESS ENDS. The seventh session of the Congress of People's
Deputies ended on 14-December. The Congress once again voiced
approval of its agreement with President Yeltsin. The Congress
also decided that there will be no referendum until 11-April
1991. The Congress ruled that no other questions will be put
on the 11 April referendum except those concerning the principles
guiding the future Russian Constitution, as discussed with Yeltsin
and Zorkin. The Congress elected a special commission to ensure
that the coverage of its session by Russian radio and TV will
be informative and objective. In his closing address, speaker
Ruslan Khasbulatov said that the Congress proved its worth during
the session, and that the body acted as a protector of democracy,
having saved Russia from the familiar communist tendency to live
in a permanent state of emergency. (Julia Wishnevsky)

CONGRESS CALLS ON CIS PARLIAMENTS TO CREATE CONFEDERATION. On
14-December the Russian Congress of People's Deputies called
on the parliaments of the other CIS states to examine the question
of forming "a confederation or other form of rapprochement of
the independent states of Europe and Asia, whose peoples are
expressing their desire for unity," ITAR-TASS reported. The call
came in an "Appeal to the Parliaments of the Independent States-Former
Republics of the USSR." (Ann Sheehy)

BARANNIKOV REPEATS KRYUCHKOV'S ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE WEST.
In an unusually hardline address to the Russian Congress, Minister
of Security Viktor Barannikov said that his agency, the MB (formerly
called KGB), is struggling against the "subversive activities
of western secret services and [their] efforts to transform Russia
into a raw materials' appendage of the developed countries,"
Radio Russia reported on 14 December. Barannikov also accused
the West of trying to gain control of Russia's nuclear arsenal;
thanks to "countermeasures" by his service, however, such efforts
have failed, he added. He also reported that more than ten "western
agents" are presently being investigated by the MB. Concerning
corruption, Barannikov said the state security organs have opened
criminal files on more than 3,000 state officials. Finally, Barannikov
stressed that his service is "not inclined in order to heed the
current mood to reject the colossal experience of our predecessors
. . . the former KGB . . . and the Russian secret services of
the past centuries." In many instances, Barannikov's speech was
similar to the much publicized address by former KGB chairman
Vladimir Kryuchkov in December 1990. (Victor Yasmann)

LUKYANOV, OTHER COUP LEADERS FREED ON BAIL. Russian Prosecutor
General Valentin Stepankov has signed the indictment in the case
of the August 1991 coup, Russian TV reported on 14-December.
The documents on the case were turned over to the military collegium
of the Russian Federation's Supreme Court. Simultaneously, four
of the eleven accused were freed on bail. They are former speaker
of the USSR parliament Anatolii Lukyanov, Army General Valentin
Varennikov, and two KGB generals, Vyacheslav Generalov and Yurii
Plekhnov. Another coup leader, a collective farm chairman, Vasilii
Starodubtsev, was freed on bail earlier this year. Furthermore,
three other former officials suspected of being involved in the
coup (the head of Gorbachev's staff, Valerii Boldin, KGB general
Viktor Grushko, a CPSU Politburo member, and Party secretary
Oleg Shenin) were released because of poor health, and their
cases will be handled separately, (Julia Wishnevsky)

KOZYREV DRAMATIZES THREAT FROM CONSERVATIVES. In an unconventional
move made without prior warning, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev simulated what a hard shift to the right would mean for
Russian foreign policy during a speech to the council of CSCE
foreign ministers in Stockholm on 14 December, the Russian and
Western media reported. Within an hour of making the speech,
however, Kozyrev returned to the podium and explained that his
words had been delivered in an attempt to demonstrate what would
happen to Russian foreign policy if more conservative forces
gained control. The negative international reaction to the apparently
changed foreign policy line was probably intended to send a message
to Kozyrev's opponents in Moscow. The fact that Kozyrev would
pull such a rhetorical stunt at the CSCE may suggest that he
is not optimistic about his chances of remaining foreign minister.
(Suzanne Crow)

RUSSIAN TV LIMITS REPORTING ON KOZYREV'S "JOKE." All four newscasts
of both channels of Russian TV on 14 December failed to report
negative reactions of several Western leaders to Andrei Kozyrev's
speech at the CSCE conference that he later retracted. All the
newscasts described Kozyrev's speech as a "joke," failing to
mention the controversial nature of the incident. (Julia Wishnevsky)


ESTIMATED COST OF UN SANCTIONS. The Russian parliament's Committee
on International Affairs and External Economic Relations has
come up with a remarkably precise estimate of the losses that
Russia has sustained from its adherence to UN sanctions against
Iraq, Libya, Serbia, and Montenegro, Interfax reported on 13
December. The estimate, which was circulated at the Congress
of People's Deputies, put the total revenue foregone at $15,763,700,000.
(Keith Bush)

KOHL IN MOSCOW. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl started a two-day
visit in Moscow on 14 December. The German media reported that
the main subjects of the talks would be Russian debt settlement
and withdrawals of ex-Soviet troops from Germany. (Suzanne Crow)


NO "RUSSIAN RUBLE" YET. Russian Central Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko
has ruled out the introduction of a new Russian currency for
the time being, ITAR-TASS reported on 13-December. Addressing
apprehensions aired by, among others, Vice President Aleksandr
Rutskoi, that former Soviet republics which had left the ruble
zone were swamping Russia with unwanted rubles, Gerashchenko
minimized the scale of this threat. The amounts concerned were
small, he said, and their value was being rapidly eroded by inflation.
(Keith Bush)

POLISH POLICE ACCUSED OF ROUGHING UP RUSSIAN SOLDIERS. According
to Krasnaya zvezda of 15 December, a detachment of Polish police
broke into the homes of some Russian servicemen on the evening
of 11 December and subjected them to "physical and moral insults."
The incident took place in the Trzebien garrison, near Legnica,
the headquarters of the Northern Group of Forces. The account
said that the men were forced to lie on the floor and were handcuffed,
while the women and children were forced to their knees on the
floor at gun point. A Polish regional police official later explained
that the police had received a tip-off that weapons were hidden
in the building. According to PAP of 14 December, the same official
rejected charges of police brutality. A spokesman for the Northern
Group of Forces called the incident a "most blatant and unprecedented
violation of intergovernmental agreements" between the two countries.
(Doug Clarke)

FIRST RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPING DIVISION FORMED. The Russian Defense
Ministry announced that the first division of Russian peacekeeping
forces has been formed. According to Interfax on 14 December,
the division is stationed in the village of Totskoye-2, in Orenburg
oblast. This oblast-some 1,300 kilometers southeast of Moscow-borders
Kazakhstan. The ministry's press service said that 13,224 Russian
military personnel were presently serving in "hot points" throughout
the former USSR. (Doug Clarke)

CRACKDOWN ON UKRAINIAN MANAGERS THREATENED. In an interview with
Kievskie vedomsti of 13 December, as reported by Interfax, Ukrainian
Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma promised to "toughen and even somewhat
harshen" government policy towards the directors of state-owned
factories. Power had fallen into the hands of the managerial
corps, Kuchma asserted, because of the economic situation. (Mikhail
Berger of Izvestiya has also said that Russian enterprise directors
now effectively control some 90% of the Federation's property).
Kuchma warned of forthcoming moves on foreign exchange operations,
pricing, customs tariffs, and leasing, together with measures
against tax evasion and capital flight. (Keith Bush)

ATTEMPT TO LEGALIZE UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST PARTY. The Ukrainian
parliament reconvened on 14 December and witnessed attempts by
former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine to lift the
ban on their party, Ukrainian TV reported. The proposal to place
the question on the agenda of the session, which was introduced
several times, ultimately was rejected. According to the report,
proponents of the move may have been emboldened by the election
of several of their sympathizers to vacant parliamentary seats.
(Roman Solchanyk)

UKRAINE AND RUSSIA ARGUE OVER SHIP REPAIR YARDS. The ship repair
facilities for the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet have become
the latest bone of contention between Russian and Ukraine. ITAR-TASS
on 14 December reported that the Ukrainian ministry of defense
had decreed that all these plants were to be switched to its
full jurisdiction. The Russian navy's press centered charged
that such an action was a "flagrant violation" of the agreements
placing the fleet under the joint administration of the two republics.
(Doug Clarke)

NEW CEASEFIRE IN ABKHAZIA. On 13 December Georgian and Abkhaz
leaders signed a new ceasefire agreement promising to withdraw
heavy weaponry from all areas of conflict by 18-December, and
all their respective forces from the Gumista river north of Sukhumi
and from Ochamchire raion, AFP reported quoting Russian and Abkhaz
defense ministry statements. According to ITAR-TASS, the Georgian
Military Command in Abkhazia has rejected a claim by the Russian
Defense Ministry that on 14 December Georgian forces in Abkhazia
shot down a Russian army helicopter evacuating Abkhaz civilians
from the town of Tkvarcheli. (Liz Fuller)

EBRD APPROVES STRATEGY FOR ARMENIA. On 14 December the European
Bank for Reconstruction and Development approved a strategy for
Armenia, noting the progress made there towards democracy and
a market economy. However, EBRD chairman Jacques Attali warned
that economic recovery is conditional on political stability
in the Transcaucasus, an RFE-RL correspondent reported. EBRD
operations in Armenia will focus initially on securing uninterrupted
energy supplies, the development of agriculture and related business,
financial sector development and environmental protection. (Liz
Fuller)

TAJIK GOVERNMENT THREATENS OPPOSITION WITH USE OF FORCE. Tajikistan's
new government held its first meeting in Dushanbe on 14-December
to discuss overcoming the economic effects of the civil war,
and threatened to use force against opposition democratic-Islamic
units in Kofarnihon Raion near the Tajik capital if those units
refuse to lay down their arms, Interfax reported. The same source
also reported learning from Russian border troop spokesmen that
many supporters of the Islamic Renaissance Party (IRP) are among
the 70,000 refugees trying to reach Afghanistan, and the border
troops fear there could be casualties if government loyalists
pursue the IRP. (Bess Brown)

NIYAZOV PROMISES PROSPERITY IN TEN YEARS. Turkmenistan's President
Saparmurad Niyazov told the Halk Maslahaty, the newly-elected
supreme council of representatives of the executive, legislative
and judicial branches, on 14 December that the country should
achieve economic prosperity and become a strong democratic state
within ten years, Interfax reported. This prediction was based
on maintaining political stability while introducing economic
innovations such as seven free economic zones. Turkmenistan plans
to introduce its own currency in the second half of 1993 although,
Niyazov said, it supports preservation of the ruble zone. (Bess
Brown)

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS OVER BOSNIA. On 14-December international
media reported that the CSCE foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm
agreed to back investigations into war crimes in the crisis but
was divided over lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia. An RFE/RL
correspondent quoted Bosnian Foreign Minister Haris Silajdzic
as saying that his republic will veto any measure that does not
enable it to obtain weapons to defend itself. More discussion
is slated for 15 December. Elsewhere, the German media reported
on 14 December that Minister for Posts and Telecommunications
Christian Schwarz-Schilling resigned his position in protest
over what he regards as the government's "do-nothing" attitude
toward Bosnia. He has been in the cabinet since Chancellor Helmut
Kohl first took office over ten years ago. The 15 December Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung quotes a statement by the Serbian Orthodox
Bishops' Conference in Belgrade as denying that Serbs have conducted
mass rapes on Bosnian Muslim women. The bishops called such reports
"war propaganda" aimed at "satanizing" the Serbian nation, and
added that the Serbs have no camps for women. Western journalists
and human rights workers have, however, confirmed that bordellos
and camps exist and concluded that mass rape is an instrument
of Serbian policy in ethnic cleansing, not just an excess by
unruly soldiers. (Patrick Moore)

LOUDER THREATS OF INTERVENTION IN BOSNIA. Dobrica Cosic, president
of rump federal Yugoslavia, and the Federal Defense Ministry
both warned on 8-December that the Yugoslav army might intervene
to defend Bosnian Serbs against alleged Croatian aggression or
foreign military intervention in Bosnia-Herzegovina. On 8 December
Cosic told a meeting of officers of the Yugoslav army that the
country "faces very serious and terrifying threats that we must
regard as realistic," and exhorted the officer corps to "respond
to such threats like men, according to the best of our traditions."
Cosic was more explicit in a letter to UN Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali dated 12 December, warning that the Yugoslav army
would be forced to take drastic measures to defend Bosnian Serbs
if Croatian forces do not cease military operations in eastern
Herzegovina and along Montenegro's border. Cosic made a similar
statement last month. Politika carried the reports. (Milan Andrejevich)


COSIC ENDORSES PANIC. Dobrica Cosic, President of rump Yugoslavia,
endorsed Milan Panic in his bid to oust incumbent Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic. Cosic said he wants to bring peace to the
region and an end to Yugoslavia's international isolation. But
he warned the West not to interfere in the elections by openly
supporting one or other candidate. Cosic's endorsement of Panic
is considered crucial in the latter's challenge to Milosevic.
According to Belgrade's independent radio B92, Cosic's endorsement
of Panic was not carried on state-controlled Belgrade TV, but
Cosic is expected to make another endorsement live on Belgrade
TV before the 20 December election. Meanwhile, Panic told Ouest-France
that his election is the "only chance" for peace in the region.
In a speech to a group of Serbian businessmen he welcomed reports
that the US and Russia might lift sanctions immediately if Panic
is elected as "good news." (Milan Andrejevich)

MILOSEVIC'S CAMPAIGN. On 14 December French Channel 2 TV interviewed
Milosevic, who categorically denied that Yugoslavia has a single
soldier on the territory of Bosnia-Herzegovina and accused Europe
of having "a false image of the situation in Kosovo." He explained
that Serbs are not in conflict with the Albanians but rather
with the "Kosovo separatist movement." State-controlled Belgrade
TV broadcast the interview in its entirely. Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic told reporters in Belgrade that the self-proclaimed
Assembly of the Serb Republic will endorse a declaration on ending
the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina on 17 December. Some Serbian opposition
parties say Karadzic's announcement is aimed at helping Milosevic
in his bid for reelection. Radio Serbia carried the reports.
(Milan Andrejevich)

HUNGARIAN DEMOCRATIC FORUM RESHUFFLE. The presidium of the ruling
Hungarian Democratic Forum held a meeting on 11 December, MTI
reports. The main topic of discussion appears to have been the
tensions within the party caused by the essay published in August
by Istvan Csurka, then one of the six vice chairmen of the HDF.
His essay demanded stronger party and government actions against
the former communist nomenklatura and was fraught with anti-Semitic
references. The presidium, which heard recommendations from an
ad hoc investigating committee, evidently opted to restructure
the hierarchy by eliminating all vice chairmanships. Laszlo Medgyasszay,
press secretary of the forum, later told journalists that, looking
to its next congress in January, the 21-member presidium has
assumed the responsibilities of the vice chairmen who will, nevertheless,
remain presidium members. Lajos Fur remains executive chairman
of the party and is in charge of preparing for the congress.
(Judith Pataki)

SCENE IN ROMANIAN SENATE. Three of the main opposition parties
demonstratively left the Senate chamber on 14 December, Radio
Bucharest and Rompres report. The National Peasant Party Christian
Democrat, the Party of Civic Alliance and the Hungarian Democratic
Federation of Romania (HDFR) senators left the hall after the
leader of the extreme-nationalist Greater Romania Party, Corneliu
Vadim Tudor, demanded that the HDFR and the Timisoara Society
be outlawed. He read in the chamber a letter sent from Budapest
by three Hungarian citizens, alleging that on the occasion of
the celebrations marking the third anniversary of the revolution,
members of the HDFR and the Timisoara society plan to stage actions
said to be dangerous for Romania's territorial integrity. (Michael
Shafir)

SOLIDARITY'S WARNING STRIKE WORRIES GOVERNMENT. Solidarity Chairman
Marian Krzaklewski told Polish TV on 14 December that several
thousand union locals participated in the two-hour warning strike
held that day. He said this proved that Solidarity is the "single
social organization" capable of conducting a protest on a national
scale. The strike, organized around demands for better real wages,
seemed designed more to allow the rank-and-file to let off steam
than to achieve concrete results. It was boycotted by the Network,
the dissident association of Solidarity organizations from Poland's
largest industrial plants. A spokesman quoted by PAP said the
government sees the strike as a worrying sign of social frustration
but was cautiously hopeful that negotiations would work to solve
conflicts. (Louisa Vinton)

POLISH MINERS ON STRIKE. Solidarity's two-hour warning strike
yielded the beginnings of a general strike in Silesia's coal
mines. PAP reports early on 15-December that 14 mines have so
far joined in. Solidarity endorsed the strike, and the leader
of Solidarity's mining branch told Polish TV "we have nothing
to lose." The miners have drawn up a list of 23-demands, including
an end to the decline in real wages, debt relief for mines, and
"government guarantees of funds to save mining." The same demands
were voiced in strikes that broke out when the current Polish
government was formed in July. (Louisa Vinton)

GERMANY REASSURES POLAND ON ASYLUM-SEEKERS. German Justice Minister
Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger visited Warsaw on 14-December
to inform Polish officials of expected changes in German asylum
laws. She assured Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka that these revisions
are not meant to burden Germany's eastern neighbors with the
problem of asylum-seekers and pledged "organizational and financial
assistance" in repatriating would-be refugees. The justice minister
also expressed support for Poland's recent decision to expel
a German neo-Nazi activist. Germany's opposition SPD demanded
on 14 December the domestic political compromise on asylum be
broadened to include formal agreements with Poland and Czechoslovakia.
(Louisa Vinton)

BULGARIANS CAN BE CLEARED OF COLLABORATION CHARGES. According
to a decree issued by interior minister Yordan Sokolov on 14
December, Bulgarian politicians and top officials are entitled
to ask the ministry to clear them of charges of collaboration
with the former state security, BTA reports. Sokolov told journalists
that each applicant who has been unjustly accused of collaboration
will receive a document certifying that the charges are groundless.
An investigation will cost 1,000 leva ($45) and will involve
checking the files of the former secret police. Acting Prime
Minister Filip Dimitrov supports the decree even though he realizes
the issue is controversial both from a legal and political point
of view, but he explained that he is ready to take the consequences.
(Kjell Engelbrekt)

IMF REPRESENTATIVES IN HUNGARY. A delegation of the International
Monetary Fund led by Gerard Belanger, deputy chairman of the
European Section, has started talks at the Ministry of Finance
in Budapest, MTI reported on 14 December. They will also hold
talks with the Hungarian National Bank on the Hungarian budget
and its macroeconomic implications and especially the high budget
deficit. Meanwhile, the Financial Times reports that IMF directors
met in Washington the same day to consider ways to revoke the
membership of the former state of Yugoslavia in a way that would
permit applications to the IMF and the World Bank from Slovenia
and Croatia to be favorably entertained while at the same time
excluding Serbia, which is viewed as the aggressor in the civil
war. (Judith Pataki & Charles Trumbull)

EC TO STOP GRAIN TO BALTICS IN 1993? Owing to financial difficulties,
the European Community may discontinue supplying grain in aid
to the Baltic States in 1993, BNS reported on 14 December. In
1992 the EC allocated 45 million ecus for grain aid to the Baltics.
Latvian Minister of Agriculture Dainis Gegers said that he would
request a fuller explanation of the decision, especially since
EC grain deliveries to CIS countries remain unaffected. (Dzintra
Bungs)

MANITSKI HEADS ESTONIA'S PRIVATIZATION BOARD. On 14 December
former foreign minister Jaan Manitski was elected chairman of
the supervisory board of the Estonian Privatization Agency. BNS
also reported on 14 December that the deadline of 22-December
for accepting bids for large enterprises to be privatized has
not been extended, despite a change in leadership of the agency.
(Dzintra Bungs)

OMON LEADER SENTENCED. Baltfax reported on 14 December that a
Riga court has sentenced Sergei Parfenov, former deputy commander
of OMON forces in the Latvian capital, to four years imprisonment
for abuse of power. Actually Parfenov is to serve only two years
because of the terms of the applicable laws in Latvia. Russia's
ambassador to Latvia, Aleksandr Rannikh, told the press that
he does not expect the sentence to impair Latvian-Russian relations,
though he still hopes that Parfenov will be returned to Russia,
where he lived before he was extradited to Latvia. (Dzintra Bungs)


CSCE, RUSSIA, AND THE BALTICS. Baltfax reports that on 14 December
the Russian Foreign Minister presented a memorandum to the CSCE
foreign ministers' meeting in Stockholm accusing Estonia and
Latvia of political, economic, and social discrimination against
their Russian populations. The document states that it would
be better for Estonia and Latvia not to force the Russians to
return to their historic motherland, but to integrate Russians
in the native societies while allowing them to preserve their
ethnic culture. The same day the CSCE foreign ministers discussed
a document entitled "Shaping a New Europe," which includes a
recommendation to send a mission to Estonia in order to stimulate
integration and better understanding between the Estonian and
Russian communities, BNS reports. The mission, to be formed by
15 February 1993, would work in Estonia for six months and would
focus in particular on ways to diminish tensions and increase
stability in areas where the population consists mostly of Russians
and Russian-speakers. Toivo Klaar, Estonian CSCE delegation
chief, said that his country welcomes the idea. (Dzintra Bungs)


PULLOUT OF NAVAL UNITS FROM LATVIA DISCUSSED. On 12 December
Latvian officials met in Riga with Staff Commander of the Russian
Baltic Sea Navy Valerii Grishanov to discuss the schedule and
other issues related to withdrawing Russian naval units from
Latvian territory. Latvian naval commander Gaidis Zeibots said
that the Russian side is interested in simplifying the regulations
for the entrance of Russian warships into Latvians ports, while
the Latvians are concerned primarily with the problems of turning
over Russian naval property to Latvia. Although no concrete agreements
were reached, the Latvian side termed the meeting as fruitful,
BNS reports. (Dzintra Bungs)

UNEMPLOYMENT IN ROMANIA. The unemployment rate has reached 9.1%.
Rompres reported on 14-December that according to data supplied
by the Labor and Unemployment Department, the number of unemployed
receiving allowances, together with those who are no longer entitled
to an allowance and people registered as unemployed who do not
fall under the provisions of the law, now totals 1,013,425. (Michael
Shafir)

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull