No. 242, 17 December 1992

SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

YELTSIN IN CHINA. Russian President Boris Yeltsin started an
official visit to China on 17-December. Upon arrival in Beijing,
Yeltsin said, "We should develop a new epoch in relations with
China." Yeltsin reported that a number of draft agreements had
been prepared for signing during the visit, including accords
on scientific and technical cooperation. Yeltsin characterized
this visit, the second to Asia in recent weeks, as evidence that
Russia's foreign policy is not biased in favor of developing
close ties with the United States and the West. ITAR-TASS quoted
the Russian president as saying: "This [visit] balances our foreign
policy." (Suzanne Crow)

YELTSIN STRESSES IMPORTANCE OF RUSSIAN-GERMAN RELATIONS. Speaking
at a press conference on 16 December after two days of talks
with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, President Yeltsin expressed
Russia's satisfaction with the visit. Addressing the prospects
for Russo-German relations, Yeltsin said: "Peace has reigned
in Europe whenever Germany and Russia were not engaged in conflict,
and there was war whenever Germany and Russia were not in agreement.
Today we can underline that the prospects are very good. No one
wants expansion. The barriers of ideology have been broken down.
We have European civilization and culture," German TV reported.
Referring to "my friend Helmut," Yeltsin praised Kohl for visiting
during a time of political ferment in Moscow. (Suzanne Crow)


CIVIC UNION SPLIT ON CHERNOMYRDIN. Two leaders of the Civic Union,
Arkadii Volsky and Aleksandr Rutskoi, have, in separate statements,
praised the new prime minister, Viktor Chernomyrdin, as a highly
competent politician who will succeed in improving the economy,
Western news agencies reported on 16 December. However, another
Civic Union leader, Nikolai Travkin, charged that the centrists
had made a "serious mistake" by approving Chernomyrdin's nomination.
Travkin described Chernomyrdin as a man who could be easily manipulated
by President Yeltsin. Travkin asserted that the majority of the
Civic Union had favored Deputy Prime Minister Georgii Khizha
for the prime minister post; however, Yeltsin had dropped Khizha
from the list of candidates at the last moment. (Alexander Rahr)


KRAVCHUK ON CHERNOMYRDIN. Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk
told workers at a Kharkiv machine-building plant that the appointment
of Viktor Chernomyrdin as the new Russian prime minister inspires
hope for Ukrainian-Russian bilateral relations, Interfax reported
on 16 December. The Ukrainian leader characterized the Russian
prime minister as a practical and sober politician who was well
versed in various aspects of economic cooperation. (Roman Solchanyk)


GEORGIA SUSPENDS TALKS WITH RUSSIA. The Georgian Defense Ministry
claimed on 16-December that the bodies of 20 Abkhaz and North
Caucasian commandos were discovered among the wreckage of the
Russian military helicopter shot down over Abkhazia on 14-December,
Interfax reported, but Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev,
told a news conference in Moscow that 36 civilians and three
crew members were killed. The Russian Defense Ministry further
rejected Georgian media claims that quantities of arms and explosive
were found in the wreckage. Georgian parliament speaker Vakhtang
Goguadze announced on 16 December that Georgia was suspending
a second round of Georgian-Russian talks in Moscow because of
what he termed "Russian interference into Georgian affairs,"
Interfax reported. (Liz Fuller)

CABINET CHANGES UNCLEAR. The ministers of economics and foreign
economic relations, Andrei Nechaev and Petr Aven, respectively,
have not been asked by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin to
remain in their positions, Western news agencies reported on
16 December quoting presidential spokesman Vyacheslav Kostikov.
But ITAR-TASS reported the same day that President Yeltsin personally
had asked Nechaev to stay. Kostikov stated that three other leading
cabinet members, Vladimir Shumeiko, Aleksandr Shokhin, and Anatolii
Chubais will stay. He added that Ex-Prime Minister Egor Gaidar
will return to his old job as director of the Institute of Economic
Policy and will continue providing advice to Yeltsin. (Alexander
Rahr)

BURBULIS LOSES ANOTHER POST. Gennadii Burbulis, President Yeltsin's
right-hand man, has been sacked as co-chairman of the Russian-Indian
commission for trade cooperation, economic affairs, and science,
ITAR-TASS reported on 16 December. He was replaced by first deputy
Prime Minister Vladimir Shumeiko. According to ITAR-TASS, Burbulis's
dismissal was signed by then Acting Prime Minister Egor Gaidar
on 11 December, i.e., the same day Yeltsin agreed to remove Burbulis
from the position of chief presidential adviser. The removal
of Burbulis, who is unpopular not only with conservatives but
with many liberals as well, was at the top of the list of demands
presented to Yeltsin by the overwhelming majority of Russian
lawmakers as a condition for a compromise with the president.
(Julia Wishnevsky)

WORLD BANK ESTIMATE OF FORMER SOVIET UNION'S DEBT. In its annual
report on world debt published on 17 December, the World Bank
estimates the external debt of the former Soviet Union to have
been $75.4 billion at mid-1992. Repayment arrears at that time
amounted to $9.4 billion. Nearly 52% of the total debt is due
for repayment within the next three years. (Russia has assumed
responsibility for repayment of the debt of the former Soviet
Union, but has been able to repay only about $2 billion in 1992
and has warned that it can pay no more than $3 billion in 1993).
According to Reuters of 17 December, the G-7 nations have offered
to reschedule $15 billion of the debt due in late 1992 and in
1993 over ten years, with only interest payments required during
the first five years. (Keith Bush/Robert Lyle).

MB GENERAL ON NEW METHODS OF WORKING WITH MASS MEDIA. In the
present open information environment, there is no practical reason
to place secret agents in the mass media, wrote the chief of
public relations in the Ministry of Security, Andrei Chernenko,
in Literaturnaya gazeta, (no. 51). Chernenko said that his agency
prefers not to use journalist covers; instead, the MB (the former
KGB) sends its officers overtly to the media when it needs to
conduct research leading to articles. Publications written by
these officers enables his ministry to initiate various operations
aimed at countering corruption, smuggling, and terrorism. Chernenko
added that his ministry is no longer responsible for classifying
information; it merely monitors the legal enforcement of regulations
related to state security. (Victor Yasmann)

CRIMINAL CASE AGAINST GORBACHEV REPORTEDLY REOPENED. Radio Echo
Moskvy and the newspaper Moskovskii komsomolets reported on 9
December that the office of the Russian Prosecutor General has
decided again to conduct a criminal investigation of Mikhail
Gorbachev. According to these sources, Gorbachev is suspected
of having exceeded his authority while serving as the CPSU General
Secretary. Initially, the inquiry was handled secretly by the
Investigation Administration of the Russian Ministry of Security
(the MB), the sources report, but the MB declined to request
that the Prosecutor General's office press charges against Gorbachev.
The Prosecutor General's office has recently disputed this MB
decision; hence the new investigation. The aforementioned sources
did not provide information on the "excesses" allegedly committed
by Gorbachev. (Julia Wishnevsky)

RUSSIAN TROOP WITHDRAWAL SHORTENED BY ONLY THREE MONTHS. Whereas
the German government wanted Russia to withdraw its remaining
military forces from Germany by mid-1994, ITAR-TASS on 16 December
indicated that Russian Defense Minister General Pavel Grachev
told his president that the best he could do was to trim three
months from the schedule. As a result, Germany agreed to pay
an addition DM 550,000,000 ($350,000,000) to ensure that the
last of the 340,000 military personnel presently in Germany (200,000
troops and 140,000 dependents) will be out of the country by
the end of August 1994. In a related development, Russia agreed
that Germany would not have to pay anything for the facilities
evacuated by the withdrawing troops. (Doug Clarke)

GRACHEV ON THE ARMED FORCES. Russian Defense Minister General
Pavel Grachev told a Moscow press conference on 16 December that
the military had succeeded in "stopping the fall in combat readiness
and discipline in the armed forces...[and] in restoring reliable
control over troops...." As quoted by ITAR-TASS he indicated
that the transition from the old division structure to the new
corps/brigade organization had begun. He also said that hiring
of contract servicemen had yielded positive initial results,
saying that "hundreds" of young people had expressed a wish to
sign contracts. (Doug Clarke)

US TO PURCHASE NON-WEAPONS GRADE PLUTONIUM FROM RUSSIA. According
to Reuters, the US Department of Energy on 16 December announced
that it will purchase up to 40 kilograms (88 pounds) of plutonium
from Russia over the next five years to be used in nuclear reactors
for deep-space probes. The isotope used for space-based reactors
(plutonium-238) is not suitable for weapons production, and is
not extracted from dismantled nuclear weapons. The financial
details of the deal were not revealed. Some of the material may
even be used to fuel a Russian-built "Topaz" nuclear reactor
which the US Strategic Defense Initiative Office wants to test
in orbit. The US bought two unfuelled Topaz reactors from Russia
in May 1992 for testing purposes. (John Lepingwell)

CIVIC CONGRESS OF UKRAINE. Organizers of the Civic Congress of
Ukraine concluded their meeting in Kharkiv where they drafted
an appeal to the population, Ostankino TV reported on 15 December.
The Civic Congress of Ukraine was formed in the fall and supports
a federated structure for Ukraine, official status for the Russian
language, and closer ties with Russia and within the CIS. (Roman
Solchanyk)

BELARUS CONFIRMS NUCLEAR WITHDRAWAL, REJECTS COLLECTIVE SECURITY
AGREEMENT. The Belarusian parliament voted by an overwhelming
majority on 16 December not to join the Tashkent Treaty on Collective
Security, according to Reuters. Belarus is pursuing a policy
of neutrality, and thus refrained from signing the treaty in
May, although it expressed support for the concept of collective
security. The parliament did pass a resolution calling for Belarus
to become non-nuclear in two and a half years, confirming earlier
statements by parliamentary chairman Shushkevich that Belarus
will pursue a rapid withdrawal of strategic nuclear weapons located
on its territory. (John Lepingwell)

LEADING AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION FIGURE INJURED IN ASSAULT. Murtuz
Aleskerov, deputy chairman of the "New Azerbaijan" opposition
party headed by Nakhichevan parliament chairman Geidar Aliev,
has been hospitalized with knife wounds and leg injuries following
an assault near his home in Baku on 15 December, according to
an RFE/RL correspondent. A professor of law at Baku University,
Aleskerov had recently published an article critical of the Azerbaijani
leadership. (Liz Fuller)

TURKISH ISLAMIC FUNDAMENTALIST WELFARE PARTY LEADER VISITS BAKU.
A delegation of some 150 Islamic politicians, scholars and businessmen
headed by Professor Necmettin Erbakan, leader of the Turkish
Islamic fundamentalist Welfare Party, has held talks with Azerbaijani
President Abulfaz Elchibey in Baku, ITAR-TASS reported on 16-December.
Erbakan's party won some 25% of the vote in local Turkish elections
in October, and advocates Turkish military intervention in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Meeting with the delegation, Elchibey stressed that Azerbaijan
will give priority in its foreign trade activities to developing
ties with Muslim countries. (Liz Fuller)

RUSSIAN-SPEAKERS TAKEN HOSTAGE IN DUSHANBE. Interfax reported
on 16 December a statement by Russia's ambassador in Tajikistan
that more than ten Russian-speaking inhabitants of Dushanbe
had been taken hostage the previous night. The agency said it
had received information that an anti-government group in Kofarnihon
Raion, an opposition stronghold near Dushanbe, was responsible
for the kidnapping. A representative of the Russian 201st Motorized
Division stationed in Tajikistan told Interfax the same day that
a search was continuing for four Russian soldiers abducted four
days earlier, and the Russian division was considering an armored
attack on both sides of the Tajik conflict as a warning not to
engage in violence against Russian forces. (Bess Brown)

TAJIK OFFICIAL DENIES RUMORS THAT PAMIRIS SHOT. Abdumadzhid Dostiev,
Deputy Chairman of Tajikistan's parliament, appeared on Dushanbe
TV on 16 December to deny a story that Pamiri inhabitants of
the Tajik capital had been summarily executed by the new pro-Communist
government, ITAR-TASS reported. The story of the executions had
been picked up by Western correspondents in Dushanbe. Dostiev
claimed that with the exception of a few regions, the country
was quiet and that negotiations with opposition military commanders
are continuing. He also appealed for Russian-speakers who have
fled the country to return. (Bess Brown)



CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

EAGLEBURGER NAMES WAR CRIMINALS. Speaking at the 29-country Geneva
conference on Yugoslavia on 17 December, US Secretary of State
Lawrence Eagleburger argued for bringing those responsible for
war crimes to trial. Those named include a mixture of Serbs and
Croats. He also specifically mentioned Slododan Milosevic, Radovan
Karadzic, and Gen. Ratko Mladic, saying that these Serbian leaders
must also be held accountable if they fail to stop atrocities.
Since August Eagleburger has repeatedly insisted that those responsible
for war crimes must know that they will be brought to account.
Eagleburger also called for enforcing the no-fly zone in Bosnia,
as well as for considering lifting the arms embargo against the
Bosnian government. (Patrick Moore)

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN THE YUGOSLAV CRISIS. Reuters reported on
16 December that Bosnian forces began an offensive against the
Serb-held town of Bratunac in eastern Bosnia, forcing many Serbs
to flee across the nearby Serbian border. UN relief operations
in the area will probably be halted, but the surprise offensive
suggests that if adequately armed the Bosnian forces are quite
capable of retaking territory. Elsewhere, for the second time
this week Bosnian Serbs turned over more than 1,000 Muslim and
Croat prisoners to the Red Cross in Croatia. All prisoners were
supposed to have been released by 14 December, but the scheduled
hand-overs have often failed to take place. Meanwhile in Brussels,
Albanian President Sali Berisha called on NATO to send troops
to Kosovo to prevent the spread of war to that Serbian province
with a more than 90% Albanian majority. Albania has paid particular
attention in recent months to cultivating close ties to NATO.
(Patrick Moore)

SERBIAN ELECTION CAMPAIGN. In an interview with the Belgrade
magazine Duga, Milan Panic, prime minister of rump Yugoslavia
and candidate for the Serbian presidency, stated that he plans
to resign the post of president just as soon as he solves Serbia's
problems. Both Panic and federal President Dobrica Cosic have
urged abolishing the presidencies of Serbia and Montenegro, maintaining
that the federal presidency is sufficient. Latest polls now show
that incumbent Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic trails Panic
by less than 2% and that the ruling Socialist Party of Serbia
is leading in six of Serbia's nine electoral districts. On 16-December
Belgrade TV reported on Milosevic's campaign stops in central
Serbia. He said that Serbia knows it is under a lot of pressure,
and reiterated that "there is no adversity that cannot be overcome
through the common efforts of a united people." He added that
the international community is telling Serbia how to behave,
but warned that Serbs "shall act upon our will as free people,
and not upon the dictates of politicians throughout the world."
Panic also spoke about foreign policy issues; on 14 December
he warned international leaders to stop "intimidating" Serbia
and criticized Turkey for thinking of sending troops to Bosnia,
saying "God help Turkish soldiers if they ever set foot on Yugoslav
soil." Politika carried the report. (Milan Andrejevich)

SEJM REVERSES "TWO-FISTED" VOTE. Amid consternation over Polish
TV's airing of footage showing a deputy voting "with both hands"
(for himself and an absent colleague), the Sejm opted on 16 December
to ballot again on an issue decided by a three-vote margin on
12-December. The original vote had invalidated one of the measures
accompanying next year's proposed budget, a government proposal
to limit pension increases in 1993. This outcome was reversed
the second time round; the Sejm voted 203 to 192 against rejecting
the draft bill and then sent it on to committee. An opposition
motion to retake other votes connected with the 1993 budget-those
originally won by the government coalition-was rejected, by a
margin of 201 to 194. (Louisa Vinton)

GOVERNMENT REASONS WITH STRIKING MINERS. By the morning of 17
December, 57-coal mines had joined in the general strike called
"to save Polish mining." Union leaders say more than 250,000
miners are taking part. Industry Minister Waclaw Niewiarowski
cut short a foreign visit to deal with the crisis and issued
the government's first official response to the strike. In a
letter to Waclaw Marszewski, the chief of Solidarity's mining
branch and the strike committee chairman, Niewiarowski reviewed
the extensive talks on mining restructuring held since July and
disputed the strikers' contention that the government's efforts
were a "masquerade." He urged the unions to return to the negotiating
table. Niewiarowski is to address the Sejm on 17 December. (Louisa
Vinton)

RADICAL FARMERS PREPARE PROTEST. The former official farmers'
organization and the radical Self-Defense union announced that
their national protest against foreign food imports will begin
on 17-December. Meanwhile, police deterred Self-Defense activists
from occupying government offices in three voivodships on 16
December. Self-Defense's threats to blockade Polish border crossings
led Rural Solidarity to withdraw from the joint protest committee
on 15 December. "We will not work together with collaborators
and terrorists," a Rural Solidarity activist explained. An official
spokesman warned on 16-December that "the government will not
tolerate violations of the law." (Louisa Vinton)

PARLIAMENT APPROVES CZECH CONSTITUTION. The Czech National Council
overwhelmingly approved a draft Czech constitution on 16 December,
Czechoslovak radio reports. While it was widely expected that
the draft would be approved, many observers believed that it
might be a close vote as many opposition deputies expressed uneasiness
about the document. In the end, 172 out of 200 Czech National
Council deputies supported the draft, while it was rejected by
16. The constitution provides for a two-chamber parliament and
will go into effect on 1-January 1993, the first day of the Czech
Republic's independence. Slovakia adopted its new constitution
in September. (Jan Obrman)

SLOVAK PARLIAMENT CREATES ARMY, DEFENSE MINISTRY. On 16 December
the National Council of the Slovak Republic approved the creation
of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic and of a Defense Ministry,
Czechoslovak TV reports. All Slovaks who are now members of the
Czechoslovak armed forces will have to swear a new oath by 31
January 1993 or leave the Slovak army. Slovak Prime Minister
Vladimir Meciar told legislators that the law on the creation
of the Slovak army is a temporary measure that may be changed
or supplemented next year. Meciar also announced that the first
Slovak Defense Minister will be an army general, while his deputy
(in the post of state secretary) will be a civilian. It was also
disclosed that the Slovak army will number about 35,000. (Jan
Obrman)

ROMANIAN PRINTERS' STRIKE. A printers' union call for members
to stay off the job was widely followed across Romania on 16
December. Western agencies quoted union leaders as saying that
the strike halted publication of nearly 200 dailies and weeklies.
Printers in state-owned publishing houses demand that their monthly
pay be doubled. But the government already rejected the claim
as "aberrant from an economic point of view," and offered a 50%
pay rise instead. Meanwhile, journalists expressed support for
the strike; and the management of the mass circulation daily
Evenimentul zilei announced that the paper is suspending operations
in sympathy with the printers. The strikers, who vowed to continue
until their demands are met, pledged to print, free of charge,
a special issue of a daily in Timisoara to mark the anniversary
of the 1989 uprising. (Dan Ionescu)

TIMISOARA COMMEMORATES DECEMBER 1989 UPRISING. Thousands of people
marched through Timisoara in the evening of 16 December to mark
the third anniversary of the start of the anticommunist uprising
that eventually led to the end of Nicolae Ceausescu's regime.
George Serban, a main leader of the 1989 revolt in Timisoara,
said that the hopes of the people there have been betrayed by
Romania's current regime. He called a recent report by military
prosecutors on the killings in December 1989 "a masquerade" and
accused the authorities of trying to conceal the truth about
the 1989 events. Radio Bucharest broadcast a message by Romania's
former king Michael hailing Timisoara for "having broken the
circle of communist terror" in Romania. (Dan Ionescu)

KOZLODUY TO START UP ANOTHER REACTOR. One of the smaller, older
reactor units at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant will soon be
put back on line, the chairman of the Bulgarian Atomic Energy
Committee announced on 15 December. Yanko Yanev told Reuters
that the 440-megawatt second unit would be restarted in a matter
of days, following approval by foreign experts who recently visited
the plant. International Atomic Energy Agency spokesman David
Kyd told RFE/RL that agency experts are not entirely satisfied
with the safety of the reactor but that they feel Bulgarians
have acted "to the best of their ability." Kyd said the IAEA
recognizes Bulgaria's need to resume operation of the unit in
order to limit power shortages during the winter. (Kjell Engelbrekt)


EBRD LOAN TO ALBANIA. In London on 16 December, Jacques Attali,
president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
announced to the press that his organization has awarded Albania
a $10-million loan to repair and develop its telecommunications.
Improving Albania's communications, said Attali, will serve as
a catalyst for general economic development and reform. In addition
it was announced that the EBRD has been invited to send financial
advisors to assist Albchrome, the state-owned chromium industry,
in financial analysis and planning. Albania is the world's third
largest producer of chromium. (Charles Trumbull)

HUNGARIAN, ROMANIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEET. Hungarian Foreign
Minister Geza Jeszenszky met with his Romanian counterpart Teodor
Melescanu at the CSCE foreign ministers conference in Stockholm
on 15 December. Talking to a reporter from Hungarian Radio, Jeszenszky
said he has never seen the Romanians as forthcoming and apparently
ready to make commitments. The two ministers agreed on increasing
the number of border crossing points and on reducing the waiting
time and other complications currently encountered at the border.
(Judith Pataki)

BRAZAUSKAS ON BALTIC COOPERATION. After visiting Riga and Tallinn
during the past week, Lithuania's acting president, Algirdas
Brazauskas, urged greater cooperation between the three Baltic
States, especially in transportation, fuel and energy. In Estonia
he discussed with President Lennart Meri a common Baltic appeal
to CSCE countries for economic assistance to facilitate the pullout
of Russian troops. Brazauskas is expected to pay an official
visit to Belarus on 17 December, Baltfax and BNS reported on
16 December. (Dzintra Bungs)

LATVIA PASSES LAWS ON POLITICAL PARTIES, LEGAL REFORMS. The Supreme
Council adopted laws on social and political organizations, legal
reforms, and surveying and land registration, Diena reported
on 15 December. The adoption of the law on social and political
organizations, first discussed over a year ago, helps pave the
way for holding national elections next year. (Dzintra Bungs)


LATVIA: IMMIGRANT TRANSIT STOP? BNS reported on 16 December that
Latvian border guards had stopped 6 Mongolians and 1 Sudanese
from attempting to enter the country illegally from Russia. Ten
Bangladeshis, also traveling from Russia, were turned back at
the Latvian border last week. Last week a group of Kurds arrived
illegally in Sweden via Latvia. The Latvian authorities believe
that immigrants from poor African and Asian countries are increasingly
using Latvia as a gateway to Western Europe, particularly Scandinavia.
(Dzintra Bungs)

LITHUANIAN PREMIER ON FOREIGN INVESTMENT. Prime Minister Bronislavas
Lubys told the press that his cabinet's priority will be to stimulate
foreign investment, Baltfax and BNS reported on 16-December.
The system of licensing, he said, should be replaced with export
and import duties. While advocating a market economy, Lubys noted
that state control over prices of "first-necessity goods" should
be established and called for the new Lithuanian currency, the
litas, to be introduced promptly. (Dzintra Bungs)

UNEMPLOYMENT, CRIME RISE IN ESTONIA. Indirect unemployment is
on the rise in Estonia. According to data from the Central Council
of Trade Unions, 32 enterprises have not paid wages promptly
to their 30,000 employees while others have sent about 20,000
industrial workers on unpaid vacations; moreover, some 4,500
employees are working reduced hours, Baltfax reported on 11 December.
BNS reported that same day that 31.5% more crimes have been committed
in Estonia during the first 11 months of this year than during
the same period last year. The greatest increases have been noted
in the number of robberies (440 versus 260), burglaries 7,261
versus 5,327), and murders (190 versus 104). (Dzintra Bungs)


CRIME RISES IN LATVIA. Baltfax reported on 13-December that during
the first 11 months of this year crime rose by 49% compared with
the same period last year; the respective numbers of crimes are
55,000 versus 36,000. Fraud has increased by 96%, murders were
up 30%, and theft rose by 63%. (Dzintra Bungs)

LATVIAN ENTERPRISES OWE BILLIONS FOR ENERGY. Juris Stals of Latvenergo
told Baltfax on 11-December that republican enterprises in Latvia
owe about 4 billion Latvian rubles for heating and electricity.
Supplies to the most indebted enterprises have already been cut
off and the cases have been sent to court. (Dzintra Bungs)

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull