No. 5, 11 January 1993

RUSSIA

RUSSIA SUPPORTS UN ON IRAQ, BUT WILL NOT FIGHT. Russian Foreign
Minister Andrei Kozyrev said on 9 January that Moscow intends
to respect fully the United Nations' strategy towards Iraq. Kozyrev
also warned that Baghdad might face trouble if it thought UN
Security Council resolutions could be ignored. Russia was included
among the group of UN Security Council permanent members which
demanded that Baghdad withdraw its surface-to-air missiles from
positions north of the 32nd parallel. The Russian Foreign Ministry
said that Russia will play no role in any military operations
against Iraq, Interfax reported on 9 January. Suzanne Crow

CIS NUCLEAR POWERS TO MEET; UKRAINE REJECTS PLAN. The press center
of the CIS military command told Interfax on 10 January that
the Committee for Nuclear Policies will meet on 21 January, on
the eve of the CIS Minsk summit. The committee reportedly consists
of the defense ministers of Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and
Belarus. According to the press center, CIS Commander-in-Chief
Evgenii Shaposhnikov hopes to formalize the status of nuclear
weapons in the four CIS states at the meeting. He reportedly
expressed particular concern over the status of nuclear weapons
in Ukraine. (The report stated that Shaposhnikov's presence at
the meeting is uncertain; he was said to be in a hospital undergoing
a medical examination). On 9 -January, according to a Radio Ukraine
report, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had rejected what
was described as a draft plan on strategic weapons submitted
by Moscow. Stephen Foye

RUSSIANS SAY UKRAINE CONTINUES UNILATERAL FLEET TAKEOVER. A spokesman
for the Black Sea Fleet told ITAR-TASS on 10 January that Ukraine
was trying to unilaterally take over the fleet without waiting
for the political solution called for by last year's Yalta agreement.
According to the press center, the commander of the Ukrainian
Navy, Rear Admiral Boris Kozhin, told the commander of a river
patrol brigade at Izmail, a Danube port 80 kilometers from the
Black Sea, that the Yalta agreement was detrimental to Ukraine
and his task was to transfer the disputed units to Ukrainian
jurisdiction. The press center spokesman also charged that Ukrainian
navy officers on 10 January declared that a medical clinic of
the fleet had been transferred to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Doug Clarke

PROSPECTS FOR RUSSIAN AGRICULTURE. Russian Agricultural Minister
Viktor Khlystun was cautiously optimistic in an interview with
Moscow Radio-1 on 5 January. The provisional outturn for the
1992 grain harvest was 114 million tons after excess moisture
and dockage had been subtracted. He estimated that livestock
production was down 25% last year, with losses in the state sector
only partially offset by gains in the private sector, but the
culling of livestock had now virtually ceased. Khlystun reckoned
that large farm enterprises would continue to provide the bulk
of farm output through the end of the century, but that these
would all be joint-stock or cooperative undertakings. Keith Bush


FURTHER RUSSIAN DEFAULT ON US AGRICULTURAL LOANS. The United
States Department of Agriculture announced on 8 January that
Russia had missed the scheduled repayment of a further $20.1
million, Western agencies reported. This brought the total default
on loans guaranteed by the US government to $147.2 million. Interfax
on 22 and 25 December had carried assurances by authoritative
Russian spokesmen that repayment of overdue loans would be made
"within days." The Christian Science Monitor of 8 January reported
a new congressional appraisal that was highly critical of the
US loan guarantee program. Keith Bush

CHANGES IN THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT. Russian President Boris Yeltsin
has released Aleksei Golovkov-a close associate of former State
Secretary Gennadii Burbulis and Acting Prime Minister Egor Gaidar-from
the post of head of the government apparatus, according to ITAR-TASS
on 10 January. At the suggestion of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin,
Golovkov was replaced by Vladimir Kvasov. Yeltsin also appointed
Igor Shurchkov to be chairman of the State Committee for Industrial
Policy, and Magomedtagir Abdulbasirov to be head of the State
Committee for Food and Processing Industry. RIA reported on 9
December that the present head of the Tyumen administration,
Yurii Shafrannik, is supposed to become Deputy Prime Minister
for the energy complex. Alexander Rahr

CHERNOMYRDIN'S NON-STATEMENT. Opening a meeting in Omsk with
his Kazakh counterpart on 9-January, Chernomyrdin delivered a
non-forecast for 1993, according to ITAR-TASS. The relevant sentence
contained three qualifiers. "The new year should become, in our
opinion, a year of economic stabilization, which would lay foundations
for growth in output and an improvement in living standards."
Keith Bush

MANY MOSCOW KIOSKS TO BE CLOSED. Possibly reflecting Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin's evident distaste for the "bazaar," Moscow
City Council plans to close many of the city's kiosks, according
to Moscow News, as cited by AFP on 9 January. One third of the
city's more than 6,700 kiosks have been declared illegal, and
500 will be closed during the initial phase of the crackdown.
Moscow's director for administration and technical services is
quoted as saying that the city is not opposed to private enterprise
but wants the capital to present a more "appropriate face." He
said that Moscow now resembles a "huge bazaar." Keith Bush

KOZYREV TO THE KOLA PENINSULA. Interfax reported on 9 January
that Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev had left Moscow
for a visit to the cities of Murmansk and Severomorsk. While
there he was scheduled to brief military personnel at Russia's
strategic naval bases on the significance of the START-2 treaty.
He also planned to visit a defense plant in Murmansk and several
naval vessels of the Northern Fleet at its main base in Severomorsk.
The Foreign Ministry's Yurii Fokin said that the trip was meant
to signal the end of the Cold War in northern Europe and that
Kozyrev was also scheduled to visit Norway on 10 and 11 January
and Finland on 12 January. In Norway Kozyrev will meet with commanders
of a NATO naval airbase and attend a conference of foreign ministers
devoted to discussion of cooperation in the region. The conference
is expected to produce a declaration of cooperation and the creation
of a regional council. -Stephen Foye

TRANSCAUCASIA & CENTRAL ASIA

DEFENSE MINISTRY MADE "UNPRECEDENTED" DISCLOSURES IN 1992." Interfax
on 10 January carried a report from the Russian Ministry of Defense
saying that more than 500 defense-related documents had been
declassified in 1992. The report described these disclosures
as "unprecedented" and said that as much information had been
revealed last year as in the previous few decades. The public
now has access to such things as a once-secret book on the Soviet
Union's first atomic bomb test, material on the shipment of Soviet
missiles to Cuba, and on Swedish diplomat Raul Wallenburg. The
press report promised further disclosures in 1993, including
information on Soviet involvement in the Korean War, and the
deportation of Finns and Germans from the Leningrad region early
in World War II. Doug Clarke

NAGORNO-KARABAKH ROUNDUP. Meeting
in Moscow on 10 January, Armenian President Levon Ter-Petrossyan
and Russian President Boris Yeltsin discussed ways of circumventing
the current Azerbaijani economic blockade in order to ensure
deliveries of Russian oil and gas to Armenia. While Yeltsin affirmed
Russia's readiness to continue mediating the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh,
Armenian presidential press spokesman Ruben Shugaryan told Interfax
that the CSCE initiative on Karabakh has reached deadlock because
of Azerbaijan's intransigence. In a separate interview with Interfax,
Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofik Guseinov stated that Azerbaijan
requires security guarantees before embarking on negotiations
with Armenia. He proposed that the US, Russia and Turkey act
as guarantors and agree to impose economic sanctions should an
eventual agreement be violated. -Liz Fuller

BORDER OBLASTS OF KAZAKHSTAN AND RUSSIA TO COOPERATE. A conference
of heads of administration of oblasts in Russia and Kazakhstan
adjoining the common border of the two countries has resulted
in an agreement on cooperation in a wide range of fields, Interfax
and ITAR-TASS reported on 9 January. The conference, held in
Omsk on 8 and 9 January, discussed the highly sensitive issue
of the demarcation of the border between Russia's Orenburg Oblast
and Kazakhstan. The conference was attended by the prime ministers
of both countries, who used the occasion to sign agreements on
relations between Russia's Central Bank and its equivalent in
Kazakhstan and to call for the removal of trade barriers. Bess
Brown

KAZAKHSTAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT INVESTIGATES 1986 EVENTS. The
Kazakh nationalist Azat and Jeltoqsan Parties have filed suit
in Kazakhstan's Constitutional Court for rehabilitation of persons
who were imprisoned or dismissed from educational institutions
for having participated in the demonstrations in Alma-Ata in
December 1986, when young people protested the selection of a
Russian from outside the republic to head Kazakhstan's Communist
Party organization. Interfax reported on 9 January that the court
has suspended its hearing of the case pending the questioning
of more witnesses, the acquisition of a transcript from Moscow
of a meeting of the Politburo, and the declassification of KGB
documents in Alma-Ata. Bess Brown

TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS IN OSH OBLAST. Restrictions have been placed
on travel into Kyrgyzstan's Osh Oblast, Interfax reported on
9 January, in order to prevent weapons and drugs being brought
into the region, which is still under a state of emergency imposed
during violent clashes between Uzbek and Kyrgyz residents in
1990. According to the report, refugees from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan
are making their way into Osh Oblast, aggravating the already-volatile
situation in the region. In the summer of 1992, the head of the
Osh Oblast administration was dismissed because his management
style was deemed by the authorities in Bishkek to be exacerbating
tensions in the region. Bess Brown

TENTATIVE STEPS TOWARDS PRIVATIZATION OF UZBEK FARMS? PRESIDENT
KARIMOV HAS SIGNED A DECREE ON THE PRIVATIZATION OF 700 UNPROFITABLE
STATE FARMS, ACCORDING TO INTERFAX ON 10 JANUARY. The loss-making
farms are to be turned into private farms, joint stock societies
or cooperatives. The farms' capital assets will be handed over
free to the new owners, but the latter will have to take on the
farms' debts to the state, although the repayment period is to
be extended to 20 years. The private farmers will be further
limited by the fact that the share of agricultural produce going
to state orders will remain high; the state order for cotton
is currently 85% of total production and is to be reduced only
to 80%. According to the Uzbek agriculture ministry, 12,537 small
farms covering 96,000 hectares of land have already been established.
It is planned to allocate a total of 200,000 out of the republic's
4.3 million hectares of arable land to small holdings. Sheila
Marnie.

US GRANTS GEORGIA $10 MILLION IN AID. The United States has granted
Georgia medical and food aid to the value of $10 million, a Georgian
parliament spokesman told AFP on 9 January following a meeting
in Tbilisi between an advisor to US Secretary of State Lawrence
Eagleburger and Georgian parliament chairman Eduard Shevardnadze.
Liz Fuller

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BOSNIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL GUNNED DOWN. On 9 January, Bosnia's
Deputy Prime Minister Hakija Turajlic was assassinated by a Serbian
gunman according to Radio Serbia and international media. Turajlic
was under UN forces protection when he was shot repeatedly at
close range. Bosnian Interior Minister Jusuf Pusina told reporters
in Sarajevo that his government will bring criminal charges against
the UNPROFOR in connection with the assassination, but did not
specify the charges other than saying these would be of negligence.
On 10 January the UN commander in Bosnia, Gen. Philippe Morillon,
admitted that his troops failed to provide adequate security
for Turajlic. Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic formally apologized
for the slaying and Gen. Morillon told reporters that the gunman
was arrested by Serb forces. Bosnian Serb officials said the
UN armored-vehicle carrying Turajlic was heading into a Croatian-controlled
area for negotiations. The Serbs claim the UNPROFOR vehicle had
not been announced beforehand and that Turajlic had insulted
the gunman. -Milan Andrejevich

BOSNIAN PEACE TALKS RESUME. The internationally-mediated peace
talks on Bosnia-Herzegovina resumed 10 January with the Bosnian
Serb delegation presenting their new eight-point plan. According
to Radio Serbia and international media, the Serb plan in some
ways resembles the UN-EC plan proposed last week, but the Serbs
are refusing to give up their demand for the division of the
republic into three ethnic states. The cochairmen of the Geneva
peace conference, Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen, told reporters that
the talks narrowed some areas of dispute and cleared up some
other issues, but they said that there are still some substantive
differences. Leaders of Serbia-Montenegro and Croatia are expected
to arrive in Geneva on 11-January with formal talks resuming
on the 12th. Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, who left Geneva
to address an OIC meeting in Senegal, is expected to take part
in the Geneva talks. -Milan Andrejevich

HOXHA WIDOW PLEADS NOT GUILTY. The trial of Nexhmije Hoxha, widow
of Albania's long-time communist strongman Enver Hoxha who died
in 1985, commenced on 8 January. AFP reports that the 72-year-old
Hoxha, along with codefendant Kino Buxheli, former head of government
services, have been charged with misappropriating and misusing
funds. Both denied the charges. It is the first trial of a senior
official from the former communist regime. -Duncan Perry

BULGARIAN ENERGY PROBLEMS. Ukraine has cut off all coal deliveries
to Bulgaria, a Bulgarian energy official told Reuters on 8 January.
Dyanko Dobrev, the chairman of the National Electric Company,
said Ukraine informed Sofia it is stopping exports in order to
cover domestic coal shortages. Unless Ukraine resumes deliveries
within 10 days, Dobrev noted, Bulgaria may have to consider buying
replacement fuel on the international market. In late December
Russian energy exports were temporarily reduced due to a pipeline
failure that caused a one-third reduction in natural gas deliveries.
On 10 January, however, the situation in Bulgaria's energy sector
appeared to improve somewhat through the restart of reactor no.
2 at the Kozloduy nuclear power plant. The unit was shut down
last week after radioactive steam emitted from the main circulation
pump. On 10 January Reuters also quoted Dobrev that cost considerations
have forced Bulgaria to start planning for storage of the nuclear
waste produced at Kozloduy. --Kjell Engelbrekt

POLISH-IRANIAN TALKS IN WARSAW. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali
Akbar Velayati ended a two-day visit to Poland on 8 January.
Bilateral trade was the focus of his talks with President Lech
Walesa, Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka, and Foreign Trade Minister
Andrzej Arendarski. Iran supplies almost one-third of Poland's
imported oil, and Velayati pledged to maintain oil deliveries
at current levels. The trade turnover between the two countries
amounts to more than $500 million, but Poland imports four times
more than it exports to Iran. To improve this trade balance,
the Polish side proposed the employment of Polish firms in rebuilding
Iran's infrastructure. Talks on this issue are to be held "in
the near future" in Teheran, PAP reported. -Louisa Vinton

SOLIDARITY CANCELS GENERAL STRIKE IN LODZ. Solidarity unionists
in the depressed Lodz region called off a threatened general
strike on 10 January after successful talks with the government.
The union had demanded the appointment of a government plenipotentiary
for regional industrial restructuring, along with compensation
for cost-of-living increases. Negotiators from the labor ministry
rejected the creation of any new post, which they argued would
lead to jurisdiction conflicts, but they did agree to buttress
the powers of the current Lodz voivodship chief, the government's
representative in the region. Deputy Labor Minister Michal Boni
called the agreement a model for areas like Lodz where political
infighting has impeded restructuring. Preparations for a general
strike in Lodz began on 21 December. -Louisa Vinton

NO IMMEDIATE PLANS TO DIVIDE COMMON CZECH-SLOVAK CURRENCY. Speaking
to reporters on 8 January after the first meeting of the joint
Czech-Slovak monetary committee in Brno, Josef Tosovsky, the
governor of the Czech National Bank, said that the independent
Czech and Slovak states will probably continue using common currency
until summer or fall 1993. He said separate currencies will eventually
be set up and confirmed that the Czech authorities have been
putting special stamps on millions of banknotes to prepare for
a possible monetary split. Tosovsky also said that the Czech
side is not prepared for a monetary separation yet. Marian Tkac,
the vice governor of the National Bank of Slovakia, said Slovakia
wants to maintain common currency as long as possible. -Jiri
Pehe

VOUCHER PRIVATIZATION IN SLOVAKIA WILL CONTINUE. In an interview
with CTK on 9 January, Slovak Privatization Minister Lubomir
Dolgos said that Slovakia will not discontinue the so-called
voucher privatization launched by the Czechoslovak government
in 1992. Both Slovakia and the Czech Republic participated in
the first wave of voucher privatization, during which more than
8.5 million Czechs and Slovaks first purchased investment vouchers
and later traded them for shares in some 1,400 joint-stock companies.
On 27 December 1992, Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar said
that Slovakia, unlike the Czech Republic, will not launch the
second wave of voucher privatization, which was to take place
in 1993. However, Dolgos told CTK that he and Meciar recently
decided to continue voucher privatization in Slovakia. -Jiri
Pehe

HDF POPULIST-NATIONAL WING MEETS. The populist-national wing,
one of the three major wings of the Hungarian Democratic Forum
(HDF), the largest governing party, held its second national
meeting in Budapest on 9 January, MTI reports. Prime Minister
Jozsef Antall, Minister of Culture Bertalan Andrasfalvy, and
Minister of Interior Peter Boross spoke at the meeting. Antall
emphasized that the values of the three wings (the other two
are the national-liberal and the Christian-democratic) are equally
important for the party and called for party unity at the HDF's
upcoming congress. HDF presidium member and leader of the populist-national
wing, Sandor Lezsak, told the meeting that the HDF will never
become a right-wing party and will continue to represent the
interests of the center and the right-of-center. Another HDF
presidium member and leader of the wing, Istvan Csurka, urged
"self-conscious Hungarians to take a resolute stance .-.-. to
carry out a new and total change of regime." Csurka warned that
"we will be swept away unless a resolute stance is taken." Csurka,
who has been widely criticized for publishing a tract fraught
with anti-Semitic remarks, told the meeting that he will not
be a candidate for party chairman at the HDF's January national
congress. -Edith Oltay

HDF STEERING COMMITTEE DISCUSSES CONGRESS. The steering committee
of the HDF met on 10 January to discuss preparations for the
HDF's national congress scheduled to be held on 22,23,24 January,
MTI reports. The HDF chairman and the 20member presidium will
be elected by the congress delegates on the first day. Steering
committee chairman Agoston Szekelyhidi said that the goal is
to renew the HDF with a view to promoting internal democracy
and "smoother operation." A steering committee report said that
HDF leaders and the presidium are also responsible for the "deepening
of internal conflicts" and for lack of coordination between the
work of the HDF parliamentary group and the government. It also
criticized the presidium for "misinterpreting the political mood
and intentions of the rank and file" and for not consulting enough
with the steering committee. Szekelyhidi said that Csurka's name
is on the list of candidates proposed for the post of HDF chairman,
and Csurka will have to declare in writing that he does not wish
to be a candidate. -Edith Oltay

ROMANIA'S DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION CRITICIZES GOVERNMENT. The centrist
Democratic Convention, which groups the main opposition forces,
launched a harsh attack on the cabinet of Nicolae Vacaroiu. The
government is dominated by the leftist Democratic National Salvation
Front (DNSF), the party which backed President Ion Iliescu in
the September 1992 elections. In a statement broadcast by Radio
Bucharest on 10 January, the DC said the cabinet lacks a serious
ruling program for the short and the long run, and accused it
of trying to pack the administration with its own political clients.
It also charged the DNSF and Iliescu with deliberately trying
to slow down reforms. In view of the current crisis, the DC suggests
that the cabinet should implement the convention's own emergency
program. -Dan Ionescu

ROMANIA ENFORCES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS. Stringent restrictions
for travelers from all former Soviet republics except Moldova
went into effect on 10-January. Future visitors from CIS countries
and Georgia will need a notarized invitation from a Romanian
guaranteeing room and board. In addition, visitors from these
countries will need to prove at border points that they have
the equivalent of $40 for each day they intend to stay in Romania.
The restrictions are meant to stop a possible mass influx of
visitors from the former USSR as a result of the elimination
of exit visa requirements in all CIS states. -Dan Ionescu

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER TO VISIT ROMANIA. Roland Dumas will visit
Romania on 11 and 12 January. He is expected to meet President
Ion Iliescu, Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu, and Foreign Minister
Teodor Melescanu. Romanian TV reports that discussions will likely
focus on bilateral ties and the situation in former Yugoslavia.
Iliescu made a one-day visit to France last November. -Dan Ionescu


RUSSIAN MILITARY ACTIVITIES IN LATVIA IN 1992. The Latvian Defense
Ministry has issued a survey of alleged illegal Russian military
activities from 1 February to 31 December 1992, BNS reported
on 8 January. The survey claims that 2630 soldiers were brought
to Latvia in 54 troop transports; air regulations were violated
392 times, 350 railroad cars were used for unsanctioned shipment
of military equipment, and 9 aviation training raids were made
on the base at Zvarde. The survey does not claim to be complete,
because it is not possible for the Latvian specialists to document
all of the activities of the Russian military in Latvia. Since
June, Russia has removed some 42,000 submachine guns, 3900 pistols,
55 tanks, large amounts of ammunition and other military equipment
from Latvia. -Dzintra Bungs

TWELVE-MILE TERRITORIAL LIMIT FOR ESTONIA? THE ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT
ON 8 JANUARY APPROVED A DRAFT BILL SETTING TERRITORIAL WATERS
AT 12 MILES, BNS REPORTS. The territorial limit has been the
topic of bitter domestic debate for several weeks, with Pro Patria
supporters unexpectedly supporting a 12-mile limit and the opposition
favoring a 4-mile limit. Finland currently has a 4-mile limit
in the Gulf of Finland. If both Estonia and Finland were to declare
a 12-mile limit, the Russian port of St. Petersburg would effectively
be closed. -Riina Kionka

LEBED FAVORS MILITARY ACTION TO RESTORE ORDER. Interviewed in
Rossiiskaya gazeta of 6 January, Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, commander
of Russia's 14th Army in Moldova, denounced what he portrayed
as governmental mismanagement, corruption, and "the merger of
state and mafia structures" in both Russia and the "Dniester
republic," and urged that compromised officials "resolutely be
removed from their posts." He concluded, "it is precisely the
army which must fight the mafia structures. Enough of pretending
that the army is destined for external functions only. Once a
decision has been made to use the troops, we have to abandon
diplomatic somersaults and monkey-like grins in order to save
the state from the unbridled rascals and adventurists, who ought
to clearly know that there is an authority over them." -Vladimir
Socor

UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL REASSURED AFTER WASHINGTON VISIT. Deputy Foreign
Minister Boris Tarasyuk, chairman of the national disarmament
committee, said on Ukrainian TV on 9 January that his recent
discussions in Washington concerning Ukraine's ratification of
START-2 are reassuring and leave "no doubts in anyone's mind"
that the question of security assurances for Ukraine in exchange
for becoming nonnuclear will be resolved. Reuters on 8 January
quoted American officials as saying that Tarasyuk, who met with
President George Bush, was given a letter describing, in general
terms, the sort of security assurances Ukraine could expect once
the treaty is ratified and Ukraine adheres to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty. These officials said Tarasyuk was seeking a formal, high-level
declaration, but was told such a commitment is impossible. On
10 January Reuters quoted Aleksandr Tarasenko, a conservative
senior member of the parliament's defense commission, as saying
he has little confidence in Tarasyuk's assurances. -Doug Clarke
& Bohdan Nahaylo

UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS GIVE THEIR VERSION OF US TALKS. At a press
conference in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on 10 January, Tarasyuk
and other Ukrainian officials sought to set the record straight
about last week's talks in Washington. They stated that Tarasyuk's
visit was a "planned one" and not extraordinary, and that Kiev
had not been "pressured." Tarasyuk also said that the Ukrainian
side had not advanced any new conditions but had stuck to the
position that Parliament approved in April 1992, namely that
the question of nuclear disarmament be linked with guarantees
for national security. Officials at the press conference and
Ukrainian TV complained that the coverage of the visit was "distorted"
by both the Western and Russian press. -Bohdan Nahaylo

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT BEGINS VISIT TO ISRAEL. On 11 January Leonid
Kravchuk began a three-day visit to Israel aimed at fostering
bilateral ties and cooperation, Ukrainian and Western agencies
report. Kiev is seeking to pursue a balanced Middle East policy,
and the visit comes less than three weeks after a similar visit
by the Ukrainian president to Egypt. Kravchuk is under some pressure
to raise the case of the Ukrainian-born John Demjanjuk, who was
sentenced to death by an Israeli court in 1988 for allegedly
being a former Nazi death camp guard but who claims that he is
the victim of mistaken identity and is appealing the verdict.
On 9-January Western agencies reported that several dozen demonstrators
protested in defense of Demjanjuk outside the Israeli mission
in Kiev. -Bohdan Nahaylo

EC LOANS FOR ESTONIA, LATVIA. Western agencies report that on
8 January the European Community's Executive Commission signed
loan agreements with Estonia and Latvia that are worth up to
120 million ecus (about $140 million). Latvia is scheduled to
get 80 million ecus and Estonia,40 million. Half of the money
will be released now and the remainder will be paid in the second
quarter of this year. The loans are part of a financial assistance
package totaling $300 million for the two countries. -Dzintra
Bungs

Compiled by Hal Kosiba and Charles Trumbull