No. 34, 19 February 1993

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.







RUSSIA



YELTSIN ON CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS. In a TV broadcast on the evening
of 18 February, Russian President Boris Yeltsin laid out his
proposals for a solution to the country's constitutional crisis.
The parliament had received the proposals on 17 February. Yeltsin
said that there were two ways to resolve current "political tension,"
which he blamed on the principle of "all power to the soviets"
inherited from the former regime. The first was a referendum;
the second, "difficult, tense negotiations to reach agreement."
Yeltsin appealed for public support for the plebiscite, suggesting
that it was an effective means of forcing the legislature to
negotiate. To the proposals detailed the previous day by Deputy
Prime Minister Sergei Shakhrai, Yeltsin added that the Constitutional
Court should monitor observation of the constitutional agreement
with powers to demand the resignation of the President or the
dissolution of parliament should either side infringe the agreement.
He also reiterated his call for early presidential and parliamentary
elections in 1995 and 1994 respectively. The text of the speech
was carried in full by ITAR-TASS. -Wendy Slater

RUSSIAN DISSATISFACTION WITH CIS ECONOMICS. At a meeting of the
presidium of the Russian Council of Ministers on 18 February
there were new calls to alter economic relations within the Commonwealth
of Independent States (CIS), ITAR-TASS reported. Prime Minister
Viktor Chernomyrdin urged market prices for trade within the
region. Vladimir Mashchits, chairman of the State Committee on
Economic Relations with the CIS, reported that, in addition to
the banking and customs battles that continue to hamper trade
among the republics, Russia was losing the "price war". He claimed
that, although all products traded in the CIS were in general
priced lower than world levels, Russia was selling her goods
especially cheaply. He claimed that last year Russia had lost
2 trillion rubles in revenue by not selling its exports at world
prices. He added that no CIS state, with the exception of Belarus,
had agreed fully to coordinate with the Russian Central Bank
in an effort to stabilize monetary developments in the region.
-Erik Whitlock

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT FOR SANCTIONS ON CROATIA. On 18 February the
Russian parliament voted 162-4 with 2 abstentions (well over
half the deputies) in support of a resolution calling on the
Russian government to press the United Nations Security Council
to impose sanctions on Croatia and lift them from Serbia and
Montenegro, Western and Russian agencies reported. The vote reflects
the long-standing sentiment in parliament that Russia should
work to reduce international pressure on Serbia. -Suzanne Crow


PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR CALLS FOR MORE ARMS EXPORTS. Boris Yeltsin's
advisor for defense conversion, Mikhail Malei, says in the latest
issue of Moskovskie novosti that Russian arms exports cannot
be significantly increased until individual firms are given greater
freedom in dealing with foreign clients. As reported by ITAR-TASS
on 18 February, Malei opined that Russia's potential earnings
from arms exports could reach $10-12 billion per year. He said
this income, which he estimated at some twenty times the amount
to be invested by the government in conversion in 1993, could
then be directed toward the modernization and conversion of the
Russian defense industrial sector. He spoke disparagingly of
the fact that arms sales are currently conducted by only five
firms, and argued that significant profits would result even
if Russia sold arms at prices far below those generally seen
on the world market. -Stephen Foye

PEACE-KEEPING FORCES STILL A FICTION. The Chief of the CIS armed
forces General Staff was quoted by ITAR-TASS on 18 February as
saying that CIS leaders have failed to work out a concrete mechanism
for the creation of peace-keeping forces. Col. Gen. Viktor Samsonov
maintained that their creation remains only a declaration of
intent. Samsonov, speaking in the wake of a meeting of CIS chiefs
of staff, also said that four CIS battalions scheduled to be
sent to Tajikistan have not yet been formed. -Stephen Foye

PARLIAMENT CONTINUES LEGAL REFORM. Russian TV reports on the
18 February session of the parliament said that it had excluded
four articles concerning certain forms of severe punishment from
the Russian Criminal Code. Henceforth, internal exile, banishment
and two articles used to replace suspended sentences and early
release with terms of compulsory labor will no longer be applied
to convicts. A group of liberal deputies led by a former Soviet
dissident, Boris Zolotukhin, are credited with the change. Earlier
in 1993, the same group of lawmakers succeeded in introducing
a provision for life imprisonment into the Criminal Code, a move
which is expected sharply to reduce the number of death sentences
passed in Russia. -Julia Wishnevsky

PARLIAMENT TO BRING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST YELTSIN'S ASSOCIATE.
At its 18-February session, broadcast on Russian TV, the parliament
voted to bring a legal action against Mikhail Poltoranin, the
head of the Federal Information Center and Yeltsin's long-standing
associate. The vote followed Prosecutor General Valentin Stepankov's
report on the investigation his office undertook in connection
with Poltoranin's interview with the Italian communist daily,
l'Unita. In the interview, which was translated into Russian
and reprinted in some local newspapers in January, Poltoranin
claimed that parliamentary speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov along with
members of the Chechen "mafia" had prepared a coup against Yeltsin
and that Poltoranin had prevented it. According to Stepankov,
the office of the Prosecutor-General concluded that Poltoranin
had libeled Khasbulatov. However, Stepankov added, Khasbulatov
refused to sue Poltoranin himself, and asked the parliament whether
the lawmakers felt that Poltoranin had offended the whole institution.
133 lawmakers voted for the resolution to sue Poltoranin for
libel, 9 voted against it, and 5 abstained. -Julia Wishnevsky


KANGAROO COURT TRIES GORBACHEV. Russian TV newscasts gave much
prominence to the so-called "public trial" of former USSR President
Mikhail Gorbachev which opened in Moscow on 18 February. Organized
by activists of communist rallies, the trial was attended by
the leader of the newly revived Russian Communist Party, Gennadii
Zyuganov, and other prominent hardliners. Gorbachev did not attend
the performance. In his address to the gathering, former deputy
USSR Prosecutor-General Viktor Ilyukhin claimed that Gorbachev
bore sole blame for the collapse of the Soviet Union, for arms
reduction treaties disadvantageous to the USSR, and for currency
violations incurred by the Gorbachev Foundation. Gorbachev's
greatest sin, Ilyukhin opined, is [his adherence to] pluralism.
Ilyukhin found Gorbachev to be guilty of high treason under Article
64 of the Russian Criminal Code but did not specify which punishment
he demands for Gorbachev. The self-appointed "people's tribunal"
is expected to pronounce its verdict on Saturday, 20-February.
-Julia Wishnevsky 

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR WAR? The newspaper
of the "spiritual opposition" in Russia, Den, which is published
by the writer Aleksandr Prokhanov, quotes extensively from what
it claims to be a recent meeting of Russia's "shadow government"
in its issue for 7-13-February. The "shadow" foreign minister
is quoted as saying that the situation with Ukraine is growing
ever more dangerous, and that "we as professionals should study
the possible scenarios of an unexpected nuclear war with Kiev,
which, should it break out, will be conducted in the absence
of any canons and rules turned out by geopolitical thought in
the period of [nuclear] parity." -Roman Solchanyk

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



SHAKHRAI, ABDULATIPOV MEET WITH GEORGIAN OFFICIALS. Russian Deputy
Prime Minister Sergei Shakhrai and the chairman of the Council
of Nationalities of the Russian Supreme Soviet, Ramazan Abdulatipov,
traveled to Tbilisi on 18 February for talks with Georgian Prime
Minister Tengiz Sigua and parliamentary speaker Vakhtang Goguadze,
ITAR-TASS reported. The Georgian side called for the creation
of conditions which would enable Georgian refugees from South
Ossetia to return to their homes, and for Russia to take steps
to prevent volunteers from the North Caucasus participating in
hostilities in Abkhazia. Shakhrai stated that the Russian parliament
will not ratify the Russian-Georgian friendship agreement until
a settlement of the Abkhaz conflict has been reached. -Liz Fuller


RUSSIA DENIES AIDING ABKHAZIAN FORCES. On 17 February Krasnaya
zvezda rejected Georgian leader Eduard Shevardnadze's charges
that the 128th Motorized Rifle Regiment from Gyumri has been
assisting Abkhazian forces. It also denied reports that the 145th
Motorized Rifle Division based in Batumi was defending the borders
of the Adzharian autonomous republic. The First Deputy Commander
of Russian forces in the Transcaucasus, Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Gerasimov,
claimed that Georgian leaders were trying to get the division
removed from Batumi, where it reportedly enjoys friendly relations
with the local government. Russia and Georgia recently signed
an agreement allowing Russian troops to stay in Georgia until
1995, despite the ongoing tensions over their role in the region.
-John Lepingwell

NEW ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATION IN EREVAN. Some 8,000 people
participated in a demonstration in Erevan on 18 February organized
by the Union for National Self-Determination to call for the
dissolving of the present parliament and the convening of a Constituent
Assembly to adopt a new constitution, ITAR-TASS reported. Twenty
participants were later detained by police, of whom four were
later released. -Liz Fuller

KAZAKHSTAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT WANTS NEW CRIMINAL CODE. Kazakhstan's
independent-minded Constitutional Court has asked President Nursultan
Nazarbaev to exercise his right to initiate legislation in order
to submit a draft of a new criminal code to the country's Supreme
Soviet, ITAR-TASS reported on 18 February. In the court's opinion,
Kazakhstan needs a new code to bring the laws into accord with
the country's new constitution. Since its creation, Kazakhstan's
Constitutional Court has been very active, declaring a decree
of Nazarbaev unconstitutional and rejecting the government's
efforts to influence it. The court does not have the right to
initiate legislation, hence the request to Nazarbaev. -Bess Brown


NEW TAJIK DEFENSE MINISTER OUTLINES SECURITY POLICY. Tajikistan's
recently appointed Defense Minister Aleksandr Shishlyannikov
says in the Tajik Narodnaya gazeta of 18 February that the Russian
201st division remains the guarantor of stability in Tajikistan.
He said that the republic is currently forming Ground Forces
and an Air Force, with Air Defense Forces to follow. There is
no draft evasion in Tajikistan, he said. Shishlyannikov, a 42-year-old
Russian Colonel, was appointed Defense Minister at the end of
January. On 27 January Pravda quoted the permanent CIS military
representative in Tajikistan as saying that Shishlyannikov had
been nominated because of his presumed neutrality: he had never
served in Tajikistan. According to the same report, Shishlyannikov
fought in Afghanistan and, more recently, served in the Turkestan
Military District. -Stephen Foye

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



THE UN MOVES ON WAR CRIMES. International media report on 19
February that the United Nations Security Council will probably
vote unanimously next week to begin setting up a war-crimes investigation
tribunal on the Nuremberg model, the first such body since the
end of World War II. It would consider all war crimes, although
Serbian atrocities in Bosnia would probably take center stage.
The Washington Post says that defendants would not be allowed
to avoid responsibility by saying that they were simply following
orders, and that France, Italy, and Sweden have concrete proposals
for setting up the tribunal. The paper adds that diplomats are
acting "to allay fears expressed by Muslim leaders that the creation
of the tribunal could be a prelude toward declaring a general
amnesty." -Patrick Moore

BOSNIAN UPDATE. The 19 February Los Angeles Times reports that
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata's decision on
17 February to end Bosnian aid shipments is being "defied" by
UN agencies and peacekeepers. They were apparently "caught off
guard by [her] sudden decision" and intend to try to get relief
shipments through as long as possible. The paper also reports
considerable confusion as to whether the ban applies to all of
Bosnia. Meanwhile in Paris, the Council of Europe called the
use of rape for political purposes as part of ethnic cleansing
a "crime against humanity." Reuters on 18 February added that
the Council said most rapes were committed against Muslims and
that the rapists should be brought to trial. Finally, international
media report on 18 and 19 February that Serbian forces may well
succeed in staging a breakthrough at Stup, a Croat-held suburb
of Sarajevo. Were Stup to fall, the Serbs could bring their decisive
advantage in tanks to bear against the Bosnian capital for the
first time in the war, since Stup is on the one side of Sarajevo
that is not blocked in by mountains. -Patrick Moore

ROMANIA, BULGARIA, AND UKRAINE TO ENFORCE UN SANCTIONS. In a
memorandum signed in Bucharest on 18 February following consultations
among officials from the three countries, Romania, Bulgaria and
Ukraine said they are determined to cooperate in enforcing the
UN sanctions against rump Yugoslavia on the Danube. The memorandum
was forwarded to the UN Security Council. In it, the signatories
also appeal to the international community for technical assistance
in carrying out the sanctions and for compensation for the losses
resulting from their implementation. -Michael Shafir

MACEDONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER RESIGNS. Foreign Minister Denko Maleski
officially resigned on 18 February, according to MILS. It seems
he activated a resignation submitted some months ago. Maleski
resigned in protest at virulent personal attacks from members
of the nationalist opposition. Maleski is a skilled and pragmatic
diplomat; his departure is a blow to Macedonia. He will probably
be provisionally replaced by one of the national vice presidents,
Stevo Crvenkovski. The parliament convened on 19 February to
debate the matter. -Duncan Perry

TURKISH PRESIDENT MEETS KOSOVAR LEADERS. International media
on 18 February said that Turgut Ozal met with Ali Aliu and other
representatives of Kosovo's more than 90% ethnic Albanian majority
while on a visit to neighboring Macedonia. Meanwhile in Kosovo,
Albanian spokesmen said that five leaders of the Muslim Democratic
Action Party were detained by police in Pec after a dawn raid
on their homes. -Patrick Moore

UKRAINE TO POSTPONE START-1 RATIFICATION. According to an ITAR-TASS
report of 18 February, Ukraine has decided to postpone consideration
of the START-1 treaty because it considers Russian security guarantees
inadequate. Russia agreed to provide security guarantees at the
15 January summit meeting between Yeltsin and Kravchuk. However,
the guarantees provided so far apparently do not meet Ukrainian
requirements that Russia recognize Ukrainian territorial integrity
and pledge not to use force against Ukraine. On Russian TV's
Vesti news program on 19 February, the Ukrainian ambassador to
Russia, Vladimir Kryzhanovsky, denied that maintenance problems
with ICBMs in Ukraine threatened a "second Chernobyl" and noted
that Ukraine and Russia will sign a treaty providing for Russian
maintenance of the missiles. -John Lepingwell

KRAVCHUK ON THE CIS. Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, addressing
miners in the Luhansk region, said that Ukraine's integration
into the CIS was impossible, Western sources reported on 17 February.
Any attempts along these lines would split the country into two
warring camps, he argued. According to Kravchuk, Ukraine had
proposed the formation of the CIS in order to avoid the kind
of situation now experienced by the former Yugoslavia. In spite
of its shortcomings, the Ukrainian leader maintained that the
CIS had proven its capability of solving major disputes without
conflicts. -Roman Solchanyk

RUTSKOI OFFERS SOLUTION TO CRIMEAN PROBLEM. Russian Vice President
Aleksandr Rutskoi, addressing a meeting of war and labor veterans,
said that an international court should decide whether the Crimea
belongs to Russia or Ukraine, Western sources report on 18-February.
The dispute over the Crimea has recently intensified after Russian
lawmakers began examining the status of Sevastopol. -Roman Solchanyk


MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT DETAILS WARNING OF IRREDENTIST COUP. Addressing
the Moldovan parliament on 18 February, Mircea Snegur elaborated
on his warning that militants who favor unification with Romania
may be plotting a coup, Basapress reported. Snegur cited as evidence
recent inflammatory articles in the Popular Front's press, calls
to assassinate the president by militants of the Front's radical
wing, aggressive picketing and demonstrations outside the presidential
residence, and public threats of violence from two paramilitary
groups affiliated with the rump Popular Front. -Vladimir Socor


WALESA THREATENS TO VETO BUDGET. An official spokesman told PAP
on 19 February that President Lech Walesa might veto the 1993
budget if the parliament failed to take into account the complaints
of striking Silesian miners. Polish TV reported that 28 coal
mines struck for 24 hours on 18 February, along with smaller
numbers of Silesian railway and steel workers. The protesters
are demanding revisions to draft tax laws passed recently by
the Sejm, including a provision that would eliminate joint taxation
for married couples. This change in the tax laws would particularly
affect Silesia, as 70% of miners' wives do not work outside the
home. The Senate is expected to amend the tax laws on 19-February.
Revisions proposed by Senate committees would not only restore
the joint taxation provision but bring the law into line with
what the government proposed in the first place. Walesa's announcement
seems a populist gesture meant to placate the disgruntled rather
than a serious threat to block the 1993 budget. -Louisa Vinton


POLISH COALITION DIVIDED OVER DECREES. Rzeczpospolita reported
on 18 February that the government agreed to postpone Sejm debate
on its request for "special powers" because of last-minute revisions
proposed by the Christian National Union (ZChN), the conservative
party in the coalition. The ZChN proposed thirteen limitations
to decree powers, including the requirement that each decree
be countersigned by every cabinet minister. This provision would
almost certainly gum up the works rather than streamline public
administration, and left some government ministers speechless
with rage. The ZChN was apparently concerned that its ministers,
including the minister of education, would not get decree powers,
while ministers from other parties would. The Sejm may return
to the issue in two weeks. -Louisa Vinton

NEW HUNGARIAN MEDIA CHIEFS TO BE NAMED. State Secretary in the
Prime Minister's Office Tamas Katona announced at a press conference
on 18 February that the government plans soon to make public
the names of its candidates to head Hungarian Radio and Television,
MTI reports. Katona said that the government would like to see
the new media chiefs appointed by March 6 when the mandates of
the current media heads expire. The candidates will have to be
approved by the parliament's cultural committee, in which the
coalition government has a majority. Katona stressed, however,
that the government seeks to appoint media chiefs who are also
acceptable to the opposition. The "media war" between the government
and the opposition has centered around the appointment of new
media chiefs. Katona also announced that the government has agreed
to supplement the radio's budget by 350 million forint. In a
separate development, the deputy president of Hungarian Radio
Laszlo Csucs announced he had appointed new program managers
for the three public radio stations, Kossuth, Petofi, and Bartok.
They will take over on 22 February. Csucs said that he will withdraw
the mandates of the current managers on the same day but does
not plan to dismiss them. -Edith Oltay

NEW HUNGARIAN MINISTERS APPROVED. The relevant parliamentary
committees on 18-February approved five ministerial candidates
proposed by Prime Minister Jozsef Antall, MTI reports. A hearing
for Ivan Szabo, Antall's candidate for finance minister, is scheduled
for later because he is currently abroad. Antall will submit
a request to President Arpad Goncz to relieve the current ministers
and to appoint the new ones. -Edith Oltay

SOVIET DOCUMENTS FROM 1956 PUBLISHED. Two new books containing
Soviet documents on the 1956 revolution went on sale in Hungary
this month, an RFE/RL correspondent reports. One book, The Yeltsin
File, is a translation of the 65 documents provided by Russian
President Boris Yeltsin during his visit to Hungary last November.
The other, Missing Pages, contains 78 documents apparently obtained
independently, 26 of them the same as those provided by Yeltsin.
Hungarian experts on 1956 say, however, that neither book discloses
anything new, or reveals much about the Soviet political machinations
at the time. Historian Ferenc Mandi commented that the two books
"do not tell what Hungarians want to know about what the Soviets
were doing behind the scenes and the Hungarians who worked with
them." He presumed that "much more information was available
in Soviet military archives in Moscow and in the personal papers
of Yuri Andropov, who was the Soviet ambassador at the time."
-Edith Oltay

NUMBER OF COMPANIES GROWING IN HUNGARY. Hungary's Central Statistical
Office reported on 18-February that an average of 1,100 new companies
started business every month in Hungary in 1992. The number of
individually owned private companies, which currently employ
11% of the work force, rose to 600,000 by the end of 1992, from
320,000 in 1989. The data indicate that the number of corporations
more than doubled from the beginning of 1990 through the end
of 1992, to more than 70,000. -Edith Oltay

UNEMPLOYMENT IN CZECH REPUBLIC INCREASES. Unemployment in the
Czech Republic rose 17.3% in the month of January, CTK reported
on 18 December. With 158,113 persons unemployed at the end of
January, the Czech Republic's unemployment rate rose to 3.01%.
Figures from the Czech ministry of Labor and Social Affairs show
that the highest relative increase was registered in Prague and
Plzen. At the same time, however, Prague remains the city with
the lowest overall unemployment rate (0.51%). Only some 45% of
the registered unemployed Czechs and Moravians applied for or
qualified for unemployment benefits in January. The reported
number of job vacancies has also slightly dropped; there are
currently 75,000 vacancies, 56,000 of which are for worker's
jobs. Experts expect that the unemployment rate in the Czech
Republic will increase significantly in 1993, reaching a level
of between 5 and 8% by the end of the year. -Jan Obrman

BULGARIA'S 1992 PAYMENTS BALANCE POSITIVE. In one of the few
pieces of optimistic economic news from 1992, Pari on 18 February
reports that Bulgaria's balance of payments ended with a surplus
of $451.6-million. According to the Bulgarian National Bank-which
compiled the figures-foreign trade revenues account for the bulk
of the surplus. Due to the drastic increase in imports during
the second half of last year, however, the current trend is negative.
In all, Bulgaria imported $4,608 million worth of goods in 1992,
and exported $5,093 million. -Kjell Engelbrekt

FORMER PRIME MINISTER CALLS FOR NEW ROMANIAN COALITION. Romania's
former prime minister, Petre Roman, accused the incumbent premier,
Nicolae Vacoroiu, of incompetence, and called for a new "government
of national consensus" formed by the ruling Democratic National
Salvation Front, his own National Salvation Front, and the Democratic
Convention of Romania, Radio Bucharest reported on 18 February.
Roman said Vacaroiu's government has shown "nothing but incompetence"
in handling the country's severe economic problems. The Democratic
Convention of Romania last week urged Vacaroiu's government to
fulfill its electoral promise to put the economy right or hand
over power to the opposition. Romania's currency, the leu, dropped
by 6% to a new low of 530-to the US dollar on 17 February. -Michael
Shafir

LITHUANIA'S 1992 MIGRATION FIGURES. Lithuania's Statistics Department
announced that in 1992 fewer people moved to Lithuania while
more departed than in 1991, BNS reported on 17 February. In 1992,
6,639 people immigrated (6,205 from the former USSR; 434-from
the West) and 28,854 people emigrated, including 15,757 to Russia,
6,206 to Belarus, 4,236 to Ukraine, and 1,531 to the West, of
whom 451 went to Israel. Among the emigrants to the East were
16,198 Russians, 4,475 Belarusians, 3,798 Ukrainians, and 1,366
Lithuanians. In 1991 11,828 people immigrated (10,709 from the
former USSR; 1,119 from the West) and 18,025 people emigrated,
including 9,746 to Russia, 4,072 to Belarus, 2,745 to Ukraine,
and 2,618 to the West. -Saulius Girnius

MILITARY PAY TO DOUBLE IN BALTIC EMERGENCY? LATVIAN SUPREME COUNCIL
DEPUTY MIHAILS STEPICEVS EXPRESSED CONCERN ABOUT A RUSSIAN DECREE
OF 21 JANUARY THAT WOULD PROVIDE FOR INCREASED COMPENSATION FOR
RUSSIAN FORCES STATIONED IN THE TRANSCAUCASUS, THE BALTIC STATES,
AND TAJIKISTAN SHOULD ARMED CONFLICT DEVELOP THERE. Expressing
reservations about a decree intended to function on foreign territory,
Stepicevs said that clarification would be sought via the Latvian
and Russian foreign ministries, Diena reported on 18 February.
-Dzintra Bungs 

ELECTION COALITIONS START TO FORM IN LATVIA. Radio
Riga reported that five right-wing organizations-Tevzeme (Fatherland),
18 November Society, the National Independence Movement splinter
group led by Olgerts Dzenitis, the Radical Association, and the
Anticommunist Association-agreed on 17 February to form a coalition
for the upcoming parliamentary elections. A formal agreement
on the formation of Tevzemei un brivibai (For the Fatherland
and Freedom) coalition is expected to be signed in a few weeks,
when some other organizations may join the coalition. On 17-February,
Alexei Grigoriev told Diena that Latvia's Support Foundation,
led by Janis Jurkans, is also seeking to create a democratic
coalition. -Dzintra Bungs

LATVIA TO INTRODUCE A VISA REGIME. Latvian media reported on
17 and 18 February that on 20 March visas will be required of
all foreigners entering Latvia. The only exception would be for
citizens of countries with which Latvia has an accord on visa-free
travel. Details still have to be worked out for the use of "return"
visas for permanent residents of Latvia who wish to travel abroad
and return to Latvia. -Dzintra Bungs

DANISH-LITHUANIAN ECONOMIC COOPERATION. On 18 February Lithuanian
Economics Minister Julius Veselka held talks with Hans Jorgen,
director of the Danish Industrialists Confederation, which unites
enterprises controlling 70% of the country's working capital,
Radio Lithuania reports. Jorgen presented a cooperation project
whose first phase, to be completed by May, is a Danish evaluation
of Lithuania's industry. In the second phase, cooperation would
begin between enterprises, mainly small and mid-sized firms,
whose structures the Danes consider more rational. On 17-February
Ambassador Birger Dan Nielsen and Jorgen told Prime Minister
Bronislovas Lubys that Denmark would keep its promise to lend
the Baltic States $50 million for duty free goods and $10 million
for medicines. -Saulius Girnius

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Wendly Slater and Louisa Vinton







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