No. 41, 02 March 1993

RUSSIA



KHASBULATOV VS YELTSIN. Russian parliamentary speaker Ruslan
Khasbulatov has delayed the debate in the parliament on President
Boris Yeltsin's proposal for constitutional agreement, Radio
Rossii reported on 26-February. The proposal had been presented
to the parliament earlier that week. Radio Rossii quoted the
newspaper Kuranty as saying that Khasbulatov wanted to use the
parliament to strengthen the position of the prime minister in
the Russian political hierarchy and weaken that of the president.
The hardline faction "Russian Unity" intends to seek the convention
of an extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies on 17-March
at which it will demand the resignation of both the speaker and
the president. Alexander Rahr

YELTSIN'S PROPOSALS TO BE EXAMINED IN COMMITTEES. Meanwhile,
the parliament's Presidium has sent Yeltsin's proposal to the
parliamentary committees and commissions with an instruction
to examine it by 5 March, and send their comments to the Committee
for Legislation which will prepare the draft proposal for presentation
to the whole parliament, ITAR-TASS reported on 1 March. The Presidium
had severely criticized the president's proposal for constitutional
agreement, saying that it needed substantial alterations as in
its present form it contradicted the decisions of the Seventh
Congress of People's Deputies and would destroy the current system
of state security. The proposal, drafted as a temporary measure
until the promulgation of a new constitution, is intended to
ensure the clear division of executive and legislative functions
between the parliament, the President, and the government. Wendy
Slater

ENERGY CONFERENCE IN SURGUT. Heads of government, ministers,
specialists, and observers from 13 of the 15 former Soviet republics
began a two-day energy cooperation conference near Surgut (western
Siberia) on 1 March, Russian and Western agencies reported. Russian
Fuel and Energy Minister Yurii Shafranik warned that Russia would
have no export surplus of oil by 1995 unless the other states
made massive investments in its production facilities and infrastructure.
The Russian oil sector needed one trillion rubles' worth of investment
in the near future. The conference was expected to appoint a
new intergovernmental council to coordinate production, transportation,
investment, and pricing. -Keith Bush

WARNING STRIKE BY COAL MINERS. Coal miners at many mines throughout
Russia held a one-day warning strike on 1 March. Reports differ
on how many mines were affected, but ITAR-TASS said that work
was disrupted or stopped at half of the mines in the Kuzbass
and at almost all mines in the Vorkuta region. Spokesmen from
Vorkuta and Kemerevo told an RFE/RL correspondent that an indefinite
strike would be declared if the authorities did not meet the
miners' demands by 10 March. These demands include the "reestablishment
of order in the nation's economy," a program leading to a market
economy in the mining sector, the indexing of wages, payment
of back wages, and payments for coal already delivered to industrial
customers. -Keith Bush 

DETAILS ON MEETING OF CIS SECURITY CHIEFS.
CIS Joint Armed Forces Commander in Chief Evgenii Shaposhnikov
told reporters on 1 March that participants in the 27-February
meeting of CIS defense chiefs had prepared a number of documents
on military issues for consideration at the next CIS summit.
According to Russian and Western reports, the most important
of these was a draft agreement on implementation of the Treaty
on Collective Security which envisaged creating a Council for
Collective Security. The Council would include the presidents
and prime ministers of the six states which had signed the Treaty,
and would be supported by the CIS Councils of Defense and Foreign
Ministers, each of which would be represented on the Council
for Collective Security. The draft calls for the creation of
a secretariat to become the council's working body. Shaposhnikov
said that there was nevertheless some disagreement among the
six states on the structure of the system, with only Russia and
Uzbekistan favoring a proposal that would make a Russian Deputy
Defense Minister the CIS commander in chief. -Stephen Foye

START-2 TREATY SENT TO COMMITTEES. ITAR-TASS reported on 1 March
that the Presidium of the Russian parliament had referred the
START-2 treaty to the Defense and Security and Foreign and Economic
Relations Committees for discussion. Although a spirited debate
had been expected in the Presidium, the report said that the
action had been strictly procedural. Following discussion in
the committees, the Treaty will be sent on to the full parliament
where a simple majority will be required for ratification. -Stephen
Foye

MANPOWER PROBLEMS IN THE RUSSIAN ARMY. The Russian Defense Ministry
official responsible for manpower issues said in Krasnaya zvezda
on 18-February that only 20% of the total available draft contingent
was actually inducted in the autumn of 1992. The low figure suggests
he is taking account of those young men who were granted draft
deferments. On 11 February a Russian Deputy Defense Minister
Valerii Mironov had told parliament that only 55.8% of the eligible
draft contingent was inducted, a figure that presumably excluded
those granted deferments. Lt.-Gen. Gennadii Bochayev said that,
despite plans to cut the armed forces, the High Command foresees
a massive shortfall in draft resources for the army, Interior
Ministry Forces, and Border Forces. He added that in 1993 the
army would focus on training much-needed technical specialists.
The interview was summarized by ITAR-TASS. -Stephen Foye

KRYUCHKOV ASKED TO PROVE YAKOVLEV'S INVOLVEMENT WITH CIA. Interviewed
on the 28-February TV program "Itogi," Russian Prosecutor-General
Valentin Stepankov revealed that former KGB chairman Vladimir
Kryuchkov had failed to present any evidence to substantiate
his accusation that Aleksandr Yakovlev, known as the ideologist
of the Gorbachev reform, has been a spy for the USA for over
30 years. Kryuchkov made the allegation in a two-page excerpt
from his memoirs, published in the opposition newspaper, Sovetskaya
Rossiya, on 13 February. A few days later 21-conservative opposition
politicians requested President Yeltsin to investigate this accusation.
In interviews with the liberal media, Yakovlev branded Kryuchkov's
memoirs a conservative's "revenge for reforms." Stepankov hinted
that he will prosecute Kryuchkov for libel if he fails to prove
his accusations. -Julia Wishnevsky

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA


OVERWHELMING VOTE FOR AUSHEV. Maj.-Gen. Ruslan Aushev, a 38-year-old
medal winning veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was elected
the first president of Ingushetia on 28-February by an overwhelming
majority, ITAR-TASS reported on 1 March. Of the 142,223 voters
who participated in the election 99.99-percent are said to have
voted for Aushev, who was the sole candidate. The turnout was
92.66 percent. Outside observers are reported to have found no
irregularities. Aushev headed Moscow's temporary administration
in Ingushetia but resigned in December in protest at Moscow's
handling of the conflict between Ingushetia and North Ossetia.
He is still critical of Moscow's policies but has said that Ingushetia
will remain part of Russia and sign the Federation Treaty. Ann
Sheehy

CONGRESS OF DEMOCRATIC FORCES IN KYRGYZSTAN. The First Congress
of Democratic Forces was held on 27-28 February in Bishkek, Ostankino
TV reported on 27-February. The congress brought together representatives
of more than ten democratically-oriented parties and groups who
had hoped to form an umbrella organization, but the plan had
to be discarded after serious differences over a call by one
of the parties for the resignation of the Prime Minister because
of the catastrophic state of the country's economy. The congress
was opened by President Askar Akaev, who also came in for a share
of criticism on the economic issue, with Democratic Kyrgyzstan
Movement Chairman Melis Aidarkulov saying that Akaev's governing
team has wrecked the country. Another participant complained
that the present Supreme Soviet is unfit to adopt a constitution
for Kyrgyzstan, because it was elected under the old regime.
-Bess Brown

KAZAKHSTAN'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT TO EXAMINE NAZARBAEV'S DECREE.
Kazakhstan's Constitutional Court has agreed to examine the legality
of President Nursultan Nazarbaev's decree transforming the Alma-Ata
Institute for Political Science and Government into an Institute
for Management, Economics and Forecasting, ITAR-TASS reported
on 1-March. The management institute was handed over to Nazarbaev's
economic adviser, US economics professor Chan Young Bang; some
of the employees of the institute who came from its original
incarnation as the Higher Party School have brought the suit
against Nazarbaev's decree and have appealed to the Constitutional
Court to rule on the legality of their contracts. The Court has
already overturned at least one of Nazarbaev's decrees on the
grounds that it was unconstitutional. -Bess Brown

OPPOSITION LEADER DETAINED IN UZBEKISTAN. The chairman of Uzbekistan's
Erk (Will) Democratic Party, writer and political figure Muhammad
Salih, was briefly detained by the police on 27 February and
upon his release was told not to leave Tashkent, his brother
reported to RFE/RL. Salih was accused of involvement in organizing
a popular assembly (Milli Mejlis) that was supposed to function
parallel to the communist-dominated Supreme Soviet. The authorities
have equated involvement in the Milli Mejlis organizing effort
with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order in Uzbekistan,
a charge that could result in several years in prison. Erk, Uzbekistan's
only legal opposition party, has been harassed by the authorities
for several months. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

MORE PROBLEMS AT BAIKONUR. A group of soldiers attached to a
rocket forces unit at the Baikonur cosmodrome has deserted their
unit, the Kazakh newspaper Ekspress K reported on 26 February.
According to an ITAR-TASS summary, the soldiers objected to what
they considered was an excessive workload, caused primarily by
manpower shortages in units working on the launching areas for
the "Proton" rocket-booster. Last year there were similar problems
with soldiers working in construction battalions at Baikonur.
-Stephen Foye 

CONFUSION OVER SUCCESS OF US AIRDROP TO BOSNIA.
International media on 1 and 2 March suggested that little, if
any, of the relief aid dropped by US aircraft over eastern Bosnia
the previous night reached its intended Muslim recipients in
the besieged Cerska enclave. The high altitude of the flights
and the military confusion on the ground seem to have led to
a least some of the pallets falling into the hands of the Serbs.
The BBC quoted American officials as saying that "many" of the
parcels had reached the Muslims, while Bosnian sources said that
"few" of them had hit their intended targets. Some reports indicated
that Cerska was on the verge of falling and that up to 20,000
refugees might take to the roads. Meanwhile, the Washington Post
on 2 March quoted Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic as saying
that his government can not accept "even temporarily" that "scenes
of the worst ethnic cleansing [remain] under [Serb] control"
in a final political settlement. -Patrick Moore

MILOSEVIC LASHES OUT. The Turkish daily Hurriyet published an
interview on 1 March with Slobodan Milosevic. Serbia's President
called Turkey's policy regarding the former Yugoslavia unacceptable
because "it interferes in another country's affairs," and he
described Ankara's support of Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic
as doing "only harm to the Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina." The
same issue of the paper carried a rebuttal by Prime Minister
Suleiman Demirel, who said that Milosevic has no right to complain
about Turkey, the more so since he has been branded a war criminal.
Milosevic claims that Izetbegovic told him "perhaps we were mistaken
in deciding for Bosnia's secession; had we decided differently
there would surely have been no war." He also accused Izetbegovic
of "continuing the war and breaching every cease-fire in a naive
attempt to provoke foreign military intervention." Milosevic
said, however, that he will not back the interests of the Bosnian
Serbs at the expense of Muslims. Peace, he said, can only be
achieved with the full consent of all sides concerned. Milan
Andrejevich

ELIE WIESEL SAYS SERBS BETRAYED HIM. The 1-March issue of The
Guardian quotes the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize winner as saying that
the Serbs gave him "lies, misleading pledges, and broken promises"
in connection with his mission to investigate detention camps
in Bosnia last year. As part of the "action of deceit," many
of the prisoners who spoke to Wiesel were subsequently punished
and sent to worse camps, despite Serb leaders' promises to him
to the contrary. Wiesel suggests that president Clinton call
an international summit in Sarajevo, and that world leaders should
then tell their counterparts in the various Yugoslav factions
"what Jimmy Carter told Anwar el-Sadat and Menachem Begin at
Camp David: that they were not leaving the grounds until an agreement
had been reached." Meanwhile, the London Times reported on ethnic
cleansing by Croatian forces against Muslims, mainly civilians,
in the mountains around Novi Travnik in central Bosnia. -Patrick
Moore

CLINTON WARNS SERBS ON KOSOVO. President Clinton has written
Serbian leaders reaffirming President Bush's 1992 caution against
extending ethnic cleansing to Serbia's more than 90% Albanian
province, according to the 2 March Washington Post quoting State
Department officials. Meanwhile on 27 and 28 February, Die Welt
reported that Albanian president Sali Berisha again called for
Kosovo to be placed under NATO control as the only safe way to
prevent ethnic cleansing coming to the province. He was particularly
skeptical about the ability of Europe or the UN to deal with
the problem. -Patrick Moore

SOARING PRICES IN SERBIA. Belgrade's Studio B TV and Politika
report on 27 February that prices on as many as 2,000 items will
be increased by 60-100% on 1 March. The preceding week electricity
prices rose 145% and the cost of certain items rose 10-fold within
24 hours. The reports state that prices have been temporarily
frozen on some staple items. Marijana Rankovic, deputy director
of the Federal Statistics Bureau told reporters that inflation
"might reach 1,000,000% a year from now if something is not done
quickly." Inflation in 1992 reached 25,000%. In February average
monthly wages fell to about $50-compared to $500 a year ago,
and unemployment is approaching 40%. The grim economic situation
is in part the result of UN -imposed sanctions and the costs
of financing of Serb forces in Croatia and Bosnia. -Milan Andrejevich


FREE TRADE ZONE IN FORCE. In accordance with the document signed
on 21 December 1992 in Cracow, the Central European Free Trade
Zone Agreement entered into force on 1-March, Eastern and Western
agencies report. The agreement calls for mutual tariff reductions
in three phases over an eight-year period among the signatories
of the "Visegrad Group:" Poland, Hungary, and the Czech and Slovak
Republics. In the first phase tariffs will be eliminated on noncontroversial
industrial goods. Various countries report different percentages-from
30-60%-of their exports within the zone are now exempt from tariffs.
Border checks of goods within the free trade zone are to be phased
out by 1997 and all tariffs are to be eliminated by 2001. Die
Presse on 1 March calls the agreement an East European parallel
to the European Free Trade Association and points out that Hungary's
close relationship to Austria (an EFTA member) is especially
auspicious, since it will smooth the way for Hungary's association
with EFTA as well. The Vienna daily also quotes Polish Prime
Minister Hanna Suchocka, addressing an academic institute, as
supporting the idea of such Eastern European regional groupings
as useful bridges between East and West. -Charles Trumbull

KNAZKO TO BE DISMISSED. Slovak Foreign Minister Milan Knazko
said in an interview with Slovak TV on 1-March that Prime Minister
Vladimir Meciar will propose his sacking to President Michal
Kovac on 3 March, one day after the president's inauguration.
Knazko's announcement was preceded by a session of the Slovak
government at which Meciar decided to send Foreign Ministry State
Secretary Jan Lisuch instead of the foreign minister on an official
visit to Brussels and Geneva. According to Knazko, Meciar said
that there is no reason for the foreign minister to travel abroad
when he will be fired anyway. Tensions between Meciar and Knazko
have increased over the past two months and led to speculation
about a split in the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia.
At the same time, President-elect Kovac indicated recently that
he supports Knazko, and it is possible that he will refuse to
dismiss him. Most observers predict, however, that the Slovak
president will try to avoid a showdown with Meciar so early in
his tenure. -Jan Obrman

WALESA NAMES NATIONAL BROADCASTING COUNCIL CHAIRMAN. As Poland's
new broadcasting law took effect on 1 March, the Radio and Television
Committee, the "hierarchical and multistory" relict of communist
propaganda, ceased to exist. President Lech Walesa appointed
Marek Markiewicz, a Solidarity caucus member who has played a
major role in the reform of Polish broadcasting, to head the
new National Broadcasting Council. Markiewicz told PAP that public
television should remain independent of politics. The council
is to supervise programming, allocate broadcasting frequencies
and licenses, and apportion subscription revenues. Walesa's decision
to make the appointment seemed overhasty to some observers. A
spokesman said it was to be seen as a signal to the Sejm and
Senate to lose no time in making their own nominations to the
council. -Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka

GOVERNMENT PLENIPOTENTIARY FOR LODZ REGION. On 1 March the Polish
government appointed the Lodz voivod Waldemar Bogdanowicz to
act as its plenipotentiary for restructuring in the crisis-ridden
region. Lodz has one of the highest unemployment rates and greatest
poverty factors in the country. A two-day general strike organized
by the Solidarity union paralyzed the region at the end of last
week. The plenipotentiary, who takes over some prerogatives from
the ministers of industry and privatization, warned that improvement
will take time. It is unclear whether the appointment will defuse
social unrest. -Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka

POLISH-ISRAELI TRADE. Nathan Sharon, secretary of state in Israel's
Trade and Industry Ministry, told newsmen in Warsaw on 1 March
that his country wishes to extend cooperation with Poland, particularly
in the fields of satellite communications, pharmaceuticals, and
food processing. Polish Trade and Industry Minister Waclaw Niewiarowski
told PAP that the Poles are also interested in using Israeli
technology in their own defense industry. Both countries have
set up chambers of commerce to promote bilateral trade. -Anna
Sabbat-Swidlicka

HUNGARIAN-ALBANIAN CONSULTATIONS. Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred
Serreqi paid an official visit to Hungary at the invitation of
his Hungarian counterpart, Geza Jeszenszky, MTI reported on 26
February. The two officials discussed the conflict in the former
Yugoslavia and found many similarities between the situation
of the Albanian minority in Kosovo and the Magyar minority in
Vojvodina. Serreqi called for the dispatch of international forces
to Kosovo, and Hungary will seek to acquaint international public
opinion with Albania's viewpoint. The two countries agreed to
work out a friendship and cooperation treaty as soon as possible
and to increase their trade, which dropped from $31-million in
1991 to $15.5-million last year. Following talks on 1 March with
Acting State Secretary for International Economic Relations Lajos
Berenyi, Serreqi said Albania can use Hungary's experience in
transforming its economy and would welcome joint enterprises
and investments. -Alfred Reisch

ROMANIAN PREMIER PRAISES CABINET'S PROGRAM. In an interview with
Radio Bucharest on 1-March, Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu described
his government's program as "very ambitious." The program will
be presented to Parliament this week. Its top priorities are
to halt a steep decline in production and provide conditions
for economic recovery. Vacaroiu suggested that revitalization
in the economy as well as in social life, culture, education,
and the health system "is possible starting with the second half
of the year." He singled out two dates in the cabinet's future
activity this year. They are 1 May, when a detailed analysis
of government subsidies is due, and 1 July, when the value added
tax system will be introduced. Vacaroiu's cabinet has often been
criticized for failing to present its long-term strategy since
it was sworn in on 20-November 1992. -Dan Ionescu

ROMANIA, BELARUS INITIAL COOPERATION TREATY. Romanian Foreign
Minister Teodor Melescanu and his Belarus counterpart Petr Krauchenka
initialed a treaty of cooperation on 1 March in Minsk. Radio
Bucharest said that the decision to conclude a treaty had been
taken during President Ion Iliescu's visit to Minsk in July 1992.
Among other things, the treaty provides for dropping visa requirements
for businessmen and transit visas for tourists. The accord will
be formally signed during a visit to Romania by Belarusian President
Stanislav Shushkevich. Sources in the Romanian Foreign Ministry
depicted the treaty as part of larger plans to boost ties with
the former Soviet republics. -Dan Ionescu

ROMANIA EXPELS ASYLUM-SEEKERS. On 1 March Romanian authorities
expelled 133-asylum-seekers in an apparent attempt to enforce
visa laws that had been previously gone largely ignored. The
39 Indians and 94-Sri Lankans were flown to Bombay and Colombo,
respectively, aboard a chartered plane. The state paid 56 million
lei (some $106,000) for the transport. Romanian TV said that
most of those evicted had illegally crossed Romania's eastern
frontier from the former Soviet Union. A spokesman for the Interior
Ministry depicted the deportation as the "beginning of a larger
process," and added that there were some 9,000 illegal aliens
in Romania, mainly Sri Lankans, Somalis, Albanians, and Chinese.
Romania says it spent 90 million lei in 1992 providing accomodation
for asylum-seekers. -Dan Ionescu

KOZLODUY SUPPLIES 50% OF BULGARIA'S POWER. As of 1 March the
Kozloduy nuclear power station is supplying Bulgarian users with
2,880 megawatts-half of what the country consumes, BTA reports.
It is the highest share of total power output that the plant
has ever achieved. One of the two 1,000-megawatt reactors-the
no. 6 unit-was restarted on 26-February and now operates at 75%
of full capacity. Only the no. 1 unit is temporarily closed for
reconstruction, while the other five are back on line. Last week
Bulgaria's top nuclear safety official told RFE/RL that Kozloduy
is in much better condition than two years ago, when a report
by the International Atomic Energy Commission called the nuclear
station one of the most run-down in Eastern Europe. Referring
to comprehensive repair and training programs supported by the
West in 1991 and 1992, the official said the days of inadequate
safety equipment, unsafe work practices, and sloppy procedures
are now "absolutely history." -Kjell Engelbrekt

UKRAINE REJECTS RUSSIA'S BID FOR "SPECIAL STATUS." The Ministry
of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement rejecting Russia's
claim to "special status" on the territory of the former Soviet
Union, Radio Ukraine reported on 1 March. In his 28 February
address to the Civic Union, President Boris Yeltsin said that
the United Nations, among others, should recognize Russia's special
status to monitor ethnic conflicts and serve as a peace-keeper
throughout the former Soviet Union. The Ukrainian response notes
that no one in Ukraine empowered Russia to approach the UN with
such a request. It also says that Russia's move to assume the
role of a policeman threatens the sovereignty and territorial
integrity of the Ukrainian state. -Roman Solchanyk

MOLDOVAN-RUSSIAN TROOP TALKS BOGGED DOWN. Another round of talks
at Foreign Ministry level on the future of Russia's 14th Army
in Moldova ended without result on 26-February in Moscow, Moldova's
Foreign Ministry announced on 1 March as cited by Basapress.
No agreement could be reached on a time-table and mechanism for
the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Moldova and no date
for the resumption of the talks was set. The Russian side conditions
its withdrawal on a Moldovan grant of autonomy to the "Dniester"
area, the ministry said. The outcome of this round is in line
with that of the Yeltsin-Snegur meeting on 9 February in Moscow,
where Yeltsin refused to discuss any time-table and mechanism
for the troops' withdrawal until "Dniester" is granted autonomy.
-Vladimir Socor

ESTONIA RESPONDS TO KOZYREV. In a press release on 1 March the
Estonian Foreign Ministry denied Russian Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev's charges of 27 February that the Estonian government
supports the aims of a small fringe organization known as the
Estonian Decolonization Fund, BNS reports. The Foreign Ministry
statement says that while there is no connection between the
government and the fund, Estonia is trying to help those who
wish to leave, adding that "many people do not wish to be separated
from their relatives, and their wish to move is fully understandable."
The statement noted that the fund, like all citizens' associations,
is bound to follow the constitution, which guarantees human rights
to all those living in Estonia, whether or not they are citizens.
-Riina Kionka

PALDISKI OIL SPILL CONTAINED. A minor oil spill in Paldiski harbor
off of Tallinn has been contained, Estonian authorities report.
Last weekend an Estonian coast guard ship detected the spill-about
30 by 80-meters wide and 1-2 cm thick-near the Russian Naval
base at Paldiski. In an RFE/RL Estonian Service interview on
1 March, Estonian Minister of the Interior Lagle Parek said the
spill came from one of several cutters intentionally sunk last
year by the Russian Navy in Paldiski. -Riina Kionka

WORLD BANK DELEGATION IN VILNIUS. On 1-March a 14-member mission
from the World Bank, headed by Baltic Department head Ulrich
Zachau, began a two-week visit to Lithuania by meeting President
Algirdas Brazauskas, BNS reports. The mission will examine first-hand
how the economic reforms are proceeding-in particular how the
republic has used the $60 million credit given last year. It
will explore the possibilities of granting two additional loans
of $60-80 million for Lithuania's industry and energy system.
The issue will be discussed more fully by World Bank officials
in another visit in late March or early April. -Saulius Girnius


LATVIA INTRODUCES ITS OWN CURRENCY. Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis
announced on 1 March that the lats will be introduced on 5 March,
according to Radio Riga. The changeover will be gradual, starting
with the 5-lats notes, valued at 1000 Latvian rubles. During
the transition period, the length of which was not indicated,
both the Latvian ruble and lats will be considered legal tender,
with one lats exchanged for 200 Latvian rubles. -Dzintra Bungs


CITIZEN REGISTRATION EXTENDED IN LATVIA. Central Election Commission
chairman Atis Kramins says the deadline for registration of Latvia's
citizens with the Citizenship and Immigration Department has
been extended to 5 June for residents of Latvia and to 1 June
for those residing outside Latvia. So far about 12,500 Latvians
living abroad have registered. Registration is required for Latvia's
citizens wishing to vote in the parliamentary elections scheduled
for 5-6 June, Baltic media report. -Dzintra Bungs

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Wendy Slater and Charles Trumbull





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