No. 80, 28 April 1993

RUSSIA



DEMOCRATS WANT TO SEE CHANGES. The opposition Russian democratic
politicians stated that the referendum has given President Boris
Yeltsin the strongest mandate since the August putsch. The leader
of the Radical Democrats faction Sergei Yushenkov, was quoted
by The Los Angeles Times on 27 April as saying that Yeltsin must
now "fully use the results of the victory and not indulge in
inexplicable inaction, as was the case after the putsch." The
head of the radical left People's Party, Telman Gdlyan, said
that if Yeltsin loses the new chance to change the situation,
democratic forces will be compelled to withdraw their support.
Aleksei Ulyukaev, a former economic advisor to the government,
was quoted by Reuter on 26 April as saying that the reforms were
already slowing and that the government was divided into two
wings and right now the conservative wing was gaining strength.
Ulyukaev asserted that the new First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg
Lobov, a close associate of Yeltsin from Ekaterinburg, would
further halt radical reforms. -Alexander Rahr

OPPOSITION DEMANDS YELTSIN'S RESIGNATION. The opposition Russian
Unity parliamentary bloc claims that the referendum results demonstrate
that Yeltsin has little support among the population, compared
with the level of support he gained at his election in June 1991,
and that he should resign, according to Reuters on 27 April.
At a press conference, Vladimir Isakov, the coordinator of the
bloc and co-chairman of the National Salvation Front, said that
Russia was not ready for a new constitution and pledged to fight
the promulgation of the president's new draft constitution. During
the press conference, the opposition also criticized the leadership
of the other former Soviet republics and Western countries for
their support of Boris Yeltsin. -Wendy Slater

EARLY ELECTIONS EXCLUDED. The head of the executive committee
of the Civic Union, Vasilii Lipitsky, told ITAR-TASS on 27 April
that the centrists must change their tactics after the referendum
and stop agitating for early elections. Presidential legal advisor
Anatolii Sliva said that the Congress was now bound by the results
of the referendum and could call for early elections only through
constitutional changes. The head of the electoral commission,
Vasilii Kazakov, stressed that the president and deputies must
now stay until the end of their legislative period and that the
campaign for parliamentary elections should start in October
1994. According to former State Secretary Gennadii Burbulis,
however, the referendum has opened the way for early elections
for a re-fashioned legislature. -Alexander Rahr

CLINTON ON YELTSIN. US President Bill Clinton congratulated Boris
Yeltsin on his referendum victory in a telephone conversation
on 27 April. Clinton said he wanted "to reassure [Yeltsin] that
the United States continues to support him as the elected leader
of Russia and continues to look forward to our partnership in
working to reduce the threat of nuclear weapons, to increase
trade and commerce, and to promote democracy," Western agencies
reported. -Suzanne Crow

US AID TO RUSSIA TO BE DELAYED. President Clinton will put off
proposing to Congress a major portion of the financial assistance
for Russia he promised Boris Yeltsin at their recent summit in
Vancouver, the Los Angeles Times reported on 28 April. The administration's
is rethinking the aid package due to the cold reception the current
plans were given by U.S. lawmakers who are shy of approving billions
of dollars in aid in light of their country's massive budget
deficit and anemic economic performance. - Erik Whitlock

YELTSIN STATEMENT ON BOSNIA. In a 27 April statement on the conflict
in former Yugoslavia, Boris Yeltsin said: "The time has come
for decisive measures to put an end to the conflict [in Bosnia].
The present situation makes the unity of the permanent members
of the Security Council, the EC, and all peaceloving states and
international organizations especially necessary." He also declared
that "the Russian Federation will not protect those who set themselves
in opposition to the world community," ITAR-TASS reported. These
statements mark a significant correction in Russian policy toward
the conflict in former Yugoslavia. Moscow is now retreating from
its pro-Serbian stance and moving back in the direction of favoring
consensus with the West on ways to settle the conflict in Bosnia.
-Suzanne Crow

RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY ON YUGOSLAV CONFLICT. Russian Deputy
Defense Minister Col. Gen. Georgii Kondratev said on 27 April
that the Russian military leadership continued to favor a peaceful
settlement of the conflict in Yugoslavia and that the Defense
Ministry did not intend to increase Russia's military presence
in the conflict area, ITAR-TASS reported. Kondratev noted that
an Airborne battalion of some 900 Russian soldiers was now serving
as a peacekeeping force in Croatia. He said that Russia was prepared
to aid in the deliver of humanitarian aid by means of military
transport. Kondratev made his remarks in Moscow prior to departing
for Brussels in order to attend a 28 April meeting of chiefs
of staff of the North Atlantic Council. -Stephen Foye

AMBARTSUMOV WANTS SANCTIONS SUSPENDED. Evgenii Ambartsumov, Chairman
of the Supreme Soviet Committee on International Affairs and
Foreign Economic Ties, told the Russian parliament on 27-April
that he received "first-hand information" during a recent visit
to the rump Yugoslavia that UN economic sanctions are "unilateral"
and "counterproductive." Ambartsumov called for the suspension
of sanctions. He also said that as a result of his visit, "he
realized that all warring sides are responsible for the conflict,"
ITAR-TASS and Western agencies reported. Deputy Foreign Minister
Vitalii Churkin rejected the proposal to suspend the sanctions,
arguing that such a step would be "unrealistic." Churkin characterized
military intervention as an "extremely undesirable" step, but
added that if the Bosnian Serbs continued military operations
in eastern Bosnia, nothing could be ruled out. -Suzanne Crow


RUSSIA DISMISSES UKRAINIAN CLAIMS OF THREATS OVER START-1. On
27 April a Russian foreign ministry spokesman, Sergei Yastrzhembsky,
denied a recent claim by the Ukrainian parliamentarian Yurii
Kostenko that Russia had threatened to cut off nuclear fuel deliveries
if Ukraine did not ratify the START-1 and non-proliferation treaties.
Yastrzhembsky also criticized Kostenko's comment that Ukraine
was a nuclear state, noting that Ukraine had committed itself
to non-nuclear status by signing the Lisbon protocol in May 1992,
according to ITAR-TASS. Despite Kostenko's statement, the official
Ukrainian position is that while Ukraine owns the components
of the nuclear weapons on its territory, it is not a nuclear
state because it does not control the use of the weapons. -John
Lepingwell

RUSSIAN STRATEGIC ROCKET FORCES COMMANDER ON START-1. Concerns
that Ukraine's position on START-1 would undermine Russian ratification
of the START-2 treaty were also expressed by Colonel General
Igor Sergeev, the commander of the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces,
in a speech on 27 April that was reported by ITAR-TASS. Sergeev
noted that reductions in Russian strategic arms would have been
inevitable even without the START-2 treaty, since two out of
three Soviet missile plants were located in Ukraine, as were
all producers of "combat control and missile guidance systems."
If true, this would suggest that Russia may need Ukrainian parts
to maintain its nuclear weapons as much as Ukraine needs Russian
parts. -John Lepingwell

RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES MILITARY AGREEMENT WITH BELARUS.
The Russian parliament voted on 27 April to ratify an agreement
with Belarus on the coordination of military activities. Commenting
on the treaty, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Boris Gromov noted
that it was "evidence of the high level of military-political
trust and understanding between Russia and Belarus." Belarus
has acknowledged Russian ownership of the nuclear weapons on
Belarusian territory and has been strengthening defense and other
ties to Russia in recent weeks. -John Lepingwell

RUSSIAN NAVY PROTESTS UKRAINIAN NAVAL ACTIONS. Radio Rossii reported
on 27-April that the Russian naval press center has protested
the incorporation of two naval vessels into the Ukrainian Navy.
One of them, an anti-submarine vessel named the "Sposobnyi,"
was described as having belonged to the Russian Pacific Fleet.
The other, a tanker called the "Yelnya," had apparently been
attached to the Black Sea Fleet, and went over to the Ukrainian
navy after members of its crew had taken an oath of allegiance
to Ukraine. The Russian naval press center charged that the actions
were a violation of the Yalta agreement governing the disposition
of the Black Sea Fleet. -Stephen Foye

RUBLE EXCHANGE RATE PASSES 800 MARK. The ruble has dropped another
4% over the last week and a half in trading on the Moscow Interbank
Currency Exchange, according to various Russian and Western news
agencies. The exchange rate ended trading on 27 April at 812
rubles to the dollar. The dollar at present buys more outside
the exchange; on the street in Moscow the exchange rate may be
as high as 850-rubles to the dollar. - Erik Whitlock

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



RUSSIAN SUPREME SOVIET APPROVES PEACEKEEPERS FOR TAJIKISTAN.
On 27 April the Russian Supreme Soviet voted to provide a 500-man
military contingent for peacekeeping duties in Tajikistan in
accord with an agreement reached at the CIS summit in Tashkent
in January, ITAR-TASS reported. The Russian contingent is supposed
to cooperate with similar contingents from the other three states
that agreed to participate, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The first two countries have already sent some troops to Tajikistan;
Kyrgyzstan sent a contingent of border guards, but later withdrew
them. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev was quoted as describing
Tajikistan as a region of particular interest for the Russian
Federation because of the presence of a Russian-speaking population
of more than 200,000. Many of the Russian-speakers fled the country
to escape the civil war, but large-scale outmigration of the
Russian-speaking population had begun already in 1990. -Bess
Brown

TURKMENISTAN SEEKS PETROLEUM INDEPENDENCE. Turkmenistan's President
Saparmurad Niyazov told his Cabinet of Ministers on 27 April
that the country's petroleum industry has to be revived, with
the objective of establishing petroleum independence, ITAR-TASS
reported. Turkmenistan's petroleum industry has been neglected
in recent years as the extraction of natural gas expanded. Niyazov
noted that the country has two potentially major oilfields, the
Amu Darya Basin and the eastern shelf of the Caspian Sea, and
an Argentine firm is doing exploratory drilling in the eastern
part of Turkmenistan. American, Dutch and United Arab Emirates
drilling firms are also engaged in exploratory work in various
parts of Turkmenistan. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



SERBS ATTACK MUSLIM ENCLAVE. International media on 27 and 28
April report that Serbian fighters attacked the mainly Muslim
Bihac area in northwest Bosnia with artillery and ground forces
on 27 April. The BBC's Serbian Service quotes Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic as blaming the action on rogue units or on Muslim
provocations. The area is assigned to the Muslims by the Vance-Owen
plan and was once an outpost of the Ottoman Empire against the
Habsburgs. Relations between Muslims and local Serbs in the "Bihac
pocket" were traditionally good, even during and after World
War II. Also attacked was the nearby town of Velika Kladusa,
the power base of Fikret Abdic, a leading Muslim politician and
protagonist in the Agrokomerc scandal that rocked Yugoslavia
in the mid-1980s. The 28-April Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
carries that report. Finally, the BBC on the 27th noted that
UNPROFOR troops will be allowed to use force against what it
described as human rights violations. -Patrick Moore

NO POPCORN FOR MILOSEVIC? THE SERBIAN DAILIES ON 28 APRIL CONTINUE
TO CONCENTRATE THEIR ATTENTION ON REACTIONS TO AND EVALUATIONS
OF THE NEWLY TIGHTENED SANCTIONS. Western news agencies note
that the United States sought unsuccessfully before the UN Sanctions
Committee to add nonessential foods like beer, caviar, and microwave
popcorn to the list of embargoed items. The committee declined
to go beyond the measures already approved by the Security Council,
but diplomats suggested that shipments of such food items, if
found, were unlikely to be allowed to continue into Serbia-Montenegro.
Elsewhere, Borba says that Macedonia will seek permission from
the UN to establish a "transport corridor" for itself through
Serbia, its main supply route. Macedonia continues to suffer
from a de facto Greek blockade to the south, while plans to improve
the east-west route between Albania and Bulgaria across Macedonia
are only taking shape. Finally, Prince Aleksandar Karadjordjevic,
the heir to the Serbian and Yugoslav throne, has written President
Bill Clinton and Prime Minister John Major to appeal against
any Western military intervention against the Bosnian Serbs.
-Patrick Moore

ROMANIA CALLS FOR COMPENSATION OVER YUGOSLAV SANCTIONS AGAIN.
In London, Economy and Finance Minister Florin Georgescu again
called for Romania to be compensated for the financial losses
it has suffered as a result of the war in former Yugoslavia,
an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 27-April. He said both the
Yugoslav conflict and "outside intervention in the Trans-Dniester
region of Moldova" have had severe consequences for neighboring
countries and created a climate of instability. Speaking at the
annual meeting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development,
Georgescu said the war in Bosnia and the trade embargo had cost
the Romanian economy more than $3-billion. Romania, he added,
needs more guarantees for its security, appropriate economic
compensation and increased capital in-flow from the international
community." Meanwhile, Romania's Central Bank announced on 27-April
that it is freezing transfers to rump Yugoslavia under the tightened
UN sanctions. Emil Ghizari, the deputy director of the bank,
told Reuters that all transfers from Romania to banks in Serbia
and Montenegro will be frozen. The freeze will not affect private
accounts held by Serbs and Montenegrins in Romanian banks. -Michael
Shafir

DANUBE SAGA MYSTERIES. A ship sailing under what Radio Bucharest
said was the Yugoslav flag has left the Danube port of Galati
without permission heading for the Ukrainian port of Ismail on
27 April. With a declared destination of Linz, eight Ukrainian
vessels and one Slovak bottom carrying iron ore loaded in Ismail
are being detained in Galati because they do not meet the conditions
set up by the UN for transiting rump Yugoslav territorial waters.
On the other hand, BTA reported on 27 April that a Romanian tugboat
is under suspicion of intending to break the sanctions. In a
second such incident, the vessel arrived at Vidin without barges
and later requested outward clearance, refusing to identify the
port of departure and its destination. The Bulgarian authorities
suspect that the ship is waiting for a convoy near Vidin to sail
upstream to Serbia under cover of darkness. -Michael Shafir

NATO DENIES HAVING REQUESTED ACCESS TO BULGARIAN BASES. A spokesman
for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on 27 April denied
a report that Bulgaria had been asked to provide air bases or
corridors for strikes against targets in Serbia. Capt. Ulrich
Fricke told an RFE/RL correspondent in Brussels that the allegation,
which appeared in the Bulgarian daily Kontinent on the same day,
has "no substance whatsoever." Fricke admitted that an air corridor
over Bulgaria would make sense from a tactical viewpoint-allowing
NATO to use bases in Turkey-but pointed out that the danger of
growing regional instability is a strong deterrent. He indicated
that NATO is even concerned about the political implications
of requesting to fly surveillance missions over Bulgaria, saying
that setting up bases would be "doubly serious." -Kjell Engelbrekt


CZECH, SLOVAK STATEMENTS ON BOSNIAN CRISIS. On 27 April, the
Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying that
"the Czech Republic is not against even stronger measures aimed
at achieving peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina." The statement, carried
by CTK, further states that the Czech Republic is ready to "offer
support for such measures to the extent corresponding with its
possibilities." The Foreign Ministry also says that the Czech
Republic supports the recently introduced stronger sanctions
against the former Yugoslavia and will carefully observe them.
The statement criticizes the Bosnian Serbs for rejecting the
Vance-Owen peace plan and condemns "ethnic cleansing, mass rape,
and other crimes against civilians." It also expresses full support
for investigating war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina
and for bringing war criminals to justice. Speaking at a press
conference with foreign journalists on 27 April, Slovak President
Michal Kovac said that "bloodshed in Bosnia must be stopped."
He argued that Slovakia should support all steps of the UN Security
Council aimed at stopping the war. Kovac cautioned that he could
not speak for the Slovak parliament but that his support for
resolute actions is "unambiguous." -Jiri Pehe

CSCE PANEL TO EXAMINE MINORITY PROBLEMS IN SLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY.
According to an RFE/RL correspondent's report from Prague on
27 April, Hungary and Slovakia have given tentative agreement
to a proposal by CSCE High Commissioner for Minorities Max van
der Stoel for the creation of a panel of independent experts
to examine the situation of the Magyar minority in Slovakia and
of the Slovak minority in Hungary. The proposal calls for the
panel to serve a minimum period of two years, with a maximum
of four visits per country, obtain information, and hear out
the views of both the governments and the minorities. The panel
will make recommendations to the High Commissioner for Minorities,
who will pass them to the governments involved if he thinks it
necessary. Slovak Foreign Minister Jozef Moravcik said that his
government fully supports the creation of the panel, and so did
his Hungarian counterpart Geza Jeszenszky, who wrote van der
Stoel that the independent panel "can serve as a pattern for
similar evaluations for other countries." -Alfred Reisch

SLOVAK PRESIDENT ON MINORITY ISSUES, ECONOMY. At his press conference
in Bratislava, Michal Kovac said that Slovakia will not grant
autonomy to its Hungarian minority. According to Reuters, Kovac
said that "in all cases in which ethnic minorities' rights are
violated, we will make immediate redress, but the Slovak government
will never accept Hungarian autonomy." The president also announced
that he intends to host roundtable discussions next month with
participants from all ethnic groups living in Slovakia. Kovac
further said that Slovakia's hard currency reserves stand at
$300-400 million and commented on recent statements by Vladimir
Meciar, in which the premier rejected both capitalism and socialism
as models for Slovakia. Kovac argued that Meciar was not advocating
"a third way" for Slovakia, but merely rejected "the 19th century's
kind of capitalism." Kovac assured journalists that Slovakia
"is headed for a market economy, democracy, and prosperity."
-Jiri Pehe

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES SUBMISSION OF GABCIKOVO DISPUTE
TO ICJ. On 27 April by a vote of 209-2-9 parliament approved
without modifications the text of the joint Hungarian-Slovak
agreement to submit the two countries' dispute over the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros
hydroelectric project to the International Court of Justice in
the Hague. Several deputies had criticized the lack of sufficiently
concrete measures concerning the temporary water management system
on the affected section of the Danube, but their proposed amendments
were not considered. -Alfred Reisch

MILITARY SERVICE IN SLOVAKIA TO BE CUT. The government approved
on 27 April the shortening of mandatory military service in Slovakia
from 18 to 12-months. Speaking at a press conference in Bratislava,
Defense Minister Imrich Andrejcak said that the measure will
come into effect on 1 July 1993. Andrejcak pointed out that the
government's decision was not prompted by trying to comply with
the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. He said that the total
number of soldiers in Slovakia is much less than the limit of
56,000 set by the treaty for Slovakia. Jiri Pehe

HUNGARY' RESPONSE TO THE EC MEAT EMBARGO. Minister of Agriculture
Janos Szabo told the European Community on 27 April that his
country can only partially comply with the EC's stricter animal
hygiene requirements for lifting the ban on meat and meat and
dairy products from Eastern Europe that it imposed in early April,
MTI reports. Quarantine of live animals for 15 days prior to
shipment is impractical for small farmers and in the case of
very young animals. Szabo proposed that the EC accept instead
a blood test on 10% of the animals involved. The minister said
Hungary's animal hygiene is adequate and called the EC's stricter
prescriptions discriminatory and unjustified. -Alfred Reisch


POLISH PRIVATIZATION MINISTER THREATENS TO RESIGN. Janusz Lewandowski
announced at a press conference on 27 April that he will resign
if the Sejm votes down the government's revised version of its
mass privatization program. The vote is now scheduled for 29
April, PAP reports. Lewandowski said the defeat of mass privatization
could prompt the withdrawal of the Polish Liberal Program from
the ruling coalition and would open the way for misguided property
distribution schemes. The minister called the upcoming vote a
"political test" for the parliament that would also reveal if
the government "can govern or merely drifts." He said the vote
was still too close to call; the stances of the coalition's Christian
National Union and the opposition Democratic Left are still unclear.
President Lech Walesa told reporters on 27 April that he supports
the idea of a national referendum on privatization. Solidarity
proposed such a referendum, but the government opposes the idea.
-Louisa Vinton

HEALTH CARE WORKERS STRIKE IN WARSAW. In the latest of a series
of protests by employees paid from the state budget, health care
workers staged a two-hour warning strike in Warsaw and the seven
surrounding voivodships on 27 April. The strike was the first
work stoppage by health care workers in postwar Polish history,
according to PAP. The Solidarity unionists who sponsored the
strike reported that three-fourths of clinics and hospitals in
the area took part. The strikers demanded higher wages, increased
funding for health care, and a new health insurance system. On
22 April, teachers at about 70% of Polish schools struck for
a day to protest the "growing pauperization" of education workers.
-Louisa Vinton

ROMANIAN NATIONALIST LEADER CRITICIZES ILIESCU'S HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
VISIT. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, the leader of the extreme nationalist
Greater Romania Party, has threatened to withdraw support for
the government because of President Iliescu's attendance at the
dedication of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, Radio
Bucharest announced on 26 April. In an open letter published
in the party's weekly Romania mare, Tudor said Iliescu's "Jewish
obsession" is ruining Romania. Michael Shafir

MORE MANAGEMENT TURMOIL AT BULGARIAN TV. On 27 April Bulgarian
dailies reported of a new round of management turbulence at Bulgarian
National Television. Following a decision of the BNT Board of
Directors on 26 April, Neri Terzieva, program director of Channel
2, was dismissed. Defending the measure in a TV interview, the
recently appointed BNT General Director Hacho Boyadzhiev said
Terzieva had created an "atmosphere of intolerance" between the
BNT's two channels. On the next day, however, it became clear
that Stefan Dimitrov, program director of Channel 1, had already
handed in his resignation in protest. In early March acting General
Director Militsa Traykova sacked Dimitrov, who nevertheless was
reinstated after a decision by the parliamentary Committee on
Television and Radio. -Kjell Engelbrekt

UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR SAFETY. Finance Minister Grigorii Pyatachenko
has said that it will cost billions of dollars fully to address
safety problems at nuclear power stations in his republic, an
RFE/RL correspondent reports. Pyatachenko was commenting on a
statement by European Bank of Reconstruction and Development
Chairman Jacques Attali on 27 April that the EBRD's fund for
improving safety standards at Eastern nuclear power plants has
so far attracted more than $130 million. -Keith Bush

BALTIC SOLIDARITY WITH LATVIA ON RUSSIAN ACCUSATIONS. Estonian
Prime Minister Mart Laar told BNS on 27 April that both his country
and Lithuania will help Latvia withstand the current propaganda
attack from Russia over the residence permits issue. Laar said
that a decision on Baltic solidarity in such cases was adopted
at the meeting of Baltic prime ministers earlier this month,
and added that the prime ministers had already anticipated problems
from Moscow on two counts: Latvia's desire to gain EC associate
membership and Russia's internal politics. That same day Latvian
parliamentarians continued to criticize the Russian moves, including
the suspension of talks on troop withdrawals. Deputy Ruta Saca-Marjasa
said that the decision under consideration involves, first and
foremost, the active Russian military and the persons connected
with their presence. Deputy Eduards Berklavs said that the introduction
of temporary residence permits would clarify a heretofore vague
situation for Latvia's noncitizens and stressed that the residence
permits would not be used as a coercive measure against non-Latvians.
-Dzintra Bungs

EARLY RUSSIAN REFERENDUM RESULTS IN THE BALTICS. Baltic media
reported on 26-April that the initial counting of the ballots
in Estonia and Latvia on 25-April suggest that most participants
voted against Yeltsin. In Latvia only 4,524 persons cast ballots,
despite the fact that some 12,000 persons have Russian citizenship.
About 80% of those voting indicated that they have no confidence
in Yeltsin and do not support the president's or the government's
policies. Russian ambassador in Riga Aleksandr Rannikh attributed
the small turnout to the fact the most of these Russian citizens
had already left Latvia. Without announcing any preliminary results,
the authorities in Lithuania said that 1,081 of the approximately
4,500 registered Russian citizens in that country voted. In Estonia
8,456 of the registered 30,623 Russian citizens participated,
and preliminary results indicate that about 28% of the participants
supported Yeltsin and about 27% supported his policies. Members
of the Russian forces in the Baltics had completed their voting
in separate balloting centers already by noon on 25 April and
these results will be tallied separately. -Dzintra Bungs

DEPUTIES FROM LITHUANIA'S POLISH REGIONS STILL NOT ELECTED. BNS
reported on 26 April that for various reasons, including voting
irregularities, not a single deputy was elected on 25 April during
the third attempt at holding elections for the local councils
of the Vilnius and Salcininkai raions, heavily populated by Poles,
and the Visaginas settlement with a large Russian population.
It is not clear what the Lithuanian authorities will do to resolve
these matters. -Dzintra Bungs

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Ustina Markus and Charles Trumbull







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