No. 85, 05 May 1993

RUSSIA



YELTSIN AND SUPPORTERS CONDEMN INSTIGATORS OF RIOTS. In a joint
statement reported by Russian TV's "Vesti" program on 4 May,
President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
promised to punish the instigators of the "provocation" which
caused violence at the 1 May demonstrations in Moscow. They linked
what they called the "open attempt of extremist forces" to disrupt
Russian society with the referendum, the results of which these
forces were attempting to negate by violent means. Separately,
the Moscow city government in a statement carried by ITAR-TASS
accused the parliamentary leadership of protecting the instigators
of the violence and of deliberately making a false assessment
of the events in order to discredit the federal government and
the city authorities. -Wendy Slater

KHASBULATOV SPEAKS OF PROVOCATION. Parliamentary speaker Ruslan
Khasbulatov defended himself on Russian TV on 4 May against allegations
by members of the presidential staff that the parliamentary leadership
had provoked the street riots during the 1-May demonstrations.
He accused the Moscow city administration of having provoked
these confrontations in order to divert the prosecutor's office,
the interior and security ministries away from corruption investigations.
He also stated that the new Russian Constitution would be adopted
by the Congress "without haste" and in consultation with a broad
variety of political forces, and pledged that deputies would
conduct economic reform together with the president. He added
that the parliament had always supported "the most resolute reform
steps." Alexander Rahr

PARLIAMENTARY INVESTIGATION BEGINS. The commission set up by
Khasbulatov to investigate the "use of force against participants
in a peaceful demonstration on 1 May" held a session on 4 May,
ITAR-TASS reported. The head of the Moscow health department
told the commission that 579 people had asked for medical help
after the disturbances. There had been no fatalities, but one
police officer was in a critical condition. In a separate meeting
the same day reported by ITAR-TASS deputies from reformist factions
in the parliament decided to ask the parliamentary session due
on 5 May to strip those deputies who organized the demonstrations
of their parliamentary immunity. Vyacheslav Volkov, deputy head
of the presidential administration, told Ekho Moskvy that the
deputies had urged the Moscow Mayor's office to prevent a further
demonstration planned for 9 May (Victory Day). -Wendy Slater


CHRISTOPHER IN MOSCOW. US Secretary of State Warren Christopher
arrived in Moscow on 4 May for talks with Russian President Boris
Yeltsin on the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Christopher's stop
in Moscow follows visits to other European leaders in an effort
to find support for possible Western military intervention in
Bosnia. Deputy Foreign Minister and special Yugoslav talks envoy
Vitalii Churkin complained on 4 May that Washington had not yet
offered Moscow any details of US ideas on intervention. He also
assured reporters that the talks between Christopher, Kozyrev,
and Yeltsin would consist of "a dialogue, not a monologue," AFP
reported on 5 May. The talks between Christopher and Russian
officials started on 5 May. -Suzanne Crow

SIDOROVA ON RUSSIAN POSITION. Russia is hopeful that the agreement
reached in Athens on a settlement to the conflict in former Yugoslavia
will prompt the Serbs to fulfill the Vance-Owen peace plan, Galina
Sidorova, an adviser to the Russian Foreign Minister said on
4 May. Sidorova would not comment on possible alternative actions
which might be necessary should the Bosnian Serbs fail to ratify
or fulfill agreements reached. Asked what Russia's position would
be in the UN Security Council on a possible vote to use military
force in Bosnia, Sidorova said only, "the Foreign Ministry will
be guided by President [Yeltsin's] position," RIA reported. -Suzanne
Crow

RUSSIA TESTING SECOND SUB FOR IRAN. Reuters reported on 4 May
that a second Russian Kilo class submarine is currently undergoing
sea trials in the Baltic Sea. The news agency quoted Western
sources as questioning whether the deal would go through, as
Iran has paid for only one submarine so far and Russia was under
Western pressure to halt the sale. However, there is also substantial
pressure within Russia for continued arms sales. Russian officials
have expressed resentment at Western attempts to limit arms sales
and have called for preferential treatment for Russian arms in
world markets. -John Lepingwell

RADIATION HAZARD FROM REACTORS ON SEABED ASSESSED. Two researchers
from the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory report that radioactive materials may have leaked
from 16 sunken Soviet nuclear reactors. Leaked materials could
contaminate fish, which might then be consumed by humans. But
while the total contamination in the Arctic region may be as
high as 900,000 curies, the scientists noted that the risk to
humans remains quite low. The study was reported by Reuters on
4 May. -John Lepingwell

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



ARMENIAN TROOPS BEGIN WITHDRAWAL FROM KELBADZHAR. In compliance
with last week's UN Security Council resolution, Armenian troops
have begun to withdraw from the Kelbadzhar region of Azerbaijan
which they occupied in late March, AzerTadzh reported on 4-May,
but the Azerbaijani presidential press service claimed that Armenia
continued to subject villages in the Kazakh and Zangelan raions
to artillery fire. Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Tofik Gasymov
met in Ankara with his Turkish counterpart Hikmet Cetin on 4-May
to discuss the new US/Turkish/Russian peace plan for Karabakh,
AFP reported. -Liz Fuller

SABOTAGE AT WEST GEORGIAN POWER STATION. An explosion at Inguri
HES in western Georgia, which supplies up to 40% of Georgia's
electricity, caused widespread power blackouts in Tbilisi and
elsewhere in Georgia during the night of 4-5 May, Western agencies
reported. Unnamed Georgian officials were quoted as stating that
the explosion was probably the work of supporters of ousted Georgian
president Zviad Gamsakhurdia. -Liz Fuller

FIGHTING IN TAJIKISTAN. An Su-24 fighter plane shot down on 3
May by a Stinger missile fired from Afghanistan was part of Tajikistan's
Air Force, not that of Uzbekistan as originally reported, Tajikistan's
Ministry of Defense announced on 4 May according to Khovar-TASS.
The ministry also complained of "incompetent reporting" that
had misidentified the plane. Western agencies on 3 May quoted
a report from Russian border troops in Tajikistan that 50 opposition
fighters had been killed in fighting near the Tajik-Afghan border.
The 50 were reported to be part of a group of 300 opposition
Tajiks and their Afghan supporters who had slipped over the border
at the end of April. In a press briefing on 4-May, Tajik Prime
Minister Abdumalik Abdullodzhonov repeated a government charge
that opposition leaders have set up a government-in-exile in
Afghanistan. -Bess Brown

NEW EDUCATIONAL POLICY IN TURKMENISTAN. Turkmenistan's President
Saparmurad Niyazov told a group of educational specialists that
the country's educational system needs to be overhauled in order
to create the "brain bank" needed by an independent state, ITAR-TASS
reported on 4 May. Part of Niyazov's plan is a requirement that
all citizens of Turkmenistan be competent in Turkmen, English,
and Russian. The system of special secondary education is to
be abolished, and entrance exams for higher education are to
be replaced by a system of selecting likely candidates in their
local schools. The educational reform is to coincide with the
introduction of a Latin alphabet for the Turkmen language in
1996. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BOSNIAN SERBS PREPARE TO VOTE ON PEACE PLAN. On 4 May deputies
of the Assembly of the self-declared Serb Republic of Bosnia
held stormy consultative meetings in the run-up to its two-day
session that begins on the 5th. The assembly will take another
vote on whether to accept the Vance-Owen peace plan for Bosnia-the
plan was rejected twice earlier. Most Bosnian Serb leaders are
wary of predicting the outcome of the vote, but statements by
Assembly President Momcilo Krajisnik suggest a grudging acceptance
of the Vance-Owen plan even by hard-liners such as Krajisnik
himself. In an interview with Radio Serbia on 4 May, Krajisnik
admitted that the leadership feels compelled to bow to the threat
of outside military intervention. He added that there are positive
arguments for accepting the plan, such as "guarantees" that UN
rather than Croatian or Muslim forces would be sent to areas
currently populated by Serbs or held by the Bosnian Serb army
and the possibility of renegotiating the borders of the ten proposed
provinces. He earlier told a radio talk show, "we have to change
the way we act. We should not use force anymore. We should choose
the diplomatic way to achieve our goals." Serbian president Slobodan
Milosevic, other top federal, Serbian and Montenegrin leaders,
and Greek Prime Minister Constantine Mitsotakis have been invited
to attend the Assembly session. Mitsotakis arrived in Belgrade
on 4 May, for high-level meetings with Serbian officials. -Milan
Andrejevich

BELGRADE PRESSES ON THROUGH BROADCAST MEDIA. In an effort to
demonstrate its backing for the Vance-Owen plan, Belgrade is
also applying pressure on the Bosnian Serbs through the broadcast
media in Serbia-Montenegro. In recent days, political leaders
and commentators have been unanimously praising the plan, welcoming
the prospect of peace, and urging the Bosnian Serbs to vote for
the plan. Exaggerated attention is being paid to supporters of
the plan, while opponents, such as Vojislav Seselj, have been
virtually ignored on TV and radio broadcasts. Goran Hadzic, president
of the self-declared Republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia and
a strong ally of the Bosnian Serbs (as well as of Milosevic)
is also calling for the Bosnian Serbs to accept the peace plan.
Hadzic and most Serb leaders earlier criticized the plan saying
that it punishes the Serbs and ignores "legitimate Serb interests."
-Milan Andrejevich

SANCTIONS CHOKE BULGARIAN-ROMANIAN BORDER. An RFE/RL correspondent
in Sofia reports that the tightened United Nations embargo, prohibiting
all forms of freight traffic through rump Yugoslavia, is already
causing serious jams at Bulgarian- Romanian crossing points.
The correspondent said that on 4 May 10kilometer-long queues
of vehicles accumulated on both sides of the Danube bridge at
the Ruse-Giurgiu crossing, and that a similar situation arose
at the Vidin-Calafat ferry. On the same day Bulgarian and Romanian
customs officials met in Giurgiu to discuss the increasingly
difficult traffic situation. -Kjell Engelbrekt

CZECH GENERAL STAFF COMMANDER RESIGNS. Defense Minister Antonin
Baudys announced on 4 May that the commander of the Czech Army
General Staff, Lt. Gen. Karel Pezl, has resigned, CTK reports.
No official reason was given for Pezl's resignation but Baudys
told journalists that "new men are needed" in the army leadership
to "formulate a new long-term military policy." The defense minister
announced that he is preparing the creation of a rapid deployment
force and stressed that the armed forces need additional funds.
He said that the current budget of 23 billion koruny is not sufficient
to maintain the necessary training standards of the army and
air force, not to speak of the required modernization of the
armed forces. Baudys pointed out that his ministry would need
at least an additional 5 billion koruny this year. Prime Minister
Vaclav Klaus ruled out any increases of the military budget several
weeks ago. -Jan Obrman

CZECH REPUBLIC UNABLE TO COPE WITH REFUGEES? THE INTERIOR MINISTRY
OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC HAS INDICATED THAT THE COUNTRY MIGHT NOT
BE ABLE TO COPE WITH THE TIDE OF REFUGEES EXPECTED AFTER GERMANY
ALTERS ITS ASYLUM LAWS, REUTERS REPORTED ON 4 MAY. Ministry spokeswoman
Beata Bernikova said that "supportive measures" are under preparation,
but they will not be effective by the time Germany plans to introduce
its new legislation this summer. Bernikova announced that a camp
is under construction to hold illegal immigrants expelled from
Germany. But she said the single most important step is a tightening
of the Czech-Slovak border. She added that negotiations with
Slovakia on this issue "are going nowhere." -Jan Obrman

MELESCANU IN SLOVAKIA. Romanian Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu
arrived for a two-day official visit in Slovakia, TASR reported
on 4 May. Melescanu met with Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar and
was scheduled to hold talks with President Michal Kovac. After
the meeting Meciar told reporters that a cooperation treaty with
Romania is under preparation to be signed during a visit by Romania's
President Ion Iliescu to Slovakia in the near future. Meciar
also plans to visit Romania soon. Melescanu said that Romania
will, like Slovakia, only sign a treaty with Hungary if it includes
a provision on the inviolability of the borders. Both officials
confirmed the mutual interest in an extension of economic cooperation.
Radio Bucharest stressed that the relations between the two states
are free of conflicts and that Romania was among the first countries
to recognize Slovakia. -Jan Obrman and Dan Ionescu

ROMANIA RECEIVES EC FINANCIAL AID FOR REFORMS. Karen Fogg, an
official of the European Community's aid program for reforming
Eastern European economies, said on 4-May in Bucharest that Romania
is likely to receive over $160 million in aid from the program
this year. Fogg told reporters that aid from the EC program,
known as PHARE, will concentrate on medium- and long-term support
for economic reforms, with special focus on enterprise reform,
privatization, and the development of financial infrastructure.
The new aid program to cover the period 1993-95 is expected to
be signed in Brussels on 11 May. In another development, an additional
protocol to the association agreement between Romania and the
EC was signed on 4 May in Brussels. The protocol regulates the
imports of Romanian textiles in the EC over the next five years.
After this period, textile imports will be completely liberalized.
-Dan Ionescu

ROMANIAN STRIKE UPDATE. A general strike scheduled to begin on
5 May was delayed for 48 hours by four of Romania's main trade
union confederations. The grace period is designed to allow a
possible understanding between the government and the unions
over offsetting the effects of the final price liberalization
round which took place on 1 May. Two other federations, however,
decided to go ahead with plans for a strike. Tens of thousands
of drivers and medical workers are expected to work off their
jobs today to press pay demands to compensate for the recent
price rises. In the meantime, the strike of Bucharest's subway
workers continues. -Dan Ionescu

QUEEN ELIZABETH IN HUNGARY. Queen Elizabeth-II continues her
four-day state visit to Hungary, MTI reports. At a gala dinner
in the parliament building on the evening of 4 May, President
Arpad Goncz termed the visit a "prominent event in Hungarian-British
relations," while the Queen spoke of her Hungarian great-great-grandmother
and of the historic ties between the two countries. -Edith Oltay


VAN DEN BROEK IN HUNGARY. On 5 May, EC Commissioner for External
Relations and Security Hans van den Broek paid a one-day visit
to Hungary, MTI reports. Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky told
van den Broek that Hungary hopes the EC will help the Visegrad
Group join the community. Prime Minister Jozsef Antall pledged
that Hungary would do its best to adjust its political, legal,
and economic system of institutions to the standards of the EC
"already in the association period." Van den Broek told reporters
following his talks that the countries of Central and Eastern
Europe should be patient in their bid to join the EC, and that
setting dates for entry talks would be premature, Western news
agencies report. In a separate development, the Hungarian Prime
Minister's Office issued a statement announcing the lifting of
a ban on meat and milk imports from EC countries effective 5
May. Hungary introduced the ban last month after the EC imposed
a similar ban on East European meat and milk products following
an outbreak of hoof-and-mouth disease. The EC conditionally lifted
its ban late last month. -Edith Oltay

HUNGARIAN-GERMAN MILITARY TIES. Fritz Wittmann, chairman of the
Bundestag's defense committee, held talks in Budapest on 3 and
4 May on security problems in Central Europe and the former Yugoslavia
with Hungarian Defense Minister Lajos Fur, Prime Minister Jozsef
Antall, and Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky, MTI reports. He
also met with the parliamentary defense committee and informed
Jeno Laszlo, Chairman of Hungary's Military Industry Office,
that Germany would soon start shipping the parts from the stocks
of the former East German Army that Bonn agreed to give Budapest
earlier this year; according to Wittmann, the topic of a cooperation
between the two countries' arms industries did not come up. -Alfred
Reisch

HUNGARIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES TREATY WITH UKRAINE. Hungary's parliament
held a "sharp" three-hour plenary debate on the 1991 friendship
treaty with Ukraine, which is up for ratification, MTI and Radio
Budapest report. Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky stressed the
importance of the treaty in ensuring good relations between the
two countries, and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk's "personal
assurances" regarding the rights and cultural autonomy of Transcarpathia's
Magyar minority. Jozsef Torgyan, chairman of the Smallholders'
Party, and several Hungarian Democratic Forum deputies proposed
to amend the treaty because of an article stating that both sides
renounced all territorial claims against each other, while several
opposition deputies favor ratification of the treaty. The ratification
debate has been postponed to a later, not yet announced date.
-Alfred Reisch

UKRAINE RETURNS GERMAN CULTURAL TREASURES. Prime Minister Leonid
Kuchma met with German President Richard von Weizsaecker and
other federal officials in Bonn on 4-May and returned to Germany
cultural treasures that had been taken by the Soviet Union during
World War-II, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. Kuchma
is at the head of a Ukrainian delegation visiting Germany in
connection with the days of Ukraine in Bavaria that begin on
5 May. According to the newspaper, Kuchma was also laying the
groundwork in Bonn for Chancellor Helmut Kohl's planned visit
to Kiev in June. -Roman Solchanyk

LALUMIéRE IN BELARUS. Secretary General of the Council of Europe
Catherine Lalumi�re arrived in Belarus on an official visit,
Postfaktum Radie reported on 3 May. During her stay she met with
Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislau Shushkevich, Minister of Foreign
Affairs Petr Krauchenka, national deputies, and representatives
of political parties and movements. The visit focused on questions
relating to Belarus's entry into the European Community. Responding
to a question from Lalumi�re, Shushkevich responded that he does
not see entry into EC as conflicting with Belarus maintaining
its traditional close ties with Russia. -Ustina Markus

POLISH COALITION WOOS PEASANT ALLIANCE. The cabinet agreed on
4 May to raise minimum purchase prices on rye and wheat, provided
the Peasant Alliance returns to the ruling coalition, Polish
TV reports. This concession, essentially a promise of increased
subsidies for farmers, would satisfy one of the Peasant Alliance's
four conditions for returning to the government. Deputy Prime
Minister Henryk Goryszewski acknowledged that the bargain is
"risky" and could result in higher food prices. But he suggested
that the decision was worth taking if it restores the coalition
to its previous strength. If the Peasant Alliance turns down
the offer, minimum grain prices will remain at their current
level. The coalition meets on 5 May to discuss the issue. The
daily Nowa Europa criticized the government's decision as an
"economic absurdity" and called the proposed bargain "especially
disturbing proof of the primacy of politics over economics."
-Louisa Vinton

PUBLIC SERVANTS, WALBRZYCH REGION ON STRIKE. Polish teachers
began a general strike on 5-May to demand cost-of-living increases
and the retraction of a government decision to cut the wage fund
by 5% in 1993. Teachers in many regions walked out a day early,
PAP reports. The strike is sponsored by Solidarity as part of
a national protest by employees paid from the state budget, whose
earnings now amount to about 85% of the national average. Education
Minister Zdobyslaw Flisowski appealed to teachers to return to
work to allow students to take their final exams. Other education
officials argued that many of the teachers' demands have already
been met and that the 1993 budget allows little leeway for additional
wage increases. Meanwhile, some 40 firms answered Solidarity's
call for a general strike in the Walbrzych region on 4 May. The
strike is legal; 80% of the work force in 140 firms voted to
strike in a referendum. The strikers are demanding more rapid
government action to restructure the region, which faces high
unemployment because of mine closings. -Louisa Vinton

POLISH ECONOMIC GROWTH CONTINUES. Polish industrial production
was 5.5% higher in the first quarter of 1993 than in the comparable
period the previous year, PAP reports. At a press conference
on 30-April, officials from the main statistical office (GUS)
reported that GDP, profits, and productivity all rose in the
first three months of 1993. Negative trends persisted in agriculture,
construction, and foreign trade, while inflation and unemployment
remained high. Poland posted a first-quarter trade deficit of
$380 million; prices rose 10% (compared to 11.5% in the first
quarter of 1992); and real wages dropped 1.5%. The central planning
office (CUP) predicted on 30 April that real wages will drop
5% in 1993: a recipe for labor unrest. CUP also confirmed that
Polish GDP was 0.5-2.0% higher in 1992 than in 1991. Polish officials
pointed out proudly that Poland was one of the few countries
in the world to post markedly improved economic results in 1992.
-Louisa Vinton

WORLD BANK APPROVES $750-MILLION LOAN FOR POLAND. The World Bank's
executive board on 4 May approved $750 million in loans to support
Poland's economic transformation program, Western agencies report.
The decision followed the Sejm vote to accept the government's
mass privatization program; this was treated as a litmus test
of Poland's political will to pursue reform. The bank approved
a $300-million loan designed to ease the transition of Poland's
agricultural sector and a $450-million loan to support the government's
enterprise restructuring program. This program is intended to
ease the debt woes of state-owned enterprises, remedy banking
system portfolio problems, and clarify the governance and ownership
requirements of stockholder-owned enterprises. The World Bank
said the loans raise its commitment to Poland to a total of $3.5
billion since 1990. -Louisa Vinton

WORLD BANK: VARIABLE RECOVERY RATES IN BALTICS. John Hansen,
senior economist of the World Bank, told BNS on 27 April that
the three Baltic States are each following their own pace on
the road to economic recovery: Estonia leads the other two by
almost a year, with Latvia coming in second, and Lithuania bringing
up the rear. He added that the pace of recovery hinges on how
quickly each country is able to get off the starting block as
well as its discipline and commitment to make changes. With the
collapse of the USSR, Hansen said, Lithuania lost its petroleum
supplier and its partner for 85% of its trade. Hansen cautioned
that despite exemplary progress in some areas, Estonia is still
not out of the woods; the country must still complete its privatization
drive and economic restructuring-changes that will probably result
in rising unemployment. On 30 April IMF official Ernesto Hern‡ndez-Cata,
told the press in Riga that the Baltic States have achieved considerable
progress in stabilizing their economies in contrast to the rest
of the former USSR, where he sees little prospect for improvements
in the near future. -Dzintra Bungs

LITHUANIA YIELDS TO IMF ON SALARY INCREASES. After several talks
with an IMF delegation on a visit in Lithuania until 7 May to
view Lithuania's adherence to the economic memorandum approved
last year, Prime Minister Adolfas Slezevicius indicated that
the promised 40% increase in pay and benefits would probably
be reduced to 10-15%, Radio Lithuania reports. Moreover, the
reduced increases, costing about 1-1.5 billion coupons, would
be paid from the Lithuanian budget and not from IMF credits.
More disagreements with the IMF are likely since the memorandum
stresses the need for tight monetary control to speed up the
introduction of a national currency while the government has
been raising salaries and benefits to compensate for inflation.
-Saulius Girnius

LITHUANIANS IN HOT WATER? ON 4 MAY AT A MEETING WITH RAION LEADERS,
PRIME MINISTER ADOLFAS SLEZEVICIUS ADMITTED THAT HE HAD ISSUED
A DECREE CALLING FOR THE RESTORATION OF HOT WATER SUPPLIES WITHOUT
PROPERLY INVESTIGATING THE CONSEQUENCES, THE RFE/RL LITHUANIAN
SERVICE REPORTS. Water usage is not metered, and fees are not
based on the quantity used, but on an assumed usage rate of 110
liters a day per household member. Because of the high costs
of hot water, many people would simply refuse to pay, and the
authorities in many raions thus did not restore hot water supplies.
Slezevicius said he supports supplying hot water for two-day
periods twice a month, but this may not be economical due to
the increased costs of frequently stopping and restarting water
heaters. -Saulius Girnius

LATVIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER VOTED DOWN. Following the proposal
of the Supreme Council's Agriculture and Forestry Commission
to review the work of Agriculture Minister Dainis Gegers, on
4 May in a vote of 62-16-42, the Supreme Council expressed no
confidence in Gegers. BNS and Diena reported that day. Deputy
Anna Seile said that the voting also reflected the deputies'
opinion of the government's agricultural policies. Gegers was
blamed in particular for the government's inability to repay
its debts to farmers, the policy on grain imports, shortage of
fuel for spring sowing, and the lack of consultation with farmers
on crucial issues. Some deputies, however, argued that this vote
was a preelection ploy that would not really help resolve Latvia's
agricultural problems. In another personnel shift, Diena reported
on 4 May of the resignation of Ilze Jurkane as president of Latvia's
Investment Bank. The acting president will be Aivars Jurcans,
heretofore the bank's legal counselor. -Dzintra Bungs

RETIRED US OFFICER TO HEAD ESTONIA'S ARMED FORCES. On 4 May by
a vote of 82-0-1 the Estonian parliament appointed a retired
US officer, 61-year-old Estonian-America Col. Alexander Einselm,
as commander-in-chief of the Estonian defense forces, Western
agencies report. The US embassy in Tallinn reported that Secretary
of State Warren Christopher had denied Einselm's request for
US governmental approval for this move. Einselm, a veteran of
the Korean and Vietnam wars, emphasized his view that the defense
forces should stay out of politics. Saulius Girnius

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Wendy Slater and Charles Trumbull



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