No. 99, 26 May 1993

RUSSIA



NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PREPARATION OF RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION. 419
amendments have been proposed so far to President Boris Yeltsin's
draft constitution, chief of the president's administration Sergei
Filatov told journalists on 25 May. These amendments, most of
which concern powers of the president as stipulated by the draft
constitution, will be discussed at a Constitutional Assembly
scheduled to open on 5 June. ITAR-TASS quoted Filatov as saying
that 83 out of 89-Russia's republics and regions were basically
supporting Yeltsin's draft. The secretary of the parliamentary
Constitutional Commission, Oleg Rumyantsev, who is working on
an alternative draft constitution, stated, however, that none
of the 20 areas that have sent their suggestions about the new
constitution to the parliamentary commission thought that Yeltsin's
draft should be the basis of a new constitution. It is also known
that at least 12 republics of the Russian Federation have strongly
objected to the president's draft. Meanwhile, the hard-line National
Salvation Front intends to convene on 3-June its own Constitutional
Assembly to discuss the possiblity of adopting "a Soviet socialist
constitution," the Russian media reported. -Vera Tolz

LUKYANOV TO ATTEND CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY? ACCORDING TO AN OSTANKINO
TV NEWSCAST OF 25 MAY, ONLY TWO POLITICAL GROUPINGS HAVE SO FAR
OFFICIALLY REJECTED THE OFFER TO ATTEND THE CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY
TO BE OPEN ON 5 JUNE: THE ORTHODOX COMMUNIST UNITED FRONT OF
WORKERS AND THE ULTRA-NATIONALIST NATIONAL SALVATION FRONT. Yet
another hard-core organization, the Russian All-People Union
led by the leader of the conservative parliamentary opposition
Sergei Baburin has opted to send Anatolii Lukyanov as its representative
at the Constitutional Assembly, Russian TV reported the same
day. Former chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet and now on trial
for his alleged involvement in the August 1991 attempted coup
d'etat, Lukyanov is a specialist in constitutional law by training.
-Julia Wishnevsky

GAIDAR TO YAROSLAVL. Former acting Prime Minister Egor Gaidar
has been invited, together with members of his economic institute
to work out a reform program for the region of Yaroslavl, Rossiiskaya
gazeta reported on 26 May. The local leaders of Yaroslavl want
to follow the example of fruitfull cooperation between economist
Grigorii Yavlinsky and the local authorities of Nizhnii Novgorod.
Yaroslavl belongs to Russia's ten most economically progressive
regions. The participation of Yavlinsky in Nizhnii Novgorod's
economic reform policy has attracted attention and some Western
capital investment. Gaidar, who is presently in Tokyo, said that
Russian democrats are very close to the formation of a broadly-based
"political structure" which will enable them to organize more
efficiently, ITAR-TASS reported on 25 May. -Alexander Rahr

TOKYO AND MOSCOW: MORE RECRIMINATIONS. Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev on 25-May criticized remarks made the previous day by
Hiroshi Mitsuzuka, a leader of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic
Party. According to AFP, Kozyrev characterized Mitsuzuka's demand
for a formal apology over Boris Yeltsin's twice postponed trip
to Japan as "inappropriate" and "crude." Kozyrev's comments were
seconded by Evgenii Ambartsumov, the head of the Russian parliament's
committee on foreign relations. In Tokyo, meanwhile, visiting
former acting Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar told Liberal
Democratic Party legislators that Russia could not resolve its
longstanding dispute with Japan over disposition of the Kuril
Islands until at least half of the Russian public backs such
an agreement. As quoted by Kyodo on 25 May, he added that "democratic
politicians cannot ignore three-quarters of the voters." Gaidar
said that negotiations over the issue were also complicated by
the confrontation between the executive and legislative branches
in Russia, and he suggested that any initiatives made by Moscow
could worsen Russia's domestic political confrontation. -Stephen
Foye

MILITARY DOCTRINE DELAYED AGAIN? THE CHAIRMAN OF THE PARLIAMENTARY
COMMITTEE ON DEFENSE AND SECURITY, SERGEI STEPASHIN, TOLD ITAR-TASS
ON 25-MAY THAT THE NEW DRAFT MILITARY DOCTRINE IS "JUST A DRAFT"
BUT THAT HIS COMMITTEE HAS ALREADY HELD PRELIMINARY HEARINGS
ON IT. Apparently the committee is not pleased with the draft,
since Stepashin noted that it is still being revised and further
developed so that it can again be examined by the Russian Security
Council and then the parliament sometime in the fall. Stepashin
stressed that the new doctrine had to emphasize "human aspects"
of military policy and the impermissibility of the use of force
to resolve political problems. Stepashin's comments are rather
unexpected, as work on the doctrine was supposedly completed
over a month ago, and in Krasnaya zvezda on 25 May Defense Minister
Pavel Grachev stated that the Security Council had already examined
the political side of the doctrine, and only the military-technical
side remained to be considered. Grachev also claimed that the
combat readiness of the military had increased significantly
over the past year, although he admitted that substantial problems
remained. -John Lepingwell

MORE ON GOVERNMENT-CENTRAL BANK DECLARATION. Further details
were released on 25 May of the agreement reached last week between
the government and the Central Bank. ITAR-TASS cited extracts
from the text of the document, and Russian and Western agencies
reported Deputy Prime Minister Boris Fedorov's elaborations at
a news conference in Moscow. Among the measures proposed to reduce
the budget deficit to about 11 trillion rubles are a 40% reduction
in import subsidies starting 4 June, unspecified cuts in subsidies
on coal and bread, and a possible moratorium on additional government
spending during the second half of the year. The Bank will set
its base rate 7 percentage points below the market rate and will
not intervene to support the exchange rate. Enterprises will
henceforth have to seek credits through the government and not
through the Central Bank. Fedorov hoped to reduce inflation to
5% a month by the end of 1993. -Keith Bush

LATEST FIGURES ON INCOME AND POVERTY IN RUSSIA. According to
Goskomstat figures, reported by ITAR-TASS on 25 May, the increase
in nominal money income was lower than the increase in consumer
prices in the first quarter of 1993: money income rose by 1.4-times,
and prices by 1.9 times. The subsistence level in March was calculated
to be approximately 8,000 rubles (monthy per capita income).
One in three Russians had an average per capita income below
this, and 42% of all families with children under 16 were living
below the poverty line. (24% of families with one child, 47%
of those with two children, and 72% of those with three or more
children.) The position of non-working pensioners and invalids
also remains critical. -Sheila Marnie

RUBLE FALLS FURTHER. At the 25 May session of the Moscow Interbank
Currency Exchange, the ruble fell to 960 to the dollar, against
940 rubles on 20 May, Western agencies reported. The Russian
Central Bank was reported to have intervened to support the ruble,
despite the pledge contained in last week's agreement between
the bank and the government. -Keith Bush

TATARSTAN PARLIAMENT ON DRAFT RUSSIAN CONSTITUTION. The Tatarstan
parliament adopted a resolution on 25 May stating that work on
the draft Russian constitution should continue taking account
of the "unifying principles" of the presidential and parliamentary
drafts and the proposals of the subjects of the federation, ITAR-TASS
reported. The parliament also decided that the federal organs
of the Russian Federation must accord official recognition to
Tatarstan's new state status, and that the draft constitution
must include reference to the "treaty-constitutional relations"
between Tatarstan and Russia. The question of Tatarstan's "state
status" has been the sticking point in talks between Moscow and
Tatarstan that have been going on for over a year now with no
real sign of a compromise. -Ann Sheehy

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES



UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY DENIES DISMISSAL OF NAVY COMMANDER.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Aleksandr Kluban,
denied that Vice-Admiral Boris Kozhin is to be dismissed for
violations of the Yalta agreements on the Black Sea Fleet, ITAR-TASS
reported on 25 May. However, ITAR-TASS and other Russian media
were still reporting that sources in Moscow and Sevastopol expect
Vice-Admiral Vladimir Beskaravainii to retire from the Russian
navy and join that of Ukraine, despite the denials that he is
to take over Kozhin's position. An RFE/RL correspondent reports
that the first deputy chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Vasyl
Durdynets, stated during a visit to Washington that the dispute
over the fleet can be solved, although he reiterated Ukraine's
refusal to allow Russia a naval base at Sevastopol. -Ustina Markus
and John Lepingwell

GRACHEV COMMENTS ON THE BLACK SEA FLEET DISPUTE. Russian Defense
Minister Pavel Grachev on 25 May stated that the situation in
the Black Sea Fleet "should not be dramatized." He noted that
under the Yalta and Dagomys agreements the Ukrainian and Russian
Defense Ministers do not command the fleet since it is directly
subordinate to the presidents of the two states. From this perspective,
Ukrainian Defense Minister Konstantin Morozov's 20 May order
that the ships flying the Russian naval ensign be removed from
Ukrainian waters would seem to be invalid. He noted that a meeting
between Yeltsin and Kravchuk might be held in order to attempt
to resolve the problem. Grachev's comments were reported in Krasnaya
zvezda on 25 May. Russian TV has also tended to devote little
time to the dispute over the fleet, suggesting that the situation
is not yet critical. -John Lepingwell

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



RUSSIA, TAJIKISTAN SIGN FRIENDSHIP TREATY. On 25 May Russian
President Boris Yeltsin and Tajik parliament chairman Imomali
Rakhmonov signed a treaty on friendship, cooperation, and mutual
assistance plus seven other agreements on economic, scientific,
and technical cooperation and on the status of Russian frontier
troops in Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS reported. -Liz Fuller

YELTSIN, TER-PETROSSYAN DISCUSS BILATERAL RELATIONS, KARABAKH.
Yeltsin held talks in Moscow on 25 May with his Armenian counterpart
Levon Ter-Petrossyan, ITAR-TASS reported. The topics discussed
included bilateral relations and a possible reduction in the
number of Russian troops stationed in Armenia. Although the original
agenda did not provide for discussion of the Nagorno-Karabakh
war, the two men both called for the immediate implementation
of UN resolution 822 on Karabakh, which foresees an immediate
ceasefire, the withdrawal of Armenian forces from the occupied
Azerbaijani region of Kelbadzhar, and an end to the economic
blockade of Armenia. This latter point does not figure in the
joint US-Russian-Turkish peace proposal, to which official responses
are due today. Armenian First Deputy Foreign Minister Zhirair
Liparidian is quoted by ITAR-TASS as having stated in an interview
in the newspaper Hayastani Hanrabedutyun on 25 May that Armenia
had not yet come to a decision on whether or not to endorse the
plan. -Liz Fuller

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BOSNIAN AND CROATIAN UPDATE. The BBC on 26-May reports that the
UN Security Council voted the previous night to set up an international
war crimes tribunal for the Yugoslav area. It would be the first
such body since the Nuremberg trials, but many observers have
suggested that it would have tough going for a number of reasons.
These include the difficulty in collecting information against
the Serbs in areas under their control and the virtual impossibility
of bringing Serbian officials still in power to trial. Meanwhile,
Sarajevo Radio said on 25 May that the Serb offensive against
Maglaj in north-central Bosnia continued into its fourth day,
while the Croatian news agency Hina says that Serbian units have
been "staging provocations" in the Gospic area of the Krajina.
That same day the BBC's Croatian Service reported on new tensions
between Croatia and Slovenia over the former's setting up a new
border post in an area that the latter claims. The Slovene foreign
ministry warned the Croats of unspecified countermeasures unless
work ceases, but the Croats are anxious to finish the job in
time for the summer tourist traffic. Relations between the two
republics are strained ostensibly by a number of such essentially
minor issues, but the real reason is the mistrust stemming from
each side's perception that the other left it in the lurch in
their 1991 wars for independence. -Patrick Moore

KOSOVO DEVELOPMENTS. On 21 May Ibrahim Rugova, president of the
self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, told reporters that the founding
session of parliament will be held "at the most opportune moment"
because of "pressure from abroad to do this soon." Kosovo Albanians
are not demanding unification with Albania, he said, but rather
just an independent Kosovo, and Albanians do not intend to pay
for independence by waging war. Meanwhile, Kosovo "prime minister"
Bujar Bukosi has introduced a new 8point peace plan. According
to Borba on 22 May, the new plan differs from an earlier 10-point
proposal in that it calls for Kosovo to be placed under international
protection and drops claims for the Albanians' right to self-determination.
Bukosi also reiterated Albanian accusations of Serbian ethnic
cleansing in the region. On 25 May Vitalii Churkin, Russia's
special envoy for Bosnia, met with Rugova and top Kosovo Serb
officials in Pristina. Rugova expressed satisfaction with the
talks, while Churkin urged the granting of greater autonomy for
Kosovo within the framework of Serbia and urged Serbs to respect
human rights, but warned against secession. ITAR-TASS quotes
Churkin as suggesting that most of the accusations leveled at
the Serbs regarding oppression of the Albanians "are simply made
up." -Milan Andrejevich

DRASKOVIC SAYS SESELJ WILL "SET KOSOVO ABLAZE." Vuk Draskovic,
leader of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement (SPO), told
a gathering of supporters in central Serbia on 24 May that Serbian
nationalist "madmen" have already started to implement plans
"to set Kosovo ablaze." He was referring to politicians like
Radical Party chief Vojislav Seselj and paramilitary leaders
such as Zeljko Raznjatovic, alias Arkan. Draskovic accused Seselj
of responsibility for the 22 May attack on a Serbian police patrol
in the Kosovo town of Glogovac. On 22 May Borba published a statement
by the SPO Council for Security claiming that Seselj is spreading
the war to Kosovo and accusing him of "bloody anti-Serbian meddling"
in Croatia and Bosnia. The SRO alleges that Seselj is under instructions
from Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, explaining that when
unrest flares up in Kosovo, the Croatian Army plans to move against
the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. -Milan Andrejevich


POLISH COALITION GEARS UP FOR DISMISSAL VOTE. Poland's parliamentary
leadership resolved to hold the debate on Solidarity's motion
to dismiss the government on 27 May, with the no-confidence vote
itself to follow on 28 May. The government has apparently decided
not to stage official talks with any opposition parties before
the no-confidence vote, though informal bargaining continues
behind the scenes. The former communist Social Democracy of the
Polish Republic (SdRP), whose chief preoccupation seems to be
to force the government to admit its dependence on postcommunist
votes, announced on 26 May that it will vote for the government's
dismissal. This announcement followed a meeting of coalition
and opposition parties with Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka on
25 May. Suchocka used the meeting to repeat her proposal to negotiate
a "nonaggression pact" with the opposition but offered no new
concessions. Attention has now turned to the two remaining undecided
parties, the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) and the Peasant Alliance.
Polish TV reports that coalition leaders met with PSL officials
on 25 May. -Louisa Vinton

CONSTITUTIONAL DISPUTE FLARES IN POLAND. The imminent no-confidence
vote has sparked a new conflict between the Sejm and President
Lech Walesa. The dispute centers on constitutional stipulations
about the consequences of a successful no-confidence vote. In
a clause designed to prevent frivolous attempts to dismiss the
government, the "little constitution" requires the Sejm to select
a new prime minister "simultaneously" with the no-confidence
vote. If it fails to do so, the vote is deemed "unconstructive"
and power shifts to the president, who can then choose to dissolve
parliament or name his own candidate for prime minister. The
Sejm's rules of order interpret "simultaneously" as meaning during
the same parliamentary session; individual sessions usually last
several days but can also be suspended for weeks. The president's
office, in contrast, argues that "simultaneous" means that a
"constructive" no-confidence motion must contain the name of
a new candidate. Solidarity proposed no such candidate. Although
the opposition is unlikely to unite around a single candidate
in any case, the dispute has important implications. The government
hopes to use the parliament's fear of immediate presidential
action to encourage deputies to vote down the no-confidence motion.
-Louisa Vinton

NEW SLOVAK PARTY SEEKS REGISTRATION. Slovak TV reports that on
24 May former foreign minister and deputy chairman of the ruling
Movement for a Democratic Slovakia Milan Knazko asked the Interior
Ministry to register a new party, the Alliance of Democrats.
In a televised interview, Knazko said that the preparatory committee
of the Alliance has been receiving hundreds of letters every
day supporting the new party. Knazko said that the party will
have a right-of-center/liberal orientation and that the first
party congress, scheduled for 26 June, will adopt a program designed
to challenge the current government policy. Knazko was forced
to resign as foreign minister after disputes with Prime Minister
Vladimir Meciar. He left the MDS in April and formed a club of
independent deputies in the National Council of the Slovak Republic.
The club currently has 8 members. -Jan Obrman

POPULARITY OF MECIAR PARTY DROPS. Only 15% of Slovak voters support
the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia of Prime Minister Meciar,
according to an opinion poll conducted in April by the Slovak
Statistical Office. In comparison, in February the party was
supported by 22% and in March by 20% of the respondents in opinion
polls conducted by the same organization. TASR reports that the
Party of the Democratic Left is also supported by 15% of the
respondents; the Slovak National Party is third with 9%, followed
by the Christian Democratic Movement of Jan Carnogursky, the
former prime minister, which has the support of only 6% of voters.
Some 39% of the respondents say they do not support any political
party. According to the same poll, President Michal Kovac is
the most popular politician in Slovakia; he is trusted by 22%
of Slovaks (29% in March). Meciar, in second place, has the trust
of 21% of Slovaks (27% in March), followed by the chairman of
the Party of the Democratic Left, Peter Weiss with 18% (24% in
March). -Jiri Pehe

HAVEL BACK FROM GREECE. Czech President Vaclav Havel returned
to Prague from a three-day visit of Greece on 25 May. Speaking
to CTK before his departure from Athens, Havel said that Greece
will support the Czech policy of speedy integration with European
structures. According to Havel, Greece realizes that "it is in
the interest of all of Europe that the East European countries
become part of democratic Europe and its institutions as quickly
as possible." Greek Prime Minister Konstantin Mitsotakis told
reporters at a press conference after his meeting with Havel,
that the Czech Republic "is entitled to closer ties with the
EC and NATO." -Jiri Pehe

ANTALL BACK FROM COPENHAGEN. During a two-day visit to Denmark,
Prime Minister Jozsef Antall held talks with Premier Poul Nyrup
Rasmussen, who currently holds the EC presidency, and parliamentarians,
Radio Budapest and MTI report on 25 May. Antall said the EC should
stop treating the East Central European countries as a bloc and
should send Hungary a "concrete and encouraging" message at the
forthcoming June EC summit in Copenhagen; in his view, it is
"realistic" to believe that Hungary will become an EC member
during the present decade. Denmark, the first EC member state
to ratify Hungary's association treaty with the community, supports
Hungary's bid for full EC membership which, in its view, can
occur only after 1996, following the admission of Sweden, Finland,
Norway, and Austria. -Alfred Reisch

BEROV SLAMS BROADCAST MEDIA. On 25 May Prime Minister Lyuben
Berov sharply attacked Bulgarian Radio and TV for practices "lowering
the prestige of journalism and inciting tension in society,"
BTA reports. Summoning top broadcast media representatives to
his office, Berov protested against allegations that he had initially
tried to prevent visiting Spanish King Juan Carlos from addressing
the National Assembly, as well as a report that he and President
Zhelyu Zhelev had been heckled by monarchist demonstrators. Borislav
Dzhamdzhiev, head of First Channel of the Bulgarian National
Radio, told reporters that there had been no "pulling of ears"
during the meeting, but that Berov had complained about "certain
tendentious malevolence" in recent coverage of government affairs.
In defending the media, Dzhamdzhiev pointed out that the claim
that the premier has sought to stop the Spanish monarch from
speaking in parliament originated in the Spanish daily ABC, and
that TV footage clearly showed crowds jeering at Zhelev and Berov.
In an editorial on 26 May, Otechestven vestnik categorized Berov's
interference as an outright attempt to censor domestic media.
-Kjell Engelbrekt

ROMANIAN TV CHIEF UNDER FIRE. On 25 May Romania's main democratic
opposition parties asked President Ion Iliescu to dismiss Paul
Everac as Director-General of Romanian Television, Evenimentul
zilei reports. The appeal was signed by the National Salvation
Front, the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania, the Party of Civic Alliance,
the Liberal Party and the Romanian Ecologist Party. It was also
joined by the National Trade Union Bloc and the Free Trade Union
of Romanian Radio and TV. The letter of the parliamentary democratic
parties condemns what it calls the "violence of communist restoration"
and the extreme nationalist positions of Everac. In a separate
letter to Iliescu Chief Rabbi Moses Rosen also urged Everac's
dismissal, mentioning Everac's frequent anti-Semitic outbursts.
A spokesman for the ruling Democratic National Salvation Front
dismissed the demands, saying "Everac has a right to his views."
-Michael Shafir

ROMANIAN UNIONS TO MERGE. The National Confederation of Free
Trade Unions, Romania's largest trade union grouping, decided
on 25 May to unite with other unions to create a powerful federation
aimed at better protecting workers, Western agencies report.
The plan for unification was approved by the confederation's
steering committee one day after Fratia, the second-largest trade
union, voted to do the same. Details of the merger are to be
worked out at a planned joint congress next month. -Michael Shafir


ROMANIA APPEALS FOR RELEASE OF DNIESTR TRIAL DEFENDANTS. On 25
May the Romanian parliament asked the international community
to bring pressure on officials in Moldova's self-styled "Dniestr
republic" to halt the trial of the six ethnic Romanian Moldovans
charged with terrorist acts, Rompres reports. The resolution
was endorsed by all parties represented in the parliament. -Michael
Shafir

UKRAINE AWAITS SECURITY GUARANTEES. Parliament First Deputy Chairman
Vasyl Durdynets, heading a delegation of parliamentary deputies
on a two-week visit to the United States, says that Ukraine is
still waiting for security guarantees before it relinquishes
its nuclear weapons, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 26-May.
The guarantees must be set out in "a legally binding document
adopted by the nuclear powers, especially by Russia and the United
States." Among Kiev's conditions are that the nuclear powers
respect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity. -Ustina
Markus

RUSSIA TO CUT OIL TO BELARUS. Anatolii Mordashov, the head of
the Belarusian State Oil and Gas Committee, said that Russia
will cut oil deliveries to Belarus from 1 million to 350,000
tons per month because of Belarus's mounting debts, Reuters reported
on 25 May. It is estimated that Belarus owes Russia $350-million.
Currently Belarus receives 90% of its oil from Russia. Earlier
Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislau Shushkevich, criticized parliament
for its willingness to sign on to the CIS collective security
pact because of the republic's dependence on cheap oil from Russia.
-Ustina Markus

ESTONIA ENDORSES PLAN TO RESETTLE RUSSIAN OFFICERS. Prime Minister
Mart Laar announced that Estonia has approved a plan to build
a 60-apartment house in Kingisepp in the Leningrad region for
retired Russian officers now living in Narva, BNS reported on
25-May. The Migration Fund will allocate 990,000 kroons ($70,000)
for the project , and this sum will be supplemented by contributions
by the officers and the Narva municipality. Part of the expenses
will be offset by selling the residences the officers now occupy.
-Saulius Girnius

LITHUANIAN ECONOMIC-SOCIAL POLICY PROTESTED. On 25 May the Lithuanian
Union of Workers organized a day-long rally around parliament
attended by several thousand people, mostly pensioners, Radio
Lithuania reports. The demonstrators protested the government's
economic and social policy, demanding "Jobs, Bread, and Justice."
On 24 May President Algirdas Brazauskas and Prime Minister Adolfas
Slezevicius dismissed the rally as a political action to destabilize
the situation in the country. The 100,000-member union plans
another action at the end of June if its demands are not met.
-Saulius Girnius

SUPREME COUNCIL REJECTS MOTION TO DISMISS GODMANIS. At the plenary
session on 25 May the Latvian Supreme Council decided not to
consider a draft resolution by 21-deputies calling for a vote
of no-confidence in Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis, Diena reports.
The resolution also proposed that until a new government is formed,
Supreme Council Chairman Anatolijs Gorbunovs take on the duties
of prime minister. Although the vote was 24-64-35, it was not
a real victory for Godmanis. Many who voted against the resolution
said that the Supreme Council should have considered a no-confidence
vote many months ago and feel that such an action now would only
destabilize the country on the eve of parliamentary elections.
The Supreme Council is to hold its last preelection plenary session
on 1 June. -Dzintra Bungs

NONFERROUS METAL THEFTS IN LATVIA, LITHUANIA. Arijs Sinats of
Latvian Railroads told Diena on 21 May that all reserve materials
have been used up after replacing all stolen cables and equipment.
The thefts have caused significant interruptions in railroad
service, and Sinats said that he expects the situation to worsen.
In 1993 over 30 tons of nonferrous metals were stolen from the
Latvian Railroads; 83.4 tons were taken in 1992. Metal thieves
are a problem in Lithuania as well, where they focus on telephone
cables. On 27-April telephone cables were cut and stolen from
a medical complex in Vilnius, and doctors could not be reached
for nearly 24 hours. The most daring thefts took place early
in May in Klaipeda, where international telephone lines were
cut three times, Baltic media reported on 21 May. -Dzintra Bungs


[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Suzanne Crow and Charles Trumbull







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