No. 110, 14 June 1993

RUSSIA



YELTSIN ON INDEPENDENCE DAY. In a statement broadcast on Russian
TV to mark the third anniversary of Russia's independence day
(12 June), President Boris Yeltsin said that the April referendum
had shown that the Russian people were "wiser than those who
so love to speak in their name," but that opposition forces were
still trying to provoke disorder. He called for lasting relations
with the countries of the "near abroad"-the former Soviet republics.
He called the current constitutional assembly the "prototype
of future Russian parliamentarianism." Yeltsin told the press
that same day that there are a dozen potential candidates for
the presidential elections scheduled for 1996, and that work
was underway to form a political group to support reformist candidates.
He also said that he has considered, but rejected as undemocratic,
the idea of dissolving parliament earlier this year. -Wendy Slater


CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY CONTINUES ITS WORK. On 13 June the Constituent
Assembly's working group, which deals with the setup of federal
bodies, discussed the presidential powers to be reflected in
a new constitution. Most delegates supported the provision that
a president should have the right to dissolve the parliament,
but they insisted that the constitution specify in great detail
the conditions under which the president could make that move,
ITAR-TASS reports. Most members agreed that only a criminal offense
could serve as the basis for impeaching the president. Speaking
on 13-June as the assembly's working group continued to debate
specific provisions of the constitution, Russian Supreme Soviet
Deputy Chairman Nikolai Ryabov said he feared the assembly will
not be able to resolve the most difficult questions set before
it. Echoing President Yeltsin's proposal made last week, Ryabov
suggested that a tripartite working group-representing parliament,
the president's office, and federal republics and regions-be
formed to reconcile differences. -Vera Tolz

YELTSIN ON SOVEREIGNTY OF SUBJECTS OF FEDERATION. At his press
conference in the Kremlin on 13 June Yeltsin reiterated that
each subject of the federation "should take as much sovereignty
as it can cope with, but no more," ITAR-TASS reports. Yeltsin
cited Chechnya as an example of what could happen if a republic
took more than it could handle. Yeltsin's original statement
that republics should take as much sovereignty as they could
handle, made in Tatarstan in August 1990 in an apparent effort
to upstage Gorbachev, has been held responsible for encouraging
the republics in their demands for more powers. -Ann Sheehy

REPUBLICS INSIST ON SOVEREIGNTY. The group of the subjects of
the federation at the constitutional assembly agreed on 13 June
that a clause should be added to the draft constitution stating
that the subjects of the Russian Federation are equal as far
as their relations with the federal bodies of power are concerned,
ITAR-TASS reports. In addition the group added clauses stating
that a republic is a sovereign state, while the other subjects
of the federation are state formations. This compromise as regards
the equality of the subjects of the federation would seem to
give the republics the same status as the Union republics of
the former USSR, while the other subjects get the same status
as the former autonomous republics. Other groups have insisted,
however, that secession, if permitted, should depend on a federation-wide
referendum. -Ann Sheehy

MOSCOW AND SEOUL: RELATIONS CONTINUE TO WARM. During a meeting
with South Korean Foreign Minister Han Sung-chu in Moscow on
8 June, Boris Yeltsin reaffirmed Moscow's interest in improving
relations with Seoul and assured his visitor that Russia will
cooperate with efforts to insure that North Korea remain nuclear-free.
Yeltsin, who was quoted by the South Korean newspaper Choson
Ilbo on 9 June as saying that Russia "stopped providing nuclear
technology to North Korea" long ago, also stressed that Moscow
intends to conduct balanced diplomacy between East and West and
that it welcomes Seoul's efforts to create a multilateral security
system in northeast Asia. Yeltsin invited South Korean President
Kim Yong-sam to visit Russia in the near future. Yeltsin visited
South Korea last November. On 7 June the South Korean foreign
minister met with his Russian counterpart, Andrei Kozyrev, who
also warned that Moscow considers Pyongyang's withdrawal from
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty "inadmissible." -Stephen
Foye

RUSSIA PREPARES FOR MILLIONS OF REFUGEES. The head of the Federal
Migration Service told Komsomolskaya pravda on 4 June that her
service has drawn up contingency plans for dealing with between
800,000 and 6 million refugees during the next few years. The
service will not be able to cope with the anticipated influx,
and will have to turn to local authorities for help. Tatyana
Regent said that Russia has been too hasty in signing the UN
Convention on Refugees in November 1992. -Keith Bush

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



ABKHAZ PARLIAMENT ANNOUNCES CEASE-FIRE. On 13 June the separatist
Abkhaz parliament ordered its troops to cease fire beginning
14 June to allow delivery of humanitarian aid to several Abkhaz
cities, according to Yurii Vorobev, first deputy chairman of
the Russian State Committee for Emergency Situations, ITAR-TASS
reports. The announcement follows discussions on 13 June between
Abkhaz military leaders and the director of the operating group
of the Russian State Committee, Sergei Kudinov. Representatives
of the Georgian forces holding Sukhumi stated that Georgia is
complying with the cease-fire agreement of 20-May. A trilateral
agreement signed 11 June in Gudauta and Sukhumi makes a cease-fire
a prerequisite for the delivery of aid. If the cease-fire holds,
landing craft will arrive in Sochi on 15 June in the morning
to carry 32 Russian Kamaz vehicles filled with 200 tons of food
by sea to Sukhumi, from where they will proceed to the besieged
city of Tkvarcheli. -Catherine Dale

TURMOIL IN AZERBAIJAN. The leadership crisis deepened 13-14 June
as the Supreme Soviet chairman resigned, forces loyal to rebel
commander Surat Huseinov moved toward Baku, and former Communist
Party boss Haidar Aliev became the main power broker between
the government and rebels, various news agencies report. Aliev,
currently the Supreme Soviet chairman of the Azeri enclave of
Nakhichevan, was in Baku for talks with President Abulfaz Elcibey,
the national parliament, and foreign diplomats on 9-13 June On
13 June he flew to Gyandzha, Azerbaijan's second city and rebel
stronghold, to discuss Huseinov's demands. Huseinov has demanded
the resignation of the prime minister, the chairman of parliament,
and President Elcibey. The first two demands have been met, but
Elcibey is resisting ouster. In the meantime, Huseinov's troops
are reported to have moved to within 200 km of Baku over the
weekend, meeting no resistance along the way. -Keith Martin

ALIEV TO BE PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN? HAVING REFUSED AN OFFER TO BECOME
PRIME MINISTER, HAIDAR ALIEV, SEEMS POISED TO TAKE ON THE POSITION
OF PARLIAMENT CHAIRMAN, BUT ONLY IF HE IS GIVEN EXTENDED POWERS,
A DEMAND ELCIBEY SO FAR HAS REFUSED. Aliev has said that his
further moves will depend on the outcome of talks with Huseinov.
Opposition leader Etibar Mamedov, who is cooperating with Aliev,
is expected to become prime minister, Western and Azeri news
agencies report. -Keith Martin

NEW OFFENSIVES AROUND NAGORNO-KARABAKH; PEACE PLAN IN PERIL?
AZERI AND INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS OFFICIALS REPORTED FIERCE FIGHTING
IN REGIONS OF AZERBAIJAN BORDERING THE SELF-DECLARED NAGORNO-KARABAKH
REPUBLIC ON 12 AND 13 JUNE. Apparently ethnic Armenian fighters
see the current paralysis of power in Baku as an opportunity
to expand gains in the regions lying between Nagorno-Karabakh
and Armenia. Azeri officials, quoted by the Turan news agency,
claim the Armenian offensive had been repelled with heavy losses
on both sides. Meanwhile, the CSCE-brokered peace plan, which
Azerbaijan and Armenia have approved, has caused conflict in
the breakaway region. Civilian authorities are prepared to accept
the deal, while military commanders have rejected it, as they
do not believe that the security guarantees are sufficient. Western
agencies report that leaders of the Armenian Defense Forces have
threatened to ignore any agreement and continue fighting. -Keith
Martin

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES



SHAPOSHNIKOV NAMED SECURITY COUNCIL SECRETARY. Russian President
Boris Yeltsin on 11-June unexpectedly named the commander in
chief of the CIS joint armed forces, Marshal Evgenii Shaposhnikov,
to the post of secretary of the Russian Security Council, ITAR-TASS
reports. In comments broadcast by Ostankino TV on 12 June, Yeltsin
suggested that Shaposhnikov has become available because the
responsibilities of the CIS command are shrinking as former Soviet
states build their own armies. He said strategic troops are being
subordinated to the Russian Defense Ministry as well. Yeltsin
added that he chose Shaposhnikov because of his status and experience
as a military man and, perhaps of greater importance, because
of his active support of the president and government. The secretary
post has been vacant since Yurii Skokov was released from the
position on 10 May of this year. It is not clear if Shaposhnikov's
removal as CIS commander must be cleared with the CIS Council
of Heads of State, which formally oversees the command. -Stephen
Foye

DOES APPOINTMENT FORESHADOW SHAKE-UP? SHAPOSHNIKOV'S APPOINTMENT
SUGGESTS THAT CHANGES MAY BE IMMINENT IN BOTH THE CIS AND THE
RUSSIAN DEFENSE STRUCTURES. CIS political leaders have in recent
months been debating restructuring the CIS high command, and
Yeltsin's comments together with the appointment suggest that
the CIS command will soon lose the already diminished responsibilities
that it possessed. At the same time, ITAR-TASS on 11 June quoted
"informed sources" as indicating that a reorganization in the
functions of the Security Council is being planned, and that
Col. Gen. Boris Gromov, currently a Russian deputy defense minister,
could eventually emerge atop the new structure that is created.
That report remains unconfirmed. On 13 June, according to ITAR-TASS,
the Russian Constitutional Conference commission dealing with
federal agencies decided "almost unanimously" to exclude the
Security Council altogether from its draft legislation. -Stephen
Foye

UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN SUMMIT SET. Presidents Boris Yeltsin and Leonid
Kravchuk will hold a summit to resolve the dispute over the Black
Sea Fleet on 17 June, ITAR-TASS reported on 11 June. Kravchuk
told a visiting delegation of Russian parliamentarians that the
decision was reached in the course of a telephone conversation
between the two leaders. Kravchuk did not say where the summit
is to be held, but Western agencies report that the venue will
be Moscow. Earlier reports said that Yeltsin and Kravchuk were
to meet on a ship in the Black Sea. -Roman Solchanyk

MORE PROGRESS REPORTED ON SINO-CIS BORDER TALKS. Progress was
reported on further force reductions along the Sino-CIS border
in the latest round of negotiations between the People's Republic
of China and its CIS neighbors-Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan-ITAR-TASS reported on 11 June. Agreement was reached
on the categories of weapons deployed along the borders with
China, their numbers, and other issues. All parties also reaffirmed
their commitment to resolve any outstanding issues between themselves
by the end of 1994, as had been agreed in December 1992. The
next round of negotiations is to take place in Moscow in the
fall. -Ustina Markus

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



"ANARCHY" IN BOSNIA. That was how UN commander Gen. Philippe
Morillon on 12 June described the latest fighting around the
embattled republic, and threatened to have his forces withdrawn
unless attacks on them and on the UN-declared "safe area" of
Gorazde stop. International media added that Gorazde, with a
besieged population of 60,000 mainly Muslim local people plus
refugees, is under intensified Serb attack. Some 50 were killed
when a temporary hospital was shelled, and on 13 June Radio Serbia
warned that time is running out but promised safe passage for
those who flee the town. The Muslim-dominated Bosnian government
has appealed to the UN for peace-keepers to rush to Gorazde's
assistance, and Hina on 14 June adds that Croatian President
Franjo Tudjman has written Yeltsin to ask him to urge the Serbs
to end their siege. Elsewhere, the bloody weekend began in Sarajevo
with the death of eight mourners at a Muslim funeral on 11-June,
who were shelled from Serbian positions. -Patrick Moore

DID THE "MUJAHADEEN" ATTACK CROAT VILLAGES? REUTERS ON 13 JUNE
REPORTED BRITISH UN TROOPS AS CONFIRMING EARLIER CROAT REPORTS
THAT FOREIGN ISLAMIC FIGHTERS ARE ACTIVE IN THE TRAVNIK AREA
OF CENTRAL BOSNIA. On 14 June the BBC's Serbian Service quoted
other British media as saying that armed "men of Mid-Eastern
and African origin" may have been the ones who actually started
the current round of combat between the two nominal allies. On
13 June international mediators brought together Muslim and Croat
members of the Bosnian presidency in Geneva, and the two sides
called for a halt to the fighting. The cease-fire is to be enforced
by the Muslim and Croat military, but Hina noted that their commanders
were not present in Geneva. Finally, on 11 June international
media reported that British UN forces killed two Croatian militiamen
near Nova Bila, between Travnik and Zenica, as the Croats continued
to attack a private aid convoy. This marks the first time that
UNPROFOR soldiers have shot and killed local Yugoslav fighters.
-Patrick Moore

TUDJMAN UNDER PRESSURE TO CHANGE BOSNIA POLICY. The 14 June Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung says that four leading moderates, including
Lower House speaker Stipe Mesic, went to Tudjman ten days earlier
to demand an end to the influence of the "Herzegovinian lobby"
on Zagreb's Bosnian policy. They said that the defense minister
and other hard-line Herzegovinians have helped damage Croatia's
image abroad with their anti-Muslim stance and must go. Mesic
and the others noted that Tudjman has allowed himself to be used
by the Herzegovinians by favoring them over more moderate Bosnian
Croats, by periodically expressing support for the Herzegovinian
plan to partition that embattled republic, and by making anti-Muslim
remarks. Last month a polemic emerged between Cardinal Franjo
Kuharic of Croatia and Herzegovinian Croat leader Mate Boban
in conjunction with the tensions between mainstream political
forces in Croatia and the Roman Catholic Church on one hand,
and the Herzegovinian leadership and some militant Franciscan
fathers on the other. -Patrick Moore

SERBIA REELS UNDER SANCTIONS. Some 97% of the population in Serbia-Montenegro
is living at the poverty level, according to an estimate by the
Belgrade Economic Research Center and reported by Radio B92 on
11 June. The report says that on average it takes three and a
half monthly salaries to purchase the same amount of goods that
could be purchased with one month's salary in early 1990. To
buy a Yugo 45-subcompact auto now requires 10 years and 2-months
of salary compared to 9 months of salary in early 1990. Federal
Yugoslav Prime Minister Radoje Kontic recognized on 11 June that
UN sanctions will likely not be lifted soon. He said that certain
adjustments in economic policy will be unveiled later this week
in an effort to stimulate the economy and to curb hyperinflation.
The inflation rate in May was 205%, with an annual rate running
at 84 million percent. Kontic explained that because of the sanctions
and the resulting hardships, economic policy must take into consideration
social rather than economic factors. The Radical Party, Serbia's
second largest party, has long argued the importance of social
reform. Along with several opposition parties, the party says
say it might introduce a vote of confidence in both Kontic and
the Serbian government in the near future. -Milan Andrejevich


UKRAINE SUBMITS SANCTION COMPENSATION PROPOSALS. On 10 June Ukraine
submitted a set of ideas to the UN on what could be done to help
countries suffering substantial losses as a result of upholding
UN sanctions, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 11-June. The
proposals call for the establishment of a special compensation
committee alongside the UN sanctions monitoring committee and
reducing UN membership or peacekeeping dues in case of economic
difficulties connected with UN sanctions. The proposal further
asks the UN to establish an emergency fund to meet the claims
of affected countries. Funds would come from new assessments
linked to peacekeeping operations and voluntary contributions.
Finally, Ukraine suggested the UN organize an international insurance
fund. Bulgaria has made a similar appeal. Both countries have
claimed losses in the billions of dollars, and Ukraine is $54
million in arrears on its UN dues. -Ustina Markus

NEW COALITION GOVERNMENT IN SLOVAKIA? PRIME MINISTER VLADIMIR
MECIAR ANNOUNCED IN HIS REGULAR ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON 13 JUNE
THAT HE WILL BEGIN TALKS WITH THE SLOVAK NATIONAL PARTY ON THE
FORMATION OF A COALITION GOVERNMENT "IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS." One
day earlier, the Central Council of the SNP, the party's policy-making
body, announced that it will offer to form a coalition with the
ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. The announcements
came as a major surprise after the SNP participated in a meeting
of all opposition parties last week at which it was agreed to
consider the creation of a broad coalition government with the
aim of removing Meciar from power. The SNP withdrew from an "informal"
coalition with the MDS in March. It is expected that it will
demand major concessions in return for its support for Meciar's
government. The combined strength of the MDS and the SNP would
amount to 81 deputies in the 150-member parliament. Several newspapers
reported on 14 June that the ex-communist Party of the Democratic
Left is also willing to enter a coalition with the MDS. The party
reportedly demanded Meciar's removal first, a condition rejected
by the MDS. -Jan Obrman

MDS PROPOSES SACKING TWO MINISTERS. At its meeting on 12 June,
the MDS's Republican Council a, the group's highest policy-making
body, voted to dismiss Privatization Minister Lubomir Dolgos
and Education Minister Matus Kucera, Slovak dailies report on
14-June. Observers consider the removal of the two unpopular
ministers as a first strong indication of the apparently ongoing
preparations for a coalition government between the MDS and the
SNP. It is expected that the two ministries will be offered to
the SNP. -Jan Obrman

MORAVCIK IN GERMANY. Slovak Foreign Minister Jozef Moravcik left
for a three-day official visit to Germany on 14 June, Slovak
Radio reports. Moravcik will attend the official opening of the
Embassy in Bonn. He is scheduled to discuss Germany's new asylum
law with his German counterpart. Klaus Kinkel. -Jan Obrman

HUNGARIAN YOUNG DEMOCRATS WILL NOT SUPPORT SUPPLEMENTARY BUDGET.
Victor Orban, chairman of the Young Democrats, an opposition
party that is currently leading in the polls, said that his party
will not vote for the government's 1993 supplementary budget,
MTI reports. The vote is needed because the budget deficit is
much larger than the originally planned 185 billion forint ($2.2
billion). Orban also said that even if the government coalition
fails to pass the new budget bill, according to the Constitution,
it is not obliged to resign. In a related matter in the new budget
bill the cabinet proposes to raise the 6% turnover-tax now in
effect on basic food items to 10%, and abolish the 0% tax category
on medicines and electricity effective 1 October. -Karoly Okolicsanyi


RUSSIA TO TRAIN HUNGARIAN MILITARY PERSONNEL. The Hungarian Army
Command told MTI on 13 June that it plans to send 110 Hungarian
soldiers to Russia for retraining, including 40 fighter pilots
to become familiar with the MiG-29 interceptor fighter aircraft.
Hungary expects to receive some 25 such planes as part of the
$800 million in Russian military hardware Moscow has agreed to
deliver to settle half of the former USSR's foreign trade debt
with Hungary. According to Defense Minister Lajos Fur, the incorporation
of the new planes will cost Hungary some 1 billion forint ($11
million). In order to maintain combat effectiveness because of
the Yugoslav crisis, the Hungarian air force, faced with a shortage
of pilots (in-country training in Szolnok can start only next
year), is in need of an internal reorganization; the military
also hopes that the acquisition of the new, modern MiG-29 aircraft
will make the career of air force pilot more attractive. -Alfred
Reisch

ROMANIAN TRADE UNIONS MERGE. Meeting in Bucharest on 12 June,
three Romanian trade union confederations-the National Confederation
of Free Trade Unions, Fratia, and Univers-voted to join forces.
They will form a joint organization called the Fratia National
Trade Union Confederation. Several other labor groups are expected
to join the new organization, the media reported last week. According
to its leaders, the new organization will be the largest of its
kind in Central and Southern Europe, with more 3.7 million members.
-Michael Shafir

EC COMMISSIONER VISITS ROMANIA. On 13 June Sir Leon Brittan,
the European Community's Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, arrived
in Bucharest for a two-day visit. Brittan is expected to discuss
economic development and reform progress with representatives
of Romania's government and industry, including President Ion
Iliescu. On 1 February this year the EC and Romania signed an
association agreement that gives Romania trade benefits and the
prospect of eventually joining the EC as a full member. In May,
the EC launched a new aid program in support of economic and
political reforms in Romania. -Dan Ionescu

BUCHAREST PROTESTS DNIESTER TRIAL. At a rally in Bucharest on
11 June, Romanian opposition leaders were symbolically placed
in a cage to protest the trial of the six Moldovans who are on
trial in the self-proclaimed "Dniester republic." The six are
kept in cages in the courtroom in Tiraspol. Radio Bucharest reports
that hundreds of people followed the cage through the streets
to the Russian embassy. Speaking from the cage, National Peasant
Party Christian Democratic leader Corneliu Coposu called on Romania
to use all means, including breaking relations with Russia, to
gain the release of the six defendants. -Michael Shafir

ZHELEV SAYS UDF UNDERMINES ORDER. In an address read on Bulgarian
National Radio on 13 June, President Zhelyu Zhelev accused the
Union of Democratic Forces of seeking "to destroy constitutional
order and democratic institutions." Zhelev attacked the coalition-which
he helped to found in late 1989-following several days of antipresidential
protests. On 7 June Edvin Sugarev, a UDF deputy and member of
the National Coordinating Council, announced his withdrawal from
politics and the beginning of a hunger strike, which he said
will last until Zhelev resigns. That demand was supported by
thousands of UDF sympathizers at a rally in Sofia on 10 June,
as well as by a number of UDF mayors throughout the country.
Two days later protesters began erecting a tent city outside
the presidential office in downtown Sofia. UDF leaders claim
Zhelev has forged an informal political alliance with the excommunist
Socialist Party. -Kjell Engelbrekt

NEW US AMBASSADOR IN SOFIA. On 12 June President Bill Clinton
named career diplomat William Montgomery Washington's man in
Sofia. An RFE/RL correspondent reports that in addition to having
served as deputy chief of mission in Sofia, Montgomery was earlier
stationed in Moscow and Belgrade. In 1992 he was executive secretary
to the Acting Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger. -Kjell
Engelbrekt

STRIKE WAVE IN UKRAINE. Strike leaders in the Donbass say that
they will not accept any economic concessions from the government
until their political demands are met, ITAR-TASS reported on
13 June. The strikers have demanded that the Donbass be granted
economic autonomy and that a countrywide referendum be held no
later than 1 September on confidence in President Leonid Kravchuk
and elected deputies at all levels. Striking miners in the Donbass
have been joined by workers from more than a hundred enterprises
in the eastern and southern regions of the country in what is
increasingly becoming a political action. Miners in Western Ukraine,
however, have refused to support the political demands of their
colleagues with the exception of dissolution of the parliament
in Kiev. Kravchuk, in the meantime, has appointed Efim Zyagilsky,
an experienced mine director from the Donbass, to the post of
first deputy prime minister. The post was left vacant after the
resignation of Ihor Yukhnovsky in March. -Roman Solchanyk

BELARUS CREATES STATE BORDERS. The Supreme Soviet has adopted
a resolution to establish national borders with neighboring states
of the former Soviet Union-Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Latvia-Belinform
reported on 11 June. The head of the Main Administration of the
Border Guards of Belarus, Evgenii Bocharov, said Belarus is the
last of the former Soviet republics in the region to adopt such
a resolution. The frontiers with Lithuania and Latvia will be
the first to be formally demarcated. -Ustina Markus

WILL RUBIKS SIT IN JAIL OR PARLIAMENT? FORMER LATVIAN COMMUNIST
PARTY LEADER ALFREDS RUBIKS, WHOSE TRIAL ON CHARGES OF TRYING
TO TOPPLE THE LATVIAN GOVERNMENT BOTH IN JANUARY AND AUGUST 1991
IS SCHEDULED TO START ON 14 JUNE, MAY HAVE BEEN ELECTED TO THE
LATVIAN PARLIAMENT. He was running on the Ravnopravie ticket,
which managed to get endorsement from close to 6% of the voters
in Latvia. Rubiks was one of the top candidates of the group,
which was formed on the basis of the parliamentary faction of
the same name. Until independence was regained in August 1991,
the faction advocated policies intended to maintain the integrity
of the USSR and the authority of the CPSU. Ravnopravie deputies
opposed the idea of an independent Latvia as late as August 1991.
-Dzintra Bungs

LATVIAN, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRIES EXCHANGE PROTESTS. On 11
June the Latvian Foreign Ministry sent a note protesting Russian
President Boris Yeltsin's statement of 10 June linking the withdrawal
of Russian troops in Estonia and Latvia to the rights of Russians
living in those countries and interpreted it as an effort to
find an excuse for not implementing last year's CSCE declaration
urging a speedy troop pullout. The Latvians also objected to
the decision by Commander of the Northwestern Group of Forces
Leonid Mayorov to allow the Russian troops stationed in Latvia
to carry weapons in order to protect themselves from alleged
attacks by members of the Latvian home guard. The Russian Foreign
Ministry response comprised an endorsement of Mayorov's action
and a "representation" sent to the Latvian embassy in Moscow
also on 11-June, ITAR-TASS reports. In a perhaps related development,
a member of the Latvian home guard was recently found murdered;
a note in Russian was found in his pocket saying that a similar
fate awaits his comrades, Diena reported on 10 June. -Dzintra
Bungs

LOZORAITIS'S RECALL RECONSIDERED. Baltic media reported on 13
June that Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas is reconsidering
his decision to recall his country's ambassador to the United
States, Stasys Lozoraitis, and to post him to represent Lithuania
in the Vatican. The decision has been widely criticized by Lithuanians
at home and abroad, especially since it was seen as an unwarranted
demotion for Lozoraitis, who ran against Brazauskas for the office
of the president. -Dzintra Bungs

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Dzintra Bungs and Charles Trumbull







THE RFE/RL DAILY REPORT IS PRODUCED BY THE RFE/RL RESEARCH INSTITUTE
(A DIVISION OF RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, INC.) with the
assistance of the RFE/RL News and Current Affairs Division (NCA).
The report is available by electronic mail via LISTSERV (RFERL-L@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU),
on the Sovset' computer bulletin board, by fax, and by postal
mail. For inquiries about specific news items, subscriptions,
or additional copies, please contact: in North America: Mr. Brian
Reed, RFE/RL, Inc., 1201 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC-20036
Telephone: (202) 457-6912 or -6907; Fax: (202) 457-6992 or 828-8783;
Internet: RIDC@RFERL.ORG or Elsewhere: Ms. Helga Hofer, Publications
Department, RFE/RL Research Institute, Oettingenstrasse 67, 8000
Munich 22, Germany;.Telephone: (+49 89) 2102-2631 or -2624; Fax:
(+49 89) 2102-2648, Internet: PD@RFERL.ORG 1993, RFE/RL, Inc.
All rights reserved.