No. 116, 22 June 1993

RUSSIA



FILATOV ON CONSTITUTION. The head of the presidential apparatus,
Sergei Filatov, told Ostankino TV's "Itogi" on 21 June that Russia's
new constitution must be adopted as quickly as possible, that
it must have the necessary legitimacy, and that its adoption
must be guaranteed. He claimed to see four options for adopting
the constitution in accordance with these principles. First,
through the Congress of Peoples Deputies, which could adopt the
constitution quickly and provide the necessary legitimacy. Second,
through a referendum, which, unfortunately, would take time to
organize. In Filatov's opinion, moreover, neither of these options
would guarantee adoption of the constitution. A third option
would be the convening of a constitutional assembly. Filatov
believes, however, that under current conditions that body would
lack the necessary legitimacy. As a fourth option, Filatov suggested
the adoption of a constitution by a newly elected parliament.
-Alexander Rahr

COAL PRICES TO BE FREED. A presidential decree has been issued
freeing the prices of coal and coal products starting 1 July,
various Russian news agencies reported on 21 June. The government
has been intending to increase prices for coal for some time
now, but was hesitant to liberalize them entirely. A report in
ITAR-TASS on 20 June suggested that first deputy prime minister
Oleg Soskovets and deputy prime ministers Boris Fedorov, Anatolii
Chubais and Aleksandr Shokhin helped push the liberalization
through by arguing that the resulting free market prices would
be lower than the administratively increased prices proposed
by others in the government. The decree, entitled "Concerning
Measures for Stabilizing the Situation in the Coal Industry,"
also gives the industry more incentive to export. Erik Whitlock


BALKAR CONGRESS RENEWS DEMANDS FOR TERRITORIAL REHABILITATION.
A two-day congress of the Balkar people in Nalchik on 19 and
20 June declared that its first priority was to seek both the
restoration of the territorial situation that existed before
the Balkar people were deported by Stalin in 1944 and the return
of those Balkars still living in the settlements in Kazakhstan
and Central Asia to which they were deported, Ostankino television
reported on 21 June. The Balkars, who constitute only 9.4 percent
of the population of the Kabardino-Balkar republic, have long
felt that they are disadvantaged and have objected to Kabardian
plans to rename the republic Kabarda. In a referendum in December
1991 they voted to create a separate Balkar republic, but have
since agreed to preserve the unity of Kabardino-Balkaria. The
Congress of the Kabardian People nonetheless objects to Balkar
demands for the restoration of the former administrative-territorial
division and for equality with the Kabardians, and in April 1993
appealed to the Russian parliament not to adopt a decree on the
rehabilitation of the Balkars, since it would affect the territorial
interests of Kabarda. -Ann Sheehy

INGUSH PRESIDENT APPEALS FOR CALM. Ingush president Ruslan Aushev
has appealed to the citizens of Ingushetia not to yield to rumors
and provocations and to remain calm, ITAR-TASS reported on 21
June. In an appeal circulated in Nazran, Aushev said that the
anti-Ingush rallies in North Ossetia were intended to wreck the
accords reached earlier on the return of Ingush refugees to the
Prigorodnyi raion of North Ossetia. In an interview on Ostankino
television on 20 June Russian deputy premier Sergei Shakhrai,
who is responsible for nationality affairs, said that the Ossetian
leadership had rejected a Russian government plan for a step-by-step
return of the refugees, and that, in addition to putting internal
troops in the area on alert, had invited the leadership of both
Ossetia and Ingushetia for talks in Moscow on 23 June to try
and find a solution and avoid further bloodshed. -Ann Sheehy


TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



HUSEINOV CLAIMS POWER IN AZERBAIJAN. The Azerbaijan National
Assembly (the rump parliament) convened in Baku on 21 June and
appealed to President Abulfaz Elchibey to return from Nakhichevan
to Baku and resume his duties, and to rebel leader Surat Huseinov
to begin negotiations with the government on a solution to the
ongoing crisis, Western agencies reported. Acting Interior Minister
Rovshan Dzhavadov undertook to guarantee Elchibey's safety. Huseinov
for his part declared at a televised press conference in Gyandzha
that he was assuming supreme power in Azerbaijan in order to
fill "a power vacuum." Elchibey has appealed to the West to "support
the Azerbaijani people," according to ITAR-TASS quoting the Anatolia
News Agency. Liz Fuller

ABKHAZ EVACUATION COMPLETE; FIGHTING CONTINUES. Approximately
2,500 refugees, mostly Abkhaz and ethnic Russians, were evacuated
late on 19-June from the besieged city of Tkvarcheli. They arrived
in Sukhumi on 20 June, where they boarded Russian landing craft,
one headed for Pitsunda and the other for Sochi, ITAR-TASS reported.
According to Yurii Vorobev, Deputy head of the Russian State
Committee for Emergency Situations, plans for a second evacuation
mission to Tkvarcheli were scrapped when rains washed away a
crucial bridge between Ochamchira and Tkvarcheli. Meanwhile,
the Abkhaz Defense Ministry and the press center for Georgian
troops stationed in Abkhazia both reported that fighting continued
through 21 June. -Catherine Dale

TAJIK OPPOSITION BANNED. In a move long expected but still likely
to heighten tension, Tajikistan's Supreme Court decided on 21
June to ban the four principal opposition groups (the Islamic
Renaissance Party, the Democratic Party, Rastokhez and Lale Badakhshon).
Their assets are also to be confiscated. The court found the
parties guilty of violating their own charters by forming military
formations, causing the civil war, and killing or taking hostage
Tajik legislators, Western and Russian agencies reported. The
leaders of the parties, who have fled to other countries, were
invited to attend, but did not; no defense lawyers or independent
observers were allowed to observe the trial. The Prosecutor General,
who filed the charges, claimed that rank-and-file members of
the parties would not be affected by the ruling and that individuals
were free to set up new parties. Prime Minister Abdullodzhanov
was quoted as saying, "We are going on the way to stability even
without the opposition....It makes no difference to us if they
come back or not." -Keith Martin

RAIDS ON AFGHAN TERRITORY FROM TAJIKISTAN? OFFICIAL KABUL RADIO,
AS CITED BY REUTERS ON 21 JUNE, REPORTED THAT CIS TROOPS IN TAJIKISTAN
HAD SHELLED BORDER AREAS IN AFGHANISTAN'S QUNDUZ PROVINCE. The
attack was reported to have caused heavy loss of life, though
the report did not mention specific figures. Tajik opposition
groups and their Afghan mujaheddin supporters have been staging
sporadic attacks on CIS border troops in Tajikistan from Afghan
territory; the CIS forces were long frustrated in their attempts
to stop the insurgents without attacking the rebels' bases in
Afghanistan. Tajikistan has stepped up its pressure on the Afghan
government to police the border since mujaheddin leader Gulbuddin
Hekhmatyar became prime minister. Previously, the Afghan government
had claimed that it did not control Hekhmatyar's forces along
parts of the Afghan-Tajik border. -Keith Martin

TAJIK REFUGEES RETURN HOME TO UNCERTAIN FUTURE. Over the last
few days an estimated 1,500-Tajik refugees have returned to their
homes, Western agencies report; this is the largest organized
return of refugees since the civil war ended in January. About
1,000 refugees returned from Afghanistan, 500 of them via Termez
in Uzbekistan. The other 500-refugees were stranded in the Gorno-Badakhshon
region; the central government in Dushanbe had refused to allow
food supplies to reach the region until it gave up its quest
for independence, which it has now done. The refugees from Gorno-Badakhshon
are ethnic Pamiris, most of whom sided with the opposition in
last year's civil war. At least ten Pamiris have been killed
in Dushanbe in the last three weeks, and there has been widespread
repression against Pamiris since the end of the civil conflict.
One refugee, however, was quoted as saying that he would rather
die of a bullet in Dushanbe than of starvation in Badakhshon.
-Keith Martin

COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES



CRIMEAN PARLIAMENT ISSUES RESOLUTION ON FREE ECONOMY. According
to ITAR-TASS quoting Ukrinform on 21 June, the Crimean parliament
has passed a resolution introducing a free economic regime on
the peninsula. Although mass media portrayed the resolution as
an attempt to leave Ukraine, Crimean parliament chairman Mykola
Bagrov told a press conference that Crimea and Ukraine would
overcome their economic crisis together. Crimea was part of the
Russian republic during the Soviet period until 1954, and there
is significant support on the peninsula for separation from Ukraine.
-Susan Stewart

KEBICH TO MEET WITH CHERNOMYRDIN. The meeting scheduled for 21
June between Prime Ministers Vyacheslau Kebich of Belarus and
Viktor Chernomyrdin of Russia was delayed and is likely to take
place on 22-June, Belapan reported on 21 June. The two ministers
are expected to discuss a wide range of issues, especially the
conditions for Belarus's continuation in the ruble zone. Last
week the Russian Central Bank presented the conditions republics
in the ruble zone will have to adhere to if they are to continue
receiving rubles. These caused an outcry in Belarus as they were
seen to give Russia an unacceptable degree of control over monetary
supply and policy. Supreme Soviet Chairman Stanislau Shushkevich
said their acceptance would lead to a loss of the country's independence.
He noted, however, that it was the bank and not the Russian government
that had voiced the demands, and expressed the hope that the
two governments would be able to work out an acceptable solution.
-Ustina Markus

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



IS FIKRET ABDIC PLANNING SOMETHING? HINA SAID ON 22 JUNE THAT
BOSNIAN PRESIDENT ALIJA IZETBEGOVIC ARRIVED IN ZAGREB THE PREVIOUS
EVENING FOR TALKS IN THE BOSNIAN EMBASSY WITH HIS COLLECTIVE
PRESIDENCY. The subject was whether the Muslims should return
to the Geneva negotiations that appear to be headed toward a
partition of their republic in a way that would leave them with
only parts of central Bosnia and the physically separate "Bihac
pocket" in the west. Izetbegovic appears to be opposed to returning
to the talks, while the rest of the presidency is reportedly
overwhelmingly in favor of going to Geneva, international media
say. He now wants to travel on to Sarajevo for discussions with
the government. Presidency member Fikret Abdic, the colorful
and popular leader of the Bihac pocket, told reporters that the
collective body definitely will go to Geneva. Some observers
suggest that Abdic might be planning a coup to oust Izetbegovic
and take the presidency for himself, or that he might be trying
to stake out an independent political profile for Bihac; in any
event, he has been talking at length to the press lately. Bihac's
Muslim population is a legacy of the Ottoman Empire's frontier
settlements against the Hapsburgs, but the area has a history
of excellent interethnic relations, even during World War II.
Abdic may try to build on that tradition to strike a new deal
with Bihac's Serb and Croat neighbors, or to present himself
to those two nationalities Bosnia-wide as a moderate alternative
to Izetbegovic. -Patrick Moore

BOBAN, KARADZIC MEET. Regardless of what Abdic's agenda may be,
Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his Croat counterpart,
Mate Boban, seem to be going ahead with plans of their own to
partition the embattled republic. Borba on 21 June said that
the two held a long, closed-door meeting at a Montenegrin resort
the previous day. Tanjug added that several participants arrived
with maps, and that the two leaders agreed on exchanges of prisoners,
wounded, and civilians. It is not clear whether the two are acting
on a follow-up to the reported deal between the Croatian and
Serbian presidents to divide Bosnia up among the three nationalities,
or if they are trying to make a pact of their own to leave the
Muslims with even less land than the Tudjman-Milosevic plan allows
them. Reuters on 22 June says that the Bosnian Serbs want central
Sarajevo, which the Tudjman-Milosevic partition gives to the
Muslims, and Borba also of that date suggests that Boban and
Karadzic are indeed trying to outmaneuver Zagreb and Belgrade.
-Patrick Moore

SOCIALISTS NOMINATE FEDERAL YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT. Serbia's ruling
Socialist Party has nominated Zoran Lilic as a candidate for
president of the rump Yugoslavia. Lilic, a Socialist, is currently
president of Serbia's National Assembly and is regarded a moderate.
Federal Foreign Minister Vladimir Jovanovic and SPS Vice President
Mihailo Markovic had also been considered as candidates. Several
smaller parties in Serbia have nominated Prince Tomislav, the
younger brother of Peter-II, the last king of Yugoslavia, and
has received the backing of a large faction of the Bosnian and
Croatian Serb leadership. Biljana Plavsic, a vice president of
the self-declared Serb Republic in Bosnia told reporters on 21
June that there is support among leaders in the self-declared
Serb assemblies in Croatia's Krajina region and in Bosnia-Herzegovina
for a "parliamentary monarchy". Radio Serbia and B92 carried
the reports on 21 June. However, other key Bosnian Serb leaders
have not commented on Plavsic's remarks. Although they support
Serb unification, they are cautioning against any premature merger
of Serb regions in Croatia and Bosnia before an agreement is
reached with the Croats. -Milan Andrejevich

WALESA ADDRESSES MEDIA COUNCIL. At a meeting with his Media and
Information Council on 21 June, Polish President Lech Walesa
expressed the hope that the media would report on the election
campaign responsibly and fairly. "The media will determine whether
it will be a campaign of arguments and programs or one of hatred
and slander," he said, according to PAP. At the meeting Walesa
defended his idea of a nonparty bloc to support reforms, saying
that it was not meant to weaken the multiparty system but to
move the country forward with concrete action programs. He also
addressed the problem of private broadcasters, who face criminal
liability if they continue broadcasting after 1-July, saying
that the law, even if it is lagging behind developments, is equally
binding on everyone. At the same time he expressed the hope that
the law will not be too harsh on those who find themselves in
such a difficult situation through no fault of their own. -Anna
Sabbat-Swidlicka

POLISH GOVERNMENT ROUNDUP. Pressing forward with systemic reform
in the lull before the elections, the government of Prime Minister
Hanna Suchocka has announced several programmatic documents,
according to 21 June PAP reports. Labor Minister Jacek Kuron
unveiled a complex program to reduce unemployment that would
cut the number of jobless by 500,000 in 1994. The plan aims to
create new jobs, activate the job market, make the social safety
net more efficient, and integrate the efforts of the different
agencies concerned with employment policy. Industry Minister
Waclaw Niewiarowski said that he would present the basic premises
of a new industrial policy for the next few years and for the
forthcoming decade in mid-July. Its objectives were to halt recession,
develop the market economy, promote economic stability, and enhance
the efficiency and competitiveness of Polish industry. The government
has been criticized for its lack of a coherent policy to revive
industry. Finally, Privatization Minister Janusz Lewandowski
set up a Consultative Council for Reprivatization that is to
help disperse the public confusion and frustration that has arisen
around the reprivatization issue. -Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka

NATO SUPREME COMMANDER MEETS CZECH LEADERS. On 21 June Gen. John
Shalikashvili met in Prague with Czech Prime Minister Vaclav
Klaus and President Vaclav Havel. Speaking at a press conference
after the meeting, Klaus said that the Czech Republic's admission
to NATO will depend on whether NATO continues to exist, on political
developments in the Czech Republic, and on the situation in the
former Soviet Union. Klaus confirmed that during Shalikashvili's
visit a number of agreements on cooperation between NATO and
the Czech Army were reached. CTK reports that during his meeting
with the NATO supreme commander, President Havel expressed support
for the continuing presence of American troops in Europe. Havel
called the troops "a stabilizing factor." -Jiri Pehe

TEMPORARY IMPORT TARIFFS IN SLOVAKIA. On 21 June Finance Minister
Julius Toth said there is a 90% probability that Slovakia will
implement new import tariffs next month, TASR reports. The tax
will be introduced in two stages; the first, with a maximum rate
of 20%, will last until the end of this year; the second, at
10%, will extend through the first half of 1994. Toth says the
government has not yet decided which goods which will be affected.
Czech Minister of Trade and Industry Vladimir Dlouhy considers
the tariffs "short-term economic measures aimed at strengthening
the macroeconomic stability of the Slovak economy." It is not
yet certain how the measures will affect trade within the Visegrad
Group. CTK reports that on 21 June officials representing Slovakia
in the Czech-Slovak Customs Union Council officially informed
the Czechs about the plans. -Sharon Fisher

WILL HUNGARY BLOCK SLOVAKIA'S ENTRANCE INTO THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE?
IN HIS REGULAR TELEVISION PROGRAM ON 20 JUNE, SLOVAK PREMIER
VLADIMIR MECIAR SAID THAT REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MAGYAR MINORITY
ARE BEING USED IN HUNGARY'S DESIGNS AGAINST SLOVAKIA. Hungary,
claiming that the Magyars' rights in Slovakia are being violated,
plans to veto Slovakia's admission into the Council of Europe,
he said, The controversy centers on legislation that makes the
entry of non-Slovak names into birth registers difficult. In
response to Meciar's statement, Miklos Duray, chairman of the
Hungarian Coexistence movement in the Slovak parliament, said
on 21 June that no country has veto power in the Council of Europe.
Also on the 21st, a spokesman of the Hungarian Foreign Affairs
Ministry, Janos Herman, told TASR that Hungary is "not against"
Slovakia's entry into the CE; it simply wants Slovakia to satisfy
the conditions required for admission. According to Herman, problem
areas include bilingual signs and other measures which "negatively
influence" the Hungarian minority position in Slovakia. According
to Janos Perenyi, the Hungarian ambassador to the Council of
Europe, Hungary has no interest in hindering Slovakia's admission
into the Council and has no veto right in that regard. -Sharon
Fisher and Alfred Reisch

HUNGARIAN JUSTICE PARTY FORMED. Istvan Csurka, a member of the
11-member Justice parliamentary faction set up last week, announced
on 21 June that the faction will create, together with unnamed
outsiders, the Hungarian Justice party and start proceedings
for its registration, MTI reports. Several organizations, such
as the Csurka-led Hungarian Road, and "several hundred" individuals
have already indicated their desire to join the new party. The
new group will not accept the offered invitation to return to
the ruling Hungarian Democratic Forum party. According to Lajos
Horvath, acting leader of the Hungarian Justice parliamentary
faction, the faction expects to have 15 to 16 members, enough
to be recognized both as a party and faction in parliament. -Alfred
Reisch

GONCZ IN MOSCOW. Hungarian President Arpad Goncz, on an unofficial
visit to Russia, stressed the importance of good political and
economic relations between the two countries and decorated former
students in Leningrad who had been imprisoned for expressing
solidarity with the 1956 Hungarian Revolution. Goncz will visit
Russia's four Finno-Ugric republics, beginning with the Komi,
and meet with Russian President Boris Yeltsin at the beginning
of July. -Alfred Reisch

ROMANIAN PREMIER ADDRESSES SENATE. In an address to the Senate
on 21 June Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu provided details on
the introduction of the value-added tax on 1-July. He stressed
the importance of the move for free-market reforms in Romania
and expressed hopes that economy will become more stable in the
near future, with the monthly inflation rate dropping from a
current 11-11.5% to no more than 2-3%. Vacaroiu also said that
situation in agriculture has improved and that Romania might
stop importing cereals this year. He further admitted that privatization
of state-owned enterprises was slow and foreign investments continued
to be very limited. Radio Bucharest broadcast the address live.
-Dan Ionescu

ROMANIAN MINERS PROTEST IN BAIA MARE. On 21 June thousands of
miners staged a protest at the headquarters of the Lead and Zinc
Company in Baia Mare. Their main claim was an increase of the
minimum wage for those working underground from a current 70,000
lei (some $100) to between 150,000 and 210,000 lei ($210-300).
The miners threatened a general strike if government officials,
including Premier Vacaroiu, failed to come to Baia Mare for negotiations
within 24-hours. They also said that they plan to go to Bucharest
in case their demands were not met. In 1990 and 1991 coal miners
from the Jiu Valley rampaged through Romania's capital on several
occasions. -Dan Ionescu

ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA RELEASES STATEMENT. On 21 June
Radio Bucharest and Radio Budapest both broadcast a communique
released in Tirgu Mures by the leading body of the Hungarian
Democratic Federation of Romania. According to the statement,
the HDFR has decided to join the newly created Council for National
Minorities provided that the authorities satisfactorily resolve
a set of demands by 31 August, otherwise the HDFR reserves its
right to quit the council. The statement also called attention
to what it described as "the political trials" being currently
staged in Romania against members of the Hungarian minority accused
of crimes during the December 1989 uprising and the March 1990
ethnic clashes in Tirgu Mures. -Dan Ionescu

UDF RALLY TARGETS GOVERNMENT. After nearly two weeks of demonstrations
directed chiefly against President Zhelyu Zhelev, protests organized
by the Union of Democratic Forces have begun targeting the Bulgarian
government. At a rally in Sofia on 22 June, Western agencies
quote UDF leaders as telling thousands of supporters that the
coalition will do all in its power to bring the current cabinet
down. UDF chairman Filip Dimitrov said he will try to persuade
other parliamentary factions to block a government reshuffle
on which the National Assembly is scheduled to vote on 23 June.
Meeting in Kyustendil on 17 June, the influential Podkrepa trade
union also called for new parliamentary elections in order to
help create a more stable parliament. In the meantime, protest
actions continue without interruption against Zhelev, whose presidential
candidacy was supported by the UDF in January 1992. Although
he asked party sympathizers not to follow his example, UDF deputy
Edvin Sugarev on 22 June told an RFE/RL correspondent he will
continue his 15-day hunger strike until Zhelev finally resigns.
At the same time, 24 smaller parties and organizations adopted
a declaration in support of the president. -Kjell Engelbrekt


MOLDOVA FAVORS NATO-BASED EUROPEAN SECURITY. President Mircea
Snegur told a conference of the senior staff of the Defense Ministry
that "Moldova is directly interested in the creation of a European
collective security system under CSCE auspices based on the structures
of NATO, involving military and political cooperation among democratic
countries that observe a common set of principles and norms in
international relations," Basapress reported on 21 June. -Vladimir
Socor

KRAVCHUK REVOKES CONTROVERSIAL DECREE. On 21 June Ukrinform carried
the text of a decree issued by President Leonid Kravchuk suspending
an earlier pronouncement that placed him at the head of government.
The new decree makes way for a reappraisal of the relationship
between the president, government, and parliament. The earlier,
16 June decree drew fire from Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, who
said it stripped him of his powers and made his job irrelevant.
Kravchuk was prompted to issue the first decree by the economic
situation which led to the miners strike in the Donbass. Government
negotiators acquiesced in most of the miner's demands, offering
pay raises and other benefits and agreeing to a referendum on
confidence in the president and parliament. Kuchma and Labor
Minister Mykola Kaskevich opposed the compromise on the grounds
that it would cost the government money it does not have, thereby
increasing inflation and the budget deficit and putting further
pressure on the value of the Ukrainian currency, Reuters reported
on 22 June. -Ustina Markus

NEW ESTONIAN LAW ON FOREIGNERS. On 21-June, by a vote of 59 to
3, parliament passed a law on foreigners, BNS reports. The law
requires noncitizens to apply for a residence permit within one
year. All permanent residents, regardless of ethnic background,
will be allowed to vote in local elections on 17-October if they
register before 12 August. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Vitalii
Churkin called the law a "grave violation of human rights" and
said that Russia is preparing a retaliatory package of diplomatic
and political measures. On 22 June Estonian Prime Minister Mart
Laar will meet with municipal and industrial leaders in the heavily
Russian-populated town of Narva to discuss the situation and
try to convince them not to implement planned protest strikes.
-Saulius Girnius

ELECTION OF PARLIAMENT DEPUTY IN LITHUANIA FAILS. On 20 June
elections were held in the Kaisiadoriai electoral district to
fill the parliament seat vacated by Algirdas Brazauskas when
he was elected president in February, Radio Lithuania reports.
Since only 32.8% of registered voters participated in the elections,
the required 40% minimum was not met and another vote will be
held within six months. Former Supreme Council secretary Liudvikas
Sabutis, nominated by Sajudis, led five other candidates with
42% of the votes. -Saulius Girnius

RUBIKS TRIAL BEGINS. On 21 June the Latvian Supreme Court convened
to try the case of former Latvian Communist Party chief Alfreds
Rubiks and party secretary Ojars Potreki, who are accused of
trying to overthrow the government in January and August 1991.
The trial was postponed on account of Rubiks' health. Medical
examinations now show that although Rubiks has chronic circulatory
problems in his right leg, he is nonetheless fit to stand trial.
Rubiks refused to cooperate, however, and had to be carried into
the courtroom, where he made a brief statement in Russian protesting
that he is having to stand trial even after having been elected
to a seat in parliament. Holding up his bandaged leg for everyone
to see, Rubiks also removed his shirt to show a bandage on his
back covering a wound allegedly suffered as he was being transported
to court, Diena reported. -Dzintra Bungs

CONFLICTING REPORTS ON RUSSIAN TROOP WITHDRAWALS. Russian Foreign
and Defense Ministry spokesmen denied Latvian and Estonian reports
that the pullout of Russian troops from the Baltics had been
suspended and that the Russian forces held military exercises
in June focusing on the takeover of major state facilities in
Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as had been alleged by Estonian
Defense Minister Hain Rebas. The Lithuanian embassy in Moscow
confirmed that the troop withdrawal from his country is proceeding
according to schedule, Baltic and RFE/RL correspondents reported
on 21 June. In a related development, BNS reported on the 21st
that serious problems have been encountered in drafting a Lithuanian-Russian
treaty on the transit of Russian troops through Lithuania. -Dzintra
Bungs

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Stephen Foye and Charles Trumbull





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