No. 118, 24 June 1993

RUSSIA



A NEW CENTRIST BLOC EMERGING? THE CO-LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC
RUSSIA MOVEMENT, LEV PONOMAREV, TOLD OTKRYTOE RADIO "INTERVIEW"
ON 21 JUNE THAT THE FORMER CENTRIST CIVIC UNION BLOC HAS FALLEN
APART. As reasons for that he cited: first, the departure of
Nikolai Travkin's Democratic Party; second, the rejection by
the People's Party of Free Russia's of the hardline position
of its leader, Vice-President Aleksandr Rutskoi; third, the pro-Yeltsin
position taken by the industrialists' organizations, led by Aleksandr
Vladislavlev and Arkadii Volsky. Ponomarev said that a new centrist
bloc is emerging with a new group of leaders that includes the
head of the Movement for Democratic Reform, Gavriil Popov, economist
Grigorii Yavlinsky, the head of the Republican Party Vyacheslav
Shostakovsky, and Vladislavlev. -Alexander Rahr

NUCLEAR WEAPONS SCIENTISTS THREATEN STRIKE. Scientists at the
Arzamas-16 nuclear weapons facility have threatened to go on
strike and halt the process of dismantling nuclear weapons, according
to reports in Rossiiskaya gazeta and Reuters on 23 June. The
scientists have warned that they cannot guarantee the safety
of the nuclear weapons dismantling process and have hinted at
the possibility of a "catastrophe" because of the declining support
for both personnel and facilities. The primary problem is one
of pay: Rossiiskaya gazeta reports that the salary for scientific
workers is only about 10,000 rubles per month and that pay has
often been delayed for up to two months. Support for research
facilities has also been declining, and is reportedly to be cut
even further. Last year scientists in the nuclear weapons complex
issued a similar warning and threat that resulted in their being
given special status and promised increased benefits, but these
promises have apparently not been fulfilled. On 24 June Radio
Rossii and Reuters reported that President Yeltsin and Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had signed decrees providing for
additional funding for nuclear weapons centers in an attempt
to avert the strike. -John Lepingwell

MORE CORRUPTION CHARGES AGAINST RUSSIAN MILITARY. The issue of
corruption within the Russian military is being exploited by
both conservative and liberal forces. In a Radio Rossii interview
broadcast on 21 June, Rutskoi repeated his corruption charges
against the military high command, and the Western Group of Forces
in particular. On 23 June, Krasnaya zvezda published a report
that attempted to refute many of Rutskoi's charges. Nevertheless,
similar charges were made on 23 June by members of the Army Reform
deputies' group, headed by Viktor Urazhtsev. The Army Reform
group statement repeated earlier charges that both Shaposhnikov
and Grachev had bought expensive dachas at discounted prices
and that other officers had illegally sold military property.
Urazhtsev also claimed that over 16,000 young officers had resigned
in the first months of 1993 and that there were over 50,000 drug
addicts in the armed forces. He also claimed that despite Grachev's
commitment to reduce the high number of generals in the military
that over 300 promotions to the rank of general had been made
in 1993, a rate comparable to that in the larger Soviet military
of the past. -John Lepingwell

SPECIAL FUND TO BE SET UP TO SUPPORT THE COAL INDUSTRY. The coal
industry has been the subject of two pieces of legislation issued
this week, ITAR-TASS reported on 23-June. One is a government
resolution signed on 20 June, which envisages the creation of
a special fund to provide financial support for the coal industry.
This will take effect from 1-July, will be administered by the
Ministry of Finances, and will be financed from a 3% value-added
tax on goods and services. The resolution also calls for a program
for the closure of non-profitable mines to be drawn up within
the coming 3 months. On 21 June, President Yeltsin issued a decree
announcing the liberalization of coal prices from 1 July. The
coal mining and processing industries will no longer be obliged
to hand over part of their hard currency earnings from coal exports.
Both the resolution and the decree are aimed at drastically reducing
state subsidies to the industry. In the meantime the Rostov miners
protesting outside government buildings in Moscow have been joined
by miners from the Kuzbass and other major mining areas. The
miners are insisting that the government honor its previous pledges
of subsidies. -Sheila Marnie

WESTERN AID FOR RUSSIAN PRIVATIZATION TO BE SCALED BACK. A fund
proposed by the US in April aimed at supporting the privatization
process in Russia is to be scaled back from the $4 billion originally
envisaged to $1 billion, according to Reuters on 23 June. The
US surprised its western allies by proposing the fund at a meeting
of foreign and finance ministers in Tokyo last April. The plan
is due to be discussed further at the G7 summit in Tokyo on
7-9 July. G-7 members are expected to contribute $500 million,
and international financial institutions are to be asked to provide
another $500-million. Many of the donor countries are said to
be facing financial constraints which prevent them from making
larger contributions. This fund would be separate from the $28
billion already pledged by the west to help Russia's economic
reform, and would take the form of grants rather than loans and
credits. The US has also committed itself to providing $1.8 billion
in bilateral assistance. -Sheila Marnie

RUSSIAN STANCE ON BOSNIA. On 23 June Deputy Foreign Minister
Vitalii Churkin unveiled a seven-point declaration outlining
considerations that should be taken into account in talks on
Bosnia. Russia rejects the "legalization" of land taken by force
or by ethnic cleansing in Bosnia, and Russia demands that the
external border of Bosnia-Herzegovina be preserved, according
to the declaration. Churkin told reporters that Bosnian Serbs
had assured him that they were prepared to hand back "a significant
percentage" of the land conquered to reach agreement on a confederation,
Western agencies reported. -Suzanne Crow

RISING CRIME LINKED TO PRIVATIZATION. The Ministry of the Interior
has been issuing statements on the increasing incidence of economic
crimes since the beginning of the privatization program, Krim-Press
reported on 22 June. Police recorded 2,590 economic crimes related
to the privatization of municipal and federal property in the
first five months of 1993, but the actual number of such crimes
is thought to be much greater. Bribery cases alone have increased
by 42.5% compared to the corresponding period in 1992. The main
crimes include the bribing of state officials to get insider
prices on private property, working out deals with tax officials
to avoid paying taxes, and misappropriation of privatization
vouchers. A presidential decree has been issued to give greater
powers to the "interdepartmental commission for fighting crime
and corruption," which was headed by Vice President Rutskoi,
but since May has been headed by President Yeltsin himself. -Sheila
Marnie

KOZYREV CALLS FOR EXTENSION OF NUCLEAR TEST MORATORIUM. Foreign
Minister Andrei Kozyrev on 23 June called for a further extension
of the moratorium on nuclear testing being observed by Russia,
France, the UK, and the USA, according to ITAR-TASS. He noted
that Russia would not be the first country to resume tests and
called for negotiations to make the ban permanent. The UK government
has also called for the extension of the moratorium, ITAR-TASS
reported on 22-June. AFP reported on 24 June that the French
government is expected to announce that it will soon resume testing
in order to support its arsenal modernization program. According
to a 23 June report from an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington,
President Clinton must inform Congress of his intention to either
resume testing or continue the moratorium by 1-July. -John Lepingwell


PESSIMISM ON CHERNOMYRDIN VISIT TO US. An Izvestiya commentary
on 24 June speculated that an unresolved conflict between Moscow
and Washington over the planned sale of rocket technology by
Russia to India could hinder the signing of agreements on space
cooperation and other issues during a planned visit by Prime
Minister Chernomyrdin to Washington. The newspaper claimed that
Vice Premier Aleksandr Shokhin, who just returned to Moscow from
Washington, had been unable to resolve differences between the
two sides in preparation for Chernomyrdin's arrival, scheduled
for 27 June. The New York Times on 23-June had reported that
the dispute involved Washington's displeasure over a broad array
of military technologies offered for sale by Russia. -Stephen
Foye

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



ELCHIBEY AGREES TO REFERENDUM; HUSEINOV REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE.
The Azerbaijan National Assembly continued on 23 June to try
to resolve the political crisis as rebel forces and regular army
troops together patrolled the streets of Baku. President Elchibey
agreed to comply with requests to return to Baku and resume his
duties on condition that Surat Huseinov's forces withdraw from
the city; Huseinov, in an irate fax message to the National Assembly,
refused pointblank to negotiate with Elchibey, whose resignation
he continues to demand, Western agencies reported. Azerbaijani
Foreign Minister Tofik Gasymov, who on 22 June traveled to Nakhichevan
for talks with Elchibey, told the National Assembly that Elchibey
had agreed to submit to a nation-wide vote of confidence, ITAR-TASS
reported. Radio Rossii on 23 June quoted ex-president Ayaz Mutalibov
as denying media reports that he is allied with Huseinov. Radio
Rossii also reported that Geidar Aliev, whose New Azerbaijan
party theoretically supports equal rights for Azerbaijan's ethnic
minorities, has condemned the proclamation by Aliakram Gumbatov
of a Talysh Mugan republic centered on Lenkoran, adjoining the
Azerbaijan-Iranian border. -Liz Fuller

SHEVARDNADZE IN BRUSSELS. Georgian Parliament chairman Eduard
Shevardnadze paid a one day visit to Brussels on 23 June and
then traveled to Bonn. Shevardnadze held talks with Belgian government
officials on expanding bilateral ties and ties with the EC, ITAR-TASS
reported. In talks at NATO HQ with Secretary-General Manfred
Woerner, Shevardnadze professed to be "encouraged" by Woerner's
response to his request that NATO play a greater role in helping
to resolve the conflict in Abkhazia, including supplying peacekeeping
troops -Liz Fuller

FORMER UZBEK VICE-PRESIDENT SENTENCED; PARDONED. Uzbekistan's
former Vice-President Shukrulla Mirsaidov confirmed to RFE/RL
on 23 June that he had been sentenced to a three-year jail term
and then pardoned; the verdict was handed down on 18 June. While
Mirsaidov was found guilty of signing contracts selling cotton
to insolvent foreign companies without proper authorization,
Mirsaidov and many Western observers believe that the trial was
an effort by President Islam Karimov to eliminate a potential
rival. -Keith Martin

TAJIK PARLIAMENT BEGINS MEETING. Tajikistan's parliament began
a three-day session under tight security in Dushanbe on 23 June,
Western and Russian agencies reported. It is the first meeting
of the parliament in the capital since the beginning of the civil
war over one year ago. The Tajik parliament, elected in 1990,
was already dominated by Communist Party legislators before the
civil war; it appears that no opposition legislators, whose parties
were banned this week, will attempt to attend the session. The
legislature is devoting itself to questions of the economy and
agriculture, both of which were devastated during the civil conflict;
no politically sensitive issues are on the agenda. -Keith Martin


COMMONWEALTH OF INDEPENDENT STATES



RUSSIA PUSHING KAZAKHSTAN OUT OF RUBLE ZONE? KAZAKH PRIME MINISTER
SERGEI TERESHCHENKO TOLD A MEETING OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS AND
ENTERPRISE MANAGERS IN ALMA ALTA ON 22 JUNE THAT TRADE RELATIONS
WITH RUSSIA HAD "SHARPLY DETERIORATED" RECENTLY, ITAR-TASS AND
IZVESTIYA REPORTED. He said that in the latest round of bilateral
trade negotiations, Russia insisted that the trade deficit Kazakhstan
runs with Russia be transformed into sovereign debt with conditions
analogous to standard Western loans. Because the Kazakhs were
not prepared to do this, an agreement on financing the Kazakh
deficit in 1993 could not be reached. He also accused Russia
of being inflexible on resolving the issue of the multibillion
ruble overdue payments between Kazakh and Russian enterprises.
Tereshchenko claimed that Russia's tough stance in the negotiations
are clearly intended to push Kazakhstan out of the ruble zone
and that Russian negotiators even explicitly suggested Kazakhstan
introduce its own currency. -Erik Whitlock

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BOSNIAN SITUATION REMAINS A RIDDLE. International media on 24
June report that the previous day's peace talks in Geneva ended
without much being cleared up. The New York Times quotes Lord
Owen as saying that he is "disappointed" with the lack of details
made available by the project's authors, Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic and his Croatian counterpart, Franjo Tudjman, both
of whom have since left Geneva. The plan contains some of the
seemingly less practical aspects of the Vance-Owen draft, such
as demilitarization of Bosnia and the posting of human rights
monitors, but the key question of boundaries was not discussed
and no map was offered. Elsewhere, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic said that the Serbs would "let" the Muslims keep Sarajevo
in return for the surrender of the embattled Muslim enclaves
in eastern Bosnia. -Patrick Moore

ETHNIC CLEANSING STEPPED UP IN CENTRAL BOSNIA. The BBC on 24
June reports that mass movements of Croats and Muslims are under
way as civilians are driven out of their villages by armed units
seeking to consolidate their respective holdings. In particular,
some 15,000 Croats from the mountainous region north of Kakanj
have arrived at the small industrial town of Vares. Reuters quotes
the local police chief as saying that "the pressure on the town
is so intense that I have no word for it." Elsewhere, the International
Herald Tribune says that French General Philippe Morillon is
about to be replaced as UN commander in Bosnia, while another
French general will take over the UN forces leadership for all
of the former Yugoslavia. -Patrick Moore

FINAL RESULTS OF KRAJINA SERB VOTE. On 23-June delegates of the
self-declared Assembly of the Republic of Serb Krajina unanimously
adopted the results of last weekend's referendum on Krajina's
sovereignty and its unification with the "Serb Republic" in Bosnia
and "other Serb lands." Croatia has slammed the vote, calling
it illegal. An assembly committee report said the referendum
was held in a "seldom-witnessed, democratic, and dignified atmosphere."
According to official figures 301,592 persons, or 95.6% of the
electorate living in Croatia's Krajina and Eastern Slavonia regions
voted: 297,425 or 98.6% favored union while 2,341-persons (0.72%)
opposed it. The remaining ballots cast were declared invalid.
Another 79,000 votes were cast by Krajina residents living in
40 cities worldwide and 99.93% voted in favor of sovereignty
and unification. Milovan Milanovic, vice president of the Bosnian
Serb Republic's National Assembly proposed that the joint session
of the assemblies of the two republics scheduled for 28 June
(St. Vitus' Day) be postponed. Milanovic explained that "every
move should now be made wisely and courageously, step by step,
until final unification." The Assembly approved Milanovic's proposal
and appointed a commission to draw up of a constitution of the
new Serb state west of the Drina River by the end of July. Radios
Serbia and Croatia carried the report. -Milan Andrejevich

KUCHMA PROPOSES EMERGENCY PLAN. On 23-June Ukrainian Prime Minister
Leonid Kuchma proposed emergency measures to prevent the economy
from collapsing, Reuters reported. Among the measures were tougher
restrictions on the growth of the money supply, faster privatization,
tax advantages for industry, and incentives to attract foreign
investment. He also called for closing loss-making factories,
negotiating a moratorium on fuel price increases with Russia,
and campaigning for foreign credit for energy purchases. At the
same parliamentary session the First Deputy Prime Minister, Viktor
Pynzenyk, said the government did not have the money to pay for
the concessions made to striking miners in the Donbass. These
included pay rises and industrial subsidies which would cost
the government 20 to 60 trillion karbovantsy ($5-15 billion).
Some 40 mines are still not working pending the implementation
of the agreements. It was also reported that some factories in
Kharkiv were planning to strike on 24 June and railway workers
have threatened to walk off the job. -Ustina Markus

RUSSIA SHARPENS RHETORIC AGAINST ESTONIA. The dispute over Estonia's
law on aliens continued on 23 June as Russian Foreign Minister
Andrei Kozyrev made the claim that the Council of Europe had
given an "indulgence for the continuation of the practice" of
violation of human rights by admitting Estonia as its member;
he added: "Now we would like the Council of Europe to think once
again about the existing situation. One of its new members is
embarking on the path, I am not afraid to exaggerate, of Apartheid,
as a third of the population is proclaimed foreigners, and of
ethnic cleansing, as the third is facing the threat of being
driven out of the country," ITAR-TASS reported. Yeltsin's adviser
Sergei Stankevich claimed that a war had been declared on the
Russian diaspora in Estonia, and by extension, a cold war on
Russia itself. On a calmer note, the Russian Foreign Ministry
announced that Alexei Glukhov, director of its European Department
is to go to Tallinn on 24-June for talks with the Estonian authorities.
-Dzintra Bungs

RESPONSE FROM ESTONIAN AMBASSADOR. Juri Kahn, Estonia's envoy
to Moscow, told the press on 23-June that Russia's latest statements
against Estonia go beyond the framework of normal relations and
could be qualified as interference in Estonia's internal affairs.
He interpreted the comments as stemming from Estonia's admission
as a full member of the Council of Europe, a move that Russia
had vigorously opposed. Kahn also claimed that Moscow's politicians
are criticizing Estonia primarily because of domestic tensions
in Russia, Radio Tallinn reported. -Dzintra Bungs

BULGARIA HAS NEW MINISTERS . . . On 23 June Prime Minister Lyuben
Berov named five new ministers and received parliamentary approval
by a vote of 126-to 84. According to Reuters, the changes were
made to strengthen the government against opposition calls for
its ouster. Each of the new ministers is a trained professional
with technical qualifications for his portfolio, according to
BTA. -Stan Markotich

. . . AND OPPOSITION RESPONSES. According to Reuters, opposition
members of Bulgaria's Parliament were so dissatisfied with the
government changes that they walked out a government session
shortly after the new cabinet members were named. The leader
of the UDF opposition in Parliament, Stefan Savov, stated that
the changes amount to little more than an effort to put the government
back under the control of the communists. As deputies filed out
of session, they hurled verbal insults at the government side.
A representative of the ethnic Turks' Movement for Rights and
Freedoms said, however, that the appointments will give the government
a new lease on life and enable it to "stay in power for at least
another year." Stan Markotich

POLISH ELECTION CAMPAIGN ROUNDUP. After a meeting of leaders
of the parties making up the governing coalition, Prime Minister
Hanna Suchocka's press secretary, Zdobyslaw Milewski, said that
a grand coalition was no longer feasible after the Christian
National Union had concluded its own election agreement with
the Peasant Alliance. That party recently abandoned the coalition.
Milewski also said that none of the remaining parties had excluded
the possibility of forming an electoral bloc and that talks would
be continued on 24-June, according to an RFE/RL Polish Service
report on 23 June. The hard core of such a bloc would likely
be formed by the Democratic Union, its former right wing, the
Polish Convention, and the Liberal Democratic Congress. -Anna
Sabbat-Swidlicka

PRICE CONTROLS IN POLAND AHEAD OF VAT. Government regulations
aimed at preventing "unjustified" price rises made under cover
of VAT took effect as of 23 June and will be in force until the
end of September by which time the government expects the situation
to have stabilized, RFE/RL's Polish Service reports. The tax,
which replaces the turnover tax, will be introduced on 5 July.
The government has also initiated a "Watch Those Prices" campaign,
encouraging shopkeepers and the public to monitor prices. -Anna
Sabbat-Swidlicka

KLAUS ON VISIT TO POLAND. Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus left
for a two-day official visit to Poland, CTK reports on 24 June.
He is scheduled to meet with President Lech Walesa and Prime
Minister Suchocka. The Czech prime minister is expected to sign
agreements on dual taxation, income and property, and protection
of investments. -Jan Obrman

CZECHS TIGHTEN VISA REGULATIONS. Prime Minister Klaus announced
new regulations making visas obligatory for citizens of some
former Yugoslav republics and some successor states of the Soviet
Union, CTK reported on 23 June. Klaus told reporters that visitors
from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Serbia, Montenegro,
and Bosnia-Herzegovina would require visas from 1 July if they
want to enter the Czech Republic. He said the decision was necessary
to deal with the threat of mass migration. Klaus stressed that
the country has become one of the main transit routes for those
fleeing wars or economic deprivation to seek asylum in the West.
On 1 July tighter asylum laws come into force in Germany. -Jan
Obrman

CZECH CITIZENSHIP TO SLOVAKS. Interior Ministry spokeswoman Katerina
Guluskinova said that about 22,000 Slovaks have been granted
citizenship since 1-January 1993, Czech TV reported on 23 June.
She said a total of about 46,000 Slovaks have applied so far.
Guluskinova also said that about 53% of the 314,000 Slovaks officially
known to be currently living on Czech territory already are Czech
citizens. She made it clear, however, that many Slovaks permanently
residing in the Czech Republic still do not realize that they
must apply for citizenship. Jan Obrman

DOLGOS RESIGNS FROM SLOVAKIA'S RULING PARTY. Lubomir Dolgos,
who resigned his position as Slovak privatization minister after
losing a no-confidence vote at a 12 June meeting of the ruling
Movement for a Democratic Slovakia, announced on 23 June at an
MDS press conference that he has resigned from the party and
his post as its deputy chairman. TASR quoted Dolgos as saying
that since the president accepted his resignation as minister,
he "did not see any reason to stay." Dolgos also took responsibility
for the present state of privatization in Slovakia, which has
been criticized by many as extremely slow. It is uncertain whether
Dolgos will form his own political party or join former Foreign
Minister Milan Knazko's new party, the Alliance of Democrats.
-Sharon Fisher

MECIAR THE MOST TRUSTED POLITICIAN IN SLOVAKIA. On 23 June, additional
results of the Slovak Statistical Office's May poll were released,
showing that 25% of respondents trust Prime Minister Vladimir
Meciar the most, 4% more than in the April poll. Falling into
second place was President Michal Kovac with 22%, followed by
Peter Weiss, Chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left, with
20%. Further behind were Parliament Chairman Ivan Gasparovic
with 7%, Deputy Premier Roman Kovac and Slovak National Party
Chairman Ludovit Cernak with 6%, Chairman of the Democratic Alliance
Party Milan Knazko with 5%, and Christian Democratic Party Chairman
Jan Carnogursky with 4%. A high 37% of respondents said they
do not trust any politician, Slovak media sources said. -Sharon
Fisher

HUNGARIAN PREMIER IN BONN. Prime Minister Jozsef Antall and German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl held talks on bilateral and international
issues on 23-June, Radio Budapest announced. Kohl said Germany
understood Hungary's security concerns as a result of the Yugoslav
conflict and would mention them at the next NATO summit. Antall
asked for Germany's continued support in gaining admission into
the EC and in developing bilateral economic relations; Germany
ranks first among Hungary's trading partners and second among
foreign investors in Hungary. --Alfred Reisch

MACEDONIA ADOPTS NEW CURRENCY RESTRICTIONS. In an effort to control
the amount of foreign currency leaving the country and to hamper
illegal currency trading, MILS reports that the Macedonian government
has imposed restrictions on travellers entering and leaving the
country. All citizens travelling abroad can take up to 1000 DM
in cash provided they have a receipt from a bank or other official
exchange office. Foreign citizens will have declare any amounts
over 300 DM when entering or leaving the country. -Robert Austin


ROMANIAN NATIONALIST PARTY CALLS FOR GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE. On
23 June President Ion Iliescu received a delegation of the Party
of Romanian National Unity, headed by the controversial party
chairman and mayor of Cluj, Gheorghe Funar. In an interview with
Radio Bucharest after the meeting, Funar said that his party
urged a reshuffle of Nicolae Vacaroiu's cabinet before parliament's
summer break. Among the ministers targeted by the PRNU, there
are Misu Negritoiu, head of the Council for Economic Coordination,
Strategy and Reform, as well as the agriculture, environment
and tourism ministers. The PRNU also demanded that Romania's
National Bank governor Mugur Isarescu and a number of prefects
be replaced, and that ethnic Romanian deputy prefects be appointed
in the counties of Harghita and Covasna, where Hungarians are
in majority. -Dan Ionescu

NEW LITHUANIAN CURRENCY. On 23 June the rules for converting
the coupons (Lithuania's temporary currency) into the new currency,
the litas, were published, Radio Lithuania reports. The conversion
process will begin on 25 June at a rate of 100 coupons to 1 litas.
The coupons will remain valid until 20 July and only people who
had been out of the country or in hospitals will be able to convert
their coupons to litas after that. Conversions exceeding 50,000
coupons will be registered. Bank of Lithuania chairman Romualdas
Visokavicius said that he will consider the currency reform successful
if the value of the litas to the US dollar remains in the 4 to
5 litas per dollar range at the end of the year. The bank hopes
to have an exchange rate of 430-447 coupons to the dollar at
the time of the litas introduction. Saulius Girnius

"DNIESTER" FIGHTERS IN ABKHAZIA. Interviewed in Segodnia no.
27 of 22 June, "Dniester republic" Supreme Soviet chairman Grigorii
Marakutsa denied that his would-be republic as such had sent
fighters to join the Abkhaz forces against Georgia, but added:
"We do not deny that volunteers from Tiraspol may be in Abkhazia
unofficially. But they went there on their own free will, and
the authorities in Tiraspol have no connection with them." Russian
TV had reported on 2-June the landing of a detachment of Dniester
fighters in military cargo planes at the Russian-controlled military
airport in Gudauta and the arrival of another unit in Tkvarcheli,
where they raised the Dniester republic flag alongside that of
the Abkhaz forces; and Basapress reported from Tiraspol the takeoff
of another detachment of fighters bound for Abkhazia on 4 June,
organized by the Dniester security authorities. -Vladimir Socor


[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Stephen Foye and Patrick Moore



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