No. 145, 02 August 1993

RUSSIA



RUSSIANS STRIKE A DEBT DEAL WITH WEST. A committee representing
Western commercial bank creditors and Russian negotiators meeting
in Frankfurt on 30-July reached an agreement in principle on
repayment terms for some of the debt of the former Soviet Union,
Reuters and ITAR-TASS reported. Russia has agreed to pay $500
million in the fourth quarter of this year partially to cover
arrears on interest payments due in 1992 and 1993. The press
release for the meeting said that the terms reflect the "exceptional
circumstances in which the Russian Federation is trying to implement
its economic reform program." A more detailed timetable drawn
up on the basis of this agreement must now be approved by the
other creditors. Payments on the principal of this $70-80 billion
debt have been rolled over several times, the last time being
in late June of this year. -Erik Whitlock

CURRENCY EXCHANGE: POLEMICS CONTINUE AND YELTSIN'S POPULARITY
FALLS. Interviewed on Russian TV on 30 July, Parliamentary Chairman
Ruslan Khasbulatov accused Finance Minister Boris Fedorov of
being responsible for the "disorganization" caused by the currency
exchange. He went on to charge Fedorov with withholding pay from
the armed forces and with attempting to impose a dictatorial
regime. Replying on the "Vesti" program on 31-July, Fedorov refuted
these "slanderous" and "distorted" charges and repeated that
he was abroad when the measure was announced and had no prior
knowledge of it. On 1 August, Ostankino TV disclosed the results
of a poll taken on 25 July: these indicated that President Yeltsin's
popularity rating had fallen from 35% in June to 24% -Keith Bush


EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF RUSSIAN PARLIAMENT SUSPENDED. Parliamentary
deputies suspended their extraordinary session which opened on
31 July until 6 August, various Western and Russian agencies
reported. The original proposal for a one-day session to debate
President Yeltsin's extension of the state of emergency in North
Ossetia and Ingushetia was extended to include the questions
of Yeltsin's dismissal of Barannikov and the recent currency
reform debacle. During the brief session, deputies discussed
changes in the law governing the appointment of ministers. When
the session resumes, deputies are to give a second reading to
a legislative amendment aimed at giving the parliament greater
controls over presidential powers to appoint and dismiss the
"strong ministers" (defense, security, foreign affairs and interior).
-Wendy Slater

FURTHER SUBSIDIES FOR COAL DECREED. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
issued a decree on 30-July that provides continued subsidies
for the coal industry, ITAR-TASS reported. The subsidies will
be paid from the state budget and are intended to cover the costs
of closing down unprofitable mines, the modernization and expansion
of surviving mines, and social expenditures. No price tag was
given, but Ostankino TV on 1-July had estimated that the social
program alone for retraining and relocating miners would cost
1 trillion rubles in 1993. (The overall subsidy for the coal
industry in 1993 was projected to exceed 3-trillion rubles).
The technical annex to the joint government-Central Bank agreement
of May provided for a reduction of 1 trillion rubles in coal
subsidies. -Keith Bush

CONTROVERSY OVER BARANNIKOV'S REMOVAL. The dismissal of the Minister
of Security Viktor Barannikov was made under demands from Democratic
Russia and other radical supporters of President Yeltsin, Sergei
Yushenkov, the deputy head of the Federal Information Center
told Russian TV on 30 July. Yushenkov, who is the leader of the
Radical Democrats parliamentary faction, stressed that Barannikov
had suspended any reform of the security agency and that his
actions proved his disloyalty to President Yeltsin. Former KGB
general Oleg Kalugin also said to Open Radio in Moscow that the
Ministry of Security had been attempting to regain its former
power. -Victor Yasmann

JAPANESE "WHITE PAPER" ON RUSSIAN DEFENSE. A "white paper" outlining
Japanese defense policy that was released by the Defense Agency
on 30 July warned that Russian military forces in East Asia pose
a threat to "stability" in Asia and the Pacific region. According
to reports by Kyodo and ITAR-TASS, the document said that Russian
forces in the region had been strengthened and modernized in
recent years by the acquisition of forces withdrawn from Eastern
Europe. The "white paper" also pointed to declining living standards
and discipline among Russian forces in the Far East and the absence
in Russia of a coherent military doctrine as further reasons
for concern. -Stephen Foye

FILATOV SAYS CONSTITUTION MAKING PROGRESS. The head of the presidential
apparatus, Sergei Filatov, is quoted by Ekho Moskvy "Novosti"
on 30 July as saying that approximately one half of the regions
and republics federation are prepared to discuss the draft constitution
in August. He said that President Yeltsin intends to meet with
leaders of the republics of the Russian Federation in August
and that the pace of the constitutional debate in Moscow has
temporarily slowed owing to the parliamentary deputies' vacation
period. In Filatov's opinion, regional deputies disagree with
some draft proposals concerning the status of the subjects of
the federation, the status of the procurator general, and some
questions of local government. -Alexander Rahr

PROCESS OF PRIVATIZATION. In an interview given to Argumenty
i fakty no.30, Anatolii Chubais, reported that by 1 July 56%
of all small enterprises in Russia had been privatized, and that
in no other country had privatization been carried out with such
speed. It is intended to complete the privatization of 80% of
small enterprises by the end of the year. The Russian parliament
had attempted to disrupt the privatization process by issuing
two decrees in May designed to limit the use of privatization
vouchers and restrict the powers of the state property committee
headed by Chubais. Chubais insists that the move failed and that
the fact that the vouchers lost no more than 10% of their value
during the dispute is a sign that the privatization process has
become irreversible. -Sheila Marnie

HEAD OF INTERIM ADMINISTRATION IN NORTH OSSETIA AND INGUSHETIA
ASSASSINATED. Viktor Polyanichko, the head of the interim administration
in the areas of North Ossetia and Ingushetia which are under
emergency rule, was ambushed and killed on 1-August, ITAR-TASS
and Ostankino TV reported. The garrison chief of Vladikavkaz,
General Anatolii Koretsky, and four accompanying soldiers were
also killed in the attack, which took place in the disputed Prigorodnyi
raion of North Ossetia. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei
Shakhrai, who is responsible for nationalities' questions, was
to fly to the conflict zone. Polyanichko, the fifth head of the
interim administration in eight months, was appointed just over
a month ago. He was regarded as a hard-liner because of actions
attributed to him during his time as second secretary of the
Azerbaijan Communist Party. -Ann Sheehy

CONGRESS OF PEOPLES OF INGUSHETIA SAYS FEDERAL TREATY UNACCEPTABLE.
An extraordinary congress of the peoples of Ingushetia in Nazran
on 31 July decided that Ingushetia should not sign the federal
treaty or continue to participate in the assembly drafting a
new Russian constitution, ITAR-TASS reported. The congress also
decreed that deputies to the Russian parliament from Ingushetia
should be recalled and a referendum held on Ingushetia's continued
membership in the Russian Federation if no progress was made
on returning Ingush refugees to North Ossetia by 1-September.
Addressing the Russian parliament, which ratified Yeltsin's decree
on extending the state of emergency in the area on 31 July, Shakhrai
blamed the leadership and parliament of North Ossetia for obstructing
the return of the refugees. On 30 July the Russian Constitutional
Court issued a statement expressing concern at the non-fulfillment
of various laws and decrees on the North Ossetian-Ingush conflict.
-Ann Sheehy

CIS

RUSSIA RATIFIES COLLECTIVE SECURITY TREATY. The Russian parliament
on 31 July ratified the CIS Treaty on Collective Security, originally
signed in Tashkent on 15 May 1992 by Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, ITAR-TASS reported. Russian
Defense Ministry officials had long complained of the parliament's
failure to ratify the treaty, and this inaction appears to have
been one of the reasons for Moscow's decision in mid-June of
this year to liquidate the command of the CIS Joint Armed Forces.
The parliament's decision to ratify the accord at this time was
clearly linked to the events on the border between Afghanistan
and Tajikistan. Evgenii Ambartsumov, chairman of the parliament's
Committee on International Affairs and Foreign Economic Ties,
noted that the treaty prohibited member-states from participating
in any military unions directed against other member states,
and suggested that the treaty would become one of the "levers
in the restoration of integration processes" in the CIS. -Stephen
Foye

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



GAMSAKHURDIA SUPPORTERS SEIZE TOWN, WITHDRAW. Supporters of Georgia's
deposed president Zviad Gamsakhurdia seized the town of Senaki
in Western Georgia on 30-July but withdrew after Jaba Ioseliani,
head of the paramilitary Mkhedrioni group, said he would eject
them by force, Western and Russian agencies reported on 1 August.
The Gamsakhurdia supporters seized Senaki, according to some
reports, in order to prevent the withdrawal of Georgian troops
from Abkhazia under the terms of ceasefire that is to be the
first step in ending the fighting between Georgian troops and
Abkhaz separatists. Gamsakhurdia and his supporters have termed
the ceasefire agreement a sellout of Georgian national interests.
-Bess Brown

CEASEFIRE OBSERVERS DEPLOY IN ABKHAZIA. A first contingent of
Russian troops who are part of a tripartite ceasefire monitoring
group have arrived in Abkhazia, Western, Russian, and Georgian
agencies reported on 31 July and 1 August. The ceasefire is part
of an agreement between Georgia, Abkhazia, and Russia to end
the fighting in Abkhazia that started in 1992 when Abkhazia sought
greater autonomy from Georgia. On both 31 July and 1 August the
Georgian and Abkhaz sides traded accusations that the other had
violated the ceasefire. -Bess Brown

RUSSIA THREATENS PREEMPTIVE STRIKE ON TAJIK BORDER. The Russian
government issued a threat to launch a preemptive strike on the
Tajik-Afghan border if Tajik opposition forces and their Afghan
supporters continue to concentrate along the Afghan side of the
border, ITAR-TASS reported on 1 August. These forces are reported
to be planning a large-scale attack on Tajikistan; according
to the Russian statement, Afghan authorities have been warned
to evacuate civilians from the areas where the Tajik opposition
forces are gathering. Numerous Afghan casualties as a result
of Russian cross-border shelling have been reported from the
region in recent weeks. On 31 July Russian special envoy Evgenii
Primakov met with Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani and promised
that the cross-border shelling would stop. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



GENEVA PEACE TALKS CONTINUE. Bosnian Muslim leaders are threatening
to withdraw from the Geneva negotiations if Serb forces continue
attacks on Mt. Bjelasnica overlooking Sarajevo, and around Brcko
and Gradacac in northern Bosnia. But Bosnian President Alija
Izetbegovic said he plans to be on hand when the talks resume
on 2 August, international media report. Bosnian Serbian leader
Radovan Karadzic denied that his forces have launched any offensives.
"We are pretty close to peace," he told reporters. Bosnian Foreign
Minister Haris Silajdzic called for international intervention
against the Serbs to prevent genocide against his people. Meanwhile
a peace conference spokesman cited progress on the divisive issue
of the map, and Izetbegovic said the bargaining is "very difficult."
An ethnic Serb member of the Bosnian Presidency said: "we were
faced with a dictate" by the mediators to accept the terms of
Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Izetbegovic had agreed
that Bosnia be turned into a union of three ethnic republics,
saying the Muslims would otherwise risk extermination. Karadzic
is prepared to reduce the territory his forces control from 72%
of Bosnia to 50%. The Muslims would control about 30%, including
the Muslim enclaves in eastern Bosnia, a land corridor from Sarajevo
to Gorazde, and Neum, a small port 50-kilometers northwest of
Dubrovnik. The rough map accords about 20% of Bosnia to the Croat
community, although the borders were far from settled by 1 August.
Mediator Lord Owen dismissed the fears of the Bosnian government
that a change in Bosnia's title and constitution would affect
its membership in the UN. -Fabian Schmidt

SERBIAN REACTIONS. Most parties in Serbia welcomed the agreement,
according to Belgrade Radio and TV on 31 July. The ruling Socialist
Party of Serbia called it a decisive step towards peace and a
just solution to the Bosnian crisis, adding that the agreement
confirms the party's policy that a lasting and just solution
could only be reached by respecting equality and the interests
of all three peoples living in Bosnia. SPS Vice President Mihajlo
Markovic remarked that peace is now imminent and justification
no longer exists for maintaining UN sanctions. The opposition
right-wing Democratic Party of Serbia remarked that the agreement
is realistic and that the constitutional principles adopted must
now be followed up with a territorial division that is fair to
Bosnia's Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. Zoran Djindjic, vice president
of the moderate Democratic Party, and Slobodan Rakitic, vice
president of the main opposition Serbian Renewal Movement, both
said the Serb side can be satisfied with the principles that
emerged from Geneva, but warned that the key element for ending
the crisis in Bosnia is still lacking-an agreement on maps. -Milan
Andrejevich

FIGHTING CONTINUES ALL OVER BOSNIA. Senior officers of the three
warring parties met in Sarajevo on 1 August to try to consolidate
a two-day-old cease-fire that all sides have accused the others
of ignoring, international media report. Fighting between Serbs
and Muslims continued to the north of Sarajevo, and near Zvornik,
Doboj, and Gornji Vakuf. On 31 July Muslim forces captured two
villages outside Gornji Vakuf. British UN peacekeepers said it
was the heaviest fighting they have seen in the area, while,
according to Croatian Radio, Muslim artillery fired on Croat
positions near Novi Travnik and Prozor. British peacekeepers
said Bosnian troops are poised to try to capture Prozor over
the next few days. Some 3,000 Bosnian Croats, who fled Bugojno
after its capture by Muslim fighters, have reached Croat-held
territory in southern Bosnia, a UN official said on 1 August.
"There could still be some 2,000 to 7,000 people still on their
way" a UNHCR spokesman said. The commander of the UN protection
force, Gen. Jean Cot, expressed horror and dismay at the killing
of a Spanish UN soldier in an artillery bombardment in Jablanica,
where 17 other Spanish soldiers were injured on 29 July. It is
not clear who fired on the peacekeepers. . -Fabian Schmidt

TENSION BUILDS OVER SERB-CROAT CONFRONTATION. International media
report on 2 August that rebel Serb forces have given the Croatian
military until midnight of 3 August to evacuate the Maslenica
bridge, the Zemunik airport, and the Peruca dam, which Croatian
forces retook in a January offensive. A series of deadlines expired
earlier on the weekend, and on 1 August the Serbs shelled the
airport and the area around the bridge, Hina says. The Croats
were supposed to have handed over the three areas of key economic
importance to UN forces by 31 July, but last week Zagreb insisted
that the Serbs surrender their heavy weapons to UN control at
the same time. The Serb-Croat agreement on the Croatian evacuation
of the three zones makes no mention of such linkage, but UN control
over artillery is specified in the original 1992 Vance plan.
The Croatian government has virtually made the question of keeping
the bridge and airport open a matter of vital national interest,
while the Serbs do not want to be seen as being told what to
do by the Croats. The UN Security Council has threatened Croatia
with "serious consequences" if it does not withdraw, but Politika
of 2-August reports that UN officials are conducting marathon
negotiations amid a de facto news blackout. -Patrick Moore

NANO TO JAIL, SOCIALISTS TO THE STREETS. In response to last
week's removal and subsequent of arrest of Fatos Nano, leader
of Albania's Socialist Party, Western agencies report on 31 July
that some 20,000 supporters attended a rally at Tirana's Dinamo
Stadium on 30 July demanding new elections and shouting "down
with Parliament, down with dictatorship and down with Sali Berisha."
The demonstrators left the stadium and marched to Tirana's Skanderbeg
Square, where they were met by police and government supporters.
Nano, who is alleged to have misappropriated some $8 million
dollars, has repeatedly declared his innocence and has blamed
the actions against him on foreign influence, notably the United
States. On 1 August the Socialist party newspaper Zeri i Popullit
issued a call to denounce the "reawakening of dictatorship" in
Albania and restated the party's determination to boycott local
and national legislative bodies. Nano's arrest does not bode
well for the achievement of political stability in Albania. He
enjoys wide support from the Albanian public and particularly
within his party. No doubt the Socialists will use whatever means
are at their disposal to continue to challenge what they perceive
as an attempt to destroy Albania's main opposition party. -Robert
Austin

SUCHOCKA WARNS POLICE ON ELECTIONS. Speaking in Poznan on 30
July, Polish Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka warned police officials
that involvement in the elections and party politics could cost
them the public's trust. Police officials are running for parliament
on a number of different party lists. Some have proposed creating
a "police lobby" in the parliament despite the fact that the
law requires police employees to take a leave of absence for
as long as they hold office. Suchocka stressed that police officials
running for election represent the party backing their candidacy,
not the state or the police, PAP reports. "It is impermissible
for them to create the impression that they are candidates of
the police force or speak in its name." Suchocka added that she
issued a special directive to this effect to Internal Affairs
Minister Andrzej Milczanowski on 28 July. This directive was
issued just two days after President Lech Walesa met with high-ranking
police officers and, with Milczanowski's apparent approval, urged
them to consider supporting his Nonparty Reform Bloc (BBWR).
-Louisa Vinton

CAMPAIGN FRICTION BETWEEN WALESA AND SUCHOCKA? SOME OF THE PRESIDENT'S
CAMPAIGN EFFORTS TO CAPITALIZE ON PUBLIC DISSATISFACTION APPEAR
TO HAVE PUT THE GOVERNMENT ON THE DEFENSIVE. During a visit to
Katowice on 30 July, Walesa conducted what he called "hygienic
discussions with the discontented," focusing on a three-month
old strike at the BEFA plant in Bielsko-Biala, where strikers
are demanding the return of a director fired by the government's
local representative. After meeting with unionists from Solidarity
'80, the president pledged to take "appropriate steps even if
they are on the bounds of legality" to solve the conflict. His
office made public a letter to the government's local representative,
urging him to consider reappointing the fired director. The government
responded a half hour later with its own statement, expressing
confidence in decisions made by its regional representative and
its disinclination to intervene in "local conflicts." This is
not the first such exchange of statements. On 27 July the president
made public a letter to Suchocka in which he criticized the customs
authorities and urged the prime minister to take action. Suchocka
responded with a statement listing the many efforts the government
has already made to improve customs controls. -Louisa Vinton


CZECH SPYING SCANDAL GROWS. On 30 July Mlada Fronta dnes reported
that it has obtained information showing that the ruling Civic
Democratic Party of Vaclav Klaus has been building its own intelligence
service. The charge followed a series of revelations in the Czech
media that individual agents of the former Federal Bureau of
Intelligence and Security-if not the FBIS itself-have been spying
on leading politicians, including President Vaclav Havel and
Prime Minister Klaus. An FBIS agent, Vaclav Wallis, sold some
of this information to Viktor Kozeny, chairman of Harvard Capital
and Consulting, the largest investment fund in the Czech Republic.
Wallis currently faces criminal charges. Mlada Fronta dnes said
that a document showing that the CDP is building its own intelligence
service was found among papers confiscated from Wallis. On 30
July the CDP spokesman resolutely denied the charges. On 1 August,
Miroslav Macek, a former CDP vice chairman, told Czech TV that
in early 1992 he was approached by two FBIS agents who offered
to "protect the CDP from information leaks and supply it with
information about other parties." Macek says he rejected the
offer. -Jiri Pehe

SLOVAK NATIONAL PARTY ON COALITION TALKS. A statement issued
by the Slovak National Party after the meeting of its leadership
on 31 July says that the party is still interested in coalition
talks with the ruling Movement for a Democratic Slovakia. The
statement described the previous SNP-MDS coalition talks as "a
failure" but says that the party is willing to enter another
round of talks "for the sake of stability in Slovakia." In the
statement the SNP leadership "resolutely protests incorrect information
about the coalition talks" released by the MDS. Should new coalition
talks take place, SNP chairman Ludovit Cernak will lead the party
delegation. During the previous MDS-SNP coalition talks, Slovak
Premier Vladimir Meciar accused Cernak of attempting to obtain
over 1 million koruny from the government in exchange for consent
to form a coalition with the MDS. Meciar said there would be
no place for Cernak in his government. Cernak has resolutely
denied the charge, claiming that the money he asked for was part
of regular state contributions to various parties reflecting
their election results. -Jiri Pehe

HUNGARIAN LANGUAGE SIGNS TAKEN DOWN IN SLOVAKIA. Hungarian Radio
reports that in many towns in Southern Slovakia populated by
the Magyar minority, signs indicating the Hungarian names of
villages and towns has been taken down, apparently in response
to a new Transportation Ministry directive. Mayors said that
the signs, put up by local governments, were taken down by private
persons. An appeal to the Slovak parliament is planned. -Karoly
Okolicsanyi

PRICE INCREASES IN HUNGARY. An earlier decision by parliament
to increase value-added taxes took effect on 1 August, MTI reports.
The increase, from 6% to 10%, was needed to offset the record
high budget deficit. Prices of most food items, mass transportation,
electricity, gas, water and phone prices increased as the result.
-Karoly Okolicsanyi

JIU VALLEY STRIKE. Miners in Romania's Jiu Valley began a general
strike on 2 August. Union leader Miron Cosma said on 31 July
that the strike is being called because the government has not
sent a negotiator to the valley to discuss the pay dispute as
demanded by the miners, Radio Bucharest reports. The miners received
assurances of a pay increase last month, but they said this was
not sufficient, since too much of it goes to office staff and
not enough to the miners themselves. The government has rejected
the new wage demands, which it says would amount to more than
half a million lei ( about $625) a month per employee-more than
ten times the national average. Radio Bucharest said on 31-July
that the director of the Jiu Valley mines was called to Bucharest
to discuss the mines' budget and the allocation of salaries,
and that the miners' leaders were also invited. The miners, however,
went on strike instead. -Michael Shafir

BULGARIAN PARLIAMENT FIRES BTA DIRECTOR. Ivo Indzhev, general
director of the Bulgarian Telegraph Agency, has been dismissed,
Bulgarian media report. On 30 July parliament voted 133-70 to
oust Indzhev, who had refused to comply with a government decision
ordering him to leave his position. Two weeks ago Indzhev was
formally reinstated as head of BTA by the Supreme Court, which
ruled that the government had exceeded its powers. The call for
the removal of Indzhev was supported by the Bulgarian Socialist
Party, the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, and the New Union
for Democracy faction. In the parliamentary motion the BTA chief
was said to have displayed a "negative attitude toward state
institutions." Stefan Gospodinov, head of BTA's financial and
marketing department, was elected successor. -Kjell Engelbrekt


ZHELEV VISITS KAZAKHSTAN. On 30 July Bulgarian president Zhelyu
Zhelev concluded a two-day visit to Kazakhstan, BTA and Western
agencies report. Zhelev and Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev
met in Almaaty, signed a treaty of friendship, and concluded
agreements on economic ties, establishment of a joint credits
and investment bank, and cooperation in areas such as agriculture,
telecommunications, and tourism. On 31 July Zhelev traveled to
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for talks with President Askar Akaev. -Stan
Markotich

KAZAKHSTAN OFFERS CHEAPER NUCLEAR FUEL TO LITHUANIA. On 28 July
Lithuanian Energy Minister Algimantas Stasiukynas told reporters
in Vilnius about a meeting in Moscow the previous day with Kazakh
Minister for Energy and Fuel Resources Kadyr Baikin, BNS reports.
Kazakhstan agreed to sell nuclear fuel cassettes for the atomic
power plant at Ignalina at prices lower than charged by Russia
in exchange for various Lithuanian goods. Kazakhstan is also
interested in shipping oil to the Mazeikiai refinery, but still
has to obtain Russia's permission for its transit. Lithuania
has amassed large debts to Russia for energy and welcomes the
Kazakh offers since they would be paid in goods and not hard
currency. -Saulius Girnius

PARFENOV RETURNS TO RUSSIA AS LITHUANIA MOURNS MEDININKAI VICTIMS.
Baltic media report that in accordance with the Latvian-Russian
agreement on allowing prisoners to serve out sentences in their
homeland, Sergei Parfenov, the former deputy chief of the OMON
forces in Riga, was turned over to Russia on 31 July. That same
day a mass was held in Vilnius to commemorate the seven Lithuanian
border guards and customs officers killed at the Medininkai checkpoint
on 31 July 1991. Though it is widely believed that the Riga OMON
was involved in the killings in Medininkai and a few weeks ago
the possibility of turning him over to Lithuania was under consideration,
authorities there failed to provide sufficient evidence to bring
charges against him, and Parfenov was turned over directly to
Russia, BNS reported on 31 July. -Dzintra Bungs

KRAVCHUK: SS-24'S NOT COVERED BY START I. In a move certain to
increase tensions between Ukraine and both the US and Russia,
Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk on 30-July said that Ukraine's
46 SS-24 strategic nuclear missiles are not covered by START-1
and that the question of destroying the SS-24's must be dealt
with in a separate treaty between Ukraine, Russia, and the US.
Kravchuk's announcement echoed remarks made earlier in the week
by Dmytro Pavlychko, chairman of the parliamentary international
affairs commission, who suggested that the parliament would ratify
START-1 this fall but not consider accession to the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty until 1995. Both Pavlychko (whose comments were reported
by Holos Ukrayiny on 30 July) and Kravchuk argued that the START-1
Lisbon Protocol does not obligate Ukraine to destroy the SS-24's.
This interpretation, which had long been hinted at in Ukraine,
was rejected by the US administration, Reuters reported on 30
July. US and Ukrainian officials only recently concluded a modest
defense pact and Ukraine announced that it has begun dismantling
some SS-19 missiles in compliance with American wishes. -Stephen
Foye

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Wendy Slater and Charles Trumbull







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