No. 176, 14 September 1993

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.





RUSSIA



WHO'S RUNNING THE SECURITY COUNCIL? THE RUSSIAN SECURITY COUNCIL,
ONCE CONSIDERED TO BE AN IMPORTANT COORDINATING BODY, APPEARS
TO BE FLOUNDERING. According to an article by Pavel Felgengauer
published in Segodnya on 11 September, the acting secretary,
Marshal Evgenii Shaposhnikov, did indeed request that he be assigned
to New Zealand as ambassador, but after being offered the post
was persuaded by President Yeltsin not to take it. Thus, Shaposhnikov
is apparently still acting secretary of the council, since Yeltsin
has not formally accepted his resignation. Felgengauer also reports
that the planned formation of up to 8 committees within the security
council is an attempt to "depoliticize" the council by assigning
it functional responsibilities. This proliferation of committees,
however, may impede the council in its primary function, that
of coordinating policy between the various ministries and executive
branch components. -John Lepingwell

TATARSTAN TO BE OBSERVER IN FEDERATION COUNCIL. At present Tatarstan
is intending to confine itself to the role of observer in the
future Federation Council, Radio Rossii reported on 12 September.
Rafael Khakimov, an adviser to Tatarstan president Mintimer Shaimiev,
said that Tatarstan could be a founding member only if the Russian
leadership recognized Tatarstan's declaration of sovereignty
and the article in the Tatarstan constitution stating that the
republic is an associate member of the Russian Federation. Russia's
refusal to accord this recognition is still stalling negotiations
on a Russian-Tatarstan treaty which, it had been stated earlier,
might be signed at the end of July. -Ann Sheehy

INGUSHETIA TO HOLD REFERENDUM ON SECESSION. The Congress of the
Peoples of Ingushetia, which met on 11 September, decided to
hold a referendum on whether Ingushetia should remain part of
Russia in the light of Russia's failure to ensure the return
of Ingush refugees to the Prigorodnyi raion of North Ossetia,
Ekho Moskvy reported. The referendum, which was urged by Ingush
president Ruslan Aushev, is likely to take place in October or
November. According to a highly-placed official of Russia's State
Committee for the Affairs of the Federation and Ethnic Relations,
who preferred to remain anonymous, the majority of the population
will vote against secession since it would lead to the disruption
of virtually all ties with Russia and Ingushetia would then have
no choice but to prepare for war with North Ossetia. Aleksandr
Khodov, the secretary of the North Ossetian Security Council,
described the Congress's decision as blackmail, Ekho Moskvy reported
on 13 September. -Ann Sheehy

RUBLE EXCHANGE RATE PASSES 1000 AGAIN. The ruble-dollar exchange
rate rose from 997 to 1,006 on the Moscow Interbank Currency
Exchange on 13-September, Russian and Western agencies reported.
Finance Minister Boris Fedorov continues to express confidence
that the ruble rate can hold at its present level of around 1000
if present economic policies are maintained. Several observers,
however, note that the Russian Central Bank has been selling
significant amounts of dollars recently to support the ruble
and, at its current level of intervention, will run out of reserves
in a couple of months. The chief factor undermining economic
stabilization at the moment is the expansion of credits to agriculture,
according to the government's Center for Economic Reforms as
reported in Delovoi mir and Segodnya. -Erik Whitlock

PRESIDENTIAL COUNCIL TO MEET. President Yeltsin has called a
session of his Presidential Council to meet today, 14 September,
for a strategy discussion expected to include the formation of
the Federation Council and the possibility of early elections.
Yeltsin's threat to call early parliamentary elections is being
resisted by the Russian parliament and its speaker, Ruslan Khasbulatov.
Journalist Marina Shakina, writing in the latest issue of Novoye
vremya (No. 37), predicts that the earliest parliamentary elections
are likely to be held is next spring but she goes so far as to
hazard that both Yeltsin and the Russian parliament will see
out their allotted terms in office. -Elizabeth Teague

KHASBULATOV WARNS AGAINST MAFIA INFLUENCE. Interviewed by Radio
Liberty's Russian Service on 11 September, parliamentary speaker
Ruslan Khasbulatov said one result of early parliamentary elections
could be the election of representatives of the criminal gangs
which, he said, are flourishing at the regional level. Khasbulatov
has an ax to grind, but the leader of the Republican Party, Vladimir
Lysenko, also ruled out early elections in an interview with
Radio Liberty on 6 September. Lysenko said that, in the present
climate, where charges of corruption are flying in all directions,
neither side in the power struggle will dare to hold elections
because both fear that if they lose they will land up, as Bukharin
once put it, not in opposition but in jail. -Elizabeth Teague


COUP TRIAL POSTPONED AGAIN. The trial of 12 men accused of treason
for their part in the failed 1991 coup has been postponed yet
again, ITAR-TASS reported on 13 September. The hearing, due to
resume on 14-September, has been put off for one week because
of the continuing illness of one of the defense lawyers. -Wendy
Slater

DEMOCRATS URGE YELTSIN TO ACCELERATE CONSTITUTIONAL REFORMS.
In an open letter to President Boris Yeltsin, reported by ITAR-TASS
on 13-September, the Democratic Choice bloc, which unites many
pro-reform parties and organizations, urged the president to
renew the constitutional process and the work of the constitutional
assembly. Democratic Choice called for the promulgation of a
temporary constitutional act together with an election law because,
it said, a pre-election campaign had in effect already begun
without the legal basis for it, thus undermining authority and
benefiting only extremist forces. It criticized Yeltsin for staking
everything on the formation of the Federation Council and thus
neglecting the constitutional reform process. Democratic Choice
warned that economic and political reform was being stalled while
the extreme opposition bloc, the National Salvation Front, was
openly colluding with the conservative segment of the parliament.
-Wendy Slater

RUTSKOI SAYS YELTSIN NOT IRREPLACEABLE. Temporarily suspended
Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi said during his visit to the
military conversion exhibition in Nizhnii Novgorod that he cannot
bear to hear people saying that President Yeltsin is irreplaceable,
ITAR-TASS reported on 11 September. Rutskoi said he disagrees
with the "immoral" policy of Yeltsin, and asserted that the policies
of Yeltsin and Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev have "thrown Russia
out of the arms sales market." Rutskoi flew to Nizhnii Novgorod
on a regular commercial flight at the invitation of Boris Nemtsov,
the governor of the region. -Alexander Rahr

NATIONALIST WRITER CALLS FOR YELTSIN'S RESIGNATION. The well-known
nationalist writer Anatolii Salutskii suggested in an article
in Pravda on 14-September that President Yeltsin should resign
in dignity and hand over his responsibilities to a "collective
leadership." Salutskii proposed that the Congress of People's
Deputies should change the Constitution to provide for this.
Salutskii compared the present situation with that of February
1917, asserting that Yeltsin faces similar problems as Tsar Nicholas
II who resigned in order to prevent further bloodshed. He stated
that the present article in the Constitution which automatically
elevates Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi to the country's top
post, bears the danger of a new confrontation. According to Salutskii,
Rutskoi will conduct a massive purge in the Kremlin if he comes
to power. -Alexander Rahr

CIS

KHASBULATOV ON CIS REINTEGRATION. Parliamentary speaker Ruslan
Khasbulatov told Den (5-11 September) that he expects the resurrection
of a new kind of Soviet empire, and called for the development
of a new common state ideology based on Russian traditions. He
said that the Interparliamentary Assembly is pursuing that goal.
Khasbulatov claimed, that as head of the Interparliamentary Assembly,
he is the highest ranking politician in the CIS. He stated that
he had always been against the demise of the Soviet Union and
that President Boris Yeltsin and his team initiated the break-up
while Khasbulatov was away in South Korea. The Speaker accused
the Yeltsin administration of resisting the course of reintegration
within the CIS. He stated that he has prepared, and will soon
present to parliament, new legal drafts aimed at limiting the
powers of the president. -Alexander Rahr

KRAVCHUK CALLS FOR REALISTIC APPROACH ON BLACK SEA FLEET. President
Leonid Kravchuk has defended his approach to the issues of the
Black Sea Fleet and Sevastopol in an interview given on 9-September
to the independent new Ukrainian news agency UNIAR. It was shown
on Ukrainian Television on 13-September. Kravchuk argued for
political realism and compromise. At present, he said, although
the Black Sea Fleet was under joint Russian and Ukrainian commanders,
the majority of the officers were waiting to raise Russian flags
at the first opportunity. An overwhelming majority of Crimea's
population-78%-is Russian and there is no getting away from the
fact that it "will gravitate towards Russia." If there is a conflict
over the Fleet and Crimea, Ukraine is in no position to win it,
and stands to lose both the Fleet and the peninsula. The alternatives
are either confrontation with Russia and the likelihood of Ukraine's
losing what it has, or a deal upholding a variant of the status
quo. Kravchuk has been under heavy fire for the position which
he took at the recent Russian-Ukrainian summit in Massandra.
-Bohdan Nahaylo

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



KARABAKH CEASEFIRE EXTENDED, SUMMIT AGREED. Agreement was reached
at the talks in Moscow on 13 September between representatives
of Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh to extend the existing ceasefire
until 5 October, Radio Moscow reported on 14-September, and also
on a bilateral summit which will probably be attended by Azerbaijani
parliament chairman Geidar Aliev and Nagorno-Karabakh parliament
chairman Karen Baburyan. -Liz Fuller

SHEVARDNADZE ISSUES ULTIMATUM TO REBELS. Addressing a meeting
in Kutaisi on 12-September, Georgian parliament chairman Eduard
Shevardnadze warned that supporters of ousted president Zviad
Gamsakhurdia have one month to lay down their arms or be liquidated,
Reuters reported quoting Radio Tbilisi. Shevardnadze also stated
that a nation-wide state of emergency, entailing a ban on demonstrations
and possibly media censorship, will be imposed if approved by
the parliament majority faction. In partial confirmation of a
Krasnaya zvezda report of 10 September that up to one-third of
the troops withdrawn from Abkhazia have gone over to Gamsakhurdia's
side, Shevardnadze alleged that the rebels obtain the greater
part of their weapons "through official structures." -Liz Fuller


US AID TO TAJIKISTAN LINKED TO REFORM. US Special Ambassador
Strobe Talbott signed an agreement in Dushanbe on 13 September
on speeding up US aid to Tajikistan, but told Tajik officials
that the amount of US aid will depend on their willingness to
institute economic and political reforms and observe human rights
standards, ITAR-TASS reported. Talbott, on a tour of several
former Soviet republics, earlier promised US help to Kyrgyzstan,
praising that country's advances toward Western-style democracy.
-Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



CROAT-SERB SITUATION REMAINS TENSE. Hina reports that President
Franjo Tudjman on 13 September chaired yet another session of
Croatia's supreme defense council, but did not elaborate. Serb
artillery continued to shell the Gospic and Karlovac areas, and
that of Sisak as well, but no new rocket attacks were reported.
The BBC noted that there is a possibility of the Serbs getting
reinforcements from Bosnia and Serbia, and suggested that Bosnian
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic might be trying to defuse the continuing
Banja Luka mutiny by urging soldiers there to leave to fight
in Croatia. Both Serbs and Croats have agreed to consider UN
proposals for a cease-fire, but the Serbs are unlikely to agree
unless the Croats evacuate the villages they took on 12 September.
The Croats now say they are willing to do so but only if the
UN, not the Serbs, takes control. Finally, a Reuters dispatch
from Zagreb suggests that the man-in-the-street is eager to take
back Serb-held lands because the Serbs themselves "grabbed what
they wanted and-.-.-. the world has done nothing about it," but
warns that "Franjo [Tudjman] shouldn't have started anything
if he's not ready to fight to the bitter end." -Patrick Moore


BOSNIAN UPDATE. International media have centered their attention
on the Banja Luka mutiny to the extent that they have given Bosnia
any coverage at all. Politika on 14 September reports on Gen.
Ratko Mladic's apparently unsuccessful appeal to the troops the
previous day to withdraw their tanks, and Karadzic is expected
to arrive there soon. That Belgrade daily also reports that the
mutineers are tough and mean business in their quest to improve
the lot of soldiers' families and crack down on profiteers. Meanwhile,
President Alija Izetbegovic is slated to wrap up a trip that
has taken him to Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, and
meet on 14 September with Tudjman in Geneva. Finally, Reuters
reports that the World Court on 13 September "said it was not
satisfied [that Serbia and Bosnia] had done all they could to
prevent genocide in Bosnia" and ordered them to do all in their
power to do so. -Patrick Moore

DANUBE BLOCKADE CONTINUES. Tanjug reports that on the evening
of 13 September an unidentified vessel crashed through a blockade
on the Danube imposed by two Serbian nationalist groups, White
Rose and New Byzantium to protest the UN-imposed sanctions against
rump Yugoslavia. The vessel, whose name was painted over and
which showed no flag or any other identifying marks, failed to
respond to warning shots as it sailed past the blockade, pulling
four to six barges and reportedly sinking two vessels belonging
to rump Yugoslavia. The blockade was imposed on 2-September when
the two nationalist groups used eight barges and numerous small
boats to prevent five Ukrainian ships from transporting their
cargo to Austria and Hungary, Reuters reports. The two groups
have vowed to continue their protest until removed by force,
and they have threatened to escalate their action by blocking
land routes to Hungary and Macedonia. -Stan Markotich

ALBANIAN PARTIES MEET IN KOSOVO. A "minisummit" of 11 ethnic
Albanian political parties took place at an unspecified recent
date, Borba reports on 14-September. The session seems to constitute
a revival of the "coordinating committee of all [ex-Yugoslav]
Albanian political parties, which was formed as the Albanian
[shadow] government . . . two years ago." This governing body
prepared for presidential and parliamentary elections in May
1992 and then dissolved itself in anticipation that the new parliament
would soon meet. In fact the parliament never met because the
Serbian police prevented it from doing so. Since then the self-proclaimed
Republic of Kosovo has been headed by Ibrahim Rugova, whose election
as president is not recognized by the Serbian authorities, the
exile government of Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi in Stuttgart,
and several ministers, of whom five also live abroad. According
to Borba, Albanian commentators in Kosovo see the meeting as
inaugurating a new political constellation, which includes more
parties than it did in 1992, saying: "Rugova has no more opponents
on the coordinating committee any more, neither on the right
nor on the left." -Fabian Schmidt

SLOVAK AMBASSADOR TO AUSTRIA RESIGNS. Following a meeting with
President Michal Kovac and Foreign Minister Jozef Moravcik, Rudolf
Filkus announced on 13-September that he will resign from his
post. This action follows Premier Vladimir Meciar's request of
three weeks ago that the president sack Filkus because he was
allegedly damaging Slovakia's image abroad. Filkus said he decided
to resign since "it is not necessary to increase the tension
between the president and the premier," TASR reports. Filkus
also mentioned that it is "very interesting that the premier
himself-.-.-. decided to fire [him], since according to the Slovak
Constitution, only the president is allowed to appoint and fire
ambassadors." Concerning his future plans, Filkus said he would
like to resume work as an economist, but he is not yet sure whether
or not he will remain a member of the Movement of a Democratic
Slovakia. -Sharon Fisher

MECIAR ON "CAMPAIGN AGAINST SLOVAKIA." Prime Minister Vladimir
Meciar said in an interview with Radio Vychod on 13 September
that prior to reports of his recent statements, which some Romany
organizations found offensive, as well as the physical attack
against Rabbi Baruch Mayers in Bratislava, officials had uncovered
a campaign designed to harm Slovakia's image abroad. He pointed
out that he was warned some time ago to "expect yet another round
of media attacks." The prime minister made it clear that his
decision to bring charges against Karel Hirman, the CTK correspondent
who covered his speech in Spisska Nova Ves, was based on the
intention to protect Slovakia, rather than himself. Deputy General
Prosecutor Ludovit Krupa said in an interview with CTK on 13
September that Hirman could face up to two years in prison if
found guilty of "defamation." According to TASR of 13 September,
Hirman is charged with slander and causing "serious damage to
the professional career" of Meciar. Lubomir Lintner, chief news
editor of Slovak Radio, defended Hirman in a commentary broadcast
by the station on 13-September. He said that his report of Meciar's
statements was accurate and that the job of a reporter is to
give the essence of a speech, rather than its full text. Lintner
praised CTK as an important source for Slovak Radio and warned
that the "quest for enemies" is becoming a symptom in Slovak
politics. -Sharon Fisher and Jan Obrman

ADVISORY BOARD FOR PROBLEMS OF BULGARIAN GYPSIES. The President's
Office is proposing that the government set up an advisory board
that could deal comprehensively with the many difficulties currently
faced by Bulgaria's Roma population, presidential advisor on
ethnic issues Mihail Ivanov told a press briefing on 13 September.
BTA quotes Ivanov that the board would organize and coordinate
research projects but also help formulate legislation that pertain
to Gypsies. He pointed out that no other group has been suffering
more than the Roma as a result of economic dislocation and unemployment,
problems he said are aggravated by widespread lack of education.
In the meantime, reports say teaching of the Gypsy language has
begun in several schools. A Romany language faculty is being
set up in the city of Shumen. -Kjell Engelbrekt

HUNGARIAN BANK CORRUPTION INVESTIGATIONS UNDER WAY. According
to the office of Hungary's chief prosecutor, bank corruption-related
investigations are under way in 42-cases, charges are being filed
in 4 cases, and 34 cases are before the courts. Four cases are
under investigation in Budapest, 9 each in Bekes and Komarom-Esztergom
Counties, while Borsod County leads with 18 court cases. In many
instances, bank managers and employees are charged with fraud
and accepting bribes in exchange for granting credits on the
basis of nonexistent collateral, with the damage amounting to
some 16-18 billion-possibly as high as 20 billion-forint ($210
million). -Alfred Reisch

WALESA REIGNITES SECRET POLICE CONTROVERSY. The abrupt dismissal
of Gdansk State Security Office chief Adam Hodysz on 3 September,
apparently on the urging of President Lech Walesa, has sparked
new controversy in Poland on the eve of the parliamentary elections.
Hodysz was the only member of the communist security police known
to have collaborated with the Solidarity movement in the 1980s.
He served four years in prison after being unmasked in 1983.
No official explanation was given for his dismissal. In an interview
on 10 September, Walesa acknowledged pressing the State Security
Office to fire Hodysz for alleged disloyalty. Walesa also implied
that Solidarity activists who maintained contacts with Hodysz
in the 1980s had actually been collaborating with the secret
police. Media reports have suggested that the dismissal was motivated
by Hodysz's determination to follow the normal chain of command
rather than kowtow to the president's office. Walesa's move has
drawn protests from former Solidarity activists. Several politicians
have also pointed to alleged unsavory links between the president's
office and the police and security forces. Andrzej Olechowski,
the prime minister candidate for Walesa's Nonparty Reform Bloc,
argued on 13 September that the press is blowing the issue out
of proportion. -Louisa Vinton

POLAND, CHINA GRANT MFN STATUS. Poland and China granted each
other most-favored-nation trade status on 13 September, Polish
TV reports. A new trade agreement signed in Warsaw will also
increase Polish exports to China and help reduce Poland's trade
deficit. Polish-Chinese trade dropped off dramatically when hard-currency
accounting was introduced in 1990. -Louisa Vinton

POLAND'S INTERWAR PRESIDENT REBURIED. The remains of the third
president of the interwar Polish Republic, Ignacy Moscicki, were
reburied in Warsaw on 13 September, PAP reports. President Lech
Walesa attended the ceremonies. Moscicki, a supporter of Marshal
Jozef Pilsudski, served as president from the May coup d'etat
in 1926 until the German and Soviet invasion in 1939, when he
was interned in Romania and ceded power to a successor. Moscicki's
remains were returned to Poland from Switzerland, where he died
in exile in 1946. Similar ceremonies are planned for Poland's
war-time commander in chief and prime minister, General Wladyslaw
Sikorski, on 17 September. -Louisa Vinton

ROMANIAN INTELLIGENCE CHIEF REPORTS TO PARLIAMENT. Addressing
a joint session of parliament, Virgil Magureanu, chief of the
Romanian Intelligence Service, complained that the RIS is unjustly
harassed by the press and some exiles who, he said, are serving
foreign interests, an RFE/RL correspondent and Radio Bucharest
(which carried the speech live) reported on 13 September. Magureanu
said the RIS operates according to democratic standards but suffered
image problems from the legacy of the communist-era Securitate.
Nearly half of its personnel, he said, had no links whatever
to the former secret service. (In the debate that followed, however,
an opposition deputy said that 62% of the RIS personnel had been
in the Securitate). Magureanu claimed that the denigration campaign
is deliberately undermining Romania's national interests and
warned that in the present difficult economic situation some
people are ready to sell state secrets at what he said is a very
low price. He also alleged that there exists an unspecified number
of illegal Romanian parallel secret services (whose identity
he did not disclose) active in the country. -Michael Shafir

ILIESCU: WEST HAS BUILT A NEW BARRIER IN EUROPE. Apparently hinting
at obstacles his country has been facing in joining the European
Community and otherwise becoming integrated into postcommunist
Europe, as well as difficulties in obtaining Western loans, Romanian
President Ion Iliescu says the West has erected a new barrier
against the former communist countries of Central and Eastern
Europe. The barrier, he says, is discriminatory and negatively
affects attempts by the former communist countries to join European
structures. Iliescu spoke at a joint press conference in Bucharest
on 13 September with Alain Lamassoure, French Minister for European
Affairs, with whom he conducted talks on the same day, an RFE/RL
correspondent reports. Iliescu said if the West continues in
its "attitude of arrogance," the gap between rich and poor will
grow in Europe. -Michael Shafir

LEBED WINS AGAIN. Lt. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, commander of Russia's
14th Army in Moldova, won 88% of the votes in a four-way race
on 13 September for a seat in the "Dniester republic" supreme
soviet, Basapress reports from Tiraspol. Ignoring Moldovan law,
Lebed had pointed out during his campaign that Russian Federation
citizens enjoy full political rights in Transdniester. Lebed
had publicly announced his electoral bid while in Moscow for
business at the Defense Ministry on 24 August, and in a separate
statement published on that date, he claimed to have been given
political functions in Moldova in addition to his military role.
No Russian civilian or military authority is known to have tried
to restrain him from joining the Transdniester body. Following
the announcement of the election result, Lebed declared that
he is not aware of plans to withdraw the 14th Army from Moldova,
adding that "the Army will stay here as long as necessary to
ensure stability and peace." Moldova's Defense Ministry said
in a statement that Lebed "clearly did not do this on his own
initiative, but at someone's behest," Reuters reports. Moldovan
Parliament Vice-Chairman Victor Puscasu told Chisinau media that
Lebed's step is "an abnormal phenomenon without precedent in
world practice," and wondered whether Lebed was supposed to represent
Russia's Defense Ministry or the Russian civilian government
as a deputy in Tiraspol. Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev
called off with one day's notice a "working visit" to Chisinau
planned to have begun on 14 September. -Vladimir Socor

BALTIC FREE TRADE AGREEMENT. On 12 September in Tallinn Prime
Ministers Mart Laar (Estonia), Valdis Birkavs (Latvia), and Adolfas
Slezevicius (Lithuania) signed the Baltic Free Trade Agreement,
a joint declaration on regional security, and a message to the
European Community expressing their willingness to sign free
trade agreements with it, Radio Lithuania reports. Laar and Birkavs
also signed a protocol on the exchange of letters of ratification
of the Estonian-Latvian border agreement while Laar and Slezevicius
signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation and preventing
tax evasion. A declaration was signed on security and defense
cooperation between the three states affirming their interest
in joining European collective security structures, including
NATO and the West European Alliance. -Saulius Girnius

CSCE OFFICIAL IN LATVIA. On 12 September CSCE High Commissioner
on National Minorities Max van der Stoel arrived in Riga for
a three-day visit. On 13-September he held talks with Foreign
Minister Georgs Andrejevs primarily dealing with the rights of
the ethnic minorities, Radio Lithuania reports. He urged Latvia
to pass a citizenship law complying with international norms
as soon as possible. On 14 September he will meet with President
Guntis Ulmanis and other leaders. -Saulius Girnius

BANK OF LITHUANIA CHAIRMAN SUSPENDED. On 7 September formal charges
were issued against Bank of Lithuania Chairman Romualdas Visokavicius
for abusing his authority and causing damage to the state by
issuing a 20 million litas credit to the Litimpex Bank. Parliament
Deputy Chairman Egidijus Bickauskas told a press conference on
12-September that this action results in the immediate suspension
of Visokavicius until the investigation is completed, Radio Lithuania
reports. Visokavicius, however, remains in charge of the bank
since its five deputy chairmen on 11-September issued a statement
saying that none of them would agree to replace Visokavicius.
President Algirdas Brazauskas is expected to suspend Visokavicius
formally on 13 September, but it is unclear whom he will name
as the bank's temporary chairman. -Saulius Girnius

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Keith Bush and Charles Trumbull







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