No. 183, 23 September 1993

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.





RUSSIA



DETAILS OF YELTSIN DECREE. In his decree "On Gradual Constitutional
Reform," carried by ITAR-TASS on 21 September, President Boris
Yeltsin ordered that in the interim period before elections to
a new parliament (the Federal Assembly) the country is to be
ruled by presidential and government decree. The deputies' powers
are to be suspended, except for those of the members of the parliamentary
Constitutional Commission, who may continue to sit on that commission
"as experts." In addition, the powers of Russian deputies to
the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, which is chaired by parliamentary
speaker Ruslan Khasbulatov, are to be confirmed by Yeltsin. In
the interim period before the new parliament's first session,
the Russian Central Bank and the Procuracy are to be subordinated
to the president, and the Constitutional Court is urged not to
hold sittings. -Wendy Slater

CONGRESS OF PEOPLE'S DEPUTIES AWAITING QUORUM. Deputies to Russia's
"superparliament," the Congress of People's Deputies, are registering
at the Russian White House for the emergency session summoned
by Khasbulatov. Khasbulatov says that the session can open as
soon as a quorum of 689 deputies has been reached, but as of
midday Moscow time only 600-were said to have arrived and the
quorum had not been reached. The Supreme Soviet was in session;
ITAR-TASS in its reporting was openly contemptuous, saying Khasbulatov
had begun to repeat himself; some deputies were said to have
suggested going out to schools and military academies to muster
support. -Elizabeth Teague

YELTSIN CONTROLS NUCLEAR BUTTON, ARMY. President Yeltsin indicated
that Russia's nuclear weapons remain safely under his control,
Russian TV reported on 22 September. The Russian Atomic Energy
Ministry also issued a statement saying that the political crisis
has in no way endangered the country's energy and defensive nuclear
facilities, ITAR-TASS reported that day. First Deputy Prime Minister
Vladimir Shumeiko told journalists that Yeltsin had ordered heightened
security guard at nuclear weapon sites and nuclear power stations.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General
Mikhail Kolesnikov, told ITAR-TASS on 22 September that he would
not accept orders from anyone except Yeltsin and Defense Minister
Pavel Grachev. -Alexander Rahr

YELTSIN WINS BATTLE OVER CENTRAL BANK . . . On the morning of
22 September, the Supreme Soviet passed a decree aimed at confirming
its control over the Russian Central Bank (RCB), an RFE/RL correspondent
reported. This sought to counter the provision of the 21-September
presidential decree stipulating that the RCB was to be governed
by presidential decrees and government resolutions. Later the
same day, the government issued a decree ordering the RCB to
control parliament's expenditures in line with instructions from
the Finance Ministry, ITAR-TASS reported. -Keith Bush

. . . AND BUDGET. The government decree of late 22-September
further ordered the Finance Ministry and local financial bodies
to implement the annual budget indicators set out in the presidential
instruction of 12-August. The Finance Ministry was instructed
to revise its projections of the budgets for the entire year
and for the last quarter to take inflation into account and to
make provisions for paying off arrears in salaries to servicemen
and to workers in the social-cultural sphere. Implicitly, the
decree instructed financial organizations to ignore the highly
inflationary draft budgets passed by parliament in its prolonged
"battle of the budget" with the government. The last draft budget
approved by parliament would have resulted in a deficit equivalent
to 25% of GDP, while the government version claimed to hold this
down to about 10% of GDP. -Keith Bush

MINISTRY OF SECURITY SUPPORTS YELTSIN. The Ministry of Security
signaled its support by announcing that it had received special
directives from the Office of President and that they would be
"fulfilled unconditionally," Minister of Security Nikolai Golushko
told "Rossiya" Television news on 22 September. Golushko said
he had spoken with the heads of the central and regional administrations
of his ministry and that they expressed full support for Yeltsin's
measures. Golushko said his forces would prevent "any cases of
violent actions on the part of illegal military formations."
At the same time, Golushko said that his ministry would permit
"no infringement of Russia's constitutional order"-an ambiguous
statement that both sides may seek to use to their advantage.
-Victor Yasmann

GRACHEV SAYS ARMY IS CALM. Defense Minister Pavel Grachev has
assured Yeltsin of the loyalty of the armed forces, ITAR-TASS
reported on 22 September. Grachev was said to have met with the
country's military leadership who told him it would support Yeltsin
and would not obey the parliament. Grachev was quoted as calling
Vladislav Achalov, who was appointed defense minister by rival-President
Aleksandr Rutskoi, an "extremist" who was responsible for past
bloodshed in Georgia, the Baltic States and during the August
1991 coup. Grachev revealed that had Achalov ordered Moscow troops
to come immediately to the Russian parliament building with their
weapons; Grachev said military leaders were outraged at the parliament's
behavior. -Alexander Rahr

REGIONAL REACTIONS SEEN AS CRUCIAL. A key role in the confrontation
will be played by the provinces. Presidential chief of staff
Sergei Filatov claimed on 21 September that Russia's republics
and regions had reacted relatively positively to Yeltsin's decree,
but on 22-September Vice President Rutskoi and parliamentary
speaker Khasbulatov claimed quite the opposite. ITAR-TASS quoted
Rutskoi's spokesman as saying 10 regional soviets have so far
met to discuss Yeltsin's decree and seven of them had voted to
oppose it. He did not identify the regions. Khasbulatov said
that "more than 20-regions" had already spoken out against Yeltsin's
decree and "expressed support for the constitutional system."
On 22-September, Prime Minister Chernomyrdin met with representatives
of regional executive bodies; he claimed that they were supporting
Yeltsin and the central government. Talking to Moscow residents
on 22-September, President Yeltsin also said that "many representatives"
of Russia's regions supported him. (Regional executive bodies
have tended in the past to side with President Yeltsin, whereas
local soviets on the whole have been more supportive of Khasbulatov
and the Supreme Soviet in Moscow.) -Vera Tolz

SUPPORT FOR YELTSIN FROM CHECHNYA. Dzhokhar Dudaev, the president
of the Chechen republic, which proclaimed independence from Russia
in 1991, issued a statement on 22 September saying Yeltsin could
count on him for support. AFP quoted the Chechen president as
condemning the Russian parliament for voting to impeach Yeltsin;
he said parliament's actions would lead to chaos. Dudaev himself
has this year been involved in a power struggle with the Chechen
parliament which is somewhat reminiscent of the struggle between
Yeltsin and the Russian legislature. (In addition, Rutskoi was
widely believed to have been behind the abortive military intervention
made by the federal Russian authorities in Chechnya in the fall
of 1991.) -Vera Tolz

RUSSIAN REPUBLICS REACT TO YELTSIN'S DECREE. According to Ekho
Moskvy on 22-September, while the leaders of the republics of
Adigeya, Komi, and Chuvashia have come out in support of Yeltsin's
decree, the leadership of Mordovia has condemned it. The head
of the Bashkortostan parliament Ildar Shayakhmetov told RFE/RL
on 22 September that the Bashkortostan parliament would discuss
the decree on 23 September, and he was sure it would take the
side of the Russian parliament. Tatarstan vice-president Vasilii
Likhachev, who is acting as president in the president's absence
on vacation, preferred not to take sides when he spoke to journalists
in Kazan on 22 September, ITAR-TASS reported. Udmurtia's parliament
decided on 22 September that in future all decisions taken by
the federal organs of power would only be valid after confirmation
by the local parliament, Russian television reported. According
to the Chicago Tribune of 23 September, at least some regional
leaders, instead of taking sides, have decided to convene a meeting
of their own at the weekend. -Ann Sheehy

CIS

CIS SUMMIT TO GO AHEAD. The CIS summit scheduled for 24 September
is to go ahead despite developments in Moscow. Yeltsin confirmed
this during his walkabout on 22-September, Reuters reported.
The main item on the agenda will be the possible signing of an
agreement creating a CIS economic union. According to ITAR-TASS
on 22 September, "reliable sources close to the Russian government"
expect that the agreement will be signed by all the CIS countries
except Turkmenistan, which will join as an associate member.
At the end of the debate in the Ukrainian parliament on Ukraine's
joining the economic union, however, Ukrainian president Leonid
Kravchuk said that Ukraine can participate in any agreements
but only as an associate member, otherwise the Ukrainian constitution
would have to be changed, ITAR-TASS reported. -Ann Sheehy

UKRAINE DEBATES CIS SUMMIT PARTICIPATION. The Ukrainian parliament
has agreed, after a long debate, that President Leonid Kravchuk
should attend the forthcoming CIS summit meeting in Moscow, Ukrinform
reported on 22 September. Several speakers said Ukraine should
not join the envisioned Economic Union because of the political
turmoil in Russia, but representatives of the eastern regions
of Ukraine urged Kravchuk to sign the agreement. The question
whether Ukraine will join the Economic Union was postponed. Kravchuk
did not exclude, however, the possibility that he would sign
the agreement in Moscow and leave it to parliament to decide
later whether or not it would approve the move. Kravchuk said
that he could not rule out the possibility that Russia might
try to put fresh pressure on Ukraine but added that, "those who
have quarreled with Russia have lost." -Alexander Rahr

RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN CONFLICT OVER BLACK SEA FLEET. The Russian
commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Eduard Baltin, has
accused Ukraine of exploiting the political turmoil in Moscow
to take over units of the fleet and has threatened to put the
fleet on alert as a countermeasure, according to ITAR-TASS on
22 September. He said three sailors were wounded when a platoon
of Ukrainian infantry attacked a shore defense-tank regiment.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry accused Russian sailors of staging
a number of attacks on Ukrainian sailors. Some deputies in the
Ukrainian parliament called upon the government to increase Ukraine's
military preparedness in case of civil war in Russia and strengthen
the borders with Russia. -Alexander Rahr

KHASBULATOV TO LOSE CIS ROLE. Under point 9 of Yeltsin's decree
of 21 September, Russian deputies will only be able to take part
in the work of the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly (IPA) with
Yeltsin's approval. Clearly, Khasbulatov will no longer be allowed
to head the Russian delegation. Khasbulatov, who was elected
the first chairman of the Council of the IPA-his term of office
should end this month-has been very active in this capacity.
His latest initiative was to propose the election of a CIS parliament-a
proposal already rejected by the Belarusian parliamentary head,
Stanislau Shushkevich. The press center of the IPA told ITAR-TASS
on 22 September that the consultative meeting of the heads of
CIS parliaments, scheduled for 25 September, was in doubt. -Ann
Sheehy

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA



ABKHAZ SHOOT DOWN ANOTHER GEORGIAN AIRCRAFT. A second Georgian
civilian aircraft burst into flames on landing at Sukhumi on
22 September after being hit by a heat-seeking missile; some
20 of the 81-passengers and crew managed to escape, Western agencies
reported. The situation in Sukhumi is unclear; Abkhaz spokesmen
claim fighting is continuing, while Georgian sources claim to
have driven the Abkhaz back. -Liz Fuller

ARMENIAN, AZERBAIJANI REACTIONS TO RUSSIAN EVENTS . . . Commenting
on events in Moscow, Armenian Presidential press secretary Aram
Abramyan told ITAR-TASS on 22-September that Armenia continues
to believe that the adoption of a new Russian constitution by
means of a referendum would be the best solution to the current
crisis. An Azerbaijani diplomat told Radio Liberty that Yeltsin's
actions are a Russian internal matter, and that the Azerbaijani
government needs time to assess them. -Liz Fuller

. . . AND CENTRAL ASIAN REACTION. Tajik head of state Imomali
Rakhmonov told the Russian ambassador in Tajikistan that the
country's leadership supports Boris Yeltsin's democratic reforms
and hopes that the crisis in Russia can be solved constitutionally,
ITAR-TASS reported on 22 September. Officials in Kyrgyzstan told
Radio Liberty that President Askar Akaev supports Yeltsin but
the leadership is uneasy over events in Russia; Tursunbek Akhunov,
head of Kyrgyzstan's influential Human Rights Movement, assessed
the actions of both Yeltsin and the Russian legislature as being
illegal, but said that Kyrgyz democrats consider Yeltsin's position
to be closer to their own. The press office of Turkmen President
Saparmurad Niyazov told ITAR-TASS that no reaction would be issued
because Turkmenistan does not interfere in the affairs of other
states. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BALTIC LEADERS ON RUSSIAN CRISIS. On 22 September Baltic Presidents
Guntis Ulmanis (Latvia), Lennart Meri (Estonia), and Algirdas
Brazauskas (Lithuania) issued a joint statement expressing their
concern about recent developments in Russia, Radio Lithuania
reports. Although declaring they have no intention of interfering
into the internal affairs of another country, the presidents
stated that they "very much hope that the peoples of the Russian
Federation will be able to solve their current problems in a
peaceful democratic way." While the Estonian Foreign Ministry
said it hoped that the international community would "strengthen
its support for the early, orderly, and complete withdrawal of
Russian forces from the Baltic States," Ulmanis, after a telephone
conversation with Yeltsin, said he was pleased that the Northwest
Group of Forces had issued a decree not to obey any commands
to join "popular movements" and to ignore provocations. Unlike
the other Balts, Brazauskas also issued a statement expressing
specific support for Yeltsin, noting that Russia would hopefully
"take a decisive step toward joining the family of democratic
nations" after new elections. -Saulius Girnius

BELARUS, UKRAINE, MOLDOVA SUPPORT YELTSIN. Belarus parliament
Chairman Stanislau Shushkevich came out in full support of Yeltsin's
21 September decree. In a statement released on 22 September
by Shushkevich's office, the chairman congratulated Yeltsin and
wished him "success and courage for the benefit of Russia," RFE/RL's
Minsk correspondent reported. Ukraine's reaction was also supportive
of Yeltsin, but officials tended to view the matter as an internal
affair concerning Russia. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatolii
Zlenko backed Yeltsin's move, pointed out it was "not entirely
democratic," but also expressed the view that there was no other
way out of the Russian crisis. A different note was sounded by
Dmytro Pavlychko, chairman of the Ukrainian parliament's foreign
affairs committee, who said his country would have to start thinking
seriously about strengthening its borders with Russia, Reuters
reported. In Moldova, Mircea Snegur cabled Yeltsin that his country
"supports [Yeltsin's] steps to overcome this political crisis
which is most dangerous both to Russia and to the republics of
the ex-Soviet space." Snegur also wrote he "supports unreservedly
[Yeltsin's] effort to accelerate reforms," arguing that "the
forces which oppose you have organized in our republic a front
of rejection of reform, the self-proclaimed Dniester republic."
-Suzanne Crow and Vladimir Socor

CENTRAL EUROPEAN REACTIONS. Seconded by Foreign Minister Krzysztof
Skubiszewski, Polish President Lech Walesa issued a statement
early on 22 September expressing his "full trust" in Russian
President Boris Yeltsin, PAP reports. Skubiszewski stressed that
Polish foreign policy will not change in the wake of the elections.
Democratic Left Alliance leaders, however, asserted that the
current conflict in Moscow is an "internal matter" for Russia
and declined to support either side. In Prague, Czech Prime Minister
Vaclav Klaus noted that the events in Moscow do not directly
endanger Czech interests. He nevertheless warned that Yeltsin's
decision to disband the parliament could be another episode in
the "very unclear domestic developments in Russia." Meeting with
the Russian Ambassador to Slovakia on 22-September, Slovak President
Michal Kovac said he believed the measures taken by Boris Yeltsin
ultimately will lead to the deepening of democracy and economic
reforms in Russia. The Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs also
said it regards Yeltsin's decision to dissolve the parliament
as an effort to lead society out of a long-lasting crisis. In
Budapest, the Hungarian government declared that Yeltsin was
right in letting the people decide about the fate of reforms,
but at the same time expressed concern that undemocratic forces
could assume control over Russia's nuclear arsenal. -Louisa Vinton,
Jan Obrman, Jiri Pehe, and Judith Pataki

COMMENTS FROM SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE. In Sofia, President Zhelyu
Zhelev, one of the first heads of state to express his support
for Yeltsin during the "putsch" of August 1991, said he hoped
problems in Russia can be solved peacefully and that the scheduled
elections will offer a way out of the crisis. Representatives
of all four parliamentary factions, notably including the ex-communist
Bulgarian Socialist Party which in August 1991 wavered in position,
came out in support of Yeltsin, whereas the BSP daily Duma spoke
of the "Yeltsin putsch." The Romanian government expressed hopes
that new elections could end "the protracted political crisis,"
and President Ion Iliescu said that Yeltsin needs to "do away
with a dualism of powers" in Russia. Romania's main opposition
group, the Democratic Convention, asked Premier Nicolae Vacaroiu,
who is due to visit Moscow in late September, to refrain from
signing any agreements with Russia until the power struggle has
been resolved. -Kjell Engelbrekt and Dan Ionescu

WILL CROATIA RENEW UNPROFOR'S MANDATE? ON 20 SEPTEMBER UN SECRETARY
GENERAL BOUTROS BOUTROS-GHALI CALLED FOR A SIX-MONTH EXTENSION
OF THE MANDATE FOR UN FORCES IN THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA. Croatia
is impatient because the troops, however, have yet to fulfill
their obligations to disarm Serb rebels holding about 30% of
Croatian territory, enable refugees to return home, or begin
a return to Croatian civil administration in the Serb-held areas.
The Serbs, for their part, regard UNPROFOR as a buffer between
themselves and the Croats, with both sides basing their interpretations
on the ambiguous January 1992 Vance Plan. Croatia has subsequently
renewed the mandate several times, but only after angry posturing
and after having been pressured from its friends abroad. Vjesnik
of 23 September quotes Croatia's top national security body as
saying that Boutros-Ghali's latest offer contains no significant
improvements from the Croatian point of view, while the press
in recent weeks has contained numerous articles critical of UNPROFOR.
A leading Croatian diplomat nonetheless told Vecernji list on
21 September that Zagreb might give UNPROFOR a "technical extension"
of its mandate because of the fluid situation in Bosnia. The
matter, in any event, remains delicate because the government
is under immense domestic political pressure to recover the lost
areas. -Patrick Moore

CROATS PUBLISH TEXT OF BOSNIA AGREEMENT. Vjesnik of 23 September
runs a translation of the English-language agreement discussed
by Croat, Serb, and Muslim leaders on a British aircraft carrier
on 21 September. The Zagreb daily calls the pact "the agreement
that never took off from the carrier HMS Invincible," and President
Franjo Tudjman told Vecernji list on 22 September that the only
thing interesting about the disappointing session was a chance
to see the ship. The text nonetheless clearly spells out the
complicated arrangement whereby Croatia would help provide the
Muslims with access to the Adriatic but without giving them an
entire port city. A land-swap is envisaged between Croatia and
the Bosnian Serbs, but conditional on a global Serb-Croat settlement,
which for Zagreb means Belgrade's recognition of Croatia in its
entire Tito-era frontiers. The agreement nonetheless appears
to be still-born, because Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic
continues to have doubts and because the Serbs are unwilling
to give the Muslims additional land, but only to swap territory
with them. -Patrick Moore

POLITICAL CRACKDOWN IN SANDZAK. Police arrested more than 50
activists of the Muslim-dominated Party of Democratic Action
(SDA) in the Serbian part of Sandzak, a region divided between
Serbia and Montenegro with a slight Muslim majority. According
to Vecernje novosti of 22 September and international media,
the police in Novi Pazar wanted to arrest SDA leader Sulejman
Ugljanin but failed to find him, allegedly because he was in
Turkey. The police said they found an arsenal of weapons, ammunition
and sabotage plans during the raids. Muslim local groups have
charged Serb authorities and soldiers with several human rights
abuses like kidnapping, murdering and otherwise intimidating
Muslims. They claim that about 50,000 Muslims have already fled
Serbia, and for over a year there have been reports of attacks
on Muslims in Montenegro by Serbian irregulars. -Fabian Schmidt


WALESA ASKS SLD FOR THREE CANDIDATES. In a letter to Democratic
Left Alliance (SLD) leader Aleksander Kwasniewski on 22 September,
Polish President Lech Walesa asked the party to propose the names
of three candidates for prime minister. "I respect the verdict
of democracy," the president wrote. The SLD has indicated that
it prefers to name only one candidate. The constitution is not
specific on the issue. The stage is thus set for a first test
of strength between the president and the victorious SLD. There
appeared to be no progress toward the formation of any new majority
coalition, however. The Polish Peasant Party (PSL) seems to be
hedging its bets, in the hope that its own chairman, former Prime
Minister Waldemar Pawlak, will be asked to head the new government.
In other political developments, the Union of Labor informally
proposed Democratic Union chairman Tadeusz Mazowiecki as a candidate
for the post of Sejm Speaker. Both the SLD and the PSL have claimed
the post for their own representatives. Meanwhile, the Center
Alliance (PC) issued an appeal to fourteen other defeated "center-right"
parties, proposing the formation of a united front against the
"communists." None of the parties is represented in the Sejm.
"The decisive defeat of the Center-Right," the PC statement said,
"is the obvious result of its errors, most important, its lack
of unity." -Louisa Vinton

FIRST OFFICIAL RESULTS IN POLISH ELECTIONS. The state election
commission confirmed on 22 September that only six parties reached
the threshold required for representation in the Sejm. National
support was as follows: Democratic Left Alliance (SLD)-20.41%;
Polish Peasant Party-15.40%; Democratic Union-10.59%; Union of
Labor-7.28%; Confederation for an Independent Poland-5.77%; and
Nonparty Bloc to Support Reform-5.41%. Among the losers: the
"Fatherland" Catholic Election Committee (which failed to clear
the 8% threshold for coalitions)-6.37%; Solidarity-4.90%; Center
Alliance-4.42%; Liberal Democratic Congress-3.99%; Real Politics
Union-3.18%; Self Defense-2.78%; Party X-2.74%; and Coalition
for the Republic-2.70%. The exact division of seats will be announced
on 24-September. National minorities were exempt from the 5%
threshold, but only the German minority managed to elect deputies.
The German minority committee had the most votes in the Opole
voivodship, ahead of the SLD, and won three seats there, PAP
reports. -Louisa Vinton

ETHNIC VIOLENCE KILLS FOUR IN ROMANIA. Romanian media report
that four people have died in violence between Gypsies and non-Gypsies
in Transylvania on 20 and 21-September. Up to 500 angry Romanians
and ethnic Hungarians lynched two Gypsy brothers and torched
11 homes in the Gypsy community of Hadareni, Mures County. A
spokesman at national police headquarters in Bucharest said that
violence broke out after one of the brothers stabbed to death
a 25-year-old ethnic Romanian. A fourth corpse was found in a
burned house. The Gypsies of Hadareni, whose number is put at
some 150, went into hiding into nearby forests. Armed police
patrols have been on the streets since 21 September to prevent
further ethnic trouble. The Hadareni turmoil appears to be one
of the most serious in a series of such incidents over the last
three years. Gheorghe Raducanu, a deputy for the Roma Movement
in parliament's lower house, described on 22 September the events
as "bestial vengeance" and a "flagrant violation of the law and
rules of cohabitation" between Gypsies and other ethnic groups.
-Dan Ionescu

ECONOMY MINISTER OF RUMP YUGOSLAVIA TO BUCHAREST. Radio Bucharest
on 22-September reported that Tomislav Simovic, economy minister
of the rump Yugoslav federation, was received in Bucharest by
Romania's Prime Minister Nicolae Vacaroiu. Simovic asked the
Romanian government to grant humanitarian assistance to Serbia
and Montenegro within the limits imposed by the UN embargo. He
also proposed that the premiers of the two countries meet soon
on the occasion of a new sluice being inaugurated at the Iron
Gates on the Danube. Vacaroiu stressed the need to continue political
dialogue between the two countries, but remained rather non-committal
on the issue of economic assistance, suggesting he would prefer
to not to speak about possible cooperation before the restrictions
have been lifted. -Dan Ionescu

CONSERVATIVE APPOINTED ACTING UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER. Ukrainian
president Leonid Kravchuk appointed deputy prime minister Yefim
Zvyagilsky acting prime minister on 22 September, the Russian
media and the Washington Post reported. Zvyagilsky, a state mining
executive aged 60, was appointed deputy premier in June in the
wake of the protests by the Donetsk coal miners. In contrast
to his reform-mind predecessor Leonid Kuchma, who resigned, Zvyagilsky
advocates slow economic reform and is closely identified with
those who favor continued large-scale state involvement in industry.
-Ann Sheehy

MOLDOVA WORRIED BY BENDERY TENSION. At a meeting chaired by President
Mircea Snegur, Moldova's Supreme Security Council expressed concern
over "provocations which may lead to new hostilities" on the
Dniester, Basapress reported on 22 September, citing a presidential
communique. Chisinau is particularly worried by continuing picketing
of Moldova's last remaining police station and courthouse in
Bendery by local Russian communist groups demanding that those
two seats of authority be handed over to the "Dniester republic,"
which controls most of Bendery. The agitators also demand that
Moldova hand over to the Russian "peacekeepers" a right-bank
village near Bendery claimed by the self-styled republic on the
left bank. Also on 22-October, more than 700 Moldovan pupils,
teachers, and parents rallied inside the sole Moldovan school
in Bendery to protest the banning of the Latin script from schools
in the Dniester republic. -Vladimir Socor

REBEL LITHUANIAN VOLUNTEERS SURRENDER. On 23 September members
of the Volunteer Home Guard Service from Kaunas who had withdrawn
to the forests with their weapons surrendered to the military
authorities, Radio Lithuania reports. They had been expected
to surrender the previous day, but instead seized the Kaunas
territory military staff building, disarming and beating up the
guards and cutting off telephone and radio links. National Defense
Minister Audrius Butkevicius, however, later said that the rebels
had surrendered and handed over their weapons. It is not clear
whether their leader junior lieutenant Jonas Maksvytis were among
them since military officials have refused to confirm his present
location. -Saulius Girnius

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Elizabeth Teague and Kjell Engelbrekt









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