No. 193, 07 October 1993

RUSSIA



PRE-PUBLICATION CENSORSHIP LIFTED BUT RESTRICTIONS REMAIN. Yeltsin
announced in his 6-October address that he was lifting censorship
of the press prior to publication. He did not, however, remove
the ban imposed on 4 October by the Ministry of Justice on a
number of opposition publications. And Yurii Luchinsky, head
of the State Office for the Media, told Russian television later
in the evening of 6 October that "punitive" censorship remained
in place for all publications. Defining this as "the use of effective
measures against the mass media after the law [on the Mass Media]
is violated," Luchinsky said the authorities were inviting but
not compelling editors to consult on controversial matters. He
warned that publications that, as long as a state of emergency
remained in force, publications that broke the law could expect
swifter punishment than in normal times. For example, in normal
circcumstances a publication could not be shut down until it
had received two warnings from his inspectorate, but during a
state of emergency, one warning was sufficient to merit closure.
Elizabeth Teague

RUSSIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT CHAIRMAN RESIGNS. On 6 October,
Valerii Zorkin submitted his resignation from the post of chairman
of the Constitutional Court (CC), Western and Russian agencies
reported. From early 1993 onwards, President Yeltsin's supporters
have been accusing Zorkin of siding with the parliament against
the president. Zorkin resigned after the head of the presidential
administration, Sergei Filatov, had threatened that Zorkin be
prosecutied "for having created the legal foundation for the
putsch," should he refuse to resign voluntarily. There is no
article in the Russian Criminal Code, making it a criminal offense
to "set up a legal foundation" for anything. In accordance with
the law on the CC, from now on it is to be chaired by Zorkin's
deputy Nikolai Vitruk. Vera Tolz and Julia Wishnevsky

YELTSIN WANTS NEW LOCAL ELECTIONS. President Yeltsin has proposed
in his speech to the nation on 6 October broadast by Russian
television to hold elections to local legislative bodies simultaneously
with national parliamentary elections scheduled for 12 December.
Yeltsin called for those local soviets which had sided with his
opponents to dissolve themselves peacefully. He said that the
system of soviets has outlived itself. The head of St. Petersburg's
City Soviet Aleksandr Belyaev suggested that local parliamentary
elections could be held simultaneously with presidential elections
in June 1994. He also proposed to reduce the St. Petersburg Soviet
to one sixth of its present size. It is widely expected that
Yeltsin will issue a decree replacing the present soviets by
elected assemblies or "dumas." Alexander Rahr

DEMOCRATS PUBLISH ELECTORAL LIST. The democratic bloc "Russia's
Choice" has issued its list of candidates for the elections to
the State Duma, Izvestiya reported on 6 October. The 450 deputies
of the State Duma will be elected on 11-12 December half from
one-member constituencies and half from party lists by proportional
representation. "Russia's Choice" list will be headed by First
Deputy Prime Minister Egor Gaidar and followed by Deputy Prime
Minister Anatolii Chubais, Information Minister Vladimir Shumeiko,
member of the presidential apparatus Sergei Yushenkov, Deputy
Prime Minister Sergei Shakhrai and deputy chief of the presidential
apparatus Petr Filippov, respectively. Izvestiya quoted a spokesman
of "Russia's Choice" as saying that the above mentioned politicians
would be prepared to shift from the executive to the legislative
to strengthen the latter. Alexander Rahr

DEMOCRATIC ORGANIZATIONS SUGGEST FEDERATION COUNCIL NOT BE CONVENED.
The Public Committee of Democratic Organizations (OKDOR) has
suggested to Yeltsin that he should not convene the Federation
Council, ITAR-TASS reported on 6 October. This decision was taken
at an extraordinary session of the committee attended by the
representatives of 53 public organizations. ODKOR proposed that,
instead of turning the Federation Council with its ex officio
membership into the upper chamber of the new parliament, the
new upper chamber should be elected at the same time as the State
Duma. In fact, it is difficult to see how Yeltsin could convene
the Council of the Federation if the local soviets are to be
disbanded since the council is supposed to consist of the heads
of both the representative and executive branches in the regions
and republics Ann Sheehy

MILITARY DOCTRINE TO BE DISCUSSED. The new Russian military doctrine
will be discussed and adopted at a Russian Security Council session
scheduled for 15-October, according to an Izvestiya account of
a council meeting on 6 October. The military will submit the
doctrine to council members, and they have three days to submit
comments. Yeltsin noted that no more delay in the adoption of
the doctrine would be allowed. The doctrine was originally scheduled
for approval in the spring of 1993, but it was repeatedly delayed,
in part due to concerns that the Russian parliament would use
it to criticize the Yeltsin administration. Now that the parliament
has been dissolved, it appears that the security council has
acquired the authority to approve the doctrine. John Lepingwell


DISSATISFACTION WITH GRACHEV? KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA REPORTED ON
7 OCTOBER THAT HIGHLY PLACED SUPPORTERS OF BORIS YELTSIN IN THE
PRESIDENTIAL APPARATUS HAVE ACCUSED RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
PAVEL GRACHEV OF, AT THE LEAST, INCOMPETENCE IN HIS MANAGEMENT
OF THE 4 OCTOBER ASSAULT ON THE "WHITE HOUSE." The Yeltsin aides
were reported to have said that Grachev dragged his feet on involving
army troops in the operation, and that it was in fact Deputy
Defense Minister Konstantin Kobets who finally took command of
the situation. The newspaper intimates that Grachev's appearance
at the White House later in the day on 4 October was an attempt
to mask his earlier indecision. The report is intriguing not
only for what it suggests about the planning of the assault,
but also because it raises the possibility that aides close to
Boris Yeltsin are already trying to diminish the status of the
man who many think now may be the second most powerful man in
the Kremlin. Stephen Foye

RUSSIA REQUESTS CFE REVISION. The Russian government has formally
requested that the limits on flank deployments of weapons covered
by the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty be revised
upwards. Russian military officials have previously made clear
their objections to the limits, which conflict with plans to
build up forces in the North Caucasus and Leningrad military
districts. ITAR-TASS reported on 6 October that letters had been
sent to the other signatories of the treaty outlining the request
and that a Russian foreign ministry spokesman noted that revision
was an "urgent" task. Reuters, AFP and other Western media noted,
however, that most CFE signatories, particularly Turkey and Ukraine,
strongly oppose any revision. John Lepingwell

SPLIT WIDENS BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND CENTRAL BANK. A government
official has accused the Russian Central Bank (RCB) of continuing
disobedience and unauthorized action. At the monthly news briefing
by members of the Center for Economic Reform, reported by the
Financial Times of 6 October, Andrei Illarionov, economic adviser
to Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, said that although the
RCB had been brought under government control by the presidential
decree of 22 September, it had refused an order to remit its
profits to the government. Furthermore, according to Illarionov,
the RCB's announcement on 5 October that transactions in foreign
currency would be declared invalid effective 1 January was not
supported by the government and was impossible to implement.
(Curiously, on 22 September President Yeltsin confirmed the retention
of Viktor Gerashchenko as chairman of the RCB). Keith Bush

FEDOROV AIMS FOR LOWER DEFICIT. In an interview on Russian television
on 4 October, Minister of Finance Boris Fedorov expressed hope
that the Russian state would be able to keep deficit spending
within the 4.7 trillion rubles recently loaned from the Russian
Central Bank for the last quarter of this year. At the end of
the third quarter the Russian government reportedly put the state
deficit at around 5 trillion rubles. The year-end deficit implied
by Fedorov's comments--totaling under 10 trillion rubles--would
be less than half the deficit envisaged in the draft budget passed
by the parliament. It would also be less than the more austere
12.7 trillion ruble deficit the Ministry of Finance itself had
been projecting earlier this fall, as reported by Nezavisimaya
gazeta on 2 September. Erik Whitlock

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

JEWISH AUTONOMOUS OBLAST INSISTING ON OWN CONSTITUENCY. The head
of administration and the chairman of the oblast soviet of the
Jewish Autonomous Oblast are insisting that the oblast be able
to elect its own deputy to the State Duma, ITAR-TASS reported
on 6 October. The Coordination Council of the Democratic Parties
of Russia for the Jewish Autonomous Oblast has also protested
to the Central Electoral Commission that, on the grounds of population
size, the oblast will not constitute a separate constituency.
It seems likely that a number of other smaller territorial units
will find themselves in this situation since, although the number
of deputies has been increased to 450, only 300 (and possibly
only 225) will be directly elected, the remaining seats going
to federal-wide parties on a proportional basis. Ann Sheehy

AZERBAIJAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS "UNDEMOCRATIC". According to
the final results of the 3-October Azerbaijan presidential elections
made public on 6 October, Geidar Aliev received 98.8 per cent
of the vote; Zakir Tagiev and Kirar Abilov received 0.5 and 0.3
per cent respectively, Reuters reported quoting the chairman
of the electoral commission. Observers from Helsinki Watch characterized
the elections as undemocratic, given that major political parties
did not field candidates and the mass media presented "biased
propaganda" favoring Aliev, according to AFP quoting the Turan
News Agency. Liz Fuller

SETBACK FOR CSCE KARABAKH PEACE TALKS? THE ARMENIAN AMBASSADOR
TO THE UN, ALEXANDER ARZOUMANIAN, TOLD RFE/RL ON 6 OCTOBER THAT
THE ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT HAS ACCEPTED THE PROPOSED TIMETABLE FOR
SETTLEMENT OF THE KARABAKH CONFLICT, BUT THE AZERBAIJANI CHARGE
D'AFFAIRES, YASHAR ALIEV, SAID THAT AZERBAIJAN HAD REJECTED IT
AS IT DOES NOT COVER THE WITHDRAWAL OF ARMENIAN FORCES FROM THE
LACHIN CORRIDOR OR THE RETURN OF SOME ONE MILLION AZERBAIJANI
REFUGEES TO THEIR HOMES. CSCE chief negotiator Mario Raffaelli
has written to the UN Security Council suggesting the adoption
of a new resolution on Nagorno-Karabakh calling for "the withdrawal
from all recently and newly occupied territories" and for a more
detailed timetable of measures for the implementation of UN Security
Council resolutions 822 and 853, ITAR-TASS reported. Liz Fuller


NEW PARTY IN KAZAKHSTAN. A new political organization calling
itself the National-Democratic Party has held a founding conference
in Almaty, KazTAG-TASS reported on 6 October. The new party,
whose chairman is Kamal Ormantaev, former head of the moderate
Kazakh nationalist Azat Movement, hopes to be multiethnic; most
parties in Kazakhstan consist of only one nationality. The National-Democrats
have adopted a "Green" orientation, presumably hoping to attract
voters concerned about environmental problems. Bess Brown



CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



FIGHTING CONTINUES BETWEEN RIVAL BOSNIAN MUSLIM FORCES. News
agencies reported on 6 October that armed clashes went on between
troops loyal to President Alija Izetbegovic and those supporting
the breakaway leader of the Bihac pocket, businessman Fikret
Abdic. The latter refused to meet with the UN commander in Bosnia
and the head of Izetbegovic's forces, saying that he would only
meet with Izetbegovic himself and in televised negotiations following
the release of prisoners. Izetbegovic loyalists regard Abdic
as a traitor who has sold out Muslim interests to his powerful
contacts in Serbia and Croatia, while Abdic's supporters see
him as the man who brought prosperity to the area in the 1980s
and who has now helped spare the Cazinska Krajina from the horrors
that have hit most of the rest of Bosnia. The UN is concerned
that Abdic could set a precedent for other secessionist movements
across the embattled republic, making a negotiated settlement
even more difficult if not impossible. Prior to its occupation
by Austria-Hungary in 1878, Bosnia had a long history of real
power lying in the hands of regional warlords. Patrick Moore


MAIN CROATIAN OPPOSITION PARTY LEAVES PARLIAMENT. Following several
days in which the Croatian media were dominated by stories about
the renewal of UNPROFOR's mandate and about Prime Minister Nikica
Valentic's powerful austerity package, the 7-October Zagreb dailies
pay close attention to the parliamentary walkout the previous
day by three opposition parties. The Liberals (HSLS), who are
the largest opposition grouping and who are running ahead of
the ruling party (HDZ) in the polls, said they left because of
the HDZ's refusal to deal with proposed legislation to promote
freedom in the media by liberalizing radio and television laws.
They were joined in solidarity by autonomist parties from Istria
(IDS) and Dalmatia (DA). The IDS is the country's strongest regional
grouping and has a running feud with President Franjo Tudjman
and the HDZ, who favor a centralized state and regard Croatia's
at least seven autonomist parties with strong suspicion. The
DA recalled Tudjman's speech of 24 September, in which he effectively
called the regional parties enemies of the state, and a mysterious
explosion at the DA's headquarters in Split four days later.
The DA's president also demanded an explanation for the arrest
of seven DA leaders on 5 October. Polls in Dalmatia place the
Liberals first, the DA second, and the HDZ third. It is not clear
how long the walkout will last, but the Liberals and some other
opposition parties have previously threatened to set up a shadow
parliament in protest over what they call the autocratic methods
of the dominant grouping. The HDZ is slated to hold its congress
later this month, and many predict that the party will split,
thereby forcing new elections. Patrick Moore

CHARGES AGAINST DRASKOVIC DROPPED. Belgrade's Radio B92 citing
Tanjug reports on 6 October that Belgrade's Public Prosecutors
office has dropped criminal charges against SPO leader Vuk Draskovic.
Draskovic had been charged for having obstructed and beaten a
policemen while on duty. The trial was scheduled to begin on
25 October. No official explanation has given for the decision.
Draskovic and his wife were arrested on 2 June shortly after
violent anti-government demonstrations. The couple were severely
beaten by police and detained for more than a month. After much
international pressure, Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic
pardoned the couple on 9 July of all charges except the alleged
attack on the policeman. Milan Andrejevich

SERBIAN GOVERNMENT FACES NO CONFIDENCE VOTE. On 7 October, Serbia's
250 seat parliament will debate a motion of no confidence in
Serbia's government proposed by the Serbian Radical Party last
week. Nikola Sainovic's Socialist government has been blamed
by the SRS for corruption and mismanagement. On 6 October, Zoran
Arandjelovic, a Socialist and President of the parliament, described
the Radical's proposal as "an act of destabilisation" and added
the SRS is "obstructing parliament's work in order to worsen
the situation in the country" and accused the SRS of total irresponsibility.
The SRS, headed by Vojislav Seselj, regards itself as the strongest
opposition party in parliament with 73 seats and the motion must
be supported by 126 deputies. Arandjelovic said he did not feel
the government had lost the deputies' confidence and remarked
that any future government would be formed by the Socialists.
Vuk Draskovic, the leader of the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement
(SPO) and the third largest party in parliament, says that the
current crisis can be resolved if a transitional government is
formed with the aim of "halting inflation and lifting the sanctions."
Democratic Party president Dragoljub Micunovic also said that
the setting up of a transitional government is the only way to
save Serbia and told the Belgrade daily Borba that if the government
is overthrown, the holding of elections would not favor either
the socialists, the opposition, or the people, and "that the
most logical solution would be to review the proposal for forming
a transitional government." Milan Andrejevich

POLISH COALITION TALKS NEARING CONCLUSION? TRYING TO DISPEL THE
IMPRESSION THAT TALKS ON THE FORMATION OF A GOVERNMENT ARE LEADING
NOWHERE, LEADERS OF THE POSTCOMMUNIST DEMOCRATIC LEFT ALLIANCE
(SLD) ANNOUNCED ON 6 OCTOBER THAT A DRAFT COALITION AGREEMENT
WOULD BE PRESENTED TO ITS TWO PROSPECTIVE PARTNERS, THE POLISH
PEASANT PARTY AND THE LABOR UNION (UP) , ON FRIDAY, 8 OCTOBER.
Leaders of the three parties are expected to meet then with experts
who have been hammering out the principles of a joint government
program. Endorsement of this program, which will also include
"names of people able to implement it," would be "a sign of political
will to form a coalition" which could, predictably, come about
on Tuesday, 12 October, after the different party executives
meet, according to PAP reports. Five of the six expert groups
have concluded negotiations; privatization appears to be the
sticking point. The UP is insisting on major rethinking of the
entire privatization process, including withdrawal from the concept
of mass privatization of large state-owned enterprises through
National Investment Funds. SLD experts argue that such a change
of course at this stage would be irresponsible. It is unclear
whether the differences over privatization are fundamental enough
to prevent the formation of a governing coalition. Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka


POLISH AND RUSSIAN MILITARY ATTACHES RECALLED. Russia has apparently
expelled Poland's military attache in Moscow, General Roman Harmoza,
in retaliation for the Poles' expulsion last week of Russia's
military attache in Warsaw, Col. Vladimir Lomakin, according
to a report in the 6 October issue of Gazeta Wyborcza. Officials
on both sides have so far restricted themselves to confirming
that the attaches have been recalled for consultation. Media
sources speculate that Lomakin had been involved in espionage.
Anna Sabbat-Swidlicka

CZECH REPUBLIC SIGNS COOPERATION AGREEMENT WITH OECD. Deputy
Foreign Minister Pavel Bratinka and Salvatore Zecchini, the Deputy
Secretary General of the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development, signed an agreement on cooperation, CTK reports
on 6 October. The agreement will enable the Czech Republic to
participate in various projects of the organization that is comprised
of the 24 richest nations in the world. Asked whether the Czech
Republic differs from other post-communist states, Zecchini told
journalists that the "high degree of motivation and the will
of Czechs to carry out economic transformation despite temporary
social problems" is unique. He also said that although the pace
of economic reform in Slovakia is not comparable to that in the
Czech Republic, the OECD has the intention to "contribute to
its positive development." Jan Obrman

CONTROVERSY OVER UNIVERSITY IN SLOVAKIA. On 2 October the City
University was established in the east Slovak town of Kralovsky
Chlmec, offering most courses in Hungarian language and requiring
students to have a good knowledge of both Hungarian and Slovak.
Critics in the Slovak parliament claimed the institution is merely
a branch of the Economic University in Budapest and asked Deputy
Premier Roman Kovac, who is also the acting education minister,
to review the issue. On 6 October Kovac said the representatives
of the university "did not ask for accreditation nor for placement
in the educational system," thus the school's diplomas will be
only "pieces of paper with no value." The issue will now be turned
over to the Slovak court. Sharon Fisher

WORLD FEDERATION OF HUNGARIANS TO HELP MINORITY MEDIA. Speaking
at the first media conference of Hungarian journalists from neighboring
countries on 6 October, Deputy Chairman of the World Federation
of Hungarians Laszlo Dobos warned that ethnic Hungarian media
are "withering away" and pledged quick professional and financial
aid to assist them, MTI reports. Dobos announced plans to set
up media and documentary archives as well as an independent news
service. A foundation is also to be set up to provide financial
support to ethnic Hungarian publishers, newspapers, and journalists.
Edith Oltay

HUNGARIAN MILITARY BRIEFS. Following a closed briefing of Hungary's
parliamentary defense committee, Maj. Gen. Nandor Hollosi said
he had proposed a joint handling of industry and army interests,
with supplementary budgets to the military one of 2.5 billion
forint each in the fields of vehicle manufacturing, telecommunications,
and electronics to cover potential military orders. According
to Defense Deputy State Secretary Sandor Turjan, the defense
ministry's original request of 91.5 billion forint for the 1994
defense budget has been reduced to 66.5 billion (about $700 million),
only 2 billion more than this year's budget, MTI reports. The
first rail shipment of parts and engines for the 28 MiG-29 combat
aircraft supplied by Russia to Hungary arrived on 6 October at
the Hungarian-Ukrainian border; a second train is due to arrive
in November and the shipments are to be completed in 1994. 16
of the 28 aircraft will be flown unarmed by Russian pilots to
Kecskemet, Hungary in the second half of October, and the rest
between 10 and 30 November. To supply the planes with the necessary
Russian-made parts will cost Hungary 800 to 900 million forint
a year, starting next year. Alfred Reisch

ROMANIAN OFFICIAL ON PROSPECTS TO JOIN NATO. A Foreign Ministry
spokesman reiterated on 6-October the Romanian official stance
that no East European country has to ask permission from anyone
else in seeking to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
But the spokesman, Mircea Geoana, said at a press conference
that he believed NATO would not want to arouse Russian suspicions
if the alliance's frontiers were to move closer to Russia. This
stance had initially been formulated by a spokesman to Romania's
President Ion Iliescu on 1 October in response to a recent letter
addressed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin to leaders of NATO
member states. Dan Ionescu

ROMANIAN AUTHORITIES TO HELP THE POOR WITH HEATING. The Romanian
cabinet approved on 6 October a draft law providing money to
help the poor pay their heating bills from November through April.
Radio Bucharest said that the aid would amount to between 4,000
and 5,000 lei a month lei for people earning as little as 17,000
to 25,000 lei monthly. The money will be raised by a new levy
on travel abroad. Romanians will have to pay 5,000 lei for each
trip abroad. The levy for local cross-border traffic will amount
to 2,500 lei only. The bill is expected to be passed by Romania's
Parliament in emergency procedures. Dan Ionescu

UKRAINIAN DEPUTIES VOTE TO CREATE A PROFESSIONAL PARLIAMENT.
On 7 October the Ukrainian parliament passed a law on the name,
structure and size of the legislature. Establishing a professional
unicameral parliament with 450 deputies elected for a four-year
period, lawmakers decided to retain its present name of the "Verkhovna
Rada," or Supreme Council. The deputies still have to decide
on an electoral system and this issue is generating considerable
debate. Since the election of the present parliament in 1990,
parliamentary proceedings have been broadcast live by Ukrainian
Radio and shown on television in the evenings. Bohdan Nahaylo


UKRAINE TO REDUCE GAS AND ELECTRICITY THIS WINTER. The energy
crisis has forced the Ukrainian government to place strict limits
on electricity use in this year's fourth quarter, Reuters reported
on 6 October. Half of the industries in Kiev have already been
shut down because of inadequate gas, fuel and coal supplies,
even though Ukraine is self-sufficient in coal. Last month the
government took measures to reduce energy consumption by fining
factories which used too much fuel and electricity, and cutting
off supplies to customers who failed to pay their energy bills.
The crisis has been prompted by Russia's moves to increase the
price of its gas and oil to world prices. Ukraine's second supplier,
Turkmenistan, also wants to be paid world prices for its gas
even though it has an agreement with Ukraine allowing it a 40%
discount. Ustina Markus

SHUSHKEVICH MEETS WITH OPPOSITION. Following the events in Moscow,
the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet of Belarus, Stanislau Shushkevich,
met with representatives of the opposition party, the Belarusian
Popular Front, to discuss convening an extraordinary session
of parliament, ITAR-TASS reported on 6-October. According to
opposition deputy Valentin Holubeu, deputies who endorsed the
establishment of a "totalitarian regime" for Belarus during the
crisis in Moscow should account for their views. Those who refuse
to explain their behavior do not have the moral right to participate
in the decision-making processes at the next session of the Supreme
Soviet, due to meet on 9 November. Furthermore, the first item
on the agenda of the next session should be the issue of forming
a new coalition government, since the current one is not instituting
a democratic process in the republic. Shushkevich did not exclude
the possibility of convening such an extraordinary session, but
deemed it could only take place if the appropriate documents
are made ready. Ustina Markus

BELARUS OPPOSITION LEADER ON RUSSIAN DEMOCRACY. In an interview
on 6 October with the RFE/RL Belarusian service, Zyanon Paznyak,
chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front since 1989, expressed
strong doubts that Russia will ever be a democratic state. According
to Paznyak, President Boris Yeltsin's letter last week calling
on Western governments not to offer NATO membership to Poland,
Hungary, and the Czech Republic, sufficed to call into question
whether Russia can ever shed its imperial ambitions and undergo
a democratic transformation. Commenting on this week's dramatic
events in Moscow, the Belarusian opposition leader said that
communist groups in Belarus posed a real threat of their own
to the country's sovereignty and should be banned. He hoped that
the Belarusian and Russian legal authorities would track down
forty members of the hard-line Union of Officers of Belarus who
reportedly went to Moscow to help Russian parliamentarians defend
the White House. Kathy Mihalisko

SCOPE OF "DNIESTER" INVOLVEMENT IN MOSCOW PUTSCH REVEALED. Commandos
from the "Dniester republic" participated in the storming of
Ostankino TV, ITAR-TASS, and Moscow City Hall on 3 October, Nezavisimaya
Gazeta reported on 6 October. Several dozen Dniester fighters
were accompanying the Supreme Soviet's alternate "ministers"
of defense and interior, Vladislav Achalov and Andrei Dunaev,
and were captured with them on 4 October, Russian TV reported
on the 5 October. In mopping-up operations in Moscow on 5 October,
special-purpose forces killed and captured some 30 fighters,
"most of whom had fought on the Dniester and in Yugoslavia,"
Radio Rossii reported the same day. Some Dniester fighters reportedly
went on to Yugoslavia after the cease-fire in Moldova last year.
Vladimir Socor

LATVIA BANS PRO-COMMUNIST ORGANIZATIONS. Diena reports that on
6 October the Latvian government banned 3 pro-communist organizations
(Latvian Union of Communists, Union to Secure Veterans' Rights,
and Latvian Association of Russian Citizens) for 22 acts of conspiracy.
If the anti-Yeltsin forces in Moscow had been victorious, members
of the OMON from Riga and the "Dniester republic" were reportedly
planning to kidnap some Latvian leaders in the hope of trading
them for former Latvian Communist Party first secretary Alfreds
Rubiks, currently being tried for anti-Latvian activities. Saulius
Girnius

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Roman Solchanyk and Stan Markotich







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