No. 16, 25 January 1994

RUSSIA

CHERNOMYRDIN DEFENDS HIS NEW CABINET. Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin 
told journalists prior to his departure for Orel that he will continue to 
follow the economic program that the government adopted on 6 August of 
last year and that the president approved, ITAR-TASS reported on 24 
January. He said that the program had not been changed when reformer Egor 
Gaidar joined the government in September 1993 as first deputy prime 
minister. He stated that he had always had good working relations with 
Gaidar and the other main reformer among his deputies, Boris Fedorov. He 
criticized press reports that buried the new cabinet before it started to 
work. Chernomyrdin promised that he will continue to cooperate closely 
with President Boris Yeltsin and inform him on every step his government 
would take. Alexander Rahr, RFE/RL, Inc.

FEDOROV IN LIMBO. It remains unclear whether Finance Minister Boris 
Fedorov will play a role in the new Russian government or not as he still 
has not been officially released from his post. Aleksandr Shokhin, 
Minister of the Economy in the new government, told a press conference on 
24 January that Yeltsin still may be able to persuade Fedorov to stay on, 
Russian and Western news agencies reported. Prime Minister Chernomyrdin 
has been surprised by the domestic and international alarm at the 
implications of Fedorov's departure, but irritated by Fedorov's behavior 
over the issue. The Guardian reports on 25 January that the prime minister 
told Fedorov to either resign in writing or join the government without 
conditions and "begin working without any more magician's tricks." Erik 
Whitlock, RFE/RL, Inc.

YELTSIN NAMES PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. President Boris 
Yeltsin has appointed Professor of Law Aleksandr Yakovlev to be his 
representative in parliament, ITAR-TASS reported on 24 January. Until this 
appointment, Yakovlev worked in Moscow's Institute of State and Law. He 
actively participated in drafting the new Russian constitution. The 
creation of the post of the president's representative in the parliament 
is aimed at establishing better working relations between the president 
and deputies. In the past, Yeltsin was criticized for neglecting the old 
parliament, and it seems the president is determined not to repeat the 
same mistake with the new legislative body. Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc.

YELTSIN DISMISSES VOLKOGONOV. Yeltsin signed a decree on 24 January that 
relieved General Dmitrii Volkogonov from his duties as presidential 
defense and security adviser, Interfax reported. Volkogonov was elected to 
parliament in Russia's recent elections and, under existing rules, is 
prohibited from serving in both the executive and legislative branches. A 
military historian and former political officer, Volkogonov has served 
Yeltsin as a defense advisor in one capacity or another since early 1991. 
The Yeltsin loyalist was most recently embroiled in controversy in the 
weeks that followed the 4 October military assault on the parliament 
building when he accused Defense Minister Pavel Grachev of failing to act 
decisively in launching that operation. Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc.

POLTORANIN ACCUSES CHERNOMYRDIN OF CONSPIRACY. Interviewed by Andrei 
Karaulov's program "A Moment of Truth," which was broadcast on Russian 
Television on 24 January, former Yeltsin media chief Mikhail Poltoranin 
accused Prime Minister Chernomyrdin of preparing a plot aimed at 
overthrowing the Russian president. Chernomyrdin, Poltoranin said, plans 
to replace Yeltsin as president of the Russian Federation as early as 
April 1994. In the past, Poltoranin had made similar accusations against 
political opponents, including former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, 
but proved incapable of providing any evidence to support his charges.

LEADER OF "PAMYAT" DENOUNCES ZHIRINOVSKY. Speaking at a press conference 
in Moscow on 24 January, Dmitrii Vasilev, the leader of the 
ultra-nationalist organization, "Pamyat," said there were no links and 
could be no links between "Pamyat" and another ultra-nationalist 
organization, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Vladimir Zhirinovsky. 
Last December, Zhirinovsky's party came first in elections on party lists 
to the State Duma. Russian television quoted Vasilev as saying the LDP is 
"a wind-up toy of the government." He said Zhirinovsky had "discredited 
the idea of Russian national rebirth." Vasilev also accused Zhirinovsky of 
hiding his nationality, a reference to speculation that Zhirinovsky's 
father was Jewish. Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc. 

MIRZAYANOV'S TRIAL OPENS IN MOSCOW. The trial of the scientist Vil 
Mirzayanov opened in Moscow on 24 January, according to Russian TV 
newscasts and news agencies. Mirzayanov was detained by the Ministry of 
Security in the fall of 1992 on the charge of disclosing state secrets. 
Writing in Baltimore's The Sun, as well as in the liberal Russian weeklies 
Moscow News and New Times, Mirzayanov had claimed that Russia was working 
on a nerve gas ten times as deadly as a similar US weapon, and that the 
chemical in question had been tested after President Yeltsin said during 
his state visit to Washington in January 1992 that his country would stick 
to a US-Soviet agreement on nonproliferation of chemical and biological 
weapons. At his trial, "Vesti" reported, Mirzayanov refused to cooperate 
with the court, stating that putting him on trial was unconstitutional. 
Mirzayanov's case is being heard by three judges, rather than one judge 
and two people's assessors as has always been the case in the former 
Soviet Union. The trial is being held behind closed doors because, the 
prosecution claims, the case involves many top secret documents. Julia 
Wishnevsky, RFE/RL, Inc.

CHERNOMYRDIN ON WAGE AND PRICE CONTROLS. Prime Minister Chernomyrdin has 
been suggesting that extensive wage and price controls will be among the 
anti-inflationary measures in the new government's economic program. Most 
recently, Chernomyrdin told news correspondents in Moscow on 24 January 
that labor union and industrial leaders would be brought together to work 
out an agreement on such controls, various Western and Russian news 
agencies reported. While asserting that the government would continue 
tough spending and credit policies, Chernomyrdin said "the time has come 
for the use of non-monetarist methods . . . for a certain period." The 
prime minister's statements recall his ill-fated decision to implement 
price controls on 31 December 1992, an attempt rejected by more reformist 
policy-makers and abandoned within little more than two weeks. Erik 
Whitlock, RFE/RL, Inc.

PROSPECTS FOR NEW IMF CREDITS. The new Minister of Economics, Aleksandr 
Shokhin, told a news conference on 24 January that Moscow "can hardly 
expect new loans this year" from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 
since Russia could not meet the IMF's criteria, Reuters reported. Shokhin 
added that the government would continue to negotiate with the IMF on the 
preconditions for further credits. His statement does not represent any 
change in Moscow's policy, but rather a more honest admission of what is 
feasible. Previous commitments by the Russian government to reduce the 
monthly rate of inflation to below 10% and the consolidated budget deficit 
to below 5% of GDP were met with widespread skepticism. During the first 
18 days of January, the inflation rate was reported to be 16.2%. Keith 
Bush, RFE/RL, Inc.

PROJECTED BUDGET DEFICIT TO GROW. The chairman of the Prime Minister's 
Analysis and Planning Group, Andrei Illarionov, told Reuters on 24 January 
that the government had instructed the Russian Central Bank to print 17 
trillion rubles during the first quarter of 1994 instead of the 7 trillion 
rubles earlier envisaged. The additional amount is to help pay for credits 
and subsidies to the industrial and agro-industrial sectors. This 
disclosure follows the announcement by Aleksandr Zaveryukha of a new 
support package for agriculture of up to 14 trillion rubles. Illarionov 
reckoned that the new emissions could raise the 1994 budget deficit to 25% 
of GNP. Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc. 

CHERNOMYRDIN MEETS CHECHEN PREMIER. Chechen Prime Minister Mairbek 
Mugadaev told a press conference in Groznyi on 24 January that in his 
talks with Russian Prime Minister Chernomyrdin the previous week the 
question of a meeting between Yeltsin and Chechen President Dzhokhar 
Dudaev had been raised, Interfax reported. Mugadaev claimed that in the 
two-hour meeting the two sides came to the conclusion that a political 
settlement between Russia and Chechnya and a meeting of the heads of state 
were needed for the resolution of all economic disputes. He added that the 
question had also been raised of the release of the former speaker of the 
Russian parliament, "Chechen citizen" Ruslan Khasbulatov. This appears to 
have been the highest-level meeting between a representative of Dudaev and 
the Russian government since Chechnya declared its independence. It was 
probably occasioned by the perilous state of the Chechen economy. Ann 
Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.

SHAKHRAI WARNS FALL OF RUBLE WILL ENCOURAGE SEPARATISM. Sergei Shakhrai, 
who has apparently not resigned as Minister for Nationality Affairs and 
Regional Policy (See RFE/RL Daily Report for 24 January), said in an 
interview with ITAR-TASS on 24 January that the fall of the ruble is 
fraught with serious consequences for interregional relations within 
Russia. Shakhrai forecast that it would lead in 1994 to regional frictions 
and interethnic conflicts that would take the form of economic separatism 
and a final switch to interregional barter. He saw the dangers as being 
most acute in the North Caucasus and particularly in Dagestan, where, he 
said, serious interethnic problems are brewing. Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL, Inc.

CIS

KAZAKHSTAN WANTS COMPENSATION FOR WEAPONRY. AFP, quoting Izvestiya, 
reported on 22 January that Kazakhstan wants one billion US dollars in 
compensation for its nuclear weapons. The strategic missile warheads, 
which Kazakhstan inherited with the collapse of the USSR, are to be 
dismantled and the uranium from them sold by Russia to a US firm. The 
demand for compensation was aired by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan 
Nazarbaev during a visit to Ukraine. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.

KOZYREV IN BISHKEK. Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev arrived for a 
working visit in Kyrgyzstan on 25 January, a stop on his way to China. 
Kozyrev, delivering a message from Boris Yeltsin to Kyrgyz President Askar 
Akayev, said that Russia was ready to provide assistance for continuing 
Kyrgyzstan's reforms. Kozyrev's visit will see discussions on bilateral 
relations, on regional issues, and on ways of developing the Commonwealth 
of Independent States, ITAR-TASS reported. Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL, Inc. 

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

AZERBAIJAN SEEKS TO RECRUIT BRITISH MERCENARIES. The Azerbaijani 
authorities are negotiating with a group of British and Turkish 
businessmen in an arms-and -mercenaries-for-oil deal which reportedly has 
the tacit support of the British government, The Independent reported on 
24 January. Also on 24 January, Armenian sources in Stepanakert confirmed 
earlier reports that Azerbaijani troops have made strategic gains in 
Kelbadzhar raion, which lies between Nagorno-Karabakh and the 
Armenian-Azerbaijani frontier, according to AFP. Meanwhile, the Iranian 
Red Crescent Society has accused Azerbaijan of failing to honor an 
agreement to set up ten new refugee camps in southern Azerbaijan for the 
tens of thousands of refugees displaced in last autumn's Armenian 
offensive, AFP reported from Tehran quoting IRNA. Liz Fuller, RFE/RL, Inc. 

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

FRANCE POSES CHALLENGES OVER BOSNIA. Major American dailies and other 
international media report on 25 January that France is urging new Bosnian 
policies on both the UN and the US. The early departure of French Lt. Gen. 
Jean Cot as UN commander in the former Yugoslavia and his replacement by 
British Lt. Gen. Michael Rose served as the occasion for the French 
officer to urge rapid airstrikes against those hindering UNPROFOR's work. 
The main issue at stake is one of providing UNPROFOR the necessary muscle 
to carry out its mandate. For his part, UN Secretary-General Boutros 
Boutros-Ghali told the 24 January International Herald Tribune that the 
world body cannot do more than sponsor talks, provide aid, and seek 
military containment, since the member states lack the political will to 
do more. Toward the US and the other NATO allies, paradoxically, France 
seems to have shifted its position from one of urging tough airstrikes 
against the Serbs to one of essentially underwriting Serb conquests by 
calling for imposing a peace settlement in Bosnia. Reuters quotes US 
President Bill Clinton as saying, in contrast, that "I don't think that 
the international community has the capacity to stop people within that 
nation from their civil war until they decide to do it . . . They're going 
to have to make up their own mind to quit killing each other." Patrick 
Moore, RFE/RL, Inc. 

MORE FLAK IN CROATIA OVER POLICIES TOWARD BOSNIA AND SERBIA. Public debate 
continues in Croatia following the Muslim rejection of President Franjo 
Tudjman's 10 January comprehensive package and the announcement of two 
Serb-Croat joint declarations on 19 January. The 18 January Neue Zuercher 
Zeitung and Wall Street Journal sum up the discussion about Bosnian 
policy, while the Stuttgarter Zeitung of 24 January wraps up the debate on 
the Tudjman-Milosevic deal. Borba and Politika of 25 January explore the 
exchange between Croatian Upper House Speaker Josip Manolic and 
Herzegovinian Croat leader Mate Boban, in which Manolic recalled that 
Tudjman already 20 years ago favored massive transfers of Croats from 
central Bosnia to Croatia, a policy that Boban has supposedly embraced. 
Tudjman and Boban are frequently accused of being sympathetic to or part 
of a Herzegovinian lobby that is insensitive to the concerns of Bosnian 
Croats, who make up 60% of the Croatian population of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 
Manolic calls the abandonment of the Bosnian Croats and the support for 
the Herzegovinians, who are less inclined to get on with the Muslims, a 
"strategic mistake." Vecernji list and Vjesnik, meanwhile, run articles 
defending Zagreb's policies, arguing that Tudjman did all he could to 
compromise with the Muslims. Slobodna Dalmacija, however, reports on the 
concerns of the 200,000 refugees from Croatia's Serb-held territories in the wake of the 
Tudjman-Milosevic pact, which is not clear on the status of those areas. 
Patrick Moore, RFE/RL, Inc.

SLOVENIA CHARGES AID CONVOYS A "DEPOSIT," AND SERBIA LAUNCHES THE "SUPER 
DINAR." Reuters on 24 January quoted the Salzburg-based organization Trade 
for Aid as saying that Slovenia is demanding large cash deposits on aid 
shipments transiting its territory as insurance that the goods will not 
land on the Slovenian black market. Meanwhile in Belgrade, the rump 
Yugoslav government sought to halt runaway inflation and encourage people 
to part with their hard currency by introducing a new dinar pegged at 
one-to-one to the German mark, long the real currency throughout the 
former Yugoslavia. Hyperinflation has been spurred by neo-Stalinist 
economic policies, non-stop printing of bank notes to finance the war, and 
by international sanctions as a result of that aggression. Borba reports 
on 25 January that the population group that is supposed to be the first 
to receive the new currency, namely pensioners, nonetheless went 
empty-handed in Kosovo and in Novi Sad, where the new money generally was 
not taken seriously, anyway. The Belgrade daily concluded that "theory and 
practice, plans and reality are once again obviously out of sync. It 
doesn't take much wisdom to realize who loses in the deal." The New York 
Times, finally, quotes one Belgrade businessman as summing up his attitude 
toward the "super dinar" as: "hah, hah . . . ho, ho, ho." Patrick Moore, 
RFE/RL, Inc. 

POLISH PEASANT PARTY COURTS CHURCH. The courtship between the Polish 
Peasant Party (PSL) and the Catholic Church was evident at celebrations 
held to mark the 100th anniversary of the Polish peasant movement and the 
birth of legendary peasant leader Wincenty Witos. With right-wing forces 
absent from the Sejm, the PSL is attempting to shed its "postcommunist" 
image and assume a Christian-democratic profile, while the Church is 
seeking allies to represent its interests in a generally anticlerical 
parliament. PAP reports that Cardinal Jozef Glemp presided at a mass in 
honor of the peasant movement on 22 January; PSL leader Jozef Zych argued 
that the peasant parties are bearers of the Church's social teachings; and 
the PSL's slogan for the day was "the peasant movement: guardian of 
national and Christian values." Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak pledged 
that the government will do all it can to ensure the ratification of 
Poland's concordat with the Vatican. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc.

POLISH COALITION DIVIDED OVER CONCORDAT. While the PSL generally supports 
ratification, the Democratic Left Alliance (SLD), the other partner in the 
ruling coalition, criticized the concordat during the election campaign to 
profit from a wave of anticlerical sentiment. This criticism generally 
ignored the specific terms of the accord, which the parliament can only 
approve or reject but not modify. SLD activists have argued that the 
concordat, signed on 28 July by the ousted government of Prime Minister 
Hanna Suchocka, is suspect because its provisions would require the 
revision of existing laws and it was signed after the old parliament was 
dissolved. SLD leader Aleksander Kwasniewski told reporters on 21 January 
that his party "does not want a war with the Church" but will not vote for 
the concordat in its current form. Suchocka held a press conference at 
Polish episcopate headquarters on 24 January to defend the concordat. 
Episcopate secretary Bishop Tadeusz Pieronek also spoke. Calling the 
concordat "proof of political realism," Suchocka argued that the accord 
affirms the "independence and autonomy" of both Church and state and will 
defuse rather than ignite conflicts. Suchocka's own party, the Democratic 
Union, remains divided on the issue, however. PAP reports that 144 leftist 
Sejm deputies have asked the ombudsman to rule on the accord's 
implications for civil rights. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc.

KOLODZIEJCZYK IN PRAGUE. Polish Defense Minister Piotr Kolodziejczyk 
arrived in Prague for an official visit, Czech media reported on 24 
January. In talks with his Czech counterpart Antonin Baudys, the two 
ministers said that a new cooperation agreement with provisions featuring 
elements of NATO's Partnership for Peace proposal will be issued to 
replace earlier agreements. At a press conference following their meeting, 
Kolodziejczyk also announced that the Polish and Czech armies will carry 
out 54 different "joint actions" this year. According to press reports, 
the two ministries intend to hold joint exercises and cooperate in the 
production of military hardware. In an other development, Western agency 
reports quoted Czech Chief of the General Staff, General Jiri Nekvasil as 
saying that small units of Czech and Dutch troops will hold joint 
exercises on Czech territory in March. Similar maneuvers involving French 
and Czech troops are planned for May and June on French and Czech 
territory. The announcement was reportedly made after the visit of NATO 
Commander for Central Europe, General Henning von Ondarza. Jan Obrman, 
RFE/RL, Inc.

WALESA, KOVAC ON SLOVAK-POLISH RELATIONS. Before his 3-day official visit 
to Poland, which is to start on 25 January, Slovak President Michal Kovac 
told Polish Television that "his visit will be of historical importance," 
because Slovakia, as a new independent state, has not had time to develop 
fully relations with other states. Kovac also said that regional 
cooperation needs new impulses but warned against the institutionalization 
of such cooperation. He also welcomed NATO's Partnership for Peace 
initiative, expressing hope that all four Visegrad countries (Poland, 
Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic) will cooperate in the area of 
security. In an interview with Bratislava's Narodna Obroda on 24 January, 
Polish President Lech Walesa criticized "the lack of solidarity and 
cooperation among Central European nations" prior to the NATO's recent 
summit in Brussels. But he said that he and Kovac understand each other 
"very well" when it comes to regional solidarity. Urging more regional 
cooperation, Walesa said that "certain organizational steps should be 
taken already now." Speaking to another Slovak daily, Sme, Walesa said 
that he "is trying to do all that is possible to ensure that there are no 
borders between us in the year 2,000." Jiri Pehe, RFE/RL, Inc. 

POLICE RAID HUNGARIAN NEO-NAZI HEADQUARTERS. According to the 23 January 
edition of the Hungarian newspaper Vasarnapi Hirek, on 21 January police 
raided the Budapest headquarters of the World National Party for the 
People's Rule, following a probe of the State Security Office into the 
party's alleged anti-Semitic activities. Police confiscated propaganda 
materials and questioned several members of the party, which reportedly 
was registered with the authorities last October. According to the 22 
January issue of Nepszabadsag, the party is also fervently anti-American 
and was planning to demonstrate against NATO in front of the US Embassy in 
Budapest later this month. Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.

ROMANIAN REFORM MINISTER CONCERNED ABOUT COALITION PLAN. Mircea Cosea, the 
Minister of State heading the government's Council for Economic 
Coordination, Strategy and Reform, said he was concerned that the pending 
coalition with the Party of Romanian National Unity will block foreign 
aid. Cosea told a Reuters correspondent in Bucharest on 24 January that he 
would rather see the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania form a 
coalition with the opposition Democratic Convention of Romania. He also 
said it would be a good thing if the PRNU would revise its nationalistic 
positions. Cosea recently joined the PSDR, saying this was the only way to 
have enough political influence to make economic reforms work. In a 
related development, Corneliu Coposu, the leader of the opposition 
National Peasant Party Christian Democratic, told a press conference 
carried by Radio Bucharest on 24 January that the envisaged PSDR-PRNU 
coalition was not likely to last more than three months. Coposu said the 
coalition will solve none of the country's urgent problems; furthermore, 
the PRNU is viewed in the West as being even more extremist than the 
Greater Romania Party, he added. Michael Shafir, RFE/RL, Inc. 

ROMANIANS MINERS ON STRIKE. A strike by Romanian miners in the Jiu valley 
town of Rovinari that began over the weekend has spread to other parts of 
the country, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 24 January. Ion Vasile, a 
leader of the Rovinari miners' labor union, told RFE/RL that 39,000 miners 
out of the 75,000 who work in the region had already laid down their tools 
and that some 22,000 miners in other regions took part in a warning strike 
on 24 January. The strike is aimed at forcing the state electricity 
company to repay more than 100,00 million lei (about $70 million) it owes 
to the mining company, which needs the money to pay overdue wages. Radio 
Bucharest said the administrative council of the mines has asked the 
Supreme Court of Justice to rule on the legality of the strike. Michael 
Shafir, RFE/RL, Inc. 

GREEK PARLIAMENT SUPPORTS RELENTLESS ATTITUDE TOWARD MACEDONIA. A majority 
of the Greek parliament on 24 January supported the view that Athens must 
continue to exert pressure on the Republic of Macedonia in order to 
safeguard vital national interests, Western agencies report. Prime 
Minister Andreas Papandreou demanded that before negotiations on a 
normalization of bilateral relations can begin, Macedonia must remove what 
Greece regards as a traditional Hellenic symbol from its flag, amend its 
constitution to make it unequivocally clear to Athens that no territorial 
designs are included, plus end "hostile propaganda" directed against the 
neighboring country. Both Papandreou and Antonis Samaras, leader of the 
Political Spring party, reiterated that Greece will never recognize a 
state called "Macedonia." Miltiades Evert, chairman of the conservative 
New Democracy party, while echoing that demand, warned that if the new 
state were to collapse Greece could be facing a Greater Albania and a 
Greater Bulgaria on its northern border. Evert said Macedonia is not only 
crucial to stability in southern Balkans but may due to its geostrategic 
position one day hold the key to Greece's relations with Western Europe. 
Kjell Engelbrekt, RFE/RL, Inc.

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT DEAL. The Ukrainian 
parliament, which reconvened on 25 January, is due to debate, among other 
pressing issues, those connected with nuclear disarmament, Ukrainian and 
Western media report. Parliamentary commissions have been studying the 
trilateral nuclear agreement which President Kravchuk signed in Moscow on 
14 January and are to report back to parliament about whether this deal 
honors the conditions which the Ukrainian parliament set in November for 
the ratification of START-1. Deputies remain divided on the agreement and 
on 24 January the heads of three commissions which have examined the 
agreement expressed their criticism of it to journalists. That same day, 
President Kravchuk formally requested parliament for Ukraine to join the 
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Economic policy and a referendum to 
clarify the nature of Ukraine's evolving political system are also on the 
agenda. Bohdan Nahaylo, RFE/RL, Inc.

BELARUSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER RESIGNS. On 24 January Belinform-TASS 
reported that the Minister of Interior of Belarus, Uladzimir Yahorau, 
resigned. The resignation was prompted by his part in the "Lithuanian 
case" which has been the subject of parliamentary debate since last week. 
Yahorau admitted that he had acted improperly in arresting and handing two 
Lithuanians over to authorities in Vilnius. He had not received written 
consent from the prosecutor general's office for the arrest and 
extradition, only authorization in a telephone conversation. The affair 
has led deputies to call for the resignations of the KGB minister, Eduard 
Shyrkouski, and Prosecutor General, Vasil Shaladonau, as well, and almost 
led to the holding of a confidence vote in the Chairman of the Supreme 
Soviet, Stanislau Shushkevich. Ustina Markus, RFE/RL, Inc.

LITHUANIAN PREMIER IN SWEDEN. Adolfas Slezevicius traveled to the Swedish 
town of Karlskrona on 22 January to attend the "Forum-Lithuania-94" 
conference on 23-24 January sponsored by the Sweden-Lithuania Union and 
the Baltic Institute. The 400 participants in the conference discussed 
Lithuania's problems in agriculture, industry, trade, communications, 
education as well as possible foreign cooperation to help resolve them. On 
23 January Slezevicius also held talks with Swedish Foreign Minister 
Margaretha af Ugglas. On 24 January he traveled to Stockholm where he had 
an hour and a half long meeting with his counterpart Carl Bildt on the 
NATO Partnership for Peace program, security questions in the Baltic 
region, and possibilities for boosting economic cooperation between the 
two countries, Radio Lithuania reported on 25 January. Saulius Girnius, 
RFE/RL, Inc. 

CRIME IN THE BALTIC STATES. In 1993 60,378 crimes were reported in 
Lithuania, BNS reported on 19 January. According to data from the 
Lithuanian prosecuting office, this is an increase of 6.7% over the 56,615 
crimes reported in 1992. The number of crimes in Latvia (52,835) and 
Estonia (37,163) decreased by 15% and 10%, but their crime rates per 
10,000 population of 184.8 and 243.7 respectively were higher than the 
160.9 rate in Lithuania. Lithuanian officials say 36.8% of the crimes were 
solved, while similar rates for Latvia and Estonia were 25.7% and 23.2%. 
The reported crimes in Lithuania include thefts of private property 
(28,824), of state property (14,451), murders (415), serious assaults 
(344), and rapes (196). Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc. 

[As of 1200 CET]
Compiled by Roman Solchanyk and Kjell Engelbrekt The RFE/RL Daily Report 
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