No. 114, Part I, 13 June 1995

We welcome you to Part I of the Open Media Research Institute's Daily
Digest. This part focuses on Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and
the CIS. Part II, distributed simultaneously as a second document,
covers East-Central and Southeastern Europe.  Back issues of the Daily
Digest, and other information about OMRI, are available through our WWW
pages: http://www.omri.cz/OMRI.html

RUSSIA
RUSSIAN POLITICIANS EVALUATE INDEPENDENCE DAY. Russia marked the fifth
anniversary of its 12 June 1990 declaration of sovereignty with mixed
emotions. Presidential Chief of Staff Sergei Filatov described the
holiday as a celebration of the Russian Federation's unity, Ekho Moskvy
reported. Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation, called the anniversary a "day of national shame" because it
marks an event which ultimately destroyed the Soviet Union. Federation
Council Speaker Vladimir Shumeiko said that in 1990 the declaration was
seen as a great victory and denied that it was responsible for the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russian Radio reported. Nevertheless,
Sovetskaya Rossiya asked in its 10 June issue, "From whom did we become
independent? Estonia? Armenia? Ukraine?" -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.

LEN KARPINSKY DEAD AT 66. The one-time Soviet dissident and former
editor of Moscow News , Len Karpinsky, died in his home outside Moscow
on 12 June, Western agencies reported. During the Soviet era he lost a
job at Pravda for writing an article denouncing state censorship. He
joined Moscow News as a columnist in 1989 and became the editor from
August 1991 until October 1993. -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.

COMMUNISTS WIN IN KARACHAEVO-CHERKESSIA LOCAL ELECTIONS. On 10 June,
local parliamentary elections were held in the North Caucasian republic
of Karachaevo-Cherkessia. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation
won 27 of the 73 seats, Russian Radio reported on 12 June. According to
preliminary results 69% of the eligible voters participated, validating
the elections in all districts. According to Sergei Abishev, chairman of
the electoral commission, all the nationalist organizations of the
republic suffered a resounding defeat, Radio Mayak reported. Most of the
new legislators are directors and engineers from local industrial and
agricultural enterprises. -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.

SATAROV CRITICIZES KORZHAKOV. In an interview with Russian Public
Television on 12 June, presidential adviser Georgy Satarov criticized
Maj. Gen. Alexander Korzhakov, the head of the president's security
service, for exceeding his duties. Satarov said Korzhakov is taking
advantage of the absence of legislation regulating the duties of the
executive branch and that this void is likely to be filled by people who
do not necessarily work for the benefit of the country or president. He
said new legislation and political institutions will resolve those
problems. -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.

DUMA MAKES IT EASIER TO STRIP DEPUTIES' IMMUNITY. The parliament's lower
house has lowered the number of votes needed to strip a deputy of his or
her immunity from 300 (two-thirds of Duma members) to 226 (half),
Interfax reported on 9 June. The motion was tabled by Security Committee
Chairman Viktor Ilyukhin, a member of Russia's Choice, and was supported
by 268 deputies. The Duma's rules of procedure will now be amended
accordingly. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

DUMA TO DISCUSS FOREIGN MINISTRY. The Duma will debate the performance
of the Russian Foreign Ministry in a closed session next week, Radio
Mayak and Interfax reported on 9 June. A resolution calling for the
closed discussion, sponsored by the Communist Party of the Russian
Federation, passed by a vote of 247 to 5. Duma deputy Leonid Petrovsky,
spokesman for the Communists, argued that under the leadership of
Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, Russian foreign policy had been
"ineffective" and excessively "pro-American." He also claimed that
mismanagement had led to the departure of many skilled personnel from
the ministry. Criticism of Kozyrev has intensified recently in the
Russian press from all sides of the political spectrum. -- Scott
Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

U.S.-RUSSIAN NUCLEAR DEAL IN TROUBLE. A 1992 deal in which the U.S. is
to pay Russia $12 billion for 500 metric tons of weapons-grade uranium
from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons is "unraveling," The New York
Times reported on 12 June. Quoting government and private experts, the
paper charged that "administrative missteps, disagreements over pricing
for the uranium, and...trade disputes" had prevented the agreement from
succeeding. The uranium was to be diluted and then sold to American
nuclear power plants as fuel. The paper reported that a small initial
shipment of less than one ton of Russian uranium was to arrive in the
U.S. this month--part of an initial order of six tons. It quoted private
experts as saying it is unlikely there will be any more shipments. At
his 12 June briefing, White House press spokesman Mike McCurry said the
administration is "not going to let the agreement . . .slip between the
cracks." -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.

CONFLICTING REPORTS ON CHECHEN GUERRILLAS IN GROZNY . . . A senior
Russian officer told journalists that 2,500 Chechen separatist
guerrillas have infiltrated the Chechen capital of Grozny and may be
preparing to carry out "terrorist acts," Russian Radio reported on 12
June. In a subsequent interview with ITAR-TASS, a spokesman for the
headquarters of federal forces in Chechnya said the report was "highly
incorrect." The spokesmen noted that about 4,000 separatist fighters
have surrendered and returned home. While some might again take up arms,
it would be unjustifiable to consider them all "potential terrorists,"
the spokesman added. Intense fighting continued on 12 June around the
southern Chechen village of Shatoy, which Russian officers told Interfax
would be captured on 13 June. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

. . .WHILE EU AGAIN POSTPONES TRADE AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA. The political
committee of the EU has decided to continue blocking the ratification of
an interim accord with Russia, Western agencies reported on 12 June. The
agreement has been frozen since January, as a result of EU member
states' concern with the Russian military operation in Chechnya. The EU
has said that the agreement can proceed only after a ceasefire has been
reached in Chechnya and peace talks have begun. Now that the fighting
appears to be taking on the character of a guerrilla war, it may be
difficult for the Russian government to meet those conditions. -- Scott
Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

PROSECUTOR REOPENS CASE OF WOMAN WHO TRIED TO ASSASSINATE LENIN. On 9
June, Segodnya reported that the Prosecutor General's office has decided
to reopen the case of Fanny Kaplan. Kaplan, an activist in the Socialist
Revolutionary Party, was convicted of shooting Lenin during a failed
assassination attempt in August 1918. The attempt on Lenin's life
triggered a wave of "red terror," in which hundreds fell victim to the
new Bolshevik political police. New evidence uncovered in the archives
of the Soviet Communist Party suggest that Lenin may have been shot by a
man, not a woman, and that two different weapons may have been used in
the attack. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

SALARIES OF CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY. In the first quarter of the year, the
average monthly salary of top managers in 28,000 state enterprises and
in 13,500 joint-stock companies in which the state has a share was just
over 1 million rubles ($200), according to a report in Delovoi mir on 10
June citing a Goskomstat survey. The average employee's salary in
industry overall is 432,000 rubles ($86). In the state sector, the
highest salaries went to the directors of metallurgical, electric power,
and fuel enterprises, who earned about 1.7 million ($340), 1.8 million
($360), and 2.9 million rubles ($580), respectively. The worst off were
managers in light industry, who earned 682,000 rubles ($136), and in
trade and the food industry at 729,000 rubles ($146). The highest
incomes were in joint-stock companies, where directors in the metallurgy
sector earned about 3.4 million, in electric power 3.8 million ($760),
and in fuel 4 million ($800). In the top income bracket, the basic
salary formed less than half the total remuneration, the rest coming
from a range of premiums and supplements. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

STATE DEBTS TO PRISON SYSTEM. The state owes Russia's prison system more
than 500 billion rubles (about $100 million), Ekho Moskvy reported on 12
June. As a result, there is a severe shortage of food and medicines in
prison establishments, and prison officers have not been paid for about
two months. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

DEBATE OVER MOSCOW FOOD TAX HIKE. Moscow City Council is predicting
disaster when the Russian government hikes taxes on food imports to
protect Russian farmers on 1 July, AFP reported on 13 June. Already,
food prices in Moscow are higher than in most Western marketplaces and
80% of Moscow's food is imported. Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov warned the
Russian government that the tax may push general food prices up 30-80%.
City hall officials claimed domestic producers are unable to fulfill
demand. The Russian government argues that "the abuse of imports has
destroyed the agrarian sector around the capital," AFP reported on 13
June. Other economic sources dismissed Luzhkov's predictions, saying
that if prices did spiral it would prove there was a "mafia-style
understanding between the municipal authorities and the business world."
While the government said the taxes are meant to make local producers
more competitive, some economists see them as a way of filling the state
coffers. Others say the tax hikes will bring little change because the
market in Russia is controlled by smugglers. -- Thomas Sigel, OMRI, Inc.

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

UN TO EXTEND OBSERVER MISSION IN TAJIKISTAN. UN Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros Ghali recommended a six-month renewal of the 72-member
UN observer mission in Tajikistan, Reuters reported on 12 June. Calling
the recent meeting between Tajik
 president Imomali Rakhmonov and opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri in
Kabul, along with the fourth round of peace talks held in Almaty, a
"small but positive step towards national reconciliation and the
restoration of peace in the country." Ghali urged his special envoy,
Ramiro Piriz-Ballon, to work with both sides to achieve better progress
on the fundamental political and institutional issues. Meanwhile, Col.
Izat Kuganov, a member of parliament and commander of a Tajik army unit,
was shot and killed near Kurgan-Tyube, about 60 miles to the south of
the Tajik capital Dushanbe, according to Interfax. The Tajik government
was quick to lay the blame on Muslim militants "who oppose not only the
legal government but the entire people." -- Bruce Pannier, OMRI, Inc.

TURKISH PRESIDENT ARRIVES IN KAZAKHSTAN. Turkish President Suleyman
Demirel arrived in Almaty on 12 June for talks with Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbaev. The two are expected to sign an accord on
cooperation between the two countries, AFP reported. They will also
discuss a pipeline to carry Kazakh crude oil through Turkey to the
Mediterranean Sea. The Turkish president will also make a trip to the
city of Turkestan to visit the tomb of legendary Turkic poet Hodja Ahmad
Yasawi. The Turkish government has contributed $20 million to the
restoration of the tomb. Demirel also plans to lay the ground work for a
Turkish-Kazakh university in the city. Turkish investment in Kazakhstan
has risen from $30 million in 1992 to $164 million in 1994, AFP
reported. -- Bruce Pannier, OMRI, Inc.

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Victor Gomez

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