No. 115, Part I, 14 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
FEDOROV SATISFIED WITH GROWTH OF FORWARD, RUSSIA! Forward, Russia! the
movement led by Boris Fedorov, has 30,000 members, Fedorov told a 13
June news conference, Interfax reported. He said he is seeking to work
with the Yabloko movement and Democratic Russia, but that no parties are
ready to sign a cooperation agreement with his party. -- Robert Orttung,
OMRI, Inc.

MVD PRAISES FBI FOR ARREST OF RUSSIAN MOBSTER. First Deputy Interior
Minister Mikhail Yegorov praised the U.S. authorities on 13 June for
arresting Vyacheslav Ivankov, viewed as the top Russian mobster in the
U.S., Western agencies reported. Ivankov, a crime boss in Russia before
he moved his operations to the U.S. in 1992, was arrested last week on
charges of masterminding a $3.5 million extortion scheme. Yegorov also
told reporters he was concerned about potential attacks on Duma
candidates during the election campaign, according to an RFE/RL
correspondent. He said the authorities had failed to halt the rise in
organized crime despite a widely criticized decree signed by Yeltsin a
year ago giving law-enforcement officers wider powers. Commenting on the
escape last week from the Matrosskaya Tishina prison of hired killer
Alexander Solonik, who bribed a police officer, Yegorov said, "we are
obviously not working hard enough to combat corruption in our own
forces," Reuters reported. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

DEFENSE WORKERS RALLY TO DEMAND WAGE ARREARS. More than 2,000 workers
from Vektor, a major defense plant in Yekaterinburg, blocked one of the
city's main streets on 13 June to demand the payment of wages owed since
February, Interfax reported. A city official said the police had been
instructed not to use force, and the rally proceeded without incident.
Vektor employs more than 6,000 people and is one of the largest
electronic air-defense manufacturers in Russia. Its director says the
government and contractors owe it about 39.5 billion rubles ($8.2
million) and 1,500 workers are on compulsory unpaid leave. -- Penny
Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

PRAVDA SEES NEW CIVIL WAR IN RUSSIA. Pravda on 14 June argued that a new
type of civil war is happening in Russia similar to the "individual and
collective permanent terror" taking place in Egypt, Algeria, Tajikistan,
and Latin America. The paper asserts that Russia is on the eve of the
appearance of death squads that destroy criminals and then all who are
not satisfied with the system. Additional possible forms of social
conflict, according to the paper, include violent or suicidal religious
cults, localized conflicts about which other residents of the country
are indifferent (as in Chechnya), and criminal terror based on
corruption. The paper blames these problems on Western security services
and asserts that the only way to prevent the escalation of civil war is
to remove the current incumbents from power and strengthen the powers of
the state. -- Robert Orttung, OMRI, Inc.

STALIN'S GRANDSON DEFENDS DICTATOR. Yevgeny Dzhugashvili, a grandson of
Josef Stalin and communist Duma deputy, launched a movement on 13 June
to restore the image of the Soviet dictator and lay the ground for
another "man of steel," Western agencies reported. He and fellow deputy
Omar Begov, the movement's head, argue that only a strong ruler could
cure the Russia's current ills and insist that reports of Stalin's
repression are false or exaggerated. The Political Movement for Stalin's
Legacy was registered in May and has 45 regional branches. It will back
the Communist Party in the run-up to the elections. -- Penny Morvant,
OMRI, Inc.

HOLIDAY HEAT WAVE POSES HEALTH THREAT. A heat wave in Moscow and
declining sanitary conditions have led to a sharp rise in acute
intestinal diseases such as dysentery, health officials said on 13 June.
Chief sanitary inspector Olga Aksenova, quoted by Interfax, said
"insanitary conditions in the street and the sale of foodstuffs by
street vendors" are the major culprits. Last week, Moscow health
officials said two people in the city had been diagnosed with cholera
that may have been contracted in the city. If that is the case, Moscow
is in danger of being hit by an epidemic. -- Penny Morvant, OMRI, Inc.

FEDERAL TROOPS CAPTURE SHATOY. Following several days of heavy fighting,
federal forces captured the Chechen mountain village of Shatoy on the
afternoon of 13 June, Russian and international agencies reported. The
village, described by Russian officers as heavily fortified, was also
reportedly the most recent command post of Chechen President Dzhokhar
Dudaev, whose whereabouts remain unknown. Fighting continues in other
areas of Chechnya. Also on 13 June, Interfax reported that a
parliamentary delegation from the Council of Europe had completed a trip
to the North Caucasus. The delegation will draft a report to determine
whether the council will reconsider Russia's application for membership,
which has been suspended since the military operation in Chechnya began.
-- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

CHECHNYA TO ELECT NEW PARLIAMENT. Elections to a new parliament in
Chechnya are to take place on 5 November, Interfax reported on 13 June,
quoting a spokesman for the Committee for National Accord created by the
Russian government in March of this year. The existing parliament, which
was suspended by President Dudaev in 1993, is scheduled to hold a
session "in the near future," its chairman Yusup Soslambekov told
Interfax last month. -- Liz Fuller, OMRI, Inc.

KOZYREV: RUSSIANS IN BALTICS STILL SUFFER DISCRIMINATION. Russian
Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev told Max van der Stoel, the OSCE High
Commissioner on National Minorities, that Russia remains concerned with
discrimination against ethnic Russians in the Baltic states, Interfax
reported on 13 June. Kozyrev gave van der Stoel a report on the
situation of ethnic Russians in Estonia, where an impending deadline for
registration of non-citizens has generated controversy. Kozyrev asserted
that the OSCE should "remain on the alert" for violations of minority
rights in the Baltics. On a related topic, the Duma Committee on CIS
Affairs announced the formation of a Council of Compatriots as an
advisory body to the Russian parliament, Russian Radio reported on 13
June. The council will monitor the problems of ethnic Russians living in
the former Soviet republics. -- Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

SIPRI CONCERNED BY DEVELOPMENT OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY. In an advance
summary of its annual report for 1995, the Stockholm International Peace
Research Institute (SIPRI) expressed concern with "growing Russian
political and military assertiveness," Reuters reported on 13 June. The
report, a widely-used reference work on world conflicts and armaments
levels, cites Russian military actions in Chechnya and "increasing
demands by Russia regarding its...European and global status," as having
damaged Russian relations with other European countries and the U.S. --
Scott Parrish, OMRI, Inc.

ARMS EXPERTS: CLINTON SHOULD HAVE GONE FARTHER ON CFE ISSUE. Two
prominent American arms control experts on 13 June criticized President
Bill Clinton for not being more responsive to Russia's wish to modify
the CFE treaty during his recent Moscow meeting with President Boris
Yeltsin. U.S. Ambassador to Russia Arthur Hartman and Jack Mendelsohn,
deputy director of the Arms Control Association, criticized Clinton for
insisting that Russia's objections to the treaty's flank restrictions
should be resolved at a May 1996 review conference rather than before
the limits come into effect in November of this year, Reuters reported.
Mendelsohn said if Clinton is ready to "help resolve the issue in May
[1996], why isn't [he] prepared to resolve it in November [1995] and
avoid six months of political warfare where people will be accusing the
Russians of...non-compliance." -- Doug Clarke, OMRI, Inc.

EBRD FUNDS RUSSIAN NUCLEAR SAFETY. The EBRD has agreed to provide about
$100 million (76 million ECU) in credits to improve safety standards at
the Kola and Novovoronezh nuclear power stations and to modernize units
at the Sosnovyi Bor station, Interfax reported on 13 June. Russia has
agreed to exempt Western companies participating in the overhauls from
liability associated with a nuclear accident. -- Michael Mihalka, OMRI,
Inc.

RUBLE HITS TWELVE WEEK HIGH. The Russian ruble hit a 12-week high
closing at 4,836 rubles to $1 on 13 June MICEX trading, Russian and
Western agencies reported. The ruble strengthened 45 points, up from 9
June's trade close of 4,881 rubles to $1, its biggest one-day rise since
the collapse of the ruble on Black Tuesday last October. Some dealers
attributed the continuing rise in the ruble to the Central Bank of
Russia's selling of dollars, and its introduction of new ruble
investments, such as treasury bills, which yield more than dollar funds.
Some observers argue that the strengthening ruble will lead to panic
among holders of dollar assets, such as exporters in the fuel and energy
sector who have been incurring huge losses. -- Thomas Sigel, OMRI, Inc.

INVESTMENT DOWN 20% IN FIRST HALF OF 1995. The Economics Ministry
announced on 13 June that total investment in Russia is estimated at 75
trillion rubles ($15 billion) for the first half of the year, down 20%
from the same period last year, ITAR-TASS reported. The ministry said
investment for the entire year is projected to run 230-250 trillion
rubles ($46-50 billion), which includes government investment of 18.8
trillion rubles ($3.76 billion). Thus the government's efforts to bring
down inflation have not yet been sufficient to prevent the continuing
fall in capital investment. -- Thomas Sigel, OMRI, Inc.

FARM SECTOR WON'T MEET FOOD NEEDS IN 1995. Russia's farm industry, which
has shrunk over the last four years, will not be able to provide enough
food for the country in 1995, according to Raisa Pankova, a department
head in the Russian State Trade Committee, Interfax reported on 13 June.
Pankova told the Federation Council Agrarian Policy Committee that
Russia's output in 1995 will fall short of its needs by 400,000 tons in
meat products, 80,000 tons in butter, and at least 1 million tons in
sugar. Commenting on the upcoming food tax hike, Pankova said import
duties should be increased only during times when Russian producers can
fulfill market demand. -- Thomas Sigel, OMRI, Inc.

TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

AZERBAIJAN SETS DATE FOR PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS. On 13 June, the
Azerbaijan People's Assembly scheduled new parliamentary elections for
12 November, Interfax and AFP reported. They are to be preceded,
according to President Heidar Aliev, by a nationwide referendum on a new
election law (to be adopted by the People's Assembly on 31 July) and a
new constitution. Etibar Mamedov, the chairman of the Azerbaijan
National Independence Party, said the election law is based on the
proportional representation system, according to the Turan News Agency
on 10 June. Mamedov expressed doubts that the elections would be
democratic given existing restrictions on the media but said his party
will participate nonetheless. -- Liz Fuller, OMRI, Inc.

CIS

MORE ON RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS. The nationalist Ukrainian National
Assembly attacked the Ukrainian-Russian Black Sea Fleet agreement,
saying it surrenders the fleet and Crimea to Russia, Interfax reported
on 13 June. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Dubinin denied that
Russia had "twisted Ukraine's arm" over the agreement, and pointed out
that the accord has paved the way for the treaty on friendship and
cooperation between Russia and Ukraine to be finalized. Ukraine's
national security adviser, Volodymyr Horbulin, told Interfax that
Yeltsin may visit Kiev as early as July to sign the friendship accord.
The two countries' prime ministers are preparing to sign a number of
economic agreements within the next month. Nonetheless, Ukrainian
Foreign Minister Hennadii Udovenko seemed defensive when Ukrainian radio
reported on 12 June his statement that neither party was a victor or
loser. That same day, Ukrainian television reported that Western
countries have greeted the agreement favorably. -- Ustina Markus, OMRI,
Inc.

[As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Victor Gomez

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