From: macko@pilot.njin.net (Peter C. Macko)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.soviet,soc.culture.soviet
Subject: Re: Dniester Communists
Date: 14 Sep 92 01:38:02 GMT
Followup-To: talk.politics.soviet
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

viznyuk@physics.ucla.edu (Sergei Viznyuk) writes:

>In article <Sep.12.21.26.47.1992.20247@pilot.njin.net> macko@pilot.njin.net (Peter C. Macko) writes:
>>
>> In article: <01GOFQA5LIMO8ZE0DW@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU>
>> VIZNYUK@MPS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (SERGEI VIZNYUK) writes:
>>
>>> From: sommar@enea.se (Erland Sommarskog)
>>
>>>>Oh, come on don't tell me that Smirnov & co are zealous reformists
>>>>who despise everything stamped with communism.
>>>>
>>>> I don't know many details about Smirnov & co, except that they
>>>  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>>>So how do you know then that they are "old-timers who are fighting to
>>>preserve their power" ? Familiar style - I didn't read, I don't
>>>know, but they/he/she is bad... Instead, why don't you consider
>>>President of Moldova x-communist Snegur, who used tanks
>>
>>  At least Snegur is an X-communist.  Smirnov is still a staunch
>>communist and communists control the "Dniester Soviet Socialistic
>>Republic".

>  Please, could you substantiate your accusations ?
>Any facts about Smirnov being "a staunch communist" ?

  These things have been in a number of papers including the New York
Times and numerous UPI/Clari articles.  I do however have a complete
collection of the past month's RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty)
daily reports on line.  In fact I've written a cute little program to do 
topic searches to save me the effort of digging out sources by hand.  So 
here is a list of interesting articles on the "Dniester Soviet Socialist
Republic":

	RFE/RL Report: August 18, 1992
"DNIESTER REPUBLIC" TO HOST ALL-USSR CONGRESS.  As previously
announced at the "all-USSR" conference in May in Tiraspol, the
communist Joint Council of Work Collectives (OSTK), the dominant
political force in the "Dniester republic," intends to host a
"Congress of Workers' Councils" from the entire former Soviet
Union. The congress agenda includes the preservation of the USSR,
the dismissal of the Gaidar government, and protests against
privatization, DR Press reported on 14 August. The congress is
scheduled for 10-13 September in Bendery.  (Vladimir Socor)

	RFE/RL Report: August 24, 1992
MOLDOVAN CEASEFIRE VIOLATIONS BLAMED ON "DNIESTER" GUARD.  The
Joint Control Commision, made up of Moldovan, Russian, and
"Dniester" representatives and empowered to monitor the ceasefire
in eastern Moldova, issued on 22 August its first report since
its establishment on 8 August.  Twenty-five people were killed
and almost 400 injured during this period.  Most incidents were
caused by "Dniester" guards looking for alcohol, according to the
Commision's report as cited by AFP and Moldovapres on 22 August.
(Vladimir Socor)

	RFE/RL Report: August 31, 1992
"DNIESTER REPUBLIC" TO REIMPOSE RUSSIAN SCRIPT ON "MOLDOVAN
LANGUAGE." A draft "law on languages," currently before the
"Dniester Republic Supreme Soviet," would reimpose the Russian
alphabet for the "Moldovan language" (i.e.  Romanian) in schools
there, Radio Rossii reported on 24 August.  Moldovan schools in
that area switched to the Latin script following its
reinstatement in Moldova in 1989, and have since resisted the
"Dniester" authorities' orders to return the "Moldovan language"
to the Russian alphabet.  The proposed measure would give the
"Dniester" Russian authorities a pseudo-legal basis for enforcing
compliance.  (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

	RFE/RL Report: September 3, 1992
"DNIESTER REPUBLIC" CELEBRATES.  A mass rally and military parade--
attended by Maj. Gen. Aleksandr Lebed, commander of Russia's 14th
Army-- were held in Tiraspol on 2 September, the second anniversary
of the proclamation of the "Dniester Soviet Socialist Republic."
Its president, Igor Smirnov, said in his address that "the republic
has survived only thanks to Russia and the 14th Army," RFE/RL
correspondents reported. While taking issue with Yeltsin's stance
on Moldova's integrity, Smirnov was also quoted as announcing that
Russia would provide 2 billion rubles in credits to the "Dniester
republic" for the purchase of grain and other agricultural
commodities.  Both Smirnov and the "Dniester Guard" commander, Maj.
Gen.  Stefan Kitsak, claimed victory over Moldova and reiterated
that the would-be republic would build its own, professional army.
"The Dniester republic's strategic course toward forming the
Dniester state is not subject to change," Smirnov said as cited by
DR Press. (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

	RFE/RL Report: September 8, 1992
COSSACKS ON THE DNIESTER DESCRIBED AS ANTI-SEMITIC AND
"RED-BROWN." A correspondent for Nezavisimaya gazeta who recently
visited the theater of hostilities in eastern Moldova reported in
the daily's issue of 1 September that anti-Semitism and
"red-brown" views are widespread among the Russian Cossack
volunteers fighting for the "Dniester republic," and that they can
often be heard commenting that Jews have seized power in Russia.
Confirming the correspondent's assessment, Valerii Shukov, a
member of the Main Staff of the Union of Cossack Hosts of Russia
and chief editor of its press organ Stanitsa, who opposes
anti-Semitism, told the correspondent that many Don and Kuban
Cossacks--who provide most of the volunteers to the "Dniester"
cause--are "infected by anti-Semitism" and that their leadership
is "bolshevized" and "red-brown." Another Cossack dissident cited
by Shukov described the present Cossack leaders as a combination
of "reds" and "black hundreds." (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.).

	RFE Report: September 9, 1992
MOSCOW HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP REFUTES ATROCITY CHARGES AGAINST MOLDOVA.
 In a report issued after a recent fact-finding trip to Moldova,
and made available to RFE/RL, a team of the Moscow-based human
rights society Memorial refuted allegations that the Moldovan side
had murdered and raped teenagers, and that they had dismantled or
damaged industrial plants there during the fighting for that city
in June.  Those allegations have since been spread further by the
mass media in Moscow. The team from Memorial found that the
"Dniester republic" authorities, including the Bendery militia, had
no evidence of such atrocities. (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

	RFE/RL Report: September 11, 1992
"DNIESTER REPUBLIC" ESTABLISHES MINISTRIES.  The current session of
the "Dniester Republic Supreme Soviet" is discussing the
establishment of a full-fledged government with ministries,
DR-Press reported in recent days from Tiraspol.  Ministries of
defense and national security have already been established,
Aleksandr Nevzorov's TV program "600 Seconds" reported on 9
September. Echoing a theme often heard from Russian
ultranationalist supporters of the "Dniester republic," Nevzorov
hailed the progress of "this first republic free of democrats."
(Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)


					-PCM
Newsgroups: talk.politics.soviet