From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Subject: Moldova/Romania News from RFE/RL, 9/8/92
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 14:58:14 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri-Rolla, Missouri's Technological University

RFE/RL DAILY REPORT             No. 172, 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.).

HUNGARY BREACHING UN YUGOSLAV EMBARGO?  Romania says 12 gasoline
tank trucks driven by Yugoslav citizens trying to transport fuel
from Gyor, Hungary, reached the checkpoint at the
Romanian-Hungarian frontier at Nadlac on 1 September.  Rompres
said in a dispatch on 7 September that according to the travel
documents the transport destination was "Yugoslavia." The Romanian
customs did not allow the tanks to transit Romania, considering
the transport a clear case of breaching the embargo imposed on
former Yugoslavia.  Two days later another shipment was stopped,
this time indicating "Skopje, Macedonia," as the destination.
(Michael Shafir, RFE/RL Inc.)

BISHOP TOKES'S PROTEST FAST. On 7 September Bishop Laszlo Tokes
withdrew his acceptance of an invitation from President Ion
Iliescu for talks on his demands and is continuing his protest
started on 2 September, Radio Bucharest reports. Tokes said he his
decision was prompted by Iliescu's statement in which he called
the fast a "political diversion." The bishop said he was still
considering an appeal by the Democratic Convention to end the
fast, however. Meanwhile, prominent religious leaders in
Timisoara, including Nicolae Corneanu, head of the Orthodox Church
in the Banat, and Rabbi Ernst Neumann, leader of the Timisoara
Jewish community, expressed support for Tokes. (Michael Shafir,
RFE/RL Inc.)

STOLOJAN: "SABOTEURS" TRY TO INFLUENCE ELECTIONS. Prime Minister
Theodor Stolojan said the distribution of bread and other food is
being disrupted by saboteurs trying to undermine proreform
candidates in the September elections, Western agencies report.
This phrasing is a euphemism for former communists in the
bureaucracy, and possibly also for the Democratic Front of
National Salvation, on whose ticket Iliescu is running. Stolojan
said he is considering the militarization of distribution networks
to ensure deliveries. (Michael Shafir, RFE/RL Inc.)

BULGARIA, MOLDOVA SIGN FRIENDSHIP PACT.  Bulgarian President
Zhelyu Zhelev and Moldovan President Mircea Snegur signed a
friendship treaty in Sofia on 7 September. Valid for 10 years and
renewable, it guarantees the rights of the 89,000 ethnic
Bulgarians residing in Moldova.  In addition, it calls for the
revival of commercial opportunities (disrupted by the war in
Moldova), as well as closer cooperation in political, economic,
and cultural spheres.  It also articulates cooperation in
transport, energy, health, technology, and environmental areas
among others, BTA reports.  (Duncan M.  Perry, RFE/RL Inc.)

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