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Subject:      RFE/RL Daily Report 07 JAN, 1993

The RFE/RL Daily Report is a digest of the latest developments
in Russia, Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and Central and
Eastern Europe. It is published Monday through Friday (except
German holidays) by the RFE/RL Research Institute (a division of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.). Copyright 1993 RFE/RL,
Inc.


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                 RFE/RL Daily Report

                                     No. 3, 7 January 1993

                              RUSSIA

Kozyrev: Russia Using "Covert Veto" of Force in
Bosnia.
In an interview with Russian TV's "Utro"
program on 6 January, Russian Foreign Minister
Andrei Kozyrev said that Russia had used a
"covert veto" on the question of using an
internationally sponsored military force to
settle the conflict in the former Yugoslavia.
He said that Russia had accomplished this by
persistently questioning Western proposals for
military intervention in Bosnia and by
supporting a continuing process of negotiation
among the conflicting sides. As to the lack of
clarity surrounding Russia's position on former
Yugoslavia, Kozyrev argued that the positions
of most politicians around the world are
plagued with uncertainty when it comes to the
crisis in the former Yugoslavia.  Suzanne Crow,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Chernomyrdin Addresses Moscow Industrialists.
In what may have been his first major policy
statement since taking office, Viktor
Chernomyrdin spoke on 5 January to a gathering
of Moscow industrialists. To judge from the
ITAR-TASS and Interfax accounts, many of his
pronouncements were unclear and ambivalent.
Among his declared priorities were: halting the
fall in output, curbing inflation, promoting
privatization (including the use of vouchers to
purchase land and housing), eschewing a wage
and price freeze, and pressing on with
conversion. He committed the government to the
preservation of "socially acceptable prices."
Yurii Gekht, the head of the "Industrial Union"
faction in parliament, declared his "special
satisfaction" with the speech which was
"everything the industrialists were waiting
for."  Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc.

Russian Profit Limits Extended.
On 5 January, ITAR-TASS carried a summary of a
decree signed by Russian Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin that "expanded the mechanism of
the state regulation of prices on certain types
of goods and products of enterprises that do
not belong to the category of monopolists." The
decree was said to have taken effect on 1
January. Among the items whose prices would
reportedly be regulated were bread, bread and
flour products, tea, salt, milk, butter, meat,
certain kinds of sausage, baby foods, and ethyl
alcohol [sic]. Subsequent reports on 5 January
added vodka to the list. The first deputy
president of the Russian State Committee on
Price Policy was quoted as saying that the
decree would stabilize prices.  Keith Bush,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Elaboration and Confusion on Profit Limits
No full text of the decree appears to have been
published. Russian and Western agencies
reported problems in clarifying the extent and
impact of the edict as most officials were on
holiday. Interfax on 6 January provided details
of the profit ceilings for the relevant
consumer goods which ranged from 10% to 50% of
prime costs. It also revealed that a 25% profit
ceiling had been imposed on a large range of
producer goods, including steel, iron,
plastics, fabrics, and building materials, and
a 50% profit ceiling had been introduced for
iron ore, bauxite, and timber. Western agencies
on 7 January quoted officials as denying that
the decree sought to regulate prices: it was
supposedly meant merely to cap profits.  Keith
Bush, RFE/RL, Inc.

Russian Subsidy Bill Soars.
Aleksandr Pochinok, the head of the
parliamentary commission for budget, taxes, and
prices, told a news conference on 6 January
that the total subsidies planned for 1993 in
Russia would probably exceed one trillion
rubles, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported. Bread
subsidies alone would cost between 2 and 3
billion rubles a day. It was not clear whether
Pochinok had included the additional subsidies
arising from the 5 January profit limitation
decree. Pochinok expressed the hope that the
1993 budget deficit would not exceed 6-7% of
the GNP, but he would not give precise figures
because his commission was currently
determining the system for calculating the GNP.
 Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc.

Private Farmers Face Problems.
Russia's new private farmers are troubled by
lack of cash and soaring prices, according to a
Reuters report on 5 January. The president of
the Association of Russian Farmers is quoted as
saying that the that the development of new
farms is also being slowed down by the failure
of the government to finalize laws on land
ownership and mortgage payments. The big
collective farms are supposed to be transformed
into small private units or into joint stock
companies, but collective farm managers are
proving reluctant to cede control of the farms.
There are now 173,000 private farmers
cultivating a total of 7.3 million hectares of
land. Most of the new private farms are in the
traditional agricultural areas of the Volga and
Don regions.  Sheila Marnie, RFE/RL, Inc.

Strike in Russia's Northern Pits.
 The work force of the northern Vorgashorskaya
coal mine has been on strike since 4 December,
according to Interfax on 6 January. The strike
has caused the mine to incur a total of 1.5
billion rubles of damages, including 960
million rubles in lost production. Miners in
another northern town, Vorkuta, have now called
on all pits in the region to hold a 24 hour
strike on 18 January in support of the
Vorgahorskaya miners. The strikers are calling
for regular payment of wages, and guarantees
that wages will be increased regularly to keep
pace with inflation.  Sheila Marnie, RFE/RL,
Inc.

Russian Defense Ministry: START-2 Serves
Russian Interests.
Russian First Deputy Defense Minister Andrei
Kokoshin told Interfax on 6 January that the
ministry had tried to visualize the composition
of Russia's nuclear forces in the years
2005-2010 when forming its position on the
START-2 negotiations. He said that their
"optimal" results fell within the ultimate
START-2 limits. Kokoshin, the senior civilian
in the ministry, had no regrets about giving up
the SS-18, calling it a "dangerous magnet
inviting a pre-emptive nuclear strike." He
noted that the airborne component of strategic
forces had been cut sharply in the new treaty,
but said that it was most unlikely that Russia
could raise the money to meet the ceilings set
for it in this area.  Doug Clarke, RFE/RL, Inc.

Russian Military Lauds START-2.
Virtually all top Russian defense officials
have welcomed the recently signed START-2
strategic arms reduction treaty. The newly
appointed Chief of Staff, General Mikhail
Kolesnikov, joined the chorus at a 6 January
press conference reported by ITAR-TASS.
Kolesnikov noted that the Russians had
succeeded in getting the Americans to agree to
allow the conversion of 90 SS-18 silos, a
feature of the new treaty that he estimated
would save Russia some two billion rubles. He
said that while Russian nuclear forces would
not become a "mirror image" of the Americans',
he did note that Russia would increase the
sea-based component of its strategic forces.
Doug Clarke, RFE/RL, Inc.

But Russian Parliamentarians Warn of
Ratification Problems.
 Vyacheslav Bragin, a member of the presidium
of the Russian parliament, told ITAR-TASS on 5
January that the ratification of the START-2
treaty "will not be easy." He claimed there
were quite a few "conservative-minded" deputies
who would do everything in their power to
thwart the treaty. Aleksandr Piskunov, the
deputy chairman of the parliament's defense and
security committee, said that ratification
would be "a complex and hard" process. As
quoted by Interfax on 5 January, Piskunov hoped
that American diplomatic and military witnesses
could address the parliamentarians during the
hearings.  Doug Clarke, RFE/RL, Inc.
Transcaucasia and Central Asia

Alma-Ata Industrial Workers Want Restoration of
USSR Economic Relations.
Workers at an Alma-Ata machinery plant, backed
by the city's Organization of Communists and
other Communist-oriented political groups, have
appealed to Kazakhstan's President Nursultan
Nazarbaev for the restoration of the economic
relationships that existed in the USSR,
Interfax reported on 5 January. What the
signatories of the appeal apparently want in
fact is the restoration of the USSR; they blame
the economic decline in the last year on the
collapse of the Union. Most of Alma-Ata's
industrial workers and most of the members of
the pro-Communist groups cited are Russians and
other non-Kazakhs. The appeal is indicative of
the pressures Nazarbaev faces in trying to
maintain ethnic peace in Kazakhstan.  Bess
Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.

UN Intervention in Abkhazia Premature.
A UN spokesman told an RFE-RL correspondent on
6 January that the Security Council has not yet
taken any action on Georgian State Council
chairman Eduard Shevardnadze's request for the
deployment of UN peacekeepers in Abkhazia. A
spokesman for the Russian mission to the UN
quoted Security Council chairman Yoshio Hatano
as stating that "the time is not yet ripe" to
address the Abkhaz situation. On 6 January the
Abkhaz Defense Ministry conceded that an Abkhaz
attack on the Georgian-held town of Sukhumi on
5 January had failed, ITAR-TASS reported. Both
sides claimed the other had suffered heavy
losses in the attack.  Liz Fuller, RFE/RL, Inc.

Azerbaijani Government Accused of Torturing
Opposition Members.
Opposition figures detained following the anti-
government demonstrations in Baku in late
December have been subjected to torture and
beatings while in custody, Azerbaijani lawyer
and human rights activist Avaz Gumbatov told
Interfax on 5 January.  Liz Fuller, RFE/RL,
Inc.

Tajik Government Claims It Controls Most of
Country.
The government of Tajikistan is in control of
most of the country, a spokesman for
Tajikistan's National Security Committee told
Interfax on 6 January. Anti-government
resistance remains strong only in the Garm,
Dzhirgatal and Komsomolabad Raions east of
Dushanbe and the government has not determined
how to rout the opposition from these areas
without causing considerable losses among the
population, the spokesman said. ITAR-TASS
reported the same day that the city of Rogun
and its power plant were in the hands of the
Tajik opposition; Russian refugees from there
complained of the anti-Russian sentiments of
those in control.  Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.

Negotiations on Tajik Weapons Surrender
Continue.
Interfax reported on 6 January that talks were
continuing between government, parliamentary
and law enforcement representatives and
representatives of the Tajik opposition in the
town of Yavan in southern Tajikistan on the
surrender of weapons. The Chairman of
Tajikistan's National Security Committee told
the agency that pro-government groups are also
starting to hand in their weapons. He was also
reported to have said that the 100,000 refugees
gathered on the Afghan border have left the
Pyandzh area, but it was unclear where they had
gone. Some 20,000 refugees are reported to have
assembled in a nature preserve several
kilometers from the Afghan border.  Bess Brown,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Kyrgyzstan Seeks Energy Independence.
Kyrgyzstan's President Askar Akaev told energy
workers in Bishkek on 6 January that the
country is facing a severe energy crisis,
Interfax reported, and he would like to see
foreign investments concentrated on developing
hydroelectric power. At present Kyrgyzstan is
selling about a third of its electric power for
only 22-25% of world prices, while Turkmenistan
is getting 60% of the world price for its
natural gas, Akaev complained. Further
development of Kyrgyzstan's considerable
hydroelectric potential would enable the
country to produce 20 billion kilowatt hours by
2000, he said.  Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc.

                    Central and Eastern Europe

Slovak Government Purges Newspaper.
The editor and director of the state-owned
newspaper Smena were fired, deepening fears
that press cenorship in Slovakia may be
imposed, Reuters reported on 5 January. Editor
in Chief Karol Jezik and Director Jozef Weiss
were dismissed on 4 January. At a press
conference on the 5th Jezik and Weiss rejected
government assertions that the changes at
Smena, which won a wide readership with its
independent reporting, had been prompted by
falling profits. They said that Smena made a
profit of more than 8 million koruny last year.
According to various reports a majority of
Smena's editorial staff intends to leave the
paper and join Jezik and Weiss in an effort to
set up a new independent daily. The Slovak
Journalists' Union expressed support for Jezik
and Weiss and said in a published statement
that "steps such as this are against the
principles of democracy and freedom of the
press." Slovak Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar
recently warned that he will not tolerate what
he termed "slander of his government" and
"distortion of Slovakia's image." In late 1992
the Slovak government initiated a purge of
state-run TV, and replaced several leading
officials by Meciar loyalists.  Jan Obrman,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Czech, Slovak News Agencies Halt Cooperation.
The Czech news agency CTK and its Slovak
counterpart TA SR announced on 5 January that
they will immediately halt all cooperation. The
Director General of CTK, Tomas Kopriva, said
that the two organizations failed to agree on a
contract for financial reasons. He said the
offer of TA SR for services provided by CTK was
far too low. Kopriva also announced that CTK
will station eight correspondents in Slovakia
to cover Slovak domestic events.  Jan Obrman,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Meciar to Emphasize Arms Production.
At a meeting with Slovak military commanders on
5 January, the Slovak prime minister said that
he will renew arms production wherever possible
to push down the country's unemployment rate,
Western agencies reported. Meciar said Slovakia
will only produce weapons that have export
potential and added that they will not be
exported to regions of tension or areas under
embargo by the UN. He criticized the defunct
Czechoslovak government for cutting arms
production.  Jan Obrman, RFE/RL, Inc.


International Mediators in Belgrade.
Radio Serbia and international media report
that the cochairmen of the Geneva Conference,
Cyrus Vance and Lord Owen, concluded talks in
Belgrade with Serbian leaders on 6 January.
Owen told reporters after a meeting with
Serbia's President Slobodan Milosevic that the
negotiations have reached a critical stage and
are at "an absolutely historic moment," without
elaborating. Milosevic said they discussed "not
only a simple cease-fire" but "a much more
serious approach" to ending the war in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. In New York Bosnia's
President Alija Izetbegovic told Reuters that
he is not optimistic that the Geneva talks will
find a solution to the war and accused the
Serbs of being very uncooperative.  Milan
Andrejevich , RFE/RL, Inc.

Cosic Addresses the Nation.
Dobrica Cosic, president of the rump
Yugoslavia, warned in a nationally televised
address on 6 January that if Serbian leaders do
not accept the latest UN-EC Bosnian peace plan,
both Bosnian Serbs and Serbia-Montenegro "will
be the target of a war and missile attack" by
the US and NATO. He added that the UN and the
EC want to force the Serbs to accept the plan,
but doing so unilaterally "would risk turning
Bosnia into a battleground and a place of
genocide and jihad." He said the international
community has thus taken Serbia-Montenegro
"hostage" to put pressure on Bosnian and
Croatian Serbs "who are fighting for bare
survival," adding that the Serbs are left with
a stark choice between "political and military
surrender and an attack from the most powerful
countries in the world." The Geneva talks are
"not very promising," Cosic said, and urged the
US, Europe, and Russia to alter their negative
policy toward Serbia-Montenegro.  Milan
Andrejevich , RFE/RL, Inc.

Romanian Ships Detained by Rump Yugoslavia.
Bucharest protested the detention of four
Romanian ships on the Yugoslav sector of the
Danube. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that
Bucharest has requested the "immediate and
unconditional release" of the vessels, detained
31 December-3 January. Radio Bucharest quoted
the spokesman as saying that Belgrade is
apparently acting in retaliation for Romania's
enforcement of the UN sanctions against rump
Yugoslavia. He added that Romania would ask the
UN Security Council to intervene in case the
vessels are not freed. The ships were carrying
sugar, timber, fuel oil and iron ore. A similar
incident took place on 28 November 1992, when
the Yugoslav authorities had detained a
Romanian tugboat and six barges. They were
released on 8 December, following repeated
Romanian protests.  Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL, Inc.

Polish Government to Request "Special Powers."
Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka told PAP during a
break in a cabinet meeting on 5 January that
the government plans within a week to ask the
Sejm for the right to issue decrees with the
force of law. The "little constitution" that
took force in December allows the Sejm, in a
simple majority vote, to empower the government
to issue decrees in all but a few restricted
areas. Suchocka said the government will use
decrees to enact its five priority programs,
including privatization and adaptation to EC
requirements. Officials announced that the
government's request will be given "urgent"
status, forcing the Sejm to take action by
March at the latest. The government also
intends to give "mass privatization"
legislation urgent status. Some of the
coalition parties complained that they had no
advance notice of the government's plans.
Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc.

Poland's Deficit Smaller than Expected.
The budget deficit for 1992 was 10 trillion
zloty ($650 million) less than anticipated,
Gazeta Wyborcza reported on 5 January. Finance
Minister Jerzy Osiatynski confirmed the same
day that Poland closed the year with a deficit
of 72 trillion zloty, rather than the 81.5
trillion planned in the amended 1992 budget.
Osiatynski said commercial banks are
responsible for the lower deficit; the
government lacked the cash to make planned
expenditures. Revenues were also 3 trillion
zloty higher than expected.  Louisa Vinton,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Referendum for Early Hungarian National
Elections.
The Society of People Living below the Minimum
Standard has collected more than the 100,000
signatures needed to call a referendum on
national elections, MTI reports. In order to
emphasize the need for early elections, the
society is still collecting signatures.
According to the constitution elections are
held every four years and are next scheduled
for spring 1994. Political parties are divided
over the constitutionality of holding a
referendum for dismissing Parliament, and the
Constitutional Court is expected to rule on the
issue soon.  Judith Pataki, RFE/RL, Inc.

Hungarian TV and Radio Presidents Resign.
On 6 January the presidents of Hungary's
state-owned radio and TV, Csaba Gombar and
Elemer Hankiss, handed in their resignations to
President Arpad Goncz, MTI reports. In their
letters, Gombar and Hankiss stressed that they
want to guarantee the independence of the
Hungarian state-owned media, but the ruling
parties, yielding to right-wing pressure, made
this impossible. Hankiss called for the
authorities follow through on a formal
reprimand of him for alleged financial
irregularities in order to prove that the
charges brought against him were unfounded.
Goncz said that he understands the reasons
motivating the two men's actions, but did not
indicate whether he would accept the
resignations. Tamas Katona, the political state
secretary in the office of the prime minister,
denied charges that the government wants to
control the two institutions. He said that some
agreement should be reached by the political
parties over the media law that was recently
rejected by parliament and noted that the
frequency moratorium should possibly be lifted.
 Judith Pataki , RFE/RL, Inc.

Bulgarians Stop Clearance of Collaboration
Charges.
As one of the first actions in his new
position, Minister of Internal Affairs Viktor
Mihaylov on 4 January halted the review and
certification intended to clear politicians and
top officials of unfounded charges of
collaboration with the former State Security
apparatus, BTA reports. The decree, under which
prominent Bulgarians could demand a review and,
if exonerated, a certificate confirming that
they never collaborated, was introduced on 14
December by former Prime Minister Filip
Dimitrov. In justifying the move Mihaylov told
an RFE/RL correspondent that the decree is
unfair since it makes no distinction among
various kinds of collaboration, some of which
might have been for the good of the nation. New
prime minister Lyuben Berov is expected to
revoke the decree in its entirety.  Kjell
Engelbrekt, RFE/RL, Inc.

More Western Credits for Latvia.
IMF has decided to continue extending credit to
Latvia based on its economic performance, BNS
and Diena reported on 6 January. The most
recent loan of $14 million may be used to
stabilize the interim currency, the Latvian
ruble. Deputy Minister of Finance Uldis Osis
said that he expects soon to receive credits
worth $100 million from the European Community.
An accord to that effect is expected to be
signed by the two sides this week.  Dzintra
Bungs , RFE/RL, Inc.

Russian Steps to Tighten Hold on Eastern
Moldova.
Addressing the Russian work force of the Kirov
military plant in Tiraspol, Lt. Gen. Aleksandr
Lebed, commander of Russia's 14th Army, said
that Russia will soon open a consular office
there which will grant Russian citizenship to
local residents desiring it, Basapress reported
from Tiraspol on 5 and 6 January. Noting that
Moldovans form 40% of the "Dniester republic's"
population (and without mentioning the 28%
Ukrainians), Lebed claimed that these
Moldovans, too, desire access to the Russian
Federation. This is feasible, he said, despite
the lack of territorial contiguity. He also
said that the army and the local authorities
will shortly open a military chair to train
officers for the Russian army at the University
of Tiraspol (recently de-Moldovanized and
converted to a Russian institution).  Vladimir
Socor , RFE/RL, Inc.

Lebed Assails USA.
In the same address, Lebed accused the USA of
conducting "an imperial policy vis-`-vis Russia
and the "Dniester republic," suggested that the
dismantled monument to Feliks Dzerzhinsky in
Moscow ought to be replaced by one to US
President George Bush, and called US Ambassador
to Moldova, Mary Pendleton, "a mediocre woman"
for having rejected invitations to visit the
"Dniester republic."  Vladimir Socor , RFE/RL,
Inc.

Seven Candidates for Lithuania's President.
At midnight, 5 January, the deadline for the
registration of candidates for the presidential
elections to be held on 14 February expired.
Seven candidates were registered, Radio
Lithuania reports. The last registration was
that of Remigijus Vilkaitis, a popular
comedian. Four candidates, Algirdas Brazauskas,
Kazimieras Antanavicius, Kazys Bobelis, and
Kazimieras Uoka, hold seats in the Seimas. The
other two are Republican Party Chairman
Kazimieras Petraitis and Lithuania's ambassador
to Washington Stasys Lozoraitis. The seven have
to present 20,000 signatures of eligible voters
supporting their candidacies by 20 January in
order to complete their official registration.
Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc.

Lithuania Repays Fuel Debts to Russia.
On 5 January the Lithuanian government gave 1
billion coupons (Lithuania's provisional
currency) to the Energy Ministry to cover part
of the 1.6-billion-ruble debt to Russian oil
companies, BNS reports. The remainder of the
debt will be paid by the Mazeikiai refinery,
which has received loans from Lithuanian
commercial banks. The Energy Ministry will also
pay a significant part of the republic's 8.5
billion ruble debt to the Russian Lentransgaz
company either this week or next week. The
settling of these debts will allow Lithuania to
hold more successful negotiations for oil
supplies, but Lithuanian enterprises still owe
15 billion coupons to the state for gas,
heating, and electricity.  Saulius Girnius,
RFE/RL, Inc.

No Results in Russian-Estonian Talks.
The latest round of negotiations on border
issues between Estonia and Russia ended in
Pskov on 6 January with no results, ITAR-TASS
reports. The Estonian side maintains that all
border disputes should be settled using the
1920 Tartu Peace Treaty as a legal point of
departure, whereas the Russians insist that the
January 1991 Russian-Estonian agreement must
govern further relations.  Riina Kionka,
RFE/RL, Inc.

Latvia, Belarus Reach Border Guard Agreement.
On 4 January in Riga the two sides signed a
protocol outlining cooperation between their
border guards, BNS reported on 6 January. The
protocol includes a provision for both sides to
inform the other side within three hours of
cases of frontier intruders. Latvia set up
border posts soon after it regained its
independence and these posts are to be kept,
and Belarus intends to establish such posts in
March. BNS also reports the detention of the
first refugees from Yugoslavia at the
Latvian-Russian border. The refugees, traveling
on the Moscow-Riga train, were heading for
Germany.  Dzintra Bungs , RFE/RL, Inc.

Belarus TV Station Closed.
The only commercial television station in
Belarus has been closed as of 1 January, an
RFE/RL correspondent in Minsk reports. On 28
December the government announced that TV
licensing will be reviewed by the end of
January, but on 30 December Channel 8 broadcast
a Communications Ministry statement that the
station would stop operating. On 31 December
the three commercial broadcast organizations
that subcontract the channel's time aired a
joint round-table discussion complaining about
the decision. On 6 January RFE/RL
correspondents reported that the station went
off the air at the request of station employees
who objected that some of the material
broadcast was of low cultural value and even
pornographic and that pirated films were being
shown. Channel 8 producers have been asked to
submit for governmental review their own plan
for programming by the end of January.  Barbara
Kroulik & Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc.

Strong Opposition in Ukraine to Proposed CIS
Charter.
More prominent Ukrainian politicians and
scholars have been voicing their opposition to
Ukraine's adhering to the proposed CIS charter,
which is due for discussion at the CIS summit
on 22 January in Minsk. On 5 January Vyacheslav
Chornovil, the leader of Rukh, told Ukrainian
Radio that the proposed charter is a
"camouflaged variant of a union treaty" that
would in effect create a confederation intended
to develop into a federation. This view was
echoed the next day on Radio Ukraine by
scientist Maksym Strikha and economist Veniamin
Sikora. Sitrikha stressed that adherence to the
provisions of the 23-page document would mean
the end of Ukraine's independence and its
becoming part of a Russian-dominated
confederation.  Bohdan Nahaylo, RFE/RL, Inc.


Compiled by Hal Kosiba and Charles Trumbull
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