From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Subject: RFE/RL Daily Report 03 SEP, 1992 (long)
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 18:10:49 GMT
Organization: University of Missouri-Rolla, Missouri's Technological University


The RFE/RL Daily Report is a digest of lastest developments
in the former Soviet Union 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 1992 RFE/RL, Inc.


----------------------------------------------------------------
F..................................................................M...........M

                        RFE/RL DAILY REPORT

                                       No. 169, September 3, 1992


                 SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

NABIEV APPARENTLY OUT.  Tajik Radio announced in the early morning
of 3 September that the Presidium of Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet
and its Cabinet of Ministers had issued a statement declaring no
confidence in President Rakhmon Nabiev and removing him from power
because of his failure to end the crisis that threatens to destroy
the country. The statement also said that Nabiev has not tried to
create solidarity among the country's political parties; rather, he
has lost credibility with the leaders of other states, thereby
damaging Tajikistan's interests, and has taken refuge with the
military units of another country (CIS officers deny this).  A
session of the Supreme Soviet has been called for 4 September,
presumably to rafity Nabiev's removal and to choose an interim
successor.  (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

NAVZHUVANOV RESIGNS.  Tajik Minister of Internal Affairs Mamadaez
Navzhuvanov resigned on 3 September, according to ITAR-TASS, saying
that he refused to take part in fratricidal wars and saw no way out
of the current situation. Navzhuvanov, who is counted as an
opposition sympathizer, threatened to resign in August if internal
affairs troops were to be used to put down by force factional
fighting in southern Tajikistan.  His resignation, which he may
withdraw now that Nabiev has been ousted, would probably contribute
further to unrest in Tajikistan. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

ABKHAZ UPDATE.  Georgian State Council Chairman Eduard Shevardnadze
flew to Moscow on 2 September for talks the following day with
Russian President Yeltsin and Abkhaz and North Caucasian
representatives.  Georgian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandre
Kavsadze told ITAR-TASS on 2 September that Georgia would condone
Abkhaz autonomy as long as it did not jeopardize Georgia's
territorial unity; he rejected the proposed deployment of CIS
peacekeeping troops in Abkhazia as "unnecessary." Meanwhile,
Georgian and Abkhaz troop commanders in Abkhazia agreed to a
temporary ceasefire late on 2 September, according to ITAR-TASS and
Interfax. (Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

MAJOR STRIKE UNDERWAY IN UKRAINE. On 2 September, supporters of
Ukraine's independent Association of Free Trade Unions began a
major strike action for better pay and working conditions as well
as for the same legal recognition enjoyed by the former Communist
trade unions. Among those who heeded the call to strike were
thousands of train drivers, pilots and air-traffic controllers,
with the result that, as CIS and Western agencies reported, many of
Ukraine's railway stations and airports were paralyzed. Some coal
mines have also joined the strike. According to Western agencies,
the leaders of the strike have threatened to make political demands
if their grievances are not promptly redressed.  (Bohdan Nahaylo,
RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK'S RESERVES LOW. The acting chairman of the
Russian Central Bank, Viktor Gerashchenko, said on 2 September that
the bank had spent more than $650 million so far this year to
support the ruble, Interfax and Western agencies reported.  "We are
not giving up the practice of hard-currency interventions, but we
can run out of money at any moment." Gerashchenko announced that
the bank has, at most, $100 million left in convertible currency
reserves to support the ruble.  He reiterated his conviction that
the money used to prop up the ruble's exchange rate would have been
better used to repay some of the former Soviet Union's convertible
currency debt.  Gerashchenko also said that he favors making
Russian exporters convert all of their hard-currency revenues into
rubles. (Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

CHANGES IN RUSSIAN ENERGY PRICES IMMINENT? At a meeting with
economic counselors from foreign embassies in Moscow on 2
September, Russian Economics Minister Andrei Nechaev said that a
government decree reviewing energy prices has been prepared and
should be signed very shortly, Russian and Western agencies
reported.  The decree will be "a decisive step towards liberating
fuel prices. It does not mean that prices will go up further but
they will be given more freedom, with certain limitations." At the
current rates of exchange, the domestic Russian prices for
energy-carriers are 10- 15% of world prices. The Russian government
has committed itself to bringing domestic prices up to world levels
within the next two years or so.  (Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

MORE DETAILS ON RUSSIAN PRIVATIZATION. Russian Deputy Prime
Minister Anatolii Chubais told a gathering of industrial managers
on 31 August that because of inflation, privatization vouchers with
a nominal value of 10,000 rubles will be worth 150,000-200,000
rubles once large-scale privatization gets under way, Interfax
reported. Chubais told ITAR-TASS in Chita that the privatization
program was being impeded by local officials. He also mentioned
complications due to unresolved problems between Moscow, Tatarstan,
and Chechnya. (Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

RECOMMENDATIONS ON RUSSIAN EXPORT CURBS WITHDRAWN.  The Russian
Central Bank has reversed its recommendation, circulated at the end
of June, to Russian enterprises "to limit exports" to other CIS
members, Interfax reported on 31 August.  The original
recommendation arose from the perceived need to curb the growing
arrears in payment to Russian suppliers.  The decision to reverse
the recommendation was taken after the Russian Antimonopoly
Committee accused the central bank of exceeding its powers. (Keith
Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

SOLZHENITSYN ON KGB AND PRESENT REGIME IN RUSSIA. "An amalgam of
former Party functionaries, 'quasi-democracts,' KGB officers and
'black market' wheeler-dealers, which are gaining power now [in
Russia], represents a dirty hybrid unseen in the history of the
world," said Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in a film that was screened on
prime time Ostankino TV on September 2. According to Solzhenitsyn,
the KGB has only changed its facade and colors while retaining its
networks and influence, particularly in the provinces. He labled as
a "cunning lie" the thesis that the exposure of KGB informers would
lead to a "witch hunt." "Without the purification of our society,
there will be no democracy for this land," he said. Finally,
Solzhenitsyn called on Russian journalists to confess that they
have supported totalitarianism by spreading lies for decades,
rather than concentrate solely on reporting the sins of others as
they are doing now. (Victor Yasmann, RFE/RL Inc.)

CONFLICTING VIEWS ON THE KURILES DISPUTE.  Although the Russian and
Japanese foreign ministers said on 1 September that their two
countries had moved closer to an agreement on the Kuril Islands
dispute, the contentious issue seemed far from solved when
President Yeltsin met Japanese Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe the
next day. Yeltsin's spokesman, Vyacheslav Kostikov, was quoted by
UPI as saying that the Russian president "evaded a discussion of
the matter" during the 35-minute meeting.  ITAR-TASS quoted
Kostikov as saying that the Japanese position on the islands "has
only complicated a solution to the issue and inflamed public
opinion passions both in Russia and Japan." (Doug Clarke, RFE/RL
Inc.)

RUSSIA WILL CONTINUE ESPIONAGE ABROAD. "We are going to carry out
our intelligence work, when and whereever necessary," said the
former Chief of the KGB's "Illegal" Foreign Intelligence
Department, Vadim Kirpichenko, in an interview with Patriot, (no.
34.). Kirpichenko, who is now the Director of the Advisory Group at
Russian Foreign Intelligence Headquarters, was for many years in
charge of Administration "C" within the First Main Administration.
Administration "C" was responsible for directing KGB officers
working abroad under false identities as foreign nationals.
Kirpichehko also revealed that Russian Foreign Intelligence has
lost power vis-a-vis the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
During the Gorbachev period, the KGB took part in foreign policy
decision-making together with the MFA; today its activities are
more restricted than before to the area of intelligence collection.
(Victor Yasmann, RFE/RL Inc.)

DIPLOMATIC MANEUVERING OVER KARABAKH CEASEFIRE.  Italy is hoping
that Azerbaijan will follow the example of Armenia and the
government of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and
consent to formalize the abortive NagornoKarabakh ceasefire agreed
to late last month and allow international monitoring of it,
Reuters reported on 2 September.  Italy is due to host a new round
of preparatory peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh beginning 7
September; the previous round of talks ended in deadlock on 5
August. Speaking at a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in
Djakarta on 2 September, Armenian Foreign Minister Raffi
Hovanissian called for UN sanctions against Azerbaijan if it
declined to participate in talks on resolving the Karabakh
conflict. He also called on the international community to extend
diplomatic recognition to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. (Liz
Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

MOUNTAIN PEOPLES' CONFEDERATION AND ABKHAZ TALKS.  The
Confederation of the Mountain Peoples' of the North Caucasus on 2
September denounced the leaders of the North Caucasian republics
due to take part in the Abkhazian peace talks in Moscow on 3
September, the Western and Russian media reported.  A Confederation
spokesman Danour Zantaria, cited in Kuranty, called the North
Caucasian officials "former leaders of the nomenklatura who no
longer control the situation," The Confederation has suspended the
despatch of volunteers to Abkhazia until the outcome of the talks
is known. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL Inc.)

NAZARBAEV'S FIVE PROPOSALS FOR BISHKEK. Kazakhstan President
Nursultan Nazarbaev told a meeting of Moscow's chief newspaper
editors in Alma-Ata that he would make five proposals at the CIS
summit in Bishkek on 25 September, Izvestiya reported on 2
September. They are: to organize a coalition council of economic
cooperation, to create a banking union based preferably on a
supranational currency, to form the CIS economic court, to enhance
the role of the CIS interparliamentary assembly and get more CIS
states to join it, and to build a defense union, which, he said,
could be most economically established within the framework of the
Commonwealth.  Nazarbaev has, in fact, been pushing some of these
proposals at summit meetings for some time.  (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL
Inc.)

KARIMOV AND COLLECTIVE SECURITY PACT. In an interview on CIS TV on
1 September, Uzbek President Islam Karimov said that when
Uzbekistan signed the collective security pact, it envisaged Russia
guaranteeing security in the Central Asian region.  He warned that,
if Russia does not understand this, "then its distant frontiers
will become its near frontiers." Karimov signed the pact in May
chiefly out of concern over the political instability in
neighbouring Tajikistan. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN AND UZBEK TV BROADCASTS STOPPED IN TAJIKISTAN. ITAR-TASS
reported on 2 September that the head of Tajik Television, Mirbobo
Mirrakhimov, had ordered that rebroadcasts of Russian and Uzbek TV
be stopped in Tajikistan because of the complicated situation in
the country. Mirrakhimov's decision suggests that anti-Russian
sentiments have increased in Tajikistan since rumors spread that
President Nabiev took refuge at a CIS military base to escape
demonstrators who seized his official residence and took many
government officials hostage.  (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

YELTSIN-SNEGUR MEETING.  The Russian and Moldovan Presidents, Boris
Yeltsin and Mircea Snegur, met one on one in Yeltsin's working
cabinet in the Kremlin on 1 September for the fourth time in the
space of two months.  A press release via ITAR-TASS spoke of "a
very warm, friendly, and businesslike atmosphere devoid of tensions
of any kind." Yeltsin offered to serve as intermediary between
Chisinau and Tiraspol concerning the future political status of the
left bank of the Dniester.  Accepting Yeltsin's offer, Snegur
confirmed that Moldova was prepared immediately to grant the
right-bank city of Bendery the status of a free economic zone (an
offer Moldova had made to Bendery and the left bank already in
1991) and to negotiate the political status of the left bank
"provided that the territorial integrity of our state is
maintained," Snegur told Moldovapres. Snegur also hoped that a
bilateral economic agreement "with specific targets" will be
concluded for 1993.  (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

MOLDOVAN MILITARY ISSUES ALSO DISCUSSED. The press release added
obscurely that Russia and Moldova were discussing "military issues,
as well as the question of a gradual withdrawal of [Russia's] 14th
Army" from Moldova.  (The wording apparently reflects Russia's
current attempt to link the issue of troop withdrawal to that of
"military cooperation" with Moldova).  The sides agreed to appeal
jointly to Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk to cooperate in the
supply of Russian military units in Moldova and, subsequently, to
help faciliate their withdrawal through Ukrainian territory.
Russia has agreed to withdraw this year a paratroop regiment
stationed in downtown Chisinau and a pontoon regiment based on the
Dniester.  (Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

"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.)

                  CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

BOSNIAN UPDATE. The BBC said on 2 September that Bosnian Serb
leader Radovan Karadzic has ordered his men to put their heavy
artillery around Sarajevo under UN supervision, but he added that
the Serbs would want to use it in self-defense. The UN has begun
talks with the Bosnian government, which controls relatively few
heavy weapons, about registering its big guns as well. The BBC said
that UN officials doubt that the Serbs will really show or register
all their weapons and suspect that large reserves are hidden in the
wooded hills and mountains.  Western news agencies report heavy
fighting around Gorazde, where the siege has just ended. Serbian
fighters told journalists that many Serbian civilians had been
massacred by Muslims in and around Gorazde since then, and
reporters are now seeking independent confirmation of the accounts.
Local Serbs said that Karadzic had sold them out by agreeing to
lift the siege.  Talks begin in Geneva on 3 September in the first
follow-up meeting to the London Conference of 26-28 August.
(Patrick Moore, RFE/RL Inc.)

COSIC PRAISES PANIC'S PERFORMANCE. Dobrica Cosic, president of the
rump Yugoslavia, sent a letter to deputies of the Socialist Party
of Serbia (SPS) and the Serbian Radical Party in the Federal
Assembly expressing his dissatisfaction over their intention to
subject Prime Minister Milan Panic to a confidence vote.  Cosic
describes the demand "as hasty, [and] politically damaging." Cosic
praised Panic saying "his new-style foreign policy and impressive
communication skills show the peaceful, democratic face of our
forsaken, isolated country." Cosic admitted Panic could be
criticized fro his work with the federal assembly but warned that
passing a vote of no confidence now "would seriously jeopardize
results achieved at the London conference." Radio Serbia carried
the report on 2 September.  (Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

SOCIALIST CALL TO DROP CONFIDENCE VOTE.  After receiving Cosic's
letter, on 2 September the executive committee of the SPS
recommended that deputies seeking a vote of no-confidence in the
Panic government drop their motion-- if Panic is willing to accept
"well-intentioned and substantiated criticism and political
warnings." SPS chairman Borislav Jovic said there are good reasons
why the Federal Assembly should evaluate the federal government's
performance. Jovic denied reports that he and Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic had planned the confidence vote. On 31 August a
faction within the SPS and all deputies representing the
nationalist Radical Party called for the vote, charging that Panic
had betrayed Serbia's interests at the London conference. (Milan
Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

FORMER POLISH PRIME MINISTER FOUND MURDERED. Former communist prime
minister Piotr Jaroszewicz and his wife were found dead in their
Warsaw home on 2 September.  According to PAP reports, Jaroszewicz
was strangled and his wife, a former journalist in a communist
party paper, was shot with a hunting rifle.  The police provided no
indication of the motives for the crime. Jaroszewicz began his
political career in the Soviet-sponsored Polish army during the war
and then switched to civilian government administration. He became
a deputy prime minister in charge of international economic policy
in 1952 and was appointed head of the government in December 1970.
He was forced to resign this post in early 1980.  After the
imposition of martial law in December 1981, Jaroszewicz was
interned alongside other former communist leaders on charges of
abuse of power. He was never tried and, having been released in
late 1981, lived in Warsaw as a pensioner.  In 1991 he published
his memoirs in which he blamed both the Soviet and Polish communist
governments for Poland's problems and difficulties.  (Jan de
Weydenthal, RFE/RL Inc.).

DUBCEK REGAINS CONSCIOUSNESS.  A physician in Prague, where
Alexander Dubcek is hospitalized after a car crash, said that
Dubcek regained consciousness following a three-hour spine
operation on 2 September but his condition remains serious. Former
Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel visited Dubcek in the hospital
and had a short conversation with him. (Jiri Pehe, RFE/RL Inc.)

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER IN SLOVAKIA. Geza Jeszenszky met with
Slovak officials in Bratislava on 2 September, Czechoslovak and
Hungarian media report.  Slovak Premier Vladimir Meciar said that
Hungary would like to conclude an agreement with Slovakia on the
treatment of ethnic minorities, but Slovakia "has reservations" and
looks to Hungary first to provide an example by good treatment of
its Slovak minority.  Slovak Foreign Minister Milan Knazko said
that Hungary could be one of the first countries to recognize an
independent Slovakia.  Knazko also said that one meeting with
Jeszenszky will not be enough to solve the Slovak-Hungarian dispute
over the Gabcikovo-Nagymaros hydroelectric project.  Jeszenszky
told Radio Budapest the same day that his government "understands"
Slovakia's efforts toward attaining independence and will accept
any decision taken by the Slovak and Czech peoples regarding their
future. He said Slovakia's independence provides "great
opportunities" for deepening bilateral relations in all fields,
notably the economic, and for solving contentious issues such as
the Danube dam. Jeszenszky said Hungary would welcome a mutual
agreement about ways to coexist reached among Slovakia's citizens
of Slovak, Magyar, and other national origin.  (Jiri Pehe & Alfred
Reisch, RFE/RL Inc.)

ETHNIC HUNGARIAN DEPUTIES EXPLAIN WALKOUT. According to the Magyar
deputies in Slovakia's parliament, the new Slovak constitution
adopted on 1 September does not guarantee the protection of
Slovakia's national minorities, Radio Budapest reported on 2
September.  Miklos Duray, chairman of the Coexistence Political
Movement, said the constitution should not have been adopted. Bela
Bugar, chairman of the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement,
said the Magyar deputies walked out of parliament to protest the
narrowing of minority rights after none of the amendments submitted
by the Magyar deputies was accepted.  (Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL Inc.)

TOKES STARTS PROTEST FAST IN ROMANIA.  Laszlo Tokes, the Magyar
bishop in Oradea of the Reformed Church in Romania whose defiant
refusal to leave his parish in Timisoara sparked the December 1989
uprising against the communist regime, began a fast in Timisoara on
2 September. In a message to Radio Bucharest Tokes demanded justice
for the victims of the uprising and punishment for those guilty of
"genocide." He called for investigations of the violent incidents
in Tirgu Mures and Bucharest in 1990 and for the freeing of Magyars
sentenced in connection with ethnic clashes in Tirgu Mures and
elsewhere. Tokes demanded that those guilty of persecuting the
leadership of his church in 1989 be brought to account and insisted
upon a clarification of the circumstances of the death of two
prominent community leaders under Ceausescu.  (Michael Shafir,
RFE/RL Inc.).

ROMANIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY APPROVES SEARCH FOR MASS GRAVE. Agreement
has been given to search an army base in Vladeni, Transylvania, for
a mass grave alleged to contain the remains of people executed by
the communist regime, the independent news agency Arpres reported
on 2 September. A spokesman for the ministry quoted by Reuters said
that the excavation was demanded by the Association of Former
Political Detainees, which believes that executed anticommunist
member of the resistance were buried there. (Michael Shafir, RFE/RL
Inc.).

SOME KGB FILES RETURNED TO LATVIA.  In accordance with an agreement
signed between Latvia and Russia on 3 August, some 3.4 tons of KGB
archival materials covering about 20,000 cases have been returned
to Latvia, Latvijas Jaunatne reported on 29 August.  The materials
were stored in Ulyanovsk.  Vilis Stals, general director of
Latvia's archives, said that these materials would help in the
rehabilitation of Latvian citizens who were detained in the Soviet
Gulag after World War II. (Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)


BULGARIAN GENERAL DENIES COUP RUMORS.  On 2 September, Bulgaria's
Chief of General Staff Col. Gen. Lyuben Petrov categorically denied
what he termed "rumors" of a military coup to overthrow the
democratically elected government, BTA reports.  Petrov said the
army is "a national, non-party, state institution" which "neither
does, nor will take part in political struggles." Coup rumors, he
charged, represent an attempt to shake public confidence in the
Bulgarian army. (Kjell Engelbrekt, RFE/RL Inc.)

BALTIC PRIME MINISTERS TO MEET.  The three Baltic prime ministers
have selected 11 September as the date for discussion of further
Baltic cooperation, BNS reports. Estonia's Tiit Vahi, Latvia's
Ivars Godmanis, and Lithuania's Aleksandras Abisala will meet in
Tallinn that day to talk about cooperation in customs, border, and
visa questions as well as trade issues. The three will also touch
on relations with the CIS and Russia.  (Riina Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

INDUSTRIAL UNREST WANES IN POLAND.  Leaders of six radical labor
organizations met on 2 September in Warsaw to prepare a joint
strategy to force the government to talk with them on current
economic policies.  According to a report in Rzeczpospolita, the
radical leaders concluded that strikes would not make the
government change its policies and appealed for mass demonstrations
in front of government offices.  They stopped short of providing
the date for the demonstrations, however, and one of them remarked
that "society is not ready at this time to stage mass protests."
There was no immediate response from the government. (Jan de
Weydenthal, RFE/RL Inc.)

TATARSTAN DELEGATION IN VILNIUS.  On 2- 3 September a delegation
from the Republic of Tatarstan headed by Vice President Vasilii
Likhachev paid an unofficial visit to Lithuania and held talks with
Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis, Prime Minister
Aleksandras Abisala and other officials on creating better economic
ties, Radio Lithuania reports. (Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL Inc.)

LITHUANIAN, LATVIAN EMIGRATION FIGURES.  In the first six months of
1992 3,826 people immigrated to Lithuania and 12,210 emigrated,
Gimtasis krastas reports in its 27 August- 2 September issue.  Some
3,545 immigrants are from former Soviet republics, including 2,101
from Russia, 435 from Belarus, and 330 from Ukraine, while 183 came
from other foreign countries.  Of the emigrants 11,469 are from
former Soviet republics and 741 from other foreign countries.
According to data from the Latvian State Statistics Committee,
17,300 persons left Latvia during first half of 1992.  Compared
with the same period last year, emigration from Latvia rose 170%
while immigration declined by 69.5%. The net population decline has
resulted, in part, due to emigration abroad, including the USA,
Israel, Germany, and the CIS states, Latvijas Jaunatne of 29 August
reports. (Saulius Girnius & Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)

MILLIONS OF RUBLES TRANSPORTED TO RUSSIA. On 2 September the
Latvian Supreme Council discussed a case involving the transport of
over 337 million Russian rubles out of Latvia in an unregistered
railroad car, Radio Riga reports. Latvian authorities discovered
the scheme on 28 July and arrested Sergei Trofimov, who at that
time said that 4 billion rubles had already been transported out of
Latvia in recent months. The case, which may involve currency
transactions at some Latvian banks, is being investigated by
special group of the Supreme Council. (Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)

AIDS PREVENTION IN ESTONIA.  Representatives of the World Health
Organization told Estonian public health authorities on 2 September
that it may be too late to start an effective AIDS prevention
program there, BNS reports. Program officers from the WHO European
Bureau noted that 21 HIV carriers had been identified in Estonia,
but "the society is not yet aware of the danger of AIDS." A
physician from the Estonian Anti-AIDS Association told reporters
that the AIDS prevention program adopted last April in Estonia is
virtually bankrupt, but WHO officials said Estonia could not expect
any technical or financial aid for a program until it joins WHO.
(Riina Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

ESTONIAN BORDER GUARDS STOP IRAQIS. Estonian border guards stopped
10 Iraqi refugees from boarding an Estonian Air flight bound for
Stockholm on 1 September, ETA reports. According to Viktor Hansen,
chief of the Tallinn Border Authority, the Iraqis were carrying
professionally-forged Swedish, Norwegian, and Nicaraguan passports
with forged Estonian visas and were apparently seeking to settle
illegally in Sweden.  Hansen said the refugees will be sent back to
Latvia and Russia, from where they had arrived. (Riina Kionka,
RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIA AND THE IRAQI CRISIS. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has
"taken notice of the activities recently initiated by the USA and
its partners" south of the 32nd parallel in Iraq, a spokesman said
on 2 September. Radio Bucharest reports that Romania shares the
view that the developments were prompted by Iraq's refusal to allow
access to southern Iraq to UN observers and supports implementation
of Security Council Resolution 668. (Michael Shafir, RFE/RL Inc.)

                                                [As of 1200 CET]

Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull

                               (END)
The RFE/RL Daily Report is produced by the RFE/RL Research
Institute (a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.)
with the assistance of the RFE/RL News and Current Affairs
Division (NCA). The report is available by electronic mail
via LISTSERV (RFERL-L@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU), on the
Sovset' computer bulletin board, by fax, and by postal mail.

For inquiries about specific news items, subscriptions, or
additional copies, please contact:

In USA:
Mr. Jon Lodeesen or Mr. Brian Reed
RFE/RL, Inc.
1201 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20036.
Telephone: (202) 457-6912 or -6900
fax: (202) 457-6992 or -202-828-8783;
Internet: RI-DC@RFERL.ORG
or in Europe:

Ms. Helga Hofer
Publications Department
RFE/RL Research Institute
Oettingenstrasse 67
8000 Munich 22
Telephone: (+49 89) 2102-2631 or -2642
fax: (+49 89) 2102-2648
Internet: Pubs@RFERL.ORG

Copyright 1992, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.

Newsgroups: soc.culture.romanian,rec.sport.soccer