From: trh@jack.sns.com (Al Trh)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.turkish
Subject: Abkhazia, CIS summit, Akaev, Georgian elections, etc...
Date: 13 Oct 1992 02:30:08 -0500
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
Reply-To: Turkish Cultural Program List <TRKNWS-L%USCVM.BitNet@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

                        RFE/RL DAILY REPORT

                                          No. 196, October 12, 1992

                  SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

FIGHTING CONTINUES IN ABKHAZIA. Two Georgian civilians were killed
and three wounded when Abkhaz troops opened fire on a Georgian
helicopter on 11 October, ITAR-TASS reported. Abkhaz defense
ministry forces also claimed to have shot down a Georgian
fighter-bomber over northen Abkhazia. Speaking to reporters in
Tbilisi, Georgian State Council Chairman Eduard Shevardnadze cast
doubt on his participation in the meeting planned for 13 October
between Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Abkhaz Parliamentary
Chairman Vladislav Ardzinba and himself. (Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

SUMMIT PRODUCES MIXED RESULTS ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS CONTROL. CIS
Commander-in-Chief General Shaposhnikov on 9 October stated that
Belarus had concluded an agreement with Russia on nuclear weapons
control, while in Kazakhstan on 10 October Presidents Yeltsin and
Nazarbaev signed an agreement containing unspecified provisions on
nuclear weapons. Ukraine rejected Shaposhnikov's proposal that
Russia control all former Soviet nuclear weapons. Negotiations
between Ukraine and Russia over nuclear control are to take place
within the next month. The summit appears to have codified the
transfer of control over Russian, Belarussian, and Kazakh nuclear
weapons to the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces, with Shaposhnikov
retaining a role in mediating between the Russian and Ukrainian
defense ministries. The results of the summit were reported by
Interfax and Western news agencies. (John Lepingwell)

UKRAINIAN POSITION AT CIS SUMMIT. Ukraine's overall position at the
CIS summit in Bishkek was, according to President Leonid Kravchuk,
to develop exclusively as an independent state, Ukrainian TV
reported on 9 October. This was reflected in its refusal to sign
the agreement on setting up a consultative economic committee. The
Ukrainian delegation signed only five of the fifteen documents,
with numerous reservations and additions based on its unwillingness
to participate in any centralized structures. (Roman Solchanyk,
RFE/RL Inc.)

SIX CIS STATES TO CREATE COMMON BANK. Although the CIS states could
not agree on creating a supranational economic policy-making body
at last week's Bishkek summit, six of the countries have decided to
establish a common bank, The Los Angeles Times reported on 10
October. The bank would initially settle interstate trade payments,
but later, according to Russian Central Bank Chairman Viktor
Gerashchenko, it would take on the functions of a central bank
controlling the issuance of currency and credit in the ruble zone.
The creation of such a supranational central bank is considered an
essential measure for achieving economic stability within the ruble
zone. The six states that have agreed to remain within the zone are
Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia,
according to Interfax on 9 October. (Erik Whitlock, RFE/RL Inc.)

AKAEV ON CIS. In an interview carried by Reuters on 11 October,
Kyrgyzstan President Askar Akaev is quoted as saying that his state
could soon leave the CIS, which he described as a temporary
grouping. Akaev said the Commonwealth was needed to slow down the
negative consequences of the collapse of the Soviet Union, but
Kyrgyzstan felt it should cease to exist politically in the near
future. Economic links between the member-states should be
retained, however. Akaev said the four Central Asian republics
would have to rely on Russia for the foreseeable future to stop
their economies collapsing, but all would go their own way once
they could stand on their own feet. (Ann Sheehy, RFE/RL Inc.)

GEORGIAN ELECTIONS. Georgia's Central Electoral Commission
estimated that about 65% of the electorate voted in parliamentary
elections on 11 October, Western agencies reported. No voting took
place in eight districts in northern Abkhazia occupied by Abkhaz
troops, in South Ossetia or in three raions in Mingrelia, which is
a bastion of support for ousted President Zviad Gamsakhurdia, thus
excluding some 10% of Georgia's population. Thirty-six individual
political parties plus three blocs representing a further eleven
are competing for 234 parliamentary seats on a mixed
party-list/majority basis. Eduard Shevardnadze, standing unopposed
for the post of parliament chairman, is expected to receive the
minimum 30% of the vote needed to win. (Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

Compiled by Hal Kosiba & Anna Swidlicka

                               (END)
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