From: msirbu@next5.cs.umr.edu (Mihai Sirbu)
Subject:  RFE/RL Daily Report 11 SEP, 1992 (long)
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 16:51:25 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.


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                        RFE/RL DAILY REPORT

                                        No. 175, September 11, 1992


                   SUCCESSOR STATES TO THE USSR

RUSSIAN LEADERS BLAME JAPAN FOR POSTPONEMENT OF TRIP. Vyacheslav
Kostikov, the Russian presidential press secretary, has blamed the
Japanese government for the postponement of President Boris
Yeltsin's trip to Japan. He told Izvestiya on 11 September that the
ruling Liberal-Democratic Party wanted to exploit the issue of the
Kuril islands for its electoral campaign. The first deputy
parliamentary speaker, Sergei Filatov, told Ostankino TV on 10
September that the "hysterical" approach to the Kuril islands in
Japan prevents the constructive resolution of the issue by the two
nations' respective leaders.  Yeltsin's press department denied
reports that the Russian President also plans to postpone his
forthcoming trip to China.  (Alexander Rahr, RFE/RL Inc.)

REACTION TO POSTPONEMENT OF YELTSIN'S TRIP TO JAPAN. Viktor Alksnis
and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, two leading Russian nationalists,
celebrated President Boris Yeltsin's decision to postpone his trip
to Japan as a victory for patriotic forces, Interfax reported on 11
September. Liberals, such as Russian Minister of Foreign Economic
Relations Petr Aven, warned that the postponement could effect
negotiations on Russia's foreign debt, since Japan maintained the
strictest position in Russia's negotiations with major creditors.
Japanese Foreign Minister Michio Watanabe told the Japanese news
agency Kyodo on 11 September that Yeltsin had indicated that he
plans to visit Tokyo in the beginning of 1993. (Alexander Rahr,
RFE/RL Inc.)

KARABAKH TALKS COLLAPSE. The fifth round of CSCE-sponsored Karabakh
preparatory peace talks ended in Rome on 10 September;
disagreements over procedural issues, such as the designation of
the Armenian delegation from the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic,
precluded substantive discussion of Chairman Mario Raffaelli's
cease-fire proposal, Western agencies reported. No date was set for
resuming the talks.  On 10 September, Turkey's Anatolia News Agency
quoted Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister Tofik Gasymov as arguing that
all Armenian troops should be withdrawn from Karabakh prior to the
convening of a fully-fledged peace conference in Minsk.  (Armenia
disclaims responsibility for the Armenian units fighting in
Karabakh.) Speaking in Istanbul, Armenian Foreign Minister Raffi
Hovannissian accused Turkey of abandoning its neutral position and
extending military aid to Azerbaijan, Western agencies reported.
(Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

TALKS ON IMPLEMENTATION OF ABKHAZ CEASE-FIRE HITS OBSTACLE.  The
tripartite Russian/Georgian/Abkhaz talks in Sukhumi on
implementation of the Abkhaz cease-fire agreement were reported
deadlocked on 10 September over the status of the Abkhaz National
Guard, Interfax reported.  Abkhaz delegate Colonel Viktor Kakalia
rejected a demand by Georgian Prime Minister Tengiz Sigua that
there should be no independently controlled armies on Georgian
territory.  The Abkhaz National Guard is composed exclusively of
ethnic Abkhazians and is directly subordinate to the presidium of
the Abkhaz Supreme Soviet. (Liz Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

NO ISLAMIC STATE IN TAJIKISTAN.  Akbarsho Iskandarov, chairman of
Tajikistan's Supreme Soviet and the closest thing the country has
to a leader, told correspondents at celebrations marking the first
anniversary of Tajikistan's independence that the removal of
President Rakhmon Nabiev will not lead to the creation of an
Islamic state.  Iskandarov's statement was reported by various
domestic and Western agencies on 9 September, and broadcast on the
Turkish "Avrasya" TV channel for Central Asia.  Correspondents in
Dushanbe reported that large crowds turned out in Dushanbe for the
Independence Day celebrations.  However, fighting was reported to
be continuing on 10 September in Kurgan-Tyube between local
supporters of the anti-Communist opposition and an armed band from
neighboring Kulyab Oblast. (Bess Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

CIS TROOPS TAKE UP POSITIONS ON TAJIK-AFGHAN BORDER. AFP reported
on 10 September that approximately 1,000 border troops from Russia,
Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan had taken up positions on
the Tajik-Afghan border to strengthen CIS units trying to stop the
smuggling of weapons from Afghanistan to Tajikistan. The presidents
of the four states announced on 4 September that the additional
border troops were being sent because the situation on the border
posed a threat to the rest of the CIS.  Uzbekistan's President
Islam Karimov is so upset over developments in Tajikistan that he
is looking to Russia as a protector, he told an interviewer from
the French daily Liberation on 8 September.  (Bess Brown, RFE/RL
Inc.)

RUSSIAN OIL PRICES TO DOUBLE.  Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor
Chernomyrdin told a news conference after a cabinet meeting on 10
September that the wholesale prices of energy carriers will be
raised next week, ITAR-TASS, Interfax, and the Financial Times
reported. The price of oil will roughly double, from 1,800-2,200
rubles a ton to 4,000-5,000 rubles a ton.  This may be seen largely
as a technical correction for inflation: prices throughout the
economy have more than doubled since the last price increase for
oil.  At the current rate of exchange, the new price will represent
some 14-18% of the world price.  A 50% tax will be levied on income
derived from sales at prices higher than the guidelines. (Keith
Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN INDUSTRY HEAD CRITICIZES PRIVATIZATION PLANS. Minister of
Industry Aleksandr Titkin has sent a letter to President Yeltsin
condemning current plans for industrial privatization, Interfax
reported on 9 and 10 September. Titkin claims that the plans are
exacerbating chaos in industry and accuses the State Property
Commission of engaging in a "self-serving process" inconsistent
with national interests.  He also outlined his own variant of
privatization that envisages an initial stage of industrial
restructuring managed by the ministry itself. (Erik Whitlock,
RFE/RL Inc.)

AVEN AND SHOKHIN ON DEBT RELIEF.  Minister for Economic Foreign
Relations Petr Aven and Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Shokhin are
asking Western creditors to approve a medium-term debt rescheduling
plan, Western news agencies reported on 10 September.  Aven
suggested in Moscow that only such a longer-term arrangement would
provide Russia a realistic chance to make timely payments on its
share of the more than $70 billion debt of the former Soviet Union.
Shokhin made similar comments in Brussels, where he was meeting
with EC parliamentarians and concluding a $150-million-ecu
emergency credit for medicine and medical equipment imports. (Erik
Whitlock, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIA TO BE SELF-SUFFICIENT IN GRAIN?  Russian Vice President
Aleksandr Rutskoi told a news conference in Moscow on 10 September
that Russia will need to import only 12-15 million tons of grain
this winter, Interfax reported.  The introduction of modern
technology and improved seed should obviate the requirement for
grain imports in 1993, in Rutskoi's opinion. Other estimates have
put the total grain imports required for calendar year 1992 at
around 25 million tons. Rutskoi may later regret having made this
prediction, although it is true that a smaller amount of feed grain
will be needed as livestock herds have been drastically culled.
(Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

CHERNOBYL TO REOPEN FOR A YEAR?  The chairman of Ukraine's nuclear
power utility, Vladimir Fuks, told The Guardian of 10 September
that two of the reactors at Chernobyl will reopen in October.
However, Fuks insisted that the plant will be closed down for good
at the end of 1993.  Subject to parliamentary approval, three
pressurized water reactors will be commissioned elsewhere in
Ukraine to replace the Chernobyl output.  Official pronouncements
on the final closure of the Chernobyl reactors have been
contradictory. (Keith Bush, RFE/RL Inc.)

RUSSIAN SPACECRAFT FOR SALE.  A German-Russian joint venture
company in Munich, Energiya Deutschland, is offering the Soyuz-TM
13 spacecraft for sale to the highest bidder.  According to Western
press reports on 10 September, the proposed price is ten million
marks (approximately $7 million), but the company will accept the
highest offer. The Soyuz-TM 13 made only one trip into space.  It
was launched from the Tyuratam launch site on 2 October 199, and
carried a Russian, a Kazakh, and an Austrian cosmonaut up to the
Mir space station.  The spacecraft returned to Earth on 25 March
1992 with two Russians and a German cosmonaut on board.  Munich's
Deutsche Museum has expressed interest in buying the spacecraft,
but said it would need to raise the purchase price from sponsors.
(Doug Clarke, RFE/RL Inc.)

UKRAINE STILL UNDECIDED ABOUT CIS INTERPARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY.
Ukraine has yet to make a decision whether or not it will take part
in the first plenary session of the CIS Interparliamentary
Assembly, Ukrainian TV reported on 8 September.  The Presidium of
the Ukrainian parliament may discuss the question in the next few
days. The session is scheduled to take place in Bishkek on 16-18
September. According to the report, Ukrainian lawmakers have been
cool to the idea. (Roman Solchanyk, RFE/RL Inc.)

FIRST JEWISH GYMNASIUM IN KIEV. The first Jewish gymnasium
(secondary school) in Ukraine opened in Kiev this school year,
Nezavisimost reported on 5 September. The gymnasium, which was
formerly school No. 299, has 520 students who will be studying
humanitarian subjects, including the history, culture, religion,
and languages of the Jewish people. (Roman Solchanyk, RFE/RL Inc.)

REPORTS OF ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE AZERBAIJAN'S PRESIDENT DENIED.
Azerbaijani presidential press secretary Niazi Ibragimov was quoted
by the Turan News Agency on 10 September as denying reports made in
unspecified mass media that an attempt had been made on the life of
Azerbaijan's President Abulfaz Elchibey by unknown persons on the
night of 9 September.  An assassination attempt on Elchibey two
weeks ago failed. In a further indication of domestic instability,
former Azerbaijan Deputy Prime Minister and Ambassador-designate to
Italy Rufat Agaev was arrested in Baku for allegedly organizing
hooliganistic actions in front of the Azerbaijan parliament
building during the visit to Baku last weekend of former British
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, TASS reported.  Agaev is also
said to be implicated in illegal currency transactions. (Liz
Fuller, RFE/RL Inc.)

REGIONALISM INCREASING IN TAJIKISTAN. Attempts to restore stability
in Tajikistan are likely to be frustrated by regional loyalties,
the Dushanbe correspondent of Moskovskiye novosti notes in issue
no. 36. The political organizations that have been formed in
Tajikistan during the summer all have a regional, rather than an
all-Tajikistan, base, and have been formed to protect purely local
interests. This phenomenon has been reported by other observers in
Tajikistan as well.  It remains unclear whether Nabiev has sought
refuge in his home region, Leninabad Oblast, but should he do so he
might well use regional loyalties to try to regain power. (Bess
Brown, RFE/RL Inc.)

MOLDOVAN PRIME MINISTER VISITS SIBERIA.  Moldovan Prime Minister
Andrei Sangheli, accompanied by several ministers and other
economic officials, began a tour of Siberia and the Russian Far
East, Moldovapres and Interfax reported on 9 September.  The
delegation seeks medium-term contracts for fuel and raw material
deliveries in exchange for Moldovan foodstuffs.  They also signed
an agreement along these lines for 1993 with Tyumen oil producers.
In addition, the Modovan delegation is concerned about the status
of the thousands of Moldovans working on Siberian oil and gas
projects; they are proposing that the labor of these workers be
counted toward Moldova's payment for the resources. (Vladimir
Socor, RFE/RL Inc.)

"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.)

                    CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

ANOTHER BOSNIAN CEASE-FIRE; MORE UN TROOPS. International media
report on 10 September that UN envoy Cyrus Vance and EC envoy Lord
Owen met separately with the leaders of the Muslim and Serbian
warring sides in Bosnia-Herzegovina. A new cease-fire agreement was
hammered out, and both sides agreed to meet in Geneva on 18
September. Vance said the most important outcome of the talks is
that Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia's President, agreed to attend the
conference.  Izetbegovic had previously rejected all efforts at
getting the Muslims to sit in the same conference room with the
Serbs.  On 9 September Bosnian Croat leader Mate Boban agreed to
participate. Vance said Boban, Izetbegovic, and Serb leader Radovan
Karadzic would all be meeting in Geneva for the first time.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has formally
requested an additional 6,000 peacekeepers for Bosnia and proposed
expanding UN relief efforts to an additional 11 regions in the
republic. (Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

IRAN DENIES ARMS DELIVERY.  At a news conference in Beijing,
Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani stated that Iran
will consider sending arms to Bosnia's Muslim-lead government if
diplomatic efforts fail to end the war.  The Los Angeles Times
reports on 11 September that Rafsanjani also dismissed as "lies"
and "fabrications" US newspaper reports that Croatia had impounded
a planeload of Iranian arms headed for Bosnia. However, on 10
September, Radio Croatia reported that Croatia's government
officially confirmed that the Iranian arms were confiscated at
Zagreb airport on 4 September. (Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

TURKEY URGES ACTION.  Turkish media report that Prime Minister
Suleyman Demirel, speaking at a meeting of Council of Europe
representatives in Istanbul, urged member states to convene a
summit to discuss means of ending the war in Bosnia and
Herzegovina. Turkey, which has historic ties to Bosnia dating back
centuries, fears that the conflict could touch of a Balkan-wide
war. Turkey is especially concerned about the fate of Muslims in
Bosnia and has offered 1,000 peacekeeping troops to assist the UN
force there. (Duncan Perry, RFE/RL Inc.)

IS LIBYA SUPPORTING "REUNIFICATION?" Belgrade media are widely
speculating about an alleged proposal by Libya's leader Mu'ammar
al-Qadhafi's support for the reunification of the former Yugoslav
republics of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Macedonia with the rump
Yugoslavia, made up of Serbia and Montenegro.  Panic reportedly
described Qadhafi's idea as "very good" and indicative of the
Libyan leader's support of Panic's efforts toward establishing a
Balkan economic association.  Radio Serbia carried the report on 9
September. (Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

MUSLIM MERCENARIES?  Reuters reports on 10 September that Ashark
al-Aswat, a London-based Arabic-language daily, carries an
interview with one Abu Abdel-Aziz, identified as the leader of
foreign Muslim warriors who have gone to Bosnia to defend their
faith. Abdel-Aziz (a nom de guerre) would not give his nationality
and provided no estimate of the size of the foreign Muslim forces.
The story was datelined "Mujahideen Headquarters in Central
Bosnia." Rumors of mercenaries and other irregular fighters in
Bosnia have circulated before. (Charles Trumbull, RFE/RL Inc.)

JOVANOVIC RESIGNS; BLASTS PANIC.  Vladislav Jovanovic, minister of
foreign affairs of the rump Yugoslavia, submitted his "irrevocable
resignation" on 10 September. In a letter sent to Prime Minister
Milan Panic, Jovanovic said Panic's approach to resolving the
crisis in the former Yugoslavia profoundly clash with Jovanovic's
"notion of national duty and dignity," adding that "I find it
impossible to continue to remain in a government that is
increasingly and openly pursuing a policy opposed to the interests
of Serbia and the Serb nation." Panic accepted the resignation
saying that he "greatly respects" Jovanovic as a person, but also
made it clear that there are differences between the two "in
approach and style of conducting foreign policy." Ilija Djukic,
Belgrade's ambassador to the People's Republic of China has been
tagged as Jovanovic's successor. Radio Serbia carried the report.
(Milan Andrejevich, RFE/RL Inc.)

SCREENING CONTINUES IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA. CSTK reports that the
Czechoslovak Ministry of Internal Affairs has received more than
214,000 applications for screening government employees and other
people for their ties with the former secret police since 1
November 1991, when the screening (lustration) law went into
effect. The law stipulates that all government employees be
screened for police ties under the communist regime and that those
found guilty of collaboration be dismissed from their jobs.
Moreover, the law provides that any Czechoslovak citizen may
themselves apply to the ministry to be screened. The ministry has
been able to process some 146,000 cases so far; 10,244 people have
been identified as secret police collaborators.  A ministry
official said that in light of the planned division of
Czechoslovakia, the future of the screening process is unclear. He
suggested that one of the republican ministries of internal affairs
could taker over. (Jiri Pehe, RFE/RL Inc.)

GABCIKOVO TO BEGIN OPERATING IN NOVEMBER. Ivan Carnogursky, the
general director of the company that is building the Gabcikovo
hydroelectric plant on the Danube, told CSTK on 10 September that
the facility will partly be put into operation at the beginning of
November. Construction will be fully completed by the end of 1992.
Carnogursky rejected claims made by Hungary that the so-called "C"
variant of the project, adopted by Czechoslovakia after Hungary
withdrew from the project, would change the Slovak-Hungarian
border.  The variant requires diverting the Danube. Carnogursky
also said that he approves the setting up of a joint parliamentary
review committee with Hungary to deal with disagreements over the
project. (Jiri Pehe, RFE/RL Inc.)

POLAND'S "LITTLE CONSTITUTION" SURVIVES SENATE VOTE. Disregarding
the recommendation of its constitutional commission, the Senate
voted on 10 September not to reject the "little constitution"
adopted by the Sejm on 1 August. The "little constitution" was
designed as a provisional measure to delineate the respective
powers of the president, government, and parliament.  The motion to
reject the bill in its entirety failed by a wide margin: 18 to 63,
with 3 abstentions. The constitutional commission had argued that
the "little constitution" unduly curtailed the powers of both the
president and the Senate and complicated the formation of the
government. The Senate is to vote on over fifty proposed revisions
to the bill on 11 September.  (Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL Inc.)

SUCHOCKA: FSM STRIKE "IRRATIONAL." Polish Prime Minister Hanna
Suchocka issued the government's sharpest warning yet to the
strikers at the FSM auto plant. In a written response to a plea for
action from one of the Solidarity regions most at risk if FSM were
to close, Suchocka called the strike "completely irrational"
because it was making a bankrupt of a firm with guaranteed growth
prospects. The government will not permit a minority to thwart a
majority with economic rationality on its side, she said. The
"state of unlawfulness" in Tychy could drive the government to take
"harsh measures" to restore the legal order.  PAP carried the text
of Suchocka's letter. Meanwhile, a two-hour warning strike called
for 10 September by the Network (Solidarity locals at large
industrial plants) drew only a scattered response. (Louisa Vinton,
RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIAN HIGH COURT RULES ON ILIESCU'S SENATE CANDIDACY. On 10
September the Supreme Court of Justice rejected an action by
attorney Nicolae Cerveni against the Democratic National Salvation
Front (DNSF), the party backing Ion Iliescu's candidacy for a seat
in the Senate. Cerveni contends that the DNSF's decision to field
Iliescu violates the electoral law, which provides that parliament
candidates be members of the party they run for. Iliescu, who is
also the DNSF's presidential candidate, has no official party
affiliation.  Meanwhile, Radio Bucharest reports that Iliescu
continues his electoral campaign in the provinces.  On 10 September
he visited the town of Calarasi. (Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL Inc.)

ROMANIA ACCUSES DIPLOMATS OF MEDDLING.  On 9 September Traian
Chebeleu, a spokesman for the Romanian Foreign Ministry, suggested
that diplomats in Bucharest are meddling in the electoral campaign.
Rompres quoted Chebeleu as saying that his ministry has received
several complaints about alleged attempts by foreign diplomats to
influence the electorate.  Chebeleu, who refused to say which
embassies were involved in these actions, insisted that Romania
welcomes foreign election observers, including members of the
diplomatic corps, on the condition that they observe neutrality.
(Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL Inc.)

SOLE MAGYAR OFFICIAL IN ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT DISMISSED. Radio
Budapest reported on 9 September that Andor Horvath, state
secretary for education and the only Romanian cabinet official of
Hungarian nationality, has been dismissed from his post. No reason
was given for the move. The educational sector is considered
crucial by Romania's two million ethnic Hungarians who are fighting
for more schools with instruction in Hungarian.  (Judith Pataki,
RFE/RL Inc.)

BULGARIAN SOCIALIST PARTY TO BE EXCLUDED FROM SOCIALIST
INTERNATIONAL.  The Bulgarian Socialist Party, successor of the
Bulgarian Communist Party, reportedly will not be invited to join
the Socialist International, a forum for socialist and
social-democratic parties around the world. In an interview on 10
September Hans-Eberhard Dingels, chief of the international
relations section of the German Social Democratic Party, informed
an RFE/RL correspondent that the BSP does not meet the admission
criteria. Moreover, one Bulgarian party is already affiliated with
the Socialist Internationalthe Social Democratic Party. (Duncan
Perry, RFE/RL Inc.)

UDF CRITICIZED FROM WITHIN. On 10 September the chairman of
Bulgaria's Alternative Social Liberal Party (ASLP) and Deputy
Premier Nikolay Vasilev said it is time for the ruling UDF
coalition to "think carefully," BTA reports. The admonishment comes
after a wave of criticism of top UDF leadership and its
ten-month-old minority cabinet that was triggered by the remarks of
President Zhelyu Zhelev, a founder of the UDF.  Vasilev, speaking
after an ASLP national conference, acknowledged that mistakes had
been made and characterized the present confrontation with trade
unions as "political suicide." ASLP economist Asen Michkovski also
took the opportunity to explain his objections to the policies of
Finance Minister Ivan Kostov. (Kjell Engelbrekt, RFE/RL Inc.)

ABISALA'S SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT. On 10 September Lithuania's
parliament began its sixth and final session; the new Seimas will
be elected on 25 October, Radio Lithuania reports. Prime Minister
Aleksandras Abisala gave an hour and a half long speech, broadcast
live, on the socioeconomic situation in the republic and the
government program that had been outlined in a memorandum to the
IMF. Because of inflation since December 1989 prices have increased
21 times, wages 19 times, and the minimum living standard 13 times,
he said. Although government revenue has increased, the budget
deficit will be greater than the planned 1.4 billion rubles. The
drought had created huge agricultural losses especially in grain
feeds. Lithuania exported goods for 38.5 billion rubles and
imported for 30 billion in the first half of the year. He said that
there are now about 9,000 unemployed people in Lithuania, but it is
estimated that their number will rise to between 40,000 and 200,000
by the end of the year. (Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL Inc.)

BALTIC PRIME MINISTERS IN TALLINN. Estonia's Tiit Vahi, Latvia's
Ivars Godmanis and Lithuania's Aleksandras Abisala will meet on 11
September in Tallinn to sign a number of interstate agreements on
trade, joint customs and visa regulations, and mutual accounting,
BNS reports. Meanwhile, Estonian Foreign Ministry counselor Ago
Tiiman said "Estonia not satisfied with the current [state] of
Baltic cooperation," adding that today's meeting of prime ministers
should help address the problem. Further, the Baltic Council has
scheduled its next meeting for 16 September in Tallinn, BNS
reports. (Riina Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

THWARTED EXPECTATIONS IN RUSSIAN-ESTONIAN TALKS Estonia's
expectations were not fully met during the latest round of general
disengagement talks with Russia, BNS reports. Estonian Foreign
Ministry counselor Ago Tiiman told BNS that during the two-day
round, the sides initialed only two of four humanitarian-legal
agreements and only one of two economic pacts. Tiiman noted,
however, that Estonia is pleased that "we have reached the stage of
serious negotiations rather than the mere introduction of each
other's positions." Tiiman said the other two working groupsthose
considering military and border questionsmade progress. (Riina
Kionka, RFE/RL Inc.)

TALKS ON LATVIAN TAKEOVER OF MILITARY FACILITIES CONTINUE. Supreme
Council deputy Juris Dobelis told Diena of 9 September about some
of the oral agreements achieved that day with Lt.  Gen.  Petr
Ledyaev, deputy commander of Russia's Northwestern Group of Forces,
and Maj.  Gen. Nikolai Tailakov, who is in charge of NWGF troop
withdrawal.  Dobelis said that the two military leaders had agreed
that the Latvian side would be informed two weeks in advance of
military objects that the NWGF intends to vacate and would be
allowed to examine them. In the future regular meetings between the
Latvian and NWGF representatives are planned to resolve issues of
mutual interest. (Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL Inc.)

                                                  [As of 1200 CET]
Compiled by  Hal Kosiba & Charles Trumbull

                               (END)
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