Daily Report Central Eurasia FBIS-SOV-96-137° CONTENTS 16 July 1996 NOTICE: An * indicates material not previously disseminated in electronic form. INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS CIS: ITAR-TASS Carries Press Review for 16 Jul *CIS: Decision on Joint Measures Against Crime Published (ROSSIYS*AYA GAZETA 22 Jun] Baltics: ‘Amber Sea’ Exercises To Prepare Ships for Baltic Squadron ; #.VS/ RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Russia: Chernomyrdin, Gore Talks Viewed [TRUD 16 Jul] Russia: Gore, Chernomyrdin Discuss Baykal Project [INTERFAX] Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission Starts Work in Moscow [INTERFAX ' Russia: Gore Commission Discusses Finance, Investments [INTERFAX] Russia: Chernomyrdin, Gore Chair Commission [Moscow ORT] Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission To Draft Chemical Arms Accord [INTERFAX] Russia: Chernomyrdin Sees Commission Meeting as Success [INTERFAX] Russia: Vorontsov: Commission Unaffected by Yeltsin Postponement //TAR-TASS/] Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Brief Yeltsin on Commission {Moscow Radio] Russia: Gore Congratulates Yeltsin on Election Victory /ITAR-TASS] Russia: Gore Says Yeltsin in ‘Excellent Physical Form’ //TAR-TASS/ Russia: Davydov: ‘Room for Improvement’ in Trade Ties With U.S. /[TAR-TASS/ Russia: Energy Minister Comments on U.S. Investment [INTERFAX] Russia: Moscow Notifies U.S. of Food Import Quota Plans /INTERFAX] Russia: Koptev: U.S.-Russian Space Issues ‘Largely Settled’ [INTERFAX] Russia: IZVESTIYA Summarizes Lebed NEW YORK TIMES Interview //6 Jul] Russia: Egyptian Foreign Minister Arrives //TAR-TASS] Russia: Accord Signed on Border Cooperation With China //TAR-TASS/ Russia: Pastukhov Opposes Force To Settle Georgia-Abkhazia Conflict (INTERFAX ] RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Political Issues Russia: Yeltsin To Continue Working; Health Not Deteriorating /ITAR-TASS/ Russia: Gore peoting Delay Renews Doubts About Yeltsin's Health /MOSKOVSKIY KOMSOMOLETS 16 Jul] 2 Russia: Spokesman, Duma Committee Chiefs Remark on Yeltsin's Health /KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA 16 Jul] 2 Russia: Russian Press Reports on Yeltsin's Out-of-Town Leave /FBIS Report] Russia: Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin Discuss Chechnya, Cabinet /INTERFAX] Russia: Text of Yeltsin Edict on Moscow Crime Published /ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA 16 Jul] Russia: Validity of Crime Edict Questioned [IZVESTIYA 16 Jul] Russia: Yeltsin Staff in for ‘Serious Upheavals’ /KOMMERSANT-DAILY 16 Jul] Russia: Chubays Views Key Points of New Role in Administration / INTERFAX] — Yeltsin's Appointment of Chubays ‘Brilliant Political Move’ [NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA 16 . Russia: Duma Speaker, Moscow Mayor Regret Chubays’ Comeback //TAR-TASS] Russia: Moscow Police Receive 118 Bomb Threats /INTERFAX] Russia: Kovalev Says High-Risk Sites Secure; ‘Transients’ To Be Removed /Moscow RTV] FBIS-SOV -96-137 16 July 1996 2 Russia: Lobov Outlines Government Priorities [ITAR-TASS] ...........:cccccsecceesesseeeseeeceneeseceneeeneeneee 31 Russia: New Presidential Body Said To ‘Usurp’ Duma Powers [IZVESTIYA 13 Jul] ............0.. 31 Russia: Communists’ Future Tactics Viewed [ROSSIYSKIVE VESTI 13 Jul] ......c.cc.cscceceseeseeees 32 Military & Nuciear Issues Russia: Lebed’s Deputy Discusses Possibi’*ty of Defense Council [Moscow RTV] _ ...........000000++ 33 Russia: Russia Said To Lead World in Guided Weapons on Tanks [Moscow ORT] _ ........00..000 34 Russia: Atomic Submarines Practice Firing in Barents Sea [ITAR-TASS] ........c.cccccssssesseseseeeees 44 Russia: Missiles Fired Successfully From Nuclear Submarines [ITAR-TASS] ............c.ss0ssseeeees 34 Federal Assembly Russia: Chernomyrdin Urges Duma Hasten Discussion of Legisiation [INTERFAX] _.............. .. 35 Russia: Seleznev Fears Chubays “Will Stact Interfering’ [INTERFAX] ...........ccsssssceseeseseesereees 35 Russia: Duma Unlikely To Amnesty Participants in Chechen War [INTERFAX] _ ............0000000000 35 a Federation Council Adopts Laws on Budget, Army Service [ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA ! / Russia: NDR Leader Proposes ‘Parliamentary Accord’ Coalition [INTERFAX] cesceccsccuu. 36 Regional Affairs Russia: Kulikov Says Discussing Chechnya Troop Withdrawal ‘Premature’ /Afdoscow RTV] __... %6 Russia: Chechnya’s Maskhadov Wants To Meet Lebed (Moscow Radio] ..........c.ccssesseesereneeene 37 Russia: Chechen Separatists ‘Do Not Want Peace’ [KRASNAYA ZVEZDA 13 Jul] ..........0000000 37 Russia: Resumption of Chechen Peace Talks ‘Unlikely’ [Moscow RTV] ..........ccsssccssessnsesenseenens 37 Russia: OSCE Official Says Evidence Points to Federal Attack on Village [Moscow Radio] .. 38 Russia: Pulikovskiy in Command During Tikhomirov Moscow Trip [INTERFAX] _ ............0000« 38 Russia: Yeltsin Dismisses Krasnodar Administration Chief [ITAR-TASS] ............cccccsccesessereneeees 38 Russia: Yeltsin Appoints Head of Krasnodar Territory Administration [INTERFAX] _............... 39 Russia: Lebed, Moldova's Diacov Discuss Dniester Settlement [BASAPRESS] ..........0.0c0c0e000s 39 Russia: Far East ‘Close to Complete Blackout’ [JTAR-TASS] ........cccssssssessesessesseeseseseersnseeensesees 39 Russia: Terrorist Bomb Kills 1, Injures 6 in Chelyabinsk [ITAR-TASS] ...........cccccccssseseeseveesenees 40 Russia: Communists Reported Trying To Assume Power in Ryazan [Radio Rossii] ............... 40 Economic Issues Russia: Davydov Reports Results of U.S. Joint Economic Team Session [INTERFAX] _............ 40 Russia: Wage Debt Reaches R4.38 Billion by 24 Jun [INTERFAX] ........cccccccssesesesesesensseesneeeeees 41 wall Gazprom’s Vyakhirev Links Arrears to Election Promises [NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA 13 “ R fatnaanat se a fesse emannnannenaniint _— mianeiant SST Reena P Russia: Factors in Banks’ Economic Problems Eyed [FINANSOVYYE IZVESTIYA 1/1 Jul] —— 43 UKRAINE International Affairs Ukraine: Kuchma Stresses Stability in Relations With Russia [INTERFAX] ............c0c0c00c0e0ee a4 Ukraine: Kuchma Addresses Foreign Policy Priorities [INTELNEWS] .............ccccccecseeeeesseeeeeees 44 Ukraine: Ministry To Discuss Power Sector Cooperation With Bulgaria /INFOBANK] _............ 45 National Affairs Ukraine: Bomb Explodes on Prime Minister's Route in Kiev [UNIAN] ...........cc:c0eccseseeeeeeeereees 45 Ukraine: Assassination Bid Prompted by Lazarenko ‘Recent Decisions’ //TAR-TASS] _............. 46 FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Ukraine: Prime Minister Escapes Injury Following Explosion /INTERFAX] Ukraine: Lazarenko Comments on Miners Strikes, Constitution /INTELNEWS] Ukraine: Government, Miners’ Trade Unions Sign Payment Agreement {INTERFAX ] Ukraine: Miners Reject Leaders’ Agreement With Government [INTERFAX] Ukraine: Constitution “Victory for Common Sense’ [TRUD-7 12-18 Jul] WESTERN REGION Belarus Belarus: Lukashenka Cited on ‘Fraternal’ Belarus-Russia Ties /RABOCHAYA TRIBUNA 12 Jul] Belarus: France To Open Credit Lines to Belarus [INTERFAX] Belarus: Lukashenka Reviews Results of Visit to France [Minsk Radio] Belarus: Results of Prime Minister’s Lithuanian Visit Detailed /BELAPAN] Belarus: Deputies Criticize Lukashenka’s Threat To Disband SupSov ([SVABODA 12 Jul] Belarus: Sharetski Views Conflict With Executive [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA 8 Jul}... Belarus: Popular Front Holds Congress, Discusses Fomre Tactics [BELAPAN] Belarus: Popular Front Urges Parliament To Impeach !Lukashenka /[BELAPAN] Belarus: ‘Civic Action’ Ready To Initiate Lukashenka Impeachment /BELAPAN] Moldova Moldova: Snegur May Opt for ‘Romanian People’ Wording /BASAPRESS] Moldova: Ex-Security Head Compared to Russia’s Lebed [INFOTAG] CENTRAL ASIA Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan: Government Offers More Concessions for Peace Settlement [Radio Rossii] Tajikistan: Opposition Unable To Accept Government Cease-Fire Plan [INTERFAX] FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 CIS: FTAR-TASS Carries Press Review for 16 Jul LD1607055196 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 0542 GMT 16 Jul 96 [“Press Review” — ITAR-TASS headline} {[FBIS Transcribed Text) MOSCOW July 16 (lItar- Tass) — Follows a review of Tuesday's Moscow-based Russian newspapers dated July 16. ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA on Russian President's post-election Decrees aimed at strengthening public security. The newspaper refers to the Decrees as a “salvo of Presidential Decrees against terrorism, corruption and crime”. One of the Decrees deals with “urgent measures to strengthen law and order aad step up action against crime in Moscow City and Region". The newspaper also runs a Decree and Regulations for a Security Council of the Russian Federation. ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA on pensions system. The newspaper's readers ask whether a Pensions Fund will exist or not. The overall level of the provision of pensions has impermissibly failen of late, and delays in the payment of pensions, for periods of up to 30 days at times, have become a usual thing. Experts consider that only the adoption of a law “On State Pension Insurance in the Russian Federation" can change the situation. ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA again returns to the re- cent trolleybus blasts in Moscow. Analyst Vladimir Yanchenkov makes an attempt at a journalistic inquiry into blasts-related leads. KRASNAYA ZVEZDA on the same subject. “Whoever was the organiser of the brazen and barbarous challenge to the authorities — an ungovernable Chechen militant or a new Russian mafioso — he should not be allowed to triumph in the final analysis", the newspaper points out. ROSSIYSKIYE VESTI on the Constitutional Court decision on the “CPSU case”, four years after the event. The newspaper's correspondent Dmitriy Orlov inter- viewed Tamara Morshchakova, Deputy Head of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, asking her opinion as to how the ruling by the Constitutional Court, which made in point of fact a compromise deci- sion on the notorious “Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) case", can be evaluated now, four years after the start of the trial. The newspaper runs the in- terview under the headline “The decision on the ‘CPSU case’ is being violated by the Communist Party and is not implemented by bureaucrats”. INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1 KABOCHAYA TRIBUNA carries an article by Yelona Yegiozarova about the price of wearing fine clothes. What should be done for the desire of the “average statistical Russian woman” to look fashionable would not result in a family budget gap, the writer of the article asks, and suggests as one of the ways out as follows: “it is possible to buy Ivanovo-produced cloth and German fashion plates and sew a dress on one’s own". KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA on remarks by Gen- eral Lev Rokhlin, member of the State Duma, exposing corruption in the army. The newspaper's correspondent Viktor Sokirko, in an article illustrated with photo pictures, recalls that “those named in General Rokhlin’s report were Defence Min- istry’s top brass, beginning from former Defence Minis- ter Pavel Grachev. The generals, anticipating an adverse turn of events, hurried to the countryside urgenty to fi- nalise the construction of their dachas (country houses)”. *CIS: Decision on Joint Measures Against Crime Published 964F2670A Moscow ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA (EKONOMICHESKIY SOYUZ Supplement) in Russian 22 Jun 96 pp 8-9 [Interstate Program of Joint Measures Against Orga- nized Crime and Other Types of Dangerous Crimes on the Territory of the States-Members of the Common- wealth of Independent States for the Period Until the Year 2000} {FBIS Translated Text] Decision on the Interstate Program of Joint Measures Against Organized Crime and Other Types of Dangerous Crimes on the Territory of the States-Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the Period Until the Year 2000 In keeping with Article 4 of the Commonwealth of Independent States Charter, and for the purpose of the effectiveness of joint actions in combating crime, the Council of Heads of State of the Commonwealth of Independent States countries has decided: to approve the Interstate Program of Joint Measures Against Organized Crime and Other Types of Danger- ous Crimes on the Territory of the States-Members of the Commonwealth of Independent States for the Period Until the Year 2000 (attached); to instruct the Economic Union's Interstate Economic Committee [MEK], upon the concurrence of the govern- ments of Commonwealth of Independent States mem- ber countries, to resolve the issues in connection with is report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination] is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. cod financing and material support for the measures envis- aged in the aforementioned program. Executed in the city of Moscow on 17 May 1996 in one original in the Russian language. The original will be kept in the Executive Secretariat of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which will send a certified copy , thereof to cach state-signatory to this Decision. [Signed] For the Azerbaijan Republic—G. Aliyev For the Repubuic of Tajikistan—E. Rakhmonov For the Republic of Uzbekistan—1. Karimov For Ukraine—L. Kuchma The Interstate Program of Joint Measures Against Orga- nized Crime and Other Types of Dangerous Crimes on the Territory of the States-Members of the Common- wealth of Independent States for the Period Until the Year 2000 has been drafted as envisaged by the pro- tocol decision of the Council of Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Independent States, dated 3 November 1995. The state of crime in CIS member countries is a cause for serious concern. The past few years have been noted for a considerable rise in grave crimes of a transnational INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS —aaeaae! FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 nature, committed by organized crime groups. Vari- ous manifestations of terrorism; legalization of crimi- nal income; drug trafficking; contraband of arms and military equipment, radioactive materials, cultural valu- ables, rare-earth and strategic materials; counterfeiting: car theft; crimes in the financial and foreign economic spheres, including using computer technology and state- of-the-art means of payment; contract murders; and other dangerous crimes have become widespread. The measures being taken by CIS member countries are not always adequate to these types of crimes and are insufficiently coordinated and integrated in nature. As a result, transnational organized crime is growing, as is its ability to penetrate the economic, political, social, and financial spheres, which has a destabilizing influence on the entire course of socioeconomic transformations in individual states and on interstate relations. The current situation urgently dictates the need to take appropriate interstate measures aimed at improving the States’ information support, harmonization and unifica- tion of the legal base, and concrete coordinated mea- sures on the part of law enforcement and other agencies in the criminal justice system in combating organized crime and other dangerous types of crime. The set of measures envisaged by the Program is based on analysis of the crime-engendering situation and fore- cast of the future crime situation in CIS member states, results of scientific research, and the practice of combat- ing organized forms oi crime, including the experience of joint actions in implementing the measures envis- aged by the Program of Joint Measures Against Orga- nized Crime and Other Types of Dangerous Crimes on the Territory of the States-Members of the Common- wealth of Independent States, approved by the Council of Heads of State on 12 March 1993. Timeframe for implementation CIS decisionmalung body (*—"Implementing body” column indicates the state and CIS agencies which draft within the indicated umeframe and Implemenung agency—* document for consideration of the Council of CIS Heads of State and the Council of CIS Heads of Government) 3 7 1 Orgamzanoaal-|_ egal lesues pet is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 1.1. Swengthemng the international law base for cooperation INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1.1.1. Prepare aad submit for the consideration of the CIS Council of Heads of State aad the CIS Council of Heads of Governmeat 1996-1997 Russian Federation, Geargia Council of Heads of State 1996-1997 Russian Federation Council of Heads of State 4th quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of Government 2nd quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of State 2ad quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of State 2ad quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of State 3rd quarter of 1996 Republic of Belarus Council of Heads of Goverament 1997 Russian FP teration Relevant CIS bodies 1997 Council of Heads of Government 4th quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of Goveramem 4h quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of Sue 2nd quarter of 1996 Council of Heads of Sume tr feport may contain copyrighted material. Copying and 1s without of the ight owners. as J INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1997 Republic of Armenia. Georgia, Azerbaijan Republic FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Council of Heads of State Russian Federation Couacil of Heads of Government 1996-2000 CIS member states 1.1.3. To implement, if not done 1996-2000 1.2.1. To propose to the ; Assembly {IP/,} of CIS member states to draft model legislative acts on questions of orgamzed crime and other types of dangerous crimes for CIS member states and to recommend that national parhaments take them into account im drafting national laws: IPA (upon concurrence), CIS member states a model criminal code for CIS member states; INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1.3.2. To look imto the question of forms of interaction between INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1996-2000 FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 1997 MVD Council Council of Heads of Gow rament 2.4. To look into the question of creatag a centralized automated database of stolen autos in CIS member states aad oth - 1997 Council of Heads of Government 2.5. To create in cach state a CIS member states Council of Heads of Goverament on Cooperation Betweea Heads of special services of CIS member states yt A ep ae ss without zon of the owners. INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS i t i INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1996-1997 Customs Union member states, Council of Heads of Customs Services FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 MVD Council, SKPV, Council of Heads of Customs Services i i i i | It fi ll FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 3.1. To compile a list of statistical indicators which would enable analysis of the state of organized crime and results of combating it on the territory of C'S member states. Present it annually to the Council of CIS Heads of Government annually 3.2. To prepare methodological aids for law enforcement on the procedure for seizing and transferring stolen autos; 0@ cooperation in the sphere of combating the theft of antiques and objects of art that represent cultural valuables; oa returning stolen property or report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination pe 3.5. To summarize the practice INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS Council for Consultative and Legal Issues, CIS member states FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 3.6. To summarize materials on incidents of embezzlement of 3.7. To prepare pwposals for top officials of CIS member states’ mass media on creating a special tubric “Society and Crime” for television programs and the press, for the purpose of regular coverage of law enforcement efforts in combating crime and protecting citizens, their rights and freedoms, from criminal encroachment Television and Radio Company] Mir 38. To resolve the question of INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 1996-2000 agencies of CIS member states 11 MEK, CIS member states Council of Heads of Government 5.2. To develop, on the basis of bilateral J 1996-2000 V1. Coatrol Mechanisms January following the year under review 12 INTERREGIONAL AFFAIRS 6.3. To present a report to the FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Executive Secretariat Council of Heads of State, Council of Heads of Goverameat WS1507100996 Tallinn BNS in English 1756 GMT 12 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text) Riga, Jul 12, BNS — The navy exercise Amber Sea is aimed at preparing ships to form a common Baltic squadron, Latvian Navy Cmdr. Gaidis Zeibots told reporters Friday. The training requires a close cooperation of the Baltic navies and it will be useful for the joint work in the squadron, he said. Amber Sea is the so far largest common exercise of the Baltic naval forces and will involve 14 war ships: eight The exercise will take place July 12-22 in the Guif of Riga, Gulf of Finland id Estonian territorial waters. The first Amber Sea exercise took place in the Latvian territorial waters in May 1995 but the number of participating ships was smaller. The first stage of this year’s exercise will proceed July 12-16 in Riga. It will include planning and visits to places of interest in the Latvian capital. The first practical part of the training will take place July 16-19 and focus on crossing of mine fields, mine sweeping, rescue operations and maneuvers. The second stage is scheduled for July 19-21 in the Gulf of Finland to train in shooting and embargo operations. The exercise will wind up July 21 and 22 in Tallinn. Latvia will be represented to the exercise by mine trawlers Imanta and Viesturs, coastal guard vessels Kometa, Klints, Kristaps and Gaisma, rescue ship Mara and cutter KA-11, as well as an air force helicopter. Estonian ships will include the mine ship Sulev, patrol boat Ahti and two border guard vessels — Pikker and Kou. The Lithuanian navy will sent the frigate Zemaitis and patrol boat Vetra to the exercise. After the training, Baltic navy commanders will take a unit of Baltic ships, including Sulev, Imanta, Zemaitis and Vetra, on pay an unofficial visit to Helsinki. FBIS-SOV -96-137 16 July 1996 Russia: Chernomyrdin, Gore Talks Viewed MM1607085696 Moscow TRUD in Russian 16 Jul 96 pl {Report by Aleksandr Yerastov: “Gore Is Not Far Off — He Is With Chernomyrdin”] {FBIS Translated Excerpt] U.S. Vice President Albert Gore arrived in Moscow Saturday: He is taking part in the session of the commission which, in particular, also bears his name, which opened Monday. The point is that for the sake of brevity the Russian-U.S. commission on economic and technological cooperation is named for its co-chairmen — Russian Federation Government head Viktor Chernomyrdin and Albert Gore — the U.S. Administration's number two. The Chernomyrdin-Gore commission was created in accordance with the Vancouver declaration adopted on the basis of the meeting between the U.S. and Russian Federation presidents in April 1993. [passage omitted] On the agenda of the present, seventh, session of the commission which was discussed Monday during a meeting at the government house by Viktor Cher- nomyrdin and Albert Gore are questions of trade and investment cooperation, energy and the conversion of biological weapons, the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and mutual access to each other’s markets. As at pre- vious sessions there is a discussion of collaboration in space research, in the fight against crime, in the com- mercial sphere, in the solution of problems of the non- fulfillment of financial obligations, and the improvement of the taxation system, and also in the protection of in- tellectual property. Within the framework of cooperation between the Rus- sian fuel and energy complex and its U.S. counterpart it was proposed to step up control over the “movement” of radioactive substances and also to study joint activ- ity in the elaboration of Arctic oil and gas deposits and to enhance the reliability and safety of nuclear electric power stations. The session, which ends Tuesday, will not bypass a single one of the sharp corners of economic and technological cooperation between the United States and Russia. Thus it is expected that it will also touch on the question of the incident connected with the export of the notorious “Bush chicken legs” to our country. Actually, agreement has already been reached here: The Russian side has rejected a categorical embargo on transatlantic chicken legs and the Americans in response have agreed to take into account the “blacklist” which our side has prepared of suppliers from the United States who in Moscow's opinion have failed to observe the necessary sanitary norms. RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 13 Foreign observers believe that A. Gore will not let slip the opportunity to ask who exactly in Russia is laying claim to which ministerial portfolios. At the same time, the BBC reports, the U.S. vice president will hardly allow himself to make recommendations on this score. Russia: Gore, Chernomyrdin Discuss Baykal Project LD1607103196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0905 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — Co-chairmen of the Russian-U.S commission for economic and technological cooperation Viktor Cher- nomyrdin and Albert Gore studied a project of geo- information system for Russia's Lake Baykal this morn- ing. The joint project, called Geo-Information System- Baykal, aims to support new methods of environmental protection and stable economic development of the Baykal region with the use of digital cartography, remote probing and geo-information systems. Project heads informed the Russian prime minister and the U.S. vice president of the system's possibility to analyze land uses in the delta of the Selenga River, which falls into Lake Baykal. The project became possible thanks to the exchange of satellite maps, which used to be classified for national security reasons. The project will ensure Russian and U.S. security in- terests and enable exchange of economic and environ- mental information. Chernomyrdin and Gore praised the work of project participants and said they hope for the project’s success. "It would be good to hold a regular meeting of the commission next summer in the Baykal area,” said Chernomyrdin. Gore fully supported this idea. According to sources in the U.S. delegation, the commission co- chairmen have left for Barvikha, the Moscow region, where Russian President Boris Yeltsin is expected to receive Albert Gore. This afternoon the co-chairmen will attend a working lunch with members of the Russian and U.S. business communities at the Metropol hotel, downtown Moscow. Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission Starts Work in Moscow LD1507123796 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1220 GMT 15 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin Mon- Teport may contain copyrighted maternal Copying and dissemninaton is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. 14 RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS day opened a plenary session of the seventh session of the Russian-U.S. intergovernmental commission on economic-technological cooperation. The session is being held at an important time for Russia, he said. “[President Boris] Yeltsin's persuasive victory in the presidential elections has confirmed the stability of the political course aimed at the continuation of reforms in the country,” he said. “The major thing is that firm prospects exist for the strengthening of market relations in Russia, the im- provement of political institutions, the expansion of so- cial guarantees,” he said. Addressing the opening ceremony U.S. Vice President Albert Gore, co-chairman of the commission, said that final creation of support structures for further development of Russian-American relations is the major aim of this session. The best officials from Russia and the United States have substantially advanced the creation of such struc- tures over the last three years. Time will finish this work, he said. Gore said Russia and the United States are able to break the existing barriers and to create opportunities for businessmen of both countries which would be restricted only by their abilities and imagination. He pointed to the need to bring into conformity tax and investment codes and the structures of tariffs in both countries. Gore said that he is proud of the work of the commission as a whole and is waiting impatiently for its continua- tion. Speaking about results of the presidential elections in Russia, Gore said that the July 3 vote which brought victory to Yeltsin was a turning point in the history of Russia as a free nation. There is a historic opportunity to go further in cooper- ation and mutual understanding, Gore said. He thanked Chernomyrdin, who proposed to devote a minute of silence to late U.S. Secretary of Trade Ron Brown before the beginning of the session. Brown was kitled in an air crash several months ago in Bosnia. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Davydov, Russian Ambassador to the United States Yuriy Vorontsov, Atomic Energy Minister Viktor Mikhailov, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Shafranik, First Deputy Defense Minister Andrey Kokoshin, Public Health Minister Aleksandr Tsaregorodtsev, Agriculture Minister Viktor Khiystun and General Director of the Russian Space Agency Yuriy Koptev are participating in the work of this session. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Russie: Gore Commission Discusses Finance, Investments LD1507141896° Moscow INTERFAX in English 1359 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Financial stabilization in Russia and an increase in investments into the Russian economy were the points on the Monday agenda of the seventh session of the Russian-U.S. intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, also known as the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission. The Russian side stated its intention to abide by the main parameters of its commitments to the International Monetary Fund, Viktor Konnov, spokesman for Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, told journalists. However, Chernomyrdin told U.S. Vice President Albert Gore that Washington must take into account and support Moscow's position that insignificant variations from the commitments are possible. The Russian delegation also pointed out the need to recognize Russia as a country in economic transition, said Konnov. U.S. congressmen and Russian Duma de‘aities may be included in the Gore-Chernomyrdin Corimission in the future, he said. Konnov said this proposal was made by Gore and upheld by Chernomyrdin. Russia: Chernomyrdin, Gore Chair Commission LD1507152796 Moscow Russian Public Television First Channel Network in Russian 1400 GMT 15 Jul 96 [From the “Novosti” newscast] {[FBiS Translated Excerpt] [Correspondent Yelena Shapovalova] The session of the Russian-U.S. inter- governmental commission chaired by Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and U.S. Vice President Albert Gore, which opened today at the President Hote! in Moscow, was the seventh such meeting, and, this is noteworthy, the first after the democratic presidential elections held in Russia. Now that Russia has shown the whole world that it has taken a firm stand on democracy... [Begin Chernomyrdin recording] ...there is not only a hope, but I would also say a sure prospect of a consistent ecinforcing of marketing relations within the economy, a reform of political institutions, a strengthening of social guarantees, and decisive progress in building a law-based state. [end recording: Gore remarks] [passage omitted] : =y In copyrighted el Copying and di ve is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission To Draft Chemical Arms Accord LD1607074996 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0736 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text) MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — The Chernomyrdin-Gore commission, whose seventh session is underway in Moscow, has decided to draft am agreement on Russian-U.S. cooperation in chemical arms destruction, head of the Russian government staff's t for defense indwstries Valeriy Mikhaylov told Interfax Tuesday. He said Russia had invited U.S. experts to visit the Khimprom plant in Volgograd, which used to make Soviet chemical arms. Russian and U.S. specialists will consider bilateral cooperation in making an installation to destroy combat poisoning substances of the first and second generations on the basis of Russian technologies. The spending will reach up to $100 million, said Mikhaylov. The United States may partially finance the project. Russia plans to climinate its whole chemical arms stock (40,000 tonnes of combat poisoning substances) by the beginning of the 21st century in accordance with international agreements. Installations to destroy chemical arms will be built at facilities of former designers and producers of chemical arms. Methods of chemical arms destruction, which have been developed by Russia, “are completely safe for people and the environment,” said Mikhaylov. Russia: Chernomyrdin Sees Commission Meeting as Success LD1507163696 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1616 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin be- lieves that the seventh session of the Russian-U.S. Com- mission on Economic, Scientific and Technological Co- operation, which he co-chairs with U.S. Vice-President Albert Gore, was a success. Speaking at a dinner given Monday in honor of Gore, he said that the session had disproved skeptical forecasts. The outlook for joint work has never been better, “We intend to encourage investments in the Russian economy and expect, once an overwhelming majority of Russians have made a choice in favor of stability, democracy afd continuation of the reform, the United States to take effective steps to stimulate an inflow of entrepreneurial capital into Russia,” he said. RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 15 While significant progress has been made in some issues of the big agenda, a lot remains to be done in others, Chernomyrdin said. “We should not conceal differences in approaches or the existence of unresolved problems, in particular in access to markets or trade barriers,” he added. Chernomyrdin said that the two sides had developed good human as well as business relations. Russia: Vorontsov: Commission Unaffected by Yeltsin Postponement LD1507194496 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 1337 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Translated Text] Moscow, 15 Jul (ITAR-TASS) — The postponement of the meeting between U.S. Vice President Albert Gore and Russian President Boris Yeltsin from Monday to Tuesday “did not affect the businesslike and constructive nature of the work of the Chernomyrdin-Gore commission,” Yuliy Vorontsov, Russia's ambassador to the United States, said today in an interview with an ITAR-TASS correspondent. Viktor Konnov, the Russian prime minister's press secretary, said that, during the morning meeting in Government House with Viktor Chernomyrdin, Albert Gore adopted an understanding attitude toward Boris Yeltsin's decision to have a two-week break before taking up his duties officially, which is scheduled for early August. The vice president also joked that he “would not mind having two weeks off after returning from Moscow to Washington.” ITAR-TASS learned from a source in the Russian delegation that Albert Gore today declined an offer to hold a conversation jointly with Viktor Chernomyrdin with the Russo-U.S. crew on board the Mir space station. The dialogue with the cosmonauts will be conducted by the co-chairmen of the Space Committee. Albert Gore's meeting with Boris Yeltsin will take place on Tuesday in the president's country residence at Barvikha. An ITAR-TASS correspondent was informed of this today by Sergey Medvedev, the head of state’s press secretary. From today, the Russian president is on a vacation that will last roughly two weeks. True to his tradition, Boris Yeltsin will combine rest with work. Russia: Gore-Chernomyrdin Brief Yeltsin on Commission LP°-i807100396 Moscow Mayak Radio Network in Russian 0900 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Translated Excerpt] The seventh session of the Gore-Chernomyrdin commission, which is under way in Moscow reached an accord on preparing an agreement is prohibited without permission of the copyrigiit owners. 16 RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL A#FAIRS on cooperztion between the two countries in destruc- ting chemical weapons. The co-chairmen of the U.S.- Russian commission also familiarized themselves with a project envisaging the creation of the geo-informational system of Lake Baykal. The Giz-Baykal [as heard] joint international project is expected to support ef- forts aimed at working out new approaches toward en- vironmental protection and stable of the Baykal region's economy. Having familiarized them- selves with the project, Chernomyrdin and Gore left for the Barvikha sanatorium outside Moscow, where the U.S. Vice President was received by Boris Yeltsin. Gore and Chernomyrdin, who was also attending the meeting, briefed President Yeltsin on the main results of the seventh session of the Russian-U.S. commission for economic and technological cooperation that ends in Moscow. [passage omitted] Russia: Gore Congratulates Yeltsin on Election Victory LD1607091796 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 0854 GMT 16 Jul 96 [By ITAR-TASS correspondent Andrey Shtorkh] (FBIS Translated Text] Moscow, 16 Jul — “Congratu- lations on your election win" — these were the words U.S. Vice President Al Gore said to Russian Pres- ident Boris Yeltsin at the start of their meeting, which is in progress at the Barvikha health clinic near Moscow, where the Russian head of state is taking a vacation. Yeltsin thanked Gore for his congratulatory remarks, stressing that “it was a victory for the entire Russian people.” Gore and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin will brief the president on the main results of the sev- enth session of the Russian-American Commission for Economic and Technical Cooperation, which completes its work in Moscow today. Bilateral relations, European security, and also arms reduction and a ban on nuclear testing are expected to be discussed. Russia: Gore Says Yeltsin in ‘Excellent Physical Form’ LD1607105696 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1045 GMT 16 Jul 96 [By Gennadiy Yezhov] {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW July 16 (Itar-Tass) — US Vice-President ‘.lbert Gore dispelled fears about health problems of the Russian leader and said he found President Boris Yeltsin in an “excellent physical form" during their mecting on Tuesday. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 He told reporters that Yeltsin had left an indelible impression during the meeting. Gore also said he had met Anatoliy Chubays, who was appointed Yeltsin's chief of staff on Monday. Russia: Davydov: ‘Room for Improvement’ in Trade Ties With U.S. LD1507101496 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 0953 GMT 15 Jul 96 [By Irina Bolshova] (FBIS Transcribed Text} MOSCOW July 15 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Foreign economic relations minister Oleg Davydov believes there is still room for improvement in bilateral trade with the United States, although it has been on the rise of late. “In the last few years we report a permanent growth in trade turnover between Russia and the United States, although in general the level of our trade and economic relations still does not meet the potential of both countries”, he told Tass on Monday. For the first time in several decades Russia reached a positive balance in trade with the USA in 1994, ac- cording to Davydov. Together with US Trade Secretary Micky Kantor he co-chairs the bilateral committee on business cooperation which began to work in Moscow in the framework of the Gore-Chernomyrdin commis- sion. Davydov said Russian imports to the United States now exceed the exports by 1.7 times, while three years ago US exports to Russia were over four-fold bigger than imports. In 1995 the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to seven billion US dollars and the rates of growth of imports and exports have practically levelled. However, in 1996 Russian imports from the United States began to slightly decrease. Thus, in the first quarter of the year Russian exports to the USA were worth over one billion dollars, while imports were worth 745 million dollars, according to Davydov. He said such a change causes concern of the United States. “However, it is necessary to note that the Russian ‘contribution’ to the total foreign trade deficit of the United States is inconsiderable and comprises only 0.4 per cent. Besides, if the United States is really interested in the success of Russian reforms, it should take into consideration the necessity for Russia to earn itself the finances for repaying its foreign dett", Davydov said. Russia is mostly exporting raw materials to the United States, according to the Foreign economic relations FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 ministry, and the shipments comprise 90 per cent of total exports. They include aluminum (31 per cent in 1995), ferrous metals (20 per cent), precious metals and stones (7 per cent), chemical products and fertilisers (6.5 per cent), oil and its produc‘: (6 per cent). Imported are mostly agricultural produce and foodstuffs (37 per cent), as well as equipment and machinery (41.5 per cent). Russia: Energy Minister Comments on U.S. Investment LD1507164296 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1558 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Direct U.S. investment in the Russian fuel and energy industries will total $12 billion before the year 2000, Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Shafranik told INTERFAX Monday [15 July]. This data was announced at the seventh session of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, he said. The oil and gas fields in Sakhalin and the Timan- Pechora area are most promising for joint operation, he said. Russian Nuclear Energy Minister Viktor Mikhaylov told INTERFAX that the commission had discussed the safety of nuclear weapons in Russia and the United States. The two countries are working on numerous projects of cooperation in terms of the safety of nuclear warheads, he said. They discussed the possibility of jointly constructing a storage facility for weapons-grade plutonium in the Mayak plant based in the Chelyabinsk region, southern Urals, where nearly 40 percent of the Russian weapons- grade plutonium could be kept. The two sides also discussed the outlook for cooperation in keeping track of and guarding nuclear materials. Russia: Moscow Notifies U.S. of Food Import Quota Plans LD1607092196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0902 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — Russia will soon introduce quotas on the imports of all types of farm produce and food and has notified the U.S. side of its plans at a session of the Gore- Chernomyrdin commission. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zaveryukha told Interfax Tuesday quotas will regulate imports of meat and dairy products, sugar and vegetable oil. Documents on quotas are ready, he said, and the plans are agreed upon with Russia's trade partners. RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 17 According to Zaveryukha, Russia has started informing Wester countries and CIS members of the food quotas. In his opinion the flow of food imports from CIS countries has increased lately. The official said quotas will also be introduced for imported. chicken quarters. At the moment there are no differences between Russia and the U.S. on chicken deliveries. The deputy prime minister said Russia and the U.S. plan to carry out three joint projects in farm machinery production in Russia. Russia: Koptev: U.S.-Russian Space Issues ‘Largely Settled’ LD1507142396 Moscow Interfax in English 1358 GMT 15 Jul 96 {[FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and U.S. Vice-President Albert Gore are expected to sign a statement of understanding Tuesday on the creation of an international orbital space station Alpha, Daniel Goldin, director of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, told the Russian-U.S. crew of the Mir station Monday. Yuriy Koptev, head of the Russian Space Agency, told Interfax that the statement will enable the two countries to share the responsibilities in the work on a new space station. All issues in this field have been largely settled, he said. Goldin congratulated Shannon Lucid, the U.S. member of the Mir crew, on achieveing a U.S. record for the length of her stay in space, 115 days. Goldin said that long flights are important for the launching of a space station which would make continuous presence in space possible. Such flights are also valuable in terms of mutual understanding and psychological compatibility of Russian and U.S. crews as well as for joint work in space, he said. Koptev sent best wishes to the Mir crew, which also includes Yuriy Anufriyenko and Yuriy Usachev of Rus- sia, from Gore and Chernomyrdin, who co-chair the Russian-U.S. commission for economic and technolog- ical cooperation, and wished them a successful flight. Russia: IZVESTIYA Summarizes Lebed NEW YORK TIMES Interview MM1507145096 Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 16 Jul 96 p3 [Report by Vladimir Nadein: “Lebed Assured the Amer- icans That He Does Not Divide People up Along Ethnic a8 report may contain oe An rae emer is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. 18 RUSS!A INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Lines and That He Will Become President of Russia Un- less He Is Gunned Down") (FBIS Translated Text) Washington — Chain-smoking Camel cigarettes in an ivory cigarette holder, Alek- sandr Lebed, secretary of the Russian Federation Se- curity Council, apologized for a number of his recent statements which have seriously tarnished his political image in the eyes of Western public opinion. The gen- eral’s interlocutors were journalists from THE NEW YORK TIMES. “I regret the way this sounded,” the general said. “But there has never been anti-Semitism in my comments. I have many friends and colleagues who are Jews. | have never divided people up on the basis of their pationality.” Explaining his digression into religious problems, which elicited a very sharp response in the United States, and the official protests taken, according to U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, to the “highest level,” General Lebed said: “Here I was simply asked for a list of all the traditional religions in Russia, and | moved too fast. I failed to mention the Jews, and this was wrong.” Lebed spoke at length with the reporters about the fate of democracy in Russia. In the opinion of Michael Specter, Moscow correspondent of THE NEW YORK TIMES, these statements were seriously at variance with the image of the “savior of democracy” created during the weeks before the election. “A long transition period is needed,” the Security Council secretary said. “It will be very long. Russia has never had democratic traditions. Not one. Their development will take many years. We need a legal society above all. People’s freedom must be guaranteed by laws and also limited by laws. Laws must be that which rules in Russia, but, unfortunately, we still have a long way to go to this.” Lebed said that he doubts the Chechen origin of the two bombs set off on Moscow trolleybuses. “They look too amateurish,” the general said of the explosive devices. “The aim of those who planted the bombs was to instill a spirit of fear and terror in our society at just the time when it is trying to become stronger. But they will fail.” Lebed, with his own team, is now conducting a parallel investigation into the circumstances of the two explosions. While neither denying nor confirming friction with Pre- mier Viktor Chernomyrdin, Lebed outlined his present position in these words: “This country has a Constitu- tion, and it says who must govern the country if the president proves incapable of this. It is the prime min- ister. I the Constitution, and I intend to fulfill its demands. We both need to reach agreement, and we FBiS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 will do so." At the same time Gen. Lebed confirmed his desire to become president. He voiced the convic- tion that this is precisely what will happen “unless I am gunned down first." Lebed totally renounced his former position on the Chechen problem. Nothing is left of the man who just two weeks ago deemed it likely that Chechnya would be granted independence. “There has not been a day when bandits have not fired on Russian troops and killed soldiers.” Lebed believes that Doku Zavgayev, the leader of Chechnya, legitimately represents Chechnya’s interests and that it is, in general, “silly” to say that Chechnya can be independent of Russia. Russia: Egyptian Foreign Minister Arrives LDi507181196 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 1732 GMT 15 Jul 96 [by ITAR-TASS diplomatic correspondent} (FBIS Transiated Excerpt] Moscow, 15 Jul — Egyptian Foreign Minister ‘Amr Musa arrived in the Russian capital today on a three-day official visit. During his Stay in Moscow he will have talks with his counterpart Yevgeniy Primakov, and meet other representatives of the Russian leadership, with whom he plans to discuss the future prospects for a settlement of the situation in the Near East and also coordination of both countries’ efforts to activate the peace process. The head of the Egyptian foreign policy department attaches great importance to his present visit to Russia especially because the Near East peace process is now going through a critical period. He thinks Russia, as co-sponsor of the Arab-Israeli talks which started in Madrid, is called on to play a commanding role in finding a way out of the difficult situation which has been created. [passage omitted] Russia: Accord Signed on Border Cooperation With China LD1607101096 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 0938 GMT 16 Jul 96 [By Vyacheslav Tomilin} {[FBIS Trarscribed Text] BEUJING, July 16 (Itar-Tass) — Wider cooperation between Russia and China in the guarding of the border is to be promoted by a package of protocols, signed here on Tuesday between the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and Russia's Federal Border Service (FBS). The protocols determine a procedure for exchanges of information and border control experience and a mechanism for the maintenance of contacts between representatives of the two agencies. is report may contain copynghted matenal. Copying and dissemination is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 "The three protocols concretise the bilateral agreements, which were concluded last year on a commission from the President of the Russian Federation, on cooperation in the guarding of the State border,” FBS chief Andrey Nikolayev, who arrived here on Tuesday morning for a five-day working visit, has told Itar-Tass. “These technical documents furnish the necessary basis for joint work with our Chinese counterparts at border-crossing checkpoints,” he emphasised. The General pointed out numerous difficulties which the Russian border service encounters due to the growing stream of people crossing the border. At the border with China, Russia is mostly disturbed by the problem related to the so-called illegal migrants who, upon arriving in the Russian Federation on legal grounds as tourists, subsequently stay in Russian terri- tory in breach of the established procedure, Nikolayev said. “We do not intend to put up with that and will dis- cuss the issue on the substance of it with our Chinese counterparts,” the FBS chief said, suggesting in partic- ular that the activities of travel firms be regularised. Nikolayev is not inclined to dramatise the problem concerning the smuggling of narcotics and weapons, pointing out that the problem “is characteristic not so much of the Russo-Chinese border as of other sectors, which are much more dangerous in this respect" and that one can speak about only individual instances of the smuggling of narcotics and weapons across this border. China has become “much more open towards Russia,” Nikolayev said. Large-scale command-post exercises Amur-96 are to be held at the end of July to drill cooperative action between all Russian services. Our Chinese counterparts have been invited to attend the exercises, he said. “We want to show which particular problems are of concern to us, how we cope with them, and what are, in our view, the role and place of our Chinese counterparts in the solution of these problems,” Nikolayev pointed out. Russia: Pastukhov Opposes Force To Settle Georgia-Abkhazia Conflict LD1507153196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1458 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — The conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia, a RUSSIA INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 19 breakaway province in Georgia, can only be settled by political methods, Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Pastukhov told Interfax on Monday. "If talks fail to bring results and all reserves of a political settlement are exhausted, Georgia will have to restore its territorial integrity by other methods,” Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze said on Monday. “An exchange of threats will bring nothing but will only exacerbate the climate at the talks,” Pastukhov said, adding that “this is a clear stand of Russia, worked out as a result of many month's efforts to settle the situation in the region.” Pastukhov also spoke out against introducing economic sanctions against Abkhazia. "I do not believe that economic sanctions can lead to a settlement of the situation in Abkhazia,” he said, adding that “civilians, people who have already suffered much during the war, are always the first to suffer from economic sanctions.” Intermediaries between the parties to the Georgian- Abkhazian conflict — Pastukhov of Russia and Edward Brunner of the United Nations — will conduct bilateral consultations with the Georgian and Abkhazian sides on Monday and on Tuesday morning, he said. A quadrilateral meeting is expected to be held on Tuesday afternoon, Pastukhov said. Boris Sichinava, Georgian envoy to Russia, told Interfax in Moscow on Monday that while speaking about “other methods” to restore Georgia's territorial integrity Shevardnadze “also means military methods.” However, Shevardnadze “is doing his best in order to settle the conflict peacefully, leaving the use of force as the ultimate measure in case all other opportunities are exhausted,” the diplomat said. “Talks first, sanctions second. Force is the final option,” the diplomat said. is report may contain is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. copyrighted material Copying and dissemination RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Political Issues Russia. Yeltsin To Continue Working; Health Not Deteriorating LD1507161596 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1602 GMT 15 Jul 96 (By Andrey Shtorkh] {(FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW July 15 (lItar- Tass) — President Boris Yeltsin went on a two-week vacation on Monday. He will be vacationing in his countryside residence of Barvikha near Moscow, but will not put aside all work, presidential spokesman Sergey Medvedev told Itar-Tass today. Medvedev said Yeltsin will be working with documents and will not eschew meetings with his aides and government officials. As concerns Yeltsin's decision to spend the brief vacation in his countryside residence of Barvikha near Moscow instead of in Sochi on the Black sea coast or in a more remote countryside residence in Zavidovo, Medvedev stressed that the country was going through a very responsible political period, and although the main guidelines of the development of the country had been determined in the President's programme of action for the period from 1996-2000, intensive consultations were still needed about the formation of a new government and the first practical steps to be made by the new Cabinet of Ministers. For those reasons Boris Yeltsin decided not to go too far away from Moscow, Medvedev said. “There are no grounds whatsoever for the rumours about Boris Yeltsin's deteriorating state of health,” spokesman Sergey Medvedev told reporters. Medvedev told Itar-Tass that he did not rule out that the doctors “will try and take advantage of Boris Yeltsin's two-week vacation to conduct a regular medi- cal checkup,” as the President had undergone no medical examination since his hospitalization last autumn. According to Medvedev, Yeltsin, who gave himself up entirely to the election campaign for weeks, would not even have his blood pressure measured, which made their work very difficult for the doctors. During his trip to Kaliningrad in the last phase of the campaign Yeltsin caught cold and developed a sore throat, which affected his voice. Commenting on the increasingly frequent calls for the publication of regular medical reports about Yeltsin's state of health, Medvedev said in his personal opinion it “would not be bad to tell the public on a regular basis what his doctors have to say about Boris Yeltsin's state FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 of health,” but it is for the President himself t» have the final say on the matter. He said Yeltsin had been recommended by his cam- paigners on July 4 to take some time off after the vic- tory in the second round of the presidential elections on July 3. “The president categorically turned down the proposal and continued to work, although not as intensively as during the election campaign”, Medvedev said, adding that "the workload was, nonetheless, quite heavy.” Suffice it to recall that Yeltsin worked to an inten- sive schedule of meetings and consultations, primarily about a new composition of the government. Medvedev stressed that most of the major problems had been re- solved jointly with Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin and it was high time to relax a little. “President Boris Yeltsin decided to take a short leave which he plans to spend in the Moscow region. Ahead of the inauguration, which is scheduled for August 9, Boris Yeltsin decided that it was the right time to rest in order to restore his strength after an intense election campaign”, the press service of the head of state said. Responding to an Itar-Tass question about Yeltsin's vacationing, Medvedev said that just as during his earlier vacations, the President will begin his day with work on documents. The President usually does his fitness exercises in the afternoon, and “will certainly go in for swimming” and go for long walks on foot. It is not ruled out that he will play some tennis, Medvedev said. In addition, the President will have more time for reading — he had no time for reading at all during his election campaign because of the excessive workload, Medvedev said. As concerns one of his favourite pastimes, hunting, it is not ruled out that the President will do some hunting in the woods near Moscow, the spokesman said. None of this means that he will not be taking part in political activity, Medvedev stressed. According to him, working meetings were also possible in Barvikha, where the President will hold consultations on the composition of the new government. On Tuesday, July 16, Boris Yeltsin will meet U.S. Vice Presiden Albert Gore in Barvikha. b sopert any in copyrighted TS is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV -96-137 16 July 1996 Russia: Gore Meeting Delay Renews Doubts About Yeltsin’s Health MK1607091396 Moscow MOSKOVSKIY KOMSOMOLETS in Russian 16 Jul 96 pl ["S.Sh."-signed report: “To Barvikha, to Barvikha!"] {FBIS Translated Text] Every cloud has a silver lining, even if it is Gore's visit. It seems that the mere threat of appearing before the U.S. Vice President, who has been visiting Moscow, has forced Boris Yeltsin finally to take a well-deserved vacation after his 3 July triumph. Actually, Boris Nikolayevich’s decision to leave for the Barvikha “sanatorium” for rehabilitation, which was announced by the presidential press service yesterday, did not come as a bolt from the blue. Last week his first aide, Viktor Ilyushin, revealed that his patron was planning to leave the Russian capital. However, the form and timing of the press statement appear utterly embarrassing if only because Sergey Medvedev had to give explanations after it transpired that the meeting between Yeltsin and Gore, which was scheduled for yesterday morning, would not take place and would be delayed until the next day. According to Mr. Medvedev, the president decided to set out for Barvikha back on Sunday. What prevented him from notifying his guest in advance of the postpone- ment of the meeting in this event? — one would ask. As it happened, Albert Gore was told about the cancellation of the audience literally a few minutes before he was scheduled to start for the Kremlin. The awkward situa- tion had to be redressed by Chernomyrdin, who spared an hour for an unscheduled meeting with the dear guest. He also assured the nation for the umpteenth time that Boris Nikolayevich “is resting and is in normal health.” Whether or not it is “normal” we have to judge only from the words of his entourage. The presidential press secretary's incoherent explanations are full of vague “probablys” and “likelys.” Again, it is unclear why the traditional “summer capital” city of Sochi has fallen from grace this time. Boris Nikolayevich is known to relish a swim or two in the warm waters of the Black Sea. A cold or simple weariness would not stand in the way of a 1.5-hour flight. Yet, should the Western diagnosis made in absentia — angina pectoris; that is, insufficient supply of blood to the heart muscle — be confirmed, such stress would really be fraught with danger. For the time being, the visitor, deprived of the opportu- nity of seeing the august body, can set his mind at ease and attend to the main items of his itinerary. Clearly, without Yeltsin it would make little sense to discuss with Chernomyrdin the questions of accelerating the rat- RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 21 ification of START II or putting an end to yet another heightening of tensions in Chechnya. Russia: Spokesman, Duma Committee Chiefs Remark on Yeltsin’s Health MM1507184796 Moscow KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA in Russian 16 Jul 96 p2 {Report by Olga Gerasimenko, Aleksandr Gamov, and Vasiliy Ustyuzhanin: “‘Boris Yeltsin Is Very Tired...""] (FBIS Translated Text) How is the president's health? After displaying incredible vim and vigor during the election campaign, Boris Yeltsin has once again gone into hiding from the exultant masses. Why? Any “fabrications” about poor health can, of course, be taken with a pinch of skepticism. But Boris Niko- layevich’s actual appearance at recent events shown on television has not dispelled the doubts. Last Thursday Boris Yeltsin was to have attended a meeting in the President Hotel with his election staff, but he was unable to travel there — there were only Naina losifovna [Yeltsina] and the premier with his wife. Then a report from the president's press service came over ITAR-TASS channels: Since 15 July Boris Yeltsin has been on leave, which will last approximately two weeks. Further: “In connection with this the proposed meeting with U.S. Vice President Albert Gore will not take place.” What lies behind all these “nonappearances"? Let us cite the opinions of just a few officials. State Duma Deputy Viktor Ilyukhin, chairman of the Security Committee: “The president’s sudden leave alarms me more than anyone. For it was I who authored the draft law on setting up a state medical commission. In accordance with this, all top state officials are obliged regularly to undergo medical examination for the ability to govern the country. My draft has not yet gone through, but the question remains. “The president’s leave puts everyone in an awkward Situation — the questions of the minister of defense and the composition of the new government have not been resolved. All this is happening against the background of Lebed’s constant aspirations to almost dictatorial functions. But we communists will not undertake any actions before 9 August — the president's official inauguration. It would be unethical to raise this question now.” Viadimir Lukin, chairman of the State Duma Interna- tional Affairs Committee: is report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination is prohibited wit Tien a the ie! 22 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS "Of course, any surprises of this kind do not inspire optimism. The reports of the cancellation of the meeting with Gore come at a painful time in our bilateral relations, and there must be serious grounds for such a cancellation. I believe that they are, unfortunately, connected with Boris Nikolayevich’s state of health. I can imagine no other reasons. For I do not doubt that the president and his aides well understand the importance of the problem of customary [ritualnyy] respect in international visits of this kind.” Sergey Medvedev, the Russian president's press secre- tary: “Boris Nikolayevich feels OK [Russian ‘normalno’ meaning ‘ok,’ ‘normal,’ but also with the slang mean- ing of ‘good,’ ‘fine’]. I wish to remind you that his aides suggested that he go on leave right after the sec- ond round of voting. You will recall that the president's schedule was super-strenuous during the election cam- paign, and he was working 16-18 hours a day. But at that time Boris Nikolayevich deemed it necessary to be in the Kremlin and to continue consultations on forming the government. Now the main priorities in resolving this question have been defined, and the president has decided to rest for a while. He is very tired, and this is the only opportunity to restore his strength before the official inauguration ceremony. “As for the meeting with the U.S. Vice President, it has not been canceled but postponed and is to take place Tuesday. “As for the rumors of poor health.... They come primarily from the Western mass media, which are seeking some sensations here. There are none. “The president is taking his leave in Barvikha. His schedule is the traditional one for such instances: in the morning work with documents and the mail and the issuing of directives, then walks and swimming, and in the evening two more hours of work.” [Medvedev ends] ...Of course, how the head of state appears 9 August, his inauguration day, will be impor‘ant. The question is a different one: The fulfillment of the numerous promises and overtures which he made to the voters before they dashed out to vote seems once again to be being postponed. Russia: Russian Press Reports on Yeltsin’s Out-of-Town Leave MM 1507205 196 [FBIS Report] With the exception of the compara- tively lengthy KOMSOMOLSKAYA PRAVDA report citing State Duma committee chairmen and presiden- tial spokesman Sergey Medvedev (see referent item), FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 all Russian newspapers for 16 July monitored by MMU have either ignored the question of Yeltsin’s health, or have been content to replay agency materials. Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 16 July did not mention Yeltsin's health. ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA in a 100-word report on page one cites the presidential press service and ITAR- TASS to the effect that as of yesterday [15 July) Boris Yeltsin is on leave which is expected to last two weeks, that Yeltsin considered “now was a suitable time to rest with the aim of restoring his strength after the strenuous election campaign.” The item goes on to cite Yeltsin's spokesman Medvedev who says that Yeltsin is “continuing his work on forming the new government” and that “Boris Yeltsin's meeting with U.S Vice President A. Gore planned for Monday will take place today [16 July] in Barvikha.” SELSKAYA ZHIZN, and TRUD frontpage a similar, slightly abbreviated reports. A 150-word report in the “President” column on the front page of ROSSTYSKIYE VESTI covers the same points as made in the ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA report. Additionally an unattributed report underneath states that Yeltsin met with Yegorov at Barvikha on 15 July to discuss arrangements for his inauguration. The report does not mention the appointment of A. Chubays as his new chief of staff, although this fact is reported further down the page. SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA carries on page one a similar report to that in ROSSTYSKAYA GAZETA, attributed to ITAR-TASS which notes additionally: "*There are no grounds for the appearance of rumors about the worsening of Boris Yeltsin's health,” Sergey Medvedev , press secretary of the head of government {as published) declared today [15 July).” The SOVET- SKAYA ROSSIYA report continues. “‘During his leave, Boris Yeltsin intends to continue working ac- tively with documents and he not giving up conducting working meetings,’ the press secretary said.” Alongside this item in an article commenting on the Gore visit to Russia, Stephen Cohen of Princeton University is quoted, en passant, as saying: “As a result of the election which is difficult to call really fair and democratic, a man remains in the Kremlin whose health, despite the cheerful assertions of his entourage, ‘leave something to be desired.*" PRAVDA carries only a 25-word report under the rubric “in brief” stating that Yeltsin is on leave in Barvikha, and that his leave is expected to last two weeks. poe ke Ra is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. . SE Ee — FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 KRASNAYA ZVEZDA's report on the front page, attributed to the RF President's press service, carries similar material to that in ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. Russia: Yeltsin, Chernomyrdin Discuss Chechnya, Cabinet LD1607104196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0955 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] Moscow, 16 July (Interfax) — Russian President Boris Yeltsin decided not to change his usual Tuesday work plan in spite of being on leave, the president's press secretary Sergey Medvedev told journalists. In particular, he received Prime Minister Viktor Cher- nomyrdin today. According to Medvedev, traditional is- sues relating to the post-election situation in the country and also the organization of the Russian president's in- auguration ceremony were discussed at this meeting. Chernomyrdin informed the president about the situa- tion in the Chechen ic and about the implemen- tation of the president's plan to settle the situation there. Medvedev said that Yeltsin and Chernomyrdin paid much attention to personnel matters. Medvedev said: “This is a highly topical issue today". “The main strategic trends of the formation of the government have already been outlined and today specific individuals were discussed,” stressed the president's press secretary. However, Medvedev did not tell journalists which specific figures were discussed, saying only “it is too early to talk of this”. Russia: Text of Yeltsin Edict on Moscow Crime Published MM1507174396 Moscow ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA in Russian 16 Jul 96 p4 [Edict No. 1025 of the Russian Federation President Urgent Measures To Strengthen Law and Order RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 23 1. That the mayor of Moscow and the head of Moscow Oblast administration are to take urgent measures to reinforce the protection of public order in the city of Moscow and Moscow Oblast and to safeguard civil rights and freedoms from criminal infringement. 2. It is hereby established that the detention of persons placed in social rehabilitation centers in accordance with Edict No. 1815 of the Russian Federation President of 2 November 1993 “On Measures To Prevent Vagrancy and Begging” can be extended with the sanction of the Moscow public prosecutor or the Moscow Oblast public prosecutor for a period of up to 30 days, if it is necessary to establish the identity of said persons. The Moscow and Moscow Oblast internal affairs organs are to be granted the right jointly with the Russian Federal Employment Service with the sanction of the prosecutor to move such persons, if there are sufficient grounds, outside the city of Moscow and Moscow Oblast, as a rule to the place of their former residence, in order to provide them with work or to award them unemployment benefit in line with the aforementioned edict. 3. Until the relevant amendments are made to federal legislation, the Moscow and Moscow Oblast internal affairs organs, the federal organs of the Tax Police, the Russian Federation customs organs, and the Russian Federation Tax Service organs, on discoering property, including money in rubles or foreign currency, having no apparent owner [beskhozyaynoye imushchestvo] that is not recorded in accountancy documents of legan persons, are authorized to confiscate it, subsequently transferring it to state ownership in accordance with federal legislation. 4. The Russian Federation Government, the Moscow Government, and Moscow Oblast Administration: are to present to the Russian Federation president within the period of one month proposals on increasing the numbers of the Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs Internal Troops by 10,000 individuals in 1997 in order to set up special motorized police units. They are to ensure their funding and the creation of the necessary material and technological base in 1997; to provide for an increase in 1997 of 18,671 individuals in the staff level of the organs and subunits of the main internal affairs administrations of Moscow and Moscow Oblast and the Moscow internal affairs administrations for rail, air, and water transport, and alsc the regional administrations for combating organized crime; to increase the staff level of the Moscow and Moscow Oblast public prosecutor's offices by 200 individuals Ls RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS by agreement with the Russian Federation General Prosecutor's Office; beginning 1996, to ensure the funding of the construc- tion of four and the modernization of six detention cen- ters of Moscow City’s and Moscow Obiast’s Internal Affaizs Main Administrations; to increase in 1997 the staffing level of Moscow City Court, Moscow Obiast Court, and the rayon courts of Moscow City and Moscow Oblast by 650 individuals and ensure during the year a phased twofold increase in the pay of the judges and technical personnel of these courts, providing for the allocation of resources for these purposes during the elaboration of the federal budget for 1997; to elaborate and adopt by | January 1997 statutory legal acts establishing the procedure for directing funds re- ceived from the sale of property confiscated from crim- inals toward the material and technical base of the law enforcement organs and courts of the city of Moscow and Moscow Oblast; to resolve by 1 January 1997 the question of exempt- ing the law enforcement organs and courts of the city of Moscow and Moscow Oblast and the expert estab- lishments of the Russian Federation organs of justice, health care, and the pharmaceutical industry from the payment of rent for the premises they occupy on the condition that the funds made available thereby go to- ward strengthening their material and technical base: to elaborate a system of measures to ensure the tem- porary removal from office, on the recommendation of the law enforcement organs, of state and municipal em- ployees involved in the activity of organized criminal groups. $. The Russian Federation Ministry of Internal Affairs is to form in 1997, within the composition of the Moscow City and Moscow Oblast interna! affairs main adminis- trations, special subunits for the protection of judges, witnesses, victims, experts, and other participants in criminal proceedings in cases involving crimes commit- ted by organized criminal groups. 6. With the aim of intensifying the prosecutor's office's oversight of the activity of the law enforcement organs aimed at combating organized crime, it is recommended that the Russian Federation General Prosecutor's Office form special subunits in the Moscow City and Moscow Obdiast Prosecutor's Offices, and an extra post of prose- cutor’s aide for this purpose in the prosecutor's offices of the administrative districts of Moscow City and of cities and rayons of Moscow Obiast. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 7. The Russian Federation Federal Tax Police Service is to create special subunits in its administrations covering Moscow City and Moscow Oblast, in order to organize purposeful work in combating organized crime, illegal entrepreneurial activity, and the illegal circulation of cash. The Russian Federation Government is to provide, in 1997, for an increase of 1,000 individuals in the staffing level of the Russian Federation Federal Tax Service Police administrations covering Moscow City and Moscow Oblast. 8. In accordance with Article 21 of the Russian Federa- tion Law “On Military Service Obligation and Military Service,” with the aim of bringing the Russian Federa- tion Federal Tax Police Service administrations cover- ing Moscow City and Moscow Oblast up to strength in terms of its complement of highly qualified specialists, to grant an annual to military service draft deferment (up to 250 individuals) for citizens who have a higher edu- cation in financial, economic, and legal specializations for the period of their service in the aforesaid organs of the tax police. 9. The Moscow Government and the Moscow Oblast Administration will do the following: elaborate, within a month, a system of measures of so- cial protection and material incentives for citizens who have helped to solve crimes committed by organized criminal groups, and form special exchange housing stocks to ensure a change of place of residence and work for these citizens; introduce additional conditions determining the proce- dure for opening gambling establishments and for their work, and establish the maximum number of such es- tablishments and their locations. 10. A.S. Kulikov, Russian Federation minister of inter- nal affairs; N.D. Kovalev, director of the Russian Fed- eration Federal Security Service; $.N. Almazov, direc- tor of the Russian Federation Federal Tax Police Ser- vice; V.A. Kovalev, Russian Federation minister of jus- tice; M.V. Moskvin, acting chief of the Russian Fed- eration Employment Service; Moscow Mayor Yu.M. Luzhkov; and Moscow Oblast Administration Chief A.S. Tyazhlov will bear personal responsibility for the timely and full implementation of measures for combat- ing crime in Moscow City and Moscow Oblast envis- aged by this edict. 11. A.l. Lebed, secretary of the Russian Federation Se- curity Council and the Russian Federation president's aide for national security, will be entrusted with moni- toring the implementation of this edict. is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 12. This edict enters into force on the day of its publication. [Signed] Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin (Dated) Moscow, the Kremlin, 10 July 1996 No. 1025 Russia: Validity of Crime Edict Questioned MM1607100296 Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 16 Jul 96 p2 {Report by Yuriy Feofanov: “Enigmatic Edict Against Backdrop of Acts of Terrorism, Banditry, and Theft") (FBIS Translated Text] The Russian Federation presi- dential edict "On Urgent Measures To Strengthen Law and Order and Step Up the Fight Against Crime in Moscow City and Moscow Oblast” has become famous even before it has appeared. The head of state has pub- licly stated that he has signed the document, top state cfficials have commented on it, emergency measures have already been taken to implement it, but the edict itself has not yet been published — at least not by the morning of 15 July. It is an interesting coincidence that exactly the same thing happened with the edict estab- lishing constitutional order in Chechnya. The war was already under way there, but the Federation Council was totally unable to obtain the text of the document in or- der to ask the Constitutional Court to assess its legality. But, one wzy or another, I have before me the text of the edict, dated 10 July. And it generates a lot of confusion and raises a lot of questions. Primarily about the means and the ends. Indeed, Paragraph 4: The size of the internal Troops will be increased by 10,000 to create motorized units; transport and regional police personnel will be increased by 18,671; Prosecutor's Office staff will be increased by 200, and judicial staff by 650. Paragraph 5: Subunits will be formed to protect judges, witnesses, victims, and so forth. Paragraph 6: Special subunits will be set up at Prosecutor's Offices and additional deputy prosecutor positions will be introduced in cities and rayons. Paragraph 7: Special subunits will be created for the Tax Police, increasing their staff by 1,000. Paragraph 9: Measures will be drawn up to encourage citizens who valp the police. As you can see, this is a powerful barrage from high- caliber guns. But against what target? If you read the lines of the document rather than what is between the lines, there are some real puzzies in there. It turns out that the threai to law and order and national security derives exclusively from hungry beggars and hobos. The emergency measures are aimed against them — it will now be possible to hold them, as necessary, for up to RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 2s 30 days at “social rehabilitation centers" as well as to expel them from the capital's oblast “to find work or to receive benefit.” Those are the only people indicated in the edict as enemies of peace and order. There is not a word about hooligans, bandits, robbers, or thieves. We can hardly imagine that these hobos are carrying out acts of terrorism, ordering contract killings, or robbing the treasury. And is it really necessary to create a mechanized division of wartime strength, various subdivisions, and additional assistant prosecutors to expel hungry beggars and vagrants without passports? Nobody begrudges any trillions for the sacred task of crime-fighting. Only we should understand just who we are fighting. Incidentally, this is suggested by life itself. The mysterious edict was dated 10 July, and on the 11th there was the first trolleybus bomb, with the second occurring on the 12th. Immediately official commentaries quoted the unpublished edict. The mayor of the capital said: “We will carry out a major sweep of Moscow to clear it of the contingent which strikes us (?) as dangerous.” The city boss also described the contingent — primarily people who look like Chechens. They are already being purged. There was support from the Russian Federation president: "Moscow has not been cleansed, no, it has not been cleansed.” Let us imagine that it is this “contingent” that poses the main threat to law and order. So, could it be outlawed? On what constitutional (rather than edict) basis can beggars or vagrants not having committed any particular crime be placed in social rehabilitation centers or expelled beyond the 101-km mark? At his news conference the secretary of the Security Council said that the edict had been coordinated with the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, and the Moscow Administration. But has it been coordinated with Article 27 of the Russian Federation Constitution, which gives citizens the right to choose their place of residence? Does this mean we are talking about protecting beggars and hobos — whom we are all indeed sick and tired of and who do indeed spoil our city’s appearance? Yes, of course, them too. But the main thing is that we are protecting all of us. There is an absolute yardstick that determines whether a state enjoys the rule of law — it should unconditionally protect the legal rights of the very last beggar; if not, there is no freedom, democracy, or law. Today, instead of the law, hobos are being expelled, tomorrow it will be any law-abiding citizen, as soon as they join a “contingent which strikes us as dangerous” (the mayor of Moscow's comment). This law already operates with immutable force — that is something we know only too well. . — . ighted material Copying and di ern is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners. 26 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS The acts of terrorism in Moscow have caused panic among the population and forced the authorities to take vigorous measures. But once again there are some mysterious definitions — we will not be introducing a state of emergency in the city, but we will be taking emergency measures, and there is further talk of “major sweeps.” But what is the legal meaning of the concept of a "sweep"? We can understand it when there are armed gunmen in a Chechen village. But how does it look in Moscow with its population of 10 million? It has to be defined so that none of us meets with an accident. What do emergency measures mean without a state of emergency? That too is something the capital's residents and visitors could do with. knowing. And would it not be better, more logical, and more useful to institute a state of emergency, siace the threats to people’s safety are entirely real? That would at least be in line with the law, and the administration’s actions are regulated by that law. If the chaos of crime is opposed by tyranny on the part of the authorities, nothing will come of it but lawlessness. There are also other unclear points in the edict on crime- fighting in the capital region; for instance, regarding “unowned property, including assets in rubles and for- eign exchange that are not accounted for in bookkeeping documents"; it is laid down that on its subsequent trans- fer this property be confiscated into state ownership. We are clearly talking about so-called “dirty money.” But how will all this be done? You would have thought that we had at least theoreti- cally made it clear that the noblest ends do not justify illegal means. But even if we put that to one side and close our eyes.... Will the edict stepping up the fight against crime in Moscow and oblast achieve the goal it sets itself? An equally threatening edict on protecting Ayer ceaPapar a Ape pmapc te La dicial criticism, but it is in force. And the ec fae ama has been no result. It seems to me as though every Site to ow bakes eneeted, Selanlt inatied eheiom and beggars are being expelled, and their place will be taken by others. And that is all. But, on the other hand, it will provide plenty of material for reports. And that is only in the event of reading merely what is stated in the edict. You can also, however, read between the lines — it writes about beggars and hobos but has a far more extensive contingent in mind. And, finvJjly, there is a curious coincidence. In December 1994 te war in Chechnya began, following a secret edict. It took the Federation Council virtually a month to get hold of the text of the edict in order to submit it to the Constitutional Court. Something similar is being repeated — the edict h«s not been published but is being commented on at t’: Sghest level. The main thing is FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 that its instructions are already being implemented. Just as in the past. A mere coincidence? As investigators say, two coincidences are evidence. Russia: Yeltsin Staff in for ‘Serious Upheavals’ MK1607114996 Moscow KOMMERSANT-DAILY in Russian 16 Jul 96 pp 1, 3 (Report by Georgiy Bovt and Natalya Kalashnikova: “A New Head of the Presidential Staff. Privatization of the Staff’ — followed by Leonid Brodskiy commentary] {FBIS Translated Text] When Anatoliy Chubays said at his 5 July news conference that neither Witte nor Stolypin or even Alexander II did as much for Russia as Yeltsin has done (likening him to Peter I), we pointed out that we by no means suspected Anatoliy Borisovich of flattery for the purpose of obtaining a high post in the entourage of the current leader of the country. Moreover, he himself was swift to assure the audience at the time that he could not be suspected of that because he held no government or staff post and did not plan to get one in the near future. Let it be Chubays’ mistake. Yet, we still do not suspect him of anything. The only thing we can suspect is that the presidential staff is in for serious upheavals: Yesterday Anatoliy Chubays replaced Nikolay Yegorov as the chief of staff, with the prospect of also becoming the president's first aide. Georgiy Bovt and Natalya Kalashnikova comment. The 5 July news conference was a sign indicating that Anatoliy Chubays did not want to quit big-time politics. Particularly so because credit for the president's victory undoubtedly goes to him, the chief of Yeltsin's electoral headquarters. Furthermore, his effectiveness showed not only in the area of purely staff work (which will be discussed below), but — most important — in his skillful operation of electoral technologies, which are democratic in essence. In this regard, the replacement of Nikolay Yegorov by Chubays, who will at the same time, to all appearances, also take up the post of first presidential aide, can be interpreted as a substitution of one politician by another of a different, more up-to-date type. The decision to appoint Chubays marked both an end and a beginning to a most complex Kremlin intrigue. Rewarding campaign activists not encumbered with government posts by giving them exactly such posts is a principle that is faithfully honored in all countries that practice elections as a method of legitimizing power. In America (KOMMERSANT-DAILY has written about that, by the way) this has come to be known as the spoils system. In Russia this phenomenon has not yet received any particular name (not counting the . report may . ist j , ial. Cor >. and dh . : is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 27 folksy “distribution of elephants"), but it already has its peculiarities. In particular, one characteristic feature is that the struggle for influence in the presidential team started long before the victory was achieved; that is, they began to divide up the bearskin before the bear was shot. In this regard, Anatoliy Chubays emerged as a brilliant apparatus fighter, having in one single stroke banished Korzhakov and Barsukov and Soskovets to political oblivion, although that same “stroke” could with a great deal of likelihood have turned into a grand scandal over “the historical role of slush-fund cash in the financing of the 1996 presidential election in Russia.” By the way, the “stroke” was successful, society reacted to it with certain wariness, which people close to the president quickly tried to dissipate, assuring the public that Chubays will not return. Incidentally, they faithfully believed in what they were saying. Anatoliy Borisovich himself, according to his own admission (on 5 July), was assiduously preparing to assume an absolutely different role, that of the head of a consulting company that was to pull out of the crisis enterprises that were privatized “according to Chubays.” However, Nikolay Yegorov’s inevitable resignation has long been talked about by many members of the pres- idential entourage. Sometimes this talk was accompa- nied by rumors that he could actually be replaced by Chubays. But until very recently this theory was seen as unlikely. At first sight, it is Viktor Ilyushin who could have become chief of the presidential staff. By the way, he is credited with putting forward the idea of combin- ing the posts of chief of staff and first adviser. Yet, this theory looked shallow from the outset: The impression is that Viktor Ilyushin is seriously preoccu- pied with a more distant future than the end of Presi- deat Yeltsin's second term and that the warmth in his Aon edig gpd ln ag we eh gpamens chaser in people who have been more successful political or even democratic, not power, following this logic, why not make, let's say, Gaydar the chief of staff? The reason is that upon closer scrutiny Boris Yeltsin's principles of personnel selection and appointment have remained unchanged, in the sense that he simultaneously creates several centers of power around him, one of which can temporarily gain advantage over the others. But only temporary advantage. In particular, now Chubays will have to shoulder the burden of just as important an election campaign for heads of local administrations, because a victory of the left would change the political profile of the Federation Council. There are grounds to believe that Anatoliy Chubays specifically owes his current elevation to Tatyana Dyachenko, the president's daughter, with whom he worked hand in hand throughout the campaign and who had the opportunity to appreciate his effectiveness as a manager. In all likelihood, Malashenko is also her protege. As for the former center of power called “Korzhakov," following the leaks of dirty materials compromising this center, and in particular Shamil Tarpishchev, who is still holding the “coaching” post under the president — which occurred somewhat opportunely in NOVAYA GAZETA — it can be con- cluded that these people are currently in a deep political knockdown, if not a knockout. Which condition it is will be seen by whether they will continue to keep mum or whether they will find the strength to assume a fighting position. What is the general outline of the current alignment of forces on the Russian political Olympus? Chernomyrdin has considerably strengthened his hand after the removal of his main opponent, Soskovets. Currently he maintains fairly good relations with Viktor Ilyushin — they came closer together thanks to their shared dislike of Korzhakov — who is experienced in Kremlin intrigues and can be of help if something happens. Chernomyrdin has always had an even relationship with Chubays, $0 it is quite possible that they will get along just fine with one another (unless Chubays lays claim to the role of Kremlin supervisor of the White House's economic policy). Lebed is a more difficult case. After the general’s thinly veiled claims to a sumber of the government's economic prerogatives it seemed that a certain tension crept into his relationship with the premier. But it should not be blown out of proportion — both the premier and the general are reasonable politicians who are fully capable of reaching agreement. Possibly the general will find it more difficult to come to terms with Chubays. The latter had fairly successfully “mobilized” him for his purposes on the night of 19 and 20 June (in connection with the incident over an attempt at smuggling money out of the White House). But this is yet more proof of the relative ease with which 48 report may contain copyrighted is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners. material. Copying and dissemination 23 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Lebed, who is not yet seasoned in parquet warfare, can be mobilized for someone else’s cause. Yet, receaiuy - has become careful in both his speeches and actions. The informal post of defense industry supervisor is still vacant. Formerly it was held by Soskovets, who partially balanced the faction of the fuel and energy sector, by Chernomyrdin. The emergence of this figure will finally determine the alignment of forces and Yeltsin's system of checks and balances. As yet this system appears to be much less conflict-prone and much more effective than the one that emerged during Yeltsin's .irst term in office. However, if Yeltsin's logic is followed to the end, the president should bring Korzhakov back. For Chubays, Lebed, Chernomyrdin, and Korzhakov himself such a cohabitation within a single team might seem an outright nightmare. But this is precisely what makes his comeback a fully likely possibility. {Article includes the following boxed commentary by Leonid Brodskiy) Everyone, even Anatoliy Chubays’ enemies in the apparatus, are unanimous in saying that Chubays is an hardworking sort of man and that he has a God-sent managerial talent, which was, on the whole, atypical of a reformer vintage 1991. Since the very start of his career in the federal gov- reldll t | : FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 deputy premier’s office at the White House. For that they paid him a hundredfold: It is not by chance that Viadimir Kadannikov, who replaced Chubays, refused to fire even one of Chubays’ employees. They knew their way around what is called staff work and their connections enabled them to be the first to learn about resignations or appointments and to obtain the requisite office equipment. Russia: Chubays Views Key Points of New Role in Administration LD1507180396 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1724 GMT 15 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Anatoliy Chubays, formerly Russian first deputy prime minister and campaign activist for President Boris Yeltsin, told Interfax on Monday that in giving his consent to his appointment as head of the Russian presidential administration he had to change his former stand. Chubays has previously said that he would not work in governmental or presidential structures. “There is only one reason: When the president asks about something, especially within the context of the present situation, the point is not personal interests. This means something greater. That is why I have accepted the president's offer,” Chubays said. When asked if he wanted to invite those who worked with him before the presidential elections to work with him again, he said that “the best intellectual and organizational forces of those who worked for (Yeltsin's) election campaign will certainly be called to work as staff or part-time workers. “This is the position taken by the president. He an- nounced it while meeting with campaign activists,” Chubays said. He said he had not put forward any preconditions regarding his appointment. "I believe this inappropriate. I will not deal with economic matters because I think that the government should deal with these questions,” Chubays said. "Unfortunately, I will not deal with my vocation or my favorite matters,” he said, adding that “there is nothing worse than duplicating powers or grabbing ‘favorite’ matters.” Chubays said the key point of his role would be “state- building in the broadest possible sense of the word.” “In my point of view, a new stage of Russian statehood construction is coming now, based on the results of the . report may tas ighted ‘ ral = = and di * * FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 presidential elections. This definitely includes strength- ening authorities in the regions and at the same time reinforcing the presidential vertical where it should be,” he said. The presidential administration cannot stand "aside from the election of heads of local administrations that will unfold in the country in the near future,” he said. Chubays said he also deemed it important to strengthen the judicial power that “obviously requires greater attention on the part of presidential structures and the state on the whole.” ang problem is to develop relations with the fourth — the media — while maintaining the basic SL oaaiie of tia eailits tadiapendenes, he said. "I think that the state needs to do much more to explain its position on both federal and regional levels and inform people about it. Russia still does not have anybody who would handle this professionally. During the election campaign we saw that people often just fail to understand what the authorities want, why they make one or another decision. It is necessary to explain, explain and explain,” Chubays said. Another important block of problems is personnel work, he said, adding that “in this area we have lost many of the good ideas that earlier existed and that do not need to be rejected or left out.” Finally, it is necessary to ensure “control over the im- plementation of presidential decisions," Chubays said, adding that two points should be taken into account here. First, the decisions themselves should be well-founded and balanced, Chubays said. Second, punishment for failing to implement the decisions made should go as far as sacking the culprits, he said. Russia: Yeltsin’s Appointment of Chubays ‘Brilliant Political Move’ MK1607102096 Moscow NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA in Russian 16 Jul 96 pi [Report by Vitaliy Marsov: “The President Has Made a Brilliam Decision. By Appointing Anatoliy Chubays Chief of His Staff, He Has Restored the Balance of Political Forces”) {FBIS Translated Text} Boris Yeltsin's decision to appoint Anatoliy Chubays chief of his staff is truly sensational. Its outward sensationalism consists in that the person whom many considered a political corpse has risen from the ashes, where he was apparently hiding only tem- RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 29 porarily. It is noteworthy that not only broad public opinion but also individual sources of exclusive infor- mation about the 19-20 June events believed that Ana- toliy Chubays jutted out so prominently that none of his services to Boris Yeltsin would ever force the president to bring the “redhead” into the Kremlin. Whatever might be said about Chubays — not only a tough but also a pitiless politician — it has to be admit- ted: Boris Yeltsin has accomplished a brilliant political move. Even Lebed’s appointment as Security Council secretary pales next to the president's latest decision, even though the flirtation with the “white bird" [Lebed means swan] was crucial to Boris Yeltsin's political survival between the two rounds. One insider recently suggested that Boris Yeltsin is literally infatuated with Chubays. As can be seen, the infatuation proved to be real and ended in a marriage. Of course, this infatua- tion is not selfless; it developed from Anatoliy Chubays’ contribution to Yeltsin's election victory. Chubays’ appointment will have wide-ranging implica- tions for Russia's politics. Furthermore, it indicates the vector of strategy during Boris Yeltsin's second tenure, even though it also addresses many of the current prob- lems facing the president on the tactical level. For the first time Boris Yeltsin has struck the best bal- ance of forces within the “big triangle” of power. The “brilliant administrator" Chubays is an excellent coun- terbalance to “people's favorite” Lebed and “nomen- klatura premier" Chernomyrdin. Meanwhile, there is no love lost between the three, and therefore each of the threesome will be jealously watching to see that his ri- vals’ powers do not to exceed their limits. Second, Chubays will definitely organize effective ac- tivity by the presidential staff, making it the country’s political decision-making center. Yeltsin the builder, in- stead of Yeltsin the destroyer (a change of political im- age about which the president dreams), will be acting through Chubays. Third. Initially Chubays as head of the team that worked for Yeltsin during the election campaign will begin to lay the new foundation of the state political structure (therefore Ivan Rybkin’s hope that this honor will go to him is nothing more than daydreaming). Later, however, Chubays will again turn to the economy. Moreover, he can do this while staying on in the Kremlin and, if need be, by replacing, at the White House, his former chief Viktor Chernomyrdin. In light of Chubays’ new appointment, the inclusion of Yaviinskiy in the government is especially problematic, because there are no two other individuals that hate each other more than Anatoliy Borisovich [Chubays) and Grigoriy Alekseyevich [Yaviinskiy]. True, now Chernomyrdin 18 prohibited without permission of the copynght owners wy RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS himself will be interested in a union with Yavlinskiy against an overstrong Chubays. Generally speaking, however, with such a chief of staff as Chubays, the government composition is not at all important for Yeltsin, because at any moment he can squeeze it with the pincers of Chubays’ Jesuit-like ruthlessness and Lebed’s grasp of a wolfhound (true, thus far the wolfhound’s jaws have been more clacking than strangling anybody). With such cadres as Chubays and Lebed the head of the should really be Luzhkov. He could be the only one able to talk with Yeltsin's new favorites as an equal. Several days ago someone indicated that Boris | could make the step that he did yesterday. I simply could not believe it, although the advantages of such a decision were self-evident. Primarily because Chubays turned too much inside out within Yeltsin's former entourage. This, as a tule, is never forgiven — even when the fruits of such an operation are enjoyed. Boris Yeltsin has once again demonstrated amazing statesmanship. Yet we should have no delusion: Ana- toliy Chubays is an iron woodcutter in politics. When he cuts the forest, splinters fly thick and fast. Russia: Duma Speaker, Moscow Mayor Regret Chubays’ Comeback LD1607104696 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1004 GMT 16 Jul 96 [By Ivan Novikov) {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW July 16 (Itar-Tass) — The communist speaker of the Russian State Duma made it clear on Tuesday that he was dissatisfied with the comeback of liberal reformist Anatoliy Chubays, who the communists bitterly criticised for his privati- sation efforts. Former deputy premier Chubays was appointed head of the administration of the Russian president on Monday and Seleznev told reporters that this would pose a major problem for mayors of Russian cities as regional elections are coming in autumn. “Mayors of Russian cities are now, probably, scratching their heads after that appointment, including the mayor of Moscow, because it is they who will have to closely work with Chubays”, Seleznev said. Seleznev made it clear that he, personally, was glad that the lower house will not have to deal with Chubays. The interaction “will be minimal", he said. Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov, who is known as an ardent critic of the privatisation scheme implemented FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 by Chubays, said his negative attitude to him had not changed. Still he wished Chubays success in his new work. “My attitude to Chubays is well-known and it has not changed in anyway”, he told reporters on Tuesday, but added that the decision of the president to appoint Chubays “should be respected”. "I believe that he has ruined the privatisation in the country and I view the voucher privatisation as a major swindle of the century. I do not know how he will solve other tasks, however I wish him success in the new field. Life will show what the results will be", the mayor said. Luzhkov added that Chubays’ appointment was com- pletely unexpected for him. Russia: Moscow Police Receive 118 Bomb Threats LD1607123596 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1117 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text} MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — The Moscow police received 118 bomb threats yesterday. The Moscow Interior Department told Interfax on Tues- day morning that most of the them were false. However, the telephone call on a contemplated explo- sion at the Poklonnaya Gora memorial complex proved real. Two students and the chief of a ministry's security ser- vice were detained at 10:30 a.m. July 15 on suspicion of having exploded a self-made explosive device con- sisting of black gun powder and magnesium powder, which they had planted under a decommissioned tank in Poklonnaya Gora. The Moscow City Transportation Department reports that means of surface transport had to be stopped six times yesterday after suspicious objects were found in them. Checks revealed that no explosive devices had been planted in trolleybuses or streetcars. Russia: Kovalev Says High-Risk Sites Secure; ‘Transients’ To Be Removed LD1607112896 Moscow Russian Television Network in Russian 1000 GMT 16 Jul 96 {Report over video by unidentified correspondents in- cluding recorded remarks by Russian Justice Minister Valentin Kovalev; from the "Vesti" newscast) {FBIS Translated Text] [Announcer Svetlana Sorokina] Justice Minister Valentin Kovalev was also talking about terrorism today [previous item about Kulikov on Chechnya]. [video shows Kovalev at news conference] apie hpi 1s prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. — ee end to begging on the streets, he said. [Kovalev] I mean people whose external appearance is an affront to society and morality. I mean people who around themselves create unhygienic conditions, the risk of disease and spread of epidemics, and so forth. These are the people meant in the pronouncements you have been hearing about lately on the need to clear transients LD1507160096 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1340 GMT 15 Jul 96 proposals on the reorganisation of the Cabinet. Every- thing must be done wisely, without revolutions,” he said. Lobov believes special attention should be paid to such problems as aon-payments and production decline and to the need to keep inflation low. “This will be the chief task of the Cabinet until the end of the year,” he added. 31 He stressed that the main accent will be placed on financial stabilisation and collectibility of taxes which will require measures to boost production. Russia: New Presidential Body Said To ‘Usurp’ Duma Powers MM1507142196 Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 13 Jul 96 p2 [Report by Sergey Chugayev: “Kremlin Politicians’ New Pastime — Parallel Parliament") (FBIS Translated Text] The current Russian Federation State Duma leadership has come up with one of the most unattractive offices — located right opposite the men’s rest rooms — for the now-former speaker Ivan Rybkin. I. Rybkin did not demur. He was obviously waiting for his time to come. And it seems as though it has. Just six weeks ago, the corridor near his office was deserted. Now there is a long line of people waiting to see Rybkin — the kind of line that is not often seen in the waiting rooms of the speaker, vice speakers, or parliamentary faction leaders. And that, by apparatus yardsticks, is the most accurate sign of a strengthening of the positions of the officeholder, a recognition of the fact that I. Rybkin, who heads the Russian Federation president's Political Consultative Council [PCC], is returning to the front rank of the most influential Russian politicians. The first PCC session will be held and I. Rybkin will Officially take up his new job 18 July. On the eve of this event the ex-speaker said in an interview with IZVESTIYA: “The creation of the Russian Federation president's PCC is designed to remove a defect which had formed in the power structures as a result of incomplete legislation. I am talking above all about the Law on Elections to 2p Recs pet pean pan glares [ppuibee tinoa peteancd Goomanenee 32 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Rybkin reported that the Council will set up 12 cham- bers — on the problems of human rights, the economy, defense and security, and so forth. The representation quota on them will be seven members for Duma parties and five members for the rest. A total of 250 people will work in the chambers. The PCC’s main aim is to provide an expert review of edicts, decrees, and laws drawn up by the Presidential Staff and the government. The head of the Russian Federation Presidential Staff, who will simultaneously be the president's first assis- tant, will be in charge of the PCC’s activity. A number of I. Rybkin’s statements merit special at- tention. The history of B. Yeltsin's previous presidency was largely the history of his confrontation with the opposition parliament. In the past, attempts were made to solve the problem by forming parallel representa- tive structures — a constitutional conference or a public chamber under the president. But these structures, nat- urally, could not stand up to the competition from the constitutional parliament. Now we can see that another step is being taken in this direction. Judging from what I. Rybkin said, the new formation will essentially be an attempt to create a parallel parliament that is not envisaged by the Constitution. It will be a clearly structured (bicameral) organization under the strict control of the Presidential Staff. The main function of this formation has also been defined — expert review (effectively, the preparation) of acts of legislation. That is, the PCC will to all intents and purposes usurp the Duma’s main function of lawmaking. The lower house could thus be left on the political sidelines and become a talking shop. It is unlikely that the Duma will put up with this assigned role, and instead of certain problems being solved, we will see a new one emerge — the PCC will be a basis for new acute contradictions between the executive and the legislature. "I am not a supporter of the wholesale removal of the Duma leadership,” Rybkin said. “I believe that we have to give G. Seleznev and his comrades a chance to show themselves capable of working constructively. If they fail, we shall see. But, in any event, from here on in the entire activity of the Duma and its apparatus will be constantly monitored both by the PCC and by the parliamentary non-Communist majority that is taking shape.” FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Russia: Communists’ Future Tactics Viewed MM1507124196 Moscow ROSSIYSKIYE VESTI Saturday Edition in Russian 13 Jul 96 p2 {Article by Olga Burkaleva: "The New Patriots Are the Old Communists: The Losers Hasten To Change Their Label But Are Not Changing Their Tactics”) {FBIS Translated Text] Indeed, on the threshold of the 21st century you are unlikely seriously to be able to win over people with the idea of building Communism. Even Communist leader Zyuganov himself stated for electoral reasons that he did not intend to build Communism. And there are hardly a lot of convinced builders of Communism to be found among Zyuganov's voters. They are mostly pensioners in a difficult material situation and people who yearn for basic guarantees of protection against the vagaries of the market and the highhandedness of officials with which they have to contend in their daily life. Given their age, you are unlikely to accept Mr. Zyuganov’s certainty that his supporters will grow in number. It is perfectly logical that boosting their popularity and swelling their ranks should require a new idea which would be shared by as many people as possible, and this idea — love for the motherland — is far from a new one. Certainly, you can rally far more supporters to the idea of patriotism than you can muster under the banner of Communism (here you can agree with Sergey Baburin's opinion regarding the exaggerated role played by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation [CPRF] in the bloc of people’s patriotic forces). And the Communists took this up immediately after the election. Without delay, they started forming a movement which, admittedly, is more akin to a party, which bears the preliminary name of People’s Patriotic Union of Russia. To prevent the new organization from scaring off the mass of deprived people left-wing radicals like Stanislav Terekhov have been excluded from it while Viktor Anpilov finds himself “on the brink.” But while rumors about personnel do leak out from the sturdy ranks of the Communists, information about the strategy and tactics of the future heir apparent of the CPRF are for the time being kept closely under wraps. The representatives of the new patriots, or old Communists, claim that they have neither strategy nor tactics yet, that they have not determined their stance at all to date, and that it is pointless to describe it immediately as an opposition stance. Their stance, they say, will depend on the makeup of the government and the line it follows. However, I do not have much faith in their sincerity because such organizations are set up with a definite end in view. The organization's program and its strategy and tactics are merely a means of achieving that end. my heed Qa syey a is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 And that end is clearly the former one: Getting into power by fair means or foul. That is how it was, for example, in 1991 after the August putsch. The Communists had already recovered from their defeat by October and formed the majority in the Supreme Soviet. They have also worked simultaneously with the regional political elites. And they now ititend to win a majority of supporters among the heads of administration, whose elections are due to be held by this December. The plan is simple: The government spent a lot of resources on paying wages and pensions prior to the election. A lot of banks did not stand aloof from the election campaign either. This has already led to a grave situation in the Tveruniversalbank, and, according to rumor, the banking system will soon experience a crisis. Huge injections of money always lead to a decline in the ruble and destabilize the banking system. Consequently, traditional inflation, but with worse figures than last year, can be expected by the fall. This will create a favorable background for criticism of the reelected president and his policy and the new cabinet, which, according to reliable sources, the Communists have resolved to approve, whichever cabinet or premier the president submits to the State Duma. They will be guided in this instance not by any inclination for compromise but by the intention of firmly establishing themselves in their seats in the State Duma since, if their plan for the election of heads of administration works, they will automatically win a majority of supporters in the upper chamber too. In that case the left-wingers’ dream of introducing amendments to the Constitution and influencing the 1997 budget becomes very realistic. And then, you see, concerted efforts can be made to exploit the crisis in the economy in a bid to advance the date of the presidential election from 2000 to, for example, the fall of 1997 and finally exact their long- awaited revenge. The only question is whether the president's team will let itself be so treated? One way or another, the Com- munists’ whole policy is based on popular discontent. However, it is difficult to imagine the president and the new government making the mistakes of 1994 which led to Black Tuesday. Moreover, Aleksandr Lebed, the new Security Council secretary, has resolved to combat corruption with a will; moreover, he is not alone here, the campaign enjoys the support of General Prosecu- tor Yuriy Skuratov and Moscow Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and is, naturally, under the leadership of the president himself. This really puts out the political opposition, as it could nullify all its plans. Nor can it be ruled out that the rumors that General Lebed has already clashed with Viktor Chernomyrdin over spheres of influence are being spread with the specific aim of neutralizing him. RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 33 And the furor over the statement by Lev Rokhlin accus- ing General Kobets of corruption would seem to confirm this. This is presented by some analysts from the oppo- sition camp as a desire by Chernomyrdin to take control of the Defense Ministry. Whereas in reality a wedge is being driven between the top leaders in the president's team by such “rumors” with the aim of sowing dissen- sion in its ranks because if it does combat corruption in a coordinated way and successfully deals with the economy and the social sphere the grounds for popular discontent and for the president's opponents’ to push through their own program — the trump card in their hands — will not exist. Military & Nuclear Issues Russia: Lebed’s Deputy Discusses Possibility of Defense Council LD1507182596 Moscow Russian Television Network in Russian 1600 GMT 15 Jul 96 (From the “Vesti” newscast] {FBIS Translated Text) In an interview with THE NEW YORK TIMES, Aleksandr Lebed said that the aim of those who organized the bombs in Moscow was to destabilize the situation in society precisely at the time when it was getting stronger. They will not be able to do it, Lebed stressed. And here is another piece of information about Lebed’s department. News agencies increasingly report plans to set up in the country a new council for defense and military affairs, designed to take over some of the powers enjoyed at present by the administration of the Russian Security Council secretary. This could be seen as a lack of confidence in the ability of Lebed’s team to cover the whole range of all problems. Aleksandr Lebed's deputy, Vladimir Denisov, has told us what he thought about it. [Begin recording] [Denisov] The choice is either to set up some sort of a new council in the country, a new body, alongside the Security Council or to re-examine the current functions of the existing structures, of the actual Security Council, for instance, to take a closer look at it and to assess whether it is able to fulfil any particular task. I think it is capabie. That is my personal view. As far as I know, Aleksandr Ivanovich is of the same opinion. [Unidentified correspondent) But Viadimir Ilyich, is this not a strictly political decision, the aim of which, it seems, is t0 avoid putting all the eggs into the basket of Lebed and the Security Council and to set up an authority, side by side with the Security Council, as a counterweight, which, as they try to convince us and as they say at the Duma, is Chernomyrdin’s brainchild. . may a s igt j ial. C . and di : . is ited without permission of the copyright owners uw RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS [Denisov] I do not think it is a good idea to bring Viktor Chernomyrdin into play at this point or to portray him as a kind of counterweight, as a person entertaining a bias toward a certain line of thought, with a view to deprecating the effectiveness or potential of Aleksandr Lebed. Much has been said about it in the media. Newspapers have been writing about it. As far as I know, they have established quite a clearcut line of contact. The prime minister heads a whole branch of the executive power structures while Aleksandr Lebed, secretary of the Security Council with his own administration, is directly accountable to the president. The main role of his department is to work out proposals for the country’s president to enable him to practise his constitutional rights in the national security sphere. All these proposals, which are worked out by the administration of the Security Council, are naturally coordinated with Viktor Chernomyrdin. His very post makes him a permanent member of the Security Council. This is clear and there can be no other interpretation for this situation. [end recording] Russia: Russia Said To Lead World in Guided Weapons on Tanks MM1507141396 Moscow Russian Public Television First Channel Network in Russian 0800 GMT 14 Jul 96 {FBIS Summary] Moscow Russian Public Television First Channel Network in Russian carries in its “I Serve Russia” program broadcast at 0800 GMT 14 July a 5-minute video report pegged to the 65th anniversary of the Armored Weapons and Technology Research Institute, whose scientists are said to have developed five generations of tanks over the years. The report extols the fine qualities of Russian tanks, noting that th: most famous tank was the T-34, which was unrivaled in World War Il. Nowadays the T-80 and T-90 tanks are also among the best tanks in the world. The report includes an interview with Aleksandr Galkin, chief of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defense Motorized Armor Directorate, who says, in particular "We are ahead of other countries’ tank industries as regerds tank armament. Generally speaking, no country, not the United States, nor Britain, nor France, nor Germany, has guided weapons (upravlyayemoye vooruzhen‘ye] on tanks, although they are working in that direction. We know that since 1994 they have been working intensively on guided weapons. We believe that our tanks are better protected, we are ahead as regards size — height and silhouette — and maneuverability.” Galkin goes on to admit that Russian tanks have less comfortable crew quarters because of their smaller size. but this enhances their chances of FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 surviving battle. Galkin adds that in February 1995 the Ministry of Defense and the State Committee for Defense Industry considered various (unspecified) shortcomings of Russian tanks revealed in the battle for Groznyy in January 1995. He emphasizes the great role played by the human factor and stresses that tanks are not built for fighting in cities. [Video shows tanks advancing over terrain and firing, armored vehicles maneuvering al speed over uneven terrain, closeup of T-34 on parade, footage of modern tanks, interview with Galkin, some U.S. tanks, interview with Vladimir Shcherbakov, an armored vehicle tester, who praises Russian tanks] [time into program: 0800:26-0805:34) Russia: Atomic Submarines Practice Firing in Barents Sea LD1507163796 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1621 GMT 15 Jul 96 {By Vasiliy Belousov] {FBIS Transcribed Text] MURMANSK, July 15 (Itar- Tass) — Russian atomic submarines successfully con- ducted ballistic missile firing exercises in the Barents Sea on Monday [15 suly]. All the missiles accurately hit the target in an area in northeast Russia, North fleet headquarters officials told ITAR-TASS. Russia: Missiles Fired Successfully From Nuclear Submarines LD1507192696 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 1343 GMT 15 Jul 96 {by ITAR-TASS correspsondent Andrey Yurkin]} {[FBIS Translated Text] Moscow, 15 Jul (Itar-Tass) — Two strategic nuclear-propelled cruiser submarines of the Northerr Fleet under the command of Captain First Rank Sergey Gudkov and Captain First Rank Nikolay Mastyayev today launched sea-based ballistic missiles (RSM-40 and RSM-54 types). The warheads hit the designated targets in the Pacific Ocean area and in Kamchatka peninsula. The ITAR-TASS correspondent was told at the Russian Defense Ministry that the missiles used in the exercise had previously been in long-term storage. The operational exercise of the sea-based strategic nuclear forces, in which the crews of the submarines that launched the missiles were taking part, also involved practising new techniques of combat command and control of the sea-based strategic nuclear forces in coordination with other types of Russia's strategic nuclear forces and the ballistic missile monitoring system. is report may contain copyrighted maternal. Copying and dissemination 18 prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 35 This was the second successful launch of sea-based missiles from the submarines of the Russian Navy in a relatively short period of time. ITAR-TASS has already reported that on 28 June three strategic missile-carrying submarines of the Pacific Fleet launched missiles from the Sea of Okhotsk at an area located in the north of E eel It has been reported that the scheduled inspections of sea-based strategic nuclear forces, held in the year of the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy and the 90th anniversary of the Russian submarine forces, and on the eve of the Navy Day, have demonstrated the navymen’s high proficiency and loyalty to their military duty, as well as their readiness to carry out complicated tasks aimed at ensuring the national security of the Russian Federation. Federal Assembly Russia: Chernomyrdin Urges Duma Hasten Discussion of Legislation LD1607102496 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0930 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has sent a letter to State Duma Chairman Gennadiy Se- leznev, urging the deputies to accelerate the discussion of the legislative initiatives proposed by the government. Chernomyrdin writes that despite the Cabinet’s numer- Ous requests, “no changes for the better have occurred.” By July 1, writes Chernomyrdin, the State Duma had received more than 50 draft laws. Moreover, the current State Duma is still to consider 30 draft laws submitted to the old State Duma. “Many of these drafts are of enormous socioeconomic importance and must be given priority on a par with the draft laws proposed by the president,” he writes. However, in accordance with the plan for the State Duma first session to end on July 19, only 20 draft laws proposed by the government are to be considered, Chernomyrdin writes. Russia: Seleznev Fears Chubays ‘Will Start Interfering’ LD1607100696 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0745 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — Russian State Duma speaker Gennadiy Seleznev fears the newly appointed head of the presidential administration and senior presidential aide to Boris Yeltsin, Anatoliy Chubays, will start interfering with the operation of the government. "I wish Chubays did not interfere in the work of the government, but he is not a speechless person, he is sure to start interfering, counselling, and it is hard to tell to what extent the new Cabinet will like it," Seleznev said in a Thursday interview with Interfax. However, he did not think the appointment could block the approval of Viktor Chernomyrdin as the head of the new Cabinet by the Duma. Seleznev felt the appointment of Chubays will “become a new headache” for administration leaders in the regions and territories of the Russian Federation. He assumed that the appointment is related to the autumn elections when several dozen mayors and about 40 regional governors are to be elected. “Chubays was appointed because during the presidential election campaign he was in charge of relations with governors,” the speaker said. Russia: Duma Unlikely To Amnesty Participants in Chechen War LD1507132196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1234 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Russia’s State Duma deputies are unlikely to amnesty participants in the war in Chechnya, Vladimir Zorin, the head of the State Duma Committee on Nationalities, told Interfax on Monday. The MPs “will hardly confirm a draft resolution of the State Duma on amnesty to participants of the hostilities in Chechnya who have not committed grave crime, while hostages are being seized in the republic and kidnappers are demanding immense ransoms,” Zorin said. This document is scheduled to be submitted to the lower chamber for confirmation this week, he said. “The text of the resolution has been prepared, both committees [on nationalities and security) have intro- duced appropriate amendments given the wishes of the Chechen party,” Zorin said. However, “taking into consideration the current situa- tion in Chechnya, the kidnapping of the head of ad- ministration of Groznyy’s Leninskiy district, Lyudmila Radimushkina, and the terrorist acts in Moscow, the par- liament’s lower chamber may reconsider its position on an amnesty,” he said. “An amnesty is always an act of goodwill, and there should be appropriate conditions and foundations for this,” he said. is report may contain copynghted is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. material. Copying and dissemination % RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Russia: Federation Council Adopts Laws on Budget, Army Service MM 1207133596 Moscow ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA in Russian 11 Jul 96 p4 [Unattributed report: “In the Federation Council") {FBIS Translated Text] The Federation Council has approved the following laws adopted by the State Duma: “On Precious Metals and Precious Stones”; "On the Procedure for Submitting, Examining, and Adopting the Federal Law ‘On the Federal Budget for 1997°"; "On the Budgetary Classification of the Russian Federation"; "On the Ratification of the Agreement Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on the Procedure for Recruitment and Performance of Military Service by Citizens of the Republic of Armenia in Russian Federation Border Troops Stationed on the Territory of the Republic of Armenia"; "On the Ratification of the Agreement Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kyrgyzstan on the Procedure for Recruitment and Performance of Military Service by Citizens of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan in Russian Federation Border Troops Stationed on the Territory of the Republic of Kyrgyzstan"; “On the Ratification of the Agreement Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Tajikistan on the Procedure for Recruitment and Performance of Military Service by Citizens of the Republic of Tajikistan in Russian Federation Border Troops Stationed on the territory of the Republic of Tajikistan"; “On the Ratification of the Agreement on the Establishment of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank.” Russia: NDR Leader Proposes ‘Parliamentary Accord’ Coalition LD1207151596 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1415 GMT 12 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text) MOSCOW, July 12 (Interfax) — Sergey Belyayev, leader of the Our Home is Russia {NDR} parliamentary faction, on Friday proposed to leaders of all factions and groups of deputies in the Russian State Duma, except the Communist Party of Russia faction, that a Parliamentary Accord coalition be formed in the Russian parliament's lower chamber. Belyayev sent an official letter Viadimir Zhirinovskiy (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia faction,) Grig- oriy Yavlinskiy (Yabloko faction,) Viadimir Medvedev (Russian Regions), Nikolay Ryzhkov (Popular Rule) and Nikolay Kharitonov (Agrarians). The future Parliamentary Accord coalition should base its performance on open dialogue and free discussion, FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Belyayev said, adding that members of the future coalition should coordinate their stand on key problems regarding the State Duma’s activity, he said. "The Russian presidential elections and their results make it necessary to focus on enhancing constructive professional partnership between the head of state, the State Duma and the government for coordinating so- lutions to the broad range of social-economic prob- lems and creating a legal basis for Russian reforms,” Belyayev said. Belyayev said he regretted that during the first six months of its performance the State Duma “failed to be fully in line with tasks facing it.” The initiative put forward by the Our Home is Russia parliamentary faction’s leader has not so far been supported by other factions or groups of deputies, Interfax learned. In particular, Popular Rule faction leader Ryzhkov told Interfax that his group of deputies had “no intention of supporting Belyayev’s initiative or answering his letter.” The Russian Regions group of deputies embracing independent MPs elected in single-mandate districts is split with regard to Belyayev’s proposal. Less than half of MPs in this group of deputies believe it reasonable to form such a coalition that will likely be anti-Communist. However, the majority of MPs in the Russian Regions group plan not to respond to Belyayev’s proposal. The reaction of other parliamentary factions and groups of deputies to Our Home is Russia's initiative remains unknown. Regional Affairs Russia: Kulikov Says Discussing Chechnya Troop Withdrawal ‘Premature’ LD1607115696 Moscow Russian Television Network in Russian 1000 GMT 16 Jul 96 [From the "Vesti" newscast] {FBIS Translated Text] Russian Interior Minister Ana- toliy Kulikov presented his vision of ways to solve the Chechen crisis at an Interior Ministry leadership meet- ing today. General Kulikov had some harsh comments to make. [Begin Kulikov recording) Today, we are trying to put these people from the savage Middle the same level with ourselves and to conduct some sort of civilized negotiations with them. I believe that, taking into account the current situation in the Chechen Republic and likely development of events there, it hth FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 is appropriate in any future attempts to solve the Chechen crisis to combine peaceful and military means of influence. What it means is that we should base our decisions on the realities of the situation there. In the situation that we have today, it is premature to talk about any withdrawal of federal troops from the republic. [end recording) Russia: Chechnya’s Maskhadov Wants To Meet Lebed LD1507161096 Moscow Radiostantsiya Ekho Moskvy in Russian 1500 GMT 15 Jul 96 {[FBIS Translated Text] Today we managed to get [Begin Maskhadov recording] | was hoping to meet General Lebed. This did not happen. It appears that Tikhomirov and Zavgayev met him earlier. To my General Lebed has also been misinformed. not have happened if he met me after 3 have been such generals like Grachev and to end the war in two hours, capture the president’s palace in two weeks, capture Groznyy, events near Shatoy cast doubt on the si the local authorities’ scebeet dl iepetan thee ado forces stationed in Shatoy. RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 37 The situation remains tense near the villages of Gekhi and Makhkety. Approximately 300 gunmen are left in Gekhi following the death of Dokki Makhayev, their commander, who tried to break through the cordon !1 July with a group, and they are putting up extremely fierce resistance. Many people regard the execution of Lyudmila Radimushkina, head of Groznyy’s Leninskiy Rayon Administration, who was being held hostage by the separatists, as the gunmen’s revenge for Makhayev. Most likely this claim is close to the truth, but many Russian mass media mentioned the woman's death in passing, whereas Makhayev was presented as a great military leader and commander of the southwest front. Some television news programs even found it possible to show a photograph of Makhayev. This "military leader" had under him a couple of hundred gunmen, while the entire “front” consisted of a few villages under his control, behind the backs of whose residents the “Robin Hoods” would sit things out in the intervals between attacks on maternity homes. So you must not make heroes out of them. The separatists do not want peace, as evidenced by a further radio intercept: "Doctor to Said. Shoot them all. Civilian, noncivilian.... Understood.... Mine roads. Not one federal convoy must get through. We will destroy the opposition, at the rate of at least one person a day. When will the order come to halt combat operations? The command will come. They will convey it to everyone....” Russia: Resumption of Chechen Peace Talks ‘Unlikely’ LD1507141196 Moscow Russian Television Network in Russian 1300 GMT 15 Jul 96 {Report over video by correspondent Vadim Fefilov; from the "Vesti" newscast] {FBIS Translated Text] Throughout the past few days the villages of Gekhi and Mekhkety have been regarded as the most alarming trouble-spots on the map of Chechnya. Mekhkety village is situated 90 km south of the republic's capital, in the mountains, and it is virtually impossible to get to. The road is blocked by federal troos's and in certain places by the rebels as well. Kt is difficult to call the situation here peaceful. The village is sealed off on all sides by internal troop units and army subunits. However, no one can say definitely whether there are rebels in Mekhkety now. According to the military, the village was only bombed from the air last Monday. The federal command claims that a temporary headquarters of the armed opposition was destroyed in a direct hit. During their advance here into the mountains over the past week. the federal troops joined battle with the rebels pe De Keipelinn y: japan in yl is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners & RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS several times. This morning, one of the road blocks came under fire. One soldier received a bullet wound to the leg. According to our information, the troops are preparing to carry out so-called mopping up operations in Mekhkety. Thus, federal troops are again advancing further into the mountains and are digging in there. This is unlikely to please the local population and the armed opposition. And in this case the resumption of the talks process can be regarded as unlikely. [video shows view of road taken from a vehicle equipped with a large gun, shots of village in a valley surrounded by tanks and APCs on hills, shots of a helicopter and federal troop positions, further hardware, wounded soldier lying on a stretcher, two soldiers wearing bandannas] Russia: OSCE Official Says Evidence Points to Federal Attack on Village LD1607104296 Moscow Radiostantsiya Ekho Moskvy in Russian 0800 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Translated Excerpt} [passage omitted] The fact of the shelling of the village of Staryye Atagi was confirmed by Zenon [Kuchciak], deputy head of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe} Mission in Chechnya. {Begin [Kuchciak] recording] During the night the village was fired on, all the evidence pointing to artillery shelling. There are wounded and killed among the civilian population. Several houses were destroyed and some badly damaged. [end recording] [Kuchciak} also said a group of officials of the OSCE mission had gone to the village to study the situation. The situation is also extremely tense in Urus- Martanovskiy district. Deputy head of administration Magomed Dusultanov says a large number of federal troops are heading there. He does not rule out that a so-called cleansing operation may start in the district. [Begin Dusultanov recording] It is quite possible there will be a cleansing operation. But we would prefer if the cleansing operation was done jointly by the forces of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Chechen Republic jointly with the Urus-Martan internal troops and the military. We have talks with the military every day. We try to prevent more bloodshed. [end recording] However, Dusultanov said, there are practically no fighters in the district. It is now very tense in Groznyy too. At least judging by the words of Doku Zavgayev's press secretary Ruslan Martagov. [Begin Martagov recording} An important reason for the unstable situation here — the tense situation — FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 has been the very approximate observance of military ipline among some of the servicemen of the federal forces. Today we have in front of government house a surging crowd of women. This morning at dawn they rushed into an apartment and killed a father of five children. Eyewitness accounts say they were servicemen. [passage omitted] Russia: Pulikovskiy in Command During Tikhomirov Moscow Trip LD1607100096 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0858 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] GROZNYY, July 16 (Interfax) — In the absence of the commander of federal troops in Chechnya Gen. Vyacheslav Tikhomirov, who flew to Moscow Monday [15 July] for a session of the commission for a Chechen settlement, the force is led by his deputy, Gen. Konstantin Pulikovskiy. A high-ranking spokesman for the command told Interfax Pulikovskiy is “not a novice in Chechnya and does not need time to get into the know of things.” On the current situation in the republic the spokesman said federal troops pursue the remnants of routed militant groups. “Task groups are landed in the rear of the militants to destroy the last seats of separatist resistance,” the Russian officer said. He said in some cases high precision combat aviation is used. According to the federal command, the main directions of federal operations are the southwest (Urus-Martan), east (Kurchaloy) and southeast (Vedeno). The official predicted that the operation “to fully route the militants can be completed by the end of the week, if nothing stands in the way of the army.” Russia: Yeltsin Disinisses Krasnodar Administration Chief LD1507142696 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 1407 GMT 15 Jul 96 {By ITAR-TASS correspondent} {FBIS Translated Text} Moscow, 15 Jul (ITAR-TASS) — Today President Boris Yeltsin released Yevgeniy Kharitonov from the post of head of administration of Krasnodar territory “in connection with his transferral to another job.” ITAR-TASS learned this from the head of state’s press center. is report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Russia: Yeltsin Appoints Head of Krasnodar Territory Administration LD1507165896 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1645 GMT 15 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 15 (Interfax) — Russian President Boris Yeltsin on Monday [15 July) issued a decree appointing Nikolay Yegorov as head of the Krasnodar territory administration, the presidential press service told INTERFAX. Russia: Lebed, Moldova’s Diacov Discuss Dniester Settlement AU 1607085996 Chisinau BASAPRESS in English 1930 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] Moscow/Chisinau 15/07/1996 (BASA-press) — Moldovan Deputy Parliament Speaker Dumitru Diacov has met Aleksandr Lebed, secretary of the Russian Security Council, in Moscow. According to a press release from the Moldovan Em- bassy in Moscow, the two apprised each other of the socio-political situation in both states and the develop- ment of bilateral relations. Special attention was given to the situation in Dniester and progress of special status talks. Aleksandr Lebed said that the Russian leadership and he, personally, would take firm steps to encourage political dialogue between Moscow and Chisinau and Dniester problem settlement within an integral and sovereign state. Upon his return Dumitru Diacov told reporters the discussions he had in Moscow were constructive. “I could see that the new team of the President Yeltsin is concerned about the situation in Dniester and is ready to approach this problem, respecting Moldova's sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said Diacov. At the end of their meeting, Diacov and Lebed agreed to keep both sides up-to-date on the developments in Russia, Moidova and Dniester. In Diacov’s opinion, the fact that the Russian presiden- tial team is made up of people who know well the sit- uation in Moldova will intensify the political dialogue between Moscow and Chisinau and suggest a sincere and constructive solution to Chisinau'’s problems. According to Diacov, it was a private mecting. RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Russia: Far East ‘Close to Complete Blackout’ LD1607083696 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 0730 GMT 16 Jul 96 ("Russian Far East Close to Complete Blackout"— ITAR-TASS headline; by Yevgeniya Lents] {(FBIS Transcribed Text) VLADIVOSTOK July 16 (Itar-Tass) — Russian Far Eastern Primorye territory is close to a blackout as most districts of the area remained completely without electricity supplies on Tuesday. Yevgeniy Manakov, a spokesman of the Dalenergo company, the main electricity distributor, told Tass that for the first time since the energy crisis began because of immense debts maternity homes and hospitals have been switched off for several hours. Electricity supplies have been cut off completely from 08:00 hours local time to the Khasan, Lozovskiy, Oktyabrskiy and Pogranichniy districts of the region. Local enterprises have come to a standstill and coal miners were ordered to come to the surface as mine ventilation can be switched off at any moment. Manakov said all electricity-driven trolleybuses and trams can stop in several hours. The energy crisis has been quickly developing in the Primorye region since July 10 because of huge debts from consumers which amount to 1.5 trillion roubles (300 million USD) and energy producers have no money to buy fuel. On Tuesday five out of six boilers of the biggest Primorskaya power plant were stopped because of that and the energy output dropped there from 1,400 to only 30 MW. In some regions electricity is provided only to residen- tial quarters and for cight hours a day. Even off-duty units of the Pacific fleet are switched off. Local energy producers also voice concern over the situation in winter, as they are unable to accumulate the necessary fuel reserves for the heating period. Deputy chief engineer of Dalenergo Stanislav Rura told Tass that all fuel is immediately unloaded directly into the furnaces and boilers and it is impossible to make any stocks. “Primorye faces the severest winter in post-war history, without heat and light", Rura said. ae RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Russia: Terrorist Bomb Kills 1, Injures 6 in Chelyabinsk LD1507174796 Moscow ITAR-TASS World Service in Russian 1658 GMT 15 Jul 96 [by ITAR-TASS corrrespondent Yevgeniy Tkachenko] {FBIS Translated Text) Chelyabinsk, 15 Jul (Itar-Tass) — There was a explosion today near the "Urozhay” (Harvest) shop in Chelyabinsk. It destroyed a Volga car belonging to the shop’s director. The shock wave smashed the glass in windows on the first and second floors of nearby blocks of flats. The actual owner of the car, thought to be the target of the terrorist act, was elsewhere at the time of the explosion. The home-made explosive device, containing the equiv- alent of 2 kg of TNT, was filled with metal objects which made the result worse; the man nearest the car was killed, and six other innocent people, including a teenager, were taken to hospital with injuries of varying degrees of seriousness. In the sequence of events that being reconstructed, it is not being ruled out that the in Russian 1000 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Translated Text] (Correspondent Alevtina Tarasova] Voter apathy in Ryazan at the April local elections resulted in the communists winning almost all the seats in the town council. Desiring to gain control i : i F : | i } Ee H if ly att ete il ig collect signatures in support of a referendum on may- oral signatures reached the deputies’ desks, the latter were with no other option but to set a date for the refer- 22 September. Hf : FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Now the question is whether the referendum will then the Communist Party will gain absolute control over the town authorities. The municipal constitution prepared and approved by the communist deputies already casts light on the party's activities. The judiciary refused to register the constitution until some necessary changes are introduced. According to specialists, many of its articles are in direct contradiction to Russian and Ryazan region legislation and have substituted the government of local authorities, and executive authorities at that, for the notion of self-government as government of the people. The municipal constitution is aimed toward creating a system of power that would be closed from the people and confined to the town council. It looks as if in writing the constitution the deputies were guided by the old Bolshevik slogan “all power to the councils.” But if one takes into account the fact that even now the town council is under control of the town and regional committees of the Communist Party, it becomes clear whom this power may be transferred to in the future. The forthcoming September referendum Russia: Davydov Reports Results of U.S. Joint Economic Team Session LD1607071596 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0643 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text} MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — At the seventh session of the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission for Economic, Scientific and Technological Cooperation, the American side has voiced “serious intentions to invest more in the Russian economy,” Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Davydov, foreign economic relations minister told Interfax today. He noted that by the results of the seventh session and of a meeting between U.S. Vice President Albert Gore and Russian President Boris Yeltsin, scheduled for today, the American delegation intends upon its return home “to send a message” to businessmen, signalling the real chance to invigorate contacts with Russia. If Americans feel that “after Boris Yeltsin's presidential election triumph, political risks are minimal, the Russian leadership is eager to continue reforms as stability in the country is ensured,” Davydov said. He reported that this autumn Russia and the U'S. plan to hold 2 conference on taxation problems and invite Russian State Duma deputies to the forum. In is report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 elaborating the Tax Code, Davydov said, the Russian side is going to take the American experts’ comments into account. Today, the Russian-American Commission will con- tinue its work with U.S. Vice President Albert Gore at the chair. The commission will look into the prospects of coop- eration in the health service, including joint efforts in combatting emerging and recurring diseases and in sell- ing medical equipment and medicines. It is also expected to discuss ways of settling disputes in agricultural trade, building an international space sta- ion, and protecting copyrights in science and technol- ogy. Russia: Wage Debt Reaches R4.38 Billion by 24 Jun LD1607084896 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0747 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] MOSCOW, July 16 (Interfax) — In the absence of direct financing from the budgets of all levels, the wage debt reached 4.38 billion rubles {R] by June 24, 1996, which is 6 percent (253 billion rubles) up compared to May 27, Russia's State Statistics Committee told Interfax. Compared to June 17, the wage debt decreased by 7 percent. The bulk of the budget debt (72.4 percent) is owed to the social sphere branches which failed to receive 3.2 trillion rubles. Forty three percent of the debt (1.9 trillion rubles) is owed to educational establishments and 900 billion rubles (21 percent) to health centers. The debt to industrial enterprises amounts to 624 billion rubles (14 percent). Compared to the end of May, the debt increased the largest to the cultural sphere (by 24 percent) and to agriculture (by 22 percent). RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS Russia: Gazprom’s Vyakhirev Links Arrears to Election Promises MK1307115896 Moscow NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA in Russian 13 Jul 96 p2 {Report by Rustam Narzikulov: “The Result of the Elec- tion Marathon. Gazprom Fights Against Debt Forgive- ness") {FBIS Translated Text] Rem Vyakhirev, chairman of the board of RAO [Russian Joint-Stock Company] Gazprom, probably the first among the directors of Rus- sia’s leading industrial companies, summed up the re- sults of the sector’s strenuous operation during the elec- tion campaign. Formally, Vyakhirev’s press conference was devoted to the 50th anniversary of the launching of the first Soviet gas pipeline: Saratov-Moscow. The main result of the election marathon is, of course, a deepening payment crisis. According to Vyakhirev, in the past 10 days alone, debts to Gazprom have grown by 1 trillion rubles. The [overall] sum is colossal by Russian standards (approximately $200 million) but it pales next to the defaulters’ accumulated debt. It will be recalled that by spring the aggregate (internal and external) debt to Gazprom reached 58 trillion rubles, or approximately $11 billion — 3 percent of GDP. The head of the gas monopoly related the fantastic growth of debt to “the governors’ election games.” It is noteworthy that the right of regions and enterprises not to pay for gas supplies was in effect sanctioned last fall by the government, which issued corresponding executive directives on that count. Mr. Vyakhirev is very constrained in the choice of means to impact on defaulters, primarily due to po- litical considerations. The state always finds a reason Gazprom should provide commodity credits to regions and enterprises free of charge. Parliamentary elections, presidential elections, and then a serious financial and budget crisis: The list of reasons why Russia's largest company is doomed to cat away iis own assets is end- less. To all appearances now Gazprom will not be al- lowed to resort to mass bankruptcy procedures — the only thing that could frighten defaulters. The company only has a very weak hope to “squeeze” at least part of the debt out of consumers. In this context Vyakhirev said that Gazprom specialists are working on a program to overcome the nonpayment crisis. The program will be completed by late July and then will be submitted to the government. It is not ruled out that it will in some way be related to the government economic program that is being elaborated by the Economy Ministry. is report may contain ight 4 ‘ ial, Cc . and di . * is prohibited withou' permission of the copyright owners. 42 RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS If Gazprom is not allowed to use judicial procedures to recover the money, the company’s economic experts will apparently not have any other way out than to prove a clearly biased attitude by the Economy Min- istry, whose case is implicitly based on the premise: "You are rich anyway; you can put up with nonpay- ments.” Gazprom’s richness (its annual turnover is ap- proximately $25 billion) arises from its scale (one-third of the world’s gas deposits). However, if the govern- ment allows for the writing-off of, say, $10 billion out of the $25 billion worth of annual deliveries, the prospect of gas sales in both instances will be nil. There will simply not be enough money to pay for the operation in the north of Tyumen Oblast. The way the situation is shaping up, the company’s sole reliable payers will be European buyers of gas. Europe, however, buys a little more than 20 percent of the entire Russian gas output aad can certainly not support all dependents in Russia or the near abroad. Rem Vyakhirev made a rather unexpected comment on an interview by Aleksandr Kazakov, deputy pre- mier of the Russian Government and chairman of the State Property Committee, with NEZAVISIMAYA GAZETA, in which the deputy premier said that he was suspending his activity as chairma: of the Gazprom council of directors because he does not understand the “legal basis” for this presence in the company. Vyakhirev confirmed Kazakov’s statement, noting that the deputy premier could resume his activity as head of the directors council as soon as the lawyers straighten out the legal problems. The chairman of the Gazprom board did not confine himself to that statement, explaining that the presence of ranking government officials in the company is very i to it because it raises the level of trust by foreign capital in the Russian partner. Russia: Inkombank Denies ‘Serious Trouble,’ Deplores Leak MM 1507104796 Moscow IZVESTIYA in Russian 12 Jul 96 p2 [Report by Mikhail Berger: “Inkombank Believes It Faces Dishonest Competition" ] (FBIS Translated Text] On Thursday Inkombank held a press conference to deny rumors that have surfaced of late that the bank is in serious trouble and to identify the possible sources of the disinformation. The rumors of problems at the bank emerged after the press published the materials of an audit conducted at Inkombank by the Centrai Bank's Moscow office. The audit did take place, it lasted two and one-half months FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 all told, and its final conclusions, Inkombank President Viadimir Vinogradov said, do not give any reason to fear for the bank's future. On the morning of the same day Aleksandr Khandruyev, first deputy chairman of the Central Bank, said in an interview with the “Ekho Moskvy” radio station that the bank is fulfilling its obligations to clients and has a substantial safety margin. Khandruyev described the rumors of the possible appointment of a temporary administration for Inkombank as malicious lies and said that the Central Bank had begun an official investigation into the spreading of unreliable information. Inkombank also supplied journalists with figures on its activities, which very convincingly confirm the statements about the bank’s stability. The bank was checked in March by the highly authoritative KPMG auditing company. But the items on Inkombank’s problems are also based on audit materials that are now described as “initial” or unprofessional ones. The bank's leaders claim that dur- ing joint work with the auditors Inkombank representa- tives were able to show that most of the claims made in the initial version were invalid. But it was this initial version, which exists in only a few numbered copies, that reached the press. (Moreover, one agency offered a considerable amount of money to publish it.) Inkombank believes that this was definitely done with malicious intent. The audit had its quirks from the very beginning. The commission members were replaced during the audit, and nine experts from the inspection administration of the Central Bank’s Main Administration for Moscow spent 80 days working on the findings. This resulted in the controversial document that subsequently un- derwent fundamental changes. According to Vladimir Vinogradov, Valeriy Lyubenko, chief of the inspection administration of the Central Bank Main Administra- tion for Moscow, is responsible for the appearance of the substandard document which undermines the bank's reputation. It was he who passed the document, whether out of professional incompetence or out of unscrupu- lousness. Either way, it is unacceptable. Vinogradov noted that the actual audit began soon after First Vice Premier Anatoliy Chubays had said at the end of last year that all banks involved in shares-for- loans auctions must be audited. Although so far only Inkombank, which tried to contest the results of the shares-for-loans auctions in court, has been audited. Inkombank passed to the Association of Russian Banks Ethics Commission materials enabling it to get on the trail of those who are spreading disinformation. . — : heed = Covvine and di — is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Vinogradov himself hinted that some of those who in recent months have been publicly stating their political position together with a group of colleagues had a hand in this. Probably we are talking here about the statement by the “group of 13.” Russia: Factors in Banks’ Economic Problems Eyed MM1507122196 Moscow FINANSOVYYE IZVESTIYA in Russian 11 Jul 96 pp i, iii [Article by Yelena Starostenkova: "Russian Banks Sac- rificed for the Sake of Financial Stabilization") {FBIS Translated Text] The victor in the presidential election has inherited the burden of very serious eco- nomic problems. Presidential economic aide Aleksandr Livshits has stated that too few strategic decisions badly needed by the economy have been adopted as the po- litical situation during the past six months has not per- mitted this. Political tasks have overshadowed all other problems. Today people have come down to earth again . The storm has already broken. Two major Russian commer- cial banks — Tveruniversalbank and Kredobank — are in a most serious situation. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The position of at least 30 major Russian banks is judged to be not a lot better. The attemp.s to find causes for this in the activities of the bans themselves have turned out to be rather futitc. No one has turned up any serious wrongdoing. It is hardly possible to take seriously the charges that the banks are overly fond of nice offices. Or to find anything compromising in banks’ ownership structure or the system for monitoring their activities. No unlawful elements were brought to light there. It is possible that the closure of several credit lines by Western banks had a detrimental effect. But you cannot attribute the whole problem to this cause. The majority of major Russian banks are refusing point- blank to comment on the situation that has developed in connection with Tveruniversalbank’s problems. It is perhaps only the leaders of the Association of Russian Banks [ARB] who are not declining interviews. Asked about the causes and c of the serious situation in which Tveruniversalbank finds itself, ARB Vice President Vyacheslav Zakharov underlined the general serious state of the economy and industrial decline, which the banking system is no longer in a position to alleviate. He also pointed out the excessive harshness of the Central Bank's monetary policy, which is appropriate as a cold shower for an overactive economy that is growing too rapidly but is completely unsuited to the actual tasks facing the Russian economy. RUSSIA NATIONAL AFFAIRS 43 The bankers also recognize their own mistakes. They point to management problems and an excessively risky credit policy. But there is not in practice a single major factor that can be eliminated at the wave of a magic wand, by political will alone or by declarations about commitment to the economic reform policy. Whatever you take, everywhere there is a need for painstaking work which politicians of all levels should have started long ago. Legislative acts concerning the insurance of deposits and bankruptcy procedure for credit organizations have still not been finalized and adopted. The law “On Safeguarding Citizens’ Bank Deposits” was given its first reading by the State Duma in June this year. There was insufficient time for the second stage before the recess. This means that this law that is extremely important today will not be adopted earlier than October. Another law, “On the Insolvency of Credit Organi- zations,” which is intended to make fairly significant amendments to current legislative acts, is at the stage of being cleared at the State Duma subcommittee level. Given the most favorable combination of circumstances, it too can come into force no earlier than October or November. At the same time, staffers of the relevant State Duma subcommittees consider that the quick pas- sage of the law through all stages of agreement and ratification in the Russian parliament will be possible since during the coming weeks and months it will be- come crystal clear that we cannot do without the new law. We should give the politicians their due. Head of the Russian Government Viktor Chernomyrdin is to an- nounce a new economic policy any moment now. Unfor- tunately or fortunately, no surprises are expected here. A joint session of the two State Duma subcommittees responsible for drawing up banking legislation has been set for 11 July. It is possible that an agreed text of the law describing the procedures for preventing bankrupt- cies and bankruptcies specifically of credit organizations has by now already been prepared. Finally, an ARB ses- sion has been planned for the same day at which the question of unscrupulous competition in the sphere of banking will be discussed. It is, however, impossible to regain lost time and opportunities to resolve the problems painlessly. 1996 will no longer be the year when Russia extricates itself from the economic crisis. The only thing that can be considered fairly likely is that the decline in industrial production will stop. Clearly, the structural changes that are so badly needed by the Russian economy can take place only some time in the future. * may * igh 4 cal. Cc : and di . thon is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. UKRAINE International Affairs Ukraine: Kuchma Stresses Siability in Relations With Russia LD1507153596 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1459 GMT 15 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text) KIEV, July 15 (Interfax- Ukraine) — Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has emphasized the importance of stability in relations between Ukraine and Russia. He described the relations “not only as a corner-stone of Ukraine's national interests but as a more weighty global factor, the basis of security in the European and world space.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry faces a task of priority importance after the presidential elections in Russia: “to achieve final normalization of relations, to steer them onto a firm course of a partnership of good neighbors,” Kuchma said in an address to the board of the Ukrainian bef EEE it a FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 Foreign Ministry would be directly subordinate to the president. Ukraine: Kuchma Addresses Foreign Policy Priorities WS1607081596 Kiev INTELNEWS in English 0028 GMT 16 Jul 96 [Article compilied from staff and wire reports] {FBIS Transcribed Text) Though Ukraine will continue to push for full integration with the European Union, re- lations with Russia and the Commonwealth of Indepen- dent States are equally vital, President Leonid Kuchma said Monday [15 July). Kuchma’s address to the collegium of the Foreign Ministry set the country’s foreign policy direction for the future after his re-appointment of Hernadiy Udovenko as Foreign Minister. Said Kuchma: “Integration into European structures and deepening of transatlantic cooperation” is “a conscien- tious choice and strategic objective of Ukraine.” Specific objectives for the next two years include full membership in the European Union, associate membership in its defense group, West European Union, and special status with respect to NATO. “We will carry on this policy since only this way we achieve our aim—io become a full-fledged member of the European house,” Kuchma said. Ukraine must conduct a balanced and consistent foreign policy, he said, like the country’s position on nuclear arms: “The assumption by Ukraine of nuclear-free status lays the political and moral ground work for drawing the international community into general European disarmament and in the European context, the creation of a nuclear-free zone in the Central and Eastern European area.” Kuchma also set as priority improving ties with the United States and improving relations with the Group of Seven Industrialized Nations as a whole and indi- vidually. He also called for intensifying efforts join the Central European Free Trade Agreement without over- looking the other regional areas, naming the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Baltic and Northern European. But while Ukraine is committed to full integration with Western Europe, equal priority must be awarded to relations with Russian and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Kuchma said. “I cannot help mentioning another most import direction of the foreign policy, which might be given top priority due to its significance,” said Kuchma. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 According to Kuchma, Ukraine shall proceed from the — “objectively, Ukraine’s geopolitical posi- tion necessitated the attainment of a sensible, economi- cally motivated balance of our relations in the West and the East.” Kuchma described relations with Russia as “top prior- ity,” adding that “stability in relation between Ukraine and Russia is not only the cornerstone of our national interests, but also. . . a guarantee of security on the scale of Europe, and without exaggeration, the world.” The main political target of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is ensuring final agreements on splitting the Black Sea Fleet as well as defining the condition and terms for basing its Russian part in Ukraine's territory. As far as other neighbors, Kuchma called for sweeping agreements with Poland and Romania reaffirm the exist- ing borders recognized by the international community. Economic relations are not to be slighted in conduct of foreign relations, Kuchma said, citing Britain France and the United States as examples of countries whose diplomatic corps further economic growth as an equal priority: “This is a matter of our state’s survival.” Ukraine: Ministry To Discuss Power Sector Cooperation With Bulgaria WS1607101796 Lvov INFOBANK in English 0835 GMT 16 Jul 96 [From the “News Service” feature] {[FBIS Transcribed Text] Quoting its sources in the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, the INFOBANK reports that a meeting of Ukrainian and Bulgarian experts is due to take piace in August 1996 to discuss projects of mutual cooperation in the field of electric power production, as wel) as an agreement on long-term exports of Ukrainian coal for Bulgarian power industry. An agreement on Ukrainian exports of the natural gas to offset its debt to Bulgaria is expected to be signed carly August. In the field of power industry both countries intend to render support to each other in storing and transportation of nuclear materials, modernization and reconstruction of thermal and hydro electric plants, introduction of pollution-safe technologies, exchange of know-how, supplies of equipment for power plants. Ukraine wants to renew the existing contract on electricity supplies to Bulgaria. The Ukrainians are ready to receive part of payments for electricity supplies in reciprocal imports of Bulgarian equipment. Kiev is eager to increase its supplies of coal and min- ing equipment to Bulgaria in the face of a possible loss UKRAINE ot) of Bulgarian market. According to DELOVOY MIR (Business World) agency reports, the National Electric company of Bulgaria and EnergoRemont (Power Re- pairs) company (Bulgaria) signed an agreement on the modernization of VI power unit at Varna thermal plant which will allow it to operate also on the coal from the Republic of South Africa, China, and Brazil. For the last 25 years the plant could use only the coal from Don- bass. The first stage of modernization is to be over in 1997. There are plans to reequip the other power units of the Varna plant to use Russian coal. Such measures had been brought about primarily by the restrictions on the coal exports imposed early 1996 by the Ukrainian government. According to the draft bilateral agreement on coopera- tion in the power industry, Bulgaria and Ukraine will jointly run a power line connecting PivdennoUkrayin- ska nuclear power plant (Ukraine) - Isakcha (Rumania) - Varna (Bulgaria). An agreement also envisages the formation of joint companies for the sales of electric- ity and for construction, maintenance and operation of power plants. The Ukrainian debt to Bulgaria was formed as a result of non-payments for a chain of gas pipe-line facilities built by Bulgaria in 1992-1996 on Ukrainian territory within the framework of the existing agreement on the construction of a gas pipe-line from Yamburg (Russia) to Western Europe. In experts’ evaluation the amount of Ukrainian debt equals the cost of 1220 million c.m. of natural gas which Bulgaria expects to get form Kiev. On July 4 the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Videnov asked his Ukrainian counterpart Pavio Lazarenko to speed up the solution of this problem. The Bulgarians believe this issue to be crucial for the development of bilateral economic links. National Affairs Ukraine: Bomb Explodes on Prime Minister’s Route in Kiev LD1607083096 Kiev UNIAN in Ukrainian 0815 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Translated Text] Kiev — A bomb exploded on the route of Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavio Lazarenko’s car while he was travelling to Kiev's Borispol airport this morning. The explosion occurred at 0715 [0415 GMT] on 16 July near Moskovskiy Bridge between Minskiy District and Rybalskyy Penin- sula on the outskirts of Kiev. Neither Lazarenko nor any of the people travelling with him were hurt. The prime minister went on to Borispol airport and at 0800 left for Donetsk for talks with striking coal miners. 38 report may contain copyrighted maternal. Copying and dissemination is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. ae UKRAINE The Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General's Office are investigating the incident. Ukraine: Assassination Bid Prompted by Lazarenko ‘Recent Decisions’ LD1607110796 Moscow ITAR-TASS in English 1033 GMT 16 Jul 96 [By Mikhail Melnik) {FBIS Transcribed Text] KIEV July 16 (Itar-Tass) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko survived an assassination bid on Tuesday when he was heading to the airport to fly to the strike-hit Donetsk coal region. A powerful blast took place on the road to the Borispol airport of Kiev which damaged the car of the premier and an accompanying car. Lazarenko was not injured. Police said the premiers car could have been blown to pieces had it not been overtaking a passenger bus when the explosion took place. After receiving medical help Lazarenko decided to fly to Donetsk where he is to hold a conference on the situation in the coal industry in the afternoon. Sources in the Ukrainian government told Tass that the powerful explosive left a crater 1.5 metres deep and 2 metres in diameter. It is believed that the explosive device was remote-controlled. Government sources believe the assassination bid was caused by the recent decisions of Lazarenko to restore order in the coal industry and in the country in general. Police are investigating the explosion and are searching for all cars which were in the area during the biast. Ukraine: Prime Minister Escapes Injury Following Explosioa LD1607111196 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1010 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text) KIEV, July 16 (Interfax- Ukraine) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko escaped injury resulting from a powerful explosion Tuesday morning on his way to Borispol airport, but both the prime minister's car and an escort car were accompanying from where he was to fly to Donetsk for a meeting with the managers of coal-mining enterprises and trade union leaders. A powerful explosive device had been planted on the road leading to the Borispol airport, experts say. The PRIS COV 9¢ 137 16 July 1996 resulting blast carved a hole 1.5 meters deep and almost 2 meters wide in the road. Experts also believe that the explosive device was remote-controlled. One of them told Interfax-Ukraine that the prime minister's car unintentionally veered from its route as it was outrunning a passenger bus. The explosive device might have been controlled from a car which was near by. Having received medical aid, Lazarenko decided not to cancel his trip to Donetsk, where the situation in the Ukrainian coal will be discussed in the afternoon. The plane flew out to Donetsk with a delay. A source in the Ukrainian government believes that “some dislike the prime minister’s latest moves to restore order in the coal industry and in the country WS1607084096 Kiev INTELNEWS in English 0028 GMT 16 Jul 96 {"Exclusive” interview with Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavio Lazarenko by Volodymyr Katsman in Kiev on July 12 — “Special to INTELNEWS")} {FBIS Transcribed Text] Kiev, July 15. Prime Minister {INTELNEWS] What is today's situation with respect of miners strikes? {Lazarenko] I can say with satisfaction that on such had to be sold, and we found money for wages payment. A question can arise: could we do it earlier? This is a difficult question. We had to keep rules and parameters of monetary policy, not to leap over the bar of the budget deficit as of July 1.1 firmly announce: whatever thoughts, talks, opinions exist: 1 will do my best to Teport may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination & prohibited without permiscion of the copyright owners. FRIS-SOV.96.137 16 July 1996 stabilize the economy of the country by non-infkiog means. (INTELNEWS) Why did you sign the oath if you's no longer Parliament deputy? LD1607110396 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0959 GMT 16 Jul 96 (FBIS Transcribed Text] DONETSK, July 16 (Intes,,_ Ukraine) — A Ukrainian Tuesday. The government in the form of the Mijas Ministry guarantees payment of the debt to miners. UKRAINE 47 Ukraine: Miners Reject Leaders’ Agreement With Government LD1607111996 Moscow INTERFAX in English 0959 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] DONETSK, July 16 (Interfax- Ukraine) — Miners did not authorize head of the miners’ trade union Viktor Derzhak and leader of the independent trade union of Donbass miners Nikolai Volnyk to sign an agreement with the government, Chairman of the Donetsk strike committee Mikhail Krylov told Interfax-Ukraine. The Donetsk strike committee has received protocols of miners’ meetings which voice the miners’ no-confidence in the agreement. The striking miners continued to block railroads from 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. Tuesday, said Krylov. A total of 37 mines are on strike today, reports the Mining Ministry. Some 4,666 miners of a breakage face are idle. The coal losses of the night shift amounted to 35,000 tonnes. Some 23 mines are on strike in the Donetsk region, 13 mines are on strike in the Lugansk region, and one mine of the Ukrzapadugol company, the Lvov-Volynsk coal basin, is also on strike. Ukraine: Constitution ‘Victory for Common Sense’ MM1607093496 Moscow TRUD-7 in Russian which ban the stationing of foreign bases on its ter- ritory, has been postponed for 20 years. This article, UKRAINE According to Mykhaylo Syrota, chairman of the Supreme Council temporary special commission for further work on the draft constitution, the constitution’s strong point is its section on human rights and freedoms, relevant articles of the fundamental law. As for Article 10 on language, Mikhail Dmitriyevich told me that in one of the final versions of the draft “it was more suc- of the Russian language and the languages of other nationalities living on the country's territory, which is very important for many Ukrainian fellow citizens. agricultural land is reserved exclusively for citizens of Ukraine, and the constitution does not accord that right to foreigners. As private property land may be a commodity to be bought and sold, but all this must be regulated by the law. Incidentally, a further 47 laws The country’s fundamental law regulates legal norms on education, health care, and housing, and in Article 22 a sumber of times during the night of 27-28 June (whea they were adopted). The Communists yielded to the national democrats’ pressure and compromised FBIS-SOV -96-137 16 July 1996 so that sovereign Ukraine's state symbols remained as approved by parliament five years ago. According to former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk, who made considerable efforts to prevent the blocking of the Crimean articles and thus of the constitution as a whole, the statutes in the constitution on Crimean au- tonomy “are controlled by a fairly reliable mechanism.” Ukraine remains a unitary state, which means that all the normative documents of the Crimean parliament will continue to go through the Ukrainian Supreme Council and be coordinated with it. After L. Kuchma signed the edict on the referendum on the constitution 26 June, the Supreme Council was left with no alternative on 27 June but to work to a victorious conclusion, as Chairman Oleksandr Moroz put it ironically: “As Saakhov in “The Prisoner of the Caucasus’ put it, we have only two ways out: Either we go to the prosecutor’s office or to the register office.” The 15 hours of continuous work on the final wording on the draft constitution were bound to affect its quality. Many sections of it are incomplete and “unclear” and will be improved by the constitutional laws. In O. Moroz’ opinion, there are shortcomings in the articles dealing with the organization of power, the status of local self-government organs, the relationship between branches of power, and the development of the party system. On the whole the adoption of the new Ukrainian Constitution after several years of delay by parliament is a victory for common sense and the democratic forces, a blow against the forces calling for a return to the past, and a sign that there is now an extra factor for political stability in the country. At the parliamentary level, in Leonid Kuchma’s words, there is the affirmation of Ukraine’s independence and the confirmation of its sovereignty. But, as former president Leonid Kravchuk said, this is just the beginning of a new stage in Ukraine's life. “The constitution exists but people still have to learn to live by it.” s is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. 16 July 1996 Belarus Belarus: Lukashenka Cited on ‘Fraternal’ Belarus-Russia Ties MM1507143096 Moscow RABOCHAYA TRIBUNA in Russian 12 Jui 96 pl ["Own Information” report under “Official” rubric: “Be- larus and Russia Should Not Be Put at Loggerheads"] {FBIS Translated Text] “The opposition that is active in the country will not for any reason succeed in causing a confrontation between myself and Boris Yeltsin and between the republic and Russia,” Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka stated at a meeting with the republic’s mass media chiefs. At a discussion with journalists on the occasion of the second anniversary of his election to the post of president, the Belarusian leader remarked that there was far more to his relations with Yeltsin than simply close contacts between two heads of state. “To drive a wedge between Belarus and Russia means to cause a wave of discontent within Russia itself, where relations with our people are fraternal and support is always given to them,” he said. The Belarusian president went on to state that the opposition will not succeed in isolating the country from the West, which is paying more attention to the republic. In his opinion, Belarus has a fairly developed industrial potential, and once it has joined the Customs Union and is receiving investments, it may become a powerful springboard for opening up the immense Eastern market. Belarus: France To Open Credit Limes to Belarus LD1507143396 Moscow INTERFAX in English 1332 GMT 15 Jul 96 {[FBIS Transcribed Text] MINSK, July 15 (Interfax- West) — Agreements on credit lines to be opened by France to Belarus are the major result of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s visit to France, Be- Marinich told Interfax in Minsk Monday. A special commission will be created to define the amount of these credits. “In line with the preliminary agreement, the amount of the first credit line will total $200-300 million,” Marinich said. For his part, Lukashenka told Interfax that the imple- mentation of this investment project would be a kind of “breakthrough” to draw large amounts of foreign capital to the republic. In addition, Belarus signed an agreem.it with a French company providing for shipments of equipment for a WESTERN REGION 49 central heating plant in Orsha. France will also render assistance to Belarus in modernizing communication systems and their replacement for fiber optics cables. The Belarusian-French agreement on automobile trans- portation provides for simplification of the scheme of transport movement. “The European Bank for Recon- struction and Development is ready to finance such projects, primarily the modernization of the Warsaw- Brest-Minsk-Moscow highway,” Marinich said. Lukashenka’s report stating that the Belarusian parlia- ment has adopted a decree which grants land in pri- vate ownership to foreign companies involved in large investment projects was received positively in French business circles, he said. Belarus: Lukashenka Reviews Results of Visit to France WS1507134796 Minsk Radio Minsk Network in Belarusian 0400 GMT 15 Jul 96 {Interview with Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka by unidentified radio reporters; place and date not given — recorded; in Russian} {FBIS Translated Text] [Reporter] Alyaksandr Ryho- ravich, obviously one can already talk about a sort of Moscow-Paris axis via Minsk. {Lukashenka} This was an interesting turn, and I think that it was interesting not only from the official per- spective, but also from THE personal aspect, because Jacques Chirac and I had a long debate on the issue of our relations, including relations with Russian Fed- eration President Boris Yeltsin. Just as I, he also has a very good friendly relationship with Boris Nikolayevich. Therefore, from the personal perspective, this was ac- tually strengthening of, so to speak, the middle part of the axis, that is, Minsk. From the political and economic angles, again... {changes thought] While we previously had very good relations with Moscow, and we did not have any problems with the Russian Federation, now this axis has been extended to Paris. From the political perspective, I am simply very satisfied with this visit and its results. You have already learned about its results. The French president directly told you about them. As for economics, we signed five agree- ments. Millions of dollars will be invested, including in heavy industry enterprises, such as the Belvar and oth- ers. This is a concrete result. There are plans to open a credit line amounting to $200-300 million. This is also a colossal project, and if it is implemented — and I believe that it will be implemented — it will become a is prohibited without permission of the copynght owners. so WESTERN REGION great breakthrough along the Moscow-Minsk-Paris axis, in terms of investments. Therefore, from the economic perspective, we achieved a great result. Additionally, from the perspective of education and sci- ence, for us — people who are mastering the mar- ket economy — without rush, in France's manner... {changes thought] I realized again thai we should not rush. France taught us a good practical lesson. France is a country with a large share of state property which is comfortable under market conditions. Another area in which we tried to learn something from them... [changes thought] I very often say that we may hold a referen- dum on changing certain constitutional norms. We are borrowing a lot from French democracy and the French Republic. I think that [words indistinct]. We passed this exam in France quite successfully, literally all of us. [Deputy Prime Minister] Valery Kokaraw discussed in- dustries and power engineering, the minister of com- munications attracted people like a magnet [words in- distinct}, National Bank Chairman Vinnikava also held talks. Comrades Shaleynikaw and Yermakova held talks with a relevant bank. This was not only a matter of getting to know one another, but they very closely ap- proached the issue of setting up a number of joint ven- tures in Belarus. [Reporter] You certainly had to overcome a certain tension connected with attempts to create a negative image of both Belarus and its president, and (?you had to) answer certain questions. {Lukashenka} You know, I expected such questions, but to my surprise, nobody asked them. Later, I raised such questions myself, and instead of leaving they [French officials} stayed. The French president directly told me the following: We know that what the media is. However, there is real politics. [Words indistinct], we know our media. However, (?one can say) that France does not regard its relations with other states from the viewpoint of newspapers or through camera lenses. They look at real politics. Certain oppositionists who emigrated from Belarus tried to come to France, and asked for visas. The French Embassy did not make it possible for them — for which I am grateful — and they did not arrive in France. Nevertheless, I often returned {to this issue) in a purely emotional manner after another round of talks at the end of a day, and thought what do these people want. What do they want? Why do they sling mud on their own native Belarus which they love 80 much? They do not harm me; they harm the people. Thank God, and you witnessed that, we managed to overcome those information barriers, and we provided a different kind of information. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 As for the G-7, the French president was very correct. On the eve of my visit, he sent me a long letter informing me about the results of the summit of the leading states’ leaders. The first area about which he informed me was the battle against terrorism. Thank God the situation in Belarus is perhaps somewhat simpler and easier. The second area was the integration — both European and world integration. It was easy for me to talk with him because his stance is the same as mine. And when we addressed the issue of integration with the Russian Federation and the agreement (?of the three), he said that he did not see (?anything bad) here. I was pleased with the stance of both Chirac and other government members, not to mention businessmen, (?with regard to integration). There is a colossal interest in Belarus, mostly because this is not merely Belarus but a part of a customs area. Because by producing goods in Belarus one can conduct trade with all of Russia and Kazakhstan. Incidentally, when we were offered cooperation in the area of special deliveries of equipment and telecommunications, we constantly raised the issue of producing corresponding products in our country. [sentence indistinct] As for the EU, Chirac raised this issue himself, and (?frankly informed me) about tendencies which are taking place there, and at whose initiative. What was stated was the same as after my meeting with German parliamentarians: Belarus will become a member of the Council of Europe. We will do everything to support Belarus in the Council of Europe [words indistinct]. | am very pleased with this support. Belarus: Results of Prime Minister’s Lithuanian Visit Detailed WS1607081296 Minsk BELAPAN in English 0622 GMT 16 Jul 96 {FBIS Transcribed Text] Minsk, 15 July — The visit of a Belarusian government deiegation led by Prime Minister Mikhail Chyhir to Lithuania resulted in the signing of some interstate agreements. Among them were an agreement on the exchange of convicts, a regulation on a joint commission for demarcation, an agreement on the exchange of cartographical and geodesic material on the Lithuanian territory, which will be implemented on a compensatory basis. The parties also signed an agreement on temporary jabour activities, which envisages certain social guaramiees and provision of pensions to Belarusians employed in Lithuania and Lithuanians employed in Belarus. Commenting on the results of the visit, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Lithuania to Be- larus, Mr Viktoras Baublis, pointed out that short as it was, the visit was very fruitful, and that the parties is report may contain : = ep is peobiblecd wit re conned ho 4 hatin : FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 were content with its results. During negotiations be- tween the Belarusian prime minister with his counter- part Mindaugas Stankevicius and the chairman of the Lithuanian Seimas, Ceslovas Jursenas, the parties em- phasized positive trends in the development of political, diplomatic and economic relations between the coun- tries. The Lithuanian party expressed interest in Belarus’ integration into European structures as soon as possible and promised support in that. The greater part of negotiations was held in the Lithua- nian government. A Ministry of Defence group led by Minister Leanid Maltsaw held talks with a delegation of the Lithuanian defence ministry according to an in- dividual programme. The leaders of the national asso- ciations of trade cooperatives discussed the possibility of an increase in goods turnover. The prime ministers of Belarus and Lithuania exchanged exhaustive infor- mation about the economic situation in both countries. They pointed out that at present Lithuania is the fifth trade partner of Belarus and Belarus is the third partner of Lithuania, following Russia and Germany. This fact calls for measures for the improvement of the system of border check-points, a decrease in the tariffs of con- sular and customs duties, and other measures favouring the development of trade and human exchanges. The Lithuanian party proposed the unification of the forms of customs declarations in Belarus and Lithuania, an agree- ment about the mutual recognition of customs seals and a discussion of questions concerning the establishment of new check-points on the Belarusian-Lithuanian bor- der to increase its traffic capacity. The protocol of the negotiations mentions the topical problem of returning illegal migrants, which requires study and the elabora- tion of appropriate documents. During the visit the Belarusian premier met with Lithua- nian big businessmen and bankers. The main subjects of the talks were the possibility of Lithuanian investment in the Belarusian economy, and of the mutual convert- ibility of the national currencies. Belarus: Deputies Criticize Lukashenka’s Threat To Disband SupSov WS1507135796 Minsk SVABODA in Belarusian 12 Jul 96 p 2 [Article by Vital Tsyhankow: “Deputies’ Immunity?"} [FBIS Translated Text} Most parliamentarians do not re- act any longer to the presidents’s scandalous statements. However, they should. On 9 July, Alyaksandr Lukashenka “marked” his second year in office by giving an interview to editors of the official media. The interview was broadcast on Belarusian television and millions of viewers heard the WESTERN REGION 51 president’s promise to disband the parliament if deputies decide to replace Syamyon Sharetski in the post of Supreme Soviet chairman. Talk about the possible dissolution of the current Supreme Soviet has appeared in the Supreme Soviet itself. However, for the first time this issue was brought from the level of rumors and “insinuations” to the level of a public statement by the state leader. Naturally, a similar statement made by a president would prompt a government crisis in any country. However, it seems that here in Belarus legislators have developed a certain kind of immunity with regard to these kinds of situa- tions. At my request to comment on the president's statement, Supreme Soviet Chairman Syamyon Sharetski said at the beginning, jokingly: “Well, I am glad that I have such a strong supporter..." But then he added seriously: “I think that we should be guided by the Constitution. According to the Constitution, the president has no right to disband the parliament. A referendum on this issue is not of an obligatory nature, given that the question was asked for informational purposes. The results of a referendum like this do not have juridical force.” Incidentally, as SVABODA found out from well- informed sources, Sharetski is planning to deliver quite a long speech at a Supreme Soviet session today, 12 July. The attitude of a majority of people's deputies’ toward Lukashenka’s other scandalous statement is, so to say, calmly ironic. Alyaksey Kamay (from the communist faction): “I regret that a leader of this rank is considering the dissolution of the other branch of power without having the power to do so.” Answering a question on possible reasons behind those kinds of statements by the president, Kamay pointed out: “In my opinion, there are no reasons. This is only a statement which has no meaning and should be accordingly regarded. Anatol Krasutski (from the ‘Accord’ faction): I think that this is not the president's official viewpoint, but simply a political remark. I expect that the president has enough common sense so as to not violate the constitution. It happens sometimes that one experiences a surge of emotions therefore, this statement should not be regarded as an official viewpoint.” In their comments, all the deputies primarily pointed to the fact that in essence there was no serious proposa! in the Supreme Soviet to dismiss Sharetski. Let us recall that People’s Deputy Uladzimir Nistsyuk once raisedthe issue of a possible collection of signatures regarding this matter. However, the affair did not go beyond this stage. Currently, the president uses this petty incident from the parliament's life to actually blackmail the Supreme Soviet and — by driving a wedge between is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. $2 WESTERN REGION Syamyon Sharetski and the majority of deputies — to win Sharetski to his side. Myacheslaw Hryb: “I was Supreme Soviet chairman for two years. There were approximately 10 attempts during these two years to include the issue of my dismissal in the agenda. As for Sharetski, the issue of his dismissal was never seriously raised; therefore, he does not have to be defended. Besides, I do not think that relations between the president and the speaker are so close and friendly that Lukashenka will really rush to rescue Sharetski." In fact, Hryb is one of those few people's deputies whose attitude toward the president's Statement is quite serious. He does not rule out that projects to dissolve the Supreme Soviet have already been developed by the presidential structures. Stanislaw Shushkevich drew more specific conclusions from Lukashenka’s statements: “It is not worthwhile for the president to give the impression that he really Belarus: Sharetski Views Conflict With Executive WS1507120096 Minsk BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA ni Ht : i FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 [Sharetski] I cannot answer this question. It should be addressed personally to Alyaksandr Lukashenka. We sent an official invitation and received an official answer, but it does not follow from this answer that the president is ready for dialogue. [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] In your speech, you called upon the executive branch to hold a constructive dialogue. In response, you saw a sharp reaction of the president and heard accusations that parliament is not doing anything except politicking. Will this dialogue really be held? [Sharetski] I state with all responsibility that there are no unhealthy people in parliament. All the deputies were elected by the people. This means that each of us has been entrusted by the electorate with the right to present one’s personal opinion. The force and sense of parliamentarism lies in this premise. Someone's single will cannot be thrust on the representative body of power. Remember that the most significant record in the history of the United States was left not by those presidents who strengthened their authority, but by those who created conditions for the operation of parliament and found ways for constructive cooperation — Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Kennedy. Thus, parliament is a place where various opinions meet to search for optimal resolution. Parliament is the most democratic branch of power. I think that those parliaments are good which reflect the spectrum of social opinions to the greatest possible extent. Let us take, for example, the Belarusian Popular Front (BPF]. Such a social force exists in Belarus, but, due to the will of the voters, it is not represented in the Supreme Soviet. One should not pass assessments on whether this is good or bad. But, in my opinion, it would be better if [BPF leader] Paznyak was staying here, in Belarus, instead of issuing statements from Poland. Therefore, when the BPF leader expressed his wish to meet me, I readily accepted this proposal. This political activist represents not only himself, but also certain political forces. It is important for me to know his opinion, because he is supported by people, Belarusian citizens. [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] Quite a lot of accusations have recently been leveled against the deputies. Are there any clearly formulated proposals on the part of the executive power for working in cooperation with parliament? {Sharetski} Alas, there is a permanent search for nega- tive aspects in our work. All the time, the parliamen- tarians are being provoked into conflict. Let us take, for example, the well-known letter of Mr. Zamyatalin [deputy head of the Presidential Administration} regard- ing People’s Deputy Stanislaw Shushkevich [request- %s report may contain copyrighted material. Copying and dissemination is prohibited without permission of the copyright owners. FBIS-SOV-96-137 16 July 1996 ing the Supreme Soviet Presidium to examine Shushke- vich’s mental health). Was it not a provocation? As soon as we arranged everything and set to work, the deputy head of the Presidential Administration submitted an “initiative”... Or, for example, we approved all the ministers proposed by the president; we met the president halfway, although many expected a conflict. It seemed that the president should have said "thank you" to us. However, immedi- ately after, an interview by [Russian reporter] Aleksandr Nevzorov appeared, in which the parliamentarians were called “rabble.” All these events took place before my address at the session. I realized that we were appar- ently trying to establish constructive cooperation in a wrong way: the more steps we take to meet the presi- dent halfway, the less needed and valued they are. [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] The Supreme Soviet is being accused of insufficient at- tention to economic issues. Which of the draft laws submitted by the executive power have been left without consideration? {Sharetski] This is an absolutely unfounded accusation. Incidentally, of all the draft laws submitted to the Supreme Soviet by the president, those pertaining to the country’s economic development are fewest. I want to recall that some time ago the president con- sented to set up a joint commission for working out the basic directions of domestic and foreign policies. How- ever, the executive branch has recently avoided joint work, referring to the fact that it has already prepared programs, several programs, on its own. But we do not need several programs; we need one program, whose implementation can positively influence the economic situation. The president, as the head of state, should ad- dress parliament with his theses. Instead, we have been confronted with the fact that something is being worked out somewhere.... The Supreme Soviet is a supreme rep- resentative body and the only legislative body, is it not? Only the Supreme Soviet can determine the basic direc- tions of domestic and foreign policies. There is talk today about convening some assembly of the people of Belarus. What assembly? Why organize a show? There is the legislative body; its status is determined by the Constitution. Nobody has the right to ignore the basic law of the country. {[BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] In his speech, the president stated that during your recent meeting with the leader of the Russian parliament, the agreements between the presidents of Russia and Belarus were canceled. What is the point? WESTERN REGION 53 [Sharetski] As you know, there exists the pact on the creation of the Community of Sovereign States. At parliament's urgent request, the document specifies the principles underlaying this concord: the preservation of sovereignty of both states, noninterference in each other’s domestic affairs, mutual beneficial cooperation, and the preservation of territorial integrity. I do not know what agreements were made behind the official principles on which the pact was concluded. And | do not want to know them. I am guided by official agreements. All of a sudden, in a draft document prepared for signing at the Parliamentary Assembly session [in Smolensk], it was proposed to approve the provision, according to which we confirm our aspiration and even need to create iegal prerequisites for a future transfer to joint (single) citizenship. Could | sign this document? This is nothing other than a violation of the previously reached agreements. What is single citizenship? What country’s citizens would my voters be made by my signing the document? Therefore, we opposed this. I also do not know for what purpose the president pur- sued — without talking with me, an elected chairman of the parliamentary assembly — in leveling such ac- cusations, particularly since my position was supported by all the members of the Belarusian delegation and the overwhelming majority of Russian deputies. I have stated more than once and I confirm once again: it is dangerous to “erode” one’s statehood. What is more, it is necessary to consolidate ourselves around the Belarusian idea. I do not opt for “pure Belarusization.” However, the Belarusian state does exist. It should be strengthened by all the people living on our territory — Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Jews.... And by all the branches of power as weil as all political and social activists. ([BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] As is known, the Presidential Administration has elaborated guidelines to change the structure of the Supreme Soviet. It is proposed to make parliament bicameral. What is your attitude toward such ideas? (Sharetski] All these innovations should and can be con- sidered by the Supreme Soviet alone, since its author**y extends to issues of constitutional and legislative con- struction. ([BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] Never- theless, a policy has been adopted to strengthen the presidential authority. The referendum held a year ago provided the president with a moral right to dissolve parliament. pope eee maternal. Copying ing and dissemination ie prohibited wit ion af he ‘et a) WESTERN REGION {Sharetski] A similar development could turn into a Catastrophe for the Belarusian state. The mentality of our people as well as the very state system require not a presidential, but parliamentary republic. All of Eu- rope confirms this. The presidential rule is acceptable in states with a complex inner structure, like the United States or the Russian Federation. However, nobody ap- points governors, even there. The upper [parliamentary] chambers are filled by people elected by the nation. The presidential functions are to ensure the state's in- tegrity and security. Therefore, agreements with regions are concluded in Russia under the leadership of Boris Yeltsin. Democratic management actually needs the de- velopment of democracy at a regional level. This is the president's direct task — to establish normal mutual re- lations with subjects of the federation. This means a strengthening of the presidential authority, but only in performing individual functions. As for Belarus, the strengthening of the presidential authority will be nothing other than a striving for one- man management and a curtailment of democracy. [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] Never- theless, despite the constitutional principle of the di- vision of powers, we have ‘fresh’ facts of its violence. What will be your reaction to the edict on reforming NARODNAYA GAZETA? {Sharetski] Unfortunately, we are forced to admit that many steps taken by the president trespassed the le- gal framework. Some time ago, however, Alyaksandr Lukashenka promised our country one dictatorship — the law. Regarding NARODNAYA GAZETA, the Supreme So- viet will not remain without its press orgar. We will resolve this problem. [BELORUSSKAYA DELOVAYA GAZETA] Many have pinned their hopes for stabilization of the situation in Belarus on the outcome of the Russian elections. In your opinion, how may Boris Yeltsin's victory influence the situation in our country? {Sharetski] | was firmly assured of Boris Yeltsin's vic- tory, but I did not announce only for tactical reasons. Reforms in Russia, particularly in big cities and indus- trial centers, have planted quite deep roots. Just look. Moscow has never conducted construction work at such a pace! Hence, the voting results reflected the saying: we vote as we live. Almost ali the Moscow residents supported Luzhkov, supported Yeltsin. All the industrial zones supported Y