RFE/RL DAILY REPORT No. 162 August 27, 1991 COUP AFTERMATH--SITUATION IN THE CENTER AND RSFSR GORBACHEV ON UNION TREATY. In his address to the USSR Supreme Soviet August 26, USSR Pres-ident Mikhail Gorbachev said that, though theUnion treaty was not perfect, there should be no delay in starting to sign it. Any amendments and additions could take the form of protocols and appendices. As for the republics that did not want to sign, he said negotiations with them on independence shouldbe-gin immediately after the treaty was signed. Hemade no mention of the need to comply with the April1990 law on the mechanics of secession, on which he has insisted up to now. At the same time Gorbachev said that, since all 15 republics were interested in maintaining economic links, work on an economic agreement should begin without delay. (Ann Sheehy) OLD THINKING PERSISTS. In his remarks, Gorbachev reiterated his praise for the people of Moscow, Leningrad and Kiev for rejecting the coup. Gorbachev failed to note that crowds in Tallinn,Riga and Vilnius had also opposed the coup, and instead urged early signing of the Union treaty. Gorbachev called for negotiations on independence, and said that "breakaway republics" must provide for those who wish to leave those states. On August24, Yeltsin formally recognized the independence of the Baltic states, and urged Gorbachev to do so as well. (Riina Kionka) ENHANCED ROLE FOR SECURITY COUNCIL. Gorbachev said that on August 23 the leaders of the nine republics willing to sign the new Union treaty agreed that, in the interim period before a new constitution was adopted, the Security Council should act as an authoritative organ taking agreed decisions on major questions of administration for the whole territory of the Union. Gorbachev said it could play this role if its powers and membership were strengthened. A suitable membership would be the leaders of the republics signing the Union treaty and Aleksandr Yakovlev, Vadim Bakatin, Evgenii Primakov, Anatolii Sobchak, Gavriil Popov and Grigorii Revenko, he suggested. (Ann Sheehy) KHASBULATOV ON UNION TREATY. Acting chairman of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet Ruslan Khasbulatov told the USSR Supreme Soviet August 26 that the Union treaty was political, not a juridical document, and that juridical questions should be taken care of in the new constitution. At the same he insisted categorically that the republics of the RSFSR should sign the treaty as part of the RSFSR delegation--no other way was acceptable. Tatarstan had still not agreed to do this on the eve of the coup, and Checheno-Ingushetia had said it would not sign until or unless the question of the return of the Prigorodnyi raion of Northern Ossetia to the Chechen-Ingush republic. (Ann Sheehy) SANCTIONS AGAINST RSFSR REPUBLICS THAT SUPPORTED COUP. In his speech Khasbulatov said that the RSFSR authorities would disband the Supreme Soviets and remove the leadership of republics of the RSFSR that had supported the coup. Khasbulatov named Tatarstan, North Ossetia, and Checheno-Ingushetia. (Ann Sheehy) RUSSIA RESERVES RIGHT TO CHALLENGE BORDERS WITH REPUBLICS. In an obvious effort to discourage other republics from declaring their independence, the RSFSR said August 26 that it reserved the right to raise frontier issues with republics--apart from the three Baltic republics--that declare their independence, TASS reported August 26 citing RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin's press spokesman, Pavel Voshchanov. The RSFSR has frontiers with Belorussia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. The republics most affected would be Belorussia, Ukraine, and above all Kazakhstan, most of whose northern part is inhabited overwhelmingly by Slavs. It is these three republics that Yeltsin most wants to see remain in the Union. (Ann Sheehy) GORBACHEV ON DEFENSE ISSUES. Gorbachev admitted to the Supreme Soviet on August 26 that right-wing generals, including those in the Supreme Soviet, had long expressed their opposition to reform, foreshadowing the recent coup; he called for better constitutional control over the armed forces. Turning to the Union treaty, Gorbachev urged an agreement on the temporary disposition of military facilities in republics wanting to leave the Soviet Union.Gorbachev also said that the USSR Security Council should be revamped, but while he included the KGB head in its membership, he made no mention of representa-tion from the Defense Ministry. Finally, Gorbachev said he would sign a decree placing KGB troops un-der the control of the Defense Ministry. (Stephen Foye) RSFSR OFFICIAL CALLS FOR DEFENSE CUTS. In his address to the USSR Supreme Soviet, Khasbulatov called for sharp reductions in Defense Ministry personnel and weaponry, and for a cut in defense spending this year on the order of fifty billion rubles. He also urged that conversion of defense industries be accelerated. (Stephen Foye) MARSHAL SHAPOSHNIKOV. TASS reported on August 26 that newly appointed Defense Minister Evgenii Shaposhnikov has been promoted to Marshal (of Aviation) by Gorbachev. (Stephen Foye) KGB TROOPS WILL BE GIVEN TO ARMY. Speaking at the USSR SupSov emergency session, August26, Gorbachev announced that KGB troops will be transferred to the command of the Soviet Army. He also said that the new KGB Chairman, Vadim Bakatin, is tasked with preparing proposals for a quick reorganization of the KGB. Gorbachev stressed that provisions of the law on the KGB adopted in May should be revoked. TASS on August 26, how-ever, mentioned only the KGB Border Troops and said nothing about the KGB's Construction, Com-munications, and Special Troops. (Victor Yasmann) RSFSR SEEKS VETO OVER NUCLEAR WEAPONS USE. RSFSR Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi told a news conference on August 26 that the RSFSR is seeking joint control over the use of Soviet nuclear weapons, Western agencies reported that day. Rutskoi proposed that approval of the Russian President be required before such weapons can be used. Rutskoi said that the proposal came as a result of the recent coup, when right-wing leaders reportedly seized the release codes for nuclear weapons from Gorbachev. (Stephen Foye) ARMY'S CHIEF PROSECUTOR DISMISSED. In a decision taken jointly by Soviet and Russian judicial authorities, General Aleksandr Katusev has been dismissed as the Soviet army's Chief Prosecutor, Western agencies reported on August 26. The dismissal was announced on Soviet TV the evening of August 25 and reportedly came because Katusev was implicated in last week's failed coup attempt. Katusev had long been under fire from various civilian groups for his alleged failure to prosecute misdoings in the army. He has been especially criticized for a report that exonerated the army for the killings in Vilnius in January, and for whitewashing reports of violence and non-combat deaths in the army. (Stephen Foye) LUKYANOV RELIEVED OF HIS DUTIES. Yesterday's session of the USSR Supreme Soviet heard numerous accusations against the body's chairman, Anatolii Lukyanov, for his behavior during the coup. Speakers suggested that Lukyanov was one of the coup's organizers. Lukyanov rejected the accusations, however, saying none of the documents of the coup's organizers bear his signature. He demanded that the accusations against him be investigated. He said that under the circumstances he could not continue functioning as chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet. (Vera Tolz) SOBCHAK AGAINST IRRATIONAL DISMANTLING OF CENTRAL STRUCTURES. In his speech to the USSR Supreme Soviet, broadcast on August 26, Leningrad Mayor Anatolii Sobchak rejected the idea of abandoning Soviet central structures and warned of catastrophic consequences for people in the Soviet Union and the world if the USSR as a state would be irrationally dismantled. He said that behind the drive for independence in some republics stand interests of hardline Communists who seek to escape their prohibition in the RSFSR. Sobchak complained that debates in the parliament are focusing on deputies' personal behavior during the coup and very little is being said about the historic task of rebuilding the country. (Alexander Rahr) SOBCHAK, YAKOVLEV CRITICIZE YELTSIN'S DECREE ON CP PAPERS. Sobchak also criticized Yeltsin's order to suspend the publication of six CPSU papers, including Pravda. Sobchak said that legal regulations in closing down the periodicals were not observed in this instance. Also critical of the suspension was Aleksandr Yakovlev during his meeting with representatives of the press on August24. (Vera Tolz) SOBCHAK SAID LENINGRAD KGB DID NOT SUPPORT COUP. The Leningrad KGB rejected participation in the coup, Sobchak told Bild Zeitung on August 26. Sobchak called upon Gorbachev to stop maneuvering between the right and the left and support democratization. He criticized Gorbachev for appointing Pugo and Yanaev to the country's leadership in December of last year. Sobchak rejected the idea that he will take over a new job in the center. Sobchak stressed that his goal is to work on the revival of Leningrad. He said that Leningrad will be renamed Sankt Petersburg "within days." (Alexander Rahr) "SOYUZ" GROUP REJECTS ACCUSATIONS. Speaking at yesterday's SupSov session, leaders of the "Soyuz" group of USSR People's Deputies rejected as false accusations that the group gave "ideological inspiration to the coup." The group previously had called for Gorbachev's ouster and the introduction of a state of emergency in the USSR. In their speeches, the leaders, Yurii Blokhin, and Colonels Alksnis and Petrushenko, said they knew nothing about the coming coup; the coup organizers did not contact "Soyuz." The leaders said they advocate tough measures to solve the country's problems, but they were against the GKChP since its actions were unconstitutional. (Vera Tolz) RSFSR MINISTERS TAKE OVER FEDERAL POSTS. Eight RSFSR ministers were appointed on August 26 to head key federal institutions and ministries on a temporary basis after the dismissal of the pre-coup government, TASS reported that day. Andrei Zverev was named Chairman of the USSR Gosbank (perhaps Georgii Matyukhin is being held for something bigger?), and Igor' Lazarev is the new USSR Minister of Finance. The other appointments listed were: Aleksandr Khlystov--USSR Minister of Trade; Yevgenii Saburov--USSR Minister of Economy and Forecasting; Valerii Mangazayev--USSR Minister for Foreign Economic Relations; Valerii Telegin--Chairman of USSR Vneshekonombank; Mikhail Kuryachev--head of USSR Chamber of Commerce and Industry; and Alla Zakharova--Administrator of Affairs of the USSR Cabinet of Ministers. (Keith Bush) SUPREME SOVIET HEARS CALLS FOR AN ECO-NOMIC UNION. At Monday's session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, deputies heard calls for an economic, as opposed to a political union from both Gorbachev and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbaev. Nazarbaev said the concept of a federa-tion was no longer applicable to the USSR, and said that a looser confederation based on economic agreements was more realistic. He called for the signing of an economic agreement, saying that "to divide economically is unprofitable." Accounts of the Supreme Soviet session were carried by Western reports and TASS August 26. (John Tedstrom) GORBACHEV TAKES PROGRESSIVE STANCE ON ECONOMIC AFFAIRS. Gorbachev, meanwhile, called for removing all obstacles to free enterprise and said that economic powers must be further dele-gated to the republics. So far, that delegation of authority has applied only to the RSFSR, which has taken for itself most of the responsibilities for the country's economic management, including the all-Union banking system and several key ministries, at least until a new government is in place. Gorbachev appealed to farmers and workers in the fuel and energy sector to stay on the job at least until the political situation in the country stabilizes. Gorbachev's speech to the Supreme Soviet, reported by TASS and Western agencies, contained little in the way of specifics on economic policy. (John Tedstrom) ABOLITION OF CONSTITUTIONAL COMPLIANCE COMMITTEE? Sergei Alekseev, Chairman of the Soviet Constitutional Compliance Committee, told the Supreme Soviet yesterday (August 26), that the committee has no power and no authority and should be abandoned, TASS reported the same day. The committee was established by the USSR Supreme Soviet to identify violations of the USSR Constitution, but in light of last week's coup attempt, Alekseev proposed the establishment of a constitutional court and a small department with power to suspend any actions threatening constitutional order. (Carla Thorson) PARTY OFFICIAL COMMITS SUICIDE. Nikolai Kruchina, head of the CPSU Central Committee's Administration of Affairs Department, committed suicide by jumping from the window of his 7th floor apartment, TASS and Western news agencies reported August 26. Kruchina, who was 63, left a suicide note, but its contents have not been revealed. He has not thus far been implicated in any of the putsch activities. Kruchina was appointed to the Administration Department, which oversees the Party's budget, finances, and property, in 1983. (Dawn Mann) RSFSR LEADERSHIP WAS WARNED ABOUT COUP. On August 7, a top official from Pensa oblast told RSFSR People's Deputy Yurii Didenko that Gorbachev soon would be overthrown and that the KGB and Army were on the side of the plotters, Didenko told Vzglyad on August 23. Didenko refused to name the official. In his words, Didenko called the chief of the Pensa KGB Administration, Colonel Kosichenko, to warn him about the plot. Didenko also said he sent a cable to RSFSR State Secretary Sergei Burbulis, with the details that he knew. Didenko insisted that his message reached the RSFSR Administration. It is unclear what were the reactions of Yeltsin, who is a member of the USSR Defense Council, and of Generals Konstantin Kobets and Victor Ivanenko, who are members of the USSR KGB Collegium. (Victor Yasmann) YAKOVLEV DISCUSSES COUP LEADERS. Sources in the Kremlin apparatus told Aleksandr Yakovlev that the GKChP had lost its nerve as early as the end of its first day, August 19, Yakovlev said in an 80-minute interview broadcast by RSFSR television August 24. The problem of Soviet reactionaries, Yakovlev said, is their lack of a leader; therefore members of the GKChP wasted too much time arguing with each other. Yakovlev identified the leaders of the junta as Luk'yanov and Kryuchkov. He said that the junta's address to the Soviet people had been penned at the CPSU Central Committee and KGB. However, he shares the opinion of those believing that there may be much wiser and more ruthless people behind the junta and that these people could stage another coup. (Julia Wishnevsky) JUNTA PLANNED MASS DEPORTATIONS, YAKOVLEV SUGGESTS. In the same interview, Yakovlev revealed that the GKChP planned mass arrests and probably even executions of its opponents, and added that he had a copy of a blank form for future deportations. He cited rumors that Stalin-era camps had been cleaned up for this purpose some time ago. Early on the morning of August 19, Yakovlev recalled, he had noticed two carloads of KGB agents watching the entrances to his home. Thereupon Yakovlev called Yeltsin and escaped to the Russian White House, where he helped to organize the resistance. His son Anatolii was on the barricades the night of the military attack against the White House. (Julia Wishnevsky) ANOTHER CPSU LEADER IMPLICATED IN COUP. Party Secretary Yurii Manaenkov gave former chairman of Soviet TV and radio Leonid Kravchenko the order to broadcast the GKChP's statements, Kravchenko told Vzglyad August 26. Kravchenko said that he had met Manaenkov in the then-CC headquarters at 1:00 A.M. on August 19. When asked, Kravchenko said that he had not met Petr Luchinsky, Party Secretary responsible for media oversight, on the day of the coup. Other top Soviet media personalities have named Politburo ideologist Aleksandr Dzasokhov as the GKChP propaganda chief on August 19-21. (Julia Wishnevsky) GORBACHEV FIRES KRAVCHENKO. Kravchenko's interview came in response to Gorbachev's order to fire him as the Radio and television boss, and in view of Kravchenko's possible arrest for his role in the coup. Contrary to usual practice, it was Kravchenko who delivered the junta's documents for distribution, rather than the other way around. Kravchenko claims that he had refused to broadcast these documents unless TASS distributed them first. According to Kravchenko, he had a feeling that he would be a loser whoever won, the GKChP or Gorbachev. Had he refused to follow the junta's orders, Kravchenko argued, somebody else, probably the KGB, would have done it. Since Gorbachev had appointed him chairman of Gosteleradio last November, Kravchenko com-plained, he had neither a happy or a calm day. What made Kravchenko particularly unpopular was his closure, in early January, of the very same Vzglyad that interviewed him August 26. (Julia Wishnevsky) EDITORIAL BOARD OF SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA RESIGNS. A working collective of Sovetskaya Rossiya issued a statement August 26 protesting suspension of the newspaper's work. The statement said that the paper has never called for a coup. (In fact, the newspaper has on numerous occasions published documents suggesting the need to overthrow the legitimate power in the country.) The statement said that during the coup, the newspaper had no choice but to publish resolutions of the GKChP. It said that because the CPSU CC gave no guidelines to the paper during the coup, the Central Committee should cease to be the newspaper's founder (uchreditel'.) The entire editorial board of the paper has resigned "in order to save Sovetskaya Rossiya from complete closure," a Moscow journalist told RFE/RL on August 26. (Vera Tolz) KOROTICH RESIGNS FROM OGONEK. The coup was a serious blow not only to hard-line periodicals, but also to liberal ones. Chief editor of Ogonek Vitalii Korotich was in New York when the coup started on August 19. He reportedly decided to prolong his visit to the US and not to return until the situation became clearer. Korotich's behavior was taken very negatively by Ogonek staff members, who demanded an explanation from the chief editor. In response, Korotich sent a telegram asking to be relieved of his duties, a Moscow journalist told RFE/RL August 26. TASS reported the same day that Korotich's deputy Lev Gushchin was made chief editor of the periodical. (Vera Tolz) BURLATSKY FACES PROBLEMS. Employees of another periodical, Literaturnaya gazeta, also have questioned the behavior of their chief editor, Fedor Burlatsky. A Moscow journalist told RFE/RL that Burlatsky was in the Crimea during the coup and failed to give his newspaper any guidelines. Therefore some staff members of the weekly demand Burlatsky's resignation. The issue will be discussed today. (Vera Tolz) NOVOSTI PROTESTS YELTSIN'S ACCUSATION. On August 26, staff members of the "Novosti" information service (IAN) protested Yeltsin's decree of August 22 which accused "Novosti" of spreading disinformation during the coup. The staff members said that in fact their agency gave "objective information" during the events. (Indeed, IAN reports were relatively informative and objective during the coup.) In protest against Yeltsin's accusation the staff members decided to suspend the distribution of IAN material until the agency's good name is cleared. The same day, Gorbachev issued a decree mandating the transfer of IAN to RSFSR jurisdiction. (Vera Tolz) VREMYA AND VESTI DEMAND INDEPENDENCE. A group of journalists from Central Soviet TV demanded that an independent news service be created within the All-Union State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. To be created on the basis of the existing "TV News Service," the independent service should be given independent juridical rights. The journalists appealed to Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the RSFSR Supreme Soviet for help in implementing the project, TSN reported August 26. A similar proposal was put forward the same day by journalists of the RSFSR TV news show Vesti. Also on August 26, the RSFSR Minister of the Press and Information, Mikhail Poltoranin, supported a proposal by TASS employees to transfer this state agency into an independent information service., Vremya reported. (Vera Tolz) SHEVARDNADZE NOT INTERESTED IN JOB. In response to discussion in yesterday's (August 26) Supreme Soviet session that Eduard Shevardnadze return to his former post as foreign minister, Shevardnadze said in an Interfax interview of the same day, "who needs a minister when there is no Soviet Union?" In an August 25 interview with the Swiss weekly Sonntagsblick, Shevardnadze allowed that prior to the coup, former US Secretary of State George Schultz had assured him of "a university teaching position, a good salary and a nice apartment" should the situation in the Soviet Union become too difficult. Shevardnadze did not indicate whether the idea interested him. (Suzanne Crow) SHEVARDNADZE URGES NO EXECUTIONS. "I am not a supporter of brutal solutions," said Shevardnadze in reference to possible execution of coup leaders. "What purpose would it serve if they were to be shot? Of course they will be punished, but we already have enough brutality behind us," Shevardnadze said. (Suzanne Crow) HONECKER TO BE RETURNED? German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher said on August26 that the failure of last week's coup improves the chances that former GDR leader Erich Honecker will be returned to Germany in accordance with German extradition requests. Meanwhile, Vladimir Lukin, head of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet's Foreign Policy Committee, was quoted by the German daily Bild Zeitung (August 26) as saying the RSFSR Supreme Soviet would respond positively to a German request for Honecker. Honecker is currently living in a villa in the Caucasus. (Suzanne Crow) PLO CONGRATULATES YELTSIN. In a letter to Yeltsin published by Western agencies on August25, the PLO congratulated the RSFSR leader on his "victory for democracy" and urged him to use his influence to help the Palestinian people. Before the coup unraveled, the PLO leaders expressed support for coup--a position from which the organization is rapidly trying to distance itself. (Suzanne Crow) NO CHANGE AT USSR GOSBANK? In what may have been his last public pronouncement in that position, then-USSR Gosbank Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko told Western agencies August 23 that nothing had changed at the USSR Gosbank in the light of the attempted coup. He repeated his known position on a unified monetary and credit policy for the entire country, and criticized union republics for taking control of hard currency earned by the enterprises on their territory. Gerashchenko again called for Western credits for a stabilization fund to underpin the internal convertibility of the ruble. On August 23, the USSR Gosbank lifted the ban on the sales of hard currency to private Soviet citizens that had been imposed on August 20. (Keith Bush) MOMENTUM GROWS FOR INCREASED WESTERN AID. Senior aides from the G-7 nations are scheduled to meet in London on August 29 to reassess Western economic aid to the Soviet Union in the wake of the attempted coup. The US, German and French finance ministers are expected to visit Moscow during the next three weeks. On August 25, the Japanese government ruled out immediate large-scale financial assistance to the USSR, but did not exclude other assistance. And, on the same day, British Prime Minister John Major demanded further cuts in Soviet defense expenditure before additional Western aid could be considered. (Keith Bush) SITUATION IN THE BALTIC STATES UPDATE ON BALTIC RECOGNITION. According to Western and Baltic media of August 27, San Marino, Malta, Bulgaria, Australia, and Canada have an-nounced formal recognition of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as independent states and readiness to establish diplomatic relations as soon as possible. Leading officials from Austria, Italy, the Vatican, Czecho-slovakia, and the Netherlands have joined the growing roster of supporters for establishing diplo-matic relations with the Baltic States. (Dzintra Bungs) ICELAND FIRST COUNTRY TO SIGN AGREEMENTS. On August 26 in Reykyavik Iceland's Foreign Minister Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson and his Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian counterparts Lennart Meri, Janis Jurkans, and Algirdas Saudargas signed agreements establishing formal diplomatic relations. Iceland's Ambassador to Stockholm Sigridur Snavarr will be Ambassador to Estonia and Latvia and Ambassador in Copenhagen Ingvi Ingvarsson--to Lithuania. Estonia's and Lithuania's Ambassadors to Iceland Arvo Juergen Alas and Dalius Cekuolis will reside in Copenhagen. Joerundur Hilmarsson will act as Honorary Consul of Lithuania in Iceland. (Saulius Girnius) DANISH ENVOY ACCREDITED IN RIGA. Radio Riga reported this morning (August 27) that the accreditation of Otto Borch as Denmark's envoy to Latvia by the Latvian Supreme Council presidium had begun. For the time being, Borch is expected to serve also as Denmark's envoy to Estonia and Lithuania. He is the first foreign ambassador to be accredited by Latvia since it affirmed its independence on August 21. Upon his arrival in Riga on August 26, he was issued Latvian visa number 1 under Latvia's new visa program. (Dzintra Bungs) RETURN OF BALTIC GOLD. French Foreign Ministry special envoy Philippe Suremain arrived in Vilnius on August 26 and held talks with Lithuanian Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis, Radio Independent Lithuania reported August 27. Before leaving Paris, Suremain repeated that France would return to Lithuania and Latvia the gold they had deposited there before World War II after it formally recognizes them. Lithuania has 2.2 tons (worth about $25 million) and Latvia -1 ton. Great Britain and Sweden, on the other hand, had turned over similar Baltic gold deposits to the USSR. (Saulius Girnius) EC STUDY ON BALTIC FINANCIAL NEEDS. European Commission President Jacques Delors today (August 27) will present results of an EC study of the economies of the Baltic States, conducted in June by EC Vice President Henning Christophersen, to the EC Foreign Ministers meeting in Brussels, Western agencies reported August 26. The study estimated the immediate financial needs of the Baltic States if they became independent to be between $2.5 billion and $3 billion. An exact figure was uncertain and would depend on the pace the republics would adopt market reforms and the situation in the USSR from which they received most of their energy and raw materials. (Saulius Girnius) RAVNOPRAVIE FACTION DISINTEGRATING. Radio Riga reported on August 26 that three members of the Latvian Supreme Council's opposition faction Ravnopravie resigned. At the August 27 session of the Supreme Council, broadcast live by Radio Riga, the faction's leader Sergei Dimanis read an announcement indicating that the faction was breaking up; he said he would ask the members to sign his announcement. Ravnopravie deputies had heretofore advocated Latvia remaining a part of the USSR. In the future a new faction, calling itself "Democratic Initiative," may be formed. (Dzintra Bungs) MORE COUP FALLOUT IN ESTONIA. The Estonian government on August 25 outlawed several longtime pro-Soviet organizations for their participation in last week's coup, ETA reported the next day. The Intermovement, the Joint Council of Work Collectives and the "worker brigades" of Kohtla-Jarve and Narva are now illegal, and the government ordered criminal investigations against those organizations. The government also formally resumed control of the Narva border as of 11:00p.m.on August 25. On August 26, the government voted to approach the Supreme Council about granting the its special investigator in northeastern Estonia, Transport Minister Tiit Vahi, wide-reaching powers in his clean-up of northeastern Estonia, Radio Tallinn reported that day. The government is seeking to grant Vahi the right to dissolve local governments and organizations and dismiss municipal leaders for their support of the coup. (Riina Kionka) COUP SUPPORTERS ARRESTED, FIRED. USSR ministries responsible for three all-Union enterprises whose directors were slated for dismissal by the Estonian government last week have agreed to the firings, Estonian TV reported August 26. Dvigatel director Vladimir Jarovoi, Poogelmann chief Igor Sepelevich and Tallinn Commercial Harbor director Roman Lukoshkin have all been fired for having ral-lied their enterprises behind last week's coup. Estonian TV also reported that another Intermovement leader, Mikhail Lossenko had been arrested. (Riina Kionka) SITUATION IN THE REPUBLICS UZBEKISTAN TO DECLARE INDEPENDENCE? Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov has ordered the presidium of the Uzbek Supreme Soviet to draft a law on the independence of the republic, to be debated at a special session of the republican legis-lature. Karimov's action was reported by TASS and Radio Moscow on August 26. He also issued a decree placing MVD and KGB structures functioning in Uzbekistan under republican jurisdiction, and ordered that MVD troops stationed in Uzbekistan should answer directly to him. The same decree or-dered the depoliticization of law enforcement and judicial agencies and also of units of the Turkestan Military District stationed in Uzbekistan. (Bess Brown) NAZARBAEV TO SUPREME SOVIET: NO FEDERATION. In his speech to the USSR SupSov yesterday, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev said that there is no more chance that the USSR will continue as a federation, and a future confederation of republics will be based on economic ties. He asked for a treaty creating such a confederation to be signed as soon as possible. Although each republic will have its own defense force, there will have to be a ministry of defense of the union to protect common borders and control nuclear weapons. A central authority would also be needed to coordinate communications and transport. (Bess Brown) AKAEV ATTACKS CP. The first deputy to comment on Gorbachev's report to the USSR Supreme Soviet yesterday was Kirgiz President Askar Akaev, who compared the CPSU to a reactionary religious order of the Middle Ages, and said the Supreme Soviet bears a great deal of the blame for the coup and should dissolve itself. As the present text of the Union Treaty is a compromise between progressive and reactionary forces, it must be completely revised. He also called for a restoration of morality and ethics to politics in the country. (Bess Brown) AKAEV ON COUP. In an interview broadcast by Radio Rossii in the evening of August 26, Akaev explained his reaction, the most forceful of any Central Asian leader, to the Moscow coup. He said that the republican KGB, egged on by the republican Communist Party's Central Committee, had attempted to take power and remove him as president. Akaev retaliated by firing the KGB chief and having Yeltsin's appeal broadcast on republican TV every two hours. Akaev said that he had appealed to leaders of other republics to form a united front against the coup, but action was never coordinated. (Bess Brown) COMMUNIST PARTY TEMPORARILY BANNED IN UKRAINE. The Presidium of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet yesterday temporarily banned the activities of the republican Communist Party, Radio Kiev and Western news agencies reported August 26. The action was taken in connection with documentation indicating the Party's complicity in the attempted coup. The ban is in force while an inquiry determines the Party's role in the failed coup. On August 25, the Presidium voted to freeze all of the Party's assets in the republic. (Roman Solchanyk) UKRAINE RECOGNIZES BALTIC STATES. Ukraine has recognized the independence of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, Radio Kiev reported August 26. The action was taken by the Presidium of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been instructed to prepare the necessary documents and sign treaties with the three states regarding the establishment of diplomatic relations. (Roman Solchanyk) DEMONSTRATION IN AZERBAIJAN CALLS FOR INDEPENDENCE. Thousands of Azerbaijanis participated August 26 in a demonstration on Baku's central square organized by the Azerbaijan Popular Front and the "Independent Azerbaijan" faction to demand the lifting of martial law in Baku, the postponement of the presidential elections scheduled for September 8 and the holding of new Supreme Soviet elections on a multi-party basis, and for the declaration of Azerbaijan's independence, TASS reported August 26. (Liz Fuller) GEORGIA RECOGNIZES ESTONIAN INDE-PENDENCE. Georgia formally recognized Estonia's independence August 26 on the basis of a vote by the republic's Supreme Council, TASS reported that day from Tbilisi quoting the official Georgian news agency Sakinform. Georgian Foreign Minister Murman Omanidze has been instructed to begin negotiations with his Estonian counterpart on establishing diplomatic relations. (Liz Fuller) YELTSIN TO RECOGNIZE GEORGIAN INDE-PENDENCE? Interfax August 26 quoted Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia as affirming that Yeltsin had notified him by telephone that the RSFSR will recognize Georgia's independence "in a few days." (Liz Fuller) MOLDAVIA RECOGNIZES INDEPENDENCE OF ESTONIA, LITHUANIA, GEORGIA. Moldavian president Mircea Snegur recognized the independence of Estonia, Lithuania, and Georgia August 26, TASS reported the same day. Diplomatic relations are being established with each republic. (Ann Sheehy)