RFE/RL DAILY REPORT No. 163 August 28, 1991 COUP AFTERMATH--SITUATION IN THE CENTER AND RSFSR GORBACHEV ON UNION TREATY. In his concluding remarks to the USSR Supreme Soviet August 27, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev threatened to resign unless the republics agree to preserve the country's unity by signing a Union treaty. In an impassioned speech he called on the leaders of all republics to reflect again on what would happen if they refused to sign the treaty. He agreed that the text required amendment in the light of the attempted coup, but said this should be done quickly. He would do all in his power to assist. Gorbachev said he did not regard the recent declaration of independence by the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet as "having put a cross" on the Union treaty, but rather was a reaction to the attempted coup. (Ann Sheehy) GORBACHEV MEETS WITH REPUBLICAN LEADERS. Gorbachev met August 27 with RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Kirgiz president Askar Akaev, and Aleksandr Yakovlev. The talks, which seem to have been a response to the furor caused by Nazarbaev's call for a confederation with no central organs and Yeltsin's demand for frontier reviews if republics declared their independence, was reported by TASS August 27 to have taken place in a spirit of frankness and full responsibility. The participants are said to have expressed support for the Novo-Ogarevo process and hopes for a speedy signing of the Union treaty. The creation of national armies, with the exception of individual national guards, was rejected, particularly as the USSR is a nuclear power. Yeltsin said that territorial questions would only arise if a republic adjacent to the RSFSR seceded. (Ann Sheehy) GORBACHEV PUSHES ECONOMIC PACT. Gorbachev urged all 15 republics to sign an economic agreement on a "common economic space." The agreement was discussed at Gorbachev's meeting with republican leaders. Kirgiz president Akaev said the accord would be drafted and signed by Gorbachev and the three republics present within ten days, according to Western agency reports. Akaev said the other republican leaders were not present at the meeting because they were not in Moscow. (Ann Sheehy) YELTSIN AND NAZARBAEV MEET. A "working meeting" between Yeltsin and Nazarbaev took place in Moscow on August 27, TASS reported the same day. Nazarbaev had earlier expressed his concern at the RSFSR raising the question of a review of frontiers. The two republican presidents agreed that the Union treaty should be signed soon after it had been revised. They said that the Union government and leadership of the country should be formed on the basis of the principle of representation. The two also confirmed their intention of initiating and organizing a meeting of the leaders of all 15 republics to conclude an economic agreement. (Ann Sheehy) LUK'YANOV DENIES THE CHARGE. The USSR Supreme Soviet's former chairman Anatolii Luk'yanov addressed its extraordinary session this morning (August 28). Luk'yanov denied the charge that he was the brain behind the abortive coup, adding that he had not participated in the plot and knew that the coup was doomed. Luk'yanov said that he could not call a SupSov session either to approve or outlaw emergency rule in the USSR earlier than on August 26, a week after the coup. Luk'yanov said that the law requires no less than two thirds of each house to be present to make its decisions legal, and that it always takes at least five days to gather the deputies. According to Luk'yanov, he also wanted Gorbachev to be present at the session and claimed that he was "incapable of betraying the man whom he knew for over 40 years"--i.e., Gorbachev. He failed, however, to explain why he had not convened the body's presidium, the members of which live permanently in Moscow. (Julia Wishnevsky) KGB SPECIAL FORCE REFUSED TO OBEY PLOTTERS. The KGB anti-terrorist force "Alpha" refused to storm the RSFSR SupSov building and thus, for the first time since its creation in 1974, disobeyed an order, "Alpha"'s commander Mikhail Golovatov told TASS on August 26. The order to begin the attack was given by the former commander of the special forces, Major General Victor Karpukhin on the basis of a "government order"; the commanders of the units, however, refused to follow it because they thought it could lead to civil war. Golovatov explained that the "Alpha" officers' decision was influenced by the ideas of perestroika. He also stressed that "the biggest part of the KGB, if not the main one," did not support the plotters. He admitted, however, that "Alpha" took part in storming the Vilnius television center in January. (Victor Yasmann) SHAPOSHNIKOV ON PERSONNEL SHAKE-UP. Defense Minister Evgenii Shaposhnikov told Krasnaya zvezda on August 27 that 80% of all top Command personnel will not be replaced, as had been reported earlier (see Daily Report, August 25). He said that his statement pertained only to the Defense Ministry Collegium, believed to include the Defense Minister and all First Deputy and Deputy Defense Ministers (roughly fifteen men). Other commanders will undoubtedly be removed, but Shaposhnikov's statement may indicate that the changes will not be as sweeping as was first thought. Shaposhnikov also told German TV on August 27 that professionalization of the Soviet army would be a long process. (Stephen Foye) ON SECURITY RELATIONS WITH THE REPUBLICS. In sharp contrast to his predecessor, Dmitrii Yazov, Shaposhnikov also began immediate negotiations on August 26 with Latvia and Ukraine over the deployment, following independence, of troops and weaponry on their territories, Western agencies reported August 27 (summarizing an Interfax report). Shaposhnikov said in Le Figaro on August 27 that ground forces could be shared and transferred under the almost exclusive control of the republics' military regions. He also said that an agreement would be signed with Latvia that acknowledged the republic's sovereignty and that limited the Soviet army's role to defending its territory. (Stephen Foye) BUT NUCLEAR WEAPONS WILL NOT BE DIVIDED. In the same interview Shaposhnikov stressed that Soviet nuclear forces would remain under central command and would be controlled by either the Defense Ministry or a national security council. He reiterated that there was no danger of nuclear forces having been used during the recent coup attempt. (Stephen Foye) LOBOV INTERVIEWED. In his first public remarks since being named Chief of the General Staff, Army General Vladimir Lobov told TASS on August 27 that he supported the implementation of far-reaching military reform and a radical transformation of the armed forces. The report, which said that Lobov had most recently headed the Frunze Military Academy, also quoted him as supporting reliable sufficiency. He said that the General Staff would undergo personnel changes in the near future. (Stephen Foye) THE CROCODILE WALK. Defense Ministry aides said in Komsomol'skaya pravda on August 27 that former Defense Minister Dmitrii Yazov participated in the recent coup because once the conspirators got him to say "yes" he, like "a crocodile," couldn't "walk backwards." Lt. Gen. Valerii Manilov said that Yazov felt remorse over his actions. An unidentified aide said that Yazov had quite simply "been of another generation," and claimed that "if it hadn't been for Yazov, there would have been a hundred times more bloodshed." (Stephen Foye) MOD DENIES MOISEEV SUICIDE. The USSR Defense Ministry denied on August 27 that former General Staff Chief Mikhail Moiseev had committed suicide, Interfax reported that same day. Rumors of the suicide were also denied by the press service of the USSR President's office. (Stephen Foye) MAKASHOV ON COUP. Rossiiskaya gazeta on August 27 published what it claimed was an encoded message from the Volga-Urals Military District issued during the coup. The text expressed support for the GKChP, but urged it to deal more decisively with Yeltsin. The message was reportedly signed by the District Commander, Colonel General Al'bert Makashov and by two other general officers. The report said that eleven copies were sent, and that the recipient list included Dmitrii Yazov, Mikhail Moiseev, Konstantin Kochetov, Nikolai Shlyaga, Vladislav Achalov, Oleg Baklanov, Vladimir Kryuchkov, Valentin Pavlov, Boriss Pugo, Gennadii Yanaev, and Oleg Shenin. (Stephen Foye) NEW SOVIET BALLISTIC MISSILE? TASS, quoting an article from the August 27 Nezavisimaya gazeta, said that Moscow had completed work on the "Kuryer program," which involves a new ballistic missile "similar to the US Minuteman missile" and with a flight range of 10,000 kilometers. It was not clear from the report if the missile had yet been tested. (Stephen Foye) BAKATIN'S APPEAL TO MUSCOVITES. The new Chairman of the USSR KGB, Vadim Bakatin, has asked Muscovites not to vent their wrath against a "bunch of adventurists" on the entire KGB. Speaking on Vremya August 24, Bakatin appealed for preventing the capture of KGB buildings and archives by persons who are pursuing "improper goals." He expressed confidence that the KGB will have an opportunity to serve the interests of the people and never will be a weapon of "criminal policy." (Victor Yasmann) GORBACHEV APPOINTS NEW CENTRAL RADIO AND TV CHIEF. Gorbachev issued a decree August27 appointing chief editor of Moscow News Egor Yakovlev as chairman of the All-Union State TV and Radio Broadcasting Company. Yakovlev is replacing Leonid Kravchenko, a hard-liner. A decree also instructed Yakovlev and the RSFSR Minister for the Press and Information, Mikhail Poltoranin, to draw up proposals for reorganizing RSFSR television. (Vera Tolz) SAGALAEV CRITICIZES SUSPENSION OF COMMUNIST PRESS. More protests are being expressed against Yeltsin's decree suspending the work of Communist newspapers published in Moscow. Chairman of the USSR Journalists' Union Eduard Sagalaev said Yeltsin violated rights of individual journalists and the press law. He said that only those journalists from Pravda and other papers who cooperated with the coup organizers should be punished, but the behavior of each journalist should be investigated on an individual basis. (Vera Tolz) RABOCHAYA TRIBUNA FORGIVEN. One of the CPSU Central Committee newspapers banned by Yeltsin--Rabochaya tribuna--is to be reinstated starting today (August 28). In an interview with Radio Rossii August 27, deputy chairman of the RSFSR Federation of Independent Trade Unions Vasilii Romanov said that the newspaper had been reregistered, and now is published under the auspices of its work collective and the Federation. Romanov cited chief editor of Rabochaya tribuna Anatolii Yurkov as saying that the newspaper's staff is grateful to Radio Rossii and other democratic media for support during the days it was banned. Despite its unquestioned loyalty to Yeltsin, Radio Rossii on August 26 devoted an hour of broadcasting to protests against the banning of Rabochaya tribuna. (Julia Wishnevsky) IZVESTIA'S RESISTANCE TO COUP. More details are coming out on the resistance of Soviet journalists against the coup. Izvestia, which was among the central newspapers whose publication was allowed by the GKChP, printed two issues on August 20. The first one (No. 197) followed the orders of the GKChP reprinting its resolutions and statements. The second issue (No. 198) firmly sided with Yeltsin and condemned the coup in the August 20 issue. The second issue provided a lot of space to resistance throughout the USSR and abroad to the actions of the coup's organizers. (Vera Tolz and Julia Wishnevsky) NEVZOROV LEAVES LENINGRAD FOR ABROAD. Controversial Leningrad TV reporter Aleksandr Nevzorov, who on many occasions supported emergency measures to reimpose control and order in the USSR, has left the USSR for Scotland, Radio Rossii reported August 23. The radio said Nevzorov went to Great Britain August 22, where he has been offered a good contract to work as a TV reporter by a group of wealthy backers who want to help "a talented reporter, who is under threat of arrest" in connection with the coup. (Vera Tolz) SILAEV, RUMYANTSEV SEE NO FUTURE FOR UNION. RSFSR Prime Minister and de facto USSR Prime Minister Ivan Silaev told ABC TV on August27 that the role of the center will be "minimal" and that it will only handle the promotion of reforms and create a favorable climate for privatization and investment in those republics which want cooperate economically. He said that the present center will disappear "if not in days then in weeks." The leader of the Russian Social Democrats, Oleg Rumyantsev, stressed in a speech to the USSR Supreme Soviet broadcast by Soviet TV on August 27 that the "9+1" process has come to an end because the center turned to be a group of plotters. (Alexander Rahr) PRESIDENTIAL ENVOYS BEGIN WORK. Yeltsin has thus far named 13 of his special presidential representatives, Radio Moscow reported August26. The most recent appointee is Anatolii N. Manokhin, an RSFSR People's Deputy and member of the Russian Federation Supreme Soviet, who was named to serve in Novosibirsk oblast'. Manokhin is a laboratory chief in the Institute of Mathematics in the Siberian division of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He has spoken frequently in the legislature. (Dawn Mann) MEDVEDEV CRITICIZES GORBACHEV AND YELTSIN. "We may be gradually moving from one coup to another," People's Deputy and well known historian Roy Medvedev told TASS correspondents during the USSR Supreme Soviet session August26. He expressed concern that both the Soviet President and the RSFSR President are "overstepping their powers" by issuing decrees which contain violations of basic laws. In particular, Medvedev noted the suspension of CPSU activities and the ban on certain newspapers. (Carla Thorson) INVESTIGATION OF LENINGRAD PARTY LAUNCHED. The Leningrad prosecutor's office has instigated criminal proceedings against the Leningrad Party organization in order to determine whether any of its members were involved in the coup, TASS reported on August 27. Meanwhile a Leningrad journalist told RFE/RL that the head of the Leningrad Party organization, Boris Gidaspov, is demanding that his organization be given a new building in place of the famous Smol'nyi, which has been nationalized. The journalist also said that several district Party committees in Leningrad continue to work despite the order to close them. (Dawn Mann and Vera Tolz) PARTY PROPERTY WORTH ABOUT 4 BILLION RUBLES. Arkadii Vol'sky, a member of the new commission charged with managing economic affairs, told reporters in Moscow that CPSU property is worth about 4 billion rubles, Western news agencies reported August 26. Vol'sky also said that banning Party cells from state enterprises and agencies would leave 150,000 people unemployed. Yurii Luzhkov, the deputy mayor of Moscow and also a member of the new commission, told Vremya on August 26 that nearly all of the Party's property had been seized, its assets frozen, and its buildings and offices sealed. Vremya also reported that journalists had "stormed" the CPSU Central Committee complex in Moscow and discovered the underground passageway leading from Staraya ploshchad' to the Kremlin. The Party's archives are now in secure hands, or what's left of them, at any rate: the last truck loaded with paper was seen leaving on August 24. (Dawn Mann) MORE CONTRADICTIONS ON BESSMERTNYKH'S ROLE. Recently dismissed Foreign Minister Aleksandr Bessmertnykh on August 27 released a 3-page handwritten letter to the USSR Supreme Soviet in which, according to Western agencies yesterday, he stated that he turned down an offer to join the coup attempt on August 18. Bessmertnykh did not, however, specify whether he was approached by the conspirators before or after Gorbachev had been detained. Although he previously pleaded illness as an excuse for his low profile during the coup, Bessmertnykh said in the letter that he was in his office during the coup trying to prevent damage to the USSR's relations with foreign countries. Former Deputy Prime Minister Vladimir Shcherbakov, however, yesterday claimed that Bessmertnykh, along with Lukyanov, took part in a meeting of coup leaders in the Kremlin August 18 and initialled the state of emergency order, according to today's New York Times. (Sallie Wise) ZAMYATIN ALSO DENIES COLLABORATION. Leonid Zamyatin, a longtime Foreign Ministry survivor who is presently Soviet ambassador to Great Britain, declared in a letter to The Independent published August 27 that rumors of his "wavering" during the coup are "absolutely false." Zamyatin'sdenial, however, contradicts reports last week that he had sought to convince British Prime Minister John Major that Gorbachev in fact was ill. (Sallie Wise) POSSIBLE CANDIDATES FOR FOREIGN MINISTER. An unidentified foreign ministry official told Interfax (August 27)EduardShevardnadze's name is most often cited as the best candidate for foreign minister. Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Petrovsky and Soviet UN Ambassador Yulii Vorontsov are other possible candidates. A separate Interfax report (August 27) quoted an unidentified foreign ministry official as saying morale at the MFA is very low. "Each new day of uncertainty undermines the [MFA] organizationally and causes staff members to leave." (Suzanne Crow) GRAIN IMPORTS CONTINUE. The General Director of Eksportkhleb, Oleg Klimov, told a Western agency August 23 that the USSR hoped to step up grain imports in the near future. He disclosed that the USSR had purchased 34 million tons of grain from the West during calendar year 1990 and 22 million tons during the first half of 1991. (This is rather more than Western agencies had calculated, and suggests that transportation, port, and handling facilities could cope with up to 45 million tons of imported grain in a year). Klimov made a plea for the unfreezing of credits for the purchase of grain. (Here there should be no problem, as Western producer countries are anxious to sell). (Keith Bush) SAUDI ARABIAN CREDIT. Saudi Arabia has extended a credit line of $1.5 billion to the USSR, The Times reported August 23. This is part of the $5billion package pledged by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to Moscow as a reward for its stance during the Gulf war. (Keith Bush) SITUATION IN THE BALTIC STATES BALTIC RECOGNITION ROUNDUP. According to Western agency dispatches of August 27 and 28, the following members of the European Community, which had not done so earlier, have extended diplomatic recognition to the Baltic States: Belgium, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. Albania and Sweden also recognized the independence of the Baltic States on August 27, while New Zealand accorded recognition on August28. On August 26, Uruguay recognized Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as independent states and indicated that it had named its ambassador to the USSR as envoy to the Baltic States. The Vatican announced that it would reopen its diplomatic offices in the Baltics as soon as possible. (Dzintra Bungs) EC RECOGNIZES BALTIC STATES. Belgian Foreign Minister Mark Eyskens announced on August 27 that the 12 nations of the European Community have recognized Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as independent states. The EC statement notes that "its member states confirm their decision to establish diplomatic relations with the Baltic States without delay." The statement adds that it is time that "these states resume their rightful place among the nations of Europe" and that the "Community and its member states look forward to the early membership and participation of the Baltic States in all relevant international organizations, such as the United Nations, CSCE, and the Council of Europe." (Dzintra Bungs) GORBACHEV, ALKSNIS CRITICAL OF BALTIC RECOGNITION. Radio Riga reported on August 27 that earlier that day, when asked about international diplomatic recognition of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, Gorbachev replied curtly that such moves were overly hasty. USSR Supreme Soviet Deputy Andrejs Cirulis also reported that Gorbachev had insisted at that day's Supreme Soviet session that republics wanting to secede from the USSR must do so in accordance with Soviet law. Cirulis interpreted this statement as a return to the strict stance that Gorbachev had taken on this issue before the attempted coup. Another USSR Supreme Soviet Deputy, hardline Colonel Viktor Alksnis, said "the Balkanization process of the Soviet Union is becoming inevitable." Dzintra Bungs) FRANCE, GREAT BRITAIN FAVOR UN MEMBERSHIP FOR BALTICS. According to Western agency reports of August 27, France and Great Britain want to co-sponsor the admission of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the United Nations. US Deputy Ambassador to the UN, Alexander Watson, said that the Baltic States have not yet requested UN membership. (Dzintra Bungs) SOVIET TROOPS TO STAY IN BALTICS. Defense Minister Shaposhnikov told RFE/RL on August 26 that, for the time being, Soviet troops would remain in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. He expected a USSR-Baltic agreement on the stationing of Soviet troops in the Baltics and added that after Moscow reaches accords with the US on the reduction of strategic weapons and with Germany on the withdrawal of troops, it will be easier to reach agreement with those Soviet republics which have declared their sovereignty. In response, Estonian Foreign Minister Lennart Meri pointed out that he remembered that the USSR had intended not to withdraw its troops from the former East Germany, but that these troops now were being withdrawn. (Dzintra Bungs) BALTS IN OSLO. Baltic foreign ministers Algirdas Saudargas (Lithuania), Janis Jurkans (Latvia), and Lennart Meri (Estonia) continued their triumphant tour of Europe when they signed recognition agreements with Norway on August 27 in Oslo, agencies reported. Norway plans to send an ambassador to the Baltic on September 1. (RiinaKionka) ANOTHER COUP IN THE OFFING? While in Oslo, Estonian Foreign Minister Meri warned that there may be another coup attempt in two or three weeks, according to agencies. Meri said he fears that "reactionary forces" will try again, and urged all countries to recognize the Baltic States right away. (Riina Kionka) BALTIC FOREIGN MINISTERS IN BONN. The foreign ministers then flew to Bonn August 27 for lunch with German Foreign Minister Hans Dietrich Genscher, RFE/RL's correspondent reported that day. At a subsequent press conference Genscher announced that Germany would in part compensate for its signing of the Hitler-Stalin Pact by establishing formal diplomatic relations with the Baltic States tomorrow (August 29). The Balts also had separate meetings with the Baden-Wurtemberg authorities, members of the German-Baltic Parliamentary Friendship Circle, CDU parliamentary leader Alfred Dregger and Socialist International President Willy Brandt. A meeting with Chancellor Helmut Kohl is scheduled for August 28. (Saulius Girnius) 10-NATION BALTIC COUNCIL? On August 27 leaders of the German and Danish Social Democratic Parties Bjoern Engholm and Svend Auken launched a joint initiative to set up a 10-nation Baltic Council, Western agencies reported that day. The members would be the RSFSR, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. Finnish Foreign Minister Paavo Vaeyrynen said that Finland was ready to organize a preparatory meeting of the group and felt that the already established cooperative groups working on Baltic Sea environmental issues provided a framework for the Baltic Council. (Saulius Girnius) TARTU KGB HANDS OVER WEAPONS. The KGB chief in Estonia's second city Tartu handed over his weapons on August 27 to the local police chief, RFE/RL's correspondent in Tallinn reported that day. Anti Talur handed over revolvers, rifles, ammunition, ammunition belts and other equipment--including about 20 personal weapons--to the head of the Tartu police prefecture Gero Kartau. A city commission, headed by Indrek Koolmeister, will meet on August 28 to begin discussions on disposing the rest of the Tartu KGB's assets, including the archives and the building. The commission is supposed to deliver a report by October 1. (Riina Kionka) INTERMOVEMENT CLAIMS INNOCENCE. Representatives of Estonia's Russian nationalist anti-reform organization Intermovement now claim that they have never obstructed Estonian independence, Paevaleht reported on August 27. Vladimir Vinogradov told reporters that the group has never fought Estonian state independence, but that "we have only ever stood for the equal rights of Estonia's citizens." The Intermovement has, with the support of Soviet central authorities, actively worked against Estonia's drive to independence since its inception in 1988. (Riina Kionka) LITHUANIA DEMANDS SOVIET ARMY PULLOUT. On August 27 the Lithuanian Supreme Council passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all Soviet armed forces from Lithuania. The resolution bases the demand on the clearly expressed will of the majority of Lithuania's population, noting that the stay of the army "is a relic of World War II." The resolution asks the US, Great Britain, and France resolutely to support the demand and appeals to UN member states to do the same. The Lithuanian government was authorized to conduct negotiations with the Soviet authorities on setting up a timetable for the withdrawal. (Saulius Girnius) CONFLICTING REPORTS ON LITHUANIAN CONTROL OF BORDERS. On August 27 Radio Independent Lithuania announced that Lithuania had taken control of its borders including the customs post at Lazdijai. Western agencies, however, reported on August 28 that although Lithuanian officials at Lazdijai had issued about 1,000 visas, Soviet border guards, formally under the command of the KGB, were not recognizing them and were demandingSoviet visas. Long lines of traffic have formed on both sides of the border and some foreign journalists from Warsaw tried in vain to enter Lithuania without Soviet visas. Confusion seems to reign: The New York Times of August 28 noted that a traveller without a Soviet visa was allowed by the guards in Leningrad to fly to Vilnius where there were no Lithuanian or Soviet customs officials on duty. (Saulius Girnius) SITUATION IN THE REPUBLICS UKRAINE ON BORDER ISSUE. The Presidium of the Ukrainian SSR, meeting August 27, reacted to the statement August 26 from Yeltsin's press secretary regarding the RSFSR's right to raise border questions with those republics--apart from the three Baltic States--that declare their independence, Radio Kiev and Ukrinform-TASS reported August 27. According to the report, Ukraine has raised the issue with the RSFSR Supreme Soviet and is seeking a clarification. The Presidium's press center issued a statement saying that Ukraine has no territorial claims with regard to the RSFSR or other republics. Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Ukrainian Supreme Soviet Chairman Leonid Kravchuk said that "territorial claims are very dangerous." He also said that he had spoken with Yeltsin and that the Russian leader had promised to "give a clarification of the press secretary's statement." The Ukrainian opposition movement "Rukh" issued a statement saying that the Russian position on border questions "is an attempt to divide our Fatherland." (Roman Solchanyk) KRAVCHUK LEAVING PARTY. Kravchuk said yesterday that he was quitting the Communist Party, Western news agencies reported August 27. The Ukrainian leader said that he had made his decision on August 19, the day that the failed coup began. That morning, according to Kravchuk, he received a threatening visit from General Valentin Varennikov, commander of Soviet ground forces. Kravchuk said that he realized then that Varennikov was representing the Communist Party, not the army. (Roman Solchanyk) UKRAINIAN CP IMPLICATED IN COUP. Radio Kiev reported August 27 that the parliamentary opposition in Ukraine has documentation showing that the republican Communist Party was directly implicated in the failed coup. Documents found in Lvov and dated August 18 are said to show that instructions were given to all oblast Party committees to support the coup. It has also been revealed that Lvov Obkom first secretary Vyacheslav Sekretaryuk flew to Moscow on August 18 where he held consultations with former USSR Minister of Internal Affairs Boriss Pugo. Other documents reveal that Ukrainian Party First Secretary Stanislav Hurenko issued orders in support of the coup leaders. (Roman Solchanyk) MOLDAVIA PROCLAIMS ITS INDEPENDENCE. On August 27 an extraordinary session of the Moldavian parliament unanimously adopted a declaration of independence, TASS and Western agencies reported the same day. Deputies representing the Russian and Gagauz population did not attend the session. The declaration requested international recognition of the republic's independence and membership of the United Nations and CSCE. (Ann Sheehy) MORE ON MOLDAVIAN INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION. The Moldavian parliament urged the government to start talks on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Moldavian territory, and said it would debate the formation of a national guard. Prime Minister Valeriu Muravschi claimed that Moldavia could be economically viable as it produces more than it consumes. The parliament decided that the new national anthem should be "Romanians Awake," a 19th century patriotic Romanian anthem declared Romania's national anthem following the collapse of the Communist regime. Several prominent speakers, including former Prime Minister Mircea Druc, said Moldavia's independence can only be an "intermediate stage of future unification with Romania." (Vladimir Socor) UZBEK CP CONSIDERS INDEPENDENCE. Interfax reported on August 26 that the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan has proposed that the republican party break with the CPSU. The issue is to be discussed at a plenum of the republican CP's Central Committee. Proposals to change the name of the Uzbek Communist Party have also been made. As is the case in some other Central Asian republics, President (and Party chief) Islam Karimov seems to be trying to salvage the Communist Party's administrative structure and role as the best-organized political force in Uzbekistan. (Bess Brown) TURKMEN DEPUTY DEFENDS PERFORMANCE OF REPUBLIC DURING COUP. At yesterday's (August 27) session of the USSR Supreme Soviet, Turkmen deputy Maral Amanova said Turkmenistan's leadership did nothing about the Moscow coup because they had too little information about what was going on. Yeltsin's appeal of August 19 reached the republic only on the evening of August 20. The Turkmen media stopped disseminating the orders of the junta the following day. Amanova boasted that the government of Turkmenistan did not carry out a single one of the junta's orders, and Turkmen President Niyazov kept military units out of Ashkhabad. Niyazov has resigned from the CPSU Politburo, Amanova said. (Bess Brown) TAJIK DEPUTY ATTACKS MAKHKAMOV. Tajik deputy Davlatnazar Khudonazarov, head of the USSR Cinematographers' Union, told the USSR Supreme Soviet on August 27 that Tajik President Kakhar Makhkamov had told a local journalist on August 19 that he supported the coup in principle. Khudonazarov said that he feared that the planned separation of the Tajik Communist Party from the CPSU will be the cover for a regrouping of conservative forces in the republic under another name. Later in the session another deputy read out a telegram of denial from Makhkamov. (Bess Brown) MAKHKAMOV CALLS FOR CENTRAL ASIAN COOPERATION. In an appeal to the people of Tajikistan issued on August 27 and reported by TASS the same day, Makhkamov asked that there be no witch hunts against individuals on grounds of their political affiliation, warning that it is no time for society to split on political or religious lines. Makhkamov said that the cooperation agreements recently signed by the leaders of the five Central Asian republics should be put into effect as soon as possible in order to stabilize the economic and political situation in the USSR. Tajikistan is still willing to enter into a union of sovereign republics, but not to be pushed around. (Bess Brown)