RFE/RL DAILY REPORT No. 164 August 29, 1991 SITUATION IN THE CENTER AND RSFSR COUP LEADERS CHARGED WITH HIGH TREASON. A bouquet of articles of the RSFSR Criminal Code have been unearthed by the prosecution against those involved in the coup, RSFSR radio and TV reported August 28. Among them is Article 64 on high treason that includes a provision on "conspiracy aimed at seizing power" and at overthrowing the constitutional system; this crime is punishable by imprisonment from 10 to 15 years with confiscation of property or death with confiscation of property. Other charges lodged against the junta and its collaborators vary from calls for the overthrow or change of the constitutional system by violent means, to murder (of four defenders of the RSFSR Supreme Soviet who were killed tank during the siege of the Russian White House on August 21.) GKChP members were warned about the charges they were to face in RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin's first statement as early as 9:00 a.m. on August 19. (Julia Wishnevsky) USSR SUPSOV DISCUSSES CRUCIAL RESOLUTION. This morning (August 29), the USSR Supreme Soviet is discussing a resolution on the responsibility of top Soviet powers for the coup. The resolution has been approved in general. The SupSov has also approved with passage condemning the CPSU CC's cooperation with the conspirators, despite protests of two Secretaries, Valentin Falin and Aleksandr Dzasokhov. (Julia Wishnevsky) "FARCE, DRUNKENNESS AND INCOMPETENCE" PREVAILED IN THE COUP. First Deputy Prime Minister Vitalii Doguzhiev told the USSR Supreme Soviet (and Soviet TV viewers) August 28 that former Prime Minister and GKChP member Valentin Pavlov had been heavily drunk at the crucial session of his Cabinet called to discuss the coup. On August 29, news agencies quoted The Guardian of August 28 as reporting that Gennadii Yanaev, "acting USSR President," was drunk from the beginning of the coup to the moment of his arrest. "A catalogue of farce, drunkenness, gullibility and incompetence emerges from accounts given by key sources close to the drama," The Guardian said, adding that advisers who remained loyal to Gorbachev during the coup continued operating from offices next to those of GKChP members and kept the defenders of the Russian White House informed of the junta's plans. (Julia Wishnevsky) GORBACHEV WARNS YELTSIN. USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev told the USSR Supreme Soviet that Yeltsin's constant interference in all-Union affairs is not acceptable. In his speech broadcast by Soviet TV on August 28, Gorbachev stressed that it had been proper for Yeltsin during the coup to issue decrees which touched on the responsibilities of the center, but that since the coup is over, Russia and its President must stop direct involvement in all-Union affairs. Meanwhile, RSFSR State Councilor Sergei Stankevich told Western news agencies on August 28 that Gorbachev's position is being strengthened by the republics which prefer Gorbachev to a strong Russia under Yeltsin. (Alexander Rahr) YELTSIN TAKES OVER GOSBANK, MINISTRY OF FINANCE. Soviet and Western agencies reported August 28 that Yeltsin has issued orders that require all currency and financial transactions and transactions with precious metals and stones to be approved by the relevant RSFSR authorities. RSFSR agencies are getting the entire network of the USSR Ministry of Finance, Gosbank, and Bank for Foreign Economic Relations, according to the reports. These are just the latest in a series of moves that Yeltsin has taken in an effort to establish some type of central control over economic activity in the country. (John Tedstrom) UKRAINIAN-RUSSIAN AGREEMENT. Chairman of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet Leonid Kravchuk and VicePresident of the RSFSR Aleksandr Rutskoi signed an eight-point joint communique in Kiev early this morning pledging cooperation in order to prevent the "uncontrolled disintegration" of the Union state, Western agencies reported August29. The agreement envisages setting up "interim structures" and invited "interested states that were subjects of the former USSR" to join them during this "transitional period" regardless of their current status. The two sides also agreed to recognize existing borders and exchange ambassadors. Leningrad mayor Anatolii Sobchak, who took part in the negotiations, said that the agreement meant that "the former Union no longer exists and that there can be no return to it." Rutskoi is quoted as saying that the term "former USSR" is being used for the first time and reflects existing reality. A delegation from the USSR Supreme Soviet and representatives of the RSFSR leadership flew to Kiev yesterday. (Roman Solchanyk) RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN MILITARY TIES; NUCLEAR WEAPONS. The temporary interstate treaty agreed upon by Russia and Ukraine includes a substantial military dimension. As quoted by Western agencies on August 29, the joint communique said that the two republics concurred on the "special significance of military-strategic problems (and) consider it necessary to carry out a reform of the armed forces of the USSR and to create a system of collective security." Both sides agreed "not to adopt unilateral decisions on military strategic issues." The treaty is clearly part of an emerging process that will divide defense burdens among the republics, and is directly related to an August 28 offer by Yeltsin, reported by Western agencies, to transfer all Soviet nuclear weapons in Ukraine to the RSFSR if the former should declare independence. (Stephen Foye) PANKIN APPOINTED FOREIGN MINISTER. Gorbachev yesterday (August 28) issued a decree announcing his appointment of Boris Pankin as new Foreign Minister, TASS and Western agencies reported the same day. Pankin, until now Soviet ambassador to Czechoslovakia, was the only Soviet envoy to come out against the GKChP in support of Gorbachev in the wake of last week's attempted coup. A journalist rather than a career diplomat, Pankin served from 1953 to 1965 as deputy and then chief editor of Komsomolskaya pravda, and headed the Soviet copyright agency from 1973 until 1982. He then was appointed Soviet ambassador to Sweden, where he served until his transfer to Prague last year. Komsomolka's current editor Vladislav Fronin is quoted as saying Pankin holds "progressive views." (Sallie Wise) GORBACHEV CONFERS WITH DELORS. Gorbachev spoke on the telephone with EC Chairman Jacques Delors late yesterday evening (August 28), according to TASS August 29. Gorbachev reportedly thanked Delors for the "solidarity" the EC had shown the USSR "at a crucial moment" in the country's history. According to TASS, Delors reiterated the EC's desire to do all that is needed for putting into effect the decisions already taken on rendering food and technical assistance to the USSR. Delors said he will send an EC representative to Moscow soon to discuss EC assistance in concrete terms. (John Tedstrom) YELTSIN'S STANCE ON ISLANDS. Georgii Kunadze, Vice Foreign Minister of the RSFSR, said in a Jiji press interview (August 27) that Yeltsinwould soften his position that the disputed Kurile Islands would be returned one by one over a period of 15-20 years. "It is absolutely not necessary to leave the settlement of the northern territory dispute for the next generation," Kunadze said. (Suzanne Crow) HINTS ON ISRAEL TIES. Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Belonogov said in an August 27 Interfax interview that the Soviet Union appreciated Israel's position on the recent coup in the Soviet Union. He said that reestablishing diplomatic relations between the two countries depends on the beginning of the peace process in the Middle East. He also noted that plans for a peace conference in October means the two events may "coincide in time," Interfax said. (Suzanne Crow) IGNATENKO APPOINTED DIRECTOR GENERAL OF TASS. The head of the presidential press service, Vitalii Ignatenko, has been made Director General of TASS. Appointed by Gorbachev's decree on August 28, Ignatenko replaces Lev Spiridonov who was dismissed in the aftermath of the coup. Before taking the post of Gorbachev's press secretary, Ignatenko was chief editor of Novoe vremya, and before that a deputy director general of TASS. (Vera Tolz) EGOR YAKOVLEV PLEDGES TO RID TV OF KGB AGENTS. The new chief of state TV, Egor Yakovlev, has promised to get rid of KGB employees working as journalists, Russian TV reported August 28. He said that he already has had contacts on this topic with the new KGB Chairman, Vadim Bakatin. KGB officers are working both among the journalists and in the personnel Department, he added. According to Yakovlev, Bakatin promised him that starting today (August 29), KGB officers will be recalled from the television staff and will return to their regular jobs. (Victor Yasmann) VREMYA CHANGES NAME AS PART OF TV RESTRUCTURING. The main central TV newscast, Vremya, was replaced August 28 by a new show called TV Inform. An announcer reported that the nightly show was being reformed. Aleksandr Tikhomirov also told viewers: "Let us assume that dictatorship on television has ended with the coup. Let's bring back the programs banned by [ousted state broadcast director Leonid] Kravchenko, invite the announcers who were banished from the screen, and move forward together." Indeed, two former TSN moderators, Dmitrii Kiselev and Tat'yana Mitkova, banished by Kravchenko five months ago, immediately reappeared on the screen to take part in the revamped newscast. (Vera Tolz) "600 SECONDS" WON'T APPEAR ANYMORE. The controversial show "600 Seconds" produced by Leningrad TV reporter Aleksandr Nevzorov will no longer appear on the screen, TASS reported August 28. Chairman of the Leningrad TV company, Boris Petrov, stopped broadcasting the show on the grounds that Nevzorov has been using Leningrad TV facilities without signing any official contract. Interviewed by TASS, Nevzorov (who is back in Leningrad) said the suspension of his program was a political act, a punishment for his criticism of the Leningrad city Soviet. Nevzorov also said that his program was suspended after hesigned a contract with a British TV company promising to provide it with material "on political and ideological repressions" in Yeltsin's Russia. (Vera Tolz) RSFSR TO ACCREDIT RFE/RL CORRESPONDENTS. The RSFSR will officially accredit RFE/RL correspondents and will allow the opening of an RFE/RL bureau in Moscow and offices in other parts of the RSFSR. On August 27, Yeltsin signed a decree on the matter. The decree emphasized Radio Liberty's role in informing the Soviet population about events in their own country, especially during last week's coup. (Vera Tolz) CHANGES IN THE WRITERS' UNION? Could it be that the failure of the hardliners' coup has wrought changes in the body reputed to be one of the strongest pillars of Stalinism in the Soviet Union? According to Vesti August 28, the radical reformer Yurii Chernichenko was elected earlier that day as new Chairman of the USSR Writers' Union, replacing Stalin's favored poet, Sergei Mikhalkov. The union's next congress, however, is scheduled for October and almost all its delegates belong to the ultra-conservative camp. Indeed, it was the Writers' Union that worked out what is now called the "ideological basis" for the coup. (Julia Wishnevsky) MOVEMENT FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORMS ON DISINTEGRATION OF UNION. The political council of the Movement for Democratic Reforms issued an appeal yesterday (August 28) to Soviet and Republican leaders calling for the union to be maintained, while also welcoming the emergence and consolidation of sovereign republics, Radio Rossii reported the same day. The statement noted that, given the critical state of the economy, the disintegration of the union would be a "recipe for disaster." (Carla Thorson) POPOV SUPPORTS YELTSIN ON BORDER ISSUE. Moscow mayor Gavriil Popov fully supports Yeltsin's statement that Russia reserves the right to review its borders with all neighboring republics that decide to leave the union. Popov told Soviet Central TV on August 27 that republican parliaments overstep their authority by proclaiming independence and that this issue should be a matter of a referendum. Popov said that negotiations must be held on the territories of the Crimea, Odessa, Dnestr region and Northern Kazakhstan. He stressed that Yeltsin's task is to defend Russians now living outside the RSFSR. Popov rejected the idea that all republics should share the USSR's foreign debt. (Alexander Rahr) YELTSIN MEETS RUSSIAN EMIGRES IN MOSCOW. Yeltsin has addressed delegates to the Congress of Russian Emigres which will take place in Moscow today (August 29). Participants of the Congress told RFE/RL today that Yeltsin spoke in favor of the union but with a weak center. Yeltsin also stressed the need to defend the interests of Russians living outside the republic. When asked when the Lenin Mausoleum would be removed from Red Square, Yeltsin said that the time for that has not come yet. About 800 Russian emmigrants from around the world gathered in the RSFSR parliament building to meet with Yeltsin. (Alexander Rahr) LOBOV AFFIRMS CONTROL OVER NUKES. Recently appointed General Staff Chief Vladimir Lobov told TASS on August 28 that "the strategic nuclear forces of the USSR--the Rocket Forces, the fleet, and strategic aviation--as well as the tactical nuclear weapons of the Ground Forces" remained under "firm and constant" control during and after the coup attempt. He emphasized that prevention of unsanctioned use of nuclear weapons in the USSR is guaranteed by "technical and organizational measures" and by reliable security. His comments followed similar assurances provided by Defense Minister Evgenii Shaposhnikov. (Stephen Foye) YELTSIN ORDERS DRAFT LAW ON SERVICEMEN. Yeltsin has ordered the RSFSR Council of Ministers to prepare a draft law providing social guarantees for servicemen and veterans and spelling out the terms of alternative military service, Russian TV reported on August 28. They were also asked to develop, by the end of this year, a housing program for discharged soldiers and to consider a proposal that would free servicemen in the RSFSR from having to pay income and several other taxes. A plan dealing with compensation and benefits for soldiers' wives was also ordered completed within a months time. (Stephen Foye) TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM GERMANY. Shaposhnikov told German TV on August 27 that the Soviet troop withdrawal from Eastern Germany would be completed ahead of schedule, Western agencies reported. A spokesman for Soviet Forces in Eastern Germany, however, said that independence declarations by a number of Soviet republics had complicated the withdrawal effort. There are still over 250,000 Soviet troops in Germany. Last week their commander, Colonel General Matvei Burlakov, said that the pull-out would proceed as scheduled. (Stephen Foye) ARMY BANS POLITICAL ACTIVITY IN GERMANY. The Soviet military leadership in Germany announced on the evening of August 26 that Communist Party activities among troops there would be forbidden, Western agencies reported. The statement said the order was a result of Gorbachev's August 24 decree banning political activities in the armed forces. (Stephen Foye) RSFSR KGB CHAIRMAN ON AGENCY'S FUTURE. The Russian KGB must radically change its cadre's policy, its Chairman, Victor Ivanenko, told TASS on August 28. He said he plans to implement a new cadre's policy relying on the Officer Assemblies, which will help to mold the notion of honor and dignity among KGB officers. The new principles of KGB activities is incorporated in a law on the RSFSR KGB which will presented to the republic SupSov this fall. According to Ivanenko, the participation of former KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov in the coup might be explained by Kryuchkov's loss of reality. Kryuchkov, however, had a reputation as a sober and pedantic officer. (Victor Yasmann) KALUGIN: "KGB WILL NOT SHARE FATE OF 'STASI'." All key figures in the KGB leadership must be replaced immediately and an investigation must determine their degree of guilt, former KGB general Oleg Kalugin told the new wire service, Info-Nova, on August 26. The KGB archives must be declassified in order to learn lessons for the future, he said. Despite people's spontaneous wrath against the KGB, the agency will not experience the fate of the former GDR secret service "Stasi" because its buildings and archives are safeguarded and the situation is under control, he added. Kalugin also said he will meet with new KGB Chairman Bakatin next week. (Victor Yasmann) PATRIARCH APPEALS TO USSR SUPSOV. TASS reported on August 26 that an appeal from Patriarch Aleksii II was published that day at the USSRSupSov session. Patriarch Aleksii called the deputies' attention to the fact that the Church from the first day of the putsch did not recognize the legality of theGKChP. The Patriarch mentioned his appeal of August 2O in which he demanded to hear Gorbachev's voice and stressed the fact that the Church sharply criticized the GKChP. He regretted that some clergymen, however, presented different positions. (Oxana Antic) SITUATION IN THE BALTIC STATES SWEDEN RECOGNIZES BALTS. The Baltic foreign ministers traveled to Stockholm August 28 to formally reestablish diplomatic relations with Sweden. The three met King Carl Gustav after the signing ceremony, and Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson said that embassies would be established in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius today. (Riina Kionka) GERMANY SIGNS RECOGNITION AGREEMENTS. On August 28 in ceremonies in Bonn hosted by Chancellor Helmut Kohl, German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher joined the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian Foreign Ministers, Algirdas Saudargas, Janis Jurkans, and Lennart Meri, in signing documents formally re-establishing diplomatic ties, RFE/RL's correspondent reported that day. The Balts stressed the need for the Soviet army to leave their countries. Kohl said that the republics would have to solve problems, especially economic, with the USSR through negotiations and that Germany and the EC should negotiate association treaties with them to ease the difficult adjustment to a market economy. (Saulius Girnius) RECOGNITION OF BALTIC STATES CON TINUES TO GROW. Switzerland, Austria, Finland, Cyprus, Chile, Czechoslovakia. Brazil, Georgia, and South Africa have joined the countries recognizing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania as independent states, according to Western and Baltic media reports of August 28 and 29. It is not clear if or when these countries will establish formal diplomatic relations with the Baltic States. (Dzintra Bungs) POSSIBLE COMPENSATION FOR BALTIC GOLD IN BRITAIN. Expectations have risen that the British government will compensate the Baltic States for the 460,225 ounces of gold they had held in the Bank of England before World War II, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on August 28. The gold, now worth about $272 million, was sold in 1967 to settle claims of British firms whose property had been seized by the Soviets. A British Foreign Office spokesman said that the Baltic states had not yet submitted any formal claims for compensation that would be discussed when received. (Saulius Girnius) LATVIAN CP LEADER CHARGED WITH TRYING TO OVERTHROW GOVERNMENT. On August 27 Alfreds Rubiks, formerly First Secretary of the Latvian Communist Party Central Committee, was charged with plotting to seize power from Latvia's democratically elected government. Currently, Rubiks is being held in an isolation cell of the Latvian Ministry of Internal Affairs; he is in good health and has not been mistreated, reported Radio Riga on August 28. (Dzintra Bungs) OMON DEMANDS AMNESTY. In discussions with Latvian and USSR authorities, members of OMON have said that they do not want to be disbanded or to leave Latvia. Like their colleagues in Lithuania, on August 28 the OMON unit in Latvia indicated willingness to withdraw if granted full amnesty for any crimes they committed; they threatened bloodshed if this demand is not met. Deputies Sergei Dimanis and Tatyana Zhdanok, leading members of the opposition faction of the Latvian legislature, are championing their demand for amnesty, reported Radio Riga on August 28. Thus it appears unlikely that Supreme Council Chairman Anatolijs Gorbunovs' prediction that the OMON "will be disbanded today or tomorrow" will materialize; he said this during a press conference in Riga on August 28. (Dzintra Bungs) USSR TO STOP CONSCRIPTING LITHUANIANS. On August 28 after a meeting in Vilnius with the new Soviet military commander of the Baltic district Lieutenant General Valerii Mironov, Lithuanian Supreme Council Chairman Vytautas Landsbergis told reporters that the USSR had agreed to stop conscripting youths from Lithuania, Radio Independent Lithuania reported that day. Landsbergis expressed hope that the Soviet army would begin to leave Lithuania this year, but noted that a total withdrawal from Lithuania was unrealistic until the army had finished leaving Germany. The Lithuanian government condemned the governments in Panevezys, Anyksciai, and Telsiai for taking over the local military commissariat offices before an agreement with the military had been signed. (Saulius Girnius) MERI: SOVIET TROOPS ARE UNNATURAL. Estonia's Foreign Minister Lennart Meri has called for negotiations on troop withdrawals from the Baltic States, saying that foreign troops are something unnatural and his country would not tolerate it. Meri, speaking to reporters after yesterday's (August 28) signing ceremony in Bonn, said that Estonia had to conduct a realistic foreign policy, which included taking into account the balance of power in the Baltics. He added that Estonia's duty to control its borders reflects the interests of all the states on the Baltic Sea, including the Soviet Union. (Riina Kionka) THE OMON AND ESTONIA. When asked in Bonn about the future of Soviet MVD OMON troops in the Baltics, Meri said they will have to find a better job. Troops from the OMON, created in 1988 as an elite division of the MVD with a mandate to keep public order, are stationed in Latvia and Lithuania. By the terms of an agreement last August between Estonia's Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar and then-Interior Minister Vladimir Bakatin, OMON troops are not stationed on Estonian soil. This appears to be one of the primary reasons for Estonia's having escaped much of the OMON-generated violence that has plagued its two southern neighbors. (Riina Kionka) BAKATIN HALTS KGB, AGREES TO LOCAL CUSTOMS CONTROL. Chairman of Estonia's Supreme Council Arnold Ruutel and newly named USSR KGB chief Vladimir Bakatin have reached an agreement to halt all KGB activities in Estonia, RFE/RL's correspondent reports from Tallinn. Earlier reports said the Estonian KGB chief Rein Sillar had halted activities but was waiting for a formal agreement between republic and all-Union authorities. Ruutel and Bakatin also reached agreement on a step-by-step resumption of control of Estonia's borders and customs by Estonian authorities. Ruutel's remarks came at a press conference in Tallinn on August 28. (Riina Kionka) EBRD TO THE BALTIC. A delegation from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is set to visit the three Baltic states in the next days, RFE/RL's correspondent in London reported on August 28. The EBRD delegation will assess the Baltics' economic situation and identify areas where help could be effective. (Riina Kionka) SAFE ROOM OPENED. Top Estonian officials entered a secret safe room in the president's residence at Kadrioru--known as The Fourth Room--for the first time on August 26, Paevaleht reported. The room, previously only open to KGB workers, contained equipment used to encode telephone calls among various government offices. The Kadrioru room is one of four such rooms--the other three are at the seat of government at Toompea, the ECP Central Committee building, and KGB headquarters. The KGB HQ safe room reportedly also contained equipment used to decipher calls made on any safe lines from the other three depots. Supreme Council speaker Ulo Nugis, Supreme Council Chairman Arnold Ruutel, Ruutel's press spokesman Leivi Ser, and KGB chief Rein Sillar opened the room together. (Riina Kionka) SITUATION IN THE REPUBLICS AZERBAIJANI SUPSOV TO DEBATE INDEPENDENCE. TASS reported August 28 that Azerbaijani President Ayaz Mutalibov has lifted the state of emergency declared in Baku in January, 1990, and issued decrees ordering the confiscation of some CP buildings, the creation of independent military units "to safeguard Azerbaijan's territorial security" , and the subordination to the republic's government of all all-Union enterprises on Azerbaijani territory. The Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet convenes today in Baku to discuss a declaration of independence. (Liz Fuller) GEORGIA EXTENDS STATE OF EMERGENCY IN SOUTH OSSETIA. Radio Tbilisi August 28 broadcast a decree by Georgian President Zviad Gamsakhurdia extending for a further month the state of emergency and the curfew imposed last December in the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali. In an interview published in Le Figaro August 23 Gamsakhurdia claimed that the city was in the hands of Ossetian "bandits" who had driven out the entire Georgian population. (Liz Fuller) KRAVCHUK ON UNION TREATY. At a press conference in Kiev yesterday, Ukrainian Supreme Soviet chairman Kravchuk told reporters that "today there can be no talk of a Union treaty," Radio Kiev reported August 28. In recent statements, Gorbachev has urged a speedy return to the process of negotiating a new draft of a Union treaty. The Ukrainian leader said that Ukraine will clarify its position only after the republican referendum on December 1 regarding its declaration of independence. (Roman Solchanyk) UKRAINIAN DECLARATION ON MINORITIES. The Presidium of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet issued a declaration announcing a "new era" in the development of internationality relations in Ukraine in connection with its declaration of independence. The text was broadcast by Radio Kiev August 28. It states that the Presidium has assumed the responsibility of guaranteeing that Ukrainian independence would in no way result in the violation of the human rights of anyone regardless of nationality. (Roman Solchanyk) KEBICH RESIGNS FROM CPSU. Belorussian Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kebich and his deputies have announced their resignation from the CPSU, Radio Moscow-1 reported August 28. They cited the CPSU Central Committee leadership's behavior during the attempted coup as the reason for their move. (Sallie Wise) MOLDAVIA APPOINTS DELEGATION TO NEGOTIATE ON SECESSION. On August 27 the Moldavian parliament, in connection with the republic's declaration of independence, appointed a delegation headed by president Mircea Snegur to negotiate with Moscow on Moldavia's secession from the USSR, Novosti reported August 27. On August 28 Moldavian leaders sent a message to Gorbachev asking for prompt negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Moldavia and for the control of border guards and customs posts to be transferred to Moldavia. (Vladimir Socor and Ann Sheehy) MOLDAVIA TO ELIMINATE TRACES OF COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA. The Moldavian government has issued a special order on eliminating traces of Communist propaganda in the republic, TASS reported August 28. Priority measures include the removal of all monuments proclaiming the false history of the Moldavian people, the renaming of population centers, streets, and factories, and the revamping of the displays in all museums. (Ann Sheehy) LEFT-BANK MOLDAVIANS PREVENTED FROM ATTENDING INDEPENDENCE RALLY. Moldavian Minister of Internal Affairs Ion Kostash has condemned the actions of militarized units of the left bank of the Dniester for trying to prevent left-bank Moldavians going to Kishinev to take part in the national rally on August 27 celebrating Moldavian's declaration of independence, TASS reported August 28. A number of citizens were beaten up and the Moldavian tricolor destroyed. (Ann Sheehy) DEMANDS FOR RESIGNATION OF LEADERSHIP IN CHECHENO-INGUSHETIA. In Groznyi and other parts of Chechno-Ingushetia many thousands have been demonstrating for several days demanding the resignation of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet Doka Zavgaev and the rest of the republican leadership for their "treacherous" behavior during the recent abortive coup, TASS reported August 26 and 27. The crowds have been blockading the parliament and government buildings and are in control of the mass media and telephone system. The Supreme Soviet has not yet been able to assemble a quorum to discuss a vote of confidence in Zavgaev, TASS reported August 28. Meanwhile its presidium has blamed the Executive Committee of the Chechen Congress and the Vainakh Democratic Party for the situation. (Ann Sheehy) AND ALSO IN KABARDINO-BALKARIA, BURYATIA, AND NORTH OSSETIA. In the Kabardino-Balkar capital, Nal'chik, meetings calling for the immediate resignation of the republic's leadership and the dissolution of parliament for their behavior during the recent coup have been going on for three days, Moscow radio reported August 26. In Buryatia a meeting organized by the "Democratic Buryatia" movement demanded the resignation of the local leadership on similar grounds, TASS reported August 27, and in North Ossetia six of the fifteen members of the Supreme Soviet presidium have demanded the resignation of Supreme Soviet chairman Akhsarbek Galazov, Novosti reported August 27. (Ann Sheehy) TAJIKISTAN'S ECONOMIC SOVEREIGNTY. TASS reported on August 28 that Tajik president Kakhar Makhkamov has issued a decree on the transfer to republican jurisdiction of enterprises formerly subordinate to all-Union ministries. Such enterprises may be privatized only with the permission of the Tajik government. Defense industries are not included. The Tajik government is charged with determining the republic's share in the USSR's gold and diamond reserves and national debt, and plans are being made for Tajikistan to set up its own gold and diamond reserves. (Bess Brown) MAKHKAMOV NATIONALIZES PROPERTY OF CP. The same day, TASS reported that Tajikistan's president had also issued a decree nationalizing the immovable property of the republican Communist Party, of which he is still the head. Earlier in the week, a Tajik deputy to the USSR Supreme Soviet accused Makhkamov of trying to salvage the republican CP organization under another name, because he has no intention of sharing power with the opposition. (Bess Brown) UZBEK CP BREAKS WITH CP.A plenum of the Uzbek Communist Party resolved to break the party's ties to the CPSU, TASS reported on August28. Uzbek president and CP chief Islam Karimov explained the move by repeating his earlier charge that the leadership of the CPSU had been cowardly during the coup in Moscow. He also criticized Mikhail Gorbachev, saying that a CPSU Central Committee plenum or Party Congress should decide the fate of the Party and its property. (Bess Brown) NAZARBAEV GIVES UP LEADERSHIP OF KAZAKH CP. At a brief plenum on August 28, the Central Committee of Kazakhstan's Communist Party dissolved itself and all Party committees at all levels. Republican president Nursultan Nazarbaev gave up his post as first secretary, calling on democratically-minded Communists to set up a new party. Jobs for unemployed Party apparatchiki will be found in their areas of specialization. Nazarbaev also issued a decree prohibiting state officials from holding posts in any political party. (Bess Brown) NIYAZOV WANTS TO RENAME CP. RFE/RL's Turkmen service was informed by an Ashkhabad journalist on August 28 that republican president Saparmurad Niyazov wants to reorganize the Communist Party of Turkmenistan and give it another name. He too wants to retain the Party as an administrative tool. (Bess Brown)