RFE/RL DAILY REPORT No. 170 September 6, 1991 USSR--ALL-UNION TOPICS AND RSFSR CONGRESS VOTES TO ABOLISH CENTRALIZED POWER. By dint of forceful chairmanship, Mikhail Gorbachev rammed the decisions he wanted through the USSR Congress of People's Deputies on September 5 and, with that, the Congress ended its 4-day extraordinary session. The Congress approved (1) creation of a new two-chamber USSR Supreme Soviet; (2) creation of a State Council, made up of President Gorbachev and the leaders of the republics, which will assume executive power during the transition period; (3)abolition of the post of USSR Vice-President and establishment of new succession procedures aimed at ruling out a repetition of last month's coup; (4) establishment of an inter-republican Economic Council; (5) preservation of the parliamentarians' status and privileges; (6)convention of the new USSR Supreme Soviet by October 2; (7) empowerment of the new Supreme Soviet to make amendments to the constitution (heretofore the exclusive prerogative of the Congress). Gorbachev failed to get approval for only one measure: the Congress refused to dissolve itself but, in light of (7), there should be no further need to convene the Congress. (Ann Sheehy and Elizabeth Teague) STATE COUNCIL STARTS ITS WORK. The first act adopted by the State Council, the new Soviet governing body consisting of the USSR President and the leaders of the union republics, was the recognition of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, TSN reported this morning (see below). (Julia Wishnevsky) NO MILITARY PARADE ON NOVEMBER 7. According to TSN on September 6, USSR Defense Minister Evgenii Shaposhnikov has said that there will be no military parade on November 7 this year. Last year, it was the decision to hold a parade on November 7 against the will of republican govern-ment, especially the Baltic states, that triggered tensions which later served as a pretext for military involvement in internal politics. (Julia Wishnevsky) BAKATIN JOINS MDR LEADERSHIP. The August31 issue of Trud reported that the Political Council of Eduard Shevardnadze's Movement for Democratic Reforms has several new members, including new KGB chairman Vadim Bakatin, economist Pavel Bunich, USSR Journalists' Union head Eduard Sagalaev, Bakatin's deputy Nikolai Stolyarov, USSR Minister of the Chemical Industry Salambek Khadzhiev, and playwright Mikhail Shatrov. (Julia Wishnevsky) COUP LEADERS IN JAIL. Genrikh Padva, one of Anatolii Luk'yanov's defense lawyers and an opponent of the coup, said on central TV newscasts on September 4 that although Luk'yanov was probably the junta's ideologist, was no more guilty of treason that Friedrich Nietzsche was guilty of the crimes of the Nazis and that therefore Luk'yanov should be released. The same newscasts reported that four of the accused--Oleg Baklanov, Valerii Boldin, Valentin Varennikov and Oleg Shenin--have started to cooperate with investigators. The August 31 issue of Trud claims that former Prime Minister Valentin Pavlov has filled his prison cell with legal literature and is studying the laws in order to defend himself. (Julia Wishnevsky) RSFSR PROSECUTOR ON COUP INVES-TIGATION. On September 6, CNN broadcast live a news conference with RSFSR State Prosecutor Valentin Stepankov and other top RSFSR officials investigating the organizers of the coup. So far, twenty-one criminal cases have been started in connection with the coup, and fourteen persons (including four top KGB officials) have been arrested and charged with high treason. Former chairman of the USSR Supreme Soviet Anatolii Luk'yanov was formally charged with high treason on September 5. It is not yet clear whether the trial of the junta will be open since much classified information is involved, a prosecutor in charge of the case said. (Julia Wishnevsky) GROMOV SACKED. General Boris Gromov, considered in recent years by Western experts as most likely military man to stage a coup, was on vacation when the August 19-21 coup occurred but has been sacked anyway. The London Times on September 5 quoted Gromov as saying that the putschists had asked him to join them on August20 but that he resolutely rejected their offer. Gromov said that he will protest his firing from the post of first deputy interior minister, and complained that nobody believes he had nothing to do with the coup. (Alexander Rahr) SOVIET SESSIONS IN CRIMEA, KURSK. The Crimean ASSR Supreme Soviet has dismissed its entire presidium and elected a new one, Izvestia reported September 3. But its chairman, Mikola Bagrov, who was elected in April 1990, survived a no confidence vote by a margin of 40 votes. Bagrov is also the first secretary of the oblast' Communist Party committee. Izvestia also reported that the Kursk oblast' soviet has accepted the resignation of its chairman, Aleksandr Seleznev. Seleznev, who was elected in March 1990, has been the first secretary of the Kursk oblast Party committee since January 1988. The soviet also dismissed the chief editor of the newspaper, Kurskaya pravda, for having published the documents issued by the State Committee for the State of Emergency as well as supporting commentaries. (Dawn Mann) NEW JOBS FOR PARTY UNEMPLOYED. Komsomolskaya pravda of September 5 reported that a private company named Elbrus, located in Cherkessk, is hoping to hire some of the Communist Party's now unemployed functionaries. The former apparatchiks will have to learn the business from the shop floor up, beginning with welding and hammering--Elbrus makes ornamental metal plaques; the salary is 1000 rubles per month. (Dawn Mann) SAD TIMES AT THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. Central Television's "TSN" news show broadcast a report on September 5 on what's happening to CPSU Central Committee employees. All will receive their salaries till September 23. Since the Party did not contribute to any public employment fund, there is apparently some question as to whether unemployed CC workers will be eligible for any unemployment compensation. If they are, they will receive an average of 269 rubles a month. The Moscow Labor Exchange is helping some to find new jobs--in some cases, at even higher salaries than the CC paid. (Dawn Mann) DESTRUCTION OF PARTY ARCHIVES DOCUMENTS REPORTED IN LENINGRAD. In the period between August 21 and August 23, "all the secret documentation" (apparently that related to the coup) was destroyed in the Leningrad Oblast Party Committee, Interfax reported September 5. The agency said that the destruction started after the local Party organization received a secret instruction on the issue from the CPSU CC. The same day, deputy KGB chief Nikolai Stolyanov told a Moscow press conference that the agency will not for the present open the archives of Stalin's prison camps, AP reported. He said not only the relatives of those who were put to death for no reason are still alive, but there are also relatives of those who took part in the repression. (Vera Tolz) FALIN ON COUP. In an interview broadcast on the European satellite channel Sat 1 on September 3, CPSU Secretary Valentin Falin said that Gennadii Yanaev, Valentin Pavlov, and possibly Dmitrii Yazov were drunk when they began the coup. Falin himself was summoned from his dacha to a meeting of the CPSU Secretariat on the morning of August19; Politburo member Oleg Shenin was in charge of the CPSU during the coup because Gorbachev's deputy, Vladimir Ivashko, was ser-iously ill. Falin added that he and others demanded to meet with Gorbachev but Shenin told them not to ask too many questions. Falin stressed that he had publicly opposed the appointment of Pavlov as Soviet Prime Minister last year. (Alexander Rahr) CENTRAL APPARATUS OF KGB WAS DRIVING FORCE OF COUP. The KGB officials who were prime movers in the coup were the chief of the KGB's Information and Analysis Administration, Valerii Lebedev; Aleksandr Red'kin, head of the Inter-Ethnic Relations Department; and the senior officers of Administration "Z" (Protection of Constitutional Order) Gennadii Dobrovol'sky, Aleksandr Kobyakov, Igor Perfil'ev, Yurii Denisov, and Aleksandr Moroz, according to Lt. Col. Yurii Kichikhin in Novoe Vremya, No. 35. Kichikhin describes the officers' activities in initiating the coup, but says that many mid-level and junior officers effectively sabotaged the directives of their superiors. The same thing happened in KGB military counter-intelligence and Second Main Administration. (Victor Yasmann) MORE ON ADMINISTRATION "Z". The Administration for the Protection of Constitutional Order controls all aspects of domestic sociopolitical and economic activities, according to Kichikhin, who formerly worked there. It monitors inter-ethnic conflicts, riots, Soviet-Western joint ventures, and numerous cultural and charity foundations, but not those created or sponsored by the CPSU apparatus. Administration "Z" also has a network of agents in the mass media and public organizations, which allows it to direct as well as monitor political processes in the country, explained Kichikhin. (Victor Yasmann) CONFERENCE ON COORDINATION OF CENTRAL AND REPUBLIC KGBs. KGB chairman Vadim Bakatin told a conference of republican KGB chairmen that one of the agency's main goals is a radical change in the structure of state security , while retaining its intelligence-gathering, counter-intelligence and anti-terrorism capabilities, TASS reported on September 5. According to a document on division of functions between the central and republican security apparatus that was presented to the conference, the All-Union KGB will keep its present role in personnel, financial and technical issues. Sergei Stepashin, head of the State Commission investigating the KGB role in the coup, warned that disbanding the security services in some Eastern European countries had seriously undermined their national security. The same process has begun in Latvia, but the USSR KGB will not leave its "honest officers" on the dole, he added. (Victor Yasmann) OPINION POLL ON THE COUP. The evening news program TSN on September 4 reported the results of a poll on the coup taken by the All-Union Center for Public Opinion Research in various cities of the RSFSR. In response to the question, "who do you think supported the coup?", 32% said, "those who don't understand politics," while 12% said, "those who want order," and only 3% responded, true patriots. When asked whether the Communist Party was responsible for the coup, 32% thought only the leadership while another 32% said only the apparatus, and 12% said the entire party. 50%of respondents were in favor of outlawing the CPSU while 30% were opposed. And when asked how they felt about Gorbachev, 39% were sympathetic, 23% indifferent, 17% felt respect and 12% contempt. The report did not indicate the sample size or the error margin of the poll. (Carla Thorson) PUBLIC OPINION OF THE NEW USSR. Radio Mayak reported September 5 on another poll taken by the Center for Socio-economic Research on September 3, in which 1,236 people in cities of the RSFSR, Ukraine, Belorussia, and Uzbekistan were asked about the proposal for new USSR institutional structures made by Gorbachev and 10 republican leaders. 30% didn't know about the proposal while 48% approved and 8% did not. The survey also asked about the popularity of certain leaders. Yeltsin took first place with 45% of those polled. Gorbachev was next with 19%, and then Sobchak with 13%. 3% considered Bakatin and Yakovlev the most popular, and 2% chose Shevardnadze, Nazarbaev and Rutskoi. This report also did not indicate the error margin. (Carla Thorson) SHAPOSHNIKOV ON REPUBLICS, DRAFT. Speaking to journalists at the USSR Supreme Soviet on September 5, Defense Minister Evgenii Shaposhnikov called for a unified army but proposed that republican leaders draw up draft conceptions containing suggestions on the exact structure that it will take in the future, TASS reported. He suggested that republican and military leaders meet again in Moscow after these draft proposals have been studies. Shaposhnikov also said that the military draft should continue to be enforced in all republics until the existing Soviet constitution is changed. Only students would be excepted. (Stephen Foye) MAKASHOV OUT: NEW MILITARY COMMANDER NAMED. A new commander has been appointed for the Volga-Ural Military District, TASS reported on September 5. He is Lieutenant General Anatolii Sergeev, who, since 1988, had been serving as Chief of Staff of the Odessa Military District. Sergeev was born in 1940. He succeeds Colonel General Al'bert Makashov, a vice-presidential candidate in the RSFSR presidential election and a notorious conservative. (Stephen Foye) DEIDEOLOGIZATION TO CONTINUE. Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin said the USSR plans to rethink relations with Cuba. "Our relations will be reconsidered" and will undergo "additional study," Pankin said at a news conference on September 5. He also said that the political changes in the Soviet Union suggest that "a different kind of economic relations" with Cuba would be in order. Pankin said Soviet policy toward Ethiopia and Albania would also be studied, Western agencies reported. (Suzanne Crow) MIDDLE EAST ISSUES. Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksandr Belonogov stressed that the USSR has not changed its position on the importance of convoking an international Middle East peace conference, TASS reported September 5. Meanwhile, Evgenii Primakov, Gorbachev's adviser and prominent envoy to the Middle East during the Persian Gulf crisis, said that "Middle East issues have retreated and do not now have a place in our current thinking." Primakov said in an interview with Al-Sharq al-Awsat September 4 that the internal situation in the USSR is dominating everyone's attention. (Suzanne Crow) PANKIN TO UN. Boris Pankin may lead the Soviet delegation to the UN General Assembley, Interfax reported September 5. He is expected to arrive no later than September 21 and plans to speak to the assembly on September 24. (Suzanne Crow) USSR--OTHER REPUBLICS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES REGISTERED. The Ukrainian Central Electoral Commission has officially registered the first four candidates in the elections scheduled for December1, according to reports from Kiev. They are Vyacheslav Chornovil, chairman of the Lvov Oblast Council; Levko Lukyanenko, head of the Ukrainian Republican Party; Yurii Shcherbak, head of the Ukrainian Green Party and Minister of Ecology; and Oles' Berdnyk, a writer and head of the Ukrainian Spiritual Republic movement. (Roman Solchanyk) UKRAINIAN "AMBASSADOR" TO RUSSIA. The Presidium of the Ukrainian Supreme Soviet yesterday adopted a resolution creating a Ukrainian mission in the RSFSR, Radio Kiev reported September 5. The post was established in accordance with the Ukrainian-Russian treaty signed last November. People's deputy Volodymyr Kryzhanivs'kyi was named Ukraine's first envoy in the RSFSR. (Roman Solchanyk) UKRAINIAN MILITARY DOCTRINE. According to the September 6 issue of Izvestia, the Ukrainian political organization "Rukh" has elaborated a military doctrine for the republic. A Postfaktum correspondent quotes Vitalii Chechilo, chairman of "Rukh's military collegium," as saying that Ukraine's army would be structured on principles of "reasonable sufficiency, professionalism, and departyization." Ukraine will be a neutral, nuclear-free state, and will not join any military structures. He estimated that the army would be composed of some 350,000 troops and be based on air-mobile divisions without offensive arms. He called for a transition period during which Ukrainian forces would continue to cooperate with Soviet forces. (Stephen Foye) GEORGIAN PROTESTS CONTINUE. Demon-strations demanding the resignation of Georgian President Zvaid Gamsakhurdia continued September 5 for the fourth consecutive day. The presidium of the Georgian parliament halted publication of several Georgian language newspapers September 5, ostensibly because of an acute paper shortage, and replaced them with a single new paper; it also banned the export from Georgia of food, industrial goods, building materials and timber. TASS September 5 quoted the Georgian Presidential Press service as alleging that two former government ministers replaced last month had been plotting against the Georgian leadership. (Liz Fuller) AZERBAIJANI PRESIDENT SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT. Russian television September 5 reported an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Azerbaijani president Ayaz Mutalibov, the sole candidate in the republican presidential elections scheduled for September 8. Adherents of the Azerbaijan Popular Front say that organization is being held responsible for the incident by the Azerbaijan authorities. It is not known when or in what circumstances the attempt took place or whether Mutalibov was injured. Geidar Aliev, newly elected chairman of the Nakhichevan Supreme Medzhlis, has said that Nakhichevan will boycott the presidential election because Mutalibov is the only candidate. (Liz Fuller) UZBEK INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION SUMMARIZED. On September 5 TASS published a summary of Uzbekistan's declaration of independence, which was published that day in the republican press. In the declaration, the republic claims the right to determine its own state and administrative system to create its own ministry of defense and national guard, to have its own currency, and establish diplomatic and consular relations with foreign states. It also guarantees equal rights to all citizens regardless of nationality or religious affiliation and recognizes Karakalpakistan's right to secede. (Bess Brown) UZBEK OPPOSITION PARTY REGISTERED. TASS reported on September 5 that the Erk Democratic Party has been registered by the authorities. It appears to be the first opposition party to be registered in Uzbekistan, where conservative officials have been unwilling to tolerate opposition political groups. The TASS report says that the party has about 5,000 members, many of whom are deputies to local soviets. Party chairman Muhammad Salih, a secretary of the Uzbek Writers' Union, told the RL Uzbek Service that the party is seeking genuine independence for Uzbekistan, though he believes that the republic should be part of a loose confederation with other Soviet republics. (Yakub Turan/Bess Brown) NEW PARTY IN KAZAKHSTAN. The Azat (Freedom) Movement, Kazakhstan's largest non-Communist political organization, declared itself a political party on September 4, an Alma-Ata journalist has told the RL Kazakh Service. It is Kazakhstan's fourth non-Communist political party and is likely to be the most influential. Azat has reportedly demanded that the assets of the republican CP be divided among the non-Communist parties and called for the dismissal of Communist deputies in the Kazakh Supreme Soviet. (BessBrown) AFGHAN MINE ON TAJIK BORDER. TASS reported on September 5 that a border patrol vehicle was damaged on the Tajik border by a mine laid by the Afghan resistance. No one was injured in the explosion, but several grenades were found nearby. A spokesman for the border troops complained that this is not the first such incident on the Tajik-Afghan border this year. RAIL LINES STILL BLOCKED IN DNIESTER, ACCUSATIONS FLY. Rail junctions at Tiraspol', Rybnitsa, and Bendery in the Russian-speaking Dniester region were blocked for the fifth day by women protesting the detention of leaders of the so-called Dniester republic for supporting the recent coup, TASS reported September 5. Gagauz women also temporarily blocked the line in Komrat. Conflicting accusations continued to fly between the Dniester leaders and Moldavian officials. Dniester representatives said Kishinev had reneged on its promise to release Igor Smirnov, while Moldavian deputy Viktor Berlinsky said Moldavia had only promised to release the Dniester leaders when the blockade ended. (Ann Sheehy) MOLDAVIA RECOGNIZED BY LITHUANIA. On September 4, the Supreme Council of Lithuania adopted a declaration extending official recognition to the Republic of Moldavia, Moldovapres reported September 5. Offering to establish diplomatic relations with Moldavia, the Lithuanian declaration added that "the integration of independent Moldavia into the international community of democratic states will constitute an event of historic importance." (Vladimir Socor) ELENA BONNER FOR RECOGNITION OF MOLDAVIA. Interviewed on Danish Television September 5, Elena Bonner called for international recognition of Moldavia's independence, a representative of the Danish Helsinki Committee told RFE/RL by telephone from Copenhagen today. Observing that the Soviet annexation of Moldavia under the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact was as illegitimate as that of the Baltic States, Bonner urged that international recognition of the independence of the Baltic States be accompanied by recognition of Moldavia. In a reference to interethnic strife fomented by hardline communists in Moldavia recently, Bonner wondered aloud if the world will wait for clashes to occur in Moldavia before recognizing that republic's independence, the Danish Helsinki Committee representative reported. (Vladimir Socor) BALTIC STATES USSR RECOGNIZES BALTIC INDEPENDENCE. Fifty-one years after annexing the Baltic states, the Soviet Union has recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The action was taken by the new ruling body, the State Council, at its first meeting today (September 6) at the Kremlin. It remains unclear whether the decision was a nullification of the 1940 annexation decision or a simple recognition of independence; the Baltic states have been lobbying for the former. The Soviet move comes after recognition by over 40 countries. (Riina Kionka) BALTICS PRESS FOR EC ASSOCIATION. The foreign ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will discuss deepening ties with the EC at a lunch meeting with their EC counterparts today (September 6) in Brussels, Western agencies report. The three Baltic foreign ministers say their states are eager to negotiate associate membership in the EC, according to Western agencies. Unnamed EC officials have indicated that today's meeting signals EC readiness to begin talks toward associate mem-bership with the European Community. (Riina Kionka) BALTIC RECOGNITION UPDATE. On Sep-tember6 the foreign ministry of South Korea an-nounced that it recognized the independence of the Baltic States and "hopes to establish formal diplomatic relations with the Baltics as soon aspos-sible and strengthen ties in the political, economic, cultural, and other fields," Western agencies reported that day. President Roh Tae-woo sent cables to the Baltic heads of state congratulating them on independence. Also that day Japanese government sources said that Japan would likely recognize Baltic independence on September 10 after the return to Japan of a diplomatic mission that is now visiting the Baltic States. (Saulius Girnius) US SIGNS DIPLOMATIC AGREEMENTS. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Curtis Kamman, State Department Coordinator of Baltic Affairs Paul Goble, and legal counselor Linda Jacobson are in Lithuania to sign agreements restoring formal diplomatic relations, Radio Independent Lithuania reported September 6. Deputy Foreign Minister Valdemaras Katkus will sign for Lithuania since Foreign Minister Algirdas Saudargas is in Brussels. The US officials will also meet with parliament chairman Vytautas Landsbergis before returning to Riga for a flight home. The officials had signed similar agreements with Estonia on September 4 and Latvia on September 5. (Saulius Girnius) LITHUANIA GIVES FORMAL SUPPORT FOR HELSINKI ACCORDS. On September 5 the Lithuanian parliament's Bureau of Information issued a press release noting that the Supreme Council had issued a statement the previous day expressing "its firm resolution to support and adhere in every possible way" the principles of the Helsinki Accords. The statement concludes: "The Republic of Lithuania declares its readiness to sign, in the nearest future, in the name of its state or government leaders, the Helsinki Final Act and the Paris Charter for a new Europe." (Saulius Girnius) NORWAY TO PRINT DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS. Harold Sivertsen, operating manager of Norway's Central Bank's press, said on September 5 that it would print 5,000 Lithuanian diplomatic passports, Western agencies reported that day. He noted that the bank has hoping to win the order to print 3 to 4 million ordinary passports and was negotiating a deal over printing money for Lithuania.