ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT ON SHEVARDNADZE FOILED.

Georgia’s Internal Affairs and State Security ministries announced yesterday the arrest of at least nine suspects in a conspiracy to assassinate President Eduard Shevardnadze. The authorities seized a cache of explosives and weapons, including mines, sniper rifles and grenade launchers. Also seized were magazine quality, 4-color propaganda leaflets (in post-Soviet countries usually considered an indication of external support). The detained suspects include Major-General Gujar Kurashvili, former commander of Georgia’s land troops, and two ex-bodyguards of the former state security chief Igor Giorgadze. Most of those detained are said to be supporters of the late President Zviad Gamsakhurdia. Arrest warrants have been issued for additional suspects in the same plot, the latest in a series of assassination attempts against Shevardnadze. Both Giorgadze and the Zviadist faction involved are being harbored in Russia (Sakinform, Georgian Television, AP, Reuters, May 23).

AMERICA DESCRIBED AS GEORGIA’S MAIN SUPPORTER.