YELTSIN SETS STAGE FOR MEETING WITH MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT.

Boris Yeltsin on June 22 forwarded to the Duma forratification the October 1994 package of Russian-Moldovanintergovernmental agreements on the 14th Army’s legal statusand withdrawal, Russian radio reported. The move sets thestage for Yeltsin’s meeting with Moldovan president MirceaSnegur which is scheduled for this week, but it also createscertain problems: Chisinau rejects Moscow’s claim that theagreement requires ratification, and the Russian Duma isalmost certain to kill, or at best ignore, the accords–given its April 26 and May 24 votes against the withdrawalof Russian forces from Moldova. Meanwhile, Transdniestr’s”security minister” Maj. Gen. Vadim Shevtsov–who isactually Maj. Vladimir Antyugeyev, whose OMON unitparticipated in the January 1991 killings in Riga–toldTransdniestr radio on June 24 that Tiraspol’s main goal isto “uphold Russia’s influence” and combat “Westernexpansion” in the region. Also on that date, the Tiraspolauthorities issued a communique denouncing Moldova’s closeties with the United States, Basapress reported.

More Russian Forces for Georgia?