BELARUS PRESIDENT INTIMATES HE MAY USE FORCE AGAINST PARLIAMENT, PAYS LIGHTNING VISIT TO MOSCOW.

Belarus media yesterday quoted President Aleksandr Lukashenko as saying that he had paid a visit to Moscow on September 7 and held talks in separate sessions with Russian president Boris Yeltsin, Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin, National Security Adviser Aleksandr Lebed, Defense Minister Igor Rodionov, Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov, and economic officials. In Moscow the offices of Chernomyrdin, Lebed, and Rodionov confirmed the meetings, while those of Yeltsin and Primakov equivocated. In his statements yesterday, Lukashenko accused the Belarus parliament of preparing to stage a "coup d’etat against the president," storing up arms, and organizing its own security service. He compared the parliament’s stance to that of the Russian parliament in September-October 1993 in opposition to Yeltsin, and implied that he might similarly use force against it. (Belaplan, Balarus radio and TV, Interfax, September 9)

The parliament’s security is controlled by the Internal Affairs Ministry and State Security Committee, both subordinated directly to Lukashenko. The president’s accusations appear invented. They follow his defeats in last week’s parliamentary votes over the constitutional referendum which Lukashenko wants to stage on his own terms and the legislative by-elections which Lukashenko seeks to block.

Azerbaijani Parliament Chairman on His Way Out.