LATVIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER TALKS ALSO DEADLOCKED.

Riga and Moscow announced yesterday that a second round of bilateral talks on border delimitation, held on October 1 and 2 in Moscow, ended in disagreement, as had the first round in April. Latvia seeks recognition of the validity of the 1920 Russian-Latvian peace treaty and the legal continuity of the Latvian state after the Soviet occupation. Moscow insists — as Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Tarasov restated yesterday — that the treaty was voided by Latvia’s "joining the Soviet Union." Tarasov described the Latvian parliament’s recent declaration, which reaffirmed the state’s legal continuity after 1940, as "anti-Russian." The spokesman warned that Russia will proceed unilaterally to demarcate the border on the ground if Latvia insists on a Russian recognition of the 1920 treaty. (BNS, Itar-Tass, October 2 and 3)

Latvia’s Abrene district, measuring some 2,000 square kilometers, was incorporated into the Russian Federation following the Soviet occupation of Latvia. The situation at the Latvian-Russian talks parallels that of the deadlocked Estonian-Russian talks, in which Estonia is prepared to recognize Russia’s annexation of two small Estonian border areas if Russia recognizes the validity of the 1920 Russian-Estonian peace treaty and thus the legal continuity of the Estonian state.

Script Dispute Flares Up in Transdniester.