YAVLINSKY AND OTHERS PROPOSE ALTERNATIVE TO CIS INTEGRATION.

Publication: Monitor Volume: 2 Issue: 61

Presidential hopefuls Grigory Yavlinsky, Svyatoslav Fedorov, and Aleksandr Lebed have circulated a joint statement proposing a program for CIS integration as an alternative to the policies being proposed by the Yeltsin leadership and the Russian Communist party. The plan, which seems to take its inspiration from the European Union, calls for the establishment of an interstate bank to run mutual payments and a nongovernmental trade and industry chamber to coordinate links between enterprises. It envisages the gradual creation of a CIS currency system and a customs union; free movement of labor and capital; uniform educational standards; and joint protection of borders. The statement criticizes both the Yeltsin leadership and the Communist opposition which, it says, are using the issue of CIS integration as a pawn in the fight to win votes. (Russian Public Television, Interfax, March 27)

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