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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 29, 1991)
Soviet coup raises questions of effects, aid Coup commanders could face death if found treasonous MOSCOW (AP) - One week after the collapse of the coup that briefly toppled President Mikhail S. Gor bachev, 13 men accused of plotting the takeover were charged Wednes day with high treason, the Russian prosecutor’s office said. If the men are convicted, they could face death penalties. In another move to punish the coup backers, the Supreme Soviet legisla ture passed a motion of no confidence in the Cabinet of Ministers. Many of the cabinet members were implicated in the plot against Gor bachev last week. The no-confidence vote, which was CTiicrht hv Onrharhnv mMnc ihp Cabinet of Ministers’ approximately 70 members arc now expected to resign. But Gorbachev also lambasted die Supreme Soviet itself, asking why no one had stood up to the coup plotters and said: “Those bastards, where are they pushing the country?” Control over the Soviet Union’s large nuclear arsenal has been a con cern since the abortive coup. Wednesday, theTass news agency said Russian Federation President Boris Yeltsin had offered to transfer to his republic all Soviet nuclear weapons now stationed in neighboring Ukraine if it becomes independent. After the three-day coup, Gorbachev had angrily vowed that its ringleaders would be brought to justice. Those charged with treason Wednesday included the seven sur viving members of the coup commit tee. An eighth member, Interior Min- • ister Boris Pugo, was found dead after the coup, either slain or a suicide. The Soviet legislature, meanwhile, heeding Gorbachev’s bid to stem the collapse of central authority, voted Wednesday to send a delegation to the Ukraine to discourage the bread basket republic’s secessionist drive. The delegation also will discuss potential border disputes with the Russian republic, which has thrown a scare into some of its neighbors by saying it reserves the right to review its frontiers with them. Optimism for democracy suggested by A.P. poll NEW YORK (AP) - About seven in 10 Americans want the United States to recognize the independ ence of breakaway republics in the Soviet Union, and a similar major ity expects an orderly move toward democracy there, an Associated Press poll found. President Bush has lagged be hind many other Western leaders in recognizing the Baltic republics — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. But Robert Strauss, his new am bassador to Moscow, has hinted Bush may extend diplomatic rec ognition on Friday. About three-quarters the 1,017 adults interviewed Friday through .l..._i .l. * uvjuu; OUIU LI lvJ UJ/pi TVU UI LIiv way Bush is handling the situation. Only 11 percent disapproved. The remainder were unsure. ICR Survey Research Group of Media, Pa., conducted the AP poll by telephone with a random na tional sample that has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. In addition, the poll’s results arc more tentative than most because the survey occurred over five days when Soviet unity and Communist Party power were disintegrating. Amid such rapid and complicated changes happening far from home, American public opinion may not have gelled. A 56 percent majority said it is likely Boris Yeltsin will replace Mikhail S. Gorbachev as Soviet leader, while 32 percent said that is unlikely. But nearly half those who think Gorbachev will be replaced still foresee success for his program. Among all those polled, 56 percent said it is likely Gorbachev will be successful in carrying out the changes he wants, and 34 percent said it is unlikely. Others were unsure. Even more optimism was evi dent when the public rated the like lihood of these overlapping pos sible outcomes of the revolution in Moscow: •An orderly move toward de mocracy in the Soviet Union. Likely: 69 percent. Unlikely: 24 percent. •Democracy after a period of some violence. Likely: 57 percent. Unlikely: 32 percent. •Civil war in the Soviet Union. Likely: 43 percent. Unlikely: 49 percent. William Zimmerman, a profes sor of political science at the Uni versity of Michigan, said this opti mism resulted from the remark able non-violence of last week’s events and the general lack of war between European stales in recent years. “With the exception of the civil war in Yueoslavia. which has been way undercovered by the Western press, particularly in the U.S., people don’t think of violence in Europe,” he said. But, he said, if the Russian re public tries to redraw the bounda ries of the existing republics, as some have suggested, widespread violence remains possible. Did the outcome of the coup make Gorbachev a more reliable partner or less reliable partner for the United Slates to deal with? Americans split 44 percent to 32 percent on the question, with a quarter unsure. But only a fifth of those who expect Gorbachev to retain office sec him as a less reli able partner. Those results reflect Gorbachev’s uncertain grip on power in the wake of last week’s three-day coup. De spite his reinstatement, Gorbachev’s presidency of a central Soviet gov ernment in Moscow has been un dermined by the ascendancy of op position leader Yeltsin and his Russian federation, as well as the independence declarations of seven of the 15 republics. I . I NEW YORK (AP) - The Associated Press poll on the Soviet upheaval was conducted Aug. 23-27 among a random sample of 1,017 adults in the contiguous 48 states. Interviewing was done by telephone by ICR Survey Re search Group of Media, Pa., part of AUS Consultant Cos. The results were weighted to represent the population by key demographics such as age, sex, region and education. Chance variations in the sample should not cause the results to vary from the answers of all Americans in households with children by more than 3 percentage points more than one time in 20. This margin of sampling error is larger for responses of subgroups, such as a region or age category. There are other sources of potential error in polls, including the wording and order of questions. Here are the AP poll questions: (Because of rounding, sums may not total 100.) 1. Do you approve or disapprove of the way George Bush is handling the situation in the Soviet Union? Approve: 76 percent. Disapprove: 11 percent. Don’t know or no answer: 13 percent. 2. Did the outcome of the coup make Gorbachev a more reliable or less reliable partner for the United States to deal with? More reliable: 44 percent. Less reliable: 32 percent. DK NA: 25 percent. 3. Do you think the United States should or should not recognize the declared independence of the Soviet Union’s breakaway republics, such as Lithuania? Should recognize: 72 percent. Should not recognize: 10 percent. DK-NA: 17 percent. 4. Which of these do you think is likely to result from the recent events in the Soviet Union: • Success for Gorbachev in carrying out the changes he wants. Likely: 56 percent. Unlikely: 34 percent. DK-NA: 10 percent. • Gorbachev being replaced as Soviet leader by Boris Yeltsin. Likely: 56 percent. Unlikely: 32 percent. DK-NA: 12 percent. • An orderly move toward democracy in the Soviet Union. Likely: 69 percent. Unlikely: 24 percent. DK-NA: 7 percent. • Democracy after a period of some violence. Likely: 57 percent. Unlikely: 32 percent. DK-NA: 12 percent. • Civil war in the Soviet Union. Likely: 43 percent. Unlikely: 49 percent. DK-NA: 8 percent. New order could make Yugoslavia look like a picnic, official says Independent republics could lead to internal fighting WASHINGTON (AP) - The re publics of the USSR may go their separate ways in the emerging new world order, but those who study these matters are convinced: It isn’t going to be pretty. There are deep doubts that eight, 10 or more independent countries, each with its own currency, its econ omy, its capital, its languages, its flag, its foreign policy — and with its own minorities yearning to be free— can exist as economically viable na tions. Far worse, what the world may sec evolving are language, ethnic and border disputes turning into massacres and the upheaval of vast populalidhs. The role model may turn out to be the new order in Yugoslavia, where Croatians and Serbs arc killing each other and what was once one country held together by the iron hand of communism is now uncommunist but splintering and bleeding. “If this thing really starts going,” -44 We’re seeing at every level people who want self determination and independence for themselves but they don’t want to give self-determination and Independence to smaller groups within their own borders. Garthofl former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria -99 " says Jerry Hough,director of the Easi West Trade Center at Duke Univer sity, “it’s going to make Yugoslavia look like a picnic.” “We’re seeing at every level people who want self-determination and independence for themselves, but thej don't want to give sclf-determinatioi and independence to smaller group: within their own borders,” Raymont Garthoff, former U.S. ambassador tc Bulgaria, said in an interview. Even while Lithuania was seeking the world’s sympathy it squelched its own Polish minority, said Richard Hermann, political scientist at Ohio State University. Hermann, a former member of ' Secretary of Slate James A. Baker i Ill’s policy planning staff, adds an i other dimension: He secs the auton I omy bug leaping across borders, into > Afghanistan, India, Pakistan and Iran, where sizeable minorities may also decide lhai il is lime lo declare inde pendence. Still, said Hermann, from an American security viewpoint, “We’re much safer and more secure even though the probability of smaller wars has gone up. The great powers would have no incentive lo gel involved.... For us, its a yawn.” In interviews, a number of Soviet experts applauded President Bush’s hesitancy to encourage independence for the 15 republics of the old Soviet empire, except for the three Baltic stales seized by the Soviets in a deal with the Nazis in 1940. “We ought to try, if we can, to head off or at the very least not to encourage things that we arc not going to be able to control in the final analy sis,” said Garthoff. Some of Bush’s advisers believe that a dissolution of the USSR has now become unstoppable, despite Mikhail Gorbachev’s struggle lo head it off by proposing a loose confedera lion in place of the centrally con trolled realm he led before the Aug. 19 attempt to depose him. In Kenncbunkport, Maine, one administration official, speaking on a not-for-altribution basis, expressed fear that “a lot of these republics, if they become independent, will be imme diate economic basket cases.” Pessimism is not universal. Frank Fukuyama, former director of policy planning at the Slate Department, said the chances “of at least certain of Lhcsc republics working out amicable relations is quite good.” Still, an undertone of tension was evident even in this week’s post-putsch meeting of the Soviet national legis lature in Moscow. Boris Yeltsin, the president of Russia, which commands half the land mass and half the population of the Soviet Union, served notice that an independent Russia would want Rus sian-dominated areas of the Ukraine and Kazakkhsian. Soviet assistance needed, otticial says U.S. representative says$l billion in aid should come from weapons cut to promote stability WASHINGTON (AP)- The chair man of the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday proposed trimming $1 billion from U.S. weap ons programs to provide humanitar ian aid to the Soviets. “We do not want the first winter of freedom after 70 years of commu nism to be a disaster for the Soviet Union,” said Rep. Les Aspin, D-Wis., referring to crop shortfalls and other economic disasters looming there. And, more directly to American defense interests, the money would “promote stability and avert chaos” in a nation with 30,000 nuclear weap ons, he said. Aspin’s proposal came as several other lawmakers, including House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., said the United States needed to re-evaluate its budget priorities because of recent events in the Soviet Union. Aspin said the breakup of the Soviet system, the worst-case scenario being a civil war, could spread nuclear weapons among several governments and perhaps weaken security surround ing the warheads. Aspin said he would make his proposal to the House and Senate conference committee considering the $292 billion Department of Defense budget. The cash would be put into a special fund administered by Presi deni Bush. Selling aside $1 billion for aid would result in less money for other Rrograms, but Aspin said he didn’t avc specific cutbacks in mind. The budget agreement between Congress and Bush prohibits transfer of money between domestic programs, foreign aid and defense. Aspin said he would argue he wasn’t violating that rule. “This is defense by different means bul defense nevertheless, so it should come out of the Pentagon budget,” he said. The budget pact might have to be changed later if the Soviet Union meets Western demands for further reforms and the United States enters a long term economic aid program, he said. Bob Hall, a Pentagon spokesman, said Secretary of Defense Dick Ch eney would have no immediate com ment on Aspin's proposal.