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1 1 V M J ^ Edited by Roger Price
Russian official requests
recognition from Baker
Bush administration
balks on decision
MOSCOW — The Russian for
eign minister asked U.S. Secretary of
State James A. Baker III on Sunday
for formal U.S. recognition of the
various republics’ independence from
the Kremlin.
“This will help to crystallize au
thority,” and to “stop further disinte
gration,” Andrei Kozyrev said after
the two met at the Russian Foreign
Ministry, Baker’s first stop on a five
day visit to what he called the “for
. mer Soviet Union.”
Baker hedged, saying, “These arc
essentially political issues that are
internal.” He said the Bush admini
stration would not inject itself into
the political struggle between Mikhail
Gorbachev’s central government and
the new Commonwealth of Independ
ent States.
But Baker did’ not flatly turn
Kozyrev down, saying, “We will be
looking at the suggestion that has
been made.”
Kozyrev told reporters afterward:
“I do understand the United States is
in a delicate position.”
Baker arrived in Moscow earlier
Sunday, carrying to the faltering Soviet
Union undisclosed proposals for ac
celerating the reduction of the esti
mated 27,000 n uc lear weapons slock -
piled in four republics.
The imminent breakup of the old
union is raising concerns that the
weapons cannot be safeguarded in
definitely.
President Bush and Baker, while
asserting their support for reform and
political change, have hesitated to
come down squarely on the side ol
the republics. Just before Ukraine voted
for independence, a senior U.S. offi
cial told reporters at the White House
that the administration would move
“expeditiously” and extend recogni
tion.
But since the vole, Bush and Baker
have declined to take that step, which
normally would involve establishing
embassies and dealing with each
republic as an independent nation.
On Monday, Baker will meet with
Boris N. Yeltsin, the president of the
Russian republic and the dominant
■ Republics forming Commonwealth
□ Republics considering membership
□ others
LATVIA
LITHUANIA
BYELORUSSIA
UKRAINE
MOLDAVIA
. GEORGIA
ARMENIA
-- AZERBAIJAN
.TURKMENISTAN
UZBEKISTAN
force in the movement toward setting
up a commonwealth.
Baker then will sec Gorbachev,
who has alternated between hinting at
resignation and expressions of deter
mination to see the struggle through.
During the visit - which will in
clude stops in Kirghi/.a, Kazakhstan,
Byelorussia and Ukraine - Baker plans
to assess the impact the political revo
lution is having on the Soviet people.
His U.S. Air Force jet carried medical
__ ___ - -_ ___
AP
supplies for children’s hospitals in
Russia, Ukraine and Armenia.
Before Baker took off Saturday
night, two cargo planes, one Ameri
can and the other Soviet, were loaded
with $6 million worth of pharmaceu
ticals and equipment for the hospitals
in Moscow, Minsk and Yerevan. The
planes were scheduled to arrive Tues
day.
“The idea is to offer hope in this
season of hope,” Baker said.
Officials from Russia, Ukraine promise
commonwealth will not use nuclear arsenal
MOSCOW — Seeking to allay
Western fears, Russian and Ukrain
ian officials said Sunday that their
new Commonwealth of Independent
States would promise never to use its
’ nuclear weapons.
Control of the Soviet nuclear arse
nal is one of the most urgent issues
arising from the commonwealth’s
creation from the rubble of the Soviet
Union. It was to be the main topic in
talks Monday by Secretary of State
James A. Baker III and Soviet and
republic leaders.
Mikhail Gorbachev was among
those to meet with Baker, but there
were growing signs of the dramatic
ebb in the Soviet president’s influ
ence. Before he meets Gorbachev,
Baker will sec Boris Yeltsin, the
Russian Federation president who
spearheaded the formation of the new
alliance.
Media reports said Sunday that
Yeltsin had met with the Soviet de
fense minister to discuss transfer of
the country's military might to the
new commonwealth - without Gor
bachev present.
In the week since the founding of
the new commonwealth, Gorbachev
has hinted that his days as Soviet
president are nearly over.
Although the commonwealth is still
in the fledgling stages, signs of dis
cord were emerging. Moscow’s popu
lar Mayor Gavriil Popov, one of the
country’s leading reformers, told
Russian TV he would quit because of
differences with Yeltsin over how to
run the city.
The commonwealth’s founding
members, Russia, Ukraine and Byelo
russia, together possess most of the
Soviet Union’s nuclear arsenal. The
remainder arc in Kazakhstan, which
has expressed interest in joining the
commonwealth. While the former
Soviet Union had promised not to be
the first to fire nuclear weapons, a
commonwealth pledge never to use
them could case Western fears about
control of the estimated 27,000 weap
ons.
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney,
speaking Sunday on the NBC pro
gram “Meet the Press,” noted that
commonwealth officials have sug
gested a new coordinating council to
control the weapons but stressed the
United Slates would still deal with
Gorbachev’s government until then.
However, Cheney said even if the
commonwealth was 99 percent suc
cessful in controlling the arms, many
warheads, or the plans for making
them, could fall into hands of “third
parlies.”
“I can’t make a prediction ... t
that’s going to happen, but clearly
you have to be concerned about the
possibility,” Cheney said. He said
U.S. officials also anticipated trouble
from disgruntled members of the 3.7
million-member Soviet military as
the country’s economic crisis wors
ened.
Russian Foreign Minister Andrei
Kozyrev, speaking on CBS’ “Face
the Nation,” asserted that the unified
command system will control the
weapons.
“It’s very important that nobody
will ever launch these weapons,” he
said. “Hypothetically there will be a
single command.”
Soviets stop
selling arms
to Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — The
Soviets have stopped flying in arms
to the Kabul government, preparing
to bring down the curtain on Their
involvement in the final superpower
proxy war, government officials and
diplomats said Sunday.
The halt in air shipments comes
two weeks ahead of the Jan. 1 dead
line set by Washington and Moscow
for ending all military aid to govern
ment forces and Muslim guerrillas.
They hope the cutoff will encourage
the two warring sides to try to find a
peaceful settlement to the 13-ycar
old conflict.
But both the Soviet-supported
government and U.S.-backed rebels
say they have enough weapons and
supplies stockpiled to keep fighting
for two more years, maybe longer.
The Americans and Soviets have
been working for peaceful solutions
to conflicts previously used as stand
ins for their Cold War differences.
Their most recent success was in
Angola, where the Soviet-backed
government signed a peace accord
with U.S.-supported rebels earlier this
year.
The Soviets also have been scaling
back support for the client states of
the former Communist government,
such as Cuba.
The United Stales halted its mili
tary aid to Afghanistan’s Islamic
guerrillas Oct. 15, more than two
months'ahcad of schedule, according
to Western diplomats in Pakistan, the
main staging area of the Afghan resis
'lance.
The Soviet Embassy in Kabul re
fused to comment on the end of its
military supply flights, but govern
ment officials and diplomats confirmed
the flights had stopped 15 days ahead
of the deadline. The officials would
not allow their names to be used. •
As many as 50 giant IL-76 Soviet
transport planes landed in Kabul daily,
each capable of carrying 65 tons of
equipment and supplies. E$ch plane
spouted dozens of flares to deflect the
heat-seeking missiles fired by rebels
from the mountains ringing the capi
tal.
Sunday, the sky over the capital
was clear and silent.
ClintonVspending pays big dividends
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Arkan
sas Gov. Bill’Clinton on Sunday won the
Florida Democrats’ presidential straw poll
by a wide margin in balloting seen as the
first test of strength in the young campaign.
Clinton got 54 percent of the vole in the
non-binding balloting, followed by Iowa
Sen. Tom Harkin with 31 percent and Ne
braska Sen. Bob Kerrey with 10 percent.
“This is just the first step,” Clinton de
clared. “Now we will build on this victory to
win Florida in March, and in November.”
Trailing behind were former Massachu
setts Sen. Paul Tsongas with less than 2
percent and Virginia Gtav. L. Douglas Wilder
with a liule more than 1 percent. Former
California Gov. Jerry Brown got just four
voles out of 1,775 cast.
New York Gov. MarioCuomo, who must
decide by Friday whether to compete in the
pivotal Feb. 18 New Hampshire primary,
got 21 write-in votes. But convention dele
gates booed lustily when his name was
called.
The Florida straw ballot was part of the
biggest campaign day so far for the Demo
cratic hopefuls, who also were squaring off
in a nationally televised debate Sunday
evening.
• • i
“It’s a chance fora real double-whammy
for the winner,” said Simon Ferro, chairman
of the Florida Democratic Party.
Ferro acknowledged that history shows
the winner of the straw ballot won’t neces
sarily win the March 10 Florida primary.
But he said the poll does show who’s besi
* . 0
able lo mobilize the parly activists who will
staff campaign phone banks, raise money
and work volunteer offices.
“If someone doesn’t show up well in the
straw poll process, he’s got a lot of work to
do to show well in the March primary,”
Ferro said.
Clinton’s forces spent about 533,000 to
win the straw ballot, hoping to prove his
strength in the South. Harkin, who spent less
than 510,000, drew strong support from the
quarter of delegates with labor backgrounds.
"Clinton is the only one who could have
been a political loser here,” said Bill Crotty;
a key Democratic Party fund-raiser and Harkin
supporter. “Nobody else put any money of
consequence into this.”
Despite his surprisingly poor showing,
Kerrey’s state campaign chairman, Rep.
Mike Abrams of North Miami Beach, said
he was satisfied that his candidate had be
gun to build alliances in Florida before the
March 10 primary. He said the Nebraska
senator’s effort now will turn to New Hamp
shire.
“Every dollar Clinton spent here takes a
dollar away from New Hampshire,” Abrams
said. “Every dollar wc saved is a dollar for
New Hampshire.”
Democratic National Committee Chair
man Ronald Brown on Saturday called the
straw ballot a “beauty contest” that won’t
identify a sure front-runner. But he said the
process had sparked enthusiasm for the party’s
■chances to defeat President Bush.
A-:
Law would jail delinquent renters
SALT LAKE CITY — What’s the differ
ence between Salt Lake City’s proposed ordi
nance mandating jail terms for delinquent ren
ters and laws that sent debtors to prison in
Charles Dickens’ day?
- Nothing, said advocates for the poor and
Mayor Palmer DePaulis, who is aghast at the
mean-spirited reputation the proposal is giving
the city.
“Whether I sign it or not, the impression is
that Salt Lake City prosecutes the poor,” DePau
lis said.
City Councilman Ron Whitehead, a land
lord who pushed for the ordinance, said he has
nothing against the needy.
“Landlords just aren’t in the business of
welfare,” he said.
DePaulis said he will veto the measure, but
7 the seven-member council, which includes
several current and former landlords, has the
votes to override. So the proposal promises to
dog Dcpaulis’ successor, Dccdcc Corradini,
when she takes office Jan. 6.
Corradini agrees that the proposal is a pub
lic relations disaster.
The measure, an amendment to the Theft of i
Services Act, is aimed at swindlers who have
no intention of paying rent, its backers said.
The violation would be a misdemeanor carry
ing a fine of up to SI ,000 and a six-month jail
term.
The measure was approved Dee. X after a
heated public hearing, from which one angry
tenant was ejected.
Council supporters said tenants wouldn’t be
jailed for failing to pay rent since landlords first
must show a lease was signed with intent to
defraud. Police and prosecutors agree that would
be difficult to prove.
But in this city of 160,000, where rental
units make up more than half of all housing, the
disclaimer is cold comfort.
“What we* ve got here is a tool unscrupulous
landlords will use to intimidate low-income
renters,” DePaulis said.
---
~ NelSaSkan
Editor Jana Pedereen Night News Editors Adeana Leftin
472*1766 John Adklsson
Managing Editor Kara Walla
Assoc News Editors Chris Hoptensperger Tom Kunz
Kris Karnopp Art Director Scott Maurer
Arts & Entertain- Publications Board
ment Editor Stacey McKenzie Chairman BUI Vobefda
Diversions Editor Dionne Searcey 476-2855
Photo Chief Michelle Paulman Professional Adviser Don Walton
FAX NUMBE R 472-1761 473-7301
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