Word: baltic
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...Worse, Russian-controlled units of the former Soviet army have been caught up in the battle. Russian President Boris Yeltsin has warned that Moscow may intervene to protect its soldiers and ethnics. That could set a precedent for further interventions on behalf of 25 million Russians living in the Baltic states, the Central Asian republics and other parts of the old Soviet Union, as some of Yeltsin's nationalist opponents are already demanding. At week's end an international conference in Istanbul arranged a cease-fire, but there is serious doubt it will hold...
...importance of spying in terms of Russia's security. Moscow's interest in fomenting coups in the Third World may have dwindled, but threats from potential adversaries in now independent republics, each with its own budding intelligence service, are a growing concern. Fears of foreign spies infiltrating through the Baltic and Central Asian states have led Boris Yeltsin to call for strengthening border surveillance...
...Soviet Empire. Gorbachev describes this period with remarkable understatement as "particularly difficult." He will only admit that he should have "seized the moment" and invited democratic groups to join him in "some sort of round-table meetings." He also sheds no light on the January 1991 crackdown in the Baltic republics, which seriously tarnished his image abroad as a reformer. He notes in the vaguest terms that there was "an escalation in confrontation," and that "the threat of dictatorship was real...
...autonomous republic of Tatarstan, 500 miles east of Moscow and larger than all three secessionist Baltic republics, is one of more than 30 ethnic enclaves within the federation. The region, where the predominantly Muslim Tatars make up only 48% of the population, is rich in oil and home to major industries, including Kamaz, the world's largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer. In his 1990 presidential campaign, Yeltsin challenged Tatarstan to "take as much sovereignty as you can swallow." But surely he did not expect his listeners to take such a decisive bite...
...comparisons to Hitler. As chairman of the deceptively named Liberal-Democratic Party, Zhirinovsky campaigned on a platform mixing promises of cheaper vodka with blatant xenophobia to place a surprising third in the Russian presidential election won by Yeltsin last June. He has threatened to poison the newly independent Baltic peoples with nuclear waste and vows to expand Russian territory by force. Though his fanaticism has made him mainly a vulgar curiosity, some observers fear he may be a forerunner of politicians to come. Says Lev Timofeyev, a market-oriented economist: "A person with a program like Zhirinovsky's could...