Documents / FOIA release
This is an unclassified FBIS London cable dated 12 October 1989 and relayed through the Joint Staff. It carries a TASS English-language review of the Soviet central press for that day. Most of the review covers Gorbachev's meeting with Polish leader Mieczyslaw Rakowski, parliamentary budget debates, railway sabotage affecting Armenia and Georgia, and the KGB's role against organised crime. It also notes a Komsomolskaya Pravda front-page dispatch from Voronezh, based on eyewitnesses, about a UFO seen in the city on 27 September.
“Cooper”1 page
Read from the scan by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word.
PRESENT-DAY POLAND. GORBACHEV DWELT AT LENGTH ON THE EXTENSIVE AND DIVERSE WORK TO IMPLEMENT THE POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND LEGAL REFORMS IN THE SOVIET UNION. THE ACTIVITIES OF THE USSR SUPREME SOVIET ARE ASSUMING SPECIAL IMPORTANCE THESE DAYS. IT HAS TO ADOPT SEVERAL IMPORTANT CONSTITUTIONAL LAWS, HE NOTED. "WE ATTACH UTMOST IMPORTANCE TO THE PARTY'S RESTRUCTURING," THE SOVIET LEADER POINTED OUT. IN THE RUN-UP TO THE 28TH CONGRESS, ITS ENTIRE STRUCTURE SHOULD BE CHANGED SUBSTANTIALLY AND THE STYLE OF WORK CHANGED. GORBACHEV AND RAKOWSKI ALSO EXCANNGED OPINIONS ON MAJOR PROBLEMS OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND ON INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. NEWSPAPERS ALSO REPORT RAKOWSKI'S NEWS CONFERENCE WHERE HE SUMMED UP THE RESULTS OF HIS VISIT TO THE USSR, AND HIS DEPARTURE FROM THE SOVIET UNION LATER IN THE DAY. THE PRESS CONTINUES COVERING THE WORK OF THE 2ND SESSION OF COMMITTEES AND COMMISSIONS OF PARLIAMENT'S TWO CHAMBERS ON WEDNESDAY. THEY CONTINUED TO DISCUSS, AT MOST SITTINGS, THE DRAFT PLAN AND THE DRAFT BUDGET FOR 1990. ALL PARLIAMENTARY ORGANS INTEND TO PREPARE THEIR FINDINGS ON THE PLAN AND THE BUDGET THIS WEEK, AND BY THE END OF THE NEXT WEEK THE PLANNING, BUDGETARY AND FINANCE COMMISSION WILL DRAFT A GENERALISED DOCUMENT WHICH WILL BE INTRODUCED FOR THE DEBATE OF THE TWO CHAMBERS OF THE SOVIET PARLIAMENT. PRAVDA CARRIES A CONGRATULATORY MESSAGE BY SOVIET PRIME MINISTER NIKOLAY RYZHKOV TO A MEETING OF SOVIET AND LATIN AMERICAN-PUBLIC FIGURES. NEWSPAPERS PUBLISH AN OPEN LETTER BY THE PRESIDIUM OF THE USSR CENTRAL COUNCIL OF TRADE UNIONS TO ALL WORKERS EMPLOYED IN TRADE, ON RAILWAYS, AUTOMOBILE TRANSPORT, AT SEA AND RIVER PORTS, WORK COLLECTIVES OF ENTERPRISES AND OFFICES, WHICH CALLS ON WORKING PEOPLE "TO TACKLE THE MOST BURNING AND VITALLY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS, ALONG WITH ORGANS OF SOVIET POWER". THEY ARE CALLED UPON TO PREVENT DEMAGOGUES AND POLITICAL ADVENTURISTS FROM EXPLOITING THE PRESENT DIFFICULTIES TO DESTABILISE THE SITUATION IN THE COUNTRY. THE PRESS PRINTS A REPORT ON A NEWS CONFERENCE AT THE USSR MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS WHERE MINISTER NIKOLAY KONAREV ASSESSED THE SITUATION WITH THE CARGO DELIVERIES ON THE RAILWAY TO ARMENIA AND GEORGIA. KONAREV DESCRIBED THE SITUATION AS CRITICAL, SAYING THAT PEOPLE PREVENTING THE DELIVERY OF CARGOES VIA AZERBAIJAN TO ARMENIA AND GEORGIA ARE ENAGED IN SABOTAGE. THE NEWSPAPER SOVETSKAYA ROSSIYA CONCLUDED TODAY A SERIES OF ARTICLES (THE FIRST ARTICLE IS IN THE ISSUE OF OCTOBER 10) ON THE PARTICIPATION OF STATE SECURITY COMMITTEE OFFICERS IN THE ELIMINATION OF A DANGEROUS AND ORGANISED GANG OF CRIMINALS. THE NEWSPAPER WRITES THE FOLLOWING IN CONCLUSION: "THE SOVIET PEOPLE ARE VERY CONCERNED OVER THE FACT THAT PERESTROYKA AND PROCESSES OF DEMOCRATISATION AND GLASNOST ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH A STEEP RISE IN CRIME. ORGANISED CRIME WITH ITS TERRORIST ACTIONS, ARMED ASSAULTS, EXTORTION, HUGE EMBEZZLEMENTS,
FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 3 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.