A CHORUS OF COMPLAINTS FROM OUTSIDE MOSCOW

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KIRGHIZIA

CHINGIZ AITMATOV

Novelist

"The Soviet Union has exhausted its possibilities. We can't remain in kindergarten forever; we must become a federation of nations. We shouldn't think that if our republic wants to secede that this will lead to destruction -- that is the old imperial stereotype. If a person is in unrequited love, he suffers. Now we must have mutual love.

"But you can't blindly copy what goes on, for instance, in the Baltics. They have a democratic Europe behind their back. They will be a key link between Europe and Russia. Kirghizia doesn't have that advantage. We have China next door. For better or for worse, if we want to integrate into civilization, we must be together with Russia. But Kirghizia must also have an independent government. Emissaries from the center will not be accepted."

BELORUSSIA

OLEG CHERNYSHEV

STAGE DESIGNER

"Belorussia is industrially strong, so that means we contribute much more to Moscow than we get in return. Belorussians also work harder than people in all the other republics. Our national front is seeking independence, but I'm not so sure. All the republics can help each other. We have good farming, so if we secede, we will be fine. But those republics that do not have rich earth will not be able to survive on their own."

TURKMENISTAN

MARAL AMANOVA

Biologist

"We don't discuss secession in our republic, and ethnic conflict does not exist. Our misfortune is that Moscow kept making us grow more and more cotton. We didn't even have room to raise cattle. Can a republic that produces only oil, gas and cotton really feed itself?

"I am for a more independent republic but within the framework of a union. This way we can make agreements with other republics: you give us cotton and we give you meat. Otherwise, if we have a market economy and each republic can sell abroad or to another republic, we will not get enough meat."

KAZAKHSTAN

ERKIN AUELBEKOV

Communist Party official

"In Kazakhstan many atomic-weapons tests have been conducted, but the people were never consulted. So there is a conflict now between the republic and the center. There is also the tragedy of the Aral Sea, which is dying. Prices for the republic's wool, coal, metallurgy and grain are set by the center, and the republic loses. Kazakhstan should decide its own cultural and economic problems, except those it willingly gives over to the center, such as the defense of borders or railroad lines."

RUSSIA

MAKHMUD ESAMBAYEV

Ballet dancer

"I am a Chechenian, and I live in the autonomous republic of Chechen-Ingush in Russia. But I speak Russian better than Chechenian. Our language is complicated, and there are only 800,000 people who can speak it. We can't be alone. We are a small nation, and we don't think about whether we have food on the table. Russia does it all. If others want autonomy, they should be given it. It bothers no one. But if we separate, who needs us? We have the oil industry, but if we did it all ourselves, we couldn't get oil out of the ground."

ESTONIA

IGOR GRYAZIN

Lawyer