Word: interior
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...such unpleasant facts, Soviet television and newspapers have turned graphic tales of violence into standard fare. The result has been to fuel public fears that chaos is impending. "Before, people didn't know how much crime we had in this country," says Lieut. General Anatoly Alekseyev, head of the Interior Ministry's police college in Moscow. "The revelation that we have crime, and that it is rising, is a shock to the social psyche...
...levels in Western Europe and the U.S. But Gorbachev, prodded by his right-wing critics, has decided to crack down to satisfy demands for stability. Order in the Soviet Union used to be guaranteed by the security apparatus; fear prevented the majority from stepping out of line. Now, says Interior Ministry Colonel Alexander Gurov, "respect for law has not replaced fear, so we have a vacuum of legitimate authority...
...soldiers and sailors teamed up with police last week on joint patrols in cities across the country, the question of just what they were there for took on fresh urgency. Defense Minister Dmitri Yazov and Interior Minister Boris Pugo, who drafted the order in secret last Dec. 29, say the new patrols are intended to combat an odious side effect of economic and political liberalization: a steep rise in violent crime...
Demands for law and order have become a favorite rallying cry of the hard- liners. Declared an Interior Ministry colonel: "People are afraid to walk the streets. Something must be done." But reformers are skeptical. Russian leader Boris Yeltsin, who now stands at the head of the democratic opposition, called the moves "a serious step toward dictatorship." Reformers argued that bringing troops into the streets has involved the military in areas beyond its competence. Said the independent weekly Moscow News: "The army must not be used as a muzzle on the people...
...case of nerves, the troubled Baltic republics enjoyed a moment of relative calm. After meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh in Washington, President Bush said he had been given assurances that Moscow intended to withdraw some of its forces from the region and reopen talks with the republics. Interior Minister Pugo said that all paratroops, except those permanently stationed in the Baltics, and two-thirds of the Interior Ministry forces would be withdrawn by week's end. In another conciliatory gesture, Gorbachev set up Kremlin delegations to begin talks with the Baltic republics...