Uzbekistan and Kirgizia in Soviet Central Asia declared independence Saturday, raising to 10 the number of republics that have decided to leave the rapidly shrinking Soviet Union.
In Lithuania and Latvia, the hated "black beret" troops that have been accused of being the iron fist for Kremlin hard-liners opposed to Baltic secession began withdrawing.The elite force of the Soviet Interior Ministry, known by the Russian acronym OMON, was ordered Friday to disband. Members had withdrawn behind the gates and barbed wire of Soviet military bases to protect themselves from an angry populace.
At a base outside the Latvian capital of Riga, three OMON soldiers wearing the black berets lowered a red Soviet flag from a pole atop a tower. A crowd, gathered on a street across from the base, erupted into cheers and applause.
"We are relieved. They know no limits. They are evil people," said Davis Perri, an elderly man who lived near the base.
In the two weeks since the start of the Aug. 18-21 coup, the Soviet Union has seen an upheaval unmatched since the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917:
Hard-liners in the Communist Party deposed Gorbachev, only to falter three days later. The authority of Boris Yelt-sin, president of the Russian republic, grew tremendously as he stood up to the leaders of the putsch. Gorbachev quit as leader of the party because of its deep involvement in the coup, and its activities were suspended nationwide.
Now the splintering nation is flying further apart as the republics take advantage of the disorder to assert their independence.
The winds of political change swept Saturday into the conservative republics of Central Asia, where the legislatures of Uzbekistan and Kirgizia convened in emergency sessions and declared independence.
At the session in Tashkent, Uzbek President Islam Karimov warned a resurgent Russia not to bully the smaller republics.
While he noted the role that Yeltsin and other Russian leaders played in bringing down the coup, he said: "We think it gives them no grounds for claiming a leading position in the union, placing themselves above other republics."
"The leadership of Uzbekistan will never agree to a secondary role," the independent Interfax news agency quoted the Uzbek president as saying.
Uzbekistan's independence measure ordered that enterprises owned by the Soviet Union be transferred to the jurisdiction of Uzbekistan, according to the Tass and Interfax news agencies.
It also asserted Uzbekistan's independence in foreign, political and economic relations, the news agency said.
Karimov emphasized that Uzbekistan did not categorically reject Gorbachev's Union Treaty, the document the Soviet leader had been preparing to bind the country together. But Karimov said it must reflect a confederation-type structure to get his support.
In the Kirgiz capital of Bishkek, the legislature voted 263-2 to declare independence, said Kazat Akhmatov, a leader of the republic's democratic movement.
It declared Kirgizia would have its own police force, but no army except for a ceremonial national guard, Akhamtov said. It also asserted its adherence to international human rights pacts, and pledged to seek a union of independent sovereign states and the sign a union economic agreement.
It ordered that a popular election be held on Oct. 12 for the post of president, Interfax reported.
Askar Akayev, the republic's leader, is the main candidate, the news agency said. His name has surfaced as a possible vice president of the Soviet Union, but another legislator in Bishkek said by telephone that Akayev wants to stay in the republic.
Ten of the 15 republics have now declared independence - including eight since last week's failed coup. They are Uzbekistan, Kirgizia, Azerbaijan, the Ukraine, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Moldavia and Byelorussia.
The changes also touched the republic of Tadzhikistan, which borders Uzbekistan and Kirgizia.
Tadzhik President Kakhar Makhkamov resigned Saturday after the legislature passed a vote of no-confidence in him for not vigorously opposing the coup. According to Tass, 124 of the 172 deputies voted for him to step down.
In a bid to retain his post, Makh-kamov said his government had effectively ignored the orders of the coup leaders in Moscow, but lawmakers declared that was not enough: He should have declared his opposition to them on the very first day.
Other lawmakers criticized him for his inability to solve the republic's problems and failure to carry out his decrees, Tass reported.
A new president will be elected on Oct. 27, but the news agency did not say whether it will be a popular election or a vote of the legislature.