European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 26, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday August 26, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 3 coup in the Kremlin Ukraine declares Independence by Mary Mycio and Carey Goldberg los Angeles times Kiev . A the Ukraine declared full Independence saturday claiming the right to Issue its own currency and control All military units on its territory including at least 1 million soviet troops. The decision was passed overwhelmingly by the republics parliament. Although the declaration is subject to confirmation by a referendum in december it appears certain to pass Riding the republics rising wave of nationalism. The Ukraine is the soviet unions second largest re Public with an area the size of France a population of about 55 million and some of the country s richest land and Best Industry. It is considered the Linchpin in president Mikhail s. Gorbachev s attempts to fashion a new soviet federation. Saturdays declaration put Gorbachev a blueprint in even greater doubt. The Republic called the soviet unions breadbasket has shown declining enthusiasm for Gorbachev a proposed new Union treaty and the declaration of Independence a unlike the Ukraine a declaration of sovereignty in july 1990 a made no mention of plans to eventually sign it. In a further impetus to dissolution russian presi Dent Boris Yeltsin on saturday issued decrees recognizing the Independence of Latvia and Estonia. He had already recognized the statehood of Lithuania the third Baltic state and lithuanian lawmakers claimed control saturday Over the republics Western Border a which is also part of the soviet Frontier with Poland. Control would include the issuance of visas the measure said. Three other republics a Armenia Georgia and Moldova a have declared their intent to become Independent and the Ukraine now becomes the seventh and by far the most important Republic to move toward separation. Yeltsin orders seizure of archives maintained by communists Kab by new Day Moscow a russian federation president Boris Yeltsin on saturday ordered the seizure of the archives of the Kab secret police As Well As the communist party raising the possibility that thousands of cases of torture and internment and espionage could be made Public Yeltsin in a new set of twin decrees said the papers should be confiscated a to prevent illegal destruction of the  the Kab Security Force has been along with the communist party one of the key forces of control in soviet society running both a foreign intelligence operation As Well As extensive Domestic Security operations. Under Vladimir Kryuchkov one of the leaders of the aborted coup the secret police Force had tried to soften its image in recent years by contending that secret police officers themselves died in the terrible purges under Josef Stalin. Kryuchkov also shut Down the notorious fifth department in 1989. That department had become infamous for crackdowns on All forms of political dissent including expressions of nationalist ethnic Pride religious dissent and intellectual and artistic dissent. The department also followed arrested and deported dissidents. Yeltsin a seizure of archives could shed Light on How far reaching the Kab activities were and yield new information on such mysteries As the Fate of Raoul Wal Lenberg the swedish Diplomat who disappeared into a soviet prison after saving thousands of jews from the nazis in world War ii. The Kab has been one of the most hated institutions in soviet society. As an expression of this hatred thousands of demonstrators toppled the statue of Felix Dze Rohinsky the founder of the Cheka the forerunner of the Kab last week. The Kab Cheka and communist party have historically been intertwined. Dze Rohinsky was one of the organizers of the bolshevik revolution of 1917. After an assassination attempt against soviet founder Vladimir Ilyitch Lenin in 1918, Dzierz Hinsky a Cheka was called upon to exercise a merciless mass  under. Stalin the organization ran forced labor Camps questioned and tortured thousands of innocent people in Lubianka its Headquarters in downtown Moscow. In his memoirs soviet literary critic . Ivanov Raz Umnik wrote of Lubyan kans a a Kennel a a hot unventilated basement cell 15 feet Square where 60 prisoners at a time were held. Quot the archives never made Public could open up an extraordinary Catalon of crimes. Until last week officers of the Kab and the communist party had fiercely resisted attempts to eliminate communist influence in the secret police Force. But All that has changed overnight with the Kab a like the communist party a in furious  of a foiled coup soviet army can. Yuri a. Munshin holds up a map of Moscow used by coup leaders. The map displayed at a news conference last week depicts routes the Putsch leaders planned to use to enter the City. Wanshin is the first Deputy chief of rocket  selected words miss Mark Kennebunkport Maine a the White House spent More than three hours saturday figuring out How to react to Mikhail Gorbachev a quitting As general Secretary of the Sovi it communist party. But minutes after it produced a terse statement saturday evening welcoming the news it had to Correct the announcement. The White House statement initially said a it has been announced that president Gorbachev has resigned from the communist party. The corrected version noted that Gorbachev had resigned As party Leader rather than leaving the party. It welcomed the news As a another step Forward in the Reform  two dozen reporters spent the afternoon camped out on the Lawn outside the temporary press office at an Ocean front hotel in Kennebunkport awaiting the carefully chosen words. Germany based soviet officers reportedly knew of coup plans Dresden Germany apr All High ranking soviet officers based in East Germany were aware that Lyste a week coup attempt in their Homeland was forthcoming a newspaper reported sunday. The Dresden based Morgen Post am sonntag also said that activity started 10 weeks ago to determine which officers would support the coup planners. Last weeks coup attempt by conservative soviet hard liners to unseat soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev sent a shockwave around the world. Gorbachev was saved and the coup attempt Defeated because one of his strongest critics russian president Boris Yeltsin stood up to the hard liners. Quoting soviet col. Vladimir i. Rudenko Morgen Post am sonntag said that every Eastern German based officer who was a member of the communist party was questioned about his ideology before the coup attempt. More than 80 percent of the soviet military officer corps is in the party the newspaper quoted Rudenko As saying. Of the officers questioned a those who clearly supported Gorbachev or Yeltsin were relieved of their posts a the newspaper quoted Rudenko As saying. Rudenko is the chief of a division staff in the soviet army a West group the newspaper said. It said that in Rudenkou a unit �?o17 of 253 officers Quot were removed from their jobs. Rudenko also told the newspaper that during the Days of the coup orders were Given that restricted soldiers from leaving their bases because of fears that mass desertion would occur the newspaper said. Soviet and German officials confirmed last week that the West group still has 273,000 troops based in Eastern Germany. One of the main concerns of the germans and other Western nations was How those troops might have been used by the coup plotters. F