-= V =-
VACARIOU Nicolae	Prime Minister of Romania, November '92. Economic reformer
VAGNORIUS	Lithuanian PM, replaced Prunskiene. Voted out of office in July 92, for Abiąala.
VALENTIĆ, Nikica	Prime Minister of Croatia 4/93, head of fifth Cr. government since 1990 elections. Wants to concentrate on the country's economic problems. Former head of Ina (since 1990), the country's largest oil company. A lawyer. Priorities of government : economic reconstruction and getting inflation under control.
VALJAS, Vajno	Estonian Communist Party leader, 1989.
VASARHELYI, Miklos	A minister in Nagy's government, now a Free Democrat MP who cast doubt on the authenticity of supposed KGB documents incriminating him as a NKVD spy.
VASILYEV	Head of the Centre for Economic Reform in Russia (92), critic of Central Bank policies.
VERDET, Ilie	Prime Minister of Romania under Ceaçescu. Later active in the reconstituted Romanian Communist Party.
VIDENOV, Zhan	Bulgarian Prime Minister (1995).
VITRUK, Nikolai	Deputy chairman of the Russian Supreme Court. Resigned 28/9/93.
VLADISLAVLEV, Alexander	One of the leaders of the Civic Union.
VOLKOGONOV, Dmitry	Close aide of Yeltsin.
VOLSKI, Georgi	Deputy chief representative of the Georgian mission in Moscow.
VOLSKY,  Arkady	Head of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. "the shadow cabinet", "the force behind the creeping coup" - leaning on Central Bank to give industry 'cheap' loans. Closely associated with the centrist Civic Union. Once touted as a possible PM under Gorbachev, and 2nd deputy PM in April '92.
VORONTSOV, Yuli	Russian Embassodor to the UN and close adviser of Yeltsin's.
VOROTNIKOV, Vitali	2/90 only surviving Politburo member from before Gorbachev. Member since 1983, as PM of the RSFSR. 1988 solely chairman of Russia's Supreme Soviet.
VOSCHANOV, Pavel	Spokesman for Yeltsin ('91)
VUCUREVIĆ, Bozidar	Serbian leader of eastern Herzegovina.
-= Y =-
YAKOVLEV, Alexandr	Politburo member since 1985. Studied at Columbia Uni, New York 1958. First deputy minister for propaganda. Fell from grace 1973, criticising Russian dominance in the SU; sent to Canada as ambassador. Father of perestroika, and close aide of Gorbachev until both he and Shevardnadze believed he had capitulated to his conservative advisers. Initiated the idea of the Gorbachev Foundation and became its vice-president. Slowly moved into Yeltsin camp. 10/92 said Gorbachev had no place in future Russian politics.
YAKOVLEV, Yegor	Head of Commonwealth TV Service, Ostankino, until 11/92.
YANAYEV	Spokesperson of the coup plotters, 1991. Specially appointed by MSG as vice-president against the wishes of the People's Congress.
YAROV, Yuri	Conservative deputy prime minister of Russia in the new Chernomyrdin cabinet,  20/1/94. Minister for social affairs. Engineer from central Russia, first made a name for himself in autumn 1991 when he went to St. Petersburg as Yeltsin's Statthalter. 11/91 Deputy speaker of parliament. 12/92 Named deputy head of covernment by Yeltsin, responsible for relations between Moscow and the centre. (1943)
YAVLINSKY, Gregor	Economist, joint author of the 500 Day Plan with Shatalin. Made Russian deputy prime minister by Yeltsin. 1991 propagated a plan "Regionalisation of the Reform Policy." Later the Head of the Centre for Economic Research. Not complementary of Chernomyrdin. Headed reformist Yabloko (Apple) party in 12/93 elections.
YAZOV, Dimitri	Successor to Sokolov, but not as full Politburo member, only as candidate member. Chief of Staff, Defence Minister. Critical of army reforms. One of Coup plotters. Replaced by Moisiyev after coup.
YELTSIN, Boris*	President and 1 year long Prime Minister of Russia.
YEVTUSCHENKO, Yevgeni	Dissident Poet on Russian intellectual scene. "different people from '68. May be economically on our knees, but not politically. We'll never be forced back." The first true dissident intellectual.
-= Z =-
ZAPOTOCKY
ZEBIĆ, Jovan	Member of the Serbian government to 3/93, named federal finance minister by Kontić "until further notice."
ZEĆEVIĆ, Zdravko	Self-styled Prime Minister of Serb-occupied territories in Croatia. Dismissive of Panić, an 'agent of the West.'
ZHELEV, Zhelyu	President of Bulgaria after collapse of Zhivkov, and still oging stron 1993. Former dissident.
ZHIRINOVSKY, Vladimir	Leader of the Liberal Democratic Party in Russia. Often called ultra-conservative, fascist; his policies are a mixture of overt nationalism and Greater Russia. Helped finance soldiers to go to Iraq in 1993.
ZHIVKOV, Todor*	Long-time communist leader of Bulgaria. 'Untouchable' after his fall. Secretly desired Bulgaria to become the 16th Soviet republic. Party leader since 1954.
ZIRKOVIĆ, Zorkan	Serbian politician opposed to militia cleansing the Sandľak.
ZORKIN, Valeri	President of the Russian Constitutional Court. Chaired negotiations between Yeltsin and Khasbulatov during 7th Congress. Lost chairman's neutral status in 1993 as he became involved in discussion about the constitutional disputes. Resigned 10/9 after rebellion as he had clearly sided with parliament.
ZUBAK, Kresimir	Leader of the Bosnian Croats.
ZYUGANOV, Gennady	Author of A Word To The People, the manifesto of the 1991 coup against Gorbachev. Leader of the Communist Party of Russia in the Duma, 1994