Soviet Union Life in a Weary Land

By John Kohan/Moscow

Many painful and poignant images have emerged from earthquake-devastated Armenia, but one scene last week seemed to capture perfectly the changes that the tragedy has wrought in the Soviet Union. There, at the same table in the Armenian capital of Yerevan, sat Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov, representing a state that officially avows atheism, and Nobel peace laureate Mother Teresa, founder of the Roman Catholic Society of the Missionaries of Charity and one among 2,000 foreign volunteers taking part in the unprecedented relief effort. The tiny, veiled nun nodded approvingly as the Communist official showed her a new information bulletin created to help reunite missing family members. It was an unusual concordat of hearts, if not of minds, that would have been inconceivable before the disaster opened Armenia to the world.

With hope fading that any survivors remained buried in the rubble, many of the doctors, rescue squads, fire fighters and dog handlers who had converged on the ravaged cities of Leninakan and Spitak from around the globe began to head home last week. Ryzhkov, who spent 13 days in the area as head of a special Politburo commission supervising the relief efforts, offered a grim tally before he returned to Moscow. The number of dead, he reported, was certain to exceed 55,000. Relief workers had rescued 15,300, while 514,000 had been left homeless by the quake. The cost of rebuilding Armenia: much higher than the original estimate of $8 billion. Said a weary Ryzhkov: "A disaster is a serious test not only for friends but for leaders."

The task of reconstruction may pose even greater challenges for President Mikhail Gorbachev. The Soviet leader has kept such a low profile since cutting short his journey abroad to fly to the earthquake zone that he seemed all but eclipsed by Ryzhkov in news reports. Gorbachev may have good reasons for turning the reconciliation work in Armenia over to others. His prestige there . has plummeted since Moscow refused to recognize Armenian claims to Nagorno- Karabakh, a predominantly Armenian enclave in neighboring Azerbaijan that has been the focus of ethnic strife for the past ten months.

Such quantities of food, clothing, construction materials and other essentials have been flooding in from distant parts of the Soviet Union that freight trains were backed up on railroads leading into Armenia. But despite the nationwide display of generosity, Armenian suspicions of Moscow still run high. Rumors continue to circulate that Moscow has exploited the disaster to raise its troop strength in the Caucasus republic to 20,000. Some military units have been pelted with stones by discontented Armenians, who charged that soldiers spent more time checking passes than digging out victims.

During his visit to Yerevan, Gorbachev expressed puzzlement over such ingratitude and lashed out at rumor-mongering extremists, labeling them "profiteers sponging on the working class" who were "holding the people in their hands by intimidation." At least eleven Armenian nationalists, including seven members of the Karabakh committee, were rounded up by police and sentenced to 30 days in jail for disturbing the peace. Four other committee members went into hiding to escape the crackdown. In a shrill propaganda campaign, police officials have accused the nationalists of stirring up unrest and forcibly evicting people from their homes. Government patrols reported that while sifting through the rubble in Spitak they found a secret cache of automatic rifles and handguns.

Sensitive to criticism that the high death toll was due to shoddy building methods, Soviet officials pledged last week that new housing would be constructed of traditional Armenian stone and would be no higher than five stories. All building plans would be submitted for public debate "in an atmosphere of glasnost." But the promises may sound hollow to those living in tent villages, who stubbornly nurse ethnic grievances. "Just wait and see," vowed a young Armenian engineer. "Things will be quiet for a few months. But the movement will be back, bigger and stronger than ever."