Bonner Sees New Peril for Soviets

With the breakup of central control in the Soviet Union, human rights monitors need to shift their focus to conditions in the republics, Soviet rights activist Yelena Bonner said Tuesday.

Bonner, widow of Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, said the erosion of strong central control will require the immediate formation of groups to monitor human rights across the union.

She made her request to the Conference of Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Bonner also complained about Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s address to the conference.

“We heard all the same words about the union, and nobody knows what the union will look like,” she said. “Personally I am not willing to live side by side with the republics that violate human rights.”