WARSAW, Oct 9: When tur-moll exploded in Moscow, the . rest of the former East bloc watched with a combinatioQ of fear, dread and fascination, reports AP.

East Europeans worried that the violence could spill over Russia’s borders and create a nightmare: hard-liners oust President Boris Yeltsin, restore authoritarian rule and try to reel in the former Communist satellite countries.

Concern eased after the arrests of lawmakers and their supporters, who had holed up in Moscow’s parliament building. or White House.

But some east European officials speculate hard'won • democratic and free-market re-J forms across the region won't be

safe as long as Russia teeters on the edge of authoritarian rule.

"This was not the last such event." Hungarian Finance Minister Ivan Szabo told reporters Friday. "We anticipate disturbances to occur again before things finally get settled.

Not long ago. all of eastern Europe was subject to Soviet dictates. The countries have since embraced democracy to varying degrees — even when it meant voting into power parties with Communist roots, as In Poland last month.

Many people have turned their focus inward, toward their own fledgling political systems and dealing with day-to-day hardships that have accompanied capitalism: inflation.

unemployment and the loss of the-socialist security blanket.

But past Soviet interventions in their countries have left the region sensitive to Russian events. "When it ra(ns in Moscow. Romania gets out the umbrella." one local adage says.

So after Yeltsin dissolved Parliament last month, people from Bucharest to Budapest and Belgrade to Warsaw began gleaning news of the Russian crisis from whatever sources they could.

Some could pick up Russian television. Others monitored Cable News Network and Britain's Sky "News. The rest relied on the bulletins and special programmes from networks in their own countries, along with newspapers that devoted pages

(o the unrest each day.

Hungarian teacher Laszio Bekecs wondered whether his country, dependent on Russia for some of Its energy and a possible refugee destination could still get hurt.

They are doing to each other what they were doing to us for 40 years." said Bekecs, 52. "My only worry is that the political rivalry may turn into a civil war, which will involve us inevitably.

But politicians, analysts and average people alike say new found freedoms and -economic reforms have carved a new present and future, even If lh<- go Ing is Tough and unceit.in. :.i times. .

"Those events (in Russia) arc not a threat to eastern Europe," renowned Bulgarian author

Yordan Radichkov said of Moscow. Though difficult and slow, the changes In Russia are irreversible."

Andrez Drawicz, a Polish expert on Russian affairs, believes Poles who saw the last Russia troops leave last month after a 54-year presence should get over their fear.

The Russian situation Is different from other "post-Communist countries." said Dra-wicz. a Journalist and writer. "Each of them has Its own internal problems, some of them pretty sharp like Yugoslavia ... (But) I do not think that the Russian example may spread."

Romanian political commentator Silviu Brucan said that because of nuclear warheads, the United States and western

Europe have more cause for concern than eastern Europe.

"Washington. Paris and London thought that they had got rid of the nuclear hazard in the past years, but (the recent events) means the threat of the restoration of Communism still persists." Brucan said.

Gen Wojciech Jaruzelski. Poland's former Communist leader said the Russian army was strengthened by the con-fllct.The Anny tried io stay neutral for a long time, but in the critical moment it supported Yeltsin and thus swung the balance. It strengthens Its political position and makes it an Important instrument ensuring the stability of the state." Jaruzelski told the Zycle Warszawy daily.