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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 68, 00-04-05Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 68, 5 April 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] KARABAKH PROSECUTOR SAYS FORMER MINISTERPLANNED ATTACK ON PRESIDENTMavrik Ghukasian, prosecutor-general of the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic, told a news conference in Stepanakert on 4 April that the enclave's former defense minister, Samvel Babayan, has been formally charged with masterminding the 22 March assassination attempt on President Arkadii Ghukasian, RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent reported. Mavrik Ghukasian said that the charges were read to Babayan in the presence of his lawyer after the former minister had admitted his guilt. He added that there is "sufficient evidence" that Babayan planned to install an interim military government after the president's demise and then assume the leadership. LF [02] FORMER ARMENIAN RULING PARTY CONDEMNS'PERSECUTION' OF EX-MINISTERThe Armenian Pan- National Movement issued a statement on 4 April condemning the Yerevan district court ruling of the previous day empowering the country's prosecutor- general to ask the parliament to allow the detention of parliamentary deputy and former Interior Minister Vano Siradeghian, Noyan Tapan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 April 2000). The statement characterized the measures against Siradeghian as "persecution" and a manifestation of the "wave of terror" sweeping the country. It said the court ruling demonstrates that the Armenian judiciary is not independent of the executive. Also on 4 April, parliamentary deputy speaker Gagik Aslanian said he thinks it unlikely that Siradeghian has fled the country to avoid being taken into custody, according to Armenpress cited by Groong. LF [03] FORMER GEORGIAN NAVAL COMMANDERSENTENCEDA Tbilisi district court on 4 April handed down a two-year prison sentence to Naval Captain Otar Chkhartishvili, former commander of the Georgian navy, for abuse of office and misappropriating 78,000 lari ($40,000), Caucasus Press reported. The prosecution had demanded a 12-year jail term. Chkhartishvili refused to testify during his trial, which lasted over a year. He had been fired by Defense Minister David Tevzadze in spring 1998 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 May 1998). LF [04] KAZAKHSTAN'S PREMIER ANTICIPATES RISE IN GDPAddressing a cabinet session in Astana on 4 April,Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev said that GDP growth during the first quarter of 2000 is likely to exceed 8 percent, compared with the previous year, Interfax reported. He said industrial output for the first quarter of the year increased by 14.5 percent, compared with the first three months of 1999. Toqaev also noted a marked improvement in tax collection. In an interview published in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 1 April, Toqaev's first deputy, Aleksandr Pavlov, noted that Kazakhstan has finally overcome the after-effects of the 1998 Russian economic crisis, and he predicted a stage of "steady growth." LF [05] COMPROMISED KAZAKH SECURITY OFFICIAL MOVESTO FOREIGN MINISTRYPrime Minister Toqaev has named Nurtai Abyqaev to the post of first deputy foreign minister, Interfax reported on 4 April. Abyqaev was dismissed in August 1999 from his post as head of the National Security Committee for his involvement in the clandestine sale to North Korea of obsolete MiG fighters (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 August 1999). He had previously served as head of the presidential administration and as Kazakhstan's ambassador to the U.K. LF [06] POLICE DISPERSE KYRGYZ PROTESTERSSome 200police used force to disperse participants in the ongoing picket in central Bishkek during the late evening of 4 April, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Fifteen picketers who had embarked on a hunger strike to protest the 22 March detention of opposition Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov were forcibly hospitalized. Kulov had appealed to them earlier that day to abandon their fast. On 31 March the Bishkek City administration had issued a ban on pickets and demonstrations, except on one city square at a greater distance from the government building. LF [07] BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT VISITS TAJIKISTANAlyaksandr Lukashenka arrived in Dushanbe on 4 April atthe head of a delegation that also included the Belarusian defense, industry and finance ministers and the secretary of the country's Security Council, ITAR-TASS reported. Lukashenka stressed the unused potential for expanding by up to 10 times bilateral trade, which declined by 40 percent last year, according to Interfax. He said Belarus is interested in importing cotton, aluminum, and tobacco from Tajikistan and exporting agricultural equipment, fertilizers and oil products. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[08] SERBIAN OFFICERS REVEAL 'SICKENING ATROCITIES'IN KOSOVAA new internal Yugoslav army report details numerous Serbian officers' revulsion at the atrocities they saw fellow Serbs commit against defenseless Albanian civilians in Kosova in 1999, London's "The Independent" reported on 5 April. One commander of a tank unit said that "for the entire time I was in [Kosova], I never saw a single enemy soldier, and my unit was never involved in firing at military targets." He added that "tanks, which cost $2.5 million each, were used to slaughter Albanian children. I am ashamed," the British daily added. A second officer described how he watched with his "own eyes as a reservist lined up 30 Albanian women and children..., crouched down behind an anti-aircraft machine-gun, and pulled the trigger. The half-inch bullets just tore the bodies apart," he said. The army compiled the study in January and February to "gauge morale against the backdrop of growing tension between Serbia and Montenegro." Most officers were "appalled" at the prospect of a conflict with Montenegro and were "traumatized" by what they saw in Kosova, the daily added. PM [09] YUGOSLAV ARMY REJECTS SPECIAL LINKS TOMONTENEGROThe army said in a statement in Belgrade on 4 April that it communicates directly with civilian authorities and does not need any go-betweens, "Danas" reported. The statement added that three former generals whom the Montenegrin government has hired as advisers were fired from the military because they "lost the trust" of the army (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 April 2000). PM [10] ROBERTSON SAYS KOSOVA MISSION ON 'RAZOR'SEDGE'NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson said in Washington on 4 April that the alliance's mission in Kosova is "still on that razor's edge between success...or failure--failure of political will, a failure to put in the right resources. We have to succeed for a whole series of reasons, but most of all because we want to create a model...for what the international community can do in stopping evil and rebuilding a healthy, [multi-]ethnic, [and] democratic society," AP reported. PM [11] KOSOVA VILLAGES QUIET AFTER CLASHSeveralSerbian-inhabited villages in the Sara National Park area on the Kosova-Macedonian border were quiet on 5 April after a clash between some 150 local Serbian civilians and KFOR troops the previous day, Reuters reported. The clash involved "shoving, clubs, dogs, and rubber bullets," AP added. The confrontation began when peacekeepers tried to confiscate illegally-held grenades from a Serbian home and arrested one Serb. The man subsequently escaped and was not recaptured. Some 11 U.S. troops, one Polish soldier, an interpreter, and up to 14 Serbian civilians sustained light injuries. PM [12] CROATIAN POLICE ARREST ALLEGED SERBIAN WARCRIMINALPolice in Sisak arrested Nebojsa Jelic on 4 April after he returned from Serbia. The ethnic Serb is wanted for allegedly "maltreating and torturing" 16 Croatian policemen and a civilian in Glina in 1991, AP reported. Jelic, who belonged to a paramilitary unit during the Krajina Serb uprising, confessed his crimes to police. He added that he felt he would be better off "in a Croatian prison than living as a free man in Serbia," the news agency added. PM [13] DEL PONTE SEEKS EVIDENCE IN CROATIAThe Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, arrived in Zagreb on 4 April from Slovenia. She met with President Stipe Mesic and is slated to hold talks with Prime Minister Ivica Racan and Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic on 5 April. Her main goal is to obtain key documents regarding the Croatian offensives in Krajina in 1995 and their aftermath. Mesic said that Croatia wants to cooperate with the tribunal because the government knows that the country can be absolved of collective guilt for war crimes only by establishing the guilt of specific individuals, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Government spokesmen would neither confirm nor deny reports that Del Ponte is looking for specific documents about wartime Generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak, Ivan Korade, and Mirko Norac, "Novi List" reported on 5 April. PM [14] IS PLAVSIC ON HAGUE'S ARREST LIST?Several BosnianSerb legal experts say that virtually all Bosnian Serb leaders during the 1992-1995 war have been indicted by the Hague-based tribunal, either openly or in sealed indictments. Allegedly included on the list is former Republika Srpska President Biljana Plavsic, who has long broken with the hard-liners, "Vesti" reported on 5 April. The newspaper also notes that NATO recently refused to guarantee the safety of General Manojlo Milovanovic, who consequently refused to go on a planned trip to Brussels. PM [15] PETRITSCH CALLS FOR 'CHANGE' IN BOSNIAN VOTEWolfgang Petritsch, who is the international community'schief representative in Bosnia, said in a statement in Sarajevo on 4 April that he hopes voters will choose "change" when they cast their ballots in local elections on 8 April. He specifically urged voters to consider voting for "open lists" instead of traditional one-party slates, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The international community's representatives in Bosnia want to break the 10-year grip of nationalist parties on the electorate. The nationalists, for their part, have accused the foreigners of interfering in the electoral process. In addition, Petritsch warned that Bosnia may soon face a deep "economic crisis" unless its legislators quickly introduce key reforms and work seriously to fight corruption, "Oslobodjenje" reported. PM [16] SERBIA BANS CORRESPONDENTThe Serbianauthorities on 4 April banned Carlotta Gall, who is a correspondent for the "New York Times," from visiting Serbia for one year. Gall's visa had long expired. The ban also applies to Edward Testa, who is a photographer working for the same daily, AP reported. In New York, Gall's editor Andrew Rosenthal said that his newspaper has asked the Serbian authorities to "look into this." PM [17] LARGEST MACEDONIAN BANK SOLDThe NationalBank of Greece, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Financing Cooperation bought some 65 percent of the shares of Stopanska Banka for $46.5 million on 4 April. Some 80 percent of the foreign-held assets belong to the National Bank of Greece. PM [18] ALBANIAN FORMALLY ENDS DEATH PENALTYPrimeMinister Ilir Meta signed documents at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 4 April confirming that his country has abolished capital punishment, "Die Presse" reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 December 1999). PM [19] ITALY, ALBANIA AGREE ON MIGRANT LABORTheItalian Embassy in Tirana said in a statement on 4 April that Italy has agreed to accept 6,000 seasonal workers in an effort to halt illegal immigration. To apply for a visa, the workers need only an invitation from relatives already working legally in Italy, dpa reported. Previously, legal migrants had to find a job in Italy before applying for a visa. Tirana and Rome want to end the lucrative traffic in illegal immigrants from Albania to Italy. In related news, the Albanian Foreign Ministry on 5 April issued a statement appealing to Greece not to shoot at ships carrying illegal immigrants. The previous day, Greek patrol boats allegedly fired at a high-speed boat carrying illegal immigrants from Albania to Corfu, Reuters reported. PM [20] SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER IN ROMANIAEduardKukan and his Romanian counterpart, Petre Roman, said in Bucharest on 4 April their countries will support each other's efforts to gain membership in the EU and NATO as well as temporary seats on the UN Security Council, Rompres and TASR reported. Roman invited Slovakia to participate in the construction of the new seaport Constanta-South and accepted Slovakia's offer to take part in building a second bridge across the River Danube. Meanwhile, in Bratislava, Slovak Environment Minister Laszlo Miklos said his country will seek compensation from Bucharest for damage caused by two recent incidents of pollution on the Tisza River. Miklos said Bratislava will coordinate its efforts to obtain compensation with other countries in the region. VG [21] MULTICULTURAL UNIVERSITY IN ROMANIA GIVEN'GREEN LIGHT'Overturning a decision by the Bucharest Appeals Court, the Supreme Court on 4 April paved the way for the setting up of the Petofi-Schiller "multicultural" university, Mediafax reported. The government had appealed the lower court's decision, which had ruled at the request of the Party of Social Democracy in Romania and the Party of Romanian National Unity that the institution was "illegal." The government had decided on 30 September 1998 to establish the university. The decision of the Supreme Court is final and cannot be appealed. MS [22] ROMANIAN COURT APPROVES ROYAL RESTITUTIONA court in Arad has approved former King Michael'srequest that the Savarsin castle in Transylvania be restituted to him, Romanian Radio reported on 4 April. The castle is, in fact, a large hunting lodge. MS [23] MOLDOVAN OFFICIAL SAYS RUSSIA TO SUBMITTIMETABLE FOR TROOP WITHDRAWALMoldovan Foreign Ministry official Ion Stavila said on 4 April that Russia has promised to submit a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops from the breakaway region of Transdniester by the end of April, BASA-press and Infotag reported. He said Moldovan and Russian negotiators agreed to this during talks in Chisinau last weekend. VG [24] BULGARIA AGAIN REJECTS UN REPORTBulgaria on 4April again rejected a recent UN report saying the country violated international sanctions against the sale of arms to Angola's UNITA rebels (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 March 2000), an RFE/RL correspondent reported. The Bulgarian mission at the UN has sent a letter to the UN Security Council describing the report as a "distortion and misinterpretation" of the facts. The UN Security Council is expected to consider a resolution based on the report in about two weeks. VG [25] BULGARIAN LEFTIST PARTIES TO COOPERATETheBulgarian Socialist Party and the Euro-Left have agreed to cooperate in Bulgaria's next parliamentary elections, Bulgarian Radio reported on 4 April. Meanwhile, the Green Party has announced that it will leave the Alliance for National Salvation to form a new parliamentary group. VG [C] END NOTE[26] TURN OF THE SCREWSby Julie A. CorwinAs Russia and the rest of the world waits for President-elect Vladimir Putin to make some decisive policy moves, leaders in Russia's far-flung regions already know what to expect. During his three months as acting president, Putin initiated changes in how Moscow manages its relations with the periphery. And in a marked contrast to how he began his tenure at the helm of the Federal Security Service (FSB), Putin is making no assurances that a major overhaul will not occur. Consider Putin's words at his first press conference when he took over as director of the FSB in 1998. He promised that "there will practically be no new approaches to work with the regions." He declared that control in the regions "will be strengthened but no extra tightening of the screws (zakruchivaniye gaek) will take place." Before his FSB assignment, Putin headed the Kremlin's Control Department, where, among other things, he uncovered 9,000 cases in which federal money totaling some 3 trillion rubles ($104 billion at the current exchange rate) had been spent by the regions for purposes other than those intended. Putin's rise to power made regional leaders understandably nervous. Now, as then, regional leaders' anxiety is almost palpable. Governors of all political stripes moved with breakneck speed to back Putin's presidential campaign and form their own branches of the Putin-backed Unity movement. Some even suggested that the presidential term be lengthened and the federation reformed into a smaller number of more manageable units. But rather than reassuring the fretful regional poo-bahs, this time Putin started promising change from the very beginning. Less than a month after taking over from former President Boris Yeltsin, Putin called for declaring a war against the "legal chaos" existing in regions where local laws often conflict with federal legislation. Later, he spoke about the need to place "all subjects of the Russian Federation in the same economic conditions vis-a-vis the federal center," noting that "several subjects have certain privileges that others do not." So far, Putin's only concession to maintaining the status quo was rejection of the idea of appointing--rather than electing--governors, as some regional heads had suggested. The president-elect noted that the Russian population has "gotten used to its right to influence who will be its leader." But more important than Putin's words have been his actions and that of his government. One month after his appointment as acting president, Putin dismissed more than 20 presidential representatives to Russian regions, replacing them with his own appointees. In the weeks that followed, the Justice Ministry announced the formation of a commission to check the compliance of regional laws with federal legislation; the Interior Ministry reorganized its structure, subordinating all of its regional criminal police units to Moscow headquarters; the Finance Ministry announced stricter controls over regional finances; and the Tax Ministry announced expansion of its project to maximize information about the regions' tax-paying capabilities. And only last week, German Gref, the head of the Center for Strategic Research, the think tank charged with drafting Putin's economic program, told reporters that the relationship between the federal government and regional governors will be revised. What all these diverse policies have in common is a tightening of control by the center over the regions. And it may be reasonable to assume that in the future Putin will seek to maximize control by supporting those regional heads who not only express loyalty but can themselves control outcomes on their territories and deliver on their promises to the center. Those leaders who did not get the vote out for Putin in presidential elections may find themselves in a vulnerable position vis-a-vis Moscow. One example might be Primorskii Krai, where Governor Yevgenii Nazdratenko was one of the first governors to support Unity. There, Putin barely scraped a victory with some 40.08 percent of the vote, compared with Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov's 36.36 percent. Similarly, in Buryatia, Putin also performed poorly next to Zyuganov, 41.96 percent versus 40.53 percent. This occurred. despite the fact that three deputy prime ministers in the republic's government took three- month vacations so that they could head the local election headquarters for Putin. Since Putin has rejected the notion of appointing governors, he may have to rely on less obvious means of controlling regional leaders. "Vedomosti" suggested last month that new legal measures being introduced to tighten federal control over regional finances may make regional leaders "docile" without the necessity of more overt administrative measures. After all, only a handful of Russia's 89 regions contribute more in revenue to the center than they get in return. But previous attempts at recentralizing Russia have generally failed--stymied in part by the sheer size of the federation. Putin may have one advantage that his predecessors since Stalin lacked: fear. Putin's conduct of policy in Chechnya and in the presidential elections suggests he has a tendency toward "overkill" and is uncomfortable leaving anything to chance. In 1998, when Kalmykia's President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov challenged the then weak Yeltsin leadership by announcing that his republic considered itself outside of the federation and would no longer transfer its federal taxes, Moscow responded harshly, dismissing its federal treasury official there and suspending all aid. What is the likelihood that Ilyumzhinov or one of his peers will risk making even a less dramatic statement and discovering President Putin's reaction? 05-04-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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