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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 100, 00-05-24Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 100, 24 May 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] PEOPLE'S PARTY NOT TO QUIT ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT MAJORITY BLOCThe board of the People's Party of Armenia (HZhK) announcedon 23 May that it will not quit the Miasnutiun parliamentary bloc, in which it is the junior partner, despite its objections to the appointments of Republican Party chairman Andranik Markarian as prime minister and of presidential chief of staff Serzh Sarkisian as defense minister, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Arguing that "one should not attack the government right from the beginning," HZhK chairman Stepan Demirchian said his party will support "any step that aims to bring the country out of this difficult situation." Some members of the Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) have similarly objected to Sarkisian's appointment. They argue that in his former position as national security minister, he failed to take measures that would have prevented the 27 October parliament shootings in which HHK chairman and Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsian was killed. LF [02] KARABAKH ASSASSINATION BID INVESTIGATION COMPLETEDTheinvestigation into the 22 March attempt to assassinate Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic, has been completed, RFE/RL's Stepanakert correspondent reported on 23 May, citing unnamed law enforcement agency sources. The office of Prosecutor-General Mavrik Ghukasian (no relation to Arkadii), who said two weeks ago that the investigation should be completed within three weeks, declined to comment on that information. The prosecution claims that former Karabakh Defense Army commander and Defense Minister Samvel Babayan has confessed to plotting to overthrow the unrecognized republic's leadership and seize power but has denied masterminding the attempt to kill Ghukasian. "Golos Armenii" on 16 May quoted one of Babayan's lawyers as denying Mavrik Ghukasian's claim that they refused to represent him because they were convinced of his guilt. LF [03] GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CONDEMNS RUSSIAN DISINFORMATIONIna statement issued in Tbilisi on 23 May, the Georgian Foreign Ministry categorically denied Russian media reports that up to 1,500 Arab and Afghan mercenaries are waiting to enter Chechnya from Georgia's neighboring Pankisi gorge, Caucasus Press reported. The ministry's public relations department head, Avtandil Napetvaridze, told Interfax that such unfounded allegations "play into the hands of those destructive forces" that oppose a Georgian-Russian rapprochement. The previous day, Georgia's State Border Guards Department denied Russian military claims to have annihilated a caravan of Afghan mercenaries en route from Georgia to Chechnya. The statement termed such allegations an attempt to offload responsibility for the Russian army's failures in Chechnya. LF [04] DETAINED AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITIONISTS RELEASEDPolice on 23May released 11 Azerbaijani opposition activists, including Akhrar party leader Vagif Hadjibeyli, who had been detained for their participation in the unsanctioned 29 April opposition demonstration in Baku on charges of resisting the police, Turan reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 May 2000). Those charges have not been dropped, however, and the 11 have given a written undertaking not to leave the Azerbaijani capital. LF [05] KARABAKH LIBERATION ORGANIZATION CALLS FOR AZERBAIJANIPRESIDENT'S RESIGNATIONThe Organization for the Liberation of Karabakh, created in Baku earlier this year, has issued a statement condemning President Heidar Aliev's 18 May remark that "it would be insane to resume military actions in Karabakh," Turan reported on 23 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 May 2000). The statement accused Aliev of being concerned only with retaining power. "If Heidar Aliev cannot liberate the occupied lands and calls the country's patriotic forces 'insane,' he should resign as president," the statement said. LF [06] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY TO BOYCOTT ROUND TABLEThe Ar-Namysparty will not participate in the roundtable discussion between opposition parties and the Kyrgyz government scheduled for early next month, Ar-Namys board member Omurbek Subanaliev told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 23 May. Subanaliev said that agreeing to attend that discussion when the Kyrgyz authorities have not fulfilled a single opposition demand would only strengthen the authorities' position. He insisted that the Kyrgyz leadership should release detained Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov and his deputy, Emil Aliev. And he also said it should cease its harassment of Democratic Movement of Kyrgyzstan leader Jypar Jeksheev and El (Bei Bechara) party chairman Daniyar Usenov. Meanwhile, the picket in central Bishkek organized by Kulov's supporters to demand his release entered its 69th day on 23 May. LF [07] TAJIK TRADE REPRESENTATIVE ARRESTED IN KAZAKH DRUGS HAULKazakh security officials arrested Tajikistan's traderepresentative in Almaty on 23 May after 10 kilograms of heroin was found in his garage and 14 kilograms in an apartment where he had previously lived, Reuters and Interfax reported. Two days earlier, 62 kilograms of heroin had been confiscated from two cars, one of which belonged to Tajikistan's ambassador to Kazakhstan (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 May 2000). Almaty Oblast National Security Committee chief Rakhat Aliev, who is President Nursultan Nazarbaev's son-in- law, told journalists on 23 May that the smuggling of drugs from Afghanistan via the states of Central Asia is "an international problem" that undermines Kazakhstan's security. He expressed "understanding" for Russian presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii's warning that Russia may consider pre-emptive air strikes against Afghanistan (see above). LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[08] SLOVENIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS PROPOSED GOVERNMENT...PrimeMinister-designate Andrej Bajuk failed on 23 May to secure parliamentary approval for his proposed cabinet. The legislature voted 45 to 45 on the government, failing by one vote to get the necessary majority. Bajuk must now submit a new cabinet list by 2 June. If parliament again denies approval, Bajuk will then have a third opportunity to form a government. Should he fail on the third try, President Milan Kucan has the right either to appoint a new prime minister or call early elections, Reuters reported. Kucan wants early elections, which he regards as the only way to end the current deadlock in the parliament. PM [09] ...WHILE EU CRITICIZES SLOVENIA FOR SLOW PROGRESSJaimeGarcia Lombardero, who heads the EU's team overseeing Slovenia's application for membership, said in Ljubljana on 23 May that the political stalemate has cost the former Yugoslav republic valuable time in passing necessary legislation to bring its laws into line with EU standards. Of the 76 such laws slated to be passed in 2000, the legislature has passed only 12. He stressed that the parliament will be in recess from June through August, which will mean that it will have lost a total of five months' working time in 2000, Reuters reported. PM [10] MASKED MEN BEAT STRIKING SERBIAN STUDENTSVukasin Petrovic,who is a spokesman for the Otpor (Resistance) student movement, told AP on 24 May that an unspecified number of masked men beat several dozen Belgrade University architecture students the previous day. The students had just begun a four-day sit-in strike to demand an end to the regime of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Referring to the beatings, Petrovic said it was "horrible" and that a local police patrol "deliberately ran away" when the students approached them for help. Petrovic stressed: "This all proves that the regime is ready to do everything just to stay in power. It's using not only police repression but also street gangs and criminals to suppress all who think differently." PM [11] SERBIAN MAYORS APPEAL FOR HELPOpposition mayors GoranBulajic of Sombor, Paja Francuski of Kikinda, and Vladimir Domazet of Nis said in Vienna on 23 May that the international community must help opposition-run cities if it wants to make the opposition credible in the eyes of Serbian voters. The mayors noted that some 60 percent of Serbia's population lives in urban areas, "Die Presse" reported. They added that the central authorities cut the allowances for Kikinda and Nis by up to 80 percent in recent years following the opposition's election victories there. Kikinda urgently needs to modernize its systems for providing drinking water and collecting rubbish, Francuski stressed. PM [12] DOES MILOSEVIC WANT STREET PROTESTS IN MONTENEGRO?Milosevicrecently upbraided Predrag Bulatovic, who is a leader of Montenegro's pro-Milosevic Socialist People's Party (SNP), because the SNP has not organized mass protests in Podgorica against the reform-minded government of President Milo Djukanovic, "Vesti" reported on 24 May. Milosevic allegedly repeatedly asked Bulatovic: "What are you waiting for?" The Podgorica office of the SNP denied the story, which first appeared in the local daily "Vijesti." Milosevic has made frequent use of street protests, or "meetings," over the years to get the upper hand over his political opponents. PM [13] MONTENEGRO, ALBANIA BOOST COOPERATIONMontenegrin PrimeMinister Filip Vujanovic and his Albanian counterpart, Ilir Meta, agreed in Shkoder on 23 May to develop political and economic ties, despite Belgrade's objections. Key areas earmarked for improvements include trade, transportation, and telecommunications. Vujanovic placed a telephone call to his office in Podgorica to inaugurate a new fiber optic link connecting the Montenegrin and Albanian telephone systems. The two governments plan to construct a high-tension electric power cable from Elbasan to Podgorica, as well as a railway line from the Montenegrin capital to Shkoder, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Montenegro and Albania will also take unspecified steps to fight trafficking in prostitutes and drugs. PM [14] EU, ALBANIA TO START STABILIZATION TALKSAlbanian ForeignMinister Paskal Milo said in Brussels on 23 May that his government plans to launch negotiations before the end of this year on a new association and stabilization agreement with the EU. Brussels wants Tirana to take steps to promote institutional stability and to strengthen the economy through structural reform as a precondition to any new agreement, dpa reported. An unnamed Portuguese diplomat hailed Albanian plans to hold local elections in October under a new electoral law. PM [15] INCIDENTS BETWEEN RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS, KOSOVARSAnunspecified number of Russian KFOR troops were involved in an "altercation" with Ramush Hajredinaj at a checkpoint near Malisheva on 23 May, Reuters reported. Hajredinaj is a former leader of the Kosova Liberation Army who now heads a political party (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 May 2000). Hajredinaj's and KFOR's accounts of what precipitated the incident and how the altercation developed differ markedly from each other, AP reported. On 24 May, two Russian soldiers were injured in two separate incidents in which anti-tank rockets hit a Russian camp near Kijeva. A KFOR spokesman said in Prishtina that the attacks appear to be a "reaction" to the incident involving Hajredinaj. Most Kosovars are deeply mistrustful of Russians, believing that the latter fought alongside Serbian forces in Kosova in 1999 and helped Serbs commit atrocities against Albanians. PM [16] EU: BOSNIANS MUST HELP THEMSELVESJavier Solana, who is theEU's chief official for foreign and security policy, said at a conference in Brussels on 23 May on Bosnian peace implementation that "the time has come for Bosnia to learn to help itself." He added that international financial support for Bosnia "cannot remain at [the present high] level" for long, dpa reported. Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten noted that Bosnia lacks a working banking system, a market economy, functioning joint state institutions, and a joint passport, Reuters reported. Wolfgang Petritsch, who is the international community's high representative in Bosnia, argued that "the time has finally come for the political and civic leaders of Bosnia-Herzegovina to show real commitment to the [1995 Dayton] peace agreement and fulfill their obligations." Russian representatives are boycotting the gathering because the organizers did not invite officials from Belgrade to attend. PM [17] PETRITSCH SACKS BOSNIAN PRIVATIZATION OFFICIALA spokesmanfor Petritsch said in Sarajevo on 23 May that the high representative "had no other choice" but to fire Stiepo Andrijic as head of the management board for the mainly Muslim and Croat federation's privatization agency. The spokesman stressed that Andrijic had repeatedly obstructed the privatization process, particularly the work of the offices dealing with tenders, Reuters reported. The Muslim daily "Avaz" noted that Andrijic held his top post since 1997 and "cannot deny his responsibility" for the poorly managed privatization process. PM [18] ROMANIA PROBES SMUGGLING ALLEGATIONS AGAINST FORMERPRESIDENTProsecutors on 23 May opened an official inquiry into allegations that electoral posters financed by Adrian Costea were smuggled into the country in 1996. Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) Chairman Ion Iliescu had said the previous day that the Romanian-born businessman, who now lives in France, was a sponsor of his 1996 presidential campaign, but Iliescu denied that the law prohibiting foreign sponsorship was infringed, because Costea has Romanian citizenship. Also on 23 May, PDSR Deputy Chairman Miron Mitrea demanded Justice Minister Valeriu Stoica's resignation for having called on Iliescu to withdraw from the 2000 presidential race. He said Stoica's allegations against Iliescu and the PDSR amount to "interference in the internal affairs" of a political party and that the PDSR will demand that a special parliamentary commission probe the financing of all parties' 1996 electoral campaigns, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS [19] ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT REJECTS OPPOSITION MOTIONBy a vote of115 to 102 and six abstentions, the Chamber of Deputies on 23 May rejected a PDSR-submitted motion to debate alleged corruption and political clientism in the privatization process overseen by the State Property Fund, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS [20] MOLDOVAN PRIME MINISTER REJECTS DEMAND TO RESIGNPrimeMinister Dumitru Braghis told Moldovan television on 23 May that he will not make the opposition Alliance for Democracy and Reform (ADR) "happy" by submitting the resignation of his cabinet. He was responding to an ADR statement the previous day that demanded his resignation on grounds of poor economic performance. Braghis said that in the first four months of this year, the cabinet succeeded in collecting 32 percent of planned revenue for 2000, while the previous cabinet had during the same period last year collected only 22 percent of revenues stipulated in its budget. He said he believes the deficit will remain within budget limits. MS [21] BLACK MARKET ACCOUNTS FOR ONE-THIRD OF BULGARIAN GDPAnti-corruption activists from the Coalition 2000 group said on 23 May that Bulgaria's black market economy accounts for 35 percent of the country's GDP. The activists said that in 1998, illegal exports and imports to and from the EU alone amounted to $850 million, which equals Bulgaria's defense budget. The activists say smugglers are using channels once run by the communist-era secret services, and some of those services' officers have become businessmen by "privatizing" the former secret police networks, AP reported. MS [C] END NOTE[22] NEW RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT MAINTAINS LINKS TO OLIGARCHSBy Sophie Lambroschini"This government is not being formed around a unifying idea but, as always, it reflects the importance of not only public but behind-the-scenes politics," "Kommersant-Daily" remarked on the front page of its 19 May issue. Most Russian observers have noted that President Vladimir Putin's new government, whose formation has now been completed, is little different from its predecessor. Two- thirds of the new government's members served in the outgoing government, formed a year ago under Boris Yeltsin. The most powerful ministers retained their posts, including the interior, defense, and foreign ministers and the head of the Federal Security Service (FSB). And people with close ties to the business tycoons, known as oligarchs, are well- represented in the new government. There are, however, some new faces, most notably that of German Gref, who is economic development minister. Like Putin, Gref is a native of Saint Petersburg. He also heads the Center for Strategic Development, an institution created by Putin last fall to work out a long-term economic strategy for Russia. Gref's center has offered an ambitious blueprint that includes a tight budget and strict tax and banking reforms. In recent weeks, media reports had claimed that Gref's role in developing economic policy was diminishing. And new Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov was said to be downplaying the importance of the economic blueprint. But Denis Rodionov, an analyst with the investment bank Brunswick-Warburg, told RFE/RL that the appointment of Gref is an encouraging sign for the Russian economy. Another good sign, he said, is the appointment of Aleksei Kudrin as finance minister. Other observers, however, point out that both Kudrin and Gref have ties to Anatolii Chubais, the powerful head of Russia's electricity monopoly. The government also includes many associates of another powerful tycoon--Boris Berezovskii. Railways Minister Nikolai Aksenenko, Interior Minister Vladimir Rushailo, and Prime Minister Kasyanov himself are widely believed to be close to Berezovskii. Most observers and investors saw the energy portfolio appointment as indicating the extent of Berezovskii's influence over the new government. The Fuel and Energy Ministry had been headed by Viktor Kalyuzhnyi, who had lobbied the Berezovskii clans' interests. Kalyuzhnyi's dismissal on 20 May was hailed as a step in the right direction. The surprise appointment of Alexander Gavrin, mayor of the oil-rich Siberian town of Kogalym, as energy minister was praised by reformers such as Boris Nemtsov as well as some oil companies. But observers say only time will tell how close Gavrin is to oligarchic circles such as those around LUKoil and Chubais. Yevgenii Volk, a political analyst with Russia's Heritage Foundation, says the inclusion in the government of representatives of different powerful clans is a sure sign that the influence of the oligarchs will be as great under Putin as it was under Yeltsin. "The appointments that were made were expected and reflect the behind-the-scenes fight for power and, especially, the economic positions of the various oligarchs' groups," Volk told RFE/RL. "Seen this way, one can call it a coalition government, since representatives of the Berezovskii-Abramovich group are included, and the Chubais clan is also present." Yeltsin's tactic of "divide and conquer" had him playing one clan against the other, with the president as the arbitrator. While this tactic kept Yeltsin in power, it also prevented the divided government from working efficiently. Volk says Putin seems to be following Yeltsin's example. But he says Putin is stronger than his predecessor and will probably have more success in playing off the oligarchs against one another. Other observers, however, say the new government structure marks a departure from the Yeltsin past. Analyst Rodionov notes that the elimination of the post of first deputy prime minister may be a sign that Putin wants the government to stop its internal feuding and work as a unit. He points that under Yeltsin, "there was always a prime minister and, at the same time, a very powerful deputy prime minister who created a second center of authority, and struggles occurred between the two ministers and their subordinates. The elimination of the office of first deputy prime minister is a positive factor, indicating that the government will be more unified." Political analyst Sergei Markov also notes that the new government under Putin will play a significantly diminished role. Under Yeltsin, prime ministers were strong, leading figures--even if they were changed frequently. Under Putin, Markov says, the center of power has clearly shifted toward the presidential administration. "The strategy of this cabinet will not be worked out by the prime minister and his allies but by some outside strategic group," Markov commented to RFE/RL. "In this way, the cabinet becomes a coherent enough team of technocrats that will have to play the role of an effective mechanism capable of implementing Putin's ambitious restructuring plans." Still, the presence of so many ministers connected to the oligarchs casts doubt on Putin's ability or willingness to carry out a key element of his reform plan--to weaken the tycoons' influence on policy. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Moscow. 24-05-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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