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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 107, 00-06-02Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 107, 2 June 2000 "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 20, 18May 2000),CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] WIFE PROTESTS ARRESTED KARABAKH GENERAL'S INNOCENCEIn anopen letter to Armenian President Robert Kocharian published in the Yerevan newspaper "Aravot" on 1 June, Irina Babayan said her husband Samvel, the former Defense Minister and Karabakh Defense Army commander, is innocent of charges of masterminding the 22 March assassination attempt against Arkadii Ghukasian, President of the unrecognized Nagorno- Karabakh Republic, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 May 2000). Irina Babayan claimed her husband is subjected to mistreatment in pre-trial detention, and that the NKR authorities arrested him solely in order to prevent his supporters from gaining a majority in the new parliament to be elected on 18 June. She appealed to Kocharian, who fought alongside Babayan during the Karabakh war, to intervene on behalf of his former comrade-in-arms. LF [02] ARMENIAN, UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTERS MEETVartan Oskanianand his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Dmitrii Tkach held talks in Yerevan on 30 May on bilateral political and economic relations, which they evaluated highly, cooperation within the CIS, and stability and security in the South Caucasus, Groong reported citing Armenian National Television and Armenpress. Tkach assured Oskanian Kyiv supports Armenia's bid for full membership of the Council of Europe and is prepared to contribute towards resolving the Karabakh conflict. LF [03] REPRISALS AGAINST AZERBAIJANI MEDIA CONTINUEA Baku districtcourt on 31 May fined Elmar Huseinov, editor of the opposition newspaper "Bakinskii bulvard" and one of its journalists, Irada Huseinova, 10 million manats ($2,270) each for an article allegedly insulting Defense Minister Safar Abiev by incriminating him in economic crime, Turan reported. An investigation last year into allegations that Abiev condoned embezzlement within the Defense Ministry proved inconclusive (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 2, No. 34, 26 August 1999). Also on 30 May, Huseinov brought a court action against a Baku district tax office that ordered the suspension of publication of the journal "Monitor Weekly," which he also edits, and the sealing of its editorial office. In a second action, a Baku court found the newspaper "Uch nogte" guilty of insulting the honor and dignity of Astara District Administrator Ibragim Guliev, Turan reported. LF [04] UN OBSERVERS MISSING IN GEORGIATwo members of the UNObserver force in Georgia, two specialists from the British "Halo Trust," which engages in mine-disposal, and their Abkhaz interpreter disappeared on the afternoon of 1 June in the Kodori gorge, the sole stretch of Abkhaz territory still controlled by the central Georgian government, Caucasus Press reported. Abkhaz Prosecutor-General Anri Djergenia said the five had been abducted, but no ransom demand has been made. A helicopter search on 2 June yielded no trace of the group, according to Reuters.. Five military observers were abducted and held hostage for several days in the same area last October by an unknown group that was never captured (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 and 18 October 1999). LF [05] CIS EXECUTIVE SECRETARY VISITS ABKHAZIAYurii Yarov heldtalks in Sukhum on 1 June with Abkhaz President Vladislav Ardzinba which he told journalists were intended to familiarize him with the current situation and the Abkhaz leadership's position on how to resolve the Abkhaz conflict, Caucasus Press reported. Abkhazia refuses to consider the most recent draft settlement plan proposed by the UN defining the division of constitutional powers between Abkhazia and the central Georgian government (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 May 2000). LF [06] OSCE CHAIRWOMAN VISITS KAZAKHSTANAustrian Foreign Ministerand OSCE chairwoman in office Benita Ferrero-Waldner discussed security threats to the Central Asia states with Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Almaty on 1 June, Reuters and Interfax reported. She told journalists after those talks that the primary concern is the situation in Afghanistan, where she affirmed the OSCE's support for a peaceful solution mediated by the UN. She also listed as threats to the region possible disputes over scarce water resources, and what she termed the interlinked problems of drugs and terrorism. LF [07] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT, PREMIER UPBEAT ON ECONOMYSpeakingon national television on 1 June, President Nazarbaev affirmed that "growth is underway" in the real sector of the economy and predicted that industrial production will increase by 15 percent over the first five months of this year, Interfax reported. He also estimated that exports will grow by more than 30 percent over the same period. Addressing the first congress of Kazakh investors the same day, Prime Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev said that domestic investment in the economy this year could total $1 billion, and would exceed direct foreign investment. He said that 65 contracts have already been signed with domestic investors and should create some 13,000 new jobs. LF [08] MOTHERS OF DISABLED CHILDREN STAGE PROTEST IN KYRGYZSTANSome 150 women joined the ongoing Bishkek picket on 1 June,which was International Children's Day, to protest the inadequate financial benefits paid by the government for their disabled children, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported. Mothers of such children receive only 150 soms ($3) per month, and are not entitled to any other benefits or privileges. Tamara Dyikanbaeva, who chairs the Association of Mothers of Disabled and Handicapped Children, estimated the total number of such children in Kyrgyzstan at 12,000 of whom some 1,000 live in Bishkek. LF [09] SITUATION ON AFGHAN-TAJIK BORDER 'STABLE'A senior Russianmilitary officer in Tajikistan told ITAR-TASS on 1 June that the situation on that country's border with Afghanistan is stable, and that no concentration of Taliban forces has been registered on the Afghan side. But he added that the Russian troop presence on the Tajik side of the border has been reinforced, without citing figures. Also on 1 June, the Taliban Foreign Ministry sent an official protest to the UN condemning alleged violations of Afghan airspace by Uzbek aircraft earlier this week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[10] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT CALLS KILLING OF AIDE 'TERRORIST ACT'Milo Djukanovic said in Podgorica on 1 June that the murderof his security chief, Goran Zugic, was "political" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). "Whoever shot Goran Zugic last night carried out a terrorist act against democracy in Montenegro and the security of its citizens.... The murder is being seen as one with political overtones," Reuters reported. Justice Minister Dragan Soc added: "We are dealing with a murder like those we have seen outside Montenegro [namely in Serbia] and that is disturbing. I cannot give you any details because that would be speculating on motives." Leading Podgorica lawyer Ranko Vukotic argued that the killing was part of a "deliberate campaign" to destabilize Montenegro, presumably by Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and his Montenegrin supporters. PM [11] MILOSEVIC AIDE SKEPTICAL ON ZUGIC MURDERIndicted warcriminal and Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, who is also a top official of Milosevic's Socialist Party, said in Belgrade on 1 June that he "would not draw any parallel" between Zugic's killing and a recent spate of gangland-style murders in Serbia, Reuters reported. In Washington, State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said of Zugic's death: "Clearly this happened in a climate of fear and violence perpetrated by the Milosevic regime.... We are very much in touch with the Montenegrin government and have conveyed our condolences." In London, "The Guardian" noted on 2 June that Zugic was one of Djukanovic's closest friends and had been best man at his wedding. In Frankfurt, the Serbian daily "Vesti" pointed out that Zugic is of Bosnian origin and is believed to have once been close to the former Bosnian Serb leadership under Radovan Karadzic. PM [12] MILOSEVIC BACKER TAUNTS DJUKANOVICYugoslav Prime MinisterMomir Bulatovic, who is the leader of pro-Milosevic elements in Montenegro, said in Belgrade on 1 June that neither the federal government, nor the Serbian authorities, nor the army has any objections to Djukanovic holding a referendum on Montenegrin independence. Bulatovic argued that the reason Djukanovic has not held a referendum is that "he knows he does not have majority support" and that 60 percent of the population favors union with Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM [13] MONTENEGRO NOT AFRAID OF COUPMontenegrin Finance MinisterMiroslav Ivanisevic said in Brussels on 2 June that his government knows that the Yugoslav army supports Milosevic. He added, however, that "Montenegro is not giving reasons for them to make any...moves" against the Podgorica authorities, Reuters reported. "The security authorities of Montenegro have a [working] relationship with the Yugoslav army deployed in Montenegro, and the atmosphere is such that I would say the Yugoslav army would not be used in Montenegro for a coup d'etat," Ivanisevic added. PM [14] YET ANOTHER DRIVE-BY SLAYING OF SERB IN KOSOVAU.S. militaryofficials said on 1 June that unidentified gunmen killed an elderly Serbian woman and wounded three Serbian men near Kllokot on the Gjilan-Ferizaj road, AP reported from Prishtina. The wounded men were taken to the U.S. base at Camp Bondsteel for treatment. This is the latest in a series of drive-by killings of Serbs in Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). Moderate as well as hard-line Serbs charge that ethnic Albanians are trying to drive the Serbian minority out of the province and criticize peacekeepers for not doing more to protect them. Perhaps more than 100,000 Serbs have fled Kosova since 1998, when Serbs and Montenegrins made up just under 10 percent of the population. The Serbian government has done little, if anything, to help them. Most of the Serbian refugees would like to go home if their safety were assured. PM [15] TWO SERBS KILLED IN LANDMINE EXPLOSIONTwo Serbian men werekilled and one woman and two children were injured on 2 June when their car ran over a landmine at a crossroads near an ethnic Albanian village just south of Prishtina. The injured were taken to nearby Fushe Kosova for treatment. Some 100 Serbs gathered nearby after the explosion. Peacekeepers sealed off the area, telling reporters it was the third time a mine had been planted there recently, AP reported. The two previous mines were discovered before they exploded. PM [16] SERBIAN GOVERNMENT TAKES OVER BELGRADE'S PUBLICTRANSPORTATIONYugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Sainovic said in Belgrade on 1 June that the Serbian government has taken control of Belgrade's public transportation system because the city government has proven itself unable to run it (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). The city council, which is dominated by Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement, said in a statement that the Serbian authorities' move is "illegal" and aimed at punishing the opposition and its supporters, Reuters reported. Serbian officials entered the transportation department's building with "at least a dozen policemen" to hold talks on the transfer of authority. Elsewhere in Belgrade, private bus drivers ended their strike, saying the protest "had become senseless because nobody talked to us." PM [17] DRASKOVIC'S BODYGUARDS JAILEDTwo of Draskovic's bodyguardsreceived jail sentences of 45 days each on 1 June for illegally carrying firearms at Belgrade airport, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). PM [18] BELGRADE SEEKING INTERNATIONAL PROFILE?A South AfricanForeign Affairs' Ministry spokesman told AP in Johannesburg on 1 June that the purpose of Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic's visit is to secure South African support for Belgrade's readmission to the UN and the Non-Aligned Movement (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). The spokesman did not say what the reaction of South African officials was to the request or if that was the only topic of discussion. PM [19] STEPPED-UP SECURITY FOR PLAVSICAdditional Republika Srpskapolice have taken up positions in the building and neighborhood where former President Biljana Plavsic lives in Banja Luka, "Vesti" reported on 2 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). Plavsic said that SFOR has not apologized to her for sending "men armed to the teeth" into her building. An SFOR spokesman said that an apology had been issued, "Vesti" added. The SFOR spokesman argued that the armed men were present because some of their officers were meeting with Bosnian Serb politician Mladen Ivanic, who has his office in the same building, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The entire situation surrounding Plavsic and the apparent attempt to arrest her remains "confused," "Vesti" added. PM [20] SFOR ARRESTS HERZEGOVINIANSNATO peacekeepers arrested twoHerzegovinian Croats in Stolac on 1 June for attacking SFOR troops trying to protect returning Muslim refugees in December 1998. SFOR is looking for seven additional Croats involved in the same incident. Meanwhile in Kotorsko on 1 June, a crowd of Serbs attacked 54 Muslims who attempted to visit the homes that they abandoned during the 1992-1995 conflict, "Oslobodjenje" reported. The Serbs also set alight building materials that the Muslims planned to use to rebuild their houses. PM [21] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES FUNDS FOR SERBSThe parliamentvoted on 1 June to approve a government proposal to allow funds for reconstructing homes and other property to Serbs as well as to Croats. The Croatian Democratic Community of the late President Franjo Tudjman opposed the plan, saying that it places "aggressors on the same level as their victims." "Jutarnji list" reported. PM [22] ROMANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS CAMPAIGN ENDSThe campaign for theupcoming local elections officially ended on 1 June. The National College for the Study of the Securitate Archives said the same day that six of the candidates running in the elections failed to respect a recently passed law obliging them to declare past links with the communist secret police. A seventh candidate, the writer Pavel Corut, now leader of the Romanian Life Party, reported that he was a high-ranking officer in the Securitate. His collaboration was already widely known. Of the six who failed to report, five are members of ecologist parties and one is a member of the Liberal Monarchist Party, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The first round of the local elections is to be held on 4 June. MS [23] WARRANTS ISSUED FOR BANKERS IN ROMANIAN FRAUD INVESTIGATIONPolice on 1 June issued arrest warrants for five top bankersinvolved in the collapse of the National Investment Fund. The government the same day suspended the executive board of the country's capital market regulatory agency, known by its initials as CNVM, which had administered the fund. CNVM former chairman Stefan Boboc is one of the five bankers. He came under investigation after his arrest for failing to answer a summons. MS [24] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT MEETS GAGAUZ-YERI DEPUTIESPresidentPetru Lucinschi on 1 June told members of the Gagauz-Yeri Popular Assembly in Chisinau that the resolution passed by the assembly one day earlier "does not promote confidence- building between the central government and the Komrat authorities," Infotag reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). Lucinschi called on both sides to "strictly adhere" to the provisions of the 1994 law on the special status of the autonomous province. Also on 1 June, parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov rejected a demand by Popular Party Christian Democratic Party Chairman Iurie Rosca that he resign. Rosca said Diacov had ordered the custom authorities to let the 6,000 tons of Turkish fuel transport for Gagauz Yeri to enter the country without the payment of customs duties, in breach of a parliament decision on the matter. MS [25] LIBYA BANS BULGARIAN FLIGHTSLibya has banned BalkanAirlines from operating on its territory and from using its air space. The Bulgarian Foreign Ministry has summoned Libya's ambassador to Sofia to demand an explanation, Reuters reported. Last year, Balkan Airlines was bought by an Israeli investor. Foreign Minister Nadezhda Mihailova said she does not know whether there is a connection between the ban and the trial of the six Bulgarian nationals scheduled to begin on 4 June in Libya. MS [26] FORMER BULGARIAN PRESIDENT DEADPetar Mladenov, who wasBulgaria's first post-communist president, died on 1 June aged 64, BTA reported. Mladenov, who had long served under communist dictator Todor Zhivkov, engineered Zhivkov's ouster from power and became president in April 1990, Reuters reported. He was forced to resign in July 1990 after allegedly proposing the use of tanks to quash opposition protests. MS [C] END NOTE[27] THE FUTURE OF RUSSIAN FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE UNDER PUTINby Victor YasmannRussian President Vladimir Putin's recent decision to name 52-year-old Sergei Lebedev as the chief of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), replacing Vyacheslav Trubnikov, is about more than just personalities and personal loyalties. It also offers some important clues to the future direction of Russian intelligence operations, both at home and abroad. Moscow media have suggested that Lebedev's appointment is only the latest step in Putin's effort to consolidate power. According to this view, Putin wants an intelligence chief whom he knows well and has confidence in. Putin met Lebedev while serving in East Germany; he belongs to the same generation as Lebedev; and in contrast to most senior Russian intelligence officers, neither Putin nor Lebedev ever worked undercover in the field. But if Lebedev is close to Putin, he is also very different both from the Russian president and his predecessor, Trubnikov. Lebedev joined the KGB in 1973 after graduating from the Chernigov branch of the Kyiv State University. Unlike Putin and most of the former KGB colleagues the Russian president has promoted, Lebedev did not join the KGB either voluntarily or through recruitment. Rather, he was sent to work there by the Komsomol. Most KGB officers traditionally have disliked such colleagues because of the privileges they often enjoy. This may help to explain why Lebedev did not go on to the Andropov Institute, the usual path to becoming a foreign intelligence operative. Instead, he studied at the Diplomatic Academy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, after graduating from there in 1978, was transferred to the central apparatus of the KGB's First Chief Directorate. After his posting in East Germany, Lebedev rose through the ranks, eventually becoming chief of an SVR directorate. There his ascent appears to have stopped. In 1998, according to "Segodnya," Lebedev was sent into "honorable exile" in Washington as the official SVR representative to the US intelligence community. Media speculation on Lebedev has also focused on his "western" experience. Lebedev has worked only in Europe and the U.S., and thus his appointment may represent the end of the dominance of the "orientalists" in Russian intelligence. The last three SVR chiefs--Leonid Shabarshin, Yevgenii Primakov, and Trubnikov--all worked in the Middle East and South Asia, and there is a tendency among both them and those they have promoted to view the "westerners" as having failed in their conduct of the Cold War. But this rise of the "westerners" does not necessarily mean that Russian intelligence will adopt a friendlier approach to the West. Several other reasons, less widely publicized, suggest, however, that Lebedev's promotion is likely to lead to a change: the lack of compatibility between the SVR and the emerging Russian national security community, the SVR's split from the new political elite, and its growing irrelevance to Putin's foreign-policy goals. First, unlike the KGB's domestic offspring, the SVR survived the tumultuous Yeltsin decade relatively unscathed. While in power, Yeltsin appointed almost as many chiefs of Russian domestic security agencies as did the Communists over 74 years. This high turnover, combined with constant reorganization, left those agencies in a state of confusion. The SVR, on the other hand, continued to function much as it had in the past, with few leadership changes and fewer reorganizations. Primakov served from 1991 to 1996, and when he was promoted to foreign minister four years ago, he secured the appointment of his close associate Trubnikov. Moreover, the SVR's political role increased dramatically after 1998 as an initiator as well as a tool of foreign policy, bringing it into conflict with the interests of the new political and economic elites. Last September, for example, Yeltsin publicly stated that the SVR plays a greater role in the formulation of Russian foreign policy than the Foreign Ministry or any other institution. The SVR played a key role in defining Russian positions on issues such as the transfer of nuclear technologies to Iran, NATO expansion, any modification of the Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty. The SVR also pushed the favorite notion of its "orientalists"--the doctrine of a multipolar world--into the forefront of Russian national security and military doctrines. And because it maintained its integrity, by the end of the Yeltsin presidency the SVR was one of the few reliable levers Yeltsin had for conducting foreign policy. At the same time, the SVR was less sensitive to Yeltsin's personal problems than to the country's, which may prove to be the real reason for the change at the top now. It devoted a great deal of time toward neutralizing Western reaction to corruption and money-laundering reports, but it did much less to protect the Yeltsin family. That approach won the SVR support in the West but not in the Kremlin. Indeed, some in Yeltsin's entourage began to suspect that Primakov proteges in the SVR were using their contacts with Western intelligence services to undermine Yeltsin by leaking information to those foreign agencies. In February 1999, "Novye izvestiya" and "Moskovskaya pravda" published the so-called "Primakov list" of 162 people involved in international corruption. That list included virtually the entire political and economic elite of the countryń-except for Primakov, Putin, and former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin. While the Chechen war has detracted Western attention from corruption, the latter remains a major issue of concern for many people in Moscow who might be charged with it. By naming a loyalist to head the SVR, Putin is thus sending a signal that the Russian intelligence services will do what he wants both to protect his friends and to go after his enemies. The author is senior fellow with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C. 02-06-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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