RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 118, 00-06-19

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 118, 19 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA, IRAN DOWNPLAY DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT

[02] ARMENIA UNVEILS PLAN FOR DEVELOPING MEGHRI

[03] ARMENIAN TV OFFICIAL ALLEGES TORTURE IN SHOOTINGS

[04] NAGORNO-KARABAKH HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION POSTPONES PLANNED RALLY

[06] PAKISTAN DENIES OFFERING MILITARY AID TO AZERBAIJAN

[07] AZERBAIJAN DENIES SMUGGLING NUKES TO GULF STATES

[08] RUSSIA, ABKHAZIA DISCUSS CLOSURE OF MILITARY BASE

[09] GEORGIA CLARIFIES DEMANDS ON RUSSIAN ARMAMENTS

[10] GEORGIA SEEKS TO REPATRIATE CHECHEN REFUGEES

[11] GEORGIAN BORDER OFFICIAL SACKED OVER DISPUTED VILLAGE

[12] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY THREATENED OVER SMUGGLING

[13] KAZAKH PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE GIVING PRESIDENT LIFE-LONG

[14] KYRGYZSTAN MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF OSH KILLINGS

[15] CAN KYRGYZSTAN PAY ITS FOREIGN DEBTS?

[16] BOMB EXPLODES IN TAJIK CAPITAL

[17] TURKMEN PRESIDENT ADVOCATES SURVEILLANCE OF FOREIGNERS

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[18] DJUKANOVIC: MILOSEVIC 'EXPORTING TERRORISM'

[19] DRASKOVIC: SERBIA IS 'TERRORIST STATE'

[20] SHAKE-UP IN MONTENEGRIN SECURITY FORCES

[21] BELGRADE REGIME BLAMES ALBRIGHT, DJUKANOVIC, OTPOR

[22] MILOSEVIC BACKERS TELL DEL PONTE TO STAY HOME

[23] AMNESTY APPEALS FOR SERBIAN CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

[24] WAY OUT FOR MILOSEVIC?

[25] KFOR MAKES MAJOR WEAPONS HAUL

[26] CEKU DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF ARMS

[27] BRITISH COMMANDER BLASTS EU FOR AID DELAYS

[28] KFOR, MACEDONIA HOLD BORDER TALKS

[29] ALBANIA, CROATIA TO BOOST TIES

[30] PETRITSCH: BOSNIAN ELITE STUCK IN PAST

[31] BOSNIAN SERB POLICE ARREST FIVE IN BOMBING

[32] ROMANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS RUNOFF PRODUCES SURPRISE IN

[33] ...WHILE ELSEWHERE RESULTS MORE OR LESS AS EXPECTED

[34] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN POSTPONES TESTIFYING IN

[35] RUSSIAN PRESIDENT IN CHISINAU

[36] BULGARIA OPPOSED TO KOSOVA INDEPENDENCE

[C] END NOTE

[37] ESTONIAN PRESIDENT PRESSES FOR 'BIG BANG' NATO EXPANSION

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIA, IRAN DOWNPLAY DIPLOMATIC INCIDENT

Yerevan on 15 June with Iranian Ambassador Mohammad-Farhad

Koleini, Armenian Prime Minister Andranik Markarian expressed

concern over the incident one week earlier in which Koleini

was assaulted by a security guard at Yerevan's Zvartnots

airport, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 16 June 2000). Markarian declined, however, to

offer an official apology, Both he and Koleini expressed

confidence that the incident will not impact on bilateral

relations, noting that bilateral political and economic

cooperation is "one of the most important factors for

security and stability" in the region. An Armenian government

commission is investigating the incident. LF

[02] ARMENIA UNVEILS PLAN FOR DEVELOPING MEGHRI

assured Markarian of Iran's support for an Armenian

government program to develop the southeastern Armenian

region of Meghri, which borders on Iran, RFE/RL's Yerevan

bureau reported. That program, which was drafted by former

Premier Aram Sargsian and presented to the Armenian

parliament on 15 June, outlines measures to improved economic

and living conditions in the economically depressed region.

Those measures include the creation of a wholesale and retail

market close to the Iranian border that will enjoy a

particularly favorable trade regime. In recent months the

Armenian leadership has repeatedly denied rumors of an

impending territorial exchange whereby Armenia would cede

Meghri to Azerbaijan in return for Nagorno-Karabakh (see

"RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 3, No. 23, 8 June 2000). LF

[03] ARMENIAN TV OFFICIAL ALLEGES TORTURE IN SHOOTINGS

Armenian National Television Deputy Director

Harutiun Harutiunian told RFE/RL on 17 June that he has

demanded a "public explanation" from Armenia's Military

Prosecutor of what he termed the "brutal and unprofessional"

investigation of his possible involvement in the 27 October

Armenian parliament shootings. Harutiunian was arrested in

January after being implicated by two of the five gunmen but

released earlier this month after the two retracted their

testimony and the investigators discovered no evidence to

warrant his further detention (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6

January and 5 June 2000). Harutiunian claims he was subject

to physical and verbal abuse during his five month detention.

LF

[04] NAGORNO-KARABAKH HOLDS PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

place "calmly" on 18 June throughout the unrecognized

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for a new parliament, Reuters and

ITAR-TASS reported A total of 113 candidates representing

five parties contested the 33 seats in the new legislature.

Voter participation was estimated at 56.8 percent of the

84,000 registered voters, and 50 monitors from several

countries observed the proceedings, the legality of which is

not internationally recognized. The previous day the

unrecognized enclave's president, Arkadii Ghukasian, was

discharged from the Yerevan hospital where he underwent

surgery following the 22 March attempt on his life and

returned to Stepanakert. LF

[05] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION POSTPONES PLANNED RALLY

opposition parties aligned in the Democratic Congress on 16

June called off a demonstration planned for the following day

after failing to reach a consensus with the Baku municipal

over the route for that march, Turan reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 16 June 2000). The opposition politicians said

they did not to wish provoking a clash between demonstrators

and police on the eve of the session of the Parliamentary

Assembly of the Council of Europe that is to rule on whether

and when Azerbaijan should be admitted to full membership in

the council. LF

[06] PAKISTAN DENIES OFFERING MILITARY AID TO AZERBAIJAN

denying media reports that at a meeting on the sidelines of

the Economic Cooperation Organization summit in Tehran on 10-

11 June, Pakistan's leader Pervez Musharraf offered military

assistance to Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev in resolving

the Karabakh conflict, Turan reported on 16 June (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 12 June 2000). The statement reaffirms Pakistan's

support for a peaceful solution to that conflict. It also

stresses the "routine" nature of the Pakistan-Azerbaijan

military training program, which is one of several in which

Pakistan is engaged. Groong cited "Kommersant-Daily" on 14

June as reporting that Musharraf has offered "the whole

spectrum of aid," including the participation of Pakistani

military units in a new offensive to win back control of the

enclave. LF

[07] AZERBAIJAN DENIES SMUGGLING NUKES TO GULF STATES

quoted by the London-based newspaper "Al-Sharq al-Aswat" on

17 June as denying media reports that Azerbaijan has secretly

supplied nuclear weapons and warheads to unnamed Gulf and

Middle Eastern states, according to Groong. He said even

prior to the demise of the USSR no such weapons were deployed

on Azerbaijani territory. LF

[08] RUSSIA, ABKHAZIA DISCUSS CLOSURE OF MILITARY BASE

"constructive" talks in Sukhum on 16-17 June, the Abkhaz

leadership and visiting Russian Foreign and Defense Ministry

officials failed to reach agreement on the closure of

Russia's military base in Gudauta, Caucasus Press reported.

Under an agreement signed last November in Istanbul on the

sidelines of the OSCE summit, Moscow pledged to close that

base by mid-2001 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 November 1999).

Abkhaz Foreign Minister Sergei Shamba expressed understanding

for Russia's position but added that the Abkhaz leadership

opposes the withdrawal of the Russian forces before a

solution to the Abkhaz conflict is reached. The Gudauta base

plays a key logistical role for the CIS peacekeeping

operation in Abkhazia. LF

[09] GEORGIA CLARIFIES DEMANDS ON RUSSIAN ARMAMENTS

Foreign Ministry spokesman Avtandil Napetvaridze told

journalists in Tbilisi on 16 June that Georgia will not lay

claim to any of the equipment or armaments to be withdrawn

from Russia's military bases on its territory, Caucasus Press

reported. But he explained that Georgia will demand

compensation for equipment, valued at several billion

dollars, removed from Georgia to Russia in the early 1990s.

Georgian parliamentary Defense and Security Committee

Chairman Vazha Adamia recently took issue with senior Russian

Defense Ministry official Colonel General Leonid Ivashov's

statement that Georgia has no legal claim on Russian military

equipment (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 and 16 June 2000). LF

[10] GEORGIA SEEKS TO REPATRIATE CHECHEN REFUGEES

also told journalists on 16 June that Tbilisi is in constant

contact with Moscow in an attempt to expedite the return to

the Russian Federation of an estimated 7,000 Chechen refugees

currently temporarily domiciled in the Pankisi gorge close to

the Georgian-Chechen border. He rejected as impossible those

refugees' recent request to be relocated elsewhere in Georgia

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 and 13 June 2000). Napetvaridze

said Tbilisi had appealed to both Turkey and Azerbaijan to

consider accepting some of the Chechen refugees, but both had

refused to do so. LF

[11] GEORGIAN BORDER OFFICIAL SACKED OVER DISPUTED VILLAGE

Valeri Chkheidze has dismissed his deputy, Gela Khutsishvili,

in connection with the dispute over the village of Pichvni,

which is located on an undemarcated section of the Georgian-

Russian border, Caucasus Press reported. Khutsishvili set up

a border post in the village earlier this year without

consulting his superiors, who subsequently ordered it

withdrawn. Thereafter Russian border guards occupied the

village, expelling the inhabitants (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15

June 2000) Khutsishvili believes the village is located on

Georgian territory, while Chkheidze reportedly thinks it is

Russian. LF

[12] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY THREATENED OVER SMUGGLING

Georgian parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania on

16 June asked the Interior Ministry to provide protection for

the family of parliamentary deputy Temur Jgushia, which has

received "open threats" after accusing Georgian guerrillas of

involvement in smuggling goods from Abkhazia to Georgia,

Caucasus Press reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 and 13 June

2000). The following day, Abkhaz parliament in exile chairman

Tamaz Nadareishvili, whom Jgushia claimed condones the

guerrillas' smuggling activities, appealed to Georgian

President Eduard Shevardnadze to take measures to halt the

smuggling and to punish "slanderers," Caucasus Press

reported. LF

[13] KAZAKH PARLIAMENT TO DEBATE GIVING PRESIDENT LIFE-LONG

The pro-presidential Civic Party has drafted a bill,

which will be debated later this month, to give incumbent

President Nursultan Nazarbaev special powers for life,

RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported on 16 June. Those powers

would include the right to address the nation, parliament,

government bodies, and officials on key initiatives; to lead

the Peoples' Assembly; to be a member of the Kazakh National

Security Council; to award an annual prize for peace and

progress; to make suggestions to future presidents on

appointments to and dismissals from official positions; and

to advise presidents on declaring a state of war or

emergency. Communist Party leader Serikbolsyn Abdildin

condemned the draft bill as unconstitutional, according to

Reuters. LF

[14] KYRGYZSTAN MARKS ANNIVERSARY OF OSH KILLINGS

Akaev traveled on 16 June to Osh Oblast, where he and the

governors of the neighboring Uzbek oblasts of Namangan,

Andijan, and Fergana commemorated the clashes in Osh between

local Kyrgyz and Uzbeks 10 years ago, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau

reported. According to official data, 238 people were killed

in 10 days of fighting; unofficial estimates claim as many as

1,100 people died. LF

[15] CAN KYRGYZSTAN PAY ITS FOREIGN DEBTS?

chairs the State Commission on Foreign Investments, told

RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 16 June that the country's foreign

debt currently totals $1.12 billion, of which 14.6 percent is

owed to the IMF. He said that the government will no longer

act as guarantor for any enterprises or organizations

soliciting foreign loans. Interfax on 16 June quoted U.S.

economist Anders Aslund as telling journalists in Bishkek

that the optimum solution would be for Kyrgyzstan to

reschedule its $220 million debt to Russia. Aslund estimated

the total foreign debt at $1.5 billion (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 3 September 1999 and 31 January 2000). LF

[16] BOMB EXPLODES IN TAJIK CAPITAL

early on 19 June in a building used by Russian border troops,

but no one was injured, AP and ITAR-TASS reported. The

previous day, police had located a bomb concealed under a

rail and road bridge in the city and defused it 15 minutes

before it was due to explode. LF

[17] TURKMEN PRESIDENT ADVOCATES SURVEILLANCE OF FOREIGNERS

expressed support for the creation of a council comprising

National Security Committee, Interior Ministry, and Foreign

Ministry personnel that would monitor the movements of

foreign nationals arriving or temporarily resident in

Turkmenistan, Reuters reported. A government source quoted

the president as saying such surveillance is intended to

prevent violations of the law, such as the unsanctioned sale

of real estate. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[18] DJUKANOVIC: MILOSEVIC 'EXPORTING TERRORISM'

President Milo Djukanovic said in Venice on 18 June that the

recent "assassination attempt [against Serbian opposition

leader Vuk Draskovic] has political motives," Reuters

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 June 2000). Djukanovic

argued that "[Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic and his

regime are taking drastic, repressive measures against our

government. Terrorism in Serbia is being exported to

Montenegro." On 17 June, Djukanovic, Prime Minister Filip

Vujanovic, and Interior Minister Vukasin Maras visited

Draskovic in Budva. PM

[19] DRASKOVIC: SERBIA IS 'TERRORIST STATE'

Draskovic told reporters that Serbia is a "terrorist state"

and the "Iraq of the Balkans." He likened Milosevic to the

late Ayatollah Khomeini, the German weekly "Welt am Sonntag"

reported. Draskovic complained, however, that the only

Serbian opposition leader to telephone and express sympathy

for him was former General Momcilo Perisic, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported. PM

[20] SHAKE-UP IN MONTENEGRIN SECURITY FORCES

arrested an unspecified number of individuals on 16 June in

connection with the apparent attempted killing of Draskovic.

A police spokesman said in Podgorica that the suspects came

from Serbia with the intention of murdering the opposition

leader, whom they stalked after his recent arrival in

Montenegro. The spokesman declined to provide the suspects'

names or additional information, saying that the

investigation is continuing, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported on 17 June. One top security official in Budva and

his colleague in Bar have lost their jobs in what appears to

be the start of a purge in the wake of the attempted

assassination. Much of the speculation surrounding the

Draskovic case in the Yugoslav and international media has

centered on the fact that no police or bodyguards were

present at the time the gunman struck. Draskovic is usually

well guarded. PM

[21] BELGRADE REGIME BLAMES ALBRIGHT, DJUKANOVIC, OTPOR

Socialist People's Party (SNP) of Montenegro, which is loyal

to Milosevic, said in a statement on 18 June that it deeply

regrets the assassination attempt on Draskovic, an RFE/RL

correspondent reported from Podgorica. The statement added,

however, that there "is no basis" for speculating that the

Belgrade authorities are behind the attempt to kill a man

"who has greatly lost political influence" in recent months.

In Belgrade on 17 June, Ivan Markovic, who is a spokesman for

the United Yugoslav Left of Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic,

blamed U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Milo

Djukanovic, and the "terrorists" from the Otpor (Resistance)

student movement for the incident. An Otpor spokesman denied

the charge and said that Ivan Markovic is trying to make

political capital out of the assassination attempt. PM

[22] MILOSEVIC BACKERS TELL DEL PONTE TO STAY HOME

in a statement on 16 June that Carla Del Ponte, who is the

Hague-based war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, is not

welcome in Montenegro on her upcoming Balkan trip. The

statement added that if she comes to Montenegro, the party

and its supporters will "show her what honest Montenegrins

think of NATO criminals and their accomplices," by which they

meant Del Ponte, Reuters reported. In The Hague, Del Ponte's

spokesman said that she regrets that the Serbian authorities

did not respond to her request to go to Serbia to interview

Serbs who were victims of violence in the recent conflict in

Kosova. Del Ponte is slated to arrive in Macedonia on 19 June

on a trip that will include Montenegro and Croatia. PM

[23] AMNESTY APPEALS FOR SERBIAN CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

International said in a press release on 19 June that

Yugoslav conscientious objectors "are still paying a high

price for their convictions" and face huge legal dangers from

the Belgrade authorities. AI criticized Western governments

for not doing more to help the young men and appealed to

those governments not to deport conscientious objectors or

deserters who "face arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment" at

home. PM

[24] WAY OUT FOR MILOSEVIC?

June that the U.S. and unnamed other NATO governments are

sounding out possibilities for Milosevic to relinquish power

and go into exile with his "safety and savings" guaranteed.

Greek diplomats and senior politicians are reportedly playing

a key role in the contacts and discussions. Washington is

reluctant, however, to be seen publicly as being conciliatory

toward the indicted war criminal. Furthermore, it is not

clear whether Belgrade is sincere about making a deal or

simply "seeing how the ground lies," the daily added. The

main argument in favor of a deal with the Serbian leader is

that anything that helps get him out of the way quickly would

be a boost for the democratization of Serbia. The article

added that U.S. officials will most likely deny any report of

an impending deal with Milosevic. PM

[25] KFOR MAKES MAJOR WEAPONS HAUL

Shirreff said in Prishtina that British and other KFOR troops

operating in the central Drenica valley have made the "King

Solomon's Mines of all weapons finds," "The Independent"

reported on 19 June. British Major Simon Blake added that the

huge stores of arms and ammunition, which KFOR will soon

destroy, are "enough...to support a battle group of several

hundred men for over a week." The troops also found four

underground bunkers in Klecka, which will be destroyed.

Shirreff said that the search will continue for at least

another several days because "we're on a roll," Reuters

reported. PM

[26] CEKU DENIES KNOWLEDGE OF ARMS

filled with weapons, are approximately 1,000 meters from the

headquarters of General Agim Ceku, who is the former

commander of the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) and now head of

the Kosova Protection Force. Shirreff said on 17 June that

the illegal weapons are most likely "former UCK material,"

which suggests a "degree of noncompliance" on the part of the

ethnic Albanian military, who were obliged to surrender all

such stocks to KFOR in 1999. Ceku called the charge

"unacceptable," AP reported. He stressed that he has no

"knowledge of the origin of these weapons, or the roads and

channels by which they could have come.... I want to assure

everyone...that the UCK is not behind these weapons. The UCK

turned in all the weapons it had," Ceku added. PM

[27] BRITISH COMMANDER BLASTS EU FOR AID DELAYS

Brigadier Shirreff said in Prishtina that bureaucratic in-

fighting within the EU has held up the delivery of vital aid

materials necessary for reconstruction of thousands of

Kosovar homes in the runup to the coming winter, London's

"Sunday Times" reported on 18 June. The central problem is

rivalry between an administrative agency based in Greece and

the Brussels-based committee that controls its funding.

Lousewies van der Laan, who is vice president of the European

parliament's budget control committee, described the behavior

of many of the officials involved as "childish." PM

[28] KFOR, MACEDONIA HOLD BORDER TALKS

Juan Ortuno held talks in Skopje on 17 June with Macedonian

President Boris Trajkovski on possible ways for peacekeepers

to improve security on the Macedonian-Kosovar border. That

frontier has been the scene of several serious incidents in

recent months involving armed ethnic Albanians and Macedonian

border troops. The Macedonian authorities have demanded that

KFOR improve security there. PM

[29] ALBANIA, CROATIA TO BOOST TIES

Mesic and his Albanian hosts agreed in Tirana on 17 June to

strengthen bilateral relations. An Albanian spokesman noted

that the two countries "share similar views on the problems

in the region," dpa reported. Both Mesic and his Albanian

counterpart, Rexhep Meidani, stressed that there will be no

peace in the Balkans as long as Milosevic remains in power.

PM

[30] PETRITSCH: BOSNIAN ELITE STUCK IN PAST

who is the international community's high representative in

Bosnia, told the Vienna daily "Kurier" of 18 June that real

progress is beginning to be made in the rebuilding and

development of Bosnia's infrastructure. He added, however,

that the thinking of the political leadership remains rooted

in the past. PM

[31] BOSNIAN SERB POLICE ARREST FIVE IN BOMBING

Luka arrested five persons on 16 June in conjunction with the

car-bombing of journalist Zeljko Kopanja in October 1999 (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 22 October 2000). A breakthrough in an

unrelated case led to the arrest of the suspects, AP

reported. PM

[32] ROMANIAN LOCAL ELECTIONS RUNOFF PRODUCES SURPRISE IN

With some 97 percent of the votes counted,

Democratic Party candidate Traian Basescu is leading in the

race for the post of Bucharest general mayor, having garnered

50.6 percent backing. Party of Social Democracy in Romania

(PDSR) candidate Sorin Oprescu, who had a comfortable lead

after the 4 June first round, has 49.3 percent support.

However, the PDSR won the mayoralties of all six of the

capital's districts. MS

[33] ...WHILE ELSEWHERE RESULTS MORE OR LESS AS EXPECTED

nationalist Cluj Mayor Gheorghe Funar, who ran as a candidate

of the Greater Romania Party, received more than 53 percent

of the vote, compared with 46.7 percent for the Democratic

Convention of Romania's (CDR) candidate, Serban Radulescu.

CDR candidate Dorin Florea surprisingly won by a small margin

in Targu Mures against incumbent Mayor Imre Fodor of the

Hungarian Democratic Federation of Romania. In Timisoara, CDR

Mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu scored a comfortable victory over

PDSR challenger Simion Sultan. Iasi Mayor Constantin Simirad

was re-elected with more than 60 percent backing. In Sibiu,

German Democratic Forum candidate Johanis Klaus won with a

comfortable 70 percent share of the vote. And the Black Sea

port of Constanta will have Radu Mazare, who ran as an

independent, as its new mayor. MS

[34] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT AGAIN POSTPONES TESTIFYING IN

PDSR chairman and former President

Ion Iliescu has again failed to heed a summons by the

Prosecutor General's Office to testify in the investigation

launched on behalf of the French authorities into the Adrian

Costea money-laundering affair (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13

June 2000). PDSR spokesman Ioan Mircea Pascu said Iliescu's

agenda continues to be "heavy" and that the PDSR "intends to

launch its own investigation in France" into the affair,

Mediafax reported. In an interview with the French daily "Le

Figaro on 19 June, Iliescu said that the affair is "nothing

but a gross political manipulation" and that Costea

contributed to his party's 1996 electoral campaign "out of

patriotism," Romanian Radio reported. But according to an 18

June Mediafax report, the French company Groupe Saintonge

Editions, which is headed by Costea, is now threatening to

sue Iliescu for his failure to pay for posters and other

electoral materials printed by the group in 1996. The company

is demanding that the former president pay nearly 9 million

French francs (some $1.3 million). MS

[35] RUSSIAN PRESIDENT IN CHISINAU

journalists on 17 June after talks with his Moldovan

counterpart Petru Lucinschi that he will set up a "special

commission," headed by former Premier Yevgenii Primakov, to

"accelerate" finding a solution to the Transdniester

conflict, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. He said Russia

will stand by its pledge to withdraw by the end of 2002 its

troops and armaments from the separatist region. Putin also

said he and Lucinschi have agreed to have experts work on a

new bilateral treaty between the two countries. Putin said it

is in Russia's interest that Moldova's territorial integrity

be respected but added that this required "the respect of the

interests of all ethnic groups in Moldova and in particular

those [residing] in the Transdniester region." Separatist

leader Igor Smirnov was in Chisinau but was not received by

Putin. He held talks, however, with one of the president's

advisers. MS

[36] BULGARIA OPPOSED TO KOSOVA INDEPENDENCE

Boiko Noev on 16 June told an international conference in

Sofia that Bulgaria "staunchly opposes independence for

Kosova...and the creation of an Albanian state" in the

province, AP reported. The conference focused on the Kosova

conflict and its consequences for Bulgaria. Foreign Minister

Nadezhda Mihailova told the forum that Bulgaria's trade

losses as a result of the recent "crises" in Yugoslavia

amount to $6 billion and that the implementation of the

Balkan Stability Pact must be sped up. MS

[C] END NOTE

[37] ESTONIAN PRESIDENT PRESSES FOR 'BIG BANG' NATO EXPANSION

Lennart Meri, the president of Estonia, was in

Washington last week to make his case for what is known as

the "Big Bang" expansion of NATO.

In May, the leaders of the nine candidates for inclusion

in NATO met in Vilnius and urged that they all join the

alliance simultaneously. These countries--the so-called

"Vilnius Nine"--are Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia,

Lithuania, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

Addressing the headquarters of the Center for Strategic

and International Studies in Washington on 15 June, Meri

offered several reasons for supporting the "Big Bang"

approach. A more gradual approach, he argued, would be long

and laborious. He said no NATO candidate could reasonably be

expected to try to join with a diminished armed force and

added that all candidates have been stressing internal

stability and good relations with their neighbors.

Meri said the "Big Bang" approach also would be good for

Russia by quickly pushing it through the painful process of

seeing its former satellites join the Western alliance. He

likened that process to swimming in cold waters such as those

of the Baltic Sea: "I find it much easier to jump in all at

once rather than wading in gradually. And then the water

feels fine," he joked.

Meri was asked how he thought Russia and its president,

Vladimir Putin, would react to the "Big Bang" enlargement of

NATO. He replied, "So far we have seen that President Putin

is a very predictable leader, and I have every reason to

assume that he does not want to be a loser. So the very

moment when he sees that the enlargement of NATO is something

indispensable, he will find a way to agree with it."

The Estonian president stressed he believes the smaller

countries of Europe unequivocally support the rapid

enlargement of NATO. He sees resistance from the so-called

"Big Three"--Britain, France and Germany--which are still

preoccupied by their roles in the Western alliance. "There is

some period where the Big Three are looking for their place

in the NATO," he said. "I think that those are the main

problems we have to face."

But the president stressed that "Big Bang" enlargement

is not applicable to entry into the EU. He explained that

membership in NATO requires far less precise standards. The

alliance, he said, is really nothing more complex than an

expression of what he called "political will." The EU, on the

other hand, is technically more demanding of its members.

"The union is workable only if there is a certain level

regarding the productivity, regarding the standards. Any new

member must be able to fulfill some very precise criteria."

Still, Meri said he believes the enlargement of NATO and

the enlargement of the EU are "organically linked" and

"different sides of the same coin." Together, he said, the

two enlargements would lead to what he called a "new,

unified, and completed Europe."

The Estonian president said he was in Washington to mark

an important anniversary for both the U.S. and his country.

In June 1940, he noted, the Soviet Union took over the Baltic

states but the U.S. formally refused to recognize Moscow's

sovereignty over the three countries.

Meri noted that political leaders of both parties in the

U.S. took this stand. He said this gave Estonians, Latvians

and Lithuanians the moral support to maintain their

identities throughout Soviet domination and eventually to

regain their independence.

The writer is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Washington.

19-06-00

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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