NOTE TO READERS: RFE/RL announces with regret that due to financial constraints, this will be the last issue of "RFE/RL Newsline." In late June, RFE/RL will launch a redesigned English-language website (http://www.rferl.org) that will continue to cover developments in our broadcast region.
Eastern Europe
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL APPEALS FOR U.S. LAWYER IMPRISONED IN BELARUS Amnesty International has issued an appeal calling for support for U.S. lawyer Emanuel Zeltser kept in custody in Minsk since March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," April 15, 2008). "U.S. national Emanuel Zeltser was detained when he flew in to Belarus on March 12. He is held in a state security services detention facility in the capital, Minsk, where according to his lawyer he has been interrogated and beaten, and has been denied the medicine he needs urgently to treat his diabetes and arthritis," the human rights watchdog wrote in its appeal. Zeltser was reportedly arrested on charges of using forged documents. Representatives of the U.S. diplomatic mission were allowed to meet with Zeltser twice, on March 27 and April 25. After the second visit, U.S. Consul Caroline Savage reported that Zeltser's health was deteriorating, noting that he had difficulty walking and talking and that he had been beaten two or three times while in custody. JM
UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL SAYS ODESA-BRODY PIPELINE IN JULY WILL PUMP OIL IN PLANNED DIRECTION Oleh Dubyna, the head of the state-owned Naftohaz Ukrayiny, told journalists in Kyiv on May 7 that the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline will start pumping oil from the Ukrainian port of Odessa to Brody "by the end of the first half of 2008," Interfax-Ukraine reported. Dubyna added that "485,000 tons of light crude will be bought to use [the pipeline in] the other direction." The pipeline, built by Ukraine in 2002, was originally intended as part of a project to transport Caspian Sea crude to the Polish port of Gdansk and on to other points in Europe. But in 2004, the Ukrainian government gave permission for the Russian-British TNK-BP holding to use the Odesa-Brody pipeline to transport Russian oil in the opposite direction. Poland has repeatedly promised to help Ukraine use the pipeline according to its original intention but progress on the Odesa-Brody-Gdansk project has been extremely slow because of its estimated cost of $2 billion and doubts whether oil shipped via this route can compete with Russian oil transported to markets through pipelines without sea transport. JM
BULGARIA EASES TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS WITH UKRAINE, MOLDOVA The Bulgarian government has ratified agreements on visa-free travel with Ukraine and Moldova, AP reported on May 8. The government press center said the same day that Bulgarians can now visit the two countries for up to 90 days without entry visas. The same applies to citizens of Ukraine and Moldova traveling to Bulgaria, a member of the European Union. JM
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