OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
AGREEMENT REACHED ON ELECTORAL LAW.
President Boris Yeltsin and both houses of the Federal Assembly have reached an agreement on the State Duma electoral law behind closed doors, NTV and Russian Public Television reported on 9 June. The leaders accepted an equal division between party-list and single-mandate seats. In a compromise, however, the federal part of the list will only contain 12 candidates, while the rest of the candidates must represent a particular region. Candidates running simultaneously on a party list and in a single-mandate constituency must collect 5,000 signatures in their support. However, those signatures will be considered as part of the 200,000 that each party must collect to register its list for the campaign. The compromise allows government and media employees to continue their jobs during the campaign, but a vaguely worded clause prohibits them from abusing their office for campaign purposes. The committee retained the Duma's proposal to set the minimum voter turnout for the elections to be valid at 25%. * Robert Orttung
RYBKIN FORMS LEFT-CENTER BLOC WITH RUSSIA'S REGIONS, AGRARIANS.
The Russia's Regions association elected State Duma Speaker Ivan Rybkin its leader at its second All-Russian Conference in Moscow on 8 June, Interfax reported. Rybkin said Russia's Regions will form a bloc with the Agrarian Party. If the bloc wins a majority in the Duma, Rybkin will again become speaker and Mikhail Lapshin, head of the Agrarian Party, will be the leader of the combined bloc of the Agrarian Party and Russia's Regions, NTV reported. * Robert Orttung
YELTSIN ADVISER: ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST BALTIC STATES POSSIBLE.
Abdualakh Mikitaev, head of the presidential Department of Citizenship, told journalists that economic sanctions against the Baltic states could be an acceptable means of protecting Russians living there, Segodnya reported on 8 June. The presidential aide qualified his statement only by adding that sanctions should be designed so as not to injure those they would be intended to support, as had happened earlier when a Russian natural gas embargo led to unemployment for many Russian workers in the region. Mikitaev also criticized Estonia for its recent deportation of a Russian political activist, Petr Rozhek. * Scott Parrish
DOUBTS ABOUT ELECTORAL PROSPECTS FOR CHERNOMYRDIN BLOC.
Members of the Russian government may run in single-mandate districts rather than on the party list of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's right-center bloc, Izvestiya reported on 9 June. By running in carefully-chosen, safe districts, the ministers guarantee that they will be members of the new Duma, even if Chernomyrdin's party does not win sufficient votes on the party list to guarantee their leaders seats in the Duma. * Robert Orttung
POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN SHOOT-OUT WITH SECURITY FORCES.
In a clash on 7 June between a group of police officers and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, one officer was killed and another injured; two FSB agents were also injured. Police responded to a report of armed men on Moscow's Profsoyuznaya street., and a gun-battle ensued between them and the men, who were actually FSB agents in the process of arresting an alleged uranium thief, Ekho Moskvy, NTV, and Interfax reported. The incident is being investigated by military and city prosecutors. Last December, security service officers clashed with members of Alexander Korzhakov's Presidential Guard outside the Moscow mayor's office. * Penny Morvant
DUMA REJECTS EXTRA-BUDGETARY FUNDS BILL.
After a stormy debate, Duma deputies on 7 June rejected a draft law tightening control over extra-budgetary funds, Segodnya reported. The bill would have required the budgets of all social funds to be submitted to the Duma for approval and to be audited, and fund contributions to be collected by the State Tax Service. Argument was fiercest over the Pension Fund, with the bill's opponents arguing that turning over collection to the Tax Service would wreck the pension system. The chairman of the Duma Labor and Social Support Committee expressed doubts that the Finance Ministry would be able to "look after the money more efficiently than the funds do." Segodnya commented that the deputies appeared to have overlooked the fact that the main thrust of the bill was to make spending by social funds accountable to the Duma. * Penny Morvant
RUSSIA FEARS REPETITION OF SOMALIA IN BOSNIA.
Despite reassurances from Western leaders, the Russian government still has reservations about the deployment of a NATO rapid reaction force to Bosnia. A senior Russian diplomat told Interfax on 8 June that he feared the new peacekeeping troops might turn "into a group for enforcing peace, and then into a multi-national force like the one...in Somalia." He added that only the full incorporation of the NATO force into the existing UNPROFOR command would completely defuse such concerns. Also on 8 June, opposition deputies in the State Duma continued to criticize what they termed "unilateral power actions by NATO in Bosnia," Interfax reported. * Scott Parrish
KULIKOV DISPUTES REPORT ON INTERNAL TROOPS REORGANIZATION.
Col. Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, commander of the internal troops of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry (MVD), has disputed claims made in an article on the reorganization of the internal troops that appeared in Obshchaya gazeta, the same newspaper reported in its 8-14 June edition. Kulikov claims that the internal troops' civilian and military personnel number only 264,000 and not 800,000 as reported in the article. Kulikov also said, "The internal troops...do not have a structure or organization to carry out combat operations against an external enemy, nor are they armed with heavy weapons." However, Kulikov's statement contradicts a number of eyewitness accounts. * Michael Mihalka
NORTHERN PORT DECLARED A CLOSED CITY.
President Yeltsin on 8 June declared the northern port of Polyarny--located some 20 km northeast of Murmansk--to be "a closed administrative and territorial unit," AFP reported. A naval repair facility for Northern Fleet nuclear submarines is located in Polyarny as well as several nuclear-waste storage and transport ships. There were some 30 closed cities in the former Soviet Union, many of which have been opened. In July 1994, Yeltsin closed the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk-26 where plutonium for Soviet nuclear weapons had been produced. * Doug Clarke
MiG DEAL WITH MALAYSIA FULFILLED.
A senior official at the Moscow Aviation Production Organization (MAPO) told Reuters on 8 June that the factory had delivered the last of 18 MiG-29 jet fighters to Malaysia in fulfillment of a 1994 contract worth $550 million. The same official said four MiG-29s would be delivered to India in August--part of a ten-plane order--and indicated that talks on selling the jet to the Philippines are underway. * Doug Clarke
EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD BALLISTIC MISSILE FIRED.
An intercontinental ballistic missile built in November 1976 was successfully fired from Baikonur in Kazakhstan by Russian space troops on 8 June, ITAR-TASS reported. The RS-18 missile--known in the West as the SS-19--had been "combat ready" for more than 18 years before being given a dummy warhead and used in this test. As many as 350 SS-19s were once deployed in the former Soviet Union, including 130 in Ukraine. The space troops would like to convert some of the missiles into space launch vehicles, and have stressed their high reliability. * Doug Clarke
RAILROADS TO REMAIN STATE PROPERTY.
Anything connected to railroad transportation cannot be privatized, Railroad Minister Gennady Fadeev told the State Duma Industry, Construction, and Energy Committee on 8 June, Interfax reported. The committee endorsed a bill which preserves federal ownership of the railroads. Fadeev said a railroad takeover by joint-stock companies would disrupt economic links inside the country because 15% of the lines, such as the Transbaikal and the Baikal-Amur Railroads, might be cut because they cannot survive without subsidies. * Thomas Sigel
MOSCOW GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES OPEN LETTER TO CHUBAIS.
The Moscow government addressed an open letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais on 8 June expressing their disagreement with his support for increasing customs duties on imported foodstuffs, Russian agencies reported. Chubais wants to raise import duties on food to encourage people to purchase domestic goods. The letter told Chubais that everyone who is familiar with the domestic agricultural situation knows that food producers are only able to fulfill 20-40% of Moscow's needs. Moscow experts estimate that with import duties increasing by 5-6% on 1 July, consumer prices for milk powder and butter will rise by 40%, beef 70%, vegetable oil 60%, and sugar 80% * Thomas Sigel
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
NAZARBAEV CALLS FOR EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, speaking at the International Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 8 June, used the opportunity to again bring up his idea for a Eurasian economic union. Nazarbaev called the area from Russia to India a "belt of uncertainty" which belongs neither to the West nor the East, according to Western agencies. The Kazakh president emphasized that such a union would be in the economic interest of all countries in the region, and would mitigate the need for arms build-up by promoting regional cooperation. * Bruce Pannier
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF TAJIKISTAN MEETS IN ALMATY.
Delegates to a congress of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan voted to relieve party chairman Shodmon Yusuf of his duties, Interfax reported on 5 June. Yusuf, who now lives in Iran, had been strongly criticized for his support of Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov in last November's elections. The party named Dzhumaboi Niyazov, who is from the Leninabad region in Tajikistan's north, as the new chairman. Niyazov was recently released from jail where he had been held for about two years. The congress was held in Almaty because the party has been banned in Tajikistan since 1993. According to the party's first deputy chairman, Abdunabi Satorzoda, 14 party members attended the congress, representing 3,000 supporters, half of whom "remain outside Tajikistan." * Bruce Pannier
KAZAKHSTAN TAKING BIDS ON OIL INDUSTRIES.
Kazakhstan announced on 8 June it is prepared to take bids on three major oil enterprises and is offering up to 90% of the shares. On the block are the Aktyubinskneft and Yuzhneftegaz production associations and the oil refinery in Shymkent. Companies wishing to purchase the enterprises are expected to help in the building of an east-west pipeline across central Kazakhstan, Reuters reported. The Kazakh government expects to take in $3 billion from the sales. At a recent conference on privatization, Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin said that in light of recent criticism from the West over the referendum extending the term of President Nursultan Nazarbaev, this is a chance to show Kazakhstan's commitment to reform, Reuters reported. * Bruce Pannier
UZBEK MILITARY DOCTRINE.
An Uzbek draft military doctrine has been unveiled for national discussion, Interfax reported on 7 June. The draft says Uzbekistan is guided by the principles of peaceful co-existence, non-interference in the affairs of other states, and the inviolability of inter-state borders. It pledges Uzbekistan will not initiate military operations against any country unless it or any of its allies is attacked. The draft reiterates Uzbekistan's committment to nuclear non-proliferation, a global ban on nuclear testing, the elimination of nuclear, chemical, and bacteriological weapons, and reductions in conventional armed forces. It also calls for Central Asia to become a nuclear-free zone and seeks to strengthen the UN's role in ensuring security. The draft will be submitted to the Uzbek parliament following a nationwide discussion of its merits. * Lowell Bezanis
CIS
YELTSIN-KUCHMA SUMMIT OPENS.
President Yeltsin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, arrived in Sochi on 8 June, Interfax and Western agencies reported. The main item on the agenda for the summit is the future of the Black Sea Fleet, over which serious disagreement between the two countries persists. Neither delegation seems to anticipate resolving the issue of the fleet at this meeting. Kuchma told journalists that he had come to the meeting with "good intentions," and added that "it will be necessary to find a compromise," but he also said he did not expect the long-simmering dispute to be "solved in one day." * Scott Parrish
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
NEW UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER APPOINTED.
President Leonid Kuchma, in his first move since obtaining new executive powers under a deal with the parliament, appointed 54-year-old Yevhen Marchuk as prime minister, international and Ukrainian news agencies reported on 8 June. Marchuk is the former chief of Ukraine's security service. His appointment came as no surprise because he has served as acting prime minister since the government was dismissed by the Ukrainian legislature in April. Marchuk's confirmation followed a ceremony at Kiev's Mariinsky Palace, where the president and lawmakers signed a compromise accord to end a prolonged struggle over Kuchma's recently approved political reform law. The communist caucus, which opposed provisions giving Kuchma expanded powers to carry out political and economic reforms, boycotted the ceremony. Communist leaders likened the political deal to a constitutional coup. * Chrystyna Lapychak
KUCHMA AND CRIMEAN LAWMAKERS REACH COMPROMISE ON POLL.
The Ukrainian president has agreed to a compromise proposal by Crimean lawmakers and canceled his March decree placing the Crimean government under his direct control, UNIAR and Ukrainian Television reported on 8 June. Kuchma overturned his decision after the Crimean legislature canceled a regionwide non-binding referendum on union with Russia and Belarus, which was scheduled during local elections on 25 June. * Chrystyna Lapychak
UKRAINIAN FINANCIAL MEETING.
Kuchma on 8 June met with the directors of 20 of Ukraine's biggest commercial banks to discuss the state of the country's underdeveloped banking system, UNIAR and Ukrainian Television reported the same day. The lack of domestic and foreign investment in Ukraine can be blamed not only on the lack of vital economic legislation but also on the poor state of the banking system, participants of the meeting concluded. There are only 217 banks with 1,860 branches in country with a population of 52 million people, said Oleksander Suhonyako, president of the Association of Ukrainian Banks. A clearer mechanism for declaring bankruptcy and increased privatization of Ukraine's state-owned enterprises would help resolve the debt crisis. Enterprises owe Ukrainian banks billions of karbovantsi. * Chrystyna Lapychak
BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR TOUGH ECONOMIC MEASURES.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, at an 8 June special meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and Security Council, has called for tough measures to strengthen the Belarusian economy, Reuters and Interfax reported the same day. Lukashenka said that despite a drastic decline in production, inventories were overflowing and directors of enterprises were not seeking new markets to sell those goods. Most of the country's mainly state-owned businesses have been unable to meet their burgeoning debts, and some have not paid employees since January. Lukashenka described enterprise managers as "scroungers and idlers" and said they should be forced "against their will" to change the way they operate. He boasted, however, that his administration's tight fiscal policy has stabilized Belarus's financial situation and lowered monthly inflation from 40% to 3.5%. * Chrystyna Lapychak
MAY INFLATION IN ESTONIA.
The Estonian Statistics Department reported that the consumer price index increased by 2.6% in May, BNS reported on 7 June. The price of services grew by 6.6%, primarily due to an increase of 9.9% in housing costs and utilities. A 1.1% rise in the cost of manufactured goods was offset by a 1.3% decline in food prices, resulting in an overall drop of 0.4% in the cost of goods. The monthly inflation rate in April was 1.0% following rates of 3.5%, 2.9%, and 2.4% in the first three months of 1995. Compared with May 1994, the price of goods and services increased by 27.1%. * Saulius Girnius
NEW LATVIAN EDUCATION MINISTER.
The Saeima on 8 June approved the nomination of Janis Gaigals as minister of education and science, BNS reported. Born in 1956, Gaigals headed the Riga Craftsmanship School and was an adviser to the previous education minister, Janis Vaivads, who resigned on 8 May over a pay dispute between educators and the government. The ruling Latvia's Way nominated Gaigals even though he is not a formal member of that party. * Saulius Girnius
POLISH SENATE SPEAKER VISITS LITHUANIA.
Adam Struzik, during an official two-day visit to Lithuania, told the Seimas on 8 June that Poland and Lithuania have a common aim in joining the EU and NATO, BNS reported. While stressing the need to maintain friendly relations with Russia, he said the demilitarization of Kaliningrad Oblast would increase security in the Baltic Sea region. Struzik also met with members of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee and representatives of Polish social organizations. * Saulius Girnius
SOLIDARITY CONGRESS IN GDANSK.
Solidarity trade union president Marian Krzaklewski was reelected in Gdansk on 8 June. Polish President and former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, addressing the congress, called for the creation of a broad pro-reform bloc before this years presidential elections. Meanwhile, Supreme Court President Adam Strzembosz, who is running for the presidency, also opted for unity in the upcoming elections in a letter to the congress, Rzeczpospolita reported on 9 June. * Jakub Karpinski
POLISH PREMIER ADDRESSES SEJM.
Jozef Oleksy, in his first speech to the Sejm since his inaugural address in March, said on 8 June that Poland's economic performance is good and that inflation is the price to be paid for high industrial output, growing exports, and the reduction of unemployment, Polish and international media reported. * Jakub Karpinski
CONTROVERSY IN POLISH DEFENSE MINISTRY.
Polish Deputy Defense Minister Jerzy Milewski, speaking in the Sejm on 8 June, criticized Defense Minister Zbigniew Okonski for saying in an interview with Wprost that the Polish army is "not mature enough" to adopt West European command structures. Okonski, who wants to dismiss Milewski, attacked his deputy for telling the same magazine that he doubted there is civilian control of the Polish army, Gazeta Wyborcza reports on 9 June. * Jakub Karpinski
SLOVAK RESPONSE TO CZECH MOVE TO ABOLISH CLEARING SYSTEM.
A Slovak government official on 8 June responded to the Czech government decision the previous day to unilaterally abolish the Czech-Slovak payments clearing agreement used in bilateral trade. TASR reported that Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus sent a letter to his Slovak counterpart, Vladimir Meciar, explaining the decision and pointing out that "he has not yet received a response to his letter [to Meciar] of 10 May." In that letter, Klaus proposed the abrogation of the agreement. The Slovak government official argued, however, that a letter from Meciar to Klaus was faxed (and its receipt confirmed) two hours before Klaus sent his letter to Meciar. * Jiri Pehe
SLOVAK DIPLOMATIC NEWS.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Schenk on 7 June arrived in Finland for an official visit--the first by a high-ranking Slovak diplomat since the split of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, TASR reported. Schenk and his Finnish counterpart, Tarja Halonen, focused on the state of Slovak-Hungarian relations in their meeting on 8 June. Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Katarina Tothova began a two-day visit to Strasbourg the same day, where she held talks with Council of Europe officials on adapting Slovak laws to meet CE norms. Finally, Slovak Defense Minister Juraj Sitek left for Belgium to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council for Cooperation. * Jiri Pehe
HUNGARIAN PREMIER ON BOSNIA.
Gyula Horn, speaking at Washington's National Press Club on 8 June, said the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina proves that the countries of CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE should aim for a historic reconciliation. "If we keep looking into the past and licking old wounds, we shall not have the energy to solve our present problems," the Hungarian premier said. He argued that a continuation of the Bosnian conflict could adversely affect security in CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. According to Horn, the quickest way to end the war is to persuade Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to isolate the Bosnian Serbs. * Jiri Pehe
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
BOSNIAN SERBS SAY THEY WILL LIFT ROADBLOCKS TO SARAJEVO.
The Bosnian Serb leadership on 8 June agreed to reopen land routes to the Bosnian capital, allowing humanitarian aid to pass, international media reported. According to Reuters, the Bosnian Serbs have also agreed to guarantee the safety of UN truck drivers delivering aid on the territory they control and to provide escorts. Bosnian Serb vice president Nikola Koljevic described the development as "an important step" and added that "we really believe in further peaceful developments." Meanwhile, the BBC on 9 June reported continued shelling of Sarajevo, where at least two people were killed, and Gorazde. * Stan Markotich
NATO DEFENSE MINISTERS AGREE ON BOSNIA.
The BBC on 9 June reported that NATO defense ministers, meeting in Brussels, reached a consensus on the creation of a rapid response force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The U.K. is slated to provide the bulk of the 10,000-strong reinforcement to the war-torn country. The New York Times on 9 June cites British Defense Minister Malcolm Rifkind as stressing that the new forces will fire in self-defense but will not "blast their way through resistance to ensure that relief supplies are delivered and other UN tasks are carried out." However, both Rifkind and French officials have raised the specter of withdrawal if the parties involved do not accept the UN role. * Stan Markotich
SERBS HAND OVER REMAINS OF BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER.
Vjesnik and Nasa Borba on 9 June reported that the remains of Bosnian Foreign Minister Irfan Ljubjankic have been handed over to Bosnian authorities in Bihac. Ljubjankic was killed on 28 May when his helicopter was downed in Bihac by hostile Serbian fire. The Bosnian justice minister and five others also died in the incident. * Stan Markotich
MORE KOSOVAR POLICEMEN SENTENCED.
A court in Gnjilan on 8 June sentenced 15 ethnic Albanians to up to three years in jail, Reuters reported the same day. The former policemen are charged with creating a separatist shadow-state police force. Seven were tried in absentia and the court dropped charges against another four. In the largest legal proceedings ever in Kosovo, the trials of 159 ethnic Albanian former policemen are under way, while 16 policemen were sentenced in April. Defense lawyers have denied the charges, saying the policemen formed a trade union, not a paramilitary force. About 3,500 ethnic Albanian policemen were fired in 1991, after the abolition of Kosovar autonomy two years previously. * Fabian Schmidt
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT RENEWS CRITICISM OF UNION LEADERS.
Ion Iliescu has again criticized leaders of the country's main trade union organizations for planning more labor protests later this month, Radio Bucharest reported. Presidential spokesman Traian Chebeleu told journalists on 8 June that union leaders have broken an understanding mediated by Iliescu on 22 May that should have served as the basis for a final agreement between the unions, government, and employers. He repeated the assertion that recent strikes in the energy sector were politically motivated. Chebeleu also criticized the timing of the next big rally announced by the unions. A two-week protest is scheduled to begin on 14 June, the day when the opposition plans to commemorate victims of the June 1990 government-sponsored violence against pro-democracy demonstrators. * Dan Ionescu
HUNGARIAN OFFICIAL ENDS VISITS TO ROMANIA.
Csaba Tabajdi, Hungarian state secretary dealing with Magyars living abroad, ended a five-day visit to Romania on 8 June, Radio Bucharest reported. Tabajdi said at a press conference in Cluj-Napoca that he had met with local authorities and representatives of the Magyar minority from several counties in Romania. He spoke of "concern and anxiety" in connection with an education bill currently being discussed by the Romanian parliament. Tabajdi described the law as a "touchstone for Romanian-Hungarian relations." He said Hungary is expecting its neighbor to meet European standards by passing a law that is "acceptable to the Magyar minority." * Dan Ionescu
ROMANIAN SENATE CHAIRMAN IN MOLDOVA.
Oliviu Gherman, heading a parliamentary delegation, began a two-day official visit to Moldova on 8 June, Radio Bucharest reported. Gherman, who is also chairman of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania, met with Moldovan Premier Andrei Sangheli, Foreign Minster Mihai Popov, parliamentary chairman Petru Lucinschi and Dumitru Motpan, leader of the ruling Moldovan Agrarian Democratic Party. Addressing the parliament in Chisinau the same day, Gherman recalled that Romania was the first state to recognize the independence of the Republic of Moldova. He also stressed Romania's support for Moldova's admission into various international organizations, including the Council of Europe. Gherman will meet with Moldovan President Mircea Snegur on 9 June. * Dan Ionescu
KULIKOV: RUSSIA MAY GIVE BULGARIA TANKS.
Marshal Viktor Kulikov, former military commander of the Warsaw Pact armed forces and now an adviser to Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, has suggested that Bulgaria might receive some of the tanks Russia must destroy under the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, BTA reported on 5 June. This message was conveyed by Bulgarian Industry Minister Kliment Vouchev following his meeting that day in Sofia with Kulikov. Bulgaria would then destroy older tanks in its inventory to meet its CFE limits. Such a "cascading" of excess weapons is common within NATO but has not occurred among the former Warsaw Pact states. * Doug Clarke
MILITARY SEA EXERCISE IN BULGARIA.
A one-day military sea exercise took place along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on 8 June, international agencies reported. Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Turkish ships from NATO's southern fleet in the Mediterranean and eight Bulgarian ships participated in the maneuvers, which are taking place within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. NATO ships are expected to hold another joint exercise in Bulgaria and Romania later this year. * Fabian Schmidt
DRUGS SEIZED IN BULGARIA.
Bulgarian customs officers seized 21.7 kg of heroin at the Turkish border on 7 June, AFP reported the following day. The heroin, worth an estimated $3.3 million, was hidden in a British truck and two British citizens were detained. The consignment brings the total heroin haul this year in Bulgaria to 101 kg. * Fabian Schmidt
ENVER HOXHA'S SON SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR.
Ilir Hoxha, the youngest son of Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha, was sentenced to one year in jail on 8 June, AFP and Reuters reported the same day. Hoxha was found guilty of "inciting national hatred by endangering public peace" and of calling for "vengeance" and "hatred against parts of the population" in an interview with the newspaper Modeste. Hoxha was quoted as saying during the trial that "The day will come when all those who have betrayed my father will have to answer for their actions." He is the first person to be tried under a new penal code that took effect in Albania on 1 June. Hoxha denied the charges, saying his trial was motivated by political revenge. * Fabian Schmidt
TURKEY AND GREECE CLASH OVER TERRITORIAL WATERS . . .
The Turkish parliament on 8 June passed a resolution empowering the government to take military measures against Greece, Reuters reported the same day. The resolution follows the Greek parliament's decision to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention, which would allow Greece to extend its territorial waters. The resolution says that "the parliament has decided to invest the government with all powers to take all measures including military steps deemed necessary to protect the vital interests of our country." The resolution, however, was proclaimed "to the world and Greece with friendly sentiments." Ankara claims that an extension of the six-mile zone to twelve miles around the Greek Islands would make 70 percent of the Aegean Sea Greek and choke Turkey's access to the high seas. * Fabian Schmidt
. . . AND AGREE ON NATO MILITARY BUDGET.
Turkey and Greece agreed at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels to freeze a series of bilateral disputes that have blocked the adoption of the 1995 NATO military budget, AFP reported on 8 June. Under pressure from NATO allies, Turkey agreed to lift for six months its veto on adopting the military budget. Greece, for its part, pledged that for a period of three to four months, it would suspend its opposition to the financing of key NATO headquarters in Izmir. * Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
Copyright(c)1995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
AGREEMENT REACHED ON ELECTORAL LAW.
President Boris Yeltsin and both houses of the Federal Assembly have reached an agreement on the State Duma electoral law behind closed doors, NTV and Russian Public Television reported on 9 June. The leaders accepted an equal division between party-list and single-mandate seats. In a compromise, however, the federal part of the list will only contain 12 candidates, while the rest of the candidates must represent a particular region. Candidates running simultaneously on a party list and in a single-mandate constituency must collect 5,000 signatures in their support. However, those signatures will be considered as part of the 200,000 that each party must collect to register its list for the campaign. The compromise allows government and media employees to continue their jobs during the campaign, but a vaguely worded clause prohibits them from abusing their office for campaign purposes. The committee retained the Duma's proposal to set the minimum voter turnout for the elections to be valid at 25%. * Robert Orttung
RYBKIN FORMS LEFT-CENTER BLOC WITH RUSSIA'S REGIONS, AGRARIANS.
The Russia's Regions association elected State Duma Speaker Ivan Rybkin its leader at its second All-Russian Conference in Moscow on 8 June, Interfax reported. Rybkin said Russia's Regions will form a bloc with the Agrarian Party. If the bloc wins a majority in the Duma, Rybkin will again become speaker and Mikhail Lapshin, head of the Agrarian Party, will be the leader of the combined bloc of the Agrarian Party and Russia's Regions, NTV reported. * Robert Orttung
YELTSIN ADVISER: ECONOMIC SANCTIONS AGAINST BALTIC STATES POSSIBLE.
Abdualakh Mikitaev, head of the presidential Department of Citizenship, told journalists that economic sanctions against the Baltic states could be an acceptable means of protecting Russians living there, Segodnya reported on 8 June. The presidential aide qualified his statement only by adding that sanctions should be designed so as not to injure those they would be intended to support, as had happened earlier when a Russian natural gas embargo led to unemployment for many Russian workers in the region. Mikitaev also criticized Estonia for its recent deportation of a Russian political activist, Petr Rozhek. * Scott Parrish
DOUBTS ABOUT ELECTORAL PROSPECTS FOR CHERNOMYRDIN BLOC.
Members of the Russian government may run in single-mandate districts rather than on the party list of Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin's right-center bloc, Izvestiya reported on 9 June. By running in carefully-chosen, safe districts, the ministers guarantee that they will be members of the new Duma, even if Chernomyrdin's party does not win sufficient votes on the party list to guarantee their leaders seats in the Duma. * Robert Orttung
POLICE OFFICER KILLED IN SHOOT-OUT WITH SECURITY FORCES.
In a clash on 7 June between a group of police officers and Federal Security Service (FSB) agents, one officer was killed and another injured; two FSB agents were also injured. Police responded to a report of armed men on Moscow's Profsoyuznaya street., and a gun-battle ensued between them and the men, who were actually FSB agents in the process of arresting an alleged uranium thief, Ekho Moskvy, NTV, and Interfax reported. The incident is being investigated by military and city prosecutors. Last December, security service officers clashed with members of Alexander Korzhakov's Presidential Guard outside the Moscow mayor's office. * Penny Morvant
DUMA REJECTS EXTRA-BUDGETARY FUNDS BILL.
After a stormy debate, Duma deputies on 7 June rejected a draft law tightening control over extra-budgetary funds, Segodnya reported. The bill would have required the budgets of all social funds to be submitted to the Duma for approval and to be audited, and fund contributions to be collected by the State Tax Service. Argument was fiercest over the Pension Fund, with the bill's opponents arguing that turning over collection to the Tax Service would wreck the pension system. The chairman of the Duma Labor and Social Support Committee expressed doubts that the Finance Ministry would be able to "look after the money more efficiently than the funds do." Segodnya commented that the deputies appeared to have overlooked the fact that the main thrust of the bill was to make spending by social funds accountable to the Duma. * Penny Morvant
RUSSIA FEARS REPETITION OF SOMALIA IN BOSNIA.
Despite reassurances from Western leaders, the Russian government still has reservations about the deployment of a NATO rapid reaction force to Bosnia. A senior Russian diplomat told Interfax on 8 June that he feared the new peacekeeping troops might turn "into a group for enforcing peace, and then into a multi-national force like the one...in Somalia." He added that only the full incorporation of the NATO force into the existing UNPROFOR command would completely defuse such concerns. Also on 8 June, opposition deputies in the State Duma continued to criticize what they termed "unilateral power actions by NATO in Bosnia," Interfax reported. * Scott Parrish
KULIKOV DISPUTES REPORT ON INTERNAL TROOPS REORGANIZATION.
Col. Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, commander of the internal troops of the Russian Internal Affairs Ministry (MVD), has disputed claims made in an article on the reorganization of the internal troops that appeared in Obshchaya gazeta, the same newspaper reported in its 8-14 June edition. Kulikov claims that the internal troops' civilian and military personnel number only 264,000 and not 800,000 as reported in the article. Kulikov also said, "The internal troops...do not have a structure or organization to carry out combat operations against an external enemy, nor are they armed with heavy weapons." However, Kulikov's statement contradicts a number of eyewitness accounts. * Michael Mihalka
NORTHERN PORT DECLARED A CLOSED CITY.
President Yeltsin on 8 June declared the northern port of Polyarny--located some 20 km northeast of Murmansk--to be "a closed administrative and territorial unit," AFP reported. A naval repair facility for Northern Fleet nuclear submarines is located in Polyarny as well as several nuclear-waste storage and transport ships. There were some 30 closed cities in the former Soviet Union, many of which have been opened. In July 1994, Yeltsin closed the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk-26 where plutonium for Soviet nuclear weapons had been produced. * Doug Clarke
MiG DEAL WITH MALAYSIA FULFILLED.
A senior official at the Moscow Aviation Production Organization (MAPO) told Reuters on 8 June that the factory had delivered the last of 18 MiG-29 jet fighters to Malaysia in fulfillment of a 1994 contract worth $550 million. The same official said four MiG-29s would be delivered to India in August--part of a ten-plane order--and indicated that talks on selling the jet to the Philippines are underway. * Doug Clarke
EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD BALLISTIC MISSILE FIRED.
An intercontinental ballistic missile built in November 1976 was successfully fired from Baikonur in Kazakhstan by Russian space troops on 8 June, ITAR-TASS reported. The RS-18 missile--known in the West as the SS-19--had been "combat ready" for more than 18 years before being given a dummy warhead and used in this test. As many as 350 SS-19s were once deployed in the former Soviet Union, including 130 in Ukraine. The space troops would like to convert some of the missiles into space launch vehicles, and have stressed their high reliability. * Doug Clarke
RAILROADS TO REMAIN STATE PROPERTY.
Anything connected to railroad transportation cannot be privatized, Railroad Minister Gennady Fadeev told the State Duma Industry, Construction, and Energy Committee on 8 June, Interfax reported. The committee endorsed a bill which preserves federal ownership of the railroads. Fadeev said a railroad takeover by joint-stock companies would disrupt economic links inside the country because 15% of the lines, such as the Transbaikal and the Baikal-Amur Railroads, might be cut because they cannot survive without subsidies. * Thomas Sigel
MOSCOW GOVERNMENT ADDRESSES OPEN LETTER TO CHUBAIS.
The Moscow government addressed an open letter to First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais on 8 June expressing their disagreement with his support for increasing customs duties on imported foodstuffs, Russian agencies reported. Chubais wants to raise import duties on food to encourage people to purchase domestic goods. The letter told Chubais that everyone who is familiar with the domestic agricultural situation knows that food producers are only able to fulfill 20-40% of Moscow's needs. Moscow experts estimate that with import duties increasing by 5-6% on 1 July, consumer prices for milk powder and butter will rise by 40%, beef 70%, vegetable oil 60%, and sugar 80% * Thomas Sigel
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
NAZARBAEV CALLS FOR EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION.
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, speaking at the International Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on 8 June, used the opportunity to again bring up his idea for a Eurasian economic union. Nazarbaev called the area from Russia to India a "belt of uncertainty" which belongs neither to the West nor the East, according to Western agencies. The Kazakh president emphasized that such a union would be in the economic interest of all countries in the region, and would mitigate the need for arms build-up by promoting regional cooperation. * Bruce Pannier
DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF TAJIKISTAN MEETS IN ALMATY.
Delegates to a congress of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan voted to relieve party chairman Shodmon Yusuf of his duties, Interfax reported on 5 June. Yusuf, who now lives in Iran, had been strongly criticized for his support of Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov in last November's elections. The party named Dzhumaboi Niyazov, who is from the Leninabad region in Tajikistan's north, as the new chairman. Niyazov was recently released from jail where he had been held for about two years. The congress was held in Almaty because the party has been banned in Tajikistan since 1993. According to the party's first deputy chairman, Abdunabi Satorzoda, 14 party members attended the congress, representing 3,000 supporters, half of whom "remain outside Tajikistan." * Bruce Pannier
KAZAKHSTAN TAKING BIDS ON OIL INDUSTRIES.
Kazakhstan announced on 8 June it is prepared to take bids on three major oil enterprises and is offering up to 90% of the shares. On the block are the Aktyubinskneft and Yuzhneftegaz production associations and the oil refinery in Shymkent. Companies wishing to purchase the enterprises are expected to help in the building of an east-west pipeline across central Kazakhstan, Reuters reported. The Kazakh government expects to take in $3 billion from the sales. At a recent conference on privatization, Kazakh Prime Minister Akezhan Kazhegeldin said that in light of recent criticism from the West over the referendum extending the term of President Nursultan Nazarbaev, this is a chance to show Kazakhstan's commitment to reform, Reuters reported. * Bruce Pannier
UZBEK MILITARY DOCTRINE.
An Uzbek draft military doctrine has been unveiled for national discussion, Interfax reported on 7 June. The draft says Uzbekistan is guided by the principles of peaceful co-existence, non-interference in the affairs of other states, and the inviolability of inter-state borders. It pledges Uzbekistan will not initiate military operations against any country unless it or any of its allies is attacked. The draft reiterates Uzbekistan's committment to nuclear non-proliferation, a global ban on nuclear testing, the elimination of nuclear, chemical, and bacteriological weapons, and reductions in conventional armed forces. It also calls for Central Asia to become a nuclear-free zone and seeks to strengthen the UN's role in ensuring security. The draft will be submitted to the Uzbek parliament following a nationwide discussion of its merits. * Lowell Bezanis
CIS
YELTSIN-KUCHMA SUMMIT OPENS.
President Yeltsin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, arrived in Sochi on 8 June, Interfax and Western agencies reported. The main item on the agenda for the summit is the future of the Black Sea Fleet, over which serious disagreement between the two countries persists. Neither delegation seems to anticipate resolving the issue of the fleet at this meeting. Kuchma told journalists that he had come to the meeting with "good intentions," and added that "it will be necessary to find a compromise," but he also said he did not expect the long-simmering dispute to be "solved in one day." * Scott Parrish
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
NEW UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER APPOINTED.
President Leonid Kuchma, in his first move since obtaining new executive powers under a deal with the parliament, appointed 54-year-old Yevhen Marchuk as prime minister, international and Ukrainian news agencies reported on 8 June. Marchuk is the former chief of Ukraine's security service. His appointment came as no surprise because he has served as acting prime minister since the government was dismissed by the Ukrainian legislature in April. Marchuk's confirmation followed a ceremony at Kiev's Mariinsky Palace, where the president and lawmakers signed a compromise accord to end a prolonged struggle over Kuchma's recently approved political reform law. The communist caucus, which opposed provisions giving Kuchma expanded powers to carry out political and economic reforms, boycotted the ceremony. Communist leaders likened the political deal to a constitutional coup. * Chrystyna Lapychak
KUCHMA AND CRIMEAN LAWMAKERS REACH COMPROMISE ON POLL.
The Ukrainian president has agreed to a compromise proposal by Crimean lawmakers and canceled his March decree placing the Crimean government under his direct control, UNIAR and Ukrainian Television reported on 8 June. Kuchma overturned his decision after the Crimean legislature canceled a regionwide non-binding referendum on union with Russia and Belarus, which was scheduled during local elections on 25 June. * Chrystyna Lapychak
UKRAINIAN FINANCIAL MEETING.
Kuchma on 8 June met with the directors of 20 of Ukraine's biggest commercial banks to discuss the state of the country's underdeveloped banking system, UNIAR and Ukrainian Television reported the same day. The lack of domestic and foreign investment in Ukraine can be blamed not only on the lack of vital economic legislation but also on the poor state of the banking system, participants of the meeting concluded. There are only 217 banks with 1,860 branches in country with a population of 52 million people, said Oleksander Suhonyako, president of the Association of Ukrainian Banks. A clearer mechanism for declaring bankruptcy and increased privatization of Ukraine's state-owned enterprises would help resolve the debt crisis. Enterprises owe Ukrainian banks billions of karbovantsi. * Chrystyna Lapychak
BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT CALLS FOR TOUGH ECONOMIC MEASURES.
Alyaksandr Lukashenka, at an 8 June special meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers and Security Council, has called for tough measures to strengthen the Belarusian economy, Reuters and Interfax reported the same day. Lukashenka said that despite a drastic decline in production, inventories were overflowing and directors of enterprises were not seeking new markets to sell those goods. Most of the country's mainly state-owned businesses have been unable to meet their burgeoning debts, and some have not paid employees since January. Lukashenka described enterprise managers as "scroungers and idlers" and said they should be forced "against their will" to change the way they operate. He boasted, however, that his administration's tight fiscal policy has stabilized Belarus's financial situation and lowered monthly inflation from 40% to 3.5%. * Chrystyna Lapychak
MAY INFLATION IN ESTONIA.
The Estonian Statistics Department reported that the consumer price index increased by 2.6% in May, BNS reported on 7 June. The price of services grew by 6.6%, primarily due to an increase of 9.9% in housing costs and utilities. A 1.1% rise in the cost of manufactured goods was offset by a 1.3% decline in food prices, resulting in an overall drop of 0.4% in the cost of goods. The monthly inflation rate in April was 1.0% following rates of 3.5%, 2.9%, and 2.4% in the first three months of 1995. Compared with May 1994, the price of goods and services increased by 27.1%. * Saulius Girnius
NEW LATVIAN EDUCATION MINISTER.
The Saeima on 8 June approved the nomination of Janis Gaigals as minister of education and science, BNS reported. Born in 1956, Gaigals headed the Riga Craftsmanship School and was an adviser to the previous education minister, Janis Vaivads, who resigned on 8 May over a pay dispute between educators and the government. The ruling Latvia's Way nominated Gaigals even though he is not a formal member of that party. * Saulius Girnius
POLISH SENATE SPEAKER VISITS LITHUANIA.
Adam Struzik, during an official two-day visit to Lithuania, told the Seimas on 8 June that Poland and Lithuania have a common aim in joining the EU and NATO, BNS reported. While stressing the need to maintain friendly relations with Russia, he said the demilitarization of Kaliningrad Oblast would increase security in the Baltic Sea region. Struzik also met with members of the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee and representatives of Polish social organizations. * Saulius Girnius
SOLIDARITY CONGRESS IN GDANSK.
Solidarity trade union president Marian Krzaklewski was reelected in Gdansk on 8 June. Polish President and former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, addressing the congress, called for the creation of a broad pro-reform bloc before this years presidential elections. Meanwhile, Supreme Court President Adam Strzembosz, who is running for the presidency, also opted for unity in the upcoming elections in a letter to the congress, Rzeczpospolita reported on 9 June. * Jakub Karpinski
POLISH PREMIER ADDRESSES SEJM.
Jozef Oleksy, in his first speech to the Sejm since his inaugural address in March, said on 8 June that Poland's economic performance is good and that inflation is the price to be paid for high industrial output, growing exports, and the reduction of unemployment, Polish and international media reported. * Jakub Karpinski
CONTROVERSY IN POLISH DEFENSE MINISTRY.
Polish Deputy Defense Minister Jerzy Milewski, speaking in the Sejm on 8 June, criticized Defense Minister Zbigniew Okonski for saying in an interview with Wprost that the Polish army is "not mature enough" to adopt West European command structures. Okonski, who wants to dismiss Milewski, attacked his deputy for telling the same magazine that he doubted there is civilian control of the Polish army, Gazeta Wyborcza reports on 9 June. * Jakub Karpinski
SLOVAK RESPONSE TO CZECH MOVE TO ABOLISH CLEARING SYSTEM.
A Slovak government official on 8 June responded to the Czech government decision the previous day to unilaterally abolish the Czech-Slovak payments clearing agreement used in bilateral trade. TASR reported that Czech Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus sent a letter to his Slovak counterpart, Vladimir Meciar, explaining the decision and pointing out that "he has not yet received a response to his letter [to Meciar] of 10 May." In that letter, Klaus proposed the abrogation of the agreement. The Slovak government official argued, however, that a letter from Meciar to Klaus was faxed (and its receipt confirmed) two hours before Klaus sent his letter to Meciar. * Jiri Pehe
SLOVAK DIPLOMATIC NEWS.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Schenk on 7 June arrived in Finland for an official visit--the first by a high-ranking Slovak diplomat since the split of Czechoslovakia on 1 January 1993, TASR reported. Schenk and his Finnish counterpart, Tarja Halonen, focused on the state of Slovak-Hungarian relations in their meeting on 8 June. Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Katarina Tothova began a two-day visit to Strasbourg the same day, where she held talks with Council of Europe officials on adapting Slovak laws to meet CE norms. Finally, Slovak Defense Minister Juraj Sitek left for Belgium to attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council for Cooperation. * Jiri Pehe
HUNGARIAN PREMIER ON BOSNIA.
Gyula Horn, speaking at Washington's National Press Club on 8 June, said the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina proves that the countries of CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE should aim for a historic reconciliation. "If we keep looking into the past and licking old wounds, we shall not have the energy to solve our present problems," the Hungarian premier said. He argued that a continuation of the Bosnian conflict could adversely affect security in CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE. According to Horn, the quickest way to end the war is to persuade Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to isolate the Bosnian Serbs. * Jiri Pehe
OMRI DAILY DIGEST
Vol. 1, No. 112, 9 June 1995
BOSNIAN SERBS SAY THEY WILL LIFT ROADBLOCKS TO SARAJEVO.
The Bosnian Serb leadership on 8 June agreed to reopen land routes to the Bosnian capital, allowing humanitarian aid to pass, international media reported. According to Reuters, the Bosnian Serbs have also agreed to guarantee the safety of UN truck drivers delivering aid on the territory they control and to provide escorts. Bosnian Serb vice president Nikola Koljevic described the development as "an important step" and added that "we really believe in further peaceful developments." Meanwhile, the BBC on 9 June reported continued shelling of Sarajevo, where at least two people were killed, and Gorazde. * Stan Markotich
NATO DEFENSE MINISTERS AGREE ON BOSNIA.
The BBC on 9 June reported that NATO defense ministers, meeting in Brussels, reached a consensus on the creation of a rapid response force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The U.K. is slated to provide the bulk of the 10,000-strong reinforcement to the war-torn country. The New York Times on 9 June cites British Defense Minister Malcolm Rifkind as stressing that the new forces will fire in self-defense but will not "blast their way through resistance to ensure that relief supplies are delivered and other UN tasks are carried out." However, both Rifkind and French officials have raised the specter of withdrawal if the parties involved do not accept the UN role. * Stan Markotich
SERBS HAND OVER REMAINS OF BOSNIAN FOREIGN MINISTER.
Vjesnik and Nasa Borba on 9 June reported that the remains of Bosnian Foreign Minister Irfan Ljubjankic have been handed over to Bosnian authorities in Bihac. Ljubjankic was killed on 28 May when his helicopter was downed in Bihac by hostile Serbian fire. The Bosnian justice minister and five others also died in the incident. * Stan Markotich
MORE KOSOVAR POLICEMEN SENTENCED.
A court in Gnjilan on 8 June sentenced 15 ethnic Albanians to up to three years in jail, Reuters reported the same day. The former policemen are charged with creating a separatist shadow-state police force. Seven were tried in absentia and the court dropped charges against another four. In the largest legal proceedings ever in Kosovo, the trials of 159 ethnic Albanian former policemen are under way, while 16 policemen were sentenced in April. Defense lawyers have denied the charges, saying the policemen formed a trade union, not a paramilitary force. About 3,500 ethnic Albanian policemen were fired in 1991, after the abolition of Kosovar autonomy two years previously. * Fabian Schmidt
ROMANIAN PRESIDENT RENEWS CRITICISM OF UNION LEADERS.
Ion Iliescu has again criticized leaders of the country's main trade union organizations for planning more labor protests later this month, Radio Bucharest reported. Presidential spokesman Traian Chebeleu told journalists on 8 June that union leaders have broken an understanding mediated by Iliescu on 22 May that should have served as the basis for a final agreement between the unions, government, and employers. He repeated the assertion that recent strikes in the energy sector were politically motivated. Chebeleu also criticized the timing of the next big rally announced by the unions. A two-week protest is scheduled to begin on 14 June, the day when the opposition plans to commemorate victims of the June 1990 government-sponsored violence against pro-democracy demonstrators. * Dan Ionescu
HUNGARIAN OFFICIAL ENDS VISITS TO ROMANIA.
Csaba Tabajdi, Hungarian state secretary dealing with Magyars living abroad, ended a five-day visit to Romania on 8 June, Radio Bucharest reported. Tabajdi said at a press conference in Cluj-Napoca that he had met with local authorities and representatives of the Magyar minority from several counties in Romania. He spoke of "concern and anxiety" in connection with an education bill currently being discussed by the Romanian parliament. Tabajdi described the law as a "touchstone for Romanian-Hungarian relations." He said Hungary is expecting its neighbor to meet European standards by passing a law that is "acceptable to the Magyar minority." * Dan Ionescu
ROMANIAN SENATE CHAIRMAN IN MOLDOVA.
Oliviu Gherman, heading a parliamentary delegation, began a two-day official visit to Moldova on 8 June, Radio Bucharest reported. Gherman, who is also chairman of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania, met with Moldovan Premier Andrei Sangheli, Foreign Minster Mihai Popov, parliamentary chairman Petru Lucinschi and Dumitru Motpan, leader of the ruling Moldovan Agrarian Democratic Party. Addressing the parliament in Chisinau the same day, Gherman recalled that Romania was the first state to recognize the independence of the Republic of Moldova. He also stressed Romania's support for Moldova's admission into various international organizations, including the Council of Europe. Gherman will meet with Moldovan President Mircea Snegur on 9 June. * Dan Ionescu
KULIKOV: RUSSIA MAY GIVE BULGARIA TANKS.
Marshal Viktor Kulikov, former military commander of the Warsaw Pact armed forces and now an adviser to Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev, has suggested that Bulgaria might receive some of the tanks Russia must destroy under the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) treaty, BTA reported on 5 June. This message was conveyed by Bulgarian Industry Minister Kliment Vouchev following his meeting that day in Sofia with Kulikov. Bulgaria would then destroy older tanks in its inventory to meet its CFE limits. Such a "cascading" of excess weapons is common within NATO but has not occurred among the former Warsaw Pact states. * Doug Clarke
MILITARY SEA EXERCISE IN BULGARIA.
A one-day military sea exercise took place along Bulgaria's Black Sea coast on 8 June, international agencies reported. Dutch, Greek, Italian, and Turkish ships from NATO's southern fleet in the Mediterranean and eight Bulgarian ships participated in the maneuvers, which are taking place within the framework of the Partnership for Peace. NATO ships are expected to hold another joint exercise in Bulgaria and Romania later this year. * Fabian Schmidt
DRUGS SEIZED IN BULGARIA.
Bulgarian customs officers seized 21.7 kg of heroin at the Turkish border on 7 June, AFP reported the following day. The heroin, worth an estimated $3.3 million, was hidden in a British truck and two British citizens were detained. The consignment brings the total heroin haul this year in Bulgaria to 101 kg. * Fabian Schmidt
ENVER HOXHA'S SON SENTENCED TO ONE YEAR.
Ilir Hoxha, the youngest son of Albanian communist dictator Enver Hoxha, was sentenced to one year in jail on 8 June, AFP and Reuters reported the same day. Hoxha was found guilty of "inciting national hatred by endangering public peace" and of calling for "vengeance" and "hatred against parts of the population" in an interview with the newspaper Modeste. Hoxha was quoted as saying during the trial that "The day will come when all those who have betrayed my father will have to answer for their actions." He is the first person to be tried under a new penal code that took effect in Albania on 1 June. Hoxha denied the charges, saying his trial was motivated by political revenge. * Fabian Schmidt
TURKEY AND GREECE CLASH OVER TERRITORIAL WATERS . . .
The Turkish parliament on 8 June passed a resolution empowering the government to take military measures against Greece, Reuters reported the same day. The resolution follows the Greek parliament's decision to ratify the Law of the Sea Convention, which would allow Greece to extend its territorial waters. The resolution says that "the parliament has decided to invest the government with all powers to take all measures including military steps deemed necessary to protect the vital interests of our country." The resolution, however, was proclaimed "to the world and Greece with friendly sentiments." Ankara claims that an extension of the six-mile zone to twelve miles around the Greek Islands would make 70 percent of the Aegean Sea Greek and choke Turkey's access to the high seas. * Fabian Schmidt
. . . AND AGREE ON NATO MILITARY BUDGET.
Turkey and Greece agreed at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels to freeze a series of bilateral disputes that have blocked the adoption of the 1995 NATO military budget, AFP reported on 8 June. Under pressure from NATO allies, Turkey agreed to lift for six months its veto on adopting the military budget. Greece, for its part, pledged that for a period of three to four months, it would suspend its opposition to the financing of key NATO headquarters in Izmir. * Fabian Schmidt
Compiled by Victor Gomez and Jan Cleave
Copyright(c)1995 Open Media Research Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.