18 August 1999
DAILY REVIEW FROM TATARSTAN
Primakov Joins Otechestvo-Vsya Rossiya Party List
Russian former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov will head the party list of Otechestvo-Vsya Rossiya election bloc, the bloc's Coordinating Board announced on 17 August. Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov will be second on the list and St. Petersburg Mayor Vladimir Yakovlev will be third. In an address speech to the bloc's leaders, Primakov expressed his gratefulness "for their faith in him" and promised to "devote all his powers and experience so that the coalition wins the upcoming parliamentary elections." The same day Primakov was elected to the bloc's Coordinating Board. Tatarstan's President Mintimer Shaimiev was not among the top three on the party list, saying this would go against the constitution of his republic, which prohibits the president from joining any political election alliance. Shaimiev remains a member of bloc's Coordinating Board.
Tatar Public Center Condemns Military Actions In Daghestan
In a statement, the Tatar Public Center condemned "the escalation of hostilities in Daghestan," according the Tatarstan press. The center said that in Daghestan, the federal authorities are "using the same methods of embarking on hostilities as [they did] in Chechnya." It condemned the *bombardments of Daghestani-inhabited localities," which, it added, "endanger the civilian population." The center also criticized the creation of volunteer brigades for self-defense in Daghestan, which, it noted, has led to the increase in "inter-ethnic tensions."
Tatar Nationalist Organizations to Stage Protest March
A number of Tatar nationalist organizations announced that a march will be held on 20 August to protest the "anti-national dictatorship of President Mintimer Shaimiev." Some 50 protesters plan to march 25 kilometers a day on the way from Chally to Kazan. They will demand the revival of Tatarstan's independence and protest the present republican government. "They intend to arrive in Kazan by 30 August, Tatarstan's Day of Independence," the chairman of the Tatar youth organization Azatlik, Talgat Akhamadi told the local press on 18 August.
Compiled by Iskender Nurmi