RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 143, 99-07-26

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 143, 26 July 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GAS SHORTAGE HITS ARMENIA

[02] SARKISIAN SAYS ARMENIA NO THREAT TO GEORGIA

[03] AZERBAIJAN GETS TURKISH FUNDS FOR KOSOVO MISSION

[04] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES U.S.

[05] GULUZADE SAYS MOSCOW NERVOUS ABOUT ARMENIA

[06] GEORGIA REJECTS RUSSIAN STATEMENT ON GUUAM

[07] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA SQUARE OFF DIPLOMATICALLY

[08] GEORGIA TO SHAVE HEADS OF PICKPOCKETS?

[09] KAZAKHSTAN RELEASES MORE MUSLIMS

[10] CHINA TO PROVIDE MILITARY AID TO KAZAKHSTAN

[11] BAIKONUR INVESTIGATOR FOUND DEAD

[12] KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIA TO COOPERATE AGAINST LOCUSTS

[13] FORMER KAZAKHSTAN PREMIER WILLING TO TALK TO INVESTIGATORS--

[14] TAJIKISTAN, U.S. DISCUSS DEMILITARIZATION

[15] 1,000 FROM UZBEKISTAN ILLEGALLY SETTLE IN TAJIKISTAN

[16] UZBEKISTAN TO MEMORIALIZE 'MARTYRS OF COLONIALISM'

[17] UZBEKISTAN JAILS CHRISTIANS

[18] UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER DENIES FUNDING SUBVERSIVE LITERATURE

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[19] SERBIAN CIVILIANS MASSACRED IN KOSOVA

[20] JACKSON PLEDGES ACTION TO FIND KILLERS

[21] SERBS PREPARE FOR FUNERALS

[22] BELGRADE WANTS TO RETURN FORCES, CUSTOMS OFFICERS TO KOSOVA

[23] SERBIAN RESERVISTS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKE

[24] OPPOSITION WARNS SERBIAN GENERALS TO STAY OUT OF POLITICS

[25] BELGRADE STUDENTS PROTEST MILOSEVIC RULE

[26] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT MODIFIES CALL FOR KOSOVA INDPENDENCE

[27] SCHROEDER PLEDGES AID FOR MACEDONIA

[28] NO SUPPORT FOR SANDZAK AUTONOMY?

[29] REHN WARNS OF BOOMING CRIME IN BOSNIA

[30] BULGARIA, ALBANIA, MACEDONIA PROPOSE BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION

[31] ROMANIAN, HUNGARIAN PREMIERS DISCUSS OUTSTANDING ISSUES...

[32] ...WHILE ORBAN SAYS HE WANTS 'RESOLUTE STEPS'

[33] SEPARATISTS PLUNGE MOLDOVAN CAPITAL INTO THREE-DAY BLACK OUT

[34] RUSSIA READY TO WITHDRAW TROOPS, ARSENAL FROM MOLDOVA

[35] BULGARIA OFFERS TRANSIT CORRIDOR AGREEMENT TO RUSSIA,

[C] END NOTE

[36] PASKO FREED FOLLOWING CLOSED-DOOR TRIAL

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] GAS SHORTAGE HITS ARMENIA

hit Armenia since the winter of 1993 brought motor traffic to

a virtual standstill on 24 July, RFE/RL's Armenian Service

reported. The authorities blamed a storm on the Black Sea for

delaying deliveries, warned against panic, and said the

situation will return to normal by 26 July. PG

[02] SARKISIAN SAYS ARMENIA NO THREAT TO GEORGIA

with Georgia's Prime News agency on 25 July, Armenian Prime

Minister Vazgen Sarkisian said Yerevan will not use its new

Typhoon missile launchers to attack pipelines in Georgia, as

some people in Georgia, he said, have suggested. In

purchasing these new weapons from China, the Armenian leader

said, Yerevan is "simply trying to protect its airspace,

people, and state." PG

[03] AZERBAIJAN GETS TURKISH FUNDS FOR KOSOVO MISSION

given Baku approximately $3.5 million to support the

modernization of Azerbaijan's military forces in general and

the dispatch of 30 Azerbaijani soldiers to participate in the

Kosova peacekeeping operation, Reuters reported on 24 July.

PG

[04] AZERBAIJAN OPPOSITION CRITICIZES U.S.

to the Turan news agency on 23 July, Azerbaijan's Democratic

Congress, an umbrella group uniting most of that country's

opposition parties, criticized the U.S. for what the ADC said

is a "double standard" in treating Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The ADC said that Washington is pushing Azerbaijan to make

concessions even as it maintains Section 907, a provision in

U.S. law that prevents Washington from providing most kinds

of assistance to Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, on the same day, the

Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry criticized Armenian Americans

for the pressure they have put on the U.S. Congress to

maintain Section 907 and thus for promoting what it said is

confrontation in the Caucasus. PG

[05] GULUZADE SAYS MOSCOW NERVOUS ABOUT ARMENIA

Foreign Policy Adviser Vaga Guluzade told Baku's Trend agency

on 23 July that Russia is seriously worried about the

possibility of a rapprochement between Armenia and Western

countries. He suggested that was why the Russian government

had given such a warm welcome to Armenian Prime Minister

Vazgen Sarkisian last week. The Russian authorities, Guluzade

said, are especially concerned that there might be a

settlement of the Karabakh dispute without Moscow's direct

involvement. "In fact," he said, recently all conflicts have

been settled by the U.S. with Russia and earlier the Soviet

Union as only honorary observers. But in Karabakh and

Armenia, Russia has more opportunities to jump in, just as it

did in Prishtina, if Armenia suddenly decides to settle the

conflict jointly with other countries." PG

[06] GEORGIA REJECTS RUSSIAN STATEMENT ON GUUAM

Georgian Foreign Ministry released a statement that "no one

has the right to tell Georgia with whom it can cooperate and

in which spheres," Caucasus Press reported. The statement

came in response to Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov's

remark that GUUAM (a cooperative group including Georgia,

Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Moldova) is becoming a

military-political union. PG

[07] GEORGIA, ABKHAZIA SQUARE OFF DIPLOMATICALLY

Security Council session to be devoted to Abkhazia, Tbilisi,

and Sukhumi laid out their positions, ITAR-TASS reported. On

24 July, the Georgian Foreign Ministry said that Abkhaz

elections scheduled for October will be illegal and

represented an attempt to subvert UN and OSCE resolutions on

the conflict. A day earlier, Sergei Shamba, the foreign

minister of the breakaway Abkhaz republic, sent a letter to

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan suggesting that "there are no

grounds to persuade CIS or NATO peacekeepers to use force

against Abkhazia." PG

[08] GEORGIA TO SHAVE HEADS OF PICKPOCKETS?

on pickpockets in the Georgian capital, the Tbilisi police

have decided to shave the heads of pickpockets who are caught

in the act, Caucasus Press reported on 23 July. The police

believe that they have the legal right to do so, but the

country's legal ombudsman has already suggested that such

punishments would be a violation of human rights. PG

[09] KAZAKHSTAN RELEASES MORE MUSLIMS

released another 25 members of a religious group arrested

last week after relatives of those belonging to the group

began a hunger strike in front of the regional center

administration building, Kazakhstan's Khabar TV reported on

24 July. But lawyers for those still detained said the

authorities are considering charging those detainees with

forming an illegal paramilitary organization. PG

[10] CHINA TO PROVIDE MILITARY AID TO KAZAKHSTAN

military delegation told Kazakhstan authorities on 24 July

that Beijing was prepared to provide Kazakhstan with military

aid. But it provided no details beyond suggesting that the

aid will include communications equipment and textiles for

uniforms, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. PG

[11] BAIKONUR INVESTIGATOR FOUND DEAD

year-old deputy governor of Qaraghady Oblast and the head of

the Kazakhstan commission investigating the Russian PROTON

rocket explosion over Kazakhstan earlier this month, was

found dead in his apartment on 23 July, RFE/RL's Kazakh

Service reported. There was no immediate evidence as to

whether his death was an accident or suicide. PG

[12] KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIA TO COOPERATE AGAINST LOCUSTS

officials from Kazakhstan and the Russian Federation have

agreed to cooperate in the fight against locust infestations

in both countries, Interfax-Kazakhstan reported on 23 July.

The two sides said "locusts know no borders." PG

[13] FORMER KAZAKHSTAN PREMIER WILLING TO TALK TO INVESTIGATORS--

Akezhan Kazhegeldin, the former prime

minister and presidential hopeful, has volunteered to meet

Kazakhstan investigators "on neutral ground," namely in

Switzerland, where he is vacationing, Interfax-Kazakhstan

reported on 23 July. Kazakhstan's Prosecutor-General Yuri

Khitrin said Kazhegeldin's behavior is inadmissible and that

the former premier must explain the sources of his income. PG

[14] TAJIKISTAN, U.S. DISCUSS DEMILITARIZATION

military attache in Dushanbe met with Tajikistan's Deputy

Prime Minister Abdurahmon Azimov to explore ways how

Washington might help Tajikistan remove weapons and landmines

from its territory, ITAR-TASS reported on 23 July. PG

[15] 1,000 FROM UZBEKISTAN ILLEGALLY SETTLE IN TAJIKISTAN

than 1,000 people from Uzbekistan have illegally settled in

eastern Tajikistan, Tajik officials told ITAR-TASS on 23

July. The officials, representing both the government and

opposition, spent three days in that region last week. PG

[16] UZBEKISTAN TO MEMORIALIZE 'MARTYRS OF COLONIALISM'

Uzbekistan government has decided to build a special memorial

in Tashkent to those who suffered under the Soviet regime in

order to inculcate in young people "respect for their

forefathers' heroism and selflessness, belief in the victory

of social justice, and devotion to the ideas of independence

and patriotism," Uzbek Television reported on 22 July. The

memorial project will also involve the establishment of a

special fund to support research activities on the lives of

these people. PG

[17] UZBEKISTAN JAILS CHRISTIANS

Full Gospel Church in Nukus, the capital of the Karakalpak

Autonomous Republic in Uzbekistan, have been jailed for long

periods, Keston Institute reported on 23 July. All three were

convicted for possessing drugs, but both they and their

supporters say those drugs were planted on them by the

police. One was also convicted for illegal religious

activities. PG

[18] UZBEK OPPOSITION LEADER DENIES FUNDING SUBVERSIVE LITERATURE

Mohammad Solih, the leader of the banned Erk Democratic

Party, denied Tashkent's charges that he funded the

dissemination of subversive literature in Uzbekistan and was

involved in the 16 February bombings in the Uzbek capital. PG

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[19] SERBIAN CIVILIANS MASSACRED IN KOSOVA

automatic weapons killed 14 Serbian farmers as they were

bringing in the harvest near Gracko, southwest of Prishtina,

on 23 July. The UN's Bernard Kouchner, KFOR's General Sir

Mike Jackson, and the Kosova Liberation Army's (UCK) Hashim

Thaci condemned the killings. KFOR and the Hague-based war

crimes tribunal are investigating the massacre, which is the

largest single atrocity against Serbs since KFOR arrived in

June. It is unclear whether the killings were an act of

revenge for the murders of more than 40 ethnic Albanians at

nearby Recak in January. Representatives of the UN and KFOR

said in Prishtina that they fear the incident could lead to a

renewed cycle of violence that could destabilize the fragile

peace in Kosova, the BBC reported on 26 July. PM

[20] JACKSON PLEDGES ACTION TO FIND KILLERS

a news conference in Prishtina on 25 July that the massacre

"overshadows everything at the moment. The investigation is

ongoing.... I have made some adjustments to troop

concentrations and efforts. There will be some increase in

[road] checkpoints." He stressed that he will do everything

necessary "to stamp out criminal behavior." Jackson added

that it is unclear whether the killings are an isolated

incident or "part of something more sinister." He and

Kouchner said that all inhabitants of Kosova must leave

behind the "cycle of hostility" if they want to become part

of the modern and democratic world and achieve prosperity.

Kouchner stressed that "our mission must go on [even though]

the murderers sought to stop us." PM

[21] SERBS PREPARE FOR FUNERALS

told reporters on 25 July that the Serbian population there

is frightened. One said in an interview with AP: "We have yet

to decide what to do. It is difficult to do anything if you

fear for your life." Kosova Serb political leader Momcilo

Trajkovic added that "people have lost confidence in KFOR,

and it will be very difficult to rebuild it." Some villagers

said that local Serbs had asked KFOR for protection prior to

the killings, the BBC reported on 26 July. KFOR spokesmen

said in Prishtina that autopsies on the 14 bodies are

continuing and that the funeral that was planned for 26 July

will have to be postponed. UN officials on 25 July

indefinitely postponed a meeting of the joint transitional

council slated for the following day after Serbian

representatives said that they would be busy with

preparations for the funeral and would not attend the

meeting. PM

[22] BELGRADE WANTS TO RETURN FORCES, CUSTOMS OFFICERS TO KOSOVA

July that KFOR and the UN civilian administration are

responsible for failing to protect the 14 villagers, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. He added that he wants the UN

Security Council to allow an unspecified number of Serbian

police to return to Kosova. The following day, Vladislav

Jovanovic, who is Belgrade's chief representative at the UN,

requested an urgent meeting of the Security Council to

discuss the killings. He demanded that the council allow the

"forces of the Yugoslav army and police, as well as customs

officials" to return to Kosova (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21

July 1999). The June agreement between NATO and Belgrade

envisages the eventual return of several hundred Serbian

troops, police, and border guards to Kosova but leaves the

timing for the UN to decide. PM

[23] SERBIAN RESERVISTS LAUNCH HUNGER STRIKE

began a hunger strike near the headquarters of the Third Army

in Nis on 26 July to reinforce their demands that the

government pay their back wages immediately. Spokesman

Miodrag Stankovic said the previous night: "All those who

want to see a Serbian soldier turn to hunger strike to

prevent his family from starving tomorrow should be ashamed,"

Reuters reported. PM

[24] OPPOSITION WARNS SERBIAN GENERALS TO STAY OUT OF POLITICS

on 25 July that "any attempt to use the Yugoslav army to

suppress popular discontent would be a suicidal act and...the

end of the army." Social Democratic leader Vuk Obradovic, who

is a former general, said that opposition demands that

Milosevic resign are "perfectly legal and democratic" and do

not constitute "an attempt to take power by force," as pro-

Milosevic Generals Dragoljub Ojdanic and Nebojsa Pavkovic

recently alleged. Also in Belgrade, Democratic Party leader

Zoran Djindjic said that unnamed senior generals have

recently "violated the constitution and put themselves in the

service of one man, thereby alienating themselves from the

people and the rest of the army." PM

[25] BELGRADE STUDENTS PROTEST MILOSEVIC RULE

student opposition group "Otpor" (Resistance) scattered

leaflets from rooftops in downtown Belgrade on 23 July in

which they called for opposition to the regime led by

Milosevic and his wife, Mira Markovic. The students dubbed

their protest "End of JUL-y," a reference to the United

Yugoslav Left (JUL), which is Markovic's party. Later that

day, approximately 5,000 persons attended a rally in Sombor

of the Alliance for Change. The following night, some 25,000

turned out for a meeting called by Vuk Draskovic's Serbian

Renewal Movement in Nis. PM

[26] ALBANIAN PRESIDENT MODIFIES CALL FOR KOSOVA INDPENDENCE

"the autonomy of Kosova or conversion of the province into a

new unit [within Yugoslavia] with the same [republican]

status as Montenegro might be [eventually] realized in the

framework of European integration." He stressed that

"European and Euro-Atlantic integration" will at some

unspecified future date reduce the role of international

borders to "geographic symbols," dpa reported. Albanian

leaders usually say that the only political solution for

Kosova is independence. Observers note that Tirana is seeking

extensive development aid from the international community,

which opposes independence for the province. In Tirana on 23

July, the group of aid donors known as Friends of Albania

said in a statement that the Albanian authorities must

improve law and order if they want more foreign investment,

Reuters reported. PM

[27] SCHROEDER PLEDGES AID FOR MACEDONIA

Gerhard Schroeder said in Skopje on 23 July that Macedonia

"behaved perfectly" during the recent crisis in Kosova. He

stressed that "it has shown solidarity and therefore it

deserves solidarity" when international leaders discuss the

Balkan stability pact in Sarajevo on 30 July. PM

[28] NO SUPPORT FOR SANDZAK AUTONOMY?

Sandzak Coalition, said that calls for autonomy made by his

political rival Sulejman Ugljanin are "unrealistic," "Danas"

reported on 26 July. Ljajic argued that the international

community pays no attention to Sandzak and that the leaders

of the 240,000 ethnic Muslims are divided among themselves.

Ljajic stressed that the Muslims should support democratic

forces within Serbia and Montenegro rather than seek regional

autonomy for themselves. PM

[29] REHN WARNS OF BOOMING CRIME IN BOSNIA

the outgoing UN representative in Bosnia, said in New York on

23 July that Bosnia is becoming an "El Dorado of organized

crime." She noted that many judges are corrupt, prosecutors

afraid, and witnesses intimidated. Rehn added that criminals

have recently brought more than 1,000 women as prostitutes

into Bosnia from foreign countries, including Serbia,

Romania, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, Reuters

reported. Observers note that there are strong links between

military leaders, politicians, and criminals among each of

Bosnia' three main ethnic groups. During the 1992-1995 war,

criminals cooperated with one another across front lines. PM

[30] BULGARIA, ALBANIA, MACEDONIA PROPOSE BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION

The foreign ministers of Bulgaria, Albania, and

Macedonia, meeting in Sofia on 25 July, agreed to propose

joint economic projects to the 30 July Sarajevo summit on

Balkan reconstruction, an RFE/RL correspondent in Sofia

reported. Nadezhda Mihailova, Paskal Milo, and Alexandar

Dimitrov said the joint projects will make their countries

more attractive to foreign investors. One of the key projects

is the construction of an East-West transport corridor

linking Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Burgas with the Albanian

Adriatic port of Vlore. The three ministers also stressed the

importance of NATO's continued presence in the Balkans to

ensure regional stability. MS

[31] ROMANIAN, HUNGARIAN PREMIERS DISCUSS OUTSTANDING ISSUES...

July for "informal talks," agreed that ethnic conflicts in

the region must be quickly eliminated. With regard to the

envisaged Hungarian-language state university in Romania,

Vasile said the "constitutional obstacles" for setting it up

have been removed and the problem is now a "technical" one.

The next day, however, Vasile said in Cluj that the

university cannot be established during the current

parliamentary session because of "procedural difficulties."

Vasile also told Orban on 23 July that the restitution of

Church property confiscated by the communist regime will be

provided for either in a law passed by the parliament or in

an emergency government regulation. Some 195 buildings will

be returned, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau quoted him as saying.

MS

[32] ...WHILE ORBAN SAYS HE WANTS 'RESOLUTE STEPS'

traditional Balvanyos Free Summer University in Baile Tusnad

on 24 July, Orban complained that the Hungarian government

must "time and again raise the same issues" with the Romanian

cabinet, in particular the Hungarian-language university and

the restitution of Church property. He said that his cabinet

will "not make concessions" on the problems faced by

Hungarians living outside Hungary and that the restitution of

Church property is linked to "safeguarding the Magyar

minority's identity." He said Romania has made a "few nice

gestures" but added he expects "resolute steps." Orban also

said that it is up to the Hungarian Democratic Federation of

Romania (UDMR) to decide what policies best serve the

interests of Romania's ethnic Hungarians. Since the UDMR

supports the setting up of the university, he said, his

government will also "not give up supporting it." MS

[33] SEPARATISTS PLUNGE MOLDOVAN CAPITAL INTO THREE-DAY BLACK OUT

separatist Transdniester region were restored on 24 July,

following negotiations between Moldovan Deputy Premier

Alexandru Muravschi and separatist deputy leader Viktor

Sinev, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The three-day black

out heavily disrupted public transportation and water

supplies as well as forcing shops and businesses to close.

The separatists said the restoration of supplies is

"temporary" and stressed they are insisting on the immediate

payment of $12 million out of the $31 million that Chisinau

owes Tiraspol for electricity deliveries. Prime Minister Ion

Sturza on 23 July said in the parliament that the

separatists' move is politically motivated and that Moldova

must increase supplies from Romania and Ukraine. MS

[34] RUSSIA READY TO WITHDRAW TROOPS, ARSENAL FROM MOLDOVA

is ready to carry out the stage-by-stage withdrawal of its

troops and military equipment from the Transdniester, in

accordance with a timetable proposed by the OSCE, ITAR-TASS

reported on 24 July, citing the Russian Foreign Ministry. The

statement was released after a meeting in Moscow earlier last

week of Russian Foreign Ministry and OSCE experts. It added

that Moscow has provided the OSCE with "full information" on

the amount, the operational state, and the storage conditions

of stocks stationed in the region. MS

[35] BULGARIA OFFERS TRANSIT CORRIDOR AGREEMENT TO RUSSIA,

Bulgaria on 23 July offered Russia and Finland a

draft agreement on the transit of their KFOR peacekeeping

forces. The draft is similar to that under which NATO

peacekeepers are already transiting Bulgarian territory to

Kosova. Russia last week said it has renounced its request

for transit corridors in view of "unacceptable" Bulgarian

demands but unnamed Russian officials quoted by AP on 23 July

welcomed the Bulgarian initiative. MS

[C] END NOTE

[36] PASKO FREED FOLLOWING CLOSED-DOOR TRIAL

The Russian military journalist Grigorii Pasko was freed

from a Vladivostok jail last week after a military court

ruled that he had misused his office but was entitled to

amnesty. Pasko, a former officer in the Russian Navy and a

reporter for the Pacific Fleet newspaper, was arrested in

November 1997.

Pasko was found guilty of abuse of power for personal

gain and violating the interests of society and the state. He

was sentenced to three years in prison but immediately set

free under an amnesty bill signed into law last month by

President Boris Yeltsin.

The Pacific Fleet military court ruled that the treason

and espionage charges against Pasko were unfounded, saying

the information he had given Japan's NHK television station

was not secret.

In a telephone interview with RFE/RL's Russian Service

shortly after his release, the 37-year-old journalist spoke

about how he felt after more than 20 months in jail and after

escaping a potential 12-year prison sentence for treason: "In

the first place, the decision was not totally unexpected,

because it would have been scandalous to sentence an innocent

man to 12 years' imprisonment," he said. "The only correct

decision was to release me. Therefore, to use football

jargon, you can say the score is a tie (1:1)."

The court found that much of the evidence against Pasko

had been collected in violation of the law and that two of

the documents submitted as evidence by Russia's Federal

Security Service (FSB)--heir to the Soviet-era KGB--had been

falsified.

Asked if he agreed with the verdict that found him

guilty of abuse of power, Pasko replied: "No way. In the

criminal case, there is no evidence for the charge of Article

275 [abuse of power under the Russian criminal code], but not

even under Article 285 on the misuse of office, for one very

simple reason. I am not a public servant."

Much of the trial was held behind closed doors, but

prosecutors said publicly that Pasko had handed over 10

documents containing state secrets to Japanese television and

divulged information about the combat readiness of Russia's

Pacific Fleet.

Pasko said the case was fabricated by the FSB to punish

him for reports he filed on Japanese Television about the

Pacific Fleet's nuclear-waste dumping practices. Pasko said

his material documented environmental hazards at several

fleet facilities but did not involve classified information.

Pasko said the aim of the trial was to silence him. He

said the FSB had been trying to get him to collaborate with

it for some time but that he had refused. He said the FSB

knew he had a wide circle of people who shared information

with him: "From simple sailors to foreign correspondents,

including generals and admirals. Because I have always been

an honorable journalist. [The FSB] wanted to exploit this."

Asked about the prison conditions during his 20-month

detention in Vladivostok, Pasko said they were the "same" as

everywhere in Russia. "For the last year, I was held in

solitary confinement, and in as much as I was on my own, then

it was more or less bearable. But where people are held 50 or

40 in a cell, then these are very difficult conditions."

The Pacific Fleet's branch of the FSB said it still

wants to review the results of Pasko's case, but it appears

to have accepted the verdict. Pasko qualified for the amnesty

because he had already served more than one-third of his full

three-year sentence and was a first-time offender.

Pasko's case is not the only one where Russia's FSB

appears to be attempting to quash Russia's budding

environmental movement.

The Federal Security Service recently raided the

Vladivostok laboratory and home of Vladimir Soifer. Soifer is

an internationally known scientist who has been investigating

the problem of nuclear waste and storage in Russia's Far

East.

Alexander Nikitin, a retired navy captain, was also

accused of espionage. He allegedly helped the Norwegian

environmental organization Bellona document nuclear pollution

by Russia's Northern Fleet. Nikitin was later released from

prison but the FSB is moving to renew the case.

And Vladimir Putin, director of the Federal Security

Service, recently defended his agency's vigilant stance

against environmentalists, claiming that foreign agents are

penetrating ecological organizations and endangering state

security.

Environmentalists say the FSB is simply trying to help

the military cover up an embarrassing legacy of neglect.

The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague.

26-07-99

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

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