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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 153, 99-08-09

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 153, 9 August 1999


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] CIS TOP OFFICIAL VISITS AZERBAIJAN
  • [02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION POLITICIAN'S TRIAL POSTPONED
  • [03] SUSPECTS WALK FREE AS KAZAKH LAWYERS CONTINUE STRIKE
  • [04] KAZAKHSTAN RELEASES DETAINED KYRGYZ
  • [05] RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER VISITS TAJIKISTAN
  • [06] TAJIK COTTON HARVEST A WASHOUT
  • [07] TURKMEN GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENTS SIGNED...
  • [08] ...AS AZERBAIJAN EXPRESSES INTEREST
  • [09] TURKMENISTAN, UKRAINE AGAIN AT ODDS OVER GAS SUPPLIES

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [10] ETHNIC ALBANIANS CLASH WITH KFOR IN MITROVICA...
  • [11] ...CAUSING CONCERN THAT UCK LOST CONTROL OVER HARD-LINERS
  • [12] INTERNATIONAL POLICE BEGIN WORK IN KOSOVA
  • [13] RUGOVA WANTS TO REMAIN KOSOVAR PRESIDENT
  • [14] TRAJKOVIC: MILOSEVIC'S DEPARTURE IS KOSOVA'S HOPE
  • [15] GJILAN SERBS BOYCOTT UN AUTHORITY
  • [16] MILOSEVIC BLASTS OPPOSITION
  • [17] SERBIAN OPPOSITION REMAINS ADAMANT
  • [18] DRASKOVIC SAYS TRANSITION MUST BE GRADUAL
  • [19] MOST SERBIAN RESERVISTS END HUNGER STRIKE
  • [20] CROATIAN ARCHBISHOP IN VOJVODINA
  • [21] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER CALLS FOR REVISING BORDER AGREEMENT
  • [22] BOSNIAN-CROATIAN BORDER CROSSING OPENS
  • [23] CROATIA EXTRADITES WAR CRIMES SUSPECT
  • [24] MACEDONIA, TAIWAN SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS
  • [25] ROMANIAN AMBASSADOR HAILS U.S. CONGRESS DRAFT RESOLUTION
  • [26] MINERS' COMMEMORATION STIRS UP ROMANIAN CONTROVERSY
  • [27] IMF APPROVES TRANCHE DISBURSEMENT FOR MOLDOVA
  • [28] MOLDOVAN PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY DISTANCES ITSELF FROM
  • [29] LUKOIL BID SELECTED FOR BULGARIAN REFINERY PRIVATIZATION

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [30] TILTING THE CHESSBOARD IN MOSCOW

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] CIS TOP OFFICIAL VISITS AZERBAIJAN

    On a working visit to

    Baku on 6-7 August, CIS Executive Secretary Yurii Yarov

    discussed the ongoing streamlining of CIS executive

    structures with Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev, ITAR-TASS

    and Turan reported. Yarov said that the creation of alliances

    such as GUUAM by CIS member states does not detract from the

    viability of the CIS, which, he argued, would be more

    effective if its members could agree on creating a CIS free

    trade zone. (Turkmenistan in June rejected that proposal).

    Turan quoted Yarov as saying that the CIS Executive Committee

    wants individual CIS member states to give Russia plenary

    powers to negotiate with international organizations, such as

    the UN, the IMF, and the World Bank, on behalf of the

    presidents of CIS states. LF

    [02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION POLITICIAN'S TRIAL POSTPONED

    The

    trial of Geyrat Party chairman and former presidential

    candidate Ashraf Mehtiev has been postponed indefinitely,

    Turan reported on 6 August. Mehtiev was charged with

    insulting the honor and dignity of President Aliev by

    alleging the latter is an ethnic Kurd. Mehtiev's trial opened

    in Baku last month but was subsequently adjourned. LF

    [03] SUSPECTS WALK FREE AS KAZAKH LAWYERS CONTINUE STRIKE

    Criminal suspects are being released from jail without trial

    because of the ongoing strike by Kazakhstan's lawyers, AP

    reported on 7 August. Under Kazakhstan's constitution,

    suspects can be detained without trial for no longer than six

    months. The lawyers' union estimates that in Almaty alone,

    more than 100 persons charged with violent crimes have been

    released. Lawyers in Kazakhstan launched a strike in early

    April to demand that the government pay their back wages for

    the previous six months (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 April

    1999). LF

    [04] KAZAKHSTAN RELEASES DETAINED KYRGYZ

    The 17 Kyrgyz detained

    three weeks ago at a holiday home near the Kazakh town of

    Taraz were released on 6 August, Human Rights Movement of

    Kyrgyzstan chairman Tursunbek Akunov told RFE/RL's Bishkek

    bureau the following day. The Kyrgyz were among 78 people who

    had gathered to hold common prayers (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

    20 July and 6 August 1999). LF

    [05] RUSSIAN INTERIOR MINISTER VISITS TAJIKISTAN

    On a two-day

    working visit to Dushanbe on 6-7 August, Vladimir Rushailo

    held talks with Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and with

    Tajik colleagues on cooperation in combating organized and

    economic crime, terrorism, as well as arms- and drug-

    trafficking, ITAR-TASS reported. They focused on the

    performance of joint working groups created for that purpose

    earlier this year. LF

    [06] TAJIK COTTON HARVEST A WASHOUT

    Minister of Agriculture

    Sherali Safarov told Interfax on 6 August that this year

    Tajikistan is likely to harvest only 380,000 tons of cotton

    or just over half the planned target of 600,000 tons. He

    blamed the shortfall on shortages of fuel and spare parts for

    agricultural machinery and on the torrential rains in Khatlon

    Oblast last month. In 1997, Tajikistan harvested 385,000 tons

    of cotton. LF

    [07] TURKMEN GAS PIPELINE AGREEMENTS SIGNED...

    Representatives of

    Shell and PSG signed three agreements in Ashgabat on 5 August

    on the extraction of Turkmen natural gas and its export via

    the planned Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, Interfax reported.

    Shell and PSG signed a letter of intent on the implementation

    of that project, under which Shell undertook to raise 50

    percent of construction costs. Shell also signed an

    "agreement of strategic alliance" with the Turkmen government

    on exploring and developing gas deposits from which gas can

    be exported via the planned pipeline. And PSG signed a

    preliminary agreement with the Turkmen government on the

    commercial and legal basis for operating the pipeline. LF

    [08] ...AS AZERBAIJAN EXPRESSES INTEREST

    Speaking in Baku the

    following day, Azerbaijan state oil company president Natik

    Aliev said his country hopes the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline

    will transit Azerbaijan and Georgia, ITAR-TASS reported.

    Aliev said the pipeline will have an annual capacity of 30

    billion cubic meters, and he expressed the hope that

    Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan will be able to reach an

    agreement allowing Azerbaijan to use part of that capacity to

    export its own gas. US State Department adviser for the

    Caspian John Wolf said in Baku the same day that PSG will

    conduct talks on this issue in Baku "soon." LF

    [09] TURKMENISTAN, UKRAINE AGAIN AT ODDS OVER GAS SUPPLIES

    Ukrainian Premier Valeriy Pustovoytenko said on 6 August that

    agreement had been reached during talks with Turkmen

    government officials the previous day on resuming supplies of

    Turkmen natural gas to Ukraine before the end of this month,

    Interfax reported. Turkmenistan halted exports to Ukraine in

    late May. But in Ashgabat, the chairman of Turkmenistan's

    state gas company, Berdymurat Redjepov, said the same day

    that supplies will not be resumed any time soon because

    Ukraine has not yet made the required payment in hard

    currency for 6 billion cubic meters of gas it received

    between January and late May 1999. Forty percent of that debt

    was to be paid in hard currency and the remainder in barter

    goods, not all of which have been supplied. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [10] ETHNIC ALBANIANS CLASH WITH KFOR IN MITROVICA...

    Up to 1,000

    ethnic Albanians clashed with French KFOR soldiers from 7

    through 9 August at Mitrovica's central bridge leading into

    the Serb-dominated northern part of the city, Reuters

    reported. The soldiers were hindering the protesters from

    entering that part of the city, fearing bloodshed between

    armed ethnic Serbs and Albanians. The protesters punched,

    spat, and threw cans at the soldiers. KFOR detained one

    ethnic Albanian. A KFOR spokesman said that "these mobs on

    the bridge were certainly orchestrated by the Kosova

    Liberation Army (UCK) to crank up the pressure on us [to let

    them take over northern Mitrovica]. But this would cause

    major violence." French troops also arrested four Serbs in

    the northern part of Mitrovica for possession of weapons.

    Meanwhile, unknown attackers fired a rifle-propelled grenade

    from the south into northern Mitrovica, but there were no

    injuries or serious damage. FS

    [11] ...CAUSING CONCERN THAT UCK LOST CONTROL OVER HARD-LINERS

    Reuters reported on 9 August that KFOR commander General Sir

    Mike Jackson told "The Scotsman": "I can't say I'm fully

    confident that [the UCK is] in full control [among ethnic

    Albanians]. They are going to have to work with their own

    people to show that they have a [Kosova] now which is hugely

    different from the [Kosova] they had three months ago....

    They've got a great deal of what they fought for--O.K. not

    independence--but they have a free [Kosova], which is almost

    the same thing." Jackson warned: "We may get some difficulty

    with fringe hotheads and we will deal with it. But for the

    [UCK] to do anything other than conform to the

    [demilitarization] undertaking they have assigned

    themselves...would be the most foolish thing to do, and I'm

    sure they are not going to be that foolish." FS

    [12] INTERNATIONAL POLICE BEGIN WORK IN KOSOVA

    The first 500

    international policemen formally assumed their duties in

    Kosova on 8 August, AP reported. The UN Mission in Kosovo

    (UNMIK) plans to deploy a total of 3,100 international

    police. So far, Bangladesh, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Germany,

    Portugal, Romania, Russia, Sweden, and the U.S have all

    contributed to the force. Meanwhile, 10 people, including

    eight Serbs, were injured in four separate grenade attacks

    that day in various parts of Kosova. In Prishtina on 6

    August, KFOR raided the house of the UCK's interior minister,

    Rexhep Selimi. The peacekeepers found a submachine gun, a

    hand grenade, ammunition, and 20 radio frequency scanners,

    along with illegal identity cards, marked "Ministry of Public

    Order," allowing the holder of the card to make arrests. FS

    [13] RUGOVA WANTS TO REMAIN KOSOVAR PRESIDENT

    Moderate Kosovar

    leader Ibrahim Rugova told "Der Spiegel" of 6 August that he

    will run in the Kosova presidential elections in 2000. Rugova

    was elected as president of the Kosovar shadow state twice in

    underground elections, namely in 1992 and 1998. He stressed

    that "I remain the president of Kosova and insist on a direct

    vote shortly before or after [parliamentary] elections."

    Rugova added that "within three years we will hold a

    referendum [on independence]. After that the Serbs can only

    accept our independence." FS

    [14] TRAJKOVIC: MILOSEVIC'S DEPARTURE IS KOSOVA'S HOPE

    Momcilo

    Trajkovic, who heads Kosova's Serbian Resistance Movement,

    said in Belgrade that Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic

    must leave office if Kosova is to remain multiethnic and part

    of Serbia. He stressed that Serbia must become democratic if

    the Serbs are to have a future in Kosova, the daily "Danas"

    reported on 9 August. Trajkovic said that he will seek the

    establishment of five special "cantons" in the province as an

    interim solution. Each canton would be multi-ethnic, and

    Serbs and ethnic Albanians would share political power. The

    five would be centered on the cities of Prishtina, Mitrovica,

    Gjilan, Prizren, and Peja. PM

    [15] GJILAN SERBS BOYCOTT UN AUTHORITY

    The local Serbian "Church

    and People's Committee" in Gjilan has turned down a request

    by the UN's civilian administration to take part in local

    government bodies. Committee leaders said that they will not

    take part in UN-sponsored bodies until the security situation

    for Serbian civilians improves, "Danas" reported on 9 August.

    PM

    [16] MILOSEVIC BLASTS OPPOSITION

    Milosevic told a gathering of

    Serbian emigres in Belgrade on 6 August that his opponents

    are "corrupt politicians" seeking to destabilize Serbia. He

    charged that NATO is using those politicians to achieve "the

    aims it failed to do with 22,000 tons of bombs dropped on our

    country." On 7 August, Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic

    told state-run television that "big powers have their agents

    in Yugoslavia." He was apparently referring to the

    opposition. PM

    [17] SERBIAN OPPOSITION REMAINS ADAMANT

    Vladan Batic, who is one

    of the leaders of the Alliance for Change, told more than

    2,000 protesters in Vrbas on 7 August that Milosevic should

    have responded to his critics sooner. The president has "only

    now peeked out from his mouse hole to call us traitors. But

    who is the traitor after all," Batic added. His remarks

    reflect the view of many Serbs that Milosevic betrayed

    Serbian interests by provoking and losing a conflict with

    NATO. In Zabalj, Democratic Party leader Zoran Djindjic told

    800 people that the only way to oust Milosevic is to continue

    to hold meetings in cities and towns across Serbia, the

    Frankfurt-based Serbian daily "Vesti" reported. He urged the

    people to "take their destiny in their hands [and oust]

    "tyrants, thieves, and criminal gangs." PM

    [18] DRASKOVIC SAYS TRANSITION MUST BE GRADUAL

    Serbian Resistance

    Movement leader Vuk Draskovic told RFE/RL's South Slavic

    Service on 7 August that Milosevic will leave office only if

    there is a "political agreement" between his government and

    the opposition leading to the establishment of a transitional

    government. Draskovic added, however, that Milosevic's Prime

    Minister Momir Bulatovic must resign as soon as possible

    because Montenegro does not recognize him. PM

    [19] MOST SERBIAN RESERVISTS END HUNGER STRIKE

    Miodrag Stankovic,

    who heads the local veterans' association in Nis, said on 8

    August that out of a group of nine reservists, he is the only

    one who will continue the hunger strike for back wages (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 August 1999). Stankovic noted that the

    other men ended their 13-day-old protest on doctors' advice.

    He added that he has received no response from other veterans

    to his recent call for a joint protest in Belgrade, Reuters

    reported. PM

    [20] CROATIAN ARCHBISHOP IN VOJVODINA

    Zagreb's Archbishop Josip

    Bozanic arrived in Subotica on 7 August for a three-day visit

    to Vojvodina. He appealed to local Croats to remain in

    Subotica, "Jutarnji list" reported. PM

    [21] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER CALLS FOR REVISING BORDER AGREEMENT

    Petar Djokic, who is speaker of the Republika Srpska's

    parliament, said in Banja Luka that the recently signed

    border delineation agreement between Bosnia and Croatia

    should be changed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 August 1999). He

    stressed that the Una River should form the boundary between

    the two republics, RFE/RL South Slavic Service reported on 7

    August. PM

    [22] BOSNIAN-CROATIAN BORDER CROSSING OPENS

    Representatives of

    the office of the international community's high

    representative in Bosnia opened the border crossing near

    Ivanica on the Dubrovnik-Trebinje road on 6 August. No local

    Croatian officials took part, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

    reported. The route linking southern Dalmatia with the

    eastern part of the Republika Srpska had been closed for

    eight years. PM

    [23] CROATIA EXTRADITES WAR CRIMES SUSPECT

    Croatian authorities

    placed Vinko "Stela" Martinovic on a flight bound for The

    Hague on 9 August. The war crimes tribunal previously

    indicted him for crimes committed in Bosnia during the 1992-

    1995 war (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 July 1999). The Croatian

    authorities' refusal until now to extradite him has been a

    source of tension between Zagreb and the tribunal. PM

    [24] MACEDONIA, TAIWAN SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS

    Taiwanese and

    Macedonian officials signed several economic cooperation

    agreements in Skopje on 7 and 8 August, AP reported. Taiwan

    will invest $200 million in a tax-free industrial zone near

    Skopje. The signing of the agreements came at the end of a

    visit by Premier Vincent Siew and a high-ranking Taiwanese

    delegation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 August 1999). Macedonian

    President Kiro Gligorov, who is opposed to Macedonia's

    recognition of Taiwan, refused to meet with Siew. FS

    [25] ROMANIAN AMBASSADOR HAILS U.S. CONGRESS DRAFT RESOLUTION

    Romanian Ambassador to the U.S. Mircea Geoana, in an

    interview with Romanian Television on 6 August, hailed the

    draft resolution on Romania that was submitted to the House

    of Representatives on 3 August but warned not to

    overestimate its significance, which, Geoana said, is

    "mainly political." Among other things, the draft says the

    U.S. will "support Romania's territorial integrity and will

    insist on that integrity being respected by all neighboring

    countries" as well as by all political formations in

    Romania or in other countries. The draft also recommends

    that the U.S. assist Romania in overcoming the costs

    incurred by the Kosova war and in rescheduling or writing

    off debts to foreign creditors. President Emil

    Constantinescu is currently on a private visit to the U.S.

    MS

    [26] MINERS' COMMEMORATION STIRS UP ROMANIAN CONTROVERSY

    Former

    President Ion Iliescu, addressing a gathering in Lupeni,

    Jiu valley, on 6 August to mark the 70th anniversary of a

    miners' strike that was quashed by the army, said that

    "unfortunately, history repeats itself," noting that the

    current government has again used violence against the

    miners. Iliescu called on those present to "hold on" till

    he returns to power and repairs the damage caused by the

    country's rulers. Alliance for Romania chairman Teodor

    Melescanu also attended the gathering, an RFE/RL

    correspondent in Lupeni reported. A Ministry of Defense

    press release on 7 August said the ministry views the

    "presence of certain politicians" at the ceremony as "an

    insult to the army." It said the 1929 miners' strike was a

    "Comintern provocation" and the army's "energetic

    intervention" at the time "re-established peace and the

    rule of the law." MS

    [27] IMF APPROVES TRANCHE DISBURSEMENT FOR MOLDOVA

    The IMF

    executive board on 6 August approved the disbursement of a

    $34 million tranche of a $195 million loan approved in

    1996, Reuters reported. The board said that the financial

    crisis in Russia has had a severe impact on Moldova, and it

    praised the steps taken by Ion Sturza's cabinet toward

    tightening monetary policy and accelerating privatization

    and structural reform. But the board added that it is

    "concerned" about the fact that "domestic arrears continue

    to mount" and about Moldova's foreign-debt servicing

    difficulties. It urged Chisinau to "seek a prompt

    negotiated settlement with its creditors." The conditions

    for disbursing further tranches include keeping the decline

    in GDP below 5 percent this year, not allowing inflation to

    exceed 24.2 percent, and ensuring that the budget deficit

    is below 3 percent of GDP. MS

    [28] MOLDOVAN PRO-PRESIDENTIAL PARTY DISTANCES ITSELF FROM

    LUCINSCHI

    The Executive Bureau of the pro-presidential For

    a Democratic and Prosperous Moldova movement has urged

    President Petru Lucinschi to renounce the intention to hold

    a referendum on changing the country's system to a

    presidential one, Infotag and BASA-press reported on 6

    August. The bureau said the presidential initiative might

    "negatively impact" Moldova's image abroad and that it runs

    contrary to "the fundamental European democratic

    principles." It also said it is ready to initiate a debate

    in the parliament on strengthening the president's

    executive prerogatives. MS

    [29] LUKOIL BID SELECTED FOR BULGARIAN REFINERY PRIVATIZATION

    LUKoil's bid for a 58 percent stake in the Neftochim

    refinery, the largest in Bulgaria, has been selected by the

    Privatization Agency from among several bids, AP and BTA

    reported on 6 August. The Russian oil giant has undertaken to

    pay $107 million for the stake and to invest a "much larger"

    sum in the refinery's modernization. The daily "Demokratsia,"

    cited by AP, said the price of the stake could be revised

    after LUKoil experts carry out by the end of next month a

    detailed examination of the refinery and its equipment. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [30] TILTING THE CHESSBOARD IN MOSCOW

    By Paul Goble

    Once again, Boris Yeltsin has tilted the political

    chessboard in Moscow, giving himself new room for maneuver by

    upsetting the calculations of others--at the cost of throwing

    the Russian government into turmoil.

    Earlier today, the Russian president fired his prime

    minister, Sergei Stepashin, along with the entire government,

    and replaced him with Vladimir Putin, until now head of

    Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and a longtime KGB

    agent.

    In making this change, Yeltsin said that he wants to put

    Putin in a position to succeed him as president, thus

    highlighting Yeltsin's growing unhappiness with the political

    coalitions now being formed against him and hinting at his

    approach in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential

    elections. Further, this latest move--particularly in the

    context of the renewed fighting in the North Caucasus--raises

    the possibility that Yeltsin will seek to postpone those

    votes by declaring a state of emergency or will try to gain

    more influence over the electoral process by putting himself

    in a position to do precisely that.

    But any short-term gains he may have made in the

    overheated politics of Moscow may be swamped both by the

    probable reaction of his political opponents and the even

    more predictable reaction of international financial markets

    and Western governments.

    Precisely because most of Yeltsin's opponents are likely

    to view his motives as a transparent threat to themselves and

    because Yeltsin has used similar tactics in the past,

    political leaders in the State Duma and in Russia's regions

    are likely to redouble their efforts to gain power at his

    expense.

    The electoral coalitions that have emerged in the last

    few weeks are likely to consolidate rather than crack as a

    result of Stepashin's departure and Putin's appointment.

    Those involved in such coalitions will doubtless conclude

    that Yeltsin's move is directed not only against their

    current clout but also their future power in the Russian

    state.

    That may make the confirmation of Putin more rather than

    less difficult. It may also lead to new demands for Yeltsin's

    impeachment and possibly trigger other kinds of political

    maneuvers against an action that many political figures, not

    to mention the Russian public, are likely to view as the

    latest indication of Yeltsin's arbitrariness and unfitness

    for office. Thus, August is likely to once again prove the

    hottest month politically in the Russian capital.

    Moreover, this pattern of domestic unhappiness with

    Yeltsin's move may be compounded by the reaction of the West.

    Both financial markets and international financial

    institutions are likely to react negatively to this latest

    indication of instability within the upper echelons of the

    Russian state.

    The reaction of the markets is almost certain to be both

    quick and negative, driving down the ruble's exchange rate,

    reducing still further the willingness of private firms to

    invest there, and thus further exacerbating Russia's economic

    difficulties. All those developments will only highlight the

    conditions that are behind the growing opposition to Yeltsin

    among the Russian people.

    The initial reaction of Western governments is likely to

    be more cautious. On the one hand, many are likely to view

    Yeltsin's latest move the same way they viewed earlier ones

    of this kind--as a high risk but as perhaps the necessary

    step by someone many have come to view as the only reliable

    partner they have in Moscow.

    On the other, precisely because Yeltsin has used this

    stratagem so often and precisely because it is once again

    threatening to destabilize the political situation in Moscow,

    ever more voices in Western capitals are likely to begin to

    ask questions about Yeltsin's reliability and about relations

    with Moscow after Yeltsin.

    The latter response is particularly likely because of

    Yeltsin's suggestion that he would like to see Putin as his

    successor. Some are certain to be concerned by the prospect

    of a longtime Soviet spy at the head of the Russian

    government, while others will be worried by the possibility

    that Yeltsin may suddenly transfer power to Putin as a means

    of avoiding a loss in the upcoming parliamentary elections.

    Each time Yeltsin has tossed the Russian chessboard into

    the air in order to maintain power, there have been

    suggestions that he has used this strategy once too often.

    That is certain to be the case once again this week. And

    regardless of whether this is Yeltsin's final August ploy,

    the suggestions themselves will cast an ever larger shadow

    over Russian politics, the Russian people, and Russia's

    relations with the West.

    09-08-99


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


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