RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 178, 99-09-13

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 178, 13 September 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS IN YALTA WITH AZERBAIJANI, GEORGIAN

[02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PROTESTS SENTENCE ON JOURNALIST

[03] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY STRIPPED OF IMMUNITY

[04] FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER ARRESTED IN MOSCOW...

[05] ...APPEALS TO YELTSIN

[06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION CONDEMNS ARREST

[07] U.S. TO CUT AID TO KAZAKHSTAN?

[08] KYRGYZSTAN SEEKS TALKS WITH GUERRILLAS

[09] TAJIK OPPOSITION DENIES LINKS WITH UZBEK HOSTAGE TAKERS

[10] TURKMENISTAN EXPRESSES INTEREST IN DEFENSE COOPERATION WITH

[11] TURKMEN POLITICAL PRISONER DIES IN JAIL

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] KFOR WARNS OF SERBIAN DESTABILIZATION OF KOSOVA

[13] LIVE AMMUNITION USED IN MITROVICA CLASHES

[14] KOSOVARS PROTEST ARREST OF UCK LEADER

[15] CEKU PLEDGES TO BEAT DEMILITARIZATION DEADLINE...

[16] ...AND URGES CREATION OF KOSOVA CORPS

[17] KOUCHNER: MORE SERBS IN KOSOVA THAN BELIEVED

[18] MONTENEGRO PLANS 'MARKA' AS DINAR SLIDES

[19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION, MONTENEGRIN AUTHORITIES MOVING CLOSER?

[20] SERBIAN COURT FINES OPPOSITION PAPER

[21] IN THE WINNERS' CIRCLE

[22] IMF TEAM REVIEWS ROMANIAN PERFORMANCE

[23] ROMANIAN PREMIER CALLS ON PARTIES TO 'ISOLATE' OPPOSITION

[24] ROMANIAN COURT DECLINES COMPETENCE TO RULE ON OUTLAWING

[25] ROMANIAN PATRIARCH SENDS PROTEST LETTER TO PREMIER

[26] OSCE EXPECTS PROGRESS IN TRANSDNIESTER NEGOTIATIONS

[27] BULGARIA, UKRAINE, CRITICIZE ROMANIAN BLOCKADE ON DANUBE

[28] MULTINATIONAL PEACE FORCE HEADQUARTERS INAUGURATED IN

[C] END NOTE

[29] Giving Yalta A New Meaning

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT MEETS IN YALTA WITH AZERBAIJANI, GEORGIAN

Robert Kocharian met for half an hour on 10

September on the sidelines of the Baltic-Black Sea summit in

Yalta with his Azerbaijani counterpart, Heidar Aliev, to

discuss the Karabakh conflict. It was the third meeting

between the two men within two months (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

18 July and 23 August 1999). Kocharian told journalists after

the talks, which according to Ukrainian President Leonid

Kuchma were held "in a very friendly and comradely

atmosphere," that the discussion was "interesting" and

"another step forward in the negotiating process," Reuters

reported. Kocharian also met with Georgian President Eduard

Shevardnadze on 10 September to discuss regional affairs

prior to Kocharian's planned visit to Georgia next month,

Caucasus Press reported. LF

[02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION PROTESTS SENTENCE ON JOURNALIST

Azerbaijan Popular Front Party issued a statement on 10

September condemning as "inhumane and unfair" the suspended

sentence handed down the previous day on Irada Huseynova, a

journalist with the Russian-language newspaper "Bakinskii

bulvard," Turan reported. The statement termed the sentence

part of the campaign of repression of the media by the

Azerbaijani government. Huseynova was found guilty on charges

of having slandered parliamentary deputy Djalal Aliev,

brother of the president (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 September

1999). On 9 September, the international journalists

organization Reporters sans Frontieres wrote to Azerbaijani

Minister of Justice Sudabah Hasanova protesting the sentence

on Huseynova. LF

[03] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY STRIPPED OF IMMUNITY

deputies voted overwhelmingly on 9 September to strip Boris

Kakubava of his deputy's immunity, removing the obstacles to

his arrest on suspicion of involvement in the most recent

foiled assassination attempt against President Shevardnadze,

Caucasus Press reported on 10 September. Georgian police

detained eight people in May in connection with that

undertaking (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 May 1999). Kakubava is

also charged with maintaining criminal contacts with former

Georgian security chief Igor Giorgadze, who is wanted in

connection with the August 1995 bid to kill Shevardnadze.

Kakubava claims to represent the interests of part of the

ethnic Georgians who fled Abkhazia during the 1992-1993 war

(see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," Vol. 1, No. 37, 10 November

1998). LF

[04] FORMER KAZAKH PREMIER ARRESTED IN MOSCOW...

Kazhegeldin was detained by Russian police at Moscow's

Sheremetevo airport late on 10 September on his arrival on a

flight from London. He was hospitalized several hours later

with a suspected heart attack. He told RFE/RL's Kazakh

Service in a telephone interview from his hospital bed the

following day that he had planned to return to Kazakhstan to

visit the cities of Atyrau and Oral following the publication

in "The Washington Times" of an article by Kazakhstan's

ambassador to the U.S., Bolat Nurghaliev, saying that

Kazhegeldin is free to return to Kazakhstan and no legal

proceedings will be brought against him there. Reuters quoted

a spokesman for the Russian Prosecutor-General's office as

saying that Kazhegeldin would be handed over to the Kazakh

authorities if the latter produced an arrest warrant. A

spokesman for Kazakhstan's National Security Committee said

the decision on whether or not to demand Kazhegeldin's

extradition would depend on his state of health. LF

[05] ...APPEALS TO YELTSIN

Russian President Boris Yeltsin, Kazhegeldin said that his

life may be endangered if he is extradited to Kazakhstan,

Reuters reported. Kazhegeldin said that the charges of tax

evasion brought against him by the Kazakh authorities are

without foundation, and intended solely to prevent his

participation in the upcoming parliamentary elections. He

appealed to Yeltsin to enable him to return to his temporary

home in Switzerland. On 9 September, Kazakhstan's Central

Electoral Commission had refused to register Kazhegeldin as a

candidate for the 10 October poll (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10

September 1999). LF

[06] KAZAKH OPPOSITION CONDEMNS ARREST

People's Republican Party of Kazakhstan picketed the Russian

Embassy and the National Security Committee building in

Almaty on 11 September to protest his arrest, RFE/RL's bureau

in the former capital reported. Around a dozen of the

protesters were arrested. At a press conference in Almaty the

same day, the party issued a statement condemning

Kazhegeldin's arrest as involvement by undemocratic forces in

Russia in the suppression of dissent in Kazakhstan, according

to Interfax. Other opposition party leaders, including

Serikbolsyn Abdildin (Communist Party) and Seydakhmet

Quttyqadam (Orleu) endorsed the protest statement. LF

[07] U.S. TO CUT AID TO KAZAKHSTAN?

aid to Kazakhstan, which now stands at $75 million per year,

in retaliation for the sale of MiG fighters to North Korea,

Interfax reported on 10 September, quoting an unnamed U.S.

Embassy official in Astana. On 12 September, Kazakhstan's

foreign minister, Qasymzhomart Toqaev, issued a statement

saying that the government had no prior knowledge of that

sale which, he continued, was the result of a "criminal and

irresponsible" violation of the existing export control

system, according to Reuters. Toqaev added that the

government is "truly sorry about what has happened." LF

[08] KYRGYZSTAN SEEKS TALKS WITH GUERRILLAS

activisit Tursunbek Akunov, who on 10 September relayed to

the Kyrgyz government in Bishkek the demands put forward by

ethnic Uzbek guerrillas who took four Japanese geologists and

some Kyrgyz police officials hostage in southern Kyrgyzstan

three weeks ago, returned to Batken on 12 September to try to

arrange unofficial negotiations with the guerrillas, RFE/RL's

Bishkek bureau reported. Akunov had told the RFE/RL bureau on

10 September that the guerrillas' leader had assured him that

they bear no grudges against Kyrgyzstan, but want simply to

obtain the release of Muslim colleagues imprisoned in

Uzbekistan. Kyrgyz Deputy Defense Minister Valentin Verchagin

said on 10 September that some of the hostages may have been

taken to neighboring Tajikistan, but all are alive and well,

according to Interfax. Defense Minister General Esen Topoev

met in Batken on 11 September with Uzbek Defense Minister

Khikmatulla Tursunov and a Kazakh government representative

to discuss the hostage situation. LF

[09] TAJIK OPPOSITION DENIES LINKS WITH UZBEK HOSTAGE TAKERS

claims published in the official Uzbek press that the ethnic

Uzbek guerrillas responsible for the hostage-takings in

Kyrgyzstan are acting on orders, and receive arms and

ammunition from the UTO (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10 September

1999), ITAR-TASS reported. In a statement released in

Dushanbe on 10 September, the UTO rejected those allegations

as fabrications aimed at undermining peace and concord in

Tajikistan. It also said that the UTO is making every effort

to resolve the situation in southern Kyrgyzstan, which it

describes as the direct consequence of the policies pursued

by the Uzbek leadership, acording to Asia Plus-Blitz. LF

[10] TURKMENISTAN EXPRESSES INTEREST IN DEFENSE COOPERATION WITH

Turkmen Defense Minister Batyr Sardzhaev, who recently

ended a 10-day visit to China, has expressed an interest in

defense cooperation with that country, Interfax reported on

10 September quoting an unnamed Turkmen government source.

Sardzhaev named personnel training and the use and repair of

military hardware as areas of particular interest. LF

[11] TURKMEN POLITICAL PRISONER DIES IN JAIL

was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in 1995 on charges of

conducting anti-state activities, has died in unclear

circumstances, RFE/RL's Turkmen Service reported on 11

September. Garaev's relatives were informed of his death by

prison officials in the Caspian town of Turkmenbashi. Amnesty

International has said it has what it calls strong evidence

that Garaev was a political prisoner jailed to prevent him

from associating with exiled opponents of President

Saparmurat Niyazov. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] KFOR WARNS OF SERBIAN DESTABILIZATION OF KOSOVA

for NATO peacekeepers said in Prishtina on 12 September that

KFOR troops have recently seen several dozen Serbian

paramilitaries in the province. The Serbs wore dark uniforms

and "insignia patches of a kind we haven't seen before." The

spokesman said that the paramilitaries clandestinely entered

the province, which all Serbian forces were to have left in

June. He added that the Serbs have decided on "some planned

activities to destabilize the situation [in Kosova]. These

are orchestrated, planned activities." The spokesman gave as

an example the recent clash between Serbian gunmen and

Russian peacekeepers, Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 7 June 1999). Several Serbian hard-line

politicians and some military officials have suggested in

recent weeks that Serbia will reintroduce its security forces

if KFOR fails to protect Serbian civilians. A spokesman for

Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, however, explicitly

ruled out armed intervention by Belgrade (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 10 September 1999). PM

[13] LIVE AMMUNITION USED IN MITROVICA CLASHES

told AFP that eight out of a total of 150 people hurt in

clashes in Mitrovica on 10 September were hit by bullets (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 10 September 1999). They did not elaborate

on the ethnic background of the victims. French KFOR troops

fired only tear gas and stun grenades during the clashes,

meaning that the live ammunition came from the Serbs, the

ethnic Albanians, or both. Several hundred ethnic Albanian

protesters held a rally outside UN headquarters in Mitrovica

on 12 September, demanding that KFOR take measures to ensure

the return of ethnic Albanian residents to the northern part

of the town. Local UN Administrator Sir Martin Garrod

promised the protesters that "Mitrovica will not be a divided

city," an RFE/RL South Slavic Service correspondent reported.

FS

[14] KOSOVARS PROTEST ARREST OF UCK LEADER

Albanians gathered outside UN offices in Gjakova on 12

September to protest against the arrest of an unnamed local

Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) commander, AP reported. KFOR

recently arrested the man on unspecified criminal charges.

Elsewhere, unidentified attackers fired shots at a Russian

checkpoint but no casualties were reported. FS

[15] CEKU PLEDGES TO BEAT DEMILITARIZATION DEADLINE...

Agim Ceku, who is the chief of the UCK's general staff, told

Reuters in Prishtina on 11 September that the UCK will

complete its disarmament by 16 September, three days before

the official demilitarization deadline. Ceku added: "Up until

19 September, there are 10,000 mobilized UCK [soldiers].

After that date there are none...including me." Ceku stressed

that the UCK commanders firmly back the demilitarization. He

added that recent attacks on Serbs and Roma are by criminals

wearing UCK uniforms and by others who wrongly claim to be

members of the UCK. He stressed: "If we had all those people

with us who now say they are UCK, we would not have needed

the help of the international community to liberate Kosova."

FS

[16] ...AND URGES CREATION OF KOSOVA CORPS

Reuters that he expects the international community to

establish a Kosova Corps (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 September

1999) despite Russian objections. He stressed that the corps

will assist KFOR in case of emergencies and disasters and

that it "will not be armed in any way to endanger someone

else." Meanwhile, Zoran Andjelkovic, who was Serbia's

governor of Kosova until the deployment of KFOR, told the

state-run Tanjug news agency that including "some members of

the terrorist UCK into a civilian force [in Kosova] would be

a direct violation of [UN Resolution 1244]." Meanwhile,

General Vladimir Lazarevic, who was a commander in Kosova

during the war, claimed in an interview with Radio B2-92 that

the UCK has "handed over some antiquated...weapons [to

peacekeepers] but obtained, under KFOR guidance, new heavy

weaponry." He did not provide evidence of his claim. FS

[17] KOUCHNER: MORE SERBS IN KOSOVA THAN BELIEVED

Kouchner, who is the UN's administrator for Kosova, told the

UN Security Council in New York on 11 September that the

province's current population includes 1.4 million Albanians,

97,000 Serbs, and 73,000 members of other ethnic groups,

including Turks, Roma, Bosnian Muslims, and others. Most

recent estimates had put the number of Serbs left in Kosova

at no more than 30,000. In Belgrade, Tanjug called Kouchner's

report "vague [and] highly generalized," adding that "without

a good knowledge of the province, one would not be able to

understand what he was talking about." In New York, U.S.

Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke called Kouchner's

presentation "brilliant," adding that "Dr. Kouchner is the

right man in the right place at the right time," Reuters

reported. PM

[18] MONTENEGRO PLANS 'MARKA' AS DINAR SLIDES

Steve Hanke, who is the advisor on currency policy to

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, said in Podgorica on

12 September that the result of upcoming talks between

Serbian and Montenegrin leaders will determine whether

Montenegro adopts its own currency. Hanke noted that the

planned monetary unit would be called the marka, backed 100

percent by German mark reserves, and pegged to the German

currency at one-to-one. On Montenegrin black markets, the

Yugoslav dinar recently fell to 14 to the German mark. In

Belgrade, Deputy Prime Minister Dragan Tomic said that "all

rumors of alleged devaluation [of the dinar] come from the

black market and those who are trying to take money from

gullible people," Reuters reported. The official exchange

rate is six dinars to the mark. The mark has been the

unofficial currency throughout the former Yugoslavia for

decades. Bosnia's successful new currency is closely linked

to it. PM

[19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION, MONTENEGRIN AUTHORITIES MOVING CLOSER?

Montenegrin television on 12 September that he, other

opposition leaders, and unnamed Montenegrin officials will

soon issue a joint political declaration. The text will deal

with promoting democracy in Yugoslavia and redefining the

relations between Belgrade and Podgorica. Djukanovic met in

the Montenegrin capital on 11 September with Djindjic and

several other opposition leaders, including Nenad Canak, Mile

Isakov, Jozsef Kasza, Rasim Ljajic, Rade Veljanovski, and

Branislav Kovacevic, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.

Djindjic spent several weeks in Montenegro during the NATO

air strikes in the spring, saying that he feared arrest (or

worse) in Serbia. Several opposition leaders are frequent

visitors to Montenegro, but they and Djukanovic have not gone

beyond vague declarations in their public remarks. Western

countries have urged Montenegrin and Serbian opponents of

Milosevic to work together for democratization. PM

[20] SERBIAN COURT FINES OPPOSITION PAPER

September fined the "Cacanski Glas" $13,500 for publishing an

article suggesting that Nikola Pavicevic, who is a local

official in charge of monitoring financial transactions, with

"shady dealings." The court decision came on the basis of a

year-old media law that gives the authorities the power to

take tough measures against offending journalists and their

employers. Another recent court decision fined "Cacanski

Glas" $22,600 on the basis of a private lawsuit by Pavicevic,

AP reported. A spokesman for the paper said that the article

merely reported charges made by Vuk Draskovic's Serbian

Renewal Party (SPO) against the official. The SPO did not

send anyone to testify on the paper's behalf in court. The

Serbian regime--like its counterpart in Croatia--frequently

makes use of lawsuits and fines to intimidate or bankrupt the

opposition media. PM

[21] IN THE WINNERS' CIRCLE

Serb President Nikola Poplasen in Belgrade on 10 September.

Also present was Momcilo Krajisnik, who is the former Serbian

representative on the joint Bosnian presidency. Serbian

Deputy Information Minister Miodrag Popovic denied that

Milosevic was trying to reinstate Poplasen. The minister

added: "we are not in the business of installing and removing

governments around the world. Some other people are," Reuters

reported. In Banja Luka, caretaker Prime Minister Milorad

Dodik said that "we are waiting for Poplasen to come back

from Belgrade to take his official car." Last week, Dodik and

SFOR took away Poplasen's office, bodyguards, telephones, and

cars (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 September 1999). PM

[22] IMF TEAM REVIEWS ROMANIAN PERFORMANCE

by the fund's chief negotiator for Romania, Emmanuel

Zervoudakis, met with Finance Minister Decebal Traian Remes

on 10 September, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The team

is reviewing Romania's economic performance to establish

whether it qualifies for receiving the second tranche of a

stand-by agreement approved earlier this year. Budget

expenditure in the first eight months of 1999 was 40 percent

higher than expected, throwing doubts of Bucharest's ability

to restrict its deficit to 3.9 percent of the GDP, as

conveyed with the fund. MS

[23] ROMANIAN PREMIER CALLS ON PARTIES TO 'ISOLATE' OPPOSITION

12 September, proposed to all parties in the ruling coalition

to pledge that they will not join a coalition with the Party

of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR) after the 2000

parliamentary elections, Romanian radio reported. If the

pledge is implemented, he said, the PDSR will not be able to

form a government even if it were returned as the largest

party in the parliament by the ballot. Vasile said he "hopes

this will solve the dilemma" of those of his party colleagues

who attacked him last month for saying that the National

Peasant Party Christian Democratic (PNTCD) should consider

entering a coalition with the PDSR after next year's

elections. He also said that he "does not rule out" leaving

the PNTCD if the opposition against him in the party

persists. MS

[24] ROMANIAN COURT DECLINES COMPETENCE TO RULE ON OUTLAWING

Bucharest's Appeals Court on 10 September

ruled that it is not competent to decide whether the Greater

Romania Party (PRM) should be outlawed and sent the case to

the Constitutional Court, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported.

The Justice Ministry, the Association of Romanian Lawyers for

the Defense of Human Rights, the Assistance Center for Non-

Governmental Organizations, and the Party of Democratic

Solidarity requested that the PRM be outlawed on the grounds

of violating constitutional provisions forbidding racial

incitement. They cited an article published in the PRM weekly

"Romania Mare" in August 1998 inciting discrimination against

ethnic Hungarians and Roma. MS

[25] ROMANIAN PATRIARCH SENDS PROTEST LETTER TO PREMIER

Teoctist on 10 September protested in a letter to Premier

Vasile against the government's decision not to grant the

Romanian Orthodox Church the status of "National Church,"

RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported (based on an erroneous

report by Romanian Radio and Television, "RFE/RL Newsline" on

10 September reported that the status had been granted).

Teoctist said the government was "denying the Orthodox Church

the status that has been obtained through nearly 2,000 years

of Christian life." MS

[26] OSCE EXPECTS PROGRESS IN TRANSDNIESTER NEGOTIATIONS

mission head in Moldova, William Hill, said on 10 September

that he expects the negotiations between Chisinau and

Tiraspol--set to resume this week--to yield progress, Infotag

reported. He told journalists that OSCE experts will go to

Transdniester to establish the necessary financial assistance

for the evacuation of the Russian arsenal or its liquidation

there. He said that contrary to reports in the media, he has

not received any official Transdniester warning that the

experts will not be allowed to come to Tiraspol. Hill also

said that the OSCE will not react to media reports that

Russia has demanded a military base for its contingent in the

Transdniester as this is a matter for Russian-Moldovan

bilateral relations, but added that the OSCE "advocates

prompt, complete, and orderly withdrawal of Russian troops

and their weapons." MS

[27] BULGARIA, UKRAINE, CRITICIZE ROMANIAN BLOCKADE ON DANUBE

11 September, Transportation Minister Wilhelm Kraus and his

Ukrainian counterpart Ivan Dankievich said they consider the

Romanian blockade against Serbian vessels on the Danube River

(see "RFE/RL Newsline, 10 September 1999) to be

"uncivilized." Kraus told journalists that it is possible to

find "an efficient mechanism to force the Serb authorities to

reconsider their decision to set up artificial obstacles to

free navigation" on the river. He also said that Bulgaria,

Romania, and Ukraine will hold a trilateral meeting on 21-22

September to discuss the Serbian measures, as well as

possibilities to finance clearing the wreckage of bridges

destroyed by NATO air strikes, BTA reported. MS

[28] MULTINATIONAL PEACE FORCE HEADQUARTERS INAUGURATED IN

At the inauguration of the headquarters of the

Multinational Peace Force in Southeastern Europe at Plodviv

on 11 September, President Petar Stoyanov said that he is

confident that "the day will come when Serbia and other

republics of former Yugoslavia will join the peace force,"

BTA reported. The 3,000-strong peace force includes ground

forces from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Macedonia,

Romania, and Turkey. MS

[C] END NOTE

[29] Giving Yalta A New Meaning

Yalta, the place where Moscow and the West divided

Eastern Europe in 1945, is now the symbol of the new and

independent role the countries between Russia and Germany and

the Baltic and Black Seas hope to play in the future.

On 10-11 September, 14 presidents and other senior

officials from these and adjoining countries met there to

promote cooperation among themselves, to denounce the

emergence of any new dividing lines in Europe, and to demand

that no decisions about them be taken without them.

This, the third international conference in a series

launched in Vilnius in 1997, represented the latest and most

dramatic effort by these countries to repudiate the great

power politics that dominated thinking at the Yalta

conference in 1945.

At that first Yalta conference, Soviet leader Josef

Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, and British Prime

Minister Winston Churchill effectively created new spheres of

influence in Europe without consulting any of the nations

thus affected.

From that decision, one that has many precedents in

European and world history, many once independent and proud

peoples were consigned to Soviet rule for nearly half a

century. And none of those affected has ever forgotten or

forgiven either that meeting or its results.

Now, and largely as a result of the efforts of these

nations themselves, they are once again in a position to be

the active subjects of history rather than its mere objects.

And thus virtually all of the leaders there echoed in

one way or the other the words of Ukrainian Foreign Minister

Borys Tarasyuk who said that " Yalta-99 has done away with

the spirit of Yalta-45."

But that celebratory spirit was undercut not only by the

tight security arrangements surrounding the meeting but also

by expressions of genuine concern about whether the goals of

Yalta II, as some of the leaders described it, were likely to

be achieved anytime soon.

Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, the host of this

year's meeting, pointedly appealed to the European Union not

to create a new "paper curtain" of travel restrictions in

place to the now-collapsed "Iron Curtain" of the Cold War.

Such restrictions on the "free movement of law-abiding

citizens of states aspiring for European integration," Kuchma

suggested, could effectively divide the continent in ways

that would make it difficult, if not impossible, for states

once submerged in the Soviet empire to recover.

Then, Estonian President Lennart Meri called attention

to one of the problems that many of the other leaders only

alluded to. While the countries of this region are now the

subjects of history, he said, "none of us are simply

subjects."

As a result, the Baltic leader continued, his country

and its neighbors "remain its objects as well, driven hither

and yon by larger forces and larger states." Because of that,

Meri said, the countries of this region cannot take anything

for granted but must work together to defend their interests.

And finally, in words that confirmed both the fears and

the appeals of Meri and the others, the Russian

representative at the Yalta meeting used the occasion to

oppose the expansion of a Western institution that many of

the countries in this region hope to join.

Speaking on 10 September, Russian First Deputy Prime

Minister Viktor Khristenko argued that "NATO's further

expansion--including the Baltic states--would lead to the

creation of new division lines and would in no case assist in

the consolidation of security."

Khristenko's appeal in itself reflects the continuing

view of many in Moscow that it and no one else should play

the dominant role in this region, a role that Stalin believed

the West had ratified at the first Yalta conference.

But at the same time, Khristenko made these comments in

a city that is now part of an independent Ukraine and to an

audience consisting of leaders of countries who have either

gained or regained their independence from Moscow.

And that fact demonstrates more clearly than anything

else just how much the world has changed since 1945 and how

significant Yalta II in fact was, both as a symbol of those

changes and as an expression of hope for the future.

13-09-99

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

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