RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 217, 99-11-08

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 3, No. 217, 8 November 1999

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN MOSCOW

[02] NEW SUSPECT DETAINED IN ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTINGS

[03] AKSENENKO DISCUSSES CHECHNYA, VISAS WITH AZERBIJANI

[04] ...FAILS TO PERSUADE AZERBAIJAN TO SHIP MORE OIL VIA RUSSIA

[05] GEORGIA AGAIN CONDEMNS RUSSIAN VISA REQUIREMENT

[06] THIRD PARTY QUALIFIES FOR REPRESENTATION IN GEORGIAN

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S PARLIAMENT PASSES DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2000

[08] ARCHIVES OF HUMAN RIGHTS BUREAU IN KAZAKHSTAN DESTROYED BY

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS AGAINST ISLAMIC THREAT

[10] TAJIK PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED...

[11] ...AFTER TAJIK OPPOSITION WITHDRAWS BOYCOTT

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURE CLAIMS POLL WAS RIGGED

[13] UZBEK GUERRILLAS WITHDRAW FROM TAJIKISTAN

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] KOSOVARS REBURY MASSACRE VICTIMS

[15] KOSOVA SERBS MEET WITH RUSSIAN ENVOY

[16] KFOR TO STAY FOR UP TO 10 YEARS?

[17] WHO TRIED TO BLOW UP KOSOVA RAILWAY BRIDGE?

[18] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT GETS WASHINGTON'S BACKING

[19] MONTENEGRO TAKES MEASURES FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY

[20] FIRST MONTENEGRIN SALARIES PAID IN MARKS

[21] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS PLEASED WITH U.S. VISIT

[22] MYSTERY DEATH OF SERBIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE

[23] SERBIAN STUDENTS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF CLASSES

[24] TUDJMAN GIVES GO-AHEAD TO CROATIAN ELECTIONS

[25] SPECULATION CONTINUES OVER TUDJMAN'S HEALTH

[26] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT WINS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

[27] ROMANIAN WORKERS RAID OFFICE OF BRASOV PREFECTURE

[28] ROMANIAN PREMIER VISITS RFE/RL HEADQUARTERS

[29] ROMANIAN MINORITIES MINISTER PROTESTS PLANNED ANTONESCU

[30] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO BE DISMISSED

[31] CEI TO SEND MISSION TO MOLDOVA

[32] BULGARIA, ROMANIA FAIL TO AGREE ON RIVER DANUBE BRIDGE

[C] END NOTE

[33] RUSSIAN ECONOMY IMPROVING WHILE MOSCOW REMAINS STUBBORN

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN MOSCOW

Minister Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov

Moscow on 5 November. Kocharian also had what ITAR-TASS

described as a "very warm and cordial" meeting with Russian

President Boris Yeltsin at the latter's Ogarevo residence, at

which Kocharian expressed thanks for Russia's expressions of

support following the killings of eight senior Armenian

officials in late October. The talks focused on bilateral

relations and the prospects for resolving the Karabakh

conflict. Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian and

Defense Minister Vagharshak Harutiunian, who accompanied the

Armenian president, held meetings with their Russian

counterparts. LF

[02] NEW SUSPECT DETAINED IN ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTINGS

for questioning on 4 November in connection with the 27

October shootings in the Armenian parliament, RFE/RL's

Yerevan bureau reported on 6 November. On 5 November,

opposition parliamentary deputy Arshak Sadoyan told RFE/RL

that legislators will propose creating an ad hoc committee to

conduct an independent investigation into the killings and

deliver a "political assessment." Also on 5 November,

replacements were named for five of the slain Miasnutyun

deputies who were elected to the parliament on the bloc's

party list in the 31 May poll. LF

[03] AKSENENKO DISCUSSES CHECHNYA, VISAS WITH AZERBIJANI

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai

Aksenenko and Energy Minister Viktor Kalyuzhnyi met with

senior Azerbaijani officials in Baku on 5 November. President

Heidar Aliev told Aksenenko that Azerbaijan condemns

terrorism and regards the fighting in Chechnya as Russia's

internal affair, according top Interfax. But Aliev also

denied that arms and mercenaries are entering Chechnya via

Azerbaijani territory. He said the proposed introduction of

visas for Azerbaijanis wishing to enter Russia will aggravate

the situation on Azerbaijan's border with the Russian

Federation as the large Lezgin, Dargin, and Avar minorities

are divided between the two countries. Aliev added that

according to the Bishkek agreement on visa-free travel

between CIS states, Azerbaijan should be notified 90 days in

advance of the introduction of a visa requirement. LF

[04] ...FAILS TO PERSUADE AZERBAIJAN TO SHIP MORE OIL VIA RUSSIA

company SOCAR, Aksenenko failed to persuade the oil chief

that it would be advantageous for Azerbaijan to agree to

export oil via the northern pipeline bypassing Chechnya,

which is scheduled for completion by mid-2000, rather than to

continue lobbying for construction of the planned Baku-Ceyhan

export pipeline. (Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are

scheduled to sign a framework legal agreement on that project

at the upcoming OSCE Istanbul summit, and Georgian President

Eduard Shevardnadze discussed the project with his Turkish

counterpart, Suleyman Demirel, in a telephone conversation on

6 November, ITAR-TASS reported.) Kalyuzhnyi offered to allow

Azerbaijan to increase from 5 million tons to 12-15 million

tons the amount of oil it exports annually via Russia. But

SOCAR President Aliev said his company will abide by its

agreement to export 5 million tons annually until 2003,

according to ITAR-TASS. LF

[05] GEORGIA AGAIN CONDEMNS RUSSIAN VISA REQUIREMENT

Georgian state television, Minister of State Vazha

Lortkipanidze said Russia's plans to introduce visas for

Georgian citizens wishing to enter Russia is aimed at drawing

Georgia into the conflict in the North Caucasus, Caucasus

Press reported on 6 November. The previous day, Georgian

Ambassador to Moscow Malkhaz Kakabadze said Russia proposed

introducing those visas as of 1 January. Kakabadze added that

Georgia sees no reason for the visa requirement but will

begin talks with Moscow on its implementation. Of the 2,202

Russians who took part in a recent poll, the overwhelming

majority (2,048) expressed support for the introduction of

visas for citizens of Georgia and Azerbaijan entering the

Russian Federation, according to "Segodnya" on 5 November. LF

[06] THIRD PARTY QUALIFIES FOR REPRESENTATION IN GEORGIAN

Georgian Central Electoral Commission officials

on 7 November announced updated results of the party-list

vote in the 31 October parliamentary elections, Caucasus

Press reported. According to those data, three parties will

be represented in the new parliament. The Union of Citizens

of Georgia will retain its absolute majority, having polled

41.85 percent of the party list vote to receive 85 of the 150

seats allocated under the proportional system. The Union for

the Democratic Revival of Georgia polled 25.65 percent (51

seats) and the bloc Industry Will Save Georgia 7.8 percent

(14 seats). LF

[07] KAZAKHSTAN'S PARLIAMENT PASSES DRAFT BUDGET FOR 2000

session of both chambers of Kazakhstan's parliament passed

next year's budget in the second and final reading on 5

November, Interfax reported. The budget provides for

expenditures of 404.8 billion tenge ($276 million) and

revenues of 340.3 billion tenge, the deficit being equal to 3

percent of GDP. Passage of the budget removes the final

obstacle to a new three-year IMF loan program. Prime Minister

Qasymzhomart Toqaev thanked parliamentary deputies for their

"realism" in endorsing the draft, adding that it might have

to be amended to meet social requirements. But "Nezavisimaya

gazeta" predicted on 4 November that the IMF demand for more

effective tax collection will drive many Kazakh industrial

enterprises to bankruptcy. LF

[08] ARCHIVES OF HUMAN RIGHTS BUREAU IN KAZAKHSTAN DESTROYED BY

Records dating back six years were destroyed by fire at

the Human Rights and Legality Bureau in Almaty on 4 November,

RFE/RL's bureau in the former capital reported on 8 November,

quoting the bureau's director, Yevgenii Zhovtis. The cause of

the blaze is unclear. LF

[09] KAZAKHSTAN'S FOREIGN MINISTER WARNS AGAINST ISLAMIC THREAT

Kazakh security forces have launched an operation against

"foreign bandit formations" that infiltrated southern

Kazakhstan from neighboring Uzbekistan, AP reported. Three

days earlier, a Kazakh Interior Ministry press secretary in

Astana denied that unidentified gunmen crossed into

Kazakhstan from neighboring Uzbekistan (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 4 November 1999). LF

[10] TAJIK PRESIDENT RE-ELECTED...

percent of the vote in the 6 November presidential poll, in

which 98 percent of the country's 2.8 million electorate

participated, Reuters reported on 7 November, quoting Central

Electoral Commission spokesman Davlatali Davlatov. Russian

and CIS observers said they registered no violations of

voting procedure. The OSCE did not send election observers,

saying that democratic conditions had not been created for

the vote. LF

[11] ...AFTER TAJIK OPPOSITION WITHDRAWS BOYCOTT

polling stations opened on 6 November, United Tajik

Opposition (UTO) leader Said Abdullo Nuri lifted the

opposition boycott on the poll in return for the release from

prison of 93 Tajik fighters and for unspecified concessions

related to the conduct of the parliamentary elections

scheduled for February 2000, Reuters and AP reported.

Affirming that "peace and reconciliation are more important

than personal ambition," Nuri also agreed that the UTO will

resume its participation in the work of the Commission for

National Reconciliation. The opposition had withdrawn from

that body and declared a boycott of the elections to protest

restrictions on the participation of opposition candidates in

the presidential poll. LF

[12] TAJIK OPPOSITION FIGURE CLAIMS POLL WAS RIGGED

of the Islamic Renaissance Party, which forms the backbone of

the UTO, told journalists in Dushanbe on 7 November that he

believes the outcome of the poll was rigged and that only 20-

30 percent of voters had participated. A minimum turnout of

50 percent is required for the poll to be valid. Usmon said

he will call for the poll to be annulled. Usmon had been

registered as a candidate by the Central Electoral

Commission, despite having failed to collect the required

145,000 signatures in his support, and insists that his

registration was illegal According to official returns, Usmon

garnered just 2 percent of the vote, losing even in the

Karategin valley in eastern Tajikistan where support for the

Islamic Renaissance Party is traditionally strong, according

to ITAR-TASS. LF

[13] UZBEK GUERRILLAS WITHDRAW FROM TAJIKISTAN

Islamic militants who had seized a dozen hostages in southern

Kyrgyzstan in August left Tajik territory on 5-6 November,

together with some 100 Uzbek civilians, ITAR-TASS reported on

6 November. The militants belong to a group headed by Djuma

Namangani, who had promised during talks on 4 November with

UTO leader Nuri to withdraw from Tajikistan to Uzbekistan.

Tajikistan's Minister for Emergency Situations Mirzo Zieyev,

a former UTO commander who helped negotiate the release of

the hostages seized in Kyrgyzstan, monitored the Uzbek

withdrawal. According to him, the withdrawal proceeded

without incident, according to ITAR-TASS. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[14] KOSOVARS REBURY MASSACRE VICTIMS

Albanians attended a reburial ceremony on 7 November for 46

people killed by Serbian forces in Stutica in April. The

village, which is in the Drenica region west of Prishtina,

was a stronghold of the former Kosova Liberation Army (UCK).

PM

[15] KOSOVA SERBS MEET WITH RUSSIAN ENVOY

spokesman for Kosovar Serb leader Archbishop Artemije, told

visiting Russian Ambassador to the UN Sergei Lavrov that

Kosova "is exposed to severe ethnic cleansing [and] to

extreme ethnic discrimination, not only against Serbs but

against all Slav-speaking people." Father Sava added that

ethnic Albanian extremists also discriminate against other

Albanians who do not hold nationalist views, AP reported on 7

November. Momcilo Trajkovic, who heads the Serbian National

Council's Executive Board, told the Russian visitor that KFOR

and the province's UN-backed administration have, in effect,

become instruments of the Albanian nationalists. Lavrov also

met with representatives of the Serbian government. PM

[16] KFOR TO STAY FOR UP TO 10 YEARS?

OSCE's chief representative in Kosova, told a Dutch

television station in The Hague on 7 November that

peacekeepers will probably be needed in Kosova for up to

another 10 years. He condemned increasing attacks on the

Serbian and Roma minorities in the province. Everts also

slammed what he called attempts to partition Kosova into

northern and southern halves, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[17] WHO TRIED TO BLOW UP KOSOVA RAILWAY BRIDGE?

used up to 50 kilograms of explosives to damage a railway

bridge near the divided city of Kosovska Mitrovica on 5

November. It is unclear who planted the charge, nor is it

clear whether they intended to blow up a passenger train en

route from Serbia or simply to damage the bridge, Reuters

reported. UN spokesmen called the blast an act of sabotage.

Spokesmen for local Serbs charged that ethnic Albanian

nationalists set off the explosion. PM

[18] MONTENEGRIN PRESIDENT GETS WASHINGTON'S BACKING

Djukanovic said in Podgorica on 7 November that he is pleased

with the results of his recent trip to the U.S. Djukanovic

stressed that he received pledges of $40 million in financial

support so that he can carry out key reform projects, the

Belgrade daily "Danas" reported. He added that his hosts

endorsed his recent introduction of the German mark as legal

tender alongside the Yugoslav dinar (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5

November 1999). PM

[19] MONTENEGRO TAKES MEASURES FOR ECONOMIC STABILITY

Minister Vojin Djukanovic said in Podgorica on 5 November

that his country is moving toward a "single currency system,

which means that the [Yugoslav] dinar may be taken out of

circulation," Reuters reported. The following day, the

monetary council decided to limit payments in dinars from

Serbia to Montenegro to prevent the authorities in Belgrade

from "undermining Montenegro's monetary stability" by

flooding the republic with dinars. PM

[20] FIRST MONTENEGRIN SALARIES PAID IN MARKS

number of civil servants received their pay in German marks

on 6 November. The previous day, some 34.5 tons of German

coins and banknotes arrived from Germany by air in the

Croatian port of Dubrovnik. Two trucks with Montenegrin

license plates then took the marks across the border into

Montenegro, AP reported. PM

[21] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADERS PLEASED WITH U.S. VISIT

November that he and several fellow opposition leaders

"achieved every point" on their agenda during their recent

visit to Washington, AP reported. He noted that he and his

colleagues received pledges of $1 billion in aid for Serbia

once democratic changes take place there. PM

[22] MYSTERY DEATH OF SERBIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE

November, Djindjic demanded that the authorities "conduct a

detailed investigation" into the recent death of his aide

Branko Vasiljevic. Djindjic noted that the dead man's "only

business was politics," AP reported. Police officials

previously said that they are treating the case as suicide.

Vasiljevic was shot in the back of the head. PM

[23] SERBIAN STUDENTS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF CLASSES

Petrovic, who heads the Otpor (Resistance) student movement,

said in Belgrade on 7 November that his organization will

hold a large protest on 9 November. He added that Otpor's

goal is to launch a boycott of classes by all university

students with the aim of bringing down the government.

Petrovic said that his group will stage joint protests with

other opposition organizations only if the demonstrations are

endorsed by all opposition parties. In Nis, representatives

of Otpor signed a joint declaration with several opposition

parties. Vuk Draskovic's Serbian Renewal Movement did not

endorse the document. PM

[24] TUDJMAN GIVES GO-AHEAD TO CROATIAN ELECTIONS

President Franjo Tudjman issued a document from his Zagreb

hospital bed on 6 November announcing that parliamentary

elections will take place on 22 December. The previous day,

the upper house of the legislature endorsed new electoral

legislation (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 2 November 1999).

The Croatian government, for its part, rejected EU criticism

of the electoral law. PM

[25] SPECULATION CONTINUES OVER TUDJMAN'S HEALTH

doctors said in a statement on 6 November that the Croatian

president remains under intensive care following recent

emergency surgery for what was officially described as a

perforated large intestine. The doctors previously said that

the president is suffering from complications. Tudjman is

widely believed to have been suffering from cancer for at

least two years. Zagreb's independent "Jutarnji list" wrote

on 8 November that the authorities have not informed the

public very well about Tudjman's condition. As a result,

speculation about his health and its impact on his political

future has been rife, the daily noted (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

5 November 1999). PM

[26] ALBANIAN GOVERNMENT WINS VOTE OF CONFIDENCE

Ilir Meta's new cabinet won a vote of confidence in the

parliament on 5 November. Meta told legislators that his

approach in governing will be pragmatic and that he will

continue the fight against corruption and crime. Six

legislators from the opposition Democratic Party defied party

leader Sali Berisha's call for a boycott and attended the

session. Berisha demands new elections (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 5 November 1999). PM

[27] ROMANIAN WORKERS RAID OFFICE OF BRASOV PREFECTURE

in Brasov raided the building of the local prefecture on 5

November to protest layoffs and unfulfilled promises of

wage increases, an RFE/RL correspondent in Brasov reported.

Some 1,800 employees of the company, which has large debts,

have been made redundant, while another 2,600 are to be

laid off next year. Owing to the company's poor

performance, a June 1999 agreement with the government

providing for a 15 percent wage hike in October and

November has not been implemented. The Brasov mayor has

banned any further demonstrations. Seventeen policemen were

injured in the riots. A team from the Bucharest Prosecutor

General's Office has opened an investigation into the

incident. So far one person has been arrested and 20

detained for questioning. MS

[28] ROMANIAN PREMIER VISITS RFE/RL HEADQUARTERS

who attended the CEI summit in Prague (see above), said on

6 November that the meeting's most important result from a

Romanian perspective was the consensus reached on the need

to remove debris from the River Danube and reopen it for

navigation. Vasile made the comment during a visit to

RFE/RL headquarters in Prague. He said he wanted to "pay

his respects" to RFE/RL for its work in the past as well as

in the present. MS

[29] ROMANIAN MINORITIES MINISTER PROTESTS PLANNED ANTONESCU

Peter Eckstein Kovacs said he learned "with

indignation" about the decision of the Cluj city council to

erect a statue commemorating wartime leader and convicted

war criminal Marshal Ion Antonescu (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

1 November 1999). In a facsimile dated 2 November, a copy

of which was obtained by RFE/RL, Eckstein Kovacs said the

decision is "an insult" to the memory of Jews and Roma

killed or persecuted under Antonescu's rule "solely" on

grounds of their ethnicity or nationality. He appealed to

the city council to reconsider its decision, saying that

"otherwise" he will demand that the "responsible state

authorities" annul it for violating several laws. MS

[30] MOLDOVAN GOVERNMENT ABOUT TO BE DISMISSED

confidence motion backed by a majority of 52 deputies is

likely to trigger the government's dismissal when the

legislature meets again on 9 November, RFE/RL's Chisinau

bureau reported. The motion was supported by the

Communists, the Popular Front, and five independent

deputies who had recently left the For a Democratic and

Prosperous Moldova Bloc. Also on 5 November, the parliament

again rejected the government's bill to privatize Moldova's

two main industries--wine and tobacco. IMF representative

to Chisinau Hassan Al-Atrash said the decision means the

fund will now freeze loans to Moldova. He said the World

Bank and the EU are likely to follow the IMF, meaning that

Moldova will forfeit some $150 million in loans next year.

MS

[31] CEI TO SEND MISSION TO MOLDOVA

6 November approved a proposal by Czech President Vaclav

Havel, whose country holds the organization's rotating

chairmanship, to send a fact-finding mission to Moldova,

CTK reported. The mission is to explore possibilities for a

peaceful solution of the conflict with the separatist

authorities in Tiraspol and for the withdrawal of Russian

troops from the country. On 7 November, separatist leader

Igor Smirnov met with Premier Vladimir Putin in Moscow to

discuss the conflict with Chisinau and the proposed

withdrawal from the Transdniester of the Russian

contingent, Romanian radio reported. MS

[32] BULGARIA, ROMANIA FAIL TO AGREE ON RIVER DANUBE BRIDGE

Stoyanov and Emil Constantinescu again failed to reach

agreement over the location of a second bridge over the

River Danube, BTA reported. Constantinescu said the meeting

was "not confrontational" and that Romania would be willing

to consider an option whereby the country disadvantaged by

the location of the bridge would receive compensation from

the EU. Romanian Premier Radu Vasile, speaking in Bucharest

the same day, said that compensation could come in the form

of "free of charge or token price" transit of Romanian

electricity deliveries to Greece and Turkey via Bulgaria.

Reflecting the irritation of Bulgarians at Romania's

position, the Bulgarian daily "Demokratsiya" on 6 November

ran the headline "Let Us Build a Bridge Over, or a Tunnel

Under, Romania." MS

[C] END NOTE

[33] RUSSIAN ECONOMY IMPROVING WHILE MOSCOW REMAINS STUBBORN

The IMF delegation arriving in Moscow on 8 November will

seek to determine the extent of Russia's progress in making

its financial transactions easily traceable or what

economists call "transparent."

The world lending institution has set conditions that

Russia must meet in order to receive the second installment,

worth $640 million, of a $4.5 billion loan. The IMF released

the first installment in July, but the second one was frozen

in September after several financial scandals suggested

possible misuse of previous loans.

The conditions include tighter spending policy, regular

audits of the Russian Central Bank's dealings with its

affiliated structures in other countries, an audit of the

Russian Savings Bank, and the adoption of international

accounting standards.

According to Russian media reports, Russian authorities

have balked at these new conditions. Aleksandr Livshits, the

Russian minister responsible for relations with international

financial organizations, complained last month that the West

is imposing higher standards of transparency on Russia than

it is applying to itself.

Russia's relations with the fund have been increasingly

strained over the past several months amid allegations that

the country has misused earlier loans and increased its

military budget to finance the war in Chechnya.

But Russian authorities express optimism that they will

receive the installment. And they also express a stiff-necked

determination to continue their economic policies, despite

IMF criticism.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced at a

cabinet meeting last week that positive economic trends are

continuing: GDP growth totaled 1.8 percent in the third

quarter of 1999, inflation is under control, and tax revenues

are higher than expected. All these indicators are plus

points for a country struggling to emerge from the economic

crisis of 1998.

John Paul Smith is a London-based expert in emerging

markets with the investment firm Morgan Stanley. In a

presentation to investors last week, he was guardedly

optimistic about the Russian economy, saying "there is a

clear potential for a shift to more positive factors." He

noted that the economic situation is better than anyone could

have predicted.

Smith attributed this to a pick-up in industrial

production and the rise in global oil prices. He added that

there has been an improvement in the fiscal situation owing

to small-scale reform in collecting taxes.

Smith warned, however, that Russian policymakers should

not interpret this improvement as the start of an overall

economic regeneration. He said the rise in industrial

production is mainly owing to the devaluation of the ruble

and the resulting cheapness of Russian goods on world

markets.

Smith also noted that Russia should build on the

benefits of the devaluation by implementing further economic

reforms. He warned that if the federal government increases

expenditures too much, these advantages might be squandered.

This is precisely what the IMF is worried about. A tough

budgetary policy was one of the IMF's conditions for

releasing the loan installment. But budgetary restraint is

one of Russia's main "little sins," as the finance minister

puts it.

Last month, Russia increased its military budget to fund

the war in Chechnya, triggering complaints from the IMF.

Russia argued that the Chechen war is being financed by the

extra revenues collected. And this month, the State Duma

approved an extra $6 billion rubles on spending. The

government said it has to accept the increase to get the

budget past the leftist-dominated Duma.

So far, these explanations have not convinced the IMF.

Russian officials are suspecting the West of using financial

blackmail to force Moscow to compromise on Chechnya. Putin,

for his part, has said that Russia will not sacrifice its

national interests for what he called "financial lollipops."

Unified Energy Systems head Anatolii Chubais, who is

also a former prime minister and former Russian contact

person for the international financial organizations, has

tried to defuse these tensions.

"In the list of conditions it is not written that the

Bank of New York will not work with Russian importers," he

commented at a press conference in Moscow last week. 'In the

list of conditions it does not say that Russia should not

fight terrorism in Chechnya. I am categorically against

pulling the IMF into semi-political decisions on that

[issue]. If this does not happen, if the IMF fulfills its

obligations, if Russia fulfills its obligations in regard to

its interest, then there is a real chance of solving the

problem [of releasing the second loan installment] by early

December.

But even if the second installment of the loan is

released, it will not provide Russia with any cash. The loan

would be used exclusively to repay Russia's debt to the fund,

bypassing Russian institutions completely and ending up back

in IMF coffers.

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

08-11-99

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

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