Browse through our Interesting Nodes on Greece Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923) Read the Convention Relating to the Regime of the Straits (24 July 1923)
HR-Net - Hellenic Resources Network Compact version
Today's Suggestion
Read The "Macedonian Question" (by Maria Nystazopoulou-Pelekidou)
HomeAbout HR-NetNewsWeb SitesDocumentsOnline HelpUsage InformationContact us
Thursday, 21 November 2024
 
News
  Latest News (All)
     From Greece
     From Cyprus
     From Europe
     From Balkans
     From Turkey
     From USA
  Announcements
  World Press
  News Archives
Web Sites
  Hosted
  Mirrored
  Interesting Nodes
Documents
  Special Topics
  Treaties, Conventions
  Constitutions
  U.S. Agencies
  Cyprus Problem
  Other
Services
  Personal NewsPaper
  Greek Fonts
  Tools
  F.A.Q.
 

RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 3, No. 12, 00-01-18

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. 12, 18 January 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] ARMENIAN COMMUNIST PARTY CALLS FOR PRETERM PRESIDENTIAL
  • [02] FORMER ARMENIAN INTERIOR MINISTER IMPLICATED IN MURDER
  • [03] AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR IMPROVED RELATIONS
  • [04] UN MILITARY OBSERVERS ATTACKED IN ABKHAZIA
  • [05] GEORGIA, RUSSIA DISCUSS ENERGY, DEBTS
  • [06] KAZAKH OFFICIAL SAYS JEWELRY COLLECTION CAMPAIGN WAS
  • [07] NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCES TAKE SHAPE IN KYRGYZSTAN
  • [08] KYRGYZSTAN'S SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS RULING AGAINST OPPOSITION
  • [09] UN ENVOY CONTINUES TALKS ON TAJIK PEACE PROCESS
  • [10] TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [11] WHY NO POLICE REPORT ON ARKAN KILLING?
  • [12] SERBIAN OPPOSITION MAYORS DISCUSS OIL PROGRAM
  • [13] SERBIAN POLICE SUMMON VOJVODINA POLITICIAN
  • [14] CROATIA, EU UPBEAT ON PROSPECTS FOR BETTER TIES...
  • [15] ...AMID CAUTION AGAINST EUPHORIA
  • [16] MESIC: SOLVE PREVLAKA ISSUE WITH MONTENEGRO
  • [17] BOSNIAN UPPER HOUSE BLASTS LOWER HOUSE
  • [18] VETERAN ROMANIAN POLITICIAN DEAD
  • [19] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY TO ELECT NEW BUREAU
  • [20] ROMANIA REHABILITATES ANTONESCU MINISTER
  • [21] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT POKERS ON ROMANIAN ELECTRICITY DEBT...
  • [22] ...SAYS NO REFUGEE STATUS FOR CHECHENS
  • [23] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT VETOES LIBEL LAW

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [24] Odd Men Out

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] ARMENIAN COMMUNIST PARTY CALLS FOR PRETERM PRESIDENTIAL

    ELECTIONS

    Newly-elected Armenian Communist Party First

    Secretary Vladimir Darpinian told journalists in Yerevan on

    17 January that his party advocates holding pre-term

    presidential elections in order to "help restore political

    stability" in the wake of the 27 October parliament

    shootings, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. But he added

    that the new poll should be held only after amendments are

    made to the existing constitution. Darpinian also said that

    his party will cooperate closely with the majority Miasnutyun

    coalition to push through constitutional reform and will

    propose its own amendments. He also spoke in favor of

    continued military cooperation with Russia. LF

    [02] FORMER ARMENIAN INTERIOR MINISTER IMPLICATED IN MURDER

    A

    former commander of Armenia's Interior Ministry troops told a

    Yerevan court on 14 January that former Interior Minister

    Vano Siradeghian ordered the murder of two police officers

    six years ago after they failed to assassinate a Moscow-based

    Armenian businessman in 1993, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

    reported. The former commander also said that leading members

    of the former ruling Armenian Pan-National Movement also

    commissioned other murders, including those of a local

    government official and the head of Armenia's rail network.

    Siradeghian's role in the killings was to "ensure the

    perpetrators' impunity," he went on. Siradeghian denies the

    charges, which he claims are politically motivated. LF

    [03] AZERBAIJANI FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR IMPROVED RELATIONS

    WITH IRAN

    Vilayet Guliev told Turan on 17 January that he

    believes Azerbaijan should "revise its attitude towards Iran"

    and work for warmer bilateral relations. He added that

    Azerbaijan has always advocated the export of its oil by

    multiple pipelines, and argued that the implementation of the

    planned Baku-Ceyhan project does not exclude construction of

    a fourth pipeline, in addition to those via Russia and

    Georgia, to export crude via Iran. Guliev also did not

    exclude the routing of an oil export pipeline via Armenia if

    Armenian forces are withdrawn from occupied Azerbaijani

    territory. He did not specify whether the unrecognized

    Nagorno-Karabakh Republic is included in that category. On 14

    January, "Yeni Azerbaycan," the newspaper of the eponymous

    ruling political party, noted a "lukewarm spring" in

    bilateral relations, as evidenced by the long postponed and

    now reportedly imminent visit to Iran of Azerbaijan's

    president, Heidar Aliev. LF

    [04] UN MILITARY OBSERVERS ATTACKED IN ABKHAZIA

    Two members of

    the UN Observer force deployed in western Georgia were

    attacked late on 17 January in Abkhazia's Gali Raion by four

    unidentified masked men who seized their jeep, Caucasus Press

    reported. One of the two observers claimed that the attackers

    spoke Mingrelian. LF

    [05] GEORGIA, RUSSIA DISCUSS ENERGY, DEBTS

    On a one-day visit to

    Tbilisi on 17 January, Unified Energy Systems (UES) Chairman

    Anatolii Chubais met with Georgian President Eduard

    Shevardnadze, Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze, and Fuel

    and Energy Minister Davit Mirtskhulava, Caucasus Press and

    ITAR-TASS reported. Chubais and Mirtskhulava signed a

    protocol on cooperation whereby Russia will convert $36.25

    million of Georgia's total $45.22 million debt for energy

    supplies into Georgia's foreign debt. The remainder will be

    paid by the end of this year by Georgian energy companies.

    UES and Georgia's Fuel and Energy Ministry will also

    cooperate on construction of a power line linking the

    Azerbaijani, Georgian, and Turkish energy systems. UES will

    also participate in the upcoming privatization of Georgian

    energy facilities. LF

    [06] KAZAKH OFFICIAL SAYS JEWELRY COLLECTION CAMPAIGN WAS

    'MISTAKE'

    Almaty Oblast Governor Zamanbek Nurkadilov told

    Kazakhstan's state television on 16 January that the campaign

    launched in June 1999 to collect gold and silver jewelry and

    cash donations from the population "was his personal

    mistake," Interfax reported. Launching that initiative,

    Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev had said it was

    intended to shore up the country's sinking foreign currency

    reserves following the de facto devaluation of the tenge (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 and 7 June 1999). Nurkadilov admitted

    that the campaign "had not worked." On 17 January he told

    journalists that he has issued a decree ordering that the

    jewelry and cash donations, valued at 50 million tenges

    ($350,000) be returned to the donors, RFE/RL's Almaty

    correspondent reported. LF

    [07] NEW POLITICAL ALLIANCES TAKE SHAPE IN KYRGYZSTAN

    The

    leadership of the People's Republican Party and the Party To

    Support the Poor, Agricultural and Industrial Workers

    announced in Bishkek on 17 January that the two parties have

    formed a bloc, named Manas, to contend the 20 February

    parliamentary poll, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital

    reported. Two days earlier, a spokesman for the Agrarian

    Party similarly announced that that party and the Party of

    Farmers will form an electoral alliance and field a combined

    party list of nine candidates to contest the seats in the new

    parliament to be allocated under the proportional system.

    That list will be headed by Akazbek Abdrashitov, a member of

    the presidential administration. A spokesman for the OSCE

    told an RFE/RL correspondent on 18 January that preparations

    for the poll indicate that it will meet OSCE basic standards

    for a democratic election. LF

    [08] KYRGYZSTAN'S SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS RULING AGAINST OPPOSITION

    NEWSPAPER

    Meeting on 14 January, Kyrgyzstan's Supreme Court

    left in force the verdict handed down by a Bishkek district

    court last April against the opposition newspaper "Res

    Publica," RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 15 January.

    That court had fined the paper 200,000 som ($6,670) for

    insulting the honor and dignity of Amanbek Karypkulov,

    President of Kyrgyzstan's National Television and Radio

    Corporation (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 April 1999). On 12

    January 1999 the paper had published an open letter by 20

    employees of the corporation to President Askar Akaev, Prime

    Minister Jumabek Ibraimov, and the speakers of both chambers

    of parliament protesting that Karypkulov was restricting

    media freedom. The Bishkek City Court upheld the district

    court ruling (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 May 1999). "Res

    Publica" editor Zamira Sydykova said the paper will now

    appeal to the Constitutional Court. LF

    [09] UN ENVOY CONTINUES TALKS ON TAJIK PEACE PROCESS

    Ivo Petrov,

    who is the special representative in Tajikistan of UN

    Secretary-General Kofi Annan, traveled to Moscow on 17

    January for talks with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov

    on the implementation of the 1997 Tajik peace agreement, of

    which Russia is one of the guarantors. The final stage of the

    peace agreement entails parliamentary elections, which are

    scheduled for 27 February. Petrov discussed the ongoing

    election campaign in Dushanbe last week with President

    Imomali Rakhmonov, opposition leader Said Abdullo Nuri, and

    Central Electoral Commission Chairman Mirzoali Boltuev, Asia

    Plus-Blitz reported. Those discussions raised the question of

    extending the UN involvement in the Tajik peace process after

    the election of the new parliament. Speaking in Dushanbe on

    17 January, Rakhmonov expressed confidence that the new

    parliament will be "a truly professional supreme legislative

    body," ITAR-TASS reported. LF

    [10] TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN SIGN ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS

    A visiting

    Uzbek government delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister

    Lerik Ahmetov signed two cooperation agreements in Dushanbe

    on 14 January, Asia Pluz-Blitz reported three days later.

    Under the first agreement, Uzbekistan will deliver to

    Tajikistan in 2000 natural gas to the value of some $25

    million at a price of $50 per 1,000 cubic meters, in payment

    for transit of Uzbek cargo via Tajikistan's Leninabad region,

    according to ITAR-TASS. The second agreement is on

    cooperation in the use of water and energy resources. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [11] WHY NO POLICE REPORT ON ARKAN KILLING?

    Belgrade police still

    have not issued a statement on the murder of indicted war

    criminal Zeljko Raznatovic "Arkan," "Danas" reported on 18

    January (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 January 2000). Conflicting

    reports have emerged in media close to the regime regarding

    the number of killers, whether Arkan appeared to have known

    any of them, and whether one was wounded and is now in

    hospital. Budimir Babovic, who is a former officer of

    Interpol, told the private Beta news agency that "if we do

    not soon receive a precise police statement as to who is

    behind the assassination, one should then ask the question as

    to whether the police are hiding the facts about the murder

    or maybe because they are behind it." Vladan Batic, who is a

    leader of the opposition Alliance for Change, said that

    Serbia is increasingly coming to resemble Colombia as far as

    the rule of law is concerned. Observers note that the regime

    is likely to try to obscure the facts by floating a number of

    conspiracy theories in the media. PM

    [12] SERBIAN OPPOSITION MAYORS DISCUSS OIL PROGRAM

    The mayors of

    Nis and Pirot, Zoran Zivkovic and Tomislav Panajotovic, are

    slated to hold talks with EU officials in Skopje on 18

    January, "Danas" reported. On the agenda is whether Brussels

    will continue to expand its Energy for Democracy program,

    through which it has provided some heating oil for the two

    opposition-run towns. The opposition wants the EU to expand

    the program to include additional cities, including some

    controlled by the ruling coalition. Brussels appears

    reluctant to launch such an ambitious project (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 13 January 2000). PM

    [13] SERBIAN POLICE SUMMON VOJVODINA POLITICIAN

    Police have

    summoned Nenad Canak of the opposition League of Social

    Democrats of Vojvodina for an "informative discussion" on 18

    January, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. The term is

    usually a euphemism for an interrogation. Canak told

    reporters that he has no idea why he has been called in. PM

    [14] CROATIA, EU UPBEAT ON PROSPECTS FOR BETTER TIES...

    EU

    spokesman Ricardo Levi said in Brussels on 17 January that

    the visit to Croatia by Commission President Romano Prodi

    three days earlier demonstrated "on both sides high hopes of

    a dramatic change in the relationship between the EU and

    Croatia, with far-reaching consequences." He added that the

    new Croatian government "is fully committed to Europe,"

    Reuters reported. Levi stressed that he hopes that the

    changes in Croatia will have a favorable impact on Serbia,

    which is now becoming surrounded by a "circle of democracy."

    PM

    [15] ...AMID CAUTION AGAINST EUPHORIA

    Croatian Ambassador to the

    EU Janko Vranyczany-Dobrinovic told "Jutarnji list" of 18

    January that high-level visits and good intentions will not

    be enough to help Croatia make up for nine years of lost time

    in developing its ties to Brussels. He said that the new

    government, like the post-Meciar government in Slovakia, will

    have to draw up a precise program, which EU officials will

    then scrutinize carefully. He added that the new government

    must make very clear what it wants and what it is prepared to

    do. It will have to speed up the return of Serbian refugees,

    fully implement the Dayton agreement, and fully cooperate

    with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal. PM

    [16] MESIC: SOLVE PREVLAKA ISSUE WITH MONTENEGRO

    Stipe Mesic,

    whom polls suggest is the current front-runner in the 24

    January Croatian presidential election, told Montenegro's

    Montena Television that Zagreb and Podgorica should solve the

    dispute over the Prevlaka peninsula directly between them,

    "Danas" reported on 18 January. Mesic stressed that both

    Croatia and Montenegro are on their way to European

    integration, and that they should deal with this outstanding

    issue without recourse to the Belgrade regime. Prevlaka is

    Croatian territory but controls the entrance to Montenegro's

    Kotor Bay, which is currently the site of Yugoslavia's only

    deep-water naval base (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 January

    2000). The bay provides one of the Mediterranean's great

    natural harbors and has attracted the interest of regional

    powers for centuries. PM

    [17] BOSNIAN UPPER HOUSE BLASTS LOWER HOUSE

    Deputies of the upper

    house of the joint parliament held a half-hour session in

    Sarajevo on 17 January in which they approved 18

    international agreements signed by the Bosnian authorities.

    The deputies were unable to deal with any additional measures

    because the lower house, in which nationalist parties often

    block legislation, had not acted on them. The upper house

    deputies passed a resolution dubbing the lower house "the

    least effective institution of the [joint] government,"

    RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Meanwhile in Banja

    Luka, several Bosnian Serb deputies to the lower house held a

    press conference to protest the decision by the international

    community's Wolfgang Petritsch to set up a joint border

    police force (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 14 January 2000).

    The deputies called Petritsch's move "undemocratic." PM

    [18] VETERAN ROMANIAN POLITICIAN DEAD

    National Peasant Party

    Christian Democratic (PNTCD) Deputy Chairman Ion Ratiu died

    in London on 17 January of cancer, Romanian media reported.

    Ratiu was a leader of the Romanian anti-communist emigration.

    He returned to Romania after the fall of communism and ran

    for president in 1990. He was also the owner of the daily

    "Cotidianul," whose editorial line has often been criticized

    by the PNTCD. Although a deputy leader of the party, Ratiu

    had been very much relegated by the PNTCD to ceremonial

    positions in the last years. MS

    [19] ROMANIAN RULING PARTY TO ELECT NEW BUREAU

    The Standing

    Bureau of the PNTCD on 17 January decided by a majority of

    votes that the party's Permanent Delegation is to elect a new

    Standing Bureau at its meeting later this month, RFE/RL's

    Bucharest bureau reported. The bureau thus overruled PNTCD

    chairman Ion Diaconescu, who earlier said he opposes the step

    in order to preserve party unity before the 2000

    parliamentary elections. Diaconescu said at the end of the

    meeting that the new Standing Bureau will have an "interim

    mandate" and will be replaced by one to be elected by the

    PNTCD congress after the general elections. PNTCD deputy

    chairman Gabriel Tepelea announced that he will not seek re-

    election to the new bureau. MS

    [20] ROMANIA REHABILITATES ANTONESCU MINISTER

    Netta Gheron, who

    served as Finance Minister in the government headed by Ion

    Antonescu, was rehabilitated by the Supreme Court of Justice

    on 17 January, Mediafax reported. Gheron had been sentenced

    by the communist regime to ten years hard labor for "crimes

    against peace." MS

    [21] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT POKERS ON ROMANIAN ELECTRICITY DEBT...

    President Petru Lucinschi on 17 January said that at next

    week's CIS summit in Moscow he will discuss with Russian

    leaders the possibility of replacing electricity imports from

    Romania with Russian imports if Moscow offers a lower price,

    Romanian radio reported. Romania has been threatening to cut

    supplies due to Moldova's $22 million debt and the failure of

    Chisinau to finalize an agreement whereby the Romanians would

    take control of the Tirex-Petrol Moldovan company in exchange

    for the debt. The issue was also discussed last weekend by

    the countries' premiers when Dumitru Barghis and Mugur

    Isarescu both participated in ceremonies marking 150 years

    since the birth of national (for both countries) poet Mihai

    Eminescu. MS

    [22] ...SAYS NO REFUGEE STATUS FOR CHECHENS

    Moldova considers the

    Chechen issue to be a Russian internal affair and will not

    grant refugee status to those arriving from Chechnya,

    President Lucinschi, cited by ITAR-TASS, said on 17 January.

    "It would be strange if we, who suffer ourselves as a result

    of separatism, would encourage separatism in other

    countries," he said. Lucinschi added that he has instructed

    the Foreign Ministry, as well as the Interior Ministry, to

    clarify what he termed "misunderstandings" linked to the

    arrival of Chechen refugees. He said the Moldovan legislation

    on refugees was "imperfect," which led to the representative

    in Moldova of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees having

    issued documents that "exceed his powers." "With the help of

    the Russian authorities," he said, Moldova will find out "who

    is who" among those who arrived from Chechnya. MS

    [23] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT VETOES LIBEL LAW

    Petar Stoyanov on 17

    January announced he has vetoed a law passed by the

    parliament last week that imposed heavy fines on journalists

    found guilty of libel or slander, dpa and AP reported. The

    parliament on 12 January abolished imprisonment for libel or

    slander, but replaced the penalty with fines of up to 30,000

    leva (about $15,500). Stoyanov said the fines were

    "excessively high compared to the low income of journalists."

    He spoke before departing for a three-day visit to Israel. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [24] Odd Men Out

    By Julie A. Corwin

    Now that the State Duma elections are over and Russian

    presidential elections are scheduled for 26 March, national

    leaders' courtship of their regional counterparts has skidded

    to an abrupt halt--causing the presidents and governors of

    Russia's 89 regions to try to establish good relations with

    the likely winner of presidential elections, acting President

    Vladimir Putin. So far, leaders in the Bashkortostan and

    Tatarstan republics, Khabarovosk and Altai krais, as well as

    Nizhnii Novgorod and Novgorod oblasts have declared their

    support for Putin. All those leaders are--or were--members of

    groups that competed against the Putin-backed bloc, Unity, in

    Duma elections. Those regional leaders in the most awkward

    position vis-a-vis Moscow may not be the ones who backed the

    losing parties, but those whose verbal endorsements fell on

    deaf ears.

    Overall, regional leaders who supported Unity had better

    success winning their populations' votes than Fatherland-All

    Russia (OVR) or Communist leaders, raising the possibility

    that the success of Unity in the elections had more to do

    with Putin's rising popularity than the governors' backing.

    Certain leaders who supported former Prime Minister Yevgenii

    Primakov's OVR, such as the presidents of Bashkortostan,

    Tatarstan, Ingushetia, and Mordovia, managed to swing a

    plurality of voters in their region to the party. However,

    others backing OVR, such as Moscow Oblast Governor Anatolii

    Tyazhlov and Novosibirsk Governor Vitalii Mukha, couldn't

    even manage to get themselves re-elected let alone muster

    significant support for OVR. Similarly, in regions such as

    the republic of Karelia, Nizhnii Novgorod, Murmansk, Kirov,

    Irkutsk and Perm oblasts, and Khabarovsk Krai, the local

    governors' endorsements for OVR failed to generate more than

    8 percent of support for that group.

    The lesson that national officials preparing for

    presidential elections may draw is to be more discriminating

    in their pursuit of regional officials' support and

    concentrate their resources on regional leaders with a proven

    election track record. Such a strategy may rule out wooing

    Yaroslavl, where Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov managed to

    arrange millions of dollars worth of financing from the

    Moscow city government for the area to construct an

    international hockey venue. In that oblast Unity, the

    Communist Party, and Union of Rightist Forces each captured

    more votes than OVR (see "RFE/RL Russian Federation Report,"

    5 May 1999). And it may also exclude Udmurtia, where the

    Moscow government agreed to buy electricity meters, medical

    equipment, and an experimental shipment of batteries for

    Moskvich car manufacturers from local factories seven months

    before elections. There, Unity attracted four times as many

    votes as OVR.

    With the discretion to disburse federal money and

    enforce tax laws, federal authorities are in a much better

    position than any opposition figure--such as Luzhkov--to

    pursue a policy of providing not just "carrots" but also

    wielding "sticks" against regional leaders. Although federal

    law establishes certain procedures for distributing revenues,

    in practice Finance Ministry officials appear to distribute

    monies to regions at will. For example, in 1996, when tax

    revenues fell significantly below projections, Russian

    regions received only about 60 percent of what was allocated

    to them by the federal budget but these cuts were not made

    across the board, according to Daniel Triesman, a political

    scientist at UCLA. Triesman found that some regions received

    exactly the amount budgeted, while others received hundreds

    or thousands of rubles per capita less and some even received

    a little bit more. He also discovered that regions whose

    leaders opposed or chose not to support the incumbent central

    politicians during the government crisis in 1993 and in

    elections in 1995 were rewarded or "appeased" with more

    budget money.

    If this pattern continues to hold, then leaders in

    Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Ingushetia, and Mordovia may find

    Moscow presenting them with inducements for their loyalty or

    "carrots" in the form of higher federal transfers. On the

    other hand, federal officials may find that Putin's

    impressive lead in public opinion surveys and continuing

    control over national media outlets, such as Russian Public

    Television, gives them the leeway to brandish the stick more

    than the carrot. Shortly after Duma elections results were

    tallied, Tax Minister Aleksandr Pochinok announced that the

    two oil companies in the republics of Tatarstan and

    Bashkortostan, Tatneft and Bashneft, are in danger of losing

    their access to crude export pipelines because of their

    overdue tax debts. Tatarstan President Mintimer Shaimiev and

    Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov, both founding

    members of All Russia, were among the most effective in

    delivering the vote in their regions. In Tatarstan, 3 of 5

    seats in single-mandate districts went to OVR candidates. In

    Bashkortostan, the rate was even better with 4 of the 5 seats

    going to the OVR. After Pochinok's announcement, Tatarstan's

    president, Mintimer Shaimiev, accused federal officials of

    engaging in "political pressure" (see "RFE/RL Russian

    Federation Report," 5 January 2000.) Acknowledging another

    area where his region is vulnerable to even more pressure,

    Shaimiev noted that revision of the power-sharing agreement

    between Tatarstan and the center would not be conducive to

    "stability" (see "RFE/RL Russian Federation Report," tk

    January 1999).

    With oil reserves and large, politically docile

    populations, the leaders of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan are

    likely to find some kind of mutually agreeable arrangement

    with the center despite their "disloyalty." Perhaps the real

    odd men out may be those regional leaders who were disloyal

    to the center but whose voters still backed the Kremlin--such

    as Karelia and Yaroslavl. Those governors may scramble to

    support Putin now but will find that they are offering the

    center much too little much too late.

    18-01-00


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


    Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
    Back to Top
    Copyright © 1995-2023 HR-Net (Hellenic Resources Network). An HRI Project.
    All Rights Reserved.

    HTML by the HR-Net Group / Hellenic Resources Institute, Inc.
    rferl2html v1.01 run on Tuesday, 18 January 2000 - 18:02:06 UTC