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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 119, 00-06-20Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 4, No. 119, 20 June 2000CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] PUTIN HAILS CREATION OF UNION OF ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA...In amessage to the 172 participants in the constituent congress of the Union of Armenians of Russia, which took place in Moscow on 16 June, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted the "wise and well-balanced" position of Russia's Armenian community on key political issues, according to Groong, citing Armenpress. Putin said that the efforts of Russia's Armenian diaspora help strengthen the "strategic cooperation" between Russia and Armenia. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov and the chairmen of the State Duma and Federation Council, Gennadii Seleznev and Yegor Stroev, also extended greetings to the congress, according to "Nezavisimaya gazeta" of 20 June. There are an estimated 2.5 million Armenians in the Russian Federation, of whom some 600,000-800,000 live in Krasnodar Krai, where they constitute the second-largest ethnic group and are subjected to systematic harassment both by the local authorities and the region's Cossack population, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on16 June. LF [02] ...WHICH MAY HAVE A HIDDEN AGENDA?Among the guests at theconstituent congress of the new Armenian union was Pavel Borodin, state secretary of the Union State of Russia and Belarus, who expressed his desire to see Armenia accede to that formation, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported on 20 June. The delegates to the congress elected as its chairman businessman Ara Abramian, whom "Izvestiya" on 17 June identified as a close friend and associate of Borodin. LF [03] RUSSIAN BORDER GUARD SHOT DEAD ON ARMENIAN-TURKISH FRONTIERTurkish border guards shot dead a 21-year-old Russian soldierwho crossed the Arax River marking the Armenian-Turkish border near the Turkish town of Karakoyunlu on 18 June, AFP and RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Lieutenant General Mikhail Naymilo, who commands the Russian border guard contingent in Armenia, condemned the killing as a violation of international conventions. Naymilo said that Turkish border guards on the opposite bank of the river had invited the Russian to join them for a cigarette. Turkish officials say he crossed the river spontaneously and ignored warnings to stop. LF [04] MORE GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTIES QUIT MAJORITY FACTIONFormer Georgian Defense Minister Giorgi Karkarashviliannounced on 19 June that he and two former parliamentary committee chairmen intend to quit the Union of Citizens of Georgia (SMK) parliamentary faction and create a new faction, Caucasus Press reported. He said the new faction will comprise 10-11 deputies but did not specify whether they are all defectors from the SMK. The 17 deputies from the Abkhazeti faction, which together with the SMK originally formed the majority faction, split from the SMK last month to protest the Georgian leadership's policy toward Abkhazia (see "RFE/RL Newsline, " 29 May 2000). LF [05] KAZAKHSTAN, RUSSIA REACH NEW AGREEMENT ON BAIKONURKazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev opened a two-dayofficial visit to Russia on 19 June by meeting with his Russian counterpart, Putin, at the latter's country residence near Moscow. The two presidents gave an overall positive assessment of bilateral relations, which Putin characterized as "progressively developing at a very high level" in both the political and the economic sphere, according to Interfax. The two presidents reached agreement on the terms, so far not made public, for Russia's continued use of Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome. Putin also expressed approval of Nazarbaev's proposal to create a fund for the protection of the Russian language in other CIS states, ITAR-TASS reported. Later the same day, Nazarbaev met with Russian Premier Kasyanov to discuss Baikonur, the export of Kazakh oil via Russian territory, and the proposed delineation of the Russian and Kazakh sectors of the Caspian Sea. LF [06] THOUSANDS OF KYRGYZ SIGN PETITION FOR KULOV'S RELEASETodate, more than 7,000 people have signed a petition calling for the release of arrested opposition Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported on 19 June. The petition was organized by participants in the ongoing picket in Bishkek, today in its 97th day, who likewise demand Kulov's release and the annulment of the parliamentary elections held in February-March. Meanwhile four picketers who were attacked and beaten by police on 12 June have brought law suits against the Bishkek police (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2000). LF [07] KYRGYZ PROTEST JAILING OF JOURNALISTTwenty-two journalistspicketed the Djalalabad City Court on 19 June to protest the two-year sentence handed down to their colleague Moldosaly Ibraimov, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Ibraimov was found guilty of insulting the judge of a local district court by reporting in a local newspaper on 8 April that the judge was rumored to have accepted a $15,000 bribe in a court dispute between two rival candidates in the parliamentary elections held in February-March. Ibraimov and his newspaper were each fined 100,000 soms (about $2,000). LF [08] TAJIK FOREIGN MINISTRY ACCUSES RUSSIAN MEDIA OF BIASIn astatement released on 19 June, the Tajik Foreign Ministry expressed concern that Russian media have completely ignored most positive developments in that country over the past month, including last week's Central Asian Union summit and the official visits of the presidents of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. The statement further condemned Russian media coverage of statements by Liberal Democratic Party of Russia Chairman Vladimir Zhirinovskii, which, it claimed, insult the honor and dignity of the Tajik people. LF [09] SECOND FALSE BOMB ALARM AT U.S. EMBASSSY IN UZBEKISTANTheU.S. embassy in Tashkent was evacuated on 19 June after an anonymous telephone caller claimed there was a bomb on the premises, Interfax reported. A search of the building and grounds failed to identify any such threat. It was the second such bomb hoax within five days (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 June 2000). LF [10] UZBEKISTAN DENIES ITS PLANES HAVE BOMBED AFGHANISTANTheUzbek embassy in Dushanbe has issued an official denial of a Kyrgyz press report that Uzbek aircraft bombed a terrorist base in Afghanistan close to the Afghan-Uzbek border, Asia Plus-Blitz reported on 19 June. The Kyrgyz report, which was published in the 17 June issue of the official newspaper "Slovo Kyrgyzstana," claimed that eight Afghan militants were killed in the raid and that the Taliban had shot down an Uzbek plane, killing the two pilots. LF [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[11] U.S. DENIES REPORT OF DEAL WITH MILOSEVIC...State Departmentspokesman Richard Boucher told a press conference in Washington on 19 June that he "has seen no proposals along the lines" of that day's "New York Times" story regarding a possible deal for Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to give up power (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 20 June 2000). According to the daily, Washington, its allies, and Moscow are looking for ways that Milosevic could go into exile with his money and safety guaranteed in order to speed up a transition to democracy in Serbia. Boucher stressed, however, that Washington's "policy is fairly simple. [Milosevic] should be out of the country and in The Hague," Reuters reported. The spokesman added that the State Department "is not interested in the subject" of a deal with Milosevic. PM [12] ...AS DO MOSCOW, EU, HAGUEIn Moscow on 19 June, ForeignMinister Igor Ivanov called the "New York Times" story the product of a "fertile imagination." He stressed, however, that Moscow has talked with Washington about the need to "end the isolation of Yugoslavia." Interfax quoted unnamed "Russian experts" as saying that the appearance of the "New York Times" story "suggests that the West is trying to resolve the problem that it created by declaring Milosevic a war criminal" in 1999. In Santa Maria da Feira in Portugal, EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten said that he has "not encountered any of those stories" about a negotiated deal for Milosevic's departure. Patten added that "the sooner Milosevic goes, the better for everyone in Serbia," Reuters reported. In Skopje, Hague tribunal Deputy Prosecutor Graham Blewitt argued that "any country that agrees to take President Milosevic...has an obligation to arrest and surrender him to the tribunal. That is very clear," AP reported. PM [13] PANIC CALLS FOR DEAL TO OUST MILOSEVICFormer Yugoslav PrimeMinister Milan Panic wrote in the "Washington Post" on 20 June that "establishing the conditions for peace and stability in the Balkans serves a greater justice" than just insisting that Milosevic go to The Hague. Panic argues that Milosevic will never relinquish power on his own and that "the goals of peace and justice" can be secured only by negotiating his exit. "The deal that could be offered is a full and final lifting of sanctions and suspension of prosecution of Milosevic if he and his wife accept permanent foreign exile," Panic argued. He added that only Russian President Vladimir Putin has the "credibility and the clout" in Milosevic's eyes to negotiate such a deal. PM [14] DJUKANOVIC: ATTEMPT ON DRASKOVIC 'ON ORDERS FROM MILOSEVIC'Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic told the Rome daily "LaRepubblica" of 19 June that "we have concrete proof that [the recent attempt on the life of Serbian opposition leader Vuk Draskovic] was a political assassination [attempt] and that the trail leads straight to Belgrade" (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report, 20 June 2000). Djukanovic added that Milosevic is "the one who created the chaos on the territory of the former Yugoslavia over the past 10 years." The Serbian dictator knows that his fall from power is inevitable and is looking for a new war, perhaps with Montenegro, in order to postpone his demise, Djukanovic argued. PM [15] BURZAN: INVESTIGATIONS PROCEEDING APACEMontenegrin DeputyPrime Minister Dragisa Burzan said in Podgorica on 19 June that investigations into the attempted murder of Draskovic are proceeding well but that it is still too early to release the names of the suspects under arrest (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 2000). Burzan charged that Milosevic is trying to "destabilize Montenegro...by exporting terrorism from Serbia." PM [16] DEL PONTE CANCELS NEWS CONFERENCECarla Del Ponte, who isthe chief prosecutor for the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, cancelled a press conference slated for the evening of 19 June in Skopje. No reason was given. She proceeded the next day from Macedonia to Kosova en route to Montenegro. In Belgrade, a Foreign Ministry statement said she is on Yugoslav territory illegally because she has no visa. "Carla Del Ponte is a NATO administration clerk and such a person does not have permission from Yugoslav authorities [to cross the frontier from Macedonia to Kosova] nor does she have a visa for a visit to any part of the country's sovereign territory," Reuters reported. PM [17] PATTEN CAUTIOUS ON 'TARGETED' SERBIAN SANCTIONS...Speakingin the Portuguese town of Santa Maria da Feira on 19 June, Patten said that there will be problems implementing a program by which the EU exempts various Serbian businesses from sanctions against the Milosevic regime. According to the proposal, the EU will identify Serbian companies that "have the ability to withhold revenues" from the Belgrade regime. Once identified, such companies would be placed on a "white list" and thereby made legally able to do business with EU member countries. Patten noted, however, that the plan has "some measure of success" and should be studied, Reuters reported. PM [18] ...UPBEAT ON FRENCH SUMMIT CALLPatten hailed a Frenchproposal for a summit to deal with issues affecting the "west Balkans" (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 6 June 2000). He stressed that the gathering will "reflect the importance of the west Balkans to the European Union," Reuters reported. In Sarajevo, "Dnevni avaz" of 20 June noted, however, that Bosnian politicians have mixed reactions to the French proposal. Bosnian Croat leaders in particular are suspicious of any West European proposal that could lead to the creation "of any kind of new Yugoslavia," the daily added. The Bosnian government has asked Paris for more details of the proposal. PM [19] G-17: ORDINARY SERBS PAYING FOR MILOSEVIC'S CONSTRUCTIONPROGRAMMladjan Dinkic, who is a spokesman for the G-17 group of opposition economists, said in Belgrade that the reconstruction of Serbian infrastructure and industry will cost $3.8 billion and take 19 years if Serbia remains isolated, "Danas" reported on 20 June. He added that the regime is financing its reconstruction program by forced deductions from workers' pay packets and by printing money. PM [20] SERBIAN CENTER FOR ILLEGAL CHINESE MIGRANTS?The number ofChinese in Belgrade "has soared" since China and Serbia drew closer diplomatically in 1999 in the wake of NATO's mistaken bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, London's "The Times" wrote on 20 June. The newspaper suggested that Serbia has become a jumping-off point for Chinese migrants looking for a better life in Western Europe. It added that "there are rumors in Belgrade of involvement by Yugoslav officials in the Chinese trade of goods and people." PM [21] RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS BREAK UP PROTESTRussian KFOR troopsfired warning shots into the air on 19 June to disperse several hundred rock-throwing ethnic Albanians in Kamenica. The protesters were part of a group of 3,500 people who attended a ceremony to unveil a monument marking the first anniversary of the Serbian withdrawal from Kosova. The crowd became angry after peacekeepers refused to allow them to place a plaque honoring the Kosova Liberation Army on the monument, AP reported. PM [22] SERBIAN MODERATES SLAM KOSOVA PROTECTION FORCEThe SerbianNational Council said in a statement to Serbian private news agencies on 19 June that KFOR's recent discovery of 67 tons of arms and ammunition in the Drenica area shows that "Albanian terrorists have not been disarmed and that the Kosova Protection Corps has kept weapons" from the 1999 conflict (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 June 2000). PM [23] SOCCER VIOLENCE COMES TO BRCKOThe joint Brcko police forceprevented a group of several hundred rowdy Serbian soccer fans from entering the Muslim Brod district during the night of 18-19 June, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. Police arrested 14 fans, who were shouting Serbian nationalist slogans and damaging cars and other property. PM [24] ROMANIAN ELECTRICITY WORKERS STRIKE OVER WAGE FREEZEWorkersat the national electricity state company Conel went on strike on 19 June over a government-ordered wage freeze, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. Prime Minister Mugur Isarescu met with representatives of the five largest trade unions, and a government spokesman later said differences had been resolved and the workers had agreed to return to work on 20 June. But trade unions representing Conel workers said they are rejecting a government proposal to postpone the freeze until 31 July and apply it only to managers' bonuses and loss-making utility monopolies. The freeze is part of measures agreed with the IMF to cut down state-owned companies' losses. A Bucharest court has ruled that the government decree ordering the freeze was illegal, but the cabinet is appealing that decision. MS [25] LUCINSCHI SAYS MOLDOVA WILL GET CHEAPER GASPresident PetruLucinschi told journalists on 19 June that one of the results of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Chisinau last week is that Moldova will have to pay less for gas supplies from Russia, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi said that under the agreement reached by the two sides, Moldova will pay $50 per 1,000 cubic meters, instead of $60. He said Gazprom Chairman Rem Vyakhirev, who was a member of the Russian delegation, agreed to that reduction. Under the same agreement, Chisinau is to transfer another $47 million worth of shares to the joint Russian-Moldovan venture MoldovaGas, thus reducing the $831 million debt owed to Gazprom. Meanwhile, separatist leader Igor Smirnov said that by failing to invite him to attend the summit with Putin, Lucinschi violated the provisions of the 1997 Moscow memorandum. MS [26] BULGARIA PROJECTS SIGNIFICANT GROWTHFinance MinisterMuravei Radev on 18 June said his country's GDP in 2000 will grow by more than 4 percent, which will allow the government to "substantially reduce taxes," AP reported. Radev spoke ahead of a meeting in Sofia with an IMF delegation. He also said the government expects an unspecified surplus, which will be reinvested in infrastructure programs and social assistance. MS [C] END NOTE[27] UKRAINIAN POLICY SHUTS OUT MANY ASYLUM SEEKERSBy Lily HydeElkana Gale gets stopped several times a day by the police. He says they have strip-searched, insulted, and beaten him and have even threatened his life. Gale is a refugee from torture in Sudan. Yet these violations of his human rights happened in Ukraine, where Gale sought asylum three years ago. On paper, Ukraine granted him sanctuary. In reality, he, along with many other refugees seeking shelter there, say they have exchanged one form of torture and repression for another. "I came [to Ukraine] by mistake," Gale told RFE/RL. "I had to run away from the war. I just had to go to where it was possible. I wanted a Christian country so that I could have a rest. I found myself in Ukraine. I didn't know anything about Ukraine. But when I came here, I found out that though there is war at home, home is the best." Ukraine's refugee policy is one of the most liberal of former Soviet republics--many of which have no refugee legislation at all. Ukraine has accepted more than 3,500 refugees since 1996, while Russia has accepted just 400. But Ukraine has not signed the 1951 UN convention that lays down guidelines for asylum refugee policy worldwide. And because of inadequate legislation, Ukraine turns down large numbers of UN-recognized asylum seekers. Those it does accept, meanwhile, are not receiving adequate protection. Refugee status is granted by Ukrainian local immigration authorities and has to be renewed every three months. Because of this three-month arrangement, even refugees who have been in Ukraine for years are still seen as temporary residents. The authorities do not provide them with housing or financial aid. They are not allowed to work legally. They are treated as unwelcome visitors, resented by locals, and constantly harassed by law-enforcement agencies. According to a UN survey in Ukraine last year, more than half of refugees from Afghanistan, African countries, and former Soviet states are regularly treated disrespectfully by the police. A significant number said the militia had extorted money or confiscated possessions from them. Mykola Yarina is head of the police department for migrants in the Interior Ministry. He told RFE/RL that police have to stop foreigners because they may be illegal migrants but that refugees are treated more leniently. "There have been questions about the police illegally detaining foreigners," he said. "But it's different for refugees. The police are given special instructions. Every policeman, from the top downward, has orders how to behave with foreigners, whether refugees or illegal migrants, and they have to check their identification. At regular meetings, we provide militia heads with information about their rude attitude to foreigners and we provide them with written rules of behavior." But many people classified under Ukrainian law as illegal migrants are, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, genuine asylum seekers. Yet because they came by way of a third country--usually Russia--Ukraine does not accept their applications and does not even grant temporary living status. But it also makes no provision for them to go elsewhere, not even back to Russia, with which Ukraine has no re-admission agreement. Pierfrancesco Natta of the UNHCR's office in Kyiv told RFE/RL that "this is creating the problem of a limbo situation for many people. They are not able to return to the country where they were transiting, for example Russia, and basically are forced to stay in the country illegally and basically are under the continuous harassment from the police forces.... They have to request legal resident permits that these people cannot provide." Earlier, asylum seekers could appeal to a government committee for migration if they were turned down by local migration authorities. But that committee was dissolved as part of government streamlining earlier this year--a move that would seem to indicate that refugees are not a high priority for the Ukrainian government. Yarina and other Ukrainian officials say Ukraine cannot accept more refugees or offer them better conditions because of the country's desperate economic situation. But the UNHCR's Natta says the rest of the world cannot help financially until Ukraine signs the UN convention on refugees. As a result, he argues, Ukraine is finds itself in something of a "pariah situation." Even if the authorities have recognized 3,500 people, "basically no one would consider that a real figure. So the authorities are always expressing the willingness to accede to the convention, [but] unfortunately this never came true, and we feel that the authorities are reluctant due to the fear of additional financial obligations toward a category that is not really considered a priority." The result, says Natta, is bad for the asylum seekers. Between October and December last year, the number of registered refugees in Ukraine fell from 3,560 to 2,697: Nearly a thousand, tired of the difficult life in Ukraine, crossed the border into Western Europe. The UNHCR wants Ukraine to improve its refugee policy so that asylum seekers choose to remain in that country. It says Western countries would help Ukraine shoulder the economic burden if it meant saving the West from more asylum seekers. The author is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Kyiv. 20-06-00 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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