RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 128, 00-07-03

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. 4, No. 128, 3 July 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN PARIS

[02] ARMENIA DEPLORES DELEGATION'S EXPULSION FROM TURKEY

[03] CHARGES AGAINST ANOTHER ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT

[04] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS U.S., IRANIAN DIPLOMATS

[05] ARMENIAN SECURITY MINISTER CALLS FOR SURRENDER OF WEAPONRY

[06] ARMENIA ASSESSES PROSPECTS FOR KARABAKH PROGRESS...

[07] ...AS DOES AZERBAIJAN

[08] RUSSIA DEMANDS COMPENSATION FROM AZERBAIJAN OVER OIL EXPORTS

[09] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DISCUSS GAS PIPELINE PROJECT...

[10] ...AS SHELL SEEKS DECISION FROM TURKMENISTAN ON TRANSCASPIAN

[11] GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY AGAIN SLAMS RUSSIAN RHETORIC ON

[12] GEORGIAN BORDER VILLAGERS DEMAND TO RETURN HOME

[13] GEORGIAN-UKRAINIAN TALKS CONCLUDE

[14] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT OPTS OUT OF NATIONAL DIALOGUE

[15] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER FORCED TO ATTEND COURT

[16] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT TERMS RUSSIA 'MAIN STRATEGIC ALLY'

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[17] PATTEN: MACEDONIA, EU TO SIGN PACT THIS YEAR

[18] BOSNIAN COURT RULES ON ETHNIC EQUALITY

[19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION BUOYED BY DECISION ON 'ANTI-TERRORISM LAW'

[20] BELGRADE REGIME CONTINUES TO HARASS STUDENT ACTIVISTS

[21] SERBIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FOUND DEAD IN HUNGARY

[22] SERBIAN POLICE EXTRADITE SUSPECT TO MONTENEGRO

[23] BELGRADE, BAGHDAD CONCLUDE TRADE PACT

[24] BATIC: MILOSEVIC TO SELL PART OF TELECOM TO CHINA

[25] U.S. TO KEEP CONVOY SUPPORT IN SHTERPCE

[26] KOSOVA SERB MODERATES TO WORK WITH HAGUE TRIBUNAL

[27] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM...

[28] ...SAYS PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS BROKE UN EMBARGO ON YUGOSLAVIA

[29] INTERNAL RIFTS PLAGUE ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA

[30] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES BULGARBANK SALE

[31] BULGARIA CONFIRMS INTENTION TO PURCHASE U.S. FIGHTERS

[C] END NOTE

[32] A RUSSIAN-IRANIAN RAPPROCHEMENT

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN PRESIDENT IN PARIS

French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, in Paris on 30 June to

discuss the prospects for resolving the Karabakh conflict and

bilateral relations, which Chirac termed "important" in the

light of France's large Armenian community, RFE/RL's Armenian

Service reported. Kocharian also met the same day with French

Premier Lionel Jospin to discuss economic cooperation. LF

[02] ARMENIA DEPLORES DELEGATION'S EXPULSION FROM TURKEY

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ara Papyan expressed "regret" at

the expulsion from Turkey on 28 June of a four-strong Armenian

delegation from the northern town of Gyumri, Interfax

reported. The delegation had traveled to the Turkish town of

Kars to attend a discussion of the planned South Caucasus

regional security pact. The "Turkish Daily News" on 30 June

quoted Kars city officials as saying that the men's papers

were in order but that they had not been formally invited to

attend the meeting. Anatolian News Agency on 29 June quoted an

unnamed Turkish Foreign Ministry official as saying that

Armenians are not in general permitted to participate in

international gatherings in Turkey. Anatolia also quoted

Azerbaijan's Ambassador in Ankara, Mehmet Nevrozoglu, as

saying that the opening of an Armenian-Turkish border crossing

near Kars, which has been under discussion for several years,

would not benefit the region. LF

[03] CHARGES AGAINST ANOTHER ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT SHOOTING SUSPECT

Prosecutors on 30 June dropped charges against

parliamentary deputy Mushegh Movsisian, who had been arrested

last November on suspicion of complicity in the 27 October

Armenian parliament shootings, AP reported. Movsisian had been

released from detention a month ago (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5

June 2000). LF

[04] ARMENIAN DEFENSE MINISTER MEETS U.S., IRANIAN DIPLOMATS

Sarkisian met in Yerevan on 30 June with the U.S. deputy

ambassador in Yerevan to discuss this week's tour of the South

Caucasus by the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen and Sarkisian's

upcoming visit to the U.S., Groong reported, citing Snark. The

following day, Sarkisian met with Iranian Ambassador Mohammad

Farhad Koleini to discuss regional security issues and the

upcoming visit to Armenia by an Iranian military delegation.

LF

[05] ARMENIAN SECURITY MINISTER CALLS FOR SURRENDER OF WEAPONRY

Armenian veterans of the Karabakh war to surrender illegally

stored armaments and ammunition, ITAR-TASS reported. Petrosian

was speaking at a meeting of the Union of Veterans of the

Liberation Struggle established in May (see "RFE/RL Newsline,

" 11 May 2000). He stressed that that organization must

operate strictly within the framework of Armenia's laws and

constitution. LF

[06] ARMENIA ASSESSES PROSPECTS FOR KARABAKH PROGRESS...

President Kocharian told journalists in Paris on 30 June that

the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairmen have given him and

Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev carte blanche to seek an

agreement between themselves on the optimum solution to the

Karabakh conflict, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. The

Minsk Group will then do all in its power to help implement

that settlement, Kocharian said. Armenian Deputy Foreign

Minister Armen Martirosian told Interfax on 29 June that

"nobody, especially the Council of Europe, will force Karabakh

into accepting a peace plan that does not fit its national

interests." LF

[07] ...AS DOES AZERBAIJAN

chairmen in Baku on 2 July, Aliev characterized that body as

"the leading and strongest means for settling the conflict,"

ITAR-TASS reported. But he added that economic cooperation

between Armenia and Azerbaijan is contingent on such a

settlement. The Russian Minsk Group representative, Nikolai

Gribkov, told ITAR-TASS on 1 July that the group "is working

on very interesting initiatives" with the aim of resolving the

disagreements between Armenia and Azerbaijan. He refused to

elaborate. LF

[08] RUSSIA DEMANDS COMPENSATION FROM AZERBAIJAN OVER OIL EXPORTS

company SOCAR for failing to honor a commitment made in

January 1997 to export a total of 5 million tons of oil

through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline by 2002, Turan and

"Vremya novostei" reported on 30 June, quoting Transneft

chairman Semen Vainshtok. Baku has shipped only some 334,000

tons of oil through the pipeline since 1 January. It halted

all such exports late last month, citing the need to meet

domestic consumption and stockpile heating oil for the coming

winter (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June 2000). LF

[09] AZERBAIJAN, GEORGIA DISCUSS GAS PIPELINE PROJECT...

and Azerbaijani gas sector officials and representatives of

the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), the

international consortium developing the off-shore Shah Deniz

oil and gas field, held talks in Baku on 30 June on building a

gas export pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey via Georgia,

ITAR-TASS and Turan reported. The planned pipeline would take

two to three years to build and have an initial throughput

capacity of 5 billion cubic meters per year. Georgia President

Eduard Shevardnadze discussed the project the previous day in

Tbilisi with AIOC president David Woodward. LF

[10] ...AS SHELL SEEKS DECISION FROM TURKMENISTAN ON TRANSCASPIAN

Executives from Royal Dutch/Shell met with

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat on 30

June but failed to remove obstacles to construction of the

planned Trans-Caspian gas pipeline, which would transport gas

from Turkmenistan via Azerbaijan and Georgia to Turkey, AP

reported. Niyazov reportedly said there is no haste in

reaching a final agreement to proceed with construction of

that pipeline. Royal Dutch/Shell's partner in that proposed

undertaking, PSG International, was reported last week to be

on the verge of quitting the project because of Niyazov's

inconsistency and his demand for up-front cash payments of

several million dollars, according to the "Wall Street

Journal." LF

[11] GEORGIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY AGAIN SLAMS RUSSIAN RHETORIC ON

In a statement released on 1 July, the Georgian

Foreign Ministry again expressed concern at ongoing Russian

allegations that Georgia is abetting Chechen fighters.

Caucasus Press and ITAR-TASS reported. The statement termed

those allegations a reflection of the Russian military's

desire to draw Georgia into the Chechen conflict. It stressed

that Georgia has voluntarily provided aid to thousands of

unarmed Chechen refugees. The statement also affirmed

Tbilisi's readiness for talks with Moscow on the possible

return of those refugees to Chechnya. Russian First Deputy

Chief of Army General Staff Colonel General Valerii Manilov

had said in Moscow last week that despite "long and painful"

talks, Tbilisi had shown no willingness to expel alleged

Chechen fighters from its territory (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28

June 2000). LF

[12] GEORGIAN BORDER VILLAGERS DEMAND TO RETURN HOME

inhabitants of Pichvni and Atskheti, who were expelled from

their home earlier this year, when Russian border guards

occupied the two disputed villages on the Russian-Georgian

border, have sent a representative to Tbilisi to demand that

the Georgian government allow them to return home, Caucasus

Press reported on 30 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 and 19

June 2000). LF

[13] GEORGIAN-UKRAINIAN TALKS CONCLUDE

headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Merab Antadze held talks in

Kyiv last week on the legal basis for political and economic

cooperation and the prospects for expanding those ties,

Caucasus Press and ITAR-TASS reported. Regional security in

the South Caucasus and the unresolved Abkhaz conflict were

also on the agenda. Ukraine has offered to send peacekeepers

to Abkhazia under a UN mandate. LF

[14] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT OPTS OUT OF NATIONAL DIALOGUE

Nazarbaev's administration, told journalists in Astana on 30

June that he will represent the president at the "National

Dialogue" to be held later this year. RFE/RL's Kazakh Service

reported. He added that pro-presidential as well as opposition

political parties will be invited to take part in that

dialogue. But opposition parties are unlikely to participate

in Nazarbaev's absence. Following the flawed parliamentary

elections last fall, exiled former Prime Minister Akezhan

Kazhegeldin had offered to mediate a dialogue between the

Kazakh leadership and the opposition (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

22 November 1999). LF

[15] KYRGYZ OPPOSITION PARTY LEADER FORCED TO ATTEND COURT

Opposition Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov

and three co-defendants were forced to attend their ongoing

trial on 30 June, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau reported. All four

men had refused to attend the proceedings on the grounds that

their defense lawyers' requests to the military court have

been rejected. Speaking at a press conference in Bishkek the

same day, the defense lawyers said that the charges against

all four defendants are unsubstantiated and that in Kulov's

case, the accusations are aimed solely at preventing him from

contending the 29 October presidential poll. LF

[16] KYRGYZ PRESIDENT TERMS RUSSIA 'MAIN STRATEGIC ALLY'

30 June, President Askar Akaev said Russia always has been and

will remain Kyrgyzstan's principal strategic partner, Interfax

reported. He added that ongoing political, economic, and

cultural cooperation with Russia will contribute to

Kyrgyzstan's progress and prosperity. Akaev also vowed that

Kyrgyzstan will continue to implement democratic market-

oriented reform. But he warned that unspecified forces are

intent on destabilizing the country by inciting inter-ethnic

tensions. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[17] PATTEN: MACEDONIA, EU TO SIGN PACT THIS YEAR

who is the EU's commissioner for external relations, said in

Skopje on 30 June that he expects Macedonia to sign an

Agreement on Stabilization and Association with Brussels

before the end of 2000. Patten praised Macedonia's progress in

recent years and noted that the EU has accepted the arguments

made by Macedonian leaders for concluding the agreement. He

added: "For us, the European Union, [the agreement] will be

the centerpiece of our strategic partnership and relationship

with the region. What we have done with you we hope to be able

to do with others, beginning with perhaps Croatia," Reuters

reported. The government of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski,

which was elected in 1998, regards the agreement with Brussels

as a top priority. PM

[18] BOSNIAN COURT RULES ON ETHNIC EQUALITY

Constitutional Court has ruled that Serbs, Croats, and Muslims

must enjoy full legal equality everywhere on Bosnian

territory, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 2 July.

At present, Serbs have a special legal status in the Republika

Srpska, as do Muslims and Croats in the federation. Observers

note that the effects of the ruling could be highly

significant, provided that it is enforced. PM

[19] SERBIAN OPPOSITION BUOYED BY DECISION ON 'ANTI-TERRORISM LAW'

June that the government's decision to postpone discussion in

the legislature of the proposed "anti-terrorism law" is a

clear sign of divisions in the governing coalition, Reuters

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 June 2000). Opposition

deputy Dragoljub Micunovic said: "It was clear that the law

would not get support, so the government did not want to risk

putting its authority at stake. Withdrawal of the law means a

kind of failure for the government. It is also obvious that

the [future of the ruling] coalition has been brought into

question" by its internal divisions. The Alliance for Change's

leader Vladan Batic suggested that Vojislav Seselj's radicals

opposed the law because they fear that Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic might some day use it against them. The

Serbian Renewal Movement's Ognjen Pribicevic cautioned,

however, that the impasse in the discussions between the

Seselj and Milosevic factions could prove only temporary.

Pribicevic noted that the government has not withdrawn the

proposed bill but merely postponed legislative debate on it.

PM

[20] BELGRADE REGIME CONTINUES TO HARASS STUDENT ACTIVISTS

Belgrade court on 1 July sentenced Otpor (Resistance) student

movement activist Milos Stojanovic to 10 days in prison

because he "did not have valid residence papers," the private

Beta news agency reported. Police briefly detained nine other

activists in Belgrade, as well as two in Novi Sad. In Gornji

Milanovac, police briefly detained four Otpor activists who

were taking part in a garbage clean-up campaign. Police

questioned them about alleged "anti-state activities," AP

reported. PM

[21] SERBIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN FOUND DEAD IN HUNGARY

Szeged recently found Nenad Mirovic, a veteran activist of the

Vojvodina Reform Party, dead in a motel room, AP reported.

Police Major Tibor Mucsi told AP on 2 July that Mirovic's

death was "a clear case of suicide" by hanging. Mirovic had

been active in the Belgrade-based Center for Anti-War Action

as well as the Aspen Institute's Balkan study group. PM

[22] SERBIAN POLICE EXTRADITE SUSPECT TO MONTENEGRO

police on 30 June arrested a suspect in the attempted

assassination of opposition leader Vuk Draskovic. The police

then turned Vladimir Jovanovic over to their Montenegrin

colleagues. The Montenegrin authorities recently complained of

a lack of cooperation from the Serbian police in the Draskovic

case (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 28 June 2000). Serbian police

Lieutenant Colonel Miodrag Gutic told Reuters that "the moment

we find those persons [wanted by the Montenegrin police] and

arrest them, we will put them on the first train or plane to

Podgorica." Suspect Dusan Spasojevic recently turned himself

in to the Belgrade police, which said he is "too ill" to be

sent to Montenegro. PM

[23] BELGRADE, BAGHDAD CONCLUDE TRADE PACT

Mohammed Mehdi Saleh and his Yugoslav hosts concluded a trade

agreement on 2 July, AP reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30

June 2000.). Saleh said that Iraq will use the UN's oil-for-

food program, which allows it limited exports of oil in

exchange for humanitarian goods, to import what he called "a

wide range of products" from Yugoslavia. Iraq will import

trucks, vans, agricultural vehicles, construction material,

waterworks equipment, and medicines, Saleh noted. He added

that Iraq is interested in buying Yugoslav wheat but noted

that Belgrade may not have any wheat to sell because of a

drought. Saleh stressed that "Iraq will expand cooperation as

much as possible, giving the Yugoslav side special priority,

according to instructions from our President [Saddam

Hussein]," Reuters reported. PM

[24] BATIC: MILOSEVIC TO SELL PART OF TELECOM TO CHINA

leader Batic said in Belgrade on 2 July that the regime plans

to sell Chinese business interests a 35 percent share in

Serbian Telecom in order to raise money for its upcoming

election campaign, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported.

Italian and Greek companies own a 49 percent interest in the

Serbian utility. PM

[25] U.S. TO KEEP CONVOY SUPPORT IN SHTERPCE

Slaten, who is a KFOR spokesman, said at Camp Bondsteel on 1

July that U.S. forces will not provide further escorts for

Serbian convoys from Shterpce to Serbia until local Serbs

"improve their cooperation with KFOR," AP reported. He

stressed that "the intent here is to say that we are not going

to continue to assist the community, pay for things, when they

themselves are causing us trouble and destroying what we are

trying to fix" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 June 2000). The next

day, members of the moderate Serbian Civic Council (SNV) met

with U.S. military representatives and persuaded them to

continue the escorts for convoys through areas inhabited

mainly by ethnic Albanians. The SNV said in a statement that

the U.S. representatives accepted the SNV's argument that all

Serbs should not be penalized because of the disruptive

actions of a few supporters of the Belgrade regime, RFE/RL's

South Slavic Service reported. PM

[26] KOSOVA SERB MODERATES TO WORK WITH HAGUE TRIBUNAL

Janjic, who is a leader of moderate Serbs in the SNV, told

representatives of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal in

Gracanica on 2 July about "the sufferings" of local Serbs

during and after the 1999 conflict in Kosova. He pledged to

provide documentation to the tribunal, RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service reported. It is not clear if the documentation will

include evidence about the activities of local Serbian

paramilitaries against ethnic Albanians during the conflict.

PM

[27] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT TO RUN FOR SECOND TERM...

interview with the Antena 1 private television channel on

30 June, President Emil Constantinescu said he will run for

a second term and will nominate incumbent Premier Mugur

Isarescu to head the cabinet if he wins. Constantinescu

described Isarescu as "the best premier after 1989 and one

of the best Romania has ever had." The National Peasant

Party Christian Democratic has already announced that it

will back a Constantinescu-Isarescu team but the National

Liberal Party (PNL), which is other main formation in the

Democratic Convention of Romania, has made no such

statement and last week failed to attend a planned meeting

with Constantinescu. The PNL is contemplating running

jointly with the Alliance for Romania (APR) and backing APR

leader Teodor Melescanu for president and former premier

Theodor Stolojan for premier. MS

[28] ...SAYS PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS BROKE UN EMBARGO ON YUGOSLAVIA

"massive breach" of the UN oil embargo imposed on

Yugoslavia. He said that the Romanian Intelligence Service

and the custom authorities were behind that breach, having

followed "orders from above," and that an investigation

into the affair is under way. Constantinescu said former

President Ion Iliescu and Melescanu, who at the time was

foreign minister, are to be held responsible, "regardless

of whether they knew" what was happening. Iliescu responded

that Constantinescu's allegations "carry a strong dose of

electioneering" and that it is "strange, unacceptable and

dangerous" for a president to comment on an investigation

that has not ended. Melescanu said Constantinescu is

"abusing his position" to "indulge in electoral propaganda"

and, after nearly four years in office, still does not

realize that the Foreign Ministry does not deal with such

matters. MS

[29] INTERNAL RIFTS PLAGUE ETHNIC HUNGARIAN PARTY IN ROMANIA

of Romania (UDMR) openly clashed at the party's Council of

Representatives meeting in Targu Mures on 30 June-2 July,

Romanian media reported. UDMR chairman Bela Marko and his

backers called on the "radical wing," headed by honorary

chairman Bishop Laszlo Toekes, to either restore UDMR unity

or leave the federation. Toekes had sent a letter to the

meeting demanding a change of leadership. Each side accused

the other of responsibility for the loss of mayoralties in

Targu Mures and Odorheiul Secuiesc in the recent local

elections. Odorheiul Secuiesc Mayor-elect Jenoe Szasz, a

UDMR member who ran as an independent, rejected the

accusation he "self-expelled himself from the UDMR." The

council endorsed the May decision to "suspend" Eloed

Kincses, a Toekes supporter, as the leader of the Targu

Mures branch. MS

[30] BULGARIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVES BULGARBANK SALE

on 30 June approved the sale of Bulgaria's largest

commercial bank to an Italian-German consortium, AP

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 June 2000). The

consortium will pay 360 million euros ($340 million) for a

98 percent stake in Bulgarbank, the country's fifth bank to

be privatized. The decision was taken despite President

Petar Stoyanov's earlier announcement that he will meet

with both proponents and opponents of the deal upon his

return from Switzerland on 3 July. Earlier, dpa reported

that the parliament has rejected a resolution proposed by

the opposition Socialist Party to put all privatization

deals under the control of the parliament. The legislature

decided, however, to improve control over companies that

make bids in privatization deals. MS

[31] BULGARIA CONFIRMS INTENTION TO PURCHASE U.S. FIGHTERS

after his return from a visit to the U.S. that Bulgaria

is considering the purchase of an unspecified number of

F-16 fighters, having the discussed the matter with

Pentagon officials, AP reported. Noev said Bulgaria faces

growing difficulties in maintaining its Soviet-made

planes, which are almost entirely grounded owing to a

lack of spare parts. He also said Russia has failed to

meet its commitments to pay some of its $100 million debt

with spare parts for the planes. "It is only natural,"

Noev commented, "for Bulgaria to gradually switch to

armaments that are standard with its allies and friends."

MS

[C] END NOTE

[32] A RUSSIAN-IRANIAN RAPPROCHEMENT

Russia and Iran have upgraded their military ties, a move

that represents both a response to growing Western

influence in the countries of the southern Caucasus and a

challenge to the existing balance in the Middle East.

The head of the Russian Defense Ministry's

international military cooperation department, Colonel

General Leonid Ivashov, last week led the first Russian

military delegation to Tehran since 1991. Following

meetings with senior Iranian officials, he and his hosts

announced their intention to move toward what they called

"planned military cooperation."

That cooperation, press accounts suggested, will

build on already close Russian-Iranian ties and will

include regular consultations between the staffs of the

armed forces of the two countries on both military

questions and political issues of common concern. Among

the results of this visit alone was an invitation from

the Russian side for Iranian President Mohammad Khatami

to visit Moscow in the near future.

But both sides clearly view these expanded ties as

having a far larger meaning than simple consultations: In

his remarks to the media, Ivashov suggested that Moscow

and Tehran are now able not only "to determine the common

menace to the security of our two states" but also to

agree on "methods for its neutralization."

Iranian officials have noted the ways in which such

cooperation will contribute to a further expansion of

Russian involvement in the construction of nuclear power

facilities at Bushehr, cooperation that many analysts

have suggested could allow Tehran to build nuclear

weapons.

These talks appear to have focused on three such

threats: from expanded U.S. and NATO involvement in the

countries of the southern Caucasus, from the existing

balance of power in the Middle East, and from the

uncertain developments in Afghanistan.

Russian press commentaries recently have become more

explicit about how Moscow and Tehran view the situation

in the southern Caucasus. They suggest that the two

countries are "disturbed" by efforts of the U.S. and NATO

to expand their influence in the region and to "exert

influence" on conflicts there, including resolution of

the Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Indeed, the very timing of Ivashov's trip to Tehran

underscores these concerns: last month, Washington hosted

both Armenian President Robert Kocharian and Azerbaijani

Defense Minister Safar Abiev for separate talks about

that conflict and expanded U.S. military cooperation with

Baku, respectively.

Moreover, Iran's ambassador to Russia Mehdi Safari

told the Moscow newspaper "Vek" that Western plans for

constructing a gas pipeline under the Caspian Sea

reflected political rather than economic calculations and

that "Iran and Russia are categorically opposed" to such

a pipeline as well as to "the transportation of gas to

Europe via Azerbaijan and Turkey."

The meeting between defense officials from the two

countries also represents a challenge to the existing

power relationships in the Middle East. Not only does it

challenge the cooperative relationship between Israel,

Turkey, and the U.S. by creating an alternative axis of

power, but it signals that Moscow may try to use its ties

with Iran to expand its participation in security

discussions across that region.

Indeed, lest anyone miss that aspect of the

meeting's message, Iran's official news agency IRNA noted

that the talks were taking place, "despite deep concern

by the U.S. and Israel."

But in addition, the two sides also discussed an

issue that concerns them both but for which neither has

found an adequate response. That is the deteriorating

situation in Afghanistan and the potential that

instability, terrorism, and drugs from there may spread

to Iran, Russia or Russia's Central Asian allies.

Iran currently is trying to tighten its border with

Afghanistan. Russia has warned that it has even

considered air strikes against Afghan targets. But

neither country seems to have found an answer to the

ideological challenge presented by Afghanistan's Taliban.

Now, the two countries are likely to be discussing

that as well. But it remains to be seen whether this and

the other challenges they both agree on will outweigh the

cultural and political factors that often have left

Russia and Iran at odds.

03-07-00

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