RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 141, 00-07-25

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. 141, 25 July 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] U.S. TO PROVIDE ARMENIA WITH BORDER CONTROL EQUIPMENT

[02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SETS CONDITIONS FOR ELECTION

[03] ...APPEALS TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE

[04] U.S. EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER AZERBAIJANI ELECTION

[05] AZERBAIJAN'S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION DECIDES TO ALLOW

[06] GERMAN OIL COMPANY'S OFFICE SEALED IN AZERBAIJAN

[07] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS SIGNING OF CONTROVERSIAL ABKHAZ

[08] ...AS DISPLACED PERSONS DEMAND REPRESENTATION AT PEACE

[09] OIL CONSORTIUM RELEASES DATA ON KAZAKH OIL, GAS FIND

[10] TAJIK MINISTER EVALUATES CRIMES FIGURES

[11] TURKMENISTAN RULES OUT DISCUSSION OF CASPIAN AT CIS SUMMIT

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] YUGOSLAV ARMY CLOSES MONTENEGRIN-ALBANIAN FRONTIER

[13] MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER SAYS ARMY NOT 'LEGITIMATE'

[14] KOSOVA LEADERS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE

[15] BELGRADE SEEKS TO PREVENT SERBS FROM REGISTERING IN KOSOVA

[16] PANIC SEES INDEPENDENT EX-YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS TOGETHER IN

[17] SERBIAN JOURNALIST GOES ON TRIAL FOR 'ESPIONAGE'

[18] RFE/RL JOURNALISTS: 'WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK'

[19] MILOSEVIC FOR ANOTHER NINE YEARS?

[20] SERBIAN COMPANIES WANT EU TO TAKE THEM OFF 'WHITE LIST'

[21] EVICTIONS OF MUSLIMS BEGIN AMID TIGHT SECURITY

[22] MUSLIM, U.S. OFFICIALS CONDEMN ARSON IN SREBRENICA

[23] CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER TO BOSNIA

[24] NO BAILOUT FOR CROATIAN SOCCER CLUBS

[25] PROSECUTORS QUESTION FORMER ROMANIAN PREMIER OVER YUGOSLAV

[26] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS POSTPONEMENT OF

[27] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT TO PROMULGATE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

[28] TRANSDNIESTER GROUP DECLARES ITSELF BRANCH OF RUSSIA'S UNITY

[C] END NOTE

[29] WHY THE WEST DOESN'T AND WON'T INVEST IN RUSSIA

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] U.S. TO PROVIDE ARMENIA WITH BORDER CONTROL EQUIPMENT

an agreement signed in Washington on 24 July by U.S.

Secretary of Defense William Cohen and visiting Armenian

Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian, the U.S. will provide

Yerevan with $300,000 worth of equipment and training to

improve customs and border controls, the FNS reported. The

equipment includes devices to detect nuclear, chemical, and

biological weapons or their components. AP quoted Sarkisian

as saying that Yerevan expects to develop military-to-

military relations with the U.S. once the Karabakh conflict

is resolved. LF

[02] AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION SETS CONDITIONS FOR ELECTION

Twelve Azerbaijani opposition parties issued

a joint statement in Baku on 24 July saying they will

participate in the 5 November parliamentary poll only if the

authorities amend the election law to conform with

recommendations made by the OSCE's Office for Democratic

Institutions and Human Rights, ITAR-TASS reported. Those

amendments include changing the ratio of seats in the new

parliament allocated under the majoritarian and the

proportional systems from 100:25 to 75:50 and abolishing the

restriction that allows only parties that were officially

registered with the Ministry of Justice six months prior to

the announcement of the election date to participate in the

ballot. LF

[03] ...APPEALS TO COUNCIL OF EUROPE

Azerbaijan Popular Front, the Azerbaijan National

Independence Party, Musavat, the Democratic Party of

Azerbaijan, and the Civil Solidarity Party--have written to

Lord Russell Johnston, president of the Parliamentary

Assembly of the Council of Europe, arguing that the law on

elections signed on 5 July by President Heidar Aliev does not

conform with the joint statement on democratization made to

the Council of Europe in March by the Azerbaijani authorities

and opposition, Turan reported. That statement included a

commitment to holding elections in conformity with

international standards. The opposition appealed to the PACE

president to monitor more closely the Azerbaijani

authorities' compliance with their commitments in that

sphere. The Council of Europe voted last month to admit

Azerbaijan to full membership (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 29 June

2000). LF

[04] U.S. EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER AZERBAIJANI ELECTION

In a statement released on 24 July, deputy U.S.

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said the U.S.

"regrets" the 21 July decision by the Azerbaijani parliament

to amend the law on the Central Electoral Commission to

deprive the opposition of the power to influence decisions

taken either by that body or its local equivalents, dpa

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 July 2000). Reeker said

that move "raises questions about whether a fair and

impartial vote count can be conducted" in the November poll.

LF

[05] AZERBAIJAN'S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION DECIDES TO ALLOW

Azerbaijan's Central Electoral Commission

decided on 24 July that Azerbaijani citizens living outside

the country are eligible to cast their ballots in the 5

November parliamentary poll, Turan reported. The six

opposition representatives on the commission boycotted the

session, which elected the commission's chairman and one of

its two secretaries. LF

[06] GERMAN OIL COMPANY'S OFFICE SEALED IN AZERBAIJAN

police on 23 July sealed the Baku office of the Wintershall

oil company, Turan reported. The agency quoted a National

Security Ministry spokesman as saying a statement clarifying

the motives for that move will be issued "soon." Wintershall

owns a 10 percent stake in the consortium formed in January

1997 to exploit the Lenkoran-Talysh Deniz Caspian offshore

oilfield. LF

[07] GEORGIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS SIGNING OF CONTROVERSIAL ABKHAZ

Eduard Shevardnadze told journalists in Tbilisi

on 24 July that he sees no alternative to a peaceful

resolution of the Abkhaz conflict, Caucasus Press reported.

But Shevardnadze added that he does not exclude the

possibility that some unnamed factions may be preparing

secretly to resolve the issue by force. Shevardnadze also

said that there are no grounds to criticize Minister of State

Gia Arsenishvili for putting his signature to the 11 July

joint protocol on stabilization measures in the conflict

zone. Representatives of the Georgian displaced persons from

Abkhazia have criticized the article of that protocol that

envisages legal measures against persons who advocate

resolving the conflict by force (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17

and 21 July 2000). LF

[08] ...AS DISPLACED PERSONS DEMAND REPRESENTATION AT PEACE

Meanwhile, the participants in a round-table

discussion of ways to resolve the conflict have advocated

that the displaced persons be represented in the ongoing

peace process, Caucasus Press reported on 24 July. In a

statement addressed to Shevardnadze, they argued that the

negotiations currently in progress exacerbate tensions rather

than contribute to a solution. LF

[09] OIL CONSORTIUM RELEASES DATA ON KAZAKH OIL, GAS FIND

Offshore Kazakhstan International Operating Company (OKIOC),

which is composed of nine international oil companies,

officially confirmed on 24 July that its first test well has

located substantial reserves of oil and gas at Kazakhstan's

East Kashagan field, the "Wall Street Journal" reported.

Kazakh officials have suggested that East Kashagan is one of

the largest fields discovered in recent decades. An OKIOC

spokesman said the oil is of good quality, although it

contains some hydrogen sulfide. OKIOC will drill a second

test well later this year. LF

[10] TAJIK MINISTER EVALUATES CRIMES FIGURES

Interior Minister Khumdin Sharipov told a session of the

ministry's board on 21 July that the percentage of crimes

solved during the first six months of 2000 was up 7.1 percent

on the corresponding period in 1999, Asia Plus-Blitz

reported. The percentage of serious crimes solved rose by 6.7

percent and economic crimes 15.6 percent. Police confiscated

260 tons of contraband aluminum destined for illegal export

and intercepted 600 kilograms of drugs, including 300

kilograms of heroin. The published account of Sharipov's

address did not reveal any comparative data on the number of

crimes actually committed throughout Tajikistan. In Dushanbe,

however, 2,565 crimes were committed between January and June

2000, which is an increase of 295 over the first six months

of the previous year, according to Interior Ministry data

cited by Asia Plus-Blitz on 19 July. But at the same time,

serious crimes fell by 22.1 percent. Sharipov nonetheless

criticized the Dushanbe police force's failure to stem

economic crime and drug-trafficking. LF

[11] TURKMENISTAN RULES OUT DISCUSSION OF CASPIAN AT CIS SUMMIT

July that his country will not take part in any discussion of

Caspian issues to which Iran is not also invited, Russian

agencies reported. At the same time, Shikhmuradov rejected

the proposal floated by Russian diplomatic sources to convene

a discussion of the Caspian, to which Iranian President

Mohammad Khatami would be invited, during the October CIS

summit in Minsk. Shikhmuradov said the Caspian issue is "too

big" to be discussed at such a forum. He noted that

Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov has advocated

convening a special summit of Caspian littoral states. LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[12] YUGOSLAV ARMY CLOSES MONTENEGRIN-ALBANIAN FRONTIER

Albanian police chief Zija Hasa said in Shkoder on 24 July

that Yugoslav army troops have recently turned back at least

300 Albanians at the Bozaj border crossing because they had

no Yugoslav visas, which Hasa called "a pretext," Reuters

reported. He said that the Yugoslav army recently increased

its presence in the border area. Montenegrin and Albanian

authorities previously agreed not to require visas for cross-

border traffic. The Yugoslav embassy in Tirana, which

normally issues visas, has been closed since 1998. In the

Albanian capital, Foreign Ministry spokesman Sokol Gjoka said

that "this is a closure of Montenegro to Albanians," adding

that "Belgrade wants to keep fires burning in the Balkans."

PM

[13] MONTENEGRIN PRIME MINISTER SAYS ARMY NOT 'LEGITIMATE'

of 25 July that the army has long ceased to be "legitimate."

He said that Belgrade has used the army for the past two

years to undermine the Montenegrin authorities. PM

[14] KOSOVA LEADERS CALL FOR END TO VIOLENCE

Washington, several leading personalities from Kosova agreed

on the need to halt all violence in the province. The leaders

included Bishop Artemije, Father Sava, and Slavica Ristic

from the Serbian community and Ibrahim Rugova and Hashim

Thaci from the Albanians, the BBC's Serbian Service reported

on 25 July. PM

[15] BELGRADE SEEKS TO PREVENT SERBS FROM REGISTERING IN KOSOVA

force in Kosova, said that fewer than 1 percent of eligible

Serbs registered to vote because the Belgrade authorities had

pressured them not to do so. He added that the forms of

intimidation included threats of legal prosecution should

registered voters visit Serbia, arrest on espionage charges,

possible violence, and suspension of pensions, London's "The

Independent" reported on 25 July. Daan Everts, who is the

OSCE's chief representative in Kosova, noted that "it is in

the interest of [Yugoslav President Slobodan] Milosevic to

suppress any involvement of the Serb community in Kosovo with

the democratic process." Everts also noted that about 1

million ethnic Albanians registered, which he called a

"spectacular success." PM

[16] PANIC SEES INDEPENDENT EX-YUGOSLAV REPUBLICS TOGETHER IN

Former Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Panic told the

Rijeka daily "Novi List" of 25 July that he strongly supports

Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, whom he called "our

hope." Panic added that he favors independence for Kosova

"but within a united Europe in which borders are no longer

important. Now the most important issue is to get rid of the

extremists on both sides" in that province. He predicted that

bonds would become close between Serbia and Croatia once both

join the EU because "they are more linked by love than by

hate." PM

[17] SERBIAN JOURNALIST GOES ON TRIAL FOR 'ESPIONAGE'

of Miroslav Filipovic for "espionage and spreading false

news" began in a military court in Nis on 25 July, Reuters

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 2000). He works for

the independent daily "Danas" and freelances for AFP and the

London-based Institute for War and Peace Reporting. His

lawyer has repeatedly stressed that Filipovic always signed

all his articles, including those on military affairs and

anti-military protests. Numerous international human rights

and journalists' organizations have condemned the trial as a

farce aimed at intimidating journalists. PM

[18] RFE/RL JOURNALISTS: 'WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK'

correspondents for RFE/RL's South Slavic Service told a press

conference in Nis that they will continue to do their jobs,

despite recent threats from Yugoslav Information Minister

Goran Matic against them (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 25 July

2000). Belgrade bureau chief Milica Lucic-Cavic stressed that

the real reason that the government opposes the station is

that it is the foreign broadcaster with the largest audience

in Serbia, namely 14 percent of the total population, "Danas"

reported. She rejected Matic's charges that the station is a

"propaganda arm" of U.S. foreign policy, adding that she and

her colleagues do not consider themselves propagandists for

anyone. PM

[19] MILOSEVIC FOR ANOTHER NINE YEARS?

parliament approved new electoral legislation on 24 July. The

measures are aimed at bringing the law code into line with

recent constitutional amendments designed to allow Milosevic

to stay in office for eight more years after his current term

ends in 2001 (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 11 July 2000).

Opposition legislator Vladeta Jankovic told AP that the

ruling parties are treating Milosevic like "a deity in

primitive religions." Elsewhere, opposition leaders on 25

July are discussing whether to participate in the widely

expected elections and, if so, who will run against

Milosevic. Recent polls show that he is the most popular

single candidate, receiving the support of about 15 percent

of respondents. Most leading opposition candidates stand at

about 6 percent. Serbian polls usually show a large

percentage of undecided respondents. PM

[20] SERBIAN COMPANIES WANT EU TO TAKE THEM OFF 'WHITE LIST'

of Commerce on 24 July that they want the EU to remove their

names from its list of 189 companies exempt from sanctions

lest they be regarded in Serbia as "NATO collaborators,"

Reuters reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 21 July 2000). All

eight companies have majority foreign capital, and some of

them do much of their business with the EU. They are Pitura,

Tehnogas, Milsped, Saga, VF-TEL-Siemens, Auto Nena, Korpus,

and Petro-Farma. PM

[21] EVICTIONS OF MUSLIMS BEGIN AMID TIGHT SECURITY

Muslim police, assisted by UN police and SFOR, began evicting

Muslim squatters from Serbian homes in the Maglaj area on 24

July (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 21 July 2000). Foreign

Islamic fighters will be last of the squatters to be evicted,

Reuters reported. One of the foreign-born men now married to

a Bosnian wife said that he bought his house legally from a

Serb and than many other ex-fighters have bought enough land

in the area to build homes for "35 families." He stressed

that he has no intention of giving up property that he

legally owns. PM

[22] MUSLIM, U.S. OFFICIALS CONDEMN ARSON IN SREBRENICA

embassy issued a statement on 24 July condemning the apparent

arson attacks on three Muslim-owned homes in the Srebrenica

area in the previous three days. The statement added that as

a result of these incidents, "five houses [have been] burned

in eight days, 10 in the past month," Reuters reported.

Muslim Mayor Nesib Mandzic noted the attacks were meant to

intimidate Muslims from going home, adding that in any case

"we will continue with reconstruction and returns." PM

[23] CROATIAN PRIME MINISTER TO BOSNIA

Mostar on 27 July. His visit is aimed at underscoring the

change in Croatia's Bosnian policy since the new government

took office at the beginning of the year, "Jutarnji list"

reported on 25 July. He will examine the ruins of the

historical stone bridge that Croatian gunners destroyed in

November 1993 and discuss Croatian aid in restoring it. PM

[24] NO BAILOUT FOR CROATIAN SOCCER CLUBS

Crkvenac rejected a suggestion that the government write off

$72 million in debts for four soccer clubs, RFE/RL's South

Slavic Service reported from Zagreb on 24 July. The teams are

Dinamo, Hajduk, Rijeka, and Osijek. Dinamo and Hajduk are

bitter rivals and the two best-known teams in the country. PM

[25] PROSECUTORS QUESTION FORMER ROMANIAN PREMIER OVER YUGOSLAV

Nicolae Vacaroiu told prosecutors in

Bucharest on 24 July that all Romanian oil exports to

Yugoslavia in 1994-1995 complied with UN Security Council

restrictions. He said those exports were intend to keep in

operation Yugoslavia's power grid and its power plant at the

Iron Gates along the River Danube. Vacaroiu said he has no

knowledge of the 1,000 tanker trucks that departed from the

western town of Jimbolia to Yugoslavia, RFE/RL's Bucharest

bureau reported. His government had claimed at the time that

only private individuals had engaged in oil smuggling, but

media reports comment that 1,000 tanker trucks could not

possibly have left the country without the authorities'

knowledge. The investigation started in 1997, when Vacaroiu's

cabinet was no longer in power. MS

[26] FORMER ROMANIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS POSTPONEMENT OF

Party of Social Democracy in Romania (PDSR)

chairman Ion Iliescu on 24 July rejected the proposal that

parliamentary elections scheduled for the fall be postponed

for three months, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The

constitution provides for postponing general elections, but

not the presidential ballot. Media outlets have proposed

delaying the elections, suggesting that the election

campaign would impede the parliamentary debate on the

country's 2001 budget. Iliescu said he had written to

Premier Mugur Isarescu warning against postponing the vote.

He emphasized that the cabinet and the outgoing parliament

have sufficient time to meet the 1 November deadline for

the budget's approval. Greater Romania Party leader

Corneliu Vadim Tudor also rejected the idea, while speakers

for the ruling coalition were more ambivalent, saying there

are grounds both to favor a postponement and to oppose it.

MS

[27] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT TO PROMULGATE PARLIAMENTARY REPUBLIC

Presidential spokesman Anatol Golea on 24 July told

journalists that President Petru Lucinschi will promulgate

"within a few days" the law transforming Moldova into a

parliamentary republic. On 21 July, the legislature

overrode Lucinschi's veto of the law, which means he must

now sign the legislation within two weeks. Golea also said

the parliament must debate by 13 January 2001 Lucinschi's

initiative for holding a plebiscite on a law providing for

the presidential powers to be increased. Lucinschi's

mandate ends on 15 January 2001. MS

[28] TRANSDNIESTER GROUP DECLARES ITSELF BRANCH OF RUSSIA'S UNITY

A group of Transdniester businessmen have set up a

branch of Russia's Unity party, a Tiraspol correspondent for

the Flux agency reported on 24 July. Local media reports said

Unity parliamentary group deputies in the Russian State Duma

participated in the founding congress of Unity-Transdniester.

The 322 delegates said Unity-Transdniester will form "a

bridge between Moscow and Tiraspol." Tiraspol Supreme Soviet

deputy Viktor Belitchenko appealed to the Russian guests to

"show courage and recognize the Transdniester." The Duma

deputies told the delegates that "Russians can now count on

their country's help, no matter where they live." MS

[C] END NOTE

[29] WHY THE WEST DOESN'T AND WON'T INVEST IN RUSSIA

A new book entitled "Why Russia Is Not America," by

Andrei Parshev, has caused a sensation among

intellectuals in Moscow. Published by Moscow's pro-

Communist publishing house "Krymskii-Most-9D" and on

several Internet sites, it has been hotly discussed in

Web forums ranging from the one maintained by liberal

Anatolii Chubais to the "Moskovskii komsomolets"

electronic club. It has also appeared on dozens of

nationalist and anti-Western Websites.

Parshev's book has attracted attention because the

author considers Russian economic problems in terms of

the paradigm of the emerging world market, something few

other Russian writers have done. He begins by rejecting

the ideas of nostalgic pro-Soviet economists who

continue to believe in Russia's uniqueness as well as

those of reformers who see Russia's problems in the

incompleteness of its transition to capitalism.

In fact, Parshev notes, both those groups assume

that the West want to buy up Russian assets, which the

first sees as something bad for Russia and the second as

something very good. But they are both wrong, Parshev

suggests. And he argues that Russian investors actually

have little interest in making such purchases because

Russian assets are mostly unprofitable.

According to Parshev, the decisive indicator of the

success potential of a national economy is the

competitiveness of its goods and services, not their

quality and certainly not their uniqueness. And this

competitiveness is defined entirely by the ratio between

the world price and the local production costs.

Unfortunately for Russia, Parshev continues, those costs

are far higher on its territory than those virtually

anywhere else, reflecting the country's size and harsh

climate.

In this context, he cites the conclusions of

Chubais's former deputy, Alfred Kokh, who said that

foreign investors will find no profit in either the

production or the export of Russia's mineral wealth:

"For the West it is not profitable to recover oil in

Siberia, as long as there is Kuwait. There you just moor

a tanker at the seashore and you can pump the oil

practically directly into it. Nor is it profitable to

transport coal from the Kusbass, if it can be delivered

by sea from Australia. There, coal deposits are located

virtually on the shore so that you load the ship

directly from coal conveyor."

Kokh continues, "Timber is best obtained not from

the Yenisei but from the Amazon, which does not freeze

and provides better access.... Of cause if we recover

all our resources and deliver them to the market, they

will fetch the world price. But recovery and delivery of

our natural resources cost more than anywhere else in

the world... Our Western partners agree to use mines and

oil fields founded in the Soviet era, but they are not

willing to create new production facilities.

Unfortunately, they are not fools. It is simply too

expensive."

Elsewhere in his book, Parshev cites the conclusion

of liberal Russian economist Vladimir Anrianov that

Russian industrial production costs are far higher than

anywhere else: 2.8 times those of Japan, 2.7 times those

of the United States, and 2.3 times those of Western

European countries.

Parshev then concludes that "we have nothing the

West badly wants. Everything we have is either almost

exhausted or separated from us, together with [Kazakh

President Nursultan] Nazarbaev, or costs too much to

recover. Those who think that our decline can be limited

if we transform ourselves into a raw materials supplier

to the West are incorrigible optimists."

"Enough [of such] illusions, comrades patriots,"

says Parshev. "We can exist as a source of raw materials

only for another five to six years. But even our

pensioners are planning to live a little longer than

that."

The author is a senior fellow with the American Foreign

Policy Council, Washington DC.

25-07-00

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