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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 5, No. 135, 01-07-19Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>RFE/RL NEWSLINEVol. 5, No. 135, 19 July 2001CONTENTS[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA
[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE
[C] END NOTE
[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA[01] SPLIT WITHIN ARMENIAN COALITION PARTY DEEPENS...A further nine members of the 20-person People's Party of Armenia (HZhK) parliament faction warned the party's leader, Stepan Demirchian, on 18 July to desist from further criticism of those leading party members who advocate continued cooperation with the government, or risk splitting the HZhK, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. In a written statement, the nine also condemned the HZhK political council for calling last week for the expulsion from the party's 117-member board of parliament speaker Armen Khachatrian and his deputy Gagik Aslanian. Khachatrian resigned from the HZhK on 17 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). HZhK Secretary Vardan Mkrtchian told Snark on 18 July that Khachatrian's resignation from the party could cost him his post as parliament speaker. LF[02] ...AS DEFECTION THREATENS SURVIVAL OF SECOND PARLIAMENT BLOCAlso on 18 July, parliament deputy Hakob Hakobian announced his decision to leave the Kayunutiun (Stability) parliament bloc to protest what he termed an attempt by the bloc's leader, Vartan Ayvazian, to secure the dismissal of Environment Minister Murad Muradian with the aim of replacing him in that position, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. Hakobian's departure leaves Kayunutiun with only 10 deputies, the minimum number required for a parliament faction. If Ayvazian were to replace Muradian as minister, he would have to resign his mandate, thus effectively ending Kayunutiun's existence. Twelve of Kayunutiun's original 23 members quit earlier this year to join the People's Deputy faction. LF[03] INDEPENDENT AZERBAIJANI TV STATION CLOSESAli Zairov, the general director of the independent ABA TV station, told Turan on 17 July that the station would cease broadcasting that day. He did not explain the reasons for that decision. Zairov informed members of the station's staff, who have not been paid for a month, of the imminent closure at a party the previous evening to celebrate the station's fourth anniversary. ABA TV's president, Faig Zulfugarov, told a press conference on 18 July at the Baku Press Club that the station was closed down as a result of pressure from President Heidar Aliev and his family. Zulfugarov was speaking by telephone from New York, having left Azerbaijan in June. "Yeni Musavat" on 18 July cited a letter addressed by Zulfugarov to President Aliev in which he said he intends to request political asylum in the U.S. The director of ABA's Financial Department, Shamil Safiev, was arrested in May and accused of withholding tax payments of 650 million manats ($13,000) to the budget. The station mostly broadcast entertainment, rather than news-related programs. LF[04] AZERBAIJANI KARABAKH WAR INVALIDS SENTENCEDAn Azerbaijani court on 19 July passed sentence on a group of Karabakh war invalids charged with violating public order during clashes with police in Baku earlier this year (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 and 21 February 2001), Turan reported. Those clashes took place when police intervened to end a hunger strike the invalids had declared in support of their demands for an increase in their meager pensions and allowances. Sixteen defendants received prison terms of between one and six years, while seven others received three-year suspended sentences. One of those sentenced slashed his veins in the courtroom when the sentence was read out. LF[05] AZERBAIJAN'S MUSLIM LEADER DENIES THAT POPE IS TO VISITThere is no truth to media reports that Pope John Paul II plans to visit Azerbaijan next year, nor has he been invited to pay such a visit, Azerbaijan's leading Muslim clergyman, Sheikh-ul-Islam Allakhshukur Pasha- zade, told Turan on 19 July. But he acknowledged that such a visit would be "useful." Interfax had reported the previous day, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources in Baku, that the pontiff will visit Azerbaijan in September 2002. LF[06] MORE HOSTAGES RELEASED IN EASTERN GEORGIAAt talks on 18 July between representatives of the local Georgian police and Kists (Georgian Chechens) resident in eastern Georgia's Pankisi gorge, agreement was reached on the exchange of all persons held hostage in the gorge and elsewhere in eastern Georgia, Caucasus Press reported. A Georgian vigilante group subsequently freed the last of the Kists and Chechens whom it took hostage on 13 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16, 17 and 18 July 2001), but several foreigners believed to be held hostage in Pankisi have still not been released. LF[07] GEORGIA, RUSSIA FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENT OVER CLOSURE OF RUSSIAN BASE...During talks in Moscow on 17 July, Russian and Georgian officials failed to make any progress on measures to expedite the closure of the Russian military base in Gudauta, Abkhazia, Caucasus Press reported. Specifically, the Russian side rejected the Georgian demand to dismantle the radar system and runway of the military airfield at that base to preclude its use by the Abkhaz armed forces. The two sides did agree, however, that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov and Georgian Foreign Minister Irakli Menagharishvili will meet as planned in Moscow on 27 July for further talks on the fate of the base. LF[08] ...PROMPTING GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT PROTEST...Meeting in emergency session on 18 July, the Georgian parliament adopted a statement expressing its "deep concern" at Russia's failure to withdraw from Gudauta by the 30 June deadline, which it qualified as "a gross violation of Georgia's sovereignty, clear support for the Abkhaz separatist regime" and as an attempt to legalize the annexation in 1994 of part of Georgia's territory. The statement also asked the OSCE to evaluate Moscow's violation of the Joint Statement adopted at the OSCE 1999 Istanbul Summit in accordance with which Moscow pledged to vacate the Gudauta base. LF[09] ...WHILE MOSCOW EXPRESSES 'CONCERN' AT 'TERRORISM'In a statement released on 18 July, the Russian Foreign Ministry expressed concern at the terrorist killings in Abkhazia, including attacks on the Russian peacekeeping force there, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus Press reported. It said those attacks should not simply be condemned but "decisively stopped," and that they undermine efforts by the international community and the Russian government to mediate a political solution to the conflict. LF[10] KAZAKHSTAN REVISES TIMETABLE FOR PRIVATIZING 'BLUE-CHIP' COMPANIESThe Kazakh government will begin selling off the remaining state-owned stakes in so-called "blue chip" companies, including KazTsink and the Ust- Kamenogorsk titanium-magnesium combine, in 2002, Finance Minister Mazhit Esenbaev told journalists in Astana on 18 July. Under a state program approved two years ago, those companies were scheduled to be privatized by the end of last year. LF[11] EU CALLS ON KAZAKHSTAN, KYRGYZSTAN TO LIVE UP TO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENTSDuring talks in Brussels on 17 July, EU officials including Belgian State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Annemie Neyts warned both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan that economic reforms "should go hand in hand" with respect for human rights and democratic freedoms, Reuters reported. That agency quoted an unnamed European diplomat as saying that "to provide a solid basis for foreign investment you need to give assurances on democratic freedoms and human rights," and that corruption is more likely to flourish in an environment where media freedom is restricted. Neyts also urged the Kyrgyz leadership to remove barriers to foreign investment and trade, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev earlier this week announced plans to create a council to promote foreign investment (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 17 July 2001). LF[12] DETAINED KYRGYZ HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST RELEASEDNoomanjan Arkabaev, the coordinator in Osh Oblast for the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights, was released on 18 July after 21 days in detention, RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. The criminal charges against him have not been dropped, however. Arkabaev is accused of instigating public disorder and the overthrow of the constitutional system. Those charges are based on 42 leaflets found during a search of his office calling for the resignation of President Akaev. Arkabaev claims the leaflets were planted there (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). LF[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE[13] MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTER SAYS WEST BACKS 'TERRORISTS'Ljubco Georgievski slammed the latest Western peace proposal as brutal interference into the internal affairs of his country, Reuters reported on 18 July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). Georgievski stated that the proposal aims to impose federalization on Macedonia. "As much as their text is brutal, more brutal and worrying is the fashion in which they are trying to break up state institutions in Macedonia," he said. He told journalists that "the masks are off and it is obvious that the terrorist actions in Macedonia are seriously supported [by] the Western democracies." Georgievski's latest statements came after Francois Leotard of the EU and U.S. envoy James Pardew had presented the ethnic Macedonian political parties with the latest compromise they worked out with ethnic Albanian leaders. Georgievski accused the mediators of displaying a "cowboy style," "The Washington Post" reported. UB/PM[14] MACEDONIAN TALKS HEADING FOR COLLAPSE?"The Washington Post" reported on 19 July that the ethnic Macedonian leadership is preparing its voters for the possibility that the negotiations may soon collapse. President Boris Trajkovski said: "The reason we are here today is because a group of armed and violent extremists are bent on using guns to achieve power, either political or economic. Let us also be clear about one thing. If we cannot come to an agreement today or tomorrow, there will not be a war." Defense Ministry spokesman Marjan Djurovski noted that "it's possible there will be a new escalation of the conflict in the crisis zones. The cease-fire is holding up with difficulty because provocations by the Albanian terrorists who do not respect it are becoming more and more frequent." NATO officials note that both sides have been using the cease-fire to resupply and regroup. PM[15] ROBERTSON, SOLANA NOT TO GO TO MACEDONIA...One unnamed Western diplomat told "The Washington Post" on 19 July in Skopje that "it's a tragedy." He blamed the Macedonians for reacting to the compromise in an emotional fashion, adding that the Macedonians "get almost everything they want and give up very little in return." The daily also noted that NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson and EU security policy chief Javier Solana will not go to Skopje on 19 July as planned. Leotard's and Pardew's positions have become more precarious as a result of Macedonian intransigence and Georgievski's statements. They intend to remain in Skopje, however, lest their departure "trigger" new fighting. PM[16] ...CRITICIZE MACEDONIAN PRIME MINISTERRobertson and Solana said in a joint statement in Brussels on 19 July that "Georgievski's statement yesterday in reaction to the proposals of EU and U.S. envoys in Skopje was an undignified response to international efforts to assist in the search for a peaceful solution. It is also disappointing, given that the international facilitators are in Skopje at the invitation of the government, which has been informed of every move made," Reuters reported. PM[17] IS RUSSIA ENCOURAGING MACEDONIAN HARD-LINERS?Some statements made by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov in Rome on 18 July suggest that Moscow is providing at least moral support to the hard- liners in Skopje. Ivanov said that he is against "putting any pressure on the democratic government of Macedonia in the interests of some groups that operate within the constitution of that country," particularly where language rights are concerned, Interfax reported. He added that one should not "put pressure on the democratic government of Macedonia, including in the interests of individual groups... One should be aware that all the events in Macedonia will impact the other countries of the region. If we make concessions to the minority here, no one can guarantee that this will not reflect on the situation in other countries of this region," he said. Moscow firmly supports the hard-liners in Belgrade and Skopje, and enjoys little, if any, influence with the ethnic Albanians of the region (see "RFE/RL Balkan Report," 23 March 2001). PM[18] TWO EXPLOSIONS IN MACEDONIAN CAPITALOne woman was injured when an explosive device went off under her car in a largely Macedonian-inhabited part of Skopje, an Interior Ministry spokesman said on 19 July, dpa reported. In a separate incident, unknown persons tossed a grenade into a store in the northern part of town, which is inhabited chiefly by Albanians. Nobody was injured, but material damage was reported. Police are investigating both incidents. PM[19] MACEDONIAN GOVERNMENT CHANGES INFORMATION POLICYThe newly formed Crisis Management Body decided on 16 July to introduce a new information policy, the Skopje daily "Utrinski vesnik" reported on 18 July. The step follows tough criticism of the group by Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski. In an interview with the Skopje daily "Vest" on 13 July, he had denounced the government's information policy as chaotic. The Crisis Management Body now plans a broad media campaign based on "positive reporting" of the government's actions against the ethnic Albanian insurgents of the National Liberation Army (UCK). UB[20] NATO URGES SERBIAN SUPPORT FOR KOSOVA ELECTIONSRobertson told Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic and Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic in Brussels on 18 July that it is important that Kosova's Serbian minority take part in the 17 November general elections, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 July 2001). Robertson called the talks "constructive and highly professional." Covic said that "we do not want to be part of the problem any more. We want to participate constructively." He added that he realizes that it is unrealistic to expect that Serbian forces will be able to return to Kosova any time soon (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 June 2001). Covic added that Belgrade wants to "make a showcase" out of the Presevo region. Svilanovic stressed that Serbian participation in the elections is directly linked to clarification of the fate of missing Serbs in Kosova. Covic added that Serbs must be able to return and live in safety if they are to take part in the ballot. He noted that a decision on Serbian participation in the vote will be reached soon. PM[21] KOSOVAR LEADERS NOT INTERESTED IN TALKS WITH DJINDJICFormer Kosova guerrilla leaders Hashim Thaci and Agim Ceku said in Prishtina on 18 July that they see no reason to meet with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, who plans to visit Kosova over the weekend, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 July 2001). Djindjic said in Belgrade that he has had no direct reply from the two men, adding that it is not too early to talk. He denied that his government wants the meeting as a publicity exercise. PM[22] SERBIA WANTS QUICK CASHMinister for Foreign Economic Relations Goran Pitic told Reuters in Belgrade on 18 July that his government needs $150 million urgently to make payments to pensioners and other socially vulnerable groups. He added that promised international assistance will not arrive before October (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 and 17 July 2001). PM[23] MILOSEVIC CRONIES CHEATED YUGOSLAV STATE OUT OF $4 BILLIONSome 246 companies that enjoyed special privileges under President Slobodan Milosevic netted extra profits from the scheme worth nearly $4 billion, Yugoslav National Bank chief Mladjan Dinkic said in Belgrade on 18 July, Reuters reported. Dinkic added that "state-run companies used the funds to finance social peace, and private companies used the money to get rich." Some of the firms will have to pay back up to two-thirds of the money in a special tax. The biggest profits went to the NIS group and the Karic brothers, "Danas" reported. PM[24] MILOSEVIC'S WIFE VISITS THE HAGUEMira Markovic was reunited with her husband, Slobodan Milosevic, in The Hague on 19 July, Reuters reported. She is expected to stay in Holland until 21 July. PM[25] OIL SPILL IN MONTENEGROSome 150 tons of oil leaked from a tanker into the port of Bar after a storm on 17 July, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 18 July. Most of the spill has been cleaned up. PM[26] NATO LAUNCHES EXERCISE IN BOSNIASome 2,000 troops from Germany, Spain, France, Italy, and Morocco launched a three-day routine training exercise called Cerberus in Kalinovik on 18 July, AP reported. Kalinovik is the home village of General Ratko Mladic. PM[27] HAGUE WANTS BOSNIAN SERB ARRESTEDOfficials at the war crimes tribunal said on 18 July that they want Bosnian Serb authorities to arrest Stojan Zupljanin, a former aide to Radovan Karadzic, Reuters reported. Zupljanin, who is believed to be living in the Banja Luka area, has been indicted on 12 counts, including torture and crimes against humanity, for atrocities allegedly committed against Muslims and Croats in 1992. PM[28] BOSNIAN WARLORD GOES ON TRIAL IN CROATIAFikret Abdic went on trial for war crimes on 19 July in Karlovac, dpa reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 June 2001). PM[29] BOSNIAN PRIME MINISTER ELECTEDThe legislature elected Zlatko Lagumdzija prime minister on 18 July, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 July 2001). PM[30] ROMANIAN PREMIER TO SEEK EXTENSION FOR CLAIMING RESTITUTION ON STATE PROPERTY...Adrian Nastase said while speaking with Jewish organizations in Tel Aviv on 18 July that his government will try to extend the deadline for filing restitution claims on nationalized property, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. The current deadline is mid-August and many abroad and in Romania advocate extending the date. Nastase added, however, that he cannot make a firm commitment on the extension. "The deadline expires during the parliamentary vacation, so issuing an emergency [extension]...to that effect would be technically difficult," he said. But he added that his government wants "such situations [to] be solved as soon as possible...so that investment and other economic operations can take place on the basis of a clarified status of the property involved." IK[31] ...AND OFFERS NOTED ISRAELI ENTREPRENEUR HUGE BUCHAREST DEVELOPMENT CONTRACTPremier Nastase also met on July 18 with Lev Levayev, the chairman of Africa-Israel Investments Ltd., to offer him a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to build a 33-acre project in downtown Bucharest, according to the Israeli daily "Ma'ariv." An RFE/RL correspondent reported that Levayev insisted that the first step must be to establish the legal ownership status of the land involved. But Levayev's response to the Romanian offer was generally positive. IK[32] EUROPEAN COURT TO HEAR CASE BY MOLDOVAN NATIONALISTS AGAINST RUSSIA AND MOLDOVAThe Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights announced on 18 July that it will hear a case of human rights abuse brought by former political prisoner Ilie Ilascu and some others against both Russia and Moldova, an RFE/RL correspondent reported. Ilascu, who spent nine years imprisoned in the breakaway Transdniester region after being sentenced to death on charges of terrorism, was released in May and is a senator in Bucharest. He filed the lawsuit along with Alexandru Lesco, Andrei Ivantoc, and Tudor Petrov-Popa, who are still serving 12-15 year sentences in Tiraspol. The four accuse Russia and Moldova of human rights abuses, including the right to a free and fair trial, and of subjecting prisoners to inhuman or degrading treatment. IK[33] LEADER OF BULGARIA'S ETHNIC TURKISH PARTY NOT INSISTING ON DEPUTY PREMIER POSTAhmed Dogan, the leader of the ethnic-Turkish party Movement for Rights and Freedom (DPS), said on 18 July that it is not paramount that he be named a deputy premier in the new government, BTA reported. Dogan said: "Personally, I do not insist on being a deputy prime minister." The dailies "Trud" and "Standart News" reported on 18 July that many DPS parliamentary deputies are unhappy with the deal Dogan made with the National Movement Simeon II to join the government. A group of deputies from southern Bulgaria's Kurdjali region want the agreement to be abandoned because they say the DPS received too little and will not be allowed to appoint governors in any of the ethnically mixed regions of Bulgaria. A headline in the daily "Novinar" read: "DPS Rumbles Against Deal With King." Dogan said the DPS was not created for the sake of having "unanimity" of opinion but "for the sake of finding the best option." He added: "Ideal situations are not usually what politicians get." PB[34] MENINGITIS OUTBREAK IN BULGARIAA Bulgarian Health Ministry official said on 18 July that there have recently been 214 cases of viral meningitis reported in southern Bulgaria, AP reported. The official said one small boy has died in the outbreak, which is not large enough to be declared an epidemic. Viral meningitis is an inflammation of the covering of the brain and the spine. It is highly contagious. PB[C] END NOTE[35] ELECTION REMATCH SET FOR NIZHNII NOVGORODBy Oleg RodinThe second round of the gubernatorial election in Nizhnii Novgorod, which is scheduled to take place on 29 July, will pit the two former contenders of the second round of the last gubernatorial election in that region in 1997: a former obkom first secretary, Gennadii Khodyrev, against Ivan Sklyarov, the region's current governor. In the 1997 ballot, Sklyarov won with just some 3 percent more votes than Khodyrev -- but in this year's first round, Khodyrev had 3.62 percent more votes than Sklyarov -- 24.44 percent versus Sklyarov's 20.82 percent, according to a preliminary count of 100 percent of the ballots. Khodyrev, a member of the Communist faction in the State Duma, had not even been expected to finish in the top three candidates. Immediately after the announcement of the preliminary results of the vote, Sklyarov declared that the difference between the ballot's top contenders amounted to only about 14,000-15,000 votes, and as such, is not worth discussing. "The struggle is still ahead," Sklyarov emphasized, calling on all of the region's residents to participate in the second round. Even with the support of the presidential administration, Sklyarov's victory cannot yet be considered a foregone conclusion, if for no other reason than that the first round yielded such a surprising result. It was suggested that Nizhnii Novgorod's 2001 campaign would be the dirtiest the region had seen, and such prognoses turned out to be justified. All of the top contenders in the race were touched by one scandal or another. First of all, the campaign began long before its official start. On the main streets of the oblast's capital, Nizhnii Novgorod, banners appeared with the call for "A new century -- a new governor" -- prompting an investigation by the region's prosecutor and police. The next scandalous action of the new election campaign began with the showing on the local television station, TNT-Nizhnii Novgorod, of a videotaped monologue in which the presidential envoy to the Volga federal district, Sergei Kirienko, discussed Governor Sklyarov with sharp and obvious distaste. Although the recording was made in 1999, its broadcast essentially assisted in the process of establishing Kirienko's control over the oblast administration. A number of Kirienko's assistants have since entered the administration's apparatus, including Sergei Obozov, who is its head. Obozov had previously worked in Kirienko's office, managing Nizhnii Novgorod issues. Observers believe that in the event of Sklyarov's re- election to a new term, power in the oblast will in fact be concentrated in the hands of Kirienko and his team. In view of this, it is perhaps not surprising that Kirienko now supports Sklyarov in the election Another candidate touched by scandal was State Duma deputy (People's Deputy) Vadim Bulavinov. Nizhnii Novgorod residents received in their mailboxes a letter bearing Bulavinov's name asking for financial support for his campaign and another touting the recent passage in the State Duma of the law allowing imports of spent nuclear fuel into Russia and linking Bulavinov with a plan to import such waste directly into Nizhnii Novgorod in exchange for a fair share of money. This provocation appeared as polls showed that the majority of Russian citizens opposed such imports. Nevertheless, going into the election, Bulavinov was still considered almost an undisputed favorite in the race, based on the results of several opinion polls. However, he placed only third with 19.07 percent of the vote. Also expected to do well was Andrei Klimentev, a convicted felon who instead finished fifth with just 10.55 percent of the vote. Klimentev was elected mayor of Nizhnii Novgorod in March 1998, but the results of that election were canceled by the Supreme Court when he was found guilty of stealing a state credit. Local political analysts believe that Klimentev's defeat in the first round can be considered a great success for the "party of power," whose local representatives on several occasions declared that they would do all that was possible to ensure that someone connected with the criminal world not become head of the oblast. Those analysts believe that the "anti-Klimentev campaign" was waged following strict guidelines. For example, it was forbidden to remove Klimentev from the ballot because that might conjure up unhelpful associations with his previous mayoral election: In 1998 the level of his support grew after the cancellation of the elections. It was also thought that if Klimentev was removed from this year's gubernatorial elections, his victory in next year's mayoral race in Nizhnii Novgorod would have been assured. So rather than seeing Klimentev disqualified, residents were treated to posters around their city, with slogans such as "Gays for Andrei" and "Prostitutes for Andrei." (Klimentev was the only candidate whose first name was Andrei.) Also during the past several months, notices throughout the city were painted over with the words "Death for Klima." Dmitrii Savelev, the candidate, who finished fourth with 12.58 percent of the vote, also figured in a dirty campaign tactic. Savelev is a State Duma deputy from the Union of Rightist Forces. On 7 May, an anonymous phone call was placed to the police, who discovered a group of young people at the local Oka hotel preparing leaflets calling "For the separation of Autozavodskii Raion from Nizhnii Novgorod" and "For the nomination of Dmitrii Savelev for the post of presidential envoy." Savelev's campaign staff as well as the candidate himself denied that they had anything to do with the preparation of the documents or with their openly provocative nature. Meanwhile, the scandal regarding the participation of Nizhnii Novgorod Mayor Yurii Lebedev in the gubernatorial election continues. Representatives of the citizens initiative group that originally nominated him declared at a recent press conference that they have sent an appeal protesting the violation of Lebedev's rights to the political department of the United Nations, the Helsinki Group for Human Rights, the European Council, and other international organizations. Lebedev's registration as a candidate was canceled, according to the oblast election commission, because he used administrative resources for the gathering of signatures to support his candidacy. The commission received evidence documenting that signatures for the mayor had been collected by people under the direction of the city housing office and schools. Following the recent rejection by a local court of his suit challenging the Election Commission's decision, Lebedev sent an appeal to the Supreme Court. And should the court decide in his favor, the results of the first round would be declared invalid. However, few analysts are expecting the court to take such action, so voters will likely have the final say in the 29 July rematch between Sklyarov and Khodyrev. For Sklyarov, the election result may be seen as a judgment by the voters of the past four years. Sklyarov was elected following the departure of Boris Nemtsov to join the team of then-President Boris Yeltsin. And in the four years following Nemtsov's departure, Nizhnii Novgorod, which was once considered to be at the forefront of economic reform, reverted to being a provincial backwater. Under Sklyarov, the region formally remained a "donor region," that is, a region that gives more to the federal budget in tax revenues than it receives back in federal transfers. But the standard of living of the population slid to 50th place among federation subjects. The oblast's debts amount to roughly double the size of the oblast's annual budget. Voters who are unhappy with this state of affairs may find a way to express their displeasure by supporting Sklyarov's former nemesis, Khodyrev, and reversing what they may now see as their mistake made four years ago. Oleg Rodin is an RFE/RL correspondent. 19-07-01 Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
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