From: RFE/RL List Manager [listmanager@list.rferl.org] Sent: Monday, May 03, 2004 10:58 AM To: newsline1@list.rferl.org Subject: RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 82, Part I, 3 May 2004 RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC ___________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 82, Part I, 3 May 2004 A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Southwestern Asia, and the Middle East prepared by the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. This is Part I, a compilation of news concerning Russia, Transcaucasus, and Central Asia. Part II, which covers Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, and Part III, which covers Southwestern Asia and the Middle East, are distributed simultaneously as separate documents. NOTE TO READERS: In line with RFE/RL's changing priorities, as of 4 May, "RFE/RL Newsline" will substantially reduce its coverage of the eight Central, Eastern, and Southeastern European states -- Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Estonia, and the Czech Republic -- that became full-fledged members of the European Union on 1 May, and also of Croatia and Bulgaria. This means that domestic political and economic developments in those countries will no longer be reported on a daily basis. We will, however, continue to report on topics of importance to our broadcast region, including security concerns and NATO-related issues, as well as human rights and minority issues. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Headlines, Part I * UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR RUSSIA TO SEND TROOPS TO IRAQ * ALMOST 1.5 MILLION RUSSIANS RALLY FOR MAY DAY * ADJAR LEADER ORDERS DESTRUCTION OF BORDER BRIDGES xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx RUSSIA UN SECRETARY-GENERAL CALLS FOR RUSSIA TO SEND TROOPS TO IRAQ... UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 3 May urged France, Germany, and Russia to consider contributing troops to the U.S.-led stabilization force in Iraq, Russian and Western media reported. "It would be extremely helpful to the process if we can really internationalize the efforts in Iraq and bring in everybody," Annan said in an interview on the U.S. television network NBC. He said that doing so might allow the United States to reduce its forces in the country, "but it will depend on how fast...we are able to get other governments to join and provide troops." RC ...WHILE MOSCOW RESPONDS CAUTIOUSLY. Duma Foreign Relations Committee Deputy Chairman Leonid Slutskii (Liberal Democratic Party of Russia) told Ekho Moskvy on 3 May that, "Russia, with its rather unfortunate experience of participating in the Afghan war,... should not rush into half-baked decisions to take part in operations of this kind." Aleksei Arbatov of the Moscow Carnegie Center told the station that Russia should send forces to Iraq, but only as part of an internationally led peacekeeping operation. "Of course, neither Russia, nor Germany, nor France are going to send troops just to fight in Iraq like the Americans are doing now," Arbatov said. RC DEPUTY CALLS FOR BOOSTING MILITARY PRESENCE IN CIS. Duma Defense Committee Chairman Viktor Zavarzin (Unified Russia) told Interfax on 3 May that Russia's national-security interests dictate increasing Moscow's military presence in the CIS, especially in Georgia and Moldova. "Our objective interests demand our further military presence in order to maintain stability in those regions," Zavarzin said, adding that this is all the more necessary because of NATO expansion and a NATO agreement on basing forces in Ukraine. RC ONE U.S. NGO RATES RUSSIAN PRESS AS 'NOT FREE'... Russian Union of Journalists General Secretary Igor Yakovenko told Ekho Moskvy on 3 May that he agrees with an assessment by the U.S. nongovernmental organization Freedom House released on 30 April that judged the Russian media as "not free." "I think that the conclusions of the Western experts correspond to reality," Yakovenko said. "Over the last few years, we have definitely moved backward both in terms of human rights and of freedom of the press." He said that the print media are more free than broadcast media, but that self-censorship is a major problem. "No one is beating people up, but people are looking over their shoulders," Yakovenko said. In the Freedom House survey, Russia ranked in 148th place -- between Yemen and Cameroon -- out of 193 countries. RC ...WHILE ANOTHER RANKS THE COUNTRY AS AMONG THE MOST DANGEROUS FOR JOURNALISTS. In a survey released on 3 May by the U.S. NGO the Committee to Protect Journalists, Russia was listed as one of the 10 most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. "A shift from blatant pressures to more subtle and covert tactics, such as politicized lawsuits and hostile corporate takeovers by businessmen with close ties to [President Vladimir] Putin, has allowed the Kremlin to stifle criticism of the president and reports on government corruption and human rights abuses committed by Russian forces in Chechnya," the CPJ report reads. Both the Freedom House and the CPJ reports were issued to mark World Press Freedom Day on 3 May. RC ALMOST 1.5 MILLION RUSSIANS RALLY FOR MAY DAY... More than 1.4 million Russians participated in May Day marches, demonstrations, or street actions across the country, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported on 1 May, citing the Interior Ministry. This was more than organizers had originally planned: They had predicted the total number would be 1.3 million. In Moscow, some 20 parties and organizations had permission to hold rallies. Unified Russia activists marched together with trade-union members along a central Moscow street, according to NTV. Rightist groups such as the Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) and Yabloko held a rally in Lubyanka Square, while the Communists gathered around a statue of Karl Marx on Teatralnaya Square. In St. Petersburg, diverse political parties such as the Communists, the People's Party, the Party of Life, and Unified Russia participated in a May Day rally, attended by about 23,000 people, according to ITAR-TASS. However, the trade unions that organized the event allowed only Communist Party leaders to speak. According to NTV, 100,000 people attended a rally for decent wages in Irkutsk. In Vladivostok, more than 20,000 gathered. JAC ...AS COMMUNIST MARCHER KILLED BY POLICE BUS IN VOLGA REGION. In Nizhnii Novgorod, a bus filled with police troops ran over and killed a Communist Party activist, lenta.ru reported on 2 May. A statement released by the oblast Communist party said, "We consider the crime committed by the authorities to be a political provocation, an appearance of police arbitrariness and terror with regard to its own people." JAC RUMORS OF REPORTS OF RUSSIA'S DISINTEGRATION GREATLY EXAGGERATED... Russian newspapers carried on 28 and 29 April reactions to a December 2000 report by the CIA's U.S. National Intelligence Council, which allegedly forecast that Russia could break up into six or eight separate countries by 2015. In a message posted on "Johnson's Russia List" on 2 May, George Kolt, a retired CIA official with responsibility from Russia, denied that the report made any such forecast and he alleged that the first report of such a prediction appeared in "Nezavisimaya gazeta." Despite the lack of an actual forecast, Russian media managed to get a wealth of reaction to the prediction. In an interview with "Izvestiya" on 29 April, Dmitrii Orlov of the Agency for Political and Economic Communications said there have been and will continue to be such reports from the CIA, in part because the conservative part of the Republican Party is interested in seeing Russia as weak as possible. Orlov added that he does not agree with "such alarmists," claiming that the head of the same department said on the site four years ago that Russia would disintegrate. State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov on 28 April categorically rejected the possibility of the Russian Federation breaking up, ITAR-TASS reported. He argued that "a lot had been done over the last four years to strengthen vertical power" and that Russian state has been "strengthened." JAC ...WHILE OTHERS TREAT THREAT OF BREAK-UP AS JUSTIFICATION FOR RENEWED NATIONALISM. Political analysts Sergei Markov and Stanislav Belkovskii were more inclined to agree with the "prediction" of Russia's disintegration, provided that current trends hold. Markov told "Komsomolskaya pravda" that if the elite doesn't stop stealing from the country, then such a forecast could come true. Belkovskii told "Izvestiya" that Russia, "as an extremely eclectic formation, can only maintain itself as a unified imperial project." "In the absence of an idea around which a new Russian state can be formed...it is highly likely that China will informally control the Siberian and Far Eastern parts of Russia after five years and formally after 10 years," he said. Belkovskii is considered by some sources to be the consummate Kremlin insider (see "RFE/RL Russian Political Weekly," 7 April 2004). JAC PRO-ISLAMIC GROUP FORMS IN STATE DUMA. A new inter-factional deputies' association has been created in the State Duma called Russia and the Islamic World: A Strategic Dialogue, regions.ru reported on 30 April. Association co-Chairman Shamil Sultanov (Motherland) announced the group's formation at a press conference on 28 April. The group reportedly has 45 members, including Yurii Savelev (Motherland) and Albert Makashov (Communist). Savelev is the former director of St. Petersburg's Military Technological Institute, which was included on a U.S. "blacklist" for alleged unsanctioned military cooperation with Iran, according to the website (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 16 May and 25 April 2000). General Makashov is perhaps best known for anti-Semitic statements on the floor of the Duma. According to Sultanov, the group brings together all legislators who understand that today it is the Islamic world -- not the West -- that is interested in a strong Russia and is therefore Russia's natural partner. Nothing was said at the press conference with regard to the association's concrete plans, the website reported. JAC ANOTHER SKINHEAD INCIDENT IN VORONEZH. Two skinheads attacked Aleksei Kozlov of the Youth Human Rights Movement on 29 April, jewish.ru reported on 30 April. According to Kozlov, the youths, who were drunk at the time, threw rocks at him, yelling "Run [Negroes] and Jews." According to gazeta.ru, Kozlov was walking in the city center at 6 p.m. near the movement's office. A criminal case on suspicion of hooliganism has been opened by the police, but Kozlov has declared that he will insist that anyone arrested be prosecuted under the Criminal Code article on inciting ethnic hatred. Meanwhile, in an interview with "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 30 April, Duma Motherland faction head Dmitrii Rogozin was asked about skinhead incidents in his district. Rogozin said that the single-mandate district from which he was elected is rural and the skinhead problem is concentrated in Voronezh and other cities in the Black Earth zone. He connected the existence of nationalist-extremist groups with Russia's "open borders." "If the situation is not improved, if the migration service does not work, then the growth of xenophobia will have much more serious consequences," Rogozin said. He added that he will "always defend those people who are located in Russia on a legal basis and defend the citizens of Russia without regard to their nationality." JAC PRISON STRIKE ENDS IN URALS. Hunger strikes affecting three prisons in Chelyabinsk Oblast have ended, "Kommersant-Daily" reported on 30 April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 April 2004). Aleksei Sevastyanov, chairman of the Legal Consciousness organization, told the daily that the prisoners had to end their strike because "special measures" were being conducted in the prison colonies with the participation of Interior Ministry troops. The report did not elaborate on exactly what the special measures were. Earlier, the parents of 40 hunger strikers sent a letter to the senior prosecutor in charge of penal facilities in Chelyabinsk Oblast complaining that the administrations of the colonies have been systematically violating the rights of their children. JAC GREF TIES THE KNOT AND TIES UP TRAFFIC. Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, 40, married for the second time on 30 April, and the parade of VIP cars to the ceremony, which was held in St. Petersburg, reportedly paralyzed city traffic, Ekho Moskvy reported. Among the guests were Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin and government-apparatus head Dmitrii Kozak. The identity of Gref's wife has not been released, although some media reported that her first name is Yana, that she is about 30 years old, and that she has one school-aged son from a previous marriage. Also, the son of St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko, Sergei, recently married 20-year-old singer Zara Mgoyan, "Komsomolskaya pravda" reported on 26 April. Sergei Matvienko, 30, is a vice president of Bank Sankt-Peterburg. JAC CHECHEN MUFTI DEPLORES ACQUITTAL OF RUSSIAN SERVICEMEN. Echoing a 29 April statement by pro-Moscow Chechen leader Akhmad-hadji Kadyrov, Akhmad-hadji Shamaev criticized on 30 April the acquittal by a Russian military court in Rostov-na-Donu the previous day of a group of Russian servicemen who killed six Chechen civilians in January 2002, Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 April 2004). In Moscow, prominent Russian human rights activist Lev Ponamarev similarly condemned the verdict as biased, Interfax reported on 30 April. He added that Russian "propaganda has made every North Caucasian into an enemy." Interfax further quoted Chief Military Prosecutor Colonel General Aleksandr Savenkov as saying that the prosecution plans to appeal the jury's verdict. LF TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA INJURED ARMENIAN OPPOSITIONIST LEAVES HOSPITAL. Ashot Manucharian, who was attacked and injured by unknown assailants in Yerevan 10 days ago, has been discharged from hospital, Noyan Tapan reported on 3 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 23 April 2004). He will, however, have to undergo further plastic surgery. LF POLICE TARGET OPPOSITION IN AZERBAIJANI EXCLAVE. Police in the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan have intensified their harassment of opposition politicians in the wake of last week's announcement of the creation of a Center for Democratic Development (DIM) comprising the regional organizations of several prominent opposition parties, Turan reported on 1 May (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 27 April 2004). On 28 April, two men abducted and beat up a member of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party, and the following day a Nakhichevan police official visited the DIM headquarters in Nakhichevan and warned activists to abandon their activities and stop publicizing negative political developments in the region. Meeting on 1 May, DIM members agreed to stage a mass rally on 28 May, which is the anniversary of the declaration in 1918 of an independent Azerbaijan Republic, Turan reported on 3 May. LF ADJAR LEADER ORDERS DESTRUCTION OF BORDER BRIDGES. On orders from Adjar leader Aslan Abashidze, two bridges linking his autonomous republic with the rest of Georgia were blown up on 2 May, Caucasus Press and Reuters reported. Abashidze argued that the move was necessary in the light of the largescale maneuvers by the Georgian military that began on the Georgian side of the order two days earlier, and which he feared presage military aggression against Adjaria. Adjar opposition leader Tamaz Diasamidze said on 2 May that Abashidze also ordered that railway tracks from Georgia to Adjaria be dismantled on the Adjar side of the internal border, Interfax reported. LF GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ISSUES NEW ULTIMATUM. Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili again denied in Tbilisi on 1 May that the Georgian government plans any military aggression against Adjaria, Interfax reported. Following the destruction of the two border bridges, Saakashvili said late on 2 May that Abashidze has 10 days in which to comply with his earlier demands to disarm all illegal armed groups in Adjaria (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 and 16 April 2004) and "to return to within the framework of Georgia's constitution," Reuters and Caucasus Press reported. If Abashidze fails to comply with those demands, Saakashvili continued, he will avail himself of his constitutional right to dismiss the Adjar leadership and schedule new elections to enable the population of the autonomous republic to select a new leader democratically, Caucasus Press reported on 3 May. At the same time, Saakashvili stressed that he will not abolish Adjaria's autonomous status within Georgia. LF FORMER GEORGIAN PRESIDENT WARNS AGAINST ESCALATION IN ADJARIA. In a statement released in Tbilisi on 1 May, Eduard Shevardnadze said the "senseless and destructive conflict" between the central Georgian government and Abashidze heralds the beginning of the breakup of the Georgian state, Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. He urged the two sides to begin peaceful negotiations and abide by the Georgian Constitution as the only way to avert such a split. LF TBILISI REJECTS RUSSIAN WARNINGS OVER ADJARIA. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Aleksandr Yakovenko warned in Moscow on 1 May that that any threat of or recourse to force by the Georgian leadership against Adjaria is "inadmissible," Caucasus Press and Interfax reported. He added that the use of force would have "catastrophic consequences," especially for Georgia itself, and urged that Tbilisi and Batumi set about resolving differences at the negotiating table. The Georgian Foreign Ministry responded on 2 May by denying "categorically" that the use of force against Adjaria is being considered, Interfax reported. LF COUNCIL OF EUROPE CALLS FOR DIALOGUE OVER ADJARIA. Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer has expressed profound concern at the destruction of the border bridges, Caucasus Press reported on 3 May. Schwimmer appealed to both Abashidze and Saakashvili to "do their utmost to stop this extremely dangerous escalation," and again reaffirmed the council's readiness to "facilitate dialogue and to help Georgia develop a sound legal basis for the relations between the central authorities and the autonomous regions." LF SENIOR GEORGIAN SECURITY OFFICIAL ARRESTED. Former Deputy Minister of State Security Levan Kenchadze, who simultaneously headed the ministry's antiterrorism center, was summoned on 29 April to the Prosecutor-General's Office for questioning and remanded the following day for three months' pre-trial detention, Caucasus Press reported. Kenchadze faces charges of abuse of office, in particular of involvement in the abduction in December 2000 of two Spanish businessmen and of selling weapons confiscated by the ministry to Chechen fighters encamped in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge. Kenchadze has refused to answer questions and insists he is innocent. His lawyer said on 30 April that the prosecution cannot furnish any documentary evidence to substantiate the charges against Kenchadze. LF MANDATES OF EXILED ABKHAZ PARLIAMENTARIANS REVOKED. After a four-hour discussion, the Georgian parliament's judicial and procedure committees jointly ruled on 30 April to annul the mandates of 10 Georgian deputies elected in late 1991 to the parliament of Abkhazia, and who since the end of the 1992-1993 civil war have been ex officio deputies of the Georgian parliament, Caucasus Press reported. Those 10 seats in the Georgian parliament will remain vacant until the central government restores its control over the breakaway Republic of Abkhazia. LF KAZAKH MINISTER SAYS CENTRAL ASIA INTEGRATION 'UNLIKELY.' Foreign Minister Qasymzhomart Toqaev said on 30 April that integration among Central Asian countries is "unlikely to take place in the near future," Interfax-Kazakhstan reported the same day. The remarks came at the fifth session of the Foreign Ministry's Council for Foreign Policy. Toqaev noted that integration requires similar levels of structural development, a desire for integration, and an enormous amount of work. He concluded that Central Asian countries are not yet prepared for this. Nevertheless, Toqaev termed the Single Economic Space "the first real integration [effort] in the former Soviet Union." Toqaev also said that U.S. military bases in Central Asia are "a natural addition to the other U.S. presence -- economic and political," Interfax-Kazakhstan reported. Additionally, Toqaev thanked the United States for eliminating the Taliban regime. Finally, Toqaev observed that Russia is "making a major effort to direct investments to the economies of virtually all post-Soviet countries," akipress.org reported. DK TAJIK UPPER HOUSE APPROVES LAWS. The 12th session of the Majlisi Oli, or upper house of parliament, on 30 April approved 17 laws passed by the lower house since 11 February, Asia-Plus Blitz reported. The laws concerned such issues as the creation of free economic zones, local executive organs, tenders, education, licensing, and microfinancing organizations. Qasim Qasimov, head of the committee on economics and communications, said that the new law on free economic zones will help to bring more foreign investment in Tajikistan. The session will continue on 3 May. DK TAJIK PRESIDENT ADDRESSES PARLIAMENT. Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov addressed parliament on 30 April, discussing a mix of regional and domestic issues. Rakhmonov recalled the "horror and catastrophe of policies of racism and fascism" as he expressed concern at the "expansion of dangerous political movements within the Commonwealth of Independent States," Tajik TV reported. Rakhmonov went on to caution against drawing a link between Islam and terrorism, calling this "very dangerous." On the domestic front, the Tajik president said that reforms have failed to achieve a "noticeable impact on increasing people's living standards." Terming bureaucracy a "breeding ground for corruption," Rakhmonov called for a fight against corruption. ITAR-TASS quoted him as saying that corruption is "the main obstacle" on the path to developing entrepreneurship and implementing major reform projects. He concluded, "Common people should know where and how much money from the state budget or foreign loans has been spent to construct this or that building. This money should not end up in the pockets of officials." DK UZBEK PARLIAMENT PASSES LAWS, ENDS SESSION. The 14th session of Uzbekistan's Supreme Assembly, or parliament, concluded on 30 April, Uzbek Radio reported the same day. Legislators passed draft laws on illegally acquired funds and export controls, both in the first reading. A decision was made to put the latter law up for national discussion. Minor changes were also made to the structure of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court. DK UZBEK PRESIDENT URGES GREATER PARTY ACTIVISM. In an address to parliament on 30 April, President Islam Karimov berated Uzbek political parties for failing to take a more active role in the country's political life, Uzbek Radio reported the same day. Karimov said, "We have five political parties.... Why don't you even say a word against each other?... The collision of ideas will certainly lead to justice and truth. If there is no struggle between ideas, then why do we need five parties?" The remarks reinforced comments Karimov made at a 29 April press conference. Uzbek Radio quoted him as saying, "[T]hese parties have no independent platform or ideology and, regrettably, are still weak in terms of winning the hearts and minds of ordinary people." DK xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright (c) 2004 RFE/RL, Inc. 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