No. 244, 22 December 1993

	Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.





CIS

CONTINUING CONFUSION OVER UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS. Reports
from Kiev have partly clarified the situation concerning the
reported deactivation of some SS-24 missiles. On 21 December
Deputy Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk held a press conference
in which he confirmed reports that some 20 SS-24s will be taken
off alert by the end of 1993. At a separate press conference
President Kravchuk confirmed that 17-SS-24s have already been
removed from alert. On the same day, however, RFE/RL's Moscow
correspondent was told by Ukrainian defense ministry officials
in Kiev that all SS-24s remain on alert. Part of the confusion
may stem from the fact that the missiles can operate at different
alert levels, and could be removed from alert status without
physically removing the warheads. It is thus possible that the
alert status of the missiles has already been downgraded, while
the removal of warheads is still to occur. The missiles themselves
will remain in their silos even after their deactivation. A similar
program with 20 SS-19 ICBMs apparently entails the dismantling
of the missiles as well. Reports over the past year have suggested
that all the ICBMs in Ukraine were already at low alert levels.
Developments on the story were reported by UNIAN and Western
press agencies. -John Lepingwell

PARLIAMENTARIANS REACT. Ukrainian parliamentarians reacted angrily
to the deactivation announcement. According to a Reuters report
of 21 December, members of the parliament's defense committee
were irate that they had not been informed of the move, and suggested
that it contravened the conditions imposed by parliament upon
START-1 implementation. Tarasyuk claimed at his press conference,
however, that the deactivation was not tied to START-1, but was
rather an attempt to demonstrate Ukraine's goodwill. He pointed
out that the warheads on the SS-24s being deactivated had exceeded
their service lives, and that it was Russia that retained the
ability to launch the missiles, so they did not benefit Ukraine's
security. -John Lepingwell

AGREEMENT IN THE WORKS? PRESIDENT KRAVCHUK ALSO TOLD UNIAN ON
21 DECEMBER THAT A US-RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN AGREEMENT PROVIDING FOR
THE DISMANTLING OF THE WEAPONS AND COMPENSATION TO UKRAINE IS
BEING PREPARED. According to Kravchuk the agreement would not
compromise the interests of any of the parties. It appears that
Kravchuk was referring to an agreement in principle to sign such
a document-the details of its provisions have yet to be finalized.
According to a 21-December report from an RFE/RL correspondent
in Washington, a US State Department official noted that an agreement
had not been reached but that work on the issues was continuing.
-John Lepingwell

WHERE WILL THE WARHEADS GO? THE DECISION TO REMOVE AN ADDITIONAL
200 WARHEADS FROM ICBMS PROMPTS THE QUESTION OF WHERE THEY WILL
BE STORED. The Ukrainian government is adamant that the warheads
will remain in Ukraine until all security and compensation issues
with Russia are settled. The SS-24s are based in Pervomaysk,
where there have already been reports of overcrowding and deteriorating
conditions in warhead storage facilities. This point has been
emphasized by Russia, which has repeatedly warned of a safety
hazard at the site. The removal of the warheads might be the
prelude to an agreement to establish international (US, Russian,
Ukrainian) monitoring of weapons storage sites in Ukraine, as
the US proposed in early 1993. -John Lepingwell

CIS MILITARY STAFF TO SHRINK. On 21 December ITAR-TASS reported
on a press conference held by General Lieutenant Leonid Ivashov,
head of the Joint Staff of the CIS military. Ivashov observed
that the Joint Staff is a coordinating body under the CIS Council
of Defense Ministers and thus has a smaller role than the old
CIS Joint Command. As a result, staff size will be "significantly
reduced." At its largest, the CIS staff may have numbered only
a few hundred, and the latest round of cuts will simply reflect
its greatly diminished role. -John Lepingwell

RUSSIA



YELTSIN ON ZHIRINOVSKY'S ELECTORAL SUCCESS. In what the Russian
and Western media described as an attempt to play down the political
significance of the strong showing of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's
ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party in the parliamentary
elections, President Yeltsin told journalists that "by voting
for the Liberal Democratic Party of Zhirinovsky, those Russians
who live poorly voted not for the leader of this party and not
for its program. They voted against poverty." Yeltsin made his
comments, in which he implicitly denied a surge of extreme nationalism
in Russia, during a visit to a Moscow building exhibition on
21 December. -Vera Tolz

YELTSIN ABOLISHES MINISTRY OF SECURITY. President Yeltsin has
signed a decree disbanding the Ministry of Security (MB) and
replacing it with the Federal Counterintelligence Service, ITAR-TASS
reported on 21-December. Former chief of the MB, Nikolai Golushko
was appointed as director of new service; his former first deputy,
Sergei Stepashin retains the same position in the newly created
entity. The new service will be directly responsible to Yeltsin.
According to the decree, Golushko must present to the Russian
president his proposals on the statutes of the new service within
two weeks. Officers of the MB will continue their duties provisionally,
but will be subject to the selection requirements of the new
service. Presidential spokesman Anatolii Krasikov explained that
Yeltsin considered the MB, which was the KGB's successor, to
be both inefficient and detrimental to political and economic
reforms. The decrees say nothing about other KGB successors agencies
such as, the Main Administration for Government Protection, the
Federal Agency for Government Information and Communication and
the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. -Victor Yasmann

YAKOVLEV APPOINTED OSTANKINO RADIO AND TV CHIEF. Aleksandr Yakovlev
was appointed chairman of Ostankino state radio and television
company, ITAR-TASS and "Vesti" announced on 20 December. The
post had been vacant since 16 December, when Yeltsin dismissed
Vyacheslav Bragin and his first deputy. Many Russians blame television
for the relatively poor performance of reformers in the recent
parliamentary elections. In contrast with Bragin, Yakovlev is
popular with the reform-minded Russian intelligentsia. A septuagenarian
academic, Yakovlev is widely credited to have been the mind behind
Mikhail Gorbachev's liberalization program. "Vesti" quoted Yeltsin
as also having proposed Yakovlev for the post of chairman of
a new presidential committee that will oversee television and
radio broadcasting when it is set up. -Julia Wishnevsky

POLTORANIN AND YUSHENKOV TO LEAVE FIC. Mikhail Poltoranin and
Sergei Yushenkov decided to leave their posts of chairman and
deputy chairman of the Federal Information Center (FIC), respectively,
to concentrate fully on their work in the new parliament, ITAR-TASS
reported on 21 December. Both officials were elected to the State
Duma on the Russia's Choice party list. The FIC has ministerial
status and the new Russian constitution does not allow ministers
to hold parliamentary posts. But in an appendix to the constitution,
describing Russia's constitutional system in the next two years
(the period of transition), this restriction was dropped. Both
Poltoranin and Yushenkov stressed that the decision to leave
the posts was their own. Considerable restructuring, or even
abolition of the FIC has been considered for a long time. -Vera
Tolz

COMMUNIST LEADER DISCUSSES HIS PARTY'S POLICY. The leader of
the Russian Communist Party, Gennadii Zyuganov, told ITAR-TASS
on 21 December that his party was open to alliances with other
groups in the new parliament whose goal is to correct Russia's
economic course. Zyuganov, whose party came third in the parliamentary
elections, said the communists were against creating an anti-fascist
front in the parliament to oppose Vladimir Zhirinovsky's faction.
The communist leader said the creation of such a front at this
time "could lead to civil war." He also said he did not view
Zhirinovsky's party as fascist and there were some people within
that party "with whom it is possible to cooperate." -Vera Tolz


ZHIRINOVSKY IN MUNICH. Zhirinovsky arrived in Munich enroute
to Austria, German TV (ARD) reported on 21 December. He was greeted
at the airport by Gerhard Frey, the leader of a major German
right-wing party. Zhirinovsky told journalists in broken German
that he favors the establishment of a new Russian-European alliance
for the safeguarding of peace in Europe. In an interview with
Reuters, he said that Russia would need 15 years of authoritarian
rule before it could embark on the path toward stability, economic
growth and democracy. He also stated that if he becomes president
he would purge communists and rule the country with the help
of state security forces. He warned the West not to intervene
in Russian politics. -Alexander Rahr

DEFENSE MINISTRY WANTS TO DUMP RADIOACTIVE WASTE. Reuters and
other Western press agencies reported on 20 December that the
Russian Ministry of Defense has requested Russian government
permission to resume the dumping of radioactive wastes at sea.
According to a defense ministry spokesman, the ships holding
the waste are full, and must be emptied in order to accommodate
new waste. A previous round of dumping was suspended in October
after strong protests from Japan. -John Lepingwell

TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

NEW TENSIONS IN EASTERN, SOUTHERN GEORGIA. Relations between
Russian troops stationed in the east Georgian town of Telavi
and members of Dzhaba Ioseliani's Mkhedrioni paramilitary have
deteriorated into a "permanent bloodfeud" which has already claimed
fatalities on both sides, according to ITAR-TASS of 21-December.
Tensions also persist in the raions of Bolnisi and Marneuli south
of Tbilisi, where the predominantly Azerbaijani population is
being subjected to thefts and kidnappings. Meeting with Azerbaijani
representatives from the area on 20 December, Georgian parliament
chairman Eduard Shevardnadze announced the creation of a special
forces unit to stabilize the situation there, Iberia reported.
-Liz Fuller

TAJIK OPPOSITION WILLING TO SHARE POWER. Muhammadsharif Himmatzoda,
chairman of the Tajik Islamic Renaissance Party, told an AFP
correspondent in Kabul that his party now is willing to share
power with the present neocommunist government of Tajikistan,
the French agency reported on 21 December. Party members participated
in a coalition government in 1992, but the party was banned in
June 1993 by the present Tajik leadership. Throughout 1993 supporters
of the Islamic Renaissance Party have been conducting raids across
the Tajik-Afghan border against Tajik government troops. Himmatzoda
was quoted as saying that continued fighting only plays into
the hands of Russian nationalist extremists. -Bess Brown

RUSSIAN NATIONALISTS MOBILIZE IN NORTHERN KAZAKHSTAN. Attendees
at a gathering of Russian societies in Northern Kazakhstan told
journalists on 20-December that Kazakhstan's nationality policy
is forcing Russians to leave the country, Russian TV reported.
Spokesmen for the groups claimed that Russian speakers in Kazakhstan
cannot obtain citizenship nor can they buy or sell housing, and
that local Cossack groups cannot obtain official recognition.
The statement concluded with an appeal to the governments of
Russia and Kazakhstan to agree on dual citizenship and consider
the creation of a free economic zone in Northern Kazakhstan.
In fact, the oblast has been able to establish official ties
with neighboring oblasts in Siberia, to the disquiet of Kazakh
intellectuals. -Bess Brown

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE



BOROSS SWORN IN AS HUNGARY'S NEW PRIME MINISTER. On 21 December
parliament elected by a vote of 201 to 152 and 5 abstentions
former Minister of the Interior Peter Boross as Prime Minister,
MTI and Western news agencies report. In a speech to parliament
prior to the vote, Boross pledged to honor the political heritage
of Jozsef Antall and to carry out Antall's government program.
Boross said that his government will focus on solving economic
problems, giving priority to reducing the number of unemployed
and encouraging the flow of foreign capital into the country.
He also promised to fight corruption in a "most determined way"
and to speed up the privatization of state property. The parliamentary
group of the Democratic Forum elected Ferenc Kulin as its leader,
replacing Imre Konya whom Boross appointed as Minister of the
Interior. Konya's appointment was the only change in the government.
President Arpad Goncz swore in the prime minister and the government,
and appealed to parliamentary parties to cooperate during the
period leading up to the 1994 national elections. -Edith Oltay


SLOVAK PARLIAMENT ON HUNGARIAN AUTONOMY. On 21 December the Slovak
parliament discussed the Hungarian autonomy movement in southern
Slovakia and approved a resolution stating that the Komarno initiative
"oversteps the legal decree" defining the establishment of non-political
organizations in towns and villages. The resolution says that
implementation of the plan can "split the territorial integrity
of the country and disturb the coexistence of citizens and the
cooperation between different nationality groups." Parliament
also proclaimed that the plan contradicts the constitution and
the recommendations of the Council of Europe, TASR reports. The
parliament demanded that the organizers postpone the scheduled
8 January meeting, where they plan to further discuss the establishment
of an autonomous region. Stefan Pasztor, Komarno mayor and leader
of the group that initiated the move for autonomy, said that
his association and leaders of ethnic Hungarian parties decided
on 20 December that the 8 January assembly will not be postponed.
The parliament is expected to continue discussions of the 1994
budget during its 22 December session. -Sharon Fisher

BOSNIAN PEACE TALKS CONTINUE. Western agencies report that Geneva
talks aimed at bringing peace to war-torn Bosnia ended on 21
December with no agreement on territorial settlements. According
to a representative from the Bosnian Muslim side, Mirza Hajric,
Bosnia's Muslims failed to gain the territory they demanded in
western and eastern Bosnia. Moreover, Hajric alleged that the
Croatian side involved in the negotiations had made inadequate
provisions for Muslim access to the Adriatic port of Neum. Media
coverage of the talks focused on meetings between Croatian President
Franjo Tudjman and Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who
between themselves had agreed on a territorial division of Bosnia,
allotting one third of the land to the Muslims and roughly 17.5%
to the Croats. On 22-December peace talks between Bosnia's warring
factions and European Community foreign ministers will resume
in Brussels. In other news, both HINA and Bosnian state radio
reported on 21-December that UN aid flights to Sarajevo were
temporarily suspended after an aircraft was fired on as it attempted
a landing at Sarajevo airport. -Stan Markotich

SOCIALISTS MOVING TOWARDS MAJORITY IN SERBIAN ELECTIONS. According
to international media on 21 December, with roughly 95% of ballots
counted in the Serbian parliamentary elections, the ruling Socialist
Party of Serbia is moving towards a majority government, albeit
a slim one. Estimates suggest that the SPS has secured 123 seats,
and is set to gain enough representatives to form a government
on its own. On 22-December the Belgrade daily Borba estimates
that the coalition Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DEPOS) will
win 44-seats, the Serbian Radical Party 41 seats, the Democratic
Party 29 seats, and the Democratic Party of Serbia 7 seats. DEPOS
leader Vuk Draskovic has expressed his dismay over the electoral
returns and has alleged that the Socialists are culpable of electoral
irregularities. Draskovic has said that opposition parties may
ask for new elections in some districts. -Stan Markotich

DIMITROV STAYS AS UDF LEADER. RFE/RL's Bulgarian service reported
on 21 December that Filip Dimitrov was re-elected to a one-year
term as chairman of the National Coordinating Council of the
Bulgarian coalition Union of Democratic Forces by delegates representing
the parties in the UDF. The UDF remains the leading opposition
to the supposedly non-partisan government, elected with the mandate
of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the ethnic Turkish Movement
for Rights and Freedoms (MRF). The UDF is, however, experiencing
some infighting largely due to disagreements over policy questions
such as how best to entice the MRF, currently aligning with the
Socialists, into shifting its allegiance back to the UDF. -Stan
Markotich

CZECH CONSTITUTIONAL COURT UPHOLDS ANTICOMMUNIST LAW. In its
first public hearing since it was established in July 1993, the
Czech Constitutional Court rejected an appeal by 41 left-wing
deputies of the Czech parliament to abrogate a law that declares
the former Czechoslovak regime "illegitimate" and "criminal"
and provides for the lifting of the statute of limitations for
ideologically motivated crimes committed during the communist
era. The law was passed by the Czech parliament in July 1993.
CTK reports that the court ruled that the law "speaks only about
moral and political responsibility of the former Communists,"
and does not accuse them, as a whole, of criminal behavior. The
court further argued that the law is mostly declaratory and the
parliament adopted it to prompt people "to think about the past."
-Jiri Pehe

ANTI-GOVERNMENT DEMONSTRATIONS MARK ROMANIAN UPRISING ANNIVERSARY.
The fourth anniversary of the overthrow of Ceausescu's regime
was marked by anti-government demonstrations in Bucharest. Several
thousands gathered in the center of the town, demanding, among
other things, the resignation of president Ion Iliescu and the
return of former king Michael. Leaders of two organizations whose
members participated in the uprising met Iliescu and asked him
to resign, an RFE/RL correspondent reported on 21-December. Adrian
Dumitrescu, chairman of the 21 December Association, said the
two groups, his own and the Students' League, asked Iliescu to
resign because they hold him responsible for what they consider
to be the deadlock in the country's economic, social and political
life. They also urged the president to accelerate investigations
into the killings during the uprising that toppled Ceausescu.
According to Rompres, Iliescu said he would ask the Prosecutor
General to accelerate the investigations. A spokesman for the
Students' League said that police prevented about sixty students
marching towards Iliescu's residence from reaching their destination.
King Michael broadcast a message from his exile in Switzerland,
paying homage to "all those who gave their life to win freedom"
and expressing regrets that he cannot be with the people on the
occasion of the anniversary and the forthcoming holidays. -Michael
Shafir

ROMANIAN OPPOSITION WILLING TO PARTICIPATE IN GOVERNMENT. Corneliu
Coposu, the leader of the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic,
says his party is willing to enter the government if the ruling
party gives up its monopoly, an RFE/RL correspondent reported
on 21 December. Coposu said the NPPCD would, however, not accept
"a decorative role " in a coalition government. The NPPCD also
wants the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania to break
with the extreme nationalist parties and to grant total freedom
to democratic opposition parties to organize the government departments
they will head. Coposu's remarks follow a statement by Iliescu
on 20 December that he would start talks with every parliamentary
party to find ways out of the country's political situation.
Two other opposition party leaders-Petre Roman of the Democratic
Party and Horea Rusu of the Liberal Party '93 said on 20 December
that they would consider entering a coalition government if they
were granted real access to power. -Michael Shafir

WALESA PROMOTES WACHOWSKI. Seemingly thumbing his nose at his
critics, Polish President Lech Walesa on 21 December promoted
his right-hand-man, Mieczyslaw Wachowski, to the post of "minister
of state" in the president's office. In an open letter on the
occasion of Wachowski's forty-third birthday, Walesa expressed
florid gratitude to his aide. "You were always there when I needed
you most," the president wrote, "your humor and wit, your friendly
irony, and at times your gentle mocking worked to relieve many
a tense moment." Wachowski, who previously had the rank of presidential
"secretary of state," is viewed by many politicians and journalists
to exert a sinister influence on Walesa. -Louisa Vinton

NEW US AMBASSADOR IN WARSAW. The new US ambassador to Poland,
Nicholas Rey, presented his credentials to President Lech Walesa
on 21 December. A finance executive who recently served as deputy
director of the Polish-American Enterprise Fund, Rey is a direct
descendant of Mikolaj Rej, the 16th-century nobleman and author.
Rey was born in Poland but emigrated to the US with his parents
after the outbreak of World War II. -Louisa Vinton

NEW US AND UKRAINIAN AMBASSADORS IN SLOVAKIA. On 16 December
US Ambassador Theodore Russell and Ukrainian Ambassador Petro
Danilovich Sardachuk presented their credentials to Slovak President
Michal Kovac, TASR reports. Russell announced that he has three
primary tasks in his new post: to manage the embassy, to provide
a true picture of Slovakia to the US government and to cooperate
with Slovakia. Sardachuk stressed his interest in developing
bilateral contacts between his country and Slovakia. -Sharon
Fisher

UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT ADOPTS ECONOMIC AND MEDIA LAWS. On 21 December
the Ukrainian parliament approved two more important documents
aimed at improving the economic situation in Ukraine, Ukrainian
media reported. They are a "State Program on the Demonopolization
of the Economy and the Development of Competition" and a "Concept
of the Social Protection of the Population." On 17 December parliament
approved in principle a program proposed by the government to
stabilize the economic situation, the details are which are still
being worked out and debated, as well as a law on a state program
designed to encourage foreign investment in Ukraine. On 21-December
the parliament also adopted a law "On Television and Radio,"
which, among other things, provides for the establishment of
a National Council For Television and Radio to oversee these
media. Four of the eight-member Council will be appointed by
parliament and four by the president. Passed against the background
of continuing complaints by democrats about political censorship,
the law forbids censorship and state interference in radio and
TV. -Bohdan Nahaylo

DEVELOPMENTS IN UKRAINE'S AIR FORCE. On 21-December UNIAN reported
that Ukraine's defense ministry collegium has decided to support
proposals by the Minister of Defense, Vitalii Radetsky, to suspend
the process of merging the air defense forces with the air force
and creating a single unit, the Air Defense Troops. This process
was to be completed by the end of 1995, but opponents of the
merger have argued that the state lacks the necessary funds for
the unification. In line with the collegium's decision, Radetsky
issued an order to reduce the command of the Air Defense Troops
from 180 to 30-40 persons. These individuals will no longer be
in charge of the air force and air defense forces, but will conduct
a feasibility study of possible ways to combine the forces. -Ustina
Markus

SHUSHKEVICH IN HOSPITAL AGAIN. Various agencies reported on 21
December that the Chairman of the Belarusian Supreme Soviet,
Stanislau Shushkevich, has been hospitalized again. This is the
second time Shushkevich has gone to a hospital in less than a
week. On 16 December Shushkevich had to be taken to the hospital
following a parliamentary session during which he was accused
of corruption. He was diagnosed as suffering from hypertension
and released the following day. -Ustina Markus

BELARUSIAN ASSOCIATION OF SERVICEMEN ON ZHIRINOVSKY. The Executive
Council of the nationalist Belarusian Association of Servicemen
(BZV) transmitted an appeal over Belarusian radio on 21 December,
in which they expressed concern over the electoral success of
Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party. The appeal said that
Zhirinovsky's threats against almost all of the countries bordering
on Russia could lead to war or international conflict which would
affect Belarus. The appeal warned that Russian nuclear weapons
deployed on Belarusian territory were a direct hazard and proposed
that the Supreme Soviet appeal to the international community
to legally proclaim the republic's neutrality. The appeal also
declared that, "To survive, we need guarantees that we do not
become hostages to experiments of the great Eastern neighbor."
-Ustina Markus

PROGRESS IN POLISH-LITHUANIAN TALKS. Concluding a one-day unofficial
visit to Warsaw on 21-December, Lithuanian Prime Minister Adolfas
Slezevicius expressed confidence that work on the long-delayed
Polish-Lithuanian bilateral treaty will conclude in January 1994.
He invited Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak to visit Lithuania
at that time, presumably for the signing ceremony. Slezevicius
said that talks in Warsaw on 21 December had made a "big step"
toward finding "formulations satisfactory to both sides." He
refused to give details, but unofficial sources quoted by PAP
report that Lithuania has agreed to accept the designation of
Vilnius as "the historical capital of Lithuania" rather than
insist that Poland renounce its "invasion" of the region in 1920.
Slezevicius also met with Democratic Left Alliance leader Aleksander
Kwasniewski, and the two "postcommunist" leaders agreed to intensify
cooperation between their parties. Slezevicius was in Poland
at Kwasniewski's invitation. -Louisa Vinton

ESTONIA UNITES DEPARTMENTS OF MIGRATION AND CITIZENSHIP. On 21
December the Estonian government decided to transform effective
15 January the Departments of Migration and Citizenship into
the single Department of Migration and Citizenship, Baltfax reports.
Population Minister Peeter Olesk said that the new department
would implement the law on citizenship and regulate the registration
of the population. He regretted that the Russian embassy did
not provide the Estonian authorities with information about the
republic's permanent residents who had acquired Russian citizenship,
noting that the fears that some sanctions would be imposed on
them were groundless. -Saulius Girnius

LAST PUBLIC STATUE OF LENIN REMOVED IN ESTONIA. On 21 December,
while about 30 Russian pensioners and war veterans protested,
a crane in Narva removed the last public statue of Lenin in the
Baltic States, Western agencies report. Since August 1991 Narva
officials had resisted pressure from the Estonian authorities
to take down the three-meter statue, but after the local elections
in October the new Narva council approved its removal. According
to the new mayor, Raivo Murd, the statue was a purely ideological
symbol and its presence raised question marks about the local
government's commitment to reforms and discouraged investment.
-Saulius Girnius

LATVIAN-LITHUANIAN OIL TERMINAL PROJECT. On 21 December in an
interview in Tiesa Lithuanian Energy Minister Algimantas Stasiukynas
said that if Lithuania and Latvia fail to coordinate the main
documents for building a joint oil terminal at Liepaja, Latvia
by 15-January Lithuania would continue construction of its floating
oil terminal at Butinge, Baltfax reports. On 17-December the
prime ministers of the two states had signed a protocol of intent
for the project. Lithuania would have a 51% share of the Liepaja
terminal while Latvia would have a 49% share. The Liepaja terminal
would cost about $50 million less than the Butinge terminal and
was more likely to gain support from international financial
institutions. -Saulius Girnius

[As of 1200 CET] Compiled by John Lepingwell and Edith Oltay





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