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Надо уметь переносить то, чего нельзя избежать. - М. Монтень | |||||||||||||||||||
![]() No. 27, 9 February 1994RUSSIA FOREIGN MINISTRY ADAMANT ON BOSNIAN AIR STRIKES. Russian opposition to proposed air strikes on Serbian positions in Bosnia continues. Reuters reported that on 8 February Russia's UN ambassador, Yulii Vorontsov, proposed that Sarajevo be placed under UN administration immediately rather than be subject to strikes. According to the same report, Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev also wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in which he objected to using air power to open Tuzla airport, as NATO had previously authorized. In general, Foreign Ministry spokesmen have specified that they would approve the use of air cover if UN peacekeeping forces were attacked, but oppose what they describe as "pre-emptive" or "reprisal" strikes. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin, during a briefing reported by Interfax on 8 February, also argued that Serbian culpability for the 5 February mortar attack in Sarajevo has not yet been established. Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc. PARLIAMENT, MINISTRY OF DEFENSE ALSO REGISTER OPPOSITION. Russian parliamentarians have uniformly expressed opposition to the proposed air strikes. Interfax on 8 February quoted State Duma speaker Ivan Rybkin as saying that "non-violent solutions" to the situation in Bosnia should be sought, and that air strikes against Serbs "would do Europe a lot of harm." The Communist Party's leader, Gennadii Zyuganov, blamed Western European nations for originally encouraging the break-up of the former Yugoslavia and said that NATO air strikes would lead to an escalation of violence there. Finally, the deputy chairman of the parliamentary Committee for International Affairs (and a member of Vladimir Zhirinovsky's nationalist Liberal Democratic Party), Aleksei Mitrofanov, compared the mortar attack in Sarajevo to "setting the Reichstag on fire," and suggested that it was a deliberate provocation (presumably by non-Serbian groups) to destabilize the situation and to provide a pretext for attacking Serb positions. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Minister Pavel Grachev charged on Radio Moscow on 8 February that the dispatch of additional NATO contingents to Bosnia could lead the Muslim community to build up its own forces, escalating the conflict further; he said that Russia was trying to ensure that pressure be brought to bear on Croat and Muslim groups as well as on the Serbs. On the same day, according to Interfax, Russian air force commander Petr Deineken also warned against air strikes, arguing that they would result in civilian casualties. Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc. MOSCOW READY TO AID ETHNIC RUSSIANS. Saying that "diplomatic measures are not enough," Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Demurin told reporters on 8 February that his ministry was currently drafting a program aimed at safeguarding the interests of the some 25 million ethnic Russians living in the former Soviet states. Reuters says the program would include economic support measures, the establishment of a powerful broadcasting network, and the granting by Russia of priority treatment to companies based outside Russia but run by ethnic Russians. Demurin said that the planned program, which would be submitted shortly for consideration in the government and then the parliament, would be very expensive; he suggested that the government would nevertheless ask parliament to provide the necessary state funding for it. Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc. KOZYREV AGAIN CHARGES "ETHNIC CLEANSING" IN BALTIC STATES. Repeating charges most recently published in the 14 February edition of Newsweek, Foreign Minister Kozyrev on 8 February again condemned what he described as "ethnic cleansing" allegedly being conducted in Estonia and Latvia. According to Interfax, Kozyrev said that Russia could not remain indifferent to what was happening near its borders and called upon the world to pay "attention to this inhuman and potentially dangerous situation." Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc. FEDOROV'S NEW POST. On 8 February Boris Fedorov, the former finance minister, was unanimously elected to be chairman of the State Duma's Sub-Committee on Central Bank Monetary and Credit Policies, an RFE/RL correspondent and Russian agencies reported. When another legislator expressed concern about Fedorov's relationships with Russian Central Bank (RCB) Chairman Viktor Gerashchenko, Fedorov assured the hearing that he harbored no personal animosity towards Gerashchenko. He went on call for a close scrutiny of the RCB's monetary and credit policy and for an examination of the RCB's final audit for 1993, of which an abridged version "contained many discrepancies;" and he roundly criticized the proposed merger of the Russian and Belarusian monetary systems. Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc. FARM LOBBYING CRITICIZED. On 8 February Defense Minister Grachev called for more funding for the military-industrial complex, Reuters reported, citing Russian TV. He told viewers that President Boris Yeltsin had agreed to allocate only 70% of the 2.3 trillion ruble arrears owed to defense plants for output delivered in 1993. "The main obstacle for me is Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Zaveryukha, whose rank is higher and who is by character more pushy," Grachev said. Zaveryukha has been lobbying hard for ever greater allocations from the 1994 federal budget to support the state agriculture sector. His demands have ranged from just a few trillion rubles to, effectively, 34 trillion rubles, and he has varied the mix of outright grants with credits, which, in the present context amount to much the same thing. Even First Deputy Prime Minister Oleg Soskovets, who seems to favor subsidizing every sector, complained to Interfax on 5 February that Zaveryukha was trying to grab too much of the budget expenditure resources for farm support. Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc. LUZHKOV REJECTS PRIVATIZATION PROGRAM. Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, addressing an economics conference in Moscow on 8 February, called for the revision of the State Property Committee's privatization program, various Russian news agencies reported. Luzhkov has been a long-standing critic of the program fathered by Deputy Prime Minister Anatolii Chubais. Last November he reportedly received Yeltsin's approval to draft a special decree for privatization in Moscow; but his attempt was apparently thwarted by Chubais and his supporters. Luzhkov objects to the giveaway character of the Chubais program and claims that it does not create effective ownership structures at privatized firms. Erik Whitlock, RFE/RL, Inc. ILLARIONOV FOLLOWUP. On 7 February Andrei Illarionov, the director of the Prime Minister's Group for Planning and Analysis, submitted his resignation, citing the new government's anti-reform policies [see RFE/RL Daily Report no. 26]. A government spokesman on 8 February countered this by telling Interfax that Illarionov had actually been fired for absenteeism. The advisor had taken three days off without permission to give some lectures in Britain. Keith Bush, RFE/RL, Inc. YELTSIN SETS UP COUNCIL ON INFORMATIONAL DISPUTES. President Yeltsin issued a decree on 3 February, setting up a judicial body attached to the president's office to deal with disputes and other issues concerning the mass media. Izvestiya of 4 February says the chamber will resolve disputes between parliamentary factions over the distribution of broadcasting time on state-run media. It also has the right to issue warnings to publishers of periodicals and the management of broadcasting media if they "violate acceptable ethical norms." The chamber may suggest closing those media organs whose editorial policy violates existing legislation; the final decision on closure would then be taken by regular courts. Some journalists feel that the creation of a body within the presidential apparatus to supervise the performance of the mass media could encourage the political leadership to increase its control over the media. Journalists also objected to the vague wording of the decree and to the use of expressions such as "acceptable ethical norms" which are open to broad interpretation. Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc. STATE DUMA VOTES TO INVESTIGATE OCTOBER EVENTS. State Duma deputies voted on 8 February by 274 votes to 46, with 20 abstentions, to create a parliamentary commission "to investigate the reasons and circumstances of the events of September and October 1993," Reuters reported on 9 February. The motion was proposed by pro-nationalist deputy Sergei Baburin, who had been a prominent opposition leader in the old parliament and who leads the Russian All-People's Union. Reuters quoted Baburin as saying that: "Until there is an objective investigation of . . . the October events, there will be blood not only on the government but on the State Duma." An earlier motion to order an investigation into the events had failed to muster sufficient support. Official figures put the death toll for the violence in early October at 147 people. Wendy Slater, RFE/RL, Inc. CIS DEPUTY CLAIMS START-1 RESOLUTION "FALSIFIED." Ukrainian parliamentary deputy Serhiy Holovatyy has charged, according to UNIAR on 8 February, that the official published text of the Ukrainian parliament's resolution on START-1 was not the one passed by parliament. Holovatyy said he proposed an amendment to the resolution, specifying that no transfer of warheads was to take place until treaties on compensation and security guarantees are signed. Holovatyy claims that the resolution was passed together with his amendment, but that the amendment was not included in the official published text as carried by UNIAR. While Holovatyy's comments have not yet been backed up by other deputies, they are consistent with other reports suggesting there was some confusion surrounding the vote on the resolution. John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc. RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR TALKS. Russian and Ukrainian delegations held talks in Kiev on 8 February in order to resolve some of the outstanding details, such as the amount of compensation for tactical nuclear weapons, left unresolved by the trilateral agreement. Interfax quoted Yurii Dubinin, the Russian delegation's head, as stating that he wanted clarification on how Ukraine was interpreting START-1, specifically whether the parliament had voted for complete or only partial denuclearization. According to an AFP report, little progress was made at the talks, which were to continue on 9 February. In a related report, Interfax claimed that Russia is running short of nuclear reactor fuel since reactor operators have insufficient cash to pay for it. Whether this shortage would affect the trilateral agreement, which calls for the US to pay for an initial delivery of 100 tons of fuel to Ukraine, is unclear. John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc. TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA KOZYREV IN UZBEKISTAN. At the conclusion of a two-day visit to Uzbekistan, Russian Foreign Minister Kozyrev told journalists that discussions during his visit focused on economic and military ties between the two countries, as well as legal and humanitarian issues, Western and Russian news agencies reported on 8 February. Kozyrev was quoted as saying that progress had been made on the rights of Russian-speakers in Uzbekistan and "mutual misunderstanding" between Uzbekistan and Russia seems to have decreased. After Kozyrev's previous visit in November 1993, Uzbek officials expressed annoyance over his request that Uzbekistan institute dual citizenship for Russian-speakers. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc. NAZARBAEV AGAIN POSTPONES MEETING WITH YELTSIN. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev has again postponed a visit to Moscow to meet Boris Yeltsin; Radio Rossii on 8 February quoted unidentified observers as saying that the reason for the postponement is the failure to resolve the issue of the space center at Baikonur. According to this account, the sticking point in negotiations between Kazakhstan and Russia over the future of the center is Kazakhstan's desire to use part of the complex itself for commercial purposes. Russian authorities want to lease the entire complex, not just the military portion. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc. CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE KARADZIC CALLS MASSACRE A "STAGE-MANAGED FRAUD." Reuters on 8 February quotes the outspoken Bosnian Serb leader as claiming in letters to the American and Russian presidents that the 5 February explosion at a Sarajevo market was orchestrated by the Muslims themselves. He charged that older corpses and plastic body parts were used to increase the apparent number of casualties. Bosnian Serbs have frequently blamed earlier attacks on Muslim civilians on the Muslims themselves. AFP, for its part, notes that the Belgrade press quotes rump Yugoslav military experts as claiming that so much damage could not have been caused by one shell, arguing that the market had to have previously been mined. NATO countries, however, appear to have come to different conclusions, and the BBC on 9 February says that the member states are close to a consensus on an ultimatum to Bosnian Serbs. The Serbs will likely be told to end the siege of Sarajevo or face air strikes. Patrick Moore, RFE/RL, Inc. UKRAINE OPPOSES BOSNIAN AIR STRIKES. During a visit to Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatolii Zlenko said he was opposed to air strikes against Serbian positions in Bosnia, Reuters reported. According to Zlenko, aerial bombardment around Sarajevo would transform the peacekeeping forces in the area into hostages. Ukraine has 420 peacekeepers with the UN stationed in Sarajevo. Ustina Markus, RFE/RL, Inc. HERZEGOVINIAN CROAT LEADER "RESIGNS." The Los Angeles Times on 9 February reports from Livno in Herzegovina that Mate Boban resigned as president of the self-styled Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna the previous day. He told the mini-state's assembly that "Croats are not entirely free of imprudence in this conflict, but they never had bad intentions toward the Muslims, nor did anything to cause the destruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina." Boban has likely been sacrificed as a scapegoat for Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's catastrophic policies that have destroyed the traditional Croat-Muslim alliance and led to the apparent elimination of ancient Croatian communities in central Bosnia. The abrasive Boban, moreover, got himself into serious political trouble last May by engaging in a complex and acrimonious polemic with the respected Cardinal Franjo Kuharic. Herceg-Bosna's "foreign minister," Mile Akmadzic, is expected to replace Boban in the presidency. Meanwhile, Bosnian Croats favoring a continued common statehood with the Muslims opened an assembly of their own in Sarajevo on 6 February. Patrick Moore, RFE/RL, Inc. ARE AMERICAN OFFICERS WORKING IN SLOVENIA? The Belgrade Politika of 9 February quotes the Slovenian Republika as claiming that four US officers are working in that country's defense ministry and adds that up to 70 can be found staying in Ljubljana's Slon Hotel. The papers quote unofficial sources for their information and claim that Slovenian President Milan Kucan was caught unaware of the Americans' presence, which was supposedly arranged by Defense Minister Janez Jansa and which has become a lively topic of discussion in Ljubljana. Patrick Moore, RFE/RL, Inc. MACEDONIA TO RECEIVE US RECOGNITION? Following in the footsteps of six EU countries and Russia, the US will soon grant Macedonia diplomatic recognition, The New York Times reported on 9 February. The Greek government has been apparently officially informed of the forthcoming action, which is being taken, according to officials, in order to contribute to greater stability in the region. Macedonia is currently experiencing some political tension resulting from the arrest of several prominent Albanians in connection with the "All Albanian Army" plot to destabilize the state. Duncan Perry, RFE/RL, Inc. ROW OVER ALBANIAN NATIONAL SYMBOLS IN MONTENEGRO. In a conflict about a "draft law on the use of national symbols of ethnic and national groups in Montenegro," the ethnic Albanian Democratic League of Montenegro claimed that "the Montenegrin parliament cannot decide about our flag." The text of the bill has not yet been published, but the Albanians fear that it will take away their Tito-era right to use the Albanian flag. At the root of the problem is the fact that the traditional red flag with a black eagle is not only the official flag of the Republic of Albania; it is also regarded by Albanians in general as a symbol of their entire ethnic group. Serbs and Montenegrins, however, see it as a symbol of irredentism when displayed outside of the Republic of Albania. Arguing the Albanian position, Montenegrin parliament member Haxhi Sylejmani claimed that "since the times of Skanderbeg, the Albanians have had no other national symbol." He added that the Albanian flag "is not the symbol of the Albanian state, but of all Albanians," Rilindja reported on 7 February. Fabian Schmidt, RFE/RL, Inc. NEW SERBIAN PARTY TO FORM, REPORTS OF IMPROVED RELATIONS DENIED. According to a report carried in Borba on 4 February, disaffected former delegates of the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DEPOS) coalition in the federal parliament of rump Yugoslavia are to form their own party. In other news, on 7 February the international media reported that Hungarian foreign minister Geza Jeszenszky flatly denied earlier reports that Budapest had opted to normalize relations with Belgrade. Reuters quoted Jeszenszky as saying "there is no deal between Belgrade and Budapest . . . and such a policy will never occur as long as I am in this job." Stan Markotich, RFE/RL, Inc. POLISH COALITION PAPERS OVER DIFFERENCES. A four-hour meeting of leaders of the two ruling Polish parties ended late on 8 February with at least the appearance of harmony, PAP reports. In a statement, the Polish Peasant Party (PSL) and Democratic Left Alliance (SLD) restated their will to uphold the two-party coalition "until the end of the Sejm's full term" in late 1997. They confirmed the validity of the coalition agreement and agreed to support "in solidarity" the draft budget proposed by the government. They also praised former Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Marek Borowski, whose resignation brought the coalition conflict to a head. Borowski took part in the talks; he told reporters afterward that the SLD will present a new candidate for finance minister within a week. This apparently peaceful outcome was something of a surprise, as SLD leader Aleksander Kwasniewski had said before the talks that there was "little chance for agreement." The conflict appears to leave Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak (PSL) strengthened and Kwasniewski weakened. In flexing his political muscle and asserting control over personnel policy in the finance ministry, Pawlak played on divisions within the Democratic Left Alliance, whose "unionist" members do not wholeheartedly support the economic policies favored by their "liberal" leadership. Meanwhile, President Lech Walesa formally removed Borowski from office on 8 February. Speaking to reporters on the ski slopes in Kotlina Klodzka, Walesa used the conflict to argue once again for presidential control of the executive branch. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc. HAVEL AWARDED INDIAN PEACE PRIZE. Indian President Shankar Dayal Sharma presented his Czech counterpart Vaclav Havel with the 1993 Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development, international news services reported on 8 February. Sharma praised Havel for his leadership and "creative spirit." The Czech President replied the prize was a tribute to citizens of former Czechoslovakia, who for years engaged in non-violent opposition to communist authorities. At a later press conference in New Delhi, Havel indicated that Czech authorities are willing to sell military hardware to India. CTK quoted him as having said that he sees no reason "why the Czech Republic should not export some military items to countries with a democratic tradition." Also on 8 February, Havel met with Indian Prime Minister Narasimha Rao. Jan Obrman, RFE/RL, Inc. ZHIRINOVSKY CONFIRMS INVITATION TO CZECH REPUBLIC. Russian nationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky confirmed that he has been invited to visit the Czech Republic, CTK reported on 8 February. The extreme-right Republican Party announced last week that it would invite Zhirinovsky "to learn more about his views." Czech President Vaclav Havel and spokesmen for the foreign ministry said that the Russian leader would be granted a visa, but that authorities reserved the right to expel him from the country if his actions merited such a move. In an interview with Czech TV, broadcast on 8 February, Zhirinovsky said that Czechs will criticize Havel after his death, "just as Russians are cursing Gorbachev." He pointed out that it is "not right" to have a playwright as president. Jan Obrman, RFE/RL, Inc. SLOVAK GOVERNMENT MEMBERS TRY TO SOLVE DEADLOCK. On 8 February two deputy premiers from the Slovak National Party, Jozef Prokes and Marian Andel, offered to give up their government posts to solve the current parliamentary deadlock. Both were forced to give up their positions as parliamentary deputies when they became members of the coalition cabinet formed by the SNP and the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia in November. Prokes said he "feels responsible" for the current deadlock, in which only 75 of 150 parliamentarians support the government, because the SNP deputy who replaced him "betrayed" the coalition and joined the opposition. If Prokes and Andel give up their government posts, the members who replaced them would be forced to leave the parliament, and the coalition would thus be strengthened by two votes, TASR reports. Sharon Fisher, RFE/RL, Inc. GERMAN-SLOVAK MILITARY COOPERATION AGREEMENT. On 8 February German Defense Minister Volker Ruhe arrived in Bratislava for a two-day visit, which includes meetings with his Slovak counterpart Imrich Andrejcak, as well as with President Michal Kovac, Premier Vladimir Meciar and Foreign Minister Jozef Moravcik. Andrejcak and Ruhe signed a military cooperation agreement providing for information exchanges and joint training. Following talks with Meciar concerning NATO's Partnership for Peace initiative, Ruhe said that the program is not "an alternative to joining NATO," but rather "a program of active participation of post-communist countries in advancing to NATO structures," TASR reports. Meciar will travel to Brussels on 9 February to sign the Partnership for Peace agreement. Sharon Fisher, RFE/RL, Inc. HUNGARY, UKRAINE, SIGN PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE AGREEMENT. Hungarian radio reported on 8 February that Foreign Minister Geza Jeszenszky signed in Brussels the Partnership For Peace agreement with NATO. He was the fifth East European state to do so. Jeszenszky said that the agreement is the first step on the road to join NATO. On the same day the agreement was signed in Brussels also by Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Anatolii Zlenko, UNIAN and Reuters reported. At the signing ceremony Zlenko said he welcomed the program as a reasonable alternative to "selective and partial NATO enlargement." Zlenko also said Ukraine would use the program to bring Ukraine's armed forces up to standards enabling it to eventually fully join the alliance. Karoly Okolicsanyi and Ustina Markus, RFE/RL, Inc. UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER VISITS BUDAPEST. MTI reported on 8 February that Vitalij Radeckij started a two-day visit to Hungary. He had talks with Prime Minister Peter Boross. Topics included the South Slav crisis, the Partnership for Peace agreement with NATO and future Ukrainian spare parts deliveries to Hungary. Radeckij announced that Ukraine will increase the number of its UN troops in Bosnia. Karoly Okolicsanyi, RFE/RL, Inc. UKRAINE PRESIDENT VISITS LITHUANIA. On 7 February Leonid Kravchuk, accompanied by acting Prime Minister Yukhim Zvyahilsky and other ministers, paid a one-day visit to Vilnius. After talks with his Lithuanian counterpart Algirdas Brazauskas the two leaders signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation. In a speech to the Seimas and at a press conference, both broadcast live by Radio Lithuania, Kravchuk noted both countries wanted closer integration with NATO through the Partnership for Peace program and hoped that a Baltic-Black Sea alliance would be formed. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Povilas Gylys and Ukrainian International Economic Relations Minister Oleh Slepichev signed an agreement on investment promotion and protection. Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc. ROMANIAN PARLIAMENT DEBATES ACCORD WITH IMF. The Chamber of Deputies started on 8 February debates over details of a new agreement between Romania and the International Monetary Fund, Radio Bucharest reports. Mircea Cosea, head of the cabinet's Council for Economic Coordination, Strategy and Reform and one of the accord's main architects, told deputies that economic reforms were doomed without the agreement. Finance Minister Florin Georgescu and National Bank Governor Mugur Isarescu also defended the agreement. But Ion Ratiu from the National Peasant Party Christian Democratic said that the government should have negotiated better terms with the IMF. And deputies for the Liberal Party-1993 criticized some provisions of the accord and called on the government to assume full responsibility for its implementation. The Senate is scheduled to debate the agreement on 9 February. Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL, Inc. ROMANIAN OPPOSITION LEADER ON TUDOR CHARGES. In a statement broadcast by Radio Bucharest on 8 February, Democratic Convention Chairman Emil Constantinescu, demanded an official investigation into the dispute between nationalist Senator Corneliu Vadim Tudor and Romania's Defense Minister General Nicolae Spiroiu. Tudor had accused Spiroiu of having betrayed national interests and harmed the country through disadvantageous military contracts with foreign partners. Spiroiu has denied the accusations, saying that the real reason for Tudor's attacks was the minister's refusal to promote Tudor's brother, an army colonel, to the rank of general. Constantinescu criticized President Ion Iliescu, the government, the parliament and the General Prosecutor's Office for encouraging a state of general confusion by failing to react to Tudor's allegations. Tudor is chairman of the extremist Greater Romania Party, a parliamentary ally of the ruling Party of Social Democracy in Romania. Dan Ionescu, RFE/RL, Inc. BELARUSIAN OPPOSITION OPPOSES MONETARY UNION. The Belarusian Popular Front issued a document signed by 23 deputies denouncing the proposed monetary union with Russia, Belinform-TASS reported on 8 February. According to the text, the union would "disarm the Belarusian economy and state" because of Russia's greater capital and manufacturing capabilities. The union would also reduce Belarus to being a non-paid transit corridor for Russian gas and oil to western countries. The document says that that a one-sided foreign policy orientation towards the east has already cost the country money, and claims that Belarus is paying $128 per ton for oil from Russia when oil is being traded on the Rotterdam exchange for just $91. Ustina Markus, RFE/RL, Inc. LATVIAN, ESTONIAN REACTIONS TO KOZYREV'S INTERVIEW. Latvian and Estonian foreign ministries responded to an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev (Newsweek of 14 February), where he reiterated accusations that ethnic cleansing was taking place in Estonia and Latvia and seemed to imply that the presence of Russian troops in the those countries was needed to protect the rights of the Russians living there, BNS reported on 8 February. The Latvian foreign ministry, rejected the accusations as being untrue and pointed out that such statements, stemming from a neglect of the findings of various international organizations concerning the situation of human rights in Latvia, serve to undermine Latvian-Russian relations and progress in the withdrawal of Russian troops from Latvia. Estonian Foreign Minister Juri Luik expressed astonishment over Kozyrev's remarks and said that they play right into the hands of Zhirinovsky. Noting that no Russian troops had left Estonia in January, Luik asked Kozyrev to state clearly what Russia's position was regarding the pullout of its troops from the Baltic States. Dzintra Bungs, RFE/RL, Inc. [As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Wendy Slater and Michael Shafir The RFE/RL Daily Report is produced by the RFE/RL Research Institute (a division of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc.) with the assistance of the RFE/RL News and Current Affairs Division (NCA). The report is available by electronic mail by subscribing to RFERL-L at LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU, on the Sovset' computer bulletin board, by fax, and by postal mail. Requests for permission to reprint or retransmit this material should be addressed to PD@RFERL.ORG. Such requests will generally be granted on the condition that the material is clearly attributed to the RFE/RL Daily Report. For inquiries about specific news items, subscriptions, or additional copies, please contact: In North America: Mr. Brian Reed RFE/RL, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20036 Telephone: (202) 457-6912 or -6907 Fax: (202) 457-6992 or 828-8783 Internet: RI-DC@RFERL.ORG Elsewhere: Ms. Helga Hofer Publications Department RFE/RL Research Institute Oettingenstrasse 67 80538 Munich Germany Telephone: (+49 89) 2102-2631 or -2624 Fax: (+49 89) 2102-2648 Internet: PD@RFERL.ORG Copyright 1994, RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
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