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Nado umet' perenosit' to, chego nel'zya izbezhat'. - M. Monten' | |||||||||||||||||||
![]() No. 105, 6 June 1994RUSSIA RUSSIAN MEDIA VIRTUALLY IGNORING D-DAY. The Russian media are virtually ignoring the 50th anniversary commemoration of the Normandy landing. The Soviet official line, now being reiterated by the post-Communist Russian government, was that the D-Day landing was almost irrelevant to the defeat of Nazism. On 4 June, Western news agencies quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Grigorii Karasin as saying that "we pay tribute to the allied landings but we remember that the success of this operation was made possible by the achievements of the Soviet forces." "History attests that Moscow wanted the allies to open a second front from the very beginning of the war against Germany. But the allies delayed in keeping with their strategy of safeguarding the lives of their soldiers," Karasin went on. Russian officials and war veterans have also expressed bitter resentment that they were not invited to the D-Day commemoration in Normandy, ITAR-TASS reported on 5 June. Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc. PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE WON'T CHARGE OPPOSITION LEADERS. According to Interfax of 3 June, the Moscow Prosecutor's Office has decided not to pursue criminal proceedings against opposition leaders who spoke at a 9 May rally in the Russian capital, calling for the overthrow of Boris Yeltsin's government. The leaders are former Russian Vice President Aleksandr Rutskoi, Labor Russia leader Viktor Anpilov, and the National Salvation Front head Ilya Konstantinov. Members of the government charged that at the rally marking the 49th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Germany opposition leaders had called for change by force in the constitutional system. Such appeals are forbidden by the Russian constitution. During questioning in the prosecutor's office, Rutskoi and other leaders said that when they spoke about the "approaching end" of Yeltsin's regime, they meant peaceable and legal change. The prosecutor's office reportedly accepted the explanation. Vera Tolz, RFE/RL, Inc. FEDERATION COUNCIL VERSUS DUMA ON DEFENSE. While the Duma has been keeping a lid on defense expenditures, the Federation Council voted on 2 June to increase the defense budget from 37 trillion rubles to 55 trillion rubles, Interfax reported on the same day. Members of the Council also threatened to hold up passage of the entire budget if the Duma doesn't agree to the increase when it gives the budget its second reading on 8 June. The deputy chairman of the Duma's defense committee, Aleksandr Piskunov, told Interfax that even if the Duma doesn't approve the increase, the Ministry of Defense might simply continue to sign contracts and spend money at a high rate, presenting the government with a fait accompli at the end of the year. The government would then presumably be obliged to meet the obligations incurred by the defense ministry. John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc. STRATEGY FOR RUSSIA (2). The Council for Foreign and Defense Policy (SVOP) published its second set of theses on Russian foreign policy in Nezavisimaya gazeta on 27 May under the title "Strategy for Russia (2)." (The first set appeared there in August 1992.) The theses represent the work of a subgroup of the SVOP headed by Sergei Karaganov, deputy head of the Institute of Europe, and Vitalii Tretyakov, editor-in-chief of the newspaper and also identified as "chairman of the Collegium of the SVOP." Among the ideas raised by the report is the establishment of a new union on the territory of the former USSR to strive for the creation of a system of political, military-political, and economic cooperation that would support the interests of Russia in the area of the ex-Soviet Union. Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL, Inc. THESES SHOW CONSENSUS. In comparison with the first Strategy for Russia report, the latest one reveals a greater degree of consensus. The first report contained a number of internal contradictions which, as the authors explained at the time of publication, were permitted to remain in the published version of the report because consensus on some points was simply not attainable. The tighter argumentation in the second report echoes the consensus achieved over the last 18 months among those who influence and make Russian foreign policy. As was the case with the first Russian Strategy for Russia report, this one promises to influence arguments among Russia's policy-makers. One of the report's recommendations is to set up a non-governmental Commission for National Strategy which would be charged with developing the country's long-term strategic goals and policies. Suzanne Crow, RFE/RL, Inc. SHAPOSHNIKOV CRITICIZES NATO PARTNERSHIP. Former Soviet Defense Minister and later commander of the CIS Joint Armed Forces, Marshal Evgenii Shaposhnikov, warned in a commentary published in Komsomolskaya pravda on 2 June that the strengthening of NATO through the Partnership for Peace program could create a new "world disorder" that might lead Russia, if it joins, into confrontation with China. Shaposhnikov, a long time ally of Boris Yeltsin, said that the Partnership program had put Russia into a difficult situation because Moscow's failure to sign on could leave Russia isolated. According to AFP, which summarized the newspaper article, Shaposhnikov suggested that NATO developed the Partnership program in an effort to prolong its own existence; he proposed that NATO turn itself into a peacekeeping force subordinated to the UN or the CSCE. Stephen Foye, RFE/RL, Inc. TRANSCAUCASIA AND CENTRAL ASIA WILL RUSSIA RECONSIDER ABKHAZ PEACEKEEPING FORCE? Georgian and Abkhaz officials expressed concern and disappointment on 3 June at the decision by the Russian Federation Council not to dispatch a Russian contingent to serve in the CIS peacekeeping force in Abkhazia, Interfax reported. A spokesman for Russian President Boris Yeltsin told Interfax that Yeltsin "is likely to exert pressure" on the Federation Council to reverse its decision; Georgian parliament chairman Eduard Shevardnadze expressed confidence that it would do so. Most CIS Heads of State support the idea of a CIS peacekeeping force for Abkhazia, and some have agreed to send observers or peacekeepers, CIS Executive Secretary Ivan Korotchenya told Interfax on 3 June. Liz Fuller, RFE/RL, Inc. RUSSIANS REACT TO KILLINGS IN TAJIKISTAN. Russian officials in Tajikistan have reacted with growing anger to the string of killings, mostly in Dushanbe, which has left seven Russian officers dead in the past ten days; five were in the Russian border guards' unit, while the other two worked for the Tajik Defense Ministry. Russia's ambassador to Tajikistan sent a protest note to Tajik leader Imomali Rakhmonov, demanding that the culprits be found and punished. Anatoly Chechulin, the commander of the Russian border guards in Tajikistan, announced increased precautions and patrols for Russian soldiers, both at home and on duty. According to AFP, he blamed the shootings on the Tajik opposition, saying they had been carried out on the orders of "the leader of the Islamic opposition Turadzhonzoda and the head of the Islamic government in exile Abdulloh Nuri" in order to undermine Russian resolve to stay in Tajikistan. If any segment of the opposition is behind the attacks, it could represent a shift in tactics toward an Algerian-style terror campaign to force out foreigners. However, there are also pro-government bandits in the Dushanbe area who might be trying to scuttle scheduled peace talks with the Islamic-democratic opposition. Keith Martin, RFE/RL, Inc. UZBEKISTAN TO STOP MOSCOW NEWSCASTS. Uzbekistan's state-owned National Television and Radio Company is stopping the rebroadcast of newscasts televised from Moscow, starting with the main evening news from Ostankino TV, Interfax reported on 4 June. According to the report, TV viewers in Uzbekistan expect that the 6 pm newscast from Moscow soon will be cancelled as well. Earlier in the year Uzbekistan stopped rebroadcast of Russian TV programs in a dispute over payment of fees. Uzbekistan's government has frequently interfered in the importing of Russian publications into the country because it disapproved of their portrayal of developments in Uzbekistan; this practice suggests that the stoppage of the rebroadcasting of Russian news may have a political as well as a financial dimension. Bess Brown, RFE/RL, Inc. KIM IN UZBEKISTAN. South Korea's President Kim Young-Sam concludes a three-day visit to Uzbekistan on 6 June. The two main points on his agenda were the intensification of bilateral trade and investment, and the status of ethnic Koreans in Uzbekistan, AFP reported. Some 200,000 Koreans live in Uzbekistan, the largest number in any former Soviet republic; almost all were deported from Russia's Far East during World War II. According to the Korean ambassador in Tashkent, no large-scale resettling of Koreans to South Korea is anticipated; he noted that many no longer speak or write in their native language. The Uzbek and South Korean governments also set up a joint committee to enhance trade, and Uzbek President Islam Karimov encouraged South Korean investors to increase their activities in Uzbekistan. Daewoo, a South Korean motor vehicle manufacturer, already operates a joint venture in Uzbekistan. Keith Martin, RFE/RL, Inc. CIS UKRAINE: NPT LOW PRIORITY. Anton Buteiko, a senior advisor on foreign policy issues to the Ukrainian president, told Interfax on 2 June that accession to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty is "not of great urgency" and that economic reform will have a higher priority on the legislative agenda. Buteiko noted that Ukraine is already fulfilling its denuclearization pledges, even without formally acceding to the treaty. Until Ukraine accedes to the treaty, however, many of the security assurances proffered by the US and Russia in the trilateral accord will not take effect. The last reported shipment of warheads to Russia took place in mid-April (for a total of 180 warheads) even though Ukrainian officials said on 19 May (according to Reuters) that the pace of disarmament would be increased. Tensions over Crimea may be prompting a "go-slow" attitude in Ukraine, and some Ukrainian politicians have alluded to the nuclear weapons as a guaranty of Ukraine's security. John Lepingwell, RFE/RL, Inc. RUSSIA SEEKS NAVAL PRESENCE ON LOWER DANUBE. Ukrainian and Russian media have sporadically reported lately that residual Russian naval units on the lower Danube in Odessa oblast, particularly in Ismail, have threatened to resist by force any attempt to place them under Ukraine's jurisdiction; and that the Russian side seeks to retain control of the shore infrastructure of the Danube fleet on Ukrainian territory and on the Romanian border. The Russian side treats its Danube fleet as an integral part of its Black Sea fleet. On 31 May the Moscow daily Segodnia wondered why Russia was holding on to such a distant base as Ismail after having come to terms with Latvia on Skrunda, which is much nearer to Russia. Vladimir Socor, RFE/RL, Inc. CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE BOSNIA TALKS FAIL TO BEGIN. On 6 June international media continue to report that Geneva talks slated to include representatives from Bosnia's warring parties and aimed at producing a ceasefire have failed to get under way. The talks, originally scheduled to begin 2 June, have been delayed over disputes about Bosnian Serb failures to withdraw all troops from the exclusion zone around the Bosnian Muslim enclave of Gorazde. Bosnian Muslim representatives had announced that their participation in the talks would hinge on the withdrawal of all Serb forces around Gorazde. On 5 June AFP reported that UN special envoy Yasushi Akashi expressed confidence that all conditions could be met, allowing for the commencement of negotiations on 6 June. Tanjug reported that all parties have agreed to meet on 6 June. Finally, separate talks involving representatives from the European Union, Russia and the United States have reportedly broken down. Stan Markotich, RFE/RL, Inc. IZETBEGOVIC PROPOSES EXCLUSION ZONE. On 5 June international agencies reported that Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic has proposed the creation of a heavy weapons exclusion zone for central Bosnia which would stretch for a 100-mile radius. Izetbegovic, speaking to a group of United States senators visiting Sarajevo, argued that the exclusion zone would help offset the military imbalance between Bosnian Muslim and Serb forces. In other news, on 4 June Reuters reported that Stjepan Kljuic, former leader of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) in Bosnia and elected to the Bosnian collective presidency in 1991, has formed his own political party. The Bosnian Republican Party, officially constituted on 5 June, intends to vie in upcoming elections for the new Bosnian Muslim-Croat federation. Stan Markotich, RFE/RL, Inc. EARLY ELECTIONS FOR CROATIA? On 6 June Croatian dailies continue their coverage of the country's political crisis, pitting the ruling Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ) against opposition parties and also including what appears to be political infighting in HDZ ranks. The current crisis, which has ground parliament's work to a halt and which appears will not be resolved by efforts to negotiate the various parties back to the legislature, was aggravated on 24 May when parliamentary speaker Stipe Mesic was removed from his post. On 6 June The Feral Tribune reports that the crisis is proving so divisive that it will prompt early elections and notes that "Posters for new elections are already being printed." On 5 June Reuters citing a Vjesnik interview, quotes Josip Manolic, a former prominent HDZ member who bolted from HDZ party ranks along with Mesic, as saying that political decay has set in HDZ ranks to such an extent that "the crisis within the HDZ could be overcome by compromises between its different factions but its disintegration is an unstoppable process now." Manolic is also on record as predicting that the ongoing crisis will precipitate early elections. Stan Markotich , RFE/RL, Inc. TENSION ON SERBIAN-MACEDONIAN BORDER. Recent reports indicate that there is growing tension at the border between Serbia and the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia. The Daily Telegraph of 4 June quoted Vlado Popovski, Macedonian Defense Minister, as saying that two Serb MiG-21s in late May seemingly purposely violated Macedonian air space and that army patrols repeatedly have trespassed into Macedonian territory and twice even apprehended and questioned border guards. Popovski added that many Serb positions at the border have lately been reinforced and new troops have arrived. Officials of the United Nations and the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe have confirmed the impression of increasing Serb aggressiveness. On 1 June, for instance, a US diplomat heading a CSCE monitoring team to Macedonia told an RFE/RL correspondent that "there has been no overt Serb aggression [. . .] but there is a feeling of menace." Kjell Engelbrekt, RFE/RL, Inc. MACEDONIA'S LARGEST OPPOSITION PARTY IN TURMOIL. Factionalization in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity (IMRO-DPMNU) has reached a new height. Ljupco Georgievski, President of the party, has accused Tomislav Stefkovski, leader of the IMRO-DPMNU parliamentary group, and a deputy, Stoile Stojkov, of spying for the state security apparatus according to the 6 June issue of Vecer. The two deputies recently formed a faction within IMRO-DPMNU, the "Macedonian National Democratic Group (Fraction)," dedicated to democratizing the party. Georgievski claims accusations of undemocratic behavior are lies. IMRO-DPMNU has been afflicted by defections and expulsions during the past several years and the dismissal of five parliamentary deputies, including Stefkovski and Stojkov, may indicate that party unity is weakening, which if true, suggests that IMRO-DPMNU's fortunes in the November elections may decline. Duncan Perry, RFE/RL, Inc. GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATS ON SUDETEN GERMAN ISSUE. Writing in Sudetendeutsche Zeitung on 3 June, Karsten Voigt, the foreign policy spokesman for Germany's Social Democrats, argued that the so-called Benes decrees, on the basis of which some 3 million Sudeten Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II and their property confiscated, were "discriminatory" and should be abolished. Several Czech leftist parties criticized Voigt's statements on 5 June, CTK reported. Czech Social Democratic Party vice-chairman Pavel Novak said the abolition of the Benes decrees "is unacceptable" for his party and that such a step would lead to the destabilization of the Czech Republic. Ladislav Ortman, chairman of the post-communist Left Bloc party, said that the Czech Republic itself will decide which laws are valid on its territory. He argued it was "unbelievable" that some Social Democratic politicians in Germany "have decided to play the same card in the preelection struggle as the representatives of the ruling coalition." Josef Mecl, chairman of the Party of the Democratic Left, said that "German political parties should not try to end World War II and revise its results in the benches of the Czech parliament." Jiri Pehe, RFE/RL, Inc. SLOVAK PARLIAMENT REJECTS LAW ON ROAD SIGNS. On 3 June the Slovak parliament rejected a law allowing communities with at least a 20% ethnic minority population to post bilingual road signs, TASR reported. In the final vote, the bill failed by one vote, as 67 out of 134 deputies present voted in favor of the bill, 61 voted against, and 6 abstained. The vote produced doubts about the stability of the current governing coalition, as several members of the ethnic Hungarian Coexistence movement voted against or abstained from the vote. Pal Csaky of the Hungarian Christian Democratic Movement said that rejection of the law will have "serious political consequences," although it is too early to say if his party will continue to support the government, Sme reported on 4 June. After the vote, Party of the Democratic Left Chairman Peter Weiss said that "extremists on both sides are apparently not capable of compromise" and warned that the opposition would use the issue of road signs as one of the main themes in the preelection campaign. In the congress of the opposition Slovak National Party on 4 June, chairman Jan Slota said that if he were premier, the road sign problem would not exist since he "would not put up Hungarian road signs even in territories with 100% Hungarian inhabitants." Sharon Fisher, RFE/RL, Inc. HUNGARIAN SOCIALISTS MAKE COALITION OFFER TO LIBERAL PARTY. An extraordinary congress of the Hungarian Socialist Party (HSP), nominated on 4 June by an overwhelming majority (96% of 450 delegates) party chairman Gyula Horn for the post of prime minister designate, MTI and Radio Budapest report. The congress also approved the recommendation of the HSP national presidium and board to start coalition talks with the liberal Alliance of Free Democrats (AFD), which came in second in the elections. Horn sent an invitation letter to AFD chairman Ivan Peto and expressed the hope that should the liberals accept the offer, coalition talks could start as early as 7 June. The congress left open the possibility of coalition talks at a later date with the smaller Alliance of Young Democrats. Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc. LIBERALS AGREE TO CONSIDER COALITION. A meeting of 800 AFD delegates on 5 June authorized the party leadership to start coalition talks with the Socialist Party. The AFD can sign such an agreement only if it receives guarantees that it can influence government policies as one of jointly governing coalition partners. Welcoming the decision, Horn said he did not yet know what guarantees the AFD had in mind but that even though the HSP had an absolute majority in parliament, the AFD could still be an equal partner in Hungary's future government. Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc. ALLIANCE OF YOUNG DEMOCRATS PRESIDIUM RESIGNS. AYD Chairman Viktor Orban and the eight vice chairman making up the party's presidium resigned on 4 June, MTI reports. Orban took political responsibility for the poor showing of the AYD in the May general elections and said that any change in the party's policies would have to be made by others. On 5 June, after discussing the causes for the party's electoral failure, the AYD's national board criticized the party's leadership and decided to convene a party congress on 9 July. Alfred Reisch, RFE/RL, Inc. WALESA IN NORMANDY, CONFLICT AT HOME. President Lech Walesa traveled to Britain on 4 June to take part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the Normandy invasion. Walesa told PAP he planned to use the occasion to remind Western leaders that "we fought for you, but no one was prepared to fight for us." Meanwhile, in Poland, controversy continued over Walesa's decision to invite the Russian and German presidents to take part in ceremonies marking the 50th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising. The Confederation for an Independent Poland (KPN) and some veterans' organizations criticized the decision, citing the exclusion of German officials from the current Normandy ceremonies and the Soviet Union's complicity in the defeat of the uprising in 1944. Walesa's office stressed the importance of looking to the future, however. German President Roman Herzog has confirmed his attendance at the ceremonies on 1 August. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc. POLAND TALKS WITH IMF, EUROPEAN COMMISSION. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Grzegorz Kolodko on 3 June presented a visiting IMF delegation with the government's economic plans for the coming three years, Polish TV reports. Poland will likely sign a fourth agreement with the IMF in August, Kolodko said. Poland's last IMF agreement--the first successfully fulfilled--expired in April. IMF delegation leader Michael Deppler praised Kolodko's three-year "economic strategy" and welcomed the government's shift in focus from immediate budgetary concerns to long-term planning. Kolodko's plan foresees 20% GDP growth in the next three years, with inflation dropping to 10% and unemployment to 14% by 1997. On 5 June, Kolodko attended a finance ministers' meeting in Luxembourg attended by the 12 EU countries and the 6 countries that have reached association agreements. Kolodko announced afterward that agreement had been reached to extend the PHARE program for five years, with new funds of $8 billion to assist countries prepare for EU membership. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc. POLAND RAISES GASOLINE PRICES. Gasoline prices rose more than 8% in Poland on 5 June after the finance ministry increased the excise tax, PAP reports. This was the first gasoline price hike this year. An increase scheduled for March was withheld because of favorable conditions on the world oil market. A further 6% hike is scheduled for September. In other economic news, an occupation strike shut down all production at the Huta Katowice steel mill for the fifth day on 5 June, PAP reports. The strike is sponsored by a new splinter union, "August '80." The management criticized the protest as a "union game" to win new adherents and argued that yielding to new pay demands would bankrupt the plant. Six of the eight unions at the mill accepted a 20% pay hike on 31 May. Louisa Vinton, RFE/RL, Inc. BSP HOLDS CONGRESS. On 3 June the Bulgarian Socialist Party opened its 41st congress, at which the current policy of supporting the government of Lyuben Berov was confirmed. The present Socialist leader Jean Videnov is likely to be reelected but Demokratsiya reports that the rift between him and ex-Chairman Aleksandar Lilov, the grey eminence at the helm of the BSP's Center for Strategic Studies, seems to be widening. In an interview with Trud Lilov qualified Videnov's proposed pre-election platform as "very crude" and said it lacked promises for concrete actions over the coming years. Nevertheless, the congress decided that Videnov's platform and Lilov's draft party program should merely be subjects of continued discussion, thereby averting a direct confrontation between different wings of the party. It was announced that the BSP presently has 370,333 members, roughly 10,000 less than in the end of 1992. Kjell Engelbrekt, RFE/RL, Inc. NEW LITHUANIAN GOVERNMENT TO BE FORMED. On 2 June Prime Minister Adolfas Slezevicius announced that his government would resign in line with the Constitutional requirement demanding this whenever more than half of the Cabinet is changed. He intends to name replacements for the Economics and Forestry Ministers who resigned earlier and add new Environment, Education, and Culture Ministers. On 3 June Rimantas Dagys, the deputy chairman of the Social Democratic Party, announced that the required 29 parliament deputies had signed a petition to take a vote of no confidence in Slezevicius. According to the Seimas statute, the government has 15 days to reply to the accusations against it. Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc. HIGHER INFLATION IN LITHUANIA IN MAY. In an interview over Radio Lithuania on 6 June, Kestutis Zaborskas, the head of the Lithuanian Statistics Department, announced that inflation in May had been 6.2%. The monthly inflation rates in the first four months of 1994 had been 4.8%, 2.9%, 3.3%, and 1.6%, respectively. The higher rate was expected in May because an 18% value added tax was introduced. In May alcohol and tobacco prices increased 11.4%, transportation -8.2%, heating and electricity -7.1%, food -5.5%, and clothes -4.5%. Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc. ESTONIAN PRESIDENT REJECTS COMMANDER'S RESIGNATION. Lennart Meri informed Aleksander Einseln, the commander in chief of the Estonian armed forces, that he had turned down his request of 2 June to resign. Einseln had expressed his dissatisfaction with the decision by Prime Minister Mart Laar to conduct talks with Israel on close cooperation in defense matters without informing him. On 4 June after returning from a conference of Nordic defense ministers in Sweden, Einseln told a press conference that all the details about Estonian-Israeli relations should be made public, even suggesting that an independent commission should be established to look into the details of Estonian purchases of Israeli weapons, BNS reports. Saulius Girnius, RFE/RL, Inc. DEMIREL IN MOLDOVA. Turkish President Suleiman Demirel completed on 3 June a three-day state visit to Moldova, at the head of a delegation of more than 100 government officials, parliamentarians, and businessmen. Demirel, Moldovan President Mircea Snegur, and ministerial officials signed an interstate treaty and several economic agreements. Addressing the Moldovan parliament, Demirel strongly endorsed Moldova's independence and territorial integrity and even chastised the pro-Romanian opposition for its wish to end Moldovan statehood. Touring the Turkic-speaking Gagauz settlements in southern Moldova, Demirel urged the Gagauz to accept the far-reaching regional autonomy offered by Chisinau and to be loyal citizens of Moldova. Turkey has pledged to invest, via Chisinau, 35 million dollars to develop the Gagauz region. Vladimir Socor , RFE/RL, Inc. BELARUSIAN ELECTION OUTCOME WILL AFFECT MONETARY UNION. The Russian deputy prime minister, Aleksander Shokhin, has said that the pace of unification of Russia's and Belarus's monetary systems will depend to a great extent on the outcome of Belarus's presidential elections. As Shokhin sees it, the new Belarusian president will have to initiate the process of amending the Belarusian constitution to allow for the implementation of the agreement or else the agreement itself will have to be revised so that it does not conflict with the Russian and Belarusian constitutions. Ustina Markus, RFE/RL, Inc. UPDATE ON CRIMEAN NEGOTIATIONS. Russian radio reported on 4 June that talks between Ukrainian and Crimean parliamentary delegations ended in Simferopol with the two sides agreeing that proposals for coordinating Ukraine's and Crimea's legislation should be submitted by 15 June. No deadlines were set for bringing Crimea's and Ukraine's legislations into line with each other, and the Crimean representative Serhii Nikulyn said that some of the conflicting points could only be addressed after Ukraine adopts its new constitution. It was also agreed that the Ukrainian constitution overrides Crimean laws and that a working group be set up to delineate authority between Ukrainian and Crimean governing bodies. Ustina Markus, RFE/RL Inc. [As of 1200 CET] Compiled by Bess Brown and Jan de Weydenthal The RFE/RL DAILY REPORT, 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, is available through electronic mail by subscribing to RFERL-L at LISTSERV@UBVM.CC.BUFFALO.EDU. This report is also available by postal mail, as are the other publications of the Institute, and by fax. RFE/RL NEWS BRIEFS, an edited compendium of items first published in the Daily Report, is distributed along with the RFE/RL RESEARCH REPORT, a weekly journal providing topical analyses of political, economic and security developments throughout the Institute's area of interest. Longer analyses are available in a monograph series, RFE/RL STUDIES, and brief analytic summaries appear monthly in the RESEARCH BULLETIN. 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