RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 160 Part II, 20 August 1998

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 2, No. 160 Part II, 20 August 1998

A daily report of developments in Eastern and Southeastern
Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia prepared by
the staff of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

This is Part II, a compilation of news concerning Central,
Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Part I covers Russia,
Transcaucasia and Central Asia and is distributed
simultaneously as a second document. Back issues of RFE/RL
Newsline and the OMRI Daily Digest are online at RFE/RL's
Web site: http://www.rferl.org/newsline

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Headlines, Part II

* UKRAINE SAYS FINANCIAL SITUATION UNDER CONTROL

* SLOVAKIA DENIES CUTTING HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE TV PROGRAM

* SESELJ SAYS SERBS NEED NOT HURRY TO TALK

End Note: THIRTY YEARS LATER, CZECHS STILL DEBATE LEGACY OF
1968
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EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE

UKRAINE SAYS FINANCIAL SITUATION UNDER CONTROL... In a joint
statement issued on 19 August, the Ukrainian National Bank
and the government said they are taking measures to ensure
the stability of and control over Ukraine's financial
markets, Ukrainian Television reported. The statement
stresses that the situation in Ukraine is "essentially
different" from that in Russia following the devaluation of
the Russian ruble. National Bank Chairman Viktor Yushchenko
told a cabinet meeting on 19 August that non-residents now
hold 18 percent of Ukraine's government bonds, down from 50
percent last year. The bank and the government pledge to
meet their domestic and foreign debt obligations, ensure a
stable national currency, maintain the existing trade
balance, and protect Ukrainian export-import traders. "There
are no signals that Ukraine's banking system was directly
affected by the Russian crisis," Yushchenko commented. JM

...BUT HRYVNYA CONTINUES TO FALL. The National Bank on 19
August lowered the official exchange rate of the hryvnya to
2.225 to $1, down from 2.18 to $1 on 17 August. Ukrainian
News reported on 19 August that in the next few days the
official exchange rate will exceed 2.250 to $1, which is the
upper limit of the hryvnya exchange corridor set for 1998,
and that the bank will cancel the corridor altogether.
"Since the Russian ruble is falling, the National Bank
decided it would be better to devalue the hryvnya than
uphold it to the detriment of the trade balance," a
financial specialist told Ukrainian News. JM

PUSTOVOYTENKO LAUNCHES 'THIRD STAGE' OF TAX COLLECTION.
Following two unorthodox measures to collect tax debts--
civil defense exercises for directors of debtor companies
and the seizure of cars from tax delinquents--Ukrainian
Premier Valeriy Pustovoytenko announced a third stage of tax
collection on 19 August. The government is to immediately
establish "tax collection posts" at all debtor companies.
"The tax collection posts will exercise control over the
production and sale of all output and the payment of taxes,
including barter and goods exchange operations," Ukrainian
Television quoted Pustovoytenko as saying on 19 August. But
Pustovoytenko's unorthodox measures to collect outstanding
taxes have not proved very effective to date. Tax arrears
totaling 8.3 billion hryvni ($3.7 billion) on 1 August were
reduced only by 5.6 percent by 17 August. JM

RUSSIAN RUBLE DEVALUATION AFFECTS BELARUS. The market
exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble has fallen from 68,000
to 80,000 to $1 since the de facto devaluation of the
Russian currency on 17 August, Belapan and RFE/RL's
Belarusian Service reported on 19 August. A Belarusian
economics expert told RFE/RL that the recent financial
turmoil in Russia may prompt the Belarusian government to
re-establish customs checkpoints at the border with Russia
in order to shield the country from a "large-scale socio-
economic problem." Meanwhile, the Belarusian National Bank
said on 18 August that it has full control over the
country's financial market. The bank added that it predicted
the Russian financial crisis and took steps as early as in
July to minimize its impact on the Belarusian economy. The
official exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble, maintained
at an artificially low level, remains unchanged at some
44,000 to $1. JM

ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER TALKS DEEMED 'SUCCESS.' Chief
negotiators at the two-day talks in Moscow on the
delimitation of the Estonian-Russian border said on 19
August that the meeting was a "success," BNS reported. It
was the first time the two negotiating teams had met since
November 1997, largely due to the replacement earlier this
year of Russian chief negotiator Vasilii Svirin by Ludvig
Chizhov, who had conducted border talks with Latvia.
Estonian chief negotiator Raul Malk said the two sides
signed a memorandum setting down the positions from which
they will proceed when they next meet in October. BNS quoted
the Estonian Foreign Ministry as saying "no disagreements in
principle" emerged at the talks. JC

RIGA BELIEVES SKRUNDA TO BE SHUT DOWN ON TIME. The Latvian
parliamentary Commission on National Defense announced on 19
August that it believes Russia will vacate the early-warning
radar station at Skrunda on 21 August, as stipulated in a
bilateral accord, BNS reported. Beginning 31 August, the
radar will be dismantled by a team of up to 33 Russian
military personnel; that task is slated to be completed by
29 February 2000. Moscow has repeatedly said it would like
to continue to operate the station, which was built during
the Soviet era, but Riga insisted on closing down the
facility. JC

POLISH GOVERNMENT CANCELS LEASE OF AUSCHWITZ CROSS SITE. The
Oswiecim local authorities have notified the Association of
War Victims (SOW) that it is canceling the lease on a land
plot outside the former Auschwitz concentration camp where
radical Catholic groups have erected more than 100 crosses,
Polish Radio reported on 19 August. The move is seen as the
government's attempt to remove the crosses, which has
sparked a prolonged Polish-Jewish controversy about
Christian symbols at the camp. SOW head Mieczyslaw Janosz
said he intends to fight the eviction notice in court.
Another radical Catholic activist, Kazimierz Switon, has
threatened to immolate himself if anyone tries to remove the
crosses from the site. JM

POLAND NOTIFIED ABOUT ATTACKS ON RUSSIAN TOURISTS. Russia
has sent a diplomatic note to the Polish government
expressing concern over attacks on Russian tourists
traveling through Poland, Television Polonia reported on 18
August. The note, which mentions 47 attacks, comes on the
heels of one sent by Russia in July. The Polish Foreign
Ministry said it will respond to the note only after the
Polish police have submitted a detailed report on attacks.
According to a Foreign Ministry official quoted by the
television station, Russian tourists in Poland are most
often attacked by criminal groups from Russia impersonating
Polish policemen. Polish police distribute leaflets at
border crossings with information on how to avoid attacks
and what a genuine Polish policeman looks like. JM

CZECH GOVERNMENT WINS CONFIDENCE VOTE. The minority Social
Democrat cabinet headed by Milos Zeman has been endorsed by
a vote of 73 to 39 in the Chamber of Deputies, CTK reported
on 19 August. In line with an agreement between the Social
Democrats and the main opposition Civic Democratic Party of
former Premier Vaclav Klaus, the latter's deputies walked
out of the chamber and did not participate in the vote. All
24 Communist deputies abstained, while one Social Democrat
deputy was absent due to illness. In other news, Zeman told
Czech Television the previous day that he considers a
statement by German deputy Erika Steinbach to have been
"outrageously impudent and an offense to the Czech nation."
Steinbach had demanded that the 1945 decrees expelling the
Sudeten Germans be abolished and that the property of the
Sudeten Germans be returned. MS

FORMER CZECH INTELLIGENCE CHIEF 'COMMITTED SERIOUS
MISTAKES.' Interior Minister Vaclav Grulich on 19 August
told journalists that the former chief of the National
Security Office, Pavel Kolar, "committed serious mistakes"
both while holding that position and after he left office in
July. Grulich said Kolar's mistakes were not "worth
prosecution but were sufficient reason to dismiss him."
Grulich added that he had reached an agreement with Kolar
whereby he would leave the post voluntarily on 31 August
rather than be dismissed. Shortly after being accused of
attempting to take out classified documents, Kolar rejected
the accusation and said he is ready to defend himself in
court. MS

SLOVAKIA'S COMMITMENT TO DEMOCRACY QUESTIONED. In a report
released on 19 August, the Vienna-based International
Helsinki Federation (IFH) and the Slovak Helsinki Committee
said they fear that basic human and political rights are
under threat in Slovakia, AP reported. Among other things,
the 14-point report lists the 1997 alteration of ballots by
the government in the referenda on NATO membership and the
direct election of the president, threats to the freedom of
the media, government interference in criminal
investigations, and the infringement of minority rights. IFH
director Aaron Routs told journalists that the two
organizations are particularly "concerned that the
[September 1998] election process may be manipulated, based
on the behavior of the government up to this point." MS

SLOVAKIA DENIES CUTTING HUNGARIAN-LANGUAGE TV PROGRAM. In a
statement to MTI on 19 August, Slovakia's new ambassador to
Hungary, Arpad Tarnoczy. said Slovak Television will not
reduce the air time allotted to its Hungarian-language
program but will "give a chance to other minorities to
appear on the same program" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19
August 1998). Tarnoczy said he would "personally object" to
any move to cancel the program. Meanwhile, a partial
resolution to the dispute over the transfer of the ownership
of TV Markiza has been reached. The station's new owner has
agreed to let director-general Pavol Rusko remain in his
post and to abstain from interfering pending a final
resolution of the dispute in court. MS

SLOVAKIA HAS NEW CHIEF OF STAFF. Parliamentary chairman Ivan
Gasparovic on 19 August accepted the resignation of outgoing
chief of staff General Jozef Tuchyna and appointed Colonel
Marian Miklus as his replacement. The presidential
prerogative of appointing the chief of staff was transferred
to Gasparovic after the parliament failed to elect a new
president as Michal Kovac's successor. Gasparovic
disregarded the Defense Ministry's proposal for Tuchyna's
replacement and appointed Miklus, who was proposed by
Premier Vladimir Meciar, RFE/RL's Bratislava bureau
reported. Legal experts consider this to be a breach of the
law. Tuchyna, whose resignation was prompted by his
candidacy on the lists of the opposition Party of the
Democratic Left in the September elections, told TV Markiza
that the move "simply confirms that we are somewhere in the
Congo." MS

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON 'ADVOCACY OF NATIONAL
INTEREST.' Janos Martonyi, in an interview with "Magyar
Nemzet" on 19 August, said Hungary's Euro-Atlantic
aspirations are "not impeded by a firmer advocacy of
national interest." He noted that by giving stronger
emphasis to that interest, the cabinet headed by Viktor
Orban is "not acting in an unusual way, we simply have a
clear vision and [openly] declare it." Martonyi said that
the cabinet "considers regional cooperation extremely
important" and that Orban's recent visit to Romania
"underlined that improving links with Romania is a top
foreign policy priority." He said he will meet with "nearly
all" his Central and East European counterparts to discuss
regional cooperation. MS

SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

SESELJ SAYS SERBS NEED NOT HURRY TO TALK. Serbian Deputy
Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj said in Nis that the Serbs
should wait one year for a more favorable international
negotiating atmosphere on Kosova, the Belgrade daily "Danas"
reported on 20 August. He charged that the "Americans and
Germans" have decided to reduce the size of Serbia and will
raise the question of Vojvodina once the Kosova issue is
settled. "The Germans are already planning to seek the
return of the property of the ethnic Germans," whom the
Yugoslav communists expelled in the wake of World War II, he
added. Seselj said that the Serbian government has been
careful not to provoke a NATO intervention in Kosova and
that it has "successfully concluded the police and military
action aimed at wiping out Albanian terrorism. We have not
yet destroyed all the terrorists, but all that remains is to
finish them off in the forests and small localities, which
the police will do soon." PM

UNHCR'S FOUR-POINT PLAN FOR AVERTING REFUGEE DISASTER.
Soeren Jessen Petersen, a deputy to the UN High Commissioner
for Refugees, said in Prishtina on 19 August that it is
likely that "many, many people [will die in Kosova] during
the coming winter. Humanitarian action must not, once again,
as happened in Bosnia four or five years ago, become a
substitute for political action." Petersen recommended four
steps to avert a major humanitarian disaster, AP reported.
First, hostilities must end and negotiations start. Second,
journalists and aid agencies must have better access to
Kosova. Third, the 170,000 displaced persons within the
province and the 50,000 refugees outside it must be able to
go home. And fourth, the UN aid operation must receive more
support. PM

BONINO SAYS NO HUMANITARIAN RELIEF WITHOUT POLITICAL
SOLUTION. Emma Bonino, who is the EU's chief official for
human rights, said in Prishtina on 19 August that Kosova is
headed for a major "humanitarian catastrophe" in the coming
months unless a political solution is found. She warned that
the rainy season will begin soon, followed by the winter,
and that the worsening weather conditions will make the
thousands of displaced persons' temporary shelters useless.
She added that the "international community must face
reality" and seek a political solution in order to avert the
crisis. Bonino stressed that it will not be possible to
carry out a humanitarian relief mission while fighting is
going on, as the international community attempted to do
during the recent wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Elsewhere, the
Council for the Defense of Human Rights in Prishtina
published the names of 800 Kosovars whom the Council claims
the Serbian authorities have abducted since the beginning of
1998. PM

ALBANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER URGES KOSOVARS TO UNITE. Paskal
Milo told Reuters in Tirana on 19 August that the divisions
between President Ibrahim Rugova's shadow state and the
Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) are undermining the Kosovars'
international credibility. Milo added that ethnic Albanian
political groups need to develop a coordinated strategy, and
he urged individual factions to put aside their differences.
Milo also said that the UCK has lost political influence as
a result of its recent military setbacks and that the five-
member negotiating team that Rugova appointed last week
should serve as a nucleus for uniting all Kosovar political
forces. Meanwhile, the Albanian Foreign Ministry sent a
protest note to the federal Yugoslav embassy on 19 August
condemning Serbian troops for firing 15 shells on the border
town of Padesh the previous day, "Gazeta Shqiptare" reported
on 20 August. FS

MONTENEGRIN MINISTER DEFENDS TALKS WITH CROATIA. Montenegrin
Foreign Minister Branko Perovic said in Podgorica on 19
August that he is pleased with the results of the previous
day's Yugoslav-Croatian talks (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19
August 1998). He stressed that Montenegrin representatives
participated in all stages of the negotiations.
Representatives of the smaller parties in the governing
coalition had said that the talks did not serve Montenegro's
interests because Serbian diplomats failed to give priority
to opening border crossings between Croatia and Montenegro,
RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM

SERBIAN NGO PRESENTS BOSNIAN WAR EVIDENCE. Representatives
of the Fund for Humanitarian Justice sent documents to the
Hague-based war crimes tribunal on 19 August, RFE/RL's South
Slavic Service reported. The texts allegedly prove the
involvement of top officials of the Serbian Interior
Ministry in the 1992-1995 Bosnian conflict, a spokesman for
the fund said in Belgrade. Slobodan Miljkovic "Lugar," who
recently died in a bar-room shoot-out, allegedly played a
key role in Serbia's involvement in the war (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 10 August 1998). PM

ALBANIA, U.S. HUNT TERRORISTS. An unidentified Albanian
Interior Ministry official told AP on 19 August that U.S.
and Albanian secret service agents have launched a
"intensive search" across Albania for suspected members of
an international Islamist terrorist group. The official
added that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has found
"serious evidence" that the suspected terrorists planned to
blow up the American embassy in Tirana (see "RFE/RL
Newsline" 19 August 1998). An anonymous Albanian-speaking
caller made several phone calls to the embassy last week in
which he threatened to drive a car bomb into the building.
Each time he spoke only for a few seconds and gave no
explanation for his threat, the official said. Unknown
persons have also given bomb threats recently to Albania's
embassies in France, Italy, and Germany, as well as the
offices of the daily "Shekulli," which has written about
Islamist activities in Albania. FS

EXPLOSION DAMAGES ALBANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH. A bomb heavily
damaged an Orthodox church in Shkodra on 19 August, "Gazeta
Shqiptare" reported. The blast caused no casualties. Police
said they have not been able to identify who was behind the
attack or what were the motives. They added, however, that
they are looking into all possibilities, including a land
dispute. Local politicians and representatives from all
religious communities condemned the bombing. The wooden
church was built in 1996 in a park near the university. The
previous day, unidentified criminals attacked a depot for
heavy arms in Palikesht, near Berat. The attackers used
machine guns and grenades but failed to take the building.
They fled after a shoot-out that lasted over half an hour,
"Gazeta Shqiptare" reported on 19 August. FS

MOLDOVAN FOREIGN MINISTER ON RUSSIAN TROOPS WITHDRAWAL.
Nicolae Tabacaru on 19 August said in Washington that by the
end of 1998 he will give the OSCE a new plan for the Russian
troops' withdrawal from the Transdniester. The plan will
call for the withdrawal of the 2,600 troops stationed in the
separatist region, but only after 43,000 tons of ammunition
are first removed--as Tabacaru put it, to avoid its falling
into the hands of drug traffickers and money launderers,
"many of whom operate out of the Transdniester." He also
said that during his meeting on 19 August at the State
Department, he was informed that the U.S. has decided to
include Moldova in the Action Plan for Southeast Europe,
which is aimed at intensifying political and economic
cooperation among the countries belonging to the program.,
an RFE/RL correspondent reported. MS

BULGARIAN OFFICIALS DENY MACEDONIAN ALLEGATIONS. Prosecutor-
General Ivan Tatarchev and parliamentary deputy Kazimir
Karakanchov, leader of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary
Organization, on 18 August denied accusations published the
previous day in Skopje's "Nova Makedonija" that they are
interfering in Macedonian affairs "in a way unparalleled in
Europe." Citing speeches the two officials made at a
gathering in early August in Predela marking the anniversary
of the 1903 uprising against the Turks, the daily wrote that
the two are displaying "extreme impatience to see the border
between the two countries abolished and the two peoples
spiritually united." In an interview with the BBC on 18
August Karakanchov said that "the idea to lift borders did
not originate in Bulgaria and did not apply to the
Bulgarian-Macedonian border alone," BTA reported. MS

END NOTE

THIRTY YEARS LATER, CZECHS STILL DEBATE LEGACY OF 1968

by Jeremy Bransten

	It has been 30 years since Soviet troops rolled down
Wenceslas Square and the Prague Spring was crushed under the
metallic tread of tanks on cobblestones.
	But this year, there will be no big anniversaries, no
national outpouring of emotion such as in February, when the
hockey team won the gold medal at Nagano and half of Prague
spilled out onto the streets.
	A decade ago, with public opinion muzzled, and Soviet
troops still occupying Czechoslovakia, the 20th anniversary
of the 1968 invasion had deep resonance. But today, even the
1989 Velvet Revolution seems an increasingly distant memory.
And those who remember are asking: Does the Prague Spring
have any meaning for Czechs today, 30 years after its
premature death?
	Political scientist Bohumil Pecinka doesn't think so.
He says that most people prefer to look to the period before
the Communist takeover in 1948, rather than to the 1968
interlude. "After 1989, and the Velvet Revolution," he says,
"there wasn't a return to 1968, but a return to 1948, or
more accurately, to before 1948, when democracy was
destroyed in our country. And the majority of people now
look at 1968 as an attempt by the Communist elite to
humanize the then Communist regime--not to change it."
	Yet 1968 was much more than that. Although it was
originally devised as a modest reform program within the
Czechoslovak Communist Party, the Prague Spring quickly
mushroomed into a grassroots movement.
	And when it was crushed, for a brief few day
newspapers splashed photos across their front pages of a
sad, defiant people meeting tanks with clenched fists.
Prague became synonymous with the dashed hopes of a
generation. But the world's attention soon shifted, until
another revolution came, whose velvet embrace swept those
humiliating memories away.
	The cobblestones are the same, but these days,
wandering down Wenceslas Square, where the American Express
and McDonald's outlets disgorge flocks of admiring
backpackers, it's hard to conjure up the tanks, or the heady
atmosphere of 1968. The only Russians you'll see today are
nouveau rich "biznemeni" who cruise by in their BMWs.
	A small wooden cross and a plaque dedicated "in memory
of the victims of Communism" mark the spot where in 1969,
Jan Palach, a 20-year-old student, immolated himself to
protest the Soviet invasion. Tourists take photos, and move
on to the T-shirt stands.
	Remembering hurts in this country, says Pecinka. "The
Communist system was so well perfected that anyone who
wanted to live here and not just exist had to somehow
conform...to make lots of small compromises. And people
don't want to recall that," he explains.
	Ludvik Vaculik, a leading Czech writer, is one local
who didn't compromise and who likes to remember. Vaculik
published the "2,000 Words" declaration in the summer of
1968. The manifesto called for true democratic change in
Czechoslovakia, from the ground up, directly challenging the
regime's role in leading reform. Moscow branded the document
counter-revolutionary and used its publication, in part, to
justify the invasion.
	Vaculik says the Prague Spring still has great
significance, but many people prefer to ignore it. "The
legacy of 1968 is that people, at that time, stepped away
from their personal interests and careers and understood
that there was a common task. It was an ability to rise
above things and act as a human whole--and this, with our
new freedom, is now being whittled away."
	Vaculik notes that the lessons of the Prague Spring
are more appreciated in the West than in the East, and he
adds that without wanting to, Czechoslovakia became the
sacrificial lamb that helped dispel any myths about Eastern
European Communism.
	"This whole process and all of 1968 had greater
significance for Europe than for us. The leftist
intelligentsia in Europe learned what the USSR was all
about--what kind of power it was--and that socialism in the
Soviet mold was unreformable.
	Although he spent the next 20 years shuttling from one
interrogation cell to another, for Vaculik the Prague Spring
was worth the personal cost." It really can't be measured by
the standard of was it worth it or not," he says. "No,
that's not important. It was necessary. Some people stood
the test, and some simply did not."
	Historian Pavel Zacek explains the Sisyphean struggle
he faces. Zacek, a one-time student activist, is now deputy
director of the Office for the Documentation and
Investigation of Communist Crimes. The office is a part of
the Interior Ministry. Its task is to investigate the
activities of the former State Security apparatus and
compile evidence against individuals who committed specific
crimes on behalf of repressive institutions.
	On paper, the office enjoys broad powers - more power
in fact, than any other such body in Eastern Europe. Its
staff-members, as Interior Ministry employees, have broad
access to classified files and have prepared indictments
against scores of individuals, including some of the main
actors in the post-1968 "normalization" period. But the
indictments must then proceed to the courts, where they are
often thrown out.
	But Zacek says he is not after punishment. He just
wants Czech society to honestly assess its past so that it
can move on to a secure democratic future.
	"We have to bear in mind that some of these
perpetrators are 70- to 80-year-old pensioners. The point is
not to lock them up, but to decide that what they did was a
crime and for society to acknowledge that among it are
criminals. Without this assignation of blame, society cannot
come to terms with its past, accept a democratic order, and
move forward."

The author is an RFE/RL editor based in Prague.

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