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![]() RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 158, Part II, 16 August 1999________________________________________________________ RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 3, No. 158, Part II, 16 August 1999 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 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Headlines, Part II * BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT FORMS TEAM FOR TALKS WITH OPPOSITION * SERBIAN PREMIER CALLS OPPOSITION 'TERRORIST' * ALBANIAN PREMIER VISITS KOSOVA, RECOGNIZES RUGOVA AS PRESIDENT End Note: LATVIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT INHERITS DEPRESSED ECONOMY xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx EAST-CENTRAL EUROPE BELARUSIAN PRESIDENT FORMS TEAM FOR TALKS WITH OPPOSITION... Alyaksandr Lukashenka has formed a group to discuss with political parties and public organizations preparations for the 2000 parliamentary elections, Belarusian Television reported on 13 August. The group is headed by presidential aide Mikhail Sazonau, who said the consultations will begin later this week. Meanwhile, Lukashenka has said the opposition Supreme Soviet is a "rotten" group of some 30 former deputies who do not represent "the opposition as such." According to him, the authorities are obliged to talk with representatives of "some 10 percent of the population," which, in his opinion, currently constitutes the opposition in Belarus. JM ...WHILE OPPOSITION HAGGLES OVER ITS REPRESENTATION. The memorandum empowering the Supreme Soviet to form an opposition delegation that will hold talks with the regime under the aegis of the OSCE (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 and 12 August 1999) has caused protests among opposition parties. Social Democratic Party leader Mikalay Statkevich told RFE/RL's Belarusian Service on 13 August that his party did not agree to delegate full powers to the Supreme Soviet with regard to the talks. Liberal Democratic Party leader Syarhey Haydukevich, who did not sign the memorandum, appealed to the OSCE to hold a dialogue in Belarus in accordance with the principles laid down at the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly session in St. Petersburg on 10 July. According to Haydukevich, the opposition should be represented by leaders of opposition parties and NGOs, not by the Supreme Soviet alone. JM UKRAINE LOOKS FOR MORE WESTERN MONEY AS HRYVNYA STABILIZES. A government delegation headed by Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tyhypko left for Washington on 15 August for two day of talks with the IMF, the "Eastern European Daily" reported. The main goal of the visit is to discuss the disbursement of an IMF loan tranche to Ukraine. It is thought that Tyhypko may agree with the World Bank on the date for releasing a $100 million tranche under the so-called Financial Sector Adjustment Loan program. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian hryvnya has stabilized and returned below the government exchange limit of 4.6 to $1. On 13 August, the hryvnya was trading at $4.54 to $1. JM UKRAINIAN MINERS CONTINUE PROTESTS OVER WAGE ARREARS. The Independent Miners' Trade Union has threatened to suspend coal supplies to consumers beginning in September and to stage a large-scale protest unless the government reduces its wage debt to coal miners, AP reported on 13 August. More than 2,000 miners are on strike in the Donetsk region, while hundreds of miners' wives and children continue to demonstrate in Luhansk. First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh met with the protesters last week. According to the Independent Miners' Trade Union, however, "miners' hopes for a positive resolution of their problems have not been fulfilled." The government owes the miners more than 2 billion hryvni ($435 million) in back wages, including 145 million hryvni for 1999, according to trade union leaders. JM ESTONIAN ECONOMIC MINISTRY FORECASTS DISASTROUS 1999. In an interview with the daily "Postimees" on 14 August, the Economic Ministry's chief economic policy specialist, Indrek Jakobson, predicted that Estonia's GDP will drop by 3 percent this year. Jakobson said the prediction is based on the 5.6 percent GDP drop in the first quarter of 1999 and a predicted 5-8 percent drop in the second quarter. This contradicts the Finance Ministry's forecast of 0.4 percent GDP growth this year. MH SUICIDE RATE REMAINS HIGH IN ESTONIA. Nearly 600 people commit suicide annually in Estonia, according to the suicide prevention service Lifeline, BNS reported. Some 40 people out of 100,000 commit suicide annually, which is much higher than the 10-20 out of 100,000 that international organizations usually cite. Lifeline said that during the three years it has been operating, about 3,000 people have called the suicide prevention line. MH JOINT BALTIC DOCUMENTARY PROJECT ON OCCUPATION. Freyja Film of Estonia, F.O.R.M.A. of Latvia, and Studioa KOPA of Lithuania signed an agreement on 14 August to produce a documentary, entitled "History Denied," on the occupation of the three Baltic countries, "Postimees" daily reported. The three-part series will span the period from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939 to the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1994. According to "Postimees," the text of the Estonian section will be the responsibility of four historians, including Prime Minister Mart Laar. MH TROUBLED LITHUANIAN BANK CLOSED. The Bank of Lithuania has ordered a halt to nearly all activities at the troubled Litimpeks Bank, which ceased operating on 13 August. The small bank, which accounts for only 2.6 percent of the banking market, faces liquidity, being unable to cover some 30 million litas ($7.5 million) of debt, ELTA reported. The central bank stated that several foreign investors are interested in Litimpeks. However, they warned that if investors do not materialize soon, the bank could be liquidated. MH POLISH PEASANT LEADERS SHARPLY CRITICIZE GOVERNMENT. Zdzislaw Podkanski, speaker of the Polish Peasants' National Assembly, called on the parliament to dissolve itself and the government to resign because of the two bodies' "anti-peasant policy," Polish media reported on 15 August. The same day, Peasant Party leader Jaroslaw Kalinowski criticized the government for "forgetting the farmer," implementing "an extremely liberal economic model," and putting off the resolution of "farmers' real problems indefinitely." And on 14 August, the leader of the Self-Defense farmers' union, Andrzej Lepper, threatened a nationwide strike "no later than this October." JM POLAND'S WALESA SAYS HE IS 'FORCED' TO RUN FOR PRESIDENCY. Former President Lech Walesa said on 14 August that the situation in the country "forces" him to run for the presidency once again. "After what [Self- Defense leader Andrzej] Lepper and others have said, I have no choice. I am 99.9 percent sure that I will run," Walesa said. He added that early parliamentary elections in Poland cannot be ruled out because of the government's inability to cope with various problems, including the farmers' woes. JM CZECH POLICE LAUNCH INVESTIGATION INTO NEW ODS IRREGULARITIES ALLEGATIONS. Police have launched an investigation into the most recent allegations of financial irregularities linked to the opposition Civic Democratic Party's (ODS)1996 election campaign, CTK reported on 13 August, citing IDnes (the Internet version of the daily "Mlada fronta Dnes"). Earlier, the daily had reported that the ODS failed to report to the Finance Ministry that it had received two donations totaling 7.3 million crowns ($214,000), which were used to print election billboards and campaign brochures. According to the daily, the director-general of Zeleznicni stavitelstvi Brno, Michal Stefl, confirmed that the donations were made so that his company would receive orders from the Transportation Ministry for the construction of railway tracks. Stefl later denied the allegation, but "Mlada fronta Dnes" says it stands by its report. MS SLOVAK FOREIGN MINISTER 'NOT INTERESTED' IN PREMIERSHIP. Eduard Kukan on 13 August told journalists that he is "not interested" in taking over the post of premier from Mikulas Dzurinda "either now or after the EU summit at the end of the year." Kukan was responding to a report in the daily "Sme" saying that Kukan's popularity made him the most likely candidate to replace Dzurinda. Kukan said he believes everyone "should fulfill that task for which they are best prepared, which they most enjoy, and to which they can bring the best results." For him, he added, this means the position that he now has. Dzurinda is the "right man in the right place," he argued. Kukan also said that the dispute between Dzurinda and other leaders of the Slovak Democratic Coalition (SDK) on reshaping the SDK into a five-party coalition "must not be escalated," CTK reported. MS HUNGARIAN CHURCHES CONDEMN PUBLICATION OF ANTI-SEMITIC FORGERY. The Hungarian Calvinist Church expressed "solidarity" with members of the Hungarian Jewish Community who have protested the recent publication of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," Hungarian media reported on 14 August. The same day, Hungarian Catholic Bishops condemned the publication of the book, saying it could foment hatred on racial or religious grounds. They expressed concern over the "increasingly frequent manifestations" of "a lack of respect and tolerance" toward various religious communities. The Ministry of National Cultural Heritage on 13 August said it condemns "any defamation of religions" and expressed solidarity with "those offended" in this way. The ministry added that it supports a call by the Federation of Hungarian Jewish Religious Communities to publish a scholarly work dealing with the book's false claims. MS HUNGARIAN FAR RIGHT LEADER INSISTS ON VOJVODINA REFERENDUM. Hungarian Justice and Life Party chairman Istvan Csurka told Hungarian Radio on 15 August that Budapest must insist on a UN-supervised referendum on northern Vojvodina's re-annexation to Hungary. Asked to comment on the fact that the region's Hungarian minority has made no such demand, Csurka said that, like most Hungarians living outside Hungary's borders, Vojvodina's Magyars "have a bayonet pointed at their back" and are thus unable to express their true aspirations. Csurka said that Hungary must act to save "the southern region"--a term referring to the historical borders of Greater Hungary--and that a "tiny border alteration" would save 300,000-500,000 Hungarians. He added that the "principle of the inviolability of borders" is a "lie" and is "violated by the great powers all the time." MS SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE SERBIAN PREMIER CALLS OPPOSITION 'TERRORIST.' Mirko Marjanovic told the state-run daily "Politika" of 15 August that the members of the opposition Alliance for Change are "representatives of the aggressive policy of NATO" and "paid killers." He charged that the alliance seeks the violent overthrow of the government of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Marjanovic added that the government therefore considers the alliance to be a "terrorist" one. As proof of his assertion, he cited recent remarks by opposition leader Vesna Pesic that the Serbian people might get rid of Milosevic by using the "Romanian method" unless he goes voluntarily. Her remarks were an allusion to the violent overthrow of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in December 1989. PM OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS REGIME BELONGS IN THE HAGUE. Alliance leader Vladan Batic said at a demonstration in Trstenik that the Milosevic regime has committed the "most monstrous terrorist acts" against the Serbian people during Milosevic's 10 years in office. Batic added that the only place for the regime's leaders is the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague. He noted that "the alliance has no armed forces, paramilitary troops, or criminal gangs--all of which the regime has." Several thousand people attended anti- Milosevic protests in Trstenik and Krusevac on 15 August. Elsewhere, opposition politician and former General Momcilo Perisic told Belgrade's Studio-B Television the previous day that the army will not support Milosevic if he tries to crack down violently on the opposition. PM REGIME ATTACKS PERISIC. The state-run daily "Politika" slammed Perisic on 16 August as a weak commander who was sacked in November 1998 for incompetence. "It's no wonder why this tiny-statured, weak, and treacherous general was not able to resist strains of possible NATO intervention against Yugoslavia... He is now trying to compensate for his loser personality and become [U.S. President Bill] Clinton's lieutenant and a Serbian Pinochet," AP reported. PM WHAT DOES 19 AUGUST MEAN FOR SERBIA? Zivorad Djordjevic, who heads the state-run daily "Borba," said on 15 August that the opposition has chosen 19 August as the date for its big rally in Belgrade because that is Clinton's birthday (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 August 1999). Serbian Renewal Movement leader Vuk Draskovic dismissed the charge, pointing out that 19 August is the Serbian Orthodox Feast of the Holy Transfiguration. He added that "the Communists [in the regime] do not know that because they are atheists. We hope that 19 August will mark the beginning of a transfiguration of Serbia into a democratic society," AP reported. PM VEDRINE: NO AID FOR MILOSEVIC. French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told Belgrade's "Vecernje novosti" of 15 August that the international community will give no reconstruction aid to Serbia so long as Milosevic remains in power. Any such assistance would only help prop up the regime, Vedrine added. He stressed that the time has come to break the "cycle of violence in the Balkans" by ousting Milosevic. PM GENERAL WANTS SERBIAN FORCES BACK IN KOSOVA. General Nebojsa Pavkovic, whose Third Army's zone of operations includes Kosova, said that KFOR troops have not fulfilled their obligations under the June peace agreement, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported on 16 August. He demanded that NATO troops leave the province and that the UN allow his forces to return. PM SERBIAN RESERVIST CONTINUES HUNGER STRIKE. Miodrag Stankovic said on 15 August in Nis that he has decided to continue his hunger strike for back pay, which has entered its fourth week. He added that he will move his protest from the city center to the Sveti Jovan monastery, where a local monk blessed him. Stankovic said that the government claims it cannot pay him or his fellow soldiers, but he noted that it provides General Pavkovic with a large apartment and luxury cars. Several other reservists recently stopped their hunger strike for back pay at the urging of doctors and Serbian Orthodox priests. PM SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER OPPOSED TO HUNGARIAN AUTONOMY IN VOJVODINA. Nenad Canak, who heads the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, said in an interview with Hungarian Radio on 15 August that he opposes granting territorial autonomy to Vojvodina's ethnic Hungarians. He charged that providing autonomy "would only facilitate the spread of Serbian nationalism in Vojvodina and lead to new disputes." Canak added that he opposes the concept of "personal autonomy" because it would involve a "redistribution of budget funds" based on the numerical strength of ethnic communities, meaning that "the small Ruthenian and Ukrainian minorities would get practically nothing." In an interview with the Belgrade weekly "NIN" on 15 August, Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians chairman Joszef Kasza said that as long as the Yugoslav authorities "struggle for their own survival," they will have "neither the strength nor the means to deal with minority issues." MS MONTENEGRIN POLICE CHIEF PROMISES VIGILANCE. Interior Minister Vukasin Maras said in Podgorica on 15 August that Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic and his Socialist People's Party seek "at any cost to destabilize" the Montenegrin government of President Milo Djukanovic. Maras rejected a recent charge by Bulatovic's supporters that the government plans to discredit the Yugoslav army by staging a fake coup attempt involving men dressed in Yugoslav army uniforms. The interior minister said that Bulatovic himself is behind the accusation. Magas pledged that the police will firmly resist anyone who tries to start a civil war in Montenegro, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. PM UNHCR SEEKS MORE AID FOR SERBIAN REFUGEES. Dennis McNamara, who is the UNHCR's special envoy for the Balkans, said in Prishtina on 15 August that he will seek an additional $20 million for his office's 1999 budget. This will bring the total to $60 million. He said that the continuing exodus of Serbs and Roma from Kosova prompted him to seek the increase. In Kraljevo, refugees told Reuters that Serbian police "stopped us in each town and did not want to let us through." On 14 August, the private Beta news agency reported that a Serbian convoy of more than 100 vehicles left Gjilan for Serbia proper the previous day. PM DINI URGES KFOR TO BE 'MORE VIGOROUS.' Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini told "La Repubblica" of 14 August that "the Serbian population [of Kosova] is suffering a repression that is much smaller but just as brutal and repugnant as that suffered previously by Albanians," Reuters reported. He stressed that "KFOR [must take] more vigorous action. Violence against the Serbian population must be prevented." He urged the Kosova Liberation Army (UCK) to show a "responsible attitude." Dini stressed that the international community must give "no aid for reconstruction if we don't see a commitment to combat crime and drug trafficking" on the part of the Albanians. He noted that the international community did not launch its bombing campaign against Serbia in order to put the UCK in power, adding that independence for Kosova could destabilize the Balkans. The following day, the UCK's General Agim Ceku stressed that an independent Kosova will be a "factor of stability in the Balkans," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service reported. FS ALBANIAN PREMIER VISITS KOSOVA, RECOGNIZES RUGOVA AS PRESIDENT. Pandeli Majko arrived in Prishtina on 13 August for a two-day visit--the first ever by an Albanian head of government to Kosova. Majko condemned ethnic Albanians who are harassing Serbs, saying that "if the Albanians do that, then they will play a part in Milosevic's survival. Albanians must know how to work in calm and peace," AFP reported. Majko also met with moderate Kosovar leader Ibrahim Rugova, whom he addressed as "president." During his meeting with Rugova, Majko proposed the construction of a highway linking Durres with Prishtina and announced plans for opening a diplomatic representation in Kosova. Majko also met with UCK leader Hashim Thaci, OSCE Ambassador Daan Everts, UN Special Representative Bernard Kouchner, and U.S. diplomats. FS THACI VISITS ALBANIA. Thaci met with President Rexhep Meidani in Durres on 15 August. Meidani's spokesman Mentor Nazarko told RFE/RL's South Slavic Service that Meidani pledged to provide university teachers and other experts for Kosova. Both sides urged the international community to establish international control over the divided town of Mitrovica. Thaci warned that there is a "heavy presence of Serbian paramilitaries and agents" in the north of the city, who are trying to partition the town, dpa reported. FS ALBANIAN POLICE SMASHES INTERNATIONAL PROSTITUTION NETWORK. Albanian police have cracked a network smuggling prostitutes from Russia, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Romania via Albania to Italy, dpa reported on 15 August. Police detained 13 prostitutes and three men in a motel near Shkodra on 15 August. The detainees had apparently entered Albania from Montenegro. Several days earlier, police detained 12 prostitutes in Shkodra. Also on 15 August, Prosecutor-General Arben Rakipi said that Italian Mafia bosses are active in Albania. Three weeks ago, he said, Albanian police arrested Giuseppe Muolo of Sacra Corona Unita, a Mafia group from Puglia. In other news, police found three members of the notorious gang of the Gerdhuqi brothers killed in their car near Vlora on 13 August, AP reported. The three had been released from jail in July for lack of evidence. They had been charged with various crimes ranging from robbery to murder. FS ROMANIAN FINANCE MINISTER EXPLAINS TERMS OF AGREEMENT WITH IMF. Decebal Traian Remes on 13 August said the IMF will not disburse any more tranches of its $547 million stand-by loan to Romania until Bucharest meets the terms of agreement it signed with the fund earlier this month. Remes added that the IMF will not agree to the 2000 budget being an "election-oriented" one, adding that in accordance with the April agreement, the IMF will review its implementation in September and December 1999 and in February 2000. The agreement does not allow the government to make any interest-rate or tax cuts without the fund's prior permission and without measures being taken to compensate losses in budget revenues. Remes said macroeconomic policy will concentrate on fiscal consolidation and wage restrictions in order to reduce domestic demand, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. MS MOLDOVAN RADIO GOES OFF AIR DUE TO UNPAID ELECTRICITY BILLS. Moldovan Radio went off the air for two hours on 13 August when its electricity supplies were cut off, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. Supplies were restored after the management promised that the company's 600,000 lei (some $55,000) debt to the government will be paid this week. Ion Verbenciuc, deputy chairman of Teleradio-Moldova, said that "what happened is quite normal in a market economy." The same day, the independent Flux agency reported that electricity supplies to prisons in Balti and Rezina were also cut off owing to the nonpayment of bills. MS CZECH COURT ORDERS EXTRADITION OF SUSPECT IN BULGARIAN EX-PREMIER'S MURDER. A Prague court has ordered the extradition of Angel Vasiliev, who is suspected of having murdered former Bulgarian Prime Minister Andrei Lukanov in October 1996, BTA reported on 13 August, citing Bulgarian Radio. Vasiliev, chief executive of the Prague-based Colonel construction company, was arrested on 4 June. Vasiliev's wife told Bulgarian Radio that the extradition order will be appealed because her husband will not have "a fair trial in Bulgaria." MS END NOTE LATVIA'S NEW GOVERNMENT INHERITS DEPRESSED ECONOMY by Michael Wyzan Recent weeks have been eventful on the Latvian political scene. Vaira Vike-Freiburga, a politically independent former emigre to Canada, was elected by the parliament to the post of president on 17 June. One month later, on 16 July, Andris Skele of the former opposition People's Party (who was prime minister from December 1995 to July 1997) formed a new government. With regard to the economic sector, Skele's government has its work cut out for it. Hit hard by the Russian economic crisis that broke out in August 1998, Latvia's economy is beset by declining GDP, rising unemployment, and falling foreign trade volumes (especially exports to Russia). Latvia's GDP contracted by 2.3 percent in the first quarter of 1999, following a 1.9 percent decline in the final quarter of 1998, which demonstrates that the economy is technically in recession. Latvia has been dealing with the effects of a collapse in Russian trade for longer than has Estonia or Lithuania. Trade with Russia began to decline in spring 1998, when relations between the countries worsened following events surrounding the March demonstration by mostly Russian- speaking pensioners in Riga. Industrial production was down by 15.8 percent during the first five months of 1999, compared with the same period in 1998. Latvia's official unemployment rate was 10 percent in June, just shy of the record 10.2 percent registered the previous month and up from 7.2 percent a year earlier. Unofficial estimates put that rate as high as 16-17 percent. Inflation is low, with consumer prices rising by 2.8 percent on a December-to-December basis in 1998 and by only 1.9 percent in the 12 months to June. The average monthly gross wage in the public sector was $257 in May, up from $235 a year earlier. The wage in lats was up by 9 percent over this period, while GDP fell, employment declined slightly, and inflation was minimal. Thus, wage growth seems high, given the depressed state of the economy Latvia's fiscal position deteriorated this year, and expenditure cutbacks may have to be made in the fall. The 1999 budget, passed in February, foresaw a deficit of about 3 percent of GDP. On 5 August, the parliament approved amendments to the 1999 budget that cut spending by 64.4 million lats ($109 million) to take into account a shortfall in expected revenues of 93.1 million lats. There has been one positive consequence of the declining economy: the current account deficit fell from a very high 11.5 percent of GDP in 1998 to 8.7 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 1999. The poor external sector results in 1998 show that Latvia was not particularly successful (compared with Estonia, for example) in compensating for lost trade with Russia by boosting commercial ties with the EU. Total exports rose from $1.673 billion in 1997 to just $1.812 billion last year, while total imports rose from $2.724 billion to $3.189 billion over the same period. As a result, the trade deficit increased. This year, while the trade volume has declined, the fall in imports has exceeded that of exports. This means that the trade deficit has contracted from $383 million in January-April 1998 to $318 million over the same period this year. Behind the slow growth of total exports has been the collapse of the Russian market. Exports to that country decreased from 21 percent of the total in 1997 to 12.1 percent in 1998. Imports fared better, declining by 10.4 percent and accounting for 11.8 percent of the total, compared with 13.3 percent the previous year. The decline in trade with Russia has continued this year: exports to that country constituted 7.1 percent of the total in January-April 1999 and imports from there were 9.3 percent of the total over the same period. The share of exports to the EU has risen from 48.9 percent of the total in 1997 to 64.3 percent in January- April 1999, while for imports the EU share has increased from 45.4 percent to 56.1 percent over this period. Despite all the gloomy statistics, Latvia may be over the worst effects of the Russian crisis, with some observers forecasting a strengthening of the economy in the second half of 1999. However, there are still too many banks in Latvia (24, compared with only five in Estonia), many of which are exposed to developments in Russia. A wave of bank failures and consolidations seems likely, which would prolong and deepen the economic downturn. Another key policy issue is the fixed exchange rate of the lats. Maintaining that rate necessitates a particularly stringent fiscal policy, another factor that would keep the economy from turning around quickly. The author is a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright (c) 1999 RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx HOW TO SUBSCRIBE Send an email to newsline-request@list.rferl.org with the word subscribe as the subject of the message. HOW TO UNSUBSCRIBE Send an email to newsline-request@list.rferl.org with the word unsubscribe as the subject of the message. 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