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Central Asia / Siberia
NEWSLINE: Central Asia, Transcaucasia and RussiaRadio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Turkmenistan, Turkey sign natural gas deal
A framework agreement was signed in Ashgabat on 12 March whereby supplies of Turkmen gas are to be shipped to Turkey, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, Executive Director-General of Botas Nadir Behik Oglu, Turkmen Deputy Prime Ministers Yely Kurbanmuradov and Batyr Sharjayev, Turkish Energy and Natural Resources Minister Ziya Aktash, and President of the U.S. consortium PSG Edward Smith signed the agreement. Turkey will receive 5 billion cubic meters of Turkmen gas in the year 2002, when the trans-Caspian pipeline is completed. The PSG consortium will build a pipeline to carry the gas along the bed of the Caspian Sea. By 2009, supplies of gas will increase to 16 billion cubic meters annually. The price of the gas deliveries is to be announced when the final agreement is signed on 30 May. (Bruce Pannier)
Uzbekistan again cuts off gas to Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz Deputy Prime Minister Boris Silayev said on 12 March that Uzbekistan has suspended supplies of natural gas to northern parts of Kyrgyzstan, including Bishkek, RFE/RL correspondents reported. Silayev said the cut-off of deliveries is due to Kyrgyzstan's debt of $3.3 million for gas supplies. Kyrgyz officials reportedly reached a deal in Uzbekistan to deliver 22,000 tons of flour to that country in payment for those supplies (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 10 March 1999). (B.P.)
Kazakhstan courts accused of violating human rights
The director of Kazakhstan's Human Rights Bureau, Yevgenii Zhotis, said on 10 March that not a single citizen of Kazakhstan is safeguarded against unlawful arrests, falsification of criminal cases, tortures, beatings, and unjust court proceedings, Interfax reported on 12 March. Zhotis said he has reviewed many of the 1,000 appeals his bureau receives annually and bureau members have attended trials ''in which the legal rights of the accused were severely violated.'' Zhotis noted that without jurors in court, the country's citizens have no opportunity to participate in legal proceedings. ''Nezavisimaya gazeta'' on 12 March quoted Zhotis as also saying that Kazakhstan's society has no opportunity to take part in political life. (B.P.)
Report claims Uzbek, Ingush pact against Wahhabis
''Kommersant-Daily'' on 12 March claimed that Uzbek President Islam Karimov met recently with the president of Ingushetia, Ruslan Aushev, in Tashkent. The daily did not say when the meeting took place, but it noted that the two leaders agreed to coordinate activities in fighting terrorism and the spread of Wahhabism, Islamic adherents of which have been implicated in crimes in both Ingushetia and Uzbekistan. A ''source'' cited by the daily said ''Russia's impotence in the North Caucasus is forcing Uzbekistan to seek its own methods of identifying the training bases and sources of finance for Wahhabite terrorists operating in Uzbekistan.'' (B.P.)
Hit-and-run driver surrenders after newsman's death
Andranik Markarashian, the driver who killed opposition journalist Tigran Hayrapetian in an accident in Yerevan on the night of 8-9 March, has surrendered to police, Noyan Tapan reported on 12 March (see ''RFE/RL Newsline,'' 10-11 March 1999). Markarashian told police he had barely seen his victim because of darkness. But on 11 March Reporters sans Frontieres addressed a message to Armenian President Robert Kocharian asking him to take a personal interest in clarifying the circumstances of Hayrapetian's death. That appeal claimed that the accident occurred in ''a broad and well-lit avenue.'' (Liz Fuller)
Iran offers to mediate in Karabakh conflict
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told his visiting Azerbaijani counterpart, Tofik Zulfugarov, in Tehran on 13 March that Tehran is prepared to try to mediate a political settlement of the Karabakh conflict, ITAR-TASS reported. Kharrazi said the unresolved dispute risks forcing the U.S. or NATO to send troops to the region, which, he added, would pose a huge threat to regional stability. Meeting in Baku on 13 March with former Armenian presidential adviser Zhirair Liparirtian, Azerbaijani President Heidar Aliev said that Azerbaijan's stance on resolving the conflict remains unchanged, ITAR-TASS reported. Aliev said Baku is prepared to offer the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic broad autonomy after Armenian troops are withdrawn from occupied Azerbaijani territory and displaced persons have returned to their homes. (L.F.)
Georgian environmentalists protest gas pipeline plan
In a statement issued on 13 March, Georgian environmentalists argued that the planned construction of a 400 kilometer gas pipeline from Russia's Black Sea coast to Turkey is ecologically risky, Caucasus Press reported. They called for the implementation of that project to be suspended until an international commission is created to evaluate the risks involved. Officials from Russia's Gazprom, which intends to sign an agreement shortly with French and Italian companies to build that pipeline, said last month that planning is complete, but no date has been set for the start of construction. (L.F.)
Yeltsin 'interviewing' candidates for new PM
Russian President Boris Yeltsin met with Federation Council Chairman Yegor Stroev on 12 March, unleashing a new round of speculation that he is ''interviewing'' replacements for Prime Minister Yevgenii Primakov. Yeltsin had met with Yabloko leader Grigorii Yavlinskii earlier in the week. Both Yavlinskii and Stroev denied that personnel issues had been discussed, but that did little to squash the speculation. ''Kommersant-Daily'' argued the next day, citing an anonymous Kremlin official, that the president wants to give Primakov ''a little fright'' by meetings with leading politicians who are moving into opposition to Primakov. Another goal of the meetings was to weaken the image of the ''irreplaceable prime minister,'' the daily argued. ''Segodnya'' reported that Yavlinskii and Stroev themselves met later. According to the newspaper's sources, Stroev suggested that the two join forces and that one of his advisers draft Yabloko's agricultural program. (Julie A. Corwin)
Credit Suisse First Boston would rather fight
The largest holder of Russia's defaulted short-term treasury bonds, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), officially rejected on 12 March the Russian government's plan to exchange its bonds at a heavily discounted rate, Interfax reported. Instead, the bank is setting up a special fund to manage all its Russian debt investments and is encouraging other foreign holders of GKOs to participate. Deputy Finance Minister Oleg Vyugin told Interfax on 15 March that the CSFB has chosen a legal method to fight the government. (J.A.C.)
Russia suspends air, rail links with Chechnya
The Russian Railways Ministry on 12 March suspended some passenger rail links to Chechnya on the grounds that passengers' safety on Chechen territory cannot be guaranteed, ITAR-TASS reported. The same day, the Russian Federal Aviation service stopped civilian flights to Chechnya. Speaking at a press conference in Grozny on 13 March, newly appointed Chechen Foreign Minister Isa Idigov criticized the latter move as a form of military pressure on Chechnya and a violation of the 1997 peace treaty, AP reported. Idigov said that preparations have been completed for the planned meeting between Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov and Russian Prime Minister Primakov, which he said will take place ''soon.'' On 14 March, a Russian naval officer who was abducted at gunpoint from a Tbilisi-bound train in Chechnya on 10 March was handed over to Dagestan police, ITAR-TASS reported. (L.F.)
Chechen field commander's family snatched
Shamil Basaev, head of the opposition state Shura (council), issued an ultimatum to President Maskhadov on 15 March to release the parents-in-law and one-year-old daughter of Jordanian-born field commander Khottab within three days, ITAR-TASS reported. The three had been detained at a police post in Gudermes, east of Grozny, on the night of 13 March. But ITAR- TASS on 15 March quoted an unidentified Russian intelligence official as pointing out that Gudermes and the whole surrounding area are controlled by Chechen opposition field commanders. He identified maverick field commander Salman Raduev as the man responsible for kidnapping Khottab's family members. (L.F.)
Russian, Chinese ministers discuss U.S. missile plan
Grigorii Karasin was in Beijing on 13-14 March to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yinfan, ITAR-TASS reported. The two discussed Japanese-U.S. plans to create a Theater Missile Defense system in the Asian Pacific region, the situation in South Asia following last year's nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, the situation on the Korean Peninsula, and the Asian economic crisis. The spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, Zhu Bangzao, said ''the Russian Federation is opposed to the missile defense system and China is resolutely objecting to it.'' It was announced after the meeting that arrangements have been made for Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan to visit Moscow in the second half of 1999. Meanwhile, Karasin arrived in Pyongyang, North Korea, on 15 March for talks with leaders there. (B.P.)
In the Duma, dead men can vote
Duma deputy and member of the Popular Rule faction Yurii Polyakov disappeared from his home in Krasnodar Krai on 2 December 1996 and is presumed dead by his relatives. Nevertheless, he is still technically employed as a Duma deputy and has been recorded voting on three occasions since his disappearance, the ''Moscow Times'' reported on 13 March. According to Dmitrii Krasnikov, head of the Duma's House Rules Committee, it is not only legally permissible for other deputies to vote on absent members' behalf but also necessary to keep legislation moving because of Duma members' frequent absences. The reporter from ''Komsomolskaya Pravda'' who first uncovered Polyakov's votes from beyond is now facing an official request by members to be banned from the Duma, but the deputy head of the Duma's press service told the ''Moscow Times'' that the journalist is unlikely to be stripped of her accreditation without a court order. (J.A.C.)
©1998 RFE/RL, Inc. All rights reserved.
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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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March 17, 1999
