RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 117, 00-06-16

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RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 117, 16 June 2000

CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN ENERGY OFFICIAL DOWNPLAYS CHARGES OF EMBEZLEMENT

[02] IRAN PROTESTS ASSAULT AGAINST ITS AMBASSADOR IN ARMENIA

[03] ARMENIA, KARABAKH AT ODDS OVER CONFLICT SETTLEMENT?

[04] AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES, OPPOSITION FAIL TO AGREE ON ROUTE

[05] GEORGIA BECOMES FULL MEMBER OF WTO

[06] GEORGIA, RUSSIA SIGN SECURITY AGREEMENT

[07] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY REJECTS RUSSIAN STATEMENT ON

[08] GEORGIA TO INVESTIGATE CLASH ON BORDER WITH ARMENIA

[09] INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SOARS IN KAZAKHSTAN

[10] DUMA COMMITTEE APPEALS TO PUTIN OVER KAZAKHSTAN TRIAL

[11] KYRGYZSTAN SETS DATE FOR KULOV TRIAL, PRESIDENTIAL POLL

[12] COURT REJECTS KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN'S APPEAL

[13] TAJIKISTAN SOLICITS ARAB INVESTMENT

[14] TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN SIGN 'ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP' TREATY

[15] BOMB HOAX AT U.S. EMBASSY IN UZBEKISTAN

[16] IS UZBEKISTAN HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT GUUAM?

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[17] SERBIA'S DRASKOVIC SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

[18] WHAT LIES BEHIND THE ATTEMPT ON DRASKOVIC?

[19] MONTENEGRO SEES 'DESTABILIZATION' ATTEMPT

[20] SPLIT BETWEEN SESELJ AND MILOSEVIC?

[21] SERBIAN JOURNALIST TO STAY IN PRISON

[22] BELGRADE REGIME PROMISES 'ANTI-TERRORISM' LAW

[23] SERBIAN WAR VETERANS PROTEST POVERTY

[24] NATO ROUNDS UP WEAPONS IN KOSOVA

[25] KOUCHNER SLAMS KILLING OF SERBS

[26] LI PENG CUTS SHORT VISIT TO SLOVENIA

[27] OSCE BLASTS ATTACKS ON BOSNIAN MEDIA

[28] UN SLAMS ATTACKS ON MUSLIM HOMES IN SREBRENICA

[29] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR 1990 MINERS RIOTS...

[30] ..SUCCESSFULLY MEDIATES CONFLICT OVER SECURITATE FILES

[31] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS FORTHCOMING PUTIN VISIT

[32] FORMER RULING PARTY PROPOSES MOLDOVA-TRANSDNIESTER

[33] BULGARIA APPOINTS NEW CHIEF NEGOTIATOR WITH EU

[C] END NOTE

[34] GUSINSKII'S ARREST HAS SEVERAL GOALS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

[01] ARMENIAN ENERGY OFFICIAL DOWNPLAYS CHARGES OF EMBEZLEMENT

dismissed as "too categorical" the findings of a

parliamentary commission that alleged that Armenia has

incurred financial losses totaling some $200 million due to

corruption within the energy sector, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau

reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 2000). He said the

commission's findings, unveiled the previous day, need to be

professionally verified. Also on 15 June, Hrant Bagratian,

who served as prime minister from 1993-1996 (the period when

much of the losses were said to have occurred), denied the

allegations, claiming that the present authorities are

seeking scapegoats to mask their own failures. LF

[02] IRAN PROTESTS ASSAULT AGAINST ITS AMBASSADOR IN ARMENIA

Iranian Foreign Ministry has lodged an official protest with

its Armenian counterpart following an 8 June incident at

Yerevan's Zvartnots airport, ITAR-TASS reported on 15 June.

Newly appointed Iranian ambassador to Armenia Mohammad-Farhad

Koleini was assaulted in a limited access zone by a security

guard after leaving the aircraft in which he was scheduled to

fly to Tehran and whose takeoff had been delayed. LF

[03] ARMENIA, KARABAKH AT ODDS OVER CONFLICT SETTLEMENT?

interview published in "Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 14 June,

Naira Melkumian, foreign minister of the unrecognized

Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, made clear that the disputed

enclave will not agree to any peace settlement that entails

an exchange of territory between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "No

one is planning to exchange anything," she affirmed. "I think

this is simply a brilliantly staged political intrigue with

far-reaching goals. It is most probably an internal political

intrigue set in motion in Yerevan," she added. Meanwhile

spokesmen for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation--

Dashnaktsutiun predict that the party may succeed in winning

the majority of the 33 seats in 18 June elections to the

Karabakh parliament, an RFE/RL correspondent in Stepanakert

reported on 14 June. LF

[04] AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES, OPPOSITION FAIL TO AGREE ON ROUTE

Azerbaijani opposition parties on 15 June rejected

all three routes proposed by the Baku municipal authorities

for the march they want to stage on 17 June to demand free

and fair elections, Turan reported. Baku police warned the

following day that they will not permit an unsanctioned march

along any other route to take place. Azerbaijan Popular Front

Party deputy chairman Fazil Gazanfaroglu told Turan on 16

June that the Democratic Congress, which is composed of 10

opposition parties, will decide later that day whether to

march on their desired route or to opt for one of the

officially proposed alternatives. Dozens of people were

injured or detained by police during an unsanctioned

opposition march in late April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 May

2000). LF

[05] GEORGIA BECOMES FULL MEMBER OF WTO

the 137th member of the World Trade Organization on 14 June,

dpa reported. Its application for membership in that body was

approved in October 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7 October

1999), but the Georgian parliament failed to ratify that

membership before the January deadline. Several prominent

Georgian industrialists have argued that WTO membership is

not in the country's interests. LF

[06] GEORGIA, RUSSIA SIGN SECURITY AGREEMENT

Council Secretary Sergei Ivanov held talks in Tbilisi on 15

June with his Georgian counterpart Nugzar Sadjaya, President

Eduard Shevardnadze, Minister of State Gia Arsenishvili, and

parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania, ITAR-TASS and Caucasus

Press reported. Ivanov assured Zhvania that Moscow respects

Georgia's territorial integrity and the inviolability of its

frontiers, which it considers the basis for resolving the

Abkhaz conflict. Ivanov and Sadjaya signed the first-ever

Russian-Georgian statement on security issues, which listed

as shared priorities the expansion of bilateral political,

economic and military cooperation and pledged cooperation in

the struggle against terrorism, organized crime, and arms and

drugs trafficking. LF

[07] GEORGIAN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY REJECTS RUSSIAN STATEMENT ON

Revaz Adamia, chairman of the Georgian parliament's

Defense and Security Committee, on 15 June rejected as "a

serious mistake" a Russian Defense Ministry official's claim

that Georgia has received its full share of the assets of the

former Soviet military, Caucasus Press reported. Colonel

General Leonid Ivashov had said on 14 June that Georgia is

not entitled to any of the equipment from the two Russian

bases in Georgia that are to be closed next year (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 15 June 2000). Adamia added that Georgia will

interpret any attempt by Moscow to postpone the deadline for

those closures or to renege on related commitments as a

violation of the revised CFE Treaty. LF

[08] GEORGIA TO INVESTIGATE CLASH ON BORDER WITH ARMENIA

Georgian National Security Council has established a

commission charged with investigating the circumstances of a

fight at a border post on 12 June between Georgian border

troops and local Armenian residents of the south Georgian

town of Akhalkalaki who were returning from Armenia,

Armenpress reported on 15 June. It is not clear how many

persons were involved on either side or whether any were

injured in the incident. LF

[09] INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION SOARS IN KAZAKHSTAN

registered a 17.1 percent increase in industrial output

during the first five months of this year, Interfax reported

on 15 June, citing the State Statistical Agency. Extraction

of oil rose by 16.8 percent compared with the same period in

1999, iron ore by 250 percent, natural gas by 30 percent, and

non-ferrous metals by 15.8 percent. Production in the

engineering sector grew by 50 percent and in the ferrous

metallurgy sector by 40 percent. For the first four months of

the year, the combined national and local budgets registered

a surplus of 15.7 billion tenges ($109 million), which is

equal to 2.3 percent of GDP. LF

[10] DUMA COMMITTEE APPEALS TO PUTIN OVER KAZAKHSTAN TRIAL

State Duma's Committee for Russian nationals abroad has

written to President Putin asking him to intervene on behalf

of the Russian citizens sentenced last week by a court in

eastern Kazakhstan on charges of separatism, "Nezavisimaya

gazeta" reported on 16 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 9 June

2000). The committee claimed that the rights of ethnic

Russians and Russian citizens are being violated in

Kazakhstan, and it reminded Putin of his inauguration pledge

to defend the rights of Russians wherever they live. LF

[11] KYRGYZSTAN SETS DATE FOR KULOV TRIAL, PRESIDENTIAL POLL

trial of opposition Ar-Namys party chairman Feliks Kulov will

open at the Kyrgyz Military Court on 27 June, Kulov's lawyer,

Lyubov Ivanova, told RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau on 15 June. A

Central Electoral Commission official told RFE/RL the same

day that the parliament will set the date for the

presidential poll during its session that opens on 27 June.

She said the likely date is 29 October, adding that the poll

date must be set no later than four months before the expiry

of the incumbent president's term. Askar Akaev was re-elected

in December 1995 for another five-year term. LF

[12] COURT REJECTS KYRGYZ OPPOSITION POLITICIAN'S APPEAL

Bishkek City Court on 15 June upheld the 10 March ruling by a

district court barring El (Bei Bechara) Party Chairman

Daniyar Usenov from contesting the 12 March parliamentary

runoff because of alleged irregularities in his property

declaration, RFE/RL's bureau in the Kyrgyz capital reported

(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 and 13 March 2000). The municipal

court ruled that Usenov's property declaration was accurate

but that there is nonetheless no need to annul the results of

the runoff poll. LF

[13] TAJIKISTAN SOLICITS ARAB INVESTMENT

Dushanbe on 12-14 June chaired by Prime Minister Akil Akilov,

representatives of the Islamic Development Bank shortlisted

for further consideration 18 infrastructure projects for

which Arab development funds may provide financing, Asia

Plus-Blitz reported. Those projects include irrigation,

highway construction, and construction of an international

terminal at Dushanbe airport. LF

[14] TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN SIGN 'ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP' TREATY

counterpart, Islam Karimov, signed a treaty on eternal

friendship in Dushanbe on 15 June, together with a memorandum

on delimiting the border between their two countries, Russian

agencies reported. Stressing that "Uzbekistan holds pride of

place" in Tajikistan's foreign policy, Rakhmonov termed

further bilateral cooperation "one of the most important

prerequisites for strengthening our independence." Tajik

Presidential press secretary Zafar Saidov told Interfax that

the two heads of state focused on the prospects for economic

cooperation, including joint ventures. LF

[15] BOMB HOAX AT U.S. EMBASSY IN UZBEKISTAN

to the U.S. embassy in Tashkent were evacuated on 15 June

after an anonymous telephone caller warned of the possibility

of a bomb in the vicinity, Reuters reported. Police and

sniffer dogs combed the buildings in question but found no

such explosive device. LF

[16] IS UZBEKISTAN HAVING SECOND THOUGHTS ABOUT GUUAM?

the sidelines of the 10-11 June Tehran summit of the Economic

Cooperation Organization with Azerbaijan's Foreign Minister

Vilayet Guliev, Uzbekistan's President Karimov expressed

irritation at the amorphous nature of the GUUAM grouping,

which his country joined in April 1999, according to

"Nezavisimaya gazeta" on 16 June. Karimov reportedly asked

whether that grouping intends to become a formal

international organization or to continue to exist on the

basis of the "word of honor" of its members. He noted that

GUUAM has neither a permanent executive committee nor a

secretariat and that it functions "on the basis of one of its

members proposing an initiative and all then gathering to

discuss it." LF

[B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

[17] SERBIA'S DRASKOVIC SURVIVES ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

unidentified gunman fired an automatic weapon into the home

of Vuk Draskovic in the Montenegrin resort of Budva on 15

June. Two bullets left the leader of the Serbian Renewal

Movement with slight head injuries. His spokesman, Predrag

Simic, told the BBC's Serbian Service that Draskovic would

have been killed had the bullets struck "only millimeters" in

a slightly different direction. Spokeswoman Milena Popovic

told AP that "this time again, only God saved Vuk," which was

an apparent reference to a mysterious road accident he

survived in Serbia in October 1999 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 7

October 1999). From Budva, Draskovic was taken to a nearby

hospital in Kotor but soon released at his own request.

Montenegrin police have surrounded Draskovic's home, set up

roadblocks on all roads leading in and out of Budva, and are

"questioning several subjects," AP reported. PM

[18] WHAT LIES BEHIND THE ATTEMPT ON DRASKOVIC?

repeatedly accused the government of Yugoslav President

Slobodan Milosevic of using "state terror" against him and

his supporters (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 June 2000). There

has been, moreover, an unexplained spate of killings of

prominent political, economic, and underworld figures in

Serbia in recent months and years (see "RFE/RL South Slavic

Report," 7 and 15 June 2000). Many of the murders appear to

be the work of professional killers. But whoever tried to

kill Draskovic in Montenegro took a large risk because

President Milo Djukanovic is certain to make sure that his

police spare no efforts to find the would-be assassin. If the

attempted killing was indeed politically motivated on the

part of the Belgrade authorities, it is possible that the

assassin could find shelter among local pro-Milosevic

elements or with the Yugoslav forces. Helicopters as well as

cars and trucks connect Yugoslav military bases in Montenegro

with those in Serbia. PM

[19] MONTENEGRO SEES 'DESTABILIZATION' ATTEMPT

Prime Minister Dragisa Burzan told RFE/RL's South Slavic

Service in a telephone interview on 16 June that Montenegro

was selected as "the place of the assassination

attempt...with the goal of spreading violence throughout

Montenegro. It is an attempt to destabilize Montenegro, not

only an assassination attempt on Mr. Draskovic." In Budva,

Draskovic's wife, Danica, told reporters that Yugoslav

President Slobodan Milosevic was behind the attempt, Reuters

reported. "Slobodan Milosevic and [his wife] Mira Markovic,

who else?" she said. PM

[20] SPLIT BETWEEN SESELJ AND MILOSEVIC?

Minister Vojislav Seselj warned his coalition partners--the

parties of Milosevic and his wife, Mira Markovic,

respectively--not to undermine his Radical Party by

publicizing a rival party with a similar name in the media

run by Milosevic. Seselj noted that the tiny Radical Party--

Nikola Pasic has been receiving much publicity lately in the

daily "Politika" and from the Tanjug news agency. Seselj

criticized a television station recently set up by Markovic's

supporters in Montenegro with the help of the army. Seselj

called the station's programs a "laughing stock." PM

[21] SERBIAN JOURNALIST TO STAY IN PRISON

ruled on 15 June that journalist Miroslav Filipovic must stay

in prison until his trial for espionage takes place (see

"RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 2000). It is not clear when the

trial will begin. Filipovic's lawyer told Reuters that "the

ruling to extend detention is not [justified by] the law on

criminal proceedings." Meanwhile in Strasbourg, the European

Parliament condemned what it called the "climate of terror

and systematic intimidation" against the opposition and

independent media in Serbia, RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. PM

[22] BELGRADE REGIME PROMISES 'ANTI-TERRORISM' LAW

Sainovic, who is an indicted war criminal and Yugoslav deputy

prime minister, told a press conference in Belgrade on 15

June that the planned "anti-terrorism" law will be sent to

the parliament "soon," RFE/RL's South Slavic Service

reported. He added that it will regulate some unspecified

areas of activity not covered by current legislation. The

opposition suspects that the law will mean the imposition of

a state of emergency in all but name. PM

[23] SERBIAN WAR VETERANS PROTEST POVERTY

independent veterans group barricaded themselves inside the

town hall in Kraljevo for two hours on 15 June. A spokesman

for the veterans told AP that they intend to stage further

protests until the authorities take steps to improve

veterans' living conditions. The men, who fought in

Milosevic's wars in the 1990s, charged the government with

totally ignoring their situation. PM

[24] NATO ROUNDS UP WEAPONS IN KOSOVA

KFOR troops launched a raid at dawn in the Drenica valley on

15 June to search for illegal weapons. A British spokesman

told AP that "we have reasons to believe there are large

numbers of weapons in the area and our task is to find them

as quickly as we can." KFOR seized unspecified "large

quantities" of arms and ammunition in the mainly ethnic

Albanian region. PM

[25] KOUCHNER SLAMS KILLING OF SERBS

June when their van hit a land mine on a country road south

of Prishtina that is used mainly by local Serbian villagers.

Bernard Kouchner, who is the UN's chief administrator in

Kosova, went to the area with top NATO and ethnic Albanian

officials. Kouchner told AP that "this is a certain plan to

destabilize Kosovo. They do not want us to succeed." He did

not elaborate. Leading Albanian politician Hashim Thaci said

that this latest in a series of violent incidents against

Serbs "will make even more difficult the already unstable

situation in Kosova." NATO commander General Juan Ortuno told

Reuters, however, that "it is impossible to protect against

such attacks--one or two people could have laid [the mine] in

an hour or so last night. It was a professional job, but in

Kosovo, so many people have military experience." PM

[26] LI PENG CUTS SHORT VISIT TO SLOVENIA

speaker of the Chinese parliament, left Slovenia ahead of

schedule on 15 June and arrived in Zagreb. Li cancelled a

meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister Andrej Bajuk without

giving a reason. Unnamed government sources told AP, however,

that LI dropped the meeting after learning that Labor

Minister Miha Brejc is also head of the Slovenian-Taiwan

Friendship Association. Conservative Social Democratic leader

Janez Jansa said that Slovenia has trade and cultural links

with Taiwan through the same sort of semi-governmental

channels as most EU countries do, the BBC's Serbian Service

reported. Li's visit to Slovenia was overshadowed by protests

against his record on human rights and Tibet (see "RFE/RL

Newsline," 15 June 2000). Some members of the Social

Democratic Party, which belongs to the governing coalition,

questioned the propriety of inviting a Chinese political

leader closely identified with the 1989 Tiananmen killings.

PM

[27] OSCE BLASTS ATTACKS ON BOSNIAN MEDIA

OSCE said in Sarajevo on 15 June that "we are becoming

increasingly concerned about the stepped-up attacks on media

representatives and consider the environment to be more and

more perilous for journalists in Bosnia," Reuters reported.

She noted that Edin Avdic of the independent magazine

"Slobodna Bosna" was recently threatened verbally by a Muslim

politician and later attacked physically by two unidentified

men. The tax police recently searched the offices of the

daily "Avaz," which had been considered close to the

governing Muslim Party of Democratic Action (SDA). She added

that the raid on "Avaz" "had an intimidating and chilling

effect on the press." Earlier, a driver for a top SDA

official physically attacked a journalist working for "Avaz."

SDA officials have blamed the media for the party's poor

showing in the local elections in April, the news agency

added. PM

[28] UN SLAMS ATTACKS ON MUSLIM HOMES IN SREBRENICA

strongly believes that incidents like the one in Srebrenica

should not decrease the return process in Bosnia and

Herzegovina," an spokeswoman for the UNHCR said in Sarajevo

on 15 June. She was referring to recent arson attacks on

three Muslim homes, Reuters reported. Serbian forces drove

out the town's Muslim majority inhabitants in 1995. The

subsequent massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim males is widely

regarded as the largest single atrocity in Europe since World

War II. PM

[29] ROMANIAN PRESIDENT APOLOGIZES FOR 1990 MINERS RIOTS...

Constantinescu said on national television on 15 June that he

considers it his duty "to apologize, on behalf of the

Romanian state, to all those affected by the violence against

citizens in June 1990." Constantinescu spoke as some 1,000

people gathered in Bucharest's University Square to mark the

date when miners went on a rampage in Bucharest in what was

largely considered to be an action organized by the country's

authorities. Constantinescu noted that "the authorities at

that time directed part of the citizens against Bucharesters

who were fighting for the democratization of the country,"

Reuters reported. Former President Ion Iliescu responded the

same day by saying the then opposition had been the first to

resort to violence on the streets. Constantinescu also said

the investigation into the 1990 events must be relaunched to

punish all those responsible for the rampage. MS

[30] ..SUCCESSFULLY MEDIATES CONFLICT OVER SECURITATE FILES

chairman of the College of the National Council for the Study

of Securitate Archives, Gheorghe Onisoru, and Romanian

Intelligence Service (SRI) Deputy Director Mircea

Ghiordunescu in a bid to solve the conflict between the two

institutions (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 June 2000). The sides

reached an agreement under which college members will have

direct access to both the catalogue of the Securitate

archives and to the archives themselves. They will set up a

joint commission to establish whether a file can be

classified as "affecting national security." Under the

legislation passed by the parliament, the content of files

classified as such must remain secret. Ghiordunescu denied

SRI employees are misusing data in the files and said the few

who have attempted to do so have been prosecuted and severely

punished. MS

[31] MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS FORTHCOMING PUTIN VISIT

Petru Lucinschi told journalists on 14 June

that during President Vladimir Putin's 16-17 June visit to

Moldova, the two sides will discuss "all the complex

questions pertaining to bilateral relations," RFE/RL's

Chisinau bureau reported. Lucinschi emphasized the importance

for Moldova of economic relations with Russia, which is

Chisinau's "number one trade partner." He said the talks will

also cover ways to solve the Transdniester conflict and that

Putin's position is "clear-cut: the problem must be solved

within the framework of Moldova's territorial integrity."

Lucinschi said representatives from Transdniester will not

participate in the talks because they have failed to abide by

the provisions of the 1997 Moscow memorandum on settling the

conflict. MS

[32] FORMER RULING PARTY PROPOSES MOLDOVA-TRANSDNIESTER

The extraparliamentary Democratic Agrarian Party

of Moldova (PDAM) has proposed that the conflict with the

separatists be solved by setting up a Moldova-Transdniester

federation, Infotag reported on 14 June. PDAM leader Anatol

Papusoi told journalists that the federation should have a

bicameral parliament and that dual citizenship--Moldovan and

Transdniestrian--should be recognized, alongside two official

state languages: Moldovan and Russian. Papusoi sharply

criticized what he called the "ultra-patriots" who advocate a

Moldova-Romania union similar to that set up by Russia and

Belarus. "More than 90 percent of the Transdniester residents

wonder why should they re-unite with Moldova if Chisinau

constantly speaks of re-unification with Romania," he said.

MS

[33] BULGARIA APPOINTS NEW CHIEF NEGOTIATOR WITH EU

Kisyov has been appointed Bulgaria's new chief negotiator

with the EU, AP reported on 14 June, citing BTA. He replaces

Alexander Bozhkov, who was recently fired on suspicion of

corruption (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 June 2000). Kisyov, who

is a deputy foreign minister, served as deputy chief

negotiator with the EU until now. MS

[C] END NOTE

[34] GUSINSKII'S ARREST HAS SEVERAL GOALS

The arrest of Media-Most founder Vladimir Gusinskii

earlier this week on charges of "gross fraud" came as a final

blow to the Russian oligarch after months of pressure on his

company by the Kremlin. Gusinskii has not yet been charged

with a crime. Under Russian law, suspects may be detained up

to 10 days without being charged.

According to the prosecutor-general, Gusinskii is

suspected of having defrauded the state of some $10 million

with the help of managers of Russian Video, a Saint

Petersburg-based cinema company that was transformed into a

television network. In 1996, Gusinskii bought 70 percent of

the company while developing a regional television network.

Two years later, prosecutors brought a criminal case against

the management of Russian Video, without involving Gusinskii.

The Moscow daily "Vremya Novostei" argues that this means the

case is simply a pretext to allow authorities to detain

Gusinskii.

The arrest sends a powerful signal to several groups.

According to Gusinskii's supporters, it is part of a trend

toward the muzzling of independent media and the intimidation

of journalists. Independent TV Tsentr has been having trouble

renewing its broadcast license, several newspapers have been

reprimanded for publishing interviews with Chechen leaders,

and the media minister recently announced his intention to

enforce a law requiring all print media to be licensed.

But silencing a free press does not appear to be the

main goal of the arrest. According to Carnegie Endowment

analyst Nikolai Petrov, all the oligarchs, except Gusinskii,

have struck informal deals with the Kremlin. There has been

no real press freedom in Russia, Petrov says, only competing

political clans that controlled their own newspapers.

Gusinskii is being targeted because he is the only media

mogul who continues to overtly oppose the Kremlin.

"The whole so-called freedom of the press [that existed

in Russia in the last 10 years] was mainly linked to the

existence inside the party of power of different clans that

could each lean on its own media group," Petrov commented.

"As soon as the struggle of those clans came to an end, as

soon as one single group took the upper hand, and as soon as

politics ceased to be public, right away, the possibility in

principle of the existence of a media group or publications

of relative independence, or not directly under the control

of this group, turned out to be impossible."

Putin has frequently said he intends to destroy the

oligarch system by submitting the tycoons to the same

treatment as any small businessman caught committing petty

crimes. But if he wanted to show that he would treat all

businessmen equally, targeting Gusinskii first raises doubts

about such intentions. Frequently critical of the Kremlin,

Media-Most news organizations are a symbol of independence

for Russia's journalists, and the holding's influence in the

regions has been growing.

Boris Nemtsov, leader of the Union of Right Forces and

deputy speaker of the State Duma, said on Media-Most's NTV

television on 13 June that, "Before the elections, Vladimir

Vladimirovich Putin talked about the oligarchs having to be

equally far away [from political power]. So, if what he did

with Gusinskii is the technological implementation of this

equal distance, then I think he just didn't start with the

right oligarch."

Nemtsov mentioned other oligarchs that Putin could have

dealt with first. Businessmen such as oil executive Roman

Abramovich and financial tycoon Aleksandr Mamut, who are

believed to be getting the upper hand in their fight with

Kremlin insider and Duma deputy Boris Berezovskii for

influence in the Kremlin, represent the major danger, he

proposed.

Nemtsov suggested that Putin should dismiss Kremlin

administration head Aleksandr Voloshin over the Gusinskii

case. Voloshin, formerly a Berezovskii ally, is believed to

have switched allegiance to Abramovich and Mamut.

"Nevertheless, I don't think it is a struggle between the

authorities and powerful media structures," Nemtsov

concluded. "In reality, it's a fight between one group

against another enemy group."

Berezovskii says Gusinskii "became the victim of a

machine that he set in motion himself" by hiring former KGB

staffers who were bound to turn against him eventually. But

he also condemned the arrest, saying that Russian laws are so

contradictory that everyone who has done business in Russia

in the past 10 years has violated one law or another.

According to Kim Iskyan, a political analyst with the

brokerage firm MFK Renaissance, the offensive against

Gusinskii is a signal to other oligarchs that from now on any

moves not cleared with the Kremlin will not be tolerated.

Iskyan, too, said that Gusinskii's arrest serves several

purposes, in particular to make it clear that the Kremlin is

serious about centralizing power.

Media-Most's regional network, TNT, has profitable

partnership agreements with private television companies in

some 500 cities across Russia. Many Russian journalists have

told RFE/RL that they are concerned that regional powers will

now try to deprive Media-Most of some of this regional

influence in order to display loyalty to the Kremlin.

The authors are RFE/RL correspondents based in Moscow and

London, respectively.

16-06-00

Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
URL: http://www.rferl.org

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