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  • RFE/RL Newsline - 07/03/2006

    RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
    _________________________________________ __________________
    RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 10, No. 121, Part I, 3 July 2006


    NOTE TO READERS: "RFE/RL Newsline" will next be issued on July 7.

    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx
    Headlines, Part I

    * ST. PETERSBURG GOVERNOR URGES THIRD PUTIN TERM IN INTERESTS OF
    'STABILIZATION'

    * FORMER RUSSIAN PREMIER CONFIRMS HE WILL RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008

    * SOUTH OSSETIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OF PREPARING FOR WAR

    END NOTE: MEDIA COVERAGE OF TURKMEN LEADER DISTRACTS ATTENTION FROM
    REAL PROBLEMS
    xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


    TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    ARRESTED ARMENIAN JOURNALIST ALLEGES POLITICAL PERSECUTION. Arman
    Babadjanian, editor of the independent daily "Zhamanak Yerevan,"
    released a statement on June 30 claiming that his arrest four days
    earlier on charges of evading military service in 2002 was
    politically motivated, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported (see
    "RFE/RL Newsline," June 27 and 28, 2006). Babadjanian said his
    detention was intended "to muzzle an independent and incorruptible
    media outlet that supports the removal of an illegal regime and the
    establishment of a legitimate government." Prosecutors said last week
    that Babadjanian, who has been remanded in pre-trial custody for two
    months, has confessed to the charge against him. Babadjanian's
    statement made no mention of any such confession. LF

    MAJOR KAZAKH BANK CLOSES OFFICE IN AZERBAIJAN. TuranAlem Bank, which
    is one of Kazakhstan's three largest banks and the seventh largest in
    the CIS, has closed the office in Baku that it opened in August 2005,
    regnum.ru and day.az reported on July 1 and 2, respectively. Although
    the office was registered with the Justice Ministry, the National
    Bank of Azerbaijan refused to grant it a license. TuranAlem hoped to
    acquire a controlling stake in an unnamed Azerbaijani bank. It has
    since made considerable investments in Georgia. LF

    GEORGIAN OPPOSITION PARTIES CALL FOR AMENDMENTS TO ELECTION LAW.
    Seven Georgian opposition parties and movements -- the New Rightists,
    the Republican party, Tavisupleba (Liberty), the Conservative party,
    the Labor party, Industry Will Save Georgia, and the People's Forum
    -- signed a statement in Tbilisi on June 30 demanding that the
    election law be amended to provide for elections to the Tbilisi
    Municipal Council to be held according to the proportional system,
    Caucasus Press and regnum.ru reported. The council has 37 seats, of
    which 30 currently go to whichever party polls the largest number of
    votes (a minimum of 30 percent). Parliamentarian Giga Bokeria of the
    ruling United National Movement rejected that demand on June 30 as
    "blackmail" that "will lead nowhere," Caucasus Press reported. LF

    SOUTH OSSETIA ACCUSES GEORGIA OF PREPARING FOR WAR. Georgian Defense
    Minister Irakli Okruashvili told the independent television station
    Rustavi-2 on July 2 that the Georgian parliament should demand the
    withdrawal of the Russian peacekeeping troops currently deployed in
    the South Ossetian and Abkhaz conflict zones, Interfax and regnum.ru
    reported on July 3. "We must reunite the country, and I don't care"
    that "skeptics" in Europe are concerned that a demand for the
    peacekeepers' withdrawal may negatively affect Georgian-Russian
    relations, Okruashvili was quoted as saying. Also on July 3, Mikhail
    Mindzayev, interior minister of the unrecognized Republic of South
    Ossetia, accused Georgia of preparing to launch a military offensive
    against South Ossetia immediately after the G8 summit in St.
    Petersburg, Caucasus Press reported. On July 1, the Georgian Defense
    Ministry accused South Ossetia of "illegally" constructing
    fortifications during the third week in June; Mindzayev was quoted on
    July 3 by regnum.ru as saying that those fortifications were
    undertaken in direct response to Georgia's actions. Meanwhile, South
    Ossetian President Eduard Kokoity told residents of Djava Raion on
    July 1 that he will not instigate a referendum with the aim of
    amending the constitution to enable him to run for a further term
    after his second presidential term expires later this year, regnum.ru
    reported. LF

    ABKHAZ-GEORGIAN WORKING GROUP MEETS. The UN-sponsored Coordinating
    Council working group on security issues convened on June 30 in Gali
    for its first session in five years, Caucasus Press and apsny.ru
    reported. Participants focused on the security situation in
    Abkhazia's southernmost Gali Raion and in the Kodori Gorge. Ivo
    Petrov, who is deputy special representative of the UN
    Secretary-General for the Abkhaz conflict, stressed the need for both
    sides to observe the cease-fire agreement signed in Moscow in May
    1994 and to draft and submit to the Coordinating Council proposals
    for averting a resumption of hostilities. LF

    ABKHAZ OPPOSITION LAMBASTES LEADERSHIP OVER RAIL-TRAFFIC AGREEMENT.
    Representatives of various Abkhaz political parties and movements,
    including the opposition Forum of National Unity established last
    year (see "RFE/RL Caucasus Report," February 11, 2005) issued two
    statements last week criticizing the Abkhaz authorities for endorsing
    an agreement concluded among the governments of Russia, Armenia ,and
    Georgia to establish a consortium to renovate the railway line from
    Sochi via Abkhazia to Tbilisi and thence to Armenia, apsny.ru
    reported on June 30. That agreement reportedly designates the stretch
    of railway through Abkhazia as the property of the consortium, a
    concession that the signatories branded contrary to Abkhaz national
    interests and a threat to the unrecognized republic's sovereignty.
    Abkhaz President Sergei Bagapsh brushed off that criticism during
    comments to journalists on June 29, saying it testifies to the fact
    that "we are building a democratic law-based state where anyone can
    express his opinion," apsny.ru reported. Bagapsh argued that the
    renovation of the rail link and the resumption of rail traffic is
    "strategically vital" to Russia and essential for reviving Abkhazia's
    economy. He pledged that the Abkhaz leadership will "defend its
    position" vis-a-vis the Russian-Georgian-Armenian consortium. LF

    DEFENDANT IN KAZAKH MURDER TRIAL REQUESTS PROTECTION. In an appeal
    published on June 30 by ferghana.ru and Navigator, Rustam Ibragimov,
    a defendant charged with the murder of opposition leader Altynbek
    Sarsenbaev, asked Judge Lukmat Merekenov to take measures to protect
    him and his family. Ibragimov said that Erzhan Utembaev, who is
    charged with paying for Sarsenbaev's killing, told him on February 15
    that a high-ranking official met with Sarsenbaev on February 11, the
    day the authorities have said the murder was committed. Ibragimov
    also stated in the appeal that the official's picture was shown to
    him by FBI agents and the official's name was mentioned to him by the
    Interior Ministry and prosecutor-general. Ibragimov did not identify
    the official, but said that now that he has made it clear in his
    testimony that he knows the official's identity, he believes that "I,
    my relatives, and my lawyers are threatened by a real risk -- up to
    physical liquidation." A former law enforcement officer, Ibragimov
    has pled innocent to the murder charge. DK

    KYRGYZ OFFICIAL SAYS REMITTANCES AT $750 MILLION IN 2005. Lyubov Ten,
    head of the macroeconomic policy department in Kyrgyzstan's Economy
    and Finance Ministry, told akipress.org in an interview on June 29
    that remittances from migrant workers totaled an estimated $750
    million in 2005. Ten said that the International Organization for
    Migration puts the number of Kyrgyz migrant workers in Russia at
    300,000-500,000 and in Kazakhstan at 50,000. Ten noted that the
    Bishkek Consensus Institute for Economic Policy (IEP) estimates the
    total number of Kyrgyz migrant workers at 400,000, including 50,000
    outside the CIS. The IEP put annual remittance averages of individual
    migrant workers from Kyrgyzstan in 2004-05 at $1,165 (Russia), $1,361
    (Kazakhstan), and $2,050 (other countries). DK

    KYRGYZ PROSECUTORS ASK FOR DEATH PENALTY IN PRISON MURDER CASE.
    Kyrgyz prosecutors have asked for the death penalty in the trial of
    Aziz Batukaev and Rustam Abdulin, who are being tried in connection
    with the murders of four people, including parliamentary deputy
    Tynychbek Akmatbaev, during prison unrest on October 20, 2005 (see
    "RFE/RL Newsline," October 21, 2005), akipress.org reported.
    Batukaev, Abdulin, and 37 other defendants are on trial in the
    killings, which triggered a series of demonstrations in Bishkek last
    October (see "Restive Days In Bishkek," rferl.org, October 30, 2005).
    DK

    KYRGYZ PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES PAY RISE FOR EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE
    WORKERS. Kurmanbek Bakiev announced on July 1 that he will sign a
    decree raising the salaries of teachers, doctors, and social-sector
    workers by 20 percent, Kabar reported. Bakiev noted that salaries for
    these workers increased by 15 percent last year, news agency 24.kg
    reported. The raises will be effective July 1. DK

    TURKMEN, UKRAINIAN GAS TALKS END WITHOUT AGREEMENT... Talks between a
    Ukrainian delegation headed by acting Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan
    Plachkov and Turkmenistan's Oil and Gas Ministry ended on June 30 in
    Ashgabat without an agreement on gas shipments for the second half of
    2006, turkmenistan.ru reported. The two sides did reach an agreement
    on Ukrainian arrears of $64 million for previous shipments, which the
    Ukrainian side said it will pay by September. Turkmenistan offered to
    sell gas to Ukraine for $100 per 1,000 cubic meters in the fourth
    quarter of 2006 if Ukraine can arrange transport of the gas through
    Russia, an offer the Ukrainian delegation did not accept. DK

    ....AND ASHGABAT CONSIDERS PREVIOUS AGREEMENT INVALID. The report
    noted that Turkmenistan considers a late 2005 Turkmen-Ukrainian
    contract on 2006 shipments "invalid" after Russia's Gazprom declined
    to provide a transit license for the gas. Shipments under a different
    arrangement brokered with Gazprom on January 4 will be completed by
    September, the Turkmen side said. Under the current agreement,
    Ukraine pays $95 per 1,000 meters to Rosukrenergo, a Swiss-registered
    gas trader that sells Ukraine a mixture of Russian and Central Asian
    gas. The Ukrainian delegation has returned to Kyiv for consultations.
    The failure to reach agreement came a day after Russia's Gazprom and
    Turkmenistan broke off talks on a gas deal for the remainder of 2006
    after failing to reach an agreement on price (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"
    June 30, 2006). DK

    DUTCH NGO FACES CHARGES IN UZBEKISTAN. Uzbekistan's Justice Ministry
    has found the Dutch NGO AIDS Foundation East-West in violation of
    Uzbek law, Interfax reported on June 30. The report said that the NGO
    is "expected" to resolve the violations, but it noted that the
    Justice Ministry would not say whether the organization could be
    closed. Over the past two years, Uzbek authorities have shut down
    most of the Western NGOs in Uzbekistan. DK

    END NOTE

    MEDIA COVERAGE OF TURKMEN LEADER DISTRACTS ATTENTION FROM REAL
    PROBLEMS

    By Gulnoza Saidazimova

    Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov has been called
    outlandish, eccentric, insane, ruthless, and described as a
    tyrannical dictator. But the international media's comic portrayals
    of Niyazov distract attention from many of the very serious problems
    the country is facing, observers say.
    Turkmen citizens have no chance to enjoy ballet, opera, a
    philharmonic orchestra, or a circus because Niyazov -- also known as
    Turkmenbashi the Great or the "Father of All Turkmen" -- has banned
    them, saying they contradict Turkmen national values.
    Niyazov has also ordered the dismissal of several thousand
    health-care workers and replaced them with military conscripts, while
    also closing down many rural hospitals. Turkmen children only go to
    school until the ninth grade ever since the government reduced public
    education -- making it impossible for them to study at foreign
    universities
    Only adherents to Sunni Islam and Russian Orthodoxy are free
    to worship in Turkmenistan, as those who follow any other religion or
    religious sect usually face harsh repression, with some churches
    having been bulldozed. And Turkmens are constantly forced to better
    their knowledge of the nation's history and present by learning
    phrases from "Rukhnama," Niyazov's book on spirituality and proper
    behavior, which is compulsory study in schools.
    Many Turkmen citizens live in poverty since Niyazov cancelled
    or cut payments to a large portion of the country's pensioners and
    cancelled maternity and sick-leave payments for others in February.
    If Turkmens criticize the government or work for foreign
    media outlets, they are likely to be persecuted and can be internally
    exiled, evicted from their homes, or forcibly put in psychiatric
    hospitals while their personal property is confiscated.
    This is the dire but realistic picture of Turkmenistan,
    according to exiled Turkmen dissidents and international human rights
    groups. Many of them say the Western media, however, does not give an
    adequate picture of the country because they are too busy reporting
    about Niyazov's cult of personality or his strange behavior and
    comments, such as his criticism of gold-capped teeth, long hair and
    beards, and female TV anchors' use of make-up -- or his decision to
    ban the use of tobacco.
    But focusing on such things creates a distorted picture of
    life in Turkmenistan and takes attention away from the truly
    difficult issues that Turkmens are facing, says Eric Freedman of the
    journalism school at Michigan State University. "It's obvious that he
    does a lot of strange things. Some of them [are] building an ice
    palace in the desert, renaming the days of the weeks and the months
    of the year, building the world's largest mosque [or] his putting up
    giant posters [of himself] all over the country," Freedman says.
    "Those kinds of things draw attention to him as a person and
    they obviously have a public-policy implication," Freedman continues.
    "But the press doesn't tend to look at those kinds of public-policy
    issues. It's easier to put attention on things that are a little
    strange. There are some problems with that, I think, because you as a
    reader in the West get a distorted picture."
    Farid Tukhbatullin, an exiled human rights activist and head
    of the Vienna-based nongovernmental group Turkmen Initiative for
    Human Rights, says that the media portrays Niyazov as a "clown
    dictator" and his decrees as whims and eccentricity. He says foreign
    media seem to forget that nearly 5 million people have to live a
    "tragic life" under Niyazov's rule.
    Tukhbatullin believes it is because ordinary people in the
    West are not interested in finding out more about Turkmenistan,
    noting that since he arrived in Europe, "I learned that people know
    practically nothing -- not only about Turkmenistan -- but also about
    other former Soviet republics.
    "Unfortunately, the foreign press only portrays Turkmenistan
    as a country with a president who has a screw loose," he adds.
    "Journalists and perhaps their readers are not interested in having
    an in-depth knowledge about Turkmenistan. They are probably satisfied
    with reading about [Niyazov's] odd remarks and behavior over coffee,
    at their leisure."
    Michigan University's Freedman recently conducted research on
    several Western media outlets' coverage of Turkmenistan, and noted
    that personality-driven media coverage of other leaders is very rare.
    "If the situation were reversed and it were foreign media covering
    events in the U.S. when Bill Clinton was president, it would be as if
    most stories about U.S. trade or military included references that
    Bill Clinton was not faithful to his wife, or had smoked
    marijuana...or had this 'Slick Willie' kind of image," he says. "And
    if you put it that way, you realize how ridiculous it would be for
    the foreign press to do that about the United States. So why wouldn't
    it be equally ridiculous for the Western press to do that about
    another country?"
    Freedman says Western media coverage becomes more serious
    when prominent international groups, like Amnesty International,
    Human Rights Watch, or the World Health Organization take interest in
    certain events in the country.
    Allison Gill, head of Human Rights Watch's Moscow office,
    tells RFE/RL's Turkmen Service that the media should stop making fun
    of Turkmenbashi and pay more attention to his regime's disastrous
    human rights record. "There is absolutely not enough attention to the
    human rights situation in Turkmenistan," Gill says. "Many people have
    forgotten about Turkmenistan or consider that the president is
    somewhat funny in his building of [his own] statues and his creating
    a cult of personality to himself. But there is nothing funny about
    what is happening in Turkmenistan. It is an incredibly serious and
    dire human rights situation that demands the attention of the world
    community."
    Freedman, however, says that the odd and the bizarre about
    Turkmenbashi are likely to continue dominating media coverage as they
    attract a greater audience.

    (Gulnoza Saidazimova is an RFE/RL correspondent based in Prague.)


    RUSSIA

    ST. PETERSBURG GOVERNOR URGES THIRD PUTIN TERM IN INTERESTS OF
    'STABILIZATION.' In an interview published on June 30 in "Moskovskiye
    novosti," Valentina Matvienko argued that she considers it of
    "fundamental importance" that Vladimir Putin should be permitted to
    serve a third term as Russian president after his current term
    expires in 2008. Doing so, Matvienko reasoned, would enable Putin to
    complete what he has begun and to "make the most important processes
    irreversible." Speaking to journalists on July 1, Matvienko again
    said the economic, financial, social, and political changes Putin has
    effected "need to be consolidated and made irreversible," and that a
    third Putin term would help preserve stability both within Russia and
    abroad, Interfax and regnum.ru reported. She admitted, however, that
    it is for Putin himself to decide whether the current constitution
    and legislation should be amended to permit one person to serve three
    presidential terms. An opinion poll published on June 7 by the Levada
    Center in Moscow indicates that 59 percent of respondents would
    approve amending the constitution to enable President Putin to run
    for a third term (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 8, 2006). Speaking two
    weeks ago in Shanghai, however, Putin said he will not run for a
    third term, as doing so would require changing the constitution,
    which in turn would deprive him of the moral authority to govern (see
    "RFE/RL Newsline," June 16, 2006). LF

    FORMER RUSSIAN PREMIER CONFIRMS HE WILL RUN FOR PRESIDENT IN 2008.
    Former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov told a congress of his
    People's Democratic Union (NDS) in Moscow on July 1 that he intends
    to put forward his candidacy in the 2008 presidential ballot,
    Interfax reported. At the same time, he said he does not plan to head
    any political party. When the NDS was launched in April, commentators
    suggested it was formed specifically to back a Kasyanov presidential
    bid (see "RFE/RL Newsline," February 28, March 16, and April 10,
    2006). LF

    SPEAKER AGAIN SAYS FEDERATION COUNCIL MEMBERS SHOULD BE ELECTED...
    Echoing comments he made days earlier in Lipetsk, Sergei Mironov told
    Interfax on July 1 that he believes members of the upper chamber of
    the Russian parliament should be elected rather than centrally
    appointed (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 27, 2006). He suggested that
    regional governors or presidents and the regional or republican
    legislature should nominate two candidates each. Mironov pointed out
    that if the relevant legislation is enacted by the end of this year,
    such elections could be held concurrently with regional elections in
    March 2007. Mironov also recalled that the principles under which
    parliamentary elections are held are being reformed and as of 2007,
    Duma deputies will be elected only from party lists and not from
    single-mandate constituencies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," May 12, 2005).
    Also on July 1, President Putin told journalists in Lesniye Dali,
    Moscow Oblast, that he supports the proposal by the pro-Kremlin
    Unified Russia party that 20 percent of the candidates on parties'
    election lists should be "young people," Interfax reported. It is not
    clear if either Putin or Unified Russia has stipulated an upper age
    limit. LF

    ....CALLS FOR PUBLIC CHAMBER TO OVERSEE MEDIA. Mironov also called in
    his July 1 interview with Interfax for greater state control over the
    media. At the same time, he argued that a Public Chamber comprised of
    "decent and respected people" should be established to ensure that
    the media conform to the state's information policy, as giving that
    responsibility to either the State Duma, the Federation Council, or
    the Press Ministry would be tantamount to a return to censorship. LF

    VOTERS OPPOSE ABOLITION OF 'AGAINST ALL' OPTION. According to a poll
    of 3,000 respondents conducted on June 17-18 in 63 Russian regions,
    54 percent of voters considered it necessary to preserve the option
    of being able to vote "against all" candidates in elections, while
    only 28 percent favored abolishing it, regnum.ru reported on July 1.
    Some 63 percent could not name a single advantage in abolishing that
    option, as the State Duma voted to do in the final reading on June 30
    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 30, 2006). Nearly one-third -- 31
    percent -- of the poll respondents said they have voted "against all"
    on at least one occasion. LF

    PUTIN ADVISER PREDICTS THAT 1 MILLION RUSSIANS WILL RETURN FROM
    ABROAD. Kremlin adviser Modest Kolerov told Interfax on July 1 that
    more than 1 million Russians, most of them "professionals" currently
    living in unspecified countries that are undergoing "a socioeconomic
    crisis," plan to take advantage of the repatriation program announced
    by President Putin on June 26. That program guarantees benefits and
    support for persons who agree to settle in border regions in the Far
    East. Returnees will also be permitted to settle in regions where the
    population is declining rapidly, or where major investment programs
    are under way (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 27, 2006). In Primorsky
    Krai, the authorities are already allocating land for repatriates to
    settle, while in Irkutsk, Governor Aleksandr Tishanin said on June 29
    that the oblast is ready to house in 2007 up to 1.5 million ethnic
    Russians from former Soviet republics who wish to settle in the
    Russian Federation, regnum.ru reported. LF

    CHUVASH PRESIDENT WARNS GOVERNMENT TO CURB RISING INFLATION. Nikolai
    Fyodorov warned republican Prime Minister Sergei Gaplikov during a
    session of the republican government on June 30 that unless the
    inflation rate is brought down, he will demand the resignation of the
    entire government, regnum.ru reported. Chuvashia has until now
    experienced lower-than-average inflation, but experts have predicted
    that consumer prices will rise by almost 10 percent this year. LF

    RUSSIA, PARIS CLUB SIGN PROTOCOL ON DEBT REPAYMENT. Russian Deputy
    Finance Minister Sergei Storchak signed a multilateral protocol on
    June 30 with the Paris Club of creditors under which Russia will
    repay in full by August 21, 2006, the approximately $22.3 billion it
    owes those countries, Interfax reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June
    26, 2006). Storchak told journalists after the signing that Moscow
    hopes that international ratings agencies will upgrade Russia's
    country rating in the wake of that agreement. Speaking on July 1 on
    the Russian television program "Vesti-24," Finance Minister Aleksei
    Kudrin said that the early repayment of Russia's debt to the Paris
    Club puts it in a position to lay claim to assets abroad, including
    real estate, which other former Soviet republics ceded to Russia in
    return for a pledge to repay their share of the former Soviet foreign
    debt, Interfax reported. LF

    SHAREHOLDERS ENDORSE ARCELOR-MITTAL MERGER. Meeting in Luxembourg on
    June 30, shareholders of the steel company Arcelor SA voted to
    endorse the merger of Arcelor with Mittal Steel to form the world's
    largest steel company, rather than to go ahead with a previously
    agreed merger between Arcelor and the Russian Severstal, the
    "Financial Times" reported on July 1 (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 26
    and 27, 2006). Arcelor will pay Severstal 140 million euros ($179
    million) in compensation for backing out of the previous deal, under
    which Severstal would have invested 14 billion euros in assets in the
    merged company in exchange for 32 percent of the total shares. On
    July 3, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" reported that Severstal's owner Aleksei
    Mordashov plans an initial public offering of 3 billion euros on the
    London Stock Exchange in a bid to increase his company's
    capitalization prior to making a takeover bid for either the
    U.K.-based Corus Group or another European steel company. LF

    GAZPROM WILL TREAT CIS, EUROPE ALIKE. Aleksei Miller, who is CEO of
    Russia's state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom, told a general
    shareholders' meeting in Moscow on June 30 that Gazprom intends to
    abide by the same conditions in its relations with CIS states as with
    Europe, presumably meaning that CIS countries will be required to pay
    the full market price for gas, regnum.ru reported. On July 1, Gazprom
    spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov warned that the revision of the January
    2006 gas deal between Russia and Ukraine that the new Ukrainian
    government under Yuliya Tymoshenko is demanding "endangers the
    security and continuity" of Gazprom's supplies to Europe, Interfax
    reported. LF

    RUSSIAN, TURKISH PRESIDENTS MEET. Ahmet Necdet Sezer met with
    President Putin on June 29, the second day of his three-day official
    visit to Russia, according to a June 30 statement on the website of
    the Russian Foreign Ministry (http://www.mid.ru). Speaking to
    journalists after their talks, the two presidents noted with
    satisfaction the boom in bilateral trade over the past 15 years, from
    $1.5 billion in 1991 to $15 billion today; Sezer predicted that the
    figure could reach $25 billion. Sezer noted in particular the
    positive impact on bilateral economic relations of the Blue Stream
    pipeline that carries Russian natural gas to Turkey. Putin noted the
    talks focused on the Middle East, Iraq, the Iranian nuclear standoff,
    regional developments in the Black Sea region, and coordinating
    efforts in the fight against terrorism. He said that the two
    countries' positions on all international issues discussed either
    coincide or "have become much closer." Writing on July 1 in the
    "Turkish Daily News," columnist Mehmet Ali Birand enthused that
    "Turkey's love for Russia is increasing every day." But "Novye
    izvestiya" on June 29 noted that Russia and Turkey are still in
    competition over the transport of Caspian hydrocarbons to world
    markets. LF

    RUSSIA, ITALY DISCUSS PREPARATIONS FOR G8 SUMMIT. Russian Foreign
    Minister Sergei Lavrov met in Moscow on June 30 with his Italian
    counterpart Massimo D'Alema to discuss bilateral relations,
    preparations for the G8 summit in St. Petersburg on July 15-17, and
    various international issues, according to the Russian Foreign
    Ministry website. The two ministers agreed to maintain "close working
    contacts" with regard to the agenda for the upcoming summit. They
    also agreed that the international community should strictly abide by
    accepted principles of international law in order to prevent possible
    "destabilizing consequences" of the referendum whereby Montenegro won
    independence from its former joint state with Serbia (see "RFE/RL
    Newsline," May 22, 2006), or of the ongoing Kosova status talks.
    Other issues discussed included the Middle East, Iraq, and Iran's
    nuclear agenda. D'Alema also met in Moscow on June 30 with Finance
    Minister Kudrin to discuss the possibility of Gazprom and Italy's
    state-owned ENI cooperating to extend the Blue Stream pipeline from
    Samsun to Ceyhan, Interfax and regnum.ru reported. Kudrin said an
    agreement on building that pipeline could be signed "very soon." LF

    CHECHEN ADMINISTRATION HEAD SAYS MURDERERS OF RUSSIAN DIPLOMATS
    SHOULD BE HUNTED DOWN. Russia should not spare either financial or
    other resources in its efforts to apprehend and bring to justice
    those responsible for the execution of a Russian diplomat and three
    embassy employees abducted in Baghdad, pro-Moscow Chechen
    administration head Alu Alkhanov told Interfax in Moscow on July 1.
    Every terrorist organization should know that Russia will never leave
    any hostage-taking or murder of her compatriots without retaliation,
    Alkhanov said. The four men were abducted in early June by the
    Mujahedin Shura Council, an Iraqi-based group with links to Al-Qaeda.
    On June 28, President Putin ordered unspecified Russian "special
    services" to take "all measures to find and eliminate" the killers
    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," June 27, 28, and 29, 2006). LF

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