Observers in and out of Belarus had thought the presidential election there sponsored by the democratic opposition but declared illegal by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka would fail either because its organizers would give up or because few Belarusians would take part. But in the event, some 15,000 volunteers defied these predictions and collected ballots from four million people -- some 53 percent of eligible voters.
These results stunned virtually everyone, especially since one of the two presidential candidates, Zenon Poznyak, had quit the race because of the unconventional voting methods, and the head of the opposition's Central Electoral Commission, Viktar Hanchar, afterwards declared the election "invalid" because of "irregularities." Whether or not the volunteers and more than half of the adult Belarusian population followed all the rules fastidiously crafted by that commission, these results suggest that Belarusians have voted against Lukashenka.
"This is an extraordinary feat," declared Catherine A. Fitzpatrick, director of the New York-based International League for Human Rights and active in Belarusian affairs for many years. "The election should force European leaders to ask themselves: What else should it take to recognize the opposition as the legitimate government?"
Also impressed with the turnout, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe issued a statement on May 18 which said that the involvement of many citizens in the balloting "deserve the respect of democratically governed states within the family of all OSCE states." The OSCE also noted that the elections "were not expected to meet OSCE standards" and called for "a meaningful dialogue" between the government and the opposition to create conditions for free parliamentary and presidential elections in the future.
The OSCE envoy there, former Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Severin, did not mince words in calling the detention of presidential candidate Mikhail Chyhir, a former prime minister, "highly questionable," adding that this action "should be terminated immediately."
But perhaps most important: the vote suggests that the Belarusian people are not nearly as apathetic as some observers have suggested or as supportive of Lukashenka as others have claimed. And this vote may also mean that the long list of failures by the democratic opposition is now coming to an end: the failure to block the introduction of a strong presidency in the constitution of 1993, the defeat of democratic candidates in the 1994 presidential election, Lukashenka's victory in changing the constitution and dissolving the parliament called the Supreme Soviet, and the fizzling out of the massive street demonstrations held between 1996 and 1998.
However that may be, there is no sign that Lukashenka will respect the results or moderate his disregard for the law and human rights. Even worse, some observers fear that his failure to intimidate people by threats may lead him and his minions to adopt tougher measures. That possibility has been suggested by the recent "disappearance" of two well- known public figures, the imprisonment of Chyhir, the beating up of several opposition leaders, and the arrest of several hundred activists for organizing the election.
Moreover, these election results may lead to some
rethinking by the international community. Before the vote,
Ambassador Hans-Georg Wieck -- the head of the OSCE's
permanent mission in Minsk, the Advisory and Monitoring Group
-- had counseled against holding the election and called it
"invalid." Opposition leaders did not appreciate his
attitude. Stubbornly, they insisted on making what Andrey
Sannikau, former deputy foreign minister, had characterized
as "a salient ideological point": Lukashenka's constitution
and parliament are illegal, and for democracy to function,
the status quo ante should be restored.
GUS also reported that 60.3 percent of shadow economy
employees work illegally because their legal incomes are too
small, while 41.7 percent are unable to find regular jobs.
Illegal employment is usually temporary and brief; almost
two-thirds of those polled by GUS worked illegally for no
longer than 20 days. The average monthly pay in the shadow
economy sector--calculated on the basis of data provided by
respondents--amounted to 276 zlotys ($70).
Poland is pursuing three forms of privatization: direct
privatization, liquidation and bankruptcy, and indirect
privatization.
In direct privatization (which applies to 36.6 percent
of transformed companies), state-owned companies are either
sold 100 percent, fused with an investor company, or
transferred on leasing terms to a company created by the
original company's employees. In either case, the state has
no control over "transformed" companies.
Liquidation and bankruptcy (34 percent of transformed
companies) means selling the property of state-owned
companies to individuals or economic entities that are not
controlled by the state. This form of privatization is
usually pursued with regard to unattractive businesses.
Indirect privatization means creating new companies with
the participation of private capital and the state treasury.
This method is applied to transforming the largest and most
attractive state-owned enterprises, which exert a major
influence on the Polish economy as a whole. The state has
majority stakes in most of the 1,364 companies subject to
this form of privatization.
Bukhavetski has tendered his resignation, arguing that
he is not responsible for the agricultural production slump
in Brest Oblast. He suggested that the 1999 agricultural
results may be even worse than for any previous year, owing
to spring floods, an invasion of gnats, and severe cold
spells in May. However, the oblast executive committee
refused to accept Bukhavetski's resignation.
Bukhavetski's subordinates, according to Belapan, are
also "indignant" that he was not allowed to leave a "hot
post." According to them, Bukhavetski should not be blamed
for the fact that "the oblast agriculture is going to pieces,
purchase prices for agricultural products are low, while
those for manufactured feed concentrates and diesel fuel are
high."
According to official data, Belarus has slightly more
than 400,000 Poles, of whom some 300,000 live in Hrodna
Oblast. The SPB headquarters are located in Hrodna. Two
Polish-language schools have existed in Belarus since 1996:
in Hrodna and in Vaukavysk. However, the SPB has not received
permission to build a Polish school in the town of
Navahradak, where some 1,500 residents claim Polish origin.
The document says SPB chairman Tadeusz Gawin is guilty
of participation in "political activity on behalf of radical
opposition forces." It also calls the problem of Polish-
language education in Belarus "far-fetched." The committee's
arguments against developing Polish-language education in
Belarus are as follows: "The instruction of all subjects in
Polish put future graduates from such schools in an
unfavorable position when seeking entrance to [Belarusian]
higher educational institutions.... A specific problem is
also posed by those students [from Belarus] who are educated
at universities in Poland. According to our experience, a
majority of young people remain [in that country]." Another
passage provides deeper insight into the official reluctance
to endorse Polish education: "Special attention paid to
[Polish-language school] students by the SPB, Poland's
diplomatic missions, various Polish charitable organizations
and funds, the Catholic Church, as well as the continued
practice of giving gifts to students and their parents,
organizing summer trips to Poland, etc., instill [in those
students] a feeling of being exceptional and privileged,
while in their peers instructed in the official [Russian and
Belarusian] languages [is ingrained] the idea that Polish
education and all things connected with Poland are more
prestigious."
The document ends with a 10-point plan, which
"Belorusskaya delovaya gazeta" calls a "program of measures
to pacify the SPB." In particular, the committee advises the
government "to focus on cooperation with other associations
that, owing to different reasons, have split from the SPB."
It also advises the cabinet to take advantage of
controversies between the SPB's local branches and top
leadership. It recommends "comprehensive monitoring of the
SPB's economic activity [as well as its] distribution of
humanitarian aid and assets obtained from abroad." The
committee offers to work out amendments to the laws on
political parties and on public associations in order to
prohibit the political activities of ethnic cultural
associations.
"We have shown our naivete in believing that the State
Committee for Religions and Nationalities has been created to
render assistance to ethnic cultural associations.... The
committee has drawn up the letter to the Council of Ministers
of Belarus in order to suppress us," Belapan quoted Gawin as
saying.
"Nezavisimaya gazeta" reports that the congress strongly
differed over a resolution on whether to support Ukrainian
President Leonid Kuchma's re-election bid. In the end,
despite what the newspaper called Svistunov's "orchestration"
and "obstruction," 60 delegates voted in favor of the
following resolution: "Given that the incumbent president of
Ukraine, [Leonid] Kuchma, has not fulfilled his electoral
promise to grant official status to the Russian language, the
Congress of Russians of Ukraine announces that it is against
the re-election of...Kuchma for the post of president." No
one voted against the resolution.
UNIAN added an interesting detail by reporting that
Ukrainian Deputy Premier Valeriy Smoliy, who represented
official Kyiv at the congress, was deprived of the
opportunity to extend greetings from Kuchma to the delegates.
In connection with this incident, the All-Ukrainian
Association "Prosvita" and some other groups issued a protest
saying that the congress "has overstepped not only the
constitutional and legal norms but also elementary norms of
the civilized and cultural behavior." The protesters demand
that the president and the government take measures to
prevent an "outburst of the chauvinist forces" in Ukraine.
On the other hand, "Nezavisimaya gazeta" noted that the
congress did not meet the expectations of those politicians
in Russia who would like to have a united and strong
organization of Russians in Ukraine to campaign for Ukraine's
integration into the Russian-Belarusian Union. The Council of
Russians of Ukraine, according to the newspaper, cannot claim
that it is a widely recognized representation of Ukraine's 12
million Russians. Moreover, it did not even mention the issue
of integration during its two-day congress.
The open split appeared in 1992 after the Russian
Orthodox Church had refused to grant autonomy to the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Those bishops in favor of an
independent church administration went on to form the Kyiv
Patriarchate with some 6,000 parishes. Some 9,000 parishes,
most of them in eastern Ukraine, have remained loyal to the
Moscow Patriarchate. According to a poll conducted by the
Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 33 percent of Ukrainians
supports the Kyiv Patriarchate, while the Moscow-linked
Church has only 7.8 percent backing.
The harshest clash between the two opposing Churches
occurred in Mariupol in April, when Patriarch Filaret and his
retinue were attacked and beaten by Moscow-linked Church
believers. In response, a Synod of the Kyiv Patriarchate
branded the Moscow-subordinated Church an "anti-Ukrainian and
anti-state force."
Metropolitan Volodymyr recently addressed a letter to
Russian State Duma Chairman Gennadii Seleznev asking him to
help purchase at Russia's domestic market price and without
value-added tax 6 million tons of Russian oil for processing
at the Lysychansk oil refinery. The request was prompted,
according to Volodymyr, by his "concern about the worthy
observance of the 2000th anniversary of Christianity. In the
event of a positive answer, we will name a firm that will
deal on our behalf with implementing this project," "Novye
izvestiya" quoted from Volodymyr's letter. By helping with
this project, the letter adds, "you will render support to
the traditional brotherly relations between Orthodox
believers of Russia and Ukraine."
The newspaper suggests that both Ukrainian Metropolitan
Volodymyr and his superior, Patriarch of Moscow and Russia
Aleksii II, have close ties with Russia's oil and gas moguls,
in particular, with Gazprom's Rem Vyakhirev and LUKoil's
Vagit Alekperov. The newspaper concludes that while the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate expands
its ranks by appealing to supporters of Ukraine's
independence, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow
Patriarchate intends to strengthen its influence by offering
cheaper gasoline.
The top five on the list are:
1) Ihor Bakay, who is president of the "Naftohaz
Ukrayiny" Joint-Stock Company, controls the Revival of
Regions caucus, ICTV television, and the newspaper
"Segodnya."
2. Oleksandr Volkov, who is a parliamentary deputy and
presidential aide, controls the Revival of Regions caucus,
the Agrarian Party of Ukraine, part of the Democratic Party
of Ukraine, and the Party of Regional Revival of Ukraine. His
media empire includes Ukrainian Television-1, Studio 1+1
Television, Gravis Television, and Europa+ Radio.
3. Viktor Pinchuk, also a parliamentary deputy, wields
influence through the Working Ukraine caucus and the
newspaper "Fakty."
4. Vadym Rabynovych, the president of the United Jewish
Community of Ukraine, controls part of the Green Party
caucus, the ERA Channel on Ukrainian Television-1, NTU
Television, the Uniar information agency, Super Nova Radio,
and the newspapers "Stolichnyye novosti" and "Delovaya
nedelya."
5. Hryhoriy Surkis, who is a parliamentary deputy and
honorary president of the Dynamo Kyiv Soccer Club, wields
influence through the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine
(United) and its parliamentary caucus, as well as Inter
Television and the newspaper "Biznes."
Initially, the list also included former Prime Minister
Pavlo Lazarenko, who has left Ukraine and applied for
political asylum in the U.S. While in Ukraine, Lazarenko
controlled the Hromada party and its parliamentary caucus,
YuTAR Television, Television Channel 11 in Dnipropetrovsk,
and the newspapers "Pravda Ukrayiny" and "Kiyevskiye
vedomosti." According to the Institute of Politics, the
Lazarenko case is a "textbook case of a struggle between
competing oligarchs or oligarchic associations in Ukraine."
Return To Top
May 25, 1999
RFE/RL Poland, Ukraine and Belarus Report
Vol. 1, No. 1, 25 May 1999
A Survey of Developments in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus by
the Staff of RFE/RL Newsline
INVITATION TO READERS
The "RFE/RL Poland, Ukraine and Belarus Report" seeks to draw
the attention of its readers to three countries that are in
three different stages of the post-communist transformation.
Poland, a new NATO member, is also on the "fast track"
for integration with the European Union. It enjoys the
highest growth rate among the former communist nations of
Central and Eastern Europe. However, even though successful
on most counts, the country faces a host of specific problems
in adapting itself to EU legislative, economic, and social
standards. It may therefore serve as an excellent example of
a European nation struggling to break with its socialist past
and embrace a free-market system.
Developments in Belarus are in many ways the reverse of
what is taking place in Poland. Of all the former Soviet
republics, Belarus is on the "fastest track" for
reintegration with Russia into a union state that some
consider the seed of a 21st-century version of the USSR.
Belarus's Soviet-style economy remains virtually unreformed,
while in terms of its management it has become even more
state-controlled than it was in the Soviet Union. With the
strongly anti-Western and popular authoritarian regime of
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, Belarus is a classic case of
a country beset by an overpowering "back-to-the-USSR"
nostalgia.
Ukraine has been described as "two nations in one," with
its eastern "socialist" part leaning toward Russia and its
western "nationalist" part oriented toward the West. Its
performance since the collapse of communism falls somewhere
in between the Polish and Belarusian models. For nine years
it has thus been a country in "unstable equilibrium," seeming
to defy any more precise definition.
Since the three countries share not only borders but
also much history, they unavoidably have a lot of common
and/or conflicting interests. One of the major goals of this
newsletter is to highlight these interests within a general
picture of developments in Poland, Ukraine and Belarus.
*********************************************************
POLAND
EU DEMANDS ABOLITION OF SPECIAL ECONOMIC ZONES... The EU
demands that Poland abolish its special economic zones by
2002, PAP reported on 18 May. According to EU officials, the
creation of the zones violates Poland's association treaty
with the EU. The demand comes in response to Poland's request
to be allowed a transition period in which the zones would be
allowed to exist until 2017. According to the EU, tax breaks
offered by Polish special economic zones "exceed all norms"
admissible in the union.
...WHILE BELARUS INVITES POLES TO ITS TAX-FREE ZONES.
Entrepreneurs from Poland's northeastern Podlasie province
have been invited to conduct business in Belarus's tax-free
zones. Managers operating in such zones in the Minsk and
Brest oblasts encouraged Polish businessmen in Bialystok on
17 May to invest in the special economic areas, PAP reported.
Under Belarusian legislation, companies operating in special
economic zones are exempt from paying income tax for five
years. Goods entering such zones are tax- and duty-free.
Poland is currently Belarus's fourth-largest trade
partner. According to figures quoted by the Belarusian consul
general in Bialystok, Mikalay Krechka, Belarus imported $238
million worth of goods from Poland last year, while
Belarusian exports to Poland amounted to $184 million.
CIA SPY TO BE SUED? According to the right-wing daily
"Zycie," the State Protection Office in 1996 unmasked and
detained a CIA spy, Colonel Zbigniew Wlodzimierz Sz., who
held an important post in the Military Intelligence Service.
Although he confessed to being guilty, Colonel Sz. Did not
appear in court. The daily says the Polish authorities hushed
up the case--in order not to damage relations between Warsaw
and Washington--and agreed to transfer Sz. to the U.S., where
he is still living. According to "Zycie," it was President
Aleksander Kwasniewski who decided that the spy would not be
put on trial.
The Supreme Military Prosecutor's Office, responding to
questions posed by "Zycie" journalists several weeks ago,
admitted that it did not conduct an investigation into the
Sz. spy case in 1996. The 21 May "Rzeczpospolita" reported
that a military prosecutor pointed out to the "Zycie"
journalists that anybody who knew about a crime was obliged
to inform the authorities or face punishment.
"Rzeczpospolita" wrote that the "Zycie" journalists
interpreted that comment as a "warning" and subsequently
notified the Warsaw District Military Prosecutor's Office
about Sz.'s crime.
It is unclear what kind of action--if any--will be taken
by the Military Prosecutor's Office. Meanwhile, Marek Siwiec,
head of the presidential National Security Bureau, has denied
that the president instructed anyone suspected of spying to
be released. Moreover, Kwasniewski's lawyer, Ryszard Kalisz,
has notified the military prosecutor that "Zycie" committed a
crime by reporting the Sz. case and thus disclosing official
secrets.
"We do not regard the case of the American spy in the
Polish army as a superficial sensation or scandal," "Zycie"
chief editor Tomasz Wolek wrote on 22 May, "but as a matter
worthy of deeper, balanced consideration. For the good of
democracy and also for the sake of greater openness and
transparency in public life, we feel that this case should
not be swept under the carpet in embarrassment. It is
precisely in the best interests of Poland and of its loyal
obligations toward allies that efforts should be made to
defuse this explosive charge."
Wolek is believed to be a staunch opponent of the
leftist Kwasniewski. In 1995, Wolek--at the time chief editor
of "Zycie Warszawy"--actively supported Lech Walesa's
presidential bid. When Lech Walesa lost the election, Wolek
was fired from "Zycie Warszawy" in what was widely seen as
leftist retribution for the journalist's political
involvement. Along with most of the "Zycie Warszawy"
journalists who quit the Warsaw daily when he did, Wolek
successfully launched the nationwide daily "Zycie." In 1997,
"Zycie" published a report alleging that Kwasniewski had held
meetings with a KGB agent. Kwasniewski sued the daily for
libel, but the investigation into that case has not yet been
completed.
UKRAINE
CRIMEAN TATARS COMMEMORATE THE DEAD, SPEAK OUT FOR THE
LIVING. Some 35,000 Crimean Tatars converged on Simferopol on
18 May to hold a rally commemorating the 55th anniversary of
the deportation of Crimean Tatars to the east of the Urals,
mainly to Uzbekistan. Joseph Stalin's regime accused the
Tatars of collaboration during the Nazi occupation of the
Crimean peninsula in World War II. According to official
data, some 180,000 Crimean Tatars were deported. Some Tatar
sources, however, put the number of deported at 500,000. Some
45 percent of the Crimean Tatar population perished as a
result of the deportations. A 1967 Soviet government decree
exonerated the Crimean Tatars of any wrongdoing during World
War II. However, the mass return of Tatars from Central Asia
to their ancestral homeland was not possible until the
Gorbachev era. It is estimated that today some 275,000 Tatars
are living on the peninsula, while at least as many remain in
exile.
The marches on Simferopol and the 18 May rally were in
protest against what Crimean Tatars perceive as their
political repression and discrimination by both the Ukrainian
and Crimean autonomous governments. Participants in the
Simferopol rally made several demands vis-a-vis both Kyiv and
Simferopol. Those demands included providing housing and
employment programs for Crimean Tatars; simplifying
procedures whereby Tatars can acquire Ukrainian citizenship
(some 90,000 have been prevented from doing so owing to
bureaucratic obstacles in Uzbekistan and Ukraine); granting
plots of land to Tatars returning to Crimea; recognizing the
Mejlis and the Kurultay as Tatar representative bodies
endowed with some self-governing functions; granting the
Tatar language an official status equal to that of Russian
and Ukrainian; establishing representative quotas of Tatars
in the Crimean parliament, government, and local authorities
as well as in the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma responded to the Tatar
demands by creating a presidential advisory body--the Council
of Representatives of Crimean Tatars, headed by Crimean Tatar
leader Mustafa Dzhemilev. Another Tatar leader, Refat
Chubarov, said that with the establishment of that body the
work to resolve the political and legal problems of Crimean
Tatars has begun.
Ukrainian media reported that no deputy from the
Communist-dominated Crimean parliament attended the 18 May
rally. According to Ukrainian sources, those addressing the
demonstrators mostly signaled out Crimean parliamentary
speaker Leonid Hrach and his colleagues from the Communist
Party as responsible for the problems faced by Crimean
Tatars. Crimean Prime Minister Serhiy Kunitsyn, according to
"Ukrayina moloda," proposed a meeting with Tatar
representatives to discuss "possible candidacies for some
posts in the executive branch of the peninsula."
After the rally, Tatars set up a tent camp outside the
Crimean government building. Dzhemilev said some 250 people
will remain in the camp until the government makes progress
on meeting the Tatars' demands.
BELARUS
MUZZLING DISSENT BY RE-REGISTRATION. In late January,
President Alyaksandr Lukashenka issued a decree ordering all
political parties, trade unions, and public associations in
Belarus to re-register by 1 July. The same decree set up a
special commission for (re-)registration of public
associations headed by Deputy Prime Minister Uladzimir
Zamyatalin. According to the decree, the Justice Ministry
takes a decision on (re-)registering an organization "on the
basis of a conclusion" reached by Zamyatalin's commission. In
theory, the Justice Ministry can overturn the commission's
decision, but in light of legal practices in Belarus under
Lukashenka's regime, such a development is highly improbable.
In keeping with Soviet bureaucratic tradition, the
decree stipulates that any organization that desires to be
registered must supply a host of documents and certificates
"typed on A4 paper with one-and-a-half spacing." Any formal
or procedural flaws in the registration process on the part
of the applicant may be considered a reason for denying
official recognition. Registration can also be denied if an
organization's charter does not conform with legal
requirements or if it has been officially warned within the
past year that it has broken the law.
Numerous Belarusian opposition parties and NGOs have
protested the decree, pointing out that its real goal is to
outlaw all opposition and independent organizations in
Belarus. So far, 13 major Belarusian opposition parties and
human rights organizations have been "warned" by the Justice
Ministry for taking part in the opposition presidential
elections. Under Lukashenka's re-registration decree, they
are now facing a ban. Belarusian NGOs say the authorities
also aim to force organizations undergoing re-registration to
pledge allegiance to the 1996 constitution in their charters.
That basic law--adopted in the controversial referendum of
the same year, which has not been recognized by the Council
of Europe or the OSCE--is the main bone of contention between
the authorities and the opposition.
Belarusian Television reported on 15 May that only some
130 organizations out of the 2,500 registered in Belarus have
filed re-registration requests to date. With only six weeks
remaining until the re-registration deadline, it appears that
the bulk of Belarusian NGOs have decided to boycott the re-
registration decree. A Justice Ministry official seemed to
confirm that theory when, speaking on national television, he
stressed that the organizations do not have to fully specify
the constitution to which they pledge loyalty. "There was a
ertain overstress in the first stage [of re-registration],
when we suggested that everyone should put the full name of
the constitution [in the charter]. But now this has sunk into
oblivion," he said.
But the participation of Uladzimir Zamyatalin in the re-
registration process has led Belarusian NGOs to suspect the
worst. Zamyatalin is widely seen as having been behind some
of Belarus's harshest restraints on the press and on freedom
of expression, including a ban on providing official
information to independent media and an order to eliminate
those history textbooks that contradict the "state policy
that is being implemented by President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka."
It is interesting to note that in the 1994 presidential
elections Zamyatalin was press secretary to then-Prime
Minister Vyachaslau Kebich, Lukashenka's main presidential
rival. Zamyatalin was reported to have orchestrated a
television feature suggesting Lukashenka was a petty thief
and had stolen a hair-dryer from a stewardess while on his
flight to China. The electorate, however, did not believe
that allegation and overwhelmingly voted for Lukashenka.
Instead of punishing Zamyatalin, Lukashenka offered him a
job--first as head of the Presidential Information Department
and later as deputy chief of the presidential staff. Before
his nomination as deputy premier in July 1997, Zamyatalin
headed the State Press Committee for more than five months.
PROFITEERING: ILL-DEFINED, BUT PUNISHABLE BY LAW. On 18 May,
the Chamber of Representatives, the lower house of the
Belarusian legislature, adopted a new Criminal Code. One of
the most controversial parts of the code was Article 256,
which envisages criminal responsibility for "profiteering"
(spekulatsiya). Belarusian media reported that some deputies
objected to introducing this article because of the lack of a
clear definition of the term "profiteering." Belapan reported
on 18 May that one deputy voiced his opposition by pointing
out that "profiteering" is punishable only in two countries,
namely Cuba and North Korea. Chamber of Representatives
speaker Anatol Malafeyeu, for his part, told the legislature
that by eliminating this article, deputies "would stab the
economy in the back." In the end, supporters of the provision
prevailed, and the article on "profiteering" was duly
included in the code.
HARBINGERS OF AGRICULTURAL DOOM? Severe and unusual cold
spells--in which temperatures dropped to 12 degrees
Centigrade below zero-- have destroyed grain covering some
20,000 hectares in Belarus this month, Belapan reported on 18
May. According to Mikhail Kadyrau, an agricultural expert,
because of these cold spells, the expected average yield of
potatoes in 1999 will be 25 percent down on last year's
level.
In late April, Belarusian media reported that huge
swarms of gnats were attacking people and animals in 66 of
Belarus's 120 raions, mainly in the southern part of the
country. Some 20,000 livestock became sick after being bitten
by insects. According to the Agricultural Ministry, 400
animals died and another 1,000 had to be slaughtered.
More than 23 raions, mainly in the Brest and Homel
oblasts, suffered from spring floods in March: 204
settlements and 100,000 hectares of land were covered in
water, and more than 2,100 people had to be resettled.
QUOTATIONS OF THE WEEK
"Why do we need foreign troops on our territory? Something is
foul here." -- A Peasant Party deputy during the 20 May
parliamentary debate on a bill regulating the deployment of
foreign troops in Poland.
"Foreign troops helped us a little in the Battle of
Grunwald." -- Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek's
retort in the same debate, referring to the defeat of the
Teutonic Knights by the united armies of Poland and the Grand
Duchy of Lithuania in the Battle of Grunwald in 1410.
"If I discover today that someone has taken an irresponsible
stance toward fulfilling my [previous] instructions, [he] can
go at once, taking [his] portfolio with [him] or leaving it
in [his] offices.... We have a controllable state, we have a
strong authority, and we are able to resolve any problem in
pricing policy." -- Belarusian President Alyaksandr
Lukashenka ordering his ministers on 19 May to put an end to
price hikes by 1 June.
"Today's lines [of vehicles waiting] to enter Poland--given
the virtually empty border checkpoints and quick checks on
our side--most likely reflect NATO's political directive to
its [Polish] member: to erect a barrier at the border as long
as the hawks in the sky are destroying [our] Slavic allies."
-- Belarusian Television on 19 May, commenting on recent
traffic jams at Belarusian-Polish border checkpoints.
"Even if a majority of people back Lukashenka, it means only
that they will get what they deserve, not what they want." --
Belarusian writer Vasil Bykau, before his voluntary exile to
Finland one year ago.
Return To Top
June 1, 1999
Vol. 1, No. 2, 1 June 1999
A Survey of Developments in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine by
the Staff of "RFE/RL Newsline"
POLAND
ILLEGAL EMPLOYMENT SHRINKS. The Main Statistical Office (GUS)
reports that shadow economy employees in January-August 1998
totaled 1.4 million and made up 9 percent of Poland's
official labor force during that period. GUS Deputy Chairman
Janusz Witkowski said Poland's illegal employment is
shrinking. The previous GUS study, conducted in 1995, showed
that the number of illegal employees totaled 2.2 million. GUS
attributes this decrease to the growing number of legal job
offers in recent years.
PRIVATIZATION PROGRESSES, BUT DOES IT PRODUCE PRIVATE
BUSINESSES? The 26 May "Rzeczpospolita" reported that by the
end of 1998, Poland had "transformed" under its privatization
program 4,647 companies out of the 8,453 state-owned
companies that had existed in 1990. The daily adds, however,
that there are fewer privately owned companies than
"transformed" ones. In many "transformed" companies, the
state possesses a controlling interest and has a say in their
personnel policy and management.
BELARUS
LUKASHENKA DECREES PUNISHMENT FOR OVERREPORTING. The
Belarusian president has issued a decree envisaging
punishment for overreporting and/or distorting statistical
data. In particular, an official who provides false data may
be fined 50-100 minimum wages ($110-$220, according to the
street exchange rate). If an official has done "significant
harm to rights and legal interests of citizens or to the
state and public interests" by providing distorted
information, he can be sentenced to correctional labor or two
years in prison.
DISMISSAL DENIED UNTIL SITUATION DETERIORATES FURTHER? The
Brest Oblast branch of the State Control Committee has
examined the work of Yakau Bukhavetski, chairman of the
oblast department for agriculture and food, and concluded
that his performance has been "unsatisfactory," Belapan
reported on 24 May. The committee ruled that Bukhavetski
"deserves" to be dismissed from his post, but it gave him
only a reprimand and warned that a final decision on his
future will be adopted once his performance during the whole
of 1999 has been assessed.
COMMUNIST HEROES GIVE NAMES AND PRESTIGE TO COLLECTIVE LAND.
The Brest Oblast Executive Committee, headed by Uladzimir
Zalamay, has announced it will give the names of Communist
heroes and activists to land plots in collective farms of the
oblast, Belapan reported on 24 May. Thus, a 70-hectare land
plot in the "Malech" collective farm in Byaroza Raion was
named after Pyotr Masherau, former first secretary of the
Soviet-era Communist Party of Belarus. Another 171-hectare
land plot in the same farm has been named after Alyaksey
Tsabruk, a tractor operator and Hero of Socialist Labor. The
payment for work on named plots has been increased by 10
percent, compared with the remuneration for working on
nameless ones. According to the oblast authorities, this
increase will make collective farmers feel proud to work on
such fields.
HOW TO PACIFY BELARUSIAN POLES? "Belorusskaya delovaya
gazeta" on 26 May reported that the State Committee for
Religions and Nationalities has drawn up a document in
response to the cabinet's request to provide information
about the activity of the Union of Poles of Belarus (SPB).
The document was signed by committee head A. Bilyk and
drafted by someone identified as Uralski.
UKRAINE
UKRAINIAN RUSSIANS OUT OF TUNE WITH KUCHMA. On 22-23 May in
Kyiv, 309 delegates representing Russian organizations from
19 Ukrainian oblasts and Crimea held the First Congress of
Russians of Ukraine. According to the 27 May "Nezavisimaya
gazeta," the congress was primarily financed by Ukraine's Rus
association, which was the initiator and organizer of the
event, as well as by the State Committee for Nationalities
and the presidential administration. The newspaper suggests
that the congress was organized by "Rus" association
activists Valentina Yermolova, Aleksandr Svistunov, and
Aleksandr Oleynikov in order to seize the leadership of the
Russian Council of Ukraine, an umbrella organization for
Ukrainian Russians set up by the Kyiv gathering. Yermolova
was elected chairwoman of the council, while Svistunov and
Oleynikov became her deputies.
PROSELYTIZING WITH CHEAPER OIL? "Novye izvestiya" on 21 May
published an article reviewing controversies between the two
Orthodox Churches in Ukraine: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
of the Kyiv Patriarchate, led by Patriarch Filaret, and the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, headed
by Metropolitan Volodymyr. According to the Russian daily,
both Churches are involved in a continued struggle for
influence among Ukrainian Orthodox believers.
WHO IS PULLING THE STRINGS? In April, the Kyiv-based
Institute of Politics, headed by political scientist Mykola
Tomenko, published a list of Ukraine's most important
"oligarchs." The list included people who supposedly "control
or influence at least one parliamentary caucus, group,
political party, public organization, nationwide television
or radio channel, or nationwide newspaper." According to
Tomenko, Ukrainian oligarchs will play a "dominant role" in
the presidential elections on 31 October.
QUOTATIONS OF THE WEEK. "Warsaw owes a statue to the author
of the real end of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan." -- Polish
Deputy Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski on 25 May.
"If all Polish private companies pooled their assets to buy
Microsoft's shares on the stock market, they would be able to
acquire no more than 4 percent. This is an estimate of the
combined power of Polish [private] capital." -- "Gazeta
Bankowa" on 22 May.
"Can you tell me please in what other country [than Belarus]
the opposition is allowed to mark a birthday in such a way?"
-- A Belarusian Television journalist on a 24 May opposition
rally to demand the release of former Prime Minister Mikhail
Chyhir from prison. The rally's date coincided with Chyhir's
birthday.
"As regards the number of criminal cases launched against
well-known bankers and businessmen, Belarus is one of the
indisputable leaders in the CIS, if not on the entire
planet." -- The Minsk official daily "Zvyazda" on 27 May.
"It has become difficult to provide villagers with many goods
that are not manufactured by Belarusian enterprises but are
indispensable in life and farming: scythes, sickles,
pitchforks, churns, separators [for milk], saws, files, straw
cutters, milk cans, sewing needles, thimbles, and other
products. All these are imported. Are we really unable to
manufacture such goods? You have three months--[after that]
you will report to me how many of these goods, listed as well
as unlisted by me here, which are so necessary to people
everyday, you manufacture in Belarus, in our talented,
science-intensive industry." -- Belarusian President
Alyaksandr Lukashenka on 27 May, addressing the Belarusian
Union of Consumer Cooperatives, an organization dealing with
trade in consumer products in the countryside.
"Consider yourselves to have already been a public
organization. Now you will be a state-run public
oganization." -- Lukashenka on the same occasion, announcing
his imminent decree to nationalize the consumer trade sector
in the countryside and to transform the Union of Consumer
Cooperatives into a governmental agency.
"I propose to set up a council of mayoral candidates that
will accumulate all the good ideas included in their election
programs." -- Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko on 26 May,
referring to the 32 candidates in the Kyiv mayoral elections.
"There is no democratic country with media as biased as those
in Ukraine." -- Ukrainian parliamentary speaker Oleksandr
Tkachenko on 11 May.
Return To Top
June 3, 1999
Vol. 1, No. 21, 3 June 1999
A Weekly Checklist Of Events Affecting Civil Societies
In Eastern Europe And The Post-Soviet States
CLINTON SAYS EARLY INTERVENTION IN KOSOVA SAVES LIVES.
Speaking at Arlington National Cemetery on May 31, Memorial
Day, U.S. President Bill Clinton said that many of those
buried there had died "because of what was allowed to go on
too long before people intervened." And he argued that NATO's
intervention in Yugoslavia was intended to save lives as well
as demonstrating "our commitment to leave our children a
world where people are not uprooted and ravaged and
slaughtered because of their race, their ethnicity, or their
religion."
MILOSEVIC INDICTMENT SEEN SPLITTING SUPPORTERS. Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's indictment for war crimes is
dividing his supporters, according to Sonja Biserko, director
of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, now
abroad, and Anthony Borden, head of the London-based
Institute for War & Peace Reporting. The two argue that some
of his earlier backers--"business interests, political
supporters, war-profiteers, and Mafia operators"--may
conclude that it is now too late for them to turn against him
but that others now want to distance themselves from his
regime.
PENTECOSTAL CHURCH WINS ROUND IN RUSSIAN COURT. Last week a
Magadan court rejected prosecution demands that a local
Pentecostal church be banned, AP reported from Moscow. The
prosecutors had claimed that the pastor of the World of Life
Pentecoastal Church had hypnotized congregants in order to
secure donations.
KYRGYZ AUTHORITIES BREAK UP BAPTIST MEETING. On May 20 Kyrgyz
authorities disrupted a Baptist evangelistic meeting in Kyzyl
Kiya, detained 10 participants, and fined each the equivalent
of one month's wages, according to Keston News Service. As
collateral for payment, the authorities took the passports
and drove the detainees across the border into Uzbekistan.
NORTH ATLANTIC ASSEMBLY CONDEMNS MILOSEVIC, LUKASHENKA.
Meeting in Warsaw, the North Atlantic Assembly condemned on
May 31 Slobodan Milosevic's policies in Kosova and noted that
after Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's term
expires on July 20, he will no longer be a democratically
elected head of state. The session further declared that the
Supreme Soviet, outlawed by Lukashenka, is the country's only
legal legislative body.
RELATIVES OF TIANANMEN VICTIMS CALL FOR INVESTIGATION. Ten
years after the Chinese government crushed a pro-democracy
demonstration in Tiananmen Square, 105 relatives of those
killed or wounded have petitioned the Supreme People's
Procuratorate to open a criminal investigation of the
officials responsible, "The New York Times" reported on May
31. And the group promised that they will press their case in
an international forum if Beijing refuses to undertake the
invesitigation. In a related development, the opposition
group China Democratic Party (CDP) on May 31 called on the
authorities to stop their suppression of commemorative events
and to release those arrested so far for organizing them. One
of the measures the CDP is protesting concerns the shutting
down of a computer chatroom for the first third of June in
order to prevent pro-democracy groups from communicating with
one another.
END NOTE
PRAGUE OPPOSES USTI PLANS FOR ANTI-ROMA WALL
By Charles Fenyvesi
The Czech cabinet on May 26 urged authorities in the
Bohemian city of Usti nad Labem not to follow through on
their plans to build a wall that would separate some 300 Roma
from a middle-class ethnic Czech neighborhood.
But many Roma and their supporters in the international
human rights community remain unconvinced that the cabinet
decision will in fact put an end to the project. "Czech
officials--including cabinet members--are adept in assuring
concerned foreigners in English, especially behind closed
doors, that no wall will be built, absolutely not," says one
observer who requested anonymity. "But they do not make it
clear in Czech to their own people that such a wall is
clearly an outrage and a violation of international
conventions that the Czech Republic must comply with."
The controversy rose to the level of a cabinet vote in
Prague after a year of legal and public relations maneuvering
by leading citizens of Usti nad Labem and only a few days
after a building permit was issued there to construct "just a
fence" rather than a wall. The Czech authorities also faced a
rising tide of international criticism. In March, at the most
recent meeting of the UN Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination, Ion Diaconu, the rapporteur on the
Czech Republic, criticized Prague for deciding to take legal
measures only if and when the local authorities actually
started building the barrier.
In a letter to Czech Prime Minister Milos Zeman dated
May 28, the Budapest-based European Roma Rights Center
expressed satisfaction with the Czech cabinet's "belated"
recommendation to Usti nad Labem. But then the letter
cautioned that "the threat of segregation continues to hang
over Romany residents" and voiced "wonder" as to why it took
almost a year for the Czech government "to act in response to
such a blatantly unlawful act, and why it has not been
possible, not merely to recommend, but rather to require as a
matter of law, rescission of the decision to build the wall."
Since the plan for the wall reached the newspapers in
early 1998, President Vaclav Havel and numerous Czech and
international human rights leaders have condemned the wall as
a step toward apartheid. Several of them followed Havel's
example and visited Usti nad Labem in an attempt to explain
to the townspeople that building such a wall would be an act
of racism which would stain the reputation of the Czech
Republic, in which the 300,000-strong Romany minority was
already having its share of problems with the majority.
But some local residents stoutly denied that they were
engaged in racism, arguing that a wall against the Roma was
simply a "measure of social hygiene," perhaps unaware that
they were using Nazi-era terminology. They argued that they
were only trying to shield themselves from the noise and the
rubbish created by the Roma. And they complained that
property values declined to the point that they could no
longer sell their houses.
This April, some Usti residents went to the town council
to endorse what seemed to them a clever compromise: Instead
of the original idea of a 4 meter high cinderblock or brick
wall which might have reminded some of the Berlin Wall, they
proposed a visually attractive 1.80 meter high ceramic
"fence." The council awarded the building contract to an
influential local Roma who was to add a playground as well on
the Roma side of the barrier and new pavement. What is more,
the town council subcontracted Romany Rainbow, the
contractor's civic organization, to clean up the Roma side of
Maticni street.
The town council hailed the compromise as a
breakthrough. One important town official, Pavel Tosovsky,
boasted to the Czech news agency CTK that the solution was
arrived at without "any special mediators and human rights
activists from outside Usti nad Labem," a slur aimed
primarily at Czech Human Rights Commissioner and former
political prisoner Petr Uhl, who had vowed to block any
attempt to build any kind of wall on Maticni street.
Another outsider demanding action has been Congressman
Christopher Smith (R-NJ), the co-chairman of the U.S.
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). He
and his colleagues have missed no opportunity to tell Czech
officials visiting Washington that the wall was turning into
"the symbol of rampant racism that plagues Europe's Romany
minority." Within 24 hours of receiving word on the Czech
cabinet's May 26 vote, the commission issued a statement
praising the cabinet for its "courage and leadership."
Since then, commission members have been watching the
impact. The townspeople in Usti nad Labem are quiet, neither
canceling their plans nor preparing to build. But it appears
that the cabinet is no longer so sure about the legal
foundation of its authority to stop the building of the wall.
Informal conversations suggest that the government is
especially worried about a recent public opinion poll which
had 72 percent of Czech citizens saying that they see nothing
wrong about a wall in Usti nad Labem.
"We look to the Czech parliament to lay down a marker,"
says Erika Schlager, the U.S. CSCE commission's counsel on
international law. "We are watching two developments. One,
will Usti officials drop their project, and, two, if they do
not, will parliament reinforce the cabinet's position?"
Return To Top
June 10, 1999
Vol. 1, No. 22, 10 June 1999
A Weekly Checklist Of Events Affecting Civil Societies
In Eastern Europe And The Post-Soviet States
**NOTE TO READERS** "RFE/RL Watchlist" will not appear next
week but will be issued again on 24 June 1999.
FULL SETTLEMENT WITH BELGRADE TO FOCUS ON MINORITY RIGHTS.
Officials from NATO countries have told RFE/RL that once the
Yugoslav military evacuates Kosova, the next stage in the
negotiations will be a comprehensive settlement with
Yugoslavia in which the West will insist on full compliance
with international human rights conventions, especially in
the area of minority rights. Moreover, the West will insist
that Belgrade live up to these standards across the country.
Vojvodina, the once autonomous Serbian province with 16
ethnic groups, they said, will be singled out for particular
insistence on this point. Western delay in making public
statements on the issue so far has to do with the uncertainty
about the shape of the next government in Belgrade. In the
American assessment, the odds are just about equal for either
the ultranationalist right or the anti-Milosevic democrats
gaining the upper hand in post-Milosevic Serbia.
RIGHTS GROUPS SAY KOSOVA PEACE ACCORD IGNORES HUMAN RIGHTS.
Human Rights groups were less than wholehearted in welcoming
the peace accord announced by NATO and Yugoslavia on June 4.
Within hours of the announcement, both Amnesty International
and Human Rights Watch reacted by protesting that the
agreement failed to address itself to the long-term
protection of human rights of all ethnic groups in Kosova and
to the arrest of those responsible for war crimes. "The human
rights violations that have taken place in Kosova during the
past 10 years might have been prevented if effective steps
had been taken," AI Secretary General Pierre Sane said.
"Amnesty International fears for any civilian returning in
the immediate aftermath of an armed conflict where they may
face deprivations and dangers, such as booby-traps,
minefields, and further killings and 'disappearances.'" He
called for "unhindered access" for independent human rights
monitors to all parts of Kosova and Yugoslavia. Citing the
experience of the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Holly Cartner of
Human Rights Watch warned that "withdrawing troops often use
the closing days of war to exact revenge and express their
frustration through brutal attacks on civilians."
KOSOVO PRISONERS BEATEN AND TORTURED. Veteran journalist
Cerkin Ibishi is among the hundreds of Kosovo Albanians
released from Kosova's Smerkovnica prison between the end of
May and the beginning of June, Human Rights Watch reports on
June 7. Like Ibisi, the men, now in Albania, show signs of
physical abuse and torture.
EU URGED TO LEAD BALKAN RECONSTRUCTION. A position paper by
European experts released in the first days of June urges the
European Union to take the lead in postwar Balkan
reconstruction by integrating the region in "the European
civil order." Published by the Center for European Policy
Studies, the paper also recommends giving Balkan nations
"associate member" status in the EU, provided that they
comply with international conventions on human and minority
rights.
LITHUANIAN PARLIAMENT PASSES LAW AGAINST KGB FRONTS. On June
8, Lithuania's parliament voted 63 to 11 for legislation to
outlaw organizations and businesses that serve as fronts for
foreign intelligence services, according to the Baltic News
Service. The law also stipulates that the heads of
organizations and businesses that worked for Soviet
intelligence must report to the State Security Department. If
a court finds that a business or organization is a "front,"
the law calls for its liquidation. Observers expect that the
Constitutional Court will be asked to examine the law.
ARMENIAN JOURNALISTS RESIST ATTEMPT TO SHUT DOWN PAPER. A
brawl broke out at the editorial office of the independent
newspaper "Oragir" last week when justice ministry officials
attempted to confiscate its property in lieu of $25,000 in
compensatory damages imposed on the daily by a Yerevan court
last April, RFE/RL reports. The court ruled that "Oragir"
inflicted financial and moral damages to Mika Armenia trade
company by repeatedly implicating it in questionable
connections with Interior and National Security Minister
Serzh Sarkisian. The paper refused to pay, calling the
verdict "illegal and unconstitutional." The brawl stopped
after law-enforcement officials were told that the bulk of
the paper's equipment is leased.
NEW RUSSIAN PREMIER CALLS FOR RELIGIOUS TOLERANCE. At a June
3 news conference Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin called for
religious tolerance in Russia and acknowledged that he would
have acted differently during the Chechnya war if at the time
of the conflict he had had a better understanding of Islamic
tradition, according to a Reuters report. "We have many
faiths--not only Christians but also Muslims, Buddhists, and
Jews," he said. "They are also our roots, our Russia." Known
as a hardliner, Stepashin was a top security officer in 1994
when President Boris Yeltsin sent troops to the mostly Muslim
region. In 1995 Stepashin resigned following a botched
operation to free hostages.
TIANANMEN REMEMBERED. On June 4, the tenth anniversary of the
Tiananmen massacre, thousands attended a candlelight vigil in
central Hong Kong in what organizers said was the highest
turnout since 1992, Reuters reports. But in Beijing, what
Reuters called a "heavy security presence" prevented any
commemoration. Police promptly arrested one young man who
scattered leaflets calling for democracy and hours later a
second man who opened a white umbrella with characters
painted on it, urging the government to remember the student
movement of 1989. Near the Chinese embassy in Ulan Bator, a
handful of Mongolians demonstrated, demanding that Beijing
release all jailed human rights activists and give freedom to
Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Tibet. The protesters also
burned a Chinese flag. In its dispatch from Hong Kong,
Reuters quoted a tourist from eastern China: "I'm lucky to be
in the only place in China where we can openly remember."
**UPDATE** The Pacific Fleet military court postponed the in-
camera trial of journalist Grigorii Pasko, who stands accused
of espionage, according to a report on Moscow's NTV June 4. A
former naval captain, Pasko has been under detention since
November 1997, after he revealed on Japanese TV the illegal
dumping of toxic waste by Russia's Pacific Fleet (see "RFE/RL
Watchlist" April 15 and April 29, 1999). According to NTV's
Vladivostok correspondent Ilya Zimin, the court questioned
the authenticity of the record of the search of Pasko's
apartment and ordered a new expert examination. Zimin's
sources say that the court's action is based on suspicions
that those conducting the search planted incriminating
material in what they confiscated and that the search record
might have been altered post facto.
END NOTE
DESPITE YELTSIN ACTION, RUSSIA STILL HAS DEATH PENALTY
By Charles Fenyvesi
On June 3 President Boris Yeltsin signed a decree
commuting the sentence of the last remaining prisoner on
Russia's death row, the Russian government announced. In the
preceding months, Yeltsin had commuted 716 death sentences,
according to statistics gathered by Amnesty International.
"We applaud the step taken by President Yeltsin," Sam
Jordan of Amnesty International told RFE/RL. "But we are
concerned that the Russian judiciary and the Duma still have
not acted on a specific law to eliminate the death penalty.
We also think that Yeltsin triggered the growth of [the]
death penalty by his campaign to get tough on crime." Jordan,
AI's specialist in the death penalty issue, argues that
Yeltsin's action is insufficient. "The Russian parliament
must repeal the death penalty," Jordan says, "so when Yeltsin
steps down his successor will be bound by the law."
But experts agree that the current Duma is firmly
opposed to the abolition of the death penalty, which in turn
reflects popular opinion. In January this year the daily
"Izvestiya" reported a poll showing that 50 percent of
Russians favor keeping the death penalty in its current form
and 22 percent would like to see its use extended. The paper
adds that in 1994 only 37 percent favored the death penalty.
According to a poll of Moscow residents published on April 26
by Interfax, a stunningly low 2 percent of the people
interviewed thought that the abolition of the death penalty
was a good idea.
Reflecting these attitudes, Aleksandr Lebed, now
governor of Krasnoyarsk, recently called for the repeal of
the current moratorium on the death penalty. He argued that
abolishing capital punishment in the current crime wave would
be the equivalent of banning a vaccine during an epidemic.
In Jordan's opinion, the issue needs to be
depoliticized. "The crime problem requires a lot more serious
attention in Russia," he says.
"The death penalty cannot be abolished by presidential
decree alone," says Peter Roudik, a specialist in East
European law at the U.S. Library of Congress. "Such a major
change requires some kind of administrative action. Then
people might swallow it."
Yeltsin's use of executive privilege in commuting death
sentences is a temporary measure to deal with a glaring
instance of Russia's noncompliance with international
obligations. The problem dates back to February 1996 when
Russia joined the Council of Europe. Conditions of membership
included two key promises by Russia: to impose an immediate
moratorium on executions and to agree to the abolishment of
the death penalty by signing Protocol 6 of the European
Convention on Human Rights which was to be ratified within