Quotables of the Week

“A majority of our consultants said that there are no specific womens' diseases which could hinder women driving.”
—Lithuanian gender ombudswoman Ausra Burneikiene on January 7 (2002) calling for rules that women be examined gynecological to qualify for a drivers' licenses be dropped; men aren't required to provide urological tests. 


“The possibility of a real military conflict with Russia is very low. That is our evaluation. That is the evaluation of our Western partners. We hope it is the evaluation of Russia too.” —Povilas Malakauskas, a vice minister of defense in Lithuania, to The Chicago Times this week (Jan. 2002).


“Your responsibility is not just here in Latvia, but second is your responsibility towards your neighbors.”
—Latvian Prime Minsiter Andris Berzins in an interview with Reuters, advocating a simultaneous, pan-Baltic referendum on EU membership. He said such a referendum, which Estonia and Lithuania have not expressed support for so far, would help ensure a yes vote in all three countries. If polls were held separately, he argued that chances were greater of at least one of the three voting no—which he said would harm the whole Baltic region. 


“I'm not so young anymore where I have to try and do everything. I have two sons who try to do everything.”
—Estonian-American conductor Neeme Jarvi after conducting recently at the New York Philharmonic; it was one of his first concerts since he suffered an aneurysm and was rushed to the hospital four months ago (2001). His sons, Paavo and Kristjan, are also accomplished conductors.


“Entry for the former Soviet Baltic states (is) all but assured.”
—A Reuters news report claiming that Baltic membership in the NATO alliance, once doubtful, is now virtually certain. The report said the September 11 events have changed the international climate to such an extent that few countries, including Russia, are inclined to thwart Baltic membership. 

“I'm very glad it's given pleasure to everybody. It's what
I'm here for.”
—British Prince Charles joking last week about an incident in Latvia where a young girl slapped him across the face with a carnation. The event was widely reported in the British press, where many journalists covered it tongue-and-cheek. (See Weekly Crier reports below for details.)

 
“I am very, very glad I helped ruin his golden years....I don't know about any redeeming qualities. I just know what he was involved in during World War II, and that’s the issue here, not whether he was nice to his buddy, or he helped an old woman cross the street in Melbourne.”
—Nazi hunter Efraim Zuroff on the death during the week of alleged war criminal Konrads Kalejs in Australia. The Latvian-born man, who was 88, was charged by Latvia with taking part in the Holocaust, was seeking his extradition to stand trial. His case was brought to light by Zuroff.


“This would have been a great season for him to be here. You hate to see him leave without winning a championship, but he's the greatest European player that ever played the game, and we will definitely miss him.” 
—Portland Trail Blazer Scottie Pippen on recent teammate Lithuanian Arvydas Sabonis, 36, who has indicated he would probably retire from the NBA and possibly play for a local Lithuanian team. 


“Taleban speeding up EU reform?”
—An AFP headline in a report on some European Union candidate saying the anti-terror war has caused the EU to markedly speed up the enlargement process. 


“A second round of expansion to extend NATO into the Baltic states has moved from bitter controversy to broad consensus in an eye's blink. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can now bank on receiving invitations late next year to join NATO.”
—Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland writing on October 21 (2001) about how the September 11 attacks in the U.S. had suddenly made a whole series of foreign policy goals more achievable. Baltic NATO membership has been controversial because Russia has opposed it so strongly.


“I do not exclude that these recommendations will affect preparations for enlargement....”
—European Union Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen in Riga on October 12 suggesting that border security could be given more weight in decisions about whether to admit EU candidate nations. He said the importance of secure borders around the EU was driven home by the recent terrorist attacks in the U.S. 


“How often do I come here? I think about making the trip every time I need a haircut.” 
—Finnish teacher Lauri Aalto to The Baltimore Sun about why he frequently sails to Tallinn from nearby Helsinki, where prices of many services are still significantly higher. He said the price difference in the haircut alone covered the price of the ferry ticket.
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“His bluff personal style owes more to the boozy, back-slapping atmosphere of
Soviet bureaucracy than the salon manners of international diplomacy.”
—The Economist in an August (2001) commentary about new Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, a former president and ex-communist. The article described him as a good administrator. But it questioned whether, in part because of his lack of English, could effectively lobby Lithuania's way into the EU and NATO. 


“As far as Communist dissenters go, Carmen Kass has a better figure than Lech Walesa and has been on more Vogue cover than Vaclav Havel.”
—The New York Times in an August 19 (2001) article about Carmen Kass, the Estonian-born supermodel who was ten when she saw Soviet tanks rumbling into Tallinn during the Soviet coup ten years ago. 
terrorism

“She speaks beautiful French. When I first arrived, and she said 'Bienvenue' (welcome) for a minute I thought I was in Paris.”
—French President Jacques Chirac about Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who spent much of her adult life in French-speaking Quebec, Canada; Chirac visited the Baltic from  July26-28 (2001).  


“We’re the real Latvians, and they have forgotten that.”
—Juris Cibuls, of a pro-Latgalian group, criticizing Latvian authorities for ignoring Latgalian, an ancient dialect that many say is a primary source of the country’s modern day language; fewer and fewer Latvians speak it.


“The worst thing is to sink into admiration of oneself and then to
quietly degenerate. Sadly, as I watch developments in the Baltic states, that is just what I sense is happening in Estonia.”
—Estonian chairman of the pan-Baltic Hansapank Indrek Neivelt criticizing his countrymen. He also said Estonians had a tendency to
look down the economic progress of Latvia and Lithuania, when, he said, they were now performing at least as well as Estonia and, in some cases, far better.


“No. 5”
—Latvia's place in a recent Russian opinion poll rating Russia's top enemies. The poll by the Moscow-based ROMIR agency placed the United States first, followed by Afghanistan, Japan, Germany and then Latvia. Russia's best friends were seen as Belarus and China.

“From Alaska in the west to Tallinn in the east.”
—Czech President Vaclav Havel on his version of an inclusive NATO alliance, speaking at a conference in Bratislava in May (2001). Havel has been one of the most passionate advocates of NATO membership for the Baltic states. 


“It's like being engaged to the EU for a second decade. We need either a wedding or a funeral.”  
—Laszlo Csaba, an advisor to the European Commission in Hungary, on the increasing impatience of EU candidates about the drawn-out expansion process and about not having clear entry dates. Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty on June 8 (2001) also threw a wrench into enlargement plans and may lead to still further delays. 


“Sixty percent glass, 30 percent ferro-concrete—10 percent microphones.”
—A Soviet-era Latvian joke about the composition of Riga hotels built for Western tourists, reflecting the penchant of Soviet secret police to bug and meticulously monitor guests (cited in the newly released Bradt's Baltic Capitals guide.)


“What we're saying is that the only way there will ever be more money for the poor is by letting the businesspeople get rich.”
—Lithuanian businesswoman Rita Dapkus to the The Los Angeles Times recently, on the need to lower taxes and cut red tape, moves she said would prompt growth and better standards of living across the board.


“A go-for-the-jugular ... Jewish intellectual.”
—Estonia's sometimes brash, provocative Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves, who spent most of his adult life in the United States and Western Europe, describing himself in the May 10 (2001) edition of The Wall Street Journal.


“I joke about Eurovision, too.”
—Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar about the hugely popular European song contest that Estonia dramatically won on May 12 (2001). He said he didn't mind that the contest was sometimes the butt of jokes, saying the economic windfall of Estonia winning, in boosting the nation's name recognition, could be enormous. 


“The Baltic states are relatively free from Russian bullying, but if NATO decides to exclude them for fear of offending Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin will surely conclude that he has been granted license to restore suzerainty.”
—The Washington Post in an editorial on April 29 (2001) urging the United States to push NATO to invite Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia into the alliance. The newspaper said NATO expansion should be at the top of President George Bush's agenda during his upcoming trip to Europe. 


“It's in very bad shape.” 
—Greenpeace in a statement about the Baltic Sea as the environmentalist group began a tour in April (2001) to highlight pollution in the region; it said some Baltic Sea fish were so contaminated as to pose a health risk if eaten by humans. 


“Kaliningrad is like a gift from God. It is an instrument to have influence on
Russia.”
—An unidentified Lithuanian official to The Financial Times on Russia's growing interest in the fate of its Kaliningrad enclave, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, saying that interest gives Lithuania leverage with the Kremlin. Moscow wants to ensure the region isn't completely isolated from Russia proper once Lithuania and Poland join the European Union, and has been holding urgent talks with Vilnius on the issue.


“The Baltic Bear”
—The nickname for Lithuanian basketball player Darius Songaila, who now plays for the Wake Forest college team in the United States. He has been touted as a leading prospect for the 2002 NBA draft. 


“It's all the same old people wearing different masks.” 
—Julia Kulneva, a 29-year-old Riga-based newspaper editor, to the AFP news agency before March 10th (2001) local elections, complaining that many of the same politicians have been in power nationally since Latvia regained independence. 


“Italy is a country of the past. Here is where the future will be. Here is where the growth will take place, in this decade, and the next, and the one after that.”
—Ernesto Preatoni, an Italian and leading real estate developer in the Baltic states, arguing in a recent edition of EuroBusiness magazine that the economic future for the Baltics is bright.


“That would be outdated, pernicious, obscene.” 
—Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on January 26, about the prospect of the Baltic states ever being caught in the middle of a divided Europe, denied either European Union or NATO membership.


“We don't live in a situation where we have to listen to the radio every half hour to find out if some country or other has mounted an invasion into our territory… If we did see a military threat, Estonia wouldn't be bothering with the foundations of its security—we should, instead, all be digging trenches right now….”
—Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves speaking to parliament on January 25 (2001) in a discussion on the country's security concept. He suggested that Estonia currently felt relatively secure and saw no immediate military threat from any country. 


“This is a topic for the Hague tribunal...the Soviet army was carrying out aggression and an international crime.”
—Former Lithuanian leader Vytautas Landsbergis, speaking at a special session of parliament ten years to the day that Soviet troops killed independence protestors in Vilnius—calling on troops who took part in January, 1991 action to be charged and tried. 


“The powers that be must give a little more attention to this multi-million dollar industry.”
—Pan-Baltic restaurateur Raj Chaudhary, urging Baltic governments to pay more attention to the restaurant sector. He said red tape, including difficulties in securing visas for ethnic-food cooks, undermined the industry in the region. 


“All of this should give pause to West Europeans still living in the
decade-old, comfortably smug but misguided notion of Eastern Europeans as some kind of Cafavy-ian Barbarians at the gate. We may be poorer, but in those areas that currently rank as measures of advancement, Estonia has outpaced two thirds of the EU.”
—Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves in a recent speech at the
London School of Economics on how Estonia and other former communist
countries have caught up with and even surpassed many Western nations in terms of Internet and communications technology.


"I was successful cutting the red tape of the American bureaucracy, but now I recognize it is more difficult—maybe 10 times more difficult—here than it was back in the States."
—Valdas Adamkus in a recent interview with the Chicago Tribune, comparing his job as a regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency when he was a U.S. citizen living in Chicago for several decades with his job as Lithuanian president. But Adamkus also marveled at how far Lithuania's economy has come since 1991: "I must admit even myself, there are times when I have been driving through an area and I have said, "My God, look at this street. It is unrecognizable."


"Until Russia decides that it will pursue rapprochement with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania—as has been suggested by some wise minds among Russia's foreign policy elite—I can't see that there could be any major changes." 
—A pessimistic Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves to the Postimees daily on whether Russian-Baltic relations might be expected to improve any time soon. 


"In the process of disintegration of one dominant power and one ideology, thousands, if not millions, of people are waiting to be compensated for lost lives, health or property." 
—Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus in a speech to a United Nations gathering of world leaders in the first week of September. He pointed to membership in NATO and the European Union as just rewards for the years of subjugation by the Soviet Union and for the hard reforms implemented by ex-communist states. 


"This is a departure from Kafkaesque bureaucracy.'' 
—Linnar Viik, Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar's top IT advisor, to the AFP news agency on the government beginning to convert to an electronic based system of filing key memos and documents, including draft bills. Viik argued that the system, which will be fully implemented by next year, will save the government almost 200,000 dollars in office-supply costs and will help average citizens monitor government activities. 


"I have emphasized several times that the decisive factor of Estonia's development is whether we will be able to free ourselves from the Soviet burden....We are building up the defense forces of an independent, democratic Estonia, not a Soviet armored unit." 
—Estonian President Lennart Meri in a recent interview to Eesti Paevaleht, explaining why he favors promoting officers in the Estonian military who do not have a past in the Soviet army.


"Sometimes it seems that despite his young age, Putin is from the past—Mr. Past. He has a chance to show he can be Mr. Future."
—Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Vytautas Landsbergis in a recent CITY PAPER interview expressing doubts about the new Russian president, particularly about his background in the KGB. See the full text of the Landsbergis interview, here. 


"Russian-Baltic relations remind me of a tennis game, where Russia always serves, and the Baltic states scamper around the court trying to return the ball, sometimes successfully, sometimes not."
—The Economist Moscow correspondent, Edward Lucas, writing recently in the Postimees newspaper about how the Baltics have tended to react inadequately to Russian diplomatic attacks against them. Lucas said the Baltics should be more pro-active, particularly in calling attention to what he said was Russia's shameful defense of Stalin and Stalinist-era crimes. 


"e-stonia"
—What some Estonian Internet enthusiasts say their country should be known as. Others have suggested officially changing the country's name to "estonia.com"


"Let us not get bogged down in trivialities and petty rivalries; let us not scatter our strength in childish competition and infantile one-upmanship. We are not children competing in sibling rivalry as to who will be Daddy's girl or Mama's boy among EU or NATO candidate states."
—Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga in a recent speech in Tallinn on Baltic moves to integrate with Western Europe, and on rivalries that sometimes arise among the three Baltic states.


"Especially in small nations, we don't have the option of living in the past like some old French aristocrats."
—Estonian President Lennart Meri denying that by prosecuting ex-KGB agents for Stalinist crimes,  Estonia was dwelling on the past; he said the objective was mainly to confront and understand the Soviet era. Added Meri: "It's our duty to live for the future. And this can only be achieved without hating the past, and without seeking revenge." 

 
“They could attach rotors to Lenin's head and feet, and he'd generate a Chernobyl's-worth of power for the new Russia as he's spinning in his grave.”
 —Bruce Sterling of Wired online magazine on the extent of the transformation of the Soviet Union and what the Soviet founder might have made of it.  

“It’s a pity that today, in 1999, some countries still officially maintain that three European nations, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, voluntarily and on the same day all opted to terminate their independence to join that antithesis of European values, the USSR.”
—Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas H. Ilves. The Baltic states were occupied and forcibly annexed in 1940; Russia still maintains the Baltics freely joined the Soviet Union. Balts say Moscow’s failure to acknowledge the forcible Baltic takeover is a main impediment to improving bilateral relations.

"There is no need to never say never." 
—Russian Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, speaking to Estonia's Eesti Paevaleht daily, about whether Russia and Estonia could ever join in some form of political-economic union.
 

“Basically I’m a horrible optimist. I even believe Russia will emerge as a democratic state.”
—Estonian President Lennart Meri in a recent interview.

“I looked around and it struck me: Am I coming home? Or am I coming here as a guest?”
—Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus upon arrival at the NATO summit in Washington D.C. Adamkus lived in the U.S. for five decades, before returning to his Lithuanian homeland and becoming president in 1998. He renounced his U.S. citizenship the same year.

"Alternative rock and roll."
—Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves in a recent CITY PAPER interview on at least one thing that he misses about his life in the United States. Ilves spent most of his young adulthood in the United States; he returned to live in Estonia after it regained independence and renounced his U.S. citizenship. 

"Economic growth comes pretty cheap in the immediate aftermath of market reforms."
—Hans Jeppson, of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, to the Financial Times about how post-Soviet growth in the Baltics has largely been a consequence of low-cost labor. He said a second phase of growth would require more economic sophistication, including higher tech industrial production. 

“If a Frenchman loves to sip wine with his friends and a German enjoys his beer, then an Estonian likes to sit behind his computer on a dark evening, surfing the Net and at the same time talking on his mobile phone.”
—Estonian communications executive, Toomas Sõmera, to the Postimees daily on how he explains the explosion of Internet and mobile phone use in Estonia to dumbfounded foreign investors.

The Weekly Crier
News highlights from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Updated every Monday.

   
News Highlights from January 7-January 14, 2002
Two Estonian parties from opposite ends of the political spectrum began talks January 14 on forming a new government to replace one that recently unraveled because of coalition infighting. Spokesmen for the center-right Reform Party and center-left Center Party said they were confident they could hammer out a coalition deal by next week and assume power shortly thereafter. "There's a strong expectation these talks will succeed," Reform spokeswoman Triinu Rajasalu said following several hours of cross-party talks in Tallinn.
        Both would-be government parties back Estonia's bids to join the European Union and NATO, though some Center Party leaders have complained that too much time has been spent on European integration and not enough on domestic problems.
       The parties are seen as strange bedfellows, with pro-business Reform advocating low taxes and strictly balanced budgets and the populist Center Party backing more state funds for the poor and higher taxes on wealthier Estonians. But a breakdown in relations between center-right parties have left virtually no other political alternatives, and the alliance between Reform and the Center Party has been widely anticipated since outgoing Prime Minister Mart Laar resigned the week before.
       If they succeed in forming a government, Reform and the Center Party—with their sharp differences over economics—would likely serve more as caretakers than policy-makers in the lead up to 2003 parliamentary elections. Combined, they have just 46 seats in the 101-seat Riigikogu but should be able to win legislative approval with support from several small parties and independent deputies. But their slim hold on power would make passing any even slightly controversial legislation very difficult. 
       Siim Kallas, Reform Party head and outgoing Finance Minister, is seen as the most likely leader of a Reform-Center Party government. President Arnold Ruutel is expected to nominate a new premier by January 22. The 53-year-old Kallas—known as the father of the kroon, Estonia's currency, for overseeing its introduction as Central Bank head in 1992—is seen as a strong fiscal conservative. He was charged in the mid-90s with misappropriating 10 million dollars as bank president. While courts acquitted him, some, including the Center Party, said during the last election that the affair raised questions about his fitness to govern. 
      Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar resigned as Interior Minister in 1995 amid charges he secretly tape recorded rivals in a scandal dubbed the Estonian Watergate; many Estonians have said they'd find his return to power disturbing. Savisaar's been dogged by other allegations of corruption as well.
       In resigning, outgoing Prime Minister Laar blamed Reform, saying it betrayed his center-right government—made up of Pro Patria, the Moderates and Reform—by joining the Center Party to form a new Tallinn city government. Laar was Estonia's longest-serving prime minister and was responsible for implementing a series of successful post-Soviet reforms; he led the government from 1992-94 and again from 1999. 

The United States urged Estonia on January 9 to salvage an agreement to sell its state energy plants to Minnesota-based NRG Energy—a deeply unpopular deal annulled the day before. In canceling what was projected to be the largest privatization in the country's history, Estonia cited NRG's failure to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to secure a multi-million-dollar loan to refurbish the aging, Soviet-built plants.
       A statement released by the U.S. embassy in Tallinn expressed "disappointment" that the deal, signed in 2000 after five years of tense talks, had fallen through. "We believe the NRG's investment is a great opportunity for Estonia's economy and we continue to support NRG's efforts to find a mutually beneficial way forward for this proposal," the short statement read. 
       The embassy argued earlier that the deal, valued at over 300 million dollars, would enhance the security of Estonia—still weary of neighboring Russia—by enmeshing it more closely with the United States. But government spokesman Priit Poiklik said there was little to no chance that talks would ever resume with NRG, the world's fifth largest independent-energy producer. He added that the U.S. economic downturn complicated NRG's financing efforts. 
       NRG representatives in Tallinn were unavailable for comment, though financial observers agreed that economic troubles, especially for big U.S. energy producers, had complicated NRG's efforts at financing the Estonian and other purchases. Based in Minneapolis and majority owned by Xcel Energy, NRG was to buy 49 percent of two plants producing over 90 percent of Estonia's electricity; it was to pay some 70 million dollars and invest some 300 million more. 
       Critics consistently blasted the deal, saying it promised unfairly high profits to NRG and would lead to sharply higher electricity prices. Others said both NRG and supportive American officials applied undue pressure on Estonia. "This deal going wrong showed how complicated large-scale privatization are," said analyst Toomas Reisenbuk, of Estonia's Trigon Capital. "But it also showed U.S. companies are much more aggressive than others in their approach." 
       Reisenbuk said that outgoing Prime Minister Mart Laar, who had backed the deal in the face of extreme political pressure at home, was offended by reported remarks from top NRG officials in the United States last month that scuttling the deal could hamper Estonia's bid to join the EU; the annulment of the NRG deal was one of his last acts as prime minister. "For Laar, (the NRG officials' statements) appeared to be the last straw," he said. 
       Estonia has privatized virtually all state firms—mostly to Nordic investors—since the 1991 Soviet collapse. 
      Poiklik said it'd be up to any successor to Laar to decide what to do next. But Reisenbuk said Estonian leaders would now almost certainly choose to leave the power plants in state hands. He said Estonia has near-zero government debt and so itself could secure loans to modernize the oil-shale generated stations. "This agreement's been such a hot potato," he said. "No politician in his right mind is going to try to restart this process." 

Also see the new feature article: Defector's Daughter —about a Latvian woman torn from her homeland during the Cold War as her double-agent father defected to the United States. 

News Highlights from December 31, 2001-January 7, 2002 
Special Report: Estonian Leader Set to Leave Office—Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar bounces off a squash-court wall, doubles back, leaps at a tiny black ball, then slaps it into a corner to win a point—punching his fist through the air in triumph. But the youthful, fiercely competitive Laar—who at just 41 has been Estonia's longest serving premier—has recently had considerably less success in the corridors of power in Tallinn. 
       He abruptly announced his resignation before Christmas, saying friction in his center-right coalition made governing impossible. His resignation was slated to take effect January 8, though he remains a caretaker until a new government is formed. The center-right Reform and left-wing Center Party are thought to have the best chance of stitching together a new coalition over the next few weeks. 
        Since he first became prime minister—at just 32—in 1992, Laar's been a poster boy for proponents of unfettered capitalism, with policies to slash subsidies and taxes, and his devotion to balanced budgets. In an interview days before he was slated to step down, Laar insisted he'd achieved his main goals since taking office in 1999; he was also premier from 1992-94, when most key post-Soviet reforms were drawn up. "In my first term, the goal was to turn Estonia from the East to the West," he said, leaning into an office chair and smiling. "This time, it was to make that turn irreversible. We've done that." He said Estonia was now on the verge of entering the European Union and NATO—added that he'd stick to a pledge he made last year to shave his trademark blond beard if Estonia received a NATO invitation.
        His playful spontaneity, which included attendance at rock concerts and invitations to journalists to play squash, has been a hallmark of Laar's rule. It's also sometimes landed him in hot water. Last year, he was accused of shooting at a picture of leftist opposition leader Edgar Savisaar for target practice. He apologized, but refused calls for him to resign.
        Observers abroad are quick to credit Laar with solidifying Estonia's image as one of the most progressive, Western-oriented ex-communist states. But there's less adoration for him at home. Critics say the one-time school teacher and Soviet-era dissident is too brash, too arrogant and too dismissive of those, especially the elderly, who haven't benefited from the fast-paced growth his reforms prompted.
        He appears sure about his legacy, however, saying that whoever proceeds him will maintain the pro-market policies he introduced. One guarantee of that, he said, was the conservative state budget for 2002, approved by parliament literally hours before he announced he'd resign. "It's my budget," said Laar before donning a pair of shorts and stepping onto the squash court. "Altering it over the next year will be very, very difficult."
       Laar said he would enter parliament after leaving office, and begin to prepare for national elections slated for 2003.
 
The January 4th edition of The Wall Street Journal Europe criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's stated policy of protecting the rights of Russians in the Baltic countries, comparing it with Hitler's policies, the Baltic News Service reported. 
        The American newspaper pointed to Putin's appearance in a live phone-in television show on Christmas Eve was "a trial balloon which had for time been in preparation". In the December 24 TV show, broadcast on all of Russia's state television and radio channels, Putin urged Russians and "Russian speakers" in the Baltic states to demand official status for the Russian language and numerical quotas of representation in government bodies. "The staging was elaborate enough to reveal advance planning," The Wall Street Journal editorial said. 
       The TV presenter, introducing a Russian viewer from Latvia's capital, helped relay this phoned-in question to Putin: "Is Russia ready, not in words but in deeds, to defend the rights and interests of Russians in the Baltic republics, Central Asia and other regions of the former Soviet Union?" BNS said that a ready-on-cue president replied at length, announcing "a much more vigorous stance on protecting the interests of the Russian-speaking population, primarily in the CIS countries of course." Putin spoke of waging a "fight for official status for the Russian language ... I want to assure you that we will intensify our efforts in this area. There is no doubt about that." 
       "Can you imagine the chancellor of Germany appearing on television to urge Alsatians or German-speakers in Italy to demand more "rights," promising support? Inconceivable in today's Europe, you'd say. Hitler patented this sort of intrusion, and Slobodan Milosevic tried his hand at it," The Wall Street Journal wrote. 
       "Historically, politically, legally, socially, demographically and in every other way, the situation could not be more different in Macedonia than in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These are successful modern democracies, thanks to which local Russians are also palpably better off than those in Russia itself," the editorial went on. 
       The newspaper said that the Kremlin apparently calculated that the appearance of local ethnic strife could dissuade NATO leaders from admitting the Baltic states as members. Some in the alliance have feared that to admit the Baltic states would be to "import" ethnic tension with the local Russians and risk more trouble with Russia. But, said The Wall Street Journal, "at present, Moscow can ill-afford to come out openly against NATO's growing consensus to issue membership invitations to the Baltic states this year. An overt, obdurate resistance could ruin Russia's quest for a still higher stake that of a decision-making role within the alliance. Mr. Putin's televised remarks suggest that Russian policy between now and the Prague summit may follow two parallel tracks." 
       The newspaper recalled that at its year-end meetings last month, the OSCE decided that Estonia and Latvia were in full compliance with the organization's standards and recommendations, and on that basis resolved to close the OSCE's monitoring missions in the two countries. Lithuania, which has far fewer Russian residents, had received its good marks earlier. "Russia now threatens to carry its campaign to other international organizations, in which it can only count as was the case in the OSCE on the support of its dictatorial satellite Belarus. By now, the European Union and NATO also take the view that the Balts have done everything that could reasonably be asked of them for societal integration and constructive relations with Russia. In the run up to NATO's Prague summit, however, Moscow will try hard to prove the opposite," The Wall Street Journal wrote.

Russia opened a new port to handle oil exports at the end of December, facilities which Russian President Vladimir Putin said will help reduce his country's dependence on ports in the Baltics; the port at Primorsk, near St. Petersburg, is at the end of a pipeline that carries oil from far-flung oil fields in southern Russia. 
       Russia is the second biggest producer of oil in the world, and a high percentage of its oil exports go through the Baltic states _ providing a boost to their economies, especially Latvia's. Some Russian analysts say diverting significant amounts of Russian oil from the Baltics could badly damage Baltic economies, though observers outside Russia say the affect won't be as drastic. 
       Construction on the Primorsk port began two years ago and is still only partially operational. 
       While some port officials in the Baltics have expressed fears, other observers have been more optimistic, saying Russian trends towards increasing oil production meant there should be enough transit oil to go around in coming years. "The opening of Russian ports won't have devastating affect," according to Maris Lauri, an analyst at Hansa Markets, a leading pan-Baltic investment firm. She added that even in a worst case scenario, which she said would be a 20 percent fall in the amount of Russian oil going through Estonian ports, Estonia's economic growth would only drop by 1 percent at most. 
       She said that while the lucrative transit business generated high turnovers, relatively few jobs were tied to the sector, so any impact on employment, at least in Estonia, would be minimal. Lauri said Russian oil exporters also have come to rely on the modernized Baltic ports and that Russian ports won't be able to take their business for granted. "Bureaucracy is worse in Russia than here," she said. "Russian businessmen aren't looking for only the cheapest routes, but they also want to ensure there aren't delays, that their ships aren't standing around for weeks."
       Others have been more circumspect, saying they still don't know how to assess the consequences of the Primorsk port opening but that they were watching anxiously. The port of Ventspils in Latvia, the region's largest port by far, has said that it could see business fall by as much as 50 percent thanks to competition from Russia.

News Highlights from December 10-December 17, 2001 
Baltic parliamentarians on December 8 called for their countries to hold referendums on joining the European Union on the same day—which would be the first simultaneous EU polls of their kind.
       Legislators from the three countries adopted a non-binding resolution calling for the same-day vote during a meeting of a joint parliamentary organization, the Baltic Assembly, in Tallinn; the Assembly is mainly a symbolic body bringing together lawmakers from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Each Baltic government and parliament would still have to approve any such proposal. 
       Estonia's government appears the least enthusiastic about the idea, with Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves telling journalists over the weekend that he didn't see the point of such a common poll. But Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins has already thrown his support behind the idea, saying earlier this month that a pan-Baltic EU referendum would display Baltic unity; Berzins also argued that a joint poll would also help ensure a yes vote in all three nations. 
       Support for EU membership has hovered around 50 percent, with large blocs of undecideds—so any referendum on joining the EU stands a good chances of passing in all three countries. But Berzins says if the three Baltics vote separately, a negative result in one could lead the other two Baltics to follow suit and also vote no. 
       Neither the Estonian nor Lithuanian governments have come out publicly supporting the idea of a joint referendum—though they haven't formally opposed it, either. Latvia, which has always been the strongest proponent of close Baltic cooperation, appears the most enthusiastic about the proposal. Estonia, which has tried to cozy up closer to the Nordic nations in recent years, is likely to be less gung-ho. 

Former prime minister and leftist leader Edgar Savisaar was elected the new Tallinn mayor on December 13; his rise to the influential position has altered the political landscape in Estonia and could lead to the dissolution of the national government within a matter of several weeks. 
       Savisaar, seen by many as the Richard Nixon of Estonian politics for an apparent penchant for dirty tricks, stormed back to power after forming an unlikely coalition in the Tallinn city council with the center-right Reform Party, one of the parties making up the three-party national government. 
       The move by the Reform Party to join Savisaar's Center Party angered the other two parties in the national government; Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar told the December 17 edition of the Paevaleht daily that the ruling coalition was facing a "serious crisis," though he wouldn't say whether a government collapse was inevitable. Many analysts say that, with the Reform-Center alliance on the city level, the government's position is now untenable and that it will now fall apart, possibly sometime after Christmas. 
       During campaigning for parliamentary elections three years ago, Savisaar was widely castigated by all the current ruling parties, including Reform, as an untrustworthy figure with a questionable grasp of democratic norms. The dour-looking, heavy-set Savisaar became the bogeyman of the campaign with center-right parties warning of dire consequences should be take over the reins of power. Critics pointed to Savisaar's ads featuring his eyes blown up to billboard size and his slogan, "The Center Party knows the solutions." Toomas Ilves of the Moderates, now foreign minister, said at the time that a 1995 scandal in which Savisaar was forced to resign as interior minister for secretly tape recording rival politicians illustrated his undemocratic tendencies. "He's the real threat to Estonian democracy," Ilves said then. "The Orwellian eyes, the claim to the truth, the taping scandal: Savisaar just doesn't get the notion of liberal democracy." 

The investigation of alleged Nazi Konrads Kalejs will formally continue even though he died last month in Australia, prosecutors told the Russian-language Chas daily on December 13. Latvian prosecutors charged Kalejs with genocide for allegedly taking part in the murder of Jews during the 1941-44 Nazi occupation of Latvia. But he died recently in Australia before he could be extradited to face trial. He was 88.
       Prosecutor Eriks Zvejnieks was quoted as telling the Riga-based newspaper that there was no legal mechanism for closing cases against alleged war criminals even though there was no chance of there ever being a trial; posthumous trials are not permitted under Latvian law. 

Six people died on December 14 and at least four others were injured in an explosion at a match factory in Riga, one of the worst incidents of its kind in Latvia in recent years. Police have opened an investigation, though they have not yet speculated about possible causes. 
       The blast occurred around 12:30 local time at a packaging division of the sprawling Kometa plant; the AFP news agency said that two of those injured were in serious condition and taken to a burn trauma center. Fire fighters brought a subsequent blaze under control within 20 minutes, preventing the rest of the complex from being damaged. 
       Kometa is partly German-owned and is the largest maker of matches in the Baltic states. In addition to matches, Kometa also produces a variety of cork, paper and pulp products, according to BNS; it said the company exports 90 percent of its production to 15 countries. 

Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar has vowed to shave off his trademark blond beard if Estonia receives an invitation to join NATO—long one of the nation's top foreign policy priorities.
       The blond-haired Laar, who has sported a stubby beard for most of his 10-year political career, was quoted as telling Thursday's Eesti Ekspress newspaper that shaving would be his form of celebration. "I'll do it," the 41-year-old, who was also prime minister right after Estonia regained independence, was quoted as saying. "But I'm afraid it will grow back—because I'm a lazy prime minister." 
       Priit Poiklik, spokesman for the government, confirmed the prime minister had made the shaving pledge but said he couldn't provide details, including whether Laar might wield his razor in public. 
       Laar's pledge echoes a promise made in the early 1990s by then-Estonian President Lennart Meri that he would not drink Champaign until all Russian troops had withdrawn from the country; they finally did leave in 1994. 
       The Baltic states are hoping that NATO will formally invite them to join when the U.S.-led alliance holds its summit next year in Prague, the Czech capital. Moscow objects to Baltic membership, saying their entry would be seen as a threat to Russia. NATO says the Baltics are good candidates, though it's stopped short of promising that they will receive invitations in 2002.

Also see daily news, here.

New Highlights from December 3-December 10, 2001
The political landscape in Estonia was shaken after one ruling party in the national government, the Reform Party, joined forces with the main opposition Center Party to form a new Tallinn city government. While there are no signs of its imminent collapse, leaders have warned that the national coalition government could come under serious strain as a consequence. 
       The center-right Reform Party and the center-left Center Party agreed to form a new Tallinn city government on December 6, a day after Reform withdrew its support from the local administration. It cited disputes over spending, with the Reform Party advocating tough budgetary restraints and opposing moves by the city to secure large construction loans. 
       The new two-party city coalition could make Center Party leader Edgar Savisaar the new Tallinn mayor. The irascible, heavy-set Savisaar, who once stepped down as Interior Minister after accusations he secretly tape recorded his political rivals, has been widely reviled by most center and center-right parties. 
       Savisaar’s alliance with the Reform Party has angered the other two parties that make up the national government, Pro Patria and the Moderates—with some leaders in those two groups hinting that Reform’s move could cause the national coalition government to disintegrate. Many voters who backed the Reform Party in the last parliamentary election are also likely to be outraged.
       The Eesti Paevaleht newspapers quoted some Pro Patria and Moderate party officials as saying that the Reform Party would have to leave the national coalition if it follows through with its agreement to set up a Tallinn city government with the Center Party. 
       Without the Reform Party, however, the national government would lose its already slim majority in the Riigikogu parliament. 
        The Reform Party was one of three core parties in the outgoing city government, which also included Pro Patria and the Moderates; it also relied on the support of several small, Russian-dominated parties. 
       Commentators say that the various parties are begin to position themselves for the 2003 parliamentary elections, with many of the ruling government parties now fairing badly in opinion polls.
      
Former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, considered one of the architects of Washington's pro-NATO expansion policy, was awarded one of Lithuania's highest state medals on December 6 for making the country's membership in the NATO alliance possible, officials in Vilnius said. 
       Critics in Washington had said their membership would spoil U.S.-Russian relations. But Talbott, an adviser to then-President Bill Clinton, was seen as a strong Baltic advocate. President Valdas Adamkus presented Talbott with the Order of Grand Duke Gediminas, handing him the silver medallion at an awards ceremony in Vilnius, the capital. "I thank you on behalf of the entire nation," Adamkus said.
      Baltic officials say they're optimistic about receiving invitations to join the alliance during next year's NATO summit in Prague, the Czech capital. Talbott said he shared those high hopes. "I am very optimistic about next year," he said. 
 
Police said on December 5 that they have charged two ex-Soviet officials with crimes against humanity for hunting down and executing men who had withdrawn to Estonia's forests in the 1950s to resist Soviet rule. The indictment says Vladimir Penart, 75, was involved in killing three men; 76-old-old Rudolf Tuvi helped kill one of those three, according to national security police spokesman Henno Kuurmann. They face maximum 15-year jail terms. 
       The murders allegedly occurred when Penart and Tuvi worked for the Soviet Interior Ministry in 1953 and 1954, a decade after the Red Army occupied Estonia. Kuurmann declined to provide further details before any trial. Murder normally carries a 20-year statute of limitations in this Baltic Sea coast nation. But there's no time limit on crimes against humanity. 
       During Soviet rule, thousands of people fled to Estonia's thick forests to escape arrest or to take up arms. Tens of thousands of perceived enemies of the new communist regime were deported to Siberia, where many died. After regaining independence following the 1991 Soviet collapse, Estonia and the other two Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania, vowed to prosecute those who took part in such atrocities. They've held over a dozen trials so far. No other former subject states of Moscow have conducted similar criminal proceedings. 
       Estonia has convicted five former Soviet officials, most of whom received suspended sentences. Only 76-year-old Karl-Leonhard Paulov went to prison; he has served nearly one year of his eight-year term. Estonian authorities say they are securing long-delayed justice for some of the worst abuses of the 20th century. But Moscow has sharply criticized the prosecutions, calling them revenge. 
       (For an account of those who withdrew to the forests during Soviet rule, see Forgotten War.)

CITY PAPER magazine held a 10th anniversary gala party on December 10, attended by dignitaries from around the Baltic states, including regional ambassadors, parliamentarians and former Estonian President Lennart Meri.
       The event, held at the Gloria Restaurant in Tallinn, was attended by some 200 people and featured music by the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra and Modern Fox.
       Edward Lucas, The Economist's Moscow correspondent, was a keynote speaker. President Meri and CITY PAPER's founders, Eve and Michael Tarm, also spoke. 
      The English-language CITY PAPER, one the oldest and largest foreign language publications in the Baltic states, first edition rolled off the presses on July 29, 1991. It was one of the first privately owned publications at the time. 
       CITY PAPER's print run has grown from several thousand to over 25,000, and its total readership is estimated at around 80,000. The magazine is distributed in all three Baltic states, in Finland, and elsewhere in Europe and the United States. 
       CITY PAPER also produces this website, the Baltics Worldwide, which is one of the most heavily visited English-language websites about the Baltic states. 
       (For further information, see a recent interview with the CITY PAPER publisher here; there's additional information about CITY PAPER here.)

Also see daily news, here.

News Highlights from November 24-December 3, 2001 
Analysis—As recently as a year or two ago, the three Baltic countries were still seen as long shots for NATO membership, mainly because of vehement Russian opposition to their entry. But there is growing optimism that the Baltic states now have excellent chances of entering the alliance—and much sooner rather than later; officials here say they're confident they'll be invited to join during next year's NATO summit in Prague. "The signals are strong. We're optimistic that the year 2002 will be the year of Baltic accession," said Lithuanian Foreign Ministry spokesman Petras Zapolskas.
       Many hardened NATO-watchers appear to agree. Nicholas Redman, a defense analyst in England for the Oxford Analytica, said he was more bullish about Baltic prospects than he was speaking to CITY PAPER a month earlier (see CITY PAPER November/December, 2001). "While the outlook could change, I think it's more likely than not that all three Baltics will get invitations in 2002," he said.
       After meeting with Estonian leaders in Tallinn on November 29, NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson was encouraging but stopped well short of any promises vis-a-vis invitations. He said the Baltic states needed to "stay focused" and that final assessments about whether countries are ready militarily won't be made until next year. "It's always good to be optimistic," said Robertson, though he quickly added a note of caution. "There are no rumors that have foundation and no indications that have substance....There will be no decision until the summit itself." He said 2001 would be "a critical year" in deciding which countries would be asked to join.
       Baltic leaders have said been heartened by a 372-46 vote in the U.S. House of Congress in November to grant 55 million dollars in security assistance to NATO candidates, including the Baltic states. "You don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that you don't give money to countries that you don't want in NATO," Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves told journalists after the House vote. 
       Fears here following the Sept. 11 attacks that closer NATO-Russian cooperation to fight terrorism could give Moscow an effective veto over Baltic membership have also allayed. Calls for greater international cooperation to fight terrorism, instead, appear to have bolstered the Baltic membership cause. 
       So has an apparent softening of the Kremlin's position.
Redman said there was still strong opposition to Baltic NATO membership in Russia's parliament, the military and among average Russians who would see Baltic entry as a security threat. But he pointed to recent comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin in the United States suggesting a change in the approach of Russia's leadership. Putin told NPR Radio that, regarding Baltic membership, he "cannot forbid people from making certain choices if they want to increase the security of their nations in a certain way." 
       "While seemingly innocuous, these remarks flatly contradict Russian policy with regard to Baltic membership of NATO as it was throughout the 1990s," said Redman. "This doesn't mean Putin agrees with (Baltic membership). It's simply that he's a pragmatist and recognizes the U.S. is determined on this and there's no point in deluding himself or the Russian public that Baltic membership can be prevented."
       Robertson, who was in Moscow the week before he came to Estonia, said he detected a similar change in attitude. "Russia is still unenthusiastic about NATO enlargement. But I think President Putin recognizes that NATO will not be stopped from the enlargement process," he said. "Russia is interested in a more practical relationship with NATO rather than being fixated with something they can't have influence over."
       Robertson said the airborne attacks on the United States highlighted the importance of ensuring NATO remained an effective, credible military alliance. "The standards for membership have not become tougher, but these events have underlined their importance," he said at a Tallinn news conference, flanked by Estonia's foreign and defense ministers. 
       In the membership process, the NATO chief also emphasized the need for the public at large to back alliance membership. "NATO does not welcome governments or countries as members--but people who want to become members," he said, adding that entry brought benefits but also burdens and responsibilities. "I've been assured that public opinion here won't be treated complacently." 
       Some analysts have expressed concern that pro-NATO sentiment, consistently expressed by over 50 percent of the populations in all three Baltic states, could start to slip. They say that, paradoxically, the more Russia appears to soften its opposition to NATO, the less some people here feel NATO membership is necessary.

A sprawling monument to 30,000 Jews killed in 1941 was unveiled on what was a Nazi killing field on the outskirts of Riga. The 250,000-dollar monument was paid for by a German charity and dedicated by Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga on November 30. 
       The dramatic monument, in a forested area known as Bikernieki, consists of hundreds of stones scattered across a small field; each stone is meant to represent those killed as they were forced to lay down in a pit and then shot in the back of the head. 
       Speaking at the ceremony, the Latvian president, now in her mid 60s, said at the ceremony that she recalled as a small girl smoke drifting passed her family home not far from Riga; she said she was told later that the smoke was from the bodies of Nazi victims being burned. 
       "The land on which we stand is soaked in blood," she said at the dedication Friday. "We will do our utmost to ensure those who died here are not forgotten and to ensure this will never happen on our soil again." 
       Bikernieki was earlier marked only with a concrete slab with hammer-and-sickles across it. Communist authorities had described the victims as "Soviet" not as "Jews."
        Many Jews killed at Bikernieki were brought to Latvia from Germany, Austria and what was then Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The killings took place in 1941 and in 1942.

News Highlights from November 19-November 26, 2001
Estonian investigators said on November 26 that they haven't determined why a Russian-made AN-28 commercial airplane crashed without warning into a forested island marsh with 17 people on board, killing one and severely injuring several others. The November 23rd mishap, the first major aviation accident in Estonia in decades, occurred just a few kilometers short of its assigned runway on Hiiumaa island.
       The head of the accident investigation team, Tonu Ader, said media reports that ice on its wings or a sudden gust of wind may have caused the plane to suddenly lose altitude were premature. 
       "It's too early to say anything about causes," he said Monday. "Anything at this point is pure speculation. The investigation will take at least two months." 
       Eight survivors remain hospitalized, including a pilot and 10-year-old boy in comas. The one fatality was a passenger, a 49-year-old man who lived in Hiiumaa, which is located 130 kilometers southwest of Tallinn, Estonia's capital. 
       Photos of the accident scene showed the fuselage badly crumpled and twisted, with the wings snapped off and at least one gapping hole by the cockpit. 
       A co-pilot who survived with minor injuries was quoted as describing the crash landing with only one death as a "miracle," the Baltic News Service reported. 
       The plane was carrying 14 passengers and three crew on a regularly scheduled route from Tallinn and appeared to be landing normally in a light snow at around 6:30 p.m. after its 30-minute flight, survivors said. 
       Passenger John Pass, a 38-year-old Canadian businessman, said he could see the pilots from his seat, when they suddenly started flipping control switches frantically. Within seconds, the plane drifted sideways, then plowed into the ground. 
       "I've flown on this plane many times and the approach to the airport could always be shaky" he said. "But it was only when I saw the pilots doing this that I realized something wasn't right and put my head down. There'd been no warning over the intercom from the captain." 
       As it began to bread up, water poured into the plane. It was only as it came to a halt that Pass realized they'd hit land. 
       "My first thought was, 'My God, we're crashing into the sea,'" he recalled in a telephone interview from a house he owns on Hiiumaa. "I couldn't image what I would have done if we had gone into the sea."
       Several children seated in the front, the most heavily damaged section of the airplane, were screaming and crying as the plane slid to a stop, said Pass.
       He said he helped carry one small boy, whose foot appeared to be partly severed, out of the damaged craft and laid him briefly on a wing before carrying him farther away. He helped several others out as well.
       He said passengers were covered in what appeared to be airplane fuel and were rushing to get of the wreck because they thought it might ignite.
       Once he climbed off the wreckage, he said there were so many trees and the marsh waters were so deep that it was hard to walk through the dark to a nearby road. 
       He speculated the conditions may have prevented the plane from exploding. 
       "The trees weren't that large, so they seem to have broken the fall of the plane. And the water pouring in almost immediately may have kept it from catching fire," he said. "If it wasn't for those trees and the water, I think we would have all been dead." 
       Pass, a Canadian of Estonian decent who grew up in Sydney, Nova Scotia, said he went to the hospital to treat what appeared to be a pulled muscle but that he was otherwise unhurt.
       Most of the passengers were Estonian. There was one other passenger in addition to Pass who carried a foreign passport. Raudjalg said she was a Norwegian and that she wasn't badly hurt; BNS gave her name as Anna Helena Gjelstad. 
       Many of the some 10,000 islanders on Hiiumaa are farmers, while many also work in the fishing industry. The picturesque, heavily forested island is also a favorite retreat for Estonians living in cities on the mainland. 
       The small Enimex company that only the ill-fated plane was the only airline servicing the island. Ferries are the only other way residents and visitors travel to and from Hiiumaa. 

A 16-year-old girl who could go to jail for 15 years for hitting Prince Charles across the face with a carnation sent the heir to the British throne a note apologizing for her actions. Several days later, however, she was quoted as saying she didn't regret what she had done. 
       Alina Lebedeva gained instant notoriety at home and abroad after she struck Charles in the face with a red carnation on Nov. 8 as he stopped to greet children on a street in Riga. She said later she was protesting Britain's involvement in the Afghan war, and that she sympathized with fringe, far-left groups. 
       "I didn't want to offend you personally and I ask for your forgiveness and hope you understand," Lebedeva wrote in a letter published in the Russian-language Chas daily on November 21. 
       But just a few days later she was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying, "I'm not sorry." She added to the Chas Russian-language daily that she thought the flower attack was comparatively mild. "In other countries, they throw pies or rotten tomatoes. I thought a flower showed more human consideration," she said.
       The prince at the time was on a five-day tour of the three Baltic states to mark British recognition of their independence from Moscow 10 years ago. 
       Charles wasn't hurt and a spokesman for the prince called the affair "a trivial incident." But police arrested Lebedeva and charged her with threatening the life of a foreign dignitary, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. 
       Lebedeva spent three days in police custody before being released to her parents, who have appealed to authorities for leniency.
       Lebedeva attends a high school in the city of Daugavpils, southeast of the capital and near the Russian border, and teachers have described her as "strong-willed." 
       Her case was turned over to prosecutors and a decision on whether to push forward with her prosecution is expected within several weeks.
       Some observers in Latvia and in Britain have questioned the wisdom of prosecuting her, saying a trial and sentence could be out of proportion to the crime. Critics also say the legal proceedings are giving her and pro-communist causes added status and publicity. 

Officials in Latvia have given new meaning to "graveyard shift" by establishing a cemetery police force meant to prevent thieves from stealing, then reselling graveside flowers.
       The unit, which will include 17 full-time staff, will patrol two dozen cemeteries in and around Riga starting the beginning of next year. 
       While Latvia's economy is booming, poverty is still widespread.        The average monthly wage is some 250 dollars, and one fresh rose can cost as much as 1 dollar—providing incentive for some poorer Latvians to try to steal and sell fresh flowers. 
       Anyone caught robbing flowers from graves would be arrested and charged. The crime carries as maximum sentence of one year in prison.
       The special unit will also be used to try to prevent vandalism of graves, something that happens in the city a couple times a year. 

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said on November 23 that it has fulfilled its mission in Estonia and now wants to close its doors after an eight-year presence here. The move was seen by many Estonians as final confirmation of its pro-West, democratic credentials. 
       Concerns raised in Russia about Estonia's Russian minority led to an OCSE office being set up two years after the Soviet occupation ended in 1991--though some Estonians grumbled the OSCE presence was politically motivated, unnecessary and an affront. 
       But Tallinn-based officials of the leading human rights oversight group said a language requirement for candidates running for elected office had been its last major bone of contention. Estonia's parliament canceled that provision a day before, on November 21.
       "We said for a long time that we haven't noticed serious human rights violations here," Deputy Director of the OSCE's Tallinn office Sabine Machl said in a telephone interview. "And the change in the language rule was very positive."
       She also praised Estonia for implementing what she said were well-thought-out programs to integrate Russian speakers, adding that "there have been tremendous developments, great progress, since the OSCE arrived here in 1993." 
       The recommendation came from the OSCE's office in Tallinn, and is still subject to approval by the organization's headquarters in Vienna, Austria. But Machl said the Tallinn office could be closed as soon as Dec. 30.
       Harri Tiido, deputy undersecretary at Estonia's Foreign Ministry, welcomed the OSCE moves to close its office, adding that "we've done all we've been asked to do and there is nothing else the OSCE has asked—so their mandate's fulfilled"
       Russia expressed particular anger at Estonian language laws—which it argued disenfranchise Russian-speakers, mostly ethnic Russians who moved here during the Soviet occupation and now make up 40 percent of the 1.4 million population. The issue soured bilateral relations. 
       Estonia said its language laws met international norms and were meant to counteract five decades of repressive Soviet policies which often favored Russian over native Estonian, a vowel-laden language closely related to Finnish and spoken by barely one million people. 
       But over the years Estonia soften the laws, culminating in the cancellation of the rule that those running for office be able to speak Estonian. Critics said it discriminated against Russian speakers—most of whom speak little or no Estonian.
       The 101-seat parliament abolished the language provision by a vote of 55 to 21, with one abstention; 24 deputies either weren't present or didn't vote. The yes votes were nearly all cast by members of the three parties forming the government. 
       "This was the one deviation from democratic norms the world community pointed to in Estonia's case," said Marju Lauristin, a deputy from the center-right ruling coalition, adding Estonia otherwise receives high marks in democracy building. 
       The opposition said discarding the rule would weaken the status of Estonian. Even many government deputies said they only grudgingly backed the changes. 
       Estonia's center-right coalition government argued that failure to strike the language provision from the books would have jeopardized Estonia's long-cherished goals of membership in the European Union and NATO.
       Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar also lobbied hard for the amendment, though Moscow was angered by arguments he made that the language provision could have been used by Russia as a propaganda tool.
       Some Moscow officials said they would disagree with any moves by the OSCE to close up shop in Estonia. 

News Highlights from November 12-November 19, 2001
The head of the Latvian central bank, one of the boy wonders of Latvia’s post-Soviet reforms, said on November 14 that he will resign to pursue a political career—leaving the post he has held ever since the country regained independence. 
       The 39-year-old Einars Repse, who has consistently ranked among the most popular public figures in Latvia, said he will submit his resignation to Latvia's Saeima parliament by the end of this month to begin his campaign for political office in earnest. He started raising money for his newly founded political party, called New Time, earlier this year, prompting questions about possible conflicts of interest with his position as central bank head. He has largely weathered criticism from some quarters and stayed atop popularity polls.
       Repse has set his sights on the 2002 parliamentary elections, hoping to capitalize on widespread dissatisfaction with ruling parties, like Latvia's Way, which has been a central part of virtually every government for the past 10 years. The long-established parties are seen as vulnerable and some analysts believe Repse could take his party from no where to win at least 20 percent of the popular vote. That could give New Time the balance of power in the next legislature, would would convene at the end of 2002. 
       Repse, who has the reputation of a numbers-crunching genius, guided the country through complicated financial reforms in the 1990s. He was the chief architect of Latvia's monetary reform that replaced the Soviet ruble with the lat, and he oversaw the national recovery from a crippling commercial banking crisis in 1995. While he is seen as a strong fiscal conservative, his political views are otherwise less well known. 
       In his 20s, Repse was a leading independence activist. He was elected to the Soviet-era legislative body, the Supreme Soviet, in 1990 and helped lobby Moscow and the West to restore Latvian independence. 

Moscow blasted Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar on November 14 for an alleged e-mail in which Laar warned of a coming propaganda offensive by Russia to foil Estonia's bid to join NATO. The Russian Foreign Ministry accused Laar in a toughly worded statement of “crude attacks against Moscow,” adding that “such rhetoric from the period of the Cold War is regrettable.” 
       "(This) sheds light on the true motives of Tallinn's willingness to join NATO at any cost—to build a European barrier against Russia behind which Laar thinks Estonia will find it simpler to continue its nationalist policy and perpetuate its legislation discriminating against non-Estonians," the statement said. 
       Estonian government spokesman Priit Poiklik declined to comment on Laar's alleged e-mail, saying the office doesn't comment on "questions of the prime minister's private or party correspondence." 
       The full text of Laar's alleged e-mail appeared in Estonia's Eesti Ekspress this week; the popular Estonian-language weekly said it had received a copy from a member of the prime minister's Pro Patria party. It said Laar sent the message to leaders of the center-right group. The text said Russia would in the near future try to undermine Estonia's efforts to integrate its Russian minority by criticizing Estonian language laws. It said Moscow would attempt to taint Estonia's image abroad because Russia was afraid of losing regional influence. "Enlargement of NATO into the Baltic countries will complete the unification of Europe and prevent Russian enlargement into Estonia. Instead of carving a window on to Europe with an ax, Russia will have to learn to politely knock on the door," the published text said.
       The text urged that Pro Patria members back a proposal to drop legal requirements that candidates for elected office be able to speak Estonian, the sole state language. Some European bodies have criticized the rule as undemocratic, saying voters should be able to decide themselves whether or not they want someone who speaks Estonian representing them.
       Russian-speakers, mostly ethnic Russians, make up about 400,000, or some 30 percent, of Estonia's 1.4 million people. Many Russians don't speak Estonian or speak it badly. Over the years, Estonia has already modified stricter provisions of its language laws. 
       Many members of Laar's party have expressed opposition to
dropping the language rule for candidates, saying it would undermine the status of native Estonian, which they say suffered under five decades of Soviet rule in which Russian was favored by communist authorities. But Laar has said striking the language rule from the books posed no threat to Estonian, and would boost the nation's European integration efforts. In the published e-mail text, Laar reportedly argues that party members who opposed changes to the law are inadvertently handing Russia a potential propaganda weapon.
       Many Estonian newspapers, including the leading Postimees daily, scriticized Laar for what they described as such awkward, undiplomatic comments, saying he should have been aware that even an in-party e-mail would be leaked.   

Also see daily news, here.

News Highlights from November 5-November 12, 2001 
Fairytales weren't supposed to go quite like this: Pretty girl meets prince, slaps him upside the face, gets thrown into jail, is charged, and now faces a 15-year jail sentence. But that unlikely narrative is exactly what happened for real in Latvia on November 8 when 16-year-old schoolgirl Alina Lebedeva slapped the heir to the British throne with a long-stemmed red carnation. The affair caused a minor international incident and was splashed across the front pages of of major British newspapers, with headlines like Prince in Flower-Power Attack, Royal Bouquet Turns into Brickbat and Charles's 'Flower Girl' Jailed. 
       Prince Charles, who was on a five-day tour of the Baltics that started earlier in the week in Estonia, had stopped to talk to a group of school children waving British flags on a street corner when the red-haired teenager leaned over them from behind and smacked the prince across the face. She said she'd done the deed to protest Britain's role in the U.S.-led bombings in Afghanistan; as armed police led her away to a waiting police van, she added that she also opposed Latvia's bid to join NATO. 
       Police later said that the girl had planned the attack in advance and intended to stalk the prince at other public functions had she not succeeded when she did. The incident prompted considerably more chuckling than horror in much of the world. But Latvian authorities for their part, where not amused, keeping the teenager in prison for three days and, to the disbelief of many observers, charging her with endangering the life of a high official. If convicted and given the maximum penalty she could theoretically step out of a Latvian prison cell when she is 31. 
       A security officer said the 11th grader was well known as a political activist in her hometown of Daugavpils, in eastern Latvia, where she attends a Russian school. "When the police told her parents (what had happened) her mother was not surprised," an official was quoted as telling The Times of London. "It was as if she expected the call. "She had planned it very carefully. She was absolutely determined. If she had not succeeded in Riga, she planned to try again when the prince visited Daugavpils (later in the week)."
       When the heir to the throne was struck once, he flinched, raised his hand and appeared to duck. While he looked startled, he didn't seem hurt. After casting a bewildered look to his security guards, he he kept moving along the street talking to bystanders, among several hundred people who had turned out to see him. The Times, as other British newspapers, noted that the prince ordered a scotch and ice (rather that his usual water) at a reception an hour later, suggesting that he may have been shaken by the incident.
       After hitting the prince, the girl calmly turned and walked away but was quickly grabbed by police. "I'm against the Afghan war," she told journalists in Russian as she was loaded into the vehicle. "Britain's the enemy of the world." She also said she backed the National Bolsheviks, a tiny, pro-communist fridge group based in Latvia and Russia. The group advocates the restoration of the Soviet Union and bitterly opposes Baltic entry into the NATO alliance. Several of its members were convicted for terrorism earlier this year for briefly taking over a Riga church and threatening to blow it up; it turned out later that the explosive they said they were carrying was a fake grenade.
       Royal spokesman appear to appealed for leniency for Lebedeva, with some British newspapers alleging that Charles himself was shocked her imprisonment and prosecution. The prince's office in London, at St James's Palace, dismissed the incident, saying: "It was a minor incident that was over in seconds and the prince continued unaffected," adding that "we hope and trust the Latvian authorities will take that into account when looking into this case."
       But Latvian authorities seemed unapologetic, defended moves to throw the book at at the young, flower-wielding assailant, and fending off criticism in some British and Latvian newspapers that her punishment was way out of proportion to the crime. Officials insisted that the girl could have badly injured Charles, while other argued that she had to be made an example of to dissuade anyone from staging similar protests in the future. 
       Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga later issued an apology to Charles, saying "there are mentally unstable and ill people who wish to stick out at such occasions in all countries," she was quoted as saying. All three staunchly pro-West Baltic governments have backed the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan, support that reflects widespread sympathy for the United States in the wake of Sept. 11 airborne terrorist attacks.
       Just before the slapping incident, Charles left a wreath at the
Freedom Monument, a towering stone obelisk that has come to symbolize independence, regained in the Baltic states as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. The prince arrived in Latvia from Lithuania during a tour to mark Britain's recognition of Baltic independence a decade ago. He started the week in Estonia on Monday and left the region Friday. 
       The Baltic states, with combined populations of just over 7 million people, had close economic and diplomatic ties with Britain before World War II. British investment now lags far behind that of the nearby Nordic nations.
 (You can see a picture of the incident at http://www.ananova.com
/news/story/sm_444422.html)

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News Highlights from October 29-November 5, 2001 
Britain's Prince Charles arrived in Estonia on November 5 on the first leg of a schedule-packed, five-day tour of the three Baltic states. The 52-year-old heir to the throne is expected to express his country's backing for these staunchly pro-West nations in stops across the region. 
       Writing in Monday's Telegraph newspaper, he praised Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for successfully reforming their post-communist societies, and he hinted at long-standing British support for their bids to join the European Union and NATO. "They are all thriving parliamentary democracies, determined to join the main Western institutions," the prince said. "My visit will help to symbolize Britain's wholehearted support of their preparations for doing this....The Baltic states matter to Britain."
       He added a note of admiration for the Baltic role in repeatedly challenging Kremlin authority starting in the late 1980s. "The courage of these countries helped to precipitate the final break-up of the Soviet Union," he said. 
       The royal visit, roughly timed with Britain's recognition of Baltic independence a decade ago, is the prince's second to the region. He stopped briefly in Latvia in 1995, but didn't travel on to either Estonia or Lithuania.
       He met Estonian President Arnold Ruutel at a reception Monday in a Baroque palace built by Peter the Great. Other attendees were to include Estonian Mart Poom, goalie for England's Derby County, the Estonian winners of the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest and what an official schedule described as "some Estonian models." Among some 50 other scheduled stops, the prince will see army bases Britain has helped modernize, lay flowers at graves of Lithuanians killed during a 1991 Soviet crackdown and meet survivors of Nazi and Stalinist atrocities in Latvia. Charles, who farms organically at Highgrove, his country estate in southwest England, will also visit organic farms in the Baltic states—which have struggled to overhaul their unwieldy, inefficient agricultural sectors.
       "I also want to look to the future—to meet young Estonians, Lithuanians and Latvians, to hear of their vision for their countries," the prince, who will also stop at area schools, wrote in the British daily. 
       Britain is fondly remembered here for lending military aid during Baltic independence wars against Russia in 1920. After the Red Army annexed the Baltics in 1940, London refused to formally recognize their absorption into the USSR. The Baltic states, which have combined populations of just over 7 million people, had close economic ties with Britain before World War II. But British investment in the Baltics now lags far behind that of the nearby Nordic nations.
       Prince Charles was slated to fly from Estonia to Lithuania Tuesday, and then on to Latvia Thursday. He was scheduled to leave the region Friday. 
       
A Lithuanian lab said on November 5 that four mailbags from the U.S. embassy showed no signs of anthrax after the same lab dramatically confirmed several days before that a fifth bag did have traces of the potentially deadly bacteria. At the time, it was the first such discovery of anthrax in Europe since it started showing up in letters in the United States. 
       The find caused some anxiety in Lithuania in the first few days, though government leaders quickly acted to allay any fears, saying the anthrax in the U.S. mailbag posed no danger to the public at large. While there was no panic in the country, many Lithuanians expressed shock that the current international crisis over terrorism had struck so close to home. 
       Five bags were brought to the lab early last week from the U.S. embassy in Vilnius as part of worldwide tests of mailbags from all U.S. embassies after anthrax was detected at the State Department in Washington. Preliminary findings indicated that at least two out of the five were contaminated. But the Lithuanian Public Health Center that conducted the tests said it was now clear that suspect material in a second bag was not anthrax. It said plans were being made to send samples of the anthrax that was discovered in the one bag to investigators in the United States.
       Meanwhile, emergency teams on November 5 began decontaminating parts of the embassy in downtown Vilnius. Workers in bright orange bio-hazard suits could been seen carrying buckets and what appeared to be large pumps in and out of the building. After first suggesting the whole building would be cleaned, embassy spokesman Michael Boyle said it was decided to disinfect just limited sections, including the mailroom. He said the clean-up would take no more than two or three days. He said mail distributed from the one contaminated bag wasn't dangerous since such minute amounts of anthrax were found and only in the lining of the bag. Boyle said he didn't know if the mail had been retrieved or destroyed. 
        Most of the embassy was open by Monday, and Lithuanians were lined up outside the building to apply for visas. Most embassy staff took the day off last Friday but were almost all were back to work Monday. 
       Boyle said the diplomatic pouches had come straight from the State Department _ saying that "common sense leads me to believe that this is part of the same contamination that has been documented at the State Department." 
       Following the discovery of anthrax in the one U.S. mailbag last week, most of the embassy's 120 employees began taking antibiotics as a precaution, although none showed symptoms of anthrax.
       The last known case of anthrax in Lithuania was in 1974, when a farmer who had been digging soil where anthrax infected cattle were buried, fell ill and then later recovered.
       Over the past month, there have been dozens of anthrax scares across the Baltic states—and scores more elsewhere in Europe—but all of these previous cases turned out to be hoaxes.
 
Lithuania's Soviet-built nuclear power plant is still vulnerable to terrorist attacks despite security upgrades following the Sept. 11 airborne assault on the United States, Lithuanian officials said on October 31. 
       Environmentalists have long raised questions about the safety of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Station, located some 130 kilometers north of Vilnius, and near the border with Belarus. Concerns focused on possible accidents at Lithuania's sole atomic plant, which has no containment shell and is over 15 years old. But U.S. developments prompted new fears that it could also be a terrorist target. 
       In response, anti-aircraft guns were recently placed by the plant, a no-fly zone was declared in a 20-kilometers radius around it and more guards were assigned inside, according to Ignalina security head Vytautas Slaustas. 
       The director of the Lithuanian State Security Department, Mecys Laurinkus, wouldn't discuss details about what he called "security loopholes" at Ignalina. But he said 1 million litas (250,000 dollars) were being sought to close them. Laurinkus, responsible for securing state utilities in this nation of 3.5 million people, attended a Tuesday meeting with President Valdas Adamkus. Anti-terrorism measures at Ignalina topped the agenda. 
       Ignalina's two reactors are the same type as those at Chernobyl, Ukraine—site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986—though safety improvements have been made over the past ten years. 
       Under Western pressure, Lithuania promised to close one of two reactors at Ignalina, which generates over 70 percent of Lithuania's power. But it called for more economic-impact studies before it would commit to closing the second. 
       Fears about possible attacks by terrorists have also been raised vis-à-vis nuclear plants in Western Europe and the United States. While some analysts say containment shells widely utilized in the West could withstand the impact of an airliner, others say they could not. The vulnerability of Soviet-built plants could be greater since they, like Ignalina, do not have these specially reinforced outer shells. 
 
Coast guard ships and aircraft kept searching for four Estonian islanders after their small motorized boat went missing on October 30 in stormy seas. If it sank or overturned, there's little chance the men could have survived for more than 24 hours in the frigid waters, according to Urmo Kohv, spokesman for the Estonian Border Guard that is conducting the search and rescue mission. "There's not much hope. They've been out there so long," he said the day after the boat was lost. He added, however, that the search would continue during daylight hours for at least a week. 
       He declined to release the names of the missing, but said their ages ranged from 22 to 46. They lived on the tiny Estonian island of Ruhnu, 250 kilometers southwest of Tallinn. Their small vessel departed from Ruhnu at 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday loaded with scrap metal that they intended to sell in Estonia's coastal city of Parnu, 125 kilometers to the northeast, Kohv said. 
       They were warned the weather could worsen but chose to leave anyway, Kohv said. Within hours, winds topped 15 meters a second (33 miles an hour) and waves peeked at 2 meters. Their cargo would have made the boat even more unstable. 
       The wife of the boat's captain contacted maritime authorities when the crew didn't arrive at their destination in Parnu by dawn. 

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News Highlights from October 22 to October 29, 2001 
Lithuania has formally requested that Israel extradite 81-year-old Nachman Dushanski, charged by Lithuanian prosecutors with genocide for allegedly taking part in mass repressions during the Soviet era. 
       Dushanski, a Lithuanian-born man of Jewish decent who emigrated to Israel 12 years ago, allegedly worked for the Soviet secret police for over thirty years, starting in 1940—the year Red Army forces first occupied Lithuania. 
       A Vilnius court earlier this month issued an arrest warrant for Dushanski, opening the way for prosecutors on October 29 to ask for his deportation from Israel to stand trail.
       The indictment names nine people that Dushanski allegedly either helped to deport or execute. Prosecutors say his victims included anti-Soviet resisters who had sought refuge in area forests to escape persecution by communist authorities. 
       After regaining independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Lithuania vowed to bring perpetrators of both Nazi- and Soviet-era abuses to justice. 
       Some Jewish groups have said Lithuania hasn't done enough to bring Nazis to justice, while some Lithuanians, in turn, complain of a double standard: that while Nazi criminals are widely sought, Soviet ones are mostly ignored. 
       Israel has earlier refused to cooperate with investigations of Dushanski, denying several Lithuanian requests for help in questioning him. 
       Israel said in a statement last year that the proceedings amounted to "discrimination" against Dushanski and raised "very serious, troubling concerns."
       The statement said there were 20 other men in Lithuanian who had taken part in actions similar to Dushanski during Soviet rule but who had not been prosecuted. 
       Lithuanian prosecutors denied discriminating against Dushanski, arguing that they've tried several Lithuanians for similar Soviet-era crimes. They said most of the 20 other suspects cited by Israel have long since died. 
 
An Estonian court on October 29 sentenced a former pub manager and soldier from Bathgate, Scotland to three years in prison for trying to smuggle a record stash of narcotics out of Estonia to Western Europe. 
       William Hain, a 43-year-old father of three, was arrested last year after police found 20 1-kilogram packets of opium stuffed inside the gas tank of his car as he tried to board a vehicle ferry bound for nearby Finland. 
       Flanked by a translator and an armed bailiff, Hain looked tense, fidgeting and biting his lip as he stood in a courtroom dock to hear his sentence read out. He didn't address Judge Merle Parts Monday but made an emotional appeal to her for leniency last week. 
       "I want to apologize for what I did. I behaved stupidly," he told the City Court in Tallinn. "I've shamed my family.... This incident has broken me." 
       Hain had faced a maximum sentence of seven years. By Estonian law, he now has to serve half his three-year term before he'll be eligible for parole. 
       He pleaded guilty last month, saying he planned to use money from the deal to pay business debts. But he claimed he was a minor player, expecting a one-off 30,000-dollar fee for transporting the opium, which police said came from Afghanistan. 
       Police said the opium could have made 6.5 kilograms of heroin with an estimated street value of at least 1 million dollars. The seizure last Nov. 2, following months of police surveillance, was the largest in Estonian history. 
       Estonia has requested the extradition from Scotland of Robert Bruce Wright and Leslie Brown for allegedly masterminding the scheme. Police spokesman Haino Kurman said he was confident the suspects would be deported here to stand trial. 
       Brown, 44, is said to be a company director in Glasgow while Wright, 35, is reportedly a millionaire in the same Scottish city who collects expensive cars. 
       Estonian Sergei Petrenko, arrested with Hain last year, was sentenced to three years and eight months in jail. The 42-year-old pleaded innocent, insisting that, partly because of his poor English, he didn't know he was transporting drugs.
       "I was imprisoned last year," he told a courtroom during closing arguments last week, "and I still haven't gotten over the shock."
 
Latvian sledder Girts Ostenieks was killed while practicing on the country's famed Sigulda Bobsleding Track on October 28. He died instantly when he plowed head first into an empty four-man sled that had drifted into his path.
       The 33-year-old was reportedly traveling on a sleek, one-man sled at 60 kilometers an hour when his head struck the blade of the errant sled.
       The Sigulda Bobsleding Track, 50 kilometers outside Riga, is slated to host the 2003 World Luge Championships. 
       The second vehicle involved reportedly belonged to the Russian women's national bobsled team, practicing nearby when they lost control of their sled. It slid onto the track and overturned seconds before Ostenieks sped into view. 
       Officials said the Russian women's bobsled team failed to close a safety gate that would have pre