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

 

News Highlights from January 17—January 24, 2000

Baltic officials said on January 18 that they were optimistic about their prospects of winning NATO membership sooner rather than later—saying they expect to be ready to join the U.S.-led alliance by as early as 2002. 
       Their NATO bids are controversial because Russia has angrily objected to their membership, and some observers say NATO isn't likely to invite them for at least another five to 10 years, if ever. 
       But Baltic officials are upbeat.
       "We believe 2002 is a realistic goal," said Toivo Klaar, the Estonian president's foreign policy advisor. "Our government has defined this as a, even the major Estonian foreign policy goal." 
       Latvian and Lithuanian officials echoed the Estonians, saying they're driving hard to receive NATO invitations in two years—when NATO is slated to hold its next major summit meeting—and to win full membership shortly thereafter. 
       At its last summit, in Madrid in 1997, NATO invited Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic to join. They officially became full NATO members two years later. 
       Some pro-expansion analysts in the West have suggested that at least one Baltic country be invited in 2002. Some have suggested that Lithuania is currently the best NATO candidate among the three. 
       NATO has insisted the door is open to the Baltic states, but has not promised that the Baltics would get invitations anytime soon, saying they are not yet ready militarily to join. 
       While NATO says Russia can't veto Baltic membership, many analysts say NATO may be unwilling to provoke a possible crisis with Russia over the issue. 
       Other skeptics say the three Baltic nations, sandwiched between the Baltic Sea and Russia, are too vulnerable militarily and would weaken NATO as members. 
       But Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania say they've worked hard at addressing any military shortcomings, including by increasing defense spending, starting to built a pan-Baltic radar system and sending their officers for training in the West. 
       They've also argued they have a right to join the military alliance of their choice, and say their membership in the alliance would be a critical part of their reintegration into Europe after 50 years of Soviet rule. 
       Baltic officials concede they will still have to lobby NATO intensively. But they say they've detected a clear shift in thinking on Baltic membership in recent years, from the idea it's too controversial to contemplate to the idea it's inevitable. 
       Klaar said he believes even Russia understands that. 
       "Of course, Russia is never going to love the prospect of Estonian NATO membership," he said. "But the fact that it is going to happen has sunk in. I believe the tension has largely gone out of the discussion."
       Asked in a recent edition of CITY PAPER about Baltic chances of one day entering the alliance, Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves said membership was a virtual certainty. 
       "I'd say the chances are 9.8 (on a scale of one to 10)," he said. "The question is when, and what kind of NATO it will be."
       (Also see NATO Yes, NATO No on this site.) 

A controversial trial in Latvia ended on January 21 with a court in Riga finding 77-year-old former Soviet partisan Vasily Kononov guilty of war crimes and sentencing him to six years in prison. Many Russians in Latvia and in Russia had angrily criticized the proceedings against him. 
       During the trial, prosecutors argued that Vasily Kononov had led an attack on a small Latvian village in 1944 and ordered the execution of nine civilians. Many of his victims, which included a number of women, were burned alive. 
       Kononov adamantly denied the charges, saying the civilians died in the crossfire in a battle between the partisans and units backed by the occupying Germans. 
       His case provoked strong emotions among many people from Latvia's large ethnic-Russian community, with many saying Kononov was a hero who was merely fighting to liberate Latvia from the Nazis. 
       Russian officials in Moscow have also expressed their anger, saying Latvia was seeking revenge by trying and convicting men like Kononov. Some Russian legislators even suggested economic sanctions in response. 
       Many Latvians say Soviet and Nazi fighters were equal evils during the war, and have argued that Russians have largely refused to confront the horrors committed by their soldiers and sympathizers during the war.
       Latvia was independent before being occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940. After the 1941-44 Nazi occupation, Soviet troops occupied Latvia again, remaining here until the
Baltic state regained independence following the Soviet Union's collapse. 
       (See the related article, Off to Court.) 

Estonia on January 17 announced strong economic growth figures for the fourth quarter of 1999, appearing to mark the end of a recession triggered by economic turmoil in neighboring Russia. 
       The economy expanded by 4 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the first significant growth registered for 1999, according to the Estonia's ministry of finance. 
       In the first two quarters of last year, the economy shrank—by almost 6 percent in the first quarter and 2 percent in the second. In the third quarter, the economy grew by a paltry .2 percent. 
       Even with strong year-end growth, the economy in 1999 still contracted overall by 1 percent. But a finance ministry spokesman, Daniel Vaarik, said Monday's fourth-quarter data meant Estonia was officially out of recession. 
       "This is obviously a trend. It obviously indicates economic recovery," he said. 
       He said annual GDP growth for 2000 should be around 4 percent. 
       The official said the improved world economy had boosted Estonia's economic performance. He argued that government steps to reign in spending also underpinned the recovery. 
       Others analysts also pointed to growing consumer demand, an increasingly dynamic banking sector and lower interest rates as key factors. 
       Fast-paced growth followed the implementation of tough market reforms in the early 1990s, with annual growth in Estonia peaking at 11 percent in 1997. 
       But like with other countries in Eastern Europe, the collapse of the Russian market in 1998 came as a blow. Russia was a main export market for many large Estonian industries and farmers, and they were hit especially hard.
       Like Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania also saw growth rates drop following the deepening economic crisis in Russia. But after near-zero growth in 1999, they say they also expected growth rates of between 3-4 percent for 2000. 

Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Ilves, who has vowed to use all means at his disposal to secure Estonian membership in the European Union, said on January 21 that he was adding another tool to his arsenal: French.
       The minister said he has begun taking French lessons, and has ordered other diplomats to do the same in order to further the country's EU integration aims. Ilves said all diplomats must be able to speak basic French by 2003.
       "The order applies to me, too," he said.
       Ilves said proficiency in English is already a requirement for Estonian diplomats.
       The minister said the Estonian move to have its diplomats learn French was another indication of the former communist state's increasingly Western bent.
       Ilves said high-level discussions in the European Union, including on important defense matters, are frequently held in both French and English and without translations being provided.
       "When you're at the EU headquarters in Brussels, you often need French," added Foreign Ministry spokesman Taavi Toom. "Our diplomats knowing French will make us much more efficient members."
       Estonia is one of the leading candidates to join the 15-member trading bloc in a first round of expansion. Estonia has said it will be ready to join by 2003.
       The 46-year-old Ilves spent his young adulthood in the United States, moving to Estonia and giving up his U.S. citizenship after the Baltic state regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
       Ilves already speaks fluent English, German and Spanish, in addition to Estonian. He does not speak Russian.
       Since the Baltic states regained independence in 1991, English has been steadily displacing Russian as the main second language spoken—especially among younger people. Many Balts in their teens and twenties have largely lost their ability to speak Russian at all. 
       "People are voting with the tongues. They use languages that are the most necessary," said the Estonian foreign minister. "And these days you need English for business and also for the Internet…Russian is not of that much use."

The three Baltic capitals showed up in the upper half of a survey ranking the livability of 218 major cities around the world; it was conducted by the U.S.-based William M. Mercer consulting company and released this past week. 
       The survey, designed to help companies assess general living standards in cities where they may have employees, named Vancouver, Zurich, Vienna, Bern and Sydney as the cities with the highest quality of life in the world. 
       Among the three Baltic cities, Vilnius ranked the highest, in 90th place—just below Prague, Jerusalem and Warsaw; Riga was just behind the Lithuanian capital in 91st place. Tallinn came in 106th. Kiev was in 159th place and Moscow, 162nd. 
       The consulting company said they considered some 39 different criteria in coming up with their rankings, including levels of health care, the environment, political and economic stability, and nightlife. 
       Among other cities ranked, were Helsinki in 9th place, Stockholm in 27th and London in 35th place. The four countries in last place were Baghdad, Khartoum, Pointe Noire and, in the 218th position, Brazzaville. 
       Below is the full ranking list. New York was used as the baseline in the pointing system, with 100 points. 

VANCOUVER 106
ZURICH 106
VIENNA 106
BERN 106
SYDNEY 105.5
GENEVA 105.5
AUCKLAND 105.5
COPENHAGEN 105.5
HELSINKI 104.5
AMSTERDAM 104.5
FRANKFURT 104
MUNICH 104
MELBOURNE 104
HONOLULU 104
DUSSELDORF 103.5
SAN FRANCISCO 103.5
OSLO 103.5
PERTH 103.5
BRUSSELS 103.5
TORONTO 103.5
ADELAIDE 103
LUXEMBOURG 103
STOCKHOLM 103
PARIS 102.5
NURNBERG 102.5
BRISBANE 102.5
MONTREAL 102.5
TOKYO 102.5
BERLIN 102
HAMBURG 102
WELLINGTON 102
LUDWIGSHAFEN 102
LYON 102
ATLANTA 101.5
LONDON 101.5
CALGARY 101.5
KOBE 101.5
LEXINGTON 101
SEATTLE 101
DUBLIN 101
WINSTON SALEM 101
LOS ANGELES 101
YOKOHAMA 101
SINGAPORE 100.5
WASHINGTON DC 100.5
PITTSBURGH 100
CHICAGO 100
BOSTON 100
MADRID 100
NEW YORK 100
MINNEAPOLIS 99
PORTLAND 99
OSAKA 99
NAGOYA 99
GLASGOW 99
ST. LOUIS 98.5
HOUSTON 98.5
TSUKUBA 98.5
CLEVELAND 98
BIRMINGHAM 98
BARCELONA 97
LISBON 96.5
ST. PETER PORT 96.5
MIAMI 96.5
DETROIT 96
YOKKAICHI 96
MILAN 96
OMUTA 94.5
KATSUYAMA 93
HONG KONG 93
ROME 93
MONTEVIDEO 92.5
SAN JUAN 92.5
BUENOS AIRES 91.5
BUDAPEST 91
LEIPZIG 89.5
PRAGUE 88.5
TEL AVIV 86
JERUSALEM 85.5
PORT LOUIS 85
TAIPEI 85
CAPE TOWN 84.5
KUALA LUMPUR 84
LIMASSOL 83.5
ATHENS 83.5
LJUBLJANA 83
SANTIAGO 83
WARSAW 83
JOHANNESBURG 83
VILNIUS 82
RIGA 82
PANAMA CITY 81.5
SEOUL 81.5
ISTANBUL 81.5
PORT ELIZABETH 81
SAN JOSE 80.5
DUBAI 80
PAPEETE 79.5
TUNIS 79.5
MONTERREY 79
MANILA 79
KAOSIUNG 79
ABU DHABI 79
BRASILIA 79
VICTORIA 78.5
TALLINN 78
NOUMEA 78
JOHOR BAHARU 76.5
SAO PAULO 76.5
BUCHAREST 76.5
ASUNCION 76
RIO DE JANEIRO 76
BANGKOK 75.5
LIMA 75.5
SANTO DOMINGO 75.5
QUITO 75
HARARE 75
BRATISLAVA 74.5
COLOMBO 74
ULSAN 74
SOFIA 74
CAIRO 74
YEOCHUN 73.5
CARACAS 73.5
GUAYAQUIL 73
CASABLANCA 73
MANAMA 71.5
ZAGREB 71
BOGOTA 71
NASSAU 71
AMMAN 70.5
KUWAIT CITY 69.5
MEXICO CITY 69.5
KINGSTON 69
ACCRA 69
MANAUS 68.5
RAYONG 67.5
SHANGHAI 67
GUATEMALA CITY 66.5
BLANTYRE 66.5
LA PAZ 66
BEIJING 65.5
MEDELLIN 65.5
NAIROBI 64.5
JAKARTA 64
GUANGZHOU 63.5
LUSAKA 63.5
LIBREVILLE 63
ABIDJAN 63
SANTA CRUZ 62.5
ISLAMABAD 62.5
RIYADH 62
JEDDAH 62
DAKAR 62
NANJING 62
HO CHI MINH CITY 61.5
VIENTIANE 61
BEIRUT 61
KIEV 58.5
SKOPJE 58
ST. PETERSBURG 58
MOSCOW 57.5
SHENYANG 57
MUMBAI 56
LAHORE 55.5
KARACHI 55.5
DAMASCUS 55.5
TEHRAN 55
MANAGUA 54.5
BANGALORE 54
DJIBOUTI 54
HANOI 53.5
SAN SALVADOR 53
JILIN 52
MADRAS 50.5
TIRANA 49.5
MINSK 49.5
YANGON 49.5
YAOUNDE 49.5
COTONOU 49
NOVOSIBIRSK 48.5
TRIPOLI 48.5
NEW DELHI 48
KAZAN 47.5
PORT AU PRINCE 47
DACCA 47
ALGIERS 47
DOUALA 46.5
ALMATY 46.5
SAN PEDRO SULLA 46
HAVANA 46
SARAJEVO 46
BAKU 44.5
TASHKENT 44.5
DAR ES SALAAM 44
LOME 42.5
MAPUTO 42
ANTANANARIVO 42
CONAKRY 41
LAGOS 40.5
NDJAMENA 40
SANAA 40
NOUAKCHOTT 40
PORT HARCOURT 39.5
BELGRADE 39
ADDIS-ABABA 38.5
NIAMEY 38
BAMAKO 37
KINSHASA 37
OUAGADOUGOU 36.5
LUANDA 36
BANGUI 33.5
BAGHDAD 33
KHARTOUM 33
POINTE NOIRE 30.5
BRAZZAVILLE 23

News Highlights from January 10—January 17, 2000

The Baltic states have announced record high unemployment rates this week, but said they expect the figures to improve during 2000.
       Lithuania on January 11 reported a 10 percent unemployment rate, its highest figure since independence in 1991. Unemployment in Latvia now stands at around 9 percent, and 5 percent in Estonia—also post-Soviet highs.
       Unemployment in the countryside and in industrial areas is especially severe. In the rural Akmene district, in northern Lithuania, unemployment has hit 20 percent, compared to a 7 percent jobless rate in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius.
       The pro-West, open-market Baltic states are considered the most economically advanced nations of the former Soviet Union. After implementing tough market reforms in the early '90s, they experienced strong growth until early 1998.
       But regional farmers and producers were hit hard later that year by the deepening economic crisis in neighboring Russia, which had been one of their main export markets. With falling orders, many industries laid off workers.
       Before the collapse of the Russian market, unemployment hovered around 6 percent in Lithuania and Latvia, and around 2 percent in Estonia.
       Analysts say higher growth this year, spurred on partly by the successful reorientation of many exporters to new Western markets, should help bring jobless rates back down.
       While annual growth slumped to near zero for 1999, officials in all three Baltic states forecast that their economies will expand by at least 3-4 percent in 2000.

A Tallinn court on January 13 acquitted Russian activists Oleg Morozov and Eduard Shaumyan on charges they disrupted public order by organizing unauthorized protest rallies three years ago.
       Prosecutors said Morozov, 45, and Shaumyan, 54—both members of Estonia's large Russian-speaking minority—were charged with violating laws requiring permits to stage public demonstrations.
       The rallies on Oct. 20, 1997, drew several hundred Russians in Tallinn and in cities in northeast Estonia to protest economic policies that rally organizers said had hit the Russian community unduly hard.
       Morozov and Shaumyan said charges were brought against them as a political vendetta. They strongly opposed Baltic independence in the early 1990s. Prosecutors denied any political motivation.
       The prosecutor's office had asked for a 13-month jail term for Shaumyan and a one-year suspended sentence for Morozov. Prosecutors said they would appeal the court decision.

A map that claims parts of Lithuania are under occupation by Poland, Russia and Belarus provoked official criticism from the Russian embassy in Vilnius on January 12.
       In a statement, Russia's embassy strongly condemned the map, published by the Lithuanian-based Metskaitikliai publishing house, which appears at the back of a new 2000 calendar.
       The map highlights sections of territory just across the Lithuanian border in Poland, Belarus and Russia's Kaliningrad enclave, with bolded text that says, "Temporarily occupied ethnic Lithuanian territories."
       The Russian embassy said the map was designed to provoke inter-ethnic hatred and to undermine Lithuanian relations with its neighbors.
       Lithuanian officials vehemently denied reports that state funds partly paid for the controversial calendar. Prosecutors, however, said they are investigating whether the map violates anti-defamation laws.
       Leaders of the country's 7 percent ethnic-Polish community have been particularly vocal in their criticism of the map, saying it is offensive and could undermine sometimes touchy bilateral relations with Poland.
       Territorial disputes in the region date back to the Middle Ages, when Lithuania was a major European power, with an empire that included large tracts of present-day Poland, Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.
       Around 1920, Lithuania and Poland went to war over disputed territories—which included the current Lithuanian capital, Vilnius—though the two countries signed formal border treaties after the 1991 Soviet collapse.
       A compiler of the calendar, Danute Balsyte, told the Kauno Diena newspaper that the territorial claims accompanying the map were meant as a joke.
       "What can be said if all of us have lost our sense of humor?" she was quoted by the daily as saying.
       She added that all the hullabaloo surrounding it has dramatically increased sales of the calendar; she said all of the initial 3,000 copies printed have been sold.

Analysts—What's a fair wage? When Finnish dock workers began boycotting Estonian ships in 1998, one of their demands was that Estonian shipping companies raise their sailors' salaries from an average of 500 dollars a month to 2,500 dollars a month. They said the use of cheaper labor allowed Estonian ships to keep costs down and woo business away from more pricey Finnish shippers. The Estonian response? You couldn't possibly expect us to pay Estonian seamen a higher salary than the Estonian president.
       The rhetorical point was clear enough. But some have begun to wonder why, in fact, presidential salaries in the Baltics are so small. Both the Lithuanian and Latvian presidents get generous pensions from their old employers in North America—where they spent most of their adult lives. Their predecessors and the current Estonian president, however, have been forced to live on incomes that are sometimes ten times less than their counterparts abroad. (Most third-level Baltic bank managers earn much more.) It could be worse, though: the three Baltic leaders could be president of Ukraine (see below).
       The following are what Baltic presidents' annual salaries are compared to other heads of state:

Country                  President's Salary
Singapore................$465,000
Japan (PM).............$375,000
Russia.....................$320,000
Costa Rica..............$250,000
United States...........$200,000
Britain (PM)............$165,000
Lithuania..................$35,000
Latvia.......................$25,000
Estonia.....................$18,000
Ukraine........................$5,000

 

News Highlights from January 3—January 10, 2000

A map that claims parts of Lithuania are under occupation by Poland, Russia and Belarus threatens to anger the Baltic state's neighbors.
       The map, which appears at the back of a newly published 2000 calendar, has been sharply criticized by some Lithuanian legislators.
       Janas Senkevicius, a member of parliament and leader of Lithuania's 7 percent ethnic-Polish community, warned that the map could undermine Lithuanian bilateral relations with Poland.
       He claimed that the map was funded in part by Lithuania's Department of Immigration and Ethnic Minorities.
       Government officials, however, denied that the state subsidized the calendar, and added that Lithuania had no territorial claims on any country.
       The map highlights slivers of territory just across the border in Poland, Russia and Belarus, with bolded red text that says, “Temporarily occupied ethnic Lithuanian territories.”
       Territorial disputes in the region date back to the Middle Ages, when Lithuania was a major European power grabbing territory from Poland and Russia to build an empire stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
       After winning independence during World War I, Poland and Lithuania went to war over disputed territory, though all territorial issues were ostensibly solved with the signing of formal border treaties in recent years.
       While relations between Lithuania and Poland have been warm in recent years, some extreme Lithuanian nationalists still occasionally raise the specter of regaining lands once under Lithuania's control.

Latvia reiterated this past week that it would be willing to call for the extradition of alleged Nazi war criminal Konrads Kalejs and put him on trial if clearer evidence linking him to atrocities is uncovered.
       The 86-year-old Kalejs, who emigrated from Latvia after World War II and later become an Australian citizen, has been the focus of intense media attention after he was recently discovered at a retirement home in Great Britain.
       On January 6, after the British government threatened to deport him, Kalejs flew to Australia, which said it would reopen an investigation into his war-time activities. He has been accused of participating in the killing of some 30,000 Latvian Jews during the 1941-44.
       Jewish groups criticized Great Britain, Australia and Latvia for not doing more to put Kalejs on trial. All three countries said they didn't yet have sufficient evidence to prosecute him.
       Latvia's government pledged that it would immediately request his extradition from Australia should new evidence be unearthed. But a number of Latvian officials expressed doubts that new witnesses or fresh proof might be discovered.

Estonian President Lennart Meri on January 3 unexpectedly sacked the nation's acting commander-in-chief, saying someone was needed in the post who could better prepare Estonia for NATO membership.
       Meri said Colonel Mart Tiru would take his place. Tiru has strong links to NATO headquarters in Brussels and his appointment is seen as a signal of Estonia's determination to join the alliance.
       President Meri said Estonia was entering a crucial phase where it had to demonstrate progress towards meeting various NATO membership requirements. He said Tiru was better qualified to oversee that process.
       The Kremlin has adamantly opposed NATO membership for the Baltic states, saying their inclusion in the organization would be perceived as a threat to Russia.
       But Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania say entering NATO remains one of their main foreign policy goals. NATO insists the door is open to the Baltics, but that they're not yet ready militarily to join.
       Estonia's permanent army chief, General Johannes Kert, is currently studying in the United States. Acting commander Tiru is expected to hold the post until June, when Kert is scheduled to return to Estonia.

Two teenage lovers in Latvia were found dead on January 7 after leaping to their deaths in an apparent suicide pact.
       The AFP news agency reported that 16-year-old Inese and 17-year-old Aivar jumped from a cement factory tower in the town of Cesis and that their hands were still clasped when their bodies were discovered.
       Parents of the two had apparently objected to their love affair, according to a suicide note found at the scene, AFP reported.
       Police told the agency that the two may also have committed suicide while under the influence of drugs.
       Since the Soviet collapse, illegal drug use in the Baltic states has risen sharply. Suicide rates in the three countries are also among the world's highest.

Analysis—A good indication the question of Baltic NATO membership has reached a new stage, as one top NATO analyst recently explained, is the way policy makers in Washington now don't react when you suggest that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia might someday join the powerful alliance as full members: they don't fall onto the floor laughing uncontrollably.
       Baltic membership, after years of being brushed aside as a fantasy, now seems to be taken very seriously, indeed. Not that everyone yet agrees on the subject; those who oppose Baltic membership—from the Kremlin to a number of highly influential security pundits in the West—seem as entrenched in their opposition as ever.        But Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian officials say the fact that almost everyone agrees Baltic membership is at least conceivable is a huge step forward.
       It is a good illustration of their own optimism that Baltic leaders these days no longer speak about if they will get in to NATO—they only speak about when they'll join and about what kind of NATO it will be when they do. (Also see NATO: Yes and No.)

 

News Highlights from December 27, 1999—January 3, 2000

Tens of thousands of people squeezed into city centers of the Baltic capitals to celebrate the dawn of the new millennium, with fireworks exploding overhead as the clock struck midnight.
       Focal points of the celebrations were the capital old cities. People packed onto old town squares in Riga and Tallinn; in Vilnius, crowds flocked to the castle ruins by Gediminas Hill.
       Lithuanians also celebrated the start of 2000 with special millennium bonfires. One in Vilnius was set alight by a laser switched on by Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
       Other revelers in Vilnius congregated around the Vilnius TV tower, which had been decorated with Christmas tree lights that radiated out from the top of the structure to the ground.
       In a televised address minutes before midnight, Estonian President Lennart Meri hailed the dawn of the third millennium, saying Estonia had come a long way since regaining independence.
       "We are now standing on a line, behind which is the future," Meri said. "We have done well and we will do even better tomorrow—on condition there is less talk and more action."
       The three Baltic states regained independence in 1920, but lost it when Soviet troops occupied them at the outset of World War II.They regained independence only in 1991.
       The 70-year-old Estonian president warned that Estonians shouldn't put the 20th century completely behind them, that they shouldn't ignore the lessons of the past.
       "The deeper we manage to look into the past, the farther we can look into the future," he said.
       In her New Year's address, Latvian President Viara Vike-Freiberga also harkened back to the independence struggle, saying Latvians should be thankful their fate is now in their own hands.
       "We are the ones now writing pages into history and we are molding our land the way we want to see it," she said. "I wish happiness for Latvia in the new century. I wish happiness for all mankind in the new millennium."

Y2K bugs didn't bite in the Baltics at the switchover to the year 2000, prompting sighs of relief across the region after months of nervous anticipation.
       One place Y2K watchers had been scrutinizing particularly closely was Lithuania's Ignalina atomic power plant, located some 130 kilometers north of Vilnius. (See Debugging Ignalina on this website.)
       As the new millennium began, the Soviet-built power station performed as it should and experienced no Y2K glitches, an official said from inside the plant.
       "Everything is okay here. We're having no problems," said Viktor Shavaldin in a telephone interview 45 minutes past midnight.
Official Y2K watchers across the Baltic states said they had no reports of major glitches. Power stations and telephone companies continued functioning without detectable Y2K hiccups.
       "We're a bit tired, but very happy here," said Martynas Bieliunas, head of Lithuania's official Y2K task force, speaking in the early hour of the new millenium. "We didn't expect to come out of this night quite so well."
       "Everything's gone almost too well," said Katri Tammsaar, director of Estonia's Y2K headquarters. "We haven't had that much to do here."
       A primary pre-New Year's concern was the possibility of Y2K disruptions to the regional power grid, which connects Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian and Belarussian electricity distribution systems.
       Experts had warned that disruptions at any of the plants in the network—set up when the five states were under Soviet rule—could cause havoc around the entire grid and lead to widespread blackouts.
       Baltic national energy companies said they had been prepared to cut from the regional grid at the first sign of trouble and operate independently—but that the entire network made the transition without hitches.
       Russia celebrated the new year an hour earlier than the Baltic states, and Baltic officials said Russian power plants suffered no serious disruptions that might have forced them to separate from the grid.
       "After midnight in Russia, the situation was as good as it could be. The electrical frequencies remained ideal," said Toomas Tutt, Y2K project manager for Estonian Energy. "We didn't expect such a good situation."

Baltic governments appeared to react calmly to the resignation of Russian President Boris Yeltsin and the transfer of power to Vladimir Putin, with most analysts saying they didn't expect drastic changes in Baltic-Russian relations.
       Feelings in the region have been mixed about Yeltsin. But as he stepped down, many politicians recalled his support for Baltic independence in 1990 and 1991, when most Russian leaders still adamantly opposed it. (Also see Gorbachev, Yeltsin and Baltic Independence in the Baltic Worldwide's Library section.)
       In a written statement released December 31, Estonian President Lennart Meri said Estonia still felt gratitude for Yeltsin's backing during the difficult independence struggle with Moscow. Officials in Latvia and Lithuania echoed those comments.
       After independence, however, the Yeltsin government frequently lashed out at Latvia and Estonia or what it said was discrimination against ethnic Russians. Baltic government accused Yeltsin of concocting the issue for political gain at home.
       While analysts say President Putin's KGB past raises concerns, there appears to be a general feeling here that he isn't the worst possible option to Yeltsin. In the past, there were fears that an explicitly anti-Baltic Russian nationalist could follow Yeltsin.

High-ranking officials, including the prime minister and president, ending the millennium on an unpaid holiday or working for nothing - in a bid to reduce the national budget deficit.
       Thanks to falling economic growth—in part caused by the collapse of the Russian market—state revenues for 1999 fell far below expectations and the budget deficit has steadily widened.
       In mid-December, Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius suggested that high-ranking officials either take an unpaid Christmas holiday from Dec. 27-31 or continue working during those days without pay.
       The pay-cut was voluntary, but under heavy public scrutiny and stern calls by Prime Minister Kubilius for officials to agree to it, there were no reports of major politicians refusing to go along with the plan.
       The cost-saving scheme was expected to save the government some 2 million dollars a day, or a total of 10 million dollars.

Latvia's foreign ministry said on December 30 that it could soon decide to request the extradition of alleged Nazi war criminal Konrads Kalejs, who is under investigation in Britain.
       The 86-year-old Kalejs has been accused of participating in the mass execution of some 30,000 Jews during the World War II Nazi occupation of Latvia.
       Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liga Bergman said officials were waiting to hear from Latvian prosecutors about whether there was sufficient proof of Kalejs' alleged crimes to call for his extradition.
       "Latvia holds to the principle that there is no statute of limitations on war crimes," she said. "Taking this into account, an investigation is now being carried out in cooperation with U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities."
       Kalejs has already been deported from the United States and Canada for allegedly serving as a lieutenant in Arajs Kommando, a Nazi-sponsored killing squad, during the war.
       Kalejs has denied the war-crimes allegations.

 

News Highlights from December 20—December 27, 1999

Lithuanians staked claim to having put up the tallest Christmas tree ever by draping the 325-meter Vilnius TV tower with lightbulbs and decorations on December 25.
       Tens of thousands of onlookers, including Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, cheered their approval as strings of lights radiating from the top of the giant tower to the ground were switched on.
       Organizers were reportedly seeking official recognition, possibly from the Guinness World Book of Records, that the tower-turned-Christmas tree was, in fact, the tallest in history.
       But some doubted whether record keepers would be willing to grant that the 20-year-old concrete construction, once the world’s sixth tallest building, could be considered a “tree.”
       The TV tower display, which cost an estimated 125,000 dollars to decorate, was five times taller than the Christmas tree currently on the books as the world’s tallest.
       On January 13, 1991, the Vilnius TV tower gained worldwide fame as the site of a bloody Soviet crackdown; more than a dozen pro-independence demonstrators were killed that day when Soviet troops stormed the tower. (See the feature story, entitled Crackdown, for more details.)

 

News Highlights from December 13—December 20, 1999

Lithuania has the highest suicide rate in Europe, with 42 out of every 100,000 people taking their own lives, according to a UNDP report released on December 16.
       With around five suicides per day, more Lithuanians take their own lives than die in traffic accidents each day, the UNDP said.
       Suicide is the No. 1 cause of unnatural death in Lithuania, accounting for nearly 30 percent of all such fatalities. Traffic accidents are No. 2, causing almost 20 percent of all unnatural deaths, the report said.
       Experts have for years scratched their heads about the fundamental cause of the high suicide toll in Lithuania, as well as in the other two Baltic states.
       Many say the suicides correspond to increases in alcoholism and drug use. Others point to increased poverty, especially in the countryside, and greater pressures wrought by the free-market era.
       Critics have also decried the lack of well-coordinated suicide prevention programs—which, they say, could help bring suicide rates down.

Estonia's parliament on December 15 abolished the 26 percent corporate income tax on reinvested profits, which the center-right government says is a radical, innovative move that will help spur growth and create jobs.
       The provision was part of a comprehensive new tax law adopted by Estonia's Riigikogu legislature; the bill passed by a 52-to-38 vote following several hours of heated debate.
       After taking power in March parliamentary elections, the government said it would fulfill a campaign pledge to abandon the tax on reinvested profits as a way to invigorate the economy.
       Thanks largely to the collapse of the Russian market last year, annual growth fell from almost 11 percent in 1997 to near zero for 1999. Officials say growth is expected to climb to 4 percent in 2000.
       Opposition parties said the abolition of the tax on reinvested profits—which takes effect Jan. 1—would only benefit the rich and shift the tax burden to economically hard-hit Estonians.
       The government argued the measure will increase domestic and foreign investment, and boost the efficiency of local companies as they channel profits into improving infrastructure and work-force training.
       Daniel Vaarik, an advisor at the finance ministry, said the legislation also closed tax loopholes—ensuring that reinvested profits actually go back into companies and not illegally into the pockets of owners.
       "On one hand, we're getting a much more liberal tax system with this law," he said. "But we're also bringing order to our tax system and making tax collection much more effective."
       He denied the corporate tax cut would have an adverse impact on the national budget, which is slated to be back brought into balance under the 2000 budget bill—which deputies also approved on December 15.
       He said better tax collection, higher state duties and robust economic growth would compensate for reductions in corporate-tax revenue.

Lithuania's Soviet-built Ignalina nuclear power plant, one of the largest Chernobyl-type atomic stations in the world, is Y2K compliant, Lithuania's Nuclear Power Safety Inspectorate said in a statement on December 15.
       The announcement follows similar claims from technicians at Ignalina itself—located some 130 kilometers northeast of Vilnius (see Debugging Ignalina on this site).
       The Y2K problem arises from the way some computers and programs keep track of dates, with two digits. When 1999 rolls over, those using two digits for dates could mistake the year 2000 for 1900, crashing vital systems.
       Ignalina is one facility Y2K watchers have been closely scrutinizing.
       The 15-year-old plant generates 80 percent of Lithuania's energy and any Y2K shutdown would hurt the Baltic state's economy. Others worry about whether Y2K bugs could increase the risk of a dangerous accident.
       A 30-man Y2K team at Ignalina has worked on the problem for two years, according to the project head, Aleksandr Mysko; he said all 1000 computers at Ignalina have been checked and declared Y2K free.
       Ignalina has the same basic design as the plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine—site of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986. Ignalina has, however, made 200-million-dollars worth of safety upgrades in recent years.

The U.S. Embassy in Riga has warned Americans living in Latvia to stock up on food, bottled water and other provisions as a precaution against any Y2K disruptions.
       In a letter sent to American citizens in Latvia this past week, U.S. officials said the nation appeared to be "generally prepared" for Y2K. It stressed that chances of serious Y2K problems were very low—but suggested that residents should play it safe anyway.
       The letter warned that power outages of up to half a day are possible, adding that a blackout of two or more hours could cause Riga's Soviet-era water filtration plant to malfunction.
       Local energy companies in all three Baltic states say they're confident they have rid their vital systems of Y2K faults.
       But Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are linked to a common power grid with Russia and Belarus, and experts here say Y2K breakdowns at any of the plants connected to the grid could cause havoc around the entire network.
       If need be, Baltic power companies say they should be able to quickly and cleanly separate from the regional network—though cutting away from it is a cumbersome and costly process.
       All three Baltic states have set up special task forces to monitor any possible Y2K computer glitches. Experts say the Baltic power, banking and communications sectors seem especially well prepared.

 

News Highlights December 6—December 13, 1999

• Latvia and Lithuania have hailed their invitations to start membership talks with the European Union, extended on December 10 at the EU's Helsinki summit, saying it was a landmark day for their nations.
         "This is a historic day for Latvia which proves that we have returned to where we belong, that Latvia has returned to Europe and that Europe is ready to accept Latvia among its members," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told a news conference in Helsinki.
         Since regaining independence from Moscow, all three Baltic states have made EU membership one of their top foreign policy goals.
         Estonia began talks with the EU already last year, and says it hopes to be ready for membership by 2003 or 2004. Latvia and Lithuania say they are shooting for 2005 or 2006.
         Estonians said they were happy their neighbors would also now begin formal negotiations. Toivo Klaar, an advisor to the Estonian president, said Estonia had felt uncomfortable talking to the EU with their close Baltic allies still waiting in the wings.
         "Had Latvia, for instance, stayed out of the process, we would have had to consider fortifying our border with Latvia as a condition of EU membership," he said. "That wouldn't have been a desirable thing to do."        Baltic leaders say joining the trading bloc will open up lucrative EU markets and also enhance their national security. But their EU enthusiasm isn't echoed by most average citizens.
         Recent polls indicate public support for membership recently slipped below 50 percent -- to as low as 30 percent in Lithuania.
         Many people express excitement and pride at the prospect of membership -- but at the same time say they're confused about what it would mean in practice.
         Others say the EU is too centralized, too reminiscent of another union, the Soviet one, which Balts just spent the last five decades trying to get out of.
         Still others acknowledge the pluses of entering the EU, but wonder if they're outweighed by the negatives
         Estonia, for instance, recently agreed to start imposing trade tariffs starting on Jan. 1, 2000 -- a Brussels requirement for joining the EU customs union. Before, it had no trade barriers at all.
         Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar said that gaining better access to EU markets was clearly worth the price of having to abandon a zero-tariff policy that he argued has clearly contributed to Estonia's development until now.
         "Yes. We lose something, but we also get something in return," he said in an interview at his office. "Undoubtedly, being inside the EU will be very beneficial to our economy. Even the most radical free-market radicals among us agree with this."
         Officials here say public support for EU membership should rise as entry dates near and there's more focus on the benefits.
  In the meantime, the EU has told Baltic lawmakers to work harder at harmonizing their laws with the EU's.
         Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves recently passed that message along to the country's newly elected parliament; he complained that the previous legislature only adopted 14 of 31 EU-related draft laws sent to it.
         He said Estonia's front-runner status could be jeopardized.
         "We cannot afford to lose time," he said.

• Latvian legislators adopted a new language bill on December 9 after Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga refused to sign a more restrictive law passed earlier this year.
         The softened version, which the 100-seat Saeima approved by a 52-to-26 vote, mandates the use of Latvian in many public spheres, but dropped controversial provisions forcing its use in many private business activities.
         The law means state-sponsored public events and rallies must be held in Latvian. But businesses will not have to hold private meetings or keep their financial records in Latvian, as the initial bill required.
         The law, adopted on the eve of the European Union summit in Helsinki, was seen partly as a concession to the EU, which Latvia badly wants to join. The EU had expressed concerns about the more restrictive law.
         President Vike-Freiberga welcomed the adoption of the new law, saying it met international norms and would also succeed in protecting the Latvian language.
         "I, as president, feel very satisfied," she told journalists. "There is nothing in this current version that anyone can find objectionable."
         After regaining independence, Latvia made Latvian the sole state language, saying steps needed to be taken to counter     Russian-language dominance during five decades of Soviet rule.
         Many Russian-speakers, who make up about 40 percent of the Latvian population, speak little or no Latvian; they have expressed anxiety about the impact of Latvia's language legislation.
         Russia has also strongly criticized the efforts to bolster the status of Latvian, saying the moves hurt Latvia's large Russian minority.

• Estonia's national power company, Estonian Energy, said on December 10 that its systems have passed crucial Y2K tests and are ready for potential problems at the changeover to the new millennium.
         A top concern has been whether Estonia could quickly separate from a regional power grid -- which includes Russia, Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus -- if power plants in those countries experienced Y2K malfunctions.
         Experts have warned that disruptions at one plant in the network - set up when the five states were still under Soviet rule -- could create havoc around the entire grid, and even lead to widespread blackouts.
         In tests on December 9, parts of Estonia's domestic network were briefly separated from the regional grid and run independently, according to Estonian Energy's Y2K project manager, Toomas Tutt.
         "We separated some 20 percent of our grid for about four hours," he said. "It was very successful. Our power supply, come what may, will be guaranteed."
         Tutt said cutting from the regional grid and operating independently was expensive and cumbersome, requiring additional staff and more intensive monitoring.
         "It's more stressful for our employees, and the price of processing electricity for us could go up 15 percent," he said. "But, if we have to, we can keep operating independently for days or weeks."
         He said he couldn't gauge the chances of serious glitches in Russia, which is regarded by experts here as the least prepared for Y2K.
         "We're just operating on the assumption Russia will have trouble," the energy official said. "The chances of it actually happening is a secondary issue for us. We've been too busy concentrating on being prepared."
         Tutt said he was sure Estonia's own systems are Y2K-free. He said the nation's main, Soviet-built power plant -- generated by oil shale -- use systems dating back to the '50s; he said those systems don't rely on dates, so aren't Y2K-prone.
         He said the few high-tech computers that are used are just a few years old, and have been thoroughly checked for any Y2K faults.
         "I just don't see factors that suggest we could have any problems," he said. "The chances of our lights going out in Estonia are very, very low."

• Four tons of crude oil spilled into the Baltic Sea from the Butinge off-shore oil terminal on December 6, the first major environmental accident at the facility since it opened this year.
         The mishap occurred at night as oil was being pumped into a Bahraini-registered tanker, the Almanama, in heavy seas; strong wind and waves buffeted the ship, causing the pumping hose to break, official said.
          The Butinge terminal is located in the open sea, about 8 kilometers from the Lithuanian coast and very close to the Latvian border.
         An oil slick headed towards the Latvian coast, though it was apparently broken up by the stormy seas before it could cause serious environmental damage.
         Lithuania opened the new, state-of-the-art oil terminal in July, hoping it would help it establish itself as a major transit point for Russian oil bound for Western markets - challenge Latvia's dominance in the oil-transit sector.
         But Latvia has long complained the Butinge terminal was a major environmental hazard that -- because of wind and sea-current patterns -- threatened Latvia's coast more than Lithuania's.
         Latvian officials expressed anger about the Butinge accident, saying it confirmed their worst fears.

News Highlights from November 29—December 6, 1999

• Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar has called on public officials not to send Christmas greetings by regular mail, but only via the Internet.
         Government spokesman Priit Poiklik said the move to limit Christmas card use was primarily meant as a cost-cutting measure, part of an overall effort to bring the national budget back into balance.
         Prime Minister Laar, known as a tough fiscal conservative, told local media that the tradition of officials in one branch of government sending cards to officials in another branch was particularly nonsensical.
         "The state is one whole organism," Laar told the Eesti Paevaleht daily. "The lungs don't have to congratulate the liver and the liver doesn't have to congratulate the spleen."
         The minister's spokesman said switching to electronic Christmas messages also highlighted Estonia's drive to integrate Internet technology as fully as possible into everyday life.
         Estonia has more Internet connections per capita—about 16 per 1000 residents—than any country in the former Communist bloc, the United Nations Development Program (the UNDP) recently reported.
         "Our country is known as a country that's very eager to embrace the Internet," said the spokesman. "Our prime minister wants to show he's eager to embrace it, too."

• In three days starting on November 29, Lithuanian farmers filed some 10,000 separate lawsuits with courts around the country, saying they hope to swamp the legal system as a way to protest the lack of state support.
         Farmers say they are owed some 65 million dollars in promised subsidies. But the government says the national budget is already out of balance, and that it doesn't have the money.
         Lithuanian farm activists said the protest action would continue for several weeks until some 50,000 lawsuits are filed.
         Court houses across the country confirmed that a steady stream of farmers were arriving and filling out forms declaring their intention to sue the government. The courts then have to process the applications.
         Court officials said their offices would be completely paralyzed if the action continued for much longer.

• Six sailors died when their trawler capsized in stormy weather over the weekend—in one of the worst shipping accidents in Latvia in recent years.
         The 85-ton ship left the Liepaja port city on December 3, ignoring warnings that it was heading into a major storm. But as they ship ran into heavy winds and waves, the captain decided to turn the ship around and head back into port.
         Monitors lost contact with the ship after the captain radioed in that the ship was in serious trouble—that it had hit rocks and was losing its power.
         The ship's owner reportedly blamed the captain for the accident, saying he should not have attempted the delicate task of sailing back into port in such violent weather.

• An Estonian court has cancelled a decision to award a 13-million-dollar radar-construction project, one part of a planned pan-Baltic radar network, to France's Thomson CSF.
         The court didn't address the quality of the French bid in its November 30 ruling, saying only that "the decision passed in this process should have been annulled in any case due to legal deficiencies."
         Estonian government officials said the radar tender would most likely be repeated with the same four bidders, which also included the U.S.-based Lockheed Martin, the British-Italian Alenia Marconi Systems, and Britain's Aerospace.
         The radar would be one of dozens in an air-surveillance system covering all three Baltic states. Official here say the 100-million-dollar network, when completed in five years, will be a major step towards NATO membership.
         The Baltic-wide radar system, dubbed BaltNet, will be used both by Baltic armies and commercial air traffic controllers, who now rely on aging, Soviet-built installations.
         Joining NATO has been a top Baltic policy goal since the restoration of independence in 1991. Despite Russian objections, NATO says the door to the Baltics is open—but that they are not yet ready militarily to join.
         NATO cited the lack of an air defense network as one example of Baltic ill-preparedness.

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