| Airbornelawyer |
12-12-2005 11:40 |
From the RFE/RL Newsline:
Russia- RUSSIA LOOKS TO GREATER ROLE IN FAR EAST
President Vladimir Putin is expected in Kuala Lumpur shortly to meet with leaders of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and then to attend the first 16-country East Asia Summit on 14 December, Russian and international news agencies reported on 12 December. On 10 December, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signed the first-ever cooperation agreement with ASEAN in the Malaysian capital. He stressed that Russia "considers ASEAN its important partner in creating a multipolar world and a common regional security system, and counteracting new threats and challenges." But he also said that economic cooperation is important and requires "special efforts on both sides" to improve it. "We can't bypass Russia-ASEAN cooperation in the field of development, especially if you consider how pressing the issue is for our own regions of Siberia and the Far East," Lavrov added. It is not clear what might come out of the planned ASEAN-Russia summit during Putin's visit, since ASEAN's main concerns are not Russia but Sino-Japanese relations, the rice trade, and Myanmar. As regards the East Asia Summit that follows the ASEAN meeting, Beijing hopes to use it to create new regional structures without the United States, but Japan and Australia are expected to take any anti-U.S. edge off of that gathering.
- CHECHEN RESISTANCE CLAIMS RESPONSIBILITY FOR SECURITY CHIEF'S DEATH
The Chechen resistance released a statement to kavkaz-center on 11 December claiming that the explosion and fire that killed pro-Moscow Chechen Security Council Secretary Rudnik Dudaev earlier that day was caused by a remote-controlled mine, chechenpress.com reported. But Ziyad Sabsabi, the permanent representative in Moscow of the pro-Russian administration, rejected that claim as absurd, insisting that Dudaev's death was "a tragic accident," Interfax reported. According to the pro-Moscow Chechen authorities, Dudaev died of asphyxiation in a fire that destroyed his trailer home in the government compound in Grozny. Deputy Interior Minister Akhmed Dakaev said the cause of the fire is being investigated; he suggested it may have been started by an electrical fault. Dudaev, a career KGB officer, was named to head the Security Council in February 2001.
- PUTIN VISITS GROZNY
President Putin flew to Grozny on 12 December where he addressed the first session of the Chechen parliament elected on 27 November, Russian media reported. Putin exhorted the legislators to "work for the good of Chechnya," dpa reported. He expressed satisfaction that "peace has come to the republic and our enemies have nothing more to do here." Putin went on to accuse the Chechen leaders of the 1990s, meaning Presidents Djokhar Dudaev and Aslan Maskhadov, of putting their personal interests above those of the Chechen people, according to RIA Novosti as cited by lenta.ru, and of distorting the Koran and seeking to discredit Islam. He affirmed that "Russia has always been the most faithful, consistent and reliable defender of the interests of the Islamic religion." Putin also met separately in Grozny with pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Alu Alkhanov and with acting Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov to discuss unspecified issues concerning the socioeconomic rehabilitation of the war-torn republic.
Transcaucasia And Central Asia- GEORGIAN, RUSSIAN OFFICIALS DISCUSS SOUTH OSSETIA
Ambassador Valerii Kenyaikin, who is the Russian co-chairman of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) tasked with monitoring the security situation in the South Ossetian conflict zone, met in Tbilisi on 10 December with Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava to discuss how to defuse rising tensions, Georgian media reported. ITAR-TASS on 12 December quoted Kenyaikin as saying the previous day that both sides advocate cooperation, rather than confrontation. But while South Ossetian Minister for Special Assignments Boris Chochiev insists of convening a special emergency session of the JCC, Kenyaikin and Khaindrava said separately they think separate meetings between Kenyaikin and the two conflict parties would prove more effective. Khaindrava was quoted on 10 December by ITAR-TASS as saying he will not meet with South Osssetian representatives until the fate of four Georgians abducted in the conflict zone in June is clarified. The brother of one of the four missing men was sent a package containing severed limbs, with a note demanding payment of several thousand U.S. dollars for the return of the bodies, according to Caucasus Press on 5 December. A spokesman for the South Ossetian Interior Ministry told regnum.ru on 10 December that the Georgian side is obstructing the investigation into the abductions.
Southeastern Europe- NATO TROOPS IN BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA SEARCH HOME OF KARADZIC ACCOMPLICE...
NATO announced on 12 December that its troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina have searched the home of a man in Pale believed to be helping former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic evade capture, dpa reported. "The search was conducted in an effort to find additional information about the support network and to collect information that may determine Radovan Karadzic's location," NATO said in a statement.
- ROMANIAN PRESIDENT SAYS MOLDOVA MUST ESTABLISH CONTROL OVER ALL OF ITS TERRITORY
Traian Basescu told Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin on 10 December that Chisinau must establish political control over its entire territory, including the breakaway Transdniester region, in compliance with Moldova's Constitution, BASA and moldova.org reported the same day. Basescu's comments came as Voronin was in Bucharest on an official visit. Voronin said that both Chisinau and Bucharest were disappointed that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's ministerial summit in Ljubljana failed to pass a final resolution on the Transdniester issue
Southwestern Asia And The Middle East- UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SAYS TROOPS TO LEAVE IRAQ BY END OF YEAR
President Viktor Yushchenko on 11 December said that all of Ukraine's troops will be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of 2005, Interfax reported the next day. "I promised to withdraw the Ukrainian peacekeepers from Iraq. To date, 800 of our soldiers have already returned to Ukraine, The rest, a further 800 or so, will be welcomed home between 20 and 30 December. They will celebrate New Year's Eve with their families," Yushchenko said in a radio address on 10 December. "The 1,600 Ukrainian peacekeepers have trained 2,700 Iraqi troops -- a complete brigade of three battalions," he added.
- AFGHAN AIR FORCE CONSIDERS FEMALE PILOTS
As the Afghan Air Force begins its recovery, the Defense Ministry is looking at the possibility of female pilots joining the force, state-run National Television of Afghanistan reported on 10 December. Currently, 58 pilots are scheduled to receive training, including two female pilots, Captain Latifa and Captain Lailoma. According to Captain Lailoma, women have proven that they are able to help their country by serving in the air force.
- IRAQI POLICE FIND BODY OF EGYPTIAN HOSTAGE
Iraqi police said they have identified the body of an Egyptian hostage abducted on 9 December, RFI reported on 11 December. The hostage, Ibrahim al-Sa'id al-Hilali, was reportedly working in Tikrit as a U.S. contractor when he was abducted. Police said that al-Hilali was found dead of a gunshot wound near a village north of Tikrit on 10 December. His identity cards were found in his pocket.
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