RIGA, Feb 26 (Reuters) — British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on Tuesday that Britain wanted Latvia to become a member of NATO, adding to the evidence that alliance membership for the ex-Soviet Baltic states has broad support.
      Latvia, along with Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Estonia, are hoping to get invitations to join NATO at the alliance's summit in Prague in November.
      Officials from NATO countries have become more open in backing Baltic membership since Russia began softening its long-held opposition to NATO expansion into territory once occupied by the Soviet Union.
      "Britain remains a supporter of NATO enlargement. We believe that this will contribute to the greater security of Europe," Hoon told a news conference during a visit to Latvia.
      "All candidates must maintain momentum in defence reform. Britain wants to see Latvia as a full member of NATO," he said.
      Latvia's biggest obstacle to membership is legislation that some say discriminates against the country's Russian speakers -- around one-third of the 2.4 million population.
      NATO Secretary General George Robertson has said the law — which sets language proficiency requirements for political candidates -- could play a role in the decision to be taken at the Prague summit.
      Latvian leaders say they hope to make the necessary changes in the law by November. Hoon called the election law an "internal matter for Latvia to decide" but encouraged the country to respect democratic principles.
      Nine eastern European states are candidates to join fellow ex-Soviet bloc states Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic within NATO. The Baltics and Slovenia are those most likely to be invited to join.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Waffen SS veterans in Latvia have canceled a planned procession through the streets of this former Soviet republic's capital, saying they don't want to jeopardize Latvia's bid to join the NATO military alliance.
      In recent years, some 300 men mostly in their 70s and 80s have marched through Riga on March 16, the date of a major battle in 1944, to remember 50,000 fallen comrades -- commemorations that angered Jewish groups in Latvia and abroad.
      Latvia's 11,000-member Jewish community said the march from a church to an independence monument was an affront to the memory of 80,000 Latvian Jews killed during the 1941-44 Nazi occupation. Moscow also denounced the gatherings.
      The Waffen SS veterans, some in wheelchairs, wearing combat fatigues and carrying flowers or canes, have claimed they were patriots fighting against Soviet invasion, or that they were forced to fight for the Waffen SS against their will.
      The annual march to the monument was canceled last year because the obelisk structure had been under renovation, though the veterans' groups vowed at the time that they would march again this year.
      While they insist the parades were never politically motivated, veterans said Friday they decided not to stage it this year because it could be misunderstood. Veterans still planned a service at a Riga church and cemetery.
      "We are not fascists, but we don't want the world to think NATO is admitting a country that accepts fascism," 77-year-old veteran Nikolajs Romanovskis, the event's chief organizer, said.
      Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins met with the organizers several times to persuade them not to march.
      Latvian leaders also have tried in earlier years to prevent the march but reportedly applied extra pressure this year because Latvia appears so close to its long-cherished goal of NATO membership.
      "(The march) would have been a public relations nightmare on the eve of joining NATO," human rights activist Nils Muiznieks said.
      Latvia and the other Baltic states, Estonia and Lithuania, say they're hopeful about winning invitations to join the alliance during a NATO summit in Prague in November -- even though Russia opposes the entry of ex-Soviet republics.
      Soviet forces occupied Latvia in 1940; Germany ruled from 1941-44, and the Soviets retook it in 1944. Latvia regained its independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
      With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies, 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting on one side of the conflict or the other, usually after being conscripted. Some 150,000 Latvian combatants died.

      Reuters diary of time changes around the world up to end of May 2002 [excerpted]:
      SUNDAY, MARCH 31
      FINLAND — Clocks go forward by one hour, new time GMT+3
      LATVIA — Clocks go forward by two hours, new time GMT+3 hours.

      MOSCOW (AP) — The exporter of Stolichnaya vodka accused the Russian government on Monday of underhanded tactics in a dispute that has left tons of the popular beverage languishing in a port in western Russia.
      Authorities in the western enclave of Kaliningrad have refused to release 150 shipping containers of vodka, mostly Stolichnaya, that belong to the SPI Spirits Group, the company said. The shipment to markets around the world has been stopped by the Agriculture Ministry, which claims it is the rightful owner of the trademark for Stolichnaya and other popular brands.
      "This is a dispute about rights," SPI chairman Yuri Shefler said in company statement. "It is about the violation of SPI's rights as the legitimate owner of the trademark. But it is also about the right of businesses in Russia to operate under worldwide standards of acceptable commercial conduct."
      The Agriculture Ministry claims SPI obtained the trademarks as a result of an illegal privatization deal in the early 1990s. In October, the state trademark agency, Rospatent, awarded the ministry the rights to 43 of SPI's brands. The company appealed and won 26 of them, including Stolichnaya, back.
      But in February, the State Customs Committee told regional customs agencies that SPI could not export the vodka without licensing agreements with the Agriculture Ministry, according to the Interfax news agency.
      The dispute could lead to the production of Russia's most famous vodka outside of Russia. The company owns a plant in Latvia and could move production there or even further west.
      Moving production abroad "has never been our goal," Shefler told the business daily Vedomosti. "However, the Russian bureaucrats are increasingly pushing us toward that."
      Deputy Agriculture Minister Vladimir Loginov told Interfax that the ministry would defend its rights to the brands in foreign courts and then hold talks with SPI on the export issue.
      Stolichnaya is the world's best-selling vodka, with consumer retail sales in export markets totaling dlrs 500 million a year, SPI says.

      MOSCOW (AP) — Top officials from 11 countries that touch the Baltic Sea gathered in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on Tuesday to discuss cooperation and how European Union expansion eastward will affect relations among them.
      Kaliningrad is sandwiched between EU candidates Poland and Lithuania and is cut off from the rest of Russia. Russian officials fear EU expansion could make it a haven for crime and smuggling, which already are higher in impoverished Kaliningrad than in neighboring states. The EU sees Kaliningrad as a test of the impact expansion would have on neighboring regions and Russia overall.
      This week's meeting, in the Kaliningrad region town of Svetlogorsk, is part of the Council of Baltic Sea States, which includes Russia, Germany, Poland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. EU officials were also attending.
      European Commissioner for Foreign Affairs Chris Patten and Russia's Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov were expected to hold talks at the meeting Wednesday.
      Russia's Foreign Ministry said the meeting would also address the rights of national minorities in the Baltic countries -- an apparent reference to policies in the ex-Soviet states of Estonia and Latvia that Moscow says discriminate against Russian minorities, according to the ITAR-Tass news agency.

      SVETLOGORSK (Kaliningrad Region), Mar 06, 2002 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) — The prime ministers of the countries affiliated to the Council of Baltic Sea States are to meet at St.Petersburg from June 10-11, Russian Premier Mikhail Kasyanov stated on Wednesday, speaking at the opening here of the eleventh session of the Council of Baltic Sea States.
      He said that this interregional organisation should contribute to the effective cooperation of all the Baltic Sea nations for the sake of a united Europe".
      The Council of Baltic Sea States was founded in 1992. It now includes eleven countries: Russia, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Estonia. Russia is presently chairing the organisation.

      VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov repeated Moscow's opposition to Baltic NATO membership during a visit to Lithuania on Thursday -- but added that the three ex-Soviet republics had a right to choose.
      "Lithuania is an independent state and may choose what organizations it wants to join," he said after meeting Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis in Vilnius, the capital of this Baltic Sea coast nation of 3.5 million people.
      Lithuania and the other Western-oriented Baltic states, Estonia and Latvia, made NATO entry a top priority after regaining independence during the 1991 Soviet collapse. Russia has said their membership would threaten its security.
      Wrapping up a two-day visit, Ivanov said that remains Moscow's position.
      "We believe mechanical NATO expansion isn't in line with the European security and stability interests of today," he said.
      Russia has appeared to soften its once vehement stance against Baltic membership after relations improved with the 19-member alliance following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
      While Baltic membership initially seemed unlikely because of Kremlin concerns, they're now seen as top contenders to win NATO invitations this year.
      Lithuanian parliamentarian Alvydas Medalinskas said Russia has grudgingly excepted the inevitable -- that the Baltics will soon be in NATO.
      "For Russia to oppose this and to lose is maybe worse than just being quiet about it and accepting the new reality," he said.
      Ivanov was on a rare visit to the Baltic region, which has occasionally had strained relations with Moscow. The last high-ranking Russian visit to Lithuania was by Ivanov himself in 1998.

      LONDON (AP) — A postcard, believed to be the world's oldest, with a humorous drawing of postal clerks seated around a large inkwell fetched $44,300 at an auction Friday, a stamp dealership said.
      The postcard, which dates from 1840 and carries a rare Penny Black stamp, was bought by collector Eugene Gomberg bidding by phone from Riga, Latvia, a spokesman for the London Stamp Exchange said.
      The hand-colored card was addressed to "Theodore Hook Esq., Fulham," a playwright and novelist.
      It pokes fun at the postal service by showing a group of post office "scribes" with pens in their hands seated around an enormous inkwell. It was probably sent by Hook to himself for his own amusement.
      The significance of Hook's card was not realized until last year, when an expert discovered it in a stamp collection.
      Until then it had been thought the postcard was invented in Austria, Germany or the United States in the 1860s, said the London Stamp Exchange spokesman.
      He said the card and stamp have been authenticated by the British Philatelic Association.

      Washington, DC, Mar 08, 2002 (FedNet via COMTEX) — The Bureau of Export Administration (BXA) is amending the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) by revising License Exception CTP to reflect rapid technological advances in computing capability. This rule implements the President's decision to revise U.S. export controls on high performance computers (HPCs), announced January 2, 2002. All HPCs continue to be eligible for export to a Computer Tier 1 country under License-Exception CTP. Beginning March 3, 2002, HPCs controlled by Export Control Classification Number (ECCN) 4A003 with a CTP up to 190,000 Millions of Theoretical Operations per Second (MTOPS) can be exported to Computer Tier 3 countries under License Exception CTP without advance notification. This revision also applies to electronic assemblies and specially designed components controlled by ECCN 4A003. This rule also moves Latvia from Computer Tier 3 to Computer Tier 1, effective May 2, 2002. Finally, this rule adds Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, and Turkey to the list of countries eligible for exports and reexports of software and technology for computers with unlimited CTP under License Exception TSR. The President's action will promote our national security, enhance the effectiveness of our export control system and ease unnecessary regulatory burdens on both government and industry.
      DATES: This rule is effective March 6, 2002.
      AGENCY: Bureau of Export Administration, Commerce.
      ACTION: Final rule.

      MOSCOW, March 4 (Reuters) — The arrival soon of U.S. troops in yet another part of the vast empire Moscow once ruled may have Russian MPs red with anger, but it has also highlighted the increasingly pragmatic approach of President Vladimir Putin.
      "No tragedy" was the former spy-chief's balloon-deflating response to plans by Washington, now sparking furious debate in Russia, to take its newest campaign against terror to the impoverished former Soviet jewel of Georgia.
      Analysts say that an economically and politically battered Russia, with its poorly resourced military, is anyway not in much of a position to complain. Putin, who has made a point of improving ties with Washington, knows it.
      The troubled Transcaucasian state will join three other former Soviet states -- in Central Asia -- as host to a U.S. military scouring the world for those behind the September 11 attacks in the United States.
      For many in Moscow it is the thin end of an increasingly fat wedge, splitting away a buffer of protection that Russia took generations to build around its often invaded borders.
      COMMUNISTS COMPLAIN
      Predictably, Gennady Zyuganov, head of the Communist Party, parliament's biggest, led the public assault.
      "The expansion of Americans all over the world is in place and what is happening in Georgia is only another link in a chain of that global invasion," his party's paper, Sovietskaya Rossiya, quoted him as saying at the weekend.
      "We demand that the government and President Putin urgently undertake steps to oppose the real and growing military and other threats coming to our country."
      And the Russian parliament, seeking an opportunity for revenge, plans to debate the possibility of recognising the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, a romantic sub-tropical area on the Black Sea that was beloved as a resort area during both Tsarist and Soviet times.
      "If the Americans bring their troops to Georgia, Russia will recognise the independence of Abkhazia and (another Georgian province) South Ossetia," cautioned Dmitry Rogozin, head of the parliamentary committee on international relations.
      HUMILIATING REMINDERS
      Analysts say it is the inevitable response of those Russians who look forlornly on a world where they are no longer a major power, with each reminder taking its humiliating toll.
      "It's the Russian perception of its national dignity...There's a feeling that we are not masters even in this limited political space," said Boris Makarenko, deputy director of Moscow Centre for Political Technologies.
      "Russia has to be pragmatic. Putin accepts that."
      The view was echoed by Alexei Malashenko, scholar in residence at the Moscow chapter of the Carnegie Institute for International Peace.
      "A lot of deputies (MPs) still live in the Soviet Union. We have to get it into our minds that Russia is a new country...Putin is beginning to feel it," he said.
      Even officials appear at times out of step with Putin.
      Early last week, Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov initially sounded a warning of dire consequences if U.S. troops were stationed across the border in Georgia. A few days later, after Putin's laid-back response, he softened his stand.
      It is not the first time that Putin — whose cautious manner contrasts sharply to the charismatic but erratic Boris Yeltsin he replaced two years ago -- has let officials complain loudly over an issue and then, a few days later, calmly deflated it.
      LAWLESS GORGE
      Washington's focus this time is on the lawless Pankisi Gorge in the north of Georgia, where it believes followers of Osama bin Laden may be digging in.
      On the other side of the gorge lies Chechnya, a mostly Muslim region of Russia where Moscow has been battling unsuccessfully for years to crush separatist rebels.
      "The bright side of the situation is that now the U.S. recognises international terrorists are there...if they are swept out it helps us in Chechnya for sure," said Vyacheslav Nikonov of the independent think-tank Fond Politika.
      Georgia's relationship with Russia has deep roots.
      In the late 18th century, Moscow's soldiers were helping the fellow Christian region fend off attacks from the Ottoman Empire centred on the other side of the Black Sea.
      An exotic wine-producing nation that offers a whiff of romance for the more dour Russia to the north, it was also the birthplace of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and his secret police chief Lavrenty Beria.
      But in the decade since it became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union, Georgia has frequently accused Moscow of mischief-making within its borders, and these days relations are brittle.
      In particular, protracted negotiations to get Russia to take back large numbers of troops based there in a leftover from Soviet times have still not been concluded.

      GORI, Georgia, March 5 (Reuters) — About 100 elderly Georgians loyal to the memory of Soviet leader Josef Stalin gathered in his home town of Gori on Tuesday to mark the 49th anniversary of his death.
      Strong winds and drizzle stopped doddery war veterans from following their usual tradition of marching through town and laying flowers at a giant bronze statue of their hero in the main square.
      The crowd huddled around Stalin's humble childhood home and listened to speeches condemning Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze and his efforts to strengthen ties between the former Soviet republic and the West.
      News that Washington plans to send special forces military instructors to Georgia to train and equip its army to fight Islamic extremists believed to be holed up in a northern mountain gorge was greeted with disdain.
      "Our leadership does not understand that the only way to save Georgia is through Russia. Americans won't help us," said Tsotne Turiashvili, secretary of Gori branch of Georgia's small Communist party.
      Russia had initially objected to Washington's plans but Russian President Vladimir Putin then put an end to the protest, saying U.S. military aid to Georgia was "no tragedy."
      Reviled around the world as one of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century, Stalin is still adored by many in the small republic where he was born, who long for the days of subsidies from Moscow and cheap food and housing for all.
      His strong-willed rule is a source of pride for war veterans, who credit him with defeating Nazi Germany in World War Two.
      "If Stalin could learn about (U.S. plans) he would be shocked by the inability of Georgia's government and president to restore order in their own country," said Panteleimon Giorgadze, leader of the Georgian Communist Party.
      Born Josef Dzhugashvili, Stalin ruled the Soviet Union from Lenin's death in 1924 to his own in 1953. He sent millions to their deaths in labour camps and millions more died of hunger following the forced collectivisation of agriculture.

      MOSCOW (AP) — About 100 people gathered near the headquarters of the former KGB on the 49th anniversary of Soviet leader Josef Stalin's death on Tuesday to protest what they see as a creeping return to the Stalinist repression in Russia.
      The evening rally began with a minute of silence for the victims of Stalin's repressions, the Interfax news agency reported.
      Holding signs reading "No to a police state" and "No place for Stalinism in our future," the protesters warned that a cult of personality was taking shape around President Vladimir Putin, similar to the one that surrounded Stalin and drove his brutal regime.
      They also called for the creation of a public commission to investigate a series of apartment-house bombings that killed more than 300 people in 1999. The government has blamed the blasts on Chechen rebels, but some Kremlin opponents have long voiced suspicions that the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the main successor to the KGB, was behind them.
      In London on Tuesday, former Kremlin insider Boris Berezovsky screened segments of a French documentary outlining circumstantial evidence of alleged FSB involvement in the explosions.
      Liberal Russia, a political movement co-chaired by Berezovsky, was one of the organizers of Tuesday's rally.