MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia warned Tuesday that it would "respond" to NATO warplanes patrolling on its frontiers once the three ex-Soviet Baltic states join the U.S.-led defense bloc next week but it did not say what that response would be.
      "If the alliance thinks the region needs such defenses, Russia has a right to draw its own conclusions and will be forced to respond accordingly," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko told a news conference in Moscow.
      NATO sources have said four Danish fighters will patrol the alliance's newly extended frontiers in the skies over Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which have very limited air forces of their own, once the three join NATO Monday, March 29.
      "We are now studying this step," Yakovenko said, without elaborating what form the Russian reaction might take.
      Moscow bitterly opposed the expansion of its old Cold War adversary into eastern Europe and especially into territories that were until 1991 integral parts of the Soviet Union. But faced with a fait accompli it has since sought cooperation with NATO and any confrontation has been limited to the verbal.
      Yakovenko said the patrols would directly affect Russian security interests and show bad faith in the coordination which the two sides tried to foster at a summit in Rome in 2002.
      A better way forward would be to speed up the launch of a modified treaty on Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE), he said, referring to a Cold War-era pact limiting armed forces.
      NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer is expected in Moscow in the coming week to try to allay Russian suspicions about the plan for the Baltic states, which were left with no effective combat aircraft when they broke from Soviet control.
      Russia is likely to tell him the plan is misguided.
      "It's unfortunate that in taking this decision, the NATO countries didn't get a realistic picture of the military situation in the region, where there are no direct security threats, partly because of unprecedented disarmament efforts by Russia and other states," said Yakovenko.
      He added that arguments that the patrols might help defend NATO members against terrorists were "barely credible."
      The Baltic trio also joins the European Union on May 1. Estonia and Latvia border Russia's main landmass while Lithuania has a frontier with Moscow's Kaliningrad enclave.

      WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush welcomed seven former Soviet-dominated nations into NATO on Monday, saying the 55-year old Western alliance would be strengthened because "tyranny for them is still a fresh memory."
      The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to 26 members was celebrated as NATO signaled a willingness to play a military role in Iraq if authorized by a new U.N. Security Council resolution.
      Standing with prime ministers in a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, Bush said the new members "earned their freedom through courage and perseverance and today they stand with us as full and equal partners in this great alliance."
      Joining Bush under bright sunshine were the leaders of Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
      Three of the new members — the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia -- are former Soviet republics. As recently as 15 years ago more than 100,000 Red Army soldiers were stationed there.
      "As witness to some of the great crimes of the last century, our new members bring moral clarity to the purposes of our alliance. They understand our cause in Afghanistan and in Iraq," the president said, "because tyranny for them is still a fresh memory."
      Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the alliance might be willing to play a role in Iraq if the U.N. Security Council authorized an international security force to serve there. It might even be willing to take command of part of that force, De Hoop Scheffer told reporters.
      That would be a major step, since the alliance has been divided by the war in Iraq. France and Germany, two of NATO's key European members, opposed the war. And public opinion in other member countries, including Spain, is against sending troops.
      De Hoop Scheffer said NATO might get involved if the Security Council passed a resolution and if the governing body that takes political control in Iraq on June 30 asked for troops.
      "I think that the NATO allies would enter that discussion with a positive attitude, which could mean that NATO, as far as command is concerned, could participate or could take over a certain part of the stabilization force," he said in an interview with a group of reporters ahead of the White House ceremony.
      De Hoop Scheffer said he hoped the 18 NATO countries that presently have forces in Iraq under U.S. command will keep them there.
      Bush praised those NATO countries for their help in Iraq, and also those playing a peacekeeping role in Afghanistan.
      NATO was originally established in 1949 by the United States, Canada and 10 European countries to confront the Soviet Union's military strength in the Cold War.
      "NATO'S core mission remains the same: the defense of its members against any aggression. Today, our alliance faces a new enemy, which has brought death to innocent people from New York to Madrid," Bush said.
      "Terrorists hate everything this alliance stands for. They despise our freedom. They fear our unity. They seek to divide us. They will fail," Bush added.
      The White House ceremony was attended by hundreds of people, some waving flags of the new member nations. As each leader was introduced, a loud cheer went up from a different part of the audience.
      A military honor guard carried the flags of all 26 NATO countries.
      The new members will take their seats at NATO's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday. Three other nations -- Albania, Croatia and Macedonia -- still hope to join.
      "The door to NATO will remain open until the whole of Europe is united in freedom and in peace," the president said.
      Russia has cast a wary eye toward the expansion of NATO.
      U.S. officials have minimized worries that NATO expansion could cause tensions with Russia, but President Vladimir Putin's government has warned that Moscow intends to take steps to defend itself should it perceive NATO's eastward push as a threat.
      After the ceremony, prime ministers from the seven new NATO countries and from the three that hope to join next spoke with reporters at the National Press Club.
      "Our accession to the alliance is a decisive step towards creating a Europe whole and free," said Algirdas Brazauskas, prime minister of Lithuania.
      Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda of Slovakia said NATO membership would bring more security to Europe and "provide a better chance for its democratic forces to fight against terrorism." Juhan Parts, the prime minister of Estonia, said membership was not a one-way street and his country was ready to do its part to "ensure that NATO remains a stable and secure alliance."

      MOSCOW (Reuters) — Russia Tuesday ordered three Lithuanian diplomats out of the country, one month after the Baltic state expelled three Russians it said were spying.
      A Foreign Ministry statement said the Lithuanian charge d'affaires had been summoned and told the three diplomats had conducted "activities incompatible with their status," a usual euphemism for spying.
      The three were given two days to leave Russia.
      It was Russia's second expulsion order in a week directed at Baltic diplomats. Russian authorities last week threw out two Estonian diplomats in a similar tit-for-tat action.
      Lithuania expelled three Russian diplomats in February after accusing them of spying and trying to gain access to NATO and European Union secrets.
      In Vilnius, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis said the Russian move had been expected for some time.
      "I can say that this was not a friendly step by Russia. These diplomats were not involved in any kind of untoward activity," he told reporters. "We understood that this step would be taken according to diplomatic practice and we were prepared for it."
      The three Baltic countries — Latvia as well as Lithuania and Estonia -- were admitted to NATO Monday along with four other east European countries.
      Russia has had uneasy relations with the Baltic states since they won back their independence in 1991, but particularly with Estonia and Latvia.
      Moscow says both discriminate against large minorities of ethnic Russians who settled there in communist times. The two Baltic states accuse Russia of intimidation and interference in their internal affairs.
      Lithuania has had less difficulty integrating its smaller community of ethnic Russians.

      MOSCOW, March 30 (Xinhua) — The Russian Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that the patrolling by NATO planes of the air space of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is totally unnecessary. From a security point of view, the region has been virtually demilitarized, Alexander Yakovenko, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said at a briefing the day after seven countries -- including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- formally joined NATO and four F- 16 fighter jets began patrolling over the three Baltic states. NATO has agreed to include the Baltic states, said to posses very limited air forces of their own, under its air defense shield.
      In response to NATO's expansion, Russia has warned that it will take steps to defend itself if NATO's eastward push is perceived as a threat.
      Yakovenko said the deployment of NATO warplanes, even if justifiable under NATO instructions, is an outdated approach used two or three decades ago.
      He did not rule out the possibility that Russia would evaluate NATO's move from a military point of view if it develops further.
      But Russia will seek constructive dialogue and settle the issue in accordance with international law, said the spokesman.
      He said the three Baltic countries, which also join the European Union on May 1, should abide by the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, a Cold War-era pact limiting armed forces. Russia has accepted an invitation to participate in talks at NATO's headquarters in Brussels on Friday.

      MOSCOW (AP) — Russian lawmakers on Wednesday voiced concern about NATO's expansion to Russia's doorstep and said that Moscow may reconsider its defense strategies and deployment of its forces if the alliance continues to ignore Russian interests.
      The lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted 305-41 with two abstentions for a resolution which strongly urged NATO members to ratify an arms treaty containing restrictions on weapons' deployment near Russia's borders.
      NATO expanded to 26 nations Monday, incorporating seven new members, three of which -- the Baltic states of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia -- are former Soviet republics. It has tried to reassure Moscow that the expansion is not directed against Russia.
      But the Duma said that NATO's move eastward contradicted its pledge to enhance cooperation with Russia in counterterrorism, nonproliferation, peacekeeping and other areas, contained in a 2002 agreement.
      "Common responses to modern global challenges don't require a buildup of weapons on the territories of Russia's neighbors," the statement said.
      It voiced particular concern about NATO members' reluctance to ratify an amended version of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty that limits the number of troops and weapons in various areas.
      NATO, in turn, has blamed Russia for failing to fulfill its pledge to withdraw its troops from the ex-Soviet republics of Georgia and Moldova. The Duma insisted Wednesday that these obligations were unrelated to the CFE and accused NATO of putting up "artificial obstacles" to the CFE ratification.
      It warned the alliance that Russia may revise its 1999 pledge to limit troop numbers in its westernmost Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad and the northwestern Pskov region near Estonia if NATO "takes steps to change the military-political balance in the Baltic region in its favor."
      If NATO fails to take into account Russia's concerns, the Duma said it will also recommend the government to strengthen Russia's nuclear deterrent and consider the deployment of additional military forces near western borders.
      Some hardline members of the Duma complained that the statement was too mild, but the pro-Kremlin majority ignored demands to toughen it.
      The hawkish head of Duma's defense affairs committee, retired Col.-Gen. Viktor Zavarzin, said that the Russian military could counter the alliance's expansion by putting more emphasis on tactical nuclear weapons.
      But Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday that Russia will continue to cooperate with NATO and spoke calmly about its expansion. "If this process poses no threats to Russia, our attitude is calm, but if we see any alarming aspects from the military viewpoint, we say so openly," Ivanov said, according to the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agencies.

      New York — A recently published report on civil liberties in 2003 by the New York-based Freedom House organization has recognized 89 countries as
      free, 55 as partially free and 48 as not free. The appraisal was based on a system of half-point gradations, where 1.0 is the best score and 7.0 the worst. Pretty much like at school, then.
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      Email the Opinion Page Editor It's no surprise that the worst marks went to North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria and Turkmenistan. Russia fell into the category of partially free countries along with Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia. Indonesia, Argentina, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Turkey, Venezuela and Columbia are in the same group.
      Things become more interesting when we look at the actual figures awarded. Russia received 5.0, a very poor score. Of all of the European former Soviet republics, only Belarus fared worse with 6 points. Even Turkey earned a higher rating, 3.5. According to the Freedom House experts, Tajikistan (5.5) is freer than Belarus.
      But Georgia and Ukraine were rated at 4.0, Moldova 3.5 and the Baltic republics came out near the top of the class with 1.5 each. Other results of interest were Mongolia (3.0), Bulgaria (1.5), the Czech Republic (1.5), Greece (1.5), Japan (1.5), France (1.0) and Germany (1.0). The United States, of course, scored 1.0.
      A real blow for Argentina. Evidently the experts didn't think they could classify as truly free a country where the people can kick the parliament and the president out onto the street.
      And a blow for Russia, too. You can't call Russia a democratic state, but at least we don't deny a third of our citizens their rights, like Latvia. Russian national politics holds a contradictory position, between liberal declarations of equality and the daily discrimination practiced against the Muslim minority. But then the Latvian government doesn't even make these declarations; it has nothing more important to do than destroy the schools of national minorities.
      The pressure that the authorities in Ukraine put on the opposition is no less serious than in Russia; the only difference is that in Moscow the authorities are better at implementing the policy than those in Kiev.
      One guarantee for democracy in former Soviet countries is, apparently, an absence of effective centralized power. Is it really true that Shevardnadze's Georgia was freer than Putin's Russia?
      The scores are based on 2003 data, but the Rose Revolution overthrew Shevardnadze in November. Even if the new situation compelled Freedom House to sharply increase the country's rating, it's still somewhat confusing.
      Has the increase in freedom since Georgia's change in leadership been so marked? The 90 percent of votes that Mikheil Saakashvili received is evidently considered more democratic than Putin's official total of 71 percent.
      I must confess that I am delighted for Mongolia. But all the same, a few unpleasant thoughts still linger at the back of my mind. Why, for example, do the Baltic republics appear in the same category of countries as others that have a well-established history of economic development? Is it a high mark for Latvia and Estonia, or a low mark for Greece and Japan? And what did the Czech Republic do wrong? After all, their political institutions are identical to those in Western Europe.
      When one of my friends saw the results, he reminded me that the teacher's marks take account not only of progress, but also of the behavior and enthusiasm of the students. For example, while Tajikistan has allowed the building of a U.S. military base, Lukashenko's Belarus has not. Neither country has a democracy to be proud of, but now everyone should be aware: authoritarianism with U.S. bases is not the same as authoritarianism without them.
      If we are all students, then we are learning from the ideologies of Freedom House, our teacher. But their approach is clear as day. It all comes down to the principle that U.S. leadership in international affairs is essential to the cause of human rights and freedom.
      With a perfect 1.0 score, the United States is a straight-A student. There may be irregularities in Florida's vote count, an extravagant system of voter registration and an 18th-century electoral system, but none of these factors matter.
      This noble desire of U.S. conservatives to teach the world democracy is most laudable. Just don't be surprised when the results are less than successful.
      After all, we students are just doing as our teacher tells us.
      Boris Kagarlitsky is director of the Institute of Globalization Studies.

      BRUSSELS, April 2 (Reuters) — The flags of seven new East European members were raised at NATO headquarters on Friday as foreign ministers prepared to confer on a growing list of global troublespots where their overstretched forces are involved.
      "At the dawn of a new century, the entry of the seven new members extends the area of stability of our continent," said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini. "It...confirms that the divisions of the past have been overcome."
      The banners of formerly communist Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia were hoisted in the courtyard of the sprawling low-rise NATO complex in a Brussels suburb four days after they joined, raising membership to 26.
      The three Baltic states are former Soviet republics whose incorporation into the Western alliance has riled Moscow.
      But, after much deliberation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov agreed to meet NATO counterparts later on Friday in what Western diplomats saw as a signal of acceptance.
      "It's a historic moment. For 50 years we were occupied by the Russians. We've never been as safe as we are today," said Lithuanian warrant officer Algirdas Nakvosas, resplendent in a green dress uniform, as he watched the flags go up.
      NATO warplanes began air patrols over the Baltic states as soon as they acceded on Monday, despite complaints from Moscow.
      Former Lithuanian President Vytautas Landsbergis, a hero of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, told state radio: "People have been trying to tell us that the Cold War is over ...but there are many facts showing us that this is an illusion.
      "I speak not of the Russian people, but in the minds of Russian leaders nothing is different from 10 or even 15 years ago. The Cold War against the Baltic States continues."
      AFGHANISTAN, BALKANS HEADACHES
      U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said there was no reason for "heightened nervousness" over Russia's unease.
      "I don't sense that the Russians will find it necessary to counter this move with anything that would be either provocative or destabilizing or dangerous," he said in remarks released by the State Department on Friday.
      Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia once formed part of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact, NATO's foe which collapsed in 1991. Slovenia once belonged to non-aligned but communist Yugoslavia.
      In their talks, the ministers were to discuss the slow delivery on pledges to expand security in Afghanistan, which won record aid from donors this week but is still threatened by a resurgent drugs trade, warlordism and guerrillas.
      "I would like to see additional forces go in there over the next couple of months in order to secure the country for the elections that are going to be held in September," Powell said.
      Aid groups have criticised NATO for planning to set up military reconstruction teams in relatively stable areas of the country and failing to address the chief security problems.
      The allied ministers were also due to discuss the recent setback in Kosovo to their efforts to stabilise peace in the Balkans and announce steps to fight terrorism with Mediterranean partners, but avoid any deeper involvement in Iraq.
      Diplomats said the United States and Britain had eased up on efforts to give NATO a bigger role in post-war stabilisation of Iraq, both because of political setbacks in Europe and because the alliance has its hands full in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
      However, several of the new allies are keen to see the alliance in Iraq, a position that risks reopening the divisions that roiled Europe over the U.S.-led invasion last year.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — The three Baltic states on Friday celebrated their entry into NATO -- holding parades and hoisting blue-and-white alliance flags above their capitals where the red flags of NATO's Cold War enemy the Soviet Union flew barely a decade ago.
      The Baltics and four other ex-communist countries were inducted into the U.S.-led alliance on Monday, but held off for five days to stage celebrations. NATO entry is widely seen here as the most historic event since the Baltics regained independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse.
      "At last we can feel secure," Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told The Associated Press in Riga, the capital. "It gives us a sense that we've not just recovered our sovereignty, but that we can be assured of preserving it for our children and grandchildren."
      Friday morning, residents watched live television broadcasts of their national flags being raised at NATO headquarters in Brussels alongside 19 other NATO members. City buses in Estonia donned NATO flags and in Lithuania, troops paraded through the nation's capital, Vilnius.
      Their acceptance into NATO marks the first time in modern history they the Baltics freely joined a military alliance. They are among ten countries joining the European Union in May.
      Just 15 years ago, more than 100,000 Red Army soldiers were stationed in the Baltic states, remnants of an invasion force that forcibly annexed the region into the Soviet Union during World War II.
      "We are a very young and small country," said 17-year-old high school student Vita Vitola as she watched a NATO flag being raised at the Latvian president's palace. "Joining NATO means we will never be pushed around by Russia again."
      Several NATO F16s that arrived in Lithuania on Monday to monitor Baltic airspace had been expected to scream over all three Baltic capitals Friday in a celebratory fly over. But local media reports said those plans were dropped. No further explanations were given.
      Their absence didn't dampen the joy and emotion on the ground.
      "Seeing the NATO flag makes us feel safer because we know there is more global interest and people looking out for us," said a teary eyed Latvian retiree Viesturs Berkmanis, born around the time Soviet troops invaded in 1940. "Tell the world we're back."
      The Belgian F16s now stationed at a base in northern Lithuania will fly regular patrols over the Baltics, which have just a few military planes between them and no fighter jets.
      The Kremlin, leery of NATO expansion as a whole, has been particularly angry over the inclusion of the neighboring Baltic states, saying they should have been a no-go area for NATO.
      Latvian Defense Minister Atis Slakteris said Friday that there are no plans for a NATO base in Latvia. Other Baltic officials in the past have also said they have no intention of establishing NATO bases here, though they haven't categorically ruled it out.
      Estonian President Arnold Ruutel, at a NATO flag raising ceremony in Estonia Friday, also tried to reassure Russia, saying that the Kremlin should understand that "the Baltic states' belonging to both the European Union and NATO corresponds to the interests of Russia as well."
      Ruutel didn't elaborate, but other Baltic officials have long argued that NATO will help Russia by boosting EU-Russia trade and ensuring that Russia has a secure border with Western Europe, one that will lessen opportunities for terrorists.

      Article — Russian generals and politicians were frightened when four NATO jets landed this week on the runway at Zokniai military airfield in Lithuania after the three Baltic states joined the western military alliance Monday.
      In the light of this event politicians are trying to revive the Cold War mentality in Russian society. They want to convince the public that plans to station NATO forces in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia could upset the military balance between the West and the East.
      It is widely acknowledged that these days the balance is nothing more than a dream in the heads of some generals.
      The dream is a reflection of the former might of the superpower that let games be played by the Kremlin, the State Duma and military circles to gain people's attention and justify their existence.
      On the basis of this dream, politicians and the military want the public to be outraged that the Baltic states prefer to be under the protection of civilized countries rather than be subject to the clumsy moves of their former big brother sleeping in the East.
      If "unfriendly steps" continue and a significant group of NATO forces appears on the border, Russia should consider retaliatory action so that the current balance will not be broken, Konstantin Kosachyov, head of the State Duma international committee, said Monday at a briefing.
      It is very hard for me to believe that 10 or so F-16s and some ground forces sent to the Baltic states so that citizens there feel part of civilized society can damage Russia's strategic interests in any way. Meanwhile, Kosachyov's words were echoed in a more threatening announcement made by Anatoly Kornukov, former head of the air force, who said NATO planes should be shot down if they enter Russian air space from the Baltic states.
      If they breach the border, they should be shot down without a second thought, he said. A military aircraft is a military aircraft. We would be fully entitled to do it.
      To me this is nothing more than populism.
      Kornukov might dream about shooting down a NATO plane caught flying from Estonia over St. Petersburg by mistake. Unfortunately for him, I don't think anyone in the armed forces would be so foolish.
      There is also little reason to believe that the air force of today is performing better than the Soviet air force during the Cold War.
      In 1983 they did not worry about the lives of 269 civilians, shooting down a Korean Airlines passenger jet in circumstances that still have not been explained. In 1987 the military were embarassed that 19-year-old German Mathias Rust was able to evade the Soviet anti-aircraft systems and land in Red Square.
      Some other politicians have suggested moving more troops to the Kaliningarad region to reinforce military capabilities in the country's westernmost outpost and to correct the broken balance this way.
      This is a very unfortunate thing for the Northwest region, especially when politicians prefer to talk about some miserable national interests rather than concentrate on real economic issues that would help the country develop.
      Here I am talking about a project to open a new cargo ferry route between the Leningrad Oblast's port of Ust-Luga, the port of Baltiisk in the Kaliningrad region and ports in Poland and Germany. The project would mean using some harbors of Kaliningrad that now belong to military.
      The project is scheduled to be concluded in 2005, but might not happen at all. And problems with financing might well not be the reason for delays.
      In a time when the state is more concerned about the military balance with NATO than about the economy, it seems unlikely that the Defense Ministry would abandon its premises to let them become commercial operations. This despite many of these harbors being rundown and in urgent need of upgrading.
      It could be argued that the military lobby is simply trying to take advantage of the NATO expansion to draw attention to the need to defend Russia's strategic interests. However, such actions merely build new obstacles that cast the country further away from Europe economically and politically.
      It seems the Kremlin has no objections to this.

      BRUSSELS (Reuters) — NATO sought to reassure Russia on Friday that the alliance's expansion behind the old Iron Curtain -- including onto former Soviet territory -- was no threat after a barrage of complaints from its Cold War enemy.
      "A larger NATO...will enhance security for all in Europe," alliance Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer wrote in a newspaper column published a few hours before the flags of seven eastern European nations were raised at NATO headquarters.
      "Russia was long suspicious about NATO enlargement but it has seen its security enhanced rather than reduced with the membership of Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic," he added, referring to NATO's first eastward enlargement in 1999.
      Diplomats said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's agreement to meet NATO counterparts later on Friday signaled his country's grudging acceptance of the inevitable.
      After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Moscow stopped aiming nuclear missiles at NATO targets. It has since sought cooperation with the alliance, and in 2002 the two sides set up a special forum for cooperation on security issues such as terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
      But the alliance's progressive expansion eastwards to take in former Warsaw Pact allies and the Baltic states has revived dormant Kremlin fears of encirclement.
      There was hefty criticism from Moscow this week as Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the alliance -- particularly over the accession of the three Baltic states, which were once Soviet republics.
      "NATO AN "OFFENSIVE BLOC"
      "Despite repeated statements by NATO leadership, the military doctrine of the bloc remains offensive," the state Duma said in a non-binding special resolution on Wednesday.
      It said that if NATO ignored Moscow's concerns the lower house would advise President Vladimir Putin "to adopt appropriate measures to safely guarantee Russia's security."
      These could include a reassessment of Russia's participation in conventional arms control treaties and strengthening its nuclear deterrence capability, it added.
      NATO warplanes began air patrols over the Baltic states, which do not have combat aircraft of their own, as soon as the trio acceded to the alliance on Monday.
      Over the past month, Lithuania and Estonia have expelled Russian diplomats for spying, Estonia has accused Russia of violating its airspace and Moscow has vowed to "respond accordingly" to the NATO patrols on its frontiers.
      "The Russians have adopted a tactic of highlighting the so-called danger of NATO's enlargement," Lithuania's foreign minister, Antanas Valionis, told Reuters.
      "My message to the Russians is: let's cooperate and let's talk to each other without making public statements that are only aimed at a domestic audience."
      Russia's foreign ministry voiced concern this week that the Baltic states are not part of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, which was signed in the dying days of the Cold War.
      Some Russian officials fear that if these states do not join the treaty limiting the deployment of weapons they could become NATO outposts for nuclear arms or army bases.
      But Western nations argue that until Russian forces are pulled back from Georgia and Moldova the Baltic states cannot ratify a subsequently amended version of the treaty.

      BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) — Russia played down its fears of encroachment Friday as NATO expanded into former Soviet territory, but it called on the alliance to stop putting up fences and work with Moscow on new security threats.
      "As regards NATO, our relations are developing in a positive fashion. We have expressed no fears about expansion. We have said that current threats are such that NATO expansion will not eliminate them," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
      His foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, held talks Friday with his NATO counterparts -- just hours after the flags of seven former communist states from Eastern Europe were hoisted for the first time at the alliance's Brussels headquarters.
      "The very fact that we met today shows we think very highly of this mechanism ... for coming together to face the contemporary threats we all face," Lavrov told a news conference after a NATO-Russia Council meeting, which included the new allies.
      Moscow sought cooperation with the alliance after the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, and in 2002 the NATO-Russia Council was set up for cooperation on post-Sept. 11 security issues such as terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction.
      But there was a barrage of criticism from Moscow last month before Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the alliance -- particularly over the entry of the three Baltic states, once Soviet republics.
      NATO warplanes this week began air patrols over the Baltic countries, which do not have combat aircraft of their own.
      "Despite repeated statements by NATO leadership, the military doctrine of the bloc remains offensive," the state Duma said in a nonbinding special resolution Wednesday.
      It said that if NATO ignored Moscow's concerns the lower house would advise Putin "to adopt appropriate measures to safely guarantee Russia's security."
      PARANOIA
      Putin, speaking at a news conference after talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder at his residence outside Moscow, said, "Our specialists have carefully studied the approach of NATO's military infrastructure to our borders ... we will work out our defense and security policy in due accordance with this."
      But Lavrov shrugged off the rhetoric emerging from Moscow.
      "It's not a question of NATO fighter planes in Lithuania ... or the presence of American servicemen in countries near the Russian Federation because that is all a question of paranoia," he said. "We have to find new ways of dealing with threats rather than set up new fences to divide us."
      He said the potential for a "triangle" of security cooperation between the U.S.-led NATO alliance, the European Union and Russia needed to be explored.
      One of Russia's chief concerns is that the Baltic states are not signatories to the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty, signed in the dying days of the Cold War.
      Some Russian officials fear that if they do not join the treaty limiting the deployment of weapons they could become NATO outposts for nuclear arms or army bases.
      Western nations argue that until Russian forces and weapons are pulled back from Georgia and Moldova the trio cannot ratify a subsequently amended version of the treaty.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Olesya Lahtionova is at the top of her class at Riga High School No. 46, which caters entirely to Russian speakers. But the 15-year-old fears her grades are about to slip because most teaching must soon be done in Latvian, a language she doesn't speak fluently.
      A new law will force all Latvian public schools to teach at least 60 percent of classes in Latvian beginning in September, sparking anger among the large Russian-speaking minority in this former Soviet republic. Many see it as revenge for Russian domination during the communist era.
      The issue will remain long after Latvia joins the European Union on May 1. The EU pressured Latvia to soften its language regulations in the 1990s, but now considers the country in compliance with European norms.
      Olesya said she and her classmates don't know Latvian, a non-Slavic language set apart by its "s" endings, well enough to be taught science and math in it. For instance, she didn't know the meaning of "tilpums," a basic Latvian scientific term for volume.
      "I don't see how I can study chemistry or math in Latvian if I don't always get it in my own native language," said Olesya.
      The ninth grader now has 31 of her 35 classes a week in her mother tongue, Russian. The exceptions are classes in the Latvian language and Latvian literature.
      An attempt by her school last year to teach history in Latvian was abandoned because the quality of teaching deteriorated, Olesya said. "The teacher had trouble teaching in Latvian," she said.
      The Latvian government insists the change will benefit Russian-speakers, who make up a third of the country's 2.3 million residents. Officials argue that proficiency in Latvian is needed to land good jobs.
      Few Russian-speakers are convinced. The law has sparked the largest protests in Latvia since the Baltic republic regained independence amid the 1991 Soviet collapse, and a huge protest rally is planned for May 1 to coincide with Latvia's celebrations of its EU membership.
      The anger worries some analysts.
      "I think the language reform is a big problem in that it brings out latent tensions and has also created artificial tensions that weren't there before," said Ilze Brands Kehris, director of the Center for Human Rights, a non-governmental group in Riga, Latvia's capital.
      "It's a security issue because it is a destabilizing force. Clearly, no one in the EU wants to bring in a new member country's security concerns," Kehris said.
      Indra Dedze, an education researcher with Providus, a Riga-based public policy think tank, also worries about the tensions.
      "I don't think it will lead to ethnic violence, but it creates tension in society, and it is the task of the government to control those tensions," she said.
      Girts Kristovskis, until recently Latvia's defense minister, concedes the protests are a sign that a dual society may be forming in Latvia -- but he blames the problem on meddling from Moscow.
      "The problem comes from a push from the outside, from extreme Russian politicians who don't like an independent Latvia or who want to use the issue to prop up their own political capital in Russia," Kristovskis said in an interview. "It makes for a dangerous situation here."
      Most ethnic Latvians brush aside concerns about tension and violence, arguing that similar warnings from Russian leaders over the past 10 years have never proven true.
      The Russian language dominated many areas of life in Latvia during decades of Soviet rule from Moscow, and the newly independent nation made Latvian the sole official language partly as a countermeasure.
      Some Russian-speaking students perceive the new law as retribution for past Russian domination.
      "I think some senior Latvians want to take vengeance on Russians because during Soviet times, Latvians were deprived of their rights," said Max Dombrauskis, a 17-year-old at High School No. 46. "I just don't think children should bear the brunt of it."
      No matter what language they speak, most Latvians are looking forward to joining the European Union. But Olesya and some of her schoolmates said they welcome membership mostly because it will make it easier for them to leave Latvia.
      "I think the reform is just an attack on the Russian language," the teenager said. "It's one of the reasons I want to leave."

      MOSCOW (Reuters) — Moscow hopes this year to strike an unprecedented deal with NATO, which would allow Cold War foes to deploy combat units on each other's territories, Itar-Tass news agency quoted Russia's defense chief as saying Sunday.
      Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov's statement, made in Oslo, contrasted sharply with previous remarks, in which he said Russia might review its NATO-friendly military stance if the alliance failed to change its "offensive" nature.
      "This year I hope we will sign an agreement with NATO 'on the status of forces'," Tass quoted Ivanov as saying.
      "The document will allow NATO units equipped with armor onto our territory and our units equipped with armor onto the territory of alliance countries," he said, adding that it would be part of Russia and NATO's joint fight against terrorism.
      The deal, if signed, would be a new step in post-Cold War cooperation between Russia and NATO, strongly promoted by President Vladimir Putin as a part of his strive to strengthen ties with the West.
      In 2001, Russia joined the U.S.-led "war on terror" and backed a military operation in Afghanistan, allowing a fly-through route for NATO planes and the use of its railways for the alliance's cargoes.
      Moscow also encouraged its Central Asian ex-Soviet allies -- Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan -- to allow NATO military presence during the Afghan operation.
      In a further signal of seeking closer ties with NATO, Ivanov said Russia did not rule out joint navy patrols in the Mediterranean Sea to intercept illegal migrants and unspecified "dangerous cargos."
      But Ivanov, quoted by Tass, said joint patrols were only possible "with strict adherence to international law and the framework of Russian legislation" in a clear reference to Moscow's opposition to U.S. plans to intercept ships suspected of being used by "international terrorists."
      Despite the partnership with NATO, Russia felt uncomfortable last week when the alliance moved closer to its borders, adopting the three ex-Soviet Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, some of which have strained relations with Moscow.
      Moscow has said it saw no reason for the expansion other than to encircle Russia -- something NATO officials deny.
      In an article, published last month by respected magazine "Russia in Global Affairs," Ivanov accused NATO of maintaining an anti-Russian bias and an "offensive military doctrine."
      He said Moscow might re-think its military position if the alliance failed to transform itself into a largely political, rather than military organization.
      The state Duma said Wednesday that it would advise Putin to "adopt appropriate measures to safely guarantee Russia's security" if NATO ignored Moscow's concerns.
      However, in a move signaling Moscow's acceptance of the inevitable, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met NATO counterparts in Brussels Friday, when the flags of the seven new members were raised at NATO's headquarters.

      MOSCOW, April 8 (Reuters) — NATO's top official sought to reassure sceptical Russians on Thursday that the U.S.-led military alliance's expansion into the former Soviet Union posed no threat to their country.
      NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the bloc's enlargement to take in seven ex-communist countries, including the three ex-Soviet Baltic States, was not based on an anti-Russian ideology.
      "Talking into your microphones and your television cameras shows the Russian authorities and perhaps even more importantly the Russian people that I have come on behalf of NATO...as a partner," he told reporters.
      The two sides work together through a joint council and Russia plans to sign an armed forces cooperation pact with its Cold War adversary.
      Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov says NATO harbours an offensive anti-Russian bias. And President Vladimir Putin clearly did not fully agree with the expansion, saying it would not make NATO or the world more secure.
      "Life shows that simply expanding will not enable us to effectively resist the main threats that we are facing today," he told de Hoop Scheffer at a Kremlin meeting shown in part on television.
      "This expansion did not help prevent the terrorist acts in Madrid, let's say, or help resolve the problems of Afghanistan," he added, referring to last month's train bombings in Spain.
      TENSION OVER KOSOVO
      Russia-NATO tension was fuelled by last month's ethnic clashes in Kosovo, the Serbian province dominated by ethnic Albanians, taken over by NATO in 1999 from Belgrade authorities.
      Many Russians think the alliance is not doing enough to protect Kosovo's minority Serbs -- fellow Orthodox Slavs and traditional Russian allies.
      Russia's deep suspicion of NATO, rooted in the Cold War, was underscored on Thursday by a snap poll issued by the liberal Ekho Moskvy radio station during a de Hoop Scheffer interview. Seventy-one percent of listeners saw NATO expansion as a threat.
      "I still have a lot of work to do to convince these voters that this is not the case," said de Hoop Scheffer, on his first trip to Russia as NATO head.
      Former Soviet Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and four other east European states joined NATO at the end of March.
      "They did this out of their free will because they wanted to form part of...NATO, which is an organisation that is defending values, values and society, democracy, the rule of law and human rights," de Hoop Scheffer said.
      De Hoop Scheffer played down the significance of enlargement which will bring alliance warplanes closer to Russian airspace.
      "It is completely logical that Russian planes patrol Russian airspace and that NATO planes patrol NATO airspace. There's nothing special in that," he said.
      "The new NATO nations have no intention or plan to build military infrastructure that is not already on their territory."

      GENEVA (AP) — Russia and the European Union are set for a showdown at the U.N. Human Rights Commission over Moscow's proposal to denounce modern day glorification of the Nazi-era Waffen SS.
      While condemning the crimes of the military section of the dreaded Nazi Schutzstaffel, Western diplomats Thursday said they were deeply unhappy. They called Russia's decision to submit a resolution on the World War II-era force a misuse of the commission and a veiled attack on Latvia, a small, incoming EU member that has tense relations with Moscow.
      Although Moscow's text does not identify any country, diplomats said it clearly targets the tiny Baltic nation, which regained its independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
      Last year, Latvia faced criticism over a memorial to the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen SS. Latvian leaders have claimed that members of the unit were drafted or joined not out of any sympathy for Nazis, but to fight against the Soviets they feared even more.
      The 53-nation U.N. rights commission, which is the middle of its annual six-week meeting, normally monitors current violations.
      Western diplomats said the resolution — which denounces the creation of memorials and other efforts to commemorate Nazi collaborators -- was part of Russian horse-trading to avoid condemnation of its record in breakaway Chechnya. Russian diplomats said they had no immediate comment.
      The Russian proposal surfaced last week when Latvia and six other former Warsaw Pact members were admitted to NATO. It is one of the 10 mainly ex-communist countries set to join the EU on May 1.
      Moscow also is concerned about the rights of Latvia's ethnic Russians. Around 20 percent of them do not hold Latvian citizenship even though they make up a third of the country's 2.3 million residents.
      The biggest stumbling block is passing the Latvian language test, although Nils Muiznieks, head of Latvia's Social Integration Ministry, said "only a couple hundred" people are ineligible to apply for citizenship.
      Moscow's resolution, on which the commission is expected to vote next week, slams an "atmosphere of acceptance and whitewashing" of the Waffen SS.
      The Latvian Legion, created in 1944, was one of several Waffen SS units set up outside Germany by the Nazis across Europe.
      With Latvia sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies, and changing hands during the war, about 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting on one side of the conflict or the other. Some 150,000 Latvians combatants died.
      Nearly 80,000 Latvian Jews, 90 percent of the prewar Jewish population, were killed during the Nazi occupation. Most were killed in 1941-42, before the formation of the Latvian Legion.
      But Nazi hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center say as many as a third of the Latvian Waffen SS soldiers may have been involved in the murder of Jews as auxiliary police alongside the Nazis. Many Latvian historians dispute the claims, saying the numbers were much lower.
      The resolution calls on the commission to condemn "glorification," including "erecting monuments and memorials to the SS men and holding public demonstrations of former SS members."
      Russia, Israel and Jewish groups were outraged in October, when Latvian officials attended the unveiling near the capital, Riga, of a monument to the 11,000 Latvian Waffen SS men who died in battle against the Red Army. The memorial, which critics called an affront to millions of Nazi victims, was partly financed by Latvian authorities.

      MOSCOW, April 8 (Xinhua) — Visiting NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer assured Russia Thursday that the US-led military alliance had no plan to build up its military presence in the three former Baltic Soviet republics.
      There will not be a build-up of military forces for instance on the territory of the three Baltic states, Scheffer said in an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio, defending NATO's decision to deploy four F-16 fighter jets to patrol the airspace of new NATO members Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
      It is completely logical that Russian planes patrol Russian airspace and that NATO planes patrol NATO airspace. There's nothing special in that, and there's no meaning behind that, he said. There is nothing new that you have a border (with NATO).
      Russia has been wary of the military alliance's expansion to its borders, fearing of losing power in its former sphere of influence.
      It has been particularly concerned about the reluctance of four NATO members-- three Baltic states and Slovenia-- to ratify an amended version of the treaty of the Conventional Forces in Europe, which limits the deployment of troops and weapons in various areas.
      The NATO chief said that the treaty would come into force soon.
      However, he linked the ratification of an agreement on adapting the treaty to the withdrawal of Russian military bases from Georgia and Moldova.
      He said the linkage between two problems did exist, and this is recorded in the treaty itself.
      Scheffer, who took office at the beginning of the year, arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for his first visit to Russia. The visit came a week after seven East European countries were formally admitted to the alliance.
      He said at a press conference that he would officially invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a NATO summit in Istanbul, Turkey, in late June during their Thursday meeting. He said that he would discuss with Putin some problems on fighting terrorism and preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

      MEDININKAI, Lithuania, April 11 (Reuters) — More than 200 Lithuanian officers guard the main border crossing with Belarus, soon to become one of the European Union's easternmost outposts.
      Their modern facilities aim to stem a feared inflow of drugs, arms and illegal immigrants from countries of the former Soviet Union and central Asia once EU borders shift thousands of kilometres (miles) to the east on May 1.
      Lithuania, a former Soviet republic among the 10 mostly ex-communist states joining the EU, has pledged to keep the border sealed but for the guards at Medininkai this will be a tough challenge.
      "Not enough," Deputy Commander Vladas Vasnoras says when asked if the 200-strong troop was sufficient to man the crossing and a 34 km (21 mile) stretch of the border they are in charge of.
      "But I don't think Lithuania will become a gate into 'Old Europe' for illegal immigrants and drugs -- we have enough technical and other means to prevent it," he added.
      The border now has several lanes for trucks and cars, a veterinary control facility, panoramic view cameras, control gates and a truck scanning unit -- a far cry from the roadside trailer manned by guards in the Soviet years.
      The graves of seven guards killed here in 1991 when the Soviet forces attacked the post stand nearby as a symbol of Lithuania's struggle for independence and becoming part of Europe again.
      CRIME WORRIES
      Despite months of preparations to make the EU's new 4,000 km (2,500 mile) eastern border watertight, EU anti-crime agencies fear the new borderlands of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia may not be up to the job.
      "The main concern is the policing of the Union's new eastern borders with countries such as Russia, Belarus and Ukraine," one domestic EU intelligence chief said.
      Although passport controls will remain at the borders between the old and new members for at least two years, routine customs checks will stop, meaning trucks can rumble freely across the EU once they have entered at the eastern frontier.
      EU officials worry this huge traffic will give powerful crime rings operating in the new member states more freedom to move across Western Europe.
      "The EU enlargement must be a dream come true for East European smugglers," one EU law enforcement officer told Reuters. "It will be very hard to uncover cross-border criminal activities after enlargement."
      In terms of infrastructure and equipment, the new members states seem to be ready thanks to millions of euros from the European Union, but there are concerns about corruption and low morale among the border guards, he said.
      "The weakest link is the human factor, and no amount of fancy technical equipment can compensate for that," he said.
      "In principle, the borders are almost completely open to smugglers as long as they are willing to pay someone off."
      Officials in the new member states admit corruption, drug smuggling and a growing illegal trade in arms will be a challenge.
      They insist, however, that fears of a crime explosion after May 1 are exaggerated, because some established crime rings already operate across the continent from Russia to Portugal.
      "Polish crime rings had joined the EU a long time ago," says Magdalena Stanczyk of the Polish Internal Security Agency.
      THE BALTIC CONNECTION
      Lithuania and fellow Baltic states Estonia and Lithuania are of particular concern to law enforcement agencies because of their Soviet past.
      Russian crime rings have found it easy to melt into the background in the three countries better than elsewhere because two of them, Latvia and Estonia, have sizeable Russian minorities.
      The scale of the problem is illustrated by the impeachment of Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas, based on accusations his office had unsavoury links with the Russian underworld.
      The cause has embarrassed Lithuania, already seen in the West as a key supplier of amphetamines and distribution point for other drugs smuggled into the EU from Russia.
      In Hungary, on the southern end of the future EU border, the biggest concern is human trafficking, mainly involving women sold into sexual slavery. Police estimate a few thousand women are shipped by gangs through Hungary from its neighbours Romania Ukraine, Croatia and Serbia.
      Some officials hope that tougher entry rules that will come with the EU membership and plans by Hungary to set up a special police unit to fight human trafficking are set to stem this tide.

      SHANGHAI, April 12 (Xinhua) — President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of the Republic of Latvia visited Pudong New District in Shanghai and attended a symposium of enterprises on Monday.
      He also met with Han Zheng, mayor of Shanghai, China's largest economic hub.
      Han briefed Vike-Freiberga on the development of Shanghai in recent years.
      Vike-Freiberga said the economic development of Shanghai, especially the development of Pudong New District was very impressive.
      Latvian enterprises hope to strengthen exchanges with Shanghai and find more mutual beneficial business opportunities, said Vike- Freiberga.
      According to Chinese statistics, the trade volume between Shanghai and Latvia in 2003 increased 130 percent over 2002.
      Vike-Freiberga arrived in Shanghai Sunday afternoon, starting an eight-day state visit to China.
      Copyright 2004 XINHUA all rights reserved as distributed by WorldSources, Inc.

      MOSCOW (AP) — Russia hopes to settle all disagreements with the European Union by May 1st, when the bloc adds 10 new member states, including three former Soviet republics, a senior diplomat said Monday.
      But Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Chizhov also said Russia is upset by EU criticism of the war in Chechnya. The EU last week proposed a United Nations resolution condemning human rights violations in Chechnya, where Russian troops have been fighting rebels since 1999.
      The EU expansion also includes former Iron Curtain countries Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Russia is concerned that the bloc expansion will undermine Russia's trade in its former satellites and that travel for Russians to these countries would become more difficult.
      "We hope that by May 1 we will be able to solve all concerns" dealing with EU enlargement, Chizhov said.
      "The legitimacy of these worries is acknowledged by our partners -- we don't want our ties (with accession countries) to suffer or at least to minimize the damage caused to these ties," Chizhov said.
      Russia also wants the EU to pay closer attention to problems faced by the large Russian-speaking communities in Latvia and Estonia, which complain of discrimination.
      Chizhov said the resolution on Chechnya proposed last week by the EU doesn't take into account the positive changes in Chechnya.
      Chizhov said that two similar resolutions failed the past two years. "If our colleagues and partners want to repeat this mistake for a third time ... we can hardly prevent them from doing so," Chizhov said. "We believe that this is an unfriendly step and is not in line with the Russia-EU partnership."

      Washington (UPI) April 12, 2004 — As if the Bush administration didn't have enough on its plate in Iraq, it is now facing a restive, angry and even alarmed Russia possibly prepared to upset 30 years of security treaties in Central and Eastern Europe.
      For Russian leaders have reacted with fury and even threats to the incorporation of the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and -- especially -- Estonia into the NATO alliance. The Russians have been infuriated by NATO's immediate commencement of fighter-plane patrols over Estonia, only a few minutes flying time from St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city.
      Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov warned that his country may adopt far tougher policies towards the United States and NATO. Ivanov wrote in the latest issue of the Russian magazine Global Affairs that the Bush administration's drive to develop new nuclear weapons was dangerous and destabilizing.
      "It is necessary to take special account of the possible reemergence of nuclear weapons as a real military instrument. This is an extremely dangerous tendency that is undermining global and regional stability," he wrote.
      Ivanov also had tough words for the U.S.-led NATO alliance only days before it expanded to include seven former communist states this month, including the three Baltic countries, all of which were forcibly included in the Soviet Union as constituent republics from 1940 for half a century.
      "If NATO remains a military alliance with an offensive military doctrine, Russia will have to adequately revise its military planning" and this includes "its nuclear forces," he wrote.
      A few days later, with the alliance expansion an accomplished fact, Ivanov went further. Speaking on a visit to Washington Wednesday, he announced that Russia would take all measures necessary for its self-defense if NATO went on to establish a military presence in the Baltic states.
      "With the Baltic states included in NATO and in the event of a military infrastructure created on their territory, any military-political actions by Russia will conform to the principles of self-defense," he said at Washington's Center for Defense Information.
      Ivanov then interpreted the continued eastward expansion of the Atlantic Alliance into former Soviet territory in threatening terms that harked back to the most tense eras of the Cold War. "We entertain no illusions why the Baltic countries have been admitted to NATO and why NATO planes are already being deployed there," he said. "This has nothing to do with the fight against terrorism."
      Ivanov also warned that the "'window of opportunities' for developing the Russia-NATO partnership" could "shrink to a breathing hole."
      "Today it depends on NATO and above all on the U.S. for this window not to be closed," he said.
      When Russian defense minister's warnings were not an unexpected bolt from the blue. The suspicions and fears of NATO and the United States that he expressed are now common talk in diplomatic and military circles in Moscow.
      On Tuesday, the day before Ivanov spoke in Washington, a leading Moscow military analyst also warned about the growing tensions between Russia and the United States.
      "American military bases are coming closer to Russia's borders and the military infrastructure of the new members is being improved to store hardware and munitions and accept large formations and aviation," analyst Viktor Litovkin wrote in an article for RIA Novosti, the official Russian government news agency.
      NATO's European arsenals "still have about 200 nuclear aviation bombs which were certainly not designed against terrorists," Litovkin wrote. "Who are they meant for? No answer."
      Moscow knows that the NATO leadership still harbors an unspoken distrust of Russia, possibly as the successor of the Soviet Union, with predictable consequences, according to Litovkin. "No diplomacy can do anything about this fact," he wrote.
      Yevgeny Grigoriev, another prominent analyst, took a similar tone. On March 26, he warned that the entry of the seven former communist states into NATO threatened the diplomatic system of security treaties so laboriously built up over the past 30 years, which has guaranteed peace and stability in Europe for the past generation.
      The latest NATO expansion has taken place "when there is no version of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe," Grigoriev warned in the newspaper Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie.
      "It is obvious that the U.S. and leading countries of the alliance could lift a finger and such new satellites as the Baltic states would cease their sabotage concerning the CFE (1990 Conventional Armed Forces in Europe treaty)," Gregoriev wrote. But in reality "the CFE can share the fate of the Anti-Ballistic Treaty," he continued.
      Having served notice that Russia was likely to regard the CFE Treaty as dead, Grigoriev added an even more ominous note. Since that was the case, he wrote, Russia would regard itself as having a free hand to take whatever unilateral measures it deemed necessary to ensure its own security.
      Russia will have more freedom if some counter measures are necessary in the western, northwestern or southern regions" of the Russian federation," he concluded.
      In the new highly charged atmosphere between East and West, the most immediate flashpoint appears to be tiny Estonia on the Gulf of Finland, athwart the land and sea communication routes to St. Petersburg. Estonia has a very large ethnic Russian minority and Russians have long charged that since Estonia won independence from the collapsing Soviet Union, they have suffered serious discrimination.
      Russian analysts over the past month have repeatedly accused Estonia of pursuing a policy that could provoke a major crisis with Russia.
      "Experts say Tallinn deliberately escalates tensions between Russia and Estonia," the RIA RosBusiness Consulting news service reported on March 26. "According to analysts, Estonia's irresponsible and provocative policy, based on the anti-Russian sentiment among local politicians, may lead to a serious crisis between Russia and the West."
      "Relations between Russia and Estonia have been tense ever since NATO built a radar station on the Russian-Estonian border last year. On March 23, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko warned Russia would retaliate "if NATO planes fly over Russian borders after Baltic nations join the alliance."
      How far will this go? U.S. policymakers and foreign policy pundits, preoccupied with Iraq have paid almost no attention to it. Even Defense Minister Ivanov's warnings, delivered to a Washington think tank, were almost entirely ignored.
      So was a recent article by Russia's newly appointed foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. Russia is now strong and feared, he wrote in the newspaper Vedemosti Tuesday.
      "Until recently, everyone was concerned that Russia, weakened by its internal crisis, was becoming unpredictable," Lavrov wrote. "But now a different kind of Russia is feared: a country which has become stronger and more confident after several years of stability and economic growth."
      Lavrov and Ivanov, like their leader, President Vladimir Putin have repeatedly insisted that Russia wants to solve its problems with more international cooperation, not less. But that still leaves open the question of what Russia will do if it doesn't get that cooperation. As Lavrov warned in his article, "A legal vacuum in matters of security is intolerable."

      BRUSSELS, April 13 (Reuters) — Welcome to the European Union. We're taking you to court.
      That may be the message awaiting some of the 10 new member states that join the 15-nation bloc on May 1.
      Contrary to what happened when Spain and Portugal joined in 1986, there will be no "grace period" before the European Commission starts legal action to enforce the implementation of EU law among the bloc's biggest ever single intake.
      Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Cyprus and Malta will be expected to apply all 80,000 pages of regulations known as the "acquis communautaire" from day one, except in areas where they negotiated a transitional period during their accession talks.
      "If there are clear cases of non-implementation or wrong implementation of community law, the Commission must act and will act," EU Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told Reuters in an interview last month.
      A senior Spanish diplomat said Madrid and Lisbon had been accorded an informal two-year honeymoon before the EU executive launched its first "infringement procedures" against them.
      But Verheugen said: "The new member states should not expect such a period of grace because we have prepared them rigorously... using a completely new methodology. Therefore it is not comparable with previous rounds of accession."
      Over the last decade, those countries have received billions of euros in aid to bring their laws, public administration and environment up to EU standards.
      Where necessary, the Commission would use safeguard clauses in the accession treaty to protect the EU's internal market or start infringement procedures immediately, Verheugen said.
      SAFEGUARD CLAUSES
      Six of the newcomers — Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Cyprus and Malta -- will be placed under budgetary surveillance because their deficits breach the EU limit of three percent of gross domestic product, key to qualify for the euro.
      However, the Commission has said they will be allowed to run excessive deficits for longer than current euro zone members to avoid jeopardising their economic and social stability.
      The only area where safeguard measures are likely to be invoked is food safety, Verheugen said.
      In several acceding states, notably Poland, slaughterhouses, food plants or dairies that do not meet EU hygiene standards will be barred from exporting to other member states until they are either upgraded or closed.
      However Polish Europe Minister Danuta Huebner, who will be Warsaw's first commissioner in Brussels from next month, told Reuters she was confident Polish food processing plants would adapt fast enough to escape any export restrictions.
      Several new member states may not receive EU farm subsidies from day one because their agricultural payments agencies do not meet Brussels' tough requirements, Verheugen said.
      Infringement procedures can target a multitude of sins from illegal state aid to industry to failure to apply EU tax, open market, competition, environment, transport, agriculture and energy rules.
      Some early cases may concern state aid and competition issues involving privatised ex-communist heavy industries.
      Under the procedure, Brussels first writes to a member state pointing out an apparent breach in applying EU law and asks for an explanation or rectification.
      If the answer is unsatisfactory, the EU executive sends the country a "reasoned opinion," which is a final legal warning before taking it to the European Court of Justice.
      The procedure can last years and is used frequently against existing members. Only a fraction of cases end up in court.
      The Commission approved some 1,400 infringement measures on a range of issues in a single day on March 30, including a "reasoned opinion" threatening Germany with court action over its law on the ownership of car giant Volkswagen.
      New members will no longer be subject to any special monitoring from Brussels after they join, but they will face the same permanent scrutiny as existing member states.

      MOSCOW (AP) — A top Russian general on Tuesday took a conciliatory stance on NATO's eastward expansion, saying that Moscow would closely watch the alliance's activities in the new Baltic member states, but wants to avoid taking military countermeasures.
      Col.-Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky, the first deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said that Moscow expects NATO to show restraint and refrain from significant military buildup in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which border Russia
      Baluyevsky said that Russia's response to NATO's expansion would be careful to "avoid making excessive steps under the impact of emotions."
      "Our main goal is to avoid Russia's isolation," he said at a news conference.
      NATO expanded to 26 members last month. The alliance has tried to reassure Moscow that the eastward expansion is not directed against it.
      Baluyevsky emphasized, however, that NATO aircraft now could reach Russia within just a few minutes and said that was a source of concern.
      He warned that Russia could revise its 1999 pledge to limit troop numbers in western and northwestern regions if it feels threatened, but emphasized that Moscow would like to avoid such moves.
      Russia signed a partnership agreement with NATO in 2002, outlining cooperation in counterterrorism, nonproliferation, peacekeeping and other fields, but has continued to voice concern about the alliance's eastward expansion.
      Baluyevsky strongly urged NATO members to ratify an amended version of the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty that limits the number of troops and weapons in various areas.
      "The most rational path is to ratify the amended CFE treaty and stop scaring each other," he said.
      The Baltic States and Slovenia, another new NATO member, are not signatories, and NATO has linked ratification with fulfillment of Russia's 1999 pledge to pull its troops out of former Soviet republics Georgia and Moldova.
      Baluyevsky said Russia was holding talks with Georgia about the withdrawal of the remaining Russian bases and that withdrawal from Moldova's separatist Trans-Dniester province had been thwarted last fall by the collapse of a peace deal for the region.
      Baluyevsky said that about half of weapons from the Trans-Dniester region already had been removed, but refused to say when the withdrawal would be completed.

      RIGA, April 15 (Reuters) — Thousands of ethnic Russian pupils took to the streets of the Latvian capital on Thursday to protest against a controversial education reform aimed at reducing the use of Russian in schools.
      In the third wave of protests since parliament approved the reform earlier this year, some 4,000 teenagers boycotted school to gather outside the cabinet building to demand the reform be scrapped.
      Chanting "No to the reform!" and "Hands off Russian schools!," several hundred protesters tried to storm the building but were held back by police in a tense standoff before the crowd dispersed.
      The former Soviet republic of some 2.3 million people has made sweeping free-market and democratic reforms since regaining independence in 1991, culminating in NATO membership last month and European Union entry in May.
      But relations between Riga and Moscow remain difficult, and many in Latvia's large ethnic Russian minority of close to one-third of the population are sceptical about Latvia's return to mainstream Europe. "I can understand the government wants to make changes and protect the Latvian language, but why should our generation suffer?" asked Julija, 17.
      Two left-wing lawmakers presented Education Minister Juris Radzevics with suggestions of changes to the education reform they said had been signed by 6,800 people, but Radzevics said the proposals would fall on deaf ears.
      "The government has no plans to halt the education reform," he told reporters.
      Although ethnic tensions have flared up in Latvia over the past few months, prompting loud criticism from Moscow about the plight of Russians living in the Baltics, some of the young protesters saw the rally as a way to get a day off school.
      "These protests are fun because I don't have to be in school," Sergey, 15, said. "The reform doesn't change anything for me as I speak Latvian," he added.

      BEIJING, April 15 (Reuters) — Latvia's President Vaira Vike-Freiberga called on Thursday for Russia to sign a border treaty, and said fears in Moscow that Latvia's entry into NATO in March posed a threat were groundless.
      With two weeks left before the Baltic nation of 2.3 million people joins the European Union, Latvian politicians should put aside differences to make the accession go smoothly, Vike-Freiberga said in an interview during a visit to China.
      "We suspect that Russia was hoping that not having a signed border treaty might in some sense impede our being admitted into NATO or into the European Union," she told Reuters.
      Latvia fell under the rule of the Soviet Union in 1945 and regained its independence in 1991, but its relationship with Russia has been uneasy since. Border spats and opposition to the NATO accession have strained relations.
      Vike-Freiberga said Russia had stepped up pressure ahead of Latvia's entry into the EU on May 1, when it joins the body along with Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Malta and Cyprus.
      "As we are approaching the date of full accession we have noticed an intensification of activities, both diplomatic and journalistic, an attitude against Latvia that has been increasing in virulence and, frankly, getting less and less friendly," she said.
      Latvia, which like its Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania won independence after decades under Soviet rule, hopes EU membership will seal the country's freedom, as well as its efforts to develop a strong market economy.
      Vike-Freiberga became Eastern Europe's first woman president in 1999 and was recently re-elected by parliament last summer.

      BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The EU gave its blessing on Thursday to the 10 mostly ex-communist states due to enter the bloc to sell food products across the expanded region, removing fears they might be excluded from lucrative markets for failing to meet EU food safety standards.
      "The new member states have made huge progress in recent months in upgrading their laws, systems and food producing factories," David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, said in a statement.
      "This is a major achievement since the EU requirements are high," he said. "However, the new member states will need to continue to work hard on implementation and enforcement."
      The European Commission, the EU's executive arm, granted transition periods to some 1,000 establishments - around eight percent of the total number of food processing operations in the 10 new states - to give them more time to meet EU standards.
      During these transitional periods, products deemed below EU standards will be stamped with a special mark to ensure they are not traded outside the country of origin's domestic market.
      These periods vary from three months to a year and will apply to processing plants, dairies and abattoirs in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.
      "Those establishments granted transition periods will be allowed to continue selling food in their home member state," the Commission statement said.
      "However, it will not be eligible to be sold in other member states and will be labeled to prevent this."
      The Commission could have used a special measure, known as a safeguard clause and regarded as a "nuclear option," to prevent food exports into other EU countries from the new member states if they had not been up to scratch.
      It also authorized new border inspection posts to control imports of food and animals from non-EU countries. By the accession date of May 1, these should number 37 while several posts will close in Italy, Austria and Germany.
      Earlier this year, the EU sent veterinary experts to new member state inspection posts to help guard against the sorts of health scares and animal disease epidemics that have swept through the EU's food and farm sectors in recent years, such as mad cow and foot-and-mouth diseases.

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga accused Russian politicians of interfering in the country's internal affairs, saying Friday they had helped organize a series of rallies by students protesting against a decision to make Latvian the primary language in the Baltic state's schools.
      "There are people who protest against the measures and it seems the protests have been inspired by Moscow politicians which is an interference into our internal affairs," she told a press conference in Beijing where she is on a state visit.
      A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Riga, Yevgeny Dumalkin, said the Russian government had no comment.
      Some 2,000 Russian school children demonstrated against the new law on Thursday outside the presidential palace, chanting "no to the reform" and carrying placards reading "Russian schools forever!" and "Hands off Russian schools!" It was the fourth such protest this year.
      Larger protests are planned for Friday night in Riga and to coincide with the Latvia's European Union membership celebrations on May 1.
      The education reform, passed in February, mandates that at least 60 percent of classes in public schools, even those catering to the large Russian-speaking minority, must be taught in Latvian starting in September.
      Partly to counterbalance the imposed dominance of Russian in many areas during decades of rule by Moscow, the Baltic state declared Latvian the sole official language after it regained independence amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
      That decision, and other steps taken to entrench Latvian, has angered Latvia's Russian speakers -- mostly ethnic Russians -- who make up more than a third of Latvia's 2.3 million residents. The language rule for schools has been among the most hotly debated reforms.
      Russians call the requirements discriminatory and an attack on their way of life, charges echoed by Moscow. Latvians counter that they are meant to help integrate minorities, adding that those who don't learn Latvian will find it hard to secure good jobs.
      The EU has said Latvian language laws conform to European minority rights standards.

      GENEVA (AP) — The top U.N. human rights watchdog Friday denounced what it called the modern day glorification of the Nazi Germany's Waffen SS.
      The resolution, sponsored by Russia, did not identify any country, but Western diplomats said it was a veiled attack on Latvia. They also said it was an attempt by Russia to distract attention from its own record in Chechnya.
      The U.N. Human Rights Commission resolution expressed deep concern over the building of memorials to the military section of the dreaded Nazi SS, short for Schutzstaffel. Such monuments "do injustice" to the Nazis' victims, "poison the minds of young people" and fuel modern-day extremist groups, the motion said.
      Since Latvia regained its independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the tiny Baltic nation has had tense relations with Moscow.
      Last year, the country faced criticism over a memorial to the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen SS. Latvian leaders have claimed that members of the unit were drafted or joined not out of any sympathy for Nazis, but to fight against the Soviets, whom they feared even more.
      The Waffen-SS — the fighting branch of the Nazi paramilitary SS -- was used notably to secure Nazi-occupied areas and to combat partisans or other opposition forces. They also fought on the front lines next to regular army troops.
      Latvia was sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies and about 250,000 Latvians ended up fighting on one side of the conflict or the other as the country changed hands three times.
      Nazi hunters from the Simon Wiesenthal Center say as many as a third of the Latvian Waffen SS soldiers may have been involved in the murder of Jews as auxiliary police alongside the Nazis. Many Latvian historians dispute the claims, saying the numbers were much lower.
      Nearly 80,000 Latvian Jews, 90 percent of the prewar Jewish population, were killed during the Nazi occupation, most before the formation of the Latvian Legion.
      Russia mustered support from developing countries, which dominate the commission, for a 36-13 vote.
      While deploring the crimes of the Waffen SS and the activities of current extremists, Western diplomats criticized Russia for submitting the resolution.
      "We strongly condemn all forms of intolerance, including neo-Nazism -- however it manifests itself," said Irish Ambassador Mary Whelan, speaking for the EU. "This initiative fails to address neo-Nazism in a global and balanced way and so does not add to our consideration of the issue. We question the timing and the motivations of the Russian Federation."

      MOSCOW (AP) — French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier and Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Monday said the United Nations must play a central role in resolving the Iraq crisis.
      "The United Nations is the only organization which can render this process legitimate," Lavrov said at a news conference after their meeting.
      "We need to find a way out of this tragedy," said Barnier, adding that keys to a solution include creation of a credible government, an international conference on Iraq and elections in January 2005.
      Lavrov and Barnier also said they discussed the Middle East crisis, the fight against international terrorism, and tensions in several regions of the former Soviet Union including Georgia, Moldova and Nagorno-Karabakh.
      Lavrov raised the issue of the rights of the Russian-speaking populations in Latvia and Estonia, who are under pressure from laws to promote the Latvian and Estonian languages.
      "It is necessary to do everything to ensure that these countries, which are now members of the European Union, abide by the obligations prescribed in international documents," Lavrov said.
      Barnier raised concerns about the rights of civilians in Chechnya, where Russian troops are fighting separatist rebels. Human rights groups say the military campaign is marked by abuses including disappearances and executions.
      He called for a political resolution, saying "such a settlement will become legitimate if human rights are observed and if the economy develops."
      Lavrov also announced that President Vladimir Putin would go to France to take part in the June 6-7 commemoration of the 60th anniversary of D-Day, when Allied troops stormed the beaches of Normandy to begin the final push against Nazi Germany's forces.

      TALLINN, Estonia (AP) — Anyone, anywhere who has lived to be 100 has seen lots of change. Centenarian Aurora Voites -- like her native Estonia -- has seen waves of colossal, catastrophic change.
      Born under Czarist Russian rule, she lived through half dozen invaders hoisting their flags. During World Wars I and II, she saw fields littered with corpses. She was here when Estonia won independence in 1920, lost it to Soviets and then the Nazis in the 1940s, and then won it back 50 years later.
      "I've seen so much death," the former school teacher said from her apartment in the capital, Tallinn, speaking in a strong voice that belies her age. "I've cried so much for those young men who had to die for someone else's arrogance, for someone else's lust for power."
      The latest flag unfurled near her home will be the blue EU banner emblazoned with gold stars.
      When Estonia and the other Baltic states, Latvia and Lithuania, join the European Union May 1, there will be none of the trepidation of the past transformations. Fireworks will burst over their ancient capitals in celebration.
      Their entry, with seven other mainly ex-communist countries, marks the second time they will have become part of a bloc or alliance without being invaded or coerced. The other time was when they joined NATO a month ago.
      Most Balts, like Voites, are thrilled.
      "In the last hundred years, we've had no generation that hasn't faced turmoil," said Andris Berzins, Latvia's prime minister from 2000-03. "The EU generation will be the first."
      In the historically battered Baltics, the EU and NATO are seen as two sides of the same coin: NATO providing security should next-door Russia ever turn threatening and the EU providing opportunities to open up new trading markets and boost living standards.
      "NATO is life. The EU is good life," Estonian lawmaker Trivimi Velliste said.
      Entry into the EU is also viewed as the ultimate sign of acceptance back into mainstream Europe after decades behind the Iron Curtain. With combined populations of just 7 million people, the Baltics hope for a boost in influence inside the EU, with its 450 million population.
      "The Estonian premier will be one of 25 sitting around a table deciding Europe's most important issues," pro-business Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts told The Associated Press. "The stature of our leaders will increase dramatically."
      The Baltics only shook off communism amid the 1991 Soviet collapse -- two years later than much of Eastern Europe. So they started at the back of the pack in the race into the EU.
      Their economies were disaster zones: Growth nose-dived more than 15 percent in 1992; annual inflation skyrocketed 1,000 percent.
      Today, they're posting Europe's highest growth rates. Lithuania's economy boomed 9 percent last year compared to the meager 0.5 percent for the EU as a whole.
      Free-marketeers now fawn over the low-tax, low-debt Baltics. The 2004 Wall Street Journal-Heritage Foundation index of the world's 155 freest economies ranked Estonia sixth, ahead of the United States (10) and behind only two current EU members -- Luxembourg (4) and Ireland (5).
      New glassy skyscrapers in their capitals testify to the Baltic countries' dynamism. With heavy investment from nearby Sweden and Finland, Baltic banks and phone companies are now as modern as any. Estonia's cutting-edge Internet infrastructure has led some to dub it E-Stonia.
      The increasingly confident, outward-looking Baltics are launching initiatives of their own.
      Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga spoke recently in Beijing about forging trade routes from China, via Russia and Latvia, to the rest of Europe. She called the Baltics the new "gates into the EU."
      But the Baltics still face daunting challenges.
      Average monthly wages of less than 500 euros (US$597) are five times lower than in Western Europe. The Economist Intelligence Unit recently concluded it could take as long as 30-50 years before the Baltics reach a standard of living like that in the western EU countries.
      Estonia's Paevaleht daily reflected that stark reality in a recent cartoon: It showed a man staring bewilderedly into his wallet the day after he voted to join the EU and saying, "That's funny. It's just as empty today as it was yesterday."
      Overcrowded, disease-ridden Baltic prisons, too, are some of Europe's worst. But officials insist they're addressing such shortcomings.
      Lithuania, for instance, recently updated its penal code to switch focus from the Soviet-era emphasis on punishing criminals to rehabilitating them. To reflect that shift, parliament deemed that "prisons" now officially be called "correctional houses."
      "You could ask if any country, even those now in the EU, is qualified for the EU," said Marko Mihkelson, chairman of Estonian Parliament's foreign affairs committee. "There are 80,000 pages of EU regulations. We've worked very hard to qualify. Nobody handed membership to us as a gift."
      Not all Baltic citizens are happy to enter the EU. Igor Grazin, a leader of anti-EU forces in Estonia, said the Baltics won't have any detectable influence in Brussels.
      "Estonia's prime minister will be no more important than a Parisian city commissioner," he said. "He'll be lucky if the desk officer at EU headquarters calls him from time to time."
      Others complain their Estonian identity will get lost in continental culture, and still others fret about food.
      Already, Lithuanians are lamenting the demise of rauginti kopustai, a traditional pickled cabbage sold in open oak barrels that the media predicted would be outlawed to comply with EU hygiene rules.
      "Who should be skeptical about EU membership? Anyone who eats!" said Grazin.
      In general, however, Baltic citizens accept the most frequently touted advantage of EU membership: That it will pull the Baltics forever out of Russia's sphere of influence.
      The Baltics could play a key role in setting new EU policies on Russia, said Sandra Kalniete, Latvia's designated representative on the European Commission, the EU's executive branch. She said the Baltics should be listened to "because of the long period of time we were incorporated in the Soviet Union and living side by side with Russia."
      Voites, who turns 101 the week before Estonia joins the EU, said she followed the debate on the pros and cons of membership. She concluded that, on balance, it will be beneficial.
      But she has concerns, including about what she says is an EU-inspired boom in bureaucracy.
      "Why do we need all these deputies, and aides to the deputies, and aides to the aides of the deputies?" she asked. "What do all these people do?"

      BRUSSELS, April 25 (Reuters) — Russia and the European Union are set to end months of wrangling and sign a landmark deal on Tuesday on relations between Moscow and the bloc which expands to Russia's borders when 10 new members join on May 1.
      The agreement, which governs all aspects of relations between the two giant trade partners, needs to be renewed by May 1 to include the countries joining the bloc on that date. Failure to do so would mean there was no formal basis for ties.
      "I am certain it will be concluded by May 1, and I hope it will be on April 27," a spokesman for EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said late last week.
      The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Sunday that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would attend talks with EU officials in Luxembourg on Tuesday, when the two sides hope to wrap up the agreement.
      Eight states joining the EU on May 1 are former communist countries once in Moscow's sphere of influence. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed part of the Soviet Union.
      Russia has long had bilateral ties with these countries, but worries that as a result of EU enlargement Moscow will lose out on trade and other privileges it enjoys with its closest neighbours.
      The EU counters that Russia may be disadvantaged in some markets but will be better off overall by signing the agreement.
      A large delegation from the EU's executive Commission, headed by Commission President Romano Prodi, was in Moscow last week to clear up loose ends before Tuesday's meeting.
      They successfully resolved one sticking point, reaching an agreement on cargo transit through the Russian Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, wedged between Poland and Lithuania and with no direct border with the rest of Russia.
      That leaves the treatment of Russian minorities in Estonia and Latvia as the main point of contention for Moscow, which complains both governments discriminate against large numbers of Russians who moved there in Soviet times.
      The chairman of the centre-right group in the European parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering, on Sunday called on EU foreign ministers to protect the interests of Estonia and Latvia when preparing a declaration on the agreement with Russia.
      "This joint declaration must not lead to a situation where Russia can influence the development in Estonia and Latvia -- and thus the European Union -- because of the Russian population in these two countries," he said in a statement.
      Lavrov will meet Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the EU, Patten, and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, but not all 25 current and future EU foreign ministers, who meet on Monday.
      The EU foreign ministers' agenda will focus on Cyprus, after Saturday's rejection by Greek Cypriots of a United Nations plan to reunify the island, the Middle East, China and Kosovo.
      But an Irish presidency official said on Friday the ministers were not planning substantial discussions on the proposed constitutional treaty for the EU, which Ireland hopes to conclude by the end of June when its term expires.