This week's lead news item is the expression of sympathy by the Baltic states to the U.S. and the victims of the terrorist hijackings and attacks on Tuesday.

Our friends and loved ones are safe--but as with the concept of six degrees of separation (statistically, in terms of knowing someone who knows someone who... we are only separated by six people), none of us, certainly in the tri-state area, need to go far to find someone who knows victims. We hope that your friends and loved ones are safe today.

Our apologies for no mailer last week, we've been busy with chores and were also out of town for a few days. There are a lot of news stories in this edition, so we will leave it at that for this week.

The news for the last two weeks (most recent first):

• Baltic countries pay their respects to victims of attacks; words fail to express our horror, or compassion
• Lithuanian president presses NATO membership bid; Adamkus calls the 2002 NATO summit in Prague a "rendezvous with history"
• Reuters historical calendar - September 17; includes the admission of Latvia to the United Nations
• Russia, Baltic states agree tanker safety deadline; Baltic region countries to eliminate single-hulled tankers by 2015
• ANALYSIS - Baltics' Unique Status; by recognizing Baltic independence even as it tried to bandage itself together, the Soviet Union confirmed the unique and separate identity of the Baltic states
• Latvian Police Score Big Drug Haul; hemp isn't being grown anymore as in the old days, just for fiber (rope) and hemp-seed "peanut-butter"
• Canada tells Latvia it backs NATO expansion; support is lining up for the Baltics for next year's Prague summit
• Latvia sends Soviet official to genocide trial; Nikolai Tess accused of deporting 42 families totalling 138 people to forced settlement in remote parts of the Soviet Union on March 25, 1949
• Lawyer says alleged Nazi war criminal is unfit to stand trial; Konrads Kalejs is medically unable to stand trial; Kalejs has consistently denied allegations
• Latvian PM party asks central bank head to resign; Repse may start new political party, that would be at odds with his apolitical post as central bank head; there was an additional story (not included) that Repse may have asked for a one-time "fee" to start such a party
• Finland Visit Gives Hope For Future, THE MOSCOW TIMES; positive response to Putin's Finland visit, but even the Moscow Times characterizes Putin's comments comparing Russian-speakers in Latvia with ethnic Albanians in Macedonia as gratuitous and needlessly inflamatory
• Kazakhstan, Latvia discuss trade, economic cooperation; current annual trade turnover is 74 million dollars
• Latvia offers its ports for Kazakh oil transportation; though looking at a map, we wonder just how the oil will get there (Russian pipeline?)
• Putin Slams NATO Expansion on Finland Visit; only "sick minds" would consider Russia a threat
• Putin denounces NATO's plans to expand eastward; only "inflamed imaginations" would consider Russia a threat; as with many languages, it's apparent that some words conceptually don't translate one-to-one
• Moscow, Riga sign memorandum on development of cooperation; Latvia and Russia may be sparing, but Riga and Moscow seem to have put their pre-Riga-800 spat behind them (recall the Moscow delegation went home in a huff after one of the mayoral aides was denied a visa for security reasons)

We expect for the mailer to be "back to normal" next week. Some of you indicated that you did not receive the August 31st mailer, if not, let us know and we'll resend it.

Finally, as you might have noticed, we've been trying to get out web site up to date. Our most recent addition is Peters' album book of his trip in October 1994, including going to Vidzeme for the first time to seek his family roots.

As always, for you AOL'ers out there, "Town Square - Latvian chat" occurs spontaneously every Sunday evening between the hours of 9:00/9:30 to about 11:00, Eastern time. Cut and paste this link on AOL:

Remember our time together is precious.

Ar visu labu,

Baltic countries pay their respects to victims of attacks

AP WorldStream Wednesday, September 12, 2001 11:07:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    TALLINN, Estonia (AP) -- Government leaders and ordinary citizens across the former Soviet Baltic republics on Wednesday denounced terrorism and offered sympathy for the victims of airborne attacks in the United States.
    Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, who arrived in Washington on Monday for a planned weeklong U.S. visit, told Lithuanian television that he would instead return home on the earliest possible flight.
    He said he saw the Pentagon on fire from his nearby hotel after the attacks on Tuesday and was later taken to the hotel basement for security reasons.
    "In a terrible situation like this, nobody here cares much about our agenda. There is no reason to stay here any longer," said Adamkus, adding that he understood the distraction. His scheduled meeting with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney was canceled.
    At Estonia's presidential palace, national and American flags flew side-by-side at half mast and President Lennart Meri said in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush that "Estonia would stand with the United States in its hour of tragedy."
    Governments in both Estonia and Latvia also declared that Thursday would be an official day of remembrance for the U.S. victims and called for flags draped in black ribbons to be flown at half-mast nationwide.
    And the strongly pro-U.S. Baltic governments, which regained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, all met in special sessions to discuss events in the United States.
    Lithuania's parliament denounced the terrorist attacks and unanimously passed a resolution that said the Baltic state stood ready to aid Washington in its fight against terrorism.
    A Wednesday Cabinet meeting, led by Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas, began with a minute of silence in memory of those Americans who died or were injured.
    Hundreds of flowers and candles were placed in front of the U.S. Embassy in Riga, the Latvian capital. A note reading, "America, your tragedy is our tragedy. We must find the killers" was scrawled in Russian on a piece of notebook paper and taped to a tree outside the embassy.

Lithuanian president presses NATO membership bid

Reuters North America Monday, September 10, 2001 5:44:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By Carol Giacomo, Diplomatic Correspondent

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, campaigning for a 2002 NATO membership invite for the Baltic states, said Monday the bid is not anti-Russian and he wants Moscow eventually to also join the Western alliance.
    He called NATO's summit in Prague next year a "rendezvous with history" for Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia and said an evolution in international thinking has persuaded him alliance membership "increasingly appears within reach."
    Adamkus was in Washington for talks with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, congressional leaders and other officials. He delivered a foreign policy speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
    NATO expanded for the first time when it added Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic in 1999, bringing the total membership to 19 countries.
    It plans to make decisions about further enlargement at next year's Prague summit.
    Five months after taking office last January, President
    Bush offered new hope to the Baltic States' seven-year campaign for NATO membership when he declared that they and other former Soviet republics should be free to join the alliance.
    The United States never recognized the Soviet Union's Cold War claim on the Baltic states.
    Adamkus said Bush's speech "showed how far our own thinking has come."
    As recently as 1998, he was still trying to persuade some in Washington that Lithuania "in principle" should have the right to join NATO.
    "Today, that goal is no longer questioned. On the contrary, it increasingly appears within reach and what we are debating is the timing and modalities," he said.

    IMPACT ON RUSSIA
    A major argument for not granting NATO membership to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia has been the impact on neighboring Russia.
    But Adamkus said "we do not view our aspirations to join NATO as an anti-Russian act" and in fact, while many doubt Russia could ever be part of the alliance "I would welcome that" and "I do not fear it."
    "A Russia that truly wants to participate in European affairs and which would adhere to the underlying principles of the Euro-Atlantic community would be a success -- both for them and for us," he said.
    Russia traditionally has opposed NATO enlargement, although last July Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of Russia joining NATO.
    Adamkus said Putin told him Lithuania had a sovereign right to decide its future and has not threatened the country if it does join NATO.
    Lithuania is prepared to build on its cooperation with Russia in Kaliningrad and expand cross-border cooperation with other neighboring regions in Russia, he said.
    So far, a definitive alliance political consensus has not emerged around how many or which aspirant countries will be invited to join the next round of enlargement.
    Adamkus said if only one Baltic state is selected, and it is not his country, Lithuania would congratulate the winner and press on. "It's a question of time. We will catch up," he said.
    All of Lithuania's political parties have signed a formal agreement endorsing NATO membership and popular support for the alliance bid has risen to 64 percent of the population, he said.
    Lithuania shares NATO's common values of a commitment to democracy and the rule of law and to a united, safe and economically strong Europe, and along with Estonia and Latvia has made cooperation with the alliance a top foreign policy goal, he said.

Reuters historical calendar -- September 17

Reuters World Report Monday, September 10, 2001 12:48:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) -- Following are some of the major events which occurred on September 17 in history [excerpts]:
    1787 -- Thirty-nine delegates from 12 of the 13 states of the Union signed the Constitution of the United States.
    1809 -- The Treaty of Fredrikshamm ended the Russo-Swedish war, ceding Finland to Russia.
    1978 -- The Camp David summit between Jimmy Carter, Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Menachem Begin of Israel ended with a framework for a peace treaty.
    1991 -- The General Assembly admitted North and South Korea, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as members of the United Nations.

Russia, Baltic states agree tanker safety deadline

Reuters Business Repor tMonday, September 10, 2001 12:14:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    LONDON, Sept 10 (Reuters) -- Nine Baltic Sea states including Russia said on Monday they had agreed a fast-track timetable for eliminating single-hulled tankers, seen as a pollution hazard, from their national fleets.
    "Single hull oil tankers will be phased out between 2003 and 2015, depending on the age and type of the vessel," said a statement from the nine-member Helsinki Commission (Helcom).
    Helcom said the move ratified a timetable agreed by shipping's legislative body, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in April, but rejected IMO's provisions for states to extend their own national deadlines.
    "The Baltic Sea states will refrain from making use of any exemption and relaxation provisions," it said.
    The world's single-hulled tanker fleet will be replaced by a new generation of double-hulled tankers, which offer better protection against oil spillage during low-speed collisions and groundings.
    Double-hulled tankers already constitute about a third of the world's 300 million tonne tanker fleet, and many more are now being constructed in the shipyards of South Korea, Japan and China.
    Russia is Helcom's largest oil exporter, pumping over 500,000 barrels per day from Baltic Sea terminals Butinge, in Lithuania, Ventspils, in Latvia, and Tallinn, in Estonia.
    Helcom Chairman Peter Ehlers told Reuters that the ban could not be extended to foreign ships calling in the members' ports.
    "The ban can only be enforced on ships flying the flags of the nine Baltic states," he said.
    IMO agreed its own timetable in April for phasing out single-hulled tankers after the European Union forced it to confront the issue of tanker safety in the wake of the Erika disaster in December 1999.
    The Erika, which did not have a full double-hull, spilled 8,000 tonnes of heavy fuel oil off the coast of France when it broke up during a storm.
    The IMO agreement between 113 maritime nations from across the globe followed a week of intense negotiations, during which Brazil, backed by several developing nations, won a degree of leeway in phase-out deadlines.
    The European Union, the most important oil importer in the negotiations, said it would stick by the earliest possible deadline of 2015.
    Denmark called Monday's Helcom meeting back in March after the tanker Baltic Carrier spilled 2,700 tonnes of fuel oil into the sea after a collision off the Danish coast.
    IMO's timetable agreed in April sets deadlines for getting rid of single-hulled tankers that are at least four years closer than those prior to the meeting.

ANALYSIS -- Baltics' Unique Status

COMTEX Newswire Monday, September 10, 2001 12:05:00 AM
By PAUL GOBLE, Special to UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.

    WASHINGTON, Sep 10, 2001 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- Ten years ago, the Soviet government formally recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.That action represented an implicit recognition of the very different past status of these states than that of the other 12 Soviet republics.
    But equally important, it helped to set in train the very different pattern of development the three Baltic States have followed in the decade since.
    On Sept. 6, 1991, in the wake of the failed coup in Moscow, the Soviet government officially recognized Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as both de facto and de jure independent, a step that more than 40 other countries already had taken earlier.
    Indeed, at the very moment when this Soviet recognition was reported in Lithuania, U.S. officials were meeting in Vilnius with Lithuanian leader Vytautas Landsbergis to discuss the resumption of the exchange of diplomats.
    International recognition represented the culmination of the drive of the three Baltic nations to recover fully the independence they had effectively lost when Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin occupied all of them in 1940. Neither the people of the Baltic nations nor many major Western powers, including the United States, ever accepted the Soviet occupation as legitimate. And both the Baltic nations and the West saw this Soviet recognition as vindication of their stand.
    But in many ways, Moscow's actions in 1991 represented even more than the Soviet authorities, the Baltic peoples or the West recognized at the time. In many respects, Soviet recognition of Baltic independence meant that its recognition not only of the independence of the three countries but also of their very different status in the past and their equally very different status in the future.
    In announcing its recognition of the independence of these countries, the Soviet authorities were very careful not to say that they were finally recognizing either the illegitimacy of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact in which Hitler and Stalin divided up Eastern Europe and left the Baltic countries in the Soviet zone or to say that they were in any way accepting the West's non-recognition policy.
    Nonetheless, by taking this action when it did, the Soviet government implicitly acknowledged both, a fact that many Baltic leaders at the time called attention to. That is because it was a fundamental principle of the Baltic national movements that they were seeking the recovery of the de facto independence that was taken from them because they had remained independent in the eyes of most of the world.
    Consequently, by recognizing all three Baltic countries well in advance of any acknowledgement that the Soviet Union would soon disintegrate, Moscow effectively treated the Baltic countries as a distinct group, something the Baltic national movements and Western governments had insisted upon.
    Indeed, many in Moscow and in Western capitals took the view in the weeks that followed that Moscow's recognition of the independence of the Baltic countries did not point to the demise of the Soviet Union as a whole but rather was a step that would allow then Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev to stabilize the situation.
    Because that view proved mistaken, the distinctiveness of Soviet recognition of the Baltic States was obscured for many in Russia and elsewhere.
    But even more important, the difference in Moscow's recognition of the Baltic countries from its later recognition of the post-Soviet states has played a key role in the very different trajectory of Baltic developments since that time.
    Unlike the post-Soviet states that emerged following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the Baltic countries were able to build on an identifiable and democratic past, something not easily available to the others.
    Consequently, the three Baltic countries never joined post-Soviet institutions like the Commonwealth of Independent States that embraced the remaining 12 former Soviet republics, and they have thus been in a position to pursue integration with Western institutions like the European Union and NATO more like the other countries of Central Europe than like the post-Soviet republics.
    Precisely because both the Baltic governments and Western leaders in almost all cases have accepted this key distinction, many in Russia object to what they view as the West's Baltic exceptionalism -- forgetting that Moscow made this exceptionalism not only possible but necessary first by the occupation and then by the key difference between the Soviet recognition of Baltic independence and the Soviet acknowledgement that the Soviet Union was no more.
    (Paul Goble is deputy director of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The views he expresses are his own and not those of RFE/RL.)

Latvian Police Score Big Drug Haul

COMTEX Newswire Saturday, September 08, 2001 7:20:00 AM
Copyright 2001 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY

    RIGA, Sep 8, 2001 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Latvian police have seized nearly 200 kilograms of Indian hemp in a recent crackdown on illegal drugs planting, processing and trafficking, said the police Saturday.
    Police seized 54 kilograms of Indian hemp hidden in a garden in the port city of Ventspils on Thursday, said the police. They also confiscated 41.38 kilograms of Indian hemp in Adazi not far from the capital city of Riga on Wednesday.
    Police seized 72 kilograms of Indian hemp in a small village last month and uncovered a drug trafficking case which involved about 200,000 U.S. dollars.
    In recent years, Baltic countries including Latvia have become a corridor for international drug trafficking and the number of drug addicts is on the rise.

Canada tells Latvia it backs NATO expansion

Reuters Financial Report Friday, September 07, 2001 2:39:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, Sept 7 (Reuters) -- Canadian Foreign Minister John Manley told Latvia on Friday his country staunchly supported NATO expansion, which should take place despite Russia's objections.
    Manley was speaking during a visit to the NATO-aspirant Baltic republic, which hopes to be invited to join at the alliance's summit in Prague next year.
    "Canada is a strong and emphatic supporter of NATO enlargement at next year's summit in Prague," Manley said.
    "We support a process that is transparent and that would recognise the efforts that the countries have made to meet the requirements of the Membership Application Programme for membership in NATO."
    Manley encouraged Latvia and other aspirants to continue efforts aimed at meeting alliance criteria but said it was not yet time to say who should be allowed in.
    Russia, which opposes the wishes of Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia to join the alliance, does not want to see NATO expand into the territory of the former Soviet Union.
    Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out earlier this week at plans to expand NATO eastwards, saying he saw no "objective reason for the Baltic states to become members of NATO."
    When asked about Putin's remarks regarding NATO expansion, Manley said: "We consider this (enlargement) to be a matter between NATO and the applicant countries."
    He said candidates should be admitted on the basis of "objective criteria" so that those who do not succeed will understand why and how to improve their chances in future.

Latvia sends Soviet official to genocide trial

Reuters World Report Thursday, September 06, 2001 11:37:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, Sept 6 (Reuters) -- Latvian prosecutors said on Thursday they had sent to court the case of a former Soviet security official charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in mass deportations in 1949.
    Prosecutors charged Nikolai Tess, a Russian citizen, in April.
    A spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office told Reuters Tess had finished reading the charges, clearing the way for the case to be sent for trial to the Riga district court.
    The 80-year-old former Soviet Interior Ministry official is the 10th former Soviet official charged by Latvia with genocide and crimes against humanity since the Baltic state regained independence in 1991 after 50 years of Soviet occupation.
    The charge sheet says Tess drew up and signed an order to deport 42 families totalling 138 people to forced settlement in remote parts of the Soviet Union on March 25, 1949. They included 14 children.
    Eleven of the deported died in Siberia, the prosecutor's spokeswoman said.
    The Soviets deported tens of thousands of Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians under a Russification policy after occupying the Baltic states in 1940 under secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of August 1939 with Nazi Germany.
    The policy continued after World War Two. On the night of March 25, 1949, thousands from across the Baltic states were sent to camps in one of several waves of deportations in 1940s.
    Russia has criticised Latvia for trying former Soviet security officials and partisans.

Lawyer says alleged Nazi war criminal is unfit to stand trial

AP WorldStream Thursday, September 06, 2001 10:08:00 AM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press

    MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- The lawyer for an alleged Nazi war criminal living in Australia said Thursday his client is suffering severe dementia and is unfit to stand trial.
    Gerard Lethbridge said 88-year-old Konrad Kalejs, who is living at a hostel for the elderly in the southern city of Melbourne is too ill to travel to Latvia for trial on genocide charges.
    Kalejs has been accused of being a guard at the Salaspils concentration camp near the Latvian capital, Riga, where Jews and Russian prisoners of war were executed, tortured or died of malnutrition.
    Jewish and human rights groups say Kalejs was an officer in the Arajs Kommando, a Nazi-sponsored death squad responsible for the murder of some 30,000 Latvian Jews.
    But his lawyer said he would not be able to defend himself against the charges as he is tried.
    "He suffers from severe and progressive dementia, he's blind, he's effectively bedridden, and when he's out of bed he's in a wheelchair that he's got to be tied to -- as I understand it," Lethbridge said. "He's been seen by a raft of experts ... all of whom confirm that he's suffering from progressive dementia."
    Melbourne Magistrates Court on May 30 ordered Kalejs be extradited to Latvia to face trial.
    Kalejs is due to appeal that decision in the Federal Court next month, but Lethbridge said Kalejs' poor mental health would rule him out ever from receiving a fair trial.
    "He really can't follow what's happening, and on that basis, he's not in a position to properly defend himself against these allegations," he said.
    "He can't remember anything, he can't follow proceedings -- so how can he possibly defend himself against allegations that relate to matters that are 60 years old?"
    Federal Justice Minister Chris Ellison has the power to override any decision to extradite Kalejs based on his medical condition, but two such claims this year have been rejected by the minister.
    Latvian born Kalejs, who became an Australian citizen in 1959, has consistently denied the allegations.

Latvian PM party asks central bank head to resign

Reuters World Report Thursday, September 06, 2001 4:31:00 AM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.

    RIGA, Sept 6 (Reuters) -- The leading party in Latvia's leading coalition party issued a statement on Tuesday calling on central bank head Einars Repse to resign after he had said he was considering leading a new political party.
    The parliamentary faction of Latvia's Way said in a statement addressed to Repse that it was important for the central bank to remain politically neutral.
    "That is why Latvia's Way is calling on you, Mr Repse...to resign from the post of the president of the Bank of Latvia," the statement said.
    "Thus you would ensure political independence of the management of the Bank of Latvia. At the same time you would exclude the possibility of using the privileges of your post for achieving political goals and would not put the stability of the lat at risk," it added. Repse, known as the father of the country's lat currency, said in August he was considering leading a new party that is being formed ahead of parliamentary elections due in autumn 2002.
    Repse's term as central bank governor runs out in August 2003, and he himself had indicated that it would be impossible to combine his work at the central bank with leading a political party.

Finland Visit Gives Hope For Future, THE MOSCOW TIMES

AP WorldSources Online Wednesday, September 05, 2001 1:03:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
Copyright 2001 THE MOSCOW TIMES

    President Vladimir Putin's two-day state visit to Finland is a welcome development, one in which the Russian side managed to get all its signals right. As for the big symbolic issues, Putin's solemn appearance at the tomb of Finnish war hero Field Marshal Carl Gustaf Mannerheim was an impressively statesmanly gesture. Not only was it warmly appreciated by the Finns, but it also gave credence to Putin's anti-NATO-expansion remarks, in which he emphasized that Russia is no longer a threat to Europe.
    His comments on NATO were generally measured but firm, although the president's gratuitous comments comparing Russian-speakers in Latvia with ethnic Albanians in Macedonia needlessly inflamed tensions at a moment when it seems reasonable to hope that regional cooperation could be increased.
    Despite the Latvia remarks, we wonder whether it might not be a propitious moment in the wake of this constructive Helsinki trip--to propose holding a regional summit with all of the Baltic states, Russia, Finland and, perhaps, Sweden as well.
    There is certainly a wide range of economic, social and environmental issues that could be productively addressed through direct, multilateral contacts on the regional level.
    Moreover, the inclusion of Finland and Sweden would likely reduce the tensions that have characterized Russia's bilateral relations with the three Baltic states.
    What is even more encouraging about the president's trip to Helsinki is that the smaller pieces also seem to be coming together nicely. Finland is a major trading partner for St.
    Petersburg, the Leningrad region and Karelia, and Putin made impressive efforts to solidify and cultivate these ties. The regional political and business leaders who accompanied the president should be able to follow up on this visit with concrete projects.
    While the long-awaited investment-protection treaty was not signed and is still not finished, it is obvious that both countries view it as a priority and are taking it seriously. Although Finnish investment in northwest Russia is already high, inking this deal should take it to a whole new level.
    The only issue that got short shrift on this trip, it seems, is the environment, and this is particularly unfortunate because Russia has as much as anyone to gain from finally tackling this critical problem. Russia has every reason to be ashamed of what it has done and continues to do to despoil the Baltic Sea and therefore should be at the forefront of efforts to clean it up.
    If such arguments are not convincing, perhaps Moscow will be moved by the fact that the lion's share of any international cleanup funding for the project would most likely come to Russia.

Kazakhstan, Latvia discuss trade, economic cooperation

COMTEX Newswire Wednesday, September 05, 2001 9:30:00 AM
(c) 2001 ITAR-TASS
By Ural Karpishev

    ALMATY, Sep 05, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- The Kazakhstan-Latvia intergovernmental commission for trade and economic cooperation held its first meeting in Astana on Wednesday when an agreement on the establishment of this commission was signed by the Kazakh trade and economic development minister Zhaksybek Kulekeyev and Latvian economics minister Aigars Kalvitis.
    The commission discussed the general state of affairs in the social and economic situation in Kazakhstan and Latvia, analysed the results of bilateral interaction last year and in the first half of this year and spoke about prospects for the development of mutually beneficial cooperation.
    At present the legal framework for the relations between Kazakhstan and Latvia comprises 12 international documents, most important among which are the agreements on trade and economic cooperation, on transit through their territories, on cooperation in the field of the railway and air transport.
    The value of the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Latvia in 2000 increased 1.5 times to 74 million dollars a year. Kazakhstan exports ferrous and non-ferrous metals, ferro-alloys and farm produce, and imports from Latvia equipment and machinery, foodstuffs and textile products.

Latvia offers its ports for Kazakh oil transportation

COMTEX Newswire Wednesday, September 05, 2001 3:30:00 AM
(c) 2001 ITAR-TASS
By Ural Karpishev

    ASTANA, Sep 05, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Latvia is willing to transport Kazakh oil through its sea ports, said Latvian Prime Minister Andris Berzins, who arrived in Kazakhstan for a three-day official visit on Wednesday. According to Berzins, Latvia's potentialities in oil transportation are "unlimited." The initial amount could be three to five million tonnes a year.
    Berzins added, however, that not everything depends on the will of Latvia or Kazakhstan. If the two countries reach agreement on the issue, talks with Russia should be held, he explained.
    The Latvian prime minister told journalists that he had had a meeting with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on Wednesday. They discussed ways of expanding bilateral relations. An agreement on the development of cooperation in the sphere of telecommunication and other types of communication, as well as a convention on taxes will be signed on the results of the visit. A joint declaration on bilateral cooperation in a short perspective is also expected to be signed, Berzins said.

Putin Slams NATO Expansion on Finland Visit

Reuters Online Service Monday, September 03, 2001 11:06:00 PM
Copyright 2001 Reuters Ltd.
By John Acher

    HELSINKI (Reuters) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out Monday at plans to expand NATO eastwards and said only a "sick mind" could believe Moscow posed an aggressive threat to European security.
    "I underline that we don't see any objective reason for the Baltic states to become members of NATO," Putin told a news conference on his first state visit to Finland. "We are not glad about this. We think it is a mistake," he stressed at a news conference with Finnish President Tarja Halonen.
    Putin said expanding the western alliance would not solve a single problem in Europe's current security environment.
    "Only in a sick imagination could one think that some aggressive elements could ... emerge from Russia," he said.
    Putin made the remarks on the second day of his visit to non-aligned Finland, which is not seeking to join NATO but insists that the door to the western alliance must remain open and that states have a right to decide whether to join.
    Former Soviet Baltic republics Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all aim to join NATO but Russia vehemently opposes enlargement of the transatlantic alliance to its doorstep.
    Putin said it was up to the countries themselves to decide their defense policy, and Russia did not intend to fan any hysteria over the issue.
    Halonen said she believed the Baltic states would eventually become full members of NATO. "It's a matter of when," she said.
    Putin praised Finland's example to its Baltic neighbors. "Finland has in a magnificent way shown the benefits of neutrality over the decades," he said.

Putin denounces NATO's plans to expand eastward

AP WorldStream Monday, September 03, 2001 6:25:00 PM
Copyright 2001 The Associated Press
By MATTI HUUHTANEN
Associated Press Writer

    HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Denouncing NATO's plans to expand eastward, Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the three Baltic countries not to join the alliance and said only an "inflamed imagination" would see Russia as a security threat.
    Putin spoke Monday during a break in talks with Finnish President Tarja Halonen on his first official visit as president to the Nordic country.
    He said Russia recognized the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania but that a decision to join NATO would be a "mistake."
    "It's really their option (to join NATO), but we see no objective reasons for NATO expansion," he added. "We're not pleased by it."
    The three small countries have made joining NATO a priority since they regained independence as the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. They say they want to integrate fully with the West and still have security concerns about Russia.
    Russia says their inclusion in NATO would be perceived as a threat and is unnecessary.
    "Only in an inflamed imagination could one think that someone in the European region, including Russia, has aggressive intentions," Putin told reporters.
    Halonen, who visited Moscow in June 2000, said Finland would not change its longstanding policy of neutrality and has no plans to join NATO.
    Addressing local business leaders, Putin predicted the Russian economy will grow by 6 percent this year, well above the 4 percent forecast in the 2001 budget. This follows last year's 8 percent growth, a record for post-Soviet Russia after nearly a decade of decline.
    Putin also said Russia was paying off its debts on time. The country scared off foreign creditors and investors with a sweeping debt default in 1998 that devastated the economy.
    Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, arrived Sunday at the Finnish president's summer residence, Kultaranta, near Turku, 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital. The two presidents held informal talks, dined and sped around the estate in a golf car, steered by Halonen.
    In interviews with Finnish media on the eve of his two-day visit, Putin said U.S. President George W. Bush's government appeared to be still making up its mind on key international issues.
    Putin told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper that "we get the feeling that on some issues his team has not yet decided on the order of importance."
    "When that's done and we are presented with alternative solutions on the preservation of strategic stability, as well as some other questions, then our dialogue will take on a concrete character," he was quoted as saying.
    Moscow fiercely opposes U.S. plans to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and deploy a national missile defense system.
    Several rounds of talks have taken place, but Russian officials have frequently expressed frustration that U.S. officials have failed to deal with specific U.S. plans. The meetings have not led to any breakthroughs.
    Also Monday, Putin made a significant gesture to Finland, a nation of 5 million people that shares a 1,270-kilometer (790-mile) border with Russia and still remembers two bitter wars it fought against the Soviet Union. Putin became the first Russian leader to lay a wreath at the tomb of Field Marshal C.G.E. Mannerheim, who led the Finnish struggle against Stalin's Red Army from 1939 to 1944.
    Putin attended a dinner hosted by Halonen at the presidential palace before returning to Moscow.

Moscow, Riga sign memorandum on development of cooperation

COMTEX Newswire Friday, August 31, 2001 6:45:00 AM
(c) 1996-2001 ITAR-TASS
By Olga Bondareva

    MOSCOW, Aug 31, 2001 (Itar-Tass via COMTEX) -- Moscow intends to continue to develop cooperation with Riga, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said at a meeting with chairman of the Riga Duma Gundars Boyars. They signed a memorandum on development of cooperation between the two capitals.
    As a result of the meeting, the sides decided to set up in Moscow and Riga groups for coordinating development of cooperation between the two capitals. Their rgular meetings will be held not less than once half a year. The groups are to prepare and coordinate a draft frame agreement on cooperation between the two capitals before the end of the current year, to work out proposals on broadenting of trade and economic ties and on deepeing of ties in the socio-humanitarian sphere.
    The sides stressed their striving for all-round development of ties and contacts with the aim of improving cooperation between the two cities. The Moscow mayor added that he intends to visit Riga.