30 April 2008 News Digest
Kazakhstan planning to introduce export duty on metals
18 April
The Kazakh government will determine the size of an export duty that is to be introduced on mining and metals products before the end of April, Kazakh Deputy Finance Minister Daulet Yergozhin said in Astana on Friday. "An export duty on metal commodities is currently being calculated," he said, noting that the Kazakh Industry and Trade Ministry is handling the calculations. Yergozhin did not specify what types of metals products would be subject to the new export duty. The introduction of an export duty on metals will be considered in conjunction with other taxes, in particular, the corporate income tax, whose rate could be lowered once a new Tax Code is approved. Yergozhin said the export duty on metals commodities would be less than the oil export duty that is to come in effect on May 17. Nikolai Radostovets, executive director of Kazakhstan's Mining Metal Companies Association, said the companies view the introduction of the export duty as "a hindrance to the competitiveness of their products." "This is a barrier that will hinder the development of the Customs Union and could even contradict it," he said. A resolution on the customs duty on metals could be adopted at the President's Council of Economic Policy in a few days, he said. "We are ready to give more to the country, but within the framework of a civilized taxation system," Radostovets said. Industry and Trade Minister Vladimir Shkolnik called for a diversified approach to calculating the customs duty for each metal product. "There should be a balanced approach to each product. Obviously, there won't be a fixed 10% or 5% duty for all. We will discuss this issue further," he told journalists later today in Astana. (Interfax)
Tajikistan looking for new grain suppliers
18 April
This year Tajikistan is planning to import up to 900,000 tons of grain, including wheat and flour, for internal needs and for refilling the national grain reserve, chief of the country's Customs Service Gurez Zaripov said on Friday. "In 2008 Tajikistan is planning to import 700,000 tons of flour and wheat, and another 200,000 tons will be purchased using budget money to refill the national reserve," he told a press conference. Tajikistan started looking for new grain suppliers after Kazakhstan banned its wheat exports for a period between April 26 to September 1, 2008, Zaripov said. Up to 98% of grains imported by Tajikistan were from Kazakhstan, he said. (Interfax)
KYRGYZ PRESIDENT ANNOUNCES EXEMPTION TO KAZAKH BAN ON WHEAT EXPORTS
18 April
President Kurmanbek Bakiev announced on April 18 that Kyrgyzstan will be exempt from a recent Kazakh decision to ban wheat exports. Speaking to reporters en route to Bishkek following a state visit to Kazakhstan, Bakiev said that Kazakh officials agreed to honor the terms of a prior contract to sell
Kyrgyzstan 50,000 tons of wheat and added that Kyrgyzstan will receive a total of 300,000 tons of wheat from Kazakhstan by the end of the year. Although Kazakhstan is the world's fifth-largest exporter of grain, it recently imposed a ban on wheat exports in order to "ensure food security in the country" and to protect the domestic Kazakh market from expectations that international prices for wheat, flour, and other agricultural products will continue to increase. Bakiev also revealed on April 18 that the two countries agreed during his visit to a new deal whereby Kazakhstan will supply crude oil to a refinery in the southern Kyrgyz city of Jalal-Abad. He added that Kazakh President Nazarbaev agreed to harmonize visa regulations by extending a new 90-day period for Kyrgyz visitors to legally stay in Kazakhstan without formal registration. (AKIpress)
KYRGYZ POLICE LAUNCH INVESTIGATION OF SHOOTING DEATH OF RUSSIAN SOLDIER
20 April
The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry announced that police launched an investigation on April 20 into the early-morning attack on a group of Russian servicemen that resulted in the shooting death of a soldier stationed at the Russian airbase at Kant, outside of Bishkek. According to the ministry, a car carrying the servicemen failed to stop at a highway checkpoint manned by traffic policemen, prompting the police to fire a warning shot before then shooting at the vehicle. A preliminary investigation determined that the Russian was fatally wounded by the second shot. That account was disputed by the Russian Embassy in Bishkek, however, which contended that the car carrying the Russian servicemen was stopped in the town of Kant by people dressed in police uniform, but who were traveling in a car with no number plate and produced no official identification. The embassy added that while detaining the Russian servicemen, the uniformed men forced the servicemen to the ground and then opened fire without cause. (Itar-Tass)
KAZAKH PREMIER UNVEILS NEW CIVIL SERVICE REFORM PROGRAM
21 April
During the opening of a special training course in Astana for senior civil servants, Prime Minister Karim Masimov unveiled on April 21 a new civil-service reform program. He explained that the plan was formulated to meet the "need to develop a new personnel policy and new approaches aimed at developing professional managers," and that it will also introduce electronic, web-based "e-government" service to the population to "simplify administrative procedures and shorten the time of rendering civil services." He added that the "main aim of the administrative reforms" is to increase the "competitiveness of the country's economy," and would be supplemented by measures to improve the quality of government services, the introduction of "efficient result-oriented government planning and budgeting," and the reduction of state "intervention in the private sector." (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
EMBATTLED CHECHEN COMMANDER AFFIRMS LOYALTY TO PUTIN
21 April
Sulim Yamadayev, the commander of the Vostok battalion that Chechen officials want disbanded, told Ekho Moskvy in an interview on April 18 that he reports to the commander in chief of the Russian armed forces, President Putin, not to Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov. At least two members of Vostok, which is affiliated with the Russian Defense Ministry's 42nd Motorized Rifle Division and directly subordinate to Russian military intelligence, were reported killed in two separate standoffs on April 13 and 14 with members of Kadyrov's bodyguard. In the same interview, Yamadayev accused Kadyrov of deliberately misrepresenting the situation in Chechnya. He further claimed that 75 percent of the Chechen police are amnestied former resistance fighters. "Kommersant" reported on April 21 that some 300 members of Vostok (of a total strength of 1,000) have gone over to Kadyrov's side; Kadyrov was quoted by kavkaz-uzel.ru on April 19 as promising alternative employment to any who do so. (RFE/RL)
UZBEK PRESIDENT BEGINS STATE VISIT TO KAZAKHSTAN
22 April
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev welcomed his Uzbek counterpart Islam Karimov on April 22 to Astana on the first day of an official state visit to Kazakhstan. After Nazarbaev welcomed Karimov at the airport, they discussed issues ranging from bilateral relations to regional security. The two leaders agreed to improve the coordination of efforts to combat terrorism and drug trafficking, jointly pledging that "we are very much interested in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, since extremism, drug trafficking, and other challenges originate there." Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Karimov hailed Kazakhstan as Uzbekistan's "key partner" in the region and said that it "can play a decisive role in resolving many fundamental issues" essential for stability and security in Central Asia, including support for "sustainable development" in the region. But Karimov also argued that Uzbekistan is "in a better position than Kazakhstan for doing business," claiming that "small-sized business constitutes 49 percent of Uzbek GDP," Kazakhstan Today reported. Karimov also announced that he is opposed to the proposal to form a union of Central Asian states, a Kazakh initiative recently raised during the visit to Kazakhstan by Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who expressed his support for the idea. The proposal encompasses the formation of an "economic union" based on regional coordination of economic development and energy resources. Both presidents did agree, however, on a plan to develop a free-trade zone, ordering Kazakh and Uzbek officials to prepare for more specific negotiations in the coming months, Kazinform reported. (Interfax-Kazakhstan)
RUSSIAN DEFENSE MINISTRY POSTPONES RULING ON CONTROVERSIAL CHECHEN BATTALION
22 April
Meeting in Moscow on April 18, senior Defense Ministry officials decided to postpone until after the May 7 inauguration of President-elect Medvedev any decision on the future of the Vostok battalion headed by Hero of Russia Sulim Yamadayev. Following incidents on April 13 and 14 in Gudermes involving members of Vostok and of Chechen Republic head Ramzan Kadyrov's bodyguard, Kadyrov personally accused Yamadayev and his brothers of crimes against the civilian population, and the Chechen parliament adopted an appeal to Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and to outgoing President Putin in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the armed forces either to disband Vostok or to replace Yamadayev as its commander. Kavkaz-uzel.ru on April 21 quoted Kadyrov as saying that 343 servicemen have resigned "voluntarily" from Vostok, but he denied that they have been offered alternative employment in the police force or security bodies. Kadyrov stressed that he has no personal grievance against rank-and-file Vostok members, but that he considers it imperative to apprehend "individual criminals" serving in its ranks. Meanwhile, some 160 weapons confiscated from Vostok members last week are being subjected to a ballistic examination. (RFE/RL)
Armenia to step up "genocide" recognition drive
24 April
Armenia's new president said on Thursday he will seek "historic justice" for 1.5 million ethnic Armenians killed by Ottoman Turks, claimed as a genocide by Yerevan and which still affects relations with Turkey. Turkey strongly denies Armenian claims, backed by many Western historians, that the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One amounted to a systematic genocide. The issue has evolved into a source of tension that has complicated Ankara's relations with the United States and the European Union, which Turkey is seeking to join. President Serzh Sarksyan, who was sworn into office this month, said in a speech to mark Armenia's annual Genocide Day that securing international condemnation of the killings nearly a century ago would be a priority for his administration. "As a result of the genocide that was planned and carried out by the state in Ottoman Turkey, a vast number of Armenians were annihilated on their native land and lost their living space," Sarksyan said in a statement. "International recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide is an appropriate and inevitable part of Armenia's foreign policy agenda," he said in the statement. "The Motherland of all Armenians, the Republic of Armenia, should redouble its efforts for the restoration of historic justice." Armenia insists the killings should be declared a genocide and the massacres have been recognised as such by some Western lawmakers. But Ankara says large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks were killed during the violent and chaotic break-up of the Ottoman Empire. A law in Turkey makes it criminal offence to call the killings a genocide. Armenia and its neighbour Turkey have no diplomatic links, although Turkish President Abdullah Gul this month sent a letter to Yerevan calling for dialogue to normalise ties. Turkey has kept its land border with Armenia closed since the early 1990s in protest at Yerevan's occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh, a slice of territory belonging to ally Azerbaijan which is populated by ethnic Armenians. Turkey also objects to Yerevan's claims on some of its land. (Reuters)
TURKMEN PRESIDENT ORDERS REVERSAL OF PREDECESSOR'S CALENDAR CHANGES
24 April
At a cabinet meeting in Ashgabat, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on April 23 ordered the reversal of his predecessor's official changes to the calendar, Turkmen Television. The order effectively restores the previous names of the months and days of the calendar, reverting to the traditional Turkmen-language translation of the months and days used prior to late President Saparmurat Niyazov's decision to rename days and months after himself and his family members. Berdymukhammedov explained that the order was related to his recent announcement of a new special commission to draft a "new edition" of the constitution, which he said will be ready by September. (RFE/RL)
FRANCE GRANTS ASYLUM TO FORMER GEORGIAN DEFENSE MINISTER
24 April
The French authorities have acceded to a request by former Defense Minister Irakli Okruashvili for political asylum, Okruashvili's lawyer Eka Basilia told journalists in Tbilisi on April 23. Okruashvili left Georgia for Germany last October following his televised retraction of damaging allegations against President Saakashvili. Germany declined to extradite him to Georgia but allowed him to travel to France, where he requested asylum. A Tbilisi court sentenced him in absentia last month to 11 years' imprisonment on charges, which he claims were fabricated, of large-scale extortion. (RFE/RL)
KYRGYZ PRESIDENT CRITICIZES JUDGES, JUDICIAL OFFICIALS FOR UNETHICAL CONDUCT
25 April
In an address to the sixth annual congress of judges in Bishkek, Kyrgyz President Bakiev criticized on April 25 judges and judicial officials for "unethical behavior," which he said is "unacceptable, no matter whether it is in a courtroom or other places outside the court." He noted "a large number of complaints about judges' actions," and added that some legislators are equally guilty of poor behavior. Bakiev then reminded his audience -- consisting largely of senior judges, members of the government and the parliament, governors, and the heads of district-level government – that "the main point of judicial reform is to raise judges' legal awareness," adding that judges "needed to raise their status and to strengthen public confidence in courts." (AKIpress)
TURKMENISTAN REACHES GAS-PRICE AGREEMENT WITH IRAN
25 April
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov met on April 25 in Ashgabat with Iranian Deputy Oil Minister Seyyed Reza Kasaizadeh and concluded talks over resuming Turkmen natural-gas exports to Iran. Kasaizadeh, who also serves as the director of the Iranian national gas company, agreed to new higher prices for Turkmen gas and said that lower-level negotiations would determine an acceptable price. Turkmenistan is a key gas supplier for Iran, utilizing the Korpeje-Kord-Koy gas pipeline, but cut off exports to Iran in December 2007, citing pipeline problems. Some unidentified Turkmen officials admitted that the halt in exports stemmed from displeasure over the low price paid by Iran, however. (AFP)
ARMENIA MARKS GENOCIDE ANNIVERSARY
25 April
Hundreds of thousands of Armenians marched in silence on April 24 to the Tsitsernakaberd memorial outside Yerevan to pay their respects to the estimated 1.5 million Armenians massacred in Ottoman Turkey during the first two decades of the 20th century, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. In a statement marking the 93rd anniversary of the arrest in Constantinople of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals that marked the beginning of the wave of mass killings, President Serzh Sarkisian termed them "a crime against humanity," but stressed at the same time that Armenia seeks only recognition and condemnation of the genocide, but not "vengeance and enmity." As in an editorial published in "The Wall Street Journal" in December 2006, and during his visit to the United States in October 2007, Sarkisian again affirmed that Armenia is ready to normalize relations with Turkey without preconditions. In Moscow on April 24, police prevented Armenians from staging a protest outside the Turkish Embassy to mark the anniversary. (RFE/RL)
RUSSIA CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF GEORGIAN PRIME MINISTER'S DEATH
26 April
Russian Ambassador for Special Assignments Kenyaikin has called on PACE to investigate the circumstances of the death in 2005 of then Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. Zhvania and a friend were found dead in a rented apartment; the Georgian authorities immediately gave the cause of death as natural gas poisoning, but Zhvania's family subsequently questioned that verdict, suggesting he may have been murdered. The Russian delegation to PACE three months ago proposed establishing a commission to investigate Zhvania's death, but PACE Secretary-General Terry Davis rejected that call at the time as "pointless." (Caucasus Press)
KAZAKH CITY RESIDENTS RALLY TO PROTEST MUNICIPAL DEVELOPMENT
28 April
A group of roughly 2,000 Almaty residents rallied on April 26 to protest the city's municipal-development plan, RFE/RL's Kazakh Service reported. The demonstrators accused the Kazakh government of "failing to protect its citizens" after a number of private homes were demolished by city authorities to make room for new development. There has also been a sharp rise in urban land and property prices in Almaty, which has led some local officials to attempt to force many middle- and lower-class residents from their homes in order to make way for the construction of high-end building projects. Demonstrators also appealed to President Nursultan Nazarbaev to intervene directly to resolve the issue. (RFE/RL)
Iran demands Azerbaijan release Russian nuclear shipment
28 April
Iran demanded Sunday that Azerbaijan deliver a Russian shipment of nuclear equipment blocked at its border with Iran for the past three weeks. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in his weekly briefing that his country has asked the Azerbaijani ambassador in Iran to get his government "to deliver the shipment as soon as possible." The blocked nuclear equipment "is in the framework of Iran-Russia cooperation" and there should be "no ban on it," he said about the shipment destined for a Russian-built nuclear reactor in the southern Iranian port city of Bushehr. Azerbaijan has said it was seeking more information about the shipment due to fears that it might violate any of the three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions imposed on Iran over its failure to halt uranium enrichment. On Monday, Russian state-run company Atomstroiexport said that one or two trucks carrying the equipment for Iran were stopped two weeks ago at the town of Astara, on the Azerbaijani-Iranian border. Company spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said officials were holding talks with both Azerbaijan and Iran about the incident. She said the shipment contained "heat-isolating equipment" essential to the plant's operation but that the holdup was not likely to delay the startup of the plant. Iran is paying Russia more than $1 billion to build the light-water reactor at Bushehr. Construction has been held up in recent months by disputes between Tehran and Moscow over payments and a schedule for shipping nuclear fuel. Russia delivered the final shipment of uranium fuel in January, and Tehran has said it was hoping the plant would begin operations by summer. The United States initially opposed Russia's building Bushehr, but later softened its position after Iran agreed to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia to ensure it does not extract plutonium from it that could be used to make atomic bombs. Washington and Moscow have also said the Russian nuclear fuel supply means Iran no longer needs to continue its uranium enrichment program — a process that can provide fuel for a reactor or fissile material for a bomb. (AP)
Georgia will complain to NATO about Russia's actions
28 April
Special envoy of the Georgian president and former foreign minister David Bakradze left for Brussels Monday morning for a 26+1 meeting (26 member-states plus Georgia) at NATO headquarters convened at Georgia's request. "We continue our diplomatic efforts connected with Russia's latest decisions and actions. We will inform representatives of all NATO member-states about Russia's destructive moves in conflict zones at the 26+1 meeting convened at Georgia's request," Bakradze told the press at Tbilisi airport. In his opinion, the session at the NATO headquarters will be effective and "all the grievances of the Georgian side will be taken into account" at the Wednesday session of the Russia-NATO Council. Georgia is dissatisfied with Russia's recent actions to establish direct contacts with breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia and also the downing of a Georgian unmanned aerial vehicle by a Russian fighter on April 20. (Interfax)
Russia does not seek control over Abkhazia, South Ossetia - Russian FM
29 April
Russia's moves to protects the rights and interests of Abkhaz and South Ossetian residents are not aimed at securing control over the breakaway republics. "It is Absolutely apparent, that Russia's moves are aimed at ensuring basic rights of Abkhaz and South Ossetia residents, rather than gaining any kind of control over the territories of the breakaway republics," the Russian Foreign Ministry's Information and Press Department said in a statement on Tuesday. (Interfax)
Azerbaijan blocks Russian nuke shipment to Iran
29 April
Iran has reported that a shipment of Russian nuclear equipment was being held in neighboring Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan, an ally of the United States, has acknowledged the delay. The Azeri government said it has sought to determine whether the nuclear shipment violated United Nations Security Council sanctions on Iran. Iranian officials said their Foreign Ministry has demanded that Azeri authorities release the nuclear equipment, Middle East Newsline reported. They said the equipment, intended for the Bushehr nuclear energy reactor, was held up at the Iranian-Azeri border. "We have asked them to deliver the shipment as soon as possible," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammed Ali Husseini said. Ali Husseini did not identify the nuclear equipment held in Azerbaijan. The spokesman said the nuclear shipment has been in Azerbaijan for three weeks. Atomstroiexport spokeswoman Irina Yesipova said the trucks contained what she termed heat-isolating systems. Ms. Yesipova said she did not envision additional delays to Bushehr. Iran has also reported the construction of a second nuclear reactor. Officials said the facility was being built along the Iranian border with Iraq and would have a capacity of 360 megawatts. "Now we need to think about the fuel for it," Iranian ambassador to Russia, Gholamreza Ansari, said. (World Tribune)
EU Suspends Sanctions Against Uzbekistan For Further Six Months
29 April
European Union foreign ministers agreed Tuesday to suspend sanctions against Uzbekistan for a further six months, despite criticisms from human rights groups. Ministers initially suspended a European visa ban on Uzbek leaders back in October after receiving "positive signals" from the regime, although an arms embargo imposed last year remains active. The sanctions were originally imposed after Uzbekistan rejected demands for an international probe into the lethal repression of an uprising in its Andijan province in 2005, which left up to 1,000 dead according to human rights groups. On Tuesday, the 27 E.U. foreign ministers welcomed the release by Uzbek authorities of four human rights activists in February, an agreement allowing the International Committee of the Red Cross to resume visits to prisons there, and the recent abolition of the death penalty. The ministers said in a statement during a meeting in Luxembourg that the suspension of sanctions would continue for another six months "with a view to encouraging the Uzbek authorities to take substantive steps to improve the human rights situation and taking into account their commitments." However with human rights groups calling for a tougher line, the ministers agreed to review the decision in three months, adding that they remain " seriously concerned about the situation of human rights and the rule of law in a number of areas in Uzbekistan." "The E.U. cannot forget why it imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan in the first place to push for an independent investigation of the killing of hundreds of people protesting against the government," said Natalia Alonso, deputy director at Amnesty International's E.U. office ahead of the meeting. "Three years on, the families of the Andijan victims are still waiting for justice," she added. Amnesty International has said the E.U. foreign ministers are sending the wrong message, "that Uzbekistan can continue to ignore calls for an independent investigation with total impunity." Human Rights Watch echoed the call for sanctions arguing that Uzbekistan's " recent grudging steps to better its dreadful human rights record are a direct result of E.U. pressure generated by the sanctions." (AFP)
