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RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 25, Part II, 9 February 2004

OUR UKRAINE LEADER SAYS NEWSPAPER SHOULD APOLOGIZE FOR ANTI-SEMITIC
ARTICLE. Our Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yushchenko said last week that
the "Silski visti" newspaper needs "to find courage to apologize to
those people whose ethnic sentiments were offended by its
publications," the Our Ukraine website (http://www.razom.org.ua)
reported on 5 February. Yushchenko was presumably referring to an
article on Jews in Ukraine that was published by "Silski visti" in
November and prompted the recent court closure of the newspaper amid
charges of anti-Semitism (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 5 February 2004).
"There should be no discussion about this [apology]," Yushchenko
said, noting that his father was a prisoner at Auschwitz in 1944
"jointly with Jews at a time when 25,000 people were [being]
liquidated every day." Yushchenko claimed that, at the same time, his
grandmother and mother were keeping three Jewish girls in hiding in
his home in Ukraine's Sumy Oblast. Yushchenko repeated his assertion
that the court, by ignoring other legal possibilities for dealing
with "Silski visti" and ruling to close the newspaper, was following
orders from the authorities to destroy the largest opposition
publication in the country. JM


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 26, Part I, 10 February 2004

NATIONALITIES MINISTER WARNS AGAINST POST-BLAST XENOPHOBIA. Minister
without portfolio Vladimir Zorin, who is responsible for
nationalities policy, spoke out on 9 February against inciting
nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments in the wake of the 6 February
Moscow subway blast, Interfax reported. "International terrorism is
unquestionably the No. 1 danger today," Zorin said. "But it is no
less dangerous to foment anti-Caucasus, xenophobic sentiment in such
a great multiethnic country as Russia." "Terrorists, like all
criminals, have neither nationality nor religion," he added. Zorin
called for the state and "civil society" to unite in fighting
terrorism. On 7 February, Ella Pamfilova, chairwoman of the
Presidential Commission on Human Rights, said that ethnic
confrontations related to the Moscow metro blast must be prevented,
RFE/RL's Russian Service reported. She also warned law enforcement
organs against violating citizens' rights and spoke out against
introducing any kind of state of emergency in Moscow or other cities.
Following the incident, Motherland co-leader Dmitrii Rogozin called
for a state of emergency and Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
(LDPR) leader and Deputy Duma Speaker Vladimir Zhirinovskii called
for all "suspicious" people to be sent away from Moscow (see "RFE/RL
Newsline," 9 February 2004). JB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 27, Part I, 11 February 2004

YOUTH GANG KILLS TAJIK GIRL IN ST. PETERSBURG... A group of
reportedly drunken teenagers in St. Petersburg attacked and killed a
9-year-old Tajik girl, Khursheda Sultanova, on 9 February and
seriously injured her father and her 11-year-old cousin, ORT reported
on 10 February. Sultanova, whose father is a citizen of Tajikistan,
was stabbed 11 times, "The Moscow Times" reported. The station said
the teenage boys did not appear to be skinheads, but "Vremya
novostei" and "Kommersant-Daily" the next day described the
assailants as "skinheads." Local police initially arrested about 20
young men in connection with the killing, but they were later
released, "Vremya novostei"' reported on 11 February. According to
the daily, the teenagers yelled "Russia for Russians" during the
attack. St. Petersburg Governor Valentina Matvienko condemned the
attack, saying, "It is doubly distressing that this happened in St.
Petersburg, a city where different religions and creeds have
coexisted for years." JAC

....AS OFFICIALS CONDEMN THE KILLING. Federal officials condemned the
9 February killing in St. Petersburg of a 9-year-old Tajik girl,
allegedly by a group of what some media described as "skinheads."
Acting Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev has taken personal control
of the search for the killers of Khursheda Sultanova, RIA-Novosti
reported on 10 February. Presidential envoy to the Northwest Federal
District Ilya Klebanov said the state should protect all its
inhabitants regardless of their ethnicity and promised an
uncompromising fight against such "medieval savagery," "Vremya
novostei" reported on 11 February. Minister without portfolio
Vladimir Zorin, who is responsible for nationalities policy, said the
"brutal murder of a Tajik girl in St. Petersburg is an insolent
challenge to all of us," Interfax reported on 10 February. Zorin
spoke out on 9 February against inciting xenophobic sentiments in the
wake of the 6 February Moscow subway blast (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 10
February 2004). State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov described the
killing as "beyond the boundaries of understanding" and the killers
as "scum," RIA-Novosti reported on 10 February. JB

TAJIK FOREIGN MINISTRY REACTS TO KILLING OF TAJIK GIRL IN ST.
PETERSBURG. Igor Sattorov, head of the information section of the
Tajik Foreign Ministry, gave a briefing on 10 February to convey the
official Tajik reaction to the killing of a 9-year-old Tajik girl in
St. Petersburg on the evening of 9 February, centrasia.ru reported on
11 February. The family of Yusuf Sultanov was brutally attacked by
what some Russian media have described as a drunken gang of
neofascist youths (see Russia item, above). Khursheda Sultanova, who
was stabbed 11 times, died before medical help arrived. Sultanov and
an 11-year-old cousin of Sultanova were seriously injured in the
attack. The Foreign Ministry said Tajikistan is deeply concerned
about attacks by Russian neofascist and nationalist gangs on Tajik
citizens in the Russian Federation. BB

DUMA COMMITTEE DRAFTS A LAW ON THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE... Duma
Nationalities Committee Chairman Yevgenii Trofimov (Unified Russia)
spoke on 10 February about a draft law "on the Russian people," which
his committee has begun working on, Regnum reported. The development
of the bill is neither unnatural nor artificial, he said, adding that
Russia's official National Policy Concept states that interethnic
relations will be largely defined by the Russian people, who are the
foundation of Russian statehood. However, there is "not a single law
that mentions the people that are playing the decisive role in
creating the Russian state." The Nationalities Committee, Trofimov
said, believes that one of the most important directions in the
development of a strategy for Russia's nationalities policy is
movement away from human rights toward the rights of peoples. JB

....THAT PUTS A PREMIUM ON ETHNICITY. "Novye izvestiya" on 11
February published sections of the draft law "On the Russian People."
One of the sections states that the government will take measures to
"create a system of national education and upbringing; develop
preschool institutions and middle-educational institutions with a
Russian ethno-cultural component; and deepen the study of the Russian
language, history, literature, spiritual culture, and the traditions
and customs of the Russian people." The newspaper also quoted unnamed
members of the Duma's Nationalities Committee as saying that
belonging to the Russian people "biologically" will "without question
be taken into account," and that migrants living in Russia on a
continual basis "will be considered nothing more than people who have
integrated into Russian culture." JB


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 27, Part II, 11 February 2004

LATVIAN PRESIDENT TO SIGN EDUCATION AMENDMENTS INTO LAW. Vaira
Vike-Freiberga announced on 10 February that she will sign the
contentious amendments to the education law that parliament passed
amid fierce public protests last week (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6
February 2004), BNS reported. The amendments, which require that 60
percent of subjects in minority schools be taught in the Latvian
language from 1 September, were condemned by the Russian State Duma
and the Russian Foreign Ministry after their passage. Vike-Freiberga
said it is important that the reform not be allowed to adversely
affect studies. The chairman of Latvia's Russian Language School
Support Association (LASOR), Igors Pimenovs, expressed regret that no
serious discussions were held with the teachers and parents of pupils
in Russian-language schools. He predicted that the amendments will
promote the further division of society in two hostile camps. LASOR
was organizing a picket in front of the president's residence for 11
February and a conference of defenders of Russian schools on 6 March.
Nearly one-third of Latvia's population is ethnic Russian. SG


RFE/RL NEWSLINE Vol. 8, No. 28, Part II, 12 February 2004

ESTONIAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES BILL TO EASE NATURALIZATION
REQUIREMENTS. Parliament overwhelmingly approved in its final reading
on 11 February a bill aimed at reducing the time required for
individuals to become naturalized citizens, BNS reported. The bill,
which was proposed by the opposition Center Party, cuts from one year
to six months the required time an individual must legally reside in
the country after applying for citizenship. The bill does not change
the requirement that individuals must legally reside in the country
for at least five years to be eligible for citizenship. The five
opposing votes came from the opposition Pro Patria Union, which
argued that shortening the process will hinder the authorities
ability to screen applicants adequately. SG

THOUSANDS PROTEST LATVIAN EDUCATION REFORMS. An estimated 8,000
people staged a rally in front of the president's residence in Riga
on 11 February to protest Latvia's recently passed school reforms,
BNS reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 6 February 2004). The measures
will require minority schools to teach a larger share of their
curriculums in the Latvian language. The protesters, which BNS
described as mostly students from Russian-language schools in Riga,
Daugavpils, and Jelgava, as well as students from Ukrainian and
Jewish schools, subsequently marched to the city's central square.
The protest action passed peacefully, although three 13-year-old
students were reportedly detained for holding posters bearing Nazi
symbols, which are banned in Latvia. The Russian State Duma on 11
February approved a resolution calling for the imposition of economic
and other sanctions against Latvia over its passage of the reforms,
and Russian lawmakers are expected to discuss the issue further next
week. SG