Feb. 16-29, 1996, Vol. 2, No. 4
Transboundary News
RIGA-MOSCOW -- AN ATTEMPT TO PETITION FOR A CHANGE IN LATVIAN CITIZENSHIP LAWS by Latvian radical-nationalists ended in their failure to collect a sufficient number of signatures. Only 116,000 of the 131,000 signatures required were collected. The petition would have required that the Latvian president submit a proposal to parliament for a change in citizenship laws. Citizenship laws in Latvia from July 1994 will now remain in effect, giving all Latvian residents of the former Soviet Union the right to apply for Latvian citizenship within the next eight years. (SPb Vedomosti, 20 Feb.)
NARVA, ESTONIA-RUSSIA -- CRITICISM OVER THE INTRODUCTION OF SPECIAL PASSPORTS FOR FOREIGNERS IN ESTONIA has been presented by the Representative Assembly of Narva in a special communique to the Estonian government. The Assembly views the new passport system as essentially official acceptance of the status quo today when large numbers of Russian residents in Estonia do not have the right to Estonian citizenship. Given the number of hundreds of thousands of new passports which will be issued, the communique also demanded that Soviet passports be considered valid in Estonia until the end of 1996. (Estoniia, 28 Feb.)
TALLINN-MOSCOW -- THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY IN TALLINN BEGAN ISSUING NEW RUSSIAN PASSPORTS on February 26 to those Russians now resident in Estonia. The Embassy speeded up its issuing of the new passports in response to the recent decision by the Estonian government to consider former Soviet passports invalid as legal documents on Estonian territory after July 12 of this year. (Chas Pik, 28 Feb.)
RIGA-MOSCOW-ST PETERSBURG -- AN INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WAS SIGNED BETWEEN LATVIA AND RUSSIA by the chiefs of each nation's border guards, Andrei Nikolaev and Vladimir Vi'iunov, for conducting joint military exercises and also for improved cooperation in controlling illegal border activity. They met at the K-1 Residency in St. Petersburg. Territorial disputes in the Pytalovskii and Paltinskii regions remain to be resolved between the two countries and are being negotiated by their ministries of foreign affairs. (Chas Pik, 24 Feb.)
TALLINN-MOSCOW -- A NEW ROUND OF ESTONIAN-RUSSIAN BORDER NEGOTIATIONS began in order to reach an agreement on the exact delineation of land and sea borders. Vice-Chancellor of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, Raul Mialk, headed the negotiations for the Estonian side. The last attempt in Tallinn in January to come to an agreement ended in failure. (Estoniia, 28 Feb.)
ESTONIA-RUSSIA -- AN AGREEMENT PROVIDING FULL RECOGNITION OF SECONDARY SCHOOL DIPLOMAS in both Estonia and Russia is about to be signed. Estonia recently signed a similar agreement with Ukraine. The problem of those Russian high schools in Estonia which are operating without license is also to be resolved. (Severnoe Poberezh'e, 27 Feb.)
PSKOV OBLAST-ESTONIA -- AN SPECIAL FEDERAL DECREE FOR THE SOCIAL- ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT OF PSKOV OBLAST in 1996-98 was signed by Prime Minister Victor Chernomyrdin on February 16. The decree recognizes the special territorial importance of Pskov Oblast for the Russian Federation as a transboundary region. Several large construction projects in Pskov Oblast will be funded by the federal budget. (Pskovskaia Pravda, 24 Feb.)
ESTONIA-MOSCOW -- ESTONIA AIR WILL SOON HALT A LARGE NUMBER OF ITS FLIGHTS between Tallinn and Moscow. The airline will transfer its planes to Finnish routes because of higher volume in that direction. (Vechernii Peterburg, 28 Feb.)
Environmental News
FINLAND -- DREDGING REQUIRED FOR SEALING THE SHIP "ESTONIA" has raised criticism from the Finnish Center for Environmental Protection about the environmental impact on islands near the future dredging zone off the Finnish coast. More than a million tons of stone and sand will have to be dredged near the site of the sunken ship in order that the ship's hull be fully sealed. Nearby islands are the habitat of a large number of endangered birds and provide an important transit point for migrating birds. (SPb Vedomosti, 23 Feb.)
KOLSKII PENINSULA -- THE FIRST ENVIRONMENTAL ATLAS OF THE PENINSULA will soon be completed. The largest contributor to the work was the Institute of Problems of the Industrial Ecology of the North. Preparation of the atlas lasted two years. An electronic version of the atlas is also planned. This version is to be updated at regular intervals. (Murmansk Vestnik, 21 Feb.) KOKHTLA, ESTONIA -- A NATURAL GAS LEAK LASTED FOR TWO DAYS and the risk of explosion of the basements of several residential buildings in the city remained very high during that entire period. The gas line was located in the vicinity of the city's bread factory. (Severnoe Poberez'e, 23 Feb.) ST. PETERSBURG -- A RECYCLING PROJECT FOR ALUMINUM CANS has been presented by the environmental center ECAT. The introduction of aluminum soft drink cans by foreign producers has led to a sharp rise in the percentage of aluminum cans in the city garbage. No recycling program for those cans exists in the city today. Aluminum cans are now bought only abroad, at the cost of 12 to 15 cents (U.S.) per can. A recycling program would allow those cans to be produced in the Petersburg area. (SPb Vedomosti, 22 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- A NEW ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL "THE BALTIC REGION - OUR COMMON HABITAT," has recently been published. It contains several interviews with the leaders of environmentally high-risk enterprises in St. Petersburg and Sosnovyi Bor. Oleg Bodrov is editor of the journal. Contact by e-mail: bodrov@glas.apc.org. (Vechernii Peterburg, 23 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- THE SEMINAR "ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF TRANSBOUNDARY REGIONS" was held at the House of Journalists in the city on March 1. Representatives of regional ecological organizations, journalists specializing in environmental issues, and concerned citizens met to discuss the ecological problems of the transboundary region of Northwest Russia, the Baltic states, and Finland. The seminar was organized by the Transboundary Environmental Information Agency with a grant from ISAR (former Institute for Soviet-American Relations).
Conferences, Events, and Meetings
HELSINSKI -- BUILDING PROJECTS FOR ST PETERSBURG WERE PRESENTED BY CITY AUTHORITIES to Finnish construction companies. The World Bank will be financing several projects in the city and Finnish construction companies have been invited to participate in the contract bidding. The Finnish companies were also encouraged to participate in auctions in the Russian territory of Kolomiagi and Kamenka for the right to 49-year leases on land plots in the region. (Chas Pik, 24 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- REPRESENTATIVES OF ESTONIAN AND RUSSIAN COMPANIES met at the Russian trading house Rodolent to discuss the possibility of restoring trade channels which have been lost in recent years. Estonian representatives were particularly interested in delivering Estonian food products to the Petersburg area. More than 40 Russian firms were represented at the two-day conference on February 19-20. (Chas Pik, 21 Feb.)
IMATRA, FINLAND-ST. PETERSBURG -- THE RUSSIAN CELEBRATION OF "MASLENITSA" will take be presented theatrically in the Finnish city of Imatra. Artists of the St. Petersburg Theater of Stories "On the Neva" will make the presentation. The Russian artists' visit is in response to those Finns from Imatra who presented a Christmas-time festival in St. Petersburg in December. (Chas Pik, 20 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- A MEETING BETWEEN FINNISH MINISTRY OF HEALTH REPRESENTATIVES AND RUSSIAN COLLEAGUES included an exchange of information about the future development of health care systems in Petersburg and Helsinki. Russian health care experts have been invited to a health care congress in Helsinki on April 16-18. (Vechernii Peterburg, 23 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A CHAMBER OF COMMERCE for attracting future foreign business people to the city has been proposed by Finnish investors. Petersburg city officials have already given land for the future Chamber of Commerce for a new office building across from the Finland Station. (SPb Vedomosti, 20 Feb.)
ST PETERSBURG -- THE "ECOLOGY-HEALTH" CENTER WILL OPEN next month in order that city residents can refer to experts about environmental hazards to their health in the city. The Center will also give consultations about water filter systems and their correct usage. The address is Galernaia Ul. 57. (Chas Pik, 21 Feb.)
PSKOV -- AN OBLAST-LEVEL OLYMPIAD ON ECOLOGY was held in the city on February 7-9. The Olympiad had three parts: theoretical, practical, and critical. (Novosti Pskova, 28 Feb.)
New Facts and Statistics
FINLAND-RUSSIA -- FINNISH EXPORT EARNINGS to Russia doubled in the period 1990-1994. Export earnings fell in 1995, as a result of growing competition on the Russian market and sharp increases in Russian import taxes. (SPb Vedomosti, 23 Feb.)
NARVA, ESTONIA -- ALMOST ONE HALF OF THE CITY'S WORKING POPULATION IS NOW UNEMPLOYED, according to several sources. Worker layoffs are expected in the near future at both of the city's electric stations. The largely Russian-populated city's relations with Estonian authorities in Tallinn have worsened in recent months. (Estoniia, 20 Feb.)
HELSINKI -- THE AVERAGE PRICE OF FOOD PRODUCTS in Finland fell ten percent last year. The drop in prices came largely as a result of the nation's first year of membership in the European Union. (SPb Vedomosti, 22 Feb.)