HELSINKI -- TRANSBOUNDARY COOPERATION WITH FINLAND'S NEIGHBORING STATES, including Estonia and Russia, will be funded by the European Union for the first time. Finland recently received 63 million ECU from the European Union toward improving development in border regions of Finland with Estonia, Norway, Russia, and Sweden. The funds are designated for community development in Finnish border regions, support of trade over the borders, and industrial cooperation. The funds are to be spent over a period through 1999. Estonia and Russia are specifically included in the European Union program. (SPb Vedomosti, 7 Aug.)
TALLINN -- ESTONIA AND LATVIA HAVE CONCLUDED A FRAMEWORK FISHERIES AGREEMENT. The agreement outlines the general principles and standpoints for future cooperation between the two states in the realm of fisheries. According to the agreement, annual negotiations will be held and documents dealing with the change of quotas, processing of fish, and ship repairs are to be signed. The framework agreement was signed on August 9 by Deputy Director General of the Estonian Fisheries Department Taidius Linikoja and the Director General of Latvian Fisheries Normuns Riekstins. The agreement will come into force only after it has been ratified by the parliaments of both countries. At the same time, the Estonian Progress Party and the Estonian Fisherman Union have adopted a resolution which calls for the Estonian parliament not to ratify the agreement. They argue that it will give large areas of the Baltic Sea to Latvia, depriving Parnu County and Estonian islands' residents of economic opportunities. (ETA, 11 Aug.)
VILNIUS -- BORDER NEGOTIATION ISSUES BETWEEN LITHUANIA AND RUSSIA COULD BE RESOLVED by the end of the year, according to the chairman of the Lithuanian State Border Demarcation and Delimitation Commission, Rimantas Sidlauskas. The head of the Russian delegation, Ambassador Valerijus Popovas, expressed a similar view. Bilateral talks have been interrupted by a long three-month break. Disagreement remains largely over the issue of border demarcation along Lake Vistytis. Lithuania is unwilling to accept a 39-hectare area and be deprived of Vistytis waters, whereas Russia does not want to divide Lake Vistytis area into equal parts. (ELTA, 1 Aug.)
ESTONIA-LENINGRAD OBLAST -- A NEW BILATERAL GOVERNMENT AGREEMENT ON ELECTRICITY AND SHALE SALES between Estonia and Russia marks a new level of cooperation between the Estonian government and Leningrad Oblast. The directors of Eesti Energia and Leningradslanets also signed the agreement. It foresees the annual sale of 2 million tons of shale from Leningradslanets to Estonia, and the sale of 1.2 billion kilowatt/hours of electricity from Eesti Energia to Leningrad Oblast. The agreement will last until the year 2000 and be regulated by prices in hard currency, and not on the basis of barter, as was the case in the past. As a result of the agreement, Estonia will double its export of electricity to Leningrad Oblast. Estonia also exports more than 1 million kilowatt/hours to Latvia. (SPb Vedomosti, 10 Aug. and ETA, 11 Aug.)
OBLASTS OF NORTHWEST RUSSIA -- LEADERS OF THE NORTHWEST REGION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION from Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Kaliningrad, Murmansk, Novgorod, Pskov, and Leningrad Oblasts, as well as the Republics of Karelia, Komi, and also St. Petersburg, met together for the first time since 1993 to create the Association of Economic Collaboration of Northwest Russia. The Association's goal is to improve economic ties within the region, in order that more orders and purchases be made within the region, rather than with more distant regions of the Russian Federation. Legislative acts designed for one of the oblasts will be presented to other oblasts for review, in order that they benefit from other legislative examples. (Vesti, 3 Aug.)
RIGA-MOSCOW -- LATVIA HAS CRITICIZED FUTURE RUSSIAN IMPORT SANCTIONS. Transport Minister Vilis Kristopans in a letter to his Russian counterpart strongly urged that planned sanctions against goods coming from Latvia be lifted. Special rates for transit goods coming from Latvia are to be abolished in September. The letter points out that the Russian railways will lose more money from such action than the Latvian railways. Mr. Kristopans in the letter also states that if the sanctions are intended to punish Latvia for the closure of several Russian schools, then the aim of the sanctions is misguided, as 17,OOO of the 2O,OOO employees of Latvian railways are non-Latvians. (LETA, 5 Aug.)
IGNALINA ATOMIC POWER PLANT, LITHUANIA -- AN ACCIDENTAL STEAM DISCHARGE at the plant on August 7 caused no danger to the environment and no radiation was leaked, said an atomic energy official. "There was an accidental discharge of steam from a secondary system and it made a loud noise, but it was not dangerous," said the acting director of the Lithuanian Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, Mikhail Demchemko. He explained that the mishap occurred when a valve was opened to release extra pressure. Ignalina, home to the two largest Chernobyl-style reactors in the former Soviet Union, has been the site of a number of accidents in recent years. Fire broke out in Ignalina's turbine room last November, and in another incident two cranes became entangled while replacing fuel rods in a reactor. Under the terms of a 33 million ECU agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the plant is slated for closure around the year 2010 when its reactor will need to be replaced. (Reuter, 7 Aug.)
LATVIA-LITHUANIA -- THE STEAM DISCHARGE AT THE IGNALINA ATOMIC PLANT SCARED MANY RESIDENTS of the transboundary region of Latvia and Lithuania. Panic broke out especially among citizens in the Latvian city of Daugavpils. The breakdown in one of the plant's regulators sent a cloud of steam high into the air at 7:40 in the morning as residents were awakening. When they saw the large mushroom cloud on the horizon, many stayed in their homes and farmers quickly brought their cattle in from pasture. Local authorities received a wave of phone calls from people seeking more information. (LETA, 8 Aug.)
LENINGRAD OBLAST -- THE NATURE RESERVE "GLADISHEVSKII" on the Gladishevskii River has been created by a joint act of the governors of St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast. The reserve is designed to help preserve salmon and a variety of mollusks specific to the Baltic Sea region. Mining, timber cutting, and any form of dumping are to be forbidden in the new reserve. Fishing will be permitted only from April 15 to June 1. The reserve covers 8419 hectares. It is located in the Vyborg Region of Leningrad Oblast. (SPb Vedomosti, 8 Aug.)
BUTINGE, LITHUANIA -- THE CONSTRUCTION OF AN OIL TERMINAL in the Latvian-Lithuanian transboundary region is being opposed by many residents and local government officials. Environmental protests took place recently in the border region of Butinge, Lithuania, on the southwestern border with Latvia. Construction of the terminal was started several years ago because of Lithuanian fears that Russia could cut off energy supplies, leaving Lithuania dependent on its own oil terminal for Western suppliers. The situation has now reversed itself, and the terminal will be used by the Russian firm Lukoil to export oil to the West. The site has been visited by Latvian Environment Minister Indulis Emsis. He stated that although Lithuanian experts will do everything to prevent pollution, oil terminals are in principle very dangerous to the environment. The new terminal would also provide direct competition to the Latvian oil terminal at Ventspils. (Neatkariga, 13 Aug.)
ST. PETERSBURG-MUNICH -- THE RUSSIAN MINATOM AND THE BAVARIAN STATE DIVISION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION have begun construction of a new type of reactor at the Sosnovy Bor Atomic Electric Station. The firm Siemens is responsible for the work on the German side. Much of the actual construction work on the reactor will be conducted at the Izhorskii, Metallicheskii, and Electrosile Factories in St. Petersburg, and will be overseen by Siemens. Completion is planned for 2003. Minatom will pay for the construction in large part with the production from the new block in the form of uranium. A new Center for the Public and the Press is to be created in Sosnovy Bor, in order that local residents have a direct source of information about the atomic station. (Vesti and Vecher. Peterburg, 15 Aug.)
VILNIUS -- A NEW LAW ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY was passed by the Lithuanian parliament passed on August 15. The new environmental impact law is aimed at evaluating the future effect of planned economic activity on the environment in a given location for a certain activity, assessing that activity from a social point of view, and recommending appropriate measures for the reduction of any negative effects. The new law also provides for the consideration of the views of non-government organizations in the environmental impact assessment. (ELTA, 15 Aug.)
LENINGRAD OBLAST -- THE LEGAL ACT "ON THE STATE STRUCTURE FOR NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE OBLAST" was recently signed by oblast authorities and is intended to bring a new level of order to the use of natural resources in Leningrad Oblast. About three hundred private timber firms now work in the oblast with little oblast- level regulation. It is estimated that 500,000 cubic meters of timber were transported illegally to Finland last year. A large amount of timber from the oblast is also sold to Ukraine. (Nevskoe Vremiia, 10 Aug.)
LAPPENRANTA, FINLAND -- HALF A TON OF DISCARDED ELECTRICAL BATTERIES were found near one of the most popular beaches of Lappenranta. Local firemen during a training exercise discovered the batteries at a depth of three meters. A small number of rifle shells were also found with the batteries. It is estimated that the batteries had been submerged in the water about thirty years. The batteries were removed for dismantling at a toxic waste site. The town Center for Environmental Protection announced that it would seek criminal charges against those responsible for the illegal dumping. (SPb Vedomosti, 1 Aug.)
GULF OF FINLAND -- ABOUT 600,000 TONS OF SAND ARE TO BE COLLECTED from the floor of the Gulf of Finland by the end of October. The sand will be used in the construction of a future Russian oil terminal on the Gulf. All work in collecting the sand is to be completed by the end of October. Such operations were common in the past, although it will be the first such operation of this kind this year. (Chas Pik, 8 Aug.)
ESTONIA -- CORRUPT CIVIL SERVANTS ARE STALLING LAND REFORM, according to the chairman of the Estonian Association of Real Estate Companies. Indrek Saul said that the worst cases involved the privatization of attractive state-owned land plots for which bribes had reached 200,000 kroons. Mr. Saul explained that all decisions are made in legal accordance with existing laws, but that if an the official does not receive a bribe, the privatization and purchase of land will not be allowed to go forward. (Aripaev, 14 Aug.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- "THE EFFECTIVE OPERATION OF NON-COMMERCIAL ORGANIZATIONS AND SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP," a cycle of seminars for the leaders of non-government organizations of Karelia and Pskov Oblast, is planned for the fall 1996. The goal of the project is to increase the effectiveness of the activity of non-commercial organizations in the region and their cooperation with each another. 25 to 30 activists of non-commercial organizations will be invited to attend each seminar. In Petrozavodsk, contact "Strategia" tel., (81422) 25-340; in Pskov, "Revival", tel. (81122) 23-329; or by e-mail strateg@strateg.spb.su. (TEIA)
GULF OF FINLAND -- A GOVERNMENT PROPOSAL HAS BEEN MADE TO ADD A ONE-KILOMETER FERRY SECTION across the uncompleted dam leading across the Gulf of Finland through Kronshtadt. The ferry would permit truck and passenger transportation from Finland to the Baltic states, Kiev, and Moscow to pass around St. Petersburg instead of through its center, as transportation does today. The new route from the Vyborg Highway to A-120 via the dam would require upgrading about seven kilometers of the existing dam's road surface. A fee would be charged to the passenger cars and trucks using the ferry. (Smena, 9 Aug.)
LENINGRAD OBLAST -- MEMBERS OF THE VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS (DRUZHINY) OF BORDER GUARDS of Leningrad Oblast were presented with awards for their work in aiding the northwest Division of border guards of the Russian Federation on the Baltic state borders. Ninety-eight such associations now exist in Leningrad Oblast. Many of the members also belong to Cossack divisions. The associations were responsible for apprehending a total of 94 illegal border crossings last year, on borders with the Baltic States. (Vesti, 6 Aug.)
RIGA -- THE LATVIAN MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT MET WITH RUSSIA's AMBASSADOR to Latvia to discuss the creation of a East-West multi-transport corridor that would cut across Latvia. Minister Vilis Kristopans and Ambassador Alexander Rannikh discussed debts owed to Russian airlines by Latvian airlines. The debts are blocking the issuing of a license for Air Baltic to fly the route Riga-Moscow. They agreed that Latvia and the Russian Federation should cooperate more to take advantage of Latvia's geographical position. (LETA, 15 Aug.)
HELSINKI-TALLINN -- A PROJECT FOR AN UNDERWATER POWER CABLE BETWEEN ESTONIA AND FINLAND would provide better security of the Baltic region's electricity supply, said the director of RE Estonian Energy's Baltic Power Plant Anatoli Paal. Such a cable would cost about 200 million dollars. The cable between Estonia and Finland and another cable between Lithuania and Poland, that would cost about 150 million kroons, would enable to include Estonia in the so-called "Baltic circle" which would join Baltic and Baltic Sea states energy systems. The project of the "Baltic circle" would include Finland, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. (Aripaev, 7 Aug.)
HELSINKI-LAPPENRANTA-VYBORG-ST PETERSBURG -- A PRIVATE FINNISH AIRLINE COMPANY plans to open a route between these cities in November. The airline will use a new air corridor which passes over the railway station at Bainikkala, Finland. Charter flights from Lappenranta to St. Petersburg have until recently had to pass through a much longer air corridor over Vuoksi, Finland. (SPb Vedomosti, 9 Aug.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- THE ART EXHIBIT "A CLEAN ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECT" has opened in the Zoological Museum. The pieces of art are all made from natural materials. Artists from St. Petersburg and Germany are presenting their work at the exhibit, which will remain open until the middle of September. The city's Department for Environmental Protection is sponsoring the exhibit. (Vecher. Peterburg, 8 Aug.)
BALTIC STATES -- THE EUROPEAN UNION'S PHARE PROGRAM HAS STEADILY INCREASED its funding to the Baltic states in each of the last four years. PHARE's assistance to Latvia has totalled 95 million ECU over that period. The focus of the PHARE program in Latvia had changed over four years, from assistance for economic reform and developing the private sector, toward providing support for integration into the European Union. PHARE financing to the Baltic States is planned to cease in 1999. (Diena, 1 Aug.)
ST. PETERSBURG -- THE CITY BOTANICAL GARDEN has been broken into on four occasions over the past weeks, and many rare items stolen. The garden today is unable to pay for security guards. It is estimated that the garden requires 17 million dollars for necessary reconstruction and its operation this year. The garden is the largest such collection in Russia. (Chas Pik, 15 Aug.)
RIGA -- LATVIAN ROADS TODAY ARE AMONG THE TEN MOST DANGEROUS in the world, according to international statistics. Latvian Transport Minister Vilis Kristopans said at a recent press conference that new revenue from fuel excise taxes would be put to use in improving the safety of Latvian roads. (LETA, 5 Aug.)