MOSCOW BRANCH OF UNITY HOLDS A CONFERENCE
Vremya Novostei, September 17, 2001, p. 2
Franz Klintsevich, acting chairman of the presidium of the Unity’s Political Council, says that the Unity and Fatherland together will try to get all 35 seats on the Moscow municipal legislature.
ON PRESIDENT PUTIN’S VISIT TO ARMENIA
Moskovsky Komsomolets, September 17, 2001, p. 2
Eleven functions scheduled for President Putin’s visit to Armenia were really demanding. The latest tragic incidents in the United States called for squeezing all of the scheduled events into two and a half days.
Speaking at Yerevan University, President Putin called what happened in the United States “something that can be compared to what the Nazis did”.
What counted, however, was the outcome of the Russian-Armenian summit. Yerevan agreed to pay part of its state debt to Russia in the form of enterprises. According to information gathered by Moskovsky Komsomolets, among the assets Russia is claiming are 50 high-tech plants and factories. At some point in the past, there was a campaign in Armenia against what was called “a sale of the motherland”. According to Putin, “fortunately, this campaign is over. The matter does not concern debts so much as it concerns investments in the Armenian economy”.
DIPLOMATICALLY, RUSSIA IS PUTTING SOME DISTANCE BETWEEN ITSELF AND THE UPCOMING CONFLICT…
Moskovsky Komsomolets, September 18, 2001, p. 2
… between the United States and terrorists. It is clear, however, that Moscow will be involved all the same, whether it wants it or not. The theater of operations will be along the southern borders of the Commonwealth of Independent State. It will surely have affect Russia’s national security. So far, Uzbekistan alone has offered its airfields and military bases to NATO member states which will be involved in the Brilliant Star operation in Afghanistan. Theoretically, similar bases exist in Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
Preparing for the Brilliant Star, the United States is first and foremost interested in military objects and particularly airfields close to the Afghan border, those ones once used by the Soviet army.
In theory, Russian bases in Armenia and Georgia may also be used but they are too far away from Afghanistan and therefor may be used by long-range military aviation only.
