Baltics in Brief

WINNER WILL BUY TRACTOR: The winner of "Latvijas Loto," who won
31,313 lats ($18,788) at the "Latloto 5 Out Of 35" lottery, finally
turned up and received his winnings June 12, Aiga Lazdane, marketing
manager at Latvijas Loto, said. The winner, a resident from Skrunda,
had wanted to remain anonymous and had not even told his relatives
about the win. The winner revealed only that the first purchase would
be a tractor for the private farm he works at.

DENOUNCED COMMUNISM: In his greeting speech for an international
congress convened in Vilnius to evaluate the crimes of Communism this
week, human rights activist Russian MP Professor Sergey Kovalev said
that "non-realized guilt led to recurrence of crimes" thus explaining
the need to speak at the top of one's voice about the disastrous
Communist ideology. The prominent human rights activists, historians,
public figures, and lawyers from 21 states have flocked to the
Lithuanian capital on June 12 to survey the research into Communist
crimes and to prepare a public verdict on this ideology.

RED TEENS HOLD PICKET: Members of the Russian Communist Youth
Organization held a picket against fascism in Latvia June 12 at the
Latvian Embassy in Moscow, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Liga Bergmane said. About 25 teenagers participated in the
rally with placards saying "No to Latvian Fascism!", "Embargo Trade
with Latvia!" The picket was halted by the militia when two teenagers
started stomping on an imitation of the Latvian flag.

TIME IN GREEN PAYS MORE: The Defense Ministry is expected to endorse
a proposal this week to pay soldiers a salary of 1,500 to 3,000
kroons ($90 to $180) for each extra month they stay in the military
after the length of the conscript service is cut from the present 12
months to eight months this fall. "I signed the respective proposal
and we will send it to the Defense Ministry for approval," acting
armed forces chief Col. Mart Tiru told the daily Postimees. A poll
conducted by the central staff suggests that one-third of the
soldiers would agree to stay in the ranks of the military for as long
as 11 months anyway.

BRONZE TAKEN AWAY: The pilot of the Latvian "Kalnciems Racing Team,"
Viktors Kuncis, was denied his third place finish at the F-1 World
Powerboat Championship that took place in Riga June 11. According to
the F-1 championship Internet home page, third place now goes to the
pilot from Kuwait - Awad al Qubaisi. The Latvian pilot was deprived
of the bronze,because his boat did not meet technical requirements,
Latvian state television reported on the same evening.

NATO MEDICAL SEMINAR: A high-level seminar to be attended by 24 heads
of medical services from NATO and partner countries started in the
Estonian capital on June 14. The COMEDS/PfP seminar, for the first
time taking place in Estonia, this time is held under the title
'Multinational Medical Support - The Realities.' Participants in the
seminar will discuss matters related to medical service in
international peacekeeping operations, a Defense Ministry
spokesperson in Tallinn said.

SETTING THE PRICE TAG: The Chairman of Parliament Vytautas
Landsbergis has claimed he was stunned by the low competence of
Russian diplomats reflected in the statement of Russia's Foreign
Ministry concerning compensations to Lithuania for Soviet-era
damages. The Foreign Ministry of Russia urged the Lithuanian
parliament to "adopt a sensible decision" on the bill, which demands
financial recompense from Russia for damages caused by Soviet
occupation.

PROBING THE AUTHORITIES: The budget and finance committee of
Parliament received an account from the state tax inspectorate about
the debt of Vilnius municipality. Vilnius owes 94 million litas
($23.5 million) in personal income tax to the state treasury, so the
budget and finance committee of Parliament turned to the prosecutor
general. The committee called for a probe to show if the actions of
municipality and tax inspectorate had constituted any misdemeanour,
and to judge the role of State Control and Finance Ministry in
fulfilling the functions enshrined in laws.

ESTONIAN TV IN A GAP: Allocation of dozens of millions of kroons from
the state budget as subsidy to Eesti Televisioon has been ruled out,
chairman of the Broadcasting Council Tiit Sinissaar said. "Tentative
opinions are that we'll try to find, with the help of laws, an
advantageous long-term loan for ETV - for example, from the Estonian
economic stabilization reserve," Sinissaar said. Aare Urm and Marek
Strandberg, candidates for chairman of the board of the national
television company, said that before their appointment, they would
want the Broadcasting Council to give them guarantees that the state
will cover ETV's budget gap.