New appointments in the Baltics

A new Russian ambassador to Estonia, Konstantin Provalov, has
recently appointed by the Kremlin. Provalov, 51, previously occupied
the position of deputy director at the Russian Foreign Ministry's
general secretariat. A graduate of the Moscow Institute of
International Relations, Provalov has worked in the Russian embassies
in Burma and India. He is fluent in English and Bengali. In a recent
interview to the Estonian daily Postimees, Provalov said that Estonia
itself is to blame for its strained relations with Russia. He accused
the Estonian side for delays in issuing visas, and for not
registering the statutes of the Orthodox Church subordinated to the
Moscow Patriarchate.

Howard Jarvis, 32, has become The Baltic Times' news editor starting
Jan. 8. A British freelance journalist based in Vilnius for four
years, his articles on the Baltics and Belarus have appeared in a
string of publications, including Transitions-Online, Central Europe
Review, The Tablet and the World Press Freedom Review. He was editor
of a quarterly magazine called Discover English, edited United
Nations publications, and has worked with the BBC World Service. He
first "wandered into Vilnius" in 1992 and was, he says, immediately
captivated by it.

Guntars Kokorevics, 27, was appointed as the president of the Riga
Stock Exchange Dec. 21, thus becoming the youngest stock exchange
president in the world. Up to now, Gert Tiivas, President of the
Tallinn Stock Exchange, was the owner of this "title." The former
head of the bourse's finance department, Kokorevics has been employed
by the exchange since its foundation in 1993. He has a degree in
economics and business management. "For the next year, it is critical
that we focus our efforts on attracting new issuers - companies with
good publicity and outstanding financial performance - to the public
securities market," Kokorevics said.

The Latvian Finance Police chief Gunars Kutris resigned from his
office Dec. 5. He did not specify the reasons behind his resignation,
but he said that it is hard to work for long periods without a
holiday when you have to receive a wide range of information on
different people to deal with and large flows of money. It is
believed, however, that Kutris' resignation was indirectly related to
the criticism voiced by the prosecutor general's office late last
year about the Finance Police over an inefficient investigation into
tax evasion.

Anita Daukste, 28, became the editor-in-chief of the largest Latvian
evening paper, Rigas Balss, on Jan. 1. She previously worked as the
deputy editor and parliamentary correspondent for the Baltic News
Service news agency. Daukste has a degree in philosophy.