Off the wire

  • 2001-09-13
PEACE-BREAKERS: Another conflict between peacekeepers and local inhabitants arose in the mainly Russian-speaking town of Paldiski in Estonia's north-west, where three non-commissioned officers were attacked in a local bar on Sept. 8. The police said the officers started the row themselves by picking on a pregnant woman. One of the peacekeepers insulted her and then poured a glass of fruit juice over her head. At this the woman's companion hit the peacekeeper in the face and left the bar, but the peacekeepers continued to deride the woman, provoking an attack by the other locals against him and his two companions. A police patrol and an ambulance were called to the scene. Conflict between local people and peacekeepers in Paldiski occurred at the end of July, when the peacekeepers beat local citizens and demanded that they speak Estonian.

SPIRIT-CARRIER: Latvian police discovered 32,000 liters of contraband spirits headed for Estonia on Sept. 11 at the north Latvian customs control point in Ainazi. The State Revenue Service reported that a truck had been found to hold 159 plastic barrels full of a reddish liquid, which was according to the papers supposed to be varnish and paint thinner. The smell of the liquid was suspiciously like alcohol. The cargo had been sent from Ukraine to an Estonian company. The load was detained as part of an operation by the Limbazi region's customs and anti-corruption sector and the economic police. It weighed a total of 27 tons. It is still unknown as to what kind of alcohol it is and how much it costs. The economic police have detained the cargo and the truck, while no people have yet been detained.

FINE FRIENDS: Lithuania's goal of NATO membership is not an obstacle to friendly relations between Russia and Lithuania, Russian Federation's Baltic Fleet commander, vice-admiral Vladimir Valuyev said Sept. 6 in Vilnius. "It's necessary to continue maintaining our friendly relations irrespective of the unions our countries belong to," Valuyev told journalists after his meeting with Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius. "Choosing a community or a military block to enter is a sovereign issue," he said, adding that neighbors should not be forgotten when establishing relations on the other side of the ocean. The visit of the Baltic Fleet commander to Lithuania shows Russia's increasing interest in and growing "respect to our state and ministry" as well as its determination to cooperate with Lithuania despite the course it has chosen. Linkevicius and Valuyev agreed on organizing the exchange of the military's cultural delegations, orchestras, sports teams and training ships visits.

GAP-BRIDGING...: Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in the U.S. capital Sept. 10 that Lithuania should be included in the next round of NATO enlargement. "Some of my European counterparts tell me we are one of the most pro-American countries in Europe. Most of them mean it as a compliment," Adamkus told an audience made up mostly of reporters, politicians and diplomats as he delivered a speech called Bridging the New Europe. He noted substantial progress in the short time Central and Eastern European countries have made since the fall of communism. "What we have seen is the extraordinary desire of the peoples of this region to transform their societies and be part of Europe and the Euro-Atlantic community," Adamkus said to what he perceived as American fears that with the decline of the Cold War, Eastern Europe would quickly degrade into a hotbed of national and ethnic conflict.

...AND A LITTLE UNDERSTANDING: Lithuanian president Valdas Adamkus says that Belarusians seeking democratic change should not be isolated, despite differing understandings of the word democracy in Belarus and Lithuania. Adamkus made the statement at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. The president made the statement in answer to a request to evaluate the results from the Sept. 9 presidential election in Belarus. "Our understanding of democracy is different," Adamkus reportedly said.

TEMPEST: A helicopter of Lithuania's Air Forces rescued nine people from a boat caught in a storm in the Coronian Lagoon on Sept. 10. The danger signal from the entertainment boat, remade out of a fishing vessel and damaged during the storm, came in at 3 a.m. on Sept. 10, but no rescue vessel could get near the boat due to extreme weather conditions and the shallow bottom at the site of the accident. At about 4 a.m., a call for assistance was received at the Lithuanian armed forces and about an hour later, at dawn, the Mi-8 helicopter started the rescue operation. Out of the 10 people aboard the entertainment boat, captain Vytautas Songaila, 49, categorically refused to leave the ship and later rode it out of the storm himself. He docked on the Dane River outside the port of Klaipeda at 10 a.m. Among the three women and six men rescued from the ship were two German citizens. None of the frightened and frozen people needed any medical assistance. Songaila said all those aboard were his friends.

CAR THIEVES CAUGHT: Vilnius 3rd Area Court sanctioned Sept. 6 the arrest for a one-month period of two suspects in the theft of Estonian Internal Minister Tarmo Loodus' Audi A6 car. The Audi was stolen several weeks ago in Vilnius. The minister left the car next to a hotel during the night of Aug. 22. Vilnius police officers detained the two suspects Sept. 4 near garages located in the center of Vilnius, where the Audi A6 was hidden. The Estonian Interior Ministry leased the year 2000 model. The suspects, Sergejus Nazarovas, 28, and Svajunas Jonynas, 35, were charged. Both are well known to Lithuanian police and are members of a criminal gang. They denied stealing the car. The interior minister was making an unofficial visit to Vilnius at the time.