Giving New Democracies Counsel
by Anitha Reddy, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post
June 7, 2004 Monday
Final Edition
Development Associates Inc., an Arlington consulting firm, won the
right to compete for work advising legislatures of young democracies.
Three other local companies — Financial Markets International Inc.
and Development Alternatives Inc., both of Bethesda, and Management
Systems International of Washington — won access to the contract,
which is administered by the U.S. Agency for International Development.
All four will now bid against each other for projects around the world,
typically worth less than $10 million each. The contract’s value,
for the companies combined, is capped at $100 million.
The consultants are usually hired for specific assignments and
include former state legislators and congressional representatives,
sociologists, software engineers and political science professors.
They work in teams, usually made up of about six people and led by a
few Americans, and counsel legislators on a wide range of practical
issues. The jobs usually last for three years.
In countries where the laborious process of updating laws is still
done by hand or with rudimentary software, “people don’t know what
laws are passed and they keep passing the same law over and over
again,” said Jack Sullivan, an executive at Development Associates
who oversees legislative consulting projects. To solve that problem,
the teams set up computer systems and teach legislative staff how to
enter laws and pending bills into databases.
The consultants also teach parliamentary research staff members how to
respond to legislators’ requests, such as a summary of laws on a given
topic. They also edit early drafts of legislation and show lawmakers’
staffs how to write laws briefly and clearly.
The advisers also give courses in political jockeying. In Armenia,
consultants from Development Associates are counseling the legislature
on how to assert itself in contests with the executive branch. That’s
a tricky issue in unstable democracies where a powerful executive
frequently overwhelms the legislators. One suggestion: Call more
members of the executive branch before the legislature to explain
their actions in formal hearings.
“In many of these systems, the legislatures are rubber stamps for
the executive branch and many would like not to be,” Sullivan said.

Baku’s Building Boom Reveals Grave Inequity
By Chloe Arnold
Moscow Times
June 8 2004
BAKU, Azerbaijan — If you can judge a country’s economy by the amount
of construction work going on, Azerbaijan is booming. You can’t move
in the capital, Baku, for all the construction sites, towering cranes
and wobbly trucks stacked high with joists and scaffolding.
>>From my bedroom window I can see the empty shells of at least half
a dozen high-rise blocks. With money flooding in from oil sales —
Azerbaijan backs onto the Caspian Sea, which is believed to hold
the world’s third largest-reserves — the race is on to build luxury
apartments for all the newcomers setting up shop here.
But it isn’t just foreigners they are catering to. The number of
Azeris with cash to throw around is on the rise, too. When I first
arrived in Baku, you could get to anywhere in the center of town
within 10 minutes.
Today the roads are so clogged with New Azeris driving shiny black
Mercs or executive jeeps, you’re hard-pressed to make it in less than
half an hour. In fact, these days you’re better off walking.
But it’s the rate at which buildings are going up that’s so alarming.
Baku’s skyline has changed more in the last 18 months than it has for
more than a century. And contractors are falling over each other to
sell their apartments before anyone else. Friends recently bought a
flat in a new luxury block, only to discover that they have to step
over piles of rubble to get to it: The higher floors aren’t quite
finished, they were told.
With all these sleek new buildings appearing across the city, the
difference between rich and poor has become even starker. Just behind
the extensive new Taekwondo Center for Azerbaijan — all pillars and
marble and dancing fountains — stands a half-finished block with no
electricity or water, where hundreds of refugees from the war with
neighboring Armenia are living.
They’re so close to the martial arts school they can see the children
of rich Azeris practicing their moves. But they’re as far from being
able to afford to attend the classes as it’s possible to be.
Nevertheless, I’m not sure I’d want to live in any of the new
buildings. They’re built to Turkish specifications, but when you
remember the earthquake in Izmir in 1999, which killed 17,000 people,
that doesn’t sound reassuring. Many of the casualties were living in
houses built so shoddily that they simply caved in.
The frightening thing is that Baku, too, lies on a fault line. There
are regular ground tremors, and we’re due for another full-scale quake
sooner rather than later. And when that happens, the people who bought
penthouse suites aren’t going to be laughing any more. If they live
to tell the tale, that is.
Chloe Arnold is a freelance journalist based in Baku, Azerbaijan.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Summary of “Armed Forces” military programme on Armenian Public TV on 5 June
Public Television of Armenia, Yerevan
5 Jun 04
1.0003 The opening ceremony of the Armenian Defence Ministry’s National
Strategic Research Institute named after Commander Drastamat Kanayan
took place in Yerevan on 31 May. Video showed the ceremony attended
by Drastamat Kanayan’s grandchild Philip Kanayan, Armenian Defence
Minister Serzh Sarkisyan and other high-ranking Armenian officers
and military attaches of foreign embassies in Armenia. Col Haik
Kotandzhyan, head of the institute, was shown speaking about the
institute’s future work.
2. 0614 Armenian Defence Minister Serzh Sarkisyan visited Tavush
and Lori Regions. Video showed military units of the region and a
power station, construction sites, the Dilizhan health resort and
Yerablur pantheon.
3. 1202 Armenia celebrates International Children Day. Video showed
the celebrations attended by children.
4. 1445 Video showed air defence units, marching soldiers, military
aircraft, training and exercises.
5. 2009 The Armenian Defence Ministry’s medical department has received
reanimobiles and medical equipment. Video showed head of the department
Grigor Adayan speaking about the new equipment.
6. 2410 The state of combat readiness of various units and
implementation of military programmes was the focus of attention of
inspections. Video showed the chief inspector of the Armenian Defence
Ministry, Col-Gen Gurgen Daribaltayan, reporting the results of the
inspection, the units, exercises and military hardware.
7. 2746 Video showed a military unit where sergeant Sergey Kekechyan
and other recruits serve.

Leader of Karabakh leaves for France
Mediamax news agency
7 Jun 04
Yerevan, 7 June: The president of the Nagornyy Karabakh Republic
[NKR], Arkadiy Gukasyan, left for France today.
The head of the information department under the NKR president told
Mediamax news agency today that “Arkadiy Gukasyan will take part in
the cultural events in France dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the
establishment of truce in the zone of the Nagornyy Karabakh conflict”.
The cultural programme is organized on the initiative of the Armenian
Union of France “In support of Karabakh” and with the assistance of
the coordination committee of the Armenian organizations of France. The
NKR president will visit Paris, Marseilles and Nice.
It is expected that during the visit Arkadiy Gukasyan will meet the
French cochairman of the OSCE Minsk Group for the settlement of the
Nagornyy Karabakh problem, Henry Jacolin, and representatives of the
Armenian community of this country.

Custody extended for Armenian opposition official
Noyan Tapan news agency
7 Jun 04
Yerevan, 7 June: The first instance court of Yerevan’s Kentron and
Nork-Marash communities chaired by judge Grachya Ovanisyan ruled on 7
June to prolong the custody term by another two months for Vagarshak
Arutyunyan, a member of the political council of the Republic Party
and former defence minister. Arutyunyan’s lawyer Robert Grigoryan,
who provided the report to Noyan Tapan news agency, noted that he
was going to protest this ruling at the court of appeals for civilian
and military cases.
Arutyunyan has been in custody since 13 April on charges under three
articles of the Criminal Code: calling publicly for the seizure of
power, insulting a representative of the authorities and attempting to
seize power. The latter article envisages imprisonment for a period
of 10 to 15 years. An appeal was sent against the first court ruling
on choosing arrest as a preventive measure, but the Court of Appeals
has not yet considered it.

Armenians kill Azeri officer, wound soldier – TV report
ANS TV, Baku
7 Jun 04
[Presenter over still of Azerbaijan’s map] The chief of a battalion,
Capt Zaur Ismayilov, 28, became a martyr today when Armenians fired
from their positions in the village of Horadiz at the Azerbaijani
positions in the village of Cocuq Marcanli [near Iranian border in
southwestern Azerbaijan] at around 0500 [0000 gmt]. The 19-year-old
soldier Bagirov Ramil Vagif oglu was wounded. This was confirmed
by the head of the Azerbaijani Defence Ministry’s press service,
Ramiz Malikov.
It was impossible to take the body of the officer away until
retaliatory fire forced the Armenians to stop, ANS TV’s Karabakh
bureau reports, quoting local residents. The wounded soldier was
rushed to a military hospital.
According to another report from the Defence Ministry, units of the
Armenian armed forces fired from a point 1.5 kilometres northeast of
Berkaber village [in Armenia] in Idzhevan District at the Azerbaijani
positions in the village of Qizil Hacili in Qazax District between
2210 and 2230 [1710 and 1730 gmt] on 6 June. From the same point
and from a point located 1.4 kilometres southeast of the occupied
village of Xeyrimli in Qazax District, the Armenians subjected the
village of Mazam in Qazax District to fire from assault rifles and
large-calibre machine guns between 0115 and 0125 on 7 June [1915 and
1925 gmt on 6 June].
The enemy was forced to stop by retaliatory fire in both cases.

Leader of Karabakh urges mediators to help start dialogue with Baku
Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan
7 Jun 04
Stepanakert, 7 June: Only direct contacts between the mediators and
the Karabakh side and Stepanakert’s equal participation in the talks
could drive the peace settlement out of the deadlock, the president
of the NKR [Nagornyy Karabakh Republic], Arkadiy Gukasyan, said at a
meeting with the special representative of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the OSCE, Goran Lennmarker, on 4 June. Lennmarker arrived in
Karabakh on a fact-finding visit.
Arkadiy Gukasyan particularly stressed that Nagornyy Karabakh is
suffering from the fact that the conflict has not yet been resolved. As
an unrecognized republic, the NKR is being deprived of financial,
humanitarian and other necessary international assistance. In addition,
the president noted that Nagornyy Karabakh continued to remain under
the transport blockade. Despite these difficulties, Arkadiy Gukasyan
added, Nagornyy Karabakh aspires to make use of the whole of its
limited potential to develop the economic and social fields and to
form a civic society which will meet European standards.
The main information department under the NKR president reported
that Arkadiy Gukasyan expressed the hope that the OSCE Parliamentary
Assembly’s interest in the settlement of the Karabakh conflict and
its assistance in this process would promote peace in the region. At
the same time, the president stressed that the settlement was
being hindered due mainly to Azerbaijan’s position, its on-going
information war aimed at forming in society an extremely negative
attitude to the Armenian people. The settlement is also handicapped
by constant bellicose statements by the Baku authorities and their
reluctance to hold dialogue with Nagornyy Karabakh. In this connection,
Arkadiy Gukasyan said that rather than draw up recommendations on the
settlement, international mediators should aim at creating necessary
conditions for dialogue between Nagornyy Karabakh and Azerbaijan
which could help the sides resolve the crisis.
[Passage omitted: Lennmarker’s statement]

G2: Architecture: Platform souls: New plans for King’s Cross in London show
the massive scale of the venture. And the smart money – including that of New
York art tycoon Larry Gagosian – is already moving in. By Jonathan Glancey
The Guardian – United Kingdom
Jun 07, 2004
JONATHAN GLANCEY
The hype surrounding the opening of the Gagosian Gallery in King’s
Cross, London, has been so great and the plaudits have been so
glittering that I expected to find something very special indeed. Not,
perhaps, a riposte to the Bilbao Guggenheim by Frank Gehry but a
landmark building; an artistic adventure.
The Gagosian Gallery proves to be a modest creation, housed in a former
garage in Britannia Street, a rats’ alley smelling of diesel and urine,
scuttling across the Metropolitan and Circle underground lines as
they rattle between Farringdon and King’s Cross-St Pancras. Behind
the gaunt facade, Larry Gagosian’s architects, Caruso St John, best
known for their New Art Gallery, in Walsall, which opened in 2000,
have opened up bright, cavernous, concrete-floored, top-lit white
spaces. These are particularly refined white spaces; they have
something of a religious air about them, not least because on a
weekday afternoon this private gallery is as quiet as an abandoned
city church. A security guard sits like a piece of isolated artwork
by the locked door, while bright young things potter about at a vast
reception desk faced with important catalogues. A solitary, studious
looking fellow surveys the brown and white Cy Twombly abstracts,
which hang from the spotless white walls with a degree of respect
owed to icons and statues elsewhere.
None of this is a criticism of this new London art space, which
is one of the best of its kind since Charles Saatchi’s original
gallery in St John’s Wood, designed by the late Max Gordon. Caruso
St John are among our most thoughtful architects, as careful with
the process of building as they are with design. And, yet, for all
its graceful substance, the gallery has something of a temporary air
about it. Should the top end of the art market take a tumble between
now and the completion of the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras in 2007,
it would make a particularly fine restaurant, office or nightclub.
The area will certainly want these as its redevelopment gathers
pace over the next five years. Seedy for decades, King’s Cross is
fast-becoming a blue-chip investment for property developers. Quite how
the promethean building works promised here will pan out is anyone’s
guess. For every impressive new civil engineering achievement, there
will be routine chain stores; for every art gallery, a fast-food
joint. Expect, in time-honoured English tradition, a mix of the
sublime and the banal: the Gormenghast glory of St Pancras raised to
fresh, pinnacled heights as Eurostar trains snake in and out on their
three-mile-a-minute race to and from Paris with its cafes, restaurants,
shops and art galleries. Penny-plain King’s Cross station stripped
of 1970s tat. Both stations are attended by millions of square feet
of gleaming new offices, some 1,800 flats, dozens of shops, washed
and brushed public spaces, three new footbridges over the Regent’s
Canal, restored historic buildings and, so the developers say, more
art galleries.
This leviathan plan, announced last week, for the 67-acre area
north of the Gagosian Gallery, has been prepared by a property
consortium comprising Argent St George, Exel, London and Continental
Railways. Allies and Morrison, immaculate Moderns, and Demetri
Porphyrios, the most convincing of the Prince of Wales’s school of
classicists, have been appointed architects in charge of a development
that, in scale at least, matches the heroic urban projects that shaped
Victorian London. The pounds 2bn project will take at least 15 years
to complete. It may yet be rejected by the mayor of London, who will
surely find its tallest 19-storey towers too modest and its plan not
sufficiently dedicated to the concerns of big business. It may yet be
called in for public inquiry by the government, and either held up,
heavily edited or abandoned while lawyers rack up prodigious fees.
Whatever the process – the rise and fall of commercial and professional
reputations, the jaw-dropping fees, the performance bonuses, pension
top-ups, the gongs awarded and brown envelopes exchanged – King’s
Cross will surely be redeveloped on a titanic scale within the next 10
and 20 years. The dodgy young men, working-class street-walkers and
middle-class kerb-crawlers will move on, along with the purveyors of
kebabs, tattoos and grubby mags. Spick and span corporate offices,
big-brand shops, chain cafes and relentless street furniture
interspersed with well-meant public art will take their place.
Architects of the calibre of Allies and Morrison and Demetri Porphyrios
will do their best to raise the standards of St Pancras but they
cannot hope to control the quality of the tenants who will flock here
in coming years. There will be something like 30,000 new jobs here,
while millions of passengers travelling to and from London and the
Continent, and looking for diversion, will mill around King’s Cross. A
committed few might waft down New Britannia Street to pick up a canvas
by Cy Twombly or a pickled lamb by Damien Hirst.
Gagosian, however, ought to know what most people will want. This
sharp, silver-haired Armenian-American, nicknamed “Go-Go”, began
making money in Santa Monica in the 1970s. “I would buy prints for
$2-$3, put them in aluminium frames and sell them for $15,” says
the Donald Trump of the art world. If Gagosian likes art, he likes
nothing better than closing deals. He opened a small gallery behind
Regent Street a few years ago, also a conversion by Caruso St John,
before homing in on King’s Cross, which offers an optimum deal: a
place to show big, headline-stealing artworks – tens of tons of Serra
– in a handsome setting in the sort of grubby street that makes the
art world trill with excitement, while making a quiet future killing
on the property market.
Gagosian likes art, and knows that this, with all its high society
connections, brings kudos, glamour and outlandishly big bucks. Should
you happen to be a wheeler-dealer who builds a fashionable
gallery showing fashionable artists in one of the most fashionable
up-and-coming parts of London, how can you possibly go wrong?
Gagosian’s gung-ho, yet outwardly, highly refined, venture into the
London art world and King’s Cross is, perhaps, to be preferred to the
run-of-the-mill development that could take place here if we fail to
keep a sharp eye on the area and the hugely ambitious “masterplans”
dreamed up by one developer after the other over the past 15 years. No
one should doubt that the real artwork here is the arrival of the
high-speed Eurostar line. This, like the Midland Railway’s grand
Gothic entry into St Pancras some 140 years ago, will change the face
of the surrounding area, including Britannia Street, for ever.
guardian.co.uk/glancey

ASBAREZ ONLINE
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06/07/2004
TO ACCESS PREVIOUS ASBAREZ ONLINE EDITIONS PLEASE VISIT OUR
WEBSITE AT <;HTTP:// 1) ANCA Chairman Calls State Department on Its 'Disingenuous' Excuse for Armenian Genocide Exclusion 2) Ghukassian Presses Lenmarker for Equal Footing 3) Construction of Airport Terminal to Take Zvartnots to New Heights 4) Farewell to Former President Ronald Reagan 1) ANCA Chairman Calls State Department on Its 'Disingenuous' Excuse for Armenian Genocide Exclusion WASHINGTON, DC (ANCA)--In a detailed letter sent last Friday to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Chairman Ken Hachikian pressed the State Department to end its practice of excluding any mention of the Armenian Genocide from the history section of its official website on Armenia. The State Department website features Background Notes on one hundred ninety-eight nations. Each entry includes a brief historical review. The historical section for Armenia makes no mention of Ottoman Turkey's systematic destruction of over one and a half million Armenians, or the "demographic disaster" described by the Library of Congress as having "shifted the center of the Armenian population from the heartland of historical Armenia." The ANCA issued an action alert on this issue in January of this year. Hachikian's letter was written in response to a May 6 State Department letter to Joe Dagdigian, Chairman of the Merrimack Valley ANC chapter. In an April 20 letter to the State Department, Dagdidgian documented a series of serious shortcomings in its website on the history of Armenia, noting, in part: "The historical survey of Armenia omits any reference to the Armenian Genocide committed by Ottoman Turkey beginning in 1915. To recount nearly 3,000 years of Armenian history without the inclusion of this cataclysmic and relatively recent event in the history of the Armenian people is inexcusable. Rather than contributing to an understanding of the region, it obscures the region's history and fails to provide the background necessary for understanding current Armenian and regional issues." Responding to Dagdidgian, the Director of the Office of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs John Fox, wrote: "Country background notes on the State Department's web-site were designed to provide interested readers with concise and up-to-date information regarding key economic and political issues in the country, as well as travel conditions and commercial opportunities. Country background notes also provide a very brief introduction to the country's history. Typically, each background page will collapse over 2,000 years of history into 3-4 concise paragraphs. Consequently, even episodes of great historical importance are often not treated in our background notes." In his sharply critical letter to Secretary Powell, Hachikian spells out the historical inaccuracy, the basic inconsistency, and the moral bankruptcy of the State Department's position of excluding the Armenian Genocide from its history of Armenia: "Rather than acknowledging and taking steps to correct this obvious error--or even indicating a willingness to review this flawed document, the State Department's letter, signed by John Fox of the Office of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs, instead, sought to reduce this issue of profound historical and contemporary significance to a simple consideration of space." Hachikian goes on with an in-depth review of the assertions made in the State Department letter, concluding that, "we find it plainly disingenuous, if not outright dishonest, to imply that the exclusion of the Armenian Genocide is based on space considerations." He adds, "it is clear that this historically inaccurate refusal to even acknowledge the premeditated extermination between 1915 and 1923 of fully two thirds of all Armenians by Ottoman Turkey and the exile of a nation from its historic homeland of more than three thousand years, represents another very sad chapter in the State Department's complicity in the Turkish government's ongoing immoral campaign to deny the Armenian Genocide." In closing, Hachikian writes, "How truly regrettable I find it to have to engage in word-counts to illustrate the ridiculous and reprehensible lengths to which the State Department goes to help the government of Turkey to deny the undeniable--the crime of genocide committed against the Armenian nation. In the interest of basic morality, historical accuracy, and the State Department's credibility, on behalf of the American-Armenian community, I ask you to immediately correct this obvious and insulting 'error.'" Readers can express their concern about the Armenia Background Notes by visiting the ANCA website, <; 2) Ghukassian Presses Lenmarker for Equal Footing STEPANAKERT (Combined Sources)--The president of Mountainous Karabagh Republic (MKR) and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on the Karabagh conflict met in the capital of MKR, Stepanakert, on June 4. Thanking OSCE's Goran Lennmarker for his visit, MKR President Arkady Ghukassian said that only immediate interaction between mediators and MKR representatives, as well as Stepanakert's equal participation in negotiations, could end the stalemate to bring about a peaceful resolution. Ghukassian expressed hope that the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's interest in resolving the conflict, as well as its cooperation and involvement, would help the establishment of peace in the region. He, at the same time, stressed that Azerbaijan's extremism via a concerted effort to stir anti-Armenian propaganda, especially among its population, is destructive and stands in the way of progress. The efforts of international mediators, stressed Ghukassian, would better be served if they concentrated on creating conditions for a balanced dialogue between MKR and Azerbaijan, rather than formulating suggestions. Lennmarker said that the goal of his fact-finding mission to MKR and the region is to seek a speedy resolution to the conflict, indicating that all of Europe is interested in accelerating the peace process. He said that the experience gained in settling past conflicts would be a valuable tool in expediting the matter, and ruled out a military settlement to the conflict. 3) Construction of Airport Terminal to Take Zvartnots to New Heights YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Construction of a new terminal at Armenia's main international airport began on Monday by the Argentine Corporacion America Company managing the project. Representatives of the Argentine company and Armenian government ministers inaugurated the start of construction, describing it as the first stage of the reconstruction of Zvartnots airport, which is to conform to international standards with the completion of the project. The airport's commercial director Juan-Pablo Guechigian, said the project would cost at least $42 million. Justice Minister David Harutiunian, who oversees project implementation, said the new three-story building is slated for completion by 2007, and added that its ground floor, available for passenger use, will be ready at the end of next year, as well as construction of the upper floors. Argentinean Armenian Eduardo Eurnekian, who operates 33 airports across South America, owns Corporacion America which signed a 30-year management contract with the Armenian government in December 2001 and took over Zvartnots several months later. Officials in Yerevan said earlier that the reconstruction will enable Zvartnots to handle at least 1.2 million passengers a year. Up to 800,000 people presently arrive at and depart from the airport each year. Eurnekian reportedly looks to transform the airport into a major transit hub for long-haul flights between Europe and Asia. 4) Farewell to Former President Ronald Reagan (VOA)--A week of remembrances for former President Ronald Reagan began on Monday, when his remains arrived at his presidential library in Simi Valley, California. There, the body will lie in repose for two days, while mourners pay last respects to the 40th US president, who died Saturday at age 93, of pneumonia after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. On Wednesday, Mr. Reagan's body will be flown to Washington ahead of a state funeral on Friday. President Bush has declared Friday a national day of mourning. Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev are among the prominent figures planning to attend Friday's state funeral for Ronald Reagan at Washington's National Cathedral. The former British leader has given up public speaking after a series of strokes, but will deliver a videotaped eulogy recorded several months before Reagan's death. Reagan and Thatcher were close friends, politically united by their dislike for communism. Gorbachev forged a relationship with the late president during summit meetings in the final years of the Cold War. All subscription inquiries and changes must be made through the proper carrier and not Asbarez Online. ASBAREZ ONLINE does not transmit address changes and subscription requests. (c) 2004 ASBAREZ ONLINE. All Rights Reserved. ASBAREZ provides this news service to ARMENIAN NEWS NETWORK members for academic research or personal use only and may not be reproduced in or through mass media outlets.

Foreigners show keen interest in serving in Russian army
Ekho Moskvy radio, Moscow
7 Jun 04
Presenter Foreign citizens are showing a very keen interest in serving
in the Russian army. This is borne out by the figures of the military
enlistment centres. Anastasiya (?Izyumskaya) has the details.
Correspondent In the northwest of the country alone, nearly 40
foreigners have expressed a desire to serve under contract in the
Russian armed forces. I would remind you that the possibility of doing
this arose in spring this year after the appropriate amendments had
been made to the law on military service.
The Leningrad Military District mobilization HQ told Interfax news
agency that it is mainly citizens of the former Soviet republics who
want to serve under contract. Among those who have applied there are
also members of the fair sex.
Actually, this interest in military service in Russia is quite easy
to explain: after three years of serving in our army, a foreigner,
if he is from one of the former Soviet republics, can obtain Russian
citizenship.
Presenter I would add that Russian legislation stipulates a three-month
probationary period for contract soldiers.
The Russian news agency Interfax-AVN web site (Moscow, in English
0810 gmt) quoted the acting chief of the Leningrad Military District
mobilization HQ, Col Viktor Martynov, as saying the highest number
of applications by foreign citizens was made in Leningrad and Pskov
Regions.
“The applicants are primarily Ukrainians and Belarusians, and there
are some people from Moldova and Armenia. They are going through
professional selection and medical examination at assembly points of
military commissioner’s offices,” Martynov said.