BONN, Jan. 25, (AFP)
Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky says he will run for governor of Sverdlovsk, President Boris Yeltsin�s former fiefdom east of Moscow, and will open contacts with the local Mafia. In an interview to be published on Monday in the German daily Berliner Zeitung, the chief of Russia�s Liberal Democratic party said he would speak with the Mafia in his bid for the top post in the Sverdlovsk region, east of Moscow. �It�s better to talk with them (the Mafia) than make war with them,� he said. �In the Russian world, there is no way to get around it because the criminal world is so powerful.� General Aleksander Lebed, the hard-line governor of Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, is having difficulties because of his poor relations with the Mafia, Zhirinovsky said. �He has turned his back on the local Mafia and businessmen,� he said. �That�s not the thing to do.�
Zhirinovsky has also said he would run for the governorship of Saint Petersburg, vacant since the former governor, Vadim Gustov, was named to the government post of vice premier in charge of state security. Election dates in Saint Petersburg and Sverdlovsk have not been set
ANKARA, Jan 27 (AFP)
Turkish president Suleyman Demirel said Wednesday that Azerbaijan had not lodged a formal request with Ankara for Turkish troops to be stationed on its territory.
�There is no formal request for such a thing,� Demirel said after visiting Azeri President Heydar Aliyev in a military hospital in Ankara where he is being treated for a bronchial infection.
He was referring to remarks this week by Vafa Goulizade, top foreign policy adviser to Aliyev, who said NATO, US or Turkish troops should establish bases in the Caucasian republic to guarantee security against Moscow�s military alliance with Baku�s arch-rival Armenia.
Goulizade told AFP Monday that �Azerbaijan�s security finds itself under a great threat, in connection with the massive arms deliveries from Russia to Armenia.�
His remarks drew strong reaction from Moscow which said the comments were part of efforts to �aggravate relations between Azerbaijan and Russia.�
Azerbaijan has accused Russia in recent weeks of sending MiG-29 fighter jets and S-300 rocket systems to Armenia, which fought a six-year war with Azerbaijan over the enclave of Nagorno Karabakh located on Azeri soil.
Demirel said President Aliyev was in good condition in hospital. Unconfirmed press reports said the Azeri leader would leave Turkey for home at the weekend.
BAKU, Jan 26 (AFP)
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan�s state oil companies agreed Tuesday to cooperate to develop and transport billions of dollars worth of Caspian crude, Azeri and Kazakh officials said.
Kazakh State Oil Company president Nurlan Kapparov signed a protocol with Azerbaijani authorities to coordinate activities in all areas of the oil industry, opening an office in Baku soon.
Kapparov said Azerbaijan would lower tariffs by 25 percent on crude produced in Kazakhstan�s Tengiz oil fields, which is transported by tanker to Baku and then by rail to the Georgian port of Batumi.
Kazakhstan transported 2.5 million tonnes to Batumi in 1998.