RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 59, 24 June1997

LATVIA "FULLY SUPPORTS" WASHINGTON'S DECISION ON NATO. Latvian Foreign
Minister Valdis Birkavs, speaking at RFE/RL's Prague headquarters on 23 June,
said his country "fully supports" Washington's decision to include only
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary in the first wave of NATO expansion.
At the same time, he urged the alliance's eastward expansion to continue until
all the Baltic States are included and called on NATO members to send a "very
clear message" about the alliance's expansion intentions at the Madrid summit
next month. He also repeated that Riga is "ready to bear the full costs,
responsibilities, and risk of membership in the alliance."
Birkavs was in Prague to attend the NATO security forum.

HUNGARY WITHHOLDS FILES ON TERRORIST. A Hungarian prosecutor said on 23 June
that secret documents wanted by Germany for the trial of an accomplice of
"Carlos the Jackal" are being withheld for security reasons, "Magyar Hirlap"
reported. He said that handing over the documents would violate
"foreign-political and national-security interests of Hungary." A Berlin court
wants the files for the upcoming trial of Johannes Weinrich. They contain some
8,500 pages about Carlos and members of his gang who lived in Budapest between
1979 and 1985. A hostage-taking at the OPEC meeting in Vienna in 1975 was
among the most publicized actions undertaken by the group. The German magazine
"Der Spiegel" claims that the Hungarian government is trying to conceal the
former communist leadership's connections with international terrorist groups.

HUNGARY, MALAYSIA TO INCREASE TIES. Visiting Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad and his Hungarian counterpart, Gyula Horn, agreed on 23 June to
participate jointly in rebuilding Bosnia, to increase financial and banking
ties, and to cooperate in communications and railraod development projects,
Hungarian media reported. "Hungary is a natural gateway for Malaysia to
Central Europe, the Balkans, and the Baltic States," Mahathir told a Budapest
press conference.

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