RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE 21 April 1999

PRAISES GOVERNMENT APPROVAL OF NATO REQUEST. Havel
also praised the government for allowing NATO to use
Czech airports for refueling planes, CTK reported. The
parliament is to consider that request on 21 April, and
approval is expected. Deputies will also consider a NATO
request to allow a train carrying NATO ammunition and
technical equipment to transit the Czech Republic on its
way to Hungary. PB

SLOVAKIA ASKED TO ALLOW NATO TRAIN TO TRANSIT COUNTRY.
The Slovak government was asked by NATO on 20 April to
allow the passage of a train carrying NATO materiel
through Slovak territory, AP reported. The government
was expected to issue a decision on the request the
following day. The train would come from the Czech
Republic and would transit Slovakia on 22 April en route
to Hungary. The government of Premier Dzurinda supports
NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, although a poll
released on 20 April showed that some 65 percent of
respondents oppose them. PB

RUSSIA RECALLS ITS AMBASSADOR TO HUNGARY. Russia has
recalled its ambassador to Hungary for consultations and
canceled a planned visit by Hungarian Foreign Minister
Janos Martonyi to Moscow in response to Budapest's
holding up of a Russian aid convoy to Yugoslavia on 10
April (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 and 13 April 1999).
Foreign Ministry spokesman Gabor Horvath on 20 April
described the decision as regrettable and expressed the
hope that Russia will soon reconsider its stand. Defense
Minister Janos Szabo's remark one day earlier that
Hungary "will not hold any more talks with an unreliable
Russian partner" on the overhaul of MiG-29 fighter jets
may have contributed to Moscow's decision,
"Nepszabadsag" speculates. MSZ

GONCZ CANCELS TRIP TO NATO SUMMIT. Hungarian President
Arpad Goncz will not attend the NATO summit in
Washington because its program has been changed and will
be more of a working meeting than a protocol event,
presidential spokesman Andras Farago announced on 20
April. Goncz was to attend the summit as a guest of
honor, rather than a member of the official Hungarian
delegation, Farago explained. Goncz will visit the U.S.
from 7-9 June at the invitation of President Bill
Clinton. MSZ

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