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...TALKS ABOUT SITUATION IN CAUCASUS AND 'COLORED REVOLUTIONS.' In the same interview, Surkov said that violence is still spreading in the Caucasus and in Chechnya in particular, and that the region "remains ethnically and culturally isolated from the rest of Russia." He blamed radical Islamic groups, both local and foreign, for the violence, as well as Moscow's policy errors. However, he emphasized, "We must retain the North Caucasus as part of the Russian Federation." Surkov said that he knows the Caucasus well and revealed that his father is Chechen. Speaking about the so-called colored revolutions in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan, Surkov said that Russia had such a revolution in the 1990s. He added that some foreign nongovernmental organizations want to repeat such a scenario in Russia and said "there are schools, where [people] are taught how to do this." "There will undoubtedly be attempts to overthrow the government. But they will fail," he said. VY
PRO-KREMLIN CONSULTANT SAYS YOUTH MOVEMENT SHOULD STUDY 'COLORED REVOLUTIONS.' Effective Politics Foundation head Gleb Pavlovskii, speaking at a meeting with local followers of the pro-Kremlin youth organization Nashi in St. Petersburg on 18 June, said the organization's members should study the mechanisms of "colored revolutions," RosBalt reported. "Not later than 2007, but maybe already by 2006, Russia should expect provocation and internal disturbances," Pavlovskii warned. Pavlovskii also said members of Committee-2008, headed by former world chess champion Garri Kasparov, are nothing more than "freaks," RosBalt reported. "Before he went into politics, Kasparov already managed to ruin five to seven organizations, so one should treat him as the 'enemy' he is," Pavlovskii said. He also criticized some Russian politicians for their roles in the recent revolutions of Russia's neighbors, mentioning former Union of Rightist Forces (SPS) head Boris Nemtsov, who works as a consultant for Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. When politicians are not wanted at home, they go abroad, Pavlovskii noted. He also said that he does not think much of former Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov's chances of becoming opposition leader. "He is not an independent politician and can only be part of somebody else's project," he said. VY
TURKMENISTAN SAYS UKRAINE OWES NEARLY $600 MILLION ON GAS SHIPMENTS. Turkmenistan's Interior Ministry issued a press release on 20 June charging that Ukraine owes Turkmenistan nearly $600 million in goods for gas shipments in 2004 and 2005, Turkmenistan.ru reported. Aleksei Ivchenko, head of the Ukrainian national oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrayiny, met with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in Ashgabat on 20 June. According to the statement, Ukraine owes Turkmenistan $61.7 million in goods for 2004 shipments and approximately $500 million for shipments in the first five and a half months of 2005. The statement stressed that Niyazov spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who reportedly agreed to ensure that the appropriate payments in kind will be made. Turkmenistan secured a price hike of more than 30 percent from Ukraine for gas shipments in 2005, which are set to total 36 billion cubic meters (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 January 2005). DK
UKRAINIAN COURT PROLONGS ARREST OF TWO SUSPECTED ASSASSINS OF GONGADZE. The Kyiv Appellate Court on 21 June extended the arrest of two former police officers, Valeriy Kostenko and Mykola Protasov, until 14 September, thus complying with a request from the Prosecutor-General's Office, UNIAN reported. Kostenko and Protasov, who were arrested earlier this year, are suspected of murdering Internet journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in 2000. Another suspect, Oleksiy Pukach, former head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Department of Criminal Intelligence, is being investigated under a search warrant. Prosecutor-General Svyatoslav Piskun said earlier this month that Kostenko and Protasov plead guilty, adding that the Gongadze case will go to court in July (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 June 2005). JM
MEXICAN PRESIDENT VISITS UKRAINE. Mexican President Vicente Fox met with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko as well as with Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn in Kyiv on 20 June, Ukrainian news agencies reported. Yushchenko said after his meeting with Fox that their countries are planning to cooperate in producing fertilizers and building planes. The two sides also agreed to hold a Days of Ukrainian Culture in Mexico and Days of Mexican Culture in Ukraine next year. JM