RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  30 August 1999

HUNGARIAN PREMIER IN SLOVAKIA. Viktor Orban, meeting with his
Slovak counterpart, Mikulas Dzurinda near Bratislava on 27
August, said the Hungarian government "views relations with
Slovakia above all through the [eyes] of ethnic Hungarians"
living there, Duna Television reported. Orban said that "the
extent of our satisfaction [with these relations] depends on
the extent to which Hungarians in Slovakia are able to say
that they are all right, are not discriminated against, and
can feel at home" in the country. Chairman of the Slovak
Coalition Party Bela Bugar, who also participated in the
meeting, said the recently passed law on the use of minority
languages in contacts with the authorities is only "a gesture
for the EU." MS

HUNGARY EXTENDS INVESTIGATION AGAINST RUSSIAN BUSINESSMAN.
Officials from the Hungarian Tax Office said that tax
authorities have extended an investigation into companies
controlled by Semyon Mogilevich, who is suspected of being a
leading figure in the international "Russian mafia,"
Hungarian media reported on 30 August. A U.S. official
commented, however, that Hungarian authorities are putting up
obstacles to cooperation between U.S. and Hungarian law
enforcement agencies, noting that Mogilevich was able to
leave Budapest before an investigation into his activities
had ended there. A Hungarian government official expressed
"shock" at that remark, pointing out that U.S. authorities
have not issued an arrest warrant for Mogilevich. He added
that there are no reasons to restrict Mogilevich's personal
freedom in Hungary. MSZ

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RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
________________________________________________________
RFE/RL NEWSLINE  31 August 1999

HUNGARIAN CHESS CHAMPIONS LEAVE FOR ISRAEL. The parents of
three world-famous Hungarian chess players, the Polgar
sisters, have decided to spend part of the year in Israel
because of increasing anti-Semitic hate mail against the
family, Laszlo Polgar, the sisters' father, told Hungarian
and international media on 29 August. Letters addressed to
the Polgars suggested that the family leave for Israel
because "that's where you belong." "We have received such
letters before, but it has gotten worse lately," Polgar
explained. In other news, the U.S. Embassy in Budapest on 30
August denied a "Nepszabadsag" report that said Hungarian
officials obstructed co-operation between Hungarian and U.S.
law enforcement agencies (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 30 August
1999). MSZ

ALBANIAN LEADERS URGE VOJVODINA HUNGARIANS TO BE MORE
ASSERTIVE. President Rexhep Meidani and Prime Minister
Pandeli Majko told visiting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor
Orban in Tirana on 30 August that Vojvodina should have a
"new status." The Albanian leaders did not elaborate, dpa
reported. Majko said that unnamed Serbian politicians are
speaking more about Serbia and less about Yugoslavia.
Vojvodina Hungarians should also "think more about
themselves," the Albanian prime minister commented. PM

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               Copyright (c) 1999 RFE/RL, Inc.
                     All rights reserved.
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