SOLANA SHOWS NATO FLAG.

NATO Secretary General Javier Solana visited Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from June 16 through 19, stopping for six hours in each country. Solana reaffirmed that NATO is open for the accession of all countries that seek and that meet the criteria for membership. For their part, the Baltic leaders urged that the next NATO summit go beyond the 1997 Madrid summit, which had merely stated that general principle without going into any specifics.

In Tallinn, Solana took issue with Russian Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov’s recent statement that Baltic accession to NATO is “unacceptable” to Moscow (see the Monitor, June 15, 16, 17). Solana remarked that Primakov’s statement reflected both an “anachronistic” concept and a thinking based on “spheres of influence.” (BNS, June 18 through 20)

WESTERN AND OTHER NATIONS RECALLING AMBASSADORS FROM BELARUS.