ZAKAEV STILL A RUSSO-DANISH STICKING POINT.

The strain in relations between Russia and Denmark continued over the past several weeks. Russia maintained heavy pressure on Denmark to extradite separatist deputy premier Akhmed Zakaev, who had come to the country to participate in a conference and had then been arrested on October 30. On November 26, a Copenhagen court announced that Zakaev would be kept in custody until December 5. The Moscow Times reported on November 26 that “trucks loaded with Danish sausages, air conditioners and freezers are piling up at the [Russian] border in a customs slowdown that exporters and Danish officials suspect might be linked to a spat over Chechnya.” On November 20, the website Politruk Weekly reported on the subject of Putin’s recent visit to Brussels for talks with senior EU officials that, “all attempts by Putin, EC President Romano Prodi, and EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana to have a substantial discussion of Russia-EU relations were disrupted by Danish Prime Minister Anders-Fog Rasmussen’s pointed, insistent criticism of Moscow’s actions in Chechnya. According to ‘informed sources,’ voices were raised and ‘sparks flew'” (Wps.wm.ru, November 20).