RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC
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RFE/RL NEWSLINE  18 June 1999

HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER UNHAPPY WITH DEFENSE MINISTRY.
Viktor Orban on 16 June told Defense Minister Janos
Szabo that he expects "a better performance" from the
ministry, "Nepszabadsag" reported. Armed Forces chief of
staff Ferenc Vegh has also criticized the ministry,
saying that "a shadow general staff" operates there.
Budapest dailies reported earlier this month that Vegh
and Szabo had clashed on several occasions over Szabo's
efforts to merge the general staff with the ministry.
Seeing his position threatened, Vegh had reportedly
turned to several ambassadors of NATO-member countries
for support, who then approached the cabinet. MSZ

BULGARIA DENIES AUTHORIZING RUSSIAN OVERFLIGHTS. The
Foreign Ministry on 16 June denied an Interfax report
that Bulgaria has agreed to a Russian request for an air
corridor for overflights to Kosova, an RFE/RL
correspondent in Sofia reported. Foreign Minister
Nadezhda Mihailova said the Bulgarian position on
allowing those flights has not changed, and that Sofia
is ready to approve the overflights only after NATO and
Russia reach agreement on the unified KFOR command in
Kosova. Bulgarian radio said the ministry has received a
"note" from the Russian embassy requesting the
overflights of planes carrying food and medicine for
troops at the Prishtina airport. According to the
report, Bulgaria's position on the overflights has been
"coordinated" with Hungary and Romania. MS

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