NATO OFFICIAL RULES OUT “RED LINE.”

According to NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Klaus-Peter Kleiber, the alliance “regards any ‘red line’ concept as incorrect.” NATO officials, Kleiber said during a visit to Ukraine, “are taking an unambiguous stand on the matter during regular consultations with Russia, particularly with Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov.” Kleiber was responding to questions about Primakov’s warnings that Russia would draw a “red line” against NATO’s enlargement into former Soviet space. (Ukrainian agencies, June 27) Primakov and other hardliners have recently taken to using that concept publicly with reference to the Baltic states (see the Monitor, June 26). Contrary to Moscow’s insistence that it opposes “a new division of Europe,” a “red line” implies just such a division, one that would place the Baltic states against their will on the “eastern” side.

WAGE SETTLEMENT MIGHT FACILITATE REFORM OF UKRAINE’S COAL SECTOR.