February 21, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT)
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (CNN) -- German Chancellor Helmut Kohl laid a wreath Wednesday at a monument to the hundreds of thousands of Russians who died in the 900-day Nazi siege of Leningrad during World War II. Leningrad is now known as St. Petersburg. Kohl is the first German chancellor to visit the site.
While many Russians praised Kohl for making the trip, one 75-year-old veteran who fought as a sniper in the battle for Leningrad was bitter.
"Hitler couldn't defeat us, but today Germans have bought us lock, stock and barrel without any guns," he said.
Since the reunification of Germany and the 1991 Soviet collapse, Germany has poured aid, investment and loans into Russia in hopes of encouraging economic reforms and political stability. In Moscow on Tuesday, Kohl expressed support for Russian President Boris Yeltsin's re-election bid.
At home, however, Kohl's political opponents have criticized him for not meeting with Russian opposition leaders. A spokesman for Germany's Social Democratic Party also charged that Russia is not living up to European standards for respecting human rights, and he criticized Moscow's military campaign to crush separatist Chechen rebels.
CADIZ, Philippines (CNN) -- The Philippine coast guard Wednesday filed criminal charges against the captain and nine crew members of the ferry Gretchen-1 that sank, killing 51 passengers.
Officials earlier said about 70 died in Sunday's disaster in the central Philippines, but the coast guard revised the toll after double-checking the casualty list. About 145 passengers survived. Two people were missing and presumed dead.
Investigators said they found the that ferry was carrying more than its permitted capacity of 100 passengers and crew. The boat captain and his crew were given 10 days to answer the charges.
NEW DELHI, India (CNN) - A U.S. congressman who has helped free Americans held in Iraq and North Korea arrived in Kashmir on Wednesday to try to win the release of four surviving Western tourists held hostage for seven months, diplomats said.
Bill Richardson, D-New Mexico, was expected to meet government authorities, army officers and separatist leaders during his two-day stay in the Himalayan region, they said.
American Donald Hutchings, German Dirk Hasert and Britons Keith Mangan and Paul Wells were captured by separatist guerrillas while hiking in South Kashmir last July. A fifth hostage was beheaded. A sixth person escaped.
Two weeks ago, Richardson secured the release of three Cuban political prisoners after talks with President Fidel Castro. Last July, he did the same for two Americans held in an Iraqi prison. In late 1994 he worked for the release of a U.S. helicopter pilot who had been shot down over North Korea.
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