NEWSBRIEFS FROM UKRAINE (12/08/91)

NEWSBRIEFS FROM UKRAINE

HUNGARY - Chief Consul Andras Paldi and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko signed papers to establish diplomatic relations. As the Hungarian consulate in Kiev was upgraded to an embassy, Hungary became the first to establish full diplomatic relations with Ukraine. It also recognized the Russian Federation, which may mean the cancellation of Prime Minister Jozef Antall's scheduled trip to sign the Soviet-Hungarian Treaty in Moscow. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
POLAND - Special envoy Jerzy Kozakiewicz formalized Poland's recognition of Ukraine on December 3. President Lech Walesa sent a telegram to President Leonid Kravchuk which said that "further cooperation between the two countries will benefit the whole of Europe." Poland's Foreign Minister said that Ukrainian disarmament is very important to Poland.

However, Mr. Walesa phoned Mikhail Gorbachev on December 14 to tell him that he "supported Gorbachev's ideas of reforming the union," according to the Polish President's press secretary. Mr. Walesa reportedly told Mr. Gorbachev it is "dangerous to break the Union's ties in a revolutionary way after having been together for 70 years...If this good idea of yours is rejected, it must end tragically." (RFE/RL Daily Report)
ROMANIA - Although the Foreign Ministry said that it is ready to establish diplomatic relations as soon as possible, the Romanian territories are still a "highly sensitive issue for public opinion in Romania." On December 3, the Romanian press reported that the Romanian government urged Ukraine to enter into negotiations on the question of northern Bukovyna, Hertsa district, Hotin county and southern Bessarabia, in which the republic of Moldova would "unquestionably" participate. The government did acknowledge Ukraine's "inalienable right to self-determination" and said it greeted "Ukraine's independence with sympathy."

In reaction to Romania's claims, Anatoliy Zlenko, Ukraine's Foreign Minister, who was on his way to Romania for an official visit, turned back. He was to have established diplomatic relations and concluded a treaty of friendship, good neighborliness and cooperation. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
MOSCOW - In a telegram of congratulations that Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev sent to Leonid Kravchuk, he included his hopes for close cooperation and understanding in "the formation of a union of sovereign states."

As TASS reported on December 3, Mr. Gorbachev's press secretary, Andrei Grachev, had repeated Mr. Gorbachev's earlier statement that the outcome of the referendum should not be taken as tantamount to the desire for secession from the union. He said that if the referendum question had been differently formulated, there would have been a different result.

He said that a new political union is "totally realistic" and that the referendum vote "provides additional freedom of activity" for Ukraine's participation in the union.

Vitaliy Churkin, USSR Ministry of External Relations spokesman said at a press conference that the ministry agrees with Mr. Gorbachev that the referendum vote does not mean that Ukraine is "automatically" separated from the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gorbachev made another appeal to the remaining republics not to leave the union because this would bring the threat of war and be a catastrophe for the world. He made no direct reference to Ukraine, but did sound more urgent than in his previous appeals. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
KIEV - There will be a summit in Minsk of leaders of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus on December 7, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko told journalists. The participants will discuss international problems and future foreign policy. Mr. Zlenko said that Ukraine's first priority is relations with Russia. He added that President George Bush had been the first to call President Leonid Kravchuk and congratulate him on his election and the referendum vote.

Mr. Kravchuk said that he will discuss an economic union, possibly with Russia, but based in Kiev or Minsk, not Moscow.

Mr. Yeltsin's trip was planned before the referendum, and takes on a further significance now that Mr. Kravchuk, president of a new country, will be there, said Belarusian parliamentary opposition leader Zyanon Paznyak, who lamented Belarusian leaders' recent tendency to "follow Russia's tail." He said he hoped that eventually there would be a cooperative union of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
BRUSSELS - NATO Secretary-General Manfred Woerner issued a statement on December 3 that Western allies expect Ukraine to sort out its relations with remaining republics peacefully; to commit itself to a non-nuclear policy; to adhere to the nonproliferation treaty; and to respect other international agreements such as human rights and European borders. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
ST. PETERSBURG - Mayor Anatoliy Sobchak decried "the threat of forced Ukrainianization" in Crimea, but later conceded that the Russian language was permitted there. He said that Russia would "immediately raise territorial claims" if Ukraine refused to join a new political union, and that a conflict between Russia and Ukraine is especially threatening because of the nuclear arms on their territories. He said that there would be no problems if Ukraine remained within the union, but if it seceded, Russia would reclaim "numerous Russian provinces" that were "given" to Ukraine. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
KIEV - Ukraine will supply Bulgaria with electric power again, Western agencies reported on November 6. Ukraine insisted on direct trade with Bulgaria rather than going through existing agreements with Moscow, said Minister of Foreign Trade Atanas Paparizov on November 7 on Bulgarian Radio.

Bulgaria will deliver raw materials and industrial goods in exchange for the 450 million kilowatt hours that it will receive through the end of the year. The Bulgarian Radio said that the rationing of power supplies, with cuts in one of every four hours, would be discontinued that day. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
KIEV - A statement criticizing the central media of the former USSR was issued by the Presidium of the Ukrainian Supreme Council on November 6. They charged the mass media with disseminating material discrediting the Ukrainian Parliament and government; instigating inter-ethnic hostility; employing scare tactics regarding political and economic chaos in connection with Ukrainian independence; and facilitating rumours about an exchange of nuclear strikes between Ukraine and Russia. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
BONN - After disarmament experts from the German and French Foreign Ministries returned from a trip to Kiev, German officials reported on November 21 that Ukraine is refusing to join the Soviet ratification of the Conventional Forces in Europe agreement. Because Ukraine wants to dissociate itself from the USSR, authorities said that they will abide by the USSR's arms commitments, but will ratify the conventional forces agreement on their own, rather than voting on the issue in the Supreme Soviet's Council on Republics. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
ROMPRES - The head of Romania's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Teoctist, called on the Romanian government to negotiate the return of northern Bukovina and southern Bessarabia from Ukraine. Romania's government has made no statements, but on November 19 Romanian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Traian Chebeleu said that the government "recognizes that these are stolen Romanian territories. The only question is how the reparations should be made," western agencies reported. (RFE/RL Daily Report)