NEWSBRIEFS ON UKRAINE

• KYYIV - Ukraine and Russia have had some recent success in resolving differences concerning the repayment of the debt of the former Soviet Union, Kommersant reported on January 29. Meeting in Kyyiv last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Shokhin and First Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers Ihor Yukhnovsky were, able to agree upon criteria by which Soviet assets abroad will be valued. Russia has assumed the Soviet debt obligations of all the other republics in exchange for their relinquishing any claim on Soviet assets abroad. Achieving such a deal with Ukraine has as yet eluded Russian negotiators. Resolving the outstanding issues of debt obligations is one of the obstacles preventing Western creditors from approving comprehensive debt restructuring for Russia. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• DONETSKE - Ukrainian Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma says Ukraine for all intents and purposes is bankrupt, Radio Ukraine reported on February 1. Speaking to miners in the Donetske region, he reported that last year's deficit amounted to 1.325 trillion karbovantsi (about $20 billion in world prices). Mr. Kuchma, noting that 60 percent of Russia's deliveries move on Ukraine's railroads and through its ports, said that thus far Kyyiv has not received a single kopek from Moscow in compensation. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - Parliament has called for important modifications of recent governmental acts concerning economic reform, Interfax reported on January 25 and 27. Parliament on January 25 adopted in principle an interim draft decree on the socioeconomic situation in the country that recommended the government re-establish fixed prices for some necessities, such as milk, butter, salt, sugar and vegetable oil. On January 27, parliamentarians urged restrictions on the resale of land bought from state enterprises for private commercial use. Parliament also recommended the government amend recent decrees on leasing so that current leaseholders receive special privileges for retaining such contracts. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• SEVASTOPIL - The new commander-in-chief of the "Joint Russian-Ukrainian Fleet on the Black Sea," Vice-Admiral Eduard Baltin, conducted a conference of the fleet's military council on January 28, said an ITAR-TASS news report. Vice-Admiral Baltin informed the council he had met with both Russian and Ukrainian defense ministers before arriving in Sevastopil. Both had expressed their willingness to visit the fleet to resolve outstanding questions. On January 29, Russian TV's "Vesti" reported that 10 percent of the fleet's officers, NCOs and sailors had taken the oath of allegiance to Ukraine. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Congress of National Democratic Forces held a press conference in Kyyiv on January 29 to discuss an initiative to form an "anti-communist and anti-imperial front" in Ukraine. Ukrainian TV reported that the organizers called attention to the activization of those forces intent on depriving Ukraine of its independence and regaining power for the Communist Party. The proposed front has called for a mobilization of democratic forces to oppose such plans. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - Rukh intends to support President Leonid Kravchuk and Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma, said its leader Vyacheslav Chornovil at a press conference held here on January 28. DR-Press also quoted Mr. Chornovil as saying that Rukh will begin another referendum campaign in the spring on dissolution of Parliament. Should the situation in the country worsen, Rukh is prepared to add another question to the referendum regarding support for the dissolution of the Communist Party. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• MOSCOW - British American Tobacco (BAT), one of three major international tobacco firms, has joined its competitors, RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris, and has invested in a joint venture in Ukraine. The Financial Times reported that towards the end of last year BAT signed an agreement with the Ukrainian government to run two plants, one in Pryluky and the other in Cherkasy. RJ Reynolds currently controls the largest portion of Ukraine's cigarette manufacturing capability. Its two plants in Lviv and Kremenchuk have a combined capacity of 20 billion cigarettes, about 25 percent of Ukraine's cigarette market.
  
  
• KHARKIV - Berezil '93 is the name of a festival dedicated to the Ukrainian theater that will be held here from March 31 to April 10. The event is billed as the first all-Ukrainian multinational festival of theater. It is being sponsored by the Ministry of Culture and the Cultural Fund of Ukraine, the Kharkiv Academic Theater and the Les Kurbas Center, as well as the Kharkiv Oblast administration. Well-known drama troupes from Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Poland are expected to participate. (Respublika)
  
  
• TOKYO - A Japanese paper has reported that China has recruited "hundreds" of Ukrainian and Russian military and nuclear scientists and engineers. The Yomiuri Shimbun on December 29 quoted "a reliable source in Beijing" who said China had obtained specialists in cruise missiles, anti-submarine warfare, missile and nuclear technology who were working in Chinese factories. Offices had been set up in Ukraine and Russia to recruit the scientists. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - A Ukrainian government delegation has signed several agreements with Kazakhstan on economic cooperation between the two countries, Interfax reported on December 29. The most important of the agreements provides for Ukrainian participation in the development of Kazakhstan's oil and gas industries and for payment procedures that must be changed because of Ukraine's withdrawal from the ruble zone. Ukraine also asked to buy 1.1 million tons of wheat from Kazakhstan. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• ALMA-ATA - A Ukrainian delegation that held successful talks in Alma-Ata went on to Ashgabat on December 29 to discuss payments for Turkmen gas in 1993, reported Interfax. A major dispute over the price Ukraine would pay for Turkmen gas had estranged the two countries for several months in 1992. Agreement was finally reached on price, but now there is a major trade imbalance between the two states. Nurmukhamed Khanamov, chairman of Turkmenistan's State Committee for Supplies, told Interfax the 1993 imbalance favoring Ukraine could reach 100 billion rubles. Turkmenistan is asking that Ukraine sharply increase the volume of its exports. The Ukrainians have proposed purchasing Russian goods and supplying them to Turkmenistan, permitting that country to re-export goods from Ukraine to Afghanistan. They also suggested paying for some gas purchases in hard currency. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• TIRASPOL, Moldova - The Supreme Council of the "Dniester Republic" unanimously voted on January 26 to express confidence in the minister of state security and the deputy minister of internal affairs, and to deny Latvia's request for their extradition, Basapress has reported. The two officials, who go by the names Shevtsov and Matveyev in Tiraspol, were known as Antyufev and Goncharenko as officers of the Riga OMON. They are among 13 fugitive OMON officers wanted for trial on criminal charges in Latvia in connection with their actions in the events of January and August 1991. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Korean ambassador to Ukraine, An Ven Hon, on January 26 presented his credentials to Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, reported IntelNews. Currently 39 embassies, one mission (Kyrgyzstan) and one honorary consulate (Australia) are operating in Ukraine. (IntelNews)
  
  
• MOSCOW - The Russian government has decided, effective January 1, to sell oil and gas at world prices to members of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Georgia and the Baltic nations, Interfax reported on January 13. The prices will be based on an exchange rate of 425 rubles to the U.S. dollar during the first quarter of 1993. This means the selling prices of petroleum, diesel oil and fuel oil will be 85,000 rubles, 68,000 rubles and 34,000 rubles per ton, respectively. World prices, however, will be paid only by those republics of the former Soviet Union with which Russia does not have intergovernmental agreements establishing special price levels. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• SEVASTOPIL - Russian officers of the Black Sea Fleet demanded on January 21 that the "economic blockade" of the fleet be lifted and its material and technical problems be immediately solved. At a meeting held in Sevastopil, the officers condemned the actions of Rear Admiral Boris Kozhin, the commander of the Ukrainian Navy, which they claimed served to destabilize the fleet, Interfax said. Because of the "conduct of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Navy" they demanded that fleet headquarters be moved away from Sevastopil. On January 23, the commander of the Russian Navy expressed concern over the continuing uncertainty regarding the fleet in an interview in Nezavisimaya Gazeta. He suggested many problems could be resolved if the fleet's officers and NCOs were granted dual citizenship. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Ukrainian Republican Party has demanded the Communist Party of the Soviet Union be put on public trial. The demand, outlined in a statement issued by the URP on January 14, was made in response to an appeal published in Pravda which called for the former Communist parties of the republics of the former USSR to reorganize the CPSU and work toward re-establishment of the Soviet Union.
  
  
• URP Chairman Mykhailo Horyn said a real threat to Ukraine is presented by the proposed Charter of the Commonwealth of Independent States, which foresees the creation of various CIS suprastructures. The president of the Popular Movement of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Chornovil, said signing the CIS Charter would be tantamount to a state revolution. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Ukrainian Labor Association is the name of a new political party established in Ukraine. The party sees itself as a defender of the Ukrainian people and as heir to social-democratic and social-liberal movements. It bases its activity on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and general Christian principles, and it will work closely with trade unions and other workers' organizations. Its leading goal: the establishment of social and economic reforms that will take Ukraine toward a free market system and will protect the interests of all of society. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Konstantyn Morozov criticized officers in the Ukrainian military who swore allegiance to Ukraine in order to retain their privileges and careers, reported Reuters on January 25. He reportedly said that anyone not fully committed to Ukrainian independence should resign. Gen. Morozov's comments were undoubtedly aimed at the large Russian majority in the Ukrainian officer corps, many of whom joined the Ukrainian military rather than face dismissal or transfer to Russia, where housing is a severe problem. Ukrainian parliamentarians have also been critical of Gen. Morozov for his handling of the reattestation of officers and management of the armed forces. (RFE/RL Daily Report)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 7, 1993, No. 6, Vol. LXI

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