NEWSBRIEFS (01/21/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

64 ICBM silos slated for destruction

KYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Shmarov corrected an announcement by the U.S. Embassy here that Ukraine will destroy 130 decommissioned ICBM silos. On January 13, the minister explained that Ukraine will destroy 64 silos, which once housed a considerable part of the former Soviet Union's intercontinental ballistic missile force. This will be in accordance with the terms of the START-I treaty, which calls for the destruction of 64 out of 176 silos, that is 36 percent of all silos, by November 1998. 20 silos have already been destroyed by Ukraine, according to Mr. Shmarov, while 90 percent of all nuclear warheads had been liquidated through the end of 1995. (Svoboda)

Trouble in Ukraine's coal mines

DONETSKE - Management evacuated a coal mine in the Donbas region after receiving a bomb threat from a caller demanding that the government pay wage arrears owed to thousands of miners since October, Ukrainian Television and Interfax-Ukraine reported on January 11. Bomb disposal units found no explosives in the pit, but the threat highlights the predicament of the country's coal miners, who have held numerous strikes and rallies to pressure the government to pay 38 million karbovantsi ($21 million) in back wages. Currently, workers at seven mines, among them the Dymytrova and Artemvuhillia complexes, are on strike. In Cherkasy oblast, as of January 15, some 430 workers at the Bohachivska and Kozatska mines in Vatutine also continued their work stoppage in protest of withheld back pay. (OMRI Daily Digest/Respublika)

Government raises wages, pensions...

KYIV - The Ukrainian government has raised wages for government employees, members of the armed forces and Interior Ministry' personnel by 12 percent, Ukrainian Television reported on January 11. It also hiked pensions by 190 percent and monthly aid to low income disabled people to 887,000 kbv. (OMRI Daily Digest)

... while utility, rent hikes spark opposition

KYIV - The Civic Congress of Ukraine, a left-wing political party, is protesting recent hikes in rents and utility fees levied by the government on apartment tenants. On January 14, the CCU called on all tenants three months or more behind in rent payments to join an "All-Ukrainian Civic Movement of Deceived Tenants" and continue withholding their rent and utility payments until newly increased fees are brought into line with real household incomes. The CCU stated in its appeal that rent and utilities should not exceed 20 percent of the minimum wage and that its parliamentary deputies would work to prosecute government officials responsible for the increases. As of January 1, rent rates were raised from 6,000 to 10,000 kbv. per square meter while government subsidies for public utilities were reduced from 60 percent to 40 percent of actual costs. (Respublika)

Another sewer system bites the dust

MARIYUPIL - This Oziv (Azov) Seaport's municipal sewer system continues to suffer from a recent breakdown at a purification plant. As of January 11 untreated waste continued to be released into the Kalnia River, and some neighborhoods have had their water supplies reduced by up to 40 percent. Some 2000 cubic meters of waste must still be removed from the area, and civil defense units from the Ministry of Environmental Protection have been sent to the city. (Respublika)

Opinion poll conducted on fleet division

SEVASTOPIL - An opinion poll carried out by the "education" department-of the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) showed that 47 percent of officers are disillusioned over the division of the fleet, ITAR-TASS reported on January 16. Another 33 percent said they were dissatisfied with what was happening around them. The report said the majority of those responding negatively in the poll were servicemen living in garrisons that have been handed over to Ukraine or are slated to be transferred to Ukraine. The BSF command recommended that the issue of citizenship be decided and a program worked out to move Russian servicemen out of Ukrainian garrisons to Russia. (OMRI Daily Digest)

UNA-UNSO picket of ministry ends

KYIV - The recent "Koliada" picket of the Defense Ministry by members of the radical nationalist Ukrainian National Assembly/Ukrainian People's Self-Defense ended with the arrest and detention of six protesters by the militia. One of these subsequently died while in custody at the Zaliznychyi regional militia station. Viktor Melnyk, head of the deregistered organization's executive committee, said UNA-UNSO violated no laws in conducting its picket, which protested against the destruction of Ukrainian ICBM silos and the removal of nuclear weapons to Russia. According to Mr. Melnyk, the pickets had agreed with Defense Ministry officials that there would be no action taken against them during the picket and that Interior Ministry forces did not abide by this agreement. The deceased man, not identified by Mr. Melnyk or the militia, was not a member of UNA-UNSO but rather a bystander who, when arrested, allegedly tried to explain his status to the militia, who thereupon kicked him in the spine, soon after which the man died of a heart attack. The Interior Ministry refused to comment on the incident. (Respublika)

Russian military intelligence using BSF

SEVASTOPIL - "Flag Rodiny," the official Black Sea Fleet newspaper, reported on January 16 that the BSF provides, in a legal manner, invaluable assistance to Russian military intelligence gathering efforts in Ukraine. Hundreds of sailors and others daily monitor virtually all radio and radar information provided by the BSF's various units, including military communications between Ukrainian Navy and other units in the Crimea and throughout the Black Sea coast. This monitoring has increased substantially since Ukraine's accession to NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with Ukrainian units participating in PFP naval exercises in the Black Sea subject to particular scrutiny. According to the newspaper, reductions in the BSF are leading to a concomitant reduction of such intelligence gathering resources, although certain other units' personnel and capabilities are being increased. (Respublika)

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