NEWSBRIEFS (01/28/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Confusion over Black See Fleet command

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma says Black Sea Fleet commander Admiral Eduard Baltin has been tired, but the admiral says this is news to him. At a January 18 press conference Mr. Kuchma said he and Russian President Boris Yeltsin dismissed Admiral Baltin. On January 19 Radio Ukraine quoted Adm. Baltin as saying that the only word he heard about his status was from the Ukrainian mass media. ITAR-TASS reported that neither the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian naval command nor the Black Sea Fleet headquarters has received any official documents on the subject. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Unification of Ukrainian lands marked

KYIV - Some 4,000 people gathered on St. Sophia Square to celebrate the 77th anniversary of the unification of the Ukrainian National Republic with the Western Ukrainian National Republic, local agencies reported on January 21. On January 22, 1919, the governments of the two entities proclaimed the unification of lands under their jurisdiction, which included most ethnic Ukrainian lands with the exception of the Kuban and part of the Don regions. The public meeting, organized by Rukh, has become a tradition ever since the first such commemoration took place here in 1990. According to the head of the event's organizing committee, Viktor Tsymbaliuk, attendance at the meeting indicated Ukrainians' desire to preserve the state's territorial integrity and independence. A number of prominent Rukh figures addressed the public, calling on Ukraine's government not to waver from the path of state independence, radical economic reform and enactment of a new constitution. Speakers also called for he adoption of a new law on elections, which should include a system of proportional representation as well as single-seat mandates. (Respublika)

IMF withholds tranche of stand-by loan

KYIV - The release of the fourth tranche of the International Monetary Fund's stand-by credit to Ukraine has been delayed until February or March, Ukrainian Radio reported on January 17. The credit should have been released in January, but the IMF and World Bank have said Ukraine is not making enough progress in its structural economic reforms or in privatization. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Draft budget to slash education, research

KYIV - Ukrainian lawmakers are debating provisions in the 1996 draft budget for deep cuts in spending on education, scientific research, health and social welfare programs, Ukrainian Radio reported on January 17. The current draft slashes expenditures on research from 1.7 percent to .076 percent of GDP and education from 10 percent to 6.5 percent of GDP. The allocation for the country's school system would not be sufficient to cover teachers' wages and student stipends. The government still owes trillions of karbovantsi in back wages and stipends since autumn. The draft budget also foresees a 4 percent cut in social spending and would finance only 31 percent of the basic needs of Ukraine's state-run health care system. The government has said cuts are necessary in order to lower the budget deficit to 6 percent of GDP this year. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Belarus Parliament opts for bilingualism

MIENSK - Newly elected Parliament Chairman and Agrarian Party member Syamen Sharetski said on January 15 that the Supreme Soviet of Belarus would henceforth use both Belarusian and Russian in the conduct of official business and floor debates. Russian is to be used formatters of economics, finance etc., while Belarusian is to be limited to cultural matters. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Kyiv Oblast reports on privatization

KYIV - The Kyiv Oblast committee of the State Property Fund of Ukraine announced on January 22 that some 1,000 objects of state property had been privatized in the oblast, among them over 100 commercial entities and nearly 150 cooperative farms. Even so, the pace of state property reform is slow. Last year not a single object of state property was privatized in the Kaharlytsky and Stavyshensky regions and in the towns of Berzan, Rzhyshchiv and Boryspil. What's more, the Volodarsky, Boryspilsky, Yaholynsky, Myronivsky and Rokytniailsky regions experienced only faint privatization, with an average one or two objects privatized in each. Nonetheless, regardless of the fall in manufacturing and agricultural output, the privatization process has contributed to improvement in certain branches of the oblast's economy. Production has substantially increased in the construction materials sector. According to the committee, small-scale privatization is to be completed by year's end, with privatization of large-scale enterprises to be done by the end of 1997. (Respublika)

Black Seaferry hijackers surrender

ISTANBUL - The pro-Chechen hijackers of the ferry Eurasia surrendered to Turkish authorities on January 19, ending a four-day hostage crisis, Russian and Western agencies reported. The hijackers' leader, Mohammed Tokcan and three of his men gave themselves up. Turkish police searching the vessel later arrested another five gunmen who were hiding. A Turkish spokesman said all nine would face criminal charges. At one point during the crisis, the Ukrainian National Assembly/Ukrainian National Self-defense Organization (UNA-UNSO) had entered into negotiations with the Chechen military under President Dzhokhar Dudayev's command in order to secure the release of Ukrainian hostages. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennadiy Udovenko confirmed this with UNIAN on January 18. UNA-UNSO has been highly supportive of Chechen President Dudayev in the war for independence from Russia. Shortly before the Eurasia hijackers surrendered, Russian President Boris Yeltsin harshly criticized the Turkish handling of the crisis, while on January 21, Turkish Prime Minister Tansu Ciller said "mothers and children are being massacred" in Chechnya and called for international mediation to foster a "peaceful settlement." (OMRI Daily Digest)

Press hammers Yeltsin over attack

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin's defense of the Pervomayskoye operation showed that the president "was doing everything to destroy his already weak chance of regaining popular support," wrote Otto Latsis in Izvestiya on January 20. Mr. Latsis denounced the use of force in Pervomayskoye as a misguided attempt to present Mr. Yeltsin as a decisive leader, demonstrating instead the incompetence of the Russian military and the bankruptcy of the government's Chechen policy. The Latsis article appeared a day after the author requested Mr. Yeltsin to relieve him of his duties on the Presidential Council, an advisory body. Another Izvestiya article likened Mr. Yeltsin's decisions on Pervomayskoye to the brutal "napalm the villages" Chechnya policy suggested by Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, contending the opposition is gaining influence over Mr. Yeltsin's decisions. Ekho Moskvy and NTV also offered harsh criticism of Mr. Yeltsin's justification of the bungled Pervomayskoye operation. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Leftists prepare alternative draft

KYIV - Members of the Communist Ukraine have begun collecting signatures in support of an alternative draft constitution drawn up by their leaderships, Interfax-Ukraine reported on January 19. They say their goal is to have the special commission currently debating a final draft of the new constitution change provisions they are most opposed to. The leftist forces said they strongly oppose a provision in the current draft calling for a bicameral legislature. They added that the selection of a Senate made up of local government representatives would encourage regionalism. They also said they favor a strictly parliamentary system in contrast to the presidential-parliamentary rule outlined in the latest draft. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Social Democratic Party deregistered

KYIV - The Social Democratic Party of Ukraine has become the second politically party to have its registration revoked by the Ukrainian government. On January 15 the Ministry of Justice canceled the party's certificate of registration, issued on February 9, 1995, to then-Justice Minister and SDPU leader Vasyl Onopenko. The decision was hailed by former SDPU head and People's Deputy Yuriy Buzduhan. Ukraine's Social Democrats had split last year over policy and personality differences, and there had been animosity to Mr. Onopenko regarding this matter. The SDP deregistration follows on the heels of a similar action by the Ministry of Justice last fall, when the radical nationalist Ukrainian National Assembly was deregistered. Deregistration is not the same as liquidation of a political party. It does, however, put certain administrative obstacles in an organization's path. (Kyiv Press Bureau)

Ukrainian-Russian oil talks commence

MOSCOW - Discussions between Russia's Mintopenergo and Ukraine' Naftohazprom began on January 22 over the increase in petroleum transit fee through Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reported that day. Russia has opposed the increase introduced on January 1, claiming price changes have to be agreed at government level. ITAR-TASS reported too that Ukraine has no intention of backing down over the increase and began the session suggesting the price could be raised further to $6.20 per ton of petroleum pumped through 100 kilometers of Ukrainian territory. The price currently stands at $5.23 After oil exporters had their supplies to Central Europe suspended for 10 days earlier this month, many signed short-term agreements with Ukraine allowing their oil to be pumped through the Druzhba pipeline across Ukraine to Central Europe. (OMRI Daily Digest)

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