NEWSBRIEFS (02/25/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

More than 3.5 million unemployed

KYIV - In Ukraine 3.6 million people are now unemployed, according to the President's Committee on Social Re-orientation and Labor Resources. The figure was cited by the committee's chairperson, Anatoliy Tatarenko, and includes hidden unemployment. Western regions of Ukraine have higher unemployment, whereas, the oblasts of Chernihiv and Sumy have fewer unemployed. The numbers should continue to rise, according to the coordinating committee. (Respublika)

Workers protest with labor stoppage

KYIV - Workers in eight Ukrainian oblasts halted work for one hour on February 21 to protest unpaid wages and declining living standards, reported Respublika and Western press agencies. Leaders of the Federation of Trade Unions claimed that 12 million employees of primarily state-owned coal mines and factories either took part in or supported the strike. Some 2,000 people held a rally in Dnipropetrovske. A two-week strike by coal miners, suspended on February 16, cost Ukrainian industry more than 40 trillion kbv ($215 million). (OMRI Daily Digest)

Ukraine, France sign military pact

KYIV - Ukraine and France signed two military cooperation treaties on February 15 during a two-day visit by France's Defense Minister Charles Millon, reported various news agencies. The agreements, signed by Mr. Millon and Ukraine's Defense Minister Valeriy Shmarov, provide for joint military exercises, exchange of expertise on military training and cooperation in military technology. Ukraine and France are currently working together as part of the peacekeeping effort in the rump Yugoslavia, where 600 Ukrainian soldiers are serving in the French-monitored sector of Bosnia. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Procedures threaten Chornobyl closing

KYIV - Procedures for obtaining credits from the West must be simplified if Ukraine is to meet its deadline for shutting down the Chornobyl nuclear plant by the year 2000, said Minister of the Environment Yuriy Kostenko. Reuters and UNIAN said on February 13 that Mr. Kostenko believes that, according to current procedures, it will be 18 months before Kyiv receives any funds for completing construction of new nuclear reactors at the Rivne and Khmelnytsky atomic energy stations. He said it would take 30-35 months to finish the two reactors, which are supposed to replace the two still functioning at Chornobyl. They would then need to go through a lengthy process of testing. Minister Kostenko said he would lobby the G-7 to speed-up the allocation of the $2.3 billion in loans promised for the shutdown. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Hundreds victims of harsh winter

KYIV - Hundreds of people have frozen to death in Ukraine's parks, doorways and underground passages in the last few months in one of the coldest winters in decades, officials said on February 20. The national weather center has reported temperatures reaching minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit with heavy snows. Government officials did not give a nationwide total, but did say that most of the victims were homeless men. In Dnipropetrovske officials have reported 84 deaths, 17 in Mykolayiv, 15 in Luhanske and 20 in Chernivtsi. In the Crimea, Ihor Morozov of the Crimea's crime bureau said at least 89 people have died on the peninsula, which is usually noted for is temperate climate. "Many people are facing very tough economic times now, and many of the dead had tuberculosis, cholera, syphillis and AIDS," he said. In Kyiv many have died after being driven out onto the streets from railway stations and other places, said police officials. (Reuters)

Security bigs fired over Chinese spy tiff

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has dismissed the acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Andriy Khomych, and the head of the service in Dnipropetrovske Oblast, Volodymyr Sobodeniuk, Reuters and Agence France Presse reported on February 14. National Security Council Chairman Volodymyr Horbulin did not directly link the dismissals to the January deportation of three Chinese nationals for alleged espionage, but it is clear a link exists. The Chinese were expelled for illegally appropriating ICBM designs from the Pivdenmash rocket plant in Dnipropetrov-ske. China denied they were spies and demanded Ukraine take appropriate action over the incident. The Foreign Affairs Ministry called the incident a misunderstanding, saying that some Ukrainians had tried to pass sensitive information to the Chinese without authorization. Mr. Horbulin said Security Service officials forgot they did not have ultimate authority over such information and had thereby caused an international scandal. China is one of Ukraine's main trading partners. Kyiv has recently been seeking to expand ties with Beijing. (OMRI Daily Digest).

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