NEWSBRIEFS (07/14/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine, Iraq draw up oil deal

KYIV - Under the terms of an agreement signed here on July 6, Ukraine will purchase 500,000 barrels of oil a day from Iraq. The deal will be implemented once the United Nations clears the way for Iraq to resume exporting petroleum. (The Wall Street Journal)

Russian money in Ukraine

MOSCOW - Russian investors sent about $2 billion to Ukraine during the Russian election campaign, Radio Mayak reported on July 5. Most of the money was invested in bonds. Since Russian President Boris Yeltsin's re-election, the National Bank of Ukraine expects much of that money to be reinvested in Russia. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Pakistan to buy Ukrainian tanks

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani Defense Minister Aftab Shahban Mirani said his country is close to an agreement with Ukraine to purchase 330 T-80 tanks, ITAR-TASS reported on July 10. The deal is worth $650 million. Mr. Mirani said military cooperation with Ukraine is necessary for Pakistan to ensure security in its region. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Belarus media shrinking

MIENSK - Re-registration of newspapers and periodicals is nearly complete, the head of the State Publishing Committee, Uladzimir Belsky, told Belarusian Television on July 7. There had been 897 registered newspapers and journals, but more than 200 of those did not re-register because of financial difficulties. Mr. Belsky said several newspapers, including Kultura, Nasha Slova, Holas Radziny and Spadchyna would merge so the state would not have to support duplicate publications. Litaratura i Mastatstva will continue to receive subsidies and there are plans to market it abroad. A new paper, Belaruskaya Presa, will be published in Russian, Belarusian and English, and sold abroad to end an "information blockade" about Belarus. Mr. Belsky said the measures would save the state 70 billion Belarusian rubles ($4.5 million) a year. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Rights monitor Kovalev hospitalized

MOSCOW - Russia's best-known human rights activist, Sergei Kovalev, has been hospitalized after suffering a major heart attack, Russian and Western agencies reported on July 8. Mr. Kovalev, 66, spent 10 years in Soviet prisons and exile. He was Russian President Boris Yeltsin's senior human rights advisor before breaking with the president over the military intervention in Chechnya. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Ukrainian-Kazakh talks focus on trade

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met with Kazakh First Deputy Prime Minister Nigmatzhan Isingarin on July 9, Ukrainian Radio reported. Talks focused on economic relations and the work of a Ukrainian-Kazakh commission for economic cooperation. Both leaders noted a mutual drop in trade. In 1992, trade with Kazakhstan made up 10 percent of Ukraine's total trade. Last year, it accounted for only 2 percent, amounting to $312 million. Mr. Kuchma proposed signing a free-trade agreement with Almaty and lifting trade barriers. (OMRI Daily Digest)

U.S.-Ukraine airline venture launched

WASHINGTON - Air Ukraine has entered into an agreement with Crusader Holding Worldwide Ltd., forming a joint venture with statutory capital of $250 million, the press office of the Embassy of Ukraine reported on July 8. The new company, known as Air Ukraine Worldwide Ltd., will replace aging Ilyushin-62s with modern Boeing 767s on transatlantic routes between Kyiv and New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Toronto. The new planes are to enter service in early 1997. (Embassy of Ukraine)

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