NEWSBRIEFS (09/15/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Good news for beer lovers

KYIV - When Ukraine declared its independence in 1991, its beer brewing industry was not in good shape. Ancient equipment, an inefficient labor force, primitive distribution systems and no funds for improvement made the industry's survival questionable. The current production is about half of what it was then, but the industry is coming back to life - as evidenced by the first national beer show held in Kyiv. "There are at least 100 breweries in Ukraine. In recent times I would say at least 50 new micro-breweries have started operating," said Arkady Okolot, deputy chief executive of former beer monopoly AT Ukrpyvo. He said that though there were over 40 companies taking part in the show, more wanted to participate but could not be squeezed in. Brewers still need to create a market for beer in Ukraine, where the popular drinks are horilka or cheap red wine. Beer has a somewhat tarnished reputation from the Soviet days when it was sold from a barrel in the street and "was often cloudy and had unidentifiable things floating around in it," as Irene Marushko of Reuters put it. (Reuters)

Ukraine to lift price freeze

KYIV - Because Ukraine's introduction of its new currency, the hryvnia, is going so smoothly, Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko announced that Ukraine will lift the price freeze two weeks early, on September 16. He said the International Monetary Fund and other international financial institutions were already informed of the decision, Ukrainian news agencies reported on September 9. The karbovanets, in circulation for the past several years, is to be phased out by September 16. Coal miners, still owed wages for July, are to be paid by that date as well, due to raised excise taxes on spirits and tobacco products, and about 60 percent of pensioners will receive the pensions owed them by mid-September. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Lebed to handle fleet negotiations

SEVASTOPIL - The head of Russia's Security Council, Alexander Lebed, is to handle further Black Sea Fleet negotiations because "Kyiv has shown a tendency to go back on its commitments." Russia interprets the Sochi agreement as giving it exclusive rights to Sevastopil, while Ukraine interprets the agreement as allowing Russia to use some bays for its ships without precluding Ukraine's use of the port, UNIAN reported on September 9. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Deputies boycott Crimean Parliament

SYMFEROPIL - A majority of the Crimean legislature boycotted the scheduled opening session of the regional parliament due to a demand by the Rossiya bloc of pro-Moscow deputies that the Parliament's leadership step down, Radio Ukraine reported on September 9. The pro-Russian deputies, who have been calling for a vote of no confidence in the leaders, accused supporters of the leadership of deliberately stalling the vote. They believe the speaker, Yevhen Supruniuk, who is still hospitalized after escaping from kidnappers, is ineffectual and overly pro-Kyiv. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Croatian Minister in Ukraine

KYIV - Croatian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mate Granic spent two days on an official visit in Kyiv. Minister Granic met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennadiy Udovenko and Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz. They confirmed an agreement on friendship and cooperation, which will be signed when Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma visits Croatia in the next year. Mr. Granic supported the Ukrainian peacekeepers in Bosnia and said international forces should remain there for two more years while Bosnia-Herzegovina stabilizes. The ministers also discussed increasing trade and economic cooperation. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Belarus sentences seven Ukrainians

MINSK - The seven Ukrainians on trial in Belarus for participating in a Chornobyl rally have been sentenced to one to two-and-a-half year prison terms, ITAR-TASS reported on September 6. Although the presiding judge said the nationality of the defendants was not an issue, they received much harsher sentences than the Belarusian defendants. The average sentence was under two weeks, and the two organizers who went on hunger strikes received suspended sentences. The Ukrainian consul in Minsk said the trial was unfair and that he would appeal in the Belarusian Supreme Court. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Kuchma names new ministers

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on September 5 signed a decree appointing Yuriy Rusantsov as coal minister, Susana Stanyk as minister of family and youth issues, and Andrii Svyrdnyk as health minister, Ukrainian Radio reported. (OMRI Daily Digest)