NEWSBRIEFS (11/03/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Mejlis comments on Duma's claim

SYMFEROPIL - The Crimean Tatar Mejlis (assembly) claimed that the Russian Duma's October 24 appeal for Sevastopol is a territorial claim on Ukraine, Radio Ukraine reported. The Presidium of the Mejlis urged President Leonid Kuchma to implement Article 17 of the Ukrainian Constitution, which prohibits deployment of foreign military bases on Ukrainian territory. Meanwhile, Crimean Communists called for the preservation of a single fleet as a common security guarantor for the Commonwealth of Independent States and as a counterbalance to Turkey on the Black Sea. In other developments, Viktor Zakharov, head of the Russian Navy's radiation, chemical and biological defense, expressed surprise that Yurii Kostenko, Ukraine's minister of environmental protection and nuclear safety, wanted the issue of pollution caused by the BSF included in negotiations on the fleet's division, which resumed in Sevastopol on October 29. Mr. Zakharov said the fleet caused no more environmental damage than regular merchant vessels. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Crimeans protest ban on Russian TV

SYMFEROPIL - Some 200 people picketed the Crimean Verkhovna Rada to protest a recent ban on Russian Public TV broadcasts in Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported on October 23. Crimean deputies warned that the move could lead to a significant deterioration in the situation in Crimea. The Crimean government has requested that Kyiv maintain Russian broadcasting in the autonomous republic, while the Ukrainian government claims that Russian Public TV has run up a large debt for broadcasting in Ukraine. Russian radio programs were squeezed out of Ukraine in 1993. (OMRI Daily Digest)

UAOC patriarch resigns

KYIV - A synod of Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church hierarchs announced the resignation of Patriarch Dimitrii Yarema, Radio Ukraine reported on October 21. Metropolitan Vasylii of Ternopil and Volyn was elected to run the UAOC until a sobor of Church hierarchy and laity, scheduled to convene on December 12, elects a new patriarch. No reason was given for Patriarch Dimitrii's resignation, but the synod issued a statement quelling rumors that the patriarch had issued an edict dissolving the Church. The newspaper Den (Day) reported on October 22 that five hierarchs of the UAOC had sought to remove Patriarch Dimitrii for a long time. The patriarch has accused the five of trying to usurp power and had allegedly threatened to split away to form another Church. The synod also voted to bar another hierarch, Bishop Ihor of Kharkiv and Poltava, from the UAOC. Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate said the split within the UAOC is bound to lead to its demise. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Morningstar urges halt to corruption

KYIV - Ambassador Richard Morningstar told a press conference in Kyiv on October 17 that Ukraine must eliminate corruption if it wants to attract more investors. "There are problems in various projects that are day-to-day, literally corruption and threats of violence," the special advisor to President Bill Clinton and secretary of state on assistance for the newly independent states said after a four-day U.S.-Ukraine committee meeting on economic matters. Foreign and local investors say that bribes and dealing with mafia-like criminal gangs have come to be considered a normal part of doing business in Ukraine. "Ukraine can't expect large-scale investment while some of these problems exist," Ambassador Morningstar said. "If some of these problems can be solved, that's a real opportunity to show the world that Ukraine is a place for investment." Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Pynzenyk did not deny the existence of corruption, but said that criminal activity was a matter for the courts, not the government. (Reuters)

Chornobyl closure threatens Slavutych

KYIV - Chornobyl director Sergei Parashin said on October 4 that the planned closure in November of reactor No. 1 at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant will financially cripple the town of Slavutych. "The shutdown will mean an immediate plunge in living standards for everyone in Slavutych," Mr. Parashin said. Slavutych, located 18 miles northeast of Chornobyl, is home to 30,000 people and 90 percent funded by the Chornobyl plant. "They're all connected, the plant, the sarcophagus, Slavutych, nursery schools, roads, hospitals. And when on source (of income) disappears, a serious lack of funds arises," he said. Mr. Parashin said none of the foreign aid projects associated with the shutdown of the plant have taken the future of Slavutych into consideration. The shutdown of reactor No. 1 will mean the loss of 10-11 billion kilowatt hours of electricity annually, which the Chornobyl director estimates is worth $240 million. Mr. Parashin also said the Chornobyl plant has had to upkeep the cracked sarcophagus encasing reactor No. 4, which should be addressed in Ukraine's federal budget. He said the government promised to compensate the plant at least for this year's expenses on the sarcophagus. (Associated Press)