NEWSBRIEFS (06/29/97)

NEWSBRIEFS

Belarusian opposition holds congress

MIENSK - The opposition Belarusian Popular Front (BNF) held its fifth congress here on June 21-22. Zyanon Paznyak, who fled Belarus in 1996 and now lives in the United States, was re-elected leader of the movement. Lyavon Barsheusky, who was arrested several days before the congress for his role in opposition protests earlier this year, was re-elected deputy leader. Mr. Barsheusky was briefly released from custody to attend the congress and returned to jail on June 22 to serve the remainder of his five-day sentence. The BNF passed a declaration calling President Alyaksandr Lukashenka a "dictator" and denouncing his pro-Russian policies. In a videotaped address, Mr. Paznyak referred to Mr. Lukashenka's government as the "occupation regime" and criticized the president's efforts at reunification with Russia. (RFE/RL Newsline)

G-7 commits $300 million to Chornobyl

DENVER - At the summit of leading industrialized nations on June 21-22, the Group of Seven countries promised to grant Ukraine $300 million to help rebuild the concrete shell around the destroyed Chornobyl reactor No. 4, Reuters reported. A G-7 statement said the reactor, scene of the world's worst nuclear accident in 1986, should be closed completely by the year 2000. The G-7 has been urging Ukraine for years to close the station; Ukraine says it can do so only when new reactors have been built at other plants. Some $780 million is required to build a new sarcophagus. G-7 ministers also expressed concern about the slow pace of economic reform in Ukraine. They urged Ukraine to step up the pace of reform and encourage foreign investors. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma meets Transdniester leader

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma met Transdniester leader Igor Smirnov on June 20 and discussed the deployment of Ukrainian peacekeepers in the security zone of the breakaway region, ITAR-TASS reported. They also discussed economic cooperation. Under the terms of the May 8 memorandum signed by Moldova and Transdniester, the latter is permitted to develop independent economic ties. Ukraine is one of the guarantors of the memorandum, alongside Russia and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.N. seminar brings out hard truth

KYIV - The United Nations Human Development Program held a seminar on June 23 on issues of poverty and social development in Ukraine. "In this country we have no methods to define what poverty is," said National Academy of Sciences Human Development Department Chairwoman Ella Libanova. "Legally we have only the notion of the low income level." By Western standards, 85 to 90 percent of the Ukrainian population would be considered poor. The richest 10 percent of Ukrainians were 30.7 times wealthier than the poorest 10 percent in 1995. In 1996 that disparity grew to 66.7 times. Ukrainians spend 61 percent of their personal incomes on food, compared to 16-18 percent spent by U.S. citizens. The 1997 U.N. Human Development report ranks Ukraine in 95th place on its Human Development Index, right behind Sri Lanka, Kazakstan and Paraguay. Among the ex-Soviet countries, Ukraine has slid from eighth to 14th place in rank. The dramatic fall is due to sharp deterioration in life expectancy and living standards. The Human Development Index comprises, along with personal incomes, such indicators as levels of education, quality of health care, environmental conditions, life expectancy and living standards. "Some aspects can be measured in figures, but other important things cannot be easily quantified, like opportunities to develop and the quality of life," said World Bank representative Kang Bin Zheng, who attended the seminar. "Ukraine has some advantages," he added. "You are on the map of Europe, and you have a good education system and talented people." (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine presses Russia on Soviet assets ...

KYIV - First Vice Foreign Minister Anton Buteiko said on June 24 that the "zero option" division of former Soviet assets should be negotiated under the terms spelled out in the recently signed Ukrainian-Russian Friendship and Cooperation Treaty. He said he did not understand the recent comment by Russian First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Chubais, who said he was "surprised" to hear about the Verkhovna Rada's decision to pursue the zero option. Mr. Buteiko said the Verkhovna Rada decision demanded that Russia provide full and objective information regarding assets and liabilities of the former Soviet Union. He expressed hope for an "adequate attitude on the part of the Russian side" regarding the return of deposits of physical and legal persons in the VnieshEkonombank of the USSR. Mr. Buteiko noted that these assets were actually confiscated by Russia upon the collapse of the Soviet Union. Commenting on the division of the Soviet Diamond Fund, Mr. Buteiko said that issue should be settled independently of the zero option. (Eastern Economist)

... as Russians cite treaty violations

MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry has told its Ukrainian counterpart that Ukraine violated the spirit of the recently signed Treaty and Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine by not allowing politician Konstantin Zatulin to enter Crimea, ITAR-TASS reported on June 24. Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Adm. Viktor Kravchenko had invited Mr. Zatulin to a June 12 flag-hoisting ceremony in Sevastopol, but Kyiv had barred him from entering Crimea two days earlier. As the State Duma's CIS Affairs Committee Chairman in 1994-1995, Mr. Zatulin repeatedly criticized Ukraine's Crimea policy. More recently, he co-authored an article published in "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" on March 28 that urged Russia to sabotage alliances within the CIS - such as the one between Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Georgia - and to refuse to recognize its current borders with Ukraine unless Kyiv agrees to sign a federal treaty with Crimea. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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