NEWSBRIEFS (10/12/97)

NEWSBRIEFS

Disaster predicted due to harsh weather

GENEVA - The International Red Cross announced at a press conference on October 7 that more than 1 million people could die from starvation or freezing temperatures in the former Soviet Union this winter based on weather predictions of an unusually harsh season. The relief organization has launched an appeal to governments around the world to raise approximately $16 million, which would go toward providing emergency relief in Russia, Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine. According to Red Cross spokespeople, one of the most severe winters in Russia and adjoining countries is forecast, partly due to El Nino, the weather pattern that is disrupting climates worldwide. Even in typical years in the former Soviet Union, temperatures can plunge to 58 degrees below zero Celsius and temperatures of minus 20 degrees Celsius are common. Government statistics indicate that 73 million people were living on, or below, the poverty line in the four republics, almost one in every three of the combined population of 215 million. The organization says it is seeking funds to assist the most vulnerable groups, orphans, single parents, families with many children, the unemployed and the homeless, who would receive second-hand clothes and shoes, blankets, food. According to information from a poll of 4,500 people carried out by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and released on October 1, 45 percent of all residents of Ukraine state that they do not have enough money to purchase basic food-stuffs. Forty-nine percent said they have no problems buying enough food, but lack the funds for clothing. Only one Ukrainian resident in 20 said his financial situation was stable. (Reuters, Associated Press, RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine protests church incident

KYIV - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry delivered a diplomatic note to the Russian Embassy on October 7 in which a protest was lodged against the seizure of a pro-Ukrainian Orthodox cathedral in Noginsk, Russia, on September 29. Local police in Noginsk are reported to have seized several church buildings in that city after a Russian court ruled that the new Russian law on religion meant the cathedral there should belong to the Moscow Patriarchate. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Russia to set up nuclear fuel JV

KYIV - According to news sources, it was announced on October 6 that Ukraine and Russia plan to set up a joint venture to supply Ukraine's nuclear stations with fuel. An unnamed government source in Kyiv said Ukraine's State Property Fund will take a 30 percent stake in the venture on behalf of the state company Energo-atom, while Russia's OAO TVEL, which is the sole supplier of fuel for Ukraine's nuclear plants, will have a 35 percent share. The remaining 35 percent will be divided between Ukraine's VA-Bank, Russia's Inkombank, and the Ukrainian-Andorran joint venture AMP. The venture is due to be finalized in December and will allow most payments through barter of food and metals. Under a 1994 deal between Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S., Ukraine transferred all strategic nuclear warheads to Russia for destruction in exchange for free fuel. That deal is due to expire by year's end. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Corruption cuts state revenue

KYIV - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko announced on October 1 that the national budget lost 500 million hrv in revenues in 1997. He cited corrupt practices by local officials during the privatization of state-run companies as one of the major reasons and set a 10-day deadline for oblast chairmen to come up with proposals for a plan of corrective measures that will be submitted to Parliament for approval. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine denies "secret" executions

KYIV - Vitalii Boiko, the chief justice of the Supreme Court, on October 3 denied recent charges that Kyiv executed more than a dozen people this year, thereby violating its pledge to the Council of Europe. Mr. Boiko acknowledged that more than 60 people have been sentenced to death in Ukraine so far in 1997, but that none of those sentences have been carried out. He did note that those sentenced to death before President Leonid Kuchma promised to end capital punishment in Ukraine might still be executed. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Traffic mayhem on border with Poland

KYIV - An extreme situation has emerged at all crossing points on the Ukrainian-Polish border due to a huge increase in the volume of vehicles traveling between the two countries. According to the State Customs Service, enormous lines of cars form at all points causing people to wait from three to five days to cross the border, to sleep in cars and causing unsanitary conditions at crossing points. Deputy Customs Service Chair Petro Kupin announced recently that new procedures are being established to accelerate the registration process at border points and that in the first quarter of 1998 a project is expected to be finished on construction of a new airport at the Yahodyn-Dorogohust crossing point. (Eastern Economist)

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