NEWSBRIEFS (02/15/98)

NEWSBRIEFS

U.S. budgets $925M for NIS

WASHINGTON - International aid and foreign assistance remain "high-profile goals" for the Clinton Administration. Allocations for foreign assistance in the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 1999 totals $20.15 billion. President Clinton is seeking to increase aid to the independent nations of the former Soviet Union to support the development of democracy and free-market economies. Requested aid for the New Independent States (NIS), under which the Ukrainian account falls, totals $925 million, which is up from the appropriated $770 million in FY 98. The proposed budget designates $223.5 million in funding for Ukraine. Other nations scheduled to receive portions of this assistance include Georgia, Armenia and the Central Asian states. A separate presentation for the international affairs budget is expected to be held in several weeks at the State Department. (UNIS)

Motorola donates $10,000 to KPI

KYIV - Motorola Vice-President John Polly on January 20 presented a check for $10,000 (U.S.) to the first prorector of the National Technical University - Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (KPI), Yurii Yakimenko. The money has been donated by the Motorola Foundation, set up as a separate entity by the Galvin family, one of the founders of Motorola, the U.S. electronics giant. The money will go for research and operating expenses for three new laboratories set up in 1997 to train and upgrade specialists in electronics and aerospace. KPI is one of only seven universities in Ukraine with national status. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary in September and has over 30,000 students. (Eastern Economist)

UNESCO pledges to help Ukraine

WASHINGTON - UNESCO Director-General Federico Major has written a letter to President Leonid Kuchma, pledging that UNESCO will do everything within its power to draw international attention to the aftereffects of the Chornobyl nuclear accident. He also pledged UNESCO assistance to the populations of the areas contaminated by radiation as a result of the nuclear accident. Assistance will be provided through the Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation and the International Chornobyl Radiological-Ecological Laboratory set up in Ukraine in conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences. Mr. Major expressed support for President Kuchma's initiative on convening an international conference on "Democratic Management and World Culture" in Kyiv in the second half of this year. The conference will be held under the auspices of UNESCO. The UNESCO director-general praised the Ukrainian government's efforts to preserve and boost Ukraine's cultural heritage and pledged assistance for the effort. (Embassy of Ukraine)

Kharkiv children explore moon

WASHINGTON - Kharkiv schoolchildren embarked on an exploration of the moon's surface within the framework of the international project called "Moonlink." Kharkiv Polytechnic University put its Internet hook-up at the disposal of pupils from five schools. The young scientists can obtain information from a U.S. satellite that photographs the moon's surface; with aid of computers, the young explorers can also study every sector of the Earth. Within a half year, results of the Kharkiv schoolchildren's research will be sent to NASA. The "Moonlink" project provides for the involvement of students from various countries. (Embassy of Ukraine)

Ukraine adopts convention on minorities

KYIV - Ukrainian Justice Minister Suzanna Stanik presented the ratification instruments of a European convention on the protection of minorities to the Council of Europe on January 28, DPA reported. In joining the convention, Kyiv must promote minority culture and languages in schools, the media and public life. Signatories to the convention also pledge not to forcibly assimilate minorities. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv protests plane's detention in Greece

KYIV - A Boeing-737-200 plane belonging to Ukrainian airline Aerosweet on a regular Kyiv-Odesa-Salonica flight route was impounded at Salonica airport, Greece, on January 28. According to Aerosweet officials, the plane was arrested in line with a court order issued by a Greek court. The order is connected to the payment of insurance compensation to families of the 69 crash victims who died when a Yak-42 plane crashed several miles from Salonica airport. The Ukrainian company said it had received no preliminary information regarding the arrest. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry sent a protest to the Greek Foreign Affairs Ministry requesting an official explanation. The protest said the detention of the plane is not in line with international norms. An investigation into the cause of the crash has not yet been completed. (Eastern Economist, RFE/RL Newsline)

Yuschenko declines party's nod

KYIV - The Reformy i Poriadok (Reform and Order) Party led by Viktor Pynzenyk wants to see current National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yuschenko as the next president of Ukraine. The news was announced by party members on January 29. The head of the party's secretariat, Ihor Hryniv, said Mr. Yuschenko is capable of uniting reformist forces into a single political force. However, Mr. Yuschenko said on February 3 that he has no intention of running for president in 1999. He expressed surprise that the Reformy i Poriadok Party had attempted to put him forward as a presidential candidate. Mr. Yuschenko stressed that he will not join any political party, adding that his priorities are to stabilize the hryvnia and bring calm to Ukraine's financial and currency markets. (Eastern Economist)

Rukh parts company with Brodskyi

KYIV - The leaders of Rukh excluded Mykhailo Brodskyi, head of the Dendi concern, and Viktor Chaika, editor-in-chief of newspaper Kievskiye Viedomosti, from their party on January 26. Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil explained that Mr. Brodskyi had violated party discipline by nominating himself for a seat in the Zaliznychyi constituency of Kyiv, thus becoming a rival to Yurii Illienko, nominated in the same constituency by a Rukh conference. Mr. Chaika is blamed for creating an electoral group called Kyiany that actively campaigns against official Rukh nominees. Mr. Chornovil claimed the expulsions were not connected with an article published in Kievskiye Viedomosti on January 24 that criticized Chornovil. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine 20th in arms sales

KYIV - Ukraine exported nearly 2 billion hrv (about $1 million U.S.) worth of weapons in 1997, Reuters reported on January 29. Andriy Kukin, the head of the state arms exporter Ukrspetsexport, said the company signed 170 contracts last year. Ukraine is now the 20th largest arms exporter in the world, having moved up from 30th place in 1996. The newspaper Den (Day) said a huge tank purchase by Pakistan has helped boost sales. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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