NEWSBRIEFS (05/03/98)

NEWSBRIEFS

Institutions offer $100,000 reward

KYIV - The Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange, Ukrainian Bank Association, Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Ukrainian Agrarian Exchange and the Ukrainian Stock Exchange have offered a reward of $100,000 (U.S.) for information leading to the capture of persons responsible for the murder of the head of the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange, Vadym Hetman. He was murdered April 22. (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma edict focuses on corruption

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed an edict on combating corruption, Ukrainian Radio reported on April 28. The document envisions such measures such as stripping national deputies of their immunity and limiting the immunity of judges. It also mandates drawing up a procedure for financing political parties and public organizations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Miners to strike on May 4

DONETSK - Miners voted at a national rally on April 26 to hold a national strike on May 4. They are demanding a ban on coal imports, better conditions and the payment of back wages. (Eastern Economist)

Deputy proposes anti-Kuchma faction

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada National Deputy Mykhailo Brodskyi, in an open appeal published in Kievskiye Viedomosti on April 28, called on national deputies to set up an anti-presidential faction in the legislature. Mr. Brodskyi said he believes the current authorities have discredited themselves through embezzlement and totalitarian tendencies. Mr. Brodskyi is a businessman with a major share in the Kievskiye Viedomosti daily newspaper. He was imprisoned for 42 days on charges of illegal property deals and was released from his solitary confinement cell in Zhytomyr on April 21 upon confirmation of his election to the Verkhovna Rada, which confers immunity on him. He was in prison on charges of illegal trading. (RFE/RL Newsline, Eastern Economist)

Lazarenko candidate for Rada chairman?

KYIV - "The Hromada association is consulting with other parliamentary parties on candidates for the post of Verkhovna Rada chairman," said one of the party's leaders, Oleh Bilous, on April 27. He said Hromada would most likely nominate Pavlo Lazarenko for the post. According to Rukh leader Viacheslav Chornovil, other candidates for the post of chairman include Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs President Anatolii Kinakh, Kharkiv Oblast Administrator Oleh Diomin, and the Communist chairman of the Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee, Borys Oliynyk. Mr. Chornovil commented, "If the speaker is leftist, a coalition Cabinet will never be formed." (Eastern Economist)

Foreign affairs minister in Hungary

KYIV - In his first trip abroad as foreign affairs minister of Ukraine, Borys Tarasiuk said in Budapest on April 27 that his country supports a pro-European foreign policy, Hungarian media reported. Mr. Tarasiuk's Hungarian counterpart, Laszlo Kovacs, said Hungary has a vested interest in seeing a democratic, independent and stable Ukraine, and seeks to expand bilateral trade, border cooperation and joint efforts toward fighting organized crime. He told Mr. Tarasiuk that Hungary will support Ukraine's integration into international bodies such as the European Union and NATO, and asked him to continue pursuing minority policies that are in line with European norms. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma prefers free trade for CIS

MOSCOW - On arriving here on April 28 to attend the CIS summit of heads of state, President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine told journalists that free trade is preferable for CIS states over a single economic area. While admitting that the immediate introduction of a free trade zone within the CIS is unrealistic, President Kuchma said bilateral, trilateral and quadrilateral agreements should be concluded among CIS members that have adopted market economy methods. On April 29 the CIS summit unamimously approved Boris Berezovsky, powerful Moscow businessman and Yeltsin supporter, as executive secretary of the CIS. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Chornobyl rally held in Miensk

MIENSK - Some 7,000 people marched in downtown Miensk on April 25 to mark the 12th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The marchers, led by opposition politicians, shouted slogans against President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime and demanded freedom for imprisoned opposition activists. They also demanded that Mr. Lukashenka be dismissed for "malicious disregard of the deadly danger of the Chornobyl catastrophe, economic collapse and deliberate devastation of the national culture," Belapan reported. The police detained some 30 protesters, including 17 members of the Russian Anti-Fascist Youth Movement who came from Moscow to take part in the rally, ITAR-TASS reported. The next day the police released all the Russian detainees and deported them on a night train to Moscow. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Armenia marks genocide anniversary

YEREVAN - President Robert Kocharian and members of the Armenian government on April 24 laid wreaths at a memorial to the victims of the 1915 genocide. Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, President Kocharian confirmed his government's intention that it will raise the issue of recognizing the genocide with Turkey. He denied that the move would harm Armenian-Turkish relations. Mr. Kocharian also advocated that an article pledging to achieve recognition of the genocide be included in the Armenian Constitution, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. In an April 23 address to mark the anniversary, the Armenian president argued that the absence of either recognition or expressed regret for the genocide contributed to the mass killings of Armenians in Sumgait in 1988 and Baku in 1990. He said that recognition of the 1915 genocide would "advance world peace." (RFE/RL Newsline)

New theater to screen "Titanic"

KYIV - A new 320-seat theater, Kino Palats, equipped with a large screen and Dolby Digital Stereo Sound will open in Kyiv. It was to open on May 1 with the screening of "Titanic." (Eastern Economist)