NEWSBRIEFS (09/20/98)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma welcomes Primakov's selection

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has welcomed the appointment of Yevgenii Primakov as Russian prime minister, Interfax reported on September 12. Mr. Kuchma said at a meeting with the Luhansk Oblast administration that he has already congratulated Mr. Primakov on his confirmation by the State Duma and wished him "success and robust health." President Kuchma also confirmed that his meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin will go ahead on September 18-19, but will take place in Moscow, not in Kharkiv, as previously planned. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian PM decrees price controls

KYIV - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko said on September 15 that the government has issued decrees that regulate the prices of petroleum and diesel fuel in an effort to stem rising consumer prices, the DPA news agency reported. The hryvnia has lost about 30 percent of its value in the last month, causing the prices of many goods to increase. Some regions, including Crimea and Kharkiv, have imposed price controls on consumer goods. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish foreign minister visits Kyiv

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Minister Bronislaw Geremek of Poland met with President Leonid Kuchma in Kyiv on September 15 to discuss economic cooperation and border issues, the Associated Press reported. Upon arrival, Mr. Geremek announced that Poland will begin tighter control of its border with Ukraine in an effort to prevent the smuggling of weapons and drugs, and to help keep illegal immigrants out. Minister Geremek also said Warsaw will do its best to maintain visa-free travel for Ukrainians, but admitted Poland is under pressure from the European Union to adopt tougher regulations against its Eastern neighbors. Mr. Geremek said Poland's entry into NATO represents a "chance for Ukraine." He added that Ukraine will always be Warsaw's "partner of fundamental importance in the region." Minister Geremek also met with Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko and Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. cites Vilnius's failure on war crimes

WASHINGTON - The U.S. State Department said it has expressed "deep disappointment" to Lithuania over Vilnius's failure to bring accused World War II criminal Aleksandras Lileikis, or any other war criminals, to trial, an RFE/RL Washington correspondent reported on September 15. Citing ill-health, the 91-year-old Mr. Lileikis failed to appear for his trial last week. The U.S. statement said it has called on Lithuania to take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that justice is rendered in this and other important war crimes cases dating from the Nazi occupation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Japan to conduct Chornobyl research

KYIV - Japan plans to spend approximately $300,000 U.S. to conduct research in the Chornobyl sarcophagus and evaluate the level of environmental pollution in the region, the Chornobyl Center on Nuclear Security and Radioecology reported on September 8. The research will be conducted under an agreement that is expected to be signed by the Chornobyl Center and the Japanese Association on Safety Research. The research will include the collection of samples of nuclear materials in different parts of the sarcophagus, and the study of nuclear fallout and the migration of the radio-nuclides in the soil. The research will be conducted over a period of three years. (Eastern Economist)

Miners' union wants government to resign

KYIV - The Independent Miners' Union - Ukraine's largest miners' union - has called for Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko and his Cabinet to resign and has asked the Parliament to consider the demand. The Associated Press reported on September 14 that union leader Mykhailo Volynets said the government's June resolution to pay wage arrears is not being honored. Ukrainian miners are owed some 2.2 billion hryvni ($860 million U.S.) by the state. Mr. Volynets said the decision to call for the government's resignation was made because the union fears money earmarked for the miners will be spent on next year's presidential elections and on servicing the foreign debt. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rukh seeks honor for patriarch

LVIV - The Rukh party has recently appealed to President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine in an open letter to posthumously confer the title of "Ukrainian Hero" on deceased Patriarch Volodymyr Romaniuk of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate. The patriarch died under mysterious circumstances on July 4, 1995. The burial ceremony was marred by violent clashes with the militia, as the latter tried to prevent the patriarch's burial in the St. Sophia complex, which is under the protection and jurisdiction of the state. As a result, the body was buried in the square near the historic cathedral. Vyacheslav Chornovil, chairman of Rukh, explained that Patriarch Volodymyr deserves the title for his heroic activities seeking the rebirth of independent Ukraine and its national Church. He also proposed that the patriarch be reburied inside the Cathedral of St. Sophia, thus creating a "sepulcher of Ukrainian patriarchs." (Agency of Religious Information)

Parliament bans privatization of distilleries

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on September 11 banned the privatization of distilleries by vetoing a decree signed by President Leonid Kuchma earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. The veto, supported by 236 deputies in the 450-seat legislature, will frustrate the government's hopes to raise 300 million hryvni ($120 million U.S.) from the privatization of 73 out of a total of 168 distilleries still not privatized. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moody's lowers Ukraine's credit rating

KYIV - Moody's Investors Service has downgraded Ukraine's rating for foreign-currency debts from B2 to B3 and for foreign currency bank deposits from B3 to Caa3, the Associated Press reported on September 10. The U.S. agency cited "the depletion of Ukraine's foreign currency reserves to dangerously low levels over the past few months," which, it said, suggests "an increase in the risk of default on [Ukraine's] foreign debt obligations." Moody's also did not share the government's optimism over the recent approval of a $2.2 billion loan by the IMF, saying the loan will only postpone a financial crisis if radical economic reform is not implemented. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Canadian management school opens

KYIV - Ukraine's first Canadian business management program opened on September 9 with a class of 40 students. The program's Kyiv campus will offer majors in managerial accounting and finance. The project was initiated by the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and Canada's Grant MacEwan Community College. Canadian instructors will teach 20 percent of the courses and 20 students from Ukraine will get internships in Canada. (Eastern Economist)

Rada rejects nominee for privatization post

KYIV - The leftist-dominated Verkhovna Rada on September 10 failed to approve the state privatization chief, raising doubts about the government's plans to speed up privatization in the country, the Associated Press reported. Oleksander Bondar, President Leonid Kuchma's nominee to head the State Property Fund, received 210 votes in the Parliament - 16 short of the necessary majority. "We think that privatization and de-monopolization are two levers that pushed Ukraine into abysmal ruin," Ukrainian Television quoted one Communist deputy as saying after the vote. Petro Symonenko, leader of the Communist Party caucus, said privatization may still be continued if President Kuchma nominates a Communist to head the State Property Fund. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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