NEWSBRIEFS (04/04/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukrainian delegation to attend IPA session

KYIV - A Verkhovna Rada delegation, led by Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko, will for the first time participate in a session of the Commonwealth of Independent States Inter-Parliamentary Assembly on April 2-3 in St. Petersburg. Mr. Tkachenko stated that the delegation will include representatives from each faction in the Verkhovna Rada, except for Rukh and the National Democratic Party. The meeting, Mr. Tkachenko said, is to discuss the Kosovo conflict, and Armenia's support of the official NATO position on Kosovo bombardment, despite the refusal of all other CIS countries to do so. Mr. Tkachenko argued, "A single defense doctrine for Ukraine, Russia and Belarus should be developed." (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma blasts government, Rada

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on March 29 sharply criticized the government for failing to revive the country's economy and blamed the Verkhovna Rada for blocking economic reforms, ITAR-TASS reported. Mr. Kuchma said incomes dropped an average of 14.4 percent from the previous year and retail trade was nearly 12 percent lower. He said that financial policy is "inefficient" and sometimes wrong, and that leftist forces in Parliament are ready to block International Monetary Fund and World Bank credits. President Kuchma also noted that the government must support domestic production and improve the financial system in order to allay wage arrears. He vowed that Ukraine will "never go along the path of inflation" caused by printing money. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Warsaw against new "Iron Curtain"

WARSAW - Polish Foreign Affairs Minster Bronislaw Geremek said on March 29 in Warsaw that he does not want a new "Iron Curtain" to emerge after Poland joins the European Union, the PAP news agency reported. Mr. Geremek made his comments after meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, Borys Tarasyuk, in the inaugural meeting of the Polish-Ukrainian Conference, designed to promote European affairs in Ukraine. Mr. Geremek said Poland, under pressure from EU members to tighten its eastern borders, will try to convince Brussels that it is better to create a "controlled border" than a new wall. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rukh's Kharkiv branch calls for unity

KHARKIV - Delegates at a March 29 conference of Rukh's Kharkiv regional branch called on all centrist and rightist forces to unite around a single presidential candidate in order to strengthen democracy in the country. Delegates passed a motion calling Yurii Kostenko's splinter Rukh faction "illegitimate." Regional Rukh leader Ivan Zayets announced that the Kharkiv Rukh branch had opened a book of condolences to allow Kharkiv residents to pay their respects to the late party leader Vyacheslav Chornovil. (Eastern Economist)

No change in N-status, NATO cooperation

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on March 26 that "there is no turning back" with regard to the country's nuclear-weapon-free status, ITAR-TASS reported. He spoke following a resolution in the Verkhovna Rada calling for Kyiv to rearm with nuclear weapons in response to NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. Volodymyr Horbulin, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said the country does not have the "technological or financial resources" to revoke its nuclear-free status. He added that Ukraine still intends to take part in the NATO summit in Washington next month. Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk had told Parliament on March 26 that cooperation with NATO is in the national interest. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's forces in Bosnia to stay put

KYIV - Vice Minister of Defense Petro Shuliak had a telephone conversation on March 25 with Col. Serhii Malynovskyi, commander of the Ukrainian battalion based with the international peacekeeping forces in Bosnia. Col. Malynovskyi said they had received no relocation or other orders to change their routine duties following the NATO air strikes against neighboring Yugoslavia. However, the officer confirmed that steps had been taken to strengthen the security of sites within the Ukrainian zone of responsibility. (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma looking good in polls

KYIV - Kyiv International Sociology Institute President Valerii Khmelko announced on March 25 that, according to a nationwide poll of 1,533 citizens, if presidential elections were held today, 22.1 percent would vote for President Leonid Kuchma, with 17.4 percent opting for Progressive Socialist Party Leader Natalia Vitrenko. National Deputy Yevhen Marchuk, a former head of the Ukrainian KGB, polled 2.9 percent; Socialist Party Leader Oleksander Moroz, 9 percent; and Communist Party Leader Petro Symonenko, 6.4 percent. In western Ukraine President Kuchma got a rating of 36 percent, with Ms. Vitrenko collecting 12 percent, and Messrs. Marchuk and Moroz 5.6 percent each. (Eastern Economist)

Democratic Party elects new leader

KYIV - National Deputy Hanna Antonieva was elected leader of the Democratic Party of Ukraine on March 27 at the party's seventh convention. Before Ms. Antonieva became a member of Parliament she headed the Artemida corporation, one of the biggest domestic producers of alcoholic beverages. (Eastern Economist)

Rada fails to stop cooperation with IMF

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on March 25 voted four times to renounce the 1998 memorandum on cooperation between Ukraine and the International Monetary Fund but failed by a margin of 21 votes to pass an appropriate resolution. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told the Parliament that policies outlined in the memorandum amount to the Ukrainian government's "genocide against its own people." National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yuschenko argued that World Bank and IMF loans are the only means of replenishing state reserves and financing the budget deficit, other than printing money. The Parliament voted 231-44 on March 26 to adopt a compromise resolution saying that the 1998 memorandum should be revised to correspond with Ukrainian law. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada reinstates ban on utilities hikes

KYIV - A week after Ukraine's Constitutional Court revoked a parliamentary ban on price increases for utilities, the Verkhovna Rada on March 17 voted 232-18 to reinstate the ban as an amendment to the law on prices and pricing. The amendment obliges the Cabinet of Ministers to seek the Parliament's approval to raise prices for water, heating and electricity. It also prohibits the Cabinet from seeking such price hikes before all wage and pension arrears have been paid. Minister of the Economy Vasyl Rohovyi said the ban is "politically motivated. We need a pragmatic approach - everything that is consumed must have an appropriate price," Ukrainian Television quoted him as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine signs U.N. climate treaty

KYIV - Ukraine's ambassador to the United Nations, Volodymyr Yelchenko, on March 15 signed a U.N. Framework Convention on climate change. The Environmental Protection and Nuclear Safety Ministry commented on March 17 that the convention is very important for Ukraine from both social and economic points of view. The convention obliges industrially developed nations, among which Ukraine is listed, to reduce gas emissions into the atmosphere by a minimum of 5 percent compared to 1990 levels in the period 2008 to 2012. Ukraine is the 84th country to sign the convention. (Eastern Economist)

Industrial output down, unemployment up

KYIV - The State Statistics Committee has reported that Ukraine's industrial output fell by 2.1 percent in the first two months of 1999, compared with last year. Ukraine's GDP decreased by 4.2 percent over the same period, while the official unemployment rate increased to 4 percent. Currently 1.12 million people are officially registered as jobless, but the actual figure is believed to be much higher. According to the Associated Press, many Ukrainians either do not formally register as jobless or are forced by their companies to take unpaid vacations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Mykolaiv teachers on strike

MYKOLAIV - Mykolaiv teachers began their threatened strike on March 29, demanding a complete end to wage debt. Teachers from 50 of Mykolaiv's 65 educational establishments have confirmed their participation in the strike. Teachers' strike committee member Mykhailo Hrytsai said on March 29 that teachers would go back to work only after all wage debts were repaid and after receipt of governmental guaranties of regular wage payments. (Eastern Economist)

Miners strike over back wages

KYIV - Some 20,000 miners held a one-day warning strike on March 18 over unpaid wages. "Our task is to show our government our power and to force them to pay wage arrears worth 2.5 billion hrv ($665 million U.S.)," Reuters quoted an activist from the Coal Industry Workers' Trade Union as saying. Another organization, the Independent Miners' Union, has said it is planning a complete halt of coal production and marches from mining regions to Kyiv. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Talk of NATO entry called provocative

KYIV - Volodymyr Horbulin, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said on March 18 that statements urging Ukraine's imminent NATO entry are "provocative in nature," Ukrainian Television reported. The Rukh parliamentary caucus, headed by Yurii Kostenko, recently called for Ukraine to be admitted to the alliance soon. Mr. Horbulin said such statements are aimed at altering Ukraine's balanced foreign policy and at directing it along an "anti-European" line. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland to require visas for some

WARSAW - Poland is to introduce entry visas for citizens of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania and 10 other states no later than on the day of its accession to the European Union, the news agency PAP reported on March 18. The announcement was made by Polish Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Piotr Stachanczyk during so-called screening talks with EU officials, which aim to determine whether Polish legislation complies with that of the EU. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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