NEWSBRIEFS (01/23/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Verkhovna Rada session paralyzed

KYIV - Eleven parliamentary caucuses and groups that had declared the creation of a center-right, pro-government majority on January 18 blocked further debates by leaving the session hall and thus stripping the session of a quorum, Interfax reported. The walkout occurred after the Parliament failed to approve a motion to put on the agenda a proposal to introduce changes in the Verkhovna Rada's regulations regarding voting procedures. The motion was supported by a sufficient number of votes (226), but speaker Oleksander Tkachenko said the voting was rigged because some deputies had voted also for their absent colleagues. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Naftohaz denies stealing Russian gas

KYIV - Ihor Bakai, head of the state-owned Naftohaz Ukrainy, denied on January 17 that Ukraine has been illegally siphoning off Russian transit gas that passes over Ukrainian territory, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Bakai said Naftohaz will open its books to Russian scrutiny by February 5 to dispel the charges. He added that his company was taking Russian gas in accordance with an agreement with Gazprom as payment for transit. Mr. Bakai also said Russia is exaggerating Ukraine's debt for gas supplies, which he says now stands at $763 million. The sum of $2.23 billion mentioned by Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko includes the debts of commercial structures, for which Naftohaz is not responsible, he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish, Ukrainian presidents meet

KRAKOW - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, discussed the founding of a Polish-Ukrainian university and the continuation of visa-free travel between both countries at their meeting in Krakow on January 17. Presidents Kwasniewski and Kuchma said they intend to ask rectors of several Polish and Ukrainian universities to work out plans for establishing a joint university in Rzeszow, southeastern Poland. According to the DPA news service, Mr. Kwasniewski declared that Poland will conduct negotiations with the European Union regarding an arrangement enabling Poland to continue visa-free movement between the two states. Messrs. Kwasniewski and Kuchma also discussed Russia's new defense doctrine, the war in Chechnya, the Belarus-Russia union, and the joint Odesa-Gdansk gas pipeline project. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM pledges to cut spending

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko told journalists on January 14 that his government is going to introduce a "completely new budget process" in order to cut spending and widen tax collection in Ukraine, Reuters and the Associated press reported. Mr. Yuschenko also said the government will add no new net foreign debt. He also pledged to do away with the practice of borrowing money from the central bank, which is essentially another way of printing money. Meanwhile, the World Bank's director for Ukraine and Belarus, Luca Barbone, praised the Yuschenko government as the best since Ukraine gained its independence in 1991. "The only problem for Ukraine is that it lost its masterful central banker," Mr. Barbone added. President Leonid Kuchma has asked the Verkhovna Rada to accept Volodymyr Stelmakh, Mr. Yuschenko's deputy at the National Bank of Ukraine, as the NBU's new head. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Nobel laureate condemns Russia

PRAGUE - Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999, has accused Moscow of condoning war crimes against civilians in Chechnya, Reuters reported on January 13. It cited the indiscriminate bombing of Grozny, marketplaces and convoys of displaced persons. The group's January 12 letter compared the sufferings of the Chechen population with that of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and appealed to the United States to pressure Moscow to "abide by its obligations under humanitarian law" and end hostilities. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada orders Cabinet to revise budget

KYIV - By a vote of 153 to 162, the Parliament on January 13 returned the 2000 budget draft to the government for revision and ordered it to be returned for a "repeat" second reading in February, Interfax and the Eastern Economist reported. A resolution not to accept a bill for consideration must be supported by one-third of parliamentary deputies (150) to pass. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko said the draft budget contradicts a resolution on the budget passed last year calling for an equalization of the central and regional budgets in 2000-2001. Mr. Tkachenko said the correlation between the central and regional budgets included in the bill passed in the first reading was 59 percent and 41 percent, respectively, while these figures were 75 percent and 25 percent in the draft submitted for the second reading. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma rated as top political figure

KYIV - According to a poll of over 100 respected political scientists carried out by the Social Technologies Center, President Leonid Kuchma is rated first among the 10 most influential Ukrainian politicians. Mr. Kuchma is followed by the Communist Party leader, Petro Symonenko, with Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko in third place. The list continues as follows: Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko; former Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko; Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and leader of the Social Democratic Party (United) Viktor Medvedchuk; head of the Security Service of Ukraine Leonid Derkach; Batkivschyna Party leader and chair of the Parliament's Budget Committee Yulia Tymoshenko; National Deputy Oleksander Volkov; and Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz. (Eastern Economist)

Shevchenko receives soccer award

KYIV - Ukrainian soccer star Andrii Shevchenko, who currently plays for the Italian AC Milan club, was awarded the Crystal Ball as the best soccer player in Ukraine in 1999. This was the second time Mr. Shevchenko received the award. (Eastern Economist)

Industrial output grew by 4.3 percent

KYIV - Olena Hubina, press secretary of former Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko, told Interfax that in 1999 Ukraine's industrial production increased by 4.2 percent, compared with the previous year. According to Ms. Hubina, this achievement testifies to the former Cabinet's efficiency. She also noted that inflation in Ukraine in 1999 stood at 19.2 percent, as planned by Mr. Pustovoitenko's Cabinet. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Government opens phone line on reforms

KYIV - Viktor Lysytskyi, secretary of the Cabinet of Ministers, announced that the government will launch a telephone line called "The Problems of Economic Reforms" beginning on January 4. Mr. Lysytskyi said anyone interested in Ukraine's economic reforms can use the line to obtain information by dialing 254-05-65 or by logging on to the line's Internet site at http://www.icenter.org.ua/. Mr. Lysytskyi said Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko wants to use the line to obtain "prompt information from the regions" and to identify impediments to reforms in the regions, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma orders faster privatization

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on December 29, 1999, signed a decree aimed at speeding up Ukraine's privatization process, Interfax reported. According to presidential spokesman Oleksander Martynenko, the decree defines the "main directions for privatization in 2000-2002." The decree stipulates that 2,200 economic entities are to be privatized in 2000, compared with 435 this year. The state budget is expected to receive $3 billion in privatization revenues over the next three years. Mr. Martynenko noted that the decree foresees the privatization of enterprises that "are of strategic importance for the state's economy and security or are monopolies on the domestic market." (RFE/RL Newsline)

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