NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine offers debt restructuring terms

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov made an offer in London on February 14 to restructure the country's external commercial debt. The deal would lengthen by seven years the period of maturity for bonds issued by Ukraine. Those bonds are worth $2.7 billion and have a 10-11 percent annual interest rate. Mr. Mitiukov said the proposed terms are "the best offer Ukraine can make today to foreign investors," according to Interfax. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM optimistic about debt restructuring

KYIV - Viktor Yuschenko said on February 15 that he is satisfied with investors' response to the debt restructuring proposals that he presented in London the day before. He added that Ukraine's Finance Ministry will make similar presentations in Frankfurt, Zurich, Munich, Vienna, Milan and Paris. The prime minister said he hopes Ukraine will be able to restructure 85 percent of its foreign debts. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM denies misuse of IMF funds

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko denied that the Ukrainian government had misused resources from the International Monetary Fund intended to shore up the country's foreign exchange reserves, the Financial Times reported on February 15. Mr. Yuschenko also denied earlier allegations by former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko that President Leonid Kuchma's inner circle made as much as $200 million from the misuse of IMF funds in 1997 and 1998. Mr. Yuschenko outlined his economic program, which is based on a restrictive fiscal policy, a tough budget, an end to tax exemptions and privileges, and the introduction of a new pension system. He added that by the end of April the restructuring of collective farms will be complete, and he pledged to press ahead with large-scale privatization. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF requests expanded probe of NBU

KYIV - The International Monetary Fund has asked Ukraine to expand the probe of the National Bank of Ukraine following a report by the Financial Times on February 11 that the government had placed bank reserves in high- risk ventures against the IMF's advice. The newspaper alleged that the bank bought government treasury bills in an attempt to prop up the domestic debt market and moved $150 million through several accounts to make its reserves seem larger than they were. "Such a transaction would clearly violate the spirit of Ukraine's [IMF loan] because it would have enabled the National Bank of Ukraine to give an inaccurate picture of its external position," Reuters quoted an IMF spokesperson as saying. The Financial Times alleged last month that the bank misused IMF funds, after which Kyiv asked an international audit firm to check the allegation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Administration aims to split Communists?

KYIV - Petro Symonenko, leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, told Interfax on February 15 that the presidential administration is planning to create an "alternative" party that will include the word "Communist" in its name. According to Mr. Symonenko, the presidential administration has instructed regional authorities to hold meetings of local residents to set up such a party. He added that the first of such meetings has already been held in Cherkasy Oblast. Mr. Symonenko said he believes the authorities will be unable to split his party since he argues it is united by the principle of "democratic centralism." Presidential spokesman Oleksander Martynenko denied that the administration is planning any such step, arguing that "the president is not a supporter but rather an opponent of Communist ideology." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court orders investigation of left deputies

KYIV - A district court in Kyiv on February 9 ruled that the Verkhovna Rada's former chairman, Oleksander Tkachenko, and his vice-chairman, Adam Martyniuk, took "illegal" action by preventing the majority from entering the Parliament building and by not allowing the newly elected parliamentary leadership to take its place in the parliamentary presidium, Interfax reported. The court ordered that Mr. Tkachenko hand over the parliamentary seals to the new leadership. It also obliged the parliamentary guard to ensure that the new leadership is protected from "illegal attempts" on the part of "some national deputies." Two days later the court ordered prosecutors to open a criminal case against the ousted Rada chairman and leftist national deputies for "derailing" parliamentary sessions, Interfax reported on February 11. The ruling added that the leftist minority prevented the new parliamentary leadership from entering parliamentary offices and "created discomfort and inconveniences in the work of the Verkhovna Rada administration in general." Complying with an earlier court ruling, Mr. Tkachenko on February 11 returned the chairman's seals to the parliamentary Secretariat. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tkachenko: Rada can't ban Communists

KYIV - Oleksander Tkachenko has said that the Verkhovna Rada has no right to ban the Communist Party, Interfax reported on February 11. The Parliament's ex-chairman was commenting on a draft bill - submitted to the Rada last week - that would prohibit the Communist Party. Mr. Tkachenko called the legislative initiative "extremist," adding that the Communists received more than 10 million votes in the last parliamentary elections. Independent National Deputy Serhii Holovatyi told the agency that a political party may be banned only by a court decision. The Communist Party of Ukraine, which was registered in 1993, is the country's largest party, with more than 120,000 members. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada adopts budget in second reading

KYIV - Lawmakers on February 10 voted by 241-6, with one abstention, to approve a 2000 budget draft in the second reading, excluding those articles that include budget figures, Interfax reported. A third reading of the bill including those budget figures will to take place on February 15 . According to the agency, leftist minority deputies took the floor during the debate but neither registered nor voted. Natalia Vitrenko's Progressive Socialists remained in seats in the public area during the debate. Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch announced the dissolution of Ms. Vitrenko's caucus, which has only 11 deputies, because at least 14 are necessary to form such a group. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court asked to rule on referendum

KYIV - Serhii Holovatyi, an independent national deputy who belongs to neither the leftist minority nor the center-right majority, said on February 10 that he has collected the signatures of more than 45 lawmakers asking the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the presidential decree providing for the April 16 referendum, Interfax reported. The signatures of at least 45 lawmakers are required for the Constitutional Court to make such a ruling. Mr. Holovatyi said many other deputies support the motion but refused to sign it because they fear "reprisals." According to Mr. Holovatyi, signatures supporting the referendum were falsified in Zhytomyr, Lviv and other regions. He also accused the presidential administration of concealing a letter from the head of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which expresses "serious anxiety" about the referendum. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leftist lawmakers register for session

KYIV - The February 15 parliamentary session took place with the participation of 350 registered deputies, Interfax reported. This means that leftist lawmakers, excluding those from the Progressive Socialist Party, registered for a session for the first time since the center-right majority took over the leadership of the Supreme Council. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Verkhovna Rada continues its work

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada continued its session on February 9, with 242 majority deputies participating and minority lawmakers remaining unregistered for the session, Interfax reported. "The situation is developing in the right direction," the majority's coordinator, Leonid Kravchuk, told Reuters. Majority lawmakers debated three draft bills on referenda and decided to take one of them as a "basis" for further discussion. Communist Petro Symonenko demanded that the Parliament hold a repeat vote on all resolutions adopted by the majority, while Socialist Oleksander Moroz announced that his caucus will remain in opposition to the majority. Eleven lawmakers from Natalia Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist Party left the parliamentary hall, pledging to return only after a Constitutional Court ruling on the legislative crisis. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Procurator to re-examine Tkachenko case

KYIV - Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko on February 9 said he will re-examine the case of the Zemlia i Liudy (Land and People) association headed by Oleksander Tkachenko, which has not repaid credits worth $70 million, Interfax reported. In 1993, Mr. Tkachenko's association obtained U.S. credits for an agricultural project that resulted in losses covered by a state bank. An investigation against Mr. Tkachenko was dropped in 1998 after what many commentators believed to be a deal between Mr. Tkachenko and President Leonid Kuchma. Mr. Tkachenko reportedly pledged to support presidential policies if the president supported his bid to become chairman of the Verkhovna Rada. Mr. Potebenko denied that the Tkachenko case has been reopened because of the former chairman's current opposition to President Kuchma. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Belarusian Popular Front changes name

MIENSK - The opposition Belarusian Popular Front (BNF) led by Vintsuk Vyachorka decided on December 26, 1999, to change its name to Public Association BNF, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported. The decision is aimed at bringing the name into line with Belarus's law on public associations, which bans the words "Belarus," "Republic of Belarus," "national" and "popular" from being used in the names of public organizations. BNF activist Yury Khadyka said the BNF had to change its name in order to be permitted to exist legally. He added that the current name allows the BNF to preserve the organization's "10-year tradition." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to import 1.5 M tons of grain

KYIV - Ukraine plans to import some 1.5 million metric tons of grain by September 1, 2000, Interfax reported. The imports are reportedly necessary to maintain a steady supply of bread and to avoid price hikes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communist Party activity prohibited

IVANO-FRANKIVSK - The Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Council voted to prohibit the activity of the Communist Party on the territory of the oblast. The council is preparing for a class-action suit against the ex-Soviet Communist Party and the currently active Communist Party of Ukraine. (Eastern Economist)

Miners stop delivering coal to debtors

KYIV - Some 120 coal mines in Ukraine on February 7 stopped delivering coal to consumers, including power plants, that have not paid for earlier supplies, Interfax reported. The protest action, which was organized by the Trade Union of Coal Mining Industry Workers, will last for three days. The miners are demanding higher subsidies to the coal industry in 2000 and the payment of wage arrears. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian fleet replaces aging planes

KYIV - It is expected that old SU-17 airplanes of the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be substituted with modern SU-24M starting January 18. The director of the Institute for Ukrainian-Russian Relations, under the Council for National Defense and Security, Serhii Pyrozhkov, stated that Ukraine has no reasons to doubt that Russia will not place nuclear weapons on the new planes. (Eastern Economist)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 20, 2000, No. 8, Vol. LXVIII

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