NEWSBRIEFS (03/26/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Court postpones ruling on referendum

KYIV - The Constitutional Court of Ukraine has announced that its verdict on whether the April 16 referendum is in line with the Constitution of Ukraine will be handed down at some later date, Interfax reported on March 20. The court, which was required to make a ruling by March 18, cited protracted open hearings in the case as the reason for the delay. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Vice-chairman: Rada crisis is over

KYIV - Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Stepan Havrysh on March 20 said "the parliamentary reform has practically been concluded" and the country's parliamentary crisis is over, Interfax reported. According to Mr. Havrysh, the parliamentary leftist minority is not contesting the legality of the Parliament's actions. He added that the Parliament "continues to fruitfully discuss draft laws with the participation of representatives from left caucuses." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kazakstan, Ukraine discuss oil

ASTANA, Kazakstan - Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko met in Astana on March 10-11 with his Kazak counterpart, Qasymzhomart Toqaev, and President Nursultan Nazarbaev, Russian agencies reported. Their talks focused on increasing the amount of crude oil Kazakstan ships to Ukraine for refining, the prospects for exporting Kazakstan's oil to international markets via Ukraine, and Kazakstan's desire to privatize the Kherson oil refinery, in which it has a majority stake. On March 11, representatives of the two countries' governments signed a protocol on cooperation in the nuclear fuel industry. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM upbeat on IMF loan resumption

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on March 17 said he still hopes for new loans from the International Monetary Fund despite a statement by the fund last week saying that Ukraine had misled the IMF in 1996-1998. "We can look at the resumption of IMF credits for Ukraine with optimism," Mr. Yuschenko told journalists, adding that "we have an answer for renewal of the IMF program," the Associated Press reported. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry has said an IMF mission will visit Kyiv in early April to discuss the resumption of loans. Interfax quoted U.S. Ambassador to Kyiv Steven Pifer as saying that Mr. Yuschenko's visit to Washington may take place in April. The visit, planned for this month, was postponed in the wake of the mining disaster near Krasnodon. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada 'negative' toward Cabinet program

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada's first reaction to the government's plan of action for 2000-2004 is "negative," the Eastern Economist Daily reported on March 20. Oleksander Volkov, vice-chairman of the Revival of Regions caucus, said the document suggests the "dilettante attitude of schoolchildren toward serious problems" rather than a plan of action. According to the agency, the program is also "traditionally" opposed by all leftist caucuses in the Parliament, while Fatherland is the only caucus supporting it without reservation. According to Social Democratic Party (United) National Deputy Viktor Suslov, Prime Minister Yuschenko has already fulfilled his main task of rescheduling Ukraine's foreign debt repayment and is no longer "useful" to the president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Baku, Kyiv sign new agreements

BAKU - Azerbaijan's President Heidar Aliev and his visiting Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma signed a treaty on friendship, cooperation and partnership in Baku on March 16 that designated the relation between the two states as "a strategic partnership." Also signed were a 10-year economic cooperation agreement and agreements on interbank financial settlements, pensions and education. Presidents Aliev and Kuchma also discussed cooperation within GUUAM group of states, the prospects for exporting Azerbaijan's Caspian oil via the Odesa-Brody pipeline, and the Karabakh conflict. The two presidents pledged to coordinate their efforts towards integration into European structures. Mr. Kuchma promised support for Azerbaijan's aspiration to be accepted into full membership of the Council of Europe. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Debt rescheduling plan postponed

KYIV - The Finance Ministry extended until April 7 the deadline for its debt-rescheduling plan, hoping to attract a few remaining creditors to the offer, the Associated Press reported on March 16. Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko told journalists that 92 percent of creditors had accepted the offer by March 16. The ING Barings bank, which helps Ukraine manage its foreign debt, urged creditors "to take advantage of this final opportunity to participate in the exchange offer, since no further payments will be made on any non-tendered, unrestructured debt after the completion of the exchange." ING Barings announced on 15 March that it has convinced 88 percent of Ukraine's foreign creditors to accept the $2.6 billion debt rescheduling plan offered by Kyiv last month. The acceptance of the rescheduling plan reduces the threat of a Ukrainian default and increases Kyiv's chances of receiving further support from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Chornobyl project meets in Slavutych

KYIV - The assembly of donor-countries for the Chornobyl reactor shelter project will take place in Slavutych this weekend. Fuel and Energy Minister Serhiy Tului stated that $383 million (U.S.) is in the shelter fund, out of the planned total $758 million. The Ukrainian portion of the fund is set at $50 million. Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko stated that the Cabinet of Ministers is working on the draft decree to shut down the third energy block of Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The draft decree is to be discussed at the governmental meeting next week, after which the final date of the shutdown will be announced. (Eastern Economist)

Belarusian opposition marches ...

MIENSK - An estimated 20,000 opponents of President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's regime on March 15 participated in Freedom March-2 in Miensk, which ended peacefully with a rally and rock concert. Protesters shouted slogans urging Mr. Lukashenka's resignation, demanding political freedom and calling for Belarus's integration with Europe. A resolution adopted by the rally appealed for negotiations between the opposition and the regime to resolve the country's political and economic deadlock. "We are sick and tired of the empty promises of the man who was elected president by mistake. Belarus needs changes and it will have a happy future," the Associated Press quoted oppositionist Yury Khadyka as saying. "We come out in favor of Belarus's return to Europe instead of dragging it into the empire which is bogged down in war and corruption," another oppositionist, Vintsuk Vyachorka, was quoted as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... gets support in European capitals

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's Social Democratic Party held rallies in Stockholm and Kiruna on March 15 to coincide with Freedom March-2 and opened a website to raise public awareness of the opposition movement in Belarus, the Associated Press reported. RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported that rallies of solidarity with the Miensk march took place in front of the Belarusian embassies in Brussels, Warsaw and Kyiv. The Kyiv picket, which was organized by Rukh Youth activists, also protested the Ukrainian authorities' intention to hold a constitutional referendum and warned against "repeating the Belarusian scenario" in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada announces factions and groups

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch announced changes in the Parliament's factions and groups as of March 14. Currently the Communist Party faction is the biggest with 115 deputies, followed by the Revival of the Regions with 36; Social Democratic Party (United), 34; Batkivschyna, 35; Trudova Ukraina, 30; National Democratic Party, 25; Ukrainskyi Narodnyi Rukh (Kostenko), 20; Left Center, 20; Narodnyi Rukh Ukrainy (Udovenko), 18; Greens, 17; Reformy-Kongres, 14; the newly created Solidarnist group, 16; and Independent, nine. The Rada consists of 440 deputies - 389 of whom are members of deputies' groups and factions. (Eastern Economist)

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