NEWSBRIEFS (08/06/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine, Russia mark Navy Day

SEVASTOPOL - The Russian and Ukrainian fleets on July 30 marked Navy Day in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. The celebration was attended by Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, former Russian Prime Ministers Yevgenii Primakov and Viktor Chernomyrdin, Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, and Russian and Ukrainian admirals. Navy Day is celebrated on the last Sunday in July in Russia and on August 1 in Ukraine. President Kuchma said he participated in the celebration to "reaffirm Ukraine's course toward constructive, peaceful and friendly measures with regard to Russia," the Associated Press reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Luzhkov signs agreements with Crimeans

SEVASTOPOL - During his visit to Sevastopol, Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov signed a cooperation agreement with Crimean authorities that provides for expanding Russian tourism to Crimea and boosting cultural exchanges and various joint business projects. In a separate document, Mr. Luzhkov and Crimean authorities set up a company to build a railroad and automobile bridge over the Kerch Strait, which separates Crimea from Russia and is only some 6 kilometers wide at its narrowest point. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Memorial is unveiled in Katyn

KATYN - Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and Russian Vice Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko on July 28 attended the opening of a memorial cemetery at Katyn, in Russia's Smolensk Oblast, where in 1940 the Soviet NKVD executed some 4,500 Polish officers taken prisoner the previous year. Mr. Buzek called for reconciliation between the two nations. He acknowledged that a whole generation of Poles regard Katyn as a symbol of genocide, but stressed that "today we have a great chance to create a common history without hate and lies," the DPA news service reported. Mr. Khristenko noted that although tragedies divide nations, "they can also unite them." The ceremony was attended by some 800 relatives of the slain officers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma decrees Internet development

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed a decree on the development of the Internet in Ukraine, Interfax reported on July 31. The order obliges the government to provide Internet connections for scientific organizations, educational and cultural institutions, and a wider segment of the population. The government is also to draft a bill on the protection of intellectual property and copyright on the web. The decree stipulates that by the end of 2000 the government must create websites for all central and local executive power bodies, as well as for leading scientific and educational institutions in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian children to travel free by train

KYIV - The State Department of Railroad Transportation has announced that all children under age 16 may travel by train free of charge beginning on August 1, Interfax reported. Under previous regulations, children under 10 had to pay only half fare, while all those over the age of 10 paid the full price. A department official told the agency that free train trips for children will be maintained until "parents are able to pay on their own" for them. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma displeased with energy policy

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on July 27 criticized Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko's Cabinet for mismanaging the energy and fuel sector in Ukraine. "I am not happy with the government's performance, although this does not mean with the prime minister. But changes are necessary, and if Yuschenko does not understand this, it is his problem, not mine," Interfax quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. Earlier the same day, President Kuchma criticized Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is in charge of the energy and fuel sector, for signing a deal on gas deliveries from Turkmenistan. Mr. Yuschenko explained that Ms. Tymoshenko only "initialed" a document on conditions of Turkmen gas supplies, adding that the document has not yet acquired legal force. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko says she will not resign

KYIV - Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told journalists that she "fully agrees" with President Leonid Kuchma's opinion that the price of Turkmen gas could be lower than that on which she agreed during her visit to Ashgabat, Interfax reported. She noted, however, that the gas transportation costs will not be as high as suggested by the president, adding that Ukrainian consumers will be able to buy 1,000 cubic meters of Turkmen gas for some $50. Ms. Tymoshenko declined the suggestion that she would resign in connection with the president's criticism of the situation in the energy and fuel sector. "It is no wonder to me that there are a lot of circles dissatisfied with [my] curbs on the shadow economy in the energy sector. ... But as long as I am in my post, I will be introducing such a [high degree of] order that Ukraine will not be ashamed," she said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Turkmenistan to resume gas supplies

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - Turkmenistan's Vice Prime Minister Yolly Gurbanmuradov and his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko signed a preliminary protocol on gas supplies for the period 2000-2010, Interfax reported. Kyiv will purchase 20 billion cubic meters of gas this year, and 50 billion cubic meters annually for a 10-year period thereafter, at a price of $42 per thousand cubic meters. As under previous agreements, payment will be partly in cash and partly in goods and services. According to Nezavisimaya Gazeta of July 27, Ms. Tymoshenko did not try to bargain over the price Ashgabat asked. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma criticizes gas agreement

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma cast doubt on the protocol signed by the vice prime ministers of Turkmenistan and Ukraine. Mr. Kuchma said in Symferopol on July 27 that he "has prohibited the signing of any documents" on Turkmen gas deliveries, adding that such "agreements on principle" should be signed only by the presidents of both countries. "This is nothing short of deception," he said, noting that the final price of Turkmen gas, including its transportation costs to Ukraine, may amount to $90-$105 for 1,000 cubic meters. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EBRD ponders $200 million loan

KYIV - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is considering giving nearly $200 million to Ukraine to finance the completion of two nuclear reactors at the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plants, Interfax reported on July 27. The EBRD statement issued after the bank's July 26 talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said the credit is conditional on the closure of the Chornobyl plant and reform in Ukraine's energy sector, including the privatization of energy supplying companies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to deliver gas to Bulgaria

SOFIA, Bulgaria - Visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and his Bulgarian counterpart, Ivan Kostov, told journalists in Sofia on July 28 that Ukraine will deliver to Bulgaria 578 million cubic meters of natural gas in exchange for Bulgaria's part in laying pipelines in the 1970s, the Associated Press reported. Deliveries of natural gas started in 1998 but were interrupted earlier this year after Russia objected to Ukraine's re-exporting of those supplies. Reuters had earlier quoted Mr. Yuschenko as saying the differences with Moscow over the matter have been settled and the supplies will be resumed in August. Prime Minister Yuschenko also met President Petar Stoyanov, who told journalists that Ukraine and Bulgaria are "not competitors" but "partners" who "share the same Euro-Atlantic integration objectives." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia to be repaid with pipelines?

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said on August 1 that Kyiv is considering repaying its gas debt to Moscow by putting part of Ukraine's gas pipeline network at Russia's disposal, Interfax reported. Mr. Yuschenko added that the property conceded to Russia in debt repayment would remain under Ukrainian ownership and "under Ukrainian management." Mr. Yuschenko confirmed previous reports that Kyiv is also considering giving strategic bombers to Russia to help pay its gas debt. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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