NEWSBRIEFS (10/29/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma scolds Rada, Cabinet over budget

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on October 23 that either the Verkhovna Rada or the Cabinet of Ministers must resign if one or the other proves "incapable" of performing its tasks, the Eastern Economist Daily reported. Mr. Kuchma was commenting on the 2001 budget draft that is now under debate in the Parliament. President Kuchma said budget revenues should be "balanced and sound," adding that officials who provide "unrealistic" budget indicators may be considered guilty of abuse of power. He also disapproved of the way the budgetary debate is being conducted. "If politics interfere with the economy, consequences can be negative," ITAR-TASS quoted him as saying. The Verkhovna Rada is expected to vote on the 2001 budget next week. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gas supplies secured for 2001?

KYIV - Vadym Kopylov, head of Naftohaz Ukrainy, has announced that Ukraine has resolved all issues connected with gas supplies in 2001, the Internet newspaper Ukrainska Pravda reported on October 24, citing the UNIAN agency. According to Mr. Kopylov, next year Ukraine will buy 30 billion cubic meters of gas from Turkmenistan, receive another 30 billion cubic meters as payment for the transit of Russian gas to Europe, and extract 18 billion cubic meters from domestic deposits. Mr. Kopylov said Naftohaz Ukrainy is currently working on two agreements, one on the supply of Russian gas and the other on the transit of Turkmen gas to Ukraine via Kazakstan and Russia. Last week Fuel and Energy Minister Serhii Yermilov said Ukraine has not yet concluded the agreements, which could cover all its gas needs in 2001. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma urges calm over bypass pipeline

KYIV - Commenting on Gazprom's plan to build a gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine, President Leonid Kuchma on October 21 urged his fellow countrymen to "remain calm." Interfax reported that Mr. Kuchma said the construction of such a pipeline is very expensive and cannot be completed "today or tomorrow." He noted that the capacity of the planned pipeline "cannot worry us, either." And he added that Ukraine's gas pipelines "fully satisfy the needs of Europe." Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko said the previous day that neither Poland nor Slovakia will agree to build on their territories a gas pipeline that circumvents Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM concerned about bypass plan

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko has expressed concern over Gazprom's project to build a gas pipeline bypassing Ukrainian territory, Reuters reported on October 24. "We are confident that Russia must be interested in the existing [gas transport] system, and we have proposed strong arguments to Russia to maintain this system," the agency quoted him as saying. Mr. Yuschenko said that Ukraine's gas transport system is used only to some 70 percent of its capacity, adding that "we can easily boost its capacity by 60 billion cubic meters with a small investment." The prime minister said Kyiv is planning to launch "intensive and delicate" talks with Moscow shortly but gave no further details. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish president suggests compromise

WARSAW - President Aleksander Kwasniewski said on October 24 that Poland could agree to a Russian pipeline project to bypass Ukraine provided that Kyiv shared in the plan's economic benefits, Reuters reported. Mr. Kwasniewski said that Ukraine would not necessarily have to be involved in the project "geographically." He added, "It can be involved in the economic sense as well, in some concept of a joint venture or a common company. I think this is a very clever compromise." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland wants talks on pipeline

WARSAW - Government spokesman Krzysztof Luft on October 19 said Poland wants to organize an international conference of all countries interested in the construction of a gas pipeline linking Russia's Yamal peninsula with Western Europe, the PAP news agency reported. "We want to be a transit country, as this lies in Poland's interest, but at the same time Poland does not want [to harm the interests of] other countries," Mr. Luft added but did not elaborate. Polish officials have previously suggested that they do not want to harm Warsaw's "strategic partner" Ukraine by becoming involved in the construction of a Russia-Europe gas pipeline that would bypass Ukrainian territory. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Silski Visti resumes publication

KYIV - The Kyiv-based newspaper Silski Visti has resumed publication after it was closed for failing to pay taxes. The newspaper announced on the first page of its October 21 issue that "the 18-day blockade has finally been broken" owing to "widespread public protests, protests by other journalists, and the efforts of people's deputies who supported it," the Eastern Economist Daily reported on October 25. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pensions to rise 10-20 percent

KYIV - Interfax reported that President Leonid Kuchma on October 20 announced that pensions will go up by 10-20 percent as of December 1. He pledged another increase in pensions in April of next year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Veterans, scientists rally for more funds

KYIV - Some 5,000 war and labor veterans picketed the Verkhovna Rada building in Kyiv on October 18, demanding that the legislature reject a provision in the 2001 budget draft calling for cuts in social benefits for them, Interfax reported. In a separate picket, 400 scientists from the National Academy of Sciences called for higher salaries and more spending for scientific research. The Parliament was to start debating the 2001 budget draft on October 19. Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said all parliamentary caucuses, except the Communists, are ready to endorse the draft in the first reading. "The government plans to direct the lion's share of its revenues to the social sphere, but they say they will not vote [for it]. What [budget] criteria would suit you, gentlemen?" Mr. Yuschenko commented on the Communists' stance. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Macedonian president visits Kyiv

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma and his Macedonian counterpart, Boris Trajkovski, on October 18 signed agreements on cooperation in the military sphere and agriculture, Interfax reported. Meeting in the Ukrainian capital, Presidents Kuchma and Trajkovski concurred that European integration is a common goal of their countries. "Today we agreed that we need to coordinate our actions starting from European integration, cooperation in regional institutions, as well as our aspiration for integration into the EU," the Associated Press quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition newspaper cites state pressure

KYIV - Oleh Liashko, chief editor of the opposition newspaper Svoboda, has sent an open letter to the ambassadors in Kyiv of EU countries, the United States, Russia and Japan, asking for help in purchasing printing equipment to publish his newspaper, Interfax reported on October 6. Mr. Liashko's letter mentions 14 publishing houses that had agreed to publish Svoboda but subsequently refused to do so while continuing to publish other newspapers. "Thus, we have every reason to say that the refusal of these publishers to print our newspaper was connected with pressure exercised on them by state bodies," Mr. Liashko wrote. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Armenia regrets shelving of resolution

YEREVAN - Armenian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Ara Papyan said in Yerevan on October 20 that Armenia regrets the U.S. House of Representatives decision to withdraw from its agenda a bill that recognized the 1915 killings in Ottoman Turkey of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians as genocide, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. House Speaker Dennis Hastert had canceled a vote on the bill the previous day at the urging of U.S. President Bill Clinton, who argued that it would adversely affect U.S.-Turkish relations. Mr. Papyan said Yerevan still hopes Turkey will agree to embark on a "dialogue" on all issues that obstruct the normalization of bilateral relations. Spokesmen for the Armenian Revolutionary Federation - Dashnaktsutiun and the Orinats Yerkir party also expressed disappointment that the bill was shelved. (RFE/RL Newsline)

...while Azerbaijan hails decision

BAKU - An official of Azerbaijan's presidential administration, Novruz Mamedov, described the U.S. House of Representatives decision not to proceed with a vote on a resolution about the Armenian genocide bill "a logical, correct and appropriate step," according to Turan of October 20. The Religious Board of Muslims of the Caucasus similarly issued a statement greeting the U.S. move as "restoration of fairness and banning of falsification of historical facts," the news agency reported the next day. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet seeks to upgrade news agency

KYIV - The Cabinet issued a resolution to computerize the Ukrainian National News Agency (DINAU) in 2001-2002. The program will define sources of financing technological retrofitting of the agency's information processing system, including its correspondents' offices in Ukraine and abroad. Furthermore, it would seek to include in the National Computerization Program 2001-2003 Action Plan the development and implementation of a DINAU Information Port on the World Wide Web and to create an all-Ukrainian computerized press center equipped with satellite and other communication channels at the agency. (Eastern Economist)

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