NEWSBRIEFS (05/06/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Thousands celebrate May Day

KYIV - More than 10,000 people participated in a Soviet-style May Day rally in Symferopol, Crimea, Interfax reported. Participants held placards reading: "Let Lenin's Name and Achievements Live for Centuries"; "Sunny Crimea - Yes, Yes, Yes. NATO and Its Followers - No, No, No"; and "Privatization Is Robbery of the People." Some 5,000 people celebrated May Day with a march in Kharkiv, which was headed by Communist Party supporters following a scuffle with other participants. There were several separate May Day rallies in Kyiv: the Social Democratic Party (United) gathered 1,500 people; the newly created Communist Party of Workers and Peasants 1,000; the Communist Party 500; and the Progressive Socialist Party 500. CPWP leader Oleksander Yakovenko said his party aims at organizing a "socialist revolution" in Ukraine. Some 3,000 demonstrators in Dnipropetrovsk demanded that Kyiv break ties with the International Monetary Fund and give Russian official language status. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists want to run government

KYIV - Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told a rally in Kyiv on May 1 that his party is ready to assume responsibility for the future of the country, Interfax reported. Mr. Symonenko noted that it was Communists who initiated the ouster of the "pro-American" government of Viktor Yuschenko. He said the Yuschenko Cabinet increased Ukraine's economic and financial dependence on the West, canceled privileges to the poor, and increased housing and utility payments. According to Mr. Symonenko, "the nationalists jointly with oligarchic capitalists" - assisted by the West - are seeking to divide Ukraine into three parts. Mr. Symonenko added that the United States is currently working to make Mr. Yuschenko the leader of the Ukrainian opposition and tear Ukraine away from the "fraternal Slavic peoples." The Communist Party leader said his party might propose no less than four candidates to head a new Cabinet of Ministers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moroz supports anti-Kuchma referendum

KYIV - Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz on May 1 said the recently proposed referendum on the impeachment of President Leonid Kuchma is a "promising" idea, Interfax reported. "This [referendum] campaign will help [us] impart the truth to people," Mr. Moroz noted, adding that Ukrainians should be consulted in the referendum not only on President Kuchma's dismissal, but also on issues that "reflect our position on the need to change the power system." He added that referendum questions should also address issues connected with ensuring, in practice, the constitutional guarantees of free education and health care, as well as establishing "sensible" housing and utility payments. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition wants referendum on Kuchma

KYIV - Former Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on April 27 announced a civic initiative to launch a national referendum on President Leonid Kuchma's impeachment. She said the initiative group has already formed a national headquarters to push for a referendum on the president's ouster in accordance with Article 109 of the Constitution of Ukraine. "We will follow the procedure laid down in the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of Ukraine," she noted. Ms. Tymoshenko added that, according to the "most pessimistic scenario," the anti-Kuchma opposition needs 263 days to collect the 3 million signatures required to hold the referendum. Ms. Tymoshenko also said she is convinced that Viktor Yuschenko will become Ukraine's next president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian says U.S. behind Ukraine events

MOSCOW - Mikhail Deliagin, the head of the Russian Institute on Globalization, has concluded that the United States benefits from instability in various parts of the world and appears to be behind the current problems in Ukraine, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported on April 28. Mr. Deliagin said that, as a result, Ukraine could soon fall victim to what he called "the Yugoslav scenario." He underscored that Moscow must do everything in its power to prevent this from happening. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pro-PM parties react to dismissal

KYIV - "Today we lost the best prime minister, but received the leader of the nation," read the joint statement by the two Rukhs, Batkivschyna, and the Reforms and Congress parties as well as the Sobor deputies group in the Verkhovna Rada. "Of all the laws and resolutions approved by the Parliament this one is the most absurd. You have dismissed the first national, honest government of Ukraine, which reached such positive results which no previous government reached," continued the statement. "We regret that we have to deal with a conspiracy, where President [Leonid] Kuchma is present," read the statement. National Deputy Ihor Yukhnovskyi announced on behalf of these parties their move into opposition to Communist-oligarch powers, "which are returning headed by President Kuchma." (Eastern Economist)

Wreath laid to Chornobyl victims

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch on April 26 laid wreaths in the Darnytsia district of Kyiv in memory of victims of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The ceremony took place on the 15th anniversary of the tragic accident. Chornobyl is said to cost Ukraine the equivalent of 5-7 percent of its annual GDP. (Eastern Economist)

Melnychenko meets influential group

KYIV - Former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko, the man behind the tape scandal, met with an influential U.S. foreign policy group, the Council on Foreign Relations, on April 27. The meeting was held behind closed doors and no information was released to the press. (Eastern Economist)

China pledges aid to Chornobyl victims

KYIV - China has pledged about $360,000 (U.S.) in aid to Chornobyl victims in Ukraine. The pledge came as a result of an April 25 official visit by the Chinese foreign minister to Kyiv. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said that China places a high value on Ukraine's support in all strategic sectors. He also noted that both countries now need to unite efforts on work in all important international issues. He also extended the Ukrainian leadership an invitation to visit China. The Chinese officially confirmed interest in the Ukrainian aircraft building sector and in the AN-70 in particular. (Eastern Economist)

Belarusian opposition recalls Chornobyl

MIENSK - An estimated 5,000 to 7,000 people participated in an opposition-organized march and rally in Miensk on April 26 held in commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the explosion at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Belapan and RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported. Belarusian academic Ivan Nikitchanka told the rally that 1.84 million people are currently living in areas of Belarus that were hit by the radioactive fallout caused by the disaster. Dr. Nikitchanka said the authorities "rob" people affected by the Chornobyl disaster, noting that budgetary spending on Chornobyl-related programs in 2000 was lower by 13 percent than the "Chornobyl tax" collected in Belarus to deal with the aftermath of the disaster. Demonstrators demanded democratic changes in Belarus and pledged to defend the country's independence. The demonstration, though unauthorized, was not attended by police forces and took place without incident. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Duma marks Chornobyl anniversary

MOSCOW - The Duma stood for one minute of silence and then adopted a resolution in connection with the 15th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear power station accident, Interfax reported on April 26. Ecologist Aleksei Yablokov said that the total number of victims of the accident should be put at 500 million, Interfax reported. And a group of people who worked on the Chornobyl clean-up complained that they have not received the special support they were promised by the government, the agency said. But Vice Minister of Health Gennadii Onishenko said in an interview published in Izvestia on the same day that "there is no evidence of a serious influence by radioactivity on people's health." (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |