NEWSBRIEFS

Vitrenko's attackers are sentenced

DNIPROPETROVSK - The Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Court on June 14 sentenced two brothers, Serhii and Volodymyr Ivanchenko, as well as Andrei Samoilov to 15 years in prison each for organizing and carrying out a grenade attack on presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko on October 2, 1999, Interfax reported. The court found Serhii Ivanchenko guilty of organizing the attack, while Volodymyr Ivanchenko and Andrei Samoilov were found guilty of throwing two RGD-5 grenades into a crowd and injuring some 40 people, including Ms. Vitrenko. According to the court, the perpetrators' motive for the attack was to "help" Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz in his election campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kasianov, Kinakh to expand cooperation

ST. PETERSBURG - At a meeting in St. Petersburg on June 13, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov agreed with Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh to restart the work of a permanent intergovernmental commission that will deal with a large number of outstanding issues, ITAR-TASS reported. For his part, Mr. Kinakh said the two sides should be more serious in implementing agreements already signed, Interfax-Northwest reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma blasts blockers of integration ...

BRATISLAVA - President Leonid Kuchma said in the Slovak capital on June 13 that the Ukrainian Parliament is hampering the country's advance toward the European Union, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma praised cooperation between the Slovak legislative and executive branches, adding that Bratislava has achieved greater progress in European Union membership talks than some countries that launched such talks much earlier. He said current relations between Ukraine's Parliament and government are "not completely lamentable, but close to that." He expressed hope that the Verkhovna Rada to be elected in 2002 will implement the results of the 2000 constitutional referendum, thus improving the current model of cooperation between the legislative and executive branches in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... says no to Russia-Belarus union

BRATISLAVA - In an interview published in the Slovak daily Pravda on June 12, President Leonid Kuchma said Ukraine will not join the Russia-Belarus Union. "Joining this union is ruled out. It is impossible. We have won our independence not for losing it [voluntarily]," Mr. Kuchma told the newspaper. He added: "We have chosen our union - it is the European Union." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine reports 9 percent GDP growth

KYIV - The State Statistics Committee said Ukraine's GDP in January-May increased by 9 percent, compared with the same period last year, Interfax reported on June 15. The committee said the fastest growth was registered in the manufacturing industry (24.1 percent), wholesale and retail trade (12.5 percent), construction (9.9 percent), agriculture and forestry (5 percent) and extraction of natural resources (4.8 percent). (RFE/RL Newsline)

World Bank to lend Ukraine $350 M?

KYIV - Luca Barbone, the World Bank's director for Ukraine and Belarus, said in Kyiv on June 14 that the bank may give a $250 million tranche out of a $750 million loan to Ukraine by the end of this year if all disagreements over the reform of the country's largest bank Ukraina are solved, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Barbone added that the bank also intends to conclude in December its work on granting a $100 million loan to help Ukraine issue some 6.5 million land-ownership certificates to farmers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EU chief urges Kyiv to respect freedoms

KYIV - Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, who simultaneously presides over the European Union, said in Kyiv on June 20 that Ukraine will have to guarantee press freedoms and other democratic standards if it wants closer ties with the West, the Associated Press reported. "We want to have growing cooperation and partnership with Ukraine," Mr. Persson noted, adding that the EU wants to stimulate its potential future members - Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - to deepen cooperation with Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, June 24, 2001, No. 25, Vol. LXIX

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