NEWSBRIEFS (10/21/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine, Belarus to boost cooperation

KYIV - Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh and his Belarusian counterpart, Henadz Navitski, on October 16 spoke in favor of broadening bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Interfax reported. Mr. Navitski was in Kyiv on his first official trip as prime minister. The two sides signed five agreements, including on cooperation in the spheres of security, nuclear safety, energy conservation, and customs and border control. Mr. Kinakh told journalists that this December the two countries hope to resolve the issue of Ukrainian enterprises' debts to Belarusian partners, but failed to mention what amounts are involved. Trade turnover between both countries in January-July of this year stood at $422 million, down 17 percent from the same period last year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Picketers demand minister's ouster

KYIV - Some 120 people from the Socialist Youth Congress and the Ukrainian Communist Youth League (Komsomol) picketed the presidential administration building on October 16, demanding that President Leonid Kuchma fire Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk over the recent downing of a Russian TU-154 airliner by Ukrainian air-defense gunners, Interfax reported. "[The demonstrators] were trying to show that they are deeply sorry about the tragic accident with the TU-154 plane as well as indignant at having such a president," said Yurii Lutsenko, the coordinator of the Ukraine Without Kuchma movement. Meanwhile, a group of national deputies said the same day that Minister Kuzmuk deliberately misled the public with denials that the Ukrainian air-defense troops were responsible for the crash of the airliner, the DPA new service reported. "According to our information, the defense minister and air defense chief knew on the day of the accident that the plane was hit by a missile," they claimed in a letter to the Procurator General's Office. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Sibir Airlines sues Ukraine

MOSCOW - Lawyers for the Sibir Airlines that owned the passenger jet accidentally shot down on October 4 by a Ukrainian missile over the Black Sea announced on October 15 that they have filed an initial $10 million suit against the Ukrainian government, RIA-Novosti reported. The lawyers said that Ukrainian claims of poverty are not convincing, and that attorneys will file more damage suits in the future on behalf of the families of the passengers and crew. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada seeks accountability for crash

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on October 16 approved a motion to request the Procurator General's Office to institute criminal proceedings against Ukrainian military officials responsible for the October 4 downing of a Russian TU-154 airliner over the Black Sea, Interfax reported. Deputy Prosecutor-General Oleksander Atamaniuk told the agency that the Procurator General's Office will consider opening a criminal case on the TU-154 crash after it obtains an official report from the commission investigating the crash. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Medvedchuk wants resignations

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Viktor Medvedchuk on October 11 suggested that Ukraine's top military leaders who are responsible for the recent crash of a Russian airliner over the Black Sea should resign, Interfax reported. Mr. Medvedchuk said he expects that those responsible for the crash "will find courage to tender their resignations under the officers' code of honor." Mr. Medvedchuk's statement signals that Kyiv is apparently preparing to admit its guilt for downing the Russian airliner with a stray missile. Meanwhile, President Leonid Kuchma said the same day that he has refused to accept the resignation of Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk over the crash. Without providing any specific date, President Kuchma said Minister Kuzmuk tendered his resignation "immediately." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Amnesty International slams Ukraine

GENEVA - Amnesty International on October 15 said torture and ill- treatment of detainees as well as curtailment of the freedom of expression persist in Ukraine 10 years after it declared independence. "Ukraine's real commitment to human rights must be questioned. When formal complaints have been lodged and investigations opened in cases of alleged torture or ill-treatment by police officers, they have been slow, frequently lacking in thoroughness, and often inconclusive," Amnesty International said. "Press freedom has also been curtailed through overt forms of harassment and intimidation, whereby journalists have been physically attacked by unknown assailants, sometimes resulting in death. The circumstances surrounding many of these attacks remain unresolved and only occasionally have those responsible been brought to justice," the world's human rights watchdog said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bandera monument in Drohobych

DROHOBYCH - A five-meter granite monument to Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) leader Stepan Bandera was unveiled in Drohobych, western Ukraine, on October 14, Interfax reported. The unveiling ceremony was attended by Bandera's relatives, as well as representatives of local authorities and national deputies. The OUN hoped to build Ukrainian statehood after the German invasion of the USSR in 1941. On June 30, 1941, in Lviv, the OUN faction led by Bandera proclaimed "the renewal of the Ukrainian state." The Germans reacted by arresting Bandera and other OUN activists and placing them in a concentration camp. Bandera was murdered by a KGB agent in Munich in 1959. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Investments in the Chornobyl zone?

KYIV - Kalman Mizsei, the head of a United Nations mission working on Chornobyl-related problems, told journalists in Kyiv on October 15 that the mission will recommend that the international community invest in the Chornobyl zone, adding that the site is clean enough for economic development, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Mizsei said the risk to investments in the Chornobyl area "has significantly decreased" and the radiation-contaminated zone has been reduced to a very small territory. The mission studied the problems of the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around Chornobyl in July-August and will report its final conclusions regarding its development potential to the U.N. General Assembly and donor countries later in October after visiting radiation-affected areas in Belarus and Russia. According to Mr. Mizsei, the world's assistance policy should be shifted from humanitarian aid to concrete economic rehabilitation projects around Chornobyl. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow, Kyiv don't agree on sea border

MOSCOW - Russian and Ukrainian negotiators over the course of several years have been unable to define the legal status of the Azov and Black seas, Interfax reported on October 11. Ukraine seeks to have the border between the two countries precisely defined across these bodies of water, while Russia wants the two to agree on joint exploitation of the entire water area. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia lobbies for unified electric grid

MOSCOW - Viktor Glukhikh, the head of a business group uniting entrepreneurs from the post-Soviet states and the Baltic countries, said his organization is pushing for unifying the electric power grids of Russia with those of Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Armenia, RBK reported on October 13. Meanwhile, the chief of Russia's Unified Energy Systems, Anatolii Chubais, also is pushing this idea, Mr. Glukhikh said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia seen as losing influence in CIS

MOSCOW - In an analysis carried by the pravda.ru website on October 13, Anatolii Baranov said that the presence of American forces in Uzbekistan is the beginning of a process by which the United States and NATO will seek to "oust Russia" from its influential position in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. He suggested that the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from Abkhazia with NATO peacekeepers taking their place will be the next step, and then Azerbaijan will seek to have NATO forces on its territory to counter what Baku sees as "Armenian terrorists." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma notes domestic terrorism

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma also urged tighter anti-terrorist measures in order to eliminate "manifestations of terrorism" within the country. "I have no right to think that there is no [terrorism] in Ukraine," Mr. Kuchma said in Chernivtsi, southeastern Ukraine. He suggested that the violent clashes between police and anti-presidential demonstrators in Kyiv on March 9 were such manifestations of terrorism. "Terrorism seeks to intimidate the authorities, to cause panic in society, to stir people to oppose the authorities, and so on. We see this in Ukraine or we saw this in Ukraine - But we called these things different names," 1+1 television quoted the president as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EBRD to lend Ukraine $600 million

KYIV - Andrew Seton, the director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in Ukraine, said on September 26 that the bank intends to issue $600 million worth of credits to Ukraine to finance various projects in the country's food industry, financial and industrial sectors, and in its transportation, telecommunications and municipal infrastructures. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv resumes talks with Paris Club

KYIV - Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov on September 26 said that following the recent resumption of International Monetary Fund and World Bank loans to Ukraine, Kyiv has renewed talks with the Paris Club on restructuring Ukrainian debts to the club's member-states, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia-Belarus to have radio station

MOSCOW - The Russian-Belarusian radio station Union will begin broadcasting soon, as questions of financing are worked out, Interfax reported on September 25. The station is to broadcast 24 hours a day across the territories of the two countries, the news service said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainians earn $61.50 per month

KYIV - The State Statistics Committee on October 1 said Ukrainian workers earned an average 327.31 hrv ($61.50 U.S.) in August, Interfax reported. Bank employees, subway construction workers, aviators and sailors are among the highest-paid, earning an average of 850 to 900 hrv per month. The lowest-paid include farmers (178.0 hrv), medical workers (197.10 hrv), and teachers (227.20 hrv). (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bulgaria chosen over Belarus at U.N.

UNITED NATIONS - Bulgaria has been elected to a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, receiving almost twice as many votes as Belarus, an RFE/RL correspondent in New York reported on October 8. Bulgaria received 120 votes in the ballot, while Belarus, which also ran for the seat representing the Eastern European region, received 52 votes. Bulgaria will succeed Ukraine, which now holds that regional seat, at the beginning of next year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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