NEWSBRIEFS (01/13/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Communists win legal victory

KYIV - A Ukrainian high court on December 29, 2001, rejected as unconstitutional a decade-old, blanket ban on the Soviet-era Communist Party, Reuters and other agencies reported. Leonid Hrach, a Communist leader and the chairman of the Crimean Parliament, said, "Despite huge regret that we needed 10 years to come to this natural and evident truth, this is a great victory," Reuters reported. Interfax said Mr. Hrach called it a "victory for common sense." In its ruling, however, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court rejected calls for Communist assets - which included dozens of government buildings, rest homes and health facilities - to be returned to the party. Only the courts have the power to exclude political parties, the court said. The prohibition has been largely ignored since it was imposed on the country, where the revamped Communists are the largest party in the 450-seat assembly. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists aim for majority in Rada

KYIV - At a congress on January 5, the Communist Party of Ukraine approved its parliamentary election program and 225 candidates who will seek parliamentary mandates on a countrywide list, Interfax and UNIAN reported. The list is topped by Communist Party Chairman Petro Symonenko and includes Crimean Parliament Chairman Leonid Hrach (No. 11) and Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko (No. 20). Mr. Symonenko told the congress that the party's task in the March 31 election is to win more than 50 percent of parliamentary seats in order to take control of the Verkhovna Rada and form a new government. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Marchuk subject of investigation

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office has opened a criminal investigation against National Security and Defense Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk; the former chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Leonid Derkach; and Derkach's son, National Deputy Andrii Derkach; for alleged involvement in illegal arms trading, Interfax reported on January 4, quoting Deputy Procurator General Oleksander Otamaniuk. The investigation was launched following an inquiry lodged by National Deputies Hryhorii Omelchenko and Anatolii Yermak. Mr. Marchuk has said the allegations of his involvement are provocations aimed at discrediting him and the Security Service. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma vetoes bills related to elections

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has vetoed a bill obliging all candidates in presidential and parliamentary elections to take part in televised debates and requiring that television companies, regardless of their form of ownership, broadcast such debates, Interfax reported on January 8. Mr. Kuchma also vetoed a bill on local elections that stipulated a mixed system in elections to oblast-level councils and a majority system in elections to lower-level councils. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada urged to pass CD copyright law

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Stepan Havrysh said on January 8 that President Leonid Kuchma has urged the Parliament to pass a bill on compact disc production to potentially soften the impact of U.S. trade sanctions imposed for Ukraine's failure to fight CD piracy, Interfax and the Associated Press reported. Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh sent a similar appeal to the Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

District election commissions formed

KYIV - The Central Election Commission drew lots on January 7 to complete the formation of 225 district election commissions in Ukraine, New Channel Television reported. Under the election law, the district election commissions will obligatorily include members of the parties that won no less than 4 percent of the vote in the 1998 election or have their own caucuses in the current parliament. There are currently 17 such parties. The representation of other parties in the district election commissions (which are to consist of 12-20 people) was determined by drawing lots. New Channel Television reported that former Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko's Our Ukraine and presidential administration head Volodymyr Lytvyn's For a United Ukraine electoral blocs got most of the seats on these commissions. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma signs 2002 budget into law

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma signed the 2002 budget for Ukraine into law on January 3, Infobank reported. Andrii Chyrva, the deputy head of Mr. Kuchma's information department, said the president also sent a letter to Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch that urges national deputies to consider the government's proposals to strengthen macroeconomic stability and broaden the tax base. The president also called on the Parliament to ensure that the budget is a "realistic" one. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Adviser says 2002 budget unrealistic

KYIV - Presidential economic adviser Anatolii Halchynskyi told the Kyiv-based Fakty i Kommentari on January 5 that the 2002 budget signed by President Leonid Kuchma last week is "completely unrealistic." Mr. Halchynskyi said President Leonid Kuchma signed the budget for political considerations. "Had he not done that, the country would have been left without a budget for at least six months, which was unacceptable," he added. The budget law sets the 2002 deficit at 4.3 billion hrv ($810 million U.S.), or 1.7 percent of GDP. "[The budget] does not include the money needed to reimburse VAT [value-added tax], which is almost 5 billion hrv. Additionally, we have no funds to finance many social benefits. The most conservative estimates suggest that this will add another 7 billion hrv to the hidden deficit, bringing the total figure to 16.3 billion hrv, or 4 percent of the GDP," Mr. Halchynskyi noted. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF postpones meeting on loan to Kyiv

KYIV - Lorenzo Filiuoli, the International Monetary Fund's senior permanent representative in Ukraine, said on January 4 that a meeting to determine whether a $370 million tranche should be disbursed to Ukraine has been postponed, Infobank reported. Mr. Filiuoli said the January 9 meeting of the IMF's board of governors was postponed to allow the IMF to clarify whether Ukraine is meeting its commitments, which include: enacting the government-submitted budget; completing an audit of Naftohaz Ukrainy; raising electricity tariffs; strengthening oversight of the banking industry; and refunding arrears on value-added taxes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine drops visa requirements for CIS

KYIV - Nationals from throughout much of the former Soviet Union were allowed visa-free entry to Ukraine beginning on January 1, agencies reported the same day. The move implements a Cabinet decision from May to lift the requirements on citizens from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to Interfax. Citizens of Belarus, Russia, Georgia and Turkmenistan already could travel to Ukraine without a visa. Citizens of the Commonwealth of Independent States need only to present their passports to enter the country, ITAR-TASS added. The Associated Press reported that an agreement on visa-free travel also came into effect between Ukraine and Moldova on January 1, although ITAR-TASS cited a Ukrainian official as saying that talks are still under way on that issue. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Decision delayed on Radio Kontinent

KYIV - A Ukrainian court on 28 December 28, 2001, postponed its decision on whether to allow independent Radio Kontinent to continue broadcasting in a case that the Council of Europe has called a test of media freedom, the Associated Press reported. The court was expected to issue its ruling some eight months after Ukraine's National Television and Broadcast Council revoked Kontinent's license, citing an outstanding debt. Others, including Council of Europe Secretary-General Walter Schwimmer, have suggested the move was politically motivated. "Radio Kontinent challenged this decision in court almost a year ago, and no court action has been taken since then," Mr. Schwimmer said in a statement issued from Strasbourg and quoted by the Associated Press. He urged authorities to allow the station to broadcast until a decision is made, the agency added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Heavy snows hit western Ukraine

KYIV - Heavy snow left highways and minor roads impassable and left huge numbers of people in four regions of Ukraine without electricity, Interfax and other agencies reported on January 2. Interfax cited the Emergency Situations Ministry as saying that some 289 towns and villages in the western regions of the country were without electricity, while more than 400 settlements suffered power outages at some point. An international battalion made up of Ukrainian, Romanian, Hungarian and Slovak troops was helping clear roads in the aftermath, the Associated Press reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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