NEWSBRIEFS (06/09/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kyiv, Miensk react to NATO-Russia deal

CHERNIHIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Belarusian counterpart, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, met in Chernihiv, northern Ukraine, on May 29 to discuss bilateral relations, Ukrainian and Belarusian media reported. Messrs. Kuchma and Lukashenka told journalists after the meeting that they welcome this week's NATO-Russia cooperation agreement. President Lukashenka admitted that the NATO-Russia rapprochement may entail "a different system of mutual relations, particularly in the post-Soviet territory." He said his government is thoroughly studying Kyiv's recent bid to seek NATO membership in order to enable Belarus "to make appropriate conclusions and, possibly, appropriate moves." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Belarus discuss debt issues

CHERNIHIV - President Leonid Kuchma and Alyaksandr Lukashenka signed a protocol obliging the Ukrainian and Belarusian governments to prepare by June 15 an accord on settling the issue of Ukraine's debt to Belarus. "This story has continued since 1992," Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Leonid Kozachenko told journalists. "The Ukrainian side considers that Ukraine owes Belarus no more than $50 million, while Belarus considers that Ukraine owes it more than $100 million," he added. According to Mr. Kozachenko, the debt problem arose shortly after the break-up of the Soviet Union, when Belarusian enterprises paid money to Ukrainian companies for products that have never been delivered. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's population: 48.4 million

KYIV - The chairman of the State Statistics Committee, Oleksander Osaulenko, told journalists on May 29 that, according to last year's census, there were 48.4 million people living in Ukraine as of December 5, 2001, UNIAN reported. Sixty-seven percent of Ukrainians live in urban areas. Women constitute 54 percent of the population. The previous census in 1989 found that the Ukrainian SSR was inhabited by 52.5 million people. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada considers committee chairs

KYIV - Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc have proposed that the 23 posts of parliamentary committee heads be distributed only among these four groups, in view of the fact that United Ukraine and the Social Democratic Party gained the posts of chairman and two vice-chairmen on the previous day, the UNIAN news service reported. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn refused on May 30 to submit this motion for voting and adjourned the session until late afternoon. United Ukraine acting head Serhii Tyhypko has called on deputies to distribute the posts of committee heads among all the six parliamentary caucuses, arguing that the current arrangement of forces in the Verkhovna Rada - the "four" and the "two," with no side possessing a clear majority - is a "way to nowhere." Meanwhile, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told journalists that the "four" has begun collecting signatures under a motion to hold a no-confidence vote in the newly elected parliamentary leadership. (RFE/RL Newsline)

How will Rada name committee heads?

KYIV - The four "non-presidential" caucuses in the Verkhovna Rada - Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - failed on May 30 to pass a resolution according to which the 23 posts of parliamentary committee heads are to be distributed only among those parties, in view of the fact that United Ukraine and the Social Democratic Party gained the posts of chairman and two vice-chairmen. The proposal to give 12 committees to Our Ukraine, seven to the Communists, and two each to the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc was supported by 202 deputies out of the 220 who participated in the voting, the UNIAN and Interfax news services reported. United Ukraine and the Social Democratic Party refused to vote. Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn failed to gather a "conciliatory council" of the heads of six parliamentary caucuses on May 30 and 31 to discuss the impasse over the election of committee heads. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New proposal on committee chairs

KYIV - An unspecified "initiative working group" has proposed a new distribution of the posts of parliamentary committee heads and their deputies among caucuses in the Verkhovna Rada, UNIAN and Interfax reported on June 2. According to this proposal, the Verkhovna Rada should constitute 28 committees and one "monitoring commission." United Ukraine is being offered the leadership of 13 committees, Our Ukraine seven, the Communist Party four, the Social Democratic Party two, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc one each, and unaffiliated deputies one. Last week, the "non-presidential four" - Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - failed to agree on distributing the posts of committee heads solely among themselves. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court rejects suit against Potebenko

KYIV - Citing procedural faults and legal technicalities, the Pecherskyi District Court on May 30 rejected a lawsuit by Lesia Gongadze, the mother of slain journalist Heorhii Gongadze, against former Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko, the Associated Press reported. Mrs. Gongadze sued Mr. Potebenko for violating her son's constitutional right to life by ignoring his requests for protection after he received threats. Mr. Gongadze disappeared in September 2000 and his decapitated body was later found in a forest outside Kyiv. Mrs. Gongadze is expected to file a new lawsuit in the same court against President Leonid Kuchma, Mr. Potebenko and prosecutors from Lviv for neglect, complicity and other charges, the agency quoted Maria Sambur, a lawyer for the Reporters Without Borders representative office in Kyiv, as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Annan praises Kyiv move to join NATO

KYIV - United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan on June 2 praised Ukraine's decision to seek NATO membership as a positive step toward regional security, the Associated Press reported. "It is important that Ukraine is making these attempts to get closer to the rest of Europe," Mr. Annan said at Kyiv's airport at the beginning of his first visit to Ukraine. "Today, all European nations are striving to share common values - values of democracy, human rights and governance based on the rule of law - and Ukraine is becoming an important part of that movement, and I'm pleased about that," Secretary-General Annan added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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