NEWSBRIEFS (07/13/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma slams national deputies

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on July 7 that the previous week's confrontation between the pro-government majority and opposition deputies in the Verkhovna Rada was "absolutely irresponsible," Interfax reported. On July 3 lawmakers failed to vote on any legislative issue as dispute continued over two bills on constitutional reforms, one proposed by the president and the other submitted by a group of opposition deputies. Lawmakers disagreed over which of the bills should be sent to the Constitutional Court for review. "The head of state must have the right to dissolve an inefficient Parliament. This power in itself would force deputies to be more careful in carrying out their duties," Mr. Kuchma said, adding that he is pondering withdrawing his political-reform bill. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said he will "be forced" to send both bills to the Constitutional Court if the "mutual blockade" continues in the Parliament. The Parliament adjourns for summer recess at the end of this week. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainians protest hikes in food prices

KYIV - Around 4,000 picketers gathered near the building of the Verkhovna Rada on July 9 to protest hikes in food prices, utilities and limits on social guarantees, Interfax reported. The demonstrators demanded the dismissal of Economy and European Integration Minister Valerii Khoroshkovskyi and a greater commitment to the agrarian sector in the government. They also demanded a freeze on the prices of food, utilities and housing, renewed state support for agriculture and state controls on food prices. Representatives of the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, Our Ukraine, the Fatherland Party, the Sobor Party, the Ukrainian National Party and the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, among others, attended the protest. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Peacekeepers' mission begins in September

KYIV - A Ukrainian brigade of some 1,800 peacekeepers will start its mission in the Polish-administered sector of Iraq on September 1, Interfax reported, quoting the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service. The brigade, a part of the Polish-led international division, will be deployed at a military airfield in Al-Kut, the capital of the Wasit Governate. Wasit's population is roughly 800,000 people, most of whom are Shi'a. The Ukrainian peacekeepers will replace 1,200 U.S. Marines who have been in Wasit for three months. Their duties will include patrolling two highways that connect the southern part of the country with Baghdad, escorting humanitarian cargos, and guarding the 120-kilometer border with Iran. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Canada impounds Ukrainian plane

KYIV - Ukraine's State Property Fund has dismissed as "groundless" a claim by Cyprus-based TMR Energy Ltd. that the fund owes the company $42.3 million in connection with a 1993 contract involving the modernization of the Lysychansk Oil Refinery in eastern Ukraine, Interfax reported on July 2. The claim was recognized by the Stockholm Arbitration Court in May 2002. Following a decision by a Canadian federal court recognizing the validity of the Stockholm ruling on Canadian territory, Canadian authorities on June 26 impounded a Ukrainian AN-124 Ruslan cargo plane at a military base in Newfoundland. The cost of a Ruslan plane is estimated at $50 million to $150 million. The Ukrainian State Property Fund has vowed to appeal the Stockholm court's ruling. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian cargo ship's crew jailed

KYIV - Greek prosecutors have charged the crew of a Ukrainian ship, Baltic Sky, with illegally shipping nearly 700 tons of explosives to Sudan, Ukrainian Television reported on July 1, quoting Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi. The ship was detained in Greece on June 22 and its crew of five Ukrainians and two Azerbaijanis was jailed in the town of Ioannina. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ivanov praises "strategic partnership"

KYIV - "Russia always considered and continues to consider Ukraine its strategic partner. We are building our military relations proceeding from this [premise]," Interfax quoted Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov as saying after his arrival in Kyiv on June 30. Mr. Ivanov met the same day with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. The following day, Mr. Ivanov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yevhen Marchuk, signed an accord on the handling of aviation equipment that is being either scrapped under international agreements or repaired at military enterprises in both countries. "If an aircraft is being scrapped in Ukraine and its units and sets are necessary in Russia, they will be shipped to Russia; and vice versa," Mr. Ivanov said of the accord. The defense ministers also signed an agreement on training Ukrainian air-defense units at Russian military ranges. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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