NEWSBRIEFS (04/18/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Debate on pullout from Iraq is rejected

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on April 9 rejected a motion to include the issue of the pullout of Ukrainian troops from Iraq on its current agenda, the UNIAN news service reported. The motion, proposed by Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, was supported by the Communist Party, the Socialist Party, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and 45 deputies from Our Ukraine, but it garnered just 163 votes, well below the 226 votes required for approval. Ukrainian troops recently withdrew from the city of Kut in Iraq's Wasit Province following an attack by Shi'a insurgents. Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko on April 8 blamed the evacuation of Ukrainian troops from Kut on the lack of fire and air support from U.S. troops. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ministers of Ukraine, Azerbaijan meet

KYIV - During a meeting with visiting Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiev on April 8, Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk offered to "synchronize efforts" in the countries' participation in peacekeeping operations, reported ITAR-TASS and bakutoday.net. Mr. Marchuk said the first opportunity for such bilateral coordination rests with the current deployment of troops from both countries engaged in peacekeeping operations in Iraq. Commenting on other issues raised during the meeting, Mr. Abiev said the two sides have "exchanged views on issues of cooperation with NATO under the Partnership for Peace program, discussed matters related to training of the Azerbaijani military in Ukrainian military academies" and reviewed measures to expand "military-technical cooperation," ITAR-TASS reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma signs local-election bill

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma signed a bill on local elections into law on April 8, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The bill, which was adopted on April 6 and will come into force on October 1, 2005, mandates a majority system for rural councils and a proportional party-list system for all other councils in Ukrainian local elections. According to some reports, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party demanded the adoption of such a bill as one of their conditions for supporting the constitutional-reform bill promoted by pro-presidential forces. Mr. Kuchma met with the leaders of parliamentary caucuses on April 7, urging them to vote for the reforms. "I am absolutely convinced that we are not making any mistake ... since we need a system of counterbalances between the legislative and executive branches," Interfax quoted the president as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pensioners demand higher payments

KYIV - Some 1,000 mostly elderly people gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada building on April 13 for a rally organized by the Communist Party to demand higher pensions, UNIAN reported. The demonstrators also want the government to pull out the Ukrainian military contingent from Iraq and protested Ukraine's announced intention to join NATO. Meanwhile, the legislature was hearing a report by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet on the situation of pensioners in Ukraine. Pension Fund head Borys Zaichuk told lawmakers that the average pension in Ukraine is currently 185 hrv ($35), up from 135 hrv in 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Journalist cites courtroom beating

KYIV - Journalist Volodymyr Boiko has claimed that he was beaten by two police officers in a courtroom in Donetsk during the hearing of a case against Mykhailo Haladzhi, head of the Kyiv-based Svoboda newspaper's local office, Interfax reported. According to Mr. Boiko, the judge ordered him to leave the courtroom but he refused to do so, arguing that the trial was open and he was performing his journalistic duties by covering the trial for Svoboda. The policemen allegedly manhandled the journalist, inflicting numerous injuries on him. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Five kidnapped, released in Iraq

KYIV - Unidentified Iraqi militants on April 12 kidnapped eight employees of the Russian company Interenergoservis in Baghdad, including five Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian news agencies reported the next day, quoting the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry. The eight were released on April 13, international media reported. Lt. Gen. Valerii Frolov, Ukraine's Land Forces deputy commander, told journalists that the captured Ukrainians had no relation whatsoever to the 1,600-strong Ukrainian military contingent in Iraq. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian foreign minister visits Kyiv

KYIV - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Kyiv on April 13 and met with President Leonid Kuchma and Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, Interfax reported. Messrs. Lavrov and Gryshchenko reportedly discussed the situation in Iraq and relations with NATO. Mr. Gryshchenko told journalists that the recently endorsed memorandum giving NATO the right of quick access to Ukrainian territory pertains to technical issues related to international military maneuvers. "We hope that Russia will take part in such maneuvers as it has done before," he added. "We considered the issue absolutely calmly and there are no big problems about it," Mr. Lavrov said about the memorandum, adding that "such episodes can hardly affect relations between Ukraine and Russia." (RFE/RL Newsline)

New fuel and energy minister is appointed

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on April 13 appointed Serhii Tulub, who has headed the state-run atomic energy company Enerhoatom since June 2002, as the new minister for fuel and energy, Ukrainian news agencies reported. Mr. Tulub, who served as minister for fuel and energy in 1999-2000, will replace Serhii Yermilov, whom Mr. Kuchma sacked in early March. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Socialists to run their own presidential candidate

KYIV - Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz has announced that his party intends to participate in the 2004 presidential election "on its own," Interfax reported on April 13, quoting the party's press service. Mr. Moroz also declared that the Socialist Party will strive to implement political reform before the election. He said Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc did not support a constitutional-reform bill last week because they oppose any changes in the country's political system and want "to lay their hands on the existing authoritarian system of power." (RFE/RL Newsline)

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