NEWSBRIEFS ON UKRAINE

• KYYIV - Christmas, celebrated on January 7 according to the Julian calendar, was a public holiday for the second year. There were public celebrations on Independence Square in Kyyiv and the news media helped create a holiday spirit via special programs. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - Two opinion polls published in Kyyiv on January 6 show that many Ukrainians view the collapse of the Soviet Union as a tragedy because of the economic hardship that has ensued. However, very few would like to see the USSR restored, reported Reuters. One survey, completed by the Kyyiv International Sociological Center, reported that 52 percent considered the USSR's demise a "great tragedy," pointing to sharp price increases as the principal reason. The Russian-language daily newspaper Pravda Ukrainy carried out its own poll which revealed that only 5.9 percent of respondents would like to see the USSR restored, while 22.3 percent want Ukraine to withdraw from the Commonwealth of Independent States. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - Vyacheslav Chornovil, president of Rukh, the Popular Movement of Ukraine, called Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma's decree on privatization of small parcels of land the first concrete step toward privatization of land. He called on the government to proceed decisively on the path toward agrarian reform and privatization of land belonging to collective farms. (Respublika)
  
  
• CAIRO - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk met on December 21, 1992, to discuss Central Asian issues, the situation in Bosnia-Hercegovina and the Mideast peace process. As well, the two leaders focused on bilateral ties and economic cooperation between Egypt and Ukraine. President Mubarak hosted a dinner in honor of President and Mrs. Kravchuk. During his speech at the banquet, the Egyptian leader noted the close ties that had linked Ukraine and Egypt in the past. During his three-day visit to Cairo, President Kravchuk laid wreaths at the Unknown Soldier Cenotaph and the mausoleum of the late President Anwar Sadat. (The Egyptian Gazette)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Renaissance Fund reported on its activity during 1992, noting that it had approved 100 projects and awarded $1.6 million toward their realization. Among those projects is establishment in Kyyiv of a Ukrainian American College of Business and a Political Science Center in Donetske. Dr. Bohdan Hawrylyshyn, who heads the fund established by millionaire financier George Soros, underlined that the Renaissance Fund aims to help Ukraine create an open society. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - The Sociology Institute at the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences recently conducted a poll in the Kyyiv, Chernihiv, Lviv and Dnipropetrovske oblasts, asking respondents to choose among 15 political parties. Nearly 75 percent of those polled could not point to a party they preferred; 31 percent noted they will not participate in elections. Of the 24 percent who expressed a preference, 7 percent chose Rukh. The Green Party of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Ukraine were each named by 5 percent; the Party for the Democratic Rebirth of Ukraine was chosen by 4 percent; 3 percent chose the Socialist Party; and the New Ukraine coalition and the People's Party of Ukraine were each chosen by 1 percent. Other parties were named by less than 1 percent of those polled. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - Polish Prime Minister Hanna Suchocka met with Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma and signed several bilateral agreements during a working visit to the Ukrainian capital. Among them were agreements on mutual encouragement and protection of investments, legal procedures at the Polish-Ukrainian border, prevention of dual taxation and evasion, and cooperation in the fields of science and technology. Other officials signed pacts covering trade, economic relations and cooperation in education. Poland and Ukraine agreed to reconcile differences in historical perceptions in the preparation of history textbooks. Speaking at a press conference, Prime Minister Leonid Kuchma underlined the importance of good relations with Poland, a "strategic partner." (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• KYYIV - Flights between Kyyiv and Moscow will resume this week with big fare increases, six weeks after they were grounded due to fuel shortages and a dispute over refueling costs, Ukrainian television said on January 3. The fare to Moscow, previously about $3.50, will rise to at least $9.70, more than twice the minimum monthly wage in the former Soviet republic. Already the price of tickets is well beyond the average family budget, and booking offices remain almost empty. Severe shortages of aviation fuel halted virtually all flights within Ukraine in late November, although foreign routes stayed open. Some services within Ukraine have since been restored. (The Washington Times)
  
  
• DONETSKE - The oblast organization of the Prosvita Ukrainian Language Society unanimously voted to announce a design competition for a monument to the late Vasyl Stus, poet and human rights activist who died in a Perm labor camp. Mr. Stus was a native of the Donetske region. The competition will select a design for the memorial and will award a monetary prize to the winning artist. Monies will come from a specially established fund that will seek contributions. Among the first donors was the workers' union at the Zasiadka mine, which contributed 200,000 karbovantsi. (Respublika)
  
  
• BARAKHTY, Ukraine - Here in this village in the Kyyiv region, residents memorialized one of their native sons, the well-known Ukrainian rights activist and poet Yuriy Lytvyn, who died September 4, 1984, in a special-regimen camp in Perm. The home of Mr. Lytvyn's mother, funded by the Truskavets chapter of the Memorial Society, was blessed. Former Soviet political prisoners offered recollections about their deceased colleague. Three years ago, the body of Mr. Lytvyn was reinterred in Kyyiv at the Baykiv Cemetery. (Respublika)
  
  
• SYMFEROPIL - The late Petro Grigorenko, former Soviet Army general-turned human rights activist, was honored here by the Crimean Tatar Mejlis (Council), the National Assembly of the Crimean Tatar Nation and the Prosvita Ukrainian Language Society.
  
  
• Mustafa Dzhemilev, leader of the Crimean Tatar National Movement, noted: "Petro Grigorenko was more than a friend to the Crimean Tatar nation. When in 1974 I was arrested for participating in the Crimean Tatar movement, only Petro Grigorenko and Andrei Sakharov spoke out in my defense and appealed to world public opinion to save my life."
  
  Gen. Grigorenko was a founding member of both the Moscow and Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Groups. He died in 1987. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - President Leonid Kravchuk reported the initiative of the Prosvita Ukrainian Language Society, which proposed that January 22 be marked with appropriate ceremonies devoted to the 75th anniversary of the Fourth Universal issued by the Ukrainian Central Rada (Council). The Fourth Universal proclaimed the independence of Ukraine on January 22, 1918. President Kravchuk named Mykola Zhulynsky, a deputy prime minister, to chair the organizing committee for the commemorations. (Respublika)
  
  
• KYYIV - Radio Ukraine reported on January 10 that former Communist forces in Ukraine are continuing to regroup and are becoming more assertive. The Komsomol, or Communist Youth League, was revived at a congress held in Donetske and Vasyl Savin, head of the Donetske regional Komsomol, was elected to head the league. Some 52 percent of the league's members are Ukrainians and 45 percent are Russians. In other developments, the recently formed Union of Communists of Ukraine published its platform in Ukraine's largest circulation daily, Silski Visti. Radio Ukraine reported on January 11 that Stanislav Hurenko, former first secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine (banned after the coup attempt in August 1991), has announced he will give up his seat in Parliament. (RFE/RL Daily Report)
  
  
• TERNOPIL - On November 11, a new political party was established here. The Christian Social Union's founding congress was attended primarily by members of the Ukrainian Christian Democratic Party's regional representatives from Ivano-Frankivske, Lviv, and Odessa. They had decided to split off from the original party and to create their own organization. Its stated aims are to introduce the principles of Christian morality, patriotism and social fairness into politics. Another goal is to foster ecumenism and cooperation among civic organizations in Ukraine. (Respublika)
  
  
• CAMBRIDGE, England - The International Biographical Center has recognized Yevhen Otin, a professor at Donetske University, as "Man of the Year 1992." Dr. Otin is a noted specialist in onomastics, the science of names, and an author of over 200 scientific works including several monographs on toponyms of eastern Ukraine. (IntelNews)
  
  
• ZHYTOMYR - A Chornobyl Society delegation from the Japanese region of Tiu Su made its fifth charity visit to Zhytomyr on November 20. The delegation, invited by the local journalism community, attended several medical institutions including the Korosten Inter-Regional Diagnostic Center and the local state administration's Department of Health Protection, where they advised on the use of humanitarian aid. The society plans to assist Chornobyl disaster victims. (IntelNews)
  
  
• KYYIV - A Czecho-Slovak parliamentary delegation, which recently arrived here, held a press conference at the Czecho-Slovak Embassy on November 21. Parliamentary Chairman Mikhal Kovach announced that Ukraine is prepared to recognize both Czechia and Slovakia as independent republics. He added that Ukraine will also support their admission into the United Nations and other international organizations. Mr. Kovach stressed that Czecho-Slovakia does not hold any territorial claims to Ukraine. (IntelNews)
  
  
• SUMY - The provincial German association "Renaissance" was established on November 22 in Sumy, uniting over 200 Germans who live in the region. The association, led by Ernest Vasyliev, aims to assist in the resettlement of Germans deported to Tadzhikistan, Kazakhstan and Russia during World War II. The local state administration has allocated plots of land for the Germans in the Lebedyn and Bilopillia regions. (IntelNews)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, January 17, 1993, No. 3, Vol. LXI

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