NEWSBRIEFS (02/20/94)

NEWSBRIEFS

Meshkov and Kravchuk meet in Kyyiv

KYYIV - Newly elected Crimean President Yuriy Meshkov met with Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk here on February 4 to discuss future relations between Ukraine and the autonomous republic. During the visit, a document stipulating that the Crimean presidency will be based on the Crimean and Ukrainian constitutions was signed.

A group of Ukrainian and Crimean government representatives was created to study concrete economic development in the Crimea and a mechanism for relations between the Ukrainian and Crimean presidents. Mr. Meshkov emphasized that the Crimea will pursue economic ties with its traditional partners in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Mr. Meshkov, who was inaugurated president of the Crimea prior to his February 4 visit to Kyyiv, said during his inauguration that he would travel to Kyyiv to discuss strengthening the Crimea's economic independence with the Ukrainian president. Mr. Meshkov is scheduled to meet with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and leaders of CIS countries in the future. (Svoboda)

Crimean president appoints Russian P.M.

MOSCOW - Crimean President Yuriy Meshkov appointed a Russian as prime minister of the Crimea on February 13 and said he will press ahead with plans to hold a referendum on Crimean independence from Ukraine. The new prime minister, Yevgeny Saburov, is an economist who served as economics minister in the Russian republic's Cabinet shortly before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

President Meshkov told the CIS television station, also on February 13, that the referendum put to Crimean voters would ask the question, "Are you in favor of an independent Republic of Crimea in union with other states?"

Mr. Meshkov, who campaigned for Crimean president on a pledge to join the autonomous republic to Russia, said, "It is our natural, understandable and economically justified desire to be united with the economic zone of Russia, the CIS countries and Ukraine too, but on a fundamentally new basis." (The New York Times)

Russia objects to "unfriendly" remarks

MOSCOW - Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on February 14 that it had summoned Ukraine's ambassador to object to the "unfriendly" remarks made by Ukraine's Foreign Ministry on February 1 regarding Russia's 14th Army in Moldova.

The "unfriendly" remarks made by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry referred to the decision made at the CSCE foreign ministers' meeting in December 1993 that called unambiguously for the early, complete, orderly and unconditional withdrawal of Russian troops from Moldova in the context of objecting to Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev's recent speech on Russia's claimed right to station troops in the "near abroad." The Russian Foreign Ministry said Kyyiv had "misinterpreted parts of the decision on Moldova made by the CSCE foreign ministers' meeting regarding Russia's 14th Army." (RFE/RL Daily Report).

UOC-KP ranks swell

KYYIV - During a recent synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyyiv Patriarchate, The Orthodox Church of Europe and Canada was accepted into the fold of the UOC-KP as an autonomous Church. The Orthodox Church of Europe and Canada, headed by Metropolitan Yevlogy Mylansky, has four archeparchies, thousands of faithful and churches in Portugal, Italy, Spain and France. (Respublika)

Ukraine's citizens to get new passports

KYYIV - Ukraine's citizens will no longer need to carry separate passports for internal use and for travel abroad. According to Evhen Svynarchuk, deputy consul at Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the first six months of 1994, Ukrainian citizens will be issued one passport. The new, singular passport will be phased in gradually, with the older passports valid until they expire. (Respublika)

Privatization of homes moving slowly

KYYIV - As of the beginning of 1994, 902,000 apartments and houses have been privatized in Ukraine, 13 percent of housing available for privatization. According to Anatoliy Dronia, head of the state committee on housing, privatization has been most successful in the Kirovohrad, Kherson and Khmelnytsky oblasts and in the Crimea, where almost 25 percent of housing has been privatized. Mr. Dronia said taxes on privatized homes and other matters impede the privatization process in Ukraine. (Respublika)

Liberals move away from Zhirinovsky

KYYIV - The Liberal Democratic Party of Ukraine has appealed to all Liberal and Liberal Democratic parties in the world to distance themselves from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, headed by ultra-nationalist-chauvinist Vladimir Zhirinovsky. The appeal calls for actively campaigning against the "party of provocateurs, which has nothing in common with liberalism or democracy." (Respublika)

Year of Olzhych fetes planned

KYYIV - 1994 has been proclaimed the Year of Olzhych in Ukraine and beyond its borders. Oleh Olzhych (1907-1944), son of poet Oleksander Oles, was an archeologist, poet and nationalist leader. The head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, cultural and educational branch, Olzhych, as second in command to Andriy Melnyk, represented the OUN-leadership in Carpatho-Ukraine in 1938-1939. After the split in the OUN in 1940, he sided with the Melnykites and took part in forming the Ukrainian National Council in Kyyiv in 1941. Until his arrest and execution by the Gestapo at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1944, he directed Melnykite underground activities in Ukraine.

The Year of Olzhych commemorations are being organized by Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Zhulynsky. On February 4, Mr. Zhulynsky met with representatives of the Olzhych Foundation in Ukraine, including Mykola Plawiuk, head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, Pavlo Dorozhynsky and Halyna Shymansky to plan commemorations. Highlighting the June 10-12 commemorations will be an evening honoring Olzhych at the National Opera House and a scholarly conference organized by Minster of Culture Ivan Dzyuba. President Leonid Kravchuk has agreed to be the honorary patron of Olzhych Year. (The Leadership of Ukrainian Nationalists)

Air Ukraine opens D.C. office

WASHINGTON - A new Air Ukraine office opened recently in Washington. The office handles inquiries and reservations for existing flights between the United States and Ukraine. It is also doing preparatory work for service between Kyyiv's Boryspil and Washington's Dulles International Airport, which is expected to start this spring. The office is located at 1620 I St. NW, Suite 810, Washington, DC 20006. Phone: (202) 833-4648. Fax: (202) 833-4676. (Air Ukraine)

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