NEWBRIEFS (01/14/96)

NEWBRIEFS

Ukrainian-Russian oil talks continue

MOSCOW - Russian oil supplies to the Czech Republic and Slovakia are still suspended pending negotiations between Russia and Ukraine over transit fees through Ukraine, Interfax reported on January 9. Oil supplies were halted at the beginning of the year after Ukraine announced it was increasing the price for pumping one ton of oil through 100 kilometers of its territory by 10 percent to $5.20. Ukraine's State Committee for Oil and Gas said that 39 Russian enterprises and joint ventures have concluded agreements with Ukraine to pump 7 million tons of oil through the Druzhba pipeline at the new rate. But under an agreement on fuel and energy signed in October 1994, transit tariffs can be changed only by agreement reached at government level. Ukraine's State Committee for Oil and Gas has sent a letter to its Russian counterpart expressing its willingness to negotiate the issue. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Ukraine signs agreement with Serbia

BELGRADE - Agreements on cultural and economic cooperation were signed between Serbia and Ukraine following a four-day visit by a Ukrainian delegation to Serbia, Serbian television reported on December 26, 1995. The agreement on economic cooperation calls for joint investments and developing trade relations between the countries. The cultural agreement was directed at cooperation between the universities in Banja Luka - which is on Bosnian Serb territory - and Chernivtsi. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry officials have recently made statements on their readiness to establish ties with Serbia. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Monetary reform possible this year

KYIV - Presidential adviser Volodymyr Kuznetsov has said monetary reform may take place in Ukraine this year, Radio Mayak reported on January 4 Mr. Kuznetsov went on to say that the new national currency, the hryvnia, will not be introduced until inflation falls between 40 to 50 percent annually. He also said that Ukrainian citizens will receive one hryvnia for 10,000 or 100,000 karbovantsi. The largest denomination will be a 200 hryvnia bill. Due to inflation, Ukraine has been printing karbovantsi bills as large as 1 million. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Primakov appointed foreign minister

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin appointed the current director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Yevgenii Primakov, as foreign minister on January 9, Russian and Western agencies reported. Mr. Primakov, 66, is a Middle Eastern expert. He has served as director of the Soviet and then Russian foreign intelligence services since September 1991, when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev appointed him to the position. Before 1991, Mr. Primakov served as a foreign policy adviser to then President Gorbachev, often serving as an advance man in the preparation of summit meetings with Western leaders. He is notorious for his role in Mr. Gorbachev's February 1991 efforts to mediate the Persian Gulf crisis, in which Mr. Primakov tried to make use of his long-standing acquaintance with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. From 1985-89, Mr. Primakov was director of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations and one of the architects of Mr. Gorbachev's "new thinking." Western reaction to Mr. Primakov's appointment has been muted but Vladimir Lukin, chairman of the Russian Duma's International Affairs Committee, welcomed it, saying "he understands what Russia's real priorities are," while independent foreign policy analyst Andrei Kortunov described Mr. Primakov as "pragmatic" but "...not a liberal in the Kozyrev sense. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Nezavisimaya Gazeta's top 100 politicians

MOSCOW - According to a survey of 50 experts published monthly in Nezavisimaya gazeta, President Boris Yeltsin and Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin remained the two most influential Russian politicians in December 1995. Communist Party leader Gennadi Zyuganov was ranked the third most important politician, up from fifth place in November (in a similar experts' poll in February 1995, Mr. Zyuganov was in 27th place). Grigori Yavlinsky was ranked fourth, up from ninth place in November. Vladimir Zhirinovsky posted the sharpest rise, from 20th in November to sixth in December following his surprise second-place showing in the Duma election. Leaders of the Congress of Russian Communities, which failed to gain 5 percent of the vote in the election, lost influence in the experts' view; Aleksandr Lebed dropped from 10th place in November to 17th in December, and Yuri Skokov fell from 13th place to 36th. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Ukraine to submit draft border agreement

KYIV - Ukraine plans to submit a draft agreement on its borders at the January 12 meeting of CIS foreign ministers. Deputy Foreign Minister Kostiantyn Hryshchenko said Ukraine hands it "inadmissible" to divide its borders into "internal" and "external" ones. He rejected arguments that this stance would impede integration within the CIS. Russia and the Council of Commanders of CIS Border Guards reportedly oppose Ukraine's position, but Mr. Hryshchenko said a number of other CIS states support it. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Post-privatization centers to be established

KYIV - Two centers supporting newly privatized companies are to be established in Kharkiv and Lviv under the auspices of the European Union, it was reported on January 8. The centers will work with local medium- and large sized privatized firms to help ensure their revitalization and viability. (Respublika)

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