NEWSBRIEFS (06/02/96)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine tells Belarus to release detainees

MIENSK - Ukrainian First Deputy Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko met with his Belarusian counterpart Valeryi Tsyapkala and later with Foreign Minister Uladzimir Syanko here on May 27 to discuss problems in Ukrainian-Belarusian relations, border demarcation, trade and economic cooperation, Belarusian Television reported the next day. Mr. Hryshchenko demanded that the seven Ukrainians being held in Belarus for their participation in the April 26 demonstrations against Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka be released, Reuters reported on May 28. He warned that their continued detention would have a negative effect on Ukrainian-Belarusian relations. Most of the seven are members of the radical nationalist Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense organization, which supports an end to Moscow's domination of the post-Soviet republics as well as Chechnya's independence movement. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Baltics to ask for joint NATO entry

VILNIUS - Estonian President Lennart Meri, Latvian President Guntis Ulmanis and Lithuanian President Algirdas Brazauskas issued a joint communiqué on May 28, asserting their countries will apply together for NATO and European Union membership, Western agencies reported. They noted that they share the same viewpoint toward all major current international issues, including the upcoming Russian presidential elections. Estonian Social Affairs Minister Toomas Vilosius signed treaties on cooperation in social security guarantees with his Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts. These countries signed a similar agreement in 1993 that went into effect in January 1995. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Odessa wages war on Lenin

ODESSA - Ukraine's largest port city has become embroiled in controversy after its mayor, Eduard Gurvitz, ordered all remaining statues of Vladimir Lenin pulled down, save for one monument already designated as a historical landmark, a report on May 25 said. Streets honoring revolutionary heroes have been abruptly renamed and freshly painted signs and plaques put into place. "It is a sacred task to get rid of Lenin. It is simply incomprehensible that he was allowed to remain standing," Mr. Gurvits told media during festivities marking the 51st anniversary of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany. "Anyway, just who was this Vladimir Ulyanov, otherwise known as Lenin? He produced only suffering and victims. For Ukraine he did absolutely nothing at all," continued the mayor. The demontage campaign is part of a power struggle between Mr. Gurvits, a member of Odessa's 45,000-strong Jewish community, and Ruslan Bodelan, Communist leader chairman of the Odessa Oblast Council. The two men take turns, on television and in newspapers, throwing verbal punches over who runs local affairs better. The fight is also over property, with Mr. Gurvits trying, for several years now, to build a huge port terminal to process Middle Eastern oil, and Mr. Bodelan claiming such a move would destroy the city's environment. "Gurvits has concentrated all power in his own hands," Mr. Bodelan told local newspapers recently. "Everywhere there is a hunt for ideological enemies. Nothing is getting done. Basic problems remain unsolved. Houses go unrepaired, cultural monuments are being pulled down." (Reuters)

Oil refineries drastically underutilized

KYIV - Ukraine's six largest oil refineries stand idle for weeks at a time, and industry officials lay the blame squarely on the government. "Our biggest problems are reconstructing and improving the quality of our product," Stepan Yaloveha, a spokesman for the State Oil and Gas committee, said on May 24. The refineries routinely processed up to 60 million tons of crude oil a year in the Soviet era. But last year they refined only 16.8 million tons, reflecting sharp declines in Russian crude oil supplies - 13.3 million tons in 1995 compared with 15.5 million in 1994. "Russia isn't selling crude oil to us," said Mr. Yaloveha. "Ukraine has debts. No one gives anything away for free." He said the government is to blame for the problems, especially a confiscative taxation policy, which has left at least three of the refineries idle for long stretches since the beginning of the year. Kherson, in the south, was the worst hit, with 50 days of inactivity. So far this year, Ukraine has refined 4.02 million tons of Ukrainian and imported oil, more than half at Kremenchuk, the country's largest refinery. (Reuters)

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