NEWSBRIEFS (02/16/97)

NEWSBRIEFS

More on NATO expansion, Russian veto

MOSCOW - President Boris Yeltsin's foreign affairs adviser, Dmitrii Riurikov, said on February 11 that it is "unfair and wrong" for NATO to deny Russia a veto on European security issues, international agencies reported. He said NATO's drive to expand eastward is excluding Russia from joint decision-making on European security issues. The same day, presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii said Moscow would be particularly alarmed if the Baltic states joined NATO. The remarks coincided with a tour of post-Soviet republics by NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana. Meanwhile, a group of democratic parties castigated the "current anti-NATO hysteria" in Russia, saying it is often used for propaganda purposes "to return to the times of the Cold War." They argued that Russia and NATO must find a "reasonable compromise" on expansion. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Operation "Clean Hands" is announced

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has announced a new program, Operation "Clean Hands," aimed at ridding the upper echelons of government of corruption. The Ministry of Justice has been charged with preparing a plan to oust corrupt officials from government bodies, and a national bureau of investigations will soon be created to look into abuses by government officials. (Respublika)

Russia supports French NATO proposal

MOSCOW - Presidential spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembskii said on February 6 that Moscow supports the reported proposal by French President Jacques Chirac to hold a five-way summit on European security and NATO expansion this April, Russian and Western agencies reported. Citing anonymous Western diplomatic sources, Agence France Presse reported the day before that Mr. Chirac, supported by German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, had proposed that an April summit of Russia, France, Germany, Britain and the U.S. hammer out a deal on Russian ties with NATO before the alliance issues invitations to prospective East European members at its scheduled July summit. The French proposal has received a cool response from American diplomats. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Loans keep Ukraine's economy afloat

KYIV - Vice Minister for Finance Serhii Matsakaria told the Verkhovna Rada on February 11 that, as of the beginning of 1997, Ukraine had received $3.5 billion in foreign loans. About $2.2 billion came from the IMF - which is Ukraine's largest donor, followed by the EBRD and the World Bank. Mr. Matsakaria said the loans had helped last year to stabilize Ukraine's new national currency, the hryvnia, and to reduce inflation. Ukraine's foreign debt totals some $9 billion, of which $4 billion is owed to Russia and Turkmenistan. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Ukraine may unilaterally delimit border

KYIV - A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official has warned that Ukraine might take unilateral steps in delimiting the Ukrainian-Russian border, ITAR-TASS reported on February 11. He claimed that Russia is dragging its feet over bilateral talks on border delimitation because of the uncertain fate of the Black Sea Fleet and the status of Sevastopol. He also noted that Ukraine has solved the problem of demarcating borders with its other close neighbors, Belarus and Moldova. (OMRI Daily Digest)

Committee to prepare for the year 2000

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma chaired the first meeting of the organizing committee charged with making preparations for observances in Ukraine of the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Christ. He stressed that all activities should be aimed first of all at promoting unity and the rebirth of spirituality of the Ukrainian nation. The work of the committee is to be directed by Vice Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ivan Kuras. During this initial meeting, many proposals for marking the conclusion of the second millennium were given by representatives of various Churches and government officials. (Respublika)

Chornobyl workers' protests spread

MOSCOW - Former miners and soldiers who took part in the clean-up operation after the 1986 Chornobyl disaster are continuing a hunger strike in the Tula Oblast of Russia, although the government has released funds to pay delayed pensions and disability benefits, ITAR-TASS reported on February 5. The former "liquidators," who declared a "dry" hunger strike on February 1 after more than two weeks of protests, decided to accept liquids and medicine when the government ordered the payment of 40 billion rubles ($7.1 million U.S.) to clean-up workers, but they say they will continue to refuse food until all the money, including an adjustment for inflation, is paid. Meanwhile, on February 4, dozens of liquidators in the Sverdlovsk Oblast also went on hunger strike to demand the payment of about 28 billion rubles in overdue benefits. (OMRI Daily Digest)

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