NEWSBRIEFS (05/18/97)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine signs death penalty protocol

STRASBOURG, France - Ukraine has signed the Council of Europe's protocol abolishing the death penalty, local and international media reported on May 5. It also signed the organization's convention for the prevention of torture and inhumane treatment. Ukraine's accession to these two documents means that a committee of independent experts will now be able to visit Ukrainian prisons, police stations and detention centers. Four months ago, the Ukrainian government proposed a draft law on abolishing the death penalty, but the Verkhovna Rada has yet to debate and adopt the legislation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Friendship treaties criticized in Rada

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada voted on May 13 to direct the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain the text of the recently signed Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between Romania and Ukraine. At the morning plenary session, National Deputy Oleh Vitovych, head of the Ukrainian National Assembly, posed a deputy's question to Minister of Foreign Affairs Hennadii Udovenko, asking why the issue of the status of Sevastopol has been removed from the framework of the long-delayed Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, as well as asking to explain Ukraine's agreement to withdraw its military forces from Zmiynyi (Serpent's) Island and refrain from exploiting the continental shelf in the surrounding waters for two years, pending a final determination of the island's status by the International Court of Justice at The Hague. "Who gave the Ministry of Foreign Affairs the right to trade away our territory? Perhaps this will enable Mr. Udovenko to become secretary-general of the U.N. in the near future," said Mr. Vitovych, whose resolution was supported by 232 national deputies. (Respublika)

Primakov, Solana agree on charter...

MOSCOW - Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov and NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana have agreed on the wording of a charter between the Russian Federation and the alliance, Reuters reported on May 14. The agreed text will be submitted to NATO governments and to Russian President Boris Yeltsin. No details on the charter were made available. Before the latest round of talks, the main disagreement was over Moscow's insistence that NATO guarantee not to station nuclear weapons or "significant" numbers of conventional forces in any new member-state. Messrs. Solana and Primakov met for six hours on May 13 and again the following morning before making the deal. Mr. Yeltsin did not attend the talks, but spoke with both diplomats by telephone. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... as others warn against hasty accord

MOSCOW - The Advisory Council for Foreign and Defense Policy issued a statement on May 13 warning against a rush to sign an agreement with NATO, Russian agencies reported. Duma Deputy Aleksei Arbatov of the Yabloko faction and foreign policy theorist Sergei Karaganov are both members of the council. The statement said that a poorly prepared accord could undermine Russia's interests, delay Duma ratification of the START II arms control treaty and create a zone of "instability" from Estonia to Azerbaijan. Former head of the Russian Security Council Aleksandr Lebed also argued against reaching an agreement at the present time, because "NATO is strong and we are weak," Interfax reported. At the same time, Mr. Lebed discounted suggestions that an expanded NATO might pose a threat to Russia. "The rich and satisfied will never attack the poor and hungry," he said. "Most often things happen the other way around." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Privatization slate approved by Kuchma

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has approved plans to sell off thousands of companies this year in a much-delayed privatization program, the presidential press service said on May 7. Mr. Kuchma signed a decree to privatize 1,440 medium and large companies and about 3,400 small enterprises in 1997, it said. The main sales will be in agriculture and food processing, where 780 medium and large companies will be sold, says the program obtained by Reuters. Other companies to go under the hammer will be in the transport, machine-building, military, oil and gas sectors. Ukraine has nearly finished selling off small businesses and is proceeding with medium and large-scale privatization, excluding enterprises deemed strategic to national security. But to date it can name only Ukrainskyi Richkovyi Flot (Ukrrichflot), the country's largest shipping company, as a large-scale privatization success story. The State Property Fund says around 9,000 medium and large businesses are currently undergoing privatization. Since January 1995 more than 70 percent of the shares of 5,000 medium and large companies have been sold. Foreign buyers are to pay for purchases of shares in Ukrainian companies with compensation certificates or in hryvni from accounts in Ukrainian banks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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