NEWSBRIEFS (07/20/97)

NEWSBRIEFS

Tax breaks for foreign investors rejected

KYIV - For the second time in just over a month, the Verkhovna Rada on July 16 rejected a presidential proposal to restore tax and tariff breaks for foreign investors. The tax breaks were abolished in the spring at the request of the government; they applied to investors whose ventures were registered before 1995. President Leonid Kuchma has urged the Parliament to restore the benefits for companies involved in production. After rejecting the tax breaks, the Verkhovna Rada asked the government to provide more detailed information showing how tax breaks would help production. Ukraine has attracted only $1.5 billion in direct foreign investment since 1991. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada nixes motion to ban NATO training

KYIV - Lawmakers on July 15 rejected a motion by left-wing factions to ban NATO training on Ukrainian territory later this summer. The motion was proposed by the Communist, Socialist and Agrarian factions. The Sea Breeze exercises, scheduled for late August off Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, will involve some 20 ships and 300 marines from the U.S., Ukraine, Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Romania and Georgia. The left-wing factions claimed that the exercises, as well as an earlier training exercise this month, are unconstitutional. Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko assured deputies that the exercises do not run counter to the Ukrainian Constitution. He said the fact that Kyiv has not applied to join NATO does not mean it should not cooperate with the alliance. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Deputy minister dies at age 42

KYIV - First Vice Minister for Finance Mykhailo Honcharuk was found dead in his apartment on July 15. The Prosecutor General's Office started an investigation and later reported that he died of natural causes. It was later confirmed that Mr. Honcharuk died of heart disease. He was 42. (UT-2, Eastern Economist)

Forty-four percent want to join union

KYIV - A poll conducted by the Kyiv-based Social Monitoring Center in May revealed that some 44 percent of Ukrainians support the idea of their country joining the Russian-Belarusian union, Interfax reported on July 15. The poll was conducted among 2,007 Ukrainian citizens over age 15 and representing all regions of the country. Thirty-two percent of the respondents said they were against Ukraine joining the Russian-Belarusian union, while 24 percent said they were undecided. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland accepts offer of Ukrainian help

KYIV - Poland has accepted Ukraine's offer of assistance for the regions affected by recent flooding. The Ukrainian aid is earmarked for the Opol Region, which suffered the most. Poland needs aid in the fields of energy, communications, and equipment needed for the construction of roads and bridges. The Polish Emergencies Ministry has already prepared measures to help those people who have suffered as a result of the flooding. Deputy Emergencies Minister Volodymyr Volkov left for Opol on July 16 to assist rescue works there. (UNIAN, Eastern Economist)

Hurricane in Odesa devastates farmland

ODESA - A hurricane caused substantial damage to industry and agriculture in the Odesa Oblast. Much of the infrastructure in the ports of Izmail and Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi was destroyed, news media reported on July 12. Over 5,000 hectares of wheat were damaged and 450 farms destroyed. The oblast administration estimated that 5 million hryvni will be needed to repair the damage. (Den, Eastern Economist)

Trilateral treaty to protect Buh River

KYIV - Representatives of Belarus, Poland and Ukraine signed a multilateral agreement on protection of the Buh river at the U.N.'s Geneva headquarters on July 14. Ukraine, Belarus and Poland will conduct joint monitoring and evaluation of water pollution in the river. The river's water resources, already threatened by pollution, are of great importance for the 2.5 million people who live in the river's basin. The three countries will follow the United Nations convention on principles of monitoring water pollution that went into effect last October. (UNIAN, Eastern Economist)

Udovenko on official visit to Armenia

YEREVAN - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko held talks in Yerevan on July 11 with his Armenian counterpart, Alexander Arzoumanian, and with President Levon Ter-Petrosian, Armenian and Russian agencies reported. Mr. Udovenko called for increased bilateral and trilateral economic cooperation, with Russia as the third partner. He also expressed support for proposals by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Miensk group aimed at resolving the Karabakh conflict. It was agreed that Ukraine will participate in the construction of the Armenia-Turkmenistan gas pipeline. Talks between the two foreign affairs ministers also focused on the prospects of including Armenia in the construction of the Trans-Caucasian transport corridor as well as on involving Ukraine in economic projects in which Armenia is involved with Iran and Russia. Decisions on cooperation between Ukraine and Armenia will be finalized at the end of July, during the official visit of President Ter-Petrosian to Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline, UNIAN, Eastern Economist)

Belarus press crackdown continues

MIENSK - Pavel Sheremet, Miensk bureau chief of Russian Public Television (ORT), was stripped of his general accreditation in Belarus on July 7. He had already been stripped of his special events accreditation. Mr. Sheremet is the second Russian correspondent to face sanctions for his coverage of Belarusian politics this year. In March the government expelled a correspondent from the independent station NTV. Mr. Sheremet told journalists that he was summoned to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and notified of the decision, with no official reasons given other than that his coverage was "distorted." Mr. Sheremet, who is Belarusian, accused President Alyaksandr Lukashenka of increasingly stifling press freedom in Belarus. He expressed pessimism about the present situation in Belarus and said he does not think he will be the last journalist to be denied accreditation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |