NEWSBRIEFS (01/18/98)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma appeals for Church unity

KYIV - In his Christmas message read on Ukrainian state television on January 6, President Leonid Kuchma urged the country's Orthodox Churches to try to cooperate with one another. Mr. Kuchma suggested that "unity in Orthodoxy is a reliable guarantee of the spiritual unity of the nation." Ukraine currently has three Orthodox jurisdictions: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, which itself is divided into two subgroups, and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate. The three frequently find themselves in conflict over property, doctrine and ecclesiastical subordination. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Minister, mothers visit Bosnia contingent

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's minister of defense, Oleksander Kuzmuk, and representatives of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers visited Ukrainian peacekeepers serving with the United Nations SFOR's 240th battalion in Bosnia on January 7, Christmas according to the Julian calendar. The defense minister delivered President Leonid Kuchma's Christmas and New Year message to the Ukrainian soldiers. The visit by representatives of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers is unprecedented in the history of peacekeeping operations. Also during the visit, the soldiers were entertained by the Ukrainian Armed Forces dance ensemble and Kyiv-based artists. (Embassy of Ukraine)

January summit of CIS canceled

MOSCOW - The Commonwealth of Independent States summit scheduled for January 23 has been canceled, Interfax reported on January 6, citing a source within the CIS Executive Secretariat. The next summit, planned to take place on March 16, will go ahead as scheduled, according to the same source. Interfax reported that President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine had proposed postponing the January summit in a letter to his Russian counterpart, Boris Yeltsin. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's economic performance lags

KYIV - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko said on January 9 that Ukraine's gross domestic product had fallen by approximately 4 percent in 1997, an improvement from the 10 percent decline in 1996 but one that still leaves Ukraine near the bottom of post-Communist countries in terms of economic growth, Interfax reported. According to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Ukraine's economic performance in 1997 put that country in 23rd place among the 25 former Communist countries monitored by the EBRD. Only Turkmenistan and Albania performed worse. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. to back NATO membership for Balts

NEW YORK - The New York Times on January 12 reported that Washington will formally pledge to support NATO membership for the Baltic states but has told those countries they cannot expect to be admitted to the alliance any time soon. The Baltic-U.S. charter, scheduled to be signed on Janaury 15, declares a political commitment to maintaining the Baltic states' sovereignty and national borders without pledging U.S. military power in defense of those principles. The newspaper quotes an unidentified senior U.S. official as saying the charter seeks to give the three countries a sense that they can become part of the European Union and NATO. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow patriarch emphasizes unity

MOSCOW - In his Christmas message, Patriarch Aleksei of Moscow and All Russia said unity within the Orthodox Church is "the most important concern" and called for increasing the Church's social, educational and missionary activities, ITAR-TASS reported. The Russian Orthodox Church has come into conflict with other Orthodox Churches in Russia, Ukraine and Estonia. Patriarch Aleksei strongly supported a religion law adopted in September 1997, which enacted restrictions on religious groups that cannot prove they have existed in Russia for at least 15 years. Critics of that law say it discriminates against denominations and faiths banned or repressed during the Soviet period. In a Christmas message to the patriarch, Russian President Boris Yeltsin praised the historical role of the Russian Orthodox Church and expressed hope that the Church will help promote morality, civic peace and accord in Russian society. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish prisoners of gulag seek redress

WARSAW - An organization representing some 90,000 Polish veterans of the Soviet gulag has called on the Polish government to demand compensation from Russia for the slave labor they performed while imprisoned, RFE/RL reported on January 12. Ryszard Reiff, the head of the Polish Association of Siberians, said the group seeks "remembrance of those who died and reconciliation of those who survived." Mr. Reiff claimed that some 1.6 million Poles were deported to labor camps during World War II and that approximately half of them perished. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Posthumous recognition for Stus

KYIV - The late poet and Soviet political prisoner Vasyl Stus was posthumously awarded the Order of Yaroslav the Wise (fifth degree) "for achievements recognized by the Ukrainian state in the development of national culture and for civic courage in defending the ideals of humanism and the independence of Ukraine." The medal was awarded in accordance with a presidential decree. Stus, a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group died at the age of 47, under mysterious circumstances on September 4, 1985, at the notorious Perm Camp No. 36, where he was serving a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment and five years' exile for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda." (Respublika)

New passports go into service

KYIV - As of January 1, Soviet passports are no longer valid in Ukraine for travel abroad. Nearly 1 million citizens of Ukraine have traded in their old USSR passports for new ones issued by Ukraine. A measure providing for the issuance of new passports had been passed last August by the Cabinet of Ministers. (Respublika)

Kyiv halts Russian flight to Transdniester

KYIV - Ukrainian authorities on January 8 prohibited a military transport plane from flying over Ukrainian territory between the Russian Federation and Tiraspol, Moldova, because Moscow has not paid for the use of the air corridor, the Russian command in Moldova's Transdniester region told ITAR-TASS. Russian military flights have been using this route on a daily basis for some time, but Russian authorities have indicated they would use regular commercial flights in the future. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Inflation rate down in Ukraine

KYIV - Inflation in Ukraine fell to 10.1 percent in 1997 - the lowest level since that country became independent, the State Statistical Committee told ITAR-TASS on January 8. That represents a steep decline from an inflation rate in 1993 of more than 10,000 percent. The government predicts that the economy will begin to grow by 0.5 percent this year, marking the first growth since independence. In other economic news, Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers said it will abolish the value-added tax on Russian goods as of February 1 if the Russian government does the same for Ukrainian goods. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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