NEWSBRIEFS (01/17/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Rada may discuss abolishing presidency

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Adam Martyniuk told journalists on January 11 that this week the Parliament may consider abolishing the post of the Ukrainian president, Ukrainian News reported. According to Mr. Martyniuk, deputies will be asked to vote on whether the Verkhovna Rada should debate a constitutional amendment that reinstates a parliamentary republic and abolishes the presidency. If at least 226 deputies support that motion, the Constitutional Court will be asked to rule on the "constitutionality of the issue," Mr. Martyniuk added. The amendment may be considered during the parliamentary session that begins on February 2. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rukh may back Udovenko in election

SYMFEROPOL - The rightist Rukh Party is most likely to submit ex-foreign affairs minister and Verkhovna Rada National Deputy Hennadii Udovenko as party candidate for the 1999 presidential elections, said Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil in Symferopol. He said Mr. Udovenko is "the most influential and the most popular politician, which could lead to the formation of a young government if elected." The final decision on the Rukh choice of a candidate will be approved at the upcoming party congress. Mr. Chornovil added that the current president "has little chance" in the election, since the "reform process has stalled." (Eastern Economist)

Industrial output down by 1.5 percent

KYIV - Industrial production shrank by 1.5 percent in 1998, compared with 1997, the Associated Press reported on January 10, citing official sources. The Ukrainian economy has been steadily declining since the country gained independence in 1991: industrial output was reduced by 38.4 percent over that period, according to official data. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM admits failure in agriculture

KYIV - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko on January 10 said government efforts to reform the agricultural sector have yielded few results, the Associated Press reported. "We must acknowledge that the agricultural sector has largely turned into a poorly managed, inert and heavily indebted structure which is not attractive to investors," he commented. According to official data, the total debt of Ukrainian farms is 13.3 billion ($3.8 billion U.S.). Mr. Pustovoitenko said some 11,000 farms, or 90 percent of their total number, finished 1998 with losses, while agricultural output fell by 2 percent last year, compared with 1997. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Luhansk businessman shot

LUHANSK - Vladyslav Kryvobokov, head of Viktor-Invest, was shot eight times in an unsuccessful assassination attempt at 7 p.m. on January 9. Mr. Kryvobokov is a head of the social organization Rukh za Sotsialnyi Zakhyst, (Movement for Social Protection) and publishes a newspaper under the same name. He was rushed to Luhansk City Hospital No. 1. He survived surgery January 10, during which eight bullets were removed from his body, but doctors said the next day that his condition remains critical. The militia of Luhansk regard the assault as connected to Mr. Kryvobokov's commercial activity. (Eastern Economist)

New poverty markers set for new year

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma signed a law in the beginning of January setting the new poverty line and the minimum monthly income (MMI) levels. As of January 1, the MMI equals 73.7 hrv with the poverty line for the first quarter set at 90.7 hrv. Social Policies and Labor Minister Ivan Sakhan said the Cabinet of Ministers had agreed to these indicators. He added that on April 1 the poverty line is expected to be increased to reach 94.5 hrv. (Eastern Economist)

Estonia aids flooded Zakarpattia

TALLINN - Estonia will send nearly half a million kroons' worth of food relief to western Ukraine in order to help alleviate suffering resulting from the recent floods. According to agreements signed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ühinenud Meiereid (United Dairies) will send milk and cheese products, and the fish processor Virtsu Rand will send canned fish, while AP & KO Ltd. will supply canned meat. Western Ukraine was hit by extensive floods resulting from heavy rainfalls in November 1998. The Estonian government responded to the U.N.'s call for aid in mid-December by allocating 484,644 kroons, or $36,000 (U.S.), from its humanitarian and foreign aid reserve. (Eastern Economist)

Planned aid to Iraq is symbolic

KYIV - Humanitarian aid to Iraq to deal with the aftermath of Operation Desert Fox is unlikely to be in any significant volumes and will only be symbolic, Cabinet of Ministers officials announced on January 6. The Verkhovna Rada on December 23, 1998, voted by a narrow majority to recommend that the Cabinet allocate an "affordable amount of food and medicine" to Iraq. The Parliament's resolution said aid to Iraq was needed because of "numerous casualties and considerable damage inflicted on Iraq by massive air and missile strikes, and by the hardships the Iraqi population is enduring as a result of a continuing blockade." In reality, the Verkhovna Rada's decision is likely to be derailed since it has no practical value, the Cabinet official said. Iraq receives over $4 billion (U.S.) in food and medicine from the United Nations' oil-for-food program every six months - around 40 percent of Ukraine's entire annual budget. "The left-dominated Verkhovna Rada's move was an attempt to express solidarity with Russia's left-dominated Duma," the official added, "more than solidarity with Iraq." (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma praises Orthodox Church

KYIV - In a Christmas message on January 6, President Leonid Kuchma praised the Orthodox Church for its role in society and said Christian ideals should guide the Ukrainian people, the Associated Press reported. "On the eve of a great date, 2,000 years since the birth of Christ, the Church's activities become even more important," Mr. Kuchma said. In last year's Christmas address, the president had called for unity among Ukraine's feuding Orthodox Churches: the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate and the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Money-laundering network uncovered

KYIV - Tax police have uncovered an underground network that allegedly laundered money for some 3,000 companies, including state-run enterprises, the Associated Press reported on January 7, citing official sources. The network, which operated from Kyiv, received money from interested companies through bank transfers, which it then channeled through fictitious firms for conversion into cash, thereby avoiding taxation. The network's daily turnover amounted to 1 million hrv ($292,000 U.S.). Tax evasion is a common practice among Ukrainian firms, which complain that the country's taxes are too high. Last December the national tax debt totaled 10 billion hrv - nearly half of budget revenues. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Still no confirmation on fate of plane

KYIV - The location of the Ukrainian AN-12 airplane that disappeared in Angola in December 1998 remains unknown. Results of aerial photographs of the possible crash site failed to clarify the situation, as the region is in the center of a war zone and is littered with wreckage and debris from the fighting. Experts have so far refused to rule out the possibility that the plane was shot down by surface-to-air missiles. According to Emergency Ministry Press Service head Oleh Bykov, a Ukrainian representative took part in the Angolan's Investigation Commission. (Eastern Economist)

More presidential coalitions forming

KYIV - Republican Christian Party heads decided on December 23, 1998, to join the coalition of the Rukh Party and the Reformy i Poriadok Party to back a single candidate in the forthcoming presidential elections. Republican Christian Party head Mykola Porovskyi said his party is ready to support the incumbent, with other names proposed being Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil and former Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko. (Eastern Economist)

Moroz calls for a populist candidate

KYIV - Socialist Party Chairman Oleksander Moroz said on December 21, 1998, that the Socialist Party will be ready to support a non-Socialist candidate in the presidential elections if that were the only candidate capable of uniting a wide coalition and transcending party boundaries. Mr. Moroz said the Socialists are ready to start negotiations with the Progressive Socialist Party. However, he voiced fears that such negotiations may not be possible in the current political climate, adding, "the presidential administration will not allow such negotiations." (Eastern Economist)

Kazakstan, Ukraine sign protocol

KYIV - Kazak Foreign Affairs Minister Kasymjomart Tokayev and his Ukrainian counterpart, Boris Tarasyuk, met on December 21, 1998, and signed a protocol on cooperation between the two countries' foreign ministries in 1999-2000, ITAR-TASS reported. The two also discussed CIS reforms, and Mr. Tarasyuk said "the reform process is continuing, but it is too early to speak of results." Mr. Tokayev said it is "necessary to improve the effectiveness of the Commonwealth," especially in adhering to accords signed by the heads of member states. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to print money to pay back wages

KYIV - Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko said on December 22, 1998, that Ukraine will print money next year to cover its mounting wage arrears, the Associated Press reported. He added that the Cabinet of Ministers plans a monetary emission of 1 billion hrv ($290 million U.S.), but he did not say how he expects the money emission to affect the 1999 inflation rate, which has been forecast at 19 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Belarusian paper wins suit over spelling

MIENSK - The Higher Economic Court on December 22, 1998, ruled in favor of the Belarusian-language biweekly Nasha Niva, which defied warnings by the State Press Committee by continuing to use the traditional, non-Russified Belarusian orthography banned by the Soviet regime in 1933, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported. Nasha Niva Editor Syarhey Dubavets sued the committee after it had warned the newspaper not to "distort the generally accepted norms of the language." A panel of linguists assembled by the court found that no "generally accepted norms of the language have ever been determined." The court accepted that view and fined the committee 2.5 million Belarusian rubles. Mr. Dubavets said the verdict "provided a very positive result for the Belarusian language itself ... and those discriminated in Belarus from time immemorial for using this language." (RFE/RL Newsline)

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