NEWSBRIEFS (03/07/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma looking good in polls

KYIV - A February poll of 1,200 Ukrainians showed that support for President Leonid Kuchma is on the rise. When asked whom they would like to see as the next president of Ukraine, 21 percent said they would vote for Mr. Kuchma, compared to a January poll when he received only 13 percent. A further 17 percent opted for Progressive Socialist Party Leader Natalia Vitrenko, compared to 15 percent in January, with 13 percent going for Communist Party Leader Petro Symonenko, up from 7 percent in January. Oleksander Moroz stayed at 10 percent, and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko and former KGB Head Yevhen Marchuk each took 3 percent. Only 2 percent of those questioned opted for Hromada Party Leader Pavlo Lazarenko. Some 70 percent of Ukrainians said they intend to vote in this year's presidential elections. (Eastern Economist, RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine destroys last SS-19 missile

KYIV - Ukraine has destroyed the last of its 111 Soviet-era SS-19 ballistic missiles. The last SS-19 was destroyed on February 26 in Dnipropetrovsk under a U.S. program launched in 1991 by Sens. Richard Lugar and Sam Nunn and aimed at helping former Soviet republics get rid of their weapons of mass destruction. Ukraine has received some $500 million under the program. In 1996, Ukraine surrendered all its nuclear warheads to Russia and pledged to remain nuclear-free. The elimination of Ukraine's remaining strategic bombers and SS-24 missiles is scheduled to be completed by December 2001. (RFE/RL Newsline)

KyivEnergo chief named new energy tsar

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on February 23 appointed Ivan Plachkov, chairman of the board of the state-run joint stock energy suppliers KyivEnergo to the post of minister of energy. Since his graduation from Odesa Polytechnic in 1980, Mr. Plachkov, 42, has been working within KyivEnergo. As energy minister, he will replace Oleksii Sheberstov, whom Mr. Kuchma fired on February 10. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine joins international land mine ban

KYIV - Ukraine's Ambassador to Canada Volodymyr Khandogiy has signed the international convention banning anti-personnel land mines, the Associated Press reported on February 25. Ukraine agreed to destroy its arsenal of nearly 8 million land mines following a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien to Kyiv. Canada has pledged financial and technical aid for the destruction of Ukraine's land mines. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New EnergoAtom president is named

KYIV - Mykola Dudchenko, former director general of the Khmelnytskyi Atomic Energy Station, was appointed on February 24 as the new president of EnergoAtom. He takes over from Nur Nihmatullin, who was dismissed a week earlier following widespread protests amongst nuclear power plant workers. (Eastern Economist)

Slovaks invite Ukraine to cooperate

KYIV - Slovak Foreign Affairs Ministry State Secretary Jan Figel, while in Kyiv on a working visit, said during a February 22 press conference that Slovakia has invited Ukraine to take part in a three-way military industrial cooperation program with Slovakia and Poland. Mr. Figel said he regards cooperation among the three countries as a positive step in the context of the future NATO membership of Poland and Slovakia. "Ukraine and Slovakia intend to intensify trading and bilateral economic cooperation," he added. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine, Poland to boost economic ties

KYIV - Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek and his Ukrainian counterpart, Valerii Pustovoitenko, said in Kyiv on February 24 that they intend to boost economic cooperation by launching new projects in agriculture and the machine-building, power-engineering and chemical industries. Mr. Buzek also proposed that a group of experts analyze the feasibility of building an oil pipeline from Odesa to Gdansk, the Associated Press reported. Meeting with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Buzek tried to allay Ukraine's fears that Poland's expected admission into the European Union would lead to the introduction of a strict visa regime for Ukrainians. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moody's lowers Ukraine's rating

KYIV - The international rating agency Moody's has lowered the rating of the Ukrainian government's domestic currency bonds from B3 to Ca, Interfax and the Associated Press reported on February 22. According to Moody's, the Ca rating reflects "obligations which are speculative in a high degree ... and are often in default." Moody's added that the terms offered by the Ukrainian government last fall for the "voluntary" exchange of maturing T-bills were a "technical default." Moody's also warned that the hryvnia is under threat of rapid devaluation this year. Meanwhile, experts predict that given the current lack of foreign exchange liquidity, Ukraine faces a default on its foreign debt. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma for return of church property

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has given the Cabinet of Ministers one year to return former church property to religious organizations in Ukraine, Interfax reported on February 23. Mr. Kuchma urged the State Property Fund to prohibit the privatization of church property and oblige local authorities to provide land on which new churches as well as Muslim and Jewish cemeteries can be built. He also ordered the State Customs Committee to simplify procedures for delivering humanitarian aid to religious organizations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Broadcasting watchdog appeals to public

KYIV -The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting has called on Ukrainian citizens to report TV programs and movies containing violence, brutality and sexually explicit scenes. The first vice-chairman of the council assured would-be watchdogs that every such case uncovered would be severely punished. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine's Jews to form second federation

KYIV - Three influential Jewish organizations in Ukraine's 500,000- strong Jewish community have announced their intent to quit the All-Ukrainian Jewish Congress and set up a Jewish Confederation of Ukraine, the Associated Press reported on February 23. The breakaway groups accuse the congress of "inactivity" and pledge to unite Ukraine's more than 300 Jewish organizations and groups within the new confederation. Ukrainian Television reported on February 23 that representatives of all Jewish organizations in Ukraine are to meet in April and "determine their participation in the newly created confederation." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's tax debt: 11 B hrv

KYIV - Taxpayers in Ukraine owe the government 11 billion hrv ($3.2 billion), the Associated Press reported on February 12. Oleksii Shytriia, deputy chief of the State Tax Administration, said the tax debt, which rose by some 8 billion hrv in 1998, is already turning into an "issue of national security." Ukrainian Television reported the next day that some 50 percent of Ukraine's capital turnover occurs outside the banking system, making it difficult for tax inspectors to deal with tax evasion. The State Tax Administration has identified nearly 90 means of tax evasion. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Unemployment problem growing worse

KYIV - "The level of registered unemployed citizens stands at 3.69 percent of the work force," announced Viktor Lukianenko, head of the State Employment Center, on February 10. The total is up 50 percent from the beginning of last year. "In the current economic climate, employment centers register only one-third of all unemployed, as the rest simply do not turn to the centers for help," said Mr. Lukianenko. The rate of unemployed per job is growing quickly, with the 1996 average rate of two persons per job having increased to 30 per job toward the end of 1998, said Natalia Ivanova, deputy head of the center. "The number of unemployed in Ukraine in 1998 was around 2 million, but this rate is expected to grow by almost half in 1999, as a result of the economic crisis," said Ms. Ivanova. (Eastern Economist)

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