NEWSBRIEFS

Tkachenko upbeat about prospects

KYIV - Parliamentary speaker Oleksander Tkachenko has said he expects to be proposed as the single presidential candidate from among his election alliance with Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksander Moroz, and Volodymyr Oliinyk, Interfax reported on September 25. Mr. Tkachenko added that the Communist Party may also support his candidacy. "I think we will win. I think I've have done a lot in this state," the news agency quoted him as saying. Mr. Tkachenko noted that he had left the Communist Party when it was banned, but he stressed that he remains a "worthy son of the Communist Party," even if he is now a member of the Peasant Party, which he founded. "I think that by October 31 we will find the courage [with Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko] to acknowledge that today we have no right to work separately," Mr. Tkachenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moroz: decision should be based on polls

KYIV - Presidential candidate and Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz said on September 23 that the final decision on who will be the single candidate from the "Kaniv Four" political alliance will be made October 14-15. Mr. Moroz said his poll standings are better than those of Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko and Yevhen Marchuk, which suggest he should be the alliance's sole candidate. (Eastern Economist)

Marchuk voices doubt over coalition

KYIV - Former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk has voiced doubt whether his presidential election coalition with Oleksander Tkachenko, Oleksander Moroz and Volodymyr Oliinyk will field a single candidate against President Leonid Kuchma in the October 31 elections, UNIAN reported on September 20. Mr. Marchuk said the coalition may turn into a "group of three or even two," because "each member of the alliance is sure that he will be the candidate from the group." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia issues report on Baltics

KYIV - In a report issued on September 24, the Russian Foreign Policy and Defense Policy Working Group stressed that the Baltic states will always be included in the zone of Russia's vital interest, ITAR-TASS and LETA reported. The report stated that bilateral relations with each of those countries are slowly improving. It also suggested that the "anti-Russian policy" of the Balts is "amounting to nothing," just like their bid to gain entry into the European Union. Finally, the report noted that the "prospect of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia joining NATO" may deal a serious blow to "Russian-Western and Russian-Baltic relations in particular." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Three states concerned about Danube

KYIV - The transport ministers of Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania have appealed to the European Union for financial aid to clear the River Danube of debris left by NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. The debris has brought the Danube fleets of the three countries to a virtual standstill. Ukraine claims $70 million and Bulgaria $100 million in trade losses due to the suspension of navigation on the Danube. Romanian ship owners say they have had to lay off some 3,000 workers and have lost $90 billion, according to the Associated Press. (RFE/RL Newsline)

OSCE praises Ukraine's ethnic policies

KYIV - Ukraine has attained significant positive results as to the issue of accommodating repatriated Crimean Tatars in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. That is what Max van der Stoel, high commissioner for national minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, told Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk on September 17. Mr. van der Stoel noted the openness and impartial approach of government agencies towards protecting the rights of national minorities. (Eastern Economist)

Women gaining strength in workplace

KYIV - According to the State Committee for Family and Youth, the status of women in Ukraine is getting better. According to the committee's chair, Iryna Holubeva, 53 percent of students in higher education institutions and over 50 percent of the total working population are women. Average monthly wages of Ukrainian women made up only 74 percent of that of men. The number of females in the Verkhovna Rada also increased, although there are no women regional governors. As of January 1, 1999, 753 women's public organizations and three women's political parties were registered in the country. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine offers to pay for gas with ships

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on September 26 that Ukraine plans to pay for Russian gas supplies with newly constructed ships, ITAR-TASS reported. Mr. Kuchma was attending the launch of a river-to-sea dry-cargo ship built at a cost of $7 million for Russia's Gazprom. Ukraine imports some 70 percent of the gas it requires from Russia and currently owes that country about $1.8 billion (U.S.) for gas supplies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet fails to pay back wages, pensions

KYIV - The Associated Press reported that Ukraine's Finance Ministry said on September 21 that since the beginning of the year, the government has repaid only 5 percent of its 2.4 billion hrv ($524 million U.S.) debt in pension and wage arrears. President Leonid Kuchma has ordered the government to pay off the debt by October. The Parliament recently made this task even more difficult by increasing the minimum pension from 24.9 hrv to 55 hrv. "If the decision takes effect, those paid 30 hrv a month will be getting 60 and those paid 500 will be getting 1,000," Interfax quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying on September 20. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Canadians bringing health to Ukraine

MONTREAL - Doctors from New Westminster, British Columbia, Art and Marlyce Friesen, have embarked on a special educational medical mission to parts of southern Ukraine. On September 9 the husband-and-wife team brought some $36,000 (Canadian) worth of donated Canadian medicines. The Friesens will work closely with the Ukrainian Medical Association to administer the drugs and help prevent heart disease through education. Through a unique partnership of Canada's Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies and the Non-Prescription Manufacturers Association of Canada, more than $47 million (Canadian) in medicine and health care products has been delivered since 1990 to more than 60 countries. (Eastern Economist)

Young families receive state loans

KYIV - Nearly 500 young families received loans from the state, totaling 17.5 million hrv in 1998-1999, for construction of residential homes. Vice-Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh stated that, in order to implement in full the program for construction of dwellings for young families, the state will have to allocate 300-350 million hrv annually in the next 15 years. (Eastern Economist)

Competition opens for scholarships

KYIV - The U.S. Information Service on September 15 announced an open competition for Ukrainian teachers, scientists, journalists, students and government officials to receive academic scholarships in 10 different branches. The scholarships will be distributed on the basis of free and clear competition, stated U.S. Ambassador Steven Pifer, adding that the main objective of such a program is to assist the development of democracy in Ukraine. Starting in 1992, over 6,000 Ukrainian students and scholars visited the U.S. The quota for Ukraine in most U.S. exchange programs has increased by 25 percent, stated Ambassador Pifer. He congratulated journalists for attaining a certain level of freedom of the press and noted, "Many Ukrainian media publish open criticism of the government, which shows some development of mass media in the country." (Eastern Economist)

Moroz denies Russian campaign support

KYIV - Presidential candidate and Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz met with Russian Communist leader Gennadii Zyuganov and the head of the Fatherland Movement, Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov, in Moscow on September 16. Mr. Moroz's press spokesman denied accusations that during the talks political and financial support for Mr. Moroz's campaign was discussed. (Eastern Economist)

Ukrainian culture exhibited in Paris

PARIS - The Ukrainian Culture Days festival opened in Paris on September 14 and is going to run through December. Some of the Ukrainian presentations, mostly avant-guard in style, were selected by the French organizers; the remainder was sponsored by Ukrainian counterparts. Ukraine will be represented by Kyiv Soloists, conducted by Bohodar Kotorovych, the Kyiv chamber choir, the Dumka choir, the Zoloti Kliuchi trio, and the pop groups Ocean Elzy, Mertvyi Piven and others. Modern Ukrainian cinema will be represented by Kira Muratova, Viacheslav Kryshtofovych and Ihor Mynayev. (Eastern Economist)

TV channel says it paid all taxes

KYIV- "The STB TV channel has paid all required taxes concerning its advertisement activity," stated the STB press service on September 14 in response to President Leonid Kuchma's statement that TV channels transfer their incomes into foreign banks. "The monthly advertisement income of the channel may be counted in six digits, and not millions," stated the STB. (Eastern Economist)

Kaniv Four appeal to Council of Europe

KYIV - Presidential hopefuls Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksander Moroz, Volodymyr Oliinyk and Oleksander Tkachenko have asked the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to monitor the campaign for the October 31 presidential election in Ukraine. The four said they believe it is necessary to send observers in early October to "make it possible to conduct the final stage of the election campaign on the principles of lawfulness," UNIAN reported on September 14. They also accused the government of illegally suspending the regular radio broadcasts of parliamentary sessions in order to restrict the media access of President Leonid Kuchma's top rivals, who are all national deputies in the Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Candidates seek fair vote count

KYIV - Nine presidential candidates - Yevhen Marchuk, Oleksander Moroz, Oleksander Tkachenko, Petro Symonenko, Volodymyr Oliinyk, Oleksander Rzhavskyi, Mykola Haber, Yurii Karmazin and Oleksander Bazyliuk - have signed an agreement on setting up an independent center for counting votes in the October 31 presidential elections. In a September 20 statement, the signatories said they fear the current administration of President Leonid Kuchma will rig the elections. Under the agreement, a computer network will collect voting figures from polling stations and compare it with official data released by the Central Election Commission. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Top court rejects procuracy's appeal

KYIV - The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Procurator General's Office against a Supreme Court decision to register Vasyl Onopenko, Mykola Haber, Oleksander Rzhavskyi, Vitalii Kononov, Oleksander Bazyliuk and Yurii Karmazin as presidential candidates. All six were originally refused registration by the Central Election Commission because they apparently did not have the 1 million signatures required to be accepted as candidates. The decision is final and cannot be appealed. (Eastern Economist)

Sugar instead of cash pensions

KYIV - The Ukrainian government has decided to repay part of its pension arrears in sugar. A resolution says the Pension Fund will be given 2,000 tons of sugar from state reserves in the third and fourth quarters of 2000, which pensioners may choose to receive as part of their pensions. The resolution instructs the Pension Fund and Ministry of Labor to organize the distribution of sugar among pensioners according to special lists and to appoint trading operators who will carry out the distribution. Sugar prices will be set by the State Material Reserves Committee. Budget expenditures associated with these operations are not to exceed 10 percent of the price of sugar sold to the Pension Fund from the SMRC. (Eastern Economist)

Waste storage plant to open next year

KYIV - First Vice Minister of Energy Mykhailo Umanets said on September 3 at a seminar that the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia would put the first dry radioactive waste storage facilities into operation in the first quarter of 2000. He added that the new site would contain radioactive waste from the Zaporizhia station. He said construction of a repository for dry and liquid nuclear waste is in progress at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. (Eastern Economist)

Ukrainian Embassy moves to Berlin

KYIV - Ukraine's Embassy in Germany was moved to Berlin as of September 1, as were embassies of other countries. It is now situated in downtown Berlin at Albrechtstrasse 26, near the Brandenburg Gate. The Embassy's building is the property of Ukraine. The embassy staff, military attaché and trade mission were the first to move in; later they will be joined by the consular office. An Embassy department will continue its operation at the old address in Bonn. As before, Ukraine will have three diplomatic offices in Germany, in Berlin, Bonn and Munich. (Eastern Economist)

Ukrainian schools to open in Russia

KYIV - "There are no regular Ukrainian schools in Russia so far," said the head of the Association of Ukrainians in Russia, Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak. The association represents 5 million Ukrainians residing in the Russian Federation. The organization strives to form a system of state education with a distinct ethnic component, said Mr. Rudenko-Desniak. "As a result of our activity, the first Ukrainian school soon will be opened in the city of Tiumen," he said. The biggest problem is the lack of educational material for Ukrainian schools. "Unfortunately the Ukrainian government does not respond to the problems of our diaspora in Russia," added Mr. Rudenko-Desniak. (Eastern Economist)

Vinnytsia Oblast's industry unprofitable

KYIV - Nearly 95 percent of enterprises in Vinnytsia Oblast are unprofitable. The basic problem is the lack of working capital, so the local administration has appealed to Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh for the government to develop a resolution that will permit local enterprises to mobilize working capital for the development of industry. In particular, machine-building and energy generation have been hard hit, reducing output this year by over 10 percent compared to 1998. Industries that have seen a modest increase in output including light industry, lumber, pulp and paper, and food processing. Labor Minister Ivan Sakhan noted that Vinnytsia Oblast had experienced the highest increase in wage arrears this year: the debt rose by 118 percent. (Eastern Economist)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 3, 1999, No. 40, Vol. LXVII

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