NEWSBRIEFS (10/31/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Tkachenko says his life is threatened

KYIV - Oleksander Tkachenko said on October 25 that a terrorist act is being planned against him. "This is not a provocation, and I have reported the names and telephone numbers of terrorists to the appropriate bodies," Interfax quoted Mr. Tkachenko as saying. He added that attackers want to assassinate him by planting a bomb near the Verkhovna Rada building or in his car. The same day, Mr. Tkachenko issued a statement to the Ukrainian people in which he appealed to President Leonid Kuchma to withdraw from the presidential elections. "This is the only good deed that [Kuchma] is still able to do for the people. Then, I think, the elections will be completed in the first round, and the millions of hryvni he is so worried about on television will be spared," Mr. Tkachenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma rejects talk of dirty campaign

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on October 25 denounced allegations that his re-election campaign is engaged in dirty tricks and pressure on the media, Reuters reported. "I am leading an honest campaign," Mr. Kuchma said in Dnipropetrovsk, where he was greeted, according to the agency, by "thousands of supporters" on the streets. At the same time, President Kuchma noted that "a dirtier campaign than the one unleashed against me has never existed in a single country of the world." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moroz would cooperate with IMF

ODESA - International financial institutions are ready to cooperate with Ukraine if a left-wing candidate is elected president, according to Socialist Party leader and presidential candidate, Oleksander Moroz. He said he does not intend to stop cooperation with the International Monetary Fund if he is elected, because the IMF's terms for postponement of debts, interest rates and the like are much better than those of other international financial institutions. At the same time, Mr. Moroz spoke in favor of "a restriction on preconditions" for cooperation with the IMF, because at present they "are destroying the Ukrainian economy." (Eastern Economist)

Nationalists support former KGB chief

KYIV - Yaroslava Stetsko, leader of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, said in Lviv on October 26 that her party will support Yevhen Marchuk's presidential bid. Ms. Stetsko added that this was a difficult decision for her organization, which had been persecuted by the KGB in the past. Mr. Marchuk was the Ukrainian SSR KGB's first deputy chairman in 1990 and chief of the Security Service of Ukraine in 1991-1994. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Vitrenko wants to freeze foreign debts

KYIV - Ukraine should declare bankruptcy in order to overcome the budget crisis, stated presidential candidate Natalia Vitrenko on October 26. According to Ms. Vitrenko, the year 2000 budget should be passed with an 8 percent deficit, and changes to the tax code should be made. Ms. Vitrenko offered to introduce a single income tax, which would save 45 percent for enterprises, 60 percent for banks and 85 percent for gambling enterprises. Ms. Vitrenko added that Ukraine should immediately cancel all agreements with the International Monetary Fund and freeze all of the country's foreign debts for three years. (Eastern Economist)

Mazepa gets burial 290 years later

ODESA - Two hundred ninety years after his death, the remains of Hetman Ivan Mazepa were repatriated from Romania to Ukraine. Mazepa's re-burial will take place in the former hetman's capital, the city of Baturyn. (Eastern Economist)

IHF: withdraw Lukashenka invitation

PRAGUE - The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights on October 24 said the state of human rights and democratic institutions in Belarus is "worsening by the day." The IHF called on the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to withdraw its invitation to Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to participate in the upcoming OSCE summit in Istanbul. It appealed to the OSCE to invite Syamyon Sharetski, chairman of the opposition Supreme Soviet, to represent Belarus at the summit. And it urged the OSCE "to review the legitimacy and constitutionality of the current government of Belarus" at the upcoming summit. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Sharetski appeals to West, Russia

PRAGUE - Syamyon Sharetski, exiled chairman of the opposition Supreme Soviet of Belarus, has sent a letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Boris Yeltsin asking them "to respect the independence and sovereignty of Belarus," Belapan reported on October 25. Mr. Sharetski referred to the memorandum on security guarantees to Belarus that the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia signed in Budapest in 1994. The signatories pledged in that memorandum to respect Belarus's political independence. According to Mr. Sharetski, the recently published Belarus-Russia union treaty draft means the incorporation of Belarus into Russia. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Belarus authorities continue crackdown

MIENSK - Of the 93 people arrested for taking part in the opposition's October 17 "freedom march," 17 have been sentenced to short prison terms and 19 fined, while 23 cases have been transferred to municipal commissions dealing with minors, according to a statement by Miensk authorities quoted by Belapan on October 19. The same day, Valery Schukin, one of the march's organizers, was seized by police, beaten and put in pre-trial detention. Police also detained Anatol Lyabedzka, another organizer of the march, but released him after four hours, ordering him to appear in court on October 20. Also, a Miensk court sentenced Yauhen Afnahel of the opposition Youth Front, to 15 days in prison for organizing the march, despite the fact that Mr. Afnahel had withdrawn his name from the list of organizers before the march and did not participate in it, according to Belapan. On October 25 Belarusian authorities announced they have instituted criminal proceedings "in general" against participants in the freedom march. So far six people have been jailed in connection with the protest, including Social Democratic Party leader Mikola Statkevich, who has been on a hunger strike since October 17. In a related development, last week authorities banned an October 31 march organized by the opposition to commemorate the victims of Stalinist terror in the 1930s and 1940s. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S., Russia react to Miensk developments

PRAGUE - The U.S. State Department on October 18 issued a statement condemning the violent suppression of the freedom march. The U.S. State Department said the beating and arrests of participants in the peaceful march was another violation by Belarus of its OSCE commitments and a "further demonstration of the constitutional and political crisis" in the country. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said on October 19 that the Miensk "incident" was Belarus's domestic matter, adding that Russia will not "intervene" in it. The same day the Russian State Duma invited Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka to address Russian lawmakers on October 22 in connection with the "recent developments" in Belarus, ITAR-TASS reported. Simultaneously, Russian lawmakers rejected the Yabloko faction's proposal that Belarusian oppositionists also be invited to address the lower house. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv criticizes attacks in Chechnya

KYIV - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk on October 22 said Ukraine "unambiguously condemns the terrorism that has caused the escalation of tension in Russia's south," Interfax reported. However, Mr. Tarasyuk added that Ukraine "cannot welcome the indiscriminate character of military action in Chechnya, as a result of which the peaceful population is also suffering." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma gets title of 'Honored Crimean'

SYMFEROPOL - The Presidium of the Crimean Parliament has conferred the title of "Honored Crimean" on President Leonid Kuchma for his services to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Mr. Kuchma received this news on October 23 as he was opening a 236-kilometer pipeline in southern Crimea, which will provide gas to some 30 percent of the peninsula's population. "We have shown that we can keep our word," the president commented on the construction of the pipeline, which was completed in one year under his personal supervision. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yuschenko comments on hryvnia's slide

KYIV - National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Viktor Yuschenko said on October 21 that the bank has fought off an attack on the national currency, which slipped below the government trading limit of 4.6 hryvni to $1 the previous day. Mr. Yuschenko said the attack was prepared by "Russian and Latvian banks," adding that it could be even more serious than the "fuel crisis in July-August," Interfax reported. The NBU chairman noted that there are no "monetary reasons" for the destabilization of the financial market. President Leonid Kuchma commented on the hryvnia's recent slide by saying that "money has appeared in Ukraine and people want to play on this." (RFE/RL Newsline)

President speaks on corruption

VINNYTSIA - Speaking on regional television in Vinnytsia on October 20, President Leonid Kuchma said the situation in Ukraine with regard to combating corruption is "far better than in many other countries of the world," Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma noted that corruption is not a "Ukrainian invention." At the same time, the president admitted that there are cases of corruption in Ukraine, "but they are being brought about by the system itself." He added that corruption can be defeated by introducing economic and administrative changes. "If a state servant is paid appropriately, not 100 hrv ($23) a month, then I think he will have sufficient wisdom and will not have to deal with such matters as corruption," President Kuchma noted. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma offers to share responsibility

VINNYTSIA - President Leonid Kuchma also said that if he wins the presidential elections, he will ask the Verkhovna Rada to create a constructive majority that will share responsibility with the president for forming a Cabinet of Ministers. "Then there will be no mutual accusations, fruitless discussions in the Parliament, or reporting to the Parliament [on the government's performance] every week," Mr. Kuchma noted. He also repeated his threat to call for a referendum to create a bicameral legislature if the current Parliament refuses to cooperate with the president after the elections. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Paybacks not good for hryvnia?

KYIV - Citing an "informed source" in Ukraine's financial circles, Interfax reported on October 20 that the volume of cash in circulation in the country has increased by 1.23 billion hrv ($570 million) since July 1. According to financial experts, this increase is linked to the government's effort to pay back wages and pensions before the October 31 presidential elections. The hryvnia has been officially devalued from 3.95 to $1 (U.S.) to 4.46 to $1 since the beginning of July. Street dealers and Ukraine's interbank currency market have recently quoted the value of Ukraine's currency at 4.7-4.8 hrv to $1. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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