NEWSBRIEFS (12/05/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Appeal to annul elections is rejected

KYIV - The Supreme Court on November 26 rejected Communist leader Petro Symonenko's appeal to annul the results of the presidential elections, Interfax reported. Mr. Symonenko had cited numerous violations of electoral procedures and voters' rights during the November 14 runoff. The court responded that invalidating the results of presidential elections in Ukraine is not within its jurisdiction. In the runoff, Mr. Kuchma received 56.21 percent of the vote compared with Mr. Symonenko's 37.77 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine restarts Chornobyl reactor

KYIV - Authorities on November 28 restarted the only working reactor at the Chornobyl power plant following five months of repairs. Under a 1995 agreement with the G-7 countries, Ukraine pledged to close Chornobyl by 2000. However, Kyiv says it has not received the money it was promised to complete two new nuclear reactors and therefore will run the Chornobyl reactor until an unspecified date next year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

More Lazarenko money uncovered

KYIV - According to the latest results of the investigation by Swiss and Ukrainian law enforcement bodies of ex-premier Pavlo Lazarenko, the former prime minister of Ukraine managed to transfer some $700 million (U.S.) to offshore accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported. This information was confirmed by data provided by Antiguan banks to the Swiss authorities upon their request. Meanwhile, Mr. Lazarenko's lawyer maintains that these sums were used by his client legally in the process of commercial activity, and in no way are connected with his activity as prime minister. According to Swiss authorities, Mr. Lazarenko, together with his aide, derived profit from a commercial transaction in which a brokerage company overpaid Ukraine's Cabinet $889,749 (U.S.). In addition, Mr. Lazarenko received millions of dollars from the sale of minerals and natural gas. Foreign analysts believe the Lazarenko case may become the largest corruption case ever brought against a top official. (Eastern Economist)

Ukraine wants cooperation with NATO

KYIV - First Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Yevhen Bersheda told an international conference on economic security issues in Kyiv on November 22 that cooperation between his country and NATO can contribute to defending "the interests of Ukraine's economic security," Interfax reported. He said only NATO and the EU can help Ukraine make good use of its "potential for ensuring international stability." The Associated Press reported that other participants in the conference, citing the example of Poland, stressed the need for Ukraine to speed up its economic reforms, as sluggish reform can endanger Ukraine's economic security and independence. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma asks EU to accept Ukraine

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma appealed to the European Union with a request to review Ukraine as a potential candidate for membership. He stressed the fact that he has strong intentions of conducting economic reforms. "Already 70 percent of Ukrainian production is in private hands, and Ukraine's economic growth rate will be 6-7 percent per annum by the year 2002," affirmed the head of state. He further added that the issue of Ukraine joining NATO is not on his agenda. (Eastern Economist)

Belarusians protest union with Russia

MIENSK - Some 1,500 people stood in a single file holding candles on Miensk's main avenue on November 24 to express solidarity with political prisoners and protest their country's planned union with Russia, the Belapan news agency and RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported. The action, called "The Hour of Sorrow and Solidarity," took place on the third anniversary of the controversial 1996 referendum that expanded Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's powers and extended his presidential term until 2001. "I am here to show people that we are against the unification with Russia ... [by means of which] we are again being driven into those barracks, into a big kolkhoz," one participant in the protest told RFE/RL. Police detained six people. Similar protests, albeit on a smaller scale, took place in Hrodna and Brest. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition welcomes delay of union

MIENSK - Vintsuk Vyachorka, chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, told Reuters on November 25 that he feels "sheer joy" over the postponement of the signing of the Belarus-Russia union treaty, which had been scheduled for the following day. Mr. Vyachorka suggested that Russian President Boris Yeltsin's illness may be a pretext for preventing the current Russian State Duma, whose term concludes next month, from ratifying the treaty. "I believe modern medicine would be able to keep [Yeltsin] on his feet for such an event. This is a slap in the face of Lukashenka, even if Yeltsin is really ill," Mr. Vyachorka commented. Meanwhile, President Lukashenka's economic aide Pyotr Kapitula commented that "knowing the [Belarusian] president's ideals and his drive for integration, I think he will be disappointed" over the postponement. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lukashenka wants treaty signed soon

MIENSK - "It is important for me that the signing [of the Belarus-Russia union state treaty] takes place on December 7, because in this case the document will still have a chance of being ratified by the present State Duma," Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on Russian National Television on November 28, according to Interfax. Mr. Lukashenka was speaking before the news that Russian President Boris Yeltsin was taken to the hospital with suspected pneumonia. The previous day, deputies of the opposition Belarusian Supreme Soviet passed a resolution declaring the union treaty illegitimate. They noted that President Lukashenka's legitimate term expired on July 21, 1999, while the union treaty itself contradicts the Constitution of Belarus. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Union treaty on schedule for December

MOSCOW - Presidential spokesman Dmitrii Yakushkin told NTV on November 26 that President Boris Yeltsin "intends to do his utmost" to have the treaty establishing the union of Belarus and Russia signed "so that the Duma can examine it within the remaining amount of time before the elections." The treaty was scheduled to have been signed on November 26 but was postponed because Mr. Yeltsin came down with what was eventually diagnosed as bronchitis. State Duma Chairman Gennadii Seleznev, who is a proponent of the union, told reporters on November 26 that if the treaty is signed before December 10, Duma deputies could consider it at an extraordinary session on December 17-18. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian peacekeepers head home

KYIV - The peacekeeping mission of the Ukrainian military in Bosnia and Herzegovina is coming to an end. The forces are to withdraw from these areas by the end of November. This decision was made due to stability in Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATO authorities also decided to cut by half its SFOR forces in the area, which have completed its peacekeeping tasks. (Eastern Economist)

Bread prices increases markedly

DNIPROPETROVSK - The price of bread has gone up by 30 percent in Dnipropetrovsk, Interfax reported on November 22. Dnipropetrovsk Deputy Mayor Hennadii Hvozdev said the increase was "dictated by the market." He added that in other regions, the prices of bread products, flour and grain have increased by 10-20 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Soros: make aid to Ukraine conditional

PRAGUE - In an opinion piece published in the November 24 edition of the International Herald Tribune, U.S. financier and philanthropist George Soros called on the West to condition its assistance to Ukraine on democratic improvements in the country. Mr. Soros noted that President Leonid Kuchma's "corrupt and ineffective" government has been able to survive so far owing to international assistance granted "largely on account of Ukraine's geopolitical position." Mr. Soros said that in order to receive further Western financial support, Ukraine should push ahead with its political and economic reforms, comply with the International Monetary Fund's recommendations, allow more freedom for the media, and be more efficient in combating corruption. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EU to adopt strategy on Ukraine

KYIV - Finland's ambassador to Ukraine said on November 23 that by the end of this year, the European Union will adopt its strategy regarding Ukraine, Interfax reported. The ambassador, whose country currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, added that the document "will not only declare [the EU's] intent of further support to Ukraine on its European path, but will also point to specific integration directions, including several specific cooperation projects for the next year." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma fires more regional leaders

KYIV - In what appears to be a politically motivated act, President Leonid Kuchma has fired the chairmen of Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv oblasts as well as four raion heads in Luhansk Oblast and two raion heads in Chernihiv Oblast. In all those regions of Ukraine, President Kuchma lost to Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko in the November 14 presidential runoff. Following the October 31 first round of voting, Mr. Kuchma had fired the chairmen of oblast administrations in Kirovohrad, Poltava and Vinnytsia, where he lost to either Mr. Symonenko or Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz. Moreover, Mr. Kuchma replaced presidential administration staff head Mykola Biloblotskyi with Volodymyr Lytvyn. Mr. Biloblotskyi was appointed Ukraine's ambassador to the Russian Federation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

WHO releases stats on smoking

KYIV - The results of research conducted by the World Health Organization indicate that every year in Ukraine 120,000 people, 85,000 men age 35-69, die from smoking-related diseases. The results of the research were announced the day before International Smoke Out Day November 18. According to the WHO, about one-third of adults throughout the world or 1.1 billion, smoke. Every year smoking causes 3.5 million deaths, which is 10,000 per day, and is a factor in more than 25 diseases. The WHO predicts that in 2002 smoking will be the main cause of disease and deaths. (Eastern Economist)

Health, education best in Kyiv

KYIV - The highest per capita spending on education and health care is in Kyiv, according to the Verkhovna Rada's Budget Committee which studied local budget spending in the first 10 months of the year. The average figure in Ukraine is 55 hrv per capita, while in the capital it is 80 hrv. The lowest spending on education is in the Chernivtsi, Luhansk and Sumy oblasts, where about 45 hrv per capital are spent; the lowest figure for health care is in Bukovyna, where about 35 hrv are spent per capita. (Eastern Economist)

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