NEWSBRIEFS (12/12/99)

NEWSBRIEFS

Privatization of energy companies halted

KYIV - State Property Fund Chairman Oleksander Bondar on December 6 ordered a halt to the privatization of energy suppliers, which had been decreed by the president in the summer, Interfax reported. The fund said privatization has been halted in connection with "difficulties in energy supplies in the winter period [as well as] the need to ensure efficient state control over the operation of energy companies and the process of the branch's restructuring." The privatization of energy companies has so far resulted in revenues totaling 90 million hrv ($18.5 million). The state has retained a controlling interest in 20 of Ukraine's 27 regional energy suppliers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Officers pledge restoration of socialism

KYIV - Ukraine's Union of Soviet Officers (SRO), together with the Party of Communists (Bolsheviks) of Ukraine (PKBU), plan to reinstate a socialist system in Ukraine in a "peaceful way." This news was revealed to Interfax on November 30 by SRO head Oleksander Ohorodnykov. Mr. Ohorodnykov said the SRO and the PKBU intend to form a bloc to take part in the 2002 parliamentary elections. He added that his organization will not resort to terrorist actions even if the peaceful attempt to restore socialism in Ukraine fails. Mr. Ohorodnykov noted that the future socialist Ukraine should cooperate closely with Belarus and Russia, both of which, he added, should be ruled by Alyaksandr Lukashenka. He noted that the SRO has 18,000 members, but has not yet been registered by the Justice Ministry of Ukraine. The PKBU, which is led by Col. Oleksander Kaspruk, has registered and has headquarters in Dnipropetrovsk. (RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report)

Kuchma abolishes collective farms

KYIV - Leonid Kuchma on December 4 issued a decree reforming the agricultural sector on "the principles of land ownership," Interfax reported. Under the decree, the land and property of collective farms must be divided among their workers by the end of April 2000. Collective farm workers can subsequently organize private enterprises or agricultural cooperatives on their plots. The decree also orders the government to supply the plots' owners with ownership certificates by the end of 2002. "The main point of this document is to announce collective farms as ineffective forms of property," Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Hladii was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President re-nominates Pustovoitenko

KYIV - Parliament Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko told national deputies on December 2 that President Leonid Kuchma has proposed Valerii Pustovoitenko for the post of prime minister, Interfax reported. Mr. Pustovoitenko submitted his resignation as prime minister following President Kuchma's inauguration on November 30 and is now acting head of the Cabinet of Ministers. Mr. Pustovoitenko told Interfax the same day that if he is confirmed as prime minister for Mr. Kuchma's new term, he will "certainly" implement "more radical reforms." Mr. Pustovoitenko must win at least 226 parliamentary votes to retain his post. In 1997 he was approved with 227 votes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lazarenko's wife locked out of home

KYIV - Tamara Lazarenko, the wife of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko who is seeking political asylum in the United States, returned to Ukraine on December 2 but could not enter her apartment. According to her lawyer, Mrs. Lazarenko returned to demonstrate that she is innocent of money laundering, for which her husband is currently being investigated, but was locked out of her apartment by prosecutors. "This contradicts the Constitution and is a groundless ban," her lawyer commented. There was no immediate comment from the Procurator General's Office, according to the Associated Press. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada's 'non-constructive' stance protested

KYIV - Some 200 representatives of the election bloc "Our Choice - Leonid Kuchma" picketed the Parliament building on December 1 to protest the "non-constructive stance" of the legislature, Interfax reported. According to Mykola Shevchenko, one of the organizers of the protest, "the Parliament should cooperate with the executive, not block its activity." He added that if the Verkhovna Rada does not depart from its "confrontational course, we will initiate its dissolution through a nationwide referendum." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Debtors' electricity is cut off

KYIV - Some 16,000 enterprises, or 33 percent of the all enterprises, have received no electricity supplies since late November because they have not paid for earlier deliveries, Interfax reported on December 1. The debt of those disconnected from the grid amounts to 432 million hrv ($87 million), or 7.5 percent of the total debt for electricity supplies in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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