NEWSBRIEFS

G-7 aid continues after Chornobyl closes

KYIV - The closure of Chornobyl AES would not mean the end of financial aid from the G-7 since the organization understands Ukraine's problems, stated a member of the Nuclear Safety Group at the Group of Seven industrialized states, Yukiya Amano, on March 30. The first vice-minister of fuel and energy, Vitalii Haiduk, stated that Ukraine is taking a step favored by the G-7 in shutting down Chornobyl Atomic Energy Station (CAES), which could work for another 11 years. He said he looks forward to further moves by the West in assisting Ukraine to resolve the problems which it cannot solve alone. The new energy blocks at the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi power stations do not necessarily have to be started in order to shut down Chornobyl, said Mr. Haiduk. (Eastern Economist)

G-7 will allocate $300 M to shelter

SLAVUTYCH - The G-7 countries plan to allocate an additional $300 million (U.S.) to return the Chornobyl Atomic Energy Station's sarcophagus to a safe condition, said the deputy director of the station and director of the Shelter Project director, Valentyn Kupnii. It is expected that these plans will be officially announced during the international conference of shelter-donor countries to be held in Germany in May. The Chornobyl Shelter Fund has received $400 million (U.S.) of the $758 million needed. Any country that contributes over $2.5 (U.S.) million receives the status of donor, which entitles it to control the distribution of funds under the project. Mr. Kupnii stated that the funds the Shelter Fund now has will be enough for two to three years, while the Shelter Project was envisioned to span eight to 10 years. (Eastern Economist)

Canadian envoy meets with Pliusch

KYIV - Canada is ready to discuss projects for broadening Ukrainian-Canadian cooperation, stated Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine Derek Fraser during his meeting with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ivan Pliushch. Mr. Fraser added that since independence Canada has invested $200 million (U.S.) into Ukraine's development with $14 million allocated for implementation of projects in 2000. The ambassador added that Canada is interested in cooperation with the Parliament's committees on foreign affairs, national security and defense. Canada also plans to provide funds for expanding the Rada's parliamentary library. (Eastern Economist)

Clinton and Putin to meet in July

MOSCOW - U.S. President Bill Clinton called Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on April 15 to congratulate him on the Duma's ratification of the START-II treaty. Mr. Clinton said the vote was an "important step toward the reduction of nuclear arms" and that now the two countries can work towards START-III. According to a White House spokesman, the two leaders also discussed economic reform, nuclear non-proliferation and the conflict in Chechnya. During the telephone conversation, the two agreed to meet in Okinawa, Japan, on July 21 before the G-7 plus Russia summit, Interfax reported on April 16, citing unidentified Kremlin sources. Speaking from Kyiv on April 14, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said the United States is very glad that the START II Treaty was ratified and that now is the time for an entirely new U.S.-Russian relationship - different than that which existed during the Cold War. (RFE/RL Newsline)

OSCE seeks dialogue on Chechnya

MOSCOW - The chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said on April 15 that Moscow should embark on a dialogue "with the participation of all the people" living in Chechnya, Reuters reported. She said "the OSCE would support any dialogue, with or without international participation, including that of the OSCE." Ms. Ferrero-Waldner was speaking in Moscow after visiting Chechnya and Ingushetia the previous day. She said the OSCE mission to Chechnya, which was evacuated from Grozny to Moscow last year, may reopen next month in the Chechen village of Znamenskoye, where it will serve "as a platform for the work of humanitarian organizations," according to ITAR-TASS. She said that the destruction in Znamenskoye and Gudermes was not as bad as in Grozny, where she described it as "terrible." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pope prays for Krasnodon miners

VATICAN CITY - Pope John Paul II offered prayers for the victims of the recent mining disaster near Krasnodon, Ukraine. He prayed that those killed in the accident would find peace in heaven and that the wounded would receive God's comfort. The pontiff also sent a telegram on March 12 to the victims' families. (Catholic News Service)

Verkhovna Rada raises minimum wage

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on April 6 voted by 304-2 to raise the minimum wage from the current 74 hrv ($13.5) per month to 90 hrv as of April 1 and to 118.3 hrv as of July 1, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lukashenka says no kolkhoz reform

MIENSK - Alyaksandr Lukashenka told a conference of agricultural managers and leaders on April 7 that Belarus's collective farm system will "always" be a basis for agricultural production in the country. "In difficult moments nobody destroys or reforms things. Reforming means a lot of money, which we unfortunately do not have," Mr. Lukashenka said in a two-and-a-half-hour speech broadcast on national radio. He admitted that 25 percent of Belarusian farms are "utterly worthless," but recommended that they be "affiliated" with enterprises that are doing better, rather than be reformed. According to Mr. Lukashenka, reform in the Belarusian agricultural sector is being urged by "those abroad" who want to "destroy our agriculture" and gain a market for their own products in Belarus. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... sets agricultural production targets

MIENSK - President Alyaksandr Lukashenka set agricultural production targets for this year. In particular, the agricultural sector was ordered to harvest 2,500 kilograms of grain per hectare (1,450 in 1999), 17,000 kilograms of potatoes per hectare (11,400 in 1999), and 30,000 kilograms of sugar beets per hectare (21,400 in 1999). He noted that he can find no "objective reasons" why these targets should not be achieved. Belarus's agricultural sector nearly collapsed last year, when it harvested only 3.7 million tons of grain instead of the planned 6 million tons. Due to the acute shortage of forage, the country's livestock was severely decimated during the winter. "I appeal to villagers: Stop killing calves. The state will buy those calves from you and will fatten them," President Lukashenka said at a conference of agricultural managers on April 7. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma suggests payment in goods

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has appealed to President Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan to accept Ukrainian commodities and construction services as payment for gas deliveries in 1999, Interfax reported on April 7. Turkmenistan delivered $315 million worth of gas to Ukraine last year and suspended deliveries in May. Ukraine pledged to repay 40 percent of deliveries in hard currency and 60 percent in goods, but has so far paid only $8.7 million. For resuming its gas deliveries, Ashgabat demands that Kyiv make a one-time payment of $30 million in cash. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish PM Ukraine's reformist course

WARSAW - Polish Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek told his Ukrainian counterpart, Viktor Yuschenko in Warsaw on April 7 that the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has begun implementing reforms "very well," Interfax reported. According to Mr. Buzek, the recently approved Cabinet program and the stable national currency promise the success of those reforms. Prime Minister Yuschenko also held talks with President Aleksander Kwasniewski and Foreign Affairs Minister Bronislaw Geremek, both of whom assured him of Poland's intention to maintain visa-free traffic with Ukraine as long as possible, according to the PAP news agency. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF unlikely to renew loan before June

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov said on April 13 that the International Monetary Fund will not consider resuming the $2.6 billion loan program for Ukraine before June, Interfax reported. The head of the IMF mission in Kyiv, Julian Berengaut, did not name any date for the loan resumption. Mr. Berengaut is currently examining Ukraine's compliance with earlier programs and the results of an audit by the National Bank of Ukraine in connection with allegations of the misuse of IMF funds. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Macedonia sign agreements

KYIV - Ukraine and Macedonia signed a number of cooperation documents on April 10. These included the consular convention, an agreement on legal assistance in civil and criminal investigations, and an agreement for cooperation in the tourism sector. A free trade agreement will be signed in June. (Eastern Economist)

Russia grants citizenship to war criminal

MOSCOW - Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on April 12 granted Russian citizenship to Vasilii Kononov, a former Soviet partisan convicted of war crimes in Latvia, AP reported. However, Kononov told an appeals court the next day that he has no documents confirming his Russian citizenship, the BNS news service reported. Kononov added that he has not renounced his Latvian citizenship. He told the court that his conviction should be reviewed by an international commission of experts as "it is almost impossible to understand war situations looking from the vantage point of peaceful times," Reuters reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Khreschatyk bank board chair dead

KYIV - Halyna Brovchenko, chair of the board of directors of Khreschatyk Bank, was found dead April 7. It is suspected that she committed suicide. The head of state tax inspection, Viktor Zhvaliuk, stated on April 15 that a criminal investigation against the bank had been launched. Khreshchatyk is among the 10 most stable banks in Kyiv. The sectors of the bank's activity include the support of utilities programs including participation in reconstruction of water supply networks, programs for the purchase of grain and pharmaceuticals. (Eastern Economist)

Kyiv looking to WTO membership

KYIV - Preliminary procedures for Ukraine's entry into the World Trade Organization will be agreed upon at the end of June, stated Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk. In order to become a member of the WTO, Ukraine has to improve national legislation in competition policy, financial services, standardization and certification, protection of information and intellectual property sectors. Membership in the WTO is one of the requirements for Ukraine's membership in the European Union. (Eastern Economist)

Intellectual property department created

KYIV -The Ukrainian government has decided to create a department for intellectual property at the Education/Science Ministry. Its charter is to be drawn up by the ministry within one month. (Eastern Economist)

Poland marks Katyn anniversary

WARSAW - Poland on April 13 observed the 60th anniversary of the massacre of some 15,000 officers and 7,000 civilians who had been taken prisoner by Soviet troops in 1939. The Kremlin officially admitted this crime, known as the Katyn massacre, only 50 years later, in 1990. President Aleksander Kwasniewski said at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw that the Katyn massacre "was an atrocity committed by an inhuman system for which we cannot and we do not want to blame the entire [Russian] nation." In a resolution passed the same day, the Parliament paid tribute to "the finest sons of the nation" who were murdered by the NKVD. The Parliament expressed hope that the memory of Katyn "will serve to heal past wounds and shape friendly relations between the Polish Republic and the Russian Federation." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Putin calls about Katyn massacre

WARSAW - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski received an unexpected telephone call from Russian President-elect Vladimir Putin on April 12 regarding the 1940 massacre of Polish officers by the NKVD. The PAP news agency reported that Mr. Kwasniewski's office said in a statement that Mr. Putin spoke of "the discovery of new graves near Smolensk" and invited Polish prosecutors "to participate in actions that will lead to uncovering the truth." The two presidents also pledged to strengthen Polish-Russian ties and agreed to meet within the next two months. The killing of 15,000 Polish officers in April and May 1940, known as the Katyn massacre, became a symbol of Soviet crimes against Poland. "These were not only Polish officers, but Poland's elite who were buried in the Katyn graves. For many years, Polish sovereignty was buried there as well," Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek told the upper house of the Polish Parliament the same day. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine reports economic growth

KYIV - The State Committee on Statistics on April 12 reported that the country's gross domestic product in January-March grew by 5.6 percent, compared with the same period last year. Industrial production increased by 9.7 percent, while it registered a 2.5 percent slump in the same period in 1999. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pifer says progress at home is the key

KYIV - The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Steven Pifer, speaking at the international relations institute in Kyiv, said Washington backs Ukraine's European ambitions. "For Ukraine, it may be best to lower the sights somewhat, at least for the near term," Mr. Pifer said. "Progress on transformation at home is key to the success of Ukraine's European choice," he continued. "If Ukraine wishes ultimately to join the European Union, it will have to develop a political system and a market economy that reflect European values and priorities." (Eastern Economist)

National deputies get a raise

KYIV - The average monthly wage of Verkhovna Rada deputies was increased to 1,451 hrv, stated Parliament Chairman Ivan Pliushch on March 30. The head of the Verkhovna Rada administration, Viacheslav Koval, stated that this would make national deputies more independent. Mr. Koval stressed that there was a need to increase the number of national deputies' assistants to improve the effectiveness of the Parliament. "Each US congressman has 18 assistants, while a national deputy has only four," he noted. (Eastern Economist)

Japanese ambassador visits Lviv

LVIV - Japan's Ambassador to Ukraine Hitoshi Honda visited Lviv on April 4. The region has maintained multi-faceted cultural cooperation with Japan for five years. The trade volume of the Lviv Oblast with Japan in 1999 was $500,000 (U.S.). A group of Japanese businessmen will accompany Mr. Honda on his next visit to the oblast. He added that the Japanese government will soon send a group of experts to western Ukraine to study the possibilities of modernizing railways in the region and creating better railway connections between Ukraine and Hungary. (Eastern Economist)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 23, 2000, No. 17, Vol. LXVIII

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