NEWSBRIEFS (07/30/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

PM to pay pension backlog by October

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on July 25 said the Ukrainian government will pay all pension debts by October 1, three months earlier than the Cabinet of Ministers had promised in February, Interfax reported. "The government has received a direct order from President Leonid Kuchma ... who has set the task of putting an end to this shameful phenomenon," Mr. Yuschenko noted. According to figures released by the prime minister earlier this month, the state owed a total of 1.45 billion hrv ($268 million) as of January 1, and only 32 percent of Ukraine's pensioners had been paid in full. As of July 1, 62 percent had received full payments, but the government still owed some 850 million hrv to pensioners. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Passports to be needed for Russia, Belarus

KYIV - Viktor Kyryk, head of the Consular Department at Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has announced that people traveling between Ukraine, Russia and Belarus will require passports in the near future, the Eastern Economist Daily reported on July 25. Mr. Kyryk noted that this requirement is intended to reinforce control over the border. Currently, there is no formal passport control at Ukraine's borders with Belarus and Russia, and Ukrainians can visit those countries by using only internal passports or other identity cards. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine abounds in illegal migrants

KYIV - According to Pavlo Shysholin, deputy chief of the State Border Protection Committee, Ukraine has acquired nearly 70,000 illegal migrants over the past five years, Interfax reported on July 17. "Illegal migration as a form of organized transnational crime has acquired a threatening character in the country. During the past 18 months, Ukraine has transformed itself from a transit country into a country storing illegal migrants," Mr. Shysholin noted. He said that last year Ukraine's border guards detained 14,646 illegal migrants, but only 369 of them were deported from the country. He explained that 95 percent of illegal migrants in Ukraine are from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Vietnam, China and Bangladesh. Mr. Shysholin added Ukraine's visa policy is unable to cope with this situation. (RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report)

Immigration fears reduce visa numbers

KYIV - This year Ukraine issued fewer visas to citizens of countries, which are "potential providers of illegal immigrants," said Viktor Kyryk, head of the Consular Department at the Foreign Affairs Ministry. He stated that in the first half of 2000 149,000 visas were issued, while in 1998 the figure was over 600,000 and 300,000 in 1999. Ukraine has offered to reconsider a part of the agreement on bilateral trips with China and Vietnam, which allows the use of internal passports for some trips. The countries have agreed to such a proposal. Mr. Kyryk also stated that revenues from consular activity since the beginning of the year totaled $8 million (U.S.). (Eastern Economist)

Kuchma orders electricity for naval forces

YALTA - President Leonid Kuchma, who is currently vacationing in Crimea, made a surprise trip to Yalta during which he ordered that electricity supplies be restored to the Crimea-based naval forces of Ukraine and Russia, ITAR-TASS and Interfax reported on July 24. The naval forces' electricity was cut off because earlier deliveries had not been paid for. President Kuchma was also displeased by high entrance fees for Yalta's beaches and ordered his aides to draft an executive order allowing disabled persons, war veterans, pensioners, Yalta residents and children to use beaches free of charge. (RFE/RL Newsline)

5 percent of N energy paid for in cash

KYIV - The national nuclear energy company Enerhoatom reported on July 24 that Ukraine's five nuclear power plants produced 3.18 billion hrv ($585 million U.S.) worth of electricity and heating in the first six months of this year but only 5 percent of that energy was paid for in cash. Some 75 percent of the power generated by Ukraine's nuclear plants is sold on barter terms or used to reduce the nuclear energy industry's debts. As of July 1 consumers owed the country's nuclear plants 2.66 billion hrv for energy supplies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv hopes for two IMF tranches in 2000

KYIV - Valerii Lytvytskyi, a top aide of Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, has told journalists that if the International Monetary Fund loan program is resumed in September or October, Kyiv may obtain two tranches worth between $250 million and $260 million each before the end of the year, Interfax reported on July 21. Meanwhile, First Vice Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov's July 22-24 visit to IMF headquarters in Washington was postponed until July 31 for "technical reasons," Mr. Yekhanurov's press secretary announced. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma asked to 'save' jailed deputy

KYIV - The lawyer for National Deputy Mykola Agafonov has sent a letter to President Leonid Kuchma asking him to "save" the life of Mr. Agafonov by freeing him from jail for medical treatment, Interfax reported on July 20. The letter says Mr. Agafonov suffers from cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, adding that "the probability that he will live until a verdict [is passed] is very low." Mr. Agafonov was arrested after the Parliament lifted his immunity in June. The Procurator General's Office suspects him of embezzling $24 million in state funds from an agricultural company he headed from 1992 to 1997. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's total debt decreases

KYIV - Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov has announced that Ukraine's total debt, which includes the state's foreign and domestic payment obligations, decreased in the period January to May 2000 by $438 million to a total of $14.865 billion as of June 1, Interfax reported on June 21. However, calculated in the national currency, the total debt increased in the same period by 700 million hrv ($129 million) to 80.5 billion hrv. Mr. Mitiukov said the debt increase in hryvni was caused by inflation in Ukraine. Mr. Mitiukov added that Ukraine's foreign debt stood at $10.599 billion as of June 1. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bilateral commission to tackle gas debt

KYIV - Following his July 19 talks in Moscow with Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said the two sides reached understanding on the size of Ukraine's gas debt to Russia but he gave no figures. Russia's Gazprom says Ukraine owes more than $2 billion, while Ukraine maintains that its gas debt totals $1.4 billion. Mr. Yuschenko added that both countries agreed to set up an intergovernmental commission to resolve the gas debt problem. The commission will meet next week, and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko will lead the Russian side. Prime Minister Yuschenko also said both sides discussed the issue of a gas pipeline bypassing Ukraine, which was recently raised by Gazprom. "If we resolve the problem of [Ukraine's] payment for gas, we will not need to make any investments in new pipelines," Nezavisimaya Gazeta quoted Mr. Kasianov as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Odesa-Moscow train is derailed

VINNYTSIA - The locomotive and six cars of the Moscow-Odesa passenger train went off the rails July 24 at 4:53 a.m. in the Vinnytsia Oblast. Thirty-five passengers were injured, and one is in critical condition. According to preliminary information, the crash took place due to a damaged rail. The investigation group stated that the accident might be the result of dismantling of the rails for metal scrap by local residents. The victims of the crash will be issued compensation of 1,000 hrv. (Eastern Economist)

Names to appear on rail tickets

KYIV - Railway tickets will be sold only when a passport or other photo ID is presented starting July 20. The passenger's last name is to be printed on the ticket. Such measures were taken due to the increased number of re-sales of the tickets, which creates ticket shortages. In the past such measures did not prove to be effective. (Eastern Economist)

President signs decree on banking

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree on measures to strengthen the banking system and increase its role in the economic transformation processes. According to the document, a monitoring system for commercial banks is to be created separately from the National Bank of Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers and the NBU are to create the system and develop the program for development of the banking system for 2001-2003 before November 1. The program will establish an organization for restructuring the debt obligations to commercial banks, which were recognized as not collectable. Also, a new state office will be set up to control the activity of investment companies, trusts, credit unions, insurance companies and other financial intermediaries. Currently the NBU develops the principles of financial and monitoring policy, as well as the monitoring system for commercial banks. In 2001-2003 the government and the NBU are to implement measures to reorganize the JS commercial bank Ukraina for improvement of functioning of the State Export-Import Bank, UkrExImBank and improve the financial state of Oschadnyi bank. These banks are among the top commercial banks in Ukraine. The total number of branch offices of these banks is 10,870, while the personnel of only Ukraina bank is over 18,000. (Eastern Economist)

Turkmenistan, Ukraine resolve dispute

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan - During talks in Ashgabat on July 25 with visiting Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov agreed to extend by two years the deadline for repayment of Kyiv's restructured debt for deliveries of natural gas in 1993-1994, Interfax reported. One third of the total $211 million debt must be paid in cash before the end of 2002, and the remainder in goods and services for Turkmenistan's oil and gas sector. In addition, before the end of this year Ukraine will pay $27 million out of a total $107 million owed to Turkmenistan by Naftohaz Ukrainy. It is not clear whether agreement was also reached on further Ukrainian purchases of Turkmen gas or when deliveries, which were halted in May 1999, will be resumed. (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |