NEWSBRIEFS (10/01/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Tymoshenko quizzed on ties to Lazarenko

KYIV - Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has given U.S. federal agents a deposition and answered questions about her past connections to former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is being held in the United States on embezzlement charges, the DPA news service reported on September 26. Ms. Tymoshenko was the No. 2 person in Mr. Lazarenko's Hromada Party and in the mid-1990s was the president of Ukraine's United Energy Systems (UES). Ukrainian authorities have accused Mr. Lazarenko of giving the UES a monopoly on Russian gas imports in return for cash payments to his offshore bank accounts. Ms. Tymoshenko has denied any wrongdoing. U.S. investigators are also questioning Vladimir Falkovich and Ms. Tymoshenko's husband, Oleksander, both former UES board members. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Police defuse bomb at newspaper office

KYIV - A homemade bomb was found and disarmed by police at the offices of the Bulvar newspaper in Kyiv on September 26, the Associated Press reported. Police said the bomb was defused three minutes before it was set to go off. Officials at Bulvar said they had not received any threats. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv to sell companies' property for debts

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov on September 22 said that in order to repay foreign loans taken by companies under state guarantees, the government intends to sell those companies' property, Interfax reported. A government directive issued last month obliged Ukrainian companies to repay some $130 million in state-guaranteed foreign credits by the end of 2000. Between January 1, 1992, and October 1, 1997, the government granted its guarantees to $2.456 billion worth of foreign credits to Ukrainian companies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF mission critical of budget draft

KYIV - Julian Berengaut, head of an IMF delegation visiting Kyiv, said on September 21 that the government's prediction that budget revenues will total 9 billion hrv ($1.65 billion U.S.) next year is "somewhat unrealistic," Interfax reported. Mr. Berengaut added that if this provision is approved by the Verkhovna Rada, the 2001 budget will in fact have a deficit equal to 5 percent of the gross domestic product, instead of being balanced, as the government asserts. Mr. Berengaut refused to say if and when the fund will resume its suspended $2.6 billion loan package to Ukraine. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko commented the same day that the government has made "obvious progress" in its talks with the IMF mission. The 2001 budget draft foresees that the country will obtain $1.72 billion in foreign loans, including $1.13 billion under the IMF's suspended loan program. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Parliamentary majority elects head

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada's pro-government majority elected Oleksander Karpov as its leader on September 21. Mr. Karpov, who heads the parliamentary caucus of the National Democratic Party, will replace Leonid Kravchuk of the Social Democratic Party (United). The pro-government majority elects a new leader for each parliamentary session. Mr. Karpov told Interfax that the majority currently numbers 171 deputies. He added that "one can be quite confident" that the majority will soon be reinforced by 15 other lawmakers, while "four or five" are now negotiating the possibility of access. The majority needs at least 300 votes to pass constitutional amendments in line with the April 16 referendum. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada probes journalist's disappearance

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on September 21 set up a 15-member commission to look into the disappearance of opposition journalist Heorhii Gongadze. The commission is headed by Oleksander Lavrynovych of Rukh. More than 40 journalists accredited to the Parliament asked the lawmakers not to appoint those deputies who have been criticized by Mr. Gongadze in his Internet newspaper. Many Ukrainian journalists believe that Mr. Gongadze's disappearance is politically motivated. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Volkov says Rada majority is unreliable

KYIV - Viktor Volkov, head of the Revival of the Regions parliamentary caucus and an influential oligarch, told journalists on September 14 that amending the Constitution of Ukraine in line with the April 16 referendum will be difficult since the pro-government parliamentary majority is unreliable. According to Mr. Volkov, only six groups - Revival of Regions, Labor Ukraine, Social Democratic Party (United), Greens, National Democratic Party and Yabluko - adhere strictly to the majority's obligations, while such groups as Fatherland, both factions of the split Rukh, and Reforms-Congress support the majority only when "it suits their interests," Interfax reported. Mr. Volkov added that his caucus wants Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to be dismissed from Viktor Yuschenko's Cabinet for her "incompetence" in the energy sector. Some Ukrainian commentators assert that Ms. Tymoshenko's energy policies have substantially reduced Mr. Volkov's control over Ukraine's gas and oil supplies as well as his personal financial gain. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Hrach urges ouster of Crimean PM

SYMFEROPOL - Leonid Hrach, the leader of Crimea's Communist Party and chairman of the Crimean Parliament, wants Crimean Prime Minister Serhii Kunitsyn to quit his post, Interfax reported on September 20. The Crimean legislature had passed a resolution in May to oust Mr. Kunitsyn's Cabinet. Mr. Hrach said that he will submit to President Leonid Kuchma a motion on dismissing Mr. Kunitsyn. Meanwhile, seven Communist ministers resigned from the peninsula's coalition Cabinet in a move widely interpreted as Mr. Hrach bringing pressure to bear on Kyiv to expedite Mr. Kunitsyn's ouster. President Kuchma had said the previous day that he sees no reason "to change [Crimea's] government and Parliament under the current ... [political] balance" in the autonomous republic. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will Israel boycott conference?

VILNIUS - The BNS wire service quoted the Israeli daily Globs as saying that Israel may boycott the upcoming international conference on plundered Jewish properties scheduled to take place in Vilnius on October 3-5. The report states that the Israeli delegation would take part in the forum only if a commemorative event were held at a site near Vilnius where many of the country's Jews were massacred. The group also wanted war crimes to be included in the discussions, as well as a firm promise from Lithuania that it will return plundered Jewish properties on its territory. An organizer of the conference in Vilnius told BNS that the information is not official. About 50 government delegations and numerous NGOs are expected to participate in the conference, which the U.S. government and the Council of Europe are helping organize. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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