NEWSBRIEFS (10/15/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Zlenko: Ukraine stays European course

KYIV - Newly appointed Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko assured foreign diplomats in Kyiv on October 10 that Ukraine will continue its efforts to integrate with Europe. "Let me reiterate once again that our course remains unchanged. As President [Leonid] Kuchma stated ... the course on European integration is and will remain our priority," Reuters quoted Mr. Zlenko as saying. Interfax reported that Mr. Zlenko had declared that Kyiv wants "to materialize its European choice in a concrete form." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma worried about economic crime

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on October 9 reviewed economic crime at a session of the Coordinating Committee for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma said the fuel and energy complex is "the most politicized and criminalized" economic sector in Ukraine. He cited several examples of shady operations involving supplies of electricity, coal, and oil, but declined to name any offenders. President Kuchma noted that such areas as metallurgy and agriculture, as well as the social sphere, are also plagued by financial crime, tax evasion and corruption. He also criticized the government for failing to draft a bill on the legalization of shadow capital, in accordance with a decree he had issued earlier this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Police note unprecedented search

KYIV - Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko told the Verkhovna Rada on October 6 that police are taking "unprecedented" measures in their search for opposition journalist Heorhii Gongadze, who disappeared on September 16. Mr. Kravchenko said the investigation of Mr. Gongadze's disappearance has taken on a "political character" and has attracted "international publicity." According to Mr. Kravchenko, Mr. Gongadze's publications in the Internet newsletter Ukrainska Pravda, which have been critical of Kyiv, may have contributed to his disappearance. "For the first time in the history of crime detection, it was decided to allow the wife [of a disappeared person] to participate in investigative measures and to discuss their results," the internal affairs minister told the lawmakers. However, he did not report any significant progress in the investigation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

World Bank, EBRD to give more credits

KYIV - World Bank President James Wolfensohn pledged in Kyiv last week that his bank will soon allocate $70 million to complete a program restructuring Ukraine's coal sector, which was launched in 1996, the Eastern Economist Daily reported on October 9. Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov commented that the loan will improve the country's financial situation but will not prevent the government from making budget cuts this year. Mr. Wolfensohn also promised to send a mission to Kyiv to discuss the allocation of $100 million to support Ukraine's financial sector. Meanwhile, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has signed an agreement with Kyiv on issuing a $100 million credit for the purchase of fuel for four Ukrainian energy generating companies. (RFE/RL Newsline)

1.3 percent growth in agriculture noted

KYIV - Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Hladii told Interfax on October 9 that agricultural production in January-September 2000 grew by 1.3 percent, compared with the same period last year. Agrarian Policy Minister Ivan Kyrylenko noted that in August and September Ukraine had registered growth in agricultural production for the first time since the country gained independence in 1991. Mr. Kyrylenko added that this year Ukraine will gather 24.5 million tons of grain, as planned by the government. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Government presents 2001 budget draft

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko told the Verkhovna Rada on October 4 that the 2001 budget draft is more socially oriented than last year's budget, Interfax reported. He stressed that the draft simultaneously pursues the goal of sustaining current economic growth. Mr. Yuschenko said 50 percent of budget revenues will be spent in the social sphere. "Those wanting to see state social policy [become] more humane should vote for this budget," Mr. Yuschenko noted. He added that the draft reduces the tax burden on domestic producers by 2.43 percent compared with tax revenues projected in the 2000 budget. The 2001 draft is Ukraine's second balanced budget. The document puts consolidated budget revenues at 51.2 billion hrv ($9.4 billion), a figure slightly different from that included in the first draft version, which was submitted to the Parliament in mid-September. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv scores Russia's response to ships' visit

SEVASTOPOL - Representatives of the Ukrainian navy told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on October 4 that they are surprised by the "inappropriate" response of their Russian colleagues to the visit of two U.S. naval ships to Sevastopol from September 29 to October 3. An unidentified Russian admiral had told Interfax the previous day that Kyiv had not informed Moscow of the visit ahead of time, thus violating agreements on relations between the Russian and Ukrainian navies in Sevastopol. Ukrainian officers told RFE/RL that Moscow was notified about the visit a day before it began. They added that Russia's reaction can be seen as "open military-political pressure" on Ukraine and an attempt to curtail Ukraine's sovereignty. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Turkmenistan, Ukraine sign gas deal

ASHGABAT - Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov and his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, signed an agreement on October 4 in Ashgabat whereby Turkmenistan will provide Ukraine with 35 billion cubic meters of gas over the next 15 months at a total price of $1.2 billion at the Turkmen border, ITAR-TASS reported. The 5 billion cubic meters Kyiv will purchase in 2000 will cost $38 and the remaining 30 billion cubic meters $40 per thousand cubic meters. Of that sum, 40 percent in 2000 and 50 percent in 2001 is to be paid in cash and the balance in goods and services. Those prices are the same as those recently agreed on between Turkmenistan and Russia. Kyiv will pay the transit fees for transportation of the gas to Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine must make weekly advance payments to Ashgabat of $7 million in cash and $9 million in goods and services. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. provides $33 M in humanitarian aid

KYIV - Since the beginning of the year Ukraine has received $33 million U.S. worth of humanitarian aid. A representative of the State Customs Service stated the United States sent $14.6 million worth of aid; Germany, $7 million; the Netherlands, $2 million; Denmark, $2 million; and Finland, $1.5 million. A total of 35 countries, including Russia, Bulgaria, Belarus, Syria, Armenia, Lithuania and Australia, sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine (UNIAN, Aug. 15)

American is buried at Baikove Cemetery

KYIV - Victor Kytasty, a program officer with the United States Information Agency until late 1998 and professor of philosophy at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, was buried at Baikove Cemetery in Kyiv on September 27. Mr. Kytasty, 57, collapsed during a basketball game on September 22. The Californian had lived and worked in Ukraine since 1992. (Eastern Economist)

Conference calls for property restitution

VILNIUS - The Vilnius conference on the return of plundered Jewish cultural properties concluded on October 5 with a declaration calling for all states to expedite taking measures aimed at the return of such assets. The resolution also called on organizations and museums to take part in the effort by providing information on such plundered objects. The ELTA news service reported that the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Lord Russell Johnston, said that the success of the conference's aims "depended on the individual efforts of each country." The BNS news agency added that Rep. Tom Lantos of California, the only Holocaust survivor to ever serve in the U.S Congress, praised the conference's work and expressed the hope that the restoration of the historical Vilnius Jewish quarter would create a "living museum" for the community. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Soviet occupation cost Lithuania $20 B

VILNIUS - A Lithuanian government committee announced on October 6 that the Soviet occupation of Lithuania caused an estimated $20 billion worth of damage. The committee, led by Vice Minister of Justice Rasa Budbergyte, took into account the loss of property through destruction or confiscation as well as the persecution of Lithuanian nationals, the Catholic Church, and other institutions and groups in Lithuania. The report was in accordance with a law passed earlier this year calling for compensation from Moscow for the Soviet occupation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Eurasian economic union is established

ASTANA - The presidents of the five member-states of the Commonwealth of Independent States Customs Union - Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan - signed a treaty in the Kazak capital of Astana on October 10 establishing a new Eurasian Economic Union on the basis of the Customs Union, Russian agencies reported. Unlike its predecessor, the Eurasian Economic Union will be registered with the United Nations as an international organization, which means that its decisions are binding on all participants and take precedence over international law. Those decisions will be reached by a two-thirds majority vote: Russia will have 40 percent of the vote, Kazakstan and Belarus 20 percent, and Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan 10 percent. Russian Vice Prime Minister Viktor Khristenko predicted that the new Eurasian Economic Union might achieve a common currency in fewer than the 30 years it took the EEC, on which the new union is modeled, to do so. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the new union will not be an exclusively economic body but will have "social and humanitarian" aspects that he hopes will bring "positive results for the people." Kazakstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaiev had outlined such measures, titled "Ten Simple Steps Towards Ordinary People," in January 1998. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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