NEWSBRIEFS (11/12/00)

NEWSBRIEFS

Soros praises Ukraine's development

KYIV - U.S. financier George Soros said on November 6 that Ukraine's development has been hastened by improved cooperation between the president, the prime minister and the parliamentary majority, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Soros arrived in Kyiv to review projects implemented by his Renaissance Foundation and to take part in ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the foundation's work in Ukraine. "I was critical and I am happy to see the progress that was made since the [last] election, but I am concerned about the future of Ukraine, because it's very important," Mr. Soros commented after his meetings with President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland will not invest in bypass pipeline

WARSAW - Polish Vice Prime Minister and Economy Minister Janusz Steinhoff on November 2 said Poland does not plan to invest public funds in a planned new gas pipeline from Russia to Western Europe, the PAP news agency reported. He added that the budget, therefore, will not benefit from this project. Earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin said Poland would receive $1 billion annually for the transit of gas via a pipeline that might bypass Ukraine. Mr. Steinhoff noted that Moscow's statements on Poland's possible profits from the bypass pipeline project are "premature." He said the government has created favorable conditions for Polish private businesses, adding that they might show interest in the planned project. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Oil transport corridor to be expedited

KYIV - The National Security and Defense Council announced at its November 1 sitting, chaired by President Leonid Kuchma, that the government's performance in diversifying energy supplies and in completing the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline has been unsatisfactory, Interfax reported. The council noted that the Odesa oil terminal and the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline are an important component of the Eurasian oil transport corridor. It proposed "a number of economic and political measures to strengthen Ukraine's role in the Eurasian oil transport corridor," including the creation of an international consortium to complete the Odesa-Brody pipeline. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada mulls privatization of pipelines

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on November 1 debated a bill proposing the privatization of Ukraine's gas transport system, Interfax reported. The bill, submitted by Vice-Chairman Stepan Havrysh and lawmakers from four caucuses, calls for selling shares in the state company Ukrtranshaz, which owns the network of some 36,000 kilometers of gas pipelines and underground gas repositories in Ukraine. According to the bill, the state is to retain 50 percent plus one share in Ukrtranshaz. Mr. Havrysh estimated that the value of the country's gas transport system may be $28.7 billion. Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko said the previous day that the government opposes the bill and considers leasing the gas transport system to international partners to be a better option. (RFE/RL Newsline)

2001 budget passed in first reading

KYIV - The Parliament of Ukraine voted 268-8 with 22 abstentions on November 2 to back the 2001 draft budget in the first reading. The draft budget is balanced. The Parliament simultaneously ordered the Cabinet and the parliamentary Budget Committee to include proposals from lawmakers in the draft and submit it for a second reading by November 16. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet approves pension increase

KYIV - The government on November 8 approved a two-stage increase in state pensions, Interfax reported. Currently the monthly minimum and maximum pensions are 48 hrv ($8.80) and 81 hrv, respectively. As of December 1, those pensions will be raised to 55 hrv and 90 hrv, and as of April 1, 2001, to 58 hrv and 108 hrv. Out of Ukraine's 49 million residents, more than 13 million are pensioners. The officially approved monthly subsistence minimum in Ukraine is 270 hrv per capita. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada lifts suspect deputy's immunity

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on November 2 voted 268-3 to lift the immunity of National Deputy Viktor Zherdytskyi, former chief of the Kyiv-based Gradobank, Interfax reported. The decision allows Ukrainian authorities to demand Mr. Zherdytskyi's extradition from Germany, where he was detained last month on charges of embezzling 86 million Deutsche marks ($38 million U.S.) from a German compensation fund for Nazi victims in Ukraine. Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko told the Parliament that an investigation has shown that in 1995 Mr. Zherdytskyi embezzled 4 million DM. Mr. Potebenko did not indicate, however, if the embezzlement pertained to the German compensation fund. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutors probe $4.6 M bribe case

KYIV - Deputy Procurator General Mykola Obikhod told journalists on November 6 that Oleksander Tymoshenko, the husband of Vice Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, has been accused of paying $4.6 million in bribes to former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Interfax reported. Earlier, Oleksander Tymoshenko, a board member of the Unified Energy System (UES), was arrested on charges of embezzlement. Mr. Obikhod also said Ms. Tymoshenko has been interrogated by Russian investigators who are looking into allegations of the UES bribing officials in the Russian Defense Ministry. Ms. Tymoshenko headed the UES from 1995 to 1997. She previously claimed that her husband's arrest was an act of "political revenge" against herself for seeking to curb shady operations and corruption in Ukraine's fuel and energy sector. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lazarenko rejects bribery charges

KYIV - Lawyers of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who has been jailed in the United States on charges of laundering $114 million, have told Interfax that Mr. Lazarenko "categorically rejects" the recent accusation that he accepted bribes from Oleksander Tymoshenko, a board member of Unified Energy Systems. The lawyers added that Mr. Lazarenko has "never maintained business or other relations" with Mr. Tymoshenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Greek foreign minister visits Kyiv

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko and his Greek counterpart, Georgios Papandreou, signed agreements in Kyiv on November 6 on the avoidance of dual taxation, as well as cooperation in merchant sea navigation and customs, Interfax reported. Mr. Papandreou commented that the two countries have not yet taken full advantage of their cooperation potential. Ukraine's trade turnover with Greece in the first six months of 2000 amounted to $63.3 million. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moldovan, Ukrainian leaders confer

KYIV - President Petru Lucinschi spoke by telephone on November 3 with his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, about expanding cooperation in a variety of areas, including resuming deadlocked talks about the Transdniester dispute, Infotag reported. Meanwhile, the authorities of the breakaway Transdniester Republic said the same day that they will resume talks with Chisinau after Moldova elects a new president, BASA-Press reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leftists celebrate October Revolution

KYIV - Ukrainian leftists held rallies across Ukraine on November 7 to celebrate the anniversary of the October Revolution and protest the government's policies in the socio-economic sphere. According to estimates by Interfax, 2,500 people demonstrated in Kyiv, 3,500 in Kharkiv, 1,500 in Dnipropetrovsk, 3,000 in Symferopol, 4,000 in Sevastopol, 1,000 in Luhansk and 2,000 in Mykolaiv. Police said there were no incidents during the rallies, adding that attendance was much lower than last year. The Kyiv demonstration, which was attended by Communist leader Petro Symonenko and Socialist leader Oleksander Moroz, demanded that the government establish fixed prices for utilities and foodstuffs, set the minimum wage at a level no lower than the subsistence minimum, and re-establish the October Revolution anniversary as a public holiday. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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