NEWSBRIEFS (04/08/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

PM, deputies seek meeting with Kuchma

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on April 2 said he and leaders of the parliamentary majority will ask President Leonid Kuchma for a meeting in order to agree on controversial issues in the currently discussed political accord between the Cabinet of Ministers and majority caucuses, Interfax reported. Mr. Yuschenko said the draft accord stipulates that the parliamentary majority will back the current cabinet until April 2002. However, the sides have not yet agreed on the procedure for appointing ministers and other officials. Meanwhile, Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Speaker Stepan Havrysh said the accord between the government and the parliamentary majority can be signed within a week. Mr. Yuschenko is expected to report on the government's performance to the parliament on 17 April. First Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Viktor Medvedchuk noted last week that no one in the parliament has moved to initiate Mr. Yuschenko's ouster. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Talks may focus on referendum

KYIV - The chief of staff of the presidential administration, Volodymyr Lytvyn, on April 2 said talks between the authorities and the opposition could focus on a moratorium on last year's constitutional referendum results. Mr. Lytvyn suggested that President Leonid Kuchma could address the nation with an appeal to postpone the implementation of the referendum for some time. He also noted that the opposition, in turn, could withdraw its proposals to change the Constitution. Mr. Lytvyn added that the sides could also discuss adopting laws on political opposition, political parties and parliamentary elections under a proportional system. According to the chief of staff, the best candidates from the authorities to conduct talks with the opposition are Anatolii Kinakh, head of the Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, and Viktor Musiaka, leader of the Forward Ukraine party. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kwasniewski seen as moderator

KYIV - The Forum for National Salvation told journalists on March 30 that it wants talks with President Leonid Kuchma or, should they fail to materialize, with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Mr. Kuchma's old friend. "We only agree to Kwasniewski acting as an intermediary, or someone named by him," Reuters quoted forum activist Volodymyr Filenko as saying. "It was Kwasniewski who suggested to Kuchma that he should sit down to talks with the opposition," Mr. Filenko added. The national deputy declined to say whether the forum still insists on the president's resignation as one of the key topics at the talks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland supports 'patient dialogue'

KYIV - Polish Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski on March 30 discussed the situation in Ukraine with NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson, who visited Warsaw last week. After the talks, Mr. Bartoszewski explained Poland's position on Ukraine to journalists: "We represent the view of a necessity for patient dialogue with Ukraine, of influence, in as much as that is possible, from outside for the amelioration of internal conflicts, in the interests of progress, stabilization and democratic processes in that country." Mr. Bartoszewski added that "it is not necessary to become discouraged, despite the fact that some phenomena are hard to accept," since "distancing and isolating Ukraine cannot bring anything good." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma refuses to discuss resignation

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma does not intend to discuss with the opposition either his resignation or the transformation of Ukraine into a parliamentary-presidential republic, Interfax reported on March 29. Mr. Kuchma told journalists in Donetsk: "How can I sit at a negotiation table with those who demand my resignation by taking [only] 3,000 people to the streets? What, should I spit upon the 16 million people who voted for me during the elections?" Mr. Kuchma said the preparation of talks with the opposition is handled by Anatolii Kinakh, head of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs; former Prime Minister Valerii Pustovoitenko; and Yevhen Marchuk, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council. Mr. Marchuk said that thus far there have been no talks with the opposition, only consultations with "some representatives of the Forum for National Salvation" on the possibility of such talks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President fears 'criminal' foreign capital

KYIV - Addressing a congress of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in Kyiv on March 29, President Leonid Kuchma said he is concerned about "the strengthening of inter-clan confrontation [and] the activation of shadow capital" in a "new stage" of privatization in Ukraine. According to Mr. Kuchma, the privatization process in Ukraine is increasingly threatened by "foreign financial capital of a criminal origin." He blamed "some homespun political associations" for promoting interests of that "criminal capital" in Ukraine. Kinakh told the congress that the union will support Kuchma's measures to prevent "illegal actions in order to change the constitutional system in the state." Anatolii Kinakh, head of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, appealed to President Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, who also attended the congress but made no speech, to find "mutual understanding" and work "in tandem." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma criticizes draft of political accord

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said he is unhappy with the draft of a political accord that is currently being prepared by the Verkhovna Rada and the government. "[The draft] speaks about the creation of a parliamentary republic. Should the president sanctify this? No," Interfax quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. He also said it is necessary "to re-register" the parliamentary majority because it is unclear which parliamentary groups are supporting the government. President Kuchma noted that now the majority formally includes the Fatherland Party and Reforms Congress caucuses that support the opposition. He added that he would readily disband the current legislature if the results of last year's constitutional referendum had been reflected in the Constitution. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Zlenko meets with Kissinger

NEW YORK - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko met with American political activist and Nobel prize laureate Henry Kissinger in New York on March 22. During the meeting, Dr. Kissinger stressed that Ukraine is a vitally important country with a strategic importance. He confirmed his readiness to visit Ukraine and thanked President Leonid Kuchma for inviting him to visit . Messrs. Zlenko and Kissinger discussed a broad range of issues connected with Ukraine's activities on the international arena, the progress of reform in Ukraine, and the present state and prospects for the development of the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States. Mr. Zlenko informed Dr. Kissinger about Ukraine's activities within the United Nations Security Council. Among other things, he outlined the steps that Ukraine has taken to consolidate the efforts of the Security Council to resolve the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict as well as to strengthen peace and stability in the Balkans, the Middle East and other regions of the world. The two men also discussed the realization of Ukraine's policy of integration into Europe and strengthening its strategic partnerships with neighboring countries and the United States. In this context, Dr. Kissinger noted the exclusive geopolitical importance of Ukraine. On Ukrainian-American cooperation, Dr. Kissinger expressed his wish to facilitate the deepening of the partnership between the two countries. The two men also discussed the situation in Ukraine. Mr. Zlenko stressed that Ukraine's policy of consistent democratic transformation and economic reform remained unchanged. (Ukrinform)

Russia takes over USSR assets

MOSCOW - By the beginning of the year, Russia had fully taken over the ownership rights to the former Soviet Union's property in 90 countries, and partially in five countries, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Ivan Sergeyev told Interfax. "This work is still to be done in 16 states," Mr. Sergeyev said. He said that Russia had concluded agreements with the former Soviet republics on the legal status of the former Soviet Union's state debts and assets, under which it will repay the Soviet-era debts to foreign countries in exchange for the former Soviet republics' consent to "give up their share of Soviet foreign property." He added that "Russia is strictly observing its commitments, and, taking this into account, is taking over the ownership rights to the former Soviet Union's property abroad," he said. He noted that "some of the former Soviet republics, in violation of the concluded bilateral agreements, continue to lay claims to the former Soviet Union's foreign property. Ukraine, for instance, regularly sends blocking notes to the countries where such property is located." (Interfax)

Yekhanurov comments on IMF program

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov on March 15 said the International Monetary Fund will resume its loan program with Ukraine if the Parliament passes a bill on reducing the sunflower seed import duty from 23 percent to 10 percent and a bill on budget debt restructuring in line with proposals from President Leonid Kuchma, Interfax reported. Mr. Yekhanurov was commenting on his recent talks with the IMF in Washington. According to Eastern Economist Daily, Mr. Yekhanurov also complained that IMF officials are influenced by politics in making decisions despite their assurances that they are not. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian diplomat slips away

MOSCOW - Igor Dereichuk, an ethnic Ukrainian who went missing on February 27 from his post as an attaché at the Russian Embassy in Panama, has since informed his family that he is alive and well, but indicated that he does not intend to work for the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry in the future. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. cites rights problems in Russia

WASHINGTON - In its annual Human Rights Report released on February 26 the U.S. State Department said that "serious problems remain" in Russia's observance of human rights, Western agencies reported. Among the most pressing, the report said, are problems involving "the independence and freedom of the media and the conditions of pretrial detention and torture of prisoners." It added that Moscow's record is poor in Chechnya, where Russian security forces demonstrate little respect for basic human rights. It also suggested that government institutions "remain largely unreformed" and that government leaders remain "mostly silent about violations of human rights and democratic practices." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian media minister cites U.S. lies

MOSCOW - Russia's Media Minister Mikhail Lesin said on February 27 that Moscow is considering the launch of an advertising campaign in the United States aimed at creating a positive image of Russia in American society, Interfax reported. He said that the U.S. administration is spending "a large amount of money on making Russia's image worse," and he asked rhetorically: "When will they stop telling Americans lies about the processes that are taking place in our country?" He said that Moscow will publish within two weeks a report "On the Situation of Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Action in the United States." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow to push Russian language abroad

MOSCOW - Russia's Foreign Affairs Ministry collegium on February 21 directed Russian diplomats to work toward strengthening the position of the Russian language around the world, Interfax reported. The ministry called for particular attention to be devoted to the use of Russian in the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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