NEWSBRIEFS (06/10/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma assigns more ministers

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on June 5 reappointed Education and Culture Minister Vasyl Kremen and Fuel and Energy Minister Stanyslav Stashevskyi to serve in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma also restored the ministry of industrial policy, which was abolished in the previous Cabinet of Viktor Yuschenko, and appointed Vasyl Hureiev to head it. Mr. Hureiev was industrial policy minister from July 1997 to February 2000. The president is expected to make four more appointments to fill the remaining posts of two vice prime ministers, transportation minister, and environment minister. Out of the 17 Cabinet members named thus far, 14 served under Prime Minister Yuschenko. Notwithstanding so many reappointments, First Vice-Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Viktor Medvedchuk commented that the Kinakh Cabinet is "a coalition government up to 40-50 percent." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM: new Cabinet is 'optimal compromise'

KYIV - Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh told journalists in Miensk on May 31 that the appointments made thus far to his Cabinet are "the result of an optimal compromise" among President Leonid Kuchma, the parliamentary groups that voted for Mr. Kinakh's approval, and Mr. Kinakh himself, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, President Kuchma said in Miensk the same day that "only the prime minister was changed, while the government remained [the same]" in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kinakh Cabinet a copy of Yuschenko's?

KYIV - Interfax reported on May 31 that President Leonid Kuchma has already appointed 13 members of Anatolii Kinakh's Cabinet. In addition to the five members of the previous Cabinet who were renamed to their positions earlier, Mr. Kuchma reappointed Economy Minister Vasyl Rohovyi, Finance Minister Ihor Mitiukov, Justice Minister Suzanna Stanyk, Health Minister Vitalii Moskalenko, Agrarian Policy Minister Ivan Kyrylenko, and Labor and Social Policy Minister Ivan Sakhan. The Cabinet's newcomers are Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko and Culture Minister Yurii Bohutskyi. The former Cabinet of Viktor Yuschenko had 20 posts - those of prime minister, first vice prime minister, three vice prime ministers and 15 ministers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Chernomyrdin begins mission in Kyiv

KYIV - The new Russian ambassador to Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, on May 30 presented his credentials to President Leonid Kuchma, Interfax reported. Mr. Chernomyrdin told journalists after the ceremony that he is not going to force the payment of Ukraine's gas debt to Russia, adding that he prefers to resolve the problem in "a civilized way." He noted that Russia is going to cooperate with CIS countries as sovereign states. "[There have recently been opinions expressed] that someone wants to devour someone else. This will not happen," Mr. Chernomyrdin said. The new envoy also criticized Pope John Paul II's plans to visit Ukraine next month. "The pope's visit is Ukraine's affair, but maybe it's not very good and not very right. We are Slav Orthodox [people]. I don't think there should be cracks in our spirituality," AP quoted Mr. Chernomyrdin as saying. Mr. Chernomyrdin promised to learn Ukrainian during his mission in Kyiv. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President sets tax reform goals

KYIV - In a message to the Parliament released on June 5, President Leonid Kuchma wrote that Ukraine's GDP should grow 6 percent next year, including a 7 percent rise in industrial output and a 3.8 percent increase in agricultural production. According to the president, the budget should provide for more social benefits and a 5.5 percent growth in salaries. The average hryvnia exchange rate in 2002 should not fall below 5.75 to $1 (the current rate is 5.41 to $1), while exports should increase by 5 percent. Mr. Kuchma also urged the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a Tax Code in order to radically ease tax pressure and simplify tax procedures. Mr. Kuchma wants to reduce the overall number of taxes from 39 to 23, decrease the value-added tax from 20 percent to 17 percent, lower the profit tax for businesses from 30 percent to 25 percent, and introduce a new income tax system with the top rate not exceeding 25 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Slavic legislators seek union

HRODNA, Belarus - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Russia-Belarus Union on June 4 gathered for a two-day session in Hrodna, western Belarus. The session was attended also by Ukrainian lawmakers. Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian lawmakers set up an interparliamentary deputies' association called For the Union of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia (ZUBR). ZUBR's declared goals include "the restoration of the unity of the Russian, Belarusian and Ukrainian people" and the consolidation of efforts toward the creation of a union of the three Slavic nations, Belapan reported. Meanwhile, Russian State Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev told journalists in Hrodna that plans to merge Russia and Belarus into a single state face strong resistance from some "executive and political structures" and will take a long time to implement. Several dozen young people in Hrodna protested the Belarusian-Russian integration, shouting "Shame" and "Independence" at deputies leaving the session hall. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Slavic congress calls for union

MOSCOW - More than 800 delegates from Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and other countries assembled in Moscow at a Congress of Slavic Peoples, RIA-Novosti reported on June 1. The meeting called for reaffirming national values and for closer integration of the three large Slavic countries. The delegates voted to form a Slavic Assembly led by a collective leadership including Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev, Belarusian Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Kozik, and Ukrainian writer Borys Oliinyk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma reaffirms pro-European course

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma told journalists in Dnipropetrovsk on June 4 that Ukraine's course of integration with Europe remains unchanged, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma was commenting on media reports alleging that Ukraine is to change its political course following the dismissal of Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko. "According to the Constitution, the government is a tool and a mechanism [for implementing] the president's program with which he won the elections," Mr. Kuchma noted. The president also said the attitude of the European Union to Ukraine has recently become "warmer." He also offered his opinion that Pope John Paul II's visit to Ukraine this month will add to the country's stability. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... pledges to bring Caspian oil to Europe

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma announced that this year Ukraine will complete the construction of the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline and an oil terminal near Odesa. The president made the statement while visiting the Pivdenmash plant along with his Polish counterpart Aleksander Kwasniewski. "Today we should join our efforts in seeking the possibility of filling [this pipeline] for Caspian oil to reach both Poland and, first and foremost, Europe. These tasks - more political than economic in nature - are facing the Polish and Ukrainian presidents," Ukrainian New Channel Television quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. The 667-kilometer pipeline linking the Black Sea port of Odesa with Brody in the Lviv Oblast is 80 percent completed, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kwasniewski: no final decision on pipeline

DNIPROPETROVSK - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said in Dnipropetrovsk on June 4 that Warsaw has not yet agreed to the construction of a pipeline to take Russian gas to Europe while bypassing Ukraine. Mr. Kwasniewski said the Polish government will explore the issue of the bypass pipeline in detail, adding that oil and gas export routes must not serve as "a means of political pressure." He was speaking to a Ukrainian-Polish economic forum in Dnipropetrovsk, an annual Ukrainian-Polish forum of several hundred businessmen. Earlier the same day, Presidents Leonid Kuchma and Kwasniewski opened a Ukrainian-Polish center intended to promote the development of businesses and investments between the two countries. Presidents Kuchma and Kwasniewski also met on June 3 at the forum. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, who was also scheduled to participate, canceled his trip because of health reasons. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma promotes CIS free-trade zone

MIENSK - The Ukrainian president said in Miensk on May 31 that if the CIS does not create a free-trade zone for its members, as it agreed to do in April 1994, its political prospects will be "illusory," Interfax reported, quoting Leonid Kuchma's interview with Belarusian Television. "As of today, the CIS is, unfortunately, a large consultative council," Mr. Kuchma said, noting that the "economy moves everything." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Orthodox protest pope's visit

KYIV - Some 1,000 believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) staged a protest on May 31 in Kyiv against the planned visit of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine on June 23-27, Interfax reported. Valentyn Lukiannyk, one of the leaders of the protest, told the agency that the pope's visit is "inopportune." And he added: "So far, [Ukrainian] Catholic and Orthodox believers have not resolved many problems; in particular, there is continuing suppression of Orthodox Christians in western Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kinakh reported to have ties to Putin

MOSCOW - Moscow newspapers have pointed out that Anatolii Kinakh, the new prime minister in Ukraine, spent his formative years in Leningrad as "a member of [Vladimir] Putin's team," reported Izvestiya on May 30. Mr. Kinakh graduated from a Leningrad shipbuilding institute and worked in the city. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow seeks common educational space

MOSCOW - The Russian government on May 30 approved an agreement on cooperation with member-countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States to create a common educational space among them, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Amnesty International scores Russia

MOSCOW - In its annual report released on May 30, the international human rights group Amnesty International said that "the Russian federal authorities are responsible for major violations of human rights in the Chechen Republic" and have done "very little" to investigate abuses there. Amnesty's report also criticized conditions in Russian prisons and in the army, and said that Moscow does not treat displaced persons according to international standards. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Peace Corps ends mission in Poland

WARSAW - The U.S. Peace Corps has wound up its mission in Poland after 11 years of activities, the PAP news service reported on June 3. More than 950 U.S. volunteers were involved in Poland in teaching English as well as in environment and business programs. The U.S. Embassy in Warsaw said the volunteers had achieved the goals agreed upon with appropriate Polish ministries. The U.S. Peace Corps was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961 to promote peace and understanding, as well as to provide assistance to countries in need. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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