NEWSBRIEFS (09/09/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Cabinet optimistic about growth

KYIV - The Ukrainian Cabinet predicts that in 2002 the country's GDP will increase by 6 percent, the annual inflation rate will amount to 9.8 percent, and the average exchange rate will be 5.6 hrv to $1 (currently $1 is equal to 5.34 hrv), Interfax reported on September 5. The government also expects that GDP will grow this year by 7.3 percent, inflation will not exceed 12.3 percent and the average annual exchange rate of the hryvnia will be 5.4 to $1. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian president visits Bulgaria

SOFIA - Visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Bulgarian counterpart Petar Stoyanov on September 4 called for international respect for Macedonia's territorial integrity and sovereignty and said the implementation of the agreement to disarm Albanian rebels is crucial to prevent the conflict from deteriorating into a civil war, international agencies reported. Mr. Kuchma said Ukraine support NATO's efforts in Macedonia and is ready to contribute to the peace process in that country. The two presidents spoke after officials representing the sides signed seven cooperation agreements. One of these accords permits the transit of Ukrainian troops to join international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo. Another agreement is on the repatriation of Ukrainian nationals who are illegally in Bulgaria. Mr. Kuchma called on Bulgaria "not to act to hastily" in introducing visa requirements for Ukrainians and to set a bilateral working group to examine the issue (Bulgaria pledged to introduce the requirement after the European Union listed visa requirements on Bulgarians in April). Also signed were accords on cooperation between the two countries' internal affairs ministries and customs services, as well as on combating crime. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor wants former PM arrested

KYIV - Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko has sent a letter to the Verkhovna Rada asking permission to arrest former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Interfax reported on September 3. Ukrainian prosecutors suspect Mr. Lazarenko of involvement in the contract killings of National Deputy Yevhen Scherban in 1996 and of former National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Vadym Hetman in 1998. Mr. Lazarenko is currently in prison stemming from U.S. money-laundering charges in San Francisco, but possesses immunity from prosecution at home as a member of the Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Turkmenistan, Ukraine agree on debt

ASHGABAT - Turkmenistan's President Saparmurat Niyazov spoke by telephone with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on August 28 and agreed on restructuring Kyiv's outstanding $282 million energy debt to Turkmenistan, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv seeks CE help on death sentence

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko has asked the Council of Europe to help Ukrainian authorities in their attempt to commute the death sentence handed down to Ukrainian citizen Viktoria Mamontova in Thailand, Interfax reported on September 5. Last month a Thai court sentenced Ms. Mamontova to death for possessing heroin. She is the first Ukrainian citizen to be sentenced to death abroad following Ukraine's proclamation of independence in 1991. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian population declining

KYIV - In the first six months of 2001, the population of Ukraine decreased by 206,600, or 0.4 percent. As of July 1, Ukraine's population was 49,084,600 (as compared with 49,291,200 on January 1, the Ukrainian State Statistics Committee told Interfax. Of these people, 33,395,800 (compared with 33,537,200 in January) live in cities and 15,688,800 (compared with 15,754,000 in January) live in villages. (Interfax)

Potebenko says journalist killed in error

KYIV - Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko on August 30 said that telejournalist Ihor Aleksandrov was killed by mistake, STB Television reported. Mr. Potebenko said Mr. Aleksandrov was mistaken for a lawyer who had an office in the same building and who was the intended victim. Mr. Potebenko added that the attackers were told only to beat the lawyer but "they overdid the job." According to the prosecutor, "the [arrested] murderer is already giving testimony." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Slain journalist's son criticizes inquiry

KYIV - Oleksii Aleksandrov, the son of slain journalist Ihor Aleksandrov, has written in an open letter that the official investigation into his father's death is inefficient, the Associated Press and the Ukrainska Pravda website reported on August 29. Mr. Aleksandrov said his father was killed because he was planning to publicize the corruption activities of several local officials in Slaviansk, eastern Ukraine, where he ran a television station before his death. The younger Aleksandrov also said the investigators are trying to cover up the real reason for his father's death, adding that they recently told his mother "in confidence" that his father's attackers mistook the journalist for someone else. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma slams Cabinet over new budget

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma told Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh's Cabinet on August 30 that he does not share the government's optimism about the making of a draft budget for 2002, Interfax and UNIAN reported. Mr. Kuchma stressed that all budget projections should be made while taking into account new tax rates in 2002. The president criticized the government for making 2002 budget assumptions on the basis of old tax rates as well as for its reluctance to pursue tax reform. "How can we ensure competitiveness for Ukrainian goods on the Russian market if the income tax on citizens in Ukraine is two or three times higher than in Russia?" President Kuchma asked the Cabinet. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv prosecutors charge former banker

KYIV - Kyiv prosecutors have charged Viktor Kravets, the former head of the Ukraina bank board, with committing illegal actions that resulted in losses of 1.23 million hrv ($228,000 U.S.) to the bank, Ukrainian Television reported on August 16. They also confiscated 160 individual credit files from the Ukraina bank, which went into liquidation last month. Ukrainian media had previously reported that in 1997-2000 the bank issued virtually non-repayable credits totaling 330 million hrv to a number of commercial structures. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Banker is reported to be kidnapped

KYIV - Borys Feldman, the former vice-president of Slovianskyibank, was kidnapped by unknown people on August 22 shortly after he was released from a remand center, STB Television reported, quoting Mr. Feldman's lawyer Andriy Fedur. Mr. Fedur told journalists that his client's life may be in serious danger. Mr. Feldman recently announced that he will make public the names of officials involved in a controversy relating to the bank. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma calls for funding mine safety

DONETSK - Speaking at the Zasiadko mine in Donetsk on August 20, President Leonid Kuchma announced that he will call on the U.S. government and international organizations to help fund a "degasification" program at Ukrainian coal mines, Ukrainian and international media reported. Mr. Kuchma said he will also ask Ukraine's Parliament to find a way to allocate money specifically for mining safety and recommended that mines not dig new shafts more than a kilometer deep. A methane blast at the Zasiadko mine on August 19 killed 36 miners some 1,300 meters underground. One miner died of severe burns on August 20, and 10 remain missing. President Kuchma announced a 2 million hrv ($377,000 U.S.) fund to compensate families of the victims. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lazarenko denies contracting murders

SAN FRANCISCO - Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko, who is now in a U.S. federal prison facing a 54-count indictment, has denied in an open letter that he has anything to do with the killings of National Deputy Yevhen Scherban in 1996 and of former National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Vadym Hetman in 1998, Interfax reported. Mr. Lazarenko, who has been accused of contracting those killings by Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko, said the charges are "another gross fabrication that is caused by the activities of my U.S. lawyers and their successful advance on the path toward closing my case in the U.S." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Democratic opposition issues manifesto

KYIV - In a "Manifesto of Democratic Forces" published on August 21, several days before celebrations of the 10th anniversary of Ukraine's independence, the Forum for National Salvation, the Ukraine Without Kuchma civic committee and the For the Truth civic committee called on Ukrainians to fight for a democratic Ukraine and to change the country's power system, Interfax reported. "Despite the bright hopes of millions of citizens for the building of a democratic country and affluent society, we received a totalitarian state whose top authorities have, de facto, put the nation outside the law," the opposition's manifesto reads. (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |