NEWSBRIEFS (07/06/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Authorities decry food price hikes

KYIV - The Ministry of Agriculture said it believes that recent hikes in food prices, including bread and other grain products, are "absolutely groundless" in light of the state's sufficient grain resources, Interfax reported on June 26, quoting ministry official Serhii Melnyk. Mr. Melnyk said the rises are the result of a rush for flour, cereals and pasta products observed in a number of Ukrainian regions. In particular, bread prices rose by 25 percent in Dnipropetrovsk and by 30 percent in Crimea this week. Mr. Melnyk also said this year's grain harvest, because of unfavorable weather conditions, is expected to total 28.8 million to 30.8 million tons, compared with 38.8 million tons in 2002. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv tries to keep food prices in check

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych threatened on June 27 that the government will punish retail traders who unjustifiably overcharge for bread, flour, cereals and pasta products, Ukrainian news agencies reported. Mr. Yanukovych was referring to recent hikes in food prices and the ongoing consumer rush on grain products in Ukraine that were reportedly fueled by bad prospects for this year's harvest. President Leonid Kuchma ordered the government to sell grain from the state reserves in order to stabilize the food market. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Hepatitis outbreak is reported

SUKHODILSK, Ukraine - The number of hospitalized people with symptoms of hepatitis A in the city of Sukhodilsk, Luhansk Oblast, has grown to 479, including 139 children, Ukrainian news agencies reported on June 28. The outbreak of the disease was reportedly caused by a virus in drinking water that was contaminated following a breakdown of the city's water-supply system. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yanukovych meets with Visegrad Four

TALE, Slovakia - Leaders of the Visegrad Four - the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia - met here in central Slovakia on June 25, TASR and CTK reported. Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo Kovacs, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller and Slovak Premier Mikulas Dzurinda agreed to continue cooperation after their countries join the European Union. The meeting was also attended by Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Mr. Dzurinda said the Ukrainian prime minister's presence does not indicate that the Visegrad Four intend to transform Ukraine into an associate member of the group, but that it was aimed at signaling that Ukraine "is not only a neighbor of Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, but also of the EU. We wish Ukraine success, but it is only Ukrainians who will decide whether the country will meet conditions to set out on the road to the EU," Mr. Dzurinda said. Messrs. Dzurinda and Yanukovych agreed to set up a joint team of experts to minimize the political and economic impact on Ukraine of Slovakia's expected EU membership. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lviv marks anniversary of papal visit

LVIV - A moleben (prayer service) in thanksgiving to the Mother of God was celebrated on June 27 at the Hippodrome in Lviv, where Pope John Paul II had celebrated a Byzantine-rite divine liturgy exactly two years before. Bishop Ihor Vozniak (Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church) and Bishop Marian Buczek (Roman Catholic Church), both auxiliary bishops of Lviv, led the service. According to Bishop Vozniak, these two years are a test to see how Ukrainians have realized the words of the holy father. Bishop Buczek noted that several memorials of the papal visit have been established: a cross in the Hippodrome, a sculpture of the pope in Lviv's Sykhiv neighborhood, where a papal youth rally was held, and a memorial tablet on the walls of the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Assumption in Lviv, unveiled two days before. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Belarusian Orthodox look to Kyiv

LVIV - Parishes of the Belarusian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (BAOC) intend to go under the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) in Russia. Archbishop Petro (Hushcha) of the BAOC has begun preliminary correspondence on the subject. Similar movements of Orthodox seeking alternative jurisdictional ties, separating from the Russian Orthodox Church, are also happening in Russia. The information agency Ohliadach (Observer) reported this information on June 26, citing the Moscow Eparchy of the UOC-KP as a source. Ohliadach mentions representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROC-OR) who are now in a crisis that divides supporters of the Moscow Patriarchate and its opponents, representatives of which have renewed contacts with the UOC-KP. Archbishop Varnava (Prokofiev) of Kany and Europe, head of the ROC-OR, is leading this movement away from the Moscow Patriarchate. Archbishop Varnava in 1992 appealed in the name of the ROC-OR to the late Patriarch Volodymyr Romaniuk and his assistant, now Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko) of the UOC-KP, proposing the establishment of brotherly relations between the two Churches. There are now three eparchies of the UOC-KP in Russia which might in the future be separated into a separated Russian autonomous jurisdiction of the Kyivan Patriarchate. The UOC-KP also has contacts with various branches of the True Orthodox Church (TOC) of Russia, and it has entered into liturgical union with the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the old calendar TOC of Greece. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Greek-Catholic bishops meet

LVIV - The 19th session of the Synod of Bishops of the Kyiv and Halych Metropolitanate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) was held on June 12-13 in Lviv. Catechesis, Polish-Ukrainian relations and the construction of the UGCC Cathedral in Kyiv were among the topics discussed. Commemo-rations of the 70th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine in 1932-1933 also were discussed. The bishops decided to mark the anniversary in Kyiv with other Churches, and agreed to facilitate the production of a documentary about the Famine. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

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