NEWSBRIEFS (12/19/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine pays compensation for airliner

KYIV - The Ukrainian government on December 13 paid $7.8 million to Russia to settle compensation claims by families of the Russian citizens killed in the crash of a Russian TU-154 jetliner on October 4, 2001, Interfax reported. The plane carrying 78 passengers, primarily Russians and Russian-born Israelis, was downed over the Black Sea by an errant Ukrainian missile fired by anti-aircraft defense troops from the Crimean Peninsula. Ukraine has also signed an agreement with Israel to pay $7.6 million to families of the Israeli victims of the crash. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Population continues to fall

KYIV - The State Statistics Committee of Ukraine has reported that the Ukrainian population was 47.35 million as of the end of October 2004, Interfax reported. That number represents a drop of 268,400 people compared to the end of December 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Shevchenko voted best player

PARIS - AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko won the Golden Ball award as Europe's best soccer player, edging club teammate Ronaldinho and Barcelona midfielder Deco. The Associated Press quoted him as saying: "I would like to thank all the people who have helped me win it and I would like to dedicate the Golden Ball to the people of Ukraine." Shevchenko also said, "I am Ukrainian and proud to be. It is hard to talk about the situation in Ukraine, but the people deserve a democracy." The winner was chosen in France Football magazine's annual poll of journalists. Mr. Shevchenko, 28, has scored 11 goals in 15 Italian league games this season for second-place Milan. He scored 24 goals last season. Mr. Shevchenko received 175 points, Portugal's Deco got 139 and Brazil's Ronaldinho 133. He is the third Ukrainian to win the award, after Oleg Blokhin in 1975 and Igor Belanov in 1986. (Associated Press)

Kuchma names new NBU chief

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has proposed Volodymyr Stelmakh for the post of National Bank of Ukraine chairman, UNIAN reported on November 13, quoting Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn. Mr. Stelmakh served as NBU chairman in 2000-2002; he was replaced by Serhii Tyhypko, who resigned last month. The nomination must be approved by Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bill would allow annexation of republics

MOSCOW - The Motherland Duma faction on December 9 introduced a bill that would facilitate the incorporation of former autonomous republics of the Soviet Union into the Russian Federation, newsru.com reported. The leader of the faction, Dmitrii Rogozin, said that the subject of the bill is territories with an ambiguous international status. "If the bill is adopted, we will eliminate the problems of Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transdniester," he said. Under the bill, Mr. Rogozin said, citizens in those republics would decide in referendums whether they want to be unified with Russia. From the Russian side, no international treaty would be required, only the approval of both chambers of Parliament and the president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Mayor wants to restore traffic flow

KYIV - Oleksander Omelchenko has appealed to the Committee for National Salvation, which coordinated the Orange Revolution rallies in support of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, to transfer the tent camps pitched on Khreschatyk, the capital's main street, and on Independence Square in order to restore city traffic, Ukrainian media reported on December 10. "More than 440 tents pitched in Kyiv today is too large a number, particularly since the political and social situation, following the Verkhovna Rada's decision [on December 8 to pass an anti-crisis legislative package], has relaxed," Mr. Omelchenko told journalists. Apart from the tent camps in downtown Kyiv, the opposition has left standing a huge stage on Independence Square from where Mr. Yushchenko and other opposition leaders addressed crowds during the two weeks of anti-government demonstrations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cardinal Husar meets with pope

VATICAN CITY - Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), had a private audience with Pope John Paul II on December 7. The cardinal initiated the meeting, to which the pope gladly agreed. Above all, Cardinal Husar thanked the pope for his support of Ukrainians in their struggles for truth and justice, and also for his prayers. The cardinal spoke about the moral and spiritual status of the Ukrainian people in these days. The cardinal emphasized that, during the whole time of this crisis, individuals and entire communities and parishes have prayed without ceasing for peace, unity and accord for the whole Ukrainian nation. The pope replied: "Yes, it is necessary always to have great trust in God." Other topics were also discussed at the audience. Cardinal Husar said that the pope listened attentively and posed questions that demonstrated that he is well-informed about the current situation in Ukraine and that he is very interested. At the end of the meeting, the pope gave his blessing to all the Ukrainian people and assured that he would continue to pray for them. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Miner killed in methane blast

KYIV - An explosion in a coal mine in the eastern Donetsk region, killed one miner and injured 18, officials said on December 9. The methane gas explosion at the Yuzhnodonbaska mine in the town of Ugledar occurred late on December 8, when 32 miners were working underground, the Ministry for Emergency Situations said. Since the Soviet collapse of 1991, nearly 4,300 miners have died in Ukrainian coal mines, which are considered among the world's most dangerous. (Associated Press)

Opposition activists appear in Kyiv

KYIV - "Today Ukraine, tomorrow Belarus!'' read a banner strung up last week in the tent city of pro-democracy protesters in the capital of Ukraine. Leaders of the opposition movement in Belarus have traveled to Kyiv's Independence Square to observe Ukraine's popular revolt. "The Orange Revolution has reawakened hope in Belarusians and has colossal meaning for us," said Igor Stakh, 23, a member of a Belarusian youth movement called Zubr, or Bison, whose tent sits among those of his young Ukrainian comrades. Liberal leaders and opposition activists from Russia have also been spotted at the tent camps and on the podium beside opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko, as have Kazaks, "Yesterday it was Georgia, today it's Ukraine and tomorrow it'll be Kazakstan,'' said Asylbek Kozhakhmetov of Kazakstan's opposition Democratic Choice party addressing the crowd in Kyiv's central square. The protesters responded by chanting: "Nazarbayev out! Kuchma out!" referring to Presidents Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakstan and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine. (Associated Press)

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