COMMUNISTS, NATIONALISTS CLASH IN WESTERN UKRAINE. Ten people were injured in clashes between rival demonstrators on the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, Ukrainian media reported on 7 November. Elsewhere, rival groups marched without incident. But for some young Ukrainians, the revolution was very far away indeed. According to ITAR-TASS, a poll of fifth graders in Crimea found that many identified Napoleon or even Hitler as the leader of the October 1917 putsch that brought Lenin and the Bolsheviks to power. PG

UKRAINE ADMITS TO EXECUTIONS. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry acknowledged to the Council of Europe on 7 November that Kyiv has executed 13 convicted criminals this year, despite public assurances from senior Ukrainian officials that all such actions have been halted. But the Ukrainian Interior Ministry is reported to have now issued orders suspending all executions. PG

KUCHMA SAYS UKRAINE WON'T CLOSE CHORNOBYL WITHOUT HELP. During a visit to the troubled reactor site on 7 November, President Leonid Kuchma reiterated that Kyiv will not close the Chornobyl plant until the West finances an alternative power-generating plant, Interfax reported. But officials said the number of workers at the plant will be reduced from 6,000 to 3,000 over the next year. PG

POLISH PRESIDENT SEES GROWING RUSSIAN THREAT. Speaking at the Warsaw Oriental Studies Center on 6 November, Aleksandr Kwasniewski said he hopes for good relations with Moscow but warned they might not always be possible, ITAR-TASS reported on 7 November. "One should not forget," Kwasniewski added, "about the possible dangers too, because a whole line of political groups in Russia are now speculating on great-power sentiments, and their popularity is tending to grow due to difficult living conditions and the still unrealized necessity of economic reforms." In other comments, he stressed that "an independent, sovereign, and developing Ukraine" is "among the main prerequisites for stability in Europe."PG

MOLDOVAN COMMUNISTS CELEBRATE 1917 REVOLUTION. Vladimir Voronin, the leader of the Party of Moldovan Communists, said at a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution that his party wants the "restoration of the Soviet federation of sovereign republics." Voronin said the collapse of the Soviet Union was "inspired by world imperialism," and he called the then presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus "Judases" for having signed the agreement that put an end to the USSR. The 1917 revolution anniversary was also marked in Tiraspol by the leadership of the separatists. MS