ALBRIGHT TO WARN UKRAINE DURING VISIT... U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on 4 March said she will go to Kyiv with a "strong message of friendship but also of warning," an RFE/RL correspondent in Washington reported. Albright, who is due to arrive in the Ukrainian capital on 6 March, was addressing a Congressional subcommittee. Albright must certify to the committee later this month that Ukraine is responding satisfactorily to complaints by U.S. businesses in Ukraine. If that progress is not satisfactory, the $225 million in aid due to Kyiv next year will be halved. PB

...AND TO TRY TO HALT KYIV'S DEAL WITH IRAN. Albright also said she will press Ukrainian officials to halt the sale of turbines needed for an Iranian nuclear reactor being built with Russian help. U.S. officials said Ukraine will suffer "hundreds of millions of dollars" in losses if its Turboatom plant in Kharkiv does not sell the turbines to Iran. To counteract those losses, the U.S. has offered Ukraine an agreement on nuclear cooperation if Kyiv scraps the deal, including aid on construction of two key reactors at Ukraine's Khmelnitskiy and Rivno power plants. Russia also recently announced that it will aid Kyiv in finishing those reactors (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 March 1998). Russia has warned Ukraine that it will void other international contracts with Kyiv if it does not produce the turbines. PB