xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx SPECIAL REPORT xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CRISIS ON UKRAINIAN FARMS
The decline of Ukraine's agriculture sector has been continuous since Kyiv declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. This report includes articles and photos. http://www.rferl.org/nca/special/ukraine-farms/index.html

IMPASSE IN UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT OVER ELECTION OF SPEAKER. The Ukrainian Supreme Council on 26 May failed to elect a new speaker for the second time, ITAR-TASS reported. Only 220 deputies took part in the second vote; a valid ballot requires 294 deputies to participate. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko gained 151 votes, 50 fewer than he received in the first vote (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 May 1998). Four center-right parliamentary groups abstained from the vote to prevent the election of a leftist parliamentary leader. They propose the election of a centrist speaker, a leftist first deputy speaker, and a rightist deputy speaker. Dmytro Tabachnyk, former head of the presidential administration, said former parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz "has every chance" to head the Supreme Council if the third round, scheduled to take place next week, also proves fruitless. JM

TARASYUK, PRIMAKOV REACH 'COMPLETE UNDERSTANDING.' Borys Tarasyuk and Yevgenii Primakov, the foreign ministers of Russia and Ukraine, told ITAR-TASS on 26 May that they reached "complete understanding" during their talks in Kyiv earlier that day. Tarasyuk said the sides managed to agree "even on those issues that had earlier been a stumbling block in relations." The thorniest issue in bilateral relations is currently the ratification of the RussianUkrainian friendship treaty by the Russian State Duma. Deputies in the Russian lower house postponed voting on the treaty following Tarasyuk's statement earlier this month that NATO expansion eastward "fully suits Ukraine's interests." Other outstanding issues include delimiting the Ukrainian-Russian maritime border in the Azov Sea and the signing of additional documents on the stationing in Crimea of Russia's part of the Black Sea Fleet. JM

CRIMEAN PARLIAMENT APPROVES NEW GOVERNMENT. The Crimean Supreme Council on 27 May approved a new government for the autonomous republic, ITAR-TASS reported. By a vote of 71 to eight, the parliament appointed Serhiy Kunitsyn as prime minister and approved a new cabinet composed mainly of representatives of the Crimean Communist Party, the Popular Democratic Party, and the "Union" Party. Kunitsyn, who heads the regional branch of the Popular Democratic Party of Ukraine, is considered to have strong support in Kyiv. JM