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

RUSSIA SAYS 'POSITIVE DYNAMICS' IN RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE. In a statement released following Russian Foreign Minister Yevgenii Primakov's visit to Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russian-Ukrainian relations have assumed "positive dynamics." Primakov and his Ukrainian counterpart, Borys Tarasyuk, told journalists after their 27 May meeting that both sides showed "a constructive approach and good will" in discussing bilateral relations, Ukrainian Television reported. Tarasyuk said that a "zero option" was considered for dividing the property of the former USSR and that significant progress was made toward delimiting the Russian-Ukrainian maritime border in the Azov Sea. JM

..WHILE PRIMAKOV REAFFIRMS RUSSIAN OPPOSITION TO NATO EXPANSION. Primakov also stressed in Kyiv that Russia "has been, is, and will be against NATO expansion," Itar-Tass reported. The Russian foreign minister added that there is no chance that Russia will become a member of the alliance but will cooperate with it in order to reduce tensions in Europe. Primakov's remarks came on the first anniversary of the signing of the NATO-Russia partnership accord. The same day, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov told "Nezavisimaya gazeta" that Europe will become "unstable" if NATO were to make "former Soviet republics" candidates for NATO membership. And NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana wrote in "Izvestiya" that he hoped people in Moscow can maintain an open mind about the alliance. PG

MINERS PICKET PRESIDENTIAL ADMINISTRATION IN KYIV. Some 400 miners from the Donbas coal mining region began an "indefinite picket" of the presidential administration building in Kyiv on 27 May to demand the payment of wage arrears, Ukrainian Television reported. Miners from other regions intend to join the picket on 28 May. The action was organized by the Trade Union of Coal Mining Workers, Ukraine's largest mining trade union. Meanwhile, some 1,000 miners from Pavlovhrad are continuing their march to Kyiv and are expected to reach the capital by 3 June (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 25 May 1998). And another 2,000 miners are continuing to camp outside the oblast administration building in Dnipropetrovsk to protest wage arrears. JM