AMBASSADORS TO BELARUS DELIVER LETTER OF PROTEST OVER EVICTION. Diplomats from 14 countries who face eviction from their residences at the Drazdy compound, near Minsk, have delivered a formal letter of protest to the Belarusian Foreign Ministry. The action was prompted by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's statement that he has postponed the eviction but not canceled it (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 June 1998). The U.S. Embassy press service denied Lukashenka's claim that U.S. Ambassador to Belarus Daniel Speckhard asked for a postponement, RFE/RL's Belarusian Service reported. It stressed that Speckhard has no intention of leaving his residence. Meanwhile, ITAR-TASS reported that the ambassadors of Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia have already left the compound. Russia, which has bought its residence at Drazdy, has been promised by Lukashenka that its ambassador will be allowed return after planned repairs of utility systems have been carried out. JM

MORE THAN 1,000 MINERS END PROTEST MARCH. More than 1,000 coal miners from Pavlovhrad in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast have ended a 600 kilometer protest march to Kyiv over unpaid wages. They are picketing the Supreme Council, the Cabinet of Ministers, and the Presidential Administration offices, Ukrainian Television reported on 11 June. The protesting miners say they will not leave Kyiv until all the wage arrears have been paid into their bank accounts. Kyiv residents are showing solidarity with the miners, providing them with food and medicine. Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoytenko said on 11 June that beginning this month, wages in the coal mining sector will be paid in full. JM

UKRAINE REPORTS FIRST GDP GROWTH SINCE 1989. Anatoliy Halchynskyy, President Leonid Kuchma's adviser for macroeconomic issues, has said GDP grew by 0.1 percent during the first five months of this year, Ukrainian Radio reported. The State Statistics Committee said this is the first time since 1989 that GDP has increased. According to Halchynskyy, Ukraine is now experiencing "unstable economic balance." He believes that 1998 will be a year of economic stabilization for the country. JM