PENTAGON TO PROLONG SUBSIDIES FOR UKRAINIAN DISARMAMENT. The U.S. Defense Department will continue to provide financial assistance to Ukraine to destroy its mass destruction weapons, ITAR-TASS reported on 30 July. Ukraine will receive $76.7 million to destroy SS-19 missiles, some 40 strategic bombers, and some 1,000 cruise missiles. The Pentagon will also allocate $630,000 to help tighten Ukraine's control over nonproliferation of arms outside its borders and $73 million for conversion of defense enterprises. Over the past six years, Ukraine has received $520 million in such aid. JM

MINISTER SAYS IMF TO APPROVE $2.5 BILLION LOAN TO UKRAINE. Economy Minister Vasyl Rohovyy has said the IMF is expected to approve a $2.5 billion loan to Ukraine, Interfax and AP reported on 30 July. According to Rohovyy, an IMF mission currently in Kyiv agrees that Ukraine has met most preliminary conditions for the loan. IMF experts welcomed the government's steps to draft a realistic budget, increase budget revenues, and reduce tax breaks. If their recommendation is positive, the IMF board will make a final decision on the loan in late August or early September, Rohovyy told Interfax. Two days earlier, the IMF mission chief said there are "significant successes" in Ukraine's economic reform but several issues must still be resolved. JM

MOLDOVAN DISPUTE OVER BULGARIAN NUCLEAR WASTE TRANSIT. The Moldovan government says it supports the Bulgarian request to approve the transit of nuclear waste from the Bulgarian Kozloduy plant to Russia via Moldova and Ukraine, but a majority among the parliamentary deputies are opposed to such an arrangement, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported on 30 July. Deputy Premier Nicolae Andronic said that the nuclear waste accumulated at Kozloduy might "lead to a nuclear disaster" at a site located only some 600 kilometers from Chisinau. Environment Protection Minister Arcadie Capcelea opposes the transit, saying it would be in breach of Moldovan legislation. In other news, the parliament on 30 July approved the resignation of Prosecutor-General Dumitru Postovan, submitted in early July. Parliamentary chairman Dumitru Diacov submitted the candidacy of Chisinau Prosecutor-General Valeriu Catana, but the proposal met with opposition from the Democratic Convention of Moldova and the Party of Democratic Forces. MS