UKRAINE PROTESTS RUSSIAN 'TERRITORIAL CLAIMS' ON SEVASTOPOL. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has protested what it called "territorial claims on Ukraine" made by the Russian State Duma last month, Reuters reported on 2 November. Georgii Tikhonov, head of the Duma Committee for CIS Affairs, had said during a debate on the Russian-Ukrainian treaty that "according to all domestic and international documents, Crimea's port of Sevastopol was never given to Ukraine." Other Duma deputies had supported that statement. "Ukraine decisively rejects any claims on the territorial unity of the state, in consideration of the fact that they do not contribute to creating an atmosphere of trust and mutual understanding between Ukraine and the Russian Federation," the ministry said in a statement. JM

KUCHMA INSTRUCTS GOVERNMENT TO CUT WAGE ARREARS. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on 2 November gave the government one week to draw up urgent measures to meet all current payments and cut wage arrears, ITAR-TASS reported. Meanwhile, some 500 coal miners from throughout Ukraine are expected in Kyiv on 3 November to picket the government building in order to protest unpaid wages. JM