MIXED RESULTS, RESPONSES TO CIS SUMMIT. The CIS presidents failed at their meeting in Moscow on 2 April to adopt a statement condemning NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia; instead they called for a halt to the bloodshed and a peaceful solution to the conflict in Kosova. Six of the nine CIS states that signed the CIS Collective Security Treaty in 1992-1993 affirmed their intention to prolong that treaty when it expires later this month, but Georgia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan declined to do so. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma told Interfax on 2 April that the summit was held "with dignity," the implicit contrast being with the shouting matches that marred the October 1997 summit in Chisinau. Turkmenistan's Saparmurat Niyazov similarly noted that "everything went well and without problems." But Azerbaijan's Heidar Aliev struck a pessimistic note, saying that despite attempts to reform the CIS, "crisis phenomena" within it have not been overcome, ITAR-TASS reported. LF

KUCHMA REJECTS APPEALS FOR MILITARY AID TO YUGOSLAVIA... Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on a visit to Zaporizhzhya on 5 April condemned appeals by some Ukrainian politicians to provide military assistance to Yugoslavia in the Kosova crisis. "Only politicians who have neither soul nor heart can call for armed assistance to Yugoslavia," UNIAN quoted Kuchma as saying. Kuchma's statement is seen as a response to parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Tkachenko's pronouncement in St. Petersburg on 2 April that Ukraine should send "humanitarian, food, medical, and first of all military aid" to Yugoslavia. JM

...PLEDGES NOT TO CHANGE RELATIONS WITH NATO... Tkachenko also announced in St. Petersburg that the Supreme Council will discuss Ukrainian-NATO relations on 6 April and adopt a resolution introducing a "drastic change" in those relations, Interfax reported. Kuchma responded in Zaporizhzhya that any resolution by the parliament on Kyiv's relations with the alliance "will under no circumstances affect those relations. We believe that we are implementing a balanced policy in our relations with NATO," Kuchma added. Meanwhile, the parliament on 6 April failed to approve a resolution calling on the cabinet to suspend cooperation with NATO and condemning the "aggressive character" of NATO's strikes against Yugoslavia, AP reported. JM

...VETOES LAWS ON UTILITY PRICE HIKES, PENSION HIKES. The Ukrainian president vetoed a law on utility price hikes passed by the parliament on 17 March (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18 March 1999). The law obliges the cabinet to ask the parliament for permission to raise utility prices and bans the cabinet from such initiatives until it fully pays its wage and pension arrears. Kuchma has also vetoed a law passed by the parliament last month, which raises the minimum monthly pension from 16.6 hryvni ($4.20) to 55 hryvni. The president argues that Ukraine cannot afford the hike, adding that the law would only increase the current pension arrears of 2.3 billion ($585 million), AP reported on 5 April. JM

MOLDOVA SATISFIED WITH CIS SUMMIT RESULTS. Presidential spokesman Anatol Golea on 5 April told journalists that President Petru Lucinschi considers the results of the Moscow CIS summit to be "positive." Golea said that an agreement has been reached to hold an 8 April meeting in Kyiv between Russian Premier Yevgenii Primakov, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Transdniester separatist leader Igor Smirnov, and Lucinschi in order to give "new impetus" to the settling of the Transdniester conflict. He said that Lucinschi is also satisfied with the summit's decision to establish an all-CIS free-trade zone. Golea stressed that the Yugoslav crisis has not been discussed at the summit, but the Moldovan delegation there "refuted information" that Moldova was supporting the NATO air strikes, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. MS