RIVER FLEET TO PROTECT BELARUSIAN-UKRAINIAN BORDER. Lieutenant General Alyaksandr Paulouski, chairman of the Border Troops Committee, on 6 January said 12 patrol boats will guard the 165-kilometer stretch of the BelarusianUkrainian border that runs along the Dnieper and Sozh rivers, Belapan reported. The fleet will be based in Loyeu, Homel Oblast. Paulouski added that Belarus also plans to station patrol boats on the rivers that run alongside its borders with Latvia and Lithuania. JM

UKRAINIAN CABINET SUBMITS ZERO-DEFICIT 2000 DRAFT BUDGET TO PARLIAMENT. The government on 6 January submitted a draft 2000 budget with a zero-deficit to parliament, AP reported, quoting unidentified government officials. The draft budget sets revenue and spending at 31.46 billion hryvni ($5.76 billion). The parliamentary Budget Committee will examine the draft over the Orthodox Christmas holidays, and parliament is scheduled to vote on it next week. The parliament already approved a zero-deficit draft budget in November (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 19 November 1999), but that draft set revenue and spending at 40.75 billion hryvni. JM