UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT STILL DIVIDED. Another round of talks between the left minority and the center-right majority in the Ukrainian parliament has failed to produce any results, Interfax reported on 4 February. According to Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, the majority rejected all proposals by the minority on how to resolve the crisis. Symonenko said a "general meeting of deputies" is planned in the parliament on 7 February. Meanwhile, nine Progressive Socialists and one Communist continue to keep vigil in the parliamentary building to protest what they call a "criminal revolution" or a "coup d'etat" in the country. On 4 February, the parliamentary minority had requested that Prosecutor-General Mikhail Potebenko provide a "legal assessment" of the majority's "anti-constitutional seizure" of the speaker's office the previous day (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 February 2000). JM

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SIGNS TWO BILLS PASSED BY MAJORITY. Leonid Kuchma has signed into law two bills that the parliamentary majority passed on 1 February, Interfax reported on 4 February. The first bill renumbers independent Ukraine's legislatures, making the current Supreme Council the third one rather than the 14th. The second bill abolishes the 7 November state holiday marking the anniversary of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. Deputy speaker Stepan Havrysh commented to the agency earlier last week that Kuchma's signing of those bills would testify to their "legality." JM

UKRAINE OFFERS TERMS FOR RESTRUCTURING $2.6 BILLION DEBT. Ukraine's Finance Ministry and ING Barings has announced the terms for restructuring the repayment of Ukraine's international bonds, Interfax reported on 4 February. In particular, Kiev is seeking to exchange bonds worth 500 million euros ($491 million) that are due in March 2000, $73.7 million worth of bonds due in October 2000, 1.5 billion German marks ($775 million) worth of bonds due in February 2001, and $1 billion in so-called "Gazprom" bonds. Under the offer, holders of Ukrainian bonds will be offered new international bonds that will mature in seven years. The new bonds will be denominated in euros and in dollars and will pay quarterly interest rates of 10 percent and 11 percent, respectively. JM