DEMONSTRATORS IN KYIV PROTEST, SUPPORT BREAD PRICE HIKE. Two opposing rallies were held at the Kyiv city administration building on 13 May in response to the city authorities' decision to nearly double prices for bread as of 10 May, Interfax reported. A rally organized by the Social Democratic Party (Unified) protested the hike, calling it "the beginning of famine" and demanding the ouster of Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko. The other demonstration, organized by workers at city bakeries, expressed support for the hike and protested "communist methods of fighting for social rights." Omelchenko told the gatherings that Kyiv has "the cheapest bread in Ukraine." JM

UKRAINE, VIETNAM TO DEVELOP MILITARY COOPERATION. "We are on the threshold of large-scale military and military-technical cooperation between our countries," Interfax quoted Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk as saying on 13 May, following a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Pham Van Tra. The two sides plan to sign a five-year military cooperation accord by September. "Ukraine is ready to sell military equipment to Vietnam. The Vietnamese side is now determining its capabilities for the purchase of arms," AP quoted Kuzmuk as saying. The sides also agreed that 30 Vietnamese officers will receive training at Ukrainian military schools as of 1 September. JM