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BELARUSIAN LEGISLATORS TO WORK TOWARD DISBANDING NATO. Syarhey Kastsyan, a member of the Chamber of Representatives (Belarus's lower house), told Belapan on 27 March that Belarusian legislators will soon create a Belarusian branch of the International Committee for Peace and NATO Dissolution. Kastsyan said the international organization was created last week in Berlin by a forum of 300 people from 15 countries. Kastsyan said some 30 legislators will soon create an "Anti-NATO" group in Belarus's lower house. He headed 68 lawmakers in a group that went by the same name in the previous legislature. Kastsyan added that the Chamber of Representatives will also form a group called For a Union of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine (ZUBR). Groups with the same title already exist in the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments. JM
UKRAINIAN FORMER DEPUTY PREMIER RELEASED FROM JAIL. A district court in Kyiv on 27 March annulled the warrant issued by the Prosecutor-General's Office for the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukrainian media reported. Tymoshenko was released the same day from jail, where she had been since 13 February. She was arrested on charges of bribery, smuggling, and forgery. Tymoshenko denies all of the charges, dismissing them as politically motivated. Explaining the court ruling, Judge Mykola Zamkovenko said there were not sufficient reasons to believe Tymoshenko would hide from investigators. Zamkovenko added that the arrest warrant was unnecessary since Tymoshenko had attended all required interrogations. JM
U.S. STATE SECRETARY URGES TRANSPARENCY IN UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST CASE. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko in Washington on 27 March. "[Powell] expressed our concerns about the case of the missing journalist [Heorhiy Gongadze], the need for a full, open, and transparent investigation, and said that we were prepared to cooperate in helping with that," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the same day. Boucher added: "The secretary expressed our firm support for Ukraine's independent destiny.... He expressed our support for democracy, for freedom of the press, for the free enterprise system in Ukraine, and said we would continue to work with them and encourage that course." Zlenko brought a letter inviting FBI experts to Kyiv to help investigate the Gongadze case. Earlier this month, a team of FBI experts returned from Kyiv empty-handed because of a dispute between the prosecutor-general and Gongadze's mother. JM
SHADOWS GATHER OVER UKRAINIAN PREMIER? Kiev City Prosecutor Yuriy Haysynskyy on 27 March said new charges will be brought against Volodymyr Bondar, former deputy head of the National Bank, who was arrested last week on suspicion of financial abuses (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 March 2001), Interfax reported. Haysynskyy also attacked Premier Viktor Yushchenko by saying that the latter's statements "can be seen as putting pressure on the investigators." Yushchenko, who headed the National Bank at the time of Bondar's alleged misdemeanors, said last week that he is certain of Bondar's innocence. Yushchenko and Finance Minister Ihor Mityukov will be interrogated in Bondar's case. JM
BELARUSIAN LEGISLATORS TO WORK TOWARD DISBANDING NATO. Syarhey Kastsyan, a member of the Chamber of Representatives (Belarus's lower house), told Belapan on 27 March that Belarusian legislators will soon create a Belarusian branch of the International Committee for Peace and NATO Dissolution. Kastsyan said the international organization was created last week in Berlin by a forum of 300 people from 15 countries. Kastsyan said some 30 legislators will soon create an "Anti-NATO" group in Belarus's lower house. He headed 68 lawmakers in a group that went by the same name in the previous legislature. Kastsyan added that the Chamber of Representatives will also form a group called For a Union of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine (ZUBR). Groups with the same title already exist in the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments. JM
UKRAINIAN FORMER DEPUTY PREMIER RELEASED FROM JAIL. A district court in Kyiv on 27 March annulled the warrant issued by the Prosecutor-General's Office for the arrest of former Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukrainian media reported. Tymoshenko was released the same day from jail, where she had been since 13 February. She was arrested on charges of bribery, smuggling, and forgery. Tymoshenko denies all of the charges, dismissing them as politically motivated. Explaining the court ruling, Judge Mykola Zamkovenko said there were not sufficient reasons to believe Tymoshenko would hide from investigators. Zamkovenko added that the arrest warrant was unnecessary since Tymoshenko had attended all required interrogations. JM
U.S. STATE SECRETARY URGES TRANSPARENCY IN UKRAINIAN JOURNALIST CASE. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko in Washington on 27 March. "[Powell] expressed our concerns about the case of the missing journalist [Heorhiy Gongadze], the need for a full, open, and transparent investigation, and said that we were prepared to cooperate in helping with that," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the same day. Boucher added: "The secretary expressed our firm support for Ukraine's independent destiny.... He expressed our support for democracy, for freedom of the press, for the free enterprise system in Ukraine, and said we would continue to work with them and encourage that course." Zlenko brought a letter inviting FBI experts to Kyiv to help investigate the Gongadze case. Earlier this month, a team of FBI experts returned from Kyiv empty-handed because of a dispute between the prosecutor-general and Gongadze's mother. JM
SHADOWS GATHER OVER UKRAINIAN PREMIER? Kiev City Prosecutor Yuriy Haysynskyy on 27 March said new charges will be brought against Volodymyr Bondar, former deputy head of the National Bank, who was arrested last week on suspicion of financial abuses (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 March 2001), Interfax reported. Haysynskyy also attacked Premier Viktor Yushchenko by saying that the latter's statements "can be seen as putting pressure on the investigators." Yushchenko, who headed the National Bank at the time of Bondar's alleged misdemeanors, said last week that he is certain of Bondar's innocence. Yushchenko and Finance Minister Ihor Mityukov will be interrogated in Bondar's case. JM