With the kind permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, InfoUkes Inc. has been given rights to electronically re-print these articles on our web site. Visit the RFE/RL Ukrainian Service page for more information. Also visit the RFE/RL home page for news stories on other Eastern European and FSU countries.

Return to Main RFE News Page
InfoUkes Home Page

UKRAINE AGREES TO RESTRICT PIPE EXPORTS TO RUSSIA. After a 10-hour meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov on 10-11 April, Ukrainian Premier Viktor Yushchenko agreed to restrict the export of Ukrainian metal pipes to Russia without the imposition of antidumping quotas, ITAR-TASS reported. Kasyanov said that Russian producers will recover their losses from such imports during 2001. Yushchenko also said that Ukraine agrees to a "zero option" approach to the division of Soviet-era assets and liabilities, the Russian news agency said. PG

UKRAINIAN PREMIER SAYS CABINET PERFORMED WELL IN 2000. Viktor Yushchenko on 12 April said the year 2000 was "unique" for the Ukrainian economy, Interfax reported. Yushchenko noted that in 2000 the country's GDP increased by 6 percent, industrial production by 12.9 percent, and agricultural production by 9.2 percent, in comparison with the previous year. Yushchenko was speaking in Kyiv at "public hearings" of his report on the government's implementation of the program "Reforms for Prosperity," which was adopted last year. The "public hearings" are a rehearsal for Yushchenko's 17 April report to the parliament, after which he is very likely to face a no-confidence vote. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko has registered with the parliamentary secretariat a motion signed by 222 lawmakers to place a no-confidence vote on the session agenda. The parliament needs 226 votes both to introduce this issue on the agenda and to oust the cabinet. JM

UKRAINIAN SPEAKER TO REMAIN HOSPITALIZED OVER EASTER. Parliamentary Speaker Ivan Plyushch's health is "progressively improving" but Plyushch will continue to be hospitalized over the Easter holidays, Interfax reported on 11 April, quoting a hospital official. Plyushch was hospitalized on 2 March and diagnosed as suffering from radiculitis, the inflammation of the root of a spinal nerve. JM