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KUCHMA SAYS UKRAINE UNABLE TO STOP MIGRANTS FROM EAST... Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on 11 October said Ukraine is not able to efficiently stop an inflow of illegal migrants through the country's insufficiently protected eastern borders, Interfax reported. "We are now unable to seal our borders. Only our western borders are sealed. Migrants from all over the world gather here, which is a huge burden on the Ukrainian budget," Kuchma said, adding that illegal migrants penetrate into Ukraine "along guerilla paths from Moldova, Transdniestria, and Russia." JM
...PLEDGES TO ELIMINATE DOMESTIC TERRORISM. Kuchma also urged tighter antiterrorist measures in order to eliminate "manifestations of terrorism" within the country. "I have no right to think that there is no [terrorism] in Ukraine," Kuchma said in Chernivtsi, southeastern Ukraine. Kuchma suggested that the violent clashes between police and antipresidential demonstrators in Kyiv on 9 March were such manifestations of terrorism. "Terrorism seeks to intimidate the authorities, to cause panic in society, to stir people to oppose the authorities, and so on. We see this in Ukraine or we saw this in Ukraine. But we called these things different names," One Plus One television quoted Kuchma as saying. JM
UKRAINE BANS DUTY-FREE SUGAR IMPORTS FROM BELARUS, RUSSIA. Ukraine has temporarily banned duty-free imports of sugar from Russia and Belarus, the government press service said on 11 October. The decision was made to "defend the local market from massive supplies of cheap Russian and Belarusian white sugar that hit Ukrainian sugar producers' revenues," "The Moscow Times" reported on 12 October. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian government prevented local sugar producers from selling white sugar at prices below 2,300 hryvni ($433) per ton, while Russian and Belarusian producers are offering sugar at some 2,100 hryvni per ton. Russian and Belarusian sugar traders had enjoyed duty-free status owing to a freetrade zone encompassing Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. However, the duty-free agreement allows the signatory countries to exclude certain commodities. JM
RUSSIA, UKRAINE UNABLE TO DEMARCATE SEA BORDER. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators over the course of several years have been unable to define the legal status of the Azov and Black Seas, Interfax reported on 11 October. Ukraine seeks to have the border between the two countries precisely defined across these bodies of water, while Russia wants the two to agree on joint exploitation of the entire water area. PG