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UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST LEADER APPEALS FOR 'CIVIC PROTEST CAMPAIGN.' Communist Party head Petro Symonenko has called for launching a "broad and powerful civic protest campaign" against the expanding pauperization of Ukrainians, Ukrainian news agencies reported on 23 July. "[Ukraine's] political system needs not a correction but a radical change," Symonenko said in a statement. According to him, one of the key goals of the proposed protest campaign could be holding an early presidential election in the country. "All of us should have a clear understanding that the early election is not a goal in itself but one of the tools for building a democratic and efficient political system in Ukraine," Symonenko added. JM

UKRAINE WANTS TO SELL 2 MILLION TONS OF 2002 GRAIN TO EU. Deputy Prime Minister Leonid Kozachenko told journalists on 23 July that the government is currently negotiating this year's Ukrainian grain exports to the European Union, UNIAN and Interfax reported. Kozachenko said Ukraine wants EU countries to buy some 2 million tons of Ukrainian grain out of this year's harvest, which is approximately equal to Ukraine's grain exports to the EU last year. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh said the same day that Ukraine has harvested 21.2 million tons of grain to date from 61 percent of its grain-producing regions. Ukrainian farmers are counting on a harvest of 35 million tons of grain this year (last year Ukraine harvested 39.7 million tons). JM