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TURKMENISTAN REPORTED TO BE THREATENED WITH RESTORATION OF JACKSON-VANIK. According to Russian media, U.S. President George W. Bush has informed Congress that Turkmenistan is no longer implementing international standards concerning freedom of emigration and should not therefore be exempted from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment of 1974 that denies most-favored-nation trade status to countries with nonmarket economies that restrict emigration, ITAR-TASS and "Vremya novostei" reported on 10 and 11 August, respectively. Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan were described as meeting international standards and therefore worthy of continued exemption. "Vremya novostei" interpreted Bush's action as a gesture to help Russian citizens in Turkmenistan who have had difficulty leaving the country since the revocation of dual Russian-Turkmen citizenship. Turkmenistan had been exempted from the Jackson-Vanik Amendment since December 1997. BB
KYIV PROBING UKRAINIAN INVOLVEMENT IN ALLEGED SMUGGLING EPISODE IN PERSIAN GULF. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry is looking into the circumstances under which the "Navstar-1" tanker and its crew were apprehended in the Persian Gulf on 9 August by a British naval ship, Interfax reported, quoting ministry spokesman Markiyan Lubkivskyy. Some reports have claimed the "Navstar-1" had a Ukrainian crew aboard when it was caught with some 1,000 tons of Iraqi diesel fuel and taken to the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr. The ship reportedly sails under a Panamanian flag and is owned by a company from the United Arab Emirates. U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq L. Paul Bremer said the crew will be handed over to Iraqi authorities for trial. JM
POLISH-LANGUAGE RADIO TO START BROADCASTING IN UKRAINE. Polish-Ukrainian Radio MAN is to launch broadcasting in Lviv in western Ukraine in the fall, PAP reported on 8 August. The program, prepared by Polish and Ukrainian journalists, will be broadcast half in Polish and half in Ukrainian. Radio MAN plans to broadcast music, political journalism, and news. The station's format includes programs on culture, history, problems faced by the Polish minority in Ukraine and the Ukrainian minority in Poland, but it will earn revenues from advertising. State radio's Polish Radio Katowice, which is currently training 10 journalists for MAN, has for years backed an initiative on launching the station. The broadcasts will initially cover a radius of 50 kilometers, but its founders are reportedly thinking of expanding its range. JM