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.

INJURED UKRAINIAN LAWMAKER IN INTENSIVE CARE. Yevhen Kushnaryov, deputy chairman of the Party of Regions caucus in the Verkhovna Rada, was wounded on January 16 during a hunting trip, Interfax reported. Party of Regions lawmaker Hanna Herman told the agency Kushnaryov was taken to the hospital emergency room with a gunshot wound to his liver. Kushnaryov remains in the intensive-care unit of an Izyumin hospital, in the Kharkiv region. According to the "Ukrayinska pravda" website on January 17, Kushnaryov's condition is critical. Police are investigating the incident. AM

UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY CALLS TARASYUK'S OUSTING 'ARTIFICIAL DRAMA.' The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a January 16 statement that it informed Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in advance about Foreign Minister Borys Tarsyuk's official visit to the Czech Republic earlier this week, Interfax reported. Yanukovych has demanded Tarasyuk's ouster, saying he "cannot be considered an official who is authorized by the state to conduct an official visit abroad" (see "RFE/RL Newsline," January 16, 2007). "The artificial making of a drama about the official visit of Foreign Minister Tarasyuk is harming Ukraine's image," the Foreign Ministry statement said, adding that "this visit was agreed with head of state Viktor Yushchenko." AM

STUDY SAYS KAZAKHSTAN TOP MIGRANT MAGNET IN REGION. A new study by the World Bank has found that Kazakhstan is the ninth most popular destination worldwide for migrants and the top destination for migrants from neighboring Central Asian states, Kazinform and Interfax-Kazakhstan reported on January 16. The report, titled "Migration and Remittances: Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union," forecasts that labor migration will continue to grow and urged the countries involved to coordinate policy better. The study found that, according to 2003 data, the top 10 countries receiving migrants were, in order: the United States, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, France, India, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Kazakhstan, and Poland. DK