www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Analysis: Britain sees Ukraine as new strategic front — page 2. • IMF approves new loan for Ukraine — page 3. • Creative youth of Ukraine on U.S.-Canada tour — page 8. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIV HE KRAINIANNo. 17 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 1996 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine BrushfireT burnsU in five villages G-7 summitW reaffirms commitment of deserted zone near Chornobyl to closing down Chornobyl plant by Marta Kolomayets doned villages in the zone. by Marta Kolomayets leaders of the G-7 countries reaffirmed Kyiv Press Bureau Ukraine’s emergency services told the Kyiv Press Bureau their commitment to grant Ukraine more UNIAN news agency that there was no than $3.1 billion to take the plant out of KYIV – Tragedy once again hit the increase in radiation in the area, but fire- KYIV – Although no new ground operation within the next three years. Chornobyl region as a fire spread through fighters at the scene – equipped with radi- regarding the issue of Western aid to close The funds for the shutdown of the deserted villages in the zone of alienation ation meters – said that the needles on the Chornobyl was broken at the G-7 summit Chornobyl nuclear power plant include on April 23, raising concerns about meters showed big increases. They said on nuclear safety and security, held in $500 million in grants and $2.6 billion in increased levels of radiation in the area. flames, smoke and displacement of dust Moscow on April 19-20, Ukrainian gov- credits, with a 5 to 6 percent interest rate, The blaze raced through the 30-kilome- naturally pushed readings higher. ernment officials expressed their satisfac- which Ukraine will begin paying off in ter zone, just three days before the 10th On April 24, Volodymyr Kholosha, tion with the meeting, during which 10 years. anniversary of the world’s worst civilian Ukraine’s minister of Chornobyl affairs, President Leonid Kuchma reiterated the However, the money has not yet been nuclear accident at the Chornobyl plant, said the fires had caused only minor, country’s intention to close down the plant disbursed, and Ukraine will now begin which occurred on April 26, 1986. localized increases in radiation. by the year 2000. signing agreements so that the funds can be Officials said no one was hurt in the Officials at the Chornobyl nuclear On the eve of the 10th anniversary of released, said Yuriy Kostenko, Ukraine’s fires, which apparently started in dry, power station said the fire, which broke the Chornobyl nuclear accident, which waist-high grass, spreading to five aban- out about nine miles northwest of the spewed radiation across most of Europe, (Continued on page 3) plant, posed no danger to the plant itself. Although the zone had been evacuated days after the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear CHORNOCHORNOBBYL:YL: THE FIRST DECADE disaster, more than 600 people have reset- British PM visits tled in the area, and on April 23 more than 150 people had chartered buses to come Ukraine on eve back to the village of Tovsty Lis to pay respect to their departed relatives buried of G-7 summit in the local cemetery. (Sunday was by Marta Kolomayets Providna Nedilia, or St. Thomas Sunday, a religious holiday in Ukraine, during Kyiv Press Bureau which memorial services are conducted KYIV – British Prime Minister John on the graves of family members.) Major, en route to the Group of Seven Ukrainian officials suspect that the summit meeting in Moscow, paid an offi- fires were caused by returnees on their cial visit to Kyiv on April 18 where he annual visits to their old homesteads. praised Ukraine’s commitment to reform “The reasons for the fire are being and pledged Western aid in closing down investigated, but the most likely explana- the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. tion is carelessness by these visitors. By Lauding what he called “remarkable evening all the fires were brought under economic and political reforms” over control and extinguished,” said Minister the last few years, Mr. Major, who vis- Kholosha on April 24. ited Ukraine for the first time, said Firefighters said the blaze was proba- Great Britain intends to increase trade bly started by a cigarette dropped by one and investment in this nation of 52 mil- of the families visiting the graves near lion. the village of Tovsty Lis. “We understand the difficulty very Chornobyl Interinform, an informa- clearly of these economic reforms, but tion center located within the exclusion we are utterly confident that as they are zone, reported that nearly 10 hectares of carried forward, they will lead to a far grasslands were destroyed in the villages better economic future for Ukraine,” of Zalissia and Tovsty Lis, about 15 kilo- said Prime Minister Major at meters from the Chornobyl nuclear plant; Mariyinsky Palace, where visiting dig- 10 abandoned houses burned and another nitaries are received by Ukraine’s lead- 150 hectares of grassland were ership. destroyed. Five hectares of forest and 45 The prime minister and President hectares of grassland were destroyed in Kuchma focused on issues relating to the Sheplevychi, while five hectares of shut down of Chornobyl, which was on grassland burned around the village of the agenda of the G-7 summit in Teresha and another 10 hectares were Moscow on April 19-20. destroyed at Nova Krasnytsia. “We’re fully committed to the imple- All in all, about 200 hectares (500 mentation of the memorandum of under- acres) of forest and grasslands were standing that has been signed between destroyed. Abandoned homes, the village Ukraine and the G-7 (the aid plan signed church and other wooden buildings were in Ottawa in December 1995),” Mr. engulfed in flames, burning to the Major told journalists during a photo ground in less than half an hour, as the opportunity in the early afternoon, returnees, quickly ushered onto buses, explaining that the issue of Chornobyl watched in horror. “is important to the president (Kuchma), A reporter from the Reuters news important to me and important to the rest agency and his photographer were at the of the G-7.” scene and witnessed the blaze, which “There are funds ready to be used, began at about noon and lasted close to The Ukrainian Weekly’s special reports dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear accident continue in this issue beginning on page 9. (Continued on page 4) (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 28, 1996 No. 17 ANALYSIS: Britain sees Ukraine as Europe’s new strategic front NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS by Taras Kuzio backed its reintegration into Europe. Dudayev killed; Yandarbiev takes over added that a funeral had been scheduled. Mr. Yandarbiev, 44, is a writer who One attempt to rectify Britain’s slow MOSCOW — Conflicting reports Prime Minister John Major’s one-day recognition of Ukraine’s strategic impor- founded the Vainakh Democratic Party in visit to Ukraine on April 18 on his way appeared on April 23 over whether or not May 1990. (OMRI Daily Digest) tance was an international conference Chechen President Dzhokhar Dudayev to a two-day nuclear summit in Moscow titled “Whither Ukraine” held at the indicates that Kyiv is now becoming a had been killed in a rocket attack on the Constitutional debate continues Foreign Office conference center at village of Gekhi-Chu southwest of regular stopover for Western leaders on Wilton Park in Sussex, England, last KYIV — Parliament continues to their way for consultations and meetings Grozny, the capital of Chechnya, during December, during the same week that the night of April 21-22. Khodzh-Akhmed debate the draft constitution, Ukrainian to the Russian capital. Prime Minister President Kuchma visited the U.K. on a media reported on April 23. Last week, Major will assure President Leonid Yarikhanov, who initially represented the three-day visit. A major survey of post- Dudayev government at last summer’s the body rejected the first reading of the Kuchma that Britain is committed to a Soviet and East European studies in the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee’s “free and prosperous Ukraine” and hopes Chechen-Russian peace talks, told ITAR- U.K. last year will also reverse the TASS that Gen. Dudayev had been killed, draft and has now received five alternative to boost British exports to, and invest- Russo-centric bias of Soviet Studies in but later on April 23 a Chechen (Dudayev drafts for review. The Communists’ draft ment in, Ukraine, which are now lagging the U.K. by creating 35 new posts, three camp) government official said in Istanbul preserves the system of local councils and far behind Germany, the U.S. and even of which are in Ukrainian affairs at the that he had spoken to the president by rejects the institution of the presidency. France and Italy. universities of Birmingham, London and telephone that day. On April 24, Agence The Christian Democrats’ draft is almost Britain, together with Germany, the Essex. Five other newly created posts France Presse reported that Chechen mili- identical to the one prepared by the parlia- U.S. and Canada, is promoting the strate- include Ukrainian affairs as part of joint tary commander Shamil Basayev had con- mentary committee, except that it bal- gic importance of Ukraine to European studies of the region. firmed the reports of Gen. Dudayev’s ances power among the elected assem- security after years of neglect. That is A major international conference on death and had told Interfax that Vice- blies, the president and the country’s producing a storm of diplomatic activity Ukraine titled “Soviet to Independent President Zelimkhan Yandarbiev had courts, where the committee’s draft allo- on the eve of the Russian presidential Ukraine: A Troubled Transformation” assumed the presidency.