UKRAINIAN MINISTER DISMISSES CRIMEAN FEARS.

Ukrainian justice minister Sergei Holovaty has dismissed the appeal of the Crimean Supreme Soviet asking that guarantees of Crimean autonomy be written into the Ukrainian-Russian Friendship Treaty. Holovaty said Ukraine is quite capable of guaranteeing Crimean autonomy on its own. First and foremost, however, Ukraine must guarantee its own territorial integrity. Demands that amount to granting the peninsula the rights of a sovereign state are ruled out. (Interfax-Ukraine, March 28)

Ardzinba Defies Georgia on Georgian TV, Praises Russian Role.