KUCHMA HOPES FOR “WINTER WITHOUT UPHEAVALS” AFTER TALKS ON RUSSIAN GAS.

President Leonid Kuchma announced yesterday a hitherto unreported–or perhaps unnoticed–result of his September 18-19 meeting with Russian President Boris Yeltsin (see the Monitor, September 21). According to Kuchma, the Russian side will accept US$1 billion worth of Ukrainian goods, primarily food, in payment for past and current Russian deliveries, primarily of gas. Kuchma expressed gratitude to Russia’s new prime minister, Yevgeny Primakov, for taking a “firm stand” in Ukraine’s favor on this issue. The remark suggests that some Russian officials opposed the deal.

Concerned lest Ukraine “lose the Russian market” due to the financial crisis there, Kuchma expressed a degree of relief that the understanding reached in Moscow could obviate major losses for Ukraine. But his presentation suggested that the agreement was one of principle, rather than a hard-and-fast document. He called for consistent adherence to that understanding, to ensure that “the winter passes without upheavals.” Meanwhile Primakov has postponed a planned official visit to Ukraine, which had been scheduled for September 25-26. He did find the time for a visit to Belarus on September 30 (Ukrainian agencies, Itar-Tass, September 23; DINAU, September 22).–VS

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ADMITS GRAVITY OF CRISIS.