CRIMEANS UNABLE TO AGREE ON NEW CONSTITUTION.

The Crimean parliament says it is unable to reach agreement on bringing its draft constitution into line with the requirements of the central Ukrainian authorities. (Interfax-Ukraine, June 13) The Crimean lawmakers put forward a new draft constitution last November, and it was approved in principle by the Ukrainian parliament in April with the exception of certain contentious articles. Crimea was given until June 13 to come up with a new draft. Now the Crimean parliamentarians say they want members of parliament representing Crimea in the Ukrainian parliament to come to Simferopol and explain objections to the controversial articles. These include such terminology as "the people of Crimea" and the concept of Crimean citizenship.

It seems possible that the Crimean parliament is eager to take advantage of the fact that Kiev’s attention has been focused of late on President Kuchma’s quarrels first with former prime minister Yevhen Marchuk and now with parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz. The Simferopol legislators may also be hoping that a Zyuganov victory in this weekend’s Russian presidential election will bring to power in Moscow a team more willing to side with Crimea’s predominantly Russian population than the Yeltsin leadership has been.

Kyrgyzstan Favors Western Role in Tajikistan Settlement.