FRENCH PRESIDENT IN KYIV.

On an official visit to Ukraine from September 2-4, President Jacques Chirac announced that France “understood how important Ukraine is to Europe” and supported President Leonid Kuchma’s “bold steps” in initiating economic reforms. Chirac also endorsed Ukraine’s hopes for “a peaceful new Europe where there would be no redrawing of political maps.”

Ukraine asked France to use its influence in Western institutions in support of:– credits to Ukraine from the IMF and the EBRD– aid from G-7 toward closing the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and completing two other plants in compensation– Ukrainian status as an associate member of the European Union– formation of a European consortium to produce a new military transport plane based on the Russian-Ukrainian AN-70 model.

Chirac declared his consent to the first two requests while sounding vague on the second two. (UNIAN, Eastern Economist Daily (Kyiv), September 3 and 4) The French president proceeds today to Moldova.

U.S. WARSHIP IN SEVASTOPOL.