TABACHNIK, FOLLOWING RAZUMKOV, RETURNS TO PRESIDENTIAL PALACE.

Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma yesterday appointed Dmytro Tabachnik as a presidential adviser; his responsibilities are as yet unspecified. (Ukrainian agencies, September 30) Tabachnik headed the presidential administration from 1994 to December 1996. His immense influence and personal control of access to Kuchma ultimately made Tabachnik unpopular in presidential circles and led to his dismissal. His return is probably connected with Kuchma’s plans for legislative and presidential election campaigns. Tabachnik played a highly effective role in Kuchma’s successful presidential campaign in 1994.

Similar considerations probably led to Kuchma’s recent decision to recall a former key aide, Oleksandr Razumkov, to the presidential palace, this time as deputy head of the National Security and Defense Council. In that post Razumkov has been actively promoting cooperation with Russia — short of sacrificing Ukrainian interests. This new emphasis on relations with Russia, designed in part to reassure the electorate in eastern Ukraine, was in evidence at the constitutive meeting, just held in Kyiv, of a high-level Russian-Ukrainian Consultative Council.

Russian Border Forces Chief Holds Talks in Almaty.