UKRAINE, POLAND SIGNAL DISAPPROVAL OF LUKASHENKO.

Belarus Popular Front Chairman Zyanon Paznyak yesterday announced an initiative to create a Belarus Information Center in Poland in order to "inform international public opinion of the true political situation in Belarus." Paznyak left Belarus for Poland following the crackdown on Popular Front activists accused of organizing the mass pro-independence demonstration in Minsk on April 26. Major Polish political forces support the Belarusian opposition and the Polish government has also criticized some of Lukashenko’s measures. Lukashenko for his part accused the Popular Front last week of "counting on Western sponsors."

In Kiev, Deputy Foreign Minister Kostyantin Khrishchenko said yesterday on returning from Minsk that he had asked the Belarusian government to release from pretrial detention seven members of the Ukrainian National Assembly (UNA-UNSO) accused of participating in the April 26 demonstration. Khrishchenko warned that failure to release the seven could damage bilateral state relations. UNA-UNSO is officially banned in Ukraine as "extremist," but Kiev defends its citizens detained in Minsk. (Reuter, Interfax-Ukraine, May 28)

New Ukrainian New Prime Minister Appointed.