UKRAINE’S ROMANIAN NEIGHBOR STONEWALLS ON TREATY.

Russia is not the only neighbor of Ukraine to hold up the signing of a bilateral political treaty which would, among other things, consecrate existing borders. (See Monitor, March 31, April 1, & April 3) At recent talks in Izmail (in the Odessa region), the Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Romania, Yevhen Marchuk and Nicolae Vacaroiu, disagreed over key provisions in the draft interstate treaty between their two countries. At the concluding news conference, Vacaroiu called for delimiting the mutual maritime border proceeding from Romania’s old title to Serpents’ Island and for a preamble condemning the effects of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact upon Romania — by which Bucharest means Ukraine’s inheritance of northern Bukovina and southern Bessarabia from the USSR.

Marchuk called for a treaty reflecting the present oriented toward the two countries’ future relations, rather than toward history. (Basapress, March 30) Bucharest shares Moscow’s reluctance to offer the unreserved recognition of Ukraine’s borders sought by Kiev. Ironically, Bucharest-Moscow treaty negotiations are also stalled largely due to Bucharest’s demand for a Russian repudiation of the effects of the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact on Romania.

Russia Again Rejects Police Powers for Troops in Abkhazia.