CRIMEA: RADICAL ASSEMBLY IN FEODOSIA

(Feodosia, September 10) - Assembly of Radical Party's members took place today in the conference hall of Hotel Astoria in Feodosia, a health resort city on Black Sea. Among twenty participants of the assembly were not only Radicals from Feodosia, but also activists from Simferopol, Yalta, Saki, Lenino and other cities and villages of Crimea. The assembly was chaired by Nikolaj Khramov, member of the General Council of the RP, and Ljubovj Doroshina, an activist from Feodosia.

In their interventions, participants of the assembly mainly debated problems of realizing Radical initiatives, laid down in a program document "Lines of Political Initiatives" adopted on General Council in Sofia. A special attention was drawn to the preparation the initiatives against death penalty in the context of soon debates in Ukrainian Supreme Rada on the draft of new Criminal Code, which extends death penalty application from 20 to 26 crimes and becomes now a matter of worry for democratic public opinion in Ukraine. In particular, it was stated the readiness of Radicals in Crimea to launch the abolitionist petition campaign addressed to Ukrainian parliament.

Georgij Kovalev, member of the Republican Movement of Crimea (supporters of the Crimean independence) and former adviser of Mr. Sergej Cekov, chairman of Crimean Supreme Council, has drawn attention to the necessity of the federalist approach to the solving of so called "Crimean problem". He pointed to the fact that many aspects of this problem will be solved in case of creation a political union in the CIS framework, in particular - between Russia and Ukraine, which part is Crimea. Touching "the Crimean subject" in his intervention, Nikolaj Khramov brought the Belgian example of non-territorial federalism of its three communities (Flemish, French and German) as a possible and desired way of common development of three basic ethnic groups on the peninsula (Crimean Tartars, Russians, Ukrainians). Besides, he expressed himself for Ukrainian transition to the federal principle of the state building, in which framework Crimea, as also other regions differing very much between themselves, could find its comfortab
le place.

Tatjana Ogorodnikova, an Esperantist from Yalta, spoke about importance of campaign for the International Language. Valentin Podoprigora, a Radical activist from Simferopol, called the party to pay more attention to the antiprohibitionist initiatives on the "Eastern theater". Activists from Yalta Anatolij Marinchenko and Vladimir Kosjak concentrated their attention basically on the problems of practical aspects of the establishing regular inter-action between party activists in Crimea and Radical office in Kiev.

During the assembly in Feodosia 7 new members enlisted to the Radical Party for 1994 and 5 persons joined the "Hands Off Cain" International Campaign.