Many forms have to be filled out to receive $200 compensation from Oschadbank.
Photo: AP
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Timoshenko Gets Credit for Soviet Debt
Payments against the debt of the Savings Bank (Sberbank) of the USSR are continuing today in Ukraine. Last week, the first day of payments was marked by a rush on the state Oschadbank, resulting in the death of one pensioner while standing in line and the trampling of another. Distribution of funds for the payments and preparations at individual bank branches have been uneven, resulting in the dismissal of 35 bank managers and reprimands for 52 others. International agencies are warning that the payments are likely to speed up the inflation rate in the country.
The repayment of the Soviet bank's debt is one of Yulia T8imoshenko's campaign promises from the 2007 parliamentary elections. The parliament approved a draft budget for the year that allowed for up to 2000 hryvna, that is, about $400, in compensation per depositor, but that sum was cut in half in the final version of the budget signed by the president. In all, 20 billion hryvna, or about $4 billion, has been budgeted for that purpose. The actual debt of the bank is 123 billion hryvna ($24.6 billion). The debt is being paid at a coefficient of 1.05 hryvna per Soviet ruble and no more than 1000 hryvna is being paid to any one person. The Yulia Timoshenko Bloc also promised to cancel the military draft, but that reform is moving more slowly.
Timoshenko is claiming the credit for this popular move, causing annoyance to her opponent Party of the Regions leader Viktor Yanukovich and to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. “Its already a presidential campaign in its approach,” commented head of the Kiev Institute of Global Problems Vadim Karasev. “It's a wonder the others [Timoshenko's political competition] didn't think of it first.”
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Jan. 14, 2008
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