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ANOTHER BOMB ATTACK IN KYIV INJURES CITY OFFICIAL. An explosion in an elevator of an apartment building in Kyiv on the morning of 3 September seriously injured Serhiy Alisimenko, deputy director of the Troyeshchyna market in the Ukrainian capital, Ukrainian news agencies reported. Two blasts at the Troyeshchyna market on 20 August killed one person and injured around a dozen. Police arrested four suspects and suggested a link between the blasts and the opposition, while the opposition charged that the 20 August bomb attacks may have been organized by special services (see "RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report," 31 August 2004). On 2 September, the Interior Ministry categorized the Troyeshchyna blasts as "terrorism" and passed the case to the Security Service of Ukraine for further investigation. JM

DANUBE CANAL CREATES CONFLICT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND FORMER PRESIDENT. Former Romanian President Emil Constantinescu on 2 September accused Prime Minister Nastase's cabinet of showing incompetence and a lack of interest in the issue of the deep-water shipping canal being built by Ukraine in the Danube Delta, Mediafax reported. He said the former government, based on the 1997 basic treaty with Ukraine, signed a trilateral agreement in 2000 with Romanian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan environment ministries on cooperation regarding the delta. But the current government only approved that agreement in 2003, thus "proving lack of interest in protecting the delta," Constantinescu added. Nastase recently said that "the rush" in signing the 1997 treaty with Ukraine only created further "complications that still have to be solved." ZsM

MOLDOVAN PRESIDENT SAYS TRANSDNIESTER RULED BY RUSSIA AND UKRAINE. Vladimir Voronin told the BBC's Ukrainian Service, as reported by Flux on 2 September, that the "Transdniestrian regime is and will stay a puppet, as it is actually ruled by Russia and Ukraine." He said he cannot say if high-ranking officials from these countries are responsible for this manipulation, as several structures are interested in the existence of the region, seen by Voronin as "a huge black and corrupt ditch." He said that the breakaway region of Transdniester is "an illegal business." Voronin said the solution to the conflict depends entirely on Moscow's position. ZsM

TRANSDNIESTER MARKS 'INDEPENDENCE' DAY. Transdniester on 2 September celebrated the 14th anniversary of its "independence" from Moldova with festivities that included a military parade in downtown Tiraspol, the BBC's website reported. Apart from Transdneistrian authorities, guests from Russia, Ukraine, and the unrecognized Georgian republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, also attended the event. Speaking at the celebration, Transdniestrian "Defense Minister" Stanislav Hajeev said the "Transdniestrian Republic" is a "viable state, a politically and economically independent country, that can defend itself from foreign aggressions." He criticized the Chisinau authorities for fueling tensions in bilateral relations, adding that "one of the most important tasks in foreign policy for Tiraspol is normalizing relations with Moldova," based on a treaty. He further accused western powers for helping Moldova try to topple the Tiraspol authorities. Hajeev added that Transdniester believes in Russia and its military capacity. ZsM