THIS WEEK IN HISTORY

February 18, 1966: the first edition of the Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia comes off the press.

1977: Simferopol University opens.

February 19, 1938: the world's first Soviet polar station, North Pole -1, completes its mission.

1954: The Crimean Oblast of the RSFSR is transferred to Ukraine.

1992: The Trident (tryzub) adopted as Ukraine's Small National Emblem.

February 21, 1613: Mikhail, the first of the Romanov dynasty, ascends to the Russian throne.

February 22: proclaimed International Crime Victim Support Day 1724: Russia and Sweden sign a mutual assistance treaty.

February 23, 1863: two prominent authors, Ivan Turgenev and Gustave Flaubert, meet for the first time at a literary dejeneur in Paris.

1947: the Statute of the International Organization for Standardization is enacted.

February 24: proclaimed Independence Day in Estonia, a national holiday.

1574: Ivan Feodorov produces The Apostle, Ukraine's first printed book (Lviv).