Sportyvna hazeta Could Find Itself on the Street

It is next to impossible to count how many people have ended up on the street as a result of shady transactions with their hard-earned square meters and money. But you have to admit that finding the oldest Ukrainian sports publication, Sportyvna hazeta, under the open skies seems highly improbable. Though if you remember what happened to Kievskie Vedomosti...

Sportyvna moved into the top floor of the building at 13 Kostyolna (then Cheluskintsiv) Street before the Olympic soccer tournament in Kyiv and has been there for twenty years with Ukraine's sporting hopes and problems. But, as it turned out, there is no one to take care of the newspaper. The Ukrahrobiznes Joint Venture, which moved into the same building, became its owner last year. Since then, says Editor-in-Chief Dmytro Aleksandrenko, this agricultural company has been squeezing out tenants.

The first gift, as customary, was presented before the New Year in the person of joint venture's security chief Nianchuk who nearly ordered that the newspapermen clear out. But, thank God, this did not lead to direct aggression. And the Arbitration Court, to which the businessmen turned, declared their arguments insufficient and postponed its decision twice.

 However, this is not the end of the world for the editorial office, and it is ready to consider any other acceptable option. In the meanwhile, the readers cannot be absolutely certain whether they will receive the next issue of their favorite newspaper on time. The Day contacted the joint venture by telephone. Its director Leonid Kozachenko was away on business, and Legal Department Manager Olha Babak declined comment on the situation.