Bucharest officials' protests against the Bastroe project don't seem to be impressing Kiev authorities. One Kiev official has recently expressed doubts about Romania's ecology arguments meant to stop the building of the Bastroe canal. The building didn't stop because of Romania's protests, but in order to facilitate the settling of technical matters, said the Ukrainian transport minister Viktor Bondar last week. Romania's reasons are not of ecological nature, but political and economic: after the canal is achieved, Ukrainian ships will reach the Black Sea by avoiding Romanian harbors, minister Bondar said. He concluded: "It's all right, let them make a fuss!" In his attempt to explain the project, the minister claimed it brought no economic advantages, but it was strategically necessary and there were no environment difficulties. (...) (A.M.L.)