NEWSBRIEFS (03/25/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Communists seek to oust government

KYIV - Four Communist lawmakers on March 15 met with Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko and handed him a list of 17 demands, Interfax reported. In particular, the Communist Party wants the government to switch to a socialist economy, nationalize banks, introduce a planned economy for state enterprises, give official status to the Russian language and break all relations with NATO. National Deputy Oleksander Bondarchuk commented after the meeting that "each side has remained on its own position." Mr. Bondarchuk said the Communists will vote to dismiss the Cabinet in a possible no-confidence vote following Mr. Yuschenko's report to the Parliament on April 10. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told a Communist rally the same day that the party "will arouse the people of Ukraine and do away with this regime in a week" if it fails to resign voluntarily. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM ready to back Cabinet changes

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on March 20 said he is ready to discuss Cabinet replacements with parliamentary groups if new candidates turn out to be "more rational and constructive" than the current ministers, and if the reshuffle "cements" the pro-government parliamentary majority, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, lawmaker Yaroslav Kendzior from Rukh (Udovenko) told the Parliament the same day that "vigorous preparations" are under way to oust the Yuschenko Cabinet and install an "oligarchic-leftist regime" in Ukraine. Yurii Kostenko, leader of another Rukh faction, warned that "the attempts of oligarchs and Communists to start off the government's dismissal are a full-scale plan to destabilize Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

New regional group emerges in Rada

KYIV - A new deputies' caucus called Ukraine's Regions (Rehiony Ukrainy) has been registered in the Verkhovna Rada, Interfax reported on March 21. The group is led by Donetsk Mayor Volodymyr Rybak and includes five former lawmakers from Revival of Regions, four from Labor Ukraine, and two from the Popular Democratic Party. Revival of Regions leader Oleksander Volkov commented that the creation of the Ukraine's Regions group is the beginning of a "real break-up" of the pro-government majority. The current array of parliamentary forces is as follows: Communist Party, 112 lawmakers; Social Democratic Party (United), 34; Fatherland, 31; Rukh (Kostenko), 23; National Democratic Party, 18; Greens, 17; Rukh (Udovenko), 16; Left Center (Socialists), 16; Reforms-Congress, 15; Yabluko, 14; Labor Ukraine, 46; Revival of Regions, 30; Solidarnist, 24; and Ukraine's Regions, 16. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. envoy criticizes authorities, opposition

KYIV - U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual on March 16 criticized the actions of both opposition demonstrators and the authorities during violent protests in Kyiv on March 9. "The events on March 9 were disappointing from all sides. The challenge for Ukraine's authorities is to give the people confidence that they can express dissent without fear of violent repression. Peaceful action is also very important on the part of demonstrators and restraint is also required [on their part]," the Associated Press quoted Mr. Pascual as saying. The envoy spoke after introducing a new $750,000 media development fund in Ukraine, a two-year project sponsored by the U.S. to encourage an independent press. The fund is aimed at improving the legal, administrative and tax environment for Ukrainian media, expanding the use of the Internet, improving professional standards among journalists, and providing direct grant support for Ukrainian media and non-governmental organizations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists stage anti-government march

DONETSK - Some 3,000 mostly elderly people took part in a march organized by the Communist Party in Donetsk on March 17, Reuters reported. Protesters demanded the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, as well as closer ties between Ukraine and Russia. Some 350 people participated in a similar rally in Dnipropetrovsk the same day, Interfax reported. Meanwhile, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told a March 17 conference of lawmakers from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia that only a union of those three countries will help Ukraine "overcome the misery in which we find ourselves and avoid new threats." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kwasniewski to Kuchma: don't use force

WARSAW - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski told his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, in Kazimerz Dolny on March 15 that he should use not force, but dialogue, for resolving the current political unrest at home, the PAP news agency reported. President Kuchma responded that he is ready for dialogue with the opposition, but only within the framework of the law and the Constitution. Mr. Kuchma added: "When the so-called opposition wants to dictate the resignation of a president ... protesting with sharp metal objects and Molotov cocktails in their hands - how can we talk to such groups?" Polish Television reported that the Ukrainian president said he will not talk to "fascists" who provoke social disorder in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kwasniewski talks to Ukrainian opposition

WARSAW - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski on March 15 met with a delegation of the Ukrainian opposition, which included lawmakers Taras Chornovil, Stanislav Mykolaienko and Ihor Koliushko, the PAP news service reported. Presidential aide Marek Siwiec said Mr. Kwasniewski tried to persuade the Ukrainian opposition activists that "everyone in this conflict should declare their willingness to hold talks." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gazprom says Ukraine continues gas theft

MOSCOW - Gazprom head Rem Viakhirev on March 20 said Ukraine is still siphoning off Russian transit gas, the Eastern Economist Daily reported on March 21. Mr. Viakhirev noted that Ukraine has not yet paid for supplied gas, adding that Kyiv's gas debt to Russia now totals $2 billion. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Duma explores ties with Ukraine

KYIV - A Duma delegation led by Unity Deputy Sergei Apatenko is in Kyiv to consult with Ukrainian parliamentarians who have set up a parliamentary group For the Union of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, ITAR-TASS reported on March 16. The Ukrainian effort currently unites 60 members of the Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New group to promote Slavic union

MOSCOW - Russian Duma Deputy Sergei Apatenko (Unity), deputy chairman of the Russian Parliament's Committee for CIS Affairs and Relations with Compatriots Abroad, said that his visit to Kyiv this week will lead to the formation of a new group of parliamentarians from the three Slavic countries to promote their union, ITAR-TASS reported on March 20. More than 90 Ukrainian deputies are among its supporters, Mr. Apatenko said. The Duma had voted on February 15 to charge its CIS committee with developing proposals for the creation of an interfactional support group For the Union of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, ITAR-TASS reported. At the time, Mr. Apatenko said the idea for the organization had come from Ukrainian parliamentarians. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Former NBU official is detained

KYIV - Kyiv prosecutors have detained Volodymyr Bondar, first vice-chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine in 1995-1999, on charges of abuse of office, Interfax reported on March 19. The prosecutors allege that in 1997 Mr. Bondar signed an unsound deal with a bank in Cyprus, inflicting a loss of $5 million on the state. In June 2000 prosecutors instigated criminal proceedings against a number of NBU officials, accusing them of mishandling foreign currency reserves in 1997-1998. The names of those officials have not been officially released. The Internet newsletter Ukrainska Pravda suggests that Ukrainian oligarchs Oleksander Volkov, Hryhorii Surkis and Viktor Medvedchuk are behind Mr. Bondar's detention. According to the newsletter, the oligarchs want to put pressure on Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko to form a coalition government. Mr. Yuschenko headed the National Bank of Ukraine at the time the alleged mishandling of foreign currency reserves took place. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM calls for full investigation of murder

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko on March 16 called for a thorough investigation into the murder of Heorhii Gongadze, Interfax reported. Mr. Yuschenko added that he does not believe President Leonid Kuchma ordered Mr. Gongadze to be killed. "Morally, I cannot assume that the country's president may somehow be involved in Heorhii Gongadze's disappearance. It would be a tragedy for me," Mr. Yuschenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists want Soviet comeback

KYIV - Some 3,000 Communists and hard-liners demonstrated at the Ukrainian Parliament on March 15, demanding the ouster of President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko, and a return to the old Soviet ways, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Yuschenko earned particular ire from the protesters, who stood patiently in the pouring rain, chanting "Kuchma and Yuschenko to jail!" and lamented their lost Soviet-era savings, miserable pensions, low wages and other social woes, the agency noted. Many Communists arrived from outlying regions such as Donetsk, Luhansk, Odesa and Kharkiv. They were backed by hard-line groups, including the Ukrainian Workers' Union and the All-Ukrainian Union of Soviet Officers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine Without Kuchma pickets in Kyiv

KYIV - Some 1,000 activists of the Ukraine Without Kuchma movement on March 14 picketed the parliamentary building and subsequently the Procurator General's Office, the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Presidential Administration Building, demanding the dismissal of President Leonid Kuchma, Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko, and Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko, Interfax reported. Demonstrators collected a glassful of blood drawn from their fingers and deposited the glass outside the Internal Affairs Ministry, suggesting that Messrs. Kuchma and Kravchenko have blood on their hands following the murder of independent journalist Heorhii Gongadze. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Melnychenko continues transcribing tapes

KYIV - Mykola Melnychenko, who secretly bugged President Leonid Kuchma's office and provoked a political scandal in Ukraine by publicizing some recordings, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on February 26 that he needs "a great deal of time" as well as "equipment and professionals" to transcribe all the secret tapes he made. Mr. Melnychenko noted, however, that the material he has already transcribed is sufficient to prove unambiguously that President Kuchma is "a criminal who gave criminal orders and controlled [their fulfillment]." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Melnychenko says Kuchma stole $1 B

KYIV - Mykola Melnychenko, who released secret recordings of conversations in the Ukrainian president's office, was quoted in the February 26 issue of The New York Times as saying that President Leonid Kuchma had pocketed at least $1 billion for personal or political use. Mr. Melnychenko said his goal is "to totally expose the level of corruption in Ukraine as an independent Don Quixote and ensure that thieves will never come to power again in Ukraine." He spoke with Patrick Tyler of The Times, who interviewed him in an undisclosed location in a Central European country. (RFE/RL Newsline, The New York Times)

| Home Page |