NEWSBRIEFS (08/26/01)

NEWSBRIEFS

Lawmaker tried for embezzlement

Ukrainian legislator Viktor Zherdytskyi, the former head of Kyiv's Gradobank, went on trial in Hildesheim (Germany) on August 16 for embezzling German compensation money intended for Ukrainian victims of the Nazis, AP reported. Zherdytskyi is accused of diverting four million German marks ($1.9 million) in 1995 by transferring the money from Germany to a company he founded in London instead of to a Ukrainian reconciliation fund meant to benefit Nazi victims. Hildesheim court spokesman Jan-Michael Seidel said prosecutors cannot charge Zherdytskyi in connection with another alleged embezzlement of 82 million German marks, because the statue of limitations has expired. Zherdytskyi was arrested in Hanover last October when he attempted to withdraw $50,000 from one of his accounts. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Journalist killing not politically motivated

Mykhailo Potebenko on August 16 said there was no high-level political motivation behind last month's killing of Ihor Aleksandrov, the director of a regional television company in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, AP reported. Potebenko added that the attack on Aleksandrov was apparently prompted by local dissatisfaction with his journalistic activities. Potebenko visited Slavyansk with Interior Minister Yurii Smirnov and Security Service Deputy Chief Yurii Vandin after President Leonid Kuchma criticized the investigation of the Aleksandrov case as inefficient and ordered top law enforcement officials to take over the probe. "We are sure there will be a positive result [in the investigation], but I cannot say it will be tomorrow," the agency quoted Potebenko as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow against physical demarcation

A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman said on August 17 that Moscow believes there need not be any physical demarcation of the border between Russia and Ukraine now that the two sides have agreed to the border on maps, RIA-Novosti reported on August 17. The spokesman said that Moscow believes the border should help "unite rather than divide" the two countries and that in any case nothing should be done until there is a formal bilateral treaty on the shared border. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Thirty-six miners killed in explosion

A methane explosion killed at least 36 miners in the Zasiadko coal mine in Donetsk on August 19, Ukrainian and world media reported. At least 10 miners are still missing, and 39 were hospitalized with severe burns. Rescue teams halted their search for survivors due to a fierce fire at the accident site, 1,300 meters underground. In May 1999, a methane explosion in the Zasiadko mine killed 50 miners. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Odesa-Brody oil pipeline completed

President Kuchma on August 19 symbolically welded the last connection of the Odesa-Brody pipeline that Ukraine hopes to turn into a major supply route for Caspian oil to European markets. The 667-kilometer pipeline will allow the transportation of 12 million tons of oil annually. Kuchma praised the pipeline's completion as a "great present" for Ukraine's 10th anniversary of independence, which will be celebrated this week. He called for the creation of an international consortium to exploit the Odesa-Brody pipeline. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Three Ukrainian parties to unite

The leaders of the Party of Regions, the Popular Democratic Party and the Labor Ukraine Party - Mykola Azarov, Valerii Pustovoitenko and Serhii Tyhypko, respectively - said in a joint statement that they want to unite their organizations in "one powerful party," Ukrainian media reported on August 17. The statement said the party leaders are confident that the new party "can become the gravitational center for all democratic forces in society." The three leaders also believe that "the new party will become a reliable platform for national unification and will promote further strengthening of freedom and democracy in Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor-general to charge Lazarenko

Prosecutor-General Mykhailo Potebenko told the August 18 "Zerkalo nedeli" that he will ask the parliament to begin criminal proceedings against former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko for ordering the killings of parliamentary deputy Yevhen Scherban in 1996 and former National Bank Governor Vadym Hetman in 1998. Last week Potebenko disclosed that a current parliamentary deputy is responsible for the two murders. Lazarenko, who was elected to the Ukrainian parliament in 1998, is now in a U.S. prison on charges of money laundering. He is expected to testify in U.S. federal court in September. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia, Ukraine agree on energy union

Prime Minister Kasyanov and his Ukrainian counterpart Anatolii Kinakh agreed on August 20 following a meeting in Moscow that the two countries will move immediately to initiate the parallel operation of their electrical grids, RTR television reported. Meanwhile, Kasyanov noted that Moscow and Kyiv are finalizing an agreement on Ukrainian debts for Russian gas. Kinakh for his part said that Kyiv has agreed to offer its national oil and gas company to Russia as a deposit for its future payments on Russian gas supplies, ITAR-TASS reported on August 20. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma says he won't seek a third term

Leonid Kuchma has told "The Washington Times" that he will not seek a third term in office, although some political forces have urged him to use a loophole in the country's constitution to do so. "I ran for president again because I saw there was nobody else to lead the nation. I will retire at the end of my term [in 2004]," the August 22 issue of the newspaper quoted Kuchma as saying. Kuchma confessed that he would like to see centrist forces come to power after next year's parliamentary elections in Ukraine. He said he will not support any specific individuals for the parliament, nor did he indicate his choice for a successor. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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