NEWSBRIEFS

Divided Rukhs move to reunite

KYIV - On February 16 in Kyiv, the National Rukh of Ukraine led by Hennadii Udovenko and the Ukrainian National Rukh headed by Yurii Kostenko held a congress devoted to the reunification of their parties, Interfax reported. Rukh split acrimoniously in 1999 following the death in a car crash of its leader, Vyacheslav Chornovil. The congress adopted a declaration pledging "to restore the unity of Rukh." The two parties are planning to hold another congress in the autumn in order to elect a single Rukh leadership. The Udovenko and Kostenko Rukh factions are both members of former Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko's election bloc Our Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma cancels Omelchenko order

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has annulled his decree of February 11 ordering Kyiv Mayor Oleksander Omelchenko to take leave from his post as head of the Kyiv City Administration for the period of the election campaign, Interfax reported on February 19. Mr. Omelchenko is running for the Verkhovna Rada on the election list of the Unity Party he leads, as well as for the post of Kyiv mayor in the local elections, which will be held on the same day as the parliamentary balloting. Mr. Kuchma's decision followed a meeting with Mayor Omelchenko on February 18. The details of that meeting have not been made known. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Canadian official notes improvement

KYIV - Gar Knutson, Canada's secretary of state for Central and Eastern Europe and the Middle East, met with Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh and Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko in Kyiv on February 18 to discuss bilateral relations, the Associated Press reported. "There's been a tremendous improvement over the last two years in terms of the potential that Ukraine offers for Canadian investment," Mr. Knutson said, adding that he will pass on this message to potential Canadian investors. Mr. Knutson also touched upon Ukraine's upcoming parliamentary elections, saying they will be an important step in the country's post-Soviet development. "We were following the elections with interest. There are no particular alarm bells going ... right now," Mr. Knutson added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma vetoes law on Cabinet

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has vetoed a law on how to appoint the Cabinet of Ministers, the UNIAN news agency reported on February 15. Mr. Kuchma reportedly disagreed with the provision obliging the president to hold consultations with the parliamentary leadership and factions on candidates for a new prime minister. The president also objected to consulting the parliamentary leadership on the composition of the Cabinet of Ministers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma to lead new party?

KYIV - Presidential administration chief Volodymyr Lytvyn, who leads the For a United Ukraine election bloc, told journalists on February 14 that President Leonid Kuchma has expressed his readiness to lead a planned For a United Ukraine Party, UNIAN reported. "Our agreement on the creation of the For a United Ukraine election bloc envisions two principal tasks: the creation of a parliamentary caucus and the creation of a pro-presidential party on the basis of the bloc. The president is ready to head the party in the stage of its formation," Mr. Lytvyn said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian Bloc for economic union

KYIV - Oleksander Svystunov, the leader of the Russian Bloc, said in an election campaign spot on Ukrainian Television on February 14 that Ukraine needs an economic union with Russia to ensure "cheap energy resources" and markets for Ukrainian goods. "We have no other choice than going together and building industrial society in both Ukraine and Russia," Mr. Svystunov argued. He criticized Ukraine's "village mentality" in its view of relations with Russia, saying that the Ukrainian economy is based on Russian oil and gas. He also said that the 10 years of independence brought more trouble to Ukraine than 300 years of Russian rule. Mr. Svystunov was speaking to the camera from a rostrum against the bloc's emblem featuring a troika of galloping horses and the slogans "Russian Bloc against poverty" and "Russian Bloc for the Russian language, unity and decent living." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists promise 'socialist reforms'

KYIV - The Communist Party published its election manifesto in Uriadovyi Kurier on February 14, pledging to make workers "the masters of life" and to implement "socialist reforms ... to restore the economy" after winning the March 31 parliamentary ballot. The Communists promise to ensure comprehensive support for domestic producers; restore the "uninterrupted operation" of the fuel and energy sector; support agricultural producers with preferential credits; prevent the massive purchase of land by the nouveau riche and foreigners; guarantee equal legal conditions for the operation of enterprises and businesses with different forms of ownership; lower tax pressure and abolish the value-added tax; stop "the criminal grabatization" [privatization]; and "get rid of the dictatorship and the services of the U.S. administration, the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and other financial-political octopi." The Communists also promise to turn Ukraine into a "parliamentary-presidential" country. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Five Ukrainian miners die in blast

KRASNOARMIISK - A methane explosion killed five miners at a coal mine in Krasnoarmiisk, Donetsk Oblast, on February 14, Interfax reported. Some 40 miners have died in accidents at Ukrainian coal mines so far this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court asks CEC to review bloc's rejection

KYIV - The Supreme Court has obliged the Central Electoral Commission to reconsider its decision not to register the For Yuschenko election bloc led by Oleksander Rzhavskyi, UNIAN reported on February 12. Many Ukrainian observers see Mr. Rzhavskyi's election initiative - using the name of popular politician Viktor Yuschenko without his approval - as a dirty election technique intended to confuse the electorate and take away some votes from Yuschenko's Our Ukraine bloc. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv, Belgrade pledge to expand ties

KYIV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh said after his meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic in Kyiv on February 12 that the two countries intend to continue developing and strengthening bilateral political, economic and cultural relations, Interfax reported. According to Ukrainian official sources, the trade turnover between the two countries in January-November 2001 amounted to $75 million. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko bloc airs campaign ad

KYIV - The Yulia Tymoshenko election bloc on February 11 aired its state-sponsored election spot on Ukrainian Television, in which Ms. Tymoshenko accused the authorities of plotting to discredit her. "I will not defend myself against every allegation the authorities make. As soon as some allegations are cleared, they will come up with others to set society against me and all those around me," she said in a video recorded before her recent car crash. Ms. Tymoshenko appealed to viewers to vote for her bloc as well as for Viktor Yuschenko's Our Ukraine and Oleksander Moroz's Socialist Party. She added that the three will cooperate in the new Parliament. Meanwhile, Mr. Yuschenko said on February 13 that he does not cooperate with Ms. Tymoshenko in the election campaign because hers is an "opposition" bloc while his is a "constructive" one. He added that his aim is to unite forces around a "non-militant, non-opposition, non-radical program." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rejection of Melnychenko bid explained

KYIV - The Justice Ministry has concluded that former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko does not fall into the category of individuals resident in Ukraine in the last five years and, therefore, may not be registered as a candidate in this year's parliamentary election, UNIAN reported on January 31. The ministry's state secretary, Oleksander Lavrynovych, told journalists that, indeed, the definition of permanent residence in the election law covers Ukrainian citizens' stay abroad under active international treaties signed by Ukraine. Mr. Lavrynovych added, however, that the ministry analyzed all of Ukraine's international treaties and reached the conclusion that this clause applies only to businessmen and tourists. Mr. Melnychenko's stay abroad, according to the ministry, cannot be categorized as such. The Central Election Commission refused to register Mr. Melnychenko, and the Socialist Party election bloc has filed a complaint to the Supreme Court. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Energy company loses suit in court

KYIV - A court of arbitration in Moscow has ruled that a Ukrainian company must pay 452 million rubles ($14.7 million U.S.) to the Russian Defense Ministry in debt for supplied gas, New Channel Television reported on January 31. The defendant in this case was the Ukrainian company Bosfor, while the third party in the claim was the industrial-financial corporation United Energy Systems of Ukraine (UESU). The debt arose from gas supplied by Russia to UESU in 1996-1997. The Ukrainian companies are accused of failing to deliver under a barter agreement signed with the Russian Defense Ministry in 1996, when the UESU was run by Yulia Tymoshenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Oil deposit discovered in Poltava region

POLTAVA - The Ukrnafta oil company has discovered a new industrial oil deposit in Poltava Oblast, Ukrainian Television reported on January 30. The new deposit was revealed at the Reshetniakivske oilfield, where oil has been extracted for the past 30 years. "At this oilfield we successfully used horizontal drilling in veins that had been left untapped in previous years. This enabled us to find new oil reserves," an Ukrnafta official said of the discovery. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Newspaper forced to change print shop

KYIV - Ukraina Moloda reported on January 26 that the Kyiv-based newspaper Vecherniye Viesti, which is linked to opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, has been forced to look for a printing house in Lviv since the editorial staff could not find a printer in the capital. "Print shop directors spoke to us in a normal manner by phone until we named ourselves. The name of our newspaper automatically meant an end to the conversation. Some promised to call us back, but it was obvious that they would not," Vecherniye Viesti Editor-in-Chief Oleksander Liapin commented. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Iraq opens embassy in Ukraine

KYIV - The Embassy of Iraq was opened in Kyiv on January 24 in response to the opening of the Embassy of Ukraine in Baghdad last year, Ukrainian media reported. According to 1+1 Television, the opening ceremony was ignored by prominent Ukrainian politicians, whereas the Ukrainian government was represented by the deputy secretary of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Volodymyr Yelchenko. Mr. Yelchenko said current Ukrainian-Iraqi cooperation does not contradict international laws and U.N. sanctions imposed for Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Ukraine and Iraq have not yet exchanged ambassadors. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kremlin spokesman warns RFE/RL

MOSCOW - The Kremlin's spokesman on Chechnya, Sergei Yastrzhembskii, said in an interview published in Gazeta on January 28 that the Russian government will carefully monitor Radio Liberty broadcasts to Russia and could revoke RFE/RL's broadcasting license in Russia if its coverage is deemed to have taken a "biased and prejudiced form." The comments were an apparent response to RFE/RL's plans to open a North Caucasus Service in late February, which will broadcast in the Chechen, Avar and Circassian languages. Mr. Yastrzhembskii said the Constitution of Russia and laws impose "certain restrictions on the mass media in Russia, of which the lawyers and journalists of RFE/RL are well aware," which provide for an official warning from the Media Ministry and the possible revocation of the broadcasting license should that warning go unheeded. Mr. Yastrzhembskii said the Media Ministry and Department of Information of the presidential administration will be tasked with monitoring RFE/RL's "behavior." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moldova responds to Kyiv initiative

CHISINAU - In response to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's calls for the resumption of negotiations between Chisinau and Tiraspol, the Foreign Ministry on January 28 said it "appreciates" Kyiv's "efforts as a mediator," but rejected the initiative in practice, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. The ministry said that "taking into consideration the well-known intransigent position of the Tiraspol leadership and the fact that the negotiations between Moldova and Ukraine on strengthening controls at borders and at custom points have not been finalized," Moldova believes it is "more opportune" to convene "as soon as possible" a meeting between the Ukrainian and Moldovan presidents. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Romanian, Ukrainian PMs sign pact

BUCHAREST - Visiting Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh and his Romanian counterpart, Adrian Nastase, signed an agreement in Bucharest on January 30 on economic cooperation, Romanian radio reported. Mr. Kinakh said trade between the two countries increased by a significant 25 percent in 2001 and amounted to $600 million. Mr. Nastase said Romania is interested in continuing participation in the construction of the Kryvyi Rih ore-dressing plant in Ukraine, and that the two countries are cooperating on hydroelectric projects on the Tysa River and on connecting their respective natural gas-transportation pipelines. He hinted that the dispute over the Black Sea shelf and Serpents' Island remains unsolved, saying that in the future "sensitive points" in Romanian-Ukrainian relations will be "important tests" that must be "approached from a European perspective." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kinakh on dispute with Romania

BUCHAREST - Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh said on January 30 that he hopes the dispute with Romania over the Black Sea shelf and Serpents' Island will be solved in negotiations by the two countries' experts before President Ion Iliescu pays a scheduled visit to Kyiv in the first half of 2002, Mediafax reported. "Prime Minister [Adrian] Nastase and I agreed that the problem must be solved in a constructive manner and its solution must be in line with international legislation, territorial integrity and [earlier] bilateral agreements," Mr. Kinakh said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, February 24, 2002, No. 8, Vol. LXX

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