NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma calls for broad reforms...

KYIV - In a televised address to the nation to mark the 11th anniversary of Ukraine's independence on August 24, President Leonid Kuchma said the country needs to move to a different political system - a parliamentary-presidential republic and added that the country's shift to a parliamentary-presidential republic would require changes to election legislation. The president also noted that Ukraine urgently needs a reform of territorial administration. The president also said that as of now he will be "personally responsible" for tackling four major social problems in the country: combating poverty, making health care accessible for everyone, reforming the pension system and securing high-quality education for everybody irrespective of income, the UNIAN news service reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... as opposition reacts with distrust

KYIV - Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko told UNIAN that President Leonid Kuchma's announcement of political reform is a populist step intended to weaken the opposition's political demands ahead of protests planned for next month. Oleksander Turchynov of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc said Mr. Kuchma's reformist proposals are "insincere" and made "out of fear" of the upcoming opposition protests. Mr. Turchynov added that the president's address lacked the main message - an announcement of his resignation. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said Mr. Kuchma's proposal to form a coalition government coincides with Our Ukraine's postulates, but added that "we read the notion of coalition in a different way" than the president. "I think Ukraine does not need a government formed by political forces that will be artificially herded into a parliamentary coalition," Mr. Yushchenko added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine may join opposition

KYIV - Yurii Kostenko, the leader of the Ukrainian National Rukh and first vice-chairman of the Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus, has said Our Ukraine may join the opposition if it fails in its efforts to create a parliamentary majority and a coalition government, the UNIAN news agency reported on August 16. "This will mean that Our Ukraine, as an opposition force, will demand the dismissal of the current government and early presidential elections, and will call for citizens' support for protest actions against the authorities," Mr. Kostenko added. "All efforts by Our Ukraine to secure economic growth until the presidential elections [in 2004] have run against the counteraction of oligarchic clans that influence the position of the head of state," Mr. Kostenko said, adding that these words primarily refer to activists of the Social Democratic Party (United) who, he stressed, "are trying to create a so-called 'majority' without Our Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine reportedly agrees to protests

KYIV - Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz, Yulia Tymoshenko, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko and Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko met on August 23 to discuss details of the opposition protest actions planned for next month, the UNIAN news agency reported. Mr. Moroz told UNIAN that Mr. Yushchenko had agreed to take part in the upcoming protests in September. Meanwhile, Mr. Yushchenko's spokeswoman Iryna Herashchenko told journalists that Mr. Yushchenko submitted a draft political agreement to Mr. Moroz, Ms. Tymoshenko and Mr. Symonenko during the meeting. (RFE/RL Newsline)

One-third say Ukraine really independent

KYIV - The Our Ukraine website cited a recent poll by the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies, according to which only 32.4 percent of respondents consider Ukraine a "really independent country" 11 years after its declaration of independence, while 56.3 percent are of the opposite opinion. Asked if they would support Ukraine's independence in a referendum today, 48.8 percent of respondents said "yes" and 33.9 percent answered "no." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor seeks to lift Yulia's immunity

KYIV - Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun has addressed the Verkhovna Rada with a request to lift the parliamentary immunity of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in connection with a criminal investigation launched against her, UNIAN reported on August 21. Prosecutors have accused Ms. Tymoshenko of embezzling funds while she headed United Energy Systems of Ukraine in 1995-1997. Other charges include forgery and abuse of office. "It's a single criminal case that touches upon activities of former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Yulia Tymoshenko and other officials from Ukraine's United Energy Systems," Mr. Piskun told journalists about the Tymoshenko probe. He added that the charges against Ms. Tymoshenko could carry a prison term of 10 to 15 years. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine: no third term for Kuchma

KYIV - Our Ukraine has prepared a petition requesting that the Constitutional Court rule on whether President Leonid Kuchma may seek a third presidential term in 2004, the UNIAN and Interfax news services reported on August 22, quoting the Our Ukraine press service. According to Our Ukraine, lawyers from the presidential administration are currently working on a "scenario" to enable Mr. Kuchma to participate in the 2004 presidential election. Under the Constitution of Ukraine, the same person may be the country's president only for two five-year terms. The current Constitution, however, took effect in 1996 when Mr. Kuchma was already the president. Our Ukraine fears that presidential lawyers may take advantage of this circumstance and argue that Mr. Kuchma is now serving his first term, which began in 1999. Our Ukraine thinks that Mr. Kuchma's second term ends in 2004 and that he cannot run for the post of president again. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko commented on August 23 that Our Ukraine's petition is a "provocation," adding that it may provide the Constitutional Court with a good opportunity to rule in President Kuchma's favor and allow him to run in the 2004 ballot. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian parliamentary leader visits

KYIV - Russian Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov met with President Leonid Kuchma and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn in Kyiv on August 23, UNIAN reported. Mr. Kuchma said he hopes his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this month will contribute to ending the trade war between the two countries and increasing bilateral trade. Messrs. Mironov and Lytvyn signed a joint statement stressing the importance of cooperation between the Russian and Ukrainian parliaments. Mr. Mironov proposed holding a forum of representatives of Russian and Ukrainian borderland regions in Belgorod, Russia, this fall to establish closer regional economic relations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Airshow death toll reduced to 76

LVIV - Officials from the Lviv Oblast Health Care Department said on August 19 that the number of confirmed deaths resulting from the July 27 jet crash at Lviv air show is 76, not the 83 as reported shortly after the tragedy, Ukrainian media reported. They cited confusion over unidentified body parts as a reason for the incorrect higher toll. Forty-five people injured in the crash are still hospitalized. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Romania discuss borders

YALTA - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko and his Romanian counterpart, Mircea Geoana, met in Yalta on August 15 to discuss the regulation of border problems between the two countries, Ukrainian media reported. The ministers reportedly have not reached any specific decisions. Asked whether a document regulating state borders will be signed during an expected meeting of the Ukrainian and Romanian presidents in September, Mr. Geoana said he does not deem it necessary for the presidents to discuss this issue at their meeting. Answering a question about how much time Romania has to solve the border issue considering its efforts to join NATO, Mr. Geoana said "Romania is not under any time pressure from the point of view of European and Euro-Atlantic integration." The two countries have long been at loggerheads over the delimitation of the border in the vicinity of Serpents Island in the Black Sea and the control over several islets in the Danube estuary. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Top prosecutors to probe kidnappings

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office has taken over a criminal investigation launched by Kyiv City investigators against a criminal gang suspected of kidnapping people for ransom and murdering them, UNIAN reported on August 14. The investigation followed a report in the Kyiv-based Stolichnie Novosti on August 1 claiming that a gang led by three "senior police officers" committed a number of kidnappings for ransom in Kyiv and its environs in 1996-2000. The newspaper added that kidnapped persons were subsequently murdered by the gang, irrespective of whether their families paid the required money or not. Prosecutors suspect that the gang murdered at least 10 individuals; the bodies of seven of them have already been found. Police reportedly arrested the entire gang. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Groups protest Pereiaslav observances

KYIV - Right and center political parties and organizations in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast have protested against President Leonid Kuchma's decree to commemorate the 350th anniversary of the Pereiaslav Treaty of January 8, 1654, the UNIAN news service reported on July 24. The decree, issued in March, provides for a wide range of commemoration activities. "World history does not know any nation that would like to glorify the beginning of its enslavement," the Ivano-Frankivsk organizations wrote in a letter to President Kuchma, Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh and Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Corruption in coal sector is targeted

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office has begun an investigation into irregularities in the payment of wages to coal miners in the Luhansk Region, according to a July 17 report by Interfax Ukraine. Thus far the investigation has determined that officials of state holding companies and state-owned coal mines purchased cars and equipment for administrative staff using budget funds while salaries were owed to miners. A criminal case on the basis of the investigation is already in a Luhansk regional court. That case alleges misappropriation, especially large-scale property embezzlement, official document forgery and bribery by officials from the joint-stock company Donbas VIO and limited-liability companies Spetsstroi and Ukrvodstroi. These officials are accused of misappropriating over 1.6 million hrv ($307,700). (RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch)

Russia: 'no thanks' to Peace Corps

MOSCOW - Russian authorities intend to reduce the number of U.S. Peace Corps volunteers working in Russia, Kommersant-Daily and other Russian news agencies reported on August 13. According to Kommersant-Daily, 30 of 64 volunteers currently working in Russia have been refused visa extensions, in many cases because regional authorities complained about their lack of qualifications. According to The Moscow Times, the Peace Corps has responded by deciding not to send an additional group of volunteers that had been scheduled to arrive in Russia in September. According to lenta.ru, the administration of Nizhnii Novgorod Oblast sent a letter to the Education Ministry complaining that "volunteers do not know Russian and, in many cases, have little education." The site claimed that the Peace Corps acknowledges that about 90 percent of volunteers have no experience or certification for teaching, which is the main activity that the Peace Corps conducts in Russia. Ekho Moskvy reported that "waiters and truckers" were teaching business in Khabarovsk and one volunteer in Voronezh was "more interested in UFOs than working with his students." Kommersant-Daily reported that one volunteer was a former officer of the CIA and another was arrested in Khabarovsk for being "overly curious." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian Catholicism's founder beatified

ROME - Pope John Paul II beatified the founder of Russian Catholicism, Agence France-Presse reported on August 12, citing the Vatican's press service. Zygmunt Szczesny Felinski (1822-1895) served as an archbishop of Krakow for 16 months, after which he was exiled during the 1863 Polish uprising against the tsar. The agency suggested that the pope's move could further strain relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church, which has accused the former of proselytizing in traditionally Orthodox territories. Archbishop Felinski wrote a letter to Tsar Aleksandr II in March 1863 insisting on the rights of the Catholic Church and of Poles, for which he was exiled for 20 years, infonews.ru reported, citing the Catholic Information Service. After his release, Archbishop Felinski was banned from returning to the seat of his archdiocese and spent his remaining years in poverty in a village in the Galician region. Also beatified were the Rev. Jan Balicki (1869-1948), confessor and teacher of seminarians; Jesuit Jan Beyzym (1850-1912), "apostle of lepers" in Madagascar; and Sister Sancja Szymkowiak (1910-1942), known as "the angel of goodness" by English and French prisoners of the German army during World War II. (RFE/RL Newsline, www.ewtn.com)

Lukashenka slams Putin on integration

MIENSK - During a meeting with Daghestani State Council Chairman Magomedali Magomedov in Miensk on August 21, Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka harshly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent proposal of "ultimate integration" between Russia and Belarus. "Today Russia's leadership deliberately puts forward absolutely unacceptable proposals of an insulting character to us. Even Lenin and Stalin did not go so far as to try to dissolve Belarus and make it a part of Russia or even of the Soviet Union," Belarusian television quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying. The Belarusian leader was visibly disconcerted and apparently forgot that the Belarusian SSR was a part of the Soviet Union in 1922-1991. "Nobody will allow the republic [Belarus] to be cut into pieces and incorporated into some state, even if it is a brotherly state," President Lukashenka added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lukashenka for union signed with Yeltsin

MIENSK - Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin, by mentioning an integration variant "along the lines of the European Union," has actually proposed that Miensk nullify the union treaty Mr. Lukashenka signed with former Russian President Boris Yeltsin. "Russia proposes to follow the [integration] path of the European Union only after we break the union treaty currently in force," President Lukashenka said. "There is a proposal to weaken [this treaty]. It is unacceptable to us. I cannot break the treaty that has cost me a lot of blood and sweat, and not only me, but also Russia's former leadership." Mr. Lukashenka also explained why he wants to stick to the current treaty, saying: "We need to build an attractive union, in order to include former [Soviet] republics in it; for instance, Ukraine. But will Ukraine make even a single step toward the union built according to this ['ultimate unification'] model? Never in this life!" (RFE/RL Newsline)

3.5 % for Belarus' absorption by Russia

MIENSK - Belarusian television cited a poll conducted by the Institute of Social and Political Research, which operates under the presidential administration. According to the poll, 35 percent of Belarusians support integration with Russia in the form of an "international union of independent states"; 25 percent are in favor of a "union of two states with limited independence"; 23 percent back a "single-state" integration model; and just 3.5 percent want Belarus to become part of the Russian Federation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 1, 2002, No. 35, Vol. LXX

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