NEWSBRIEFS

Rada pays tribute to 9/11 victims

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on September 11 honored the victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States with a minute of silence, the UNIAN news agency reported. The Parliament adopted a resolution on establishing a memorial plaque in New York with the names of Ukrainian citizens who were killed in the attacks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition mobilizes Kyiv residents

KYIV - Some 3,000 people took part in a rally on Independence Square in Kyiv on September 10 organized by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, UNIAN reported. The three opposition leaders - Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleksander Moroz and Petro Symonenko - called on Kyiv residents to back the protest campaign that is scheduled to begin on September 16 and seeks to oust President Leonid Kuchma. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Sevastopol holds pro-Kuchma rally

SEVASTOPOL - Some 4,000 people rallied in Sevastopol on September 10 to express support for President Leonid Kuchma and his initiative to reform the political system in Ukraine, UNIAN reported. In an adopted resolution, the demonstrators condemned "the provocative actions of the so-called opposition oriented toward discrediting the president of Ukraine and destabilizing the socio-political situation in Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko to participate in protests

KYIV - Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko said during an Internet chat hosted by Ukrainska Pravda on September 10 that he and "his political partners" will be on Independence Square in Kyiv on September 16 to take part in the anti-presidential protest. Commenting on the democratic forum that Our Ukraine plans to hold on September 15 in Kyiv, Mr. Yushchenko said its goal is to find an answer to the question of how to overcome the political crisis in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pro-presidential groups prep majority

KYIV - Parliamentarians of the nine pro-presidential groups - the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs-Labor Ukraine (41 members), Ukraine's Regions (37), Social Democratic Party-United (36), European Choice (18), Democratic Initiatives (18), National Democratic Party (17), Power of the People (18), Ukraine's Agrarians (16) and People's Choice (15) - as well as some unaffiliated deputies, have been given blank forms to declare their willingness to join a parliamentary majority, UNIAN reported on September 11. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said leaders of the nine pro-presidential groups would meet with Our Ukraine head Viktor Yushchenko later that day to discuss the formation of a "viable" parliamentary majority. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition leaders tour regions

CHERKASY - Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleksander Moroz and Petro Symonenko met with some 1,000 people in Cherkasy, located in central Ukraine, on September 7 and with 1,000 people in Bila Tserkva, Kyiv Oblast, the following day to seek regional support for the opposition protest campaign "Rise Up, Ukraine!" which is planned to start on September 16, UNIAN reported. Ms. Tymoshenko told journalists in Cherkasy that the protest campaign aims at holding early presidential elections and completely changing the executive branch in Ukraine. Some 10,000 people attended a meeting with the three leaders in Zhytomyr on September 4, with participants in the rally voicing "whole-hearted support" for the opposition protest campaign. Later the same day, the three met with some 9,000 people at a similar rally in Rivne. (RFE/RL Newsline)(RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma to accept coalition Cabinet?

DONETSK - President Leonid Kuchma told journalists in Donetsk on September 6 that he will agree to a coalition Cabinet formed by a parliamentary majority centered on Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, UNIAN reported. "Yushchenko is free to organize a [parliamentary] majority. I will shake his hand and carry out everything I promised without waiting for amendments to the Constitution," Mr. Kuchma said. While last month announcing his proposal for constitutional reform, the president had called on the Verkhovna Rada to form a coalition Cabinet without waiting for relevant constitutional changes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Thousands mourn airshow victims

LVIV - More than 10,000 people took part in a solemn gathering in Lviv on September 5 in memory of the victims of the July 27 airshow crash, the UNIAN news service reported. The ceremony - which took place 40 days after the disaster in keeping with Ukrainian Christian tradition - was attended by Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the eponymous opposition bloc. Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz and Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, although in the city that day, did not attend the gathering. The organizing committee of the mourning ceremony had warned Messrs. Moroz and Symonenko that their attendance could lead to "unforeseeable political consequences." Some 12,000 people attended a rally in Lutsk earlier the same day at which Ms. Tymoshenko, Mr. Moroz and Mr. Symonenko solicited support for the upcoming opposition protest campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Air show officials to go on trial

KYIV - Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun said officials who were responsible for the Sknyliv airshow crash on July 27 will go on trial in October. Unplanned maneuvers by the pilots and organizational mistakes are being blamed for the disaster. (The New York Times)

Government reports on poverty

KYIV - Labor and Social Policy Minister Ivan Sakhan on September 10 reported to the Verkhovna Rada on the government's progress in implementing the program called "The Strategy for Combating Poverty in Ukraine," UNIAN reported. Mr. Sakhan said the main condition for overcoming poverty in Ukraine is to maintain macroeconomic stability and growth of the gross domestic product (GDP). According to the minister, Ukraine's GDP rose by 4.4 percent in January-July 2002, while the real incomes of Ukrainians in January-August 2002 increased by 26.8 percent. Mr. Sakhan said the average monthly wage in June was 377.4 hrv ($70.80) and had exceeded the subsistence minimum (365 hrv) for the first time in the past several years. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Internet journalist requests protection

KYIV - Olena Prytula, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Pravda website, has sent an open letter to Procurator-General Sviatoslav Piskun, Security Service of Ukraine Chairman Volodymyr Radchenko and Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Smyrnov, asking them to provide her with protection. The news was reported on the Ukrainska Pravda website. Referring to a source in the Procurator General's Office, Ms. Prytula wrote that her life may be in danger in connection with the investigation into the death of journalist of Heorhii Gongadze, who worked for Ukrainska Pravda before his disappearance in September 2000. Ms. Prytula noted that the murderers of Mr. Gongadze may be also interested in killing her since, according to the source in the Procurator General's Office, she is an "important witness" in the Gongadze case. Ms. Prytula recalled that Mr. Gongadze had asked the Procurator General's Office for protection in July 2000, but the office ignored his request. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leftists protest Iraq policy of U.S.

KYIV - Some 500 representatives of the Progressive Socialist Party, the Russian Bloc and the Justice All-Ukrainian Association of Leftists staged a picket in front of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv on September 9 to protest U.S. policies with regard to Iraq, the UNIAN news service reported. According to the agency, the protesters threw an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush to the ground, pelted it with tomatoes and "pierced it with a scythe of the grim reaper." Progressive Socialist Party leader Natalia Vitrenko said it is necessary to create a "triangle of justice" consisting of the Slavic world (Ukraine, Belarus and Russia), the Arab world, as well as China and India in order to oppose "U.S. aggression" against Iraq. Participants in the meeting adopted a resolution with demands to declare U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual persona non grata and expel him from the country, stop the blockades of Iraq and Cuba, and make President Bush accountable for "crimes against humanity" before the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Paper prints Tymoshenko motion

KYIV - The Kyiv-based newspaper called 2000 on September 6 published on six full pages a request by Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun to the Verkhovna Rada to lift the deputy's immunity of opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Ukrainska Pravda suggested that the request - which has not yet been addressed by Parliament - was publicized following an instruction from either the presidential administration or the Procurator General's Office in order to start an anti-Tymoshenko campaign in the state-run media. According to the published request, prosecutors suspect Ms. Tymoshenko of bribery, abuse of office, forgery, embezzlement of property and tax evasion. The charges are connected with her work as head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine in 1995-1997 and her position as deputy prime minister in Viktor Yushchenko's Cabinet in 1999-2000. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland invited to join gas consortium

KYIV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh has invited Poland to participate in the creation of an international consortium to operate the Ukrainian gas-pipeline system, Interfax reported on September 5. Mr. Kinakh made this proposal at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller in Krynica Gorska on the sidelines of the Central European economic forum. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor arrested in Gongadze case

KYIV - The Ukrainian Procurator General's Office arrested the local prosecutor in the Taraschyn Raion of Kyiv Oblast on August 29, according to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service. A decapitated body presumed to be that of journalist Heorhii Gongadze was found in the same raion in November 2000. According to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, the local prosecutor was arrested on August 30 in conjunction with the Gongadze murder. (RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch)

Corruption index released for 2002

BERLIN - Transparency International (TI), an international NGO dedicated to the battle against corruption, released its "Corruption Perceptions Index 2002" (CPI) on August 28 in Berlin. TI said that "The goal of the CPI is to provide data on extensive perceptions of corruption within countries. The CPI is a composite index, making use of surveys of businesspeople and assessments by country analysts. It consists of credible sources using diverse sampling frames and different methodologies. These perceptions enhance our understanding of real levels of corruption from one country to another." TI Chairman Peter Eigen, addressing the problem of corruption in the former Soviet Union, added: "The recent steps by President Vladimir Putin to introduce tax reforms and new laws fighting money-laundering are beginning to show the prospect of a lessening in perceived corruption in Russia, but the CPI 2002 indicates that Russia has a long way to go and remains seriously corrupt, together with Uzbekistan, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakstan, Moldova and Azerbaijan, all of which score less than 3 out of 10." Bangladesh was perceived to be the most corrupt country in the world with a score of 1.2. The least corrupt was deemed to be Finland with a score of 9.7. (RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch)

Semynozhenko: prolong Kuchma's term

KYIV - Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko has said that Leonid Kuchma's presidential term should be prolonged by two years beyond 2004 in order to give him time to fulfill the systemic reforms he announced last month, UNIAN reported on September 4. "Prolonging the term of presidential powers in the process of the constitutional reform will provide an additional resource of stability under circumstances when the legislative power will be subject to qualitative changes," Mr. Semynozhenko said in a statement. According to Mr. Semynozhenko, the presidency in Ukraine could be abolished altogether after the conclusion of the constitutional reform and Mr. Kuchma's prolonged presidential term in 2006. "Those opposing this idea do not want to change anything in Ukraine apart from replacing the president with another figure," Mr. Semynozhenko added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

McDonald's to expand in Ukraine

KYIV - The McDonald's Corp. said it plans to invest $50 million to double the number of its restaurants in Ukraine by the year 2007, reported Bloomberg News. McDonald's said it planned to open 14 restaurants in Kyiv, Odesa and other large cities through 2003 and to double its staff to 6,000 in five years. The corporation has already spent $76 million in building 49 restaurants in Ukraine. Its first restaurant was opened in Kyiv in 1997. (The New York Times)

Kyiv wants EU market-economy status

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma requested on September 3 that the European Union grant his country market-economy status as it did for Russia earlier this year, the Associated Press reported. Mr. Kuchma made the request at a meeting with European Commission President Romano Prodi at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mr. Prodi reportedly responded that the European Commission will issue its opinion in six months. (RFE/RL Newsline)

$24 M loan to aid Lviv's water system

LVIV - The World Bank announced on August 28 that it will provide a loan of $24 million to refurbish the water-supply system in Lviv, western Ukraine, the Associated Press reported. The loan will help pay for a $40 million project to repair the city's decrepit water pipes, secure a stable water supply and purify the water for some 800,000 residents. A grant from the Swedish International Development Agency will provide $6 million, while the city will pay the remaining $10 million. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Paper says oil and gas key for Russia

MOSCOW - Russian policy toward its neighbors in many instances is dictated only by a desire to control the oil-and-gas export infrastructure, Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote on August 27 . This conclusion stemmed from the daily's analysis of President Vladimir Putin's policies toward the former Soviet republics and, especially, his recent about-face in relations with Belarus. The paper wrote that Belarus, Ukraine and Georgia seem to be nothing more than oil-and-gas transit corridors for Russia. However, it warned that this policy might cause Russia to lose both control over the oil-and-gas infrastructure there and its political influence as well. If Belarus agrees to Mr. Putin's proposal to incorporate it into the Russian Federation, it would simply be an apposite illustration of the thesis that Russia has always conducted a "cynical colonial policy," the paper wrote. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Finance minister restricts spending

KYIV - Finance Minister Ihor Yushko has imposed a ban on more than 2 billion hrv ($375 million) worth of government programs in September-October to avoid overspending Ukraine's 2002 budget, Interfax reported on August 27. According to Mr. Yushko, this spending restriction intends "not to increase debts of state institutions by the end of the year and, in this way, not to transfer some current [financial] problems to the next year." The country's 2002 budget sets revenues at 45.4 billion hrv and spending at 49.6 billion hrv. Mr. Yushko also said that the government is planning a zero-deficit budget with revenues and spending set at 60.6 billion hrv for 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Socialists want reform without Kuchma

KYIV - The Socialist Party has said the reform of Ukraine's political system proposed by President Leonid Kuchma in his address to the nation on August 24 could be implemented much quicker if Mr. Kuchma resigned his post, the UNIAN news service reported on August 27. The Socialists noted that President Kuchma's proposals to move Ukraine's political system toward a parliamentary-presidential republic replicate their party-program goals and stressed that the implementation of those goals has thus far been blocked by the president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

20,000 Ukrainians immigrated to U.S.

WASHINGTON - During fiscal year 2001 there were 20,975 immigrants from Ukraine. That number represents 2 percent of all immigrants for that period. (Immigration and Naturalization Service)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 15, 2002, No. 37, Vol. LXX

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