NEWSBRIEFS (11/10/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma optimistic on ties with NATO

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said at a meeting with the Defense Ministry leadership on November 5 that allegations that Ukraine illegally sold arms to Iraq will not affect cooperation between Ukraine and NATO, the UNIAN news service reported. "It is no secret that we are experiencing temporary difficulties in [our] relations with the North Atlantic alliance," Mr. Kuchma said. "[However], I dismiss the logic that some kinds of suspicions, which are unfounded, can destroy the process of cooperation between Ukraine and NATO," he added. "This [U.S.-British] report is simply impertinent. ... Ukraine should not have to prove that it did not sell [arms], those who accuse the country should prove it did," said Heorhii Kriuchkov, the head of the parliamentary Committee for National Security and Defense. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv: we will not waver on road to NATO

KYIV - "Our policy towards European and Euro-Atlantic integration is unchanged. We have made our choice of path and we are not planning to move from that," Reuters quoted presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska as saying in Kyiv on November 4. "If anyone wants that [change] - don't hold your breath," Ms. Hromnytska added. The spokesperson also said President Leonid Kuchma is considering attending meetings of NATO's Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council during the November 21-22 summit in Prague. "He reserves the right to take part," the Associated Press quoted her as saying. Last week, Mr. Kuchma told journalists he will go to Prague, effectively challenging NATO's decision not to invite him to separate meetings of the bilateral NATO-Ukraine Commission. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Suit filed against Ukraine for air disaster

KYIV - A district court in Kyiv on November 5 opened hearings on a suit filed by the widow of a crew member on the TU-154 passenger airliner downed by a stray Ukrainian S-200 missile over the Black Sea on October 4, 2001, the Associated Press reported. Alena Laptev has demanded more than 2.8 million hrv ($520,000) in compensation for the death of her husband, who was one of 78 victims. Ms. Laptev was the first of several Russian relatives of crash victims expected to sue Ukraine. Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry last month said it was near agreement on compensation for Israeli relatives and was awaiting information from the Russian government about its citizens to resolve the compensation issue. Kyiv said it will offer reasonable compensation in equal amounts for Israeli and Russian families to prevent private suits by victims' relatives. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moldovan comments on joining EEC

CHISINAU - Andrei Neguta, chairman of the Moldovan Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, on November 5 said Moldova wants to join the Eurasian Economic Community (EEC) but doing so depends on Ukraine, ITAR-TASS reported. Mr. Neguta, who was in Dushanbe for an EEC Interparliamentary Assembly meeting, said: "Moldova is interested in integration with the Eurasian EC, because this would open for us broad prospects of cooperation with our main economic partners - Russia and other CIS members. Our country, however, can join the EEC only after we have a common border with it, which only Ukraine can secure [by also joining that organization]." He added that Ukraine, like Moldova, has the status of an observer in the EEC, and its failure to attend the Dushanbe meeting "astonished" participants. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will Our Ukraine support Yanukovych?

KYIV - Taras Chornovil, a lawmaker from Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus, has suggested that some Our Ukraine legislators might support Donetsk Oblast Chairman Viktor Yanukovych for the post of prime minister, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported on November 5. Last month the fragile pro-presidential majority in the Verkhovna Rada proposed four candidates for the post, including Mr. Yanukovych, who was put forward by Ukraine's Regions, a parliamentary representation of the so-called Donetsk group of oligarchs. "I can only say that, most likely, [Our Ukraine] will give its deputies the right to vote freely [on the candidates for prime minister], but the real threat of the usurpation of all power in Ukraine by [presidential administration chief Viktor] Medvedchuk forces both Viktor Yushchenko and a number of Our Ukraine politicians to endorse someone from the Donetsk group," Chornovil said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will U.S. impose more sanctions on Kyiv?

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official on October 31 told the Associated Press on conditions of anonymity that the United States expects to impose additional sanctions against Ukraine in response to its alleged sale of a Kolchuha radar system to Iraq in violation of UN sanctions. The U.S. case against Ukraine is based on a July 2000 tape recording in which President Leonid Kuchma is seemingly heard to approve the Kolchuha deal with Iraq. After official tests confirmed it was Mr. Kuchma's voice on the recording, the Bush administration reduced U.S. assistance to Ukraine by $54 million. The official said the recent visit of a team of U.S. and British experts to Ukraine to investigate the Kolchuha allegations proved inconclusive. The source added, however, that the U.S. administration has deemed that the taped phone conversation is proof enough. The official said the U.S. administration has tentatively decided to reduce assistance to Ukraine further. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will Lukashenka, Kuchma be problems?

PRAGUE - Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has applied for a Czech visa to come to the NATO summit in Prague as the head of the Belarusian delegation, CTK reported on November 3, quoting the Czech weekly Tyden. Tyden noted that Belarus is a full-fledged member of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. According to the weekly, if the council fails to find a method of preventing Mr. Lukashenka from coming to the summit, the refusal to issue a visa would become the only possibility. Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma told journalists in Symferopol on November 1 that he will go to Prague during the summit despite NATO's decision to conduct a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council during the summit at the foreign ministers' level, presumably to exclude Mr. Kuchma, UNIAN reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

D.C. still wants ties with Ukraine

WASHINGTON - A U.S. State Department official requesting anonymity told Reuters on November 1 that the United States wants to maintain a relationship with Ukraine despite the suspicion that Kyiv might have sold a Kolchuha radar system to Iraq in violation of U.N. sanctions. "We've already downgraded relations. We don't want to put Ukraine in the Belarus category. We do want to have a relationship," the official is quoted as saying. Meanwhile, President Kuchma suggested on November 1 that he does not expect the team of U.S. and British experts that worked last month in Ukraine to return a clear-cut verdict on whether Ukraine sold the Kolchuha system to Iraq. "Approximately, they'll say that Ukraine has not proved sufficiently [that it did not sell the radar]," UNIAN quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko: Kuchma's isolation 'obvious'

KYIV - Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko told journalists on November 1 that NATO's decision not to invite President Leonid Kuchma to its summit in Prague is a "dramatic page in Ukraine's modern history [and] an obvious sign of international isolation," UNIAN reported. Mr. Yushchenko said Ukraine's current international situation is another argument for a political dialogue between Ukrainian authorities and rival social and political forces. He also said Our Ukraine continues to conduct talks with the Labor Ukraine and Ukraine's Regions parliamentary caucuses on the creation of a democratic parliamentary majority. He admitted, however, that it has recently become "more and more difficult" for these forces to talk with one another. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russians polled on union partners ...

MOSCOW - When asked what CIS countries Russia should seek to unite with, Russian respondents mentioned Belarus (35 percent), Ukraine (28 percent), Kazakstan (11 percent) and Moldova (9 percent). On the other hand, 18 percent of those polled believe Russia should not unite with any of the CIS member-states. The Public Opinion foundation made this information public after conducting a nationwide poll of 1,500 respondents on October 12. The survey showed that almost half of the respondents (47 percent) believe Russia should primarily strengthen and develop cooperation with Belarus, 37 percent with Ukraine, 15 percent with Kazakstan and 12 percent with Moldova. Only 1 percent of Russians suggest maintaining "friendship" with Turkmenistan. At the same time, 16 percent of the respondents said Russia should develop cooperation with all CIS states. (Interfax)

... and on opinions of CIS leaders

MOSCOW - Among the CIS leaders, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenka evokes positive emotions in 32 percent of the respondents, while 12 percent view him negatively. Those are among the results of a nationwide poll conducted by the Public Opinion foundation on October 12. The second most liked CIS leader in Russia is Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbayev (20 percent positive rating, 4 percent, negative), and the third Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin (7 percent and 2 percent). Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze has proven to be the most disliked CIS leader among Russians - 44 percent of the respondents have a negative attitude towards him and only 2 percent positive. Russians also do not like Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma very much (24 percent negative). (Interfax)

| Home Page |