NEWSBRIEFS (12/15/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Russia, Ukraine ready for 'new stage'

MOSCOW - Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych were in Moscow on December 9 for talks with their Russian counterparts, Russian news agencies reported. "I cannot see the future of my country without the warmest-possible relations with Russia," Mr. Kuchma told journalists, according to RosBalt. Meanwhile, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasianov and Mr. Yanukovych ordered specialists to complete a treaty on the creation of a free-trade zone between the two countries. The agreement "should open a new stage in the development of trade relations within the CIS," Mr. Kasianov was quoted by RosBalt as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine loses lawmakers...

KYIV - The Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus dwindled to 103 deputies as seven lawmakers left it in recent weeks, UNIAN reported on December 10. "These wanderings from caucus to caucus are the work of the authorities, and this process is now at its peak," Our Ukraine head Viktor Yushchenko commented. The pro-government majority now reportedly numbers 233 deputies. The current line-up in the Verkhovna Rada is as follows: Our Ukraine (103 deputies); Communist Party (60); Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs-Labor Ukraine (42); Social Democratic Party-United (39); Ukraine's Regions (40); Democratic Initiatives (22); European Choice (20); Socialist Party (20); Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (18); Power of the People (16); Agrarian Party (16); the National Democratic Party (16); People's Choice (15); and non-aligned deputies (22). (RFE/RL Newsline)

... may form non-partisan opposition

KYIV - Yurii Kostenko, a leader of the Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus, told UNIAN on December 9 that Our Ukraine is going to initiate the formation of a non-partisan opposition association in the Verkhovna Rada. He made clear that Our Ukraine has in mind only opposition caucuses, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, in particular. Mr. Kostenko also said Our Ukraine continues to hold talks with "possible political allies" on forming a broader coalition for the presidential election in 2004. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. asked to list Chechens as terrorists

MOSCOW - Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov of Russia has held telephone consultations with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and asked Mr. Powell to include a number of unspecified Chechen groups on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, RIA-Novosti reported on December 9, citing the Foreign Ministry's press office. The two men also discussed the fulfillment of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 against Iraq and the situation in the Middle East. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma pledges changes in army

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on December 5 predicted 2003 will be a "period of cardinal changes" in the Ukrainian armed forces, UNIAN reported. Mr. Kuchma added that the army's numerical strength and the amount of military equipment will be reduced, while the combat value of troops will be enhanced. Earlier this week, President Kuchma ordered the Defense Ministry to work out a plan for discharging up to 20 percent of the officer corps. Under a program approved in April, Ukraine's armed forces are to shrink to 375,000 by the end of 2005. On December 5 the president appointed Gen. Col. Petro Shuliak as commander-in-chief of the country's land troops. President Kuchma fired Gen. Shuliak from his post as chief of General Staff on July 28, in the wake of the air-show disaster in Lviv that claimed 76 lives. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Journalists snub procurator's office

KYIV - A dozen journalists from several Ukrainian television channels and newspapers left a news conference by Deputy Procurator General Vasyl Prysiazhniuk in Kyiv on December 4 to protest the refusal of the Procurator General's Office to accredit a journalist from the Internet publication Ukrainska Pravda for the event, UNIAN reported. "Because you present the position of the Procurator General's Office and use the information obtained at news conferences in a biased manner, we think that our further cooperation is inexpedient," the Ukrainska Pravda website quoted a representative of the office as saying to justify the rejection. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet, Rada majority sign accord

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and leaders of the pro-government majority in the Verkhovna Rada on December 7 signed a political accord on cooperation and shared responsibility in exercising power in Ukraine, Ukrainian media reported. "Achievements and mistakes of the new government will now find themselves under close scrutiny by society. They will be assessed as proof of the efficiency or inefficiency of the new administrative system that we are currently working out - a parliamentary-majority-plus-coalition government," UNIAN quoted President Leonid Kuchma as saying. Mr. Kuchma added that no other Ukrainian government had started its work accompanied by such political consolidation as Mr. Yanukovych's Cabinet enjoyed at its inception. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Anti-money-laundering bill is signed

KYIV - President Kuchma on December 7 signed into law a bill on combating money laundering, ITAR-TASS reported. The law stipulates that all transactions over 300,000 hrv ($55,600) in the case of non-cash operations and 100,000 hrv in the case of cash operations will be monitored by state bodies that include the National Bank of Ukraine and the State Commission for Securities and the Stock Market. In other news, President Kuchma appointed former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko as head of the State Tax Administration and once again requested that Parliament replace National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Volodymyr Stelmakh with Serhii Tyhypko, UNIAN reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Trade-union boss quits Our Ukraine

KYIV - Oleksander Stoyan, head of the Trade Union Federation of Ukraine, has decided to leave the Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus and join the pro-government majority, UNIAN reported on December 6. "Today I, as the head of the Trade Union Federation, have no reasons to be in opposition to the new coalition government from its first days. I should work with it," Mr. Stoyan told journalists of his move. Lawmaker Oleksander Turchynov of the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc accused Mr. Stoyan of joining the parliamentary majority in order to remain in his trade-union post. "Unfortunately, betrayal in this Parliament is becoming a customary phenomenon. For money or posts, some deputies are prepared to abandon their own dignity ... and betray their voters," Mr. Turchynov said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yulia honored by Russian academy

KYIV - On December 4 in Kyiv, Yulia Tymoshenko, the leader of the eponymous opposition bloc, received the title of honorary professor of the Russian Federation's Academy of Security and Defense, the UNIAN news service reported on December 5. According to the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's press service, the title came in recognition of Ms. Tymoshenko's efforts to reform Ukraine's fuel and energy sector, combat corruption in this sphere, and develop new ways to provide security for the power-engineering sector. Ms. Tymoshenko was vice prime minister for fuel and energy in Viktor Yushchenko's Cabinet from December 1999 to January 2001. The Russian Federation's Academy of Security and Defense was set up in 1999 on the initiative of Russian President Vladimir Putin. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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