NEWSBRIEFS (02/09/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Rada slams U.S. drive toward war

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on February 4 passed a resolution condemning apparent U.S. plans to launch an attack against Iraq, the UNIAN news service reported. The resolution was supported by 243 of the 427 deputies registered in the session hall. Also that day, President Leonid Kuchma said Ukraine will respect any decision regarding Iraq by the United Nations Security Council. "We share the concern that Iraq might have chemical, bacteriological, or nuclear weapons," Mr. Kuchma noted. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Russia register consortium

KYIV - Ukraine's Naftohaz and Russia's Gazprom have registered an international consortium to manage the transport of natural gas across Ukraine, UNIAN reported on February 4, quoting Naftohaz head Yurii Boiko. The consortium is being set up on a parity basis under last year's agreement between the Ukrainian and Russian governments. The same day, President Leonid Kuchma said other countries, including Italy and France, might be invited to participate in the consortium. Mr. Kuchma said trilateral Ukrainian-Russian-German talks on the consortium, originally scheduled for this week, have been postponed until July, "not at Ukraine's initiative." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma decries poor relations with U.S.

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma told a news conference on February 4 that he regrets the lack of improved relations between Ukraine and the United States since the beginning of the year, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. "On my word, I do not know what else we need to do to change the mind of the United States," Reuters quoted Mr. Kuchma as saying. The Ukrainian president reiterated that Ukraine has proven its innocence to U.S. and British experts probing allegations that Kyiv sold Kolchuha radar systems to Iraq despite U.N. sanctions. The Bush administration in its 2004 budget request cut aid allocations to Ukraine to $94 million from $155 million planned for 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada urged to amend

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma called on lawmakers to amend a number of economic laws this week in order to make the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) "more loyal to Ukraine," UNIAN reported. A dozen countries have so far heeded a FATF recommendation to introduce sanctions against Ukraine over the country's lax effort to combat money laundering. "We were warned about the introduction of sanctions two years ago, and [only] we are to blame for delaying the adoption of appropriate laws and making a political problem out of an economic one," Mr. Kuchma said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma promises constitutional reform

KYIV - Also on February 4, President Leonid Kuchma pledged to submit a draft bill to the Parliament this month on amending the Constitution of Ukraine and reforming the political system in Ukraine, UNIAN reported. "There is no sense in waiting until the Constitutional Commission starts to work," Mr. Kuchma said, referring to the body he created following his announcement in August of systemic political reform in Ukraine. "It is necessary to transfer the discussion [of political reform] to the parliamentary hall and move on," he added. The president also expressed his conviction that the current Cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych will survive until the presidential election in 2004. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Khoroshkovskyi comments on D.C. visit

KYIV - The allocation of the second $250 million tranche of the World Bank's $750 million Programmatic Adjustment Loan to Ukraine is still subject to negotiation, Interfax reported on February 3, quoting Economy and European Integration Minister Valerii Khoroshkovskyi. Mr. Khoroshkovskyi was commenting on the results of last week's visit by a Ukrainian delegation he headed to Washington. The sum was included in Ukraine's 2002 state budget, but its allocation was later postponed by Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh's Cabinet until the first quarter of 2003. Commenting on his talks with International Monetary Fund (IMF) representatives, Mr. Khoroshkovskyi said the fund is being "rather harsh" in determining conditions for resuming cooperation with Ukraine. In particular, the IMF requires that Ukraine proceed with structural and administrative reform and increase the share of private capital in the economy. Ukraine reportedly expects that the IMF's new loan program for Ukraine could be implemented within three to five years, and its size could vary from $600 million to $800 million. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutors probe abuse at Naftohaz

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office has initiated criminal proceedings into alleged abuse of authority by officials of Naftohaz Ukrainy in 1998-2000, when the company was headed by Ihor Bakai, Interfax reported on February 3, quoting Deputy Procurator General Tetiana Korniakova. She told journalists that during a recent inspection of the company prosecutors uncovered a scheme in which Naftohaz Ukrainy and Itera had signed a contract for the delivery of 8 million cubic meters of gas worth approximately $400 million. In operations involving offshore companies, $5 million ended up in a Lithuanian bank account registered to an individual named Yeriomin, whose identity has yet to be established. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. to aid civil society not government

WASHINGTON - The United States will divert money from the Ukrainian government to civil-society groups because the government did not cooperate sufficiently with an inquiry into allegations that it sold embargoed military equipment to Iraq, Reuters reported on January 31, quoting a U.S. official on conditions of anonymity. The decision was the outcome of a recently completed review of U.S. policy toward Ukraine, which has tightened since evidence emerged suggesting that President Leonid Kuchma in 2000 planned to sell a Kolchuha radar system to Baghdad. "We will make a major effort to take funds that previously would have gone to the government and we will put a heavy emphasis on support for non-governmental organizations," the source said. "The policy review reaffirms that support for a stable democratic market-oriented Ukraine - increasingly integrated into Euro-Atlantic institutions - remains in the U.S. interest," U.S. State Department spokesman Louis Fintour said, but he added that the Kolchuha allegations have forced Washington to adjust its assistance program "to bolster support for democratic reform in Ukraine." The United States, citing the alleged Kolchuha sale, has already suspended $55 million in aid to Ukraine, representing some 35 percent of the total allocated under the Freedom Support Act. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bulgarian president visits Ukraine

KYIV - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov told his Ukrainian counterpart Leonid Kuchma in Kyiv on January 30 that Bulgaria supports Ukraine's efforts to integrate into the European Union, the BTA news agency and Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Parvanov was speaking at the start of a three-day official visit to Ukraine. President Kuchma urged Mr. Parvanov to ease Bulgarian visa policy vis-à-vis Ukrainians. Some 70,000 Ukrainian tourists spent holidays at Bulgarian resorts in 2001, according to official estimates, but that number declined by more than 40 percent in 2002. The two sides signed accords on January 30 on cooperation to protect intellectual-property rights and monitor nuclear-energy safety, as well as in the areas of environmental protection and culture. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Parvanov visits compatriots

ODESA - Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov on February 1 visited the Bolhrad and Izmail districts of Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, where large Bulgarian communities live, the Interfax and UNIAN news services reported. According to the 2001 census, some 205,000 Bulgarians live in Ukraine, including 150,000 in the Odesa Oblast. UNIAN reported that Odesa Oblast Chairman Serhii Hrynevetskyi on January 31 appointed Anton Kisse, a leader of the Bulgarian diaspora in Ukraine, as his deputy. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Three coal miners die in blaze

DONETSK - Three miners died and three were seriously injured in a fire at the Dzerzhinskyi coal mine in the Donetsk Oblast on February 2, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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