NEWSBRIEFS (03/09/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Opposition calls for deposing government

KYIV - A congress of opposition legislators of all levels in Kyiv on March 2 called on Ukrainians to take part in protests to depose the current ruling regime, the UNIAN news service reported. The congress, which attracted some 2,000 people (including 1,405 opposition deputies as delegates), was organized by the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. Deputies from Our Ukraine, including its leader Viktor Yushchenko, attended the congress as guests. Addressing the congress, Mr. Yushchenko - whose Our Ukraine avoids identifying too closely with the radical slogans of the Communists, the Socialists, and Ms. Tymoshenko's followers - called on opposition forces to unite "at any price." Ms. Tymoshenko told journalists that the problem of fielding a joint presidential candidate from the opposition will be tackled only after the official announcement of a presidential race. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition leaders call for protests

KYIV - Speaking from the parliamentary rostrum on March 4, Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz and Oleksander Turchynov, a leader of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, called on "all honest Ukrainians" to take part in anti-presidential protests throughout the country on March 9, UNIAN reported. The Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc are planning to restart the "Arise, Ukraine" campaign intended to force President Leonid Kuchma to resign. Specifically, the three opposition parties asked the Kyiv city administration earlier this week for permission to hold a 200,000-strong rally in the capital on March 9. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko: stop political terror

KYIV - Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko on February 27 issued a strongly worded letter to senior political leaders calling on authorities "to carry out their constitutional duty ... and put an end to political terror" in the country, reported the Our Ukraine website (http://www.razom.org.ua/). The appeal was addressed to President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, according to the website. "Mysterious killings and unsolved murders of leading politicians and journalists, [as well as] violent attacks to intimidate political opponents, have become characteristic of the regime," the letter reads. Mr. Yushchenko cites the beatings of two Our Ukraine regional activists - Volodymyr Lavryk in Sumy on February 21 and Vasyl Vasiuta in Mukachiv on February 25 - as the latest incidents in that terror campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Miners strike over wages, reforms

KYIV - Miners from about 70 Ukrainian coal mines went on strike on March 4, demanding an increase in wages and an end to the government-led restructuring of the sector, ITAR-TASS reported. The Associated Press estimated the number of miners participating in the strike at around 2,000. The protest was launched by the Ukrainian Independent Trade Union of Miners, which is led by Mykhailo Volynets. Mr. Volynets told journalists that wage arrears in the coal-mining sector total 1.3 billion hrv ($244 million). According to Mr. Volynets, the sector's ongoing reforms "may ruin the industry." The government decided in December to reorganize 18 state-owned coal-mining holdings and seven production associations into 21 joint-stock companies with an eye toward their eventual privatization. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Did Potebenko seek to close case?

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on March 4 asked Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun to investigate whether his predecessor, Mykhailo Potebenko, abused his position and asked the Security Service of Ukraine (known by its Ukrainian acronym as SBU) to close its investigation into the September 2000 death of journalist Heorhii Gongadze, UNIAN reported. The motion follows an interview with Mr. Piskun in the February 28 issue of the 2000 weekly in which he said Mr. Potebenko, while serving as the country's top prosecutor, sent a letter to former SBU Chairman Leonid Derkach ordering him to halt the investigation into Mr. Gongadze's disappearance and presumed death. Mr. Piskun claimed that he has obtained the letter. Mr. Potebenko last month requested that the legislature move a vote of no confidence in Piskun. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President of Ukraine honors Husar

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on February 26 signed a decree to award Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, the order of Yaroslav the Wise for his significant contribution towards the restoration of spirituality, consolidation of the ideas of mercy and accord in society, and long-time fruitful religious work. Cardinal Husar celebrated his 70th birthday on that day. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Husar is most trusted hierarch

KYIV - Ukrainian TV channel "1+1" reported on February 26 that Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, is rated the most trusted hierarch among all the confessions in Ukraine. February 26 was the cardinal's 70th birthday. As he was on a pastoral visit to England after his trip to Canada, the cardinal was to celebrate his birthday in Lviv with a divine liturgy on March 2, with the participation of Archbishop Nikola Eterovic, apostolic nuncio in Ukraine. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

First group of Ukrainians leaves Iraq

BAGHDAD - A group of 41 Ukrainian specialists working in Iraq under Russian-Iraqi contracts on oil-production projects took a chartered airliner from Baghdad to Moscow on February 26, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry said the evacuation of the next group of Ukrainians from Iraq will depend on developments there. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to be cited as market economy?

KYIV - European Commission official Timo Hammaren hinted that the European Union might recognize Ukraine as a "market economy" later this month, ahead of any such concession by United States, the Interfax news service reported on March 3. The move presumably would lead to trade benefits for Ukrainian exporters. Mr. Hammaren said the requirements of the EU with respect to "market economy" status are different from those of the United States. He said the EU might sign the relevant document by the end of March. "We promised Ukraine [that we would] give our answer in late March," he said, according to Interfax, adding that there are grounds for Kyiv to expect a positive answer. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Anniversary of Stalin's death marked

MOSCOW - Speaking in Moscow on March 2 at a gathering devoted to the 50th anniversary of the death of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Communist Party leader Gennadii Zyuganov said that his party has failed to live up to Stalin's legacy and "to preserve the great Soviet power," the RTR news service reported. "But we should raise our heads high because Russia cannot exist without socialism and Soviet power," he added. Mr. Zyuganov also attacked the U.S. position on Iraq and said that the U.S. administration wants to involve Europe in "a war against itself." Moscow's Communist Party leader, Aleksandr Kuvaev, surprised the gathering by proposing cloning Stalin, RTR reported. On March 2 ORT and NTV broadcast documentaries about the death of Stalin. On ORT, Stalin's adopted son, Artem Sergeev, and on NTV political scientist Anatolii Sudoplatov each said that Stalin's inner circle - including Georgii Malenkov, Lavrentii Beria and Nikita Khrushchev - left Stalin to die without summoning medical help. After his rise to power, Khrushchev was particularly cruel toward Stalin's son, Vasilii, who was imprisoned on charges of "betraying the motherland," according to recently declassified documents. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Privatization chief resigns

KYIV - Oleksander Bondar, chairman of the State Property Fund (SPF), has tendered his resignation, Interfax reported on March 1, quoting First Vice Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov. Mr. Azarov said the government deems the activities of the SPF to have been unsatisfactory, adding that the privatization process supervised by the fund "has failed to become an instrument for speeding up the economy and meeting fiscal objectives." Mr. Azarov added that the privatization process in Ukraine has yielded "only" 6 billion hrv ($1.12 billion) to date. Mr. Bondar has headed the SPF since October 1998. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM says all citizens must learn Ukrainian

KYIV - All Ukrainian citizens must have command of the Ukrainian language and agencies of power must create normal conditions for mastering it, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said as he answered by phone the questions from readers of a central Ukrainian newspaper. "We, all of us, must be able to speak Ukrainian," Mr. Yanukovych said, stressing at the same time his government would be doing its best to help the citizens, especially children, learn other languages. Ukraine's language picture is mixed now. Data from the last national census indicated that 77 percent of all people living in the country are Ukrainians and 17 percent are Russians, while representatives of other ethnic groups made up 6 percent. Independent sources say that 40 percent of the population uses the Russian language in everyday life. (ITAR-TASS, FBIS)

A third of Russians view Stalin positively ...

MOSCOW - Thirty-six percent of respondents in a national survey conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation on February 22 said that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin did more to benefit Russia than to harm it, lenta.ru reported on February 27. The foundation surveyed 1,500 adults in cities throughout the federation. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents said Stalin did the country more harm than good, and 34 percent could not say either way. Those who view Stalin positively most often cited his role in the Soviet victory in World War II and the "law and order" he maintained in the country. Those who view him negatively blame him for ruling by means of mass terror, for unleashing genocide against his own citizens and for failing to prepare the country for the Nazi invasion in 1941. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... as interest grows on 50th anniversary

MOSCOW - On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Stalin's death on March 5, 1953, the Russian State Archive, the archive of the Federal Protection Service and that of the Federal Security Service (FSB) prepared a unique exhibition covering notable events of the Stalin era, the RTR news service reported on February 27. The exhibition will present for the first time recently declassified documents and medical analyses that purportedly refute the theory that Stalin's entourage might have poisoned him. Other documents concern the so-called Doctors' Plot, an anti-Semitic campaign launched in the last days of the Stalin regime, purportedly at the dictator's personal behest. The exhibition will also present some of Stalin's personal effects, gifts that he received, and letters from Soviet citizens expressing their feelings about his death. The state news agency RIA-Novosti will be selling rare digitized photographs of Stalin via its website (http://www.rian.ru). (RFE/RL Newsline)

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