NEWSBRIEFS

Opposition drops efforts to oust Kuchma

KYIV - The leaders of Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc signed a joint memorandum on April 14 presenting their vision for political reform in the country, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. The memorandum proposes that the president, the Verkhovna Rada and local government bodies work until the end of their current terms. The document also advocates preserving the country's unicameral parliamentary system, giving the Parliament the authority to approve prime ministers (nominated by the president) and all Cabinet ministers (nominated by the prime minister), and giving the president the power to dissolve the Verkhovna Rada if national deputies fail to gather for a session within 30 days after elections or if they cannot form a cabinet within 60 days after the inaugural session. The memorandum - signed by party leaders Viktor Yushchenko, Petro Symonenko, Oleksander Moroz and Yulia Tymoshenko - appears to be an opposition reaction to a purported attempt to extend President Leonid Kuchma's term via a bill on political reform submitted to the Verkhovna Rada last month. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court clips national deputies' immunity

KYIV - The Ukrainian Constitutional Court ruled on April 14 that Verkhovna Rada national deputies may be held accountable for administrative offenses without prior approval from the Parliament if the related pretrial or post-trial processes do not involve detention or arrest, Interfax reported. The decision effectively allows authorities to skirt guarantees of parliamentary immunity in such cases. Rulings by the Constitutional Court are binding on the entire territory of Ukraine and are not subject to appeal. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Azarov: U.S. backs Kyiv's WTO effort

WASHINGTON - First Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov of Ukraine said in Washington on April 13 that "almost all" of the issues outstanding with the United States concerning Ukrainian accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been settled, Interfax reported on April 14, quoting Mr. Azarov's press secretary, Vitalii Lukianenko. "No obstacles are left to grant[ing] Ukraine market-economy status. According to U.S. government figures, the way to the WTO is open for Ukraine," Mr. Azarov said after his meeting with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. Mr. Azarov added, however, that some U.S.-Ukrainian "issues" remain regarding Ukraine's WTO membership; their number "can be counted on the fingers of one hand," he said, but he failed to name them. Mr. Azarov also announced that Washington last week abolished its "financial countermeasures" in connection with a 2002 recommendation by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Schroeder backs Ukraine as EU associate

BERLIN - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder assured Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in Berlin on April 9 that he backs associate membership in the European Union for Ukraine in the near future, the DPA news service reported. "We fully support the process of bringing Ukraine closer to the European Union," Mr. Schroeder said at a joint news conference with Mr. Yanukovych. "In the not-too-distant future, there must be the possibility of associate EU status for Ukraine." Mr. Schroeder's comment follows a blunt rejection by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer last month of Ukraine's hopes of becoming a full-fledged EU member "now or in the foreseeable future." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Poland confer on Volyn events

LUTSK - Polish National Security Bureau Secretary Marek Siwiec, accompanied by Ukrainian presidential-administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk, visited the Volyn Oblast in northwestern Ukraine on April 8-9, Interfax reported. Messrs. Siwiec and Medvedchuk discussed with local authorities and activists from cultural, educational and religious organizations ways to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the so-called Volyn massacre. Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine agreed in February to organize joint commemoration of the massacre. In particular, Poland wants Ukraine to let Poles to visit sites of the tragedy in July. The PAP news service quoted Mr. Kwasniewski as saying on April 9 that he and Mr. Kuchma are planning commemorative events and preparing political declarations for the occasion. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutors probe media defamation

KYIV - Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun on April 9 confirmed to Interfax that he has ordered "several investigations" into publications considered "defamatory" toward the president and other politicians. Mr. Piskun was commenting on presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska's statement of April 4, in which she said a criminal case has been launched against a number of media outlets that publicized "defamatory materials aimed at creating obstacles to the president's execution of his duties and at undermining the president's reputation." Mr. Piskun pledged to provide details of the investigations in the near future. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Government sticks to agricultural policy

KYIV - The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has pledged not to change its current agricultural policy and to continue implementing market mechanisms in the grain trade, Interfax reported. In particular, the Cabinet promised to prevent "groundless interference of executive bodies in the activity of participants and operators in the [agricultural] market." The Cabinet's statement was apparently aimed at domestic and foreign fears that, following the arrest of former Vice Prime Minister for Agricultural Reform Leonid Kozachenko, the government is seeking to reverse liberalization on the grain market and restore an administrative-command system in the sector. "[The Ukrainian] government should be aware that reintroducing centralized control of the grain market would have a severe chilling effect on all foreign investors in Ukraine," Kempton Jenkins, president of the Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, said in a letter to the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to assemble Volkswagens

KYIV - The Ukrainian Eurocar enterprise and Germany's Volkswagen Group on April 10 signed a protocol declaring their intention to assemble new Volkswagen vehicles in Ukraine, Interfax reported. Volkswagen sold some 10,000 cars in Ukraine in 2002 and considers Ukraine a dynamic market. Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was on an official visit to Germany, attended the signing ceremony in Wolfsburg. Earlier that same day Mr. Yanukovych announced in Hamburg that Ukraine and Germany will launch a joint aircraft-construction project. In Hamburg, Mr. Yanukovych presented a project for shipping Caspian oil through the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline to the German port of Wilhelmshaven. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Probe sought in Protsyuk's death in Iraq

KYIV - The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry has urged the United States and Great Britain to investigate circumstances surrounding the death in Baghdad of Ukrainian cameraman Taras Protsyuk, Interfax and UNIAN reported on April 10. Mr. Protsyuk worked for Reuters and died on April 8 after coalition forces shelled the Palestine Hotel in which Mr. Protsyuk and other foreign journalists were staying. Mr. Protsyuk, 35, was a 10-year veteran at Reuters and had worked in a number of areas of conflict, including Kosovo, Chechnya and Afghanistan. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry, nine Ukrainian media employees are working in the conflict zone in Iraq. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tajikistan and Ukraine sign pact

DUSHANBE - Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov and his visiting Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, signed an agreement in Dushanbe on April 9 on economic cooperation for the period 2003-2012, ITAR-TASS reported. Among possible fields in which economic cooperation could be expanded, Mr. Rakhmonov specifically mentioned hydro-engineering and the processing of agricultural produce, Asia Plus-Blitz reported. During talks on April 8-9, the two presidents discussed bilateral relations, regional issues, such as the situation in Afghanistan, the war in Iraq, and cooperation within the framework of international organizations, including the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States. Representatives of the two governments also signed several bilateral agreements on cooperation in science, health care, banking, mutual protection of confidential information and combating drug trafficking. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian president visits Kyrgyzstan

BISHKEK - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma made a one-day stop in Bishkek on April 10 as part of his current tour of Central Asian countries, akipress.org, Interfax and RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. Talks with Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev focused on bilateral economic relations, regional security issues and the establishment of a free-trade zone within the Commonwealth of Independent States, according to the reports. The two leaders support the idea of such a zone. Mr. Kuchma also promised to ensure that a Ukrainian debt to Kyrgyzstan from 1991-1992 of some $28 million will be paid. Mr. Akaev was quoted as saying he had supported the election of President Kuchma to chair the CIS Council because Ukrainian proposals for free movement of goods within the CIS have inspired hopes that Mr. Kuchma could engineer a breakthrough in the creation of a CIS free-trade zone. Mr. Kuchma was quoted as asserting that trade among CIS states is declining from year to year, with customs barriers forcing CIS states to seek markets outside the commonwealth. Both the Ukrainian and the Kyrgyz presidents expressed their belief that this problem can be resolved at the CIS summit in September. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma travels to Uzbekistan

TASHKENT - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma paid a one-day working visit to Tashkent on April 10-11, Russian media reported. It was his fourth visit to the Uzbek capital. Mr. Kuchma met with his Uzbek counterpart, Islam Karimov, to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the possibilities for cooperation in rebuilding that country's infrastructure, cooperation in the fight against international terrorism and drug trafficking, various aspects of bilateral relations and the proposed CIS free-trade zone. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian, Turkmen leaders discuss gas

TURKMENBASHI - Ukrainian Pre-sident Leonid Kuchma met with Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov in the Turkmen port city of Turkmenbashi on April 11 to discuss the future of Turkmen gas sales to Ukraine, Interfax and turkmenistan.ru reported. Mr. Kuchma was concluding a tour of the Central Asian countries, while Mr. Niyazov was returning from a visit to Moscow during which he signed a 25-year contract with Russia on the delivery of Turkmen gas. The terms of the Russian contract appeared to indicate that when the current gas-sales contract between Turkmenistan and Ukraine expires in 2006, it might be impossible to renew it unless pipeline capacity can be greatly increased. Ukraine is one of Turk-menistan's major gas customers and depends heavily on Turkmen supplies. According to an unnamed Turkmen government official quoted by Interfax, the talks between Presidents Kuchma and Niyazov were "fruitful, but difficult." One topic discussed was the construction of a new pipeline on the basis of the existing line, as envisaged in the present Ukraine-Turkmenistan gas contract. According to turkmenistan.ru, Russia also is supposed to take part in the construction project. (RFE/RL Newsline)

State Property Fund gets new chief

KYIV - On April 3 Ukrainian 260 lawmakers voted to approve Mykhailo Chechetov as the new head of the State Property Fund of Ukraine, the UNIAN news service reported. In an earlier vote, 238 lawmakers endorsed a motion to dismiss Oleksander Bondar from that post. Mr. Bondar tendered his resignation on March 1, reportedly under criticism from some Cabinet members. First Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on March 1 that the privatization process supervised by the State Property Fund under Mr. Bondar "has failed to become an instrument for speeding up the economy and meeting fiscal objectives." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Hungary sign military accord

KYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Volodymyr Shkidchenko and his Hungarian counterpart, Ferenc Juhasz, signed an agreement on cooperation between their ministries in Kyiv on April 3, Interfax reported. Minister Juhasz told journalists that representatives discussed the modernization of military equipment, including work by Ukraine on Mi-24 helicopters that are currently in service in the Hungarian armed forces. He added that Hungary intends to facilitate Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration, particularly within the format of the Visegrad Four (Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic). (RFE/RL Newsline)

Widow opposes Sakharov monument

MOSCOW - The Moscow City Commission on Monumental Art decided on April 8 to erect a statue of the late physicist and human rights advocate Andrei Sakharov, even though his widow, Yelena Bonner, firmly opposes the idea, RIA-Novosti reported. The plan originated in 1990, a year after Dr. Sakharov's death, but was never implemented. Liberal Russia party Co-Chairman Sergei Yushenkov revived the proposal earlier this year. Lenta.ru reported on February 27 that Ms. Bonner wrote an open letter urging Russians not to contribute "a single ruble, a single kopek" to what she termed a "new bureaucratic venture." Citing the country's widespread poverty and the war in Chechnya, Ms. Bonner, also a human right activist of long standing, wrote, "This Russia is blatantly at odds with the idea of a monument to Sakharov." The city commission, apparently bent on changing her mind, said after its decision that it wanted to have "a conversation with Yelena Bonner in person." Commission Chairman Sergei Petrov said a competition will be held to select a design for the monument. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 20, 2003, No. 16, Vol. LXXI

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