NEWSBRIEFS (06/01/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukrainian plane crashes in Turkey

TRABZON, Turkey - A Ukrainian Yak-42 plane transporting Spanish peacekeepers from duty in Afghanistan, along with a crew of 12 Ukrainians and a Belarusian, slammed into a mountainside near the Turkish port city of Trabzon on May 26, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. None of those on board survived. The plane, chartered under a United Nations contract from a Ukrainian company called Mediterranean Airlines, was flying from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, to Zaragoza, Spain. An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of the accident, with initial reports blaming heavy fog in the area. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma eliminates political slots

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has issued a decree canceling a previous order on the introduction of the post of state secretary, as well as first deputies and deputies for the Council of Ministers and individual ministries, Interfax reported on May 27. Mr. Kuchma had introduced those posts two years ago in a move the opposition said was aimed at tightening the presidential administration's grip on the Cabinet. Under the new decree, state secretaries and their deputies are to be replaced by first vice ministers and vice ministers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to be part of Iraq's Polish sector

SALZBURG, Austria - Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski told journalists at a Central European summit in Salzburg on May 23 that Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed to send troops to the Polish stabilization sector in Iraq, Polish Radio reported. Warsaw hosted an international conference last week on the formation of a stabilization force in the Polish sector in Iraq. Polish Radio quoted Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz as saying on May 25 that the stabilization forces in the Polish sector in Iraq will comprise servicemen from a dozen countries. Mr. Cimoszewicz added that Poland is likely to make an effort to include servicemen from Muslim states in its stabilization force. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada approves 13 percent flat tax

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on May 22 approved a 13 percent flat income tax for individuals as of January 1, 2004, Ukrainian media reported. On January 1, 2007, the rate will rise to 15 percent. The move was backed by 352 of the 440 legislators registered for the session. Income-tax rates in Ukraine are currently 10, 15, 20, 30, and 40 percent. Ukrainians earning more than $320 per month are in the top tax bracket. The government hailed the introduction of the flat tax as a step toward developing a strong consumer market and reducing the country's shadow economy. "The adoption of the law is a breakthrough in implementing tax reform. The government and parliament covered a gap that has plagued our legislation for nine years," Finance Minister Mykola Azarov said, according to Interfax. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Parliament amends 2003 budget

KYIV - The Ukrainian Parliament amended the country's 2003 budget on May 22, increasing projected revenues by 5.9 percent to 52.96 billion hrv ($9.94 billion) and expenditures by 5.6 percent to $54.99 billion hrv, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine signs environmental accords

KYIV - The environment ministers of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Serbia and Montenegro on May 22 signed a framework convention at an ongoing international environmental conference in Kyiv on the environmental protection and sustainable development of the Carpathian Mountains, Interfax reported. It was unclear why two other "Carpathian states," Poland and the Czech Republic, which reportedly back the convention, failed to sign it. Also the same day, the environment ministers of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia signed an accord on the environmental rehabilitation of the Dnipro River basin. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada OKs CIS 'joint economic space'...

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada voted 266-51 on May 22 to back the creation of a "joint economic space" to include Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Kazakstan, Interfax reported. The presidents of these four countries had signed a statement on February 23 declaring that their governments will prepare a draft agreement by September on the creation of such an economic bloc. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said last week that there is a "fundamental disagreement" over how those four countries view the formation of such an economic alliance. (RFE/RL Newsline)

...urges Ukraine's 'association' with EU

KYIV - The Ukrainian legislature also appealed to European parliaments, governments and societies on May 22 to unite efforts to implement the socioeconomic and environmental goals mapped out by the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development in 2002, Interfax reported. The appeal, endorsed by 371 deputies, also includes an assertion that there are already "objective grounds" for transforming relations between Ukraine and the European Union to "a qualitatively new level - from partnership to association." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian firm to build Turkmen pipeline

ASHGABAT - Ukraine will pay off a portion of its debt for Turkmen natural-gas supplies by building a stretch of a pipeline that is to transport Turkmen gas to Europe, the Turkmen State News Agency and turkmenistan.ru reported on May 21. The project, which envisions building a section of pipeline across the Kara-Bogaz Inlet on stilts and which is valued at $16 million, will be carried out by the Ukrainian company Petrohazaziya under an agreement with Turkmenneftegaz, the Turkmen state oil and gas firm. The 1-kilometer elevated section of pipeline across Kara-Bogaz will be new, but the project also includes carrying out repairs and modernization to expand the capacity of the Soviet-era pipeline that transported Turkmen gas to Moscow. The Kara-Bogaz section is to be completed next year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Borzov sworn in as national deputy

KYIV - Valerii Borzov was sworn in as a Verkhovna Rada deputy on May 20, Interfax and UNIAN reported. Mr. Borzov, who ran in the 2002 parliamentary election in the nationwide, multi-seat constituency on the Social-Democratic Party (United) ticket, replaces lawmaker Mykola Pesotskyi, who was appointed to head the State Reserves Committee and gave up his deputy's mandate. Mr. Borzov, now chairman of the Ukrainian Track and Field Federation, won two gold medals at the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, running the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes for the Soviet Union. The Verkhovna Rada currently has 449 deputies. The Central Election Commission scheduled a by-election for June 8 in a constituency in Chernihiv Oblast after lawmaker Valentyn Melnychuk was appointed chairman of Chernihiv Oblast and surrendered his parliamentary seat. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Parliament in turmoil again

KYIV - Lawmakers from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc blocked the Verkhovna Rada rostrum on May 15 to protest the refusal of prison authorities to release two former United Energy Systems (UES) executives, Hennadii Tymoshenko and Antonina Boliura, UNIAN reported. On May 13 a court ordered a stop to all criminal cases launched by the Procurator General's Office against opposition leader Ms. Tymoshenko and four former UES executives, but the Procurator General's Office subsequently appealed the ruling. According to National Deputy Andrii Shkil, eight lawmakers from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc were beaten by police on May 14 while trying to enter the Kyiv prison where Ms. Tymoshenko's father-in-law and Ms. Boliura are being kept. Ms. Tymoshenko demanded that Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun appear in Parliament to explain why the former executives are still in custody, and Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn reportedly pledged to summon Mr. Piskun. (RFE/RL Newsline)

ROC nixes proposed papal visit ...

MOSCOW - The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church has issued a statement saying that a proposed brief visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II later this year cannot take place, newsru.com reported on May 19. According to the Vatican proposal, the pontiff was to stop off in Kazan on his way to Mongolia in order to return to Russia the Orthodox Church's most sacred icon, the Kazan Holy Mother of God, which is in the Vatican's collection. The Patriarchate's statement said an analysis by the Culture Ministry determined that the Vatican's icon is "an 18th-century work by a provincial icon painter," and not the original 16th-century masterpiece. Because the Vatican's icon is just "one of many icons illegally removed from Russia, it cannot serve as the pretext for a visit to Russia by Pope John Paul II," the statement reads. The statement further notes that there have been no talks between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church concerning the proposed visit, and added that improving relations between the two Churches depends on the Vatican's willingness to curtail proselytizing among Orthodox believers and improving conditions for Orthodox believers in western Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... criticizes creation of Kazakstan dioceses

MOSCOW - The Moscow Patriarchate condemned a recent Vatican decision to create new Roman Catholic dioceses in Kazakstan, newsru.com reported on May 19. This step was taken without consulting the Russian Orthodox Church although "most Christians in Kazakstan belong to its canonic jurisdiction," the statement noted. The Vatican's decision is a serious blow to relations between the Churches, according to the statement. The Moscow Patriarchate has decided to create a new metropolitan for Kazakstan, NTV reported on May 19. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Poland get EU funds for pipeline

KYIV - Ukraine, Poland and the European Union on May 27 signed a declaration to work toward extending the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline to the Polish port of Gdansk in order to transport Caspian oil to Europe, Ukrainian and Polish news agencies reported. The European Commission will contribute 3 million euros ($3.6 million) for a feasibility study of the Odesa-Brody-Gdansk pipeline. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Marek Pol told PAP that construction of the Polish section of the pipeline can be financed only on commercial terms. "We have decided to set up a working team including representatives from Poland, Ukraine and the EU who will coordinate work on the project," he said. A Brody-Plock-Gdansk stretch that is expected to take three to five years to build and to cost some 500 million euros ($589 million) is needed to complete the pipeline. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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