NEWSBRIEFS (06/15/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Radio Liberty marks 50th anniversary

PRAGUE - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty commemorated the 50th anniversary of broadcasts to the then-Soviet Union with a series of events that culminated in a conference, "On Liberty," in the Czech capital on June 6. The discussion focused on the relationship between liberty and human rights, sovereignty, religion and education, and the development of civil society, the media and the Internet. The conference, as well as an exhibition of publications by RFE/RL authors and a reception for current and former Radio Liberty staff, took place at RFE/RL's Broadcast Operations Center in Prague. Czech Foreign Minister Cyril Svoboda delivered the keynote address. Other speakers included former Russian Parliament Chairman Ruslan Khasbulatov, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, and longtime Russian human rights activist Liudmila Alekseeva. Radio Liberation (later renamed Radio Liberty) broadcasts in Russian, Tajik and Turkmen began in Munich on March 1, 1953, and were soon joined by broadcasts in many of the region's other native languages. Soviet authorities jammed those broadcasts until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ordered a halt to the jamming in November 1988. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lazarenko wanted back in Ukraine

KYIV - Ukrainian authorities want to put former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko on trial, including on murder charges, after a U.S. court hands down its verdict in an ongoing money-laundering case against him, Interfax reported on June 9, quoting Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun. "The Ukrainian side hopes that Lazarenko can be transferred to Ukraine," Mr. Piskun said. "The Lazarenko case is the biggest [criminal case] in the history of Ukraine's history and, perhaps, of the world. It [fills] 6,500 volumes." Mr. Lazarenko, Ukraine's prime minister in 1996-1997, is in custody in California facing trial for laundering $114 million through U.S. banks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Peacekeepers to be deployed by August

KYIV - Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk told journalists on June 7 that the formation and training of a Ukrainian contingent of peacekeepers intended for the Polish-led stabilization force in Iraq will be completed by mid-July, Interfax reported. Mr. Marchuk added that the entire contingent will be in Iraq by mid-August. Last week, the Verkhovna Rada endorsed the deployment of up to 1,800 Ukrainian peacekeepers for Iraq. Borys Andresiuk, deputy head of the parliamentary Committee for National Security and Defense, said last week that Ukrainian military personnel in Iraq will be paid $1,000-$1,500 per month. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President confers with Rada leaders

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma met with leaders of parliamentary groups on June 10 to exchange opinions about the constitutional-reform bill he submitted to the Verkhovna Rada in March, Interfax and the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Mr. Kuchma reportedly suggested that he is prepared to back down on his proposals to introduce a bicameral legislature, reduce the number of legislators and adopt laws directly via referendums. Yulia Tymoshenko, who heads the eponymous political bloc, told journalists after the meeting that President Kuchma failed to respond to her questions on whether he will support a fully proportional parliamentary election law and withdraw his proposal to hold presidential, parliamentary and local elections in the same year, as well as whether he will run for a third term as president. Socialist Party Chairman Oleksander Moroz and Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko spoke against the idea of holding presidential, parliamentary and local elections in the same year. "I want to declare that the next presidential election will take place on the last Sunday in October 2004," Mr. Kuchma said in summing up the meeting. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutors restart case against Yulia

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office resumed its investigation on June 10 into a criminal case involving opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and four former executives of United Energy Systems (UES) of Ukraine, which Ms. Tymoshenko headed in 1995-1997, Interfax reported. The Kyiv Appeals Court ruled in May to close all criminal cases launched by the Procurator General's Office against the five, but the Supreme Court annulled this ruling on June 10. Prosecutors accuse Ms. Tymoshenko, her husband, father-in-law, and two other UES colleagues of misappropriating state funds. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma sacks environmental minister

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma dismissed Environment and Natural Resources Minister Vasyl Shevchuk on June 7 for "serious shortcomings" in his work, UNIAN reported, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. The president also issued an official reprimand to Vice Prime Minister Vitalii Haiduk for alleged mismanagement of the state's natural resources. Moreover, Mr. Kuchma tasked law enforcement bodies, prosecutors and tax inspectors with a thorough inspection of state companies dealing with the exploration and extraction of mineral resources in the country within the next six months. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lithuania offers free visas for Ukrainians

KYIV - Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Brazauskas said in Kyiv on June 4 that Lithuania, in light of its imminent entry into the European Union, is prepared to issue visas to Ukrainians free of charge if Lithuanian citizens are allowed to enter Ukraine without visas, Interfax reported. Mr. Brazauskas was in Ukraine for a three-day official visit. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Minister fears poor grain harvest

KYIV - Agriculture Minister Serhii Ryzhuk said on June 4 that if Ukraine sees no rain in the next 10 days, the country's grain harvest in 2003 might total just 25 million to 27 million tons, as predicted by Ukrainian agricultural experts earlier this year, Interfax reported. Last year, Ukraine harvested 38.8 million tons of grain. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Reconstruction of ancient church begins

KYIV - Archaeological and reconstruction work on the Church of the Presentation, Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), started in Kyiv's Podil neighborhood on May 24. Archpriest Vitalii Kosovskyi, dean of Kyiv for the UOC-MP, who initiated the restoration of this ancient church some years ago, served a prayer service in gratitude. A church in this location is mentioned in ancient chronicles from the times of the baptism of Kyivan Rus' in the 10th century. The Church of the Presentation was destroyed during Soviet times, in 1970, but now the local Orthodox community has received permission for reconstruction. After archaeological research has been completed, the reconstruction of the church will begin, reported the website www.orthodox.org.ua (Religious Infor-mation Service of Ukraine)

Bulgaria to ease visa requirements

KYIV - Bulgarian National Assembly Speaker Ognyan Gerdzhikov said in Kyiv on June 2 that Bulgaria will relax visa requirements for Ukrainians, Ukrainian Television reported. "The government decided that collective tourist visas will be free for Ukrainians from April 18," Mr. Gerdzhikov said. "We are also working to introduce a system of electronic visas in order to speed up and simplify procedures for obtaining them. This is important because 39,000 Ukrainians visited Bulgaria last year." Mr. Gerdzhikov and Ukrainian Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn signed a cooperation accord between Bulgaria's National Assembly and Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Two million affected by Chornobyl

KYIV - Since 1991 the number of invalids in Ukraine from the Chornobyl incident has increased 1.6 times and today there are almost 100,000 of them, reported Iryna Kravchenko, writing in Ukraina Moloda. The major illnesses resulting from the accident at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant are cancers and diseases affecting the circulatory and nervous systems. Participants in the clean-up of the accident have suffered the most. Of the liquidators, 237 suffered severe radiation sickness; 28 died in 1986. One hundred forty-five diagnoses were confirmed in 1989. As of April 1 of this year 24 additional liquidators have died of various causes. The greatest incidence of oncological illnesses is among the clean-up crew, and it is continually increasing and is higher than similar indicators among other groups of the population. As a result, in 2001 the incidence of malignant tumors amongst the clean-up crew was 37.7 per 10,000 affected of the population, whereas in comparable age groups it was 34.5 to 35 per 10,000. The incidence of cancer of the thyroid gland in the clean-up crew is four to five times greater than that of the rest of Ukrainians. The increase of cancer of the thyroid gland is one of the consequences of radiation from the accident. According to UNIAN, for the period between 1986-2002 there were 2,371 surgeries in Ukraine on individuals who were age 18 or younger at the time of the accident. The April 22 article by Ms. Kravchenko also reported that last year nearly 2.5 million people who suffered as a result of the Chornobyl catastrophe were being cared for in medical institutions of the Ministry of Health system - among them there were almost 475,000 children. (Ukraina Moloda)

Russia seeks guarantees on Baltics

MOSCOW - The Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement on June 1 that Russia continues to be concerned about the military consequences of NATO's eastward expansion and the future membership of the Baltic states, ABNews reported. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said that at the NATO-Russia Council meeting, which was to begin on June 3 in Madrid, Russia will "insist on clear and unambiguous guarantees that arms and armed forces of other countries will not be deployed on the territory of the Baltic states." An Ekho Moskvy opinion poll reported on June 2 showed that 57 percent of 2,815 respondents said they are not concerned about the possible deployment of NATO troops in the Baltics, while 43 percent expressed concern. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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