NEWSBRIEFS (10/05/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kyiv wants U.N. to mark Great Famine

UNITED NATIONS - President Leonid Kuchma addressed the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 24, urging the United Nations to pay tribute to victims of the man-made famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933, which claimed up to 10 million lives, Interfax reported. "Seventy years ago, the totalitarian [Soviet] regime organized an artificial famine in Ukraine," President Kuchma said. "Unfortunately, in 1933 the world did not react to our tragedy. The international community believed the cynical propaganda of the Soviet state, which was selling grain abroad at a time when 17 people were dying every minute in Ukraine." Mr. Kuchma said Ukraine is not seeking "to settle past scores," adding, "We only want to make known our tragedy to the largest possible number of people, so that this knowledge might help us avoid similar catastrophes in the future." In May the Verkhovna Rada approved a declaration designating the 1932-1933 famine in Ukraine an "act of genocide" against the Ukrainian people. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma: Ukraine tired of waiting for EU

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma suggested in Kyiv on September 30 that Ukraine should not aspire to European Union membership, saying Brussels has kept his country waiting too long, Ukrainian and international news agency reported. "How long can we be kept waiting on the threshold [to the EU]?" Interfax quoted him as saying. "Ukraine is tired of waiting. ... None of the [EU] bureaucrats has declared that they want to see Ukraine in the EU." Mr. Kuchma also expressed his bitterness over the fact that Ukraine has been neither granted associate EU member status nor recognized as a country with a functioning market economy. "If I were today invited to join the EU, I would refuse," Mr. Kuchma stated. "Who in Europe needs Ukrainian planes, Ukrainian machine building, or the Ukrainian coal industry? We would not withstand [economic] competition even for a month." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma supports direct presidential ballot

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma also said on September 30 that he is in favor of electing a new president by direct ballot, Interfax reported. He was apparently referring to a recent proposal by a group of pro-presidential lawmakers that a new president be elected in 2004 by the current Verkhovna Rada. "I am for a nationwide vote in the presidential election. And I am for holding the election in 2004," Mr. Kuchma told journalists. "I am not going anywhere - either to run for president [for a third term] or to play other games," he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President shrugs off impeachment move

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma reiterated his opinion that an accord on the creation of the CIS Single Economic Space he signed recently along with the presidents of Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan does not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. He said the opposition effort to impeach him for signing this agreement is pointless. "The opposition has been calling for the president's impeachment for the past several years when it had no other ideas," Mr. Kuchma said. "It is more political speculation and provocation by forces that have nothing else to say. I pity them." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian as official language in CIS?

MOSCOW - Speaking at Moscow's International University, Russia's First Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Eleonora Mitrofanova said on September 25 that Russia is striving to see that Russian be granted official language status in all CIS countries, RTR and RIA-Novosti reported. She deplored what she described as a process by which national languages are squeezing out Russian and said Moscow is committed to strengthening the position of the Russian language as one of the main forms of its support for ethnic Russians abroad. She added that the Foreign Ministry has allocated 210 million rubles ($7 million) this year for this goal. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv reacts to Russian statement

KYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Serhii Dovbeshko told Interfax on September 26 that he is surprised to see that "one country is trying to resolve for another issues that are outside its competence." Mr. Dovbeshko was commenting on Russian First Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Eleonora Mitrofanova's statement the previous day that Russia's foreign-policy goal is to obtain official status for the Russian language among former Soviet republics. "[Mitrofanova's statements] are not worthy of additional comments because they cannot in any way influence the language policy of Ukraine, which is developing [its policy] on the basis of its own legislation and its international obligations in this sphere," Mr. Dovbeshko added. Asked by Ukrainian journalists to comment on Ms. Mitrofanova's statement, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin said, "It is difficult for me to say what she had in mind." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Four arrested in Aleksandrov case

KYIV - Deputy Procurator General Viktor Shokin told journalists on September 26 that police have arrested businessman Oleksander Rybak and his brother Dmytro Rybak for allegedly contracting the murder of Ihor Aleksandrov, director of TOR television company in Slaviansk in Donetsk Oblast, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Police also arrested two men who are suspected of carrying out the killing. Mr. Shokin said the killing was provoked by Mr. Aleksandrov's professional activities but gave no details. The journalist died in the hospital in July 2001 after unidentified assailants attacked him in his office with baseball bats. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM signals Cabinet reshuffle

KYIV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told journalists on September 26 that there will be changes in his Cabinet, Interfax and Reuters reported. "There are really quite serious problems," Reuters quoted Mr. Yanukovych as saying. "We are talking about [the] political and managerial efficiency of different members of political groups, about their ability to work in a Cabinet team rather than creating their own political image." There are 22 posts in the Ukrainian Cabinet. (RFE/RL Newsline)

CIS citizens in Russian army?

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 24 introduced to the State Duma a bill that would pave the way for citizens of CIS countries to serve in the Russian military, Vremya Novostei and lenta.ru reported. According to the bill, CIS citizens would be granted Russian citizenship after three years' service in the Russian military. The Russian General Staff believes that many CIS citizens would be enticed into the Russian military by the prospect of Russian citizenship and by the comparatively high wages Russian contract soldiers receive. Vremya Novostei quoted one General Staff representative as saying that some CIS officers have expressed a willingness to serve as ordinary soldiers in the Russian army. However, the paper commented, the bill conflicts with legislation in many CIS countries. Ukraine, for instance, treats its citizens who perform foreign military service as mercenaries, which is punishable by up to eight years' imprisonment. The Constitution of Georgia bars citizens from serving in foreign armies, the paper wrote. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lviv distrusts tax inspectors

LVIV - Some 5,000 people gathered at the Lviv Oblast Council on September 25 to demand the dismissal of Lviv Oblast Tax Administration head Serhii Medvedchuk, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. In June Lviv Oblast councilors supported a no-confidence vote in Mr. Medvedchuk, charging that he has used his position in the State Tax Administration to exert pressure on companies and organizations opposed to the Social Democratic Party-United, including Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine. State Tax Administration head Yurii Kravchenko did not sack Mr. Medvedchuk. The SDPU is led by Mr. Medvedchuk's brother, presidential administration head Viktor Medvedchuk. Mr. Yushchenko, who attended the Lviv Oblast Council session on September 25, called on Serhii Medvedchuk to step down. The same day, Lviv councilors supported a vote of no confidence in the chief of the Lviv City Tax Administration, Myroslav Khomiak. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF OKs Kyiv's early repayment of loans

KYIV - Ukraine's Minister of the Economy Valerii Khoroshkovskyi told journalists in Kyiv on September 25 that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to the repayment of Ukraine's $1.8 billion debt within two years, some six years before the last payment is scheduled to be made, Interfax reported. Mr. Khoroshkovskyi said the agreement came after talks with IMF representatives earlier this week in Dubai. National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Serhii Tyhypko had declared in August that Ukraine can repay its full debt to the IMF by the end of 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.N. seeks peacekeepers for Liberia

KYIV - United Nations Under-Secretary General and special representative for Liberia Jacques Paul Klein has asked President Leonid Kuchma to consider sending an infantry battalion and a helicopter squadron to Liberia for a peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the UN, Interfax reported on September 25, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Kuchma reportedly pledged to consider the request "in keeping with the legislation in force [and] with due regard for the proceedings required to adopt this decision." (RFE/RL Newsline)

No progress regarding Serpents Island

BUCHAREST - No progress was made in the 20th round of negotiations between Romania and Ukraine over the oil-rich continental shelf around the Black Sea's Serpents Island, Romanian Radio reported. Foreign Minister State Secretary Cristian Diaconescu said Romania will "in all probability" appeal to the International Court of Justice in the Hague for a ruling in the dispute. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Villagers block NATO exercises

VERBLIANY, Ukraine - Some 300 residents of the village of Verbliany in Lviv Oblast blocked roads and military traffic leading to the Yavorivskyi training area on September 29, thus halting joint exercises by Ukrainian troops and a NATO battalion from Italy, Interfax reported. The villagers maintain that about 120 children have suffered severe coughing since shortly after the Italian troops arrived at the training range. They suggest that the apparent illness, which they say has affected local children during the course of military exercises in recent years, may be linked to exercises at the training ground. NATO has used the Yavorivskyi training facility since 1997. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Poland seek to host EURO 2012

KYIV - Ukraine and Poland have agreed to submit a joint bid to host the EURO 2012 soccer championships, Reuters reported on September 29, quoting the Ukrainian Soccer Federation (FFU). "I think this is a great undertaking for both countries and we already asked the presidents of the two nations to give this project their full support," FFU President Hryhorii Surkis said. Last year there was a proposal for a joint Russia-Ukraine bid to stage the 2008 European finals, but it was rejected by the Russians, who bid alone and lost. (RFE/RL Newsline)

CIS to monitor anti-aircraft missile sales

KYIV - CIS states, with the exception of neutral Turkmenistan, agreed during their September 18-19 summit in Yalta to monitor all sales of portable Igla and Strela anti-aircraft missile systems, Interfax reported. Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeev hailed that agreement, noting that terrorists of all political persuasions already use such weapons. He noted that "it took some effort" to persuade Georgia, Ukraine and Azerbaijan to accede to the agreement. During a meeting of CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization defense ministers in early June, the representatives of those three countries and Uzbekistan declined to support a Russian proposal to ban sales of such weapons. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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