NEWSBRIEFS (10/19/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Rada appeals to Russian Assembly...

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada adopted a statement on October 14 appealing to the Russian Federal Assembly to intervene in the construction of a dam between Russia's Taman Peninsula and Ukraine's Tuzla islet in the Kerch Strait to prevent any "unilateral actions" that might contradict "the principles of good neighborliness and the spirit of strategic partnership" between Ukraine and Russia, Interfax and UNIAN reported. The Ukrainian legislature pledged "to initiate all measures envisaged by norms of the international law to protect the sovereignty of the [Ukrainian] state on its territory" if the dam project is continued. Kyiv has reportedly sent a reinforced border-guard unit to Tuzla and installed anti-tank defenses facing the dam construction, which has come to within a kilometer of the island. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... as Kyiv cites Moscow's pressure

KYIV - Ukraine's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Oleksander Motsyk told the Verkhovna Rada on October 14 that Russia's construction of the dike in Kerch Strait is apparently intended to influence Russian-Ukrainian talks on the delimitation of the border in the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait, Interfax reported. "In our opinion, attempts by the neighboring state at exerting such influence only obstruct the further progress of the talks," Mr. Motsyk added. He said Kyiv wants to divide the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait into areas forming national waters of each state, whereas Moscow wants to leave the Azov Sea "for joint use" by Russia and Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov is scheduled to met with his Ukrainian counterpart Kostyantyn Gryshchenko in Kyiv on October 30 to discuss the sea-border delimitation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian border guards on alert

KYIV - Ukrainian State Border Service head Mykola Lytvyn and National Security and Defense Council Deputy Secretary Petro Shatkivskyi have visited the Tuzla islet in Kerch Strait that links the Black and Azov seas to check the preparedness of border guards near a dike that is being constructed on Russia's Taman Peninsula, Interfax reported on October 13. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry recently warned Moscow that the construction of the dam might violate Ukraine's state border and territorial integrity. "Ukrainian guards will not apply arms in detaining offenders of the state border in this sector. Yet it does not mean they will be just onlookers," the State Border Service said in a statement, adding that Ukrainian border guards will find other ways to discourage any possible Russian trespassers. Kyiv has reportedly sent a reinforced border-guard unit to the islet and set an anti-tank hedgehog facing the construction, which has come to within a kilometer of the islet. The Verkhovna Rada is set to hold a hearing on the possible border conflict with Russia. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Libya sign nine agreements

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma visited Libya on October 11-14, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The two sides signed nine accords and memorandums, including on cooperation in science and technology, geological research, banking, and oil extraction. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian sailors sentenced by Iraqi court

BAGHDAD -An Iraqi court sentenced two Ukrainian sailors on October 13 to seven years in prison and ordered them to pay $2.4 million fines for trying to smuggle diesel fuel out of the country, Reuters reported. The Navstar-1 tanker with 21 Ukrainian crew members was apprehended in the Persian Gulf in August by a British Navy ship whose crew believed it was smuggling diesel fuel out of Iraq. "We have sentenced the two suspects according to the incriminating evidence," Reuters quoted Iraqi Judge Nouredeen Ali as saying. "It is not about buying fuel, because the fuel was purchased outside Iraq's territorial borders [waters]. It is a political and media case," defense lawyer Kazem al-Saad said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Blast rocks ammunition depot

ARTEMIVSK, Ukraine - A powerful blast destroyed 10 of 17 bunkers in an ammunition depot in Artemivsk, eastern Ukraine, on October 10, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. Valerii Boikov, acting chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, told journalists that the blast was caused by a welding torch. According to Mr. Boikov, two warrant officers hired a welder to cut metal from buildings near the ammunition dump in order to sell it as scrap metal on the black market. The blast reportedly injured a 15-year-old girl and a serviceman. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian, Belarusian presidents meet

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma met on October 9 with his Belarusian counterpart, Alyaksandr Lukashenka, in a presidential residence near Kyiv, Ukrainian and Belarusian media reported. The presidents reportedly discussed bilateral relations, the recent European Union-Ukraine summit in Yalta and the situation in Iraq. As has become routine during their meetings, they promised to oblige their governments to resolve all bilateral controversies, including the issue of Ukraine's outstanding debt to Belarus. This time Presidents Kuchma and Lukashenka set November 1 as the deadline for doing so. "Irrespective of any political struggles in our mutual relations, we should be together and support one another because we have a common goal - to improve the lives of our people," Belarusian Television quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying after the meeting. "We will cooperate to this end with both the European Union and our eastern neighbor, the Russian Federation." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM in high spirits after U.S. visit

WASHINGTON - Wrapping up his three-day visit to Washington on October 9, Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told journalists that the U.S. administration has promised to help his country accede to the World Trade Organization by 2004, Reuters reported. Mr. Yanukovych also said World Bank President James Wolfensohn has told him that the bank's board of directors will approve this year a "strategic plan of assistance" that could give Kyiv access to $2.5 billion in loans. Mr. Yanukovych met in Washington with Vice-President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Commerce Secretary Donald Evans, Treasury Secretary John Snow and congressional leaders. "We believe that precisely now, when Ukraine is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. in the struggle against terrorism, the time has come for us to significantly revise our relations and move them to a new level," Interfax quoted Prime Minister Yanukovych as saying after his meeting with Secretary Powell. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Hungary sign visa accord

KYIV - Ukraine's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister Oleksander Motsyk and Hungarian Foreign Ministry Deputy State Secretary Krisztina Berta on October 9 signed a visa accord in Kyiv, Interfax reported. The agreement envisages visa-free entry to Ukraine for Hungarians and free Hungarian visas for Ukrainians. The agreement will come into force on November 1. Ukrainians will need no formal invitation to obtain Hungarian visas, Mr. Motsyk told journalists. They can apply for the cost-free Hungarian visas as of October 15. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kazakstan wants to use pipeline

ASTANA -The Kazak state oil and gas agency KazMunaiGaz wants to use the Odesa-Brody pipeline to ship oil from its Caspian Sea fields to Europe because this line better preserves the quality of Kazak crude oil than do Russian pipelines, the firm's transport director, Kairgeldy Kabyldin, told journalists at the KIOGE-2003 conference on October 9, Interfax reported. But Ukraine is still undecided whether it wants to use the pipeline, the first section of which was opened in May 2002, to ship Caspian oil to Europe or Russian oil from the Urals to a Black Sea port. Mr. Kabyldin said that for Kazakstan the Odesa line is ideal, and extending the pipeline to Plotsk, Poland, would make it even more attractive. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian oil company awaits accord

MOSCOW - The Russian oil company TNK-BP, formed by the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) and British Petroleum (BP), is still waiting for UkrTransNafta, Ukraine's oil pipeline operator, to decide to sign an accord on filling the Odesa-Brody pipeline with Russian crude, Interfax reported on October 8, quoting a TNK trade representative in Ukraine. Previously the TNK-BP said it will abandon its plans to ship 9 million tons of Russian oil annually through the pipeline to Odesa if UkrTransNafta makes no decision on the issue by October 8. The UkrTransNafta supervisory board reportedly voted 4-3, with one abstention, last week to allow TNK-BP to fill the Odesa-Brody pipeline with 380,000 to 420,000 tons of Russian crude to be shipped to Odesa. Fuel and Energy Minister Serhii Yermilov and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych subsequently denied such a decision has been made. The Odesa-Brody pipeline was originally built to ship Caspian oil to Europe. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia-Belarus union in 'stalemate'

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on October 14 participated in a meeting of the Higher State Council of the Russia-Belarus Union in Moscow, polit.ru and strana.ru reported. After the meeting, an unidentified presidential-administration source said that Moscow sees the situation within the union as "a stalemate." The two countries failed to reach an agreement about the introduction of the Russian ruble as the union's common currency, a move that is scheduled for January 1, 2005. Miensk continues to insist the two countries first adopt a Constitutional Act, but no draft of such a document that is acceptable for Russia has yet been produced, the source said. He said the deadlock has been produced because Mr. Lukashenka is primarily concerned with his own political role within the future union. However, the source said, since no role for Mr. Lukashenka is envisioned, all other activity has ground to a halt. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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