NEWSBRIEFS (11/23/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kuchma has emergency surgery

KYIV -Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma was hospitalized on November 17 and later the same day underwent surgery to remove what was described as an "acute lower-intestinal obstruction," Ukrainian news agencies reported on November 18, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Kuchma's condition is reportedly "satisfactory." At his residence in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast on November 15, President Kuchma met with former Russian President Boris Yeltsin, who was vacationing in Ukraine. "This was a meeting of old friends," ITAR-TASS quoted Mr. Yeltsin's protocol chief, Vladimir Shevchenko, as saying. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition leaders pledge to act jointly

KYIV - Four Ukrainian opposition leaders - Oleksander Moroz (Socialist Party), Viktor Yushchenko (Our Ukraine), Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) and Petro Symonenko (Communist Party) - signed a declaration on November 19 regarding "joint actions," UNIAN reported. Mr. Moroz told the news agency that the four parties pledged to cooperate on "strategic issues" to counter authorities' attempts to split the opposition. According to Mr. Moroz, the primary concern of the opposition is to adopt a law on a fully proportional party-list system of parliamentary elections. Touching on planned political reform in the country, Mr. Moroz said the opposition essentially differs only in its views on how best to elect a president. The Communist Party, like the pro-government parliamentary majority, wants the Verkhovna Rada to elect the head of state, while the three other opposition parties favor direct elections. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada appoints procurator, vice-chairman

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on November 18 approved the nomination of its former Vice-Chairman Hennadii Vasiliev as the country's new procurator general, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The nomination was supported by deputies from the pro-presidential majority and the Communist Party, with 284 of the 409 lawmakers registered for the session backing the appointment. Deputies from Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc did not take part in the vote. In what appeared to be a deal between the pro-presidential majority and the Communists, 291 lawmakers subsequently voted to appoint Communist deputy Adam Martyniuk as deputy speaker, a post recently vacated by Mr. Vasiliev. Prior to the votes, lawmakers from the pro-presidential majority blocked access to the parliamentary rostrum, thus preventing the opposition - Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - from doing the same and disrupting the session, as the latter has done during several recent sittings. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Communists alleged to have made deal

KYIV - Yurii Kostenko, leader of the Ukrainian National Party that is a component of Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, said in a statement that "the Communists and the Bolsheviks [pro-government parliamentary majority] have now taken responsibility for an anti-national budget" currently under consideration in Parliament, UNIAN reported on November 19. According to the statement, concerted voting by the Communist Party and the pro-government majority on November 18 to appoint a procurator general and a vice-chairman testified to an agreement between the two forces regarding the implementation of political reform under a "scenario" prepared by the presidential administration. Petro Symonenko of the Communist Party has denied that there were any agreements between his party and the pro-government majority regarding the November 18 votes. Meanwhile, lawmaker Oleksander Zadorozhnyi, who is a presidential representative in the Verkhovna Rada, told journalists on November 18 that the pro-government majority voted to appoint Communist deputy Adam Martyniuk as Rada vice-chairman on condition that the Communists support the political-reform bill worked out by the presidential administration. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma asks how to disband Rada

KYIV- President Leonid Kuchma on November 13 requested that the Constitutional Court supply an official interpretation of the provisions in the Constitution of Ukraine pertaining to the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada prior to the expiration of its term, Interfax reported, quoting the presidential press service. Mr. Kuchma said in his request that his move was provoked by the blockade of the ongoing parliamentary session by "certain deputies, groups and caucuses." In particular, Mr. Kuchma said he wants an elucidation of the provision of Article 90 of the basic law stipulating that the president may terminate the authority of the Verkhovna Rada if it fails to hold a plenary sitting within 30 days of a regular parliamentary session. Lawmakers from Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party have recently disrupted several daily sittings of the Verkhovna Rada, demanding that the authorities account for the foiled Our Ukraine congress in Donetsk on October 31. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma wants clear division of sea border

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on November 12 said that Ukraine's position regarding the delimitation of the border in the Kerch Strait and the Azov Sea is unalterable, Interfax reported. "Tuzla Island [in the Kerch Strait] is Ukrainian territory," Mr. Kuchma said at a news conference. "The border between Ukraine and Russia should be clearly determined. We think that the state border should be drawn both on the bottom and the surface, dividing the Azov Sea into Russia's internal waters and Ukraine's internal waters." Mr. Kuchma said Ukraine is not going to restore its status as a nuclear state, which was renounced in 1992. "Indeed, if we today had the world's third-largest nuclear potential, we could talk in a different way. But I'm sure that, despite various arguments, we made the correct decision [in 1992]," the president added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lytvyn cites minority rights in Romania

BUCHAREST - Visiting Ukrainian Parliament Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said on November 13 after talks with Romanian Senate Chairman Nicolae Vacaroiu that Romania does "too little" for its Ukrainian minority, Mediafax reported. Mr. Lytvyn said there is only one Ukrainian high school in Romania, which has neither a library nor a reading room. In comparison, he said, in Ukraine there are 94 schools where teaching is in Romanian, and several universities in Ukraine prepare Romanian-language teachers to serve in those schools, all of which are permanently provided with Romanian-language books. Mr. Vacaroiu said in reply that Romania respects the rights of national minorities and has been commended for it by the Council of Europe. Mr. Lytvyn was also received by Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, who said he hopes the Romanian Senate will ratify the basic treaty between the two countries by the end of this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian president visits Moldova

CHISINAU - Visiting Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma said in Chisinau after talks with his Moldovan counterpart, Vladimir Voronin, on November 13 that Ukraine wants to see a negotiated settlement to end the conflict with Transdniester, RFE/RL's Chisinau bureau reported. President Kuchma said such a settlement is important not only for Moldova, but also for Ukraine, which "is interested of having a stable state as its neighbor." He said Ukraine's attitude toward the Transdniester conflict continues to be based on the principles of "non-interference in [Moldova's] domestic affairs and respect for Moldova's territorial integrity." President Voronin said there are "no outstanding issues with Ukraine, and we have the good intention of turning our bilateral relationship into a model for Europe as a whole." For us, he said, "Ukraine is an example of political partnership and good neighborly relations." The sides signed several agreements, including one on free trade. Mr. Kuchma also met with Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev and Parliament Chairman Evgenia Ostapciuc, and was decorated by President Voronin with a high state order. He also visited Ukrainian peacekeepers in the security zone dividing Moldovan and Transdniester forces. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish cemetery opened near Rivne

RIVNE - A Polish cemetery was opened near Rivne in northwestern Ukraine on November 6, Polish Radio reported. The cemetery is located at the site where in March 1943 a unit of Nazis and Ukrainian police collaborators razed the Polish village of Borszczowka and murdered virtually all of its inhabitants. Those who managed to escape the slaughter included the father of Poland's current first lady, Jolanta Kwasniewska. Two of Mrs. Kwasniewska's relatives were killed and buried in a collective grave near Borszczowka in 1943. "This was exceptionally painful to me, when we were able to light candles and lay flowers in many places around the world but had no such possibility in the place where our close ones were murdered," Mrs. Kwasniewska said during the opening ceremony. Polish Radio reported that an inscription at the cemetery reads, "To those brutally murdered by fascists," since the Ukrainian side disagreed with a formulation saying that the crime was committed by Germans and Ukrainians. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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