NEWSBRIEFS (01/18/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Referendum proposed on election process

KYIV - Three parliamentary opposition groups - Our Ukraine, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - have proposed a nationwide referendum to resolve the ongoing dispute in Ukraine over direct versus indirect election of the president. On December 23, lawmakers from the pro-government majority and the Communist Party preliminarily approved a constitutional-reform bill calling for the election of president in 2006 by the Verkhovna Rada. The proposal to hold the referendum was voiced during a January 12 meeting of parliamentary-caucus leaders devoted to the current parliamentary controversy over a related constitutional-reform bill. According to Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko, under the Constitution of Ukraine, any curbs on the rights of voters may be introduced only via referendums. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma appoints three Cabinet ministers

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma made three new appointments to the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers on January 12, UNIAN and Interfax reported, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mykola Derkach was sworn in as minister of economy and European integration, Viktor Slauta as agriculture minister and Oleksander Neustroyev as minister of industrial policy. Mr. Derkach, a former ambassador to Lithuania, replaces Valerii Khoroshkovskyi, who cited obstacles to his ministry's activities when he resigned earlier this month. Mr. Slauta, a lawmaker from the Donetsk Oblast, takes over for Serhii Ryzhuk, who was appointed head of the Zhytomyr Oblast State Administration. Mr. Neustroyev assumes the industrial-policy portfolio from Anatolii Mialytsia. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine posts 15.8 % industrial growth

KYIV - The State Statistics Committee announced last week that industrial production in Ukraine grew by 15.8 percent in 2003, including an annualized 18.4 percent in December, Interfax reported on January 10. Ukraine's industrial output increased by 12.4 percent in 2000, 14.2 percent in 2001 and 7 percent in 2002. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM says presidential bid is up to Kuchma

KYIV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told journalists on January 5 that President Leonid Kuchma should decide on his own whether or not to run for a third term as president in 2004, UNIAN reported. Mr. Yanukovych was responding to a question about support by pro-government forces for Mr. Kuchma as a joint candidate. The Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled last week that Mr. Kuchma may seek the presidency in 2004 despite a two-term limit in the Constitution that went into effect in 1996, during Mr. Kuchma's first term as president. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv to test Melnychenko tapes

KYIV - The Ukrainian government has allocated 850,000 hrv ($159,000 U.S.) to allow the Justice Ministry to submit audiotape purportedly implicating President Leonid Kuchma and other senior Ukrainian officials in the 2000 killing of Internet journalist Heorhii Gongadze for international tests to determine its authenticity, Interfax reported on January 8. The tapes were recorded by Mykola Melnychenko, a former presidential security officer. The Ukrainian Procurator General's Office last year petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice to perform a joint analysis of the materials. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia and Ukraine agree on energy pact

KYIV - Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov and Ukrainian Energy Minister Serhii Yermilov signed a protocol on December 29, 2003, for an agreement on cooperation in 2004 in developing the fuel and energy sectors, Russian news media reported. The two countries had reached agreement in principle on the plan in September 2003. The two sides have agreed on the terms for supplying Russian fuel and energy to Ukraine, as well as for transiting Russian natural gas, oil and electricity to Europe via Ukraine. The energy agreement follows a December 24 meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in Ukraine's Black Sea port of Kerch, during which they moved closer to resolving a territorial dispute by signing a framework agreement on joint use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait. Under the agreement, Russia and Ukraine will set up a consortium to control joint use of the strait, Prime-TASS report. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Noted analyst compares Bush and Putin ...

MOSCOW - Writing in the newspaper Izvestia on January 8, Fedor Burlatskii, a former adviser to Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yurii Andropov and Mikhail Gorbachev who is now president of the Academy of Science's Political Science Council, noted that U.S. President George W. Bush and President Vladimir Putin have similar characters and political experience. Both men are reserved, but tough and capable of decisive action, Mr. Burlatskii wrote. They are both religious, devout patriots, and inclined to view the world in ideological terms. Mr. Burlatskii continued. Both are facing the challenge of an election year, although this challenge is much greater for President Bush. The first terms of both presidents have been marked by war - Chechnya for Mr. Putin, and Afghanistan and Iraq for Mr. Bush. Both presidents have faced economic difficulties at home. Despite modest economic progress in Russia, average standards of living have not improved, while Mr. Bush has wrestled with mounting budget deficits. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... predicts continued good relations

MOSCOW - In the same Izvestia article, Fedor Burlatskii wrote that President George W. Bush's Democratic opponent will likely try "to play the Russia card" during the U.S. campaign, emphasizing "growing authoritarianism" under President Vladimir Putin. Mr. Burlatskii wrote that such charges are unfair to President Putin, especially since many in the West continue to consider former President Boris Yeltsin a "true democrat." However, Mr. Yeltsin was known in Russia as "Tsar Boris" and he presided over "the most barbaric plunder of Russia's national wealth in history and the vast expansion of crime," Mr. Burlatskii noted. He wrote that the tendency toward authoritarianism exists in Russia, but adds that it will take decades for the country to rid itself of this historic mentality. Mr. Burlatskii concluded that Presidents Bush and Putin will continue to pursue vigorous bilateral cooperation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Internet journalist shot with rubber bullets

KYIV - Oleh Yeltsov, editor of the Ukraina Kriminalnaya website (http://www.cripo.com.ua), which reports on crime and corruption in government and the private sector in Ukraine, was attacked in Kyiv on January 12 by an unknown assailant who fired rubber bullets at him, Interfax reported. Mr. Yeltsov was slightly injured in the attack, but his injuries did not require hospitalization. Mr. Yeltsov was attacked in July by two unidentified men who ambushed him with a stun gun and a metal pipe. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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