NEWSBRIEFS (06/13/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Iraq-reconstruction deal for Ukraine

KYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi said on June 8 that Ukraine has signed its first contract within the framework of the U.S.-funded reconstruction of Iraq, Interfax reported. "This is an economic secret, so I won't go into details," Mr. Lubkivskyi added. The U.S. Department of Defense reported on May 27 on its website that the U.S.-based ANHAM joint venture was awarded a $120 million contract to equip 15 Iraqi battalions and "six brigade headquarters sets" of the Iraqi Army and security forces by the end of September 2006. The contract will involve several countries, with Ukraine's portion amounting to 65 percent of the deal, or $78 million. (RFE/RL Newsline)

NATO signs transport deal with Ukraine

WARSAW - NATO and Ukraine on June 7 signed a "Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Airlift," under which the alliance will be able to use Ukraine's Ruslan planes for transporting NATO troops, equipment, and supplies to distant operation areas, Ukrainian and international news agencies reported. The signing took place at NATO-Ukrainian consultations in Warsaw, which were attended by Ukraine's Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer. Mr. Scheffer called for more democratic reforms in Ukraine on its declared path toward NATO membership. "Strengthening of democratic institutions, development of civil society, and guarantee of the rule of law are all crucial preconditions for bringing Ukraine closer to the fulfillment of its legitimate Euro-Atlantic integration [goal]," Mr. Scheffer said in Warsaw. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Nationalists pledge to back Yushchenko

KYIV - Four nationalist organizations in Ukraine - the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists, the All-Ukrainian Association Freedom, and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Revolutionary) - have pledged to support jointly Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko as a presidential candidate in the October 31 presidential election, Interfax reported on June 7. "We call on members of our organizations to join the work of Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc in a more vigorous way," leaders of the four organizations wrote in a joint statement. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lazarenko convicted of extortion

SAN FRANCISCO - Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko was found guilty on June 3 of money laundering, wire fraud and extortion charges. Prosecutors said Mr. Lazarenko set up an international underground network of bank accounts to launder profits made through business schemes in Ukraine; the government said $114 million was directed to banks in the United States, mostly in San Francisco. Mr. Lazarenko denied any wrongdoing. He was convicted on 29 counts and could receive a maximum of five years in prison. (Associated Press)

Alternative service OK for draftees

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed into law a bill passed in May that allows conscripts objecting to regular military service to choose an alternative service of a non-military nature, Interfax reported on June 7. The bill stipulates that such alternative service is to last 1.5 times longer than the regular military duty. The compulsory military service in Ukraine normally lasts 27 months, although university and college graduates serve for 18 months. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lawmaker convicted of embezzling

HELDESHEIM, Germany - A court in Hildesheim, Germany, on 7 June sentenced former Ukrainian lawmaker Viktor Zherdytskyi to five years and 10 months in prison, finding him guilty of embezzling some $2.5 million from the German government's compensation fund for Ukrainians who were forced by the Nazi regime during World War II to perform slave labor, the DPA news service reported. Mr. Zherdytskyi, who was arrested in Hannover in 2000, was originally charged by prosecutors with embezzling some $38 million in 1995, when he was in charge of Hradobank, which managed the German slave-labor compensation fund in Ukraine. The court also sentenced Ukrainian businessman Ihor Didenko, Mr. Zherdytskyi's accomplice, to four years and three months in prison. Both defendants said they will appeal the verdict. Mr. Didenko, who has already spent two-thirds of his term in pre-trial detention, walked free from the court after the verdict, while Mr. Zherdytskyi remains in custody, facing additional charges that he incited witnesses to perjury. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition newspaper editor attacked

KHARKIV - Andrii Voitsekhovskyi, editor of the opposition newspaper Gremuchaya Smes (Explosive Mixture) and a local correspondent of other publications linked to the Socialist Party, was beaten up in Kharkiv on June 3, UNIAN reported. Mr. Voitsekhovskyi told the agency that he was attacked at night, when he was coming home from work. The editor said he is not sure whether he was beaten up for his professional activity but he added that he has long been in "strong opposition to the authorities." Mr. Voitsekhovskyi has been a Socialist Party member for some 10 years. Hanne Severinsen, a rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said at a news conference in Kyiv on June 3 that in Ukraine opposition media are in danger. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Slovak president visits Ukraine

KYIV - Slovak President Rudolf Schuster met with his Ukrainian counterpart, Leonid Kuchma, on June 7 during a one-day visit to Kyiv, Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Schuster said at a news conference after the meeting that "the Schengen border will not become a dividing line between Ukraine and Slovakia." The two leaders reportedly discussed the participation of their countries in the international stabilization mission in Iraq and bilateral issues relating to trade and visa regimes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma sacks army officials

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has sacked Chief of the General Staff Oleksander Zatynaiko and Land Troops Commander Petro Shuliak, finding them guilty of official negligence that could have led to the recent explosion at an ammunition depot in Zaporizhia Oblast, Interfax reported, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Kuchma also reprimanded Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk over the blast. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv says shipment is 'normal cargo'

KYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi told journalists on June 3 that an arms shipment halted earlier this week by Turkish authorities in the Bosphorus Strait was "normal cargo," the DPA news service reported. Mr. Lubkivskyi said the ship, sailing under a Maltese flag with six Ukrainian crew, was carrying a consignment of small arms and other weaponry from Ukraine to Egypt. The Turkish detention of the vessel earlier this week resulted from "improper seals on some of the shipped containers," rather than from indications that the shipment was in any way illegitimate, Mr. Lubkivskyi added. He declined to provide details of the arms deal or comment on the statement of Ukrspetseksport, Ukraine's principal arms exporter, that it has no connection to the shipment. Some Turkish media have speculated that the seized shipment - which reportedly included grenade launchers, anti-tank rockets, artillery shells, automatic rifles and other ammunition - was intended for use in a possible terrorist attack against participants in a NATO summit scheduled in Istanbul for June 28-29. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada to probe pressure on deputies

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on June 3 set up an ad hoc commission to investigate "pressure" applied by state bodies on lawmakers, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The commission is to present a report on its investigation no later than mid-November. The formation of the commission followed the recent allegations that lawmaker Mykhailo Dobkin was pressured into leaving the Center group and joining the parliamentary caucus of the Social Democratic Party-United (SDPU). Meanwhile, Mr. Dobkin denied on June 2 that he was pressured to join the SDPU caucus. He said he joined it because the SDPU is a "powerful party" that "supports political reform," UNIAN reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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