NEWSBRIEFS

NATO no longer in Ukraine's future?

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma issued a decree on July 15 removing a provision regarding the country's preparations for NATO membership from Ukraine's official military doctrine, Interfax reported on July 26. Guarantors of Ukraine's military security now include a "strengthening of confidence among states, gradual reduction of the threat of military force and a policy of Euro-Atlantic integration." The doctrine previously cast NATO and the EU as the basis of the European security system and pledged to prepare the country for "full-fledged membership in those organizations." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Putin: West hinders ties with Ukraine

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries on July 26 of obstructing closer relations between Russia and Ukraine, Interfax reported. Mr. Putin made the comment while in Yalta for economic talks with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma; the Russian president also met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, as well as with Ukrainian and Russian businessmen. "The intelligence [communities] of our Western partners are trying in every way to hamper our movements toward each other," Mr. Putin said, adding that Russia and Ukraine can increase their competitiveness through increased integration. That fact has not gone unnoticed by "intelligences both within our countries and outside them." However, Mr. Putin said, Russia and Ukraine should not oppose the West. "We are part of the global economic system," he said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM: Ukraine not ready for NATO

KYIV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said on July 27 that Ukraine is not yet prepared to join NATO, Interfax reported. "The real development of Ukraine's economy, its civic society, and implementation of the North Atlantic alliance criteria do not allow either Ukraine or NATO to speak about a real time of accession," Mr. Yanukovych said. His statement followed the unveiling of amendments to Ukraine's military doctrine that include the removal of a provision about full membership in NATO and the European Union. The new doctrine was welcomed by the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry as well as by the leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Petro Symonenko. According to Mr. Symonenko, Ukraine should solve its defense problems outside NATO. Borys Tarasyuk, head of the Verkhovna Rada's Committee for European Integration and a former Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, called the changes inconsistent with Ukraine's foreign policy. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian oil might flow through pipeline

KYIV - Ukrainian oil-pipeline operator UkrTransNafta and Russian oil company TNK-BP, formed by the Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) and U.K.-based BP, have signed a contract to ship 9 million tons of Russian oil annually through the Odesa-Brody pipeline to the Yuzhnyi port oil terminal in Odesa for the next three years, Interfax reported on July 27. Companies also signed four additional agreements allowing UkrTransNafta to get a loan of up to $108 million for the purchase of 425,000 tons of crude oil and insure against financial risks, said Leonid Nester, the head of UkrTransNafta's international cooperation department. The contract provides for 100 percent prepayment for the service and fines for any refusal to ship the agreed amount of oil, Mr. Nester said. The contract also provides for a possible change in the direction of shipments on condition that the other side is warned three months in advance. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New ministry is created

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed a decree integrating the Transport Ministry and the State Committee for Communications and Information Technology into a new Transport and Communications Ministry, Interfax reported on July 26. Mr. Kuchma appointed Transport Minister Heorhii Kyrpa to head the expanded ministry, the report added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Journalists launch Gongadze website

KYIV - The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) of Great Britain has launched a website dealing with the killing of Heorhii Gongadze, Interfax reported on July 24. The site (http://www.delogongadze.org) includes 180 scans of interrogation protocols of witnesses in the case. The NUJ said the documents are identical to those made available recently by the British daily The Independent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moscow to retain Sevastopol base

SEVASTOPOL - Celebrating Navy Day on July 25 in Sevastopol, home port of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov emphasized that Russia does not intend to abandon its Sevastopol base which is on Ukrainian territory - even after it completes construction of a new base for the fleet in Novorossiisk, RTR reported. The construction of the Novorossiisk base "absolutely does not mean that we intend to reduce our forces based in Sevastopol," Mr. Ivanov said. He said the Black Sea Fleet's command center will remain in Sevastopol. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Deputy calls for vice PM's dismissal

KYIV - Mykola Martynenko, a national deputy from the opposition Our Ukraine bloc in the Verkhovna Rada, said on July 22 that President Leonid Kuchma should dismiss Vice Prime Minister Andrii Kluyev, Interfax reported. Mr. Martynenko said he believes Mr. Kluyev is not able to serve the government and work on Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's election staff. The critical situation in the mining industry, particularly unsafe working conditions, require the permanent attention of the government, Mr. Martynenko said. "It is clear that Yanukovych will not sack a member of his staff. Such a decision should be made by the president," he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Mine blast victims are mourned

DIMITROVO, Ukraine - Hundreds of relatives, friends and colleagues paid their last respects on July 22 to 15 Ukrainian miners who died in an underground methane gas explosion that killed at least 31 men. Associated Press reporter Efrem Lukatsky reported that flags adorned with black ribbons were at half-staff, and a brass band played a funeral march. In a eulogy, Serhii Kobzarenko, a miner and a relative of two men killed in the blast, said miners "do dangerous work," adding, ominously, that "we should be ready to share the same fate." Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has said the government would set aside about $1.1 million in financial aid for victims' families, and a top Ukrainian soccer team donated aid worth $300,000. Mr. Yanukovych also said the government would do more to improve safety in the mines. Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, 4,276 miners have died in accidents in Ukraine, according to the miners union. (Associated Press)

Yushchenko focuses on mine safety

KYIV - The leader of the Our Ukraine bloc and presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has expressed his condolences to the families of the deceased miners killed in a methane explosion on July 19. He instructed a member of his team, the first vice-chairman of the parliamentary Committee for Fuel and Energy Sector, Mykola Martynenko, to create a working group to work out a set of additional measures to increase safety at coal mines. In a fortnight, Mr. Martynenko is to submit specific proposals to Mr. Yushchenko, the Our Ukraine press service said. The leader of Our Ukraine also instructed the head of the Budget Committee in parliament, National Deputy Petro Poroshenko, to analyze the effectiveness of state funds allocated for supporting the coal industry, in particular for increasing the safety of miners. (BBC Monitoring Service)

Government to aid miners' families

KYIV - Ukrainian Labor and Social Policy Minister Mykhailo Papiev said on July 21 that families of the miners killed in the July 19 methane explosion in the Rodynske coal mine will receive aid ranging from 83,000 ($15,630) to 221,000 hrv, depending on the miner's job seniority, Interfax reported. Mr. Papiev also said the government will pay the families the equivalent of the miner's wage monthly and will allocate 2,700 hrv for each miner's funeral. The government will begin payments after experts determine the cause of the explosion. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainians abroad can vote

KYIV - All Ukrainians staying abroad will have an opportunity to come to the country's diplomatic representative offices, and to participate in the election of the Ukrainian President. According to an UNIAN correspondent, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry press-service director Markian Lubkivskyi announced at a briefing that all the Ukrainian diplomatic institutions abroad will be ready for the presidential elections. Answering a question about whether Ukrainians illegally staying abroad will be able to vote, Mr. Lubkivskyi said that all who are Ukrainian citizens and are abroad can freely come to the Embassy or a Consulate to vote. (UNIAN)

Pope meets with Ukrainian delegation

THE VATICAN - Pope John Paul II met with a Ukrainian government delegation headed by Dmytro Tabachnyk, vice prime minister; the topics of discussion were church relations and interdenominational accord in Ukraine, according to news media reports dated June 29. The Ukrainian delegation, which consisted of Yurii Bohutskyi, minister of culture and arts, Viktor Bondarenko, head of the National Committee on Religious Matters, and Leonid Shkolnyk, head of the National Committee on Technical Regulation and Consumption Policy, informed the pontiff about the provisions for religious freedom in Ukraine. Both sides recalled the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ukraine three years ago. In addition, the Ukrainian delegation met with Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, substitute for general affairs of the Vatican Secretariat of State, who highly evaluated Ukraine's policy on church activity and realization of the faithful's rights, and the return of church buildings illegally confiscated in the past. Finally, Mr. Tabachnyk stressed Ukraine's intention to consolidate the democratic principles of the country and society and the preservation of religious freedom, which is an inseparable part of this process. He also noted the need to deepen cooperation between Ukraine and the Vatican and pointed out that Ukrainian scholars are greatly interested in unique meetings and conferences held in the Vatican. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Lukashenka warns U.S. and NATO

MIENSK - President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said on July 20 that talks between the United States and new NATO members - the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland - on the possible deployment of its missile defense system in one of these countries will not go unnoticed by the leadership of Belarus and Russia, Belapan reported. "We held and are holding confidential talks with Russia and other countries within the framework of the CSTO [Collective Security Treaty Organization] and not only the CSTO on these matters," Mr. Lukashenka said. "I suggested deploying S-300 [antiaircraft] systems in certain locations in Belarus to increase the defense capability of Belarus and Russia." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Soccer star Shevchenko weds

KYIV - Soccer star Andriy Shevchenko married American model Kristen Pazik, a Ukrainian news agency reported on July 21. Mr. Shevchenko and Ms. Pazik got married last week in Washington and are expecting a baby, according to the UNIAN news agency. Mr. Shevchenko was the top scorer last year in Italy's Serie A with 24 goals. He recently signed a three-year extension to his contract with AC Milan and is expected to remain with the club until 2009. (Associated Press)

Auxiliary bishop for Ternopil ordained

TERNOPIL - Father Vasyl Semeniuk was ordained auxiliary bishop of the western Ukrainian eparchy of Ternopil-Zboriv on April 3 at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Mother of God. It was the first episcopal ordination to be performed in the newly restored cathedral in Ternopil. Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, bishops from Ukraine and abroad, a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine, priests, religious and laity participated in the ceremony. After the liturgy, Bishop Semeniuk bestowed his first pontifical blessing on all present. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Monument to persecuted priests is erected

CHERKASY - A monument to commemorate 142 priests who were persecuted during the years of Stalin's regime has been erected in the central Ukrainian Cherkasy region. The monument consists of a cracked brass bell and a priest leaning over it. This news was reported by the News-Ukraine information agency on June 19. In the 1930s a trainload of Orthodox bishops, priests and deacons was destroyed in the Cherkasy region and only Father Mykhailo Lypianskyi managed to escape. By 1938 officers of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, the Soviet security service, had killed the clergy and destroyed most churches in the region. During a meeting near the monument on June 18 it was stressed that the 142 priests who were killed by the Communists should be proclaimed martyrs and righteous by the Church. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, August 1, 2004, No. 31, Vol. LXXII

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