NEWSBRIEFS (12/26/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Peacekeepers headed to Syria

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed a decree on sending some 200 peacekeepers to the United Nations Disengagement Force separating Syrian and Israeli forces in the Golan Heights in Syria, Ukrainian news agencies reported on December 18. The decree still requires the approval of the Verkhovna Rada. Since 1992 Ukraine has participated in a dozen international peacekeeping operations around the world. Ukraine's largest military contingent - some 1,600 troops - has been in Iraq since August 2003. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada approves new chairman of NBU

KYIV - Lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada voted on December 16 to appoint Volodymyr Stelmakh as National Bank of Ukraine chairman, Interfax and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. Mr. Stelmakh, 65, served in the position in 2000-2002. He was replaced by Serhii Tyhypko, who resigned last month to pursue a more active role in politics. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Agriculture minister resigns

KYIV - Agriculture Minister Viktor Slauta has tendered his resignation, Interfax and korrespondent.net reported on December 16. Mr. Slauta had been combining his work as a Cabinet minister with serving in the Parliament. Mr. Slauta has served in the position since January. Before his election to the Verkhovna Rada from a district in the Donetsk Oblast, he served as a deputy to then Donetsk Oblast Chairman Viktor Yanukovych. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Top SBU official is dismissed

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has issued a decree dismissing Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) First Deputy Chairman Volodymyr Satsiuk, the Ukrainska Pravda website and the opposition Channel 5 reported on December 15. According to the website, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn announced the information about Mr. Satsiuk at a meeting with judges in Kyiv. Mr. Satsiuk had been combining his positions in the SBU and as a legislator in the Verkhovna Rada, which is illegal. According to Mr. Lytvyn, the decree was backdated so that a Kyiv court decision on December 14 requiring Mr. Satsiuk to be relieved of his parliamentary post would not have to be implemented. Opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko dined with Mr. Satsiuk and the latter's SBU superior, Ihor Smeshko, at Mr. Satsiuk's summer house around the time that Mr. Yushchenko contends he was poisoned. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada to probe sacking of SBU deputy

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on December 21 set up an ad hoc commission to investigate the circumstances under which President Leonid Kuchma recently dismissed Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Deputy Director Volodymyr Satsiuk, Interfax reported. Media reports have suggested that presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko, who is suffering from dioxin poisoning, might have ingested poison at Mr. Satsiuk's dacha on September 5, where he meet with Mr. Satsiuk and SBU chief Ihor Smeshko for dinner. "If the president wanted to prevent the [illegal] combining of positions [by Satsiuk, who was simultaneously a legislator], that's one thing," said National Deputy Vasyl Havrylyuk, head of the newly created commission. "But if Satsiuk was involved in Yushchenko's poisoning, then the reason behind his dismissal might be different. We need to sort this out." Some experts have claimed that Mr. Yushchenko's symptoms developed too soon to have been the result of poisoning on September 5. Mr. Yushchenko told journalists in Kharkiv on December 17 that he has no proof that he was poisoned during a dinner with Messrs. Smeshko and Satsiuk. "I would not like to say that I'm now making direct accusations [or have] direct suspicions about the involvement of these people in my poisoning," he said. "I can only say what I've already said from the Verkhovna Rada rostrum: It was doubtless a political assassination [attempt]. ... I'm not mentioning any names, I'm only saying that I was poisoned by the authorities." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Two oblast chairmen resign

KYIV - The chairmen of the Lviv and Kharkiv oblasts have resigned, Interfax and UNIAN reported on December 15. Lviv Oblast Chairman Oleksander Sendeha told reporters in Lviv that he sent a letter of resignation to President Leonid Kuchma following a meeting with the Lviv Oblast legislative assembly the previous day. Mr. Sendeha said many baseless criticisms were lodged against him at the meeting and he does not want his name "soiled," according to Interfax. Kharkiv Oblast Chairman Yevgenii Kushnariov told reporters in Kharkiv on December 15 that he is resigning in order to participate actively in the presidential campaign for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. He also announced his intention to leave the National Democratic Party and create a new party. According to Mr. Kushnariov, the National Democratic Party has split, with one side supporting Mr. Yanukovych and the other Mr. Yushchenko, according to UNIAN. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor resurrects case against Yulia

MOSCOW - Chief Military Prosecutor Aleksandr Savenkov told journalists on December 8 that his agency has sent documents to Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France, to support his case against Yulia Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian opposition leader, whom he is accusing of financial crimes, RTR and rbk.com reported. He has accused Ms. Tymoshenko, who was vice prime minister and head of Unified Energy Systems in Ukraine in the 1990s, of involvement in the payment of bribes to Defense Ministry officials to facilitate the signing at overvalued prices of contracts with Ukrainian companies. In September Mr. Savenkov's office opened a legal case against Ms. Tymoshenko and sent her file to Interpol. On December 8 RTR and NTV reported that an electronic dossier on Ms. Tymoshenko was posted on Interpol's website. The dossier was reportedly removed the same day "for lack of sufficient proof." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russians predict disintegration of OSCE ...

MOSCOW - Mikhail Margelov, the chairman of the Federation Council's International Relations Committee, told gazeta.ru on December 8 that he is satisfied with the position taken by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the recent foreign ministers' conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) held in Sofia, Bulgaria. "The OSCE is the most senseless organization in Europe. Since the disintegration of the Warsaw Pact, the OSCE has transformed into a trough for loafers and international officials," Mr. Margelov said. Writing in Izvestia on December 8, commentator Nina Ratiani said: "The lack of a concluding political declaration and the disagreement between Russia and the West over Moldova and Ukraine is testimony to the likely disintegration of the OSCE." (RFE/RL Newsline)

...but not resumption of Cold War

MOSCOW - According to Mikhail Margelov of the Federation Council's International Relations Committee, a new Cold War between Russia and the United States will not develop, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported on December 9. "We have a market economy and we are allies against international terrorism. To be in disagreement does not mean to be hostile," he said. Eurasia party head Aleksandr Dugin also told Komsomolskaya Pravda that "Russia should increase its strength as the United States will be a friend only of a [country] like the Soviet Union." Deputy Duma Speaker Sergei Baburin said: "Our relations with the United States cannot be called friendly, but they are developing. Neither Iraq, nor Ukraine will lead us into a new Cold War." Sergei Belkovskii, the director of the National Strategy Institute, said: "We are not moving toward a new Cold War. The vast majority of the Russian elite has accounts in U.S. banks and property abroad, which could be damaged in the case of a Cold War." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court reinstates former prosecutor

KYIV - Kyiv's Pecherskyi District Court on December 9 ordered the reinstatement of former Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun, Channel 5 reported. The court reportedly concluded that Mr. Piskun, who recently appealed his 2003 dismissal, may take up the prosecutor's post "immediately." Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Procurator General's Office, Serhii Rudenko, told Interfax that President Leonid Kuchma has not notified his office as to whether he signed current Procurator-General Hennadii Vasyliev's resignation. Mr. Kuchma told legislators in the Verkhovna Rada on December 8 that he had accepted Mr. Vasyliev's resignation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

NATO postpones talks with Kyiv

BRUSSELS - NATO on December 8 called off a planned meeting between its foreign ministers and their Ukrainian counterpart to distance itself from a government accused of election fraud, Reuters reported. The event had been scheduled for December 9. "NATO values its relationship with Ukraine. It does not support any candidate, but it values free and fair elections," NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told journalists. "We know from all observers that these elections were not free and fair." A NATO source reportedly told Reuters that the alliance will invite the foreign minister of "a new and legitimate government" in Kyiv to Brussels as soon as possible and that it does not want to be seen as legitimizing the existing government. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Russia conduct gas talks

ASHGABAT - Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov met with Yurii Boiko, head of the state-run Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy, and Aleksandr Ryazanov and Yuriy Komarov, deputy chairmen of state-run Russian gas company Gazprom, in Ashgabat on December 12, Turkmen TV reported. The report indicated that price negotiations are continuing on 2005 purchases of Turkmen gas. Earlier reports suggested that Turkmenistan hopes to raise the purchase price from the current $44 per 1,000 cubic meters to $60. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Naftohaz head details Turkmen talks

MOSCOW - Yurii Boiko, chairman of Ukrainian oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy, told Russia's Kommersant-Daily on December 21 that if Turkmenistan raises the price of natural gas to $60 per 1,000 cubic meters, Naftohaz might look for other suppliers. "If Turkmenistan sells the same fuel at the same station to Gazprom for $44 and to Naftohaz for $60, why should we overpay by 36 percent?" Mr. Boiko asked. Queried about Naftohaz's plans should Turkmenistan insist on the higher price, Mr. Boiko said, "We'll buy [gas] from Gazprom or someone else at an acceptable price." He also noted that "Gazprom supports our price position in Turkmenistan, since a price increase will lead to a rise in the transit price and the gas will become uncompetitive." Meanwhile, Gazprom Deputy Chairman Aleksandr Ryazanov told Kommersant-Daily, "Taking into account our expenses, we can permit ourselves to purchase Turkmen gas at a price of $25 per 1,000 cubic meters." Both Mr. Boiko and Mr. Ryazanov noted that talks are ongoing, but little time remains before the end of the year. Turkmen negotiators recently suggested that they would like to raise the current price of $44 per 1,000 cubic meters, paid half in cash and half in kind, to $60 for shipments in 2005. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bishop approves of ban on human cloning

KYIV - By the Ukrainian Parliament's decision to forbid human cloning in the country, the state "protected human dignity and God's law," according to Bishop Stanislaw Shyrokoradiuk, auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Kyiv-Zhytomyr. In his comments on December 14, the bishop called the decision "essentially Christian" and "pro-Church." The bishop explained that the Roman Catholic Church in Ukraine followed the Verkhovna Rada's consideration of this issue with great attention, concern and prayer, and expected that society would understand why the Church is against human cloning. Two-hundred fifty-three national deputies voted on December 14 to prohibit reproductive human cloning in the country. The law also prohibits import and export on the territory of Ukraine of cloned human embryos. Persons guilty of violation of this law will bear civil, administrative and criminal responsibility under Ukrainian law. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

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