NEWSBRIEFS (03/13/05)

NEWSBRIEFS

Yushchenko seeks German support

BERLIN - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko met with German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in Berlin on March 8, during the first day of his two-day trip to Germany, Interfax reported. Mr. Yushchenko told the German television channel ARD that the meeting focused on obtaining Germany's support for Ukraine joining the World Trade Organization, receiving market-economy status and forming a free-trade zone with the European Union. President Yushchenko also said they discussed prospects for a simplified visa regime between Ukraine and the EU. Mr. Yushchenko declared that Ukraine is ready to allow non-visa travel for EU citizens in the near future. According to dpa, Mr. Yushchenko told German journalists that he hopes Ukraine will achieve EU membership "certainly before the year 2016." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PGO files charges in Gongadze case

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office (PGO) has officially charged the recently arrested suspects with killing journalist Heorhii Gongadze in 2000, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported on March 8. Following his meeting with German President Horst Koehler in Berlin, President Viktor Yushchenko announced this news, but did not elaborate. Last week Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun said that two police officers of the rank of colonel were arrested in the Gongadze case. Some reports suggested that the Security Service of Ukraine detained three people in the Gongadze case, two colonels and one general. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kravchenko leaves suicide note

KYIV - Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko told journalists on March 5 that former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko had left a note before killing himself on March 4. According to Mr. Lutsenko, the note reads: "My dear ones, I am not to blame for anything. Forgive me. I have fallen victim to political intrigues of President [Leonid[ Kuchma and his entourage. I'm leaving you with a clear conscience. Farewell." Meanwhile, Security Service of Ukraine chief Oleksander Turchynov said on March 5 that Mr. Kravchenko's note provides "a lot of information for the investigation" in the kidnapping and murder of journalist Heorhii Gongadze, according to Interfax. "The note concerns particular people who are also suspects in the case," Mr. Turchynov said. "It provides investigators with a chance to plan the further direction of the investigation." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma: 'I have a clear conscience'

KYIV - Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on March 5 returned to Kyiv from Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic, where he had stayed for spa therapy since February 15, Ukrainian and international media reported. "Before God, before the people, I have a clear conscience," Mr. Kuchma told reporters on March 4, referring to the allegations linking him and former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko to Heorhii Gongadze's assassination. Mr. Kuchma said during a funeral service for Mr. Kravchenko in Kyiv on March 7 that he does not believe Mr. Kravchenko was guilty of ordering Gongadze's murder. "Under no circumstances will I believe that he [Kravchenko] could give such a felonious order," Interfax quoted the former president as saying. The so-called Melnychenko tapes suggest that Mr. Kuchma may at least have inspired Mr. Kravchenko to abduct Gongadze in 2000 (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pro-presidential party emerges

KYIV - More than 6,000 delegates gathered at a congress in Kyiv on March 5 to set up a party called Our Ukraine People's Union, which will provide political support to the government of President Viktor Yushchenko, Ukrainian media reported. The congress elected 120 delegates to the party's council, and chose Vice Prime Minister Roman Bezsmertnyi as head of the council and Yurii Yekhanurov as head of the party's executive committee. The congress also made President Yushchenko honorary chairman of the new party. Lawmaker Oleh Bilorus from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc declared at the congress that his bloc is ready to form a coalition with the Our Ukraine People's Union for the 2006 parliamentary election. It is not clear for the time being how political parties constituting the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine bloc in the 2004 presidential election will react to the emergence of the new pro-presidential party. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Putin to visit Ukraine this month

KYIV - The Russian ambassador in Ukraine, Viktor Chernomyrdin, announced in Kyiv on March 4, after talks between Russian Security Council Secretary Igor Ivanov and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, that President Vladimir Putin will visit Kyiv on March 19, ITAR-TASS reported. Meanwhile, Mr. Ivanov said that President Yushchenko told him about his desire to develop good relations with Russia and that there is "political will from both sides" on this, RIA-Novosti reported. At the same time, "there are a number of problems that we are obliged to solve in the nearest future," Mr. Ivanov added. He also said that Ukraine has a sovereign right to join the European Union and "if such a choice is made, it will not touch on our bilateral relations." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko: Europe needs Ukraine

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said in Kyiv on March 7 that Europe without Ukraine will not be "complete" or "comfortable," dpa reported. Mr. Yushchenko was speaking with foreign correspondents on the eve of his two-day trip to Germany. "We are not going to try and force Europe to accept us," Mr. Yushchenko noted. "What we are going to do is make Europe ask us to join." Asked about practical reasons why Europeans should support Ukraine's EU membership bid, the president said Ukraine offers new markets and resources, as well as cheap and productive labor that Europe badly needs. "This must be interesting [to foreign businessmen]," Mr. Yushchenko added. He was more circumspect as regards Ukraine's integration with NATO. "NATO has been heavily propagandized by the previous government," President Yushchenko said. "As a result Ukrainians are very poorly informed about NATO; according to one survey only 2 percent of Ukrainians have a clear idea of what NATO is." (RFE/RL Newsline)

State secretary visits Kazakstan

ASTANA - Ukraine's State Secretary Oleksander Zinchenko met with Kazak President Nursultan Nazarbaev in Astana on March 4, Khabar reported. Their talks focused on bilateral trade, with Mr. Zinchenko saying that the two countries can raise trade volume to $2 billion a year from the current level of $1 billion, Kazinform reported. Mr. Zinchenko noted that he proposed "a number of projects that could soon give bilateral relations a full slate," Interfax-Kazakstan reported. Mr. Zinchenko stressed that the primary areas of cooperation between Kazakstan and Ukraine are energy transport corridors and the extraction and processing of oil from Kazakstan's Tengiz oil field. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainians wish pope speedy recovery

ROME - Hryhorii Khorunzhyi, Ukraine's ambassador to the Holy See, visited the Gemelli Polyclinic, where Pope John Paul II was hospitalized, and passed on greetings from Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko with wishes for a speedy recovery. This was reported by UNIAN on March 5. In addition, representatives of Ukrainian women's organizations of Italy gave the pontiff an embroidered icon of the Mother of God with Jesus, as well as a bouquet of flowers. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Melnychenko wants security guarantees

KYIV - Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz told journalists on March 3 that he recently met in Vienna with former presidential security officer Mykola Melnychenko, Interfax reported. Mr. Moroz said Mr. Melnychenko, who was given refugee status in the United States, could return to Ukraine if he was given the status of a parliamentarian and enjoyed immunity from prosecution. Mr. Melnychenko was a candidate on the Socialist Party's list in the 2002 parliamentary elections. Since some Socialist Party lawmakers have recently moved to work in the government of President Viktor Yushchenko and renounced their parliamentary seats, Mr. Melnychenko apparently expects to obtain a parliamentary mandate under the procedure used for filling vacant seats contested under the party-list system. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PGO seeks tapes as evidence

KYIV - Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun assured journalists on March 2 that he is ready to pursue the Gongadze case's political ties and implications, Ukrainian and international media reported. "I call on [former presidential security officer Mykola] Melnychenko to come to Ukraine to testify and also to hand over the originals of the recordings [of former President Leonid Kuchma's conversations] and the [recording] devices to representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine, the Procurator General's Office (PGO) and the special parliamentary commission for examination by international phonoscopic experts, with his participation," Mr. Piskun said. "The results of this examination will be used, in accordance with Ukrainian procedural law, as evidence in the criminal case." Mr. Piskun announced that he has closed a criminal case against Mr. Melnychenko for illegal eavesdropping on Kuchma. The Melnychenko tapes, among other revelations, implicate Mr. Kuchma and former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko in the abduction of Heorhii Gongadze. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada suspends 12 national deputies

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on March 3 approved the requests of 12 lawmakers to suspend their parliamentary powers in connection with their assumption of jobs in the executive branch following the installation of Viktor Yushchenko as Ukraine's new president, Interfax reported. Under Ukrainian law, a person cannot simultaneously work in the Parliament and the government. In total, some 40 lawmakers have switched to the government under President Yushchenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's visa policy to be eased

KYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk pledged in Kyiv on February 17 to ease Ukraine's visa regime with regard to many European countries ahead of the Eurovision 2005 song contest in the Ukrainian capital in May, Interfax reported. "The new visa policy should comply with European legislation and standards existing in this sphere," Mr. Tarasyuk said, adding that the simplified visa regime will possibly be maintained for the entire summer period. Mr. Tarasyuk was speaking at a news conference jointly with the European Union's external relations commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. Ms. Ferrero-Waldner assured Ukrainians that Brussels' goal is to bring Ukraine closer to the EU. She promised that greater rapprochement in Ukraine-EU relations will be possible after all the provisions of a recently updated Ukraine-EU Action Plan have been fulfilled. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Wiretapping of opposition to be probed

KYIV - The Ukrainian Security Service of Ukraine has initiated a criminal case into illegal wiretapping of the telephone conversations of former opposition leaders Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko. "The matter concerns wiretapping of telephone conversations involving Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, as well as opposition members during the presidential election campaign. The Security Service opened a criminal case on the illegal use of special monitoring devices. We opened the criminal case and have conducted the investigation and questioning. We will inform you about the results in the near future," said the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Oleksander Turchynov said at a press conference on February 17. (Interfax-Ukraine)

Yanukovych wants to be "ally"

KYIV - Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who lost the presidential election to Viktor Yushchenko, said in a television interview on February 10 that he wants to cooperate with the new authorities in Ukraine, according to a report in Ukrainska Pravda. "I'm planning to meet with the new authorities and discuss how we are going to cooperate," Mr. Yanukovych said. "We will be allies." Mr. Yanukovych revealed that he spent the past two weeks in a sanatorium near Moscow. He said he has not met with Russian President Vladimir Putin but had a short telephone conversation with him. "I communicated [to Putin] that I lost," Mr. Yanukovych added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

S&P reports on Ukraine

MOSCOW - Standard & Poor's Ratings Services issued a commentary that finds that the inauguration of President Viktor Yushchenko represents a key milestone in the development of Ukraine's (B+/Stable/B sovereign credit ratings) democracy. The agency said in a statement that the article, titled "Ukraine and Its New Administration Face Challenges Ahead," shows that Mr. Yushchenko has the proven track record to advance meaningful reform for the fledgling democracy. "However, Mr. Yushchenko will face an uphill struggle to fight corruption and break apart the old business nexus as he takes on a Parliament and the governmental machinery established and well oiled under the administration of former President Leonid Kuchma," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Helena Hessel. "Powerful vested interests and widespread political patronage constrained political and economic reform in Ukraine for years, and breaking them up will not be easy," she added. Mrs. Hessel explained that Standard & Poor's has consistently viewed Ukraine's weak institutional setting as a major constraint on the country's ratings. "Ukraine's future creditworthiness depends upon the advancement of the reform agenda, in particular the introduction of legal and procedural reform that would restore the economy's payment culture," said Mrs. Hessel. "Ukraine's future creditworthiness also depends upon the newly elected government's effectiveness in maintaining monetary and fiscal stability in the currently overheated economy," she concluded. (Interfax)

Tymoshenko meets French minister

KYIV - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko met with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier in Kyiv on February 5 to discuss Ukraine's prospects for market economy status and entry in the World Trade Organization, the Cabinet's press service reported. Ms. Tymoshenko briefed the French foreign minister on the actions of the government to adapt Ukraine's legislation to the European Union's and to raise living standards in Ukraine to meet European standards. "We will find a key to the heart of Europe," she assured the French minister. The French foreign minister, in turn, expressed his delight with the democratic reforms in Ukraine and wished the Ukrainian people further successes on the way. The parties also discussed the issues of further development of trade and economic relations between Ukraine and France. (Interfax-Ukraine)

| Home Page |