NEWSBRIEFS

Leaders commemorate Bykivnia's victims

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko, members of the Cabinet of Ministers, and delegations of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) and the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches attended a memorial service in the Bykivnia Forest, near Kyiv, where more than 100,000 victims of Stalin's terror are buried. Clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate celebrated the service on May 15. "I am pleased that as the years go on we are finding out the historical truth and that every year more people come to this place, and that every year more government representatives are present here," said President Yushchenko in his speech. According to the Kharkiv eparchial news, Archbishop Ihor (Isichenko), head of the UAOC Eparchy of Kharkiv and Poltava, took part in the event at the invitation of the Kyiv city organization of the Vasyl Stus Memorial Society. Together with Vadym Prykhodchenko, head of the Kharkiv area Brotherhood of St. Andrew the First-Called Apostle, and representatives of the church communities of the Kharkiv region, Archbishop Ihor placed flowers on the monuments in honor of the victims. In 1994 a memorial complex was opened at Bykivnia and in 2001 Ukraine's Cabinet of Ministers, under the leadership of then-Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko, passed a resolution to create a government memorial called the Bykivnia Graves. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

President confirms 2006 election alliance

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko reiterated his intention on May 22 to form a coalition for the 2006 parliamentary election of the Our Ukraine People's Union, a party created earlier this year to form the political basis of his presidency, as well as the Fatherland Party led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, and People's Party headed by Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, Interfax reported. "I'm sure that the Orange Revolution and the values with which we came to Kyiv's maidan [Independence Square] truly belong to these three political forces," Mr. Yushchenko said in Kaniv, at the grave of Ukrainian national poet Taras Shevchenko. "I support with all my soul our union, our teamwork, our joint political activity for many years ahead," Ms. Tymoshenko added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President criticizes government

KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said on May 18 that the flawed policy of the Cabinet of Ministers and the monopolization of the fuel market caused the current fuel crisis, UT1 reported. Mr. Yushchenko on May 18 signed into law a government-sponsored bill abolishing import duties on gasoline and diesel that the Verkhovna Rada passed the previous day. Mr. Yushchenko also declared that "for once and forever no one will regulate prices using administrative methods in Ukraine," warning that such a policy sends an "unhealthy signal" to internal and external markets. Mr. Yushchenko also explained the process under which firms would be reprivatized, Interfax-Ukraine reported. He said that if an enterprise is determined to have been privatized illegally, then a new tender commission will be set up and the firm will undergo a new privatization tender with the participation of domestic and foreign investors. The largest bid will be presented to the current owners. The current owners will then either have to pay the difference between the sum they paid during the previous privatization and the new price, or, if they refuse, the enterprise will be transferred to the winners of a new tender. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prime minister slams first deputy

KYIV - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told reporters in Kyiv that the government welcomes the president's criticism, which is an "absolutely normal occurrence," Ukrayinska Pravda reported. She also "thanked" First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh for his criticism of her personal role in the crisis. Mr. Kinakh said that she authorized "the chaotic introduction of more than 100 amendments to tax legislation without prior item-by-item discussion" or "any grounded analysis," ITAR-TASS reported. Ms. Tymoshenko criticized Mr. Kinakh for asserting that the government has compiled a list of 29 enterprises designated for reprivatization. "One minister compiles some lists on his own. I just want to ask why some companies get onto the list and not others. ... This simply smells of corruption," she said, according to the Ukrayinska Pravda website. She promised that a list will be presented to the president in two days of "possible firms that could be revalued." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM reportedly asked to resign

KYIV - The Kyiv-based Zerkalo Nedeli weekly reported in its May 21-27 issue that during a meeting with Russian oil traders on May 19, President Viktor Yushchenko proposed that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko tender her resignation over what he saw as her unsatisfactory management of the current fuel crisis in Ukraine. The presidential website (http://www.president.gov.ua) on May 21 quoted Mr. Yushchenko as saying that he trusts Ms. Tymoshenko but it did not deny the reported resignation offer. "I trust the prime minister, my generally positive assessment of the government's work is unaltered. Only those doing nothing make no mistakes," Mr. Yushchenko asserted. He added that the fuel crisis in Ukraine has been resolved. A joint presidential and prime minister statement on the website said that the two leaders "are one team, whose work is oriented toward the fulfillment of a joint goal: holding a systemic reform in Ukraine, oriented toward the democratization of society and improvement of people's lives." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Government cancels price caps on fuel

KYIV - The Ministry of the Economy has canceled its decree of April 14 setting the price limits on high-octane gasoline in Ukraine at 3 hrv ($0.6) per liter, Ukrainian media reported on May 24. At that time Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko accused Russian oil traders, who control three-fourths of the fuel market in Ukraine, of deliberately provoking a fuel crisis in the country. President Viktor Yushchenko on May 18 ordered the government to lift the decreed curbs on fuel prices. New prices have now been fixed at 3.2 hrv, 3 hrv, and 2.85 hrv per liter of A-95 gasoline, A-92 gasoline and diesel fuel, respectively. "I declare that there has been no Russian hand behind these processes [fuel crisis in Ukraine]," President Yushchenko said on May 24. "When [the price of] a market item is regulated administratively, sooner or later one has to make decisions that will be painful to both buyers and the authorities." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada not ready for local reform

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said on May 24 that there is no "political will" in the Parliament to pass a bill on reforming local self-government, which was initially approved on December 8, 2004, in a package of bills intended to resolve the then presidential-election standoff, Interfax reported. Under the political compromise achieved in December, a constitutional reform shifting powers from the president to the Parliament and the prime minister would occur on September 1 if the Verkhovna Rada approved the self-government bill in the second reading prior to that date. Failing such passage, the constitutional reform is to automatically go into effect on January 1, 2006. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Turkmenistan concerned about pricing

KYIV - During a May 23 telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov drew his counterpart's attention to "unfounded overpricing of the goods that the Ukrainian side provides" as payment for Turkmen natural gas, turkmenistan.ru reported the next day. According to the report, Mr. Yushchenko promised Mr. Niyazov that he would review and resolve the issue within two days. Ukraine is set to buy 36 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Turkmenistan in 2005 at a price of $58 per 1,000 cubic meters, paid half in cash and half in kind. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kharkiv-Tbilisi car race is blessed

KHARKIV - A car race from Ukraine to Georgia started in eastern Ukrainian Kharkiv on May 22 as part of the Year of Georgia in Ukraine. The race should prove the solidarity of the ancient Christian peoples of Ukraine and Georgia, and the support Ukrainians have for the independent policies of the Georgian government. This was reported by the press center of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC) Consistory of the Eparchy of Kharkiv and Poltava. The cars set out on their way from Kharkiv's central square, symbolically named Liberty Square. The race was blessed, and the cars were consecrated by Protopriest Vitalii Zubak, chancellor of the Eparchy of Kharkiv and Poltava of the UAOC, and Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Father Onufrii Ripetskyi, superior of the Basilian monastery in the village of Pokotylivka. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Ombudsman condemns reported beating

KYIV - Ombudsman Nina Karpachova has protested against the reported beating of an unspecified number of lawmakers from the opposition Social Democratic Party - United (SDPU) by a riot-police unit in Uzhhorod on May 20, Interfax reported on May 22. "Applying force to national deputies is an actual sign of a police state, in which human rights are grossly violated and no citizen can feel himself/herself protected," Ms. Karpachova said in a statement. According to what Ms. Karpachova was told by SDPU legislator Tamara Proshkuratova, who reportedly was a victim of the beating, the incident took place in a hospital ward when the legislators were visiting former Zakarpattia Oblast Chairman Ivan Rizak, who was hospitalized after being charged with abuse of power and of driving a former rector of Uzhhorod University to commit suicide. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Minister apologizes to national deputies

KYIV - Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko on May 23 visited hospitalized lawmakers Tamara Proshkuratova and Nestor Shufrych from the opposition Social Democratic Party - United (SDPU) and apologized to them for the behavior of "his Uzhhorod colleagues," Interfax reported, quoting the Internal Affairs Ministry's spokeswoman. National Deputies Proshkuratova and Shufrych were hospitalized after they reportedly were beaten by a riot-police squad in Uzhhorod on May 20, during a visit to see hospitalized former Zakarpattia Oblast Chairman Ivan Rizak. "We are learning democracy," Mr. Lutsenko reportedly said while assuring the lawmakers that a probe into the incident in Uzhhorod will be fair. Meanwhile, lawmakers in the Verkhovna Rada have managed to collect more than 150 signatures in order to hold an emergency session on May 25 to consider the treatment of Ms. Proshkuratova and Mr. Shufrych by police in Uzhhorod. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kinakh promises participation in SES

MOSCOW - First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh said in Moscow on May 23 that Ukraine will certainly take part in the creation of the Single Economic Space (SES) with Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus, Interfax and ITAR-TASS reported. Mr. Kinakh made his comments during a session of the Economic Council of the Commonwealth of Independent States. "This is a unique opportunity for creating favorable conditions for trade cooperation, creating new jobs, and increasing revenue for the budget. The first stage of the Single Economic Space formation - setting up a free-trade zone - is vital for Ukraine," Mr. Kinakh said. He also said in Moscow that it is "inadvisable" for Ukraine to build a new oil refinery in Odesa, the Ukrayinska Pravda website reported, quoting Mr. Kinakh's spokesperson. The previous week Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko pledged to build an oil refinery in Odesa in the next 18 months in order to avoid fuel crises under conditions in which "90 percent of [Ukraine's] oil market is held by two or three Russian companies." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Catholic center to be transferred to Kyiv

LVIV - The transfer of the administrative center of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) from Lviv to Kyiv will happen between August and, at the latest, November of this year, said Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, during a press conference on May 13. He added that the transfer will happen quietly, without any special celebrations. Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), in a story on May 16 responded that this event might send Orthodox-Catholic dialogue "many centuries back." The Greek-Catholics of Ukraine are expecting the support of Pope Benedict XVI. According to Cardinal Husar, the pope knows well the Church life of Ukraine and the plans of the UGCC to obtain the status of a Patriarchate. In the Vatican, this question is assessed "in total as positive," according to the cardinal, though the advice is to wait until the proper moment. "I had the opportunity to meet with the holy father and he clearly said to let the matter ripen, so that it can continue moving further," said Cardinal Husar. "There is no special date. First of all, the center of the Kyiv-Halych Metropolitanate has to move to Kyiv and then we will see what will happen next." (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Tymoshenko, Kinakh most popular

KYIV - Zerkalo Nedeli discussed the results of an opinion survey conducted with 2,024 respondents by the Kyiv International Sociology Institute about President Viktor Yushchenko's first 100 days in office. According to the weekly, the results show that the new government has maintained "a solid reserve of sympathy and hope." Across Ukraine, 51.6 percent of respondents said they viewed the policies of the new administration as "basically positive." In the east, this percentage fell to 22.7 percent and rose to 73.1 percent in the West. Among respondents, Yulia Tymoshenko's performance enjoyed slightly higher support than did that of President Yushchenko, 55.3 percent versus 50.2 percent. First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh also enjoys a high rating of 52.3 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition tries to disrupt Rada's work

KYIV - About 2,000 people gathered outside the Verkhovna Rada on May 19 to protest the criminal case against Donetsk Oblast Chairman Borys Kolesnykov, RFE/RL's Kyiv bureau and UNIAN reported. Demonstrators were carrying placards of the Social Democratic Party - United (SPDU) saying "Freedom to Borys Kolesnykov!" According to proUA.com, the Parliament closed its session early because members of the SPDU, the Party of the Regions and the Communist Party of Ukraine were blocking the rostrum. SPDU and the Party of the Regions demanded the release of Mr. Kolesnykov and former Zakarpattia Oblast Chairman Ivan Rizak. Former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who heads the Party of the Regions, charged that more than 18,000 people have been fired for their political opinion since the new government took power, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New charge filed against Rizak

KYIV - The prosecutor's office in the Zakarpattia Oblast has added a third charge - large-scale bribery - to the list of charges against former Oblast Chairman Ivan Rizak, UNIAN reported on May 18. According to the prosecutor's office, Mr. Rizak in June 2004 demanded a "particularly large bribe" from the director of a company, whose name was not disclosed. Mr. Rizak allegedly threatened to dismiss the director, persecute his family and even murder him. Mr. Rizak was detained on May 13 on charges of abuse of power and of driving a former rector of Uzhhorod University to commit suicide. The opposition believes the arrests of Mr. Rizak and Donetsk Oblast Chairman Borys Kolesnykov are part of the authorities' revenge campaign against officials who supported former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych during the 2004 presidential campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Broadcast council warns Novyi Kanal

KYIV - The National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting issued a warning on May 18 to Novyi Kanal for violating the terms of its license, Interfax-Ukraine reported. The violations included an insufficient volume of Ukrainian-produced programs, informational and educational programs, and an absence of cultural programming. The channel also showed films without the state certification of its right to show the films in question. Novyi Kanal is owned by Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. (RFE/RL Newsline)

HIV infection rate accelerates

KYIV - The Health Ministry announced on April 28 that the registered number of new infections with the HIV virus in Ukraine in 2004 amounted to 12,500, which is 25 percent more than the previous year, Interfax reported. From 1987 to March 1 of this year, Ukraine officially registered 76,900 HIV-positive Ukrainians and 314 HIV-positive foreigners. More than 9,000 people subsequently developed AIDS and 5,500 died of it. The ministry estimated that, at present infection rates, the number of HIV-infected Ukrainians could rise to as many as 479,000 by 2014. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine urges Russia to meet obligations

SYMFEROPOL - President Viktor Yushchenko said in Symferopol on May 4 that the deployment of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol until 2017 is regulated by a "big agreement" between Ukraine and Russia, and that his government does not intend to review this accord, Interfax reported. At the same time, Mr. Yushchenko noted that Russia has not yet met some commitments laid out by the "big agreement." He added, "Until today, Russia has not transferred the navigation-system infrastructure in the Crimean Peninsula to the Ukrainian side," noting that this concerns 170 navigation-system facilities. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Turkmen president's father is honored

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has posthumously awarded Atamurat Niyazov, the father of Turkmen President Saparmurad Niyazov, with the Yaroslav the Wise Order of the Fifth Degree to mark the coming 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, Ukrainian media reported on May 4. Atamurat Niyazov was a veteran of World War II and has been declared a hero of Turkmenistan. "Ukraine honors the combat services of Atamurat Niyazov, whose immortal image personifies the heroism of the 740,000 Turkmen heroes who sacrificed their lives on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War," Naftohaz Ukrainy head Oleksii Ivchenko reportedly said while presenting the award to the Turkmen president on President Yushchenko's behalf. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kremlin consultant on Russia's goal

MOSCOW - Gleb Pavlovskii, head of the Effective Politics Foundation and political consultant, told kreml.org on May 3 that the goal of President Vladimir Putin's foreign policy, as well as that of his successors in the coming decades, will be to transform Russia from its current status as a weak regional power into a global power of the 21st century. In this context, the Kremlin has now revised and dropped the concept of "near-abroad countries" because it failed to fulfill Russian national interests and security. Russia's new policy toward its neighbors will be based on purely pragmatic interests, and Russia will deal not only with their governments, but also with the opposition. In the same article, Mr. Pavlovskii said that the Baltic states "were and will be in the zone of Russian interests" and that the situation has not changed with their joining NATO and the European Union. Moreover, Russia will use their membership in international alliances to promote and fortify its interests, he said. In a paradoxical way, the Baltic states' joining of the European Union does not decrease but rather increases Russia's influence on the situation there, he said, noting that the Kremlin realizes this very well. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko offers border compromise

SYMFEROPOL - President Viktor Yushchenko said in Symferopol on May 4 that he has proposed to his Russian President Vladimir Putin that they settle all problems regarding the delimitation of the Ukrainian-Russian border by the end of this year, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. According to Mr. Yushchenko, Moscow must recognize the Soviet-era administrative border separating the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SFSR in the Kerch Strait as the new state border between independent Ukraine and Russia. "We are ready to compromise on the border line across the Azov Sea in exchange for a clear-cut position from Russia regarding the border in the Kerch Strait," Mr. Yushchenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

76 percent for official status for Russian

KYIV - The Democratic Initiatives Fund and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found in a poll conducted among 2,045 adult Ukrainians on April 14-24 that 76 percent want the Russian language to be granted official status in Ukraine, Interfax reported on May 5. Regarding the languages spoken at work, the poll found that 32 percent of respondents speak Russian, 31 percent speak Ukrainian and 22 percent use both languages. According to the poll, 76 percent of Ukrainians support their country's independence, which is the same percentage as was registered in the nationwide referendum on independence conducted on December 1, 1991. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Seven parties could pass 3 percent mark

KYIV - The Democratic Initiatives Fund and the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology also found in an April 14-24 poll that eight parties could exceed the 3 percent voting barrier to qualify for parliamentary seats if an election were held "next Sunday," Interfax reported on May 5. Those parties are: Party of the Regions, led by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych (13.3 percent backing); Fatherland Party, led by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (10.7 percent); Our Ukraine People's Union, led by Roman Bezsmertnyi (10.8 percent); Our Ukraine Party, headed by Viktor Pynzenyk (8.3 percent); Socialist Party, chaired by Oleksander Moroz (7.4 percent); Communist Party, led by Petro Symonenko (6.5 percent); and the Progressive Socialist Party, headed by Natalia Vitrenko (4.2 percent). The Social Democratic Party - United led by Viktor Medvedchuk fell just short of the parliamentary threshold with 2.7 percent in the poll. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 29, 2005, No. 22, Vol. LXXIII

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