NEWSBRIEFS (06/12/05)

NEWSBRIEFS

Gas price for Ukraine may triple

MOSCOW - The price of Russian gas delivered to Ukraine might soar from the current $50 for 1,000 cubic meters to $160 in 2006, RIA-Novosti reported on June 6, citing a source close to ongoing talks between Gazprom head Aleksei Miller and Naftohaz Ukrainy head Oleksii Ivchenko. According to the source, the potential price hike is connected to an earlier agreement that, starting from 2006, Russia and Ukraine will switch to cash payments (under European-level tariffs) for Russian gas deliveries to and gas transit across Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gazprom, Kyiv agree on new gas price

ANKARA - Ukraine and Gazprom have agreed to keep the price of imported Russian gas at $50 per 1,000 cubic meters until the end of 2005, Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov announced in Ankara, Turkey, on June 7, Interfax reported. Reports surfaced on June 7 that Gazprom had raised the price it would charge Naftohaz Ukrainy for gas from $50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $160. Experts in Moscow told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that the $160 was not a firm, agreed-upon price and should be seen as part of the bargaining process between Gazprom and Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials announced on June 7 that the proposed consortium between Gazprom and Naftohaz Ukrainy to manage the Ukrainian trunk gas pipeline has fallen apart and will not play any role in the transit of Russian gas to Europe or manage and renovate the pipeline. This was not an unexpected move, with Ukrainian and Russian officials predicting the demise of the consortium over a year ago. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gazprom takes tough stand with Kyiv ...

MOSCOW - Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller met in Moscow on June 7 with Oleksii Ivchenko, head of the Ukrainian national petrochemical firm Naftohaz Ukrainy, Channel 1, RTR and newsinfo.ru reported. During the meeting, Mr. Miller demanded that Naftohaz pay for some 7.8 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas that allegedly disappeared from Ukrainian storage facilities during last winter's Orange Revolution. Mr. Miller's deputy, Aleksandr Ryazanov, explained after the talks that Gazprom stores natural gas that it intends to sell in Western Europe in underground reservoirs in Ukraine during the summer to meet excess demand in the winter, Channel 1 reported. Mr. Ryazanov said that Mr. Ivchenko offered no explanation for what happened to the allegedly missing gas and that Gazprom is insisting on $1.25 billion in compensation. Globalrus.com headlined its coverage of Gazprom's tough new stance "The Empire Strikes Back Against Ukraine." Mr. Miller also informed Mr. Ivchenko that Russia plans to increase the price of the gas it supplies to Ukraine from $50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $160 next year. Mr. Miller argued that the joint Russian-Ukrainian-German gas consortium has not proven economically viable and should be phased out. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... as politicians launch verbal assault

MOSCOW - Vladimir Zhirinovskii, deputy speaker of the Russian Duma and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, said on June 7 that "Ukraine has stolen Russian gas" and that "it took the money for it away from Russian children and old people," RTR reported. Duma CIS Affairs Committee Chairman Andrei Kokoshin (Unified Russia) told RTR the same day that the matter of the "vanishing gas" is "a serious blow to the business reputation of the Ukrainian company and the government that controls it." Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin told RTR that "the Ukrainian authorities simply haven't found out yet what happened to the gas." He added, "When they do, they will explain the matter, if, of course, they haven't sold it." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Satsiuk placed on wanted list

KYIV - Ukrainian Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun has charged Volodymyr Satsiuk, former first deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), "with committing a serious crime" and placed him on a wanted list, Interfax reported on June 7. Mr. Satsiuk's whereabouts are not known. Mr. Piskun did not elaborate on the nature of Mr. Satsiuk's crime. Mr. Satsiuk has repeatedly been linked to the poisoning of President Viktor Yushchenko. The poison, a dioxin, is suspected of having been given to Mr. Yushchenko during a dinner at Mr. Satsiuk's summer home on September 5, 2004. As a result of the poisoning, Mr. Yushchenko's face was covered with scars and lesions. Some Ukrainians who have been placed on Interpol wanted lists by the Yushchenko administration have fled to Moscow. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Former SBU chief implicated in arms deal

KYIV - Ukrainian Procurator General Piskun also announced on June 7 that the former SBU head, Col. Gen. Ihor Smeshko, has been implicated in an illegal arms sale, Interfax reported. It was not clear whether Mr. Smeshko has been charged. Mr. Piskun added that two other high-ranking government officials not connected to the SBU have also been charged in the same case, about which he gave no further details. The prosecutor did not name the other two officials or which government agencies they worked for. In January the Ukrainian website ORD.com.ua published a letter from the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Combating Crime and Corruption, Hryhorii Omelchenko, about the sale of Ukrainian cruise missiles to China and Iran in which a number of high-ranking SBU officers were implicated. (RFE/RL Newsline)

UOC-KP patriarch visits Donetsk

KYIV - On May 28-30 Patriarch Filaret (Denysenko), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), visited eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region. The patriarch visited parishes and consecrated a cornerstone and cross for the construction of the Church of Resurrection. In addition, he blessed an eparchial rehabilitation center for children suffering from Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and other diseases. The patriarch noted that this visit "is a totally different visit from the one I made in 1999. ... Back then, I was beaten up in Mariupol. This time, however, I received a warm welcome. I had a meeting with the mayor of Mariupol and visited parishes. But, most importantly, the new authorities of the Donetsk region have made the right decision and adopted an equal attitude to all denominations, both to the Kyiv and Moscow patriarchates." Asked about the reasons for such positive changes in attitude, Patriarch Filaret pointed that they are thanks to the new authorities. "Everything depended on the authorities," he said. "If the [former] Ukrainian authorities had had the same attitude to both the Moscow and Kyiv patriarchates, there would have been no conflicts. The incumbent authorities, however, have taken the right position and hence the good results." In 1999 the visit of Patriarch Filaret to Donetsk was marked by protests of the faithful and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, who, according to uaorthodox.org, blocked roads to the region and started fights near churches. The website uaorthodox.org.ua notes that the UOC-KP had 30 parishes in Donetsk region in 1999 and now has 100. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Landslide reported at Pecherska Lavra

KYIV - A landslide that occurred in the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves (Pecherska Lavra) on the night of May 20 caused a cave-in of 10 to 15 cubic meters in the ground of the so-called Near Caves of the monastery. According to some experts, the landslide was caused because of negligent maintenance. Despite warnings of a possible crack in the monastery wall, the administration took no action to prevent it. Moreover, the equipment that was used in the past to monitor the conditions in the cave has been removed. The debris of the landslide was not cleaned up for a number of days. According to cerkva.org.ua, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate, which uses a considerable part of the monastery premises, is unable and unwilling to take proper care of the caves. In addition, cerkva.org.ua claims that more landslides are possible since there are cavities in the caves' walls. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Nearly 200 privatizations are contested

KYIV - Ukraine's State Property Fund (SPF) is currently challenging in court the privatization of 194 facilities, Interfax reported on June 2, quoting SPF Chairwoman Valentyna Semeniuk. The list of those enterprises, together with SPF allegations, is posted on the SPF website (http://www.spfu.gov.ua). Ms. Semeniuk told journalists that the SPF lawsuits are largely based on violations of law during privatization or purchasers' failure to meet investment commitments. Asked to comment on media reports suggesting different numbers of companies slated for re-privatization, Ms. Semeniuk said those numbers are "invented." (RFE/RL Newsline)

EU asked to help on Transdniester border

YASKI - President Viktor Yushchenko and his Moldovan counterpart, Vladimir Voronin, met in the village of Yaski in Odesa Oblast, near the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, on June 2 to discuss settlement of the Transdniester conflict, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported. Presidents Yushchenko and Voronin signed a joint appeal to the European Commission, asking for assistance in monitoring the Transdniester stretch of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. delegation visits Ukraine

KYIV - Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) headed a delegation to Ukraine on June 4-5 to hold discussions with senior Ukrainian officials on strengthening bilateral ties in defense and economic affairs. The delegation included Gen. Charles Wald, deputy commander of U.S. Military Forces in Europe, and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense James MacDougall. Sen. Hagel serves on four Senate committees, including the Committee on Foreign Relations, where he chairs the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy, Export and Trade Promotion. The delegation stopped in Ukraine as part of its tour of the Black Sea region, including Turkey and the Caucasus. The senator characterized the region as being "of critical interest to the United States." He said the United States supports Ukraine's aspirations under President Viktor Yushchenko to integrate more closely with the international economy and to join NATO. "Along with my colleagues in the United States Senate, I watched with admiration as the Ukrainian people rejected suspicious election results and peacefully insisted on choosing their leaders through a free and fair democratic process," the Sen. Hagel said. "I endorse the Strategic Partnership that President Bush and President Yushchenko agreed to in April. This partnership extends not only to our shared desire to combat terrorism and ensure regional stability, but also to the economic sphere." Sen. Hagel also congratulated the new Ukrainian government on its commitment to adopting market-oriented economic reforms that will promote a healthy business climate and ensure long-term prosperity. "Such reforms will enable Ukraine to join the World Trade Organization and to increase its economic ties to the European Union and to the United States," Sen. Hagel said. "The United States supports President Yushchenko's efforts to diversify its sources of oil and to send Caspian crude through Ukraine to European markets." The U.S. delegation met with Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk and Minister of Defense Anatolii Hrytsenko. (Embassy of the United States)

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