NEWSBRIEFS

Institute of National Memory to be created

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has ordered that the government set up an Institute of National Memory by November 26, when Ukraine will observe the Day of Remembrance of Famine Victims to memorialize millions of Ukrainians who died in the artificially induced Famine of 1932-1933, UNIAN reported on July 12. The government is obliged to decide on the planned structure of the institute and main areas of its research by September 15, after consultations with the National Academy of Sciences and non-governmental organizations studying political repression in Ukraine and the 1933 Holodomor. Via another decree, President Yushchenko instructed the government to draft a bill on increasing social support for victims of political repression and their families. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet seeks efficient Rada majority

KYIV - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's Cabinet of Ministers on July 13 called on the Verkhovna Rada to form an efficient majority in order to implement the government's program, UNIAN reported. At the same time, the Cabinet branded last week's tumultuous debates in the Parliament, where lawmakers were unable to adopt a number of bills proposed by the government, as a "planned provocation" against the government and the president. "It is sad to admit that [this provocation] involved the parliamentary leadership, which preferred to maintain social and economic tension in society," the Cabinet's statement reads. "All that culminated in absolute political savagery when for the first time in the country's history the Parliament cast in doubt the right of the president of the country and the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe [PACE] to address the Ukrainian people from the parliamentary rostrum." On July 6 Communist Party lawmakers had prevented PACE President Rene van der Linden from speaking in the Verkhovna Rada. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Piskun visits U.S. Justice Department

KYIV - Within the framework of his working trip to the United States, Ukrainian Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun held a series of meetings with representatives of the U.S. Justice Department to discuss the two states' cooperation in the law enforcement sphere, particularly, legal assistance in some criminal cases and conclusion of a bipartite agreement on extradition. As the press service of the Procurator General's Office (PGO) told Ukrinform, the delegation is staffed with PGO officers engaged in investigations of the Gongadze case. The negotiations at the U.S. Department of Justice dealt with a petition by the PGO on turning down the originals of the records and technical equipment, with which former President Leonid Kuchma's office was bugged. The American side promised to do its best to satisfy the petition. The sides agreed to staff a working group to draft an extradition agreement that would promote establishment of a legal mechanism for the extradition of criminals. The parties discussed the Lazarenko case, touching on the former Ukrainian prime minister's deportation. The Ukrainian and U.S. delegations agreed on cooperation in a series of other major Ukrainian cases, particularly, the case against the ex-chairman of the Sumy Oblast, Volodymyr Scherban, who is accused of abuse of authority and other crimes. The Justice Department raised the matter of deportation of citizens who are accused of Nazi crimes. Mr. Piskun briefed American officials about Ukraine's strict adherence to its international legal commitments, particularly, to the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ukrainian Procurator General's Office and the U.S. Department of Justice on cooperation in the prosecution of Nazi criminals that was signed in 1993. (Ukrinform)

Putin honors UOC-MP leader

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 28 signed a decree ordering that the Order of Esteem be presented to Metropolitan Volodymyr (Sabodan), head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate. According to the decree, Metropolitan Volodymyr was awarded the order "For achievements in the development of spiritual and cultural traditions, and strengthening Russian-Ukrainian relations." July 9 will mark the 39th anniversary of the metropolitan's pastoral ministry. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Olympic champs ready to return prizes

KYIV - Several Ukrainian gold medalists of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens have declared their readiness to hand back financial awards from the government, thus expressing their support for former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who was also head of Ukraine's National Olympic Committee in 2004, Reuters reported on July 7, citing a Kyiv-based newspaper. Prosecutors are now investigating irregularities in government awards to athletes while Mr. Yanukovych was in office. Athens 2004 gold medalists received $100,000 each. The champions, who include wrestlers Elbrus Tedeyev and Iryna Merleni as well as gymnasts Valerii Honcharov and Yurii Nikitin, signed an appeal to the Ukrainian leadership and International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge. They urge Mr. Rogge to "use [his] great international authority to stop government pressure" on Mr. Yanukovych, and call on President Viktor Yushchenko "to take the right decision, which will enable the athletic community to work to good advantage." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rabinovich buys Moscow paper

MOSCOW - The Media International Group holding company of Ukrainian businessman Vadim Rabinovich has purchased 100 percent of the weekly newspaper Moskovskie Novosti for an undisclosed sum, Russian news agencies reported on July 3, confirming rumors that had circulated in Moscow for several days. Previous owner Leonid Nevzlin announced plans to sell the weekly following a protracted conflict involving Editor-in-Chief Yevgenii Kiselev. Mr. Kiselev announced his resignation on July 4, and Interfax on July 6 quoted Mr. Rabinovich as promising to consult with the newspaper's editorial staff and board of directors before naming a new editor in chief. Mr. Rabinovich made his fortune in non-media business interests but has been a major player in the Ukrainian media for a decade, Kommersant-Daily reported. He was a co-founder of the private television company 1+1 in 1995. (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM denies pilferage of Russian gas

KYIV - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko told journalists in Kyiv on July 11 that Kyiv is not siphoning off Russian gas that flows in transit across Ukraine to Europe, Interfax-Ukraine reported. "I would not like to see Ukraine humiliated by statements that do not correspond to reality," Ms. Tymoshenko said. She was referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's comment last week that Russia is ready to cooperate with Ukraine provided that Kyiv does not steal Russian gas. She also stressed that Gazprom's accusations last month that 7.8 billion cubic meters of Russian gas disappeared from Ukraine are not true. According to Ms. Tymoshenko, this gas volume remains in Ukrainian storage facilities. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court freezes shares of ferroalloy giant

KYIV - Following a request from the Procurator General's Office, the Kyiv Appellate Court has frozen 50 percent-plus-one-share in the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant that belong to the Interpipe consortium controlled by Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Pinchuk, Interfax-Ukraine reported on July 11. The shares were sold at two auctions in 2003 for a total of 410 million hrv ($82 million at the current exchange rate). The Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant reportedly accounts for 11.5 percent of the world market of ferroalloys. Earlier this year the government managed to annul the 2004 privatization of the Kryvorizhstal steel mill, which was partly owned by Mr. Pinchuk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poroshenko accused as mastermind

KYIV - Socialist Party leaders on July 6 accused the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Petro Poroshenko, of leading a money laundering operation that involves manipulating the value-added tax. "I officially declare that currently in Ukraine a dangerous clan is operating which perpetuates Kuchmism in the worst form," said Mykola Melnyk, a Socialist Party deputy. "The activity of his clan is cynical and amoral." Oleksander Tretiakov, chief of Ukraine's customs service, was involved with Mr. Poroshenko in an attempt to renew the black market in oil, Mr. Melnyk alleged in the Verkhovna Rada. Mr. Poroshenko's press service commented on July 7 that Mr. Melnyk's statement was based on materials gathered by the Internal Affairs Ministry, the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Tax Administration in 2002-2004 "under an agreement with the then President Leonid Kuchma for discrediting opposition representatives." The press service added that Mr. Poroshenko will sue Mr. Melnyk for libel. Earlier last week former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko passed to Ukrainian media a secret tape containing an alleged conversation of June 2000, in which Mr. Poroshenko apparently discusses with President Kuchma how to get rid of Yulia Tymoshenko from the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko. (Kyiv Press Bureau, RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine regains right to its name

KYIV - The Our Ukraine's People Union, a party created earlier this year to support the government of President Viktor Yushchenko held a congress in Kyiv on July 9, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The congress introduced amendments to the party's statute, shortening the party's name to Our Ukraine, that is, to the name adopted originally by an electoral bloc created by Mr. Yushchenko for the 2002 parliamentary elections. The move became possible after the Justice Ministry ruled last week that the Our Ukraine Party led by Viktor Pynzenyk, which was called the Reforms and Order Party until mid-2004, adopted its current name unlawfully by encroaching upon intellectual property rights of the Our Ukraine bloc. Meanwhile, Mr. Pynzenyk, whose Our Ukraine Party held a congress the same day, told journalists that his organization is not going to change its current name. Mr. Pynzenyk is finance minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko pushes WTO bills

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has urged the Verkhovna Rada, which adjourned for summer vacation on July 8, to pass by October six more bills necessary for Ukraine to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year, Interfax-Ukraine reported on July 8. During tumultuous votes last week, the Ukrainian Parliament managed to adopt eight bills from a 14-bill WTO-oriented package. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said on the Inter television channel on July 10 that the government prepared the WTO-oriented bills in great haste and put undue pressure on parliament to approve them. "Don't listen to these stupidities, when they say that the government submitted something in haste, that it submitted half-baked documents, that something was not agreed with lawmakers," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko responded on the 1+1 television channel the same day. "When you hear such criticisms of the government, you should know that the government is being obstructed from working." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Conflict continues over Ternopil church

TERNOPIL - On the night of June 20 representatives of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP) community of the village of Zazdrist, Ternopil region, tore off police seals, broke the lock and broke down the metal doors in the Church of the Exaltation of the Cross, according to the local newspaper, which quoted the press secretariat of the Eparchy of Ternopil and Zboriv of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC). Archbishop Iov (Pavlyshyn) of Ternopil and Kremenets of the UOC-KP also commented on the situation for RISU. On June 20, the feast of the Holy Trinity, the UOC-KP community, headed by their priest, took the church for its own use, thus violating order No. 300 of the head of the district administration of May 31. The order says, among other things: "Until the issue of the temporary successive use of the church is settled by the communities, [we] recommend that the keys of the church be kept in the executive committee of the Zazdrist village council." Previously, the UGCC community, which owns the church, agreed to hold religious services by taking turns, but the UOC-KP community turned the offer down. The press secretariat of the Ternopil Eparchy of the UGCC noted: "The UGCC community of the village of Zazdrist is disappointed by the actions of the district authorities and reserves the right to demand observance of the Ukrainian law in the higher institutions of the state, being also prepared to begin civic acts through which to ask the involvement of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in the conflict." Archbishop Iov (Pavlyshyn) of Ternopil and Kremenets of the UOC-KP told RISU the Orthodox community, which comprises over 80 percent of the village's population, had been using the church. On May 12 the faithful of the UGCC community of Zazdrist occupied the religious building, leaving the UOC-KP faithful with no church. According to the archbishop, on June 20 the UOC-KP faithful took their church back. Archbishop Iov, who is determined to make peace between the conflicting sides, met with both communities, as well as representatives of the regional and district authorities. The village also has a large abandoned Roman Catholic church, which the archbishop proposed both congregations should repair together. After that, each congregation should be allowed to choose one of the church buildings, thus resolving the problem. On July 8 Orthodox priests of three eparchies in western Ukrainian Ternopil met with Oblast Chairman Ivan Stoiko to express their protest against his decision that the church be used alternately by the UOC-KP and the UGCC. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Ukrainian Christian films win awards

MIENSK - Two Ukrainian projects, namely the documentary "Christmas Together" by the Ukrainian Catholic University and the children's Christian TV program "Hope," received awards at the first International Catholic Festival of Christian Films and Programs "Magnificat 2005," which took place in Belarus on June 24-25. Works from Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Thailand, Mexico and France were represented at the festival, organized by the SIGNIS-Belarus Catholic Association on Communications, the Curia of the Vitebsk Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church, the publishing house of the Dialog Religious and Cultural Journal and the Stop-Cadre Independent Studio. The jury, which consisted of film critics, writers, TV and radio crews, directors and others evaluated the entries. Ukraine was represented by two projects. The film "Christmas Together" tells about Christmas celebrations that took place in Ukraine in January. The TV program "Hope," which airs on national TV every Thursday at 3:20 p.m., is produced by the Clara Catholic Multimedia Studio in central Ukrainian Vinnytsia under the patronage of the Order of the Minor Capuchin Friars. "Christmas Together" received a special award for "implementing the idea of ecumenism on screen." "Hope" received an honorary award "for faithfulness to Christian values in educating children by means of audio-visual culture." (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

CORRECTION

An Interfax item cited by RFE/RL Newsline which was included in Newsbriefs on May 29 incorrectly stated that 76 percent of the respondents in a survey conducted by Democratic Initiatives strongly favored granting the Russian language official status in Ukraine. In fact, in two separately posed questions, 36.9 percent favored nationwide official status for the Russian language, while 39.6 percent favored official status for Russian only for regions in which a majority wants it. Some news services apparently added the two figures to get the erroneous result of more than 76 percent support for the Russian language's official status. The correct figures were cited by an Ukrinform report.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 17, 2005, No. 29, Vol. LXXIII

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