NEWSBRIEFS (10/02/05)

NEWSBRIEFS

Yulia speaks of political plans

KYIV - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said on the 1+1 television channel on September 26 that she is planning to regain her post after the 2006 parliamentary elections, ITAR-TASS reported. Answering a question about her political allies in the elections, Ms. Tymoshenko said they will include - apart from members of her eponymous bloc - former State Secretary Oleksander Zinchenko, ex-Security Service of Ukraine chief Oleksander Turchynov and ex-Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko. She added that she will also hold talks on forging an election coalition with the Reforms and Order Party, the Pora movement and other forces that "will help fulfill the tasks set by the 'maidan' [Kyiv's Independence Square, the main rostrum of the Orange Revolution]." Ms. Tymoshenko stressed that she is not going to form an election alliance with the Party of the Regions of Ukraine of ex-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych or the Social Democratic Party - United of former presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia rescinds warrant for Yulia

MOSCOW - Russian military prosecutors announced on September 26 that they are no longer seeking the arrest of former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on suspicion of fraud and bribery, gazeta.ru and other media reported. The investigators reportedly said an international arrest warrant is also being rescinded. Ms. Tymoshenko voluntarily came to the military prosecutors' offices in Moscow on September 24, provided adequate explanations and agreed to cooperate in the investigation, prosecutors said. Ms. Tymoshenko's Moscow visit was kept quiet but was coordinated with Russian authorities, as she passed through customs and border checkpoints, gazeta.ru reported. The Embassy of Ukraine in Russia declined to comment on the visit, noting that it was a private affair. But Tymoshenko adviser Dmitrii Vydrin suggested to gazeta.ru that the recently dismissed prime minister might have met with President Vladimir Putin while in the Russian capital. "I cannot exclude that she met with Putin; in any case, such a meeting could have happened," Mr. Vydrin said. Moscow has long regarded Ms. Tymoshenko as an anti-Russian politician, but her new role as a possible counterweight to Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko "is a very valuable quality" in Moscow's eyes, NTV commented on September 26. In an interview with the Ukrainian television station 1+1 on September 26, Ms. Tymoshenko said she intentionally came to Moscow to protest her innocence now that she no longer enjoys diplomatic immunity, adding that she did not see any other officials besides investigators. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko Bloc expels deputies

KYIV - Six national deputies were expelled from the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc's [parliamentary] faction, a UNIAN correspondent reported. Verkhovna Rada First Vice-Chairman Adam Martyniuk announced the expulsions in Parliament. The following were expelled from the faction: Mykola Budahiants, Serhii Holovatyi, Anatolii Kozlovskyi, Ihor Smiyanenko, Mykola Soloshenko and Enver Tskitishvili. On September 22 these deputies voted in favor of Yurii Yekhanurov's candidacy for prime minister, although the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction had decided not to vote for Mr. Yekhanurov. (BBC Monitoring, Action Ukraine Report)

Crimean Rada approves new PM

SYMFEROPOL - The Crimean Parliament on September 23 voted by 90-2, with seven abstentions, to appoint Anatolii Burdiuhov as the new prime minister of the autonomous republic, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Mr. Burdiuhov heads the Crimean branch of the National Bank of Ukraine and the Our Ukraine People's Union group in the Crimean legislature. He will replace Anatolii Matvienko, who resigned earlier last week. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tarasyuk meets with Russian counterpart

MOSCOW - During talks between acting Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk of Ukraine and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Moscow Mr. Tarasyuk said the parties agreed to spare no effort to preserve the positive atmosphere of Ukrainian-Russian relations. An agreement was reached on holding a meeting of experts before the two presidents meet. According to Mr. Tarasyuk, some additional issues have been entered in the Ukraine-Russia Action Plan, which involve borderline demarcation issues, an agreement on re-admission, opening new consular offices in Ukraine and Russia, and simplified citizenship procedures which will be submitted to the two presidents for consideration. Mr. Lavrov referred to the talks as very intense and full-blooded. The talks, he said, have reaffirmed both parties' readiness to further improve the atmosphere of Russian-Ukrainian relations, in line with the two presidents' directives. Mr. Lavrov noted that the meeting also adjusted the parameters of the Subcommission for International Matters within the Putin-Yushchenko Commission. The parties also agreed to promptly establish a subcommission for Black Sea Fleet-related issues. According to Mr. Lavrov, the meeting also resulted in approval of a draft agreement on border-crossing procedures for residents of Russia's and Ukraine's adjacent oblasts. (Ukrinform)

Lytvyn: pact not betrayal of maidan

KYIV - According to Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, there are no grounds whatsoever to view the Yushchenko-Yanukovych memorandum as a betrayal of the ideals of the "maidan" (Independence Square). It would have been so if the maidan had called for perpetuating societal tensions and discord, Mr. Lytvyn added. (Ukrinform)

Rybachuk: pact will not protect criminals

KYIV - Oleh Rybachuk, chairman of the Presidential Secretariat said that it is his opinion that the Yushchenko-Yanukovych memorandum will not prevent criminals from being punished. Mr. Rybachuk referred to what the media have dubbed an non-aggression pact as a political decision, which does not rule out investigating crimes. Replying to journalists' questions during his news briefing on September 23, Mr. Rybachuk said those responsible for irregularities during the 2004 elections had basically been ordinary citizens who had been forced to commit misdeeds. Therefore, the president has stated his readiness to give them amnesty. Under the Kuchma administration no such document was possible. This move has made Viktor Yushchenko the entire nation's president, Mr. Rybachuk stressed.

President appears to accept reform

KYIV - Acting Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko said in an interview with Kommersant-Daily on September 26 that President Viktor Yushchenko has abandoned his intention to postpone political reforms that will curtail his presidential powers. "Today the president is convinced of the necessity of the political reform, which will come into effect on January 1," Mr. Lutsenko said. The reform, which was adopted in December 2004 as a political compromise to overcome a presidential election standoff, will give the Parliament a decisive role in forming the Cabinet and will strengthen the position of the prime minister. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kravchuk elected to head civic forum

KYIV - Ukraine's former President Leonid Kravchuk was elected head of the Let's Unite Ukraine Civic Forum during the organization's founding congress in Kyiv on September 24, Interfax-Ukraine reported. "Our main goal is to establish peace and accord in society," Mr. Kravchuk said at the congress, stressing that Ukraine is witnessing a "crisis in all spheres of life" and a deepening social split between supporters of the authorities and the opposition. The congress was reportedly attended, among others, by activists of the Social Democratic Party - United, the Labor Ukraine Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New poll assesses public support

KYIV - The Razumkov Center found in a poll conducted On September 9-16 among 2,011 Ukrainians that 21 percent of respondents assess the situation in the country as positive, while 44.3 percent are of the opposite opinion, Ukrainian media reported on September 23. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has the wholehearted support of 21.4 percent of Ukrainians; President Viktor Yushchenko, 19.8 percent; and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, 17.2 percent.. "At present, support for [Tymoshenko and Yushchenko] has reached the lowest level since the takeover of power in Ukraine," the Razumkov Center said in a statement. The center also found that the president's dismissal of the Tymoshenko Cabinet is supported by 39.8 percent of Ukrainians and opposed by 35.3 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada passes anti-tobacco bill

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law aimed at combating smoking, which, as the authors believe, will tighten the state's control over the manufacture and distribution of tobacco. The law prohibits the sales of cigarettes to persons under age 18 and obliges directors of enterprises and owners of public-frequented institutions to allot special places for smoking. For violations of this law, fines may be imposed in amounts between 50 and 50,000 hrv (between $10 and $10,000 U.S.). (Ukrinform)

Renewal of executive bodies announced

KYIV - Addressing the Verkhovna Rada session on September 22, President Viktor Yushchenko announced that he has signed several decrees in line with agreements reached at his meeting with the heads of parliamentary groups the previous day, Channel 5 reported. In particular, Mr. Yushchenko reduced the staff of the Presidential Secretariat by abolishing the posts of state secretary, deputy state secretaries and first presidential aide. Mr. Yushchenko also curtailed some powers of the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, shifting them to the Presidential Secretariat. Mr. Yushchenko pledged that the staffs of the Presidential Secretariat and the National Security and Defense Council will be "renewed." The current political crisis in Ukraine was caused, among other reasons, by corruption allegations against the former secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Petro Poroshenko, and the suspended first presidential aide, Oleksander Tretiakov. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada accepts budget proposal

KYIV - Acting Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk on September 21 presented the draft 2006 national budget to the Parliament. The document's parameters proceed from the assumption that in 2006 Ukraine's GDP will increase by 7 percent, and that industrial and agricultural production output, respectively, will grow by 9.5 percent and 3.3 percent. The document projects 2006 inflation at 8.7 percent. The 2006 national budget's revenues and outlays are stated, respectively, as 118.706 billion hrv and 127.44 billion hrv. The deficit ceiling is set at 9.9 billion hrv. In 2006 privatization of state property is supposed to bring at least 8 billion hrv. The minimum wage is expected to reach 350 hrv per worker per month by January 1, 2006, and 400 hrv by January 1, 2007. The hryvnia's exchange rate is expected to be around 5.05 hrv per U.S. dollar. (Ukrinform)

President's rep in Rada is dismissed

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko relieved Serhii Sobolev of his position as the president's permanent representative to the Verkhovna Rada via a decree signed on September 21. Mr. Sobolev was a member of the Reforms and Order faction. He reportedly did not vote in favor of approving Yurii Yekhanurov as prime minister during the first vote on September 20. (Ukrinform)

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