NEWSBRIEFS

Gongadze trial starts in Kyiv

KYIV - The Kyiv Appellate Court on December 19 began preliminary hearings in the case involving the murder of Internet journalist Heorhii Gongadze in 2000, the Ukrayinska Pravda website (http://www.pravda.com.ua) reported. The proceedings take place behind closed doors and are attended by three former police officers suspected of killing Gongadze, Mykola Protasov, Valerii Kostenko and Oleksander Popovych, as well as their lawyers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Mace honored by Yushchenko

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko posthumously conferred the Yaroslav the Wise Order II on American scholar and public figure James Mace, according to Ukrainian News, which cited decree No. 1655 of November 26. The order is bestowed for personal contributions to the Ukrainian nation in revealing the truth to the world community about the 1932-1933 Great Famine in Ukraine, for fruitful research work and public activities. (Ukrainian News Agency via Action Ukraine Report)

PM: radical reform impossible now

KYIV - It will be impossible to carry out radical reform in Ukraine in the near future, Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov said in an interview published in the December 12 issue of Ekonomicheskiye Izvestia. "I think that Ukraine is prepared for reform, but the main problem is reform technique. I have studied our Constitution closely and have realized that no reform can be achieved in the near future. Its implementation would prove impossible," he said. The time to have implemented reform was last spring, when the authorities enjoyed "a colossal amount of confidence," the prime minister explained, adding that this window of opportunity had now been missed. Ukraine will not be able to push through pensions or housing and public utility reforms in the foreseeable future, he said. "Nor will there be any health care or administrative-territorial reforms in the near future and we cannot dare to begin structural reform. We want to make the transformations painless. We are against surgery, we want therapy, therefore we will develop slowly." Tax reform will not be quick either, Mr. Yekhanurov added, saying that such reform may be possible in 2008. Ukraine should use common sense in the development of the economy and authorities' attitude to business, he noted. (Action Ukraine Report)

Ukraine begins final pullout from Iraq

KYIV - On December 20, Ukraine began pulling its remaining 876 troops out of Iraq. The multinational force has steadily unraveled as the death toll rises and angry publics clamor for troops to leave. Ukraine originally contributed 1,650 troops to the U.S.-led force in Iraq. The 876 Ukrainian troops still in the country are serving under Polish command in southern and central Iraq. All are due home by December 30. The Ukrainian government began withdrawing its troops in March. Eighteen Ukrainian soldiers died and 32 others were wounded in Iraq. The United States is picking up the $3 million cost of Ukraine's withdrawal. (Associated Press)

Peacekeepers donate wheelchairs

KYIV - The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service reported on December 6 that Ukrainian peacekeepers in Iraq continue rendering humanitarian aid to the residents of Wasit Province. Personnel of the 81st Tactical Group delivered 800 wheelchairs to the Wasit Province Health Department. Commenting on the humanitarian aid delivery, Sabbah Dahir Nassir, director of the Center for Disabled Persons, said Ukraine had been the first nation to render aid to that organization, which unites over 4,700 disabled persons in En-Numania, Al-Azizia and Es-Suweira. (Ukrinform)

50 servicemen headed for Iraq

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko on December 1 signed an order to send 50 servicemen to Iraq in 2006, Ukrainian media reported, citing the presidential press service. According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatolii Hrytsenko, this group will consist of 30 army officers, 10 border guards and 10 police officers, who will help Iraqi authorities implement projects to restore Iraq's infrastructure. Mr. Hrytsenko added that the group has nothing in common with the 1,600-member Ukrainian military contingent that is currently being withdrawn from Iraq. Ukraine is to conclude the pullout of its peacekeeping contingent from Iraq by the end of this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Parliament adopts 2006 budget

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on December 20 adopted a 2006 budget bill, Ukrainian media reported. The document was supported by 226 deputies, the minimum number required for its passage. The bill was adopted after three abortive votes earlier the same day. The Verkhovna Rada on December 15 had failed to approve the 2006 budget bill. The motion was supported by just 122 votes, with at least 226 needed for approval. Another motion to reject the budget bill also failed, mustering 202 votes. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn on December 16 appealed to the Budgetary Committee and the government to modify the bill and submit it for another vote the following week. (RFE/RL Newsline)

ADL: Keep restrictions on Ukraine

WASHINGTON - The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) urged Congress on December 8 not to remove trade restrictions on Ukraine. The ADL said anti-Semitism persists at "worrying levels" in Ukraine, and thus the country should be denied normal trade relations. "We expect more from democratic states than we do from totalitarian ones," ADL National Director Abraham Foxman said, according to the JTA news service. "This year alone has seen a steep increase in acts of violence and vandalism against Jews across Ukraine." The Senate passed a bill last month graduating Ukraine from the trade restrictions imposed by the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. Other Jewish organizations, such as National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ), have supported Ukraine's graduation from the Cold War-era measure. (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Yushchenko rules out energy crisis

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said in a weekly radio address on December 17 that Ukraine will not face any energy crisis in connection with Gazprom's recent announcement to increase gas price for Ukraine more than fourfold in 2006, Ukrainian media reported. "One has a price to pay for everything, first and foremost for independence. If Ukraine truly wants to become economically independent, sooner or later we will have to accept market relations in the energy field and switch to rational energy consumption," Mr. Yushchenko said. He asserted that both Russia and Ukraine will benefit from a switch to market relations and prices in gas supplies and transit. "I am convinced that the price should be increased gradually, without shock therapy for national industry," Mr. Yushchenko noted. "It is necessary to draft and implement a transitional system of gas rates which would minimize repercussions for the population. The system of transitional rates should be in place for two or three years and should gradually lead to a single rate which would reflect the real cost of gas for Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

PM: Kyiv ready for new gas deal

KYIV - Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov told journalists in Kyiv on December 19 that Ukraine does not object to Russia's proposal to switch to new conditions of Russian gas supplies to and gas transit across Ukraine as of 2006, Interfax-Ukraine reported. According to Mr. Yekhanurov, both sides have not yet agreed on an acceptable "price formula." He added, "We are ready to switch to a new price formula," but stressed that the prices Gazprom has proposed to Ukraine so far were quoted "without thinking." Mr. Yekhanurov was commenting on the failure to reach a compromise in his gas talks with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov in Moscow earlier the same day. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President on industry and gas prices

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said on Ukrainian Television on December 14 that the Russian gas that is to be supplied at a new price outside a barter scheme next year should be sold primarily in the country's industrial sector, while gas prices for Ukrainian private and municipal consumers should be increased gradually. "This is a concept envisioning that liberalized prices will be met by the industrial sector, while private and municipal consumers will be given the possibility to conclude the heating season with traditional prices, as they are today, or with a small increase in them during the second quarter [of 2006]," Mr. Yushchenko said. He explained that with new gas prices and transit tariffs in 2006, Ukraine will be able to receive a somewhat lesser volume of Russian gas under the barter scheme than it does now. President Yushchenko did not say what new Russian gas price could be acceptable to Ukraine or what gas transit tariff Ukraine would levy on Gazprom in 2006. Gazprom deputy chief Aleksandr Medvedev said on December 14 that Russia is going to sell gas to Ukraine for $220-$230 per 1,000 cubic meters. Ukraine now pays $50 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas received as payment for transit of Russian gas to Europe, and $80 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas supplied by Gazprom outside this barter scheme. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Factions want higher rent from Russia

KYIV - On December 16 the factions of the Ukrainian People's Rukh Ukraine and Our Ukraine made a statement in the Verkhovna Rada to demand that the National Security and Defense Council and the government of Ukraine regulate the issue of rent for the Russian Black Sea Fleet's naval base in Crimea, the amount for which must be adjusted to international standards. Citing experts' calculations, the statement said that Ukraine annually loses about $3 billion (U.S.) by charging a rent that is too low. According to the statement, a U.S. military base in Germany pays about $2 billion annually to the German government, while Russia pays around $97 million to Ukraine for stationing its Black Sea Fleet on Ukraine's soil. Both factions said they believe that raising this issue would be a good lever in Ukraine's negotiations with Russia regarding gas supplies. (Ukrinform)

Parties approve election lists

KYIV - A number of Ukrainian parties and blocs held conventions on December 17-18 to endorse their lists of candidates for the March 26, 2006, parliamentary elections, Ukrainian media reported. They included the Our Ukraine Yushchenko Bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party, the Not So! Bloc based on the Social Democratic Party - United, and the Lytvyn People's Bloc based on the People's Party led by Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn. Central Election Commission Chairman Yaroslav Davydovych said last week that 38 political parties and blocs want to take part in the 2006 parliamentary elections. The elections will be Ukraine's first under a fully proportional, party-list system. Polls suggest that six to seven parties have a chance of obtaining no less than 3 percent of the vote, which qualifies them for parliamentary representation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kostenko-Pliusch bloc compiles list

KYIV - An election list was approved at an inter-party congress of the Ukrainian People's Bloc of Yurii Kostenko and Ivan Pliusch on December 16. The list's first 10 is topped by Mr. Kostenko, leader of the Ukrainian People's Party; and Mr. Pliusch, the honorary leader of the Party of Free Peasants and Entrepreneurs; Oleksander Slobodian, president of the closed-type joint-stock company Obolon; National Deputy Ivan Zayets; Anna Skrypnyk, director of the N. Rylskyi Institute of Arts, Folklore and Ethnology Studies of the National Science Academy of Ukraine; Vice Prime Minister Yurii Melnyk; Rivne Oblast Administration Chairman Vasyl Chervonii; Donetsk Oblast Administration Vice-Chairman Oleksander Klymenko; Kyiv Oblast Administration Chairman Yevhen Zhovtiak and National Deputy Valerii Asadchev. The election list includes 290 persons. Mr. Kostenko told journalists that his party partners are proposed five seats each, proportionally to the list. He said he believes the Kostenko and Pliusch Bloc will be able to gain some 10 percent of the votes. The congress also passed a draft election program, whose key provisions are cancellation of all levels of deputies' immunity; state support for small and mid-sized business and farmers; judicial reform; development of the fuel-energy complex; and revival of the national culture and spiritual values. (Ukrinform)

Seven parties in "For Union!" bloc

KYIV - The Ukrainian political parties Union, Socialist Ukraine, Slavonic Party, Women of Ukraine, New Force, Integral Family and the Political Party of Small and Mid-sized Business have decided to form an election bloc called "For Union!" This was the decision of the eighth regular congress of the Union Party. Union Party leader Lev Myrymskyi told delegates to the congress that uniting in the bloc is necessary for victory in the 2006 parliamentary elections. He said they had a choice: join the Party of the Regions or establish a smaller, but powerful political force. "We are not ready to merge with any leader, as in that case we lose seats in local councils," Mr. Myrymskyi noted. He said the bloc won't have a leader because its member-parties "have equal partnership relations." The bloc's list will be topped by a neutral person. (Ukrinform)

Kunitsyn election bloc formed

SYMFEROPOL - An election bloc of ex-Prime Minister of Crimea Serhii Kunitsyn was established in Symferopol on December 16. The agreement on establishment was signed by chief of the Crimean organization of the Democratic Party of Ukraine, Sergey Kozachenko; the chairman of the Crimean organization of the Party of State Neutrality of Ukraine, Vitalii Trefelov; and the chief of the Crimean organization of the People's Democratic Party of Ukraine, Mr. Kunitsyn. According to Mr. Kunitsyn, his bloc claims for not less than 30 of 100 seats of the Crimean Parliament. (Ukrinform)

Lazarenko bloc preps for election

KYIV - The first inter-party sitting of the Lazarenko bloc was held in Kyiv, with the participation of more than 245 delegates. The participants approved the bloc's format, according to which such parties as the All-Ukrainian Union Hromada, the Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine and the Social-Democratic Union are forming a bloc. Pavlo Lazarenko is No. 1 on the bloc's election list, followed by his brother Ivan Lazarenko, SDPU leader Yuriy Buzduhan and the SDU leader Serhii Peresunko together with Dnipropetrovsk journalist Viktoria Shylova. Speaking with the meeting's participants via telephone, Mr. Lazarenko said that he expects at least 5 percent of the electorate's support in the parliamentary elections of 2006. He also reassured the participants that he will soon return to Ukraine. Mr. Lazarenko suggests that taxation on enterprises' salary funds be abolished. He also suggests in his bloc' platform that the retirement age for women be changed to 52 and for men to 58. (Ukrinform)

Rada rejects two WTO-related bills

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on December 14 rejected two bills required for Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Interfax-Ukraine reported. The bills proposed lowering export tariffs on ferrous scrap metal, live cattle and leather materials. Meanwhile, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman told journalists in Hong Kong on December 14, on the sidelines of an ongoing WTO ministerial conference, that Russia and Ukraine should join the World Trade Organization together, Interfax reported. "I hope Ukraine and Russia come into the WTO and they come in together," Mr. Portman said, adding that the accession negotiations for the two countries will be completed "soon." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Hrytsenko meets with Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON - Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatolii Hrytsenko and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on December 7 discussed the pullout of Ukrainian peacekeeping forces from Iraq. The meeting was held within the framework of the 10th conference of the Southeastern European Defense Ministerial in Washington, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service said. The gradual withdrawal of troops was approved with the coalition and Iraqi partners, Mr. Hrytsenko said. He added that about 50 peacekeepers will remain in Iraq, as will some military equipment that will be handed over to Iraq. Mr. Hrytsenko thanked the U.S. for training Ukrainian officers in U.S. military colleges. In related news, Ukraine formally joined the Southeastern Europe Defense Ministerial (SEDM) on December 6 at a brief ceremony in Washington. "You will see Ukraine more responsible and more engaged in dealing with regional security institutions," said Defense Minister Hrytsenko. SEDM is an organization of 13 southeastern European countries and the United States. It was formed in 1996 against the backdrop of the Balkan conflict. SEDM includes Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine, Bosnia Herzegovina, Moldova, Serbia Montenegro and the United States. (Interfax-Ukraine, BBC)

Tymoshenko Bloc drafts election list

KYIV - The political bloc of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko held a congress on December 7 at which it approved the top 10 names on the bloc's list of candidates for the March 2006 parliamentary elections, Interfax-Ukraine reported. The list is topped by Ms. Tymoshenko; Oleksander Turchynov, former Security Service of Ukraine chief and her closest aide; former Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko; journalist Andrii Shevchenko; and National Deputies Vasil Onopenko, Levko Lukianenko and Hryhorii Omelchenko. Ms. Tymoshenko said on December 7 that if her bloc comes to power after the 2006 elections, she will give the opposition important prerogatives in forming the executive branch, including the right to nominate the procurator general. At present the procurator general is nominated by the president and appointed by the Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 25, 2005, No. 52, Vol. LXXIII

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