NEWSBRIEFS (03/12/06)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kyiv on Lukashenka's allegations

KYIV - The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry is "surprised by both the form and the content" of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka's allegations last week that Ukraine is involved in channeling funds to the Belarusian opposition in order to topple him, Interfax-Ukraine reported on March 7, quoting Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Vasyl Filipchuk. "Hundreds of millions are coming via Ukraine, the Baltic countries and Poland. We know what embassies receive cash and bring it here, and later distribute the money," Mr. Lukashenka said at the All-Belarusian People's Assembly in Miensk on March 2. Mr. Filipchuk noted that President Lukashenka's charges are untrue and at variance with Ukraine's position oriented toward developing good-neighborly relations with Belarus. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. helps borderguard service

KYIV - The United States has conveyed $1.89 million worth of equipment to the Ukrainian Borderguard Service within the framework of the two parties' cooperation in implementing the threat reduction program. The equipment includes night vision devices, radios, satellite communication system devices, minivans, ATVs, motorcycles, and cars. As Ukrinform reported on earlier occasions, on October 20, 2005, the United States conveyed $135,000 worth of vehicles and computers to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assist the latter in combating human trafficking. (Ukrinform)

A new book about Tymoshenko

KYIV - A book about Yulia Tymoshenko written by German journalist Dimity Popov and Russian journalist Ilya Milstein will be presented at a book fair in Leipzig on March 18. The authors of the book claim that it is aimed primarily at Western readers. The authors say the book is objective and even critical, therefore, they believe that neither Ms. Tymoshenko's fans nor her opponents will like it. Germany's Bild newspaper, which has a circulation of 4.5 million, will start publishing excerpts from the book. Austrian and Swiss political weeklies, as well as publications in other European countries, are expected to publish excerpts from the book. (Ukrinform)

Green Party launches protest action

KYIV - According to Green Party leader Vitalii Kononov, the party has launched an all-Ukrainian campaign, "Green Band," to protest against plans to construct facilities in Ukraine to bury nuclear wastes. Speaking at a press conference in Kharkiv on March 5, Mr. Kononov, whose party has the support of about 0.9 percent of the electorate, said that a 10-kilometer-long green cloth was unfolded to collect signatures as part of the protest. The cloth has visited seven regions, including the Kharkiv region. A bigger, 25-kilometer cloth will be added to this. Both rolls with signatures are supposed to be unfolded in front of the Verkhovna Rada building after the March 26 elections. The subject of nuclear wastes was raised by President Viktor Yushchenko during his trip to the Chornobyl zone in December 2005. The president noted that Ukraine as a country with nuclear power plants must solve the problem of fissile wastes. Ukraine operates four nuclear power plants with 15 reactors. Ukraine sends its fissile fuel wastes to Russia for reprocessing. In 2012 reprocessed wastes will start coming to Ukraine for storage on Ukraine's soil. (Ukrinform)

U.S. condemns asylym seekers' return

WASHINGTON - The United States has condemned the February 14 forcible return of 10 Uzbek asylum seekers to Uzbekistan by Ukrainian authorities. Nine of the Uzbeks had registered as asylum seekers with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which issued a statement on February 16 deploring the forced return of the entire group. According to the UNHCR, the Uzbek extradition request alleged that the men were involved in the events on May 13, 2005, in Andijan, Uzbekistan. Human rights groups are concerned that the asylum seekers face torture and abuse on their return to Uzbekistan. State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli on February 28 called on Ukrainian authorities to cooperate fully with the UNHCR and to honor their treaty commitments whenever they are confronted with claims of asylum. (U.S. Department of State)

Yushchenko reacts to criticism

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko told a March 1 news briefing in Kyiv, that Ukraine's move to deport 10 illegal Uzbek migrants does not mean that Ukraine has altered its democratic course. As reported by Ukrinform, the Uzbek nationals were deported from Symferopol, Crimea, as persons not covered by the 1951 Convention on Refugees. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, it possesses no information to point to the deportees' involvement in last year's violence in Andizhan. The Security Service of Ukraine denied some media reports alleging that the Uzbek nationals in Crimea were detained and deported following orders from Uzbek special services. (Ukrinform)

Ukraine: Uzbek citizens not refugees

KYIV - The chairman of the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration of Ukraine, Serhii Rudyk, stated that none of 9 citizens of Uzbekistan who requested refugee status in Ukraine had the right to such status. At the same, he recognized that there were violations of the procedure of deportation of the Uzbek citizens from Ukraine. "When a person appeals for refugee status and is denied, he/she under the law has the right to appeal. The state authorities should, of course, have given them an opportunity to appeal. They could have waited for seven days, though we have letters from them that they have no claims," Mr. Rudyk said. He added that the majority of these citizens left the Uzbekistan before the events in Andijan and that most of them were going to other states in search of jobs. He also pointed out that none of the nine were members of any political organizations. (Ukrinform)

Think-tank: Russia no 'strategic partner'

WASHINGTON - A new report by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) says that the United States government should reconsider its definition of Russia as a so-called strategic partner, RFE/RL and other media reported on March 5. The study says that under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has become an increasingly authoritarian state with a foreign policy that sometimes is at odds with the interests of the United States and its allies. The report recommends that Washington carefully choose issues on which to cooperate with Moscow and on which to oppose it. The study points out that Moscow has sought to oust U.S. forces from Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, to use its energy resources to bully pro-Western governments in Ukraine and Georgia, and to increase its role in the Middle East by hosting the leaders of Hamas, which the United States and most of its European allies consider a terrorist group. In addition, the report recommends greater assistance to Russia's civil society. The CFR released the document on the eve of a visit to the United States by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, which started on March 6. In Moscow, the Foreign Ministry announced that U.S.-Russia trade rose by 30 percent in 2005 to reach $20 billion, ITAR-TASS reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Two more foreign voting precincts

KYIV - The Central Electoral Commission has decided to create two more foreign election precincts in Moldova and Portugal. CEC Vice-Chairman Mykola Melnyk said the foreign election precinct in Moldova will be established in the city of Balti, where Ukraine opened its Consulate and where some 12,500 Ukrainian citizens reside. The second precinct will be opened in Porto, Portugal, where a Ukrainian Consulate has been opened and where more than 2,000 Ukrainian nationals reside. Thus, there are now 116 voting precincts for Ukrainian citizens residing abroad. (Ukrinform)

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