NEWSBRIEFS

Tymoshenko: what are president's plans?

KYIV - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is also the leader of the eponymous political bloc, called on President Viktor Yushchenko on March 21 to give a "clear-cut and unambiguous" answer to the question whether he is going to create a coalition with his presidential rival Viktor Yanukovych after the March 26 parliamentary elections, Ukrainian media reported. According to Ms. Tymoshenko, the lack of an answer by March 26 will be seen as Mr. Yushchenko's tacit agreement to such a coalition. Ms. Tymoshenko also called on all other political forces to reveal their coalition plans in the new Parliament. Some Ukrainian analysts have speculated that the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine bloc would prefer Mr. Yanukovych's Party of the Regions to the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc in forming a governing coalition in the new Verkhovna Rada. Meanwhile, Mr. Yanukovych said in a television interview on March 21 that he does not see a possibility for creating a post-election coalition with the Orange Revolution camp. "How is it possible to create a coalition with partners who are propagating evil?" Mr. Yanukovych asked. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Exit poll to be conducted on election day

KYIV - The Democratic Initiatives Fund, the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, and the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies will jointly conduct a nationwide exit poll during the March 26 legislative vote, Interfax-Ukraine reported on March 21. The pollsters are planning to question 18,000 respondents from throughout Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Policeman shoots election campaigner

KYIV - A police officer on March 21 shot and severely wounded Oleksander Hlobenko, a 17-year-old student distributing election materials for the Pora civic organization, the Ukrayinska Pravda website (http://www.pravda.com.ua) reported. The incident reportedly took place while the officer was trying to handcuff Hlobenko. The youth reportedly lost four liters of blood, underwent surgery and remains hospitalized. Pora, which is participating in the parliamentary election in a bloc with the Reforms and Order Party, has demanded a thorough investigation of the incident. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine comments on Belarus vote

KYIV - The pro-presidential Our Ukraine election bloc on March 21 issued a statement saying that it fully shares the preliminary conclusions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's election observation mission that monitored the Belarusian presidential elections. The bloc said on its website that the Belarusian presidential elections did not meet the OSCE commitments made by the leadership of the country and international electoral standards. The bloc also cited the Belarusian authorities' intimidation and persecution of journalists and representatives of the opposition, as well as violations of human rights, including the right to freedom of expression. Ukraine has said that it will formulate its position on the Belarusian presidential elections after the OSCE releases its final conclusions on the elections. Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov, who heads the Our Ukraine bloc's list of candidates, has said that Ukraine will prioritize the economic aspects of its relations with Belarus. The Verkhovna Rada chairman has advised Ukrainian authorities to use the conclusions of the Ukrainian observers at the Belarusian presidential elections as guidelines. The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry's spokesman has said that Ukraine has always opposed the isolation of Belarus. (Ukrinform)

Polish Senate: Famine was genocide

KYIV - The Polish Senate (the upper chamber of the Parliament) urged the world community to recognize the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine as a genocide against the Ukrainian people, the Senate's resolution said. In the resolution, Polish senators expressed their solidarity with the people of Ukraine and urged bringing the Famine-Genocide's organizers to responsibility. According to the senators, the Famine was organized by the Soviet regime to weaken and annihilate the Ukrainian people, with the aim of strangling their desire for freedom and the establishment of an independent state. The Senate also said Western politicians and journalists who concealed the truth about the events in Ukraine in 1932-1933, also bear responsibility for the Famine. News of the resolution was reported on March 17. (Ukrinform)

Election campaign costs $36 million

KYIV - According to a study by the Freedom of Choice coalition of public forces, political parties and blocs that are running for the Verkhovna Rada have spent over 182 million hrv on their campaigns. Hanna Yarova, chief of the Political Promotion project, noted that the Party of the Regions tops the list of Ukraine's five biggest spenders, having invested over 34,391,000 hrv in its campaign. Others in the top five were: the Lytvyn's People's Bloc spent (30,466,000 hrv), the pro-presidential Our Ukraine bloc (24,758,000 hrv), the Party for Environmental Survival ECO+25% (23,876,000 hrv) and the Viche party(13,756,000 hrv). The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc was 13th in spending, having expended about 2,586,000 hrv on its campaign. Among the top 10 spenders were the Pora-Party of Reforms and Order Bloc, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the European Capital party, the Ne Tak! bloc and the Kostenko-Pliusch People's Bloc. (Ukrinform)

Yekhanurov sees problems ahead

KYIV - Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov said in a television interview on March 19 that it would be difficult for him to work in a government with former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych if such a scenario unfolds following the March 26 parliamentary elections, Interfax-Ukraine reported. "I am a disciplined man, I will work where the president will send me. But I'd rather go to the Parliament," Mr. Yekhanurov said. Responding to a question about possible post-election cooperation with former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Mr. Yekhanurov said: "I'd like people to understand her economic views. It is difficult for me as a professional economist to work with people who have no views." (RFE/RL Newsline)

3,500 monitors for Ukrainian vote

KYIV - Central Election Commission head Yaroslav Davydovych said on March 19 that 3,518 official international observers will monitor the March 26 parliamentary election in Ukraine, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Among the organizations sending observers are the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the European Parliament, the Commonwealth of Independent States Interparliamentary Assembly Council, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, the Ukrainian World Congress and the International Union of Komsomol Organizations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

No evidence of Berezovsky financing

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada's ad hoc fact-finding commission has found no evidence that could point to Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky as involved in financing Viktor Yushchenko's election campaign, it was reported on March 15. According to ad hoc commission member Mikhail Pozhivanov, during the commission's work not a single document was found to confirm Mr. Berezovsky's involvement in financing the Yushchenko campaign. On March 14 the ad hoc commission was to convene a session, but it had to be canceled as there was no quorum. As Mr. Pozhivanov noted, the commission's members got sick and tired of sundry speculations on the subject and decided to discontinue their sittings. The commission will deliver no report as no such decision was made. According to Mr. Pozhivanov, the ad hoc commission's chairman, Yurii Solomatin, may avail himself of the opportunity, offered by the Verkhovna Rada's rules for speeches by faction members, to make a speech on the subject. It was Ukraine's first president, Leonid Kravchuk, who on September 14, 2005, said that Mr. Berezovsky had financed Mr. Yushchenko's election campaign. According to Mr. Kravchuk, organizations affiliated with the Russian tycoon remitted $15 million to businesses that financed the Yushchenko campaign. Mr. Berezovsky admitted there were money transfers, but said that the money had never been meant for financing the campaign. (Ukrinform)

PGO investigating illegal wiretapping

KYIV - The Procurator-General's Office (PGO) has confirmed that a criminal case has been launched in connection will allegations that operatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) illegally eavesdropped on the telephone conversations of certain government officials and politicians. According to the press service of the PGO, these violations took place in March 2005 and are classified as crimes punishable under Article 163 (violation of the secrecy of telephone conversations) and Article 424 (military officers exceeding their power or authority) of the Ukrainian Criminal Code. According to the press service, the PGO is presently questioning witnesses and victims, and has scheduled forensic examinations in connection with the case. Furthermore, the Procurator-General's Office received from the SBU materials about similar violations of the rights of citizens over a long period at one of the regional divisions of the SBU. The PGO has also opened a criminal case into these violations. (Ukrinform)

Kyiv refutes allegations of CIA jail

KYIV - Defense Minister Anatolii Hrytsenko disclosed on March 15 that the ministry has demanded that the Russian side promptly disavow an RTR Channel report alleging the existence of a CIA clandestine prison in Ukraine. According to Mr. Hrytsenko, the report is either an informational provocation or a special operation, carried out through the RTR, and has seriously harmed Ukraine and its armed forces. Mr. Hrytsenko disclosed that, in compliance with President Viktor Yushchenko's order, the Russian Embassy's military attaché has been invited to visit the Makarov-1 facility. The minister has invited journalists to join in, saying they will be shown hitherto off-limits facilities, where nuclear weapons were once kept. We are making this unprecedented step, Mr. Hrytsenko noted, to convince everybody that the report about alleged CIA prisons in Ukraine is a brazen lie. In fall 2005 a scandal broke out in the European Union when the news media published documents on the existence of the secret CIA jails in Europe. The documents were allegedly provided by Swiss intelligence sources. Initially the prisons were reported to be located in Romania and Poland; a later report pointed to a CIA jail in some East European nation. According to the RTR report, one of the clandestine jails could be located on the territory of the Makarov-1 military garrison in the Kyiv region. (Ukrinform)

RosUkrEnergo interested in Kerch

KYIV - The company RosUkrEnergo has intimated its intention to participate in a tender for developing deposits of carbohydrate fuels in the Black Sea shelf's Kerch segment. RosUkrEnergo has obtained all the documents necessary to allow it to participate in the tender, Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov told the Cabinet's session on March 1. According to Mr. Yekhanurov, 15 companies have stated their intention to participate in the tender, including entities in Ukraine, the United States, China and Britain. He named Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil and Petrobras among them. On December 24, 2005, the government had announced a tender to vie for the right to conclude an agreement on distributing petroleum and gas, extracted from the Kerch segment of the Black Sea shelf. In line with Ukraine's legislation, the Ukrainian state's share is at least 20 percent in the money equivalent. The Kerch segment occupies a 12,960 square kilometer territory. Its exploitation will allow Ukraine to annually get additional 4 billion cubic meters of gas and 3 million tons of petroleum. The tender's winner will get a special license for extracting carbohydrate fuels in the Kerch segment for 30 years, and the agreement may be then extended. The tender's outcome was supposed to be made public on March 24. (Ukrinform)

Suspected arms trafficker extradited

KYIV - Oleg Orlov, a Russian businessman suspected by Ukrainian prosecutors of illegal trade in weapons, was extradited from the Czech Republic to Ukraine on February 25, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Mr. Orlov, 57, is accused of illicit sales in 1999 of a P14F radar to Eritrea and of Soviet-made Kh-55SM (also known as AS-15) cruise missiles to China. Mr. Orlov unsuccessfully applied for asylum in the Czech Republic in 2004 and was subsequently arrested at a Prague airport while trying to leave for the United Arab Emirates. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine not to store spent nuclear fuel

KYIV - Ukrainian Nuclear Regulation Committee Chair Olena Mykolaichuk told journalists on February 23 that Ukraine will not store foreign spent nuclear fuel in a "central spent nuclear fuel storage facility" that the country is going to be built at the former Chornobyl nuclear power plant, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Ms. Mykolaichuk was responding to criticism from some politicians in Ukraine, including Yulia Tymoshenko, that the planned facility is to keep spent nuclear fuel from many foreign countries, including the United States. Ms. Tymoshenko also cast doubt on the credibility of the U.S. company Holtec, which was selected by Ukraine's Enerhoatom last year to build such a storage facility at Chornobyl. "One important lesson from the natural gas crisis in January 2006 is the need for Ukraine to strengthen its own energy security. The Holtec-Enerhoatom agreement is a major step in that direction," the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said in a statement disseminated on February 23. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Funds allocated for St. Sophia

KYIV - A total of 46.5 million hrv will be allocated for the restoration and rehabilitation of the St. Sophia historical and cultural preserve in 2006, reported http://www.for-ua.com, citing the press service of the Ministry of Construction, Architecture and Municipal Housing Services. According to the press service, this is the first time in the history of independent Ukraine that such a large sum will be spent on the restoration of St. Sophia. The state budget will allocate 5 million hrv; the municipal budget will furnish 26.5 million, and the Donetsk region will supply 15 million in the form of philanthropic contributions. The project's top priority tasks include the restoration of the metropolitan's building on the premises of St. Sophia. (The Day Weekly Digest)

Kinakh receives Lithuanian medal

KYIV - Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Anatolii Kinakh, while on a working visit to Lithuania on February 16, was decorated with the Cross of Commander of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. Mr. Kinakh received the high order from President Valdas Adamkus of Lithuania together with other foreign political figures, who, according to the Lithuanian leadership, made a significant contribution to the modern history of the state. The order was also awarded to Belgian Defense Minister Andre Flahaut, an active supporter of Lithuania's integration with Euro-Atlantic entities, and to Georgian State Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration Giorgi Baramidze. (Ukrinform)

First liturgy at UGCC cathedral

KYIV - The first liturgy was celebrated at the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church's Patriarchal Cathedral of the Holy Resurrection in Kyiv on January 19. The liturgy was celebrated in the basement of the church, as construction of the church continues. The principal celebrant of the liturgy was Patriarch Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC. Liturgies will now be celebrated in the basement of the church only on Sundays; on weekdays, liturgies will be held at a temporary location on the territory of the construction site. The construction of the patriarchal church should be completed in 2007. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

UOC-MP recalls "Lviv Sobor"

KYIV - The Synod of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) held its first regular session of the year, headed by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sabodan, head of the UOC-MP, at the Kyivan Monastery of the Caves on February 9. At the beginning of the session, Metropolitan Volodymyr emphasized "the importance of the Lviv Church Sobor [Assembly] of 1946 for the history of Orthodoxy in Ukraine. This year we will celebrate its 60th anniversary." The synod "decided to honor this historical event." As a result, a special committee was created, headed by Archbishop Serhii Hensytskyi of Ternopil and Kremenets. The so-called Lviv Sobor was held on March 8-10, 1946, with clergy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) who were forcibly assembled by Soviet authorities. The "sobor" declared that the UGCC had ended its union with Rome and "returned" to the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church. All the bishops of the UGCC and many priests, religious and faithful were then imprisoned or sent to hard labor camps. The UGCC, which was liquidated by the Soviet government, went underground for more than 40 years, during which it was the largest illegal religious organization in the world. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Ukraine releases Putin coin

KYIV - Within the framework of an all-Ukrainian and international event geared toward popularizing the hryvnia and on the occasion of 10th anniversary of its introduction into circulation, the presentation of the souvenir coin "President Vladimir Putin of Russia" took place on February 8. According to the chairman of the Public Council, Valentyn Khaletskyi, the sketch and design of the coin were agreed upon with Mr. Putin. Coins with images of Yulia Tymoshenko, Viktor Yanukovych, Leonid Kuchma and Leonid Kravchuk had been issued earlier. (Ukrinform)

Religious relics returned to Crimea

SYMFEROPOL - A relic reputed to be a piece of the true cross of Jesus Christ, and other relics which were taken from Crimea in 1943, were returned to Ukraine on January 24. A delegation headed by Metropolitan Lazar (Shvets) of Symferopol and Crimea of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) welcomed at the Symferopol airport an ark containing a piece of the true cross of Christ, and relics of St. Paraskeva and the martyr St. Panteleimon. Because the relics had been in danger for decades because of religious repression under the Soviet regime, they were taken out of Crimea in 1943. First they went to France; since 1971, they had been kept at a monastery in Jerusalem. When it became known that the Crimean relics were being kept in Jerusalem, Metropolitan Lazar contacted Archbishop Mark of Berlin-Germany and Great Britain, overseer of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, with the request to return the ark with the relics to the St. Paraskeva Women's Monastery of the UOC-MP's Symferopol-Crimea Eparchy. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 26, 2006, No. 13, Vol. LXXIV

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