NEWSBRIEFS

Lawmakers differ on session agenda

KYIV - The newly formed parliamentary coalition - Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party of Ukraine - wants to swear in judges of the Constitutional Court on June 27, UNIAN reported on June 26, quoting Ivan Bokyi, a member of the Verkhovna Rada's interim presidium. Mr. Bokyi added that the opposition Party of the Regions and the Communist Party are "decidedly" against this idea, demanding that the Parliament elect the chairman and constitute parliamentary committees first. Mykola Katerynchuk of Our Ukraine told journalists that the Communist Party is planning to block the parliamentary rostrum and prevent President Viktor Yushchenko from entering the session hall if the coalition pushes for the swear-in ceremony. The Constitutional Court has been inactive for nearly a year, because opposition lawmakers refused to invest its judges, fearing that President Viktor Yushchenko may ask the court to cancel the 2004 constitutional reform. Last month Mr. Yushchenko threatened not to grant the coalition's request that he submit its preferred prime-ministerial candidate to the Verkhovna Rada for approval if the legislature fails to swear in the constitutional judges. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Regions blocs Verkhovna Rada session

KYIV - The Party of the Regions on June 28 blocked the parliamentary session hall for a second day, protesting what it sees as the ruling coalition's violations of parliamentary procedures in appointing the parliamentary leadership, Ukrainian media reported. In particular, the Party of the Regions objects to the plan of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party of Ukraine to appoint the prime minister and parliament chairman via a single, open ballot. "It is an absurdity to unite the two different branches of power in a single package," Mykola Azarov of the Party of the Regions told UNIAN. The Party of the Regions also protests the coalition's alleged intention to head the overwhelming majority of parliamentary committees. "These 'democrats' are going to deprive the opposition of any possibility of influencing the activity of Parliament and monitoring the work (or idleness) of the authorities," the Party of the Regions said in a statement on June 27. The newly recreated Orange coalition in the Verkhovna Rada intends to hold a vote on the approval of the nominees for prime minister and parliament chairman - Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko, respectively - on June 29. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Trade unions protest utility price hikes

KYIV - Some 15,000 people gathered on Independence Square in Kyiv on June 27 to protest increases in payments for electricity and gas supplies, as well as for housing and public transport, UNIAN reported. The rally was organized by Ukraine's Federation of Trade Unions. At the end of May, the government decided to nearly double consumer gas prices as of July 1. It was the second gas price hike this year in Ukraine, following a Ukrainian-Russian deal in January that increased the gas price for Ukraine from $50 to $95 per 1,000 cubic meters. Gazprom officials have indicated that this price may be revised upward as of July. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Schroeder assures Europe of gas supplies

SCHWERIN, Germany - Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who heads the stockholders' oversight body for the planned North European Gas Pipeline (NEGP) running from Vyborg to Greifswald, said in Schwerin on June 23 that mutual dependency between Russia and Europe is increasing because of growing European imports of Russian gas, Deutsche Welle reported. He stressed that the NEGP is of "great strategic importance, not just for Germany but also for all Western Europe." Mr. Schroeder added that "there have never been problems [with Russian gas deliveries to Germany], and I am sure that there never will be." He expressed understanding for Russian allegations that Ukraine is a destabilizing factor in energy supplies because gas is illegally siphoned off in transit through that country. Mr. Schroeder was accompanied by Matthias Warnig, who heads Dresdner Bank's operations in Russia, is chief executive of the NEGP and has been widely linked to the former East Germany's Stasi secret police. Mr. Warnig stressed that the NEGP is observing strict environmental standards. He added that construction of the pipeline will begin in mid-2008 as scheduled and that the first Russian gas will arrive in Germany in October 2010. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Does Russia meet G-8 standards?

LONDON - London's Foreign Policy Center, which is a think-tank under the patronage of Prime Minister Tony Blair, said in a new report that President Vladimir Putin's Russia does not meet either the political or the economic criteria for membership in the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries, of which Russia is the current chair, Reuters reported on June 25. Hugh Barnes, who wrote the study, argued that "Putin's record is no longer in doubt. He has systematically dismantled Russian democracy and that very fact in some ways makes a mockery of the G-8." Mr. Barnes noted that Russia's economy is expected to move up from the 12th largest to the 10th, but it is still far from being in the top eight. "Moscow's leadership of the G-8 is in danger of reducing the group's credibility and relevance to zero," he noted. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Putin: Russia can choose friends

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin said in Moscow on June 27 that Russia "does not question the right of [neighboring] states to decide their fate. But this means we also have the right to choose [our] friends," Russian news agencies reported. Alluding to the recent Ukrainian gas crisis, he argued that "it's difficult to understand why [Gazprom's] natural and transparent decision to put settlements for gas with some of our neighbors onto a market footing has caused such an outburst of emotions." Mr. Putin suggested that "some people look at us through a prism of past prejudices and see a growing threat in Russia's strength. Some are ready to accuse us of rekindling 'neo-imperial ambitions' or...'energy blackmail.'" He conceded, however, that Gazprom's move to raise gas prices "could and should have been explained in advance." The Russian president said that all of the criticism he has heard has been political and not economic in nature. He noted that he has "not heard any doubts from any one of our partners ... over the economic justification of Russia's actions. All the criticism of a purely economic issue was exclusively political in nature. ... We are ready to cooperate and compete, but based on honest, common rules of play. The principle [from classical mythology] of 'what is permitted to Jupiter is not permitted to an ox' is unacceptable for modern Russia." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko to review gas deal

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, who is expected to return to post of prime minister in a freshly forged ruling coalition of her bloc with Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party, said on June 22 that the issue of gas supplies to Ukraine must be thoroughly revised, Ukrainian and international media reported. "All the relations on gas supplies to Ukraine now require further deep revision and review. And, of course, we must build new agreements on a friendly basis with the Russian Federation, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan," Ms. Tymoshenko told journalists in Kyiv, shortly after the parliamentary session where she announced the restoration of the 2004 Orange Revolution coalition. In early January, Russia's Gazprom increased the price of gas supplied to Ukraine from $50 to $95 per 1,000 cubic meters. Revision of this deal was a major issue in Ms. Tymoshenko's campaign for the March 26 parliamentary elections in Ukraine. Gazprom reacted to Ms. Tymoshenko's statement by saying that it opens the way for "a new gas crisis," according to Interfax. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gazprom slams Tymoshenko's statement

MOSCOW - Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov said in Moscow on June 22 that recent statements by Ukrainian Prime Minister-designate Yulia Tymoshenko about reconsidering Ukraine's gas agreements with Russia are "threats that could lead to a new gas crisis," RIA Novosti reported. He added that "we believe that [her] words again prove that Ukraine is regrettably the weak link in the chain of Russia's gas supplies to Europe." He called Ms. Tymoshenko's remarks "a new alarm bell ringing for Europe." Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who heads the stockholders' oversight body for the planned North European Gas Pipeline running from Vyborg to Greifswald, expressed similar views about Ukraine in Moscow on June 19. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S., EU concerned about Russia

VIENNA - President George W. Bush and European Union leaders issued a joint statement at their summit in Vienna on June 21 in which they stressed the importance of relations with Russia, while expressing strong misgivings over some of its policies, international media reported. "We attach great importance to our relationship with Russia and are pursuing deeper cooperation on a range of issues of common interest, including some important foreign policy issues, nonproliferation, and counterterrorism," the statement noted. The leaders added, however, that they are concerned about the state of civil liberties in Russia as well as about President Vladimir Putin's stand on several international issues, including Iran's nuclear project, relations with Hamas and support for the Belarusian leadership. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russia: post-Soviet conflicts off-limits

MOSCOW - Foreign Ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in Moscow on June 22 that Russia is not willing to discuss the so-called "frozen conflicts" in former Soviet republics at meetings of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries, Interfax reported. "We are ready to discuss any topical international issues with the partners. There are no forbidden issues for us," he said, referring to the willingness of some Western leaders to discuss South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Transdniester and Russian-Georgian relations at the upcoming G-8 foreign-ministerial meeting in Moscow or at the St. Petersburg summit in July. He added, however, that "it would be reasonable to limit the G-8 agenda to issues where accord is possible and real assistance can be given. ... The G-8 political agenda is so full that it should hardly be burdened with the settlement of particular conflicts, which is the concern of special international agencies experienced in such areas. ... Sustainable progress within the framework of the existent settlement mechanisms, in particular those of the Georgia-Ossetia and Georgia-Abkhazia conflicts, and the emphasis on confidence-building measures, the social and economic rehabilitation of conflict zones, and the return of refugees and temporarily displaced persons would meet our common interests best." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine-Moldova customs rules to remain

CHISINAU - During a visit to the Moldovan capital on June 26, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk said Kyiv will not reverse new customs rules on the Transdniestrian section of its border with Moldova, ITAR-TASS reported the same day. "Helping Moldova restore its territorial integrity is a duty of Ukraine. I doubt that the new government of Yulia Tymoshenko will change the approach regarding the customs regime in the Dniester region, as it was in principle approved when she was prime minister," Mr. Tarasyuk said at a meeting with Moldovan Parliament Chairman Marian Lupu. Moldova and Ukraine implemented the new regulations in early March. The rules, designed to combat smuggling, are supported by the European Union and require that all goods bound for Ukraine that move through the Transdniestrian section of the border clear Moldovan customs and have a Moldovan stamp. Russia and the pro-Moscow regime in Transdniester have called the move an "economic blockade." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 2, 2006, No. 27, Vol. LXXIV

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