NEWSBRIEFS (07/16/06)

NEWSBRIEFS

Former allies react to Moroz's election

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, whose eponymous bloc was part of the Orange coalition, responded on July 7 to the election of Oleksander Moroz by calling on President Viktor Yushchenko to disband Parliament. The same day, the deputy head of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine faction, Roman Zvarych, said that Our Ukraine will consider leaving any democratic coalition in which the Socialists participate and instead become an opposition party. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moroz announces new coalition

KYIV - Verkhovna Rada speaker Oleksander Moroz on July 11 announced the creation of a new coalition, which includes lawmakers from the Party of the Regions, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, Interfax reported. Mr. Moroz also notified the Parliament of the dissolution of the Orange coalition. Yulia Tymoshenko, the head of the eponymous bloc and the leader of the dissolved coalition, described the new coalition on July 10 as "an illegal majority." The Socialist Party, Ms. Tymoshenko argued, endorsed Orange principles and the Communist Party pledged to fight against corruption, but both formations joined "the clan of criminal oligarchs." The Parliament session descended into chaos as lawmakers scuffled before the new coalition was announced, and afterwards Orange parties' members blocked the rostrum preventing further debate. Lawmakers from President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party appealed to the president to call new elections. Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of the Regions, said his party does not support elections, but does not fear them. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada session erupts into chaos

KYIV - Members of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc successfully disrupted the July 11 session of the Verkhovna Rada, using megaphones equipped with sirens to drown out Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz, international news agencies reported. Scuffles broke out when members of the Socialist Party attempted to seize the megaphones, and when members of the Party of the Regions and the Tymoshenko Bloc jostled in their efforts to control the rostrum. The Tymoshenko Bloc was protesting the recent formation of the Anti-Crisis Coalition, comprising the Socialist Party, the Party of the Regions and the Communist Party. During the session, Socialist Party Chairman Moroz officially announced the alliance. Two weeks earlier, the Socialist Party joined the Orange coalition with Our Ukraine and the Tymoshenko Bloc. Mr. Moroz reportedly sent the new coalition's nomination for prime minister - Party of Regions Chairman Viktor Yanukovych - to President Viktor Yushchenko. Outside the Parliament building, more than 1,000 supporters of the Party of the Regions gathered to support the new coalition and Mr. Yanukovych's candidacy for the prime ministership. They held placards such as: "Broad Coalition - Guarantor of State Stability," "Yulia, Calm Down" and "Viktors, Unite Ukraine." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Coalition's legitimacy questioned

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has questioned the legitimacy of the coalition created by the Party of the Regions, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party, Interfax reported on July 11, quoting presidential administration head Oleh Rybachuk. Mr. Rybachuk said that the formation of the new Anti-Crisis Coalition violates the Constitution of Ukraine and the Parliament's regulations. Under the regulations, any participant that wants to leave a coalition is required to inform his partners about the move 10 days in advance. Mr. Rybachuk also noted that the president on July 25 will have the right to dissolve Parliament if a government is not formed by that time. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko expects new elections

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko announced on July 11 that her bloc does not intend to participate in future Parliament sessions and is preparing for new elections, Interfax reported. "If fresh elections take place, our party will definitely participate in them in a union with Our Ukraine," she said, adding that the Socialist Party and the Communist Party could find themselves left out of Verkhovna Rada following new elections. "I believe that if early elections are held, a transition to a two-party system will take place,," Ms. Tymoshenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Regions calls for end to confrontation

KYIV - Yevhen Kushnariov, the leader of the Party of the Regions caucus in the Verkhovna Rada, has urged President Viktor Yushchenko to call on the Our Ukraine faction to abandon what he described as its policy of confrontation, Interfax reported on July 11. "The people of Ukraine are witnessing an aggressive and meaningless position assumed by two 'Orange' factions - the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine. They are demonstrating their cynicism and their profound disrespect for the Ukrainian Parliament and the Ukrainian people," Mr. Kushnariov said. He admitted that the Party of the Regions has blocked the work of the Verkhovna Rada, but said it did so to protest attempts by the Orange coalition to violate the country's Constitution and to usurp power. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rybachuk meets with EU, G-8 envoys

KYIV - Presidential Secretariat Chief of Staff Oleh Rybachuk met with European Union and G-8 ambassadors to discuss the current parliamentary crisis. He said President Viktor Yushchenko was going to meet with parliamentary leaders and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz on July 12 in order to jointly resolve the conflict. Mr. Rybachuk added that the president would be able to dissolve the Parliament on July 25 because "no government will probably be formed by that time." He added, "However, this is the last tool the president can use. He will not do it [dismiss Parliament] if there is the slightest chance to make the Verkhovna Rada compromise and unite Ukraine," he said. Mr. Rybachuk said the president insisted that parliamentarians should observe the Constitution and other laws, and expected them to work constructively. (Official Website of the President of Ukraine)

Ukrainian minister talks with Gazprom

KYIV - Fuel and Energy Minister Ivan Plachkov held talks with Gazprom Deputy Chairman Aleksandr Ryazanov to obtain guarantees that Gazprom will supply Ukraine with 16.9 billion cubic meters of gas at $95 per 1,000 cubic meters in October-November 2006, Kommersant-Ukrayiny reported on July 7. In return, according to the newspaper, the Ukrainian side offered to support Gazprom in agreeing to a united position on the question of further purchases of Turkmen gas. Kommersant-Ukrayiny added that Mr. Plachkov agreed to pay off all debts Ukraine owes Gazprom by the end of August and to convene a meeting of the founders of the International Consortium for the Management and Development of the Ukrainian Gas Transportation System on July 12. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bush to speak to Putin 'frankly'

MOSCOW - Stephen Hadley, who is President George W. Bush's national security adviser, said in Moscow on July 10 that at the Group of Eight (G-8) summit Mr. Bush will raise concerns about Russian democracy with President Vladimir Putin "frankly but privately," Reuters reported. Mr. Hadley noted that President Bush has a good relationship with the Russian president, "and one of the reasons he does is because he thinks it is important for him to be able to sit down privately with President Putin and speak his mind and for President Putin to feel comfortable to do the same." For his part, Mr. Putin told the BBC on July 10 that he considers President Bush "my friend" and a man with whom he can comfortably do business. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leaders invited to Babyn Yar forum

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has invited world leaders and heads of international organizations to a forum marking the 65th anniversary of the Babyn Yar tragedy. The president said he believes such events will be "an integral part of the continuous international effort to honor the victims of Nazism." Babyn Yar, the site of a mass grave of thousands of people massacred by German Nazi SS squads, is one of the first tragic pages of the Holocaust, but Ukrainians remember it as the place where thousands of Soviet prisoners of war were tortured and killed, he said. "We have a chance to remind the world and particularly the young generation of the importance of remembering the lessons of history and preventing anti-Semitism, xenophobia and ethnic intolerance," he added. (Official Website of the President of Ukraine)

Putin slams U.S. vice-president

MOSCOW - President Vladimir Putin told Western television broadcasters in Moscow on July 12 that he will listen to what he called "well-intentioned criticism" at the upcoming summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries, international and Russian news agencies reported. Mr. Putin stressed, however, that he rejects any attempts to "interfere" in Russia's domestic affairs, by whatever means, and under whatever pretext, "including the idea that our society needs democratization ... We consider this absolutely unacceptable." The Russian president characterized U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's criticism two months ago of several aspects of Russian policy "a failed hunting shot." Mr. Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a friend during a quail hunt in February. Mr. Putin also said that Mr. Cheney's concerns about Russia engaging in "energy blackmail do not seem sincere and hence are unconvincing." The Russian president likened Western criticism of his country's democracy to the colonialist mentality of a century ago. "There are differences between countries, and it could be very dangerous to ignore these," he added. Defending himself against Western critics who say that Russia does not meet the political or economic criteria for G-8 membership, Mr. Putin said that he considers Russian membership in that body "natural." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lithuania slams Russian 'blackmail'

BERLIN - Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said in Berlin on July 11 that Russia is using energy policy as a form of "blackmail," the dpa news service reported. Mr. Adamkus charged that Moscow responded to Lithuania's recent decision to sell a refinery to a Polish company instead of a Russian one with "hints that crude oil deliveries could be halted. This has nothing to do with world market prices. I call that political blackmail." He added, "Those who control your energy supply control you politically. This is unacceptable." President Adamkus urged the Russian authorities to guarantee their pledges of gas and oil deliveries at the upcoming G-8 summit. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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