NEWSBRIEFS (09/03/06)

NEWSBRIEFS

Memorial unveiled to Kruty heroes

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko on August 25 took part in the unveiling ceremony of a memorial for young Ukrainians who fought for an independent Ukraine in 1918 against the Moscow-led Bolsheviks, Channel 5 reported. The memorial was erected in the settlement of Kruty in Chernihiv Oblast, where in January 1918 several hundred Ukrainian students from Kyiv fell in an unequal battle against Bolshevik troops advancing on the Ukrainian capital. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Probe ordered into Chornovil's death

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said on August 23 that he has decreed a new investigation be opened into the death of Ukrainian politician Vyacheslav Chornovil (1937-1999), a Soviet-era dissident and an ardent advocate of Ukraine's independence, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Mr. Yushchenko was speaking during an unveiling ceremony for a monument to Mr. Chornovil in Kyiv. "I just want to say that the investigation of this murder is a matter of dignity and professional commitment for Ukraine's government and law-enforcement agencies," Mr. Yushchenko noted. Mr. Chornovil was killed in a car crash in the Kyiv Oblast on March 26, 1999. A number of politicians characterized Mr. Chornovil's death as suspicious, but an investigation launched at the time concluded that the crash was indeed an accident. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Fuel minister discusses gas supplies

KYIV - Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Yurii Boiko visited Moscow on August 22 to discuss gas supplies to Ukraine with Gazprom chief Aleksei Miller, Ukrainian media reported. Quoting an unidentified source in Gazprom, the Kommersant-Ukraine website wrote on August 23 that Mr. Boiko urged Gazprom to consider the anticipated gas deficit in Ukraine in 2006 to the amount of 8 billion cubic meters as a "common" problem. "We were told straight out that the gas-deficit problem in Ukraine is a shared one," the Russian source told Kommersant-Ukraine. "And that this problem should be resolved jointly, otherwise Russian gas transit [via Ukraine] to Europe cannot be guaranteed in full. Ukraine has proposed two ways to resolve this problem: either to jointly pressure Turkmenistan into setting a price for its gas not higher than $75 per 1,000 cubic meters or to sell an additional 8 billion cubic meters from underground storage facilities of RosUkrEnergo and UkrGasEnergo [intermediaries in gas settlements between Gazprom and Ukraine] at a price of $95 per 1,000 cubic meters." Meanwhile, Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych assured the BBC on August 22 that Kyiv is not going to siphon off Russian gas intended for Europe from underground reservoirs in Ukraine this coming winter. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Russian plane crashes near Donetsk

MOSCOW -- On August 22, 170 people died when a Pulkovo Airlines flight from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg crashed near Donetsk in Ukraine, leaving no survivors, news.ru reported. This was the 98th reported crash of a Tupolev-154 since 1973. Pulkovo is one of Russia's largest airlines and widely regarded as among the best. Initial speculation for the reasons for the crash included lightning, a cabin fire and human error. Some eyewitnesses said the plane was intact when it hit the ground. A spokeswoman for the Russian Emergency Situations Ministry at first ruled out a terrorist attack. But on August 23, RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed Russian Internal Affairs Ministry "high-ranking source" as saying that a contingent from the ministry's Department for the Fight Against Organized Crime And Terrorism (DOPT) had left for Ukraine to join in the investigation and explore the possibility that the crash was due to terrorism. Officials from the Russian and Ukrainian Internal Affairs and Emergency Situations ministries are conducting the investigation. President Vladimir Putin has ordered Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov to set up a commission to look into the crash. The flight data recorder and voice recorder have been recovered. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Investigation, speculation on crash

MOSCOW - August 24 was an official day of mourning for the 170 people who died on August 22, when a Pulkovo Airlines flight from the Russian Black Sea resort of Anapa to St. Petersburg crashed near Donetsk in Ukraine, leaving no survivors. The investigation at the site of the crash is nearly complete, and the authorities in Moscow hope to have information from the flight data recorder and voice recorder soon, Ekho Moskvy radio reported. Most speculation in the Russian media on August 24 about the cause of the crash near Donetsk centers on complications from a storm, including but not limited to lightning, news.ru reported. The daily Kommersant on August 24 quoted an unnamed official of the Internal Affairs Ministry, which has counterterrorism experts on the scene, as saying that terrorism remains a possible explanation but seems unlikely. He argued that the debris from the plane would have been scattered over a large area had a bomb exploded on the plane during flight, whereas the wreckage has in fact been found in a compact area. Eyewitnesses reported that the plane was intact when it went down. Moskovsky Komsomolets, however, said that the apparent absence of a report from the plane to flight controllers of a fire on board or other accident suggests that the plane crashed due to a sudden development, which would not exclude terrorism. Novye Izvestia argued that the pilot lacked experience flying in storms and that all pilots are under pressure from the airlines to conserve fuel. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung quoted Sergei Mironov, who is speaker of the Russian Federation Council, as saying that Russian airlines need more modern planes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Azarov optimistic on gas price

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said in an interview with the Profil-Ukrayina weekly on August 28 that the Ukrainian government expects to obtain gas from Russia in 2007 at a price of $135 per 1,000 cubic meters. "We are basing [our expectation] on an optimistic scenario of developments. In actual fact, the situation may be worse, or it may be better," Mr. Azarov said. "If the gas price is higher [than $135], the Cabinet of Ministers will be ready for that - our budget envisions a stabilization fund of nearly 3 billion hrv ($600 million)," Mr. Azarov added. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told the Russian television channel Vesti 24 on August 28 that he expects the price of gas imported by Ukraine in 2007 to rise "insignificantly." Mr. Yanukovych did not name any specific figure. Ukraine currently pays $95 per 1,000 cubic meters of an imported Russian-Turkmen gas mix. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Latvia honors Boris Yeltsin

RIGA - On August 22 Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, with its highest award in gratitude for what she described as his "historic" role in the liberation of Latvia from Soviet rule, dpa and ITAR-TASS reported. As president, Mr. Yeltsin agreed to the Baltic state's independence in 1991 and then oversaw the withdrawal of Russian forces from Latvian territory. Also on August 22, a group of ethnic Russians in Latvia accused Mr. Yeltsin in an open letter of "betraying" them by accepting the award. (RFE/RL Newsline)

200 churches to be built in Kyiv

KYIV - Kyiv's City Board of Building, Architecture and Design is working on a plan to allocate space on which to construct approximately 200 houses of worship. The spaces will then be divided among the largest religious denominations, ua.korrespondent.net reported on August 8. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate has made the most requests for land, followed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church - Kyiv Patriarchate and various Protestant Churches. The Kyiv City Administration will then divide the lots among the denominations. The main criteria will be the needs of the population, the financial means of the religious organizations and the location nearby of other churches. For example, if a land lot is located in a neighborhood that already has an Orthodox church, the new territory will be designated for another denomination. The plan for distributing land lots among the denominations will be ready by December 1 and will then be sent to the Kyiv City Council for approval. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Immigrants gather at Fatima

FATIMA, Portugal - The annual Day of the Immigrant was celebrated at the World Pilgrimage Center in Fatima, Portugal, on August 12-13. This year the celebration was dedicated to Ukrainian immigrants. According to the press secretariat of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC), Portugal now has more than 67,000 legal immigrants from Ukraine, and it is estimated there are nearly 300,000 total immigrants from Ukraine in the country. There were 150,000 immigrants at the celebration. The UGCC was represented by Bishop Dionisii Liakhovych, who is responsible for the pastoral care of immigrants. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Vinskyi predicts opposition alliance

KYIV - National Deputy Yosyp Vinskyi, former secretary of the Political Council of the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU), told journalists in Kyiv on August 29 that an "interfactional opposition alliance" in the Verkhovna Rada may include 150 to 160 deputies by this fall, UNIAN reported. According to Mr. Vinskyi, such an alliance may be formed by the opposition Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (129 parliamentary mandates) and those deputies from the SPU and Our Ukraine who have not agreed to their parties' decisions earlier this month to form a ruling coalition with the Party of the Regions. Mr. Vinskyi accused SPU leader Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz of betraying the party's program and demanded that he give up the party's leadership at an upcoming party congress. "Will the Socialist Party remain a socialist organization, or is it turning into a servant of the Party of the Regions? The [SPU] Political Council and parliamentary faction have violated at least 10 of their key programmatic tenets by joining the coalition with the Party of the Regions," Mr. Vinskyi said. He resigned his position in the SPU Political Council earlier this month in protest against his colleagues' decision to support the government headed by Party of the Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine's ambassador visits Ohio

WASHINGTON - On August 25-27 Ambassador of Ukraine Oleh Shamshur visited the state of Ohio, meeting with Gov. Bob Taft, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and the leadership of the state's Ukrainian community and business circles. During the meetings the Ukrainian ambassador discussed Ukrainian-American bilateral relations at a regional level and stressed the efforts of the Ukrainian government toward the deepening sister-cities relationships between the Kharkiv region and the State of Ohio. Ambassador Shamshur also had meetings with Ukraine's Honorary Consul to Cleveland Andrew J. Futey and the leadership of Selfreliance Federal Credit Union, and visited the "Pysanyi Kamin" campground of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization in Middlefield and the Ukrainian Museum-Archives in Cleveland. He also participated in events dedicated to the 15th anniversary of Ukraine's independence that took place in Parma on August 27. Ambassador Shamshur visited festive services at St. Vladimir's Orthodox Church and St. Pokrova Ukrainian Catholic Church, and delivered a speech before the Ukrainian community. During his stay in Ohio, the ambassador gave a number of interviews to American and Ukrainian community news media. (Embassy of Ukraine in the United States)

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