NEWSBRIEFS (11/26/06)

NEWSBRIEFS

President wants probe into gas company

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said on November 17 that UkrGazEnergo, a company created by RosUkrEnergo and Naftohaz Ukrayiny to sell imported gas to consumers in Ukraine, has posed a "threat to national security" by refusing to supply gas to 16 major industrial enterprises in the country, Interfax-Ukraine reported, quoting the presidential press service. Mr. Yushchenko ordered that the Anti-Monopoly Committee investigate the case and to find out if UkrGazEnergo has violated anti-monopoly legislation. The Financial Times on November 18 quoted Ukrainian energy analyst Volodymyr Saprykin as saying that UkrGazEnergo is being used as an instrument to put pressure on Ukrainian industrial giants in order to compel them "to fall under the ownership of Russian companies, possibly even Gazprom affiliates." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Liberalization of housing sector urged

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) in Kyiv on November 17 that the housing and utilities sector in Ukraine is in a profound crisis and this poses a threat to national security, Interfax-Ukraine reported. "The technical state of major assets of housing companies is critical; the efficiency of technological processes in the sector is still low; it is traditionally unprofitable and the process to liberalize utility tariffs is very politicized," he said. "In fact, the state is a monopolistic owner of the services. It limits options that businesspeople can offer more efficiently," the president added. According to the Ukrayinska Pravda website, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Moroz quit the NSDC meeting to protest what they reportedly saw as the president's meddling with the Cabinet's prerogatives. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yushchenko to veto bill on Cabinet

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko told journalists in Kyiv on November 17 that he will veto the bill on the Cabinet of Ministers that was passed in the first reading by the Verkhovna Rada the previous day, Interfax-Ukraine reported. The endorsed bill was drafted by experts from the Cabinet of Ministers. Two other bills on the Cabinet of Ministers, one authored by the president and the other by a group of lawmakers, have also been submitted to Parliament. "When we are speaking about the discussion and passing of the bill on the Cabinet of Ministers, both the government and the Verkhovna Rada went about it the wrong way, I believe," Mr. Yushchenko said, adding that the issue should be agreed on by the government, the president and the legislature within a working group consisting of representatives of each branch of power. The president added that any attempt to pass this bill "unilaterally" has no prospects. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Foreign, defense ministers questioned

KYIV - Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk and Defense Minister Anatolii Hrytsenko delivered reports in the Verkhovna Rada on November 15 on their Cabinet performance, as they were requested to do by Parliament last month, Ukrainian media reported. Lawmakers from the ruling coalition of the Party of the Regions, the Socialist Party and the Communist Party criticized Ministers Tarasyuk and Hrytsenko for what they saw as their unsatisfactory work and negligence in office. The Verkhovna Rada failed to pass any resolution on either minister during its morning sitting. Messrs. Tarasyuk and Hrytsenko were nominated to their Cabinet posts by President Viktor Yushchenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada delays decision on two ministers

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on November 15 backed away from a motion to fire Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk and Defense Minister Anatolii Hrytsenko and postponed its decision on the issue by two weeks, Ukrainian media reported. Earlier the same day, Ministers Tarasyuk and Hrytsenko, who were nominated for their posts by President Viktor Yushchenko, delivered reports on their work to the Verkhovna Rada and responded to accusations of poor performance and negligence in office. Mr. Tarasyuk told journalists that only the Constitutional Court can rule whether Parliament has the right to dismiss ministers nominated by the president. "The Constitution, which was amended hastily [in December 2004], does not stipulate how these ministers [appointed by the president] can be dismissed. There is a legal collision here, whether the Verkhovna Rada can dismiss the two ministers [Tarasyuk and Hrytsenko] without a presidential request. I don't think it can, because there is a notion of analogy in law: if the dismissal procedure is not defined while the appointment procedure is, legal analogy must apply and the same procedure should be used," Mr. Tarasyuk asserted. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lutsenko suspected of corruption

KYIV - Deputy Procurator General Renat Kuzmin said in a television interview on November 14 that Ukrainian prosecutors believe that Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko has been involved in corruption, Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Kuzmin said the alleged corruption is linked to an investigation into the killing earlier this year of Roman Yerokhin, a colonel in the Internal Affairs Ministry. Asked by a journalist to be more specific about Mr. Lutsenko's alleged corrupt actions, Mr. Kuzmin said the issue involves the "unlawful promotion of police officers, unlawful issue of combat handguns to individuals who have no right to carry weapons, and a lot of other [violations]." Mr. Lutsenko was one of President Viktor Yushchenko's nominees to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court fines internal affairs minister

KYIV - A district court in Kyiv on November 20 fined Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko the equivalent of some $70, finding him guilty of unlawfully promoting police officers and unlawfully presenting pistols in the form of Internal Affairs Ministry awards to two subordinates, Ukrainian media reported. Yurii Bergelson, Mr. Lutsenko's lawyer, told journalists that the court declared Mr. Lutsenko's actions unlawful and punishable under a law on corruption, but it did not conclude that Mr. Lutsenko had benefited personally from these actions. Last week, Deputy Procurator General Renat Kuzmin said in a television interview that Lutsenko was involved in corruption linked to unlawful promotions and issuing handguns. Mr. Lutsenko, formally with no party affiliation, was proposed to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych by President Viktor Yushchenko. Mr. Lutsenko was known as one of the most prominent "field commanders" of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which helped Mr. Yushchenko win the presidential post. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Baloha: verdict is politically motivated

KYIV - Presidential Secretariat head Viktor Baloha has commented that the court ruling against Internal Affairs Minister Lutsenko may be a link in a longer chain leading to his potential dismissal, the Ukrayinska Pravda website reported on November 20. "I will say straightforwardly: A brutal discrediting campaign has been launched against the current internal affairs minister, an outstanding activist of the Orange team of President Yushchenko. There has been an apparent political order to remove Lutsenko from his post by any means," Mr. Baloha said. "The court could not find any motives of personal gain in [Lutsenko's] actions but called him a corrupt official, despite the fact that everybody knows that there is no corruption without personal gain," he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Health minister wants to stay on

KYIV - Health Minister Yurii Poliachenko said on November 15 that he is ready to stay in Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's government, Interfax-Ukraine reported. Mr. Poliachenko added that he does not support the decision of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine People's Union to go into opposition. Mr. Poliachenko was appointed health minister in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov in September 2005 and proposed by Our Ukraine for the same job in the Yanukovych Cabinet in August 2006. After the Our Ukraine parliamentary caucus decided to go into opposition in October, Mr. Poliachenko and three other ministers proposed by Our Ukraine tendered their resignations. The Verkhovna Rada on November 1 accepted the resignations of Justice Minister Roman Zvarych and Culture Minister Ihor Likhovyi. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Polish PM vows to extend oil pipeline

KYIV - Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski pledged in Kyiv on November 15 that Warsaw will work toward extending Ukraine's Odesa-Brody oil pipeline to Plock in Poland, thus making it possible for Caspian oil to reach Poland and Europe in a detour of Russia, Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Kaczynski said there is sufficient financial support to complete the project, but did not elaborate. He also declined to give a precise completion date, saying only that the pipeline link "will be a top-priority bilateral project." The Polish prime minister met in Kyiv with President Viktor Yushchenko, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, and opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko. (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S., Russian presidents affirm WTO deal

MOSCOW - U.S. President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed at a brief Moscow meeting on November 15 that they expect to sign a bilateral agreement in Hanoi, Vietnam, on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on November 19, paving the way for Russia's admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Russian and international media reported. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the session "extremely positive and friendly." President Putin's aide Sergei Prikhodko said that the U.S. administration's decision shows that it has "the political will to promote trade and economic and political ties with Russia. It is a tribute to Bush and the U.S. leadership." Iran, the Middle East and Kosovo were among the other topics that the two presidents discussed. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian-Russian rocket delivers satellite

KYIV- The Ukrainian-Russian carrier rocket Zenit 3SL was successfully launched on October 31 from the Odyssey Launch Platform in the Pacific Ocean. The rocket was launched under the Sea Launch Program to deliver the American satellite XM-4 of the XM Satellite Radio company to orbit. A ground station has already acquired the spacecraft's first signals. The launch was implemented by the Sea Launch Co., which is a leading company in the provision of such services and is the only company capable of launching rockets from the sea. The Sea Launch Program was established in 1995 among the Ukrainian Pivdenne State Design Office and the production enterprise PivdenMash, the American company Boeing, the British-Norwegian Kvaerner Group and the Russian Energiya Corp. (Ukrinform)

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