"UKRAINE REPORT 2003"
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"

"In other words, the saga continues of how, since independence, Ukraine
has been run by those who are driving it into the ground out to serve their
own purely personal interests. Its ruling class, having evolved out of Party
and Komsomol structures dedicated to the struggle against Ukrainian
'bourgeois nationalism' seem to have little or no commitment to Ukrainians
as a nation or Ukraine as a state." [article two]

"UKRAINE REPORT 2003," Number 113
U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF)
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, morganw@patriot.net
SAT-SUN, DECEMBER 13-14, 2003

INDEX OF ARTICLES:

1. PM YANUKOVYCH CALLS ON PARLIAMENT TO SUPPORT
POLITICAL REFORM AND APPROVE IT ON DEC. 23
Glavred.info, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, December 12, 2003

2. THE LATEST UKRAINIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISION
"Little or No Commitment to Ukrainians as a Nation or Ukraine as a State."
COMMENTARY, Ukrainian Committee for Citizens Rights
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, December 13, 2003

3. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT APPROVES POSSIBLE PRESIDENT-
FRIENDLY ELECTION CHANGES IN UKRAINE
By Askold Krushelnycky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, December 12, 2003

4.OPPOSITION LEADERS ACCUSE UKRAINIAN CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT OF VIOLATING CONSTITUTION
Glavred.info, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, December 12, 2003

5. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZES OPPOSITION
FOR OPPOSING ELECTION OF PRESIDENT BY THE
MEMBERS OF THE PARLIAMENT
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

6. 26% OF UKRAINIANS PREPARED TO SUPPORT YUSCHENKO
IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, ACCORDING TO POLL BY
UKRAINIAN INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL MONITORING
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, December 12, 2003

7. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PRAISES CONSOLIDATION OF
POWER IN RUSSIA
One Plus One TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

8. POLISH-US-UKRAINIAN CONFERENCE ON THE CHANGING
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN EUROPE
PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec. 12, 2003

9. CHEMICAL PLANTS TURN UKRAINE'S CRIMEA TOURIST
PARADISE INTO DESERT LANDSCAPE
NTV Mir, Moscow, in Russian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

10. "PISANKAS OF THE UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS"
Book By Olexiy Solomchenko, Collector and Scholar
State Administration of the Zakarpatya Supported the Publication
of the Book by the Ukrainian State Printing House of Karpaty
Uzhgorod, Ukraine, 2002, 238 pages, color.

11. U.S. GIVES HIGH-TECH SCANNERS TO UKRAINE TO
STOP WEAPONS TRANSIT.
AP Online; Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Dec 12, 2003

12. THE NEXT REVOLUTION?
Many of the same fractures and rifts run through Georgia and Ukraine.
by Taras Kuzio, Transitions Online
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, December 12, 2003
====================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
=====================================================
1. PM YANUKOVYCH CALLS ON PARLIAMENT TO SUPPORT
POLITICAL REFORM AND APPROVE IT ON DEC. 23

Glavred.info, Kyiv, Ukraine, December 12, 2003

KYIV........Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has called on the parliament to
work out a joint draft law on political reform and approve it on December
23.

"I hope that the parliament will vote for key provisions of the political
reform on December 23 so that we can enter the new year with fundamentally
new opportunities," Yanukovych said.

When replying to a journalist's question about his position regarding the
political reform, Yanukovych reminded the journalist that the Constitutional
Court has declared that elections of the President the parliament are in
line with the Constitution. At the same time, the date of transition to this
norm is up to the Verkhovna Rada's choice.

According to earlier reports, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday
that the draft law on political reform proposed by MP Stepan Havrysh,
coordinator of the permanent parliamentary majority, is constitutional.
Havrysh's draft law provides for election of the President of Ukraine by the
current parliament and extension of the mandate of the current parliament by
one year, until 2007. (END) (ARTUIS)
======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
======================================================
2.THE LATEST UKRAINIAN CONSTITUTIONAL COURT DECISION
"Little or No Commitment to Ukrainians as a Nation or Ukraine as a State."

COMMENTARY, Ukrainian Committee for Citizens Rights
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, December 13, 2003

KYIV........The latest Constitutional Court decision that the parliament has
the right to pass a Constitutional amendment so that it and not the people
would be empowered to elect the next president in 2004 we understand has
some of the "Our Ukraine" parliamentary fraction in utter despair. Some
openly say that Yushchenko has already lost the presidency. They have a
convincing case.

Consider the situation from Our Ukraine's perspective. It came out of the
last elections with a big lead, about a quarter of the votes. The Social
Democrats (United) barely passed the 5% barrier. Yet, everywhere you look
the SDPU(O) has its people in power, while Our Ukraine is on the outside
looking in.

"The people have never decided anything in independent Ukraine," one
Ukrainian political expert stated recently. "Do you know that thirty
deputies elected on the Our Ukraine ticket have now gone over to other
fractions? They were just "bought" according to what is heard on the street
in Kyiv. And now the story is that enough votes are being bought [arranged
for by various means] to amend the Constitution, and they'll get them, too."

"Then they'll amend the Constitution. The story in Kyiv goes that Kuchma
will then resign, making Prime Minister Yanukovych acting president, and
then the Verkhovna Rada will elect him president. It's all being done so
open and basely. They won't let Yushchenko become president. He's too
popular to beat and they know it. Even in Donetsk with the publicized
drunken tirade against him, when he was finally able to enter the hall,
everybody stood up and applauded. The people want Yushchenko, even
in the East. How could they do this to him?"

Another experienced political observer who has served in the Ukrainian
government also once told us recently, "Most of the people in any
government I have been in have just not taken the people into account."

Of course, most political observers believe that the Constitutional Court
ruling was also most likely not accomplished by those in control without
some pretty hefty incentives of some kind to some of the justices. The
courts are as venal and vulnerable as all the other institutions here, and
the levers can be pulled under public obscurity enforced by draconian libel
laws and a law enforcement system that will do anything for those with
enough power and money.

In other words, the saga continues of how, since independence, Ukraine has
been run by those who are driving it into the ground out to serve their own
purely personal interests. Its ruling class, having evolved out of Party and
Komsomol structures dedicated to the struggle against Ukrainian "bourgeois
nationalism" seem to have little or no commitment to Ukrainians as a nation
or Ukraine as a state.

Experience has shown they can switch allegiances at the drop of a bank
transfer or envelope full of dollars. They are trying to get their children
abroad and investing in real estate there.

The most depressing fact is that there seems to be nobody in the country to
stop it, to change it. The television is almost completely controlled by
various oligarchs as is most of the rest of the press. Even when the
democrats can organize people to do something, it is like a tree sounding
in the forest where nobody can hear it, thus making no sound. (END)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
=========================================================
3. CONSTITUTIONAL COURT APPROVES POSSIBLE PRESIDENT-
FRIENDLY ELECTION CHANGES IN UKRAINE

By Askold Krushelnycky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, December 12, 2003

Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled yesterday (11 December) it had no
objections to parliament electing future presidents. The opposition fears
that President Leonid Kuchma may be preparing to manipulate next year's
presidential elections or even eliminate them in order to retain power --
either personally, or through one of his nominees.

Kyiv, 12 December 2003 (RFE/RL) -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has
said that he will not run for a third term in office next year. In any case,
he is currently forbidden from doing so under the present constitution.

But Kuchma -- and the tightly knit circle of ultrarich cronies that surround
him and control much of the Ukrainian government -- are worried that if one
of their opponents becomes president next year, the current ruling elite
will not only lose the financial advantages they enjoy but could face trial
for corruption and even murder.

The man they fear most is Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the biggest
democratic faction in parliament, Our Ukraine. He consistently receives the
highest opinion-poll ratings and most observers believe he will become
president if next October's elections are held fairly.

That seems to be the Kuchma administration's conclusion also. They have
approached the Constitutional Court to rule on a number of questions which
may provide the administration with loopholes to retain power.

Yesterday, the court, which regularly sides with Kuchma, commented on the
president's proposals to transform Ukraine from a country where the
president has dominant powers to one where parliament and the prime minister
hold most of the power while the president's role is reduced to largely a
ceremonial one. It said the proposal did not threaten the rights of
Ukrainians.

Under this proposal, the parliament would elect a president next year to
serve until new parliamentary elections in 2007.

Another proposal suggested by Kuchma entails presidential elections next
year that will give the president reduced powers. Then the parliament would
elect another president in 2006. Before either could be adopted in law,
parliament must vote twice with a two-thirds majority on the drafts.

Normally Kuchma would not be able to achieve the numbers needed but the
Communists might vote for the proposals because they intensely dislike the
presidential system.

The opposition has said both alternatives are tantamount to a coup by the
president and has said it will fight to prevent the changes.

The court also ruled Kuchma may not be prosecuted for crimes committed while
in office. The president has been accused of corruption involving hundreds
of millions of dollars, abusing human rights, curbing freedom of the press,
and involvement in the killing of an opposition journalist. He has always
denied the allegations.

An Our Ukraine deputy in parliament and a senior aide to Yushchenko, Oleh
Rybachuk, said that the ruling could be the first step in a process where
Kuchma could try to appoint a trusted nominee as prime minister or even
nominate himself for the post.

"One or two months prior to the election, the constitution is changed -- so
any minute you may have the following scenario: For example, that Kuchma the
president is requested by parliament to become prime minister. So Kuchma the
president takes or nominates Kuchma the prime minister because he is being
requested to do that by the parliament -- and then the presidency is
practically annihilated," Rybachuk said.

Rybachuk says that Kuchma is worried that whatever guarantees he secures at
present, a future government hostile to him might still try to prosecute
him. Therefore, Rybachuk says, the plan is to hold on to power by any means.
Kuchma has repeatedly said he will not run for a further term as president.
But Rybachuk says Kuchma's words must be examined carefully.

"If [Kuchma] is saying that he is not going to run for election, he might be
telling the truth, because there might be no election. So in the
Constitutional Court you have to follow every word. Yes, he might not run
for the election. There might be changes to the constitution," Rybachuk
said.

Another member of parliament, Bohdan Hubsky, has asked the country's highest
court to clarify whether Kuchma should be regarded as someone now in the
last year of his second term of office. Some have argued that as the present
constitution was only introduced in 1996, two years into Kuchma's first
term, he should be allowed another term or at least an extension of two
years in this one.

The court has initially taken the view that Kuchma should be regarded as
only having completed one term, but a final decision has yet to be made.

Although the election campaign does not begin officially until next April,
there have already been what the opposition claims are organized attempts
by the presidential authorities to disrupt a series of opposition meetings
around the country.

The administration denies the accusations. But some Western diplomats,
including the U.S. ambassador and the head of a Council of Europe group
monitoring human rights in Ukraine, have said the tactics bode ill for the
fair conduct of next year's scheduled elections.

Rybachuk has said so far the heavy-handed methods have backfired on those
who he claims instigated them. "I can see that it is having the opposite
effect," he said. "It mobilizes not Kuchma's supporters but increases the
camp of his opponents and it proves again that they are trying desperately
to stick to power and all their words about a European choice, democratic
values etc., etc., are just words."

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) will be
the body coordinating various groups trying to ensure that the run-up to the
elections and the ballot itself is conducted fairly.

The head of the mission in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, is David Nicholas.
Although international bodies have condemned last year's parliamentary
election and the last presidential elections in 1999 as deeply flawed,
Nicholas says it would be counterproductive to prejudge the Ukrainian
administration.

"The Ukrainian authorities on all levels and in the various ministries as
well have, without exception, evinced a determination to conduct fair and
transparent elections. That's Ukraine's desire, and nobody from the outside
has tried to superimpose their values or their determinations upon Ukrainian
authorities," Nicholas said.

He says that the OSCE's role is not to tell the Ukrainian government what it
should do but to assist in helping it. Nicholas says the OSCE must not be
perceived as wanting to influence the outcome of the elections.
http://www.rferl.org/nca/features/2003/12/12122003171921.asp
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
=========================================================
4. OPPOSITION LEADERS ACCUSE UKRAINIAN CONSTITUTIONAL
COURT OF VIOLATING CONSTITUTION

Glavred.info, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, December 12, 2003

KYIV...........The factions of the Our Ukraine bloc and the Yuliya
Tymoshenko bloc have expressed belief that Constitutional Court judges
violated the Constitution of Ukraine by declaring that elections of the
President of Ukraine by the current parliament would be in line with the
Constitution, according to PMs Mykola Tomenko and Levko Lukianenko.

The factions accuse the Constitutional Court of free interpretation of the
norms of the active Constitution. They also criticize the Constitutional
Court's decision to allow the parliament to extend its mandate until the
year 2007 saying that can be compared to bribing parliamentarians. The Our
Ukraine bloc said that the opposition retains the right to call on the
Ukrainian people to take decisive actions to protect the active
Constitution.

The opposition factions have also called on the parliament to withdraw the
Constitutional Court judges appointed by the parliament.

According to earlier reports, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday
that the draft law on political reform proposed by MP Stepan Havrysh,
coordinator of the permanent parliamentary majority, is constitutional.
Havrysh's draft law provides for election of the President of Ukraine by the
current parliament and extension of the mandate of the current parliament by
one year, until 2007.
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
=========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER CRITICIZES OPPOSITION
FOR OPPOSING ELECTION OF PRESIDENT BY THE
MEMBERS OF THE PARLIAMENT

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

Kiev, 12 December: Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who is also
the head of the Party of Regions, is critical of the opposition in the
context of political reform for its reluctance to elect the president in
parliament. UNIAN reports that Yanukovych expressed his criticism during his
address today at the first congress of the all-Ukrainian youth public
organization Union of Ukrainian Regions' Youth. [The Union of Ukrainian
Regions' Youth is the youth wing of the Party of Regions.]

Speaking about the political reform begun in Ukraine and about the political
experience of European nations, Yanukovych said that these countries "fought
for hundreds of years for parliament to have the right to elect the
president, as this is a huge guarantee against absolutism and
authoritarianism". Yanukovych also asked: "Why then are our so-called
democrats against this today?"

He also emphasized the approach of the Party of Regions towards political
reform, the most important of which is the movement towards
parliamentarianism. He said that this movement "is the optimal system of
state order" because under this system, both parliament and the president
have power and a high level of responsibility and, at the same time, there
is no monopoly on power in the country.

Yanukovych also said that he has convictions, which he received abroad, that
in developed countries the opposition is usually in favour of limiting
power, "while for some reason our opposition is in favour of unlimited
power, without limits, but for themselves". And that is why, in Yanukovych's
words, the question exists as to whether the Ukrainian opposition is
actually based on European principles.

As to the sufficient number of opposition supporters among young people,
Yanukovych said that this was perfectly normal and noted: "If a person does
not have any sympathy for the opposition when 20 years of age, then he or
she has no sense, but if a person has sympathy for the opposition when 40
years of age, this means a lack of intelligence". (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
=========================================================
6. 26% OF UKRAINIANS PREPARED TO SUPPORT YUSCHENKO
IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, ACCORDING TO POLL BY
UKRAINIAN INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL MONITORING

Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, December 12, 2003

KYIV........26.1% of Ukrainians would support the Our Ukraine coalition's
leader Viktor Yuschenko if the presidential elections were held next Sunday,
according to a poll conducted by the Ukrainian Institute of Social Research
and the Social Monitoring center. Ukrainian News obtained a text of the
results of the poll.

According to the poll's results, 17% of respondents said they would vote for
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, 16% said they would vote for the Communist
Party's leader Petro Symonenko, while 7% said they would vote for Socialist
Party leader Oleksandr Moroz and the Yulia Tymoshenko Coalition's leader
Yulia Tymoshenko.

According to the poll, 5% of respondents said they would vote for President
Leonid Kuchma and Kuchma's Chief of Staff Viktor Medvedchuk, who is also
the leader of the Social Democratic Party (united).

Moreover, according to the poll, 4% of respondents said they would vote for
the National Bank of Ukraine's Chairman Serhii Tihipko, who also heads the
Labor Ukraine party, and the Progressive Socialist party's leader Natalia
Vitrenko.

Meanwhile, 9% of respondents said they would vote against all candidates.

The poll was conducted throughout Ukraine from November 25 to 30. It
involved 2,037 people over the age of 18. The margin of error is 1.3-2.1%.
The next presidential election is scheduled for 2004. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
=========================================================
7. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT PRAISES CONSOLIDATION OF
POWER IN RUSSIA

One Plus One TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

[Presenter] The economy and lessons from the Russian elections. These were
the topics of President [Leonid] Kuchma's working day today. Kuchma
discussed the economy with First Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. The
deputy prime minister said that the government demanded that local
authorities pay out all salaries and social payments before the end of the
year.

[Correspondent] Speaking with [Kharkiv governor] Yevhen Kushnaryov over
coffee, Kuchma talked a lot about Russia and its latest polls. Kuchma told
the former head of his [presidential] administration [Kushnaryov] that the
consolidation of Russian political elite would enable Russian authorities to
move ahead with projects they could not implement before.

[Kuchma] There are attacks on President Putin, so to speak, for the use of
administrative resources and so on. But for at least four years now Russia
has been a stable, predictable country.

[Kushnaryov, interrupting] It is possible...

[Kuchma] Today, Putin is really starting, so to speak, from the first day to
take, you know, such steps that he would never have taken with the previous
Duma [Russian parliament]. Because they would most likely be unpopular.
But we understand that Russia cannot do without unpopular decisions.

[Correspondent] Ukraine is in a different situation. Therefore,
consolidation can be achieved through other means - political reform.

[Kuchma] If there is an understanding that we want the best for Ukraine in
principle, then parliament has no other options, right?

[Kushnaryov, interrupting] There is an understanding, because...

[Kuchma] That is right, isn't it? Our 10 years of experience indicate that
this form of relations between the legislative and executive branches of
power is a dead end.

[Correspondent] Kharkiv governor Kushnaryov reported to his boss on the
successes of his region. Agricultural works have been completed on time,
budget revenues are ahead of schedule and production has grown by 11 per
cent over this year. Kushnaryov agreed with the president that Ukraine could
benefit from the unity of power branches similar to that in Russia.

[Kushnaryov] In Russia today they can draft a five-year plan for the
development of the state, as it used to be some time ago, because it is
possible to plan ahead. This is the main victory, that it is possible to
plan ahead because there is support. I think we should move in this
direction.

[Correspondent] Kuchma said firmly that all the talk about his resignation
is simply political speculation. Kuchma is not going to repeat the Russian
New Year 2000 scenario: select a successor and resign early. (END)(ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=========================================================
8. POLISH-US-UKRAINIAN CONFERENCE ON THE CHANGING
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC SITUATION IN EUROPE

PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec. 12, 2003

Cracow, Poland, 12 December: Politicians and diplomats from Poland, the USA
and Ukraine on Friday debated at the Willa Decjusza centre in Cracow on the
subject of the mutual cooperation of Poland and Ukraine in the changing
political and economic situation.

Among others, former Prime Minister Jerzy Buzek, Ambassador of the Polish
Republic to Ukraine Marek Ziolkowski, Ambassador of the USA to Poland
Christopher Hill, and the director of the Bridges to the East Institute
[Instytut Mosty na Wschod], Jan Pieklo, took part in the conference.

"It is a matter of enormous weight that countries from beyond Poland's
eastern border, and as of 1 May 2004 from beyond the EU's eastern border,
not get the impression that they have found themselves in a vacuum," Jan
Nowak-Jezioranski [lobbyist, former head of the Polish section of Radio Free
Europe - RFE], who was unable to come to Cracow, wrote to the participants
in the conference. "For, it would be an irony of history were the new border
of the EU to create a barrier slowing the already commenced and so very much
desired process of integration," he stressed.

The ambassador of the USA in Poland, Christopher Hill, evaluates the problem
similarly. "Today, Poland is playing an exceptional role. It plays an
uncommonly important role In Brussels, where the [EU] voting principles are
being discussed. In the longer perspective, it will fulfil an exceptional
function in assuring that the states lying to the east of it will be able to
take part in the expansion of a united Europe and to draw benefits from
this," he said.

"Our task is the construction of bridges for the purpose of assuring that
the Polish-Ukrainian border will not divide but will unite," he declared.
The organizers of the conference are: the consulate of the Usa in Cracow,
the "Znak" foundation and the "Willa Decjusza" association. (END)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
=========================================================
9. CHEMICAL PLANTS TURN UKRAINE'S CRIMEA TOURIST
PARADISE INTO DESERT LANDSCAPE

NTV Mir, Moscow, in Russian, 12 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 12, 2003

[Presenter] Residents of Crimea are seriously worried that their resort
region might soon face an environmental crisis. Waste from chemical
enterprises has already contaminated the water and soil of certain areas of
the peninsula. Environmentalists fear that unless all the toxic substances
are quickly disposed off, the situation could become critical. Our
correspondent Anna Konyukova reports from Crimea.

[Video shows flat and featureless plain stretching as far as the eye can
see, then a sprawl of industrial buildings, chemical plants and smoking
chimneys in the middle distance.]

[Correspondent] This vast lifeless plain in northern Crimea is the result of
man's activity over just 30 years. Why was it necessary to build gigantic
chemical plants in the all-union spa, as people were fond of describing
Crimea? Nowadays this is a rhetorical question. There are no mineral
deposits here. All the raw material is imported from Europe, America and
Australia. The finished product is exported back to them. Meanwhile, the
waste leaves the Crimean landscape looking like this.

This dead plain, measuring 42 sq.km., is a so-called acid reservoir.
Hundreds of tonnes of ferrous metals and a million tonnes of phosphor-gypsum
have been dumped here. This manmade deposit, containing all the elements of
Mendeleyev's table, was once covered by a half-metre layer of water,
designed to act like a sarcophagus. Now everything has been abandoned. The
poisons and toxins are blown about by the wind and swept by the rain.

[Andrey Artov, deputy chairman of Ecology and Peace Association] Things have
got worse and worse. The problem is that the proportion of liquid effluent
has declined somewhat and the reservoir is gradually drying out. Last summer
and autumn this dry mud, these dry pollutants spread over the entire region
in the form of dust.

[Correspondent] Gusts of wind are depositing this toxic dust all over the
peninsula. Acid rains have ceased to be a rarity. Crimea's ecologists, who
have been conducting large-scale monitoring, say the entire north of Crimea
is at risk from chemical pollution. Contaminated water is getting into
watercourses, the water table and the sea. Vegetables and fruit which are
dangerous to health are being harvested from soil which is contaminated with
heavy metals.

They are then sold at markets throughout Crimea. Scientists say the waste in
the acid reservoir needs to be urgently neutralized and disposed off. In due
course the local chemical industry needs to undergo complete conversion.

This is Anna Konyukova and Viktor Sosnovskiy reporting for NTV from Crimea.
=======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
=======================================================
10. "PISANKAS OF THE UKRAINIAN CARPATHIANS"

Book By Olexiy Solomchenko
State Administration of the Zakarpatya
Supported the Publication of the Book
Ukrainian State Printing House of Karpaty
Uzhgorod, Ukraine, 2002, 238 pages, color and b&w illustrations
Book Published in Ukrainian with a short summary in English,
German, French, Russian, Polish, Slovak and Hungarian

Author Olexiy Solomchenko (1920-2002), was a member of the
National Union of Ukrainian Artists, an Honored Worker of Culture of
Ukraine, had collected pisankas [pysanky, painted Easter eggs] and
studied the art of pisanka-making for over fifty years. This amazing
book is the result of his lifetime of work and study.

The decorative motifs of the Ukrainian pisankas found in the Carpathian
regions of western Ukraine--Hutsul, Bukovina, Pokuttya, Lemki and
Boiki areas -are noted or their unique beauty, their large variety of
patterns, their brilliant colors and harmony of composition.

In this outstanding, colorful, informative book, "Pisankas of the Ukrainian
Carpathians" the noted collector and expert on pisankas traces the history
of this interesting art form and describes the rites and rituals linked with
them.

Solomchenko also explains the painting technique and the methods used
for preparing dyes, using flowers, grasses and cortex.

Of particular interest to the reader is the detailed description of the
latest method of conservation and restoration of pisankas, which allows the
life of the art miniatures to be prolonged.

Solomchenko acquaints the reader with the use of pisanka patterns in other
forms of Ukrainian decorative art and provides an analysis of the local
stylistic features of egg painting found in the villages of the Ukrainian
Carpathians.

According to the English summary the book contains over one thousand
color and black-and-white illustrations featuring painted Easter eggs,
their decorative patterns and a step-by-step painting process.

"Pisankas of the Ukrainian Carpathians" is written for the layperson but can
also serve as a manual for artisans and as a source of systematized
information for experts who are exploring this form of Ukrainian folk-art.

The Carpathian pisankas are very famous around the world and are an
integral part of the Ukrainian treasure house of decorative arts.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: "Pisankas of the Ukrainian Carpathians" is available from the
www.ArtUkarine.com Information Service (ARTUIS) in Kyiv, Ukraine.
If you are interested in possibly obtaining a copy please contact us for
further information. Please send an e-mail about your interest to
morganw@patriot.net.
=======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
=======================================================
11. U.S. GIVES HIGH-TECH SCANNERS TO UKRAINE TO
STOP WEAPONS TRANSIT.

AP Online; Kyiv, Ukraine, Dec 12, 2003

The United States provided Ukrainian customs agents with a high-tech
scanning system Friday to help stem the flow of weapons, radioactive
materials and other contraband that many fear are smuggled through the
former Soviet republic from neighboring Moldova.

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst presented the US$1.5 million mobile
inspection system, capable of detecting hidden weapons and missile-making
materials without opening freight trucks and ocean containers, to officials
in the bustling Black Sea port of Odessa, the embassy said.

Western governments, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
and other agencies have expressed repeated concerns about reports that
Moldova's breakaway Trans-Dniester region, on Ukraine's western border, is a
major weapons smuggling center.

Thousands of tons of weapons and ammunition were left behind in
Trans-Dniester after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The separatist
enclave maintains a robust arms industry.

Last fall, Washington bolstered programs to assist Ukraine in strengthening
its border controls to prevent weapons of mass destruction technology,
materials and illegal weapons from flowing in and out of the country after
it accused President Leonid Kuchma of authorizing the transfer of
sophisticated radar systems to Saddam Hussein. So far, U.S. officials have
found no such radars in Iraq and Kuchma denied the charge.

The United States has provided more than US$8 million to beef up Ukraine's
export controls and border security since 1993. (tv/mb)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 113: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
=========================================================
12. THE NEXT REVOLUTION?
Many of the same fractures and rifts run through Georgia and Ukraine.

by Taras Kuzio, Transitions Online,
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, December 12, 2003

There are very few post-Soviet countries that are either not heading away
from democracy or that are not "autocratic" regimes (in the typology of the
human-rights monitor Freedom House). Apart from the Baltic states, there are
perhaps just two: Georgia and Ukraine.

Georgia's "rose revolution" and the almost certain victory of reformers in
January's elections could rescue its post-Soviet democratic transition.
Could Ukraine follow Georgia's example after its presidential elections in
October 2004? Certainly, opponents of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma will
take hope from Georgia's example: many of the weaknesses in the system of
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze can also be seen in Ukraine.

PLURALISM BY DEFAULT

This was always going to be a period of instability for Georgia and Ukraine.
Shevardnadze was due to leave office in 2005, and Kuchma should retire in
2004; both dominated their country's politics for a decade; and their
successors will almost certainly come from a different generation. Georgia's
and Ukraine's experiences before Shevardnadze and Kuchma also add to
concerns about stability: both came to power in the same era (1992-1994)
promising to rescue their countries from instability caused by
"nationalists," and in Georgia this "nationalism" had led to bloodshed.

But Georgia's and Ukraine's instability is due to more than uncertainty
about future leadership, and runs deeper than "nationalism." The fundamental
problem is that regional, ethnic, and linguistic divisions make both
countries pluralistic by default.

Pluralism by default, as the American political scientist Lucan Way argues,
is not necessarily accompanied by democratic progress. Instead, it prevents
the consolidation of a ruling elite and the creation of a united "party of
power"--and without a united "party of power" it is impossible to
institutionalize an authoritarian regime.

As in Georgia, Ukraine has no single "party of power," but instead fractured
and divided "parties of power." This was clearly demonstrated in 2002, when
the For a United Ukraine bloc split into eight factions within a month of
parliamentary elections. This has meant that no supporter of Kuchma has yet
emerged as a potential successor--or, for that matter, would enjoy popular
support. An obvious candidate is Prime Minister Viktor Yanukevych, but his
popularity is limited by his origins in the Donbas, a very pro-Russian
region with a reputation for authoritarian leadership. Another potential
successor, Viktor Medvedchuk, head of the presidential administration, has a
popularity rating of just five percent.

Indeed, the fractures within the elite have run so deep that in both Ukraine
and Georgia they gave birth to the opposition. Nino Burdjanadze, Georgia's
acting president, and Mikheil Saakashvili, the man likely to be elected
president, are former Shevardnadze supporters who then went on to create
opposition movements. In Ukraine, a similar process started in late 2000
after secret tapes recorded by the secret-service officer Mykola Melnychenko
indicated that Kuchma had been implicated in murder and illegal arms trades.

Center-right "national democrats" deserted the president. Since then, Kuchma
's "centrist" allies have been isolated, facing strong opposition from the
right and weaker opposition from the left.

The closer the elections, the more likely it is that there will be further
splits within the "parties of power." Already, some members of Ukraine's
"parties of power" are rumored to be negotiating with the moderate
opposition. These are likely to be oligarchs who have been legalizing-or
'gentrified'--their businesses, and therefore do not necessarily feel
threatened by a victory for Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian opposition's
best hope for the presidency. Yushchenko has said that he opposes
re-opening the results of Ukraine's privatization process.

And if the executive begins to show signs of panic as Kuchma's term
approaches its end, the chances of defections will grow.

PLURALISM IN ACTION

However, in Ukraine, as in pre-revolutionary Georgia, the opposition is
united only in its opposition to the president, not in policy issues. Yulia
Tymoshenko, Ukraine's equivalent of the radical Saakashvili, differs in
opinion on many key issues from Yushchenko, a moderate like Burjanadze.

This artificial unity among the opposition leaves some difficult choices.
Yushchenko can ally himself with Tymoshenko and Socialist leader Oleksandr
Moroz on an anti-oligarch and anti-Kuchma platform. Or, he can build bridges
to moderate, 'gentrified' post-oligarchs currently in the pro-Kuchma camp.
And it is an "either. or" choice, since Tymoshenko's and Moroz's
anti-oligarchic populism would scare away any moderates in the centrist
camp.

Still, the opposition is potent and the presidency weak. In Georgia,
Shevardnadze's administration had run out of ideas about reform and about
how to keep the opposition at bay. In Ukraine, the authorities are also
running out of ideas as to how to block a potential Yushchenko victory:
since his popularity ratings are consistently high, and he has the lowest
negative ratings of any candidate, Yushcenko looks certain to reach the
second round of October's presidential elections. The authorities fear
Yushchenko and it is this fear that is driving the current push for
constitutional changes that would affect the reduce the life and powers of a
Yushchenko presidency. Amendments are unlikely before parliament begins a
long recess at Christmas and they may become more unlikely still in the
months before the election.

A fractured "party of power" and a dearth of ideas are bad enough, but the
problem is compounded by the weakness of Kuchma's power base outside the
"parties of power." Since Melnychenko's tapes surfaced in November 2000, the
president's popularity has plummeted, and 80 per cent of Ukrainians feel he
should not be granted immunity from prosecution after he leaves office. And
gaining immunity is precisely what Kuchma's main political aim now is, at
least in the view of most analysts.

Even overwhelming domination of the media has failed to bolster support for
Kuchma or his supporters. Medvedchuk's party controls state television and
the two largest private stations, but, in the 2002 elections, it still only
just squeezed clear of the four percent needed to get into parliament.

Nor do Kuchma and his chief supporters have a strong regional power base. In
Georgia, Shevardnadze had a jarring relationship with the leader of Ajaria,
Aslan Abashidze. However, they found a modus vivendi that ensured
semi-independence for Ajaria and support for Shevardnadze in elections. In
Ukraine, similar deals by Ukraine's leaders were made with leaders in the
Donbas--and also Crimea--to buy off potential separatists (Russian
nationalists) or those seeking greater regional devolution (local "parties
of power" loyal to Kuchma). In the 2002 parliamentary elections the
pro-Kuchma For a United Ukraine won its best result in Donetsk (37 percent),
allowing the region's leaders and their business associates to form the
second-largest faction in parliament (62 seats in a 450-member chamber). In
November's rigged results in Georgia, Ajaria would have had a similar
proportion of seats in parliament.

But, while regions such as Ajaria and Donetsk provide useful support for the
executive, they are, by themselves, too small to ensure victory in
elections. (And while Kuchma-supporting oligarchs are entrenched in
Russophone eastern Ukraine, it is only in the Donbas have they been able to
take complete control of a region.)

WHEN PUSH COMES TO SHOVE

If the executive is divided and lacks ideas and nationwide support, much
inevitably rests on the loyalty of the security services. They proved
vitally important in Georgia, and before that in Serbia, in 2000, when
President Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown. In Georgia a key factor in
forcing Shevardnadze to resign was the desertion of his allies in the
national security sector: Tedo Japaridze, head of the National Security
Council and former ambassador in Washington, Minister of State Security
Valeri Khaburdzania, and his foreign-affairs adviser Levan Alexadze.

In Ukraine, the Interior Ministry and the security service have been
implicated in human-rights abuses, such as the murder of opposition
journalist Georgy Gongadze, and their loyalty can be assumed. But the
Interior Ministry alone would not be strong enough to impose a state of
emergency. For that, the military is needed, and its willingness to lead a
crackdown is very uncertain.

The defense minister, Yevhan Marchuk, was a populist critic of Kuchma in the
1999 presidential elections and U.S. government sources even believe that
Marchuk, a former head of the Ukrainian secret services, knew in 1999-2000
that Melnychenko was bugging Kuchma's office.

Before the second round of the presidential elections, in an effort to bring
Marchuk onside, Kuchma offered Marchuk the chairmanship of the National
Security and Defence Council (NRDO). Marchuk accepted. But while
Marchuk has changed sides, Kuchma has refused to bring him into his inner
circle: when Marchuk left the NRBO to become defense minister, he was
the only head of a "power ministry" to be left outside the committee that
would decide on imposing a state of emergency.

Marchuk pursued a pro-Western line in the NRDO and he would be unlikely to
support a step as drastic as imposing a state of emergency. Others in the
Ukrainian military would also be reluctant: Ukraine's armed forces have
reoriented themselves, taking their model from the West, developing their
military relationships through NATO's Partnership for Peace, and looking for
assistance from, in particular, the United States and Britain (Britain's
largest military program is with Ukraine).

INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

This highlights the importance of the United States, which provided, at the
very least, psychological support for the Georgian opposition, prompting
Shevardnadze to talk about "betrayal" by the United States.

While, unlike Georgia, Ukraine may not have a crucial pipeline running
through it, Ukraine's position between the EU and Russia makes it
strategically and geopolitically important (since the early 1990s, U.S. ties
with Ukraine have traditionally strengthened when relations with Russia have
worsened). On balance, the United States has as strong a stake in Ukraine as
it has in Georgia, since it has invested heavily in Ukraine militarily and
economically since the mid-1990s (it is Ukraine's largest investor).

Washington is already showing the type of interest in Ukraine as it did in
Georgia ahead of its parliamentary elections in November. The United States,
EU and Council of Europe have already warned Ukraine, a year before its
presidential elections, that free and fair elections will be impossible if
the executive continues to adopt the kind of dirty tactics already employed
against opposition groups, which include open intimidation and smear
campaigns.

And the United States has potential leverage. Ukraine's elites are fearful
of another rupture in relations of the kind that followed the revelations in
2002 that Ukraine exported Kolchuga radars to Iraq. Even Kuchma supporters
backed the sending of Ukrainian troops to Iraq, where they are the fourth
largest contingent.

Kuchma and his supporters face many of the same problems that Georgia
confronted. The cracks are serious enough that, if the Ukrainian authorities
attempt to rig the 2004 elections, they could instead trigger Ukraine's own
"velvet revolution." And before that, the authorities will have the
Herculean task of finding a candidate, a process that could expose and
possibly deepen the deep rifts within the ruling elite. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
"UKRAINE REPORT 2003," No. 113: SAT-SUN, DECEMBER 13-14, 2003
TWELVE ARTICLES
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