Search site
Action Ukraine Report

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary

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

FOR HISTORIANS, SCHOLARS AND HISTORY BUFFS
The first words & speeches of the new President of Ukraine

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - Number 416
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, January 26, 2005

-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"

1. NEW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO TAKES OATH
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 1000 gmt, 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005 (10:00)

2. YUSHCHENKO'S INAUGURATION SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 1045 gmt 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, January 23, 2005

3. NEW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
ADDRESSES NATION AFTER INAUGURATION
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 1140 gmt 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005

4. UKRAINE'S NEW PRESIDENT ACCEPTS BLESSING, URGES UNITY
UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 0940 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Mon, January 24, 2005 (09:40)

5. PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN TALKS
The Kremlin, www.Kremlin.ru, Moscow, Russia, Monday, January 24, 2005

6. UKRAINE'S LEADER SAYS HIS CHOICE OF YULIYA
TYMOSHENKO AS PRIME MINISTER IS THE RIGHT ONE
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1640 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005

7. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE RARING TO GO
Inter TV, Kiev, in Russian 1800 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, January 24, 2005 (18:00)

8. UKRAINE BREAKS ITS AGES OLD ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA
Channel 3 TV, Moscow, in Russian 1630 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005 (16:30)

9. STATE WON'T INTERFERE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS, UKRAINE'S
NEW LEADER TELL MOSCOW PATRIARCH
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1706 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005 (17:06)

10. "A NEW DEMOCRACY"
Transition from corrupt police state to fledgling democracy
EDITORIAL: The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Sunday, January 23, 2005

11. "LIFELINE TO KIEV"
OP-ED: Ariel Cohen, Washington Times, Wash, D.C., Sun, Jan 23, 2005

12. CRIMEAN TATARS LOOK WARMLY AT EU MEMBERSHIP
By Huseyin Akkas, Cihan News Agency
Zamon Online, Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday, Jan 23, 2005

13. YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S ACCIDENTAL REVOLUTIONARY
Agence France Presse (AFP), Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005

14. CURIOUS ORANGE: HOW A UKRAINIAN BAND EMERGED
FROM THE CHAOS OF THE "ORANGE REVOLUTION"
Guardian Unlimited, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005
=========================================================
1. NEW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO TAKES OATH

UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 1000 gmt 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005 (10:00)

New Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has taken the oath of
office in parliament.

Swearing on the Constitution and the 16th-century Peresnopnytsya
translation of the Gospels, he said

"I, Viktor Yushchenko, elected president of Ukraine by the will of the
people, on assuming this lofty post do solemnly swear allegiance to
Ukraine. I pledge to protect the sovereignty and independence of
Ukraine in all my actions, to care for the benefit of the fatherland and
the prosperity of the Ukrainian people, to defend the rights and liberties
of the citizens, to uphold the Constitution of Ukraine and the laws of
Ukraine, to carry out my duties in the interests of all my compatriots,
and to promote Ukraine's authority in the world."

The ceremony is being carried live on Ukrainian state television. -30-
==========================================================
2. YUSHCHENKO'S INAUGURATION SPEECH IN PARLIAMENT

UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 1045 gmt 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, January 23, 2005

Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yushchenko, has addressed parliament -
the Supreme Council - after taking the presidential oath. Speaking in the
presence of foreign delegations, the cabinet, judges and patriarchs of the
church, Yushchenko described his inauguration as a great national victory.
He thanked members of parliament for defending a fair election and offered
cooperation to all parliamentary parties.

The following is the text of Yushchenko's speech broadcast live by Ukrainian
state-owned television UT1 on 23 January:

[Yushchenko] Holy fathers, Mr Speaker, people's deputies, esteemed guests,
dear friends. It is the first time I speak from this rostrum as president of
Ukraine.

Previously, I have had the honour of standing at this rostrum as chairman of
the National Bank of Ukraine, as prime minister of Ukraine and as leader of
the Our Ukraine faction in this parliament. From this rostrum I have had
occasions to speak words both sweet and bitter, to be sad and to be very
happy. Each time, I ascended the rostrum like a scaffold because I wanted
every word I said to strengthen our great home, a democratic and independent
Ukraine.

I am happy that my effort was not in vain. It added to the effort of my
political brothers, to the effort of our parliament, to the cause of the
Ukrainian people and to the cause of each citizen. In my view, this is a
case of us building a wall and the wall building us. Today's event has
proven once more that the Ukrainian nation and the Ukrainian state have
arrived. Citizens of Ukraine have achieved a fair election. A legitimate
handover of power has taken place. It is a great national victory.
[Applause]

The democracy built by millions of Ukrainian hands has stood the test. The
Supreme Council also has withstood a difficult test. At the time of trial it
found the strength to defend justice. Parliament was together with its
people, supporting their hopes and aspirations. You, esteemed people's
deputies, have defended Ukraine's democracy. You have defended the unity,
sovereignty and independence of our Ukraine. [Applause] I sincerely thank
you for it. I sincerely thank each people's deputy present in this chamber.

Today I want to offer you my hand. Today I want to shake the hand of each
people's deputy, each faction, each faction leader and to invite you for
cooperation. We have a common goal: a rich and democratic Ukraine. I am
confident that each people's deputy present in this chamber puts Ukraine
above all. It is a good cause for our cooperation. I am confident that our
work, esteemed friends, will continue. We shall work together with the
people and for the people.

On this day, esteemed friends, I am looking for a way to be among the
people. I now invite all those present in this chamber, all people's
deputies, guests, friends, I invite you all to Independence Square after
this session closes. I want to carry the oath I swore in these magnificent
walls to my people. I urge you all, let us go to the public, for they are
waiting, and let us be together. Thank you. [Applause] -30-
==========================================================
3. NEW UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
ADDRESSES NATION AFTER INAUGURATION

UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 1140 gmt 23 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005

New President Viktor Yushchenko has said that Ukraine is now a free and
independent country not to be told how to live and whom to elect. Addressing
the nation from Independence Square in central Kiev, he praised the people
whose weeks of protests secured a free election and his ultimate victory,
which he described as the victory of every citizen.

He said he was president of all Ukraine, "of the mines of the Donbass and
the ports of the Black Sea", and pledged that no one would ever be able to
divide the country. Yushchenko pledged himself and his team to change the
lives of all the Ukrainian people. He promised a democratic government, a
free press and an independent judiciary where every citizen could defend
their rights in a law-based state. Yushchenko pledged to create jobs so that
people would not have to travel abroad in search of work, and promised that
all would benefit from the country's prosperity.

In foreign affairs, he said Ukraine would be an equal partner, adding that
it was his goal to achieve Ukraine's entry into the European Union. He said
the Ukrainian "orange revolution" was comparable to the fall of the Berlin
Wall and the Polish round table as steps in the liberation of the peoples of
Europe.

The following is the text of Yushchenko's address broadcast live by
Ukrainian state-owned television UT1 on 23 January:

My dear Ukrainian people, esteemed guests, dear Ukrainian public, dear
Ukrainian Khreshchatyk [main street in Kiev] and Ukrainian Independence
Square!

Today Ukraine is free and independent. We have shaken a burden, the burden
of the past, off our shoulders. Nobody will any more dare tell us how to
live and whom to elect. I have become president by the will of the Ukrainian
people. We are the people's sons and daughters. Today I want to speak
looking you in the eye. It is a great honour to speak to free people who are
holding not only the Ukrainian flag, but also their country's destiny in
their hands. I want to carry the oath I swore to the people.

I swear to change Ukraine's life. My victory is the victory of the entire
Ukrainian nation and of every citizen. I thank our Lord for it, as he gave
us trust, hope and love. Having this, we have won. I pray that we keep this
in our hearts forever.
TRIBUTES
I thank the Ukrainian people for their great trust, and I thank everybody
who responded to my call. I believe in Ukraine. I know my responsibilities.
Together we shall win. You have opened the road to the future in your
country.

I thank everybody, every citizen, no matter whom they voted for. My victory
is everybody's victory. Everybody has the right to look for this country's
way. Everybody has the right to choose political colours to their liking.
But, dear friends, dear Ukrainians, our common choice is the colours of the
Ukrainian flag. They unite all of us, those who live in the east and those
who live in the west, those who live in the north of Ukraine and those who
live in the south.

I thank my team, who worked for the victory. You, my dear blood brothers,
were unshakable on the road which we have travelled together. I believe that
you will be tireless in the work that awaits us.

I thank my family, my wife, my children and grandchildren. You were with me
in the most difficult days. And you are together with me in this
celebration. I believe that you will always be my hope and my support.

I want to bow to my father, Andriy Andriyovych Yushchenko, for the lessons
he taught me. He was a teacher in the small village of Khoruzhivka, in Sumy
Region. He also was a prisoner in Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald. My
father's truth has led me through life to the high honour of becoming the
leader of my country. I thank my mother, Varvara Tymofiyivna, for her love
and for her prayers which guarded me. I beg her forgiveness for all the pain
which her mother's heart had to suffer, especially in the past four months.

Dear friends, I am proud to stand here with you side by side. Two months
ago, millions of people came to this place, this square and this street from
all over Ukraine. Our brothers and sisters, fathers and children, friends
and neighbours stood here day and night, braving snow and freezing
temperatures. Ukraine was hanging on for every movement and every word
that was said here. Ukraine's heart was beating on this square. The free
people of the whole world, our compatriots dispersed across faraway lands,
stood shoulder to shoulder with us. Here on Independence Square Ukrainians
showed themselves to be a modern nation in the eyes of the world.

The brave resistance awoke our souls. All of us felt as citizens of Ukraine,
dignified, noble and charitable. Armed only by their faith and beliefs, the
people won a beautiful and peaceful victory. It is a victory of freedom over
tyranny, of law over lawlessness, of future over past. Each Ukrainian
citizen is the winner. We achieved a fair election, and on 26 December we
did not miss our chance.

We chose our path freely, and we are ready to pursue it all the way. Our
choice was prepared by all of our history. We chose wealth, because the land
that was first to be ploughed by a farmer in human history could not take
the humiliation of poverty. We chose justice, because lawlessness could not
be the norm in a country that created the Russian Truth code of laws a
thousand years ago. We chose freedom, because tyranny cannot rule over
descendants of the Cossack Republic, where the first constitution of the
world was written 300 years ago. We chose independence, because we are
descended from generations that for centuries dreamed about a Ukrainian
state and fought for freedom with their sweat and blood.

The Ukrainian state has arrived. Our choice has confirmed this yet again.
Our victory is a celebration of Ukrainian statehood. On this day, let us
remember the heroes who died for victory, martyrs of the Auschwitzes and the
Gulags, victims of famines, deportations and the Holocaust. I am convinced
that today they are looking down on us with pride.

We made our choice because we remember who we are, whose children
and grandchildren we are.

The answers to the challenge of the future should not be sought in the past.
However, we shall always protect our origins. Only in this way shall we
remain ourselves. Only in this way shall we always be winners.

Our choice has created high expectations. They are justified. They are
absolutely realistic. We have everything going for us. The riches of our
land are inexhaustible. The talents of our countrymen are respected
worldwide. Our labour and our freedom will help us achieve anything.
"PRESIDENT OF ALL UKRAINE"
I am president of all Ukraine. I am responsible for the continuing work of
the mines of Donbass and the Dnieper region, the ports of the Black Sea
and trade routes in Galicia. I will do my utmost to make sure farmers in
Slobozhanshchyna and Podillya always have bread. Ukraine's wealth is
in the wealth of its regions. I swear to protect and to multiply it.

We, the citizens of Ukraine, have become a united Ukrainian nation. We
cannot be divided either by the languages we speak, by the faiths we profess
or by the political views we choose. We have the same Ukrainian fate. We
have the same Ukrainian pride. We are proud to be Ukrainians.

Together we have taken an irreversible step to democracy. Only democracy
can protect that which is the most valuable for a human being: family and
children, peace and calm, labour and wealth. Only a democratic state values
human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity the most. Only a democratic
Ukraine will make the colourful palette of languages, cultures and views the
country's wealth. I swear that everyone will be able to educate their
children in the language of their parents, everyone will be able to pray in
their own church. Everybody will be guaranteed their right to have an
opinion. We will hear each other because we will have freedom of speech and
independent press. All will be equal before the law. Independent courts will
protect everybody's rights.
HONEST GOVERNMENT
I see Ukraine as a law-governed state. We will create a democratic
government, honest, professional and by all means patriotic. The wall
separating officials from the people will be destroyed. This new government
will know its duty and will work for the benefit of the citizen and the
country.

It is equally honorary to be in government and in opposition if one serves
one's own country. We will have a moral government capable of uniting
society. We will only fulfil our national tasks if we are united and
democratic. You have told me this at thousands of our meetings. I will
fulfil your will.

You want jobs and decent wages. It is painful for you to leave your families
to search for jobs abroad. We will create new jobs. Everyone willing to work
will get a job and a decent pay. Nothing will restrict your initiative and
your wish to make your families well-off. Everyone giving jobs to others
will be supported. Honest work will be respected. We will become a wealthy
nation.

You seek justice. I will do everything to make sure that no-one is left out.
Fruits of economic growth will be made available to everyone. We will move
forward, but we will not leave behind the sick and the elderly. The
government will spend the budget, to the last kopeck, for people's benefit.
Pensions, benefits and social payments will constantly keep rising. The
health of the people, the protection of mothers and children will become a
top priority for my government.

We will be a nation of solidarity. You want to be rid of constant rip-offs,
you want to live and work honestly and legally, and to receive the money you
have earned. We will destroy the system of corruption in Ukraine. We will
take the economy out of the shadow. Taxes will be reduced, but everyone will
have to pay them. Business will be separated from government. From now on,
the state budget will be no-one's trough. Only those will work in government
whose spending corresponds to the incomes they have declared. We will
become an honest nation.

You want to be the masters of the places you live in. You do not want
everything to be decided for you in high offices. We will give local
communities their rights back. Community will give power to the villages and
streets. You will yourselves elect your [local] leader, you will yourselves
earn your money and you will spend it as you see fit. We will be a nation of
self-governed communities.

You demand that children be protected from corruption, you want to live not
by bread alone. We will protect our cultural heritage. Together with you I
will tirelessly look after the garden of Ukrainian culture, and care for its
trees, young and old. Our roots will not let the winds of history chase us
around like rolling stones. Our culture will let the world see our
uniqueness. We will be a nation of high culture. We will be a modern nation
in a dynamic global world, and become an equal among equals.

The future of Ukraine is in best education, modern science and technologies
of tomorrow. I will do all I can to make the intellect of our nation work at
full capacity. We will become the first and we will become the best.
Ukrainians will take their worthy place in the community of nations. Ukraine
will be neither a buffer nor someone's battlefield. We are ready to respect
the interests of other countries, but for me, as well as for you, Ukraine's
national interest is . We will greet with kindness and respect all our
neighbours, both in the East and in the West. I will do all I can to develop
cooperation with all countries.

Ukraine will become a reliable partner in the fight against threats old and
new - tyranny, war, poverty, natural disasters and terrorism. It is also
Ukraine's responsibility to jointly look for ways to security and
prosperity. We are ready for this.
UKRAINE'S PLACE IS IN THE EU
Our road to the future is the road followed by united Europe. Together with
its nations we belong to the same civilization and share the same goals.
History, economic prospects and the interests of the people give a clear
answer to the question of where our future lies. Our place is in the
European Union. My goal is for Ukraine to be in a united Europe.

Europe holds Ukraine's historic chance to fulfil its potential. Our national
strategy is to follow this goal in a bold, straightforward and persistent
manner. European standards will become the norm in public life, in the
economy and in Ukrainian politics. Each step towards Europe means new
opportunities for millions of Ukrainians.

Only recently, many regarded entry into the European Union as a distant
prospect. But the free nations of Europe have accelerated the pace of time
more than once. The broken pieces of the Berlin wall, the Warsaw round table
and our Independence Square in Kiev are all symbols of rapid change. Ukraine
is ushering in European history of the third millennium. We are no longer on
the outskirts of Europe. We are in the centre of Europe.

Dear friends, we are setting ourselves ambitious tasks. I am confident, with
every fibre of my body, that they will soon be transformed into glorious
deeds. I will do my utmost to make sure every Ukrainian will believe in
their own strength, in their country and their land. We have already proved
that we can dream boldly and work hard. We are ready for self-sacrifice and
able to achieve success. We are turning a new page in Ukraine's history. It
will be beautiful. It will speak about our unity, our courage and our
readiness to support each other.

A special place in our history belongs to this square in Kiev. We shall be
multiplying our forces and sharing our joy here. This square is the symbol
of a free nation that is confident of its strength and that builds its own
future. The national blue-and-yellow flag will always shine upon us. The
Ukrainian anthem will always be sung in a million voices. My dear friends
and compatriots, everything that is planned will come to be.

Believe in Ukraine, love Ukraine, serve Ukraine!

Glory to you, all of you! Glory to our Lord and to Ukraine! -30-
==========================================================
4. UKRAINE'S NEW PRESIDENT ACCEPTS BLESSING, URGES UNITY

UT1 State TV, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 0940 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, Mon, January 24, 2005 (09:40)

KIEV - In his first speech the day after he was sworn in as president of
Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has urged unity and accord among Ukrainians.
Speaking in a Kiev cathedral after receiving blessing from leaders of
various Christian denominations in Ukraine, Yushchenko also pledged to
respect citizens' religious rights.

The following is an excerpt from the speech Yushchenko delivered in Kiev's
St Sofiya Cathedral and relayed live by the state-run television UT1 on 24
January; subheadings have been inserted editorially:

Dear members of the clergy, your eminences, brothers and sisters, friends.
You know, I can't help thinking about the fact that were are standing on the
holy Ukrainian soil. We can imagine [Prince] Yaroslav the Wise walking on
this floor a thousand years ago, addressing the Almighty together with his
spiritual leaders, looking for answers to numerous questions of that time.

I am convinced that back then it was not easier to solve questions and
accept challenges facing the community than it is today. They have always
been difficult. The community lives on, and it is going to live, creating
harmony in its relations with neighbours, both far and near. These have
always been difficult issues. In certain aspects, they are different today.

But I am convinced that it is highly symbolic that this country's spiritual
leaders, its president, my friends and colleagues have gathered at St Sofiya
Cathedral to solve the same issues in the same context as those tackled by
Great Yaroslav with his spiritual leaders in this cathedral a thousand years
ago. There is one significant thing about this similarity - no good will
take place in a country until there is God's providence. The events which
were taking place over the last two months are a heroic chapter in the
history of, I am sure, my nation, the people - this was also God's
providence.
YUSHCHENKO URGES ACCORD
I can now comment on what happened in those troubled times. Some 500,000
people were gathered at [Kiev's Independence] square, where not a single
policeman was present and not a single drop of blood was shed onto Kiev's
Khreshchatyk Street - this fact causes surprise to this very day. Indeed,
ours is a unique people, a patient people. What surprises me most is the
eyes of the people whom I saw over the last six or two months. This is a
truly different, hopeful nation. Therefore, I would like to say that we can
build our future only with mutual understanding, accepting the world the way
it is, accepting those who are next to us. They won't be different, sorry.

I am convinced that those who had to be born in 1954, they were born 50
years ago [Yushchenko was born in 1954]. They will not be different. They
have a philosophy, an outlook and a view of things of their own. They are
our brothers and sisters. The road to reaching an understanding is not
simple. If you offer a hand, it should not be left hanging in the air, but
another hand should reach out to meet it, and other hands should join them.
Only outlooks can unite.
"UNITY OF OUTLOOKS" NEEDED
When we speak about a united Ukraine, I do not mean its borders first of
all, although it is a basis which characterizes Ukraine as a state. The
notion of unity should stretch beyond the notion of borders. I am convinced
that there should be a unity of outlooks. This unity would not allow the
people to be divided horizontally or vertically in terms of various features
like their language, faith, history or current integration or foreign policy
problems. [Passage omitted: Forefathers predicted that a bright future
awaits Ukraine]

The point is to gather tens of thousands of streams into one big Ukrainian
river. It seems to me that on your shoulders rests a responsibility which is
not lighter than the responsibility of this country's president. It is to
see that this country is united and in accord, to see that each of our days
is peaceful. Therefore, I am deeply convinced, esteemed holy fathers, the
path we have walked is the path along which God has led us. We have won
and we had one advantage - we have tremendous faith. And faith makes us
stronger. This is the only source of what we call the orange revolution.

Millions of people - and not only those in Kiev's Khreshchatyk got up from
their knees. They wanted to see themselves as free people. I am convinced
that they are free now. [Passage omitted: Yushchenko thanks members of the
clergy]
NEW AUTHORITIES TO RESPECT RELIGIOUS RIGHTS
We are Europeans. We respect every faith. We respect everybody's choice -
I mean the spiritual choice in this case - and see this choice as an
individual's exclusive right. No-one from the secular authorities can tell
anyone which cathedral they should go to and which path to God is shorter.
This is not the remit of the secular authorities.

Therefore, I would like to say once again in these holy walls that we pledge
to allow everybody to go to the cathedral of their choosing and walk towards
God along the path of their choosing, and teach their children in the native
language they choose. I am convinced that only in this cultural garden can
we see Ukraine's spiritual and cultural future.

I thank you for the words you have said. I thank you for the blessing I have
just received from you. May God be with us. God save us. -30-
==========================================================
5. PRESS CONFERENCE FOLLOWING RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN TALKS

The Kremlin, www.Kremlin.ru, Moscow, Russia, Monday, Jan 24, 2005

PRESIDENT PUTIN: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen,
My meeting with Viktor Andreyevich Yushchenko has just taken place. As
I said at the beginning of our meeting, I think it is deeply symbolic that
the newly elected president of Ukraine has chosen to make his first visit
abroad to Moscow. We are grateful to him for accepting our invitation.

We discussed the entire spectrum of our relations with Ukraine today. We
have a great amount of work to do together. Of course, the focus was above
all on economic issues. In this respect we discussed our bilateral
relations and the integration processes underway, including within the
Single Economic Space. We realise that the new Ukrainian leadership needs
some time to become more familiar with the matter and gain a more detailed,
inside, understanding of the processes taking place in this area. We have
met with a positive reaction and we hope that our work together in this
area will be effective.

We discussed energy sector issues and cooperation in other sectors of the
economy. Of course, we also gave a lot of time to our political cooperation
and our military-technical and military-political cooperation. Here too we
have a good number of issues on the agenda.

I would like to note the frank and open nature of our talks and the
positive spirit our Ukrainian colleagues showed. I do not see a single
question that could be cause for misunderstanding or that could give rise
to complications for our cooperation. On the contrary, I would like to
thank Viktor Andreyevich for his constructive approach and for the spirit
of trust in which both the first and second parts of our talks took place.
We are satisfied and we hope that very soon, as the President and I agreed,
we will be able to instruct the executive authorities, the governments of
Russia and Ukraine, to prepare a number of proposals on stepping up our
work together.

Thank you very much for your attention.

PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO: Dear Vladimir
Vladimirovich, ladies and gentlemen,

For my part, I would like to note that our position is that Russia is a
permanent strategic partner for Ukraine. It is here that Ukraine's
strategic interests are formed, and this is why my first visit is here, as
a mark of respect and tribute to these relations.

I would not like for Moscow to be full of myths and legends concerning my
political position and the views of my partners ­ myths and legends more
suited to the 1920s-30s. We, the new authorities of Ukraine, are an open
and democratic force who won the elections honestly and who view Russia
as a strategic partner. Of course, the outcome of our talks today was that
we, the new Ukrainian authorities, must work together with our Russian
colleagues to resolve the questions that have still not been settled and
the problems that remain to be dealt with.

It is our view that there are immense possibilities for developing our
bilateral relations in various economic sectors and in the humanitarian
sphere.

Today's talks focused on what I would call a number of strategic issues
concerning Ukraine's position within the Single Economic Space. As there
are many journalists here today, I would like to share with you our
position, the position of my future government, regarding the Single
Economic Space. We take the view that our relations with Russia should be
given as much of a formalised framework as possible. Questions regarding
movement of capital, property, labour, the organisation of tax, customs and
other relations, naturally require formal solutions. Not to do this would
weaken the further development of our relations. We believe that these
principles could be laid as the foundation of our bilateral relations and
as part of multilateral agreements such as the Single Economic Space. We
do not reject the Single Economic Space, but concerning the substance of
the matter, we wish to emphasise one thing, and that is that we are guided
by two principles that make it possible to find an answer to any question
within the framework of this agreement.

The first principle is that positions taken must be in the national
interest.

The second principle is that the principles set out in the agreement on the
Common Economic Space should not go against or block the road to
entering and developing other markets.

I think these are clear principles and I am grateful to Vladimir
Vladimirovich and his colleagues who were present at our talks for reacting
positively to these positions. It is our view that 2005 should be a year of
successful policies for our bilateral relations. I think that by the time
of the next visit to Ukraine the government will have been formed and we
would like to present each other with a package of proposals that Vladimir
Vladimirovich and myself, the governments of Russia and Ukraine, can put
forward as a basis for bilateral relations for 2005, as objectives that can
be met within this year and issues that can be successfully resolved. I am
grateful to the Russian side and the Russian President for the invitation
and for the attention and the sincerity that was present at our talks. This
gives cause to be optimistic about finding solutions for the issues that
Ukraine and Russia must settle as part of their bilateral relations.

QUESTION: How do you view the new Ukrainian government? And a
question for Viktor Yushchenko, why is it Yulia Timoshenko who has been
named as acting Prime Minister?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: I don't think we can give our assessment of the new
Ukrainian government. For a start, it has not been formed yet, and
secondly, it is the citizens of the country concerned who should assess the
results of their government's work. Viktor Andreyevich gave me a general
outline of his plans and I am grateful for that information.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO: You know, I am not a novice to Ukrainian politics.
When I was appointed to head the Ukrainian government four years ago, I took
the view there must be people who can automatically resolve the problems the
authorities had before them.

Today I can say that during my election campaign I did not just make
promises; I know how to fulfil these promises and I know who can resolve
the problems facing Ukraine today. This is why, based on political
consultations, Timoshenko was the most suitable candidate of all those
proposed. I hope and I am certain that she and her cabinet will be
successful, as successful as was my government in 2000-2001.

QUESTION: Could you please clarify for us how you view the bilateral
documents signed by the previous Ukrainian government?

VLADIMIR PUTIN: We discussed all these questions. I already said in my
introductory remarks that there is not a single problem we did not discuss.
Our discussions took place in a spirit of understanding and the realisation
that we need to keep moving forward and develop our contacts in all areas,
in the humanitarian sphere and in the economy. We discussed cooperation in
the energy sector, including regarding the creation of a consortium. As we
understood our colleagues, they intend to continue building on the previous
policy regarding relations with Russia. This also goes for the plans to set
up a consortium together with our partners in western Europe. As is known,
we initially brought into these plans our partners from Germany, but we do
not rule out having companies from other European countries also becoming
involved.

VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO: You know, I began these talks with Vladimir
Vladimirovich with a little story about how, when I Prime Minister, here in
this office, I think, one of the first things I said was, "Vladimir
Vladimirovich, I don't want to represent a government that steals." I was
referring to the unsanctioned siphoning off of gas. In the course of a few
months, I am certain, we were able to settle this problem, provide transit
guarantees, settle debt servicing issues and other questions relating to
gas policy.

At that time, we, the two Prime Ministers, said to President Putin and
President Kuchma that the gas problem was settled now for the next 15
years and there are sufficient grounds for saying that this subject has been
thoroughly worked through.

Our position today is that Russia has unique energy possibilities and
Ukraine has unique transport opportunities. All of this works in favour of
the consumer. We want to propose to Russia that we move forward together,
take each other's interests into account and organise our joint efforts as
a part of forming an energy market that would also be part of the European
energy market and in which Ukraine and Russia would act as interested
partners able to pursue a common policy in this area. This is the main
thing for us today.

As for other issues, I think we have found real mutual understanding. This
concerns economic development and humanitarian issues. I am therefore
satisfied with our talks today and I would like to say once more that I am
grateful for the atmosphere of trust that developed during these talks.

VLADIMIR PUTIN: Concerning gas transport, I can add that Russia
exported more than 100 billion cubic metres of gas via Ukraine to Europe
last year. This year we plan supplies of 112 billion cubic metres. Last
year, Ukraine received $1.5 billion in payment for the transit of Russian
gas. That's not bad, is it. We plan to expand our cooperation in the future.
==========================================================
6. UKRAINE'S LEADER SAYS HIS CHOICE OF YULIYA
TYMOSHENKO AS PRIME MINISTER IS THE RIGHT ONE

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1640 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005

MOSCOW - Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has said that the
candidature of [Yuliya] Tymoshenko as prime minister was "the most
acceptable one".

"I am not new to politics. I know how to do this and what kind of people
should be involved. Therefore, Tymoshenko's candidature was the most
suitable one," the Ukrainian leader said. "I hope that Yuliya Volodymyrivna
and her cabinet will be a success just as my government was in 2000-01,"
Yushchenko added. [Passage omitted: Background data on Tymoshenko]
==========================================================
7. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER-DESIGNATE RARING TO GO

Inter TV, Kiev, in Russian 1800 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, January 24, 2005 (18:00)

[Presenter] A distribution of portfolios has already started. Yuliya
Tymoshenko has been nominated for prime minister, Petro Poroshenko became
head of the National Security and Defence Council, and Oleksandr Zinchenko
received the post of state secretary.

[Correspondent] [President] Viktor Yushchenko issued his personnel decrees
before his departure to Moscow. This has become sort of a signal that the
new Ukrainian president needs no advice. Tymoshenko is known in Russia in
various capacities. [Passage omitted: details of Tymoshenko's career]

[Correspondent] Without any doubt, Tymoshenko's nomination will successfully
pass the vote in parliament. Politicians even quoted the number of votes,
260-270 [to be cast in her favour]. The Communists have already spoken
against. Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn predicted that Tymoshenko's
candidacy would be opposed by the Social Democrats [United Social Democratic
Party] and members of Regions of Ukraine [faction representing the Party of
Regions led by defeated presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych]. But this
will have no effect on the outcome.

[Lytvyn, in Ukrainian] The candidate nominated by the president will pass
the vote. Parliament must approve her to give the president a chance to
implement his election manifesto. [Passage omitted: Correspondent says
Lytvyn was upbeat on Tymoshenko's approval.]

[Correspondent] Serious complaints against Tymoshenko have not been voiced
so far. On the contrary, it is expected that Tymoshenko as prime minister
will do the impossible and find the money to keep her promises given to both
Yushchenko and Yanukovych. Tymoshenko herself is ready to move the world
within 100 day.

[Tymoshenko, surrounded by journalists, in Ukrainian, answering a question]
[I am ready] To move the world [all those present laughing]. Just give me a
lever long enough. [Passage omitted: other nominations] -30-
==========================================================
8. UKRAINE BREAKS ITS AGES OLD ALLIANCE WITH RUSSIA

Channel 3 TV, Moscow, in Russian 1630 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005 (16:30)

MOSCOW - [Commentator Andrey Dobrov] Victor Yushchenko is making
his first and rather strange moves as President of Ukraine. On the one hand,
his first port of call is Moscow, on the other - right on the eve of his
visit it transpired that he'd appointed Yuliya Tymoshenko acting Prime
Minister, a person wanted by the Russian Prosecutor General's Office.

The fact that Tymoshenko was only made an acting premier is a somewhat
clumsy attempt by Yushchenko to save face prior to his meeting with Putin.
The Ukrainian president appears to be in a state of certain euphoria after
his inauguration. This is euphoria of somebody who had bet everything and
has at last scraped through to the highest post of his career. [Passage
omitted: this euphoria is characteristic of all the leaders of the "velvet
revolutions"].

Given the circumstances Victor Yushchenko had to promise the [Ukrainian]
people much more than he can possibly achieve. His inaugural promises can
only be delivered by a magician. [Passage omitted: excerpts from
Yushchenko's inaugural speech].

However, Yushchenko is no miracle worker. That's why he is seeking help in
Moscow. To the press and the public this is being explained as a desire to
raise the [Ukrainian-Russian] relations to a new level. [Upon arrival] at a
Moscow airport he declared that he wants to develop trade and economic
relations [with Russia] on equal footing. [Passage omitted: there is no real
equality in international relations, and Ukrainian and Russian economies are
not equal. Their trade is limited to energy resources at subsidised prices
with a 3 billion dollar debt on the Ukrainian part. Cooperation in the
military sphere, space and aviation is ever more shrinking].

I'd like to explain a very important thing - Ukraine used to be an equal
partner to us because it supported integration with Russia. But now it's
just a big country on our borders, aspiring to join a military block which
was created to fight Russia. It also wishes to melt into the new European
super-state. With the arrival of Yushchenko Ukraine unfortunately is no
longer a country which was a major element of the East Slavonic block.
[Passage omitted: quote from Yushchenko's inaugural speech on Ukraine's
newly found freedom and European destiny].

In effect, Yushchenko has said that the ages old union with Russia is now
broken, that a Ukrainian is now closer to a German or a Frenchman than to a
Russian, that he [Yushchenko] will take Moscow's heavy hand off Ukraine's
political pulse. Hence, it's not quite clear to what new level of closeness
is Yushchenko planning to raise political relations with Russia. [Passage
omitted to the end - the legacy of Bogdan Khmelnitskiy who took Ukraine
into the Russian Empire has dwindled]. -30-
==========================================================
9. STATE WON'T INTERFERE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS, UKRAINE'S
NEW LEADER TELL MOSCOW PATRIARCH

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in Russian 1706 gmt 24 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, January 24, 2005 (17:06)

MOSCOW - Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko has no intention of showing
preference to any Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Yushchenko told Patriarch of
Moscow and All Russia Aleksiy II at a meeting in the St Daniel Monastery in
Moscow. "We are aware of the circumstances in which the Ukrainian Church
finds itself: there are many denominations that have their own history,
which is often very complicated," Yushchenko said.

"I am a believer myself but I will never tell my supporters which church to
go to. It's not my business. We will not interfere in something that the
secular authorities have nothing to do with," Yushchenko said. He said that,
"since 2000, there has been a tradition in Ukraine on major religious
holidays for the president and the prime minister to go round all the
denominations at midnight. By doing this we wish to show tolerance for
spiritual life". "My policy will be based on this approach," Yushchenko
said.

There are two Orthodox churches in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church
of the Moscow Patriarchate has 10,500 parishes. There is also the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate led by Filaret Denysenko, which has
3,000 parishes.

[Patriarch Aleksiy said "the schism which was initiated by the previous
authorities in the early 1990s has a detrimental effect on people",
according to an ITAR-TASS report at 1719 gmt. "We hope that church affairs
will improve with your assistance," he told Yushchenko. Aleksiy II expressed
the hope that under Yushchenko "the Ukrainian people will unite and Ukraine
will become a prosperous state that Europe will reckon with".] -30-
==========================================================
10. "A NEW DEMOCRACY"
Transition from corrupt police state to fledgling democracy

EDITORIAL: The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Sunday, January 23, 2005

TODAY ONE OF Europe's largest nations will make the transition from
corrupt police state to fledgling democracy. In a ceremony in Kiev, Viktor
Yushchenko is due to be inaugurated as president of Ukraine, just under a
month after his decisive victory in a free and fair election -- and two
months after a Russian-sponsored attempt to install a new authoritarian
regime by fraud backfired. Mr. Yushchenko will begin his presidency with an
open-air address in Independence Square, headquarters of the popular
"Orange Revolution" that forced the retreat of the thuggish clique that
governed Ukraine for the past decade. Then he will begin the difficult task
of finding a place for his transformed country between a bitter Vladimir
Putin and the democracies of the West. The danger is that Ukraine will be
stranded between them.

Mr. Yushchenko has wisely chosen to travel to Moscow tomorrow in a show of
goodwill toward Russia -- even though Mr. Putin blatantly backed the rigged
election of his opponent as a way of converting Ukraine into a Kremlin
colony that would share the authoritarian system he is constructing. After
nearly four weeks of silence, the Russian president finally issued a frosty
statement of congratulation to the new Ukrainian president on Thursday. But
he appears not to have given up his notion that this former Soviet republic
of some 50 million belongs to a Russian sphere of influence: At a recent
press conference he warned Mr. Yushchenko against surrounding himself with
ministers Moscow considers "anti-Russian." Mr. Yushchenko will have to
resist such pressures while offering Russia continued access to Ukraine's
rapidly growing economy, as well as assurances that Russian-speaking
Ukrainians will face no discrimination.

After Moscow Mr. Yushchenko plans a circuit through Western Europe,
including a meeting with the European Parliament. His aides say that the
new government intends to seek rapid integration into Western democratic
institutions, beginning with the European Union. Yet while those
governments supported the Orange Revolution, their obvious reluctance to
embrace Ukraine mocks the portrayal of Mr. Yushchenko by Russia and its
Western sympathizers as a Western pawn. Asked about E.U. membership in
Kiev on Friday, foreign policy chief Javier Solana responded that "nothing
is impossible," a formulation that sounds upbeat compared with what other
officials say in public and private.

Many European governments are reluctant to accept another large and
relatively poor Eastern European country into their union; others are loath
to offend Mr. Putin, who dreams of creating a rival, Moscow-dominated
economic bloc including Ukraine. A dozen years ago, when newly democratic
nations in Central Europe such as Poland and Hungary faced similar European
timidity, the United States committed itself to consolidating the new
regimes by offering a path to membership in NATO. President Bush pledged
aggressive support of new democracies last week; Ukraine offers him an
early opportunity to translate his rhetoric into action. -30-
==========================================================
11. "LIFELINE TO KIEV"

OP-ED: By Ariel Cohen, Washington Times, Wash, D.C., Sun, Jan 23, 2005

As President Viktor Yushchenko is inaugurated today, Washington needs to
throw Kiev a lifeline to help build the democratic and free Ukraine of the
21st century.

The exhilarating Orange Revolution has demonstrated the deep desire of
Ukrainians for honest, responsive and democratic government. This was a
drama worthy of the 1989 scenes in Venceslas Square in Prague and
Solidarity's surge to freedom in Poland.

Viktor Yushchenko's electoral victory on Dec. 26, 2004, focused attention
on the most effective Western package to help the Ukrainian postelection
transition succeed.

The Bush administration should facilitate Ukraine's membership in the World
Trade Organization, lift Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions, encourage
Ukraine's European Union membership, expand NATO cooperation with Kiev,
offer a bridging loan for economic restructuring, and unequivocally say the
United States will not tolerate threats to Ukraine's territorial integrity.

The Yushchenko administration faces multiple challenges. The new president's
primary concerns include polarization of the electorate, calls for regional
autonomy, and the opposition of protectionist oligarchs, apparatchiks and
thugs. Forty-four percent of voters favored Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych, an ex-con who promised to tighten Ukraine's ties with Russia
and to introduce a system of dual citizenship.

A decrepit, value-subtracting, eastern rust-belt of coal and steel
industries is the stronghold of Yanukovych supporters: Ukrainian oligarch
beneficiaries of economic ties with Russia, who may launch an
anti-Yushchenko political opposition.

Ukraine also finds itself in the epicenter of the East-West strategic
competition. The Orange Revolution opened the door to Ukraine's European
reintegration. Russia's influence in the country declined, though Ukraine's
relationship with its gigantic neighbor remains a long-term constant and a
national priority.

The U.S. and the EU coordinated their policies on Ukraine, achieving a
unified position in support of that nation's transformation — an important
post-Iraq achievement.

However, after the Ukraine revolution, the EU has proceeded cautiously. EU
now must address its future relations with Ukraine along with the difficult
accession of Turkey. EU may pursue a good-neighbor policy, sign an associate
member agreement or explore outright Ukraine membership that might take
10-15 years to achieve.

Ukraine-NATO relations is another promising direction for cooperation.
NATO is a leading Western organization that can ensure Ukraine's Western
integration, as well as restore greater cohesion in trans-Atlantic foreign
policy. However, Ukrainian membership may cause friction in U.S.-Russian,
EU-Russian, and Ukraine-Russian relations.

U.S. interests lie in a stable, prosperous Ukraine integrating into
Euro-Atlantic structures. At the same time, U.S. relations with Russia are
also important, as the Bush administration seeks President Vladimir Putin's
support on future diplomatic action on Iran; reconstruction of Iraq;
nonproliferation; and counterterrorism and energy cooperation. Support of
Ukraine should not damage this relationship.

The United States will support Ukraine's integration with the West and will
encourage its admission to the EU. Therefore, Ukraine integration into
European institutions and a bolstered Ukraine assistance package are proper
U.S. policy approaches.

The Bush administration should convince the 109th Congress to repeal the
Jackson Vanik Amendment for Ukraine. The amendment, which curbs normal
trade status, is an irrelevant legacy of the Cold War so far as Ukraine is
concerned.

The White House should direct the U.S. Trade Representative and Commerce
Department to support Ukraine membership in the World Trade Organization
and positively consider Ukraine's request for approval of market economy
status, subject to the six statutory factors that guide the Commerce
Department determination of a country's standing, especially that of
openness to foreign investment

The State Department should encourage the EU to sign an associate membership
agreement with Ukraine and begin preliminary consultations on accession,
including the exact date for the beginning of negotiations.

The Pentagon should expand NATO's Partnership for Peace program to further
modernize Ukraine's military; promote civilian control over the military;
explore a "trusted ally" non-member relationship; and eventually consider
Ukraine's membership in NATO. The White House should work with the
Yushchenko administration to reverse pre-election promises to withdraw
Ukraine's contingent from Iraq.

Treasury and the State Department should work with and through the
international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund to diversify Ukraine's Soviet-era heavy
industries and provide, if necessary, a bridging loan to close unprofitable
mines.

The U.S. should help Mr. Yushchenko's government develop comprehensive
reforms in the rule of law, including privatization, expansion of free trade
and reduction and simplification of taxes. A civil service overhaul,
including law enforcement, is a key to restoring Ukrainians' trust in the
state.

Washington should help Kiev promote regionally focused export-oriented
projects in Ukraine; and should foster technical assistance and cooperation
with the private sector to make Ukraine a foreign investment magnet.

Prior to Feb. 24 Bush-Putin summit in Slovakia, the State Department should
find an opportunity to mention the United States' full support for Ukraine's
territorial integrity. It should be made clear to the Kremlin that U.S.
support of Ukraine is not intended to damage Russian political and economic
interests, such as the Russian naval base in Sevastopol, investment, energy
transit to Europe, overflight, etc.

Ukraine has presented a renewed opportunity for U.S. engagement in the
region. Washington should demonstrate unwavering political support for
Ukraine's democratic aspirations. An ongoing, cohesive trans-Atlantic U.S.
foreign policy toward Ukraine should be at the core of Bush administration
support for Ukraine. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ariel Cohen is research fellow in Russian and Eurasian studies at the
Heritage Foundation's Katherine and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute and the
editor/author of "Eurasia in Balance: U.S. and the Regional Power Shift" (to
be published by Ashgate).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050122-103359-5595r.htm
==========================================================
12. CRIMEAN TATARS LOOK WARMLY AT EU MEMBERSHIP

By Huseyin Akkas, Cihan News Agency
Zamon Online, Istanbul, Turkey, Sunday 23, 2005

Tatars living in the Crimean Autonomous Republic, which is dependent on
Ukraine, also support Ukraine's potential European Union (EU) membership.
After the pro-Western candidate's victory in the recent contested elections,
the Ukraine's possible candidacy for the EU has run the risk of
overshadowing Turkey's EU perspective. Tatar leader Kirimoglu commented,
"This will be in the advantage of Ukraine."

The Crimean Tatars National Assembly President and Ukrainian Deputy Mustafa
Abdulcemil Kirimoglu expressed that he did not find the threat of a civil
war after the debated elections realistic. Determining that Crimean Tatars
had supported reformist Our Ukraine Party Leader Victor Yuschenko in the
elections, Kirimoglu also warned that some incidents could occur in some
regions of the country. He also emphasized that Russian President Vladimir
Putin did not have a civil war policy and added that some powers around
Putin would work to provide such a policy.

Kirimoglu answered our questions about the post election developments and
position of the Crimean Tatars in his house in Bahcesaray, which was the
capital of the Former Crimean Sultanate. He evaluated the realization of
the pro-Yuschenko demonstrations that continued for many days as the
most significant development in the region since the collapse of the Soviet
Block. Kirimoglu determined the reaction of the Ukrainian public saying:
"This was a surprise. Nobody expected such a thing. The public realized
their existence."

Determining that Yanukovych was supported by communists, Slavic nationalists
and pro-former Soviets and had been using state assets for his own success
by violating them in the first elections, the Tatar leader clarified that
they had supported Yuschenko in the elections. Kirimoglu also indicated that
whereas 15 percent of the votes in the Crimean regions had been cast for
Yushchenko, 90 percent of the Crimean Tatars had voted for the 'orange'
reformist leader. "If we had known that Yushchenko would lose, we would
still vote for him again", said Kirimoglu, calling the new president "a
democratic figure" and adding that they would negotiate with Yushchenko in
the new period and their expectations were very high. -30-
==========================================================
13. YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE'S ACCIDENTAL REVOLUTIONARY

Agence France Presse (AFP), Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday, Jan. 23, 2005

KIEV - Viktor Yushchenko, who on Sunday was sworn in as Ukraine's
president after leading mass "orange" protests that captured the
world's attention, is not your archetypal revolutionary leader. A trained
banker, he is not a gifted orator -- reporters would come back from his
briefings as chief of Ukraine's central bank with pages full of notes but
few quotes that could be understood by people outside the financial sector.

Yet revolutionary leader is what he became in late November, as hundreds
of thousands of people poured out into the streets in organized protests to
support him in the standoff with the ruling regime of Leonid Kuchma.

His face -- bloated and pockmarked -- became a potent symbol of the rot of
the outgoing regime. The handsome features were grotesquely disfigured in
September after he fell ill in what doctors have since said was a result of
a massive dioxin intake that the opposition leader charged was a murder
attempt by the authorities.

The 50-year-old is a dignified, deeply religious man, whose insistence on
high moral standards and decency inspires confidence among supporters.

"I just wanted Yushchenko to be president," said Roman Bezsmertnyi, a top
aide. "I saw in him a person who would be able to change the country." He is
also notorious for a painfully slow decision-making process, a desire not to
offend that often results in an inability to say 'no' and for being
shockingly unpunctual.

The third president of an independent Ukraine was born in 1954 in the
village of Khorujevka in eastern Ukraine and began his career in the banking
sector in 1976.

At the age of 39 in 1993, he became chief of Ukraine's central bank,
catching the eye of an American ethnic Ukrainian consultant with the KPMG
audit firm.

"He was very open-minded and very free-market oriented," said Katherine
Chumachenko who is today Yushchenko's wife. "I found that very interesting
that somebody so young and in such an important position really had such a
Western outlook on the economy." Yushchenko came to head the central bank
in the first tough years of post-Soviet reform. In 1996 he introduced the
country's first stable post-Soviet currency, the hryvna, to great fanfare,
managing to keep the nascent unit stable while a similar experiment in
neighboring Russia went through a roller-coaster ride.

After six years in the post, he was tapped to become Kuchma's cabinet chief.
He leapt at the chance, stacking his government with young liberals,
focusing his efforts foremost on breaking the powerful but invisible bond
between the state and organized crime. Over the next year Ukraine enjoyed
its first rise in economic growth since the Soviet Union's collapse.

But as his anti-corruption drive charged ahead, Yushchenko came up against
ever more powerful enemies in both parliament and the government and Kuchma,
bowing to an irate parliament that had earlier voted down an austerity
budget proposed by Yushchenko, dumped him from office in April 2001.

He enjoyed his first taste of popular success that day, as 15,000 people
rallied in the streets in his support, turning him into an instant
opposition leader at a time when Kuchma himself was fighting off allegations
of being linked to the murder of an opposition journalist. With the
revolution over and won, Yushchenko will now face the even harder task of
making good on his campaign promises -- a fight against corruption, a
transparent government, levelling the field for business players, setting
Ukraine on a European integration course.

"I am certain that soon the world will see a new Ukraine, with a new people
and a new government," he told US President George W. Bush in a phone call
on Saturday as he prepared to take the oath of office. -30-
=========================================================
14. CURIOUS ORANGE: HOW A UKRAINIAN BAND EMERGED FROM
THE CHAOS OF THE "ORANGE REVOLUTION"

Guardian Unlimited, UK, Sunday, January 23, 2005

A chance hearing of song by a band from Ukraine on the late John Peel's
radio show led Matthew Collin to the industrial badlands of the east of the
country. Fotomoto's future seemed bleak, but then came political upheaval,
protest in the streets and the 'Orange Revolution' ...

The greatest journeys often lead to unexpected destinations. This one began
with a song and ended up in the middle of a national uprising. It all
started a year ago when John Peel played a piece of shimmering dream-pop on
his Radio 1 show by an unknown band called Fotomoto, but offered no details
about who they were or where they came from. A web search sent me first to a
series of Italian motorbike fetish sites, then to Stoke-on-Trent, where a
man called Mike Eardley was selling Fotomoto's albums - which are
unavailable in western Europe - by mail order on behalf of the band.

Eardley said that Fotomoto were from a city called Zaporozhye in Ukraine,
a country which at that point appeared to be languishing in social and
cultural torpor, and rarely made the headlines. 'They had a kind of cult
following through people hearing them on Peel, but nobody could get hold of
the CDs,' Eardley explained. 'It's a real pain getting money in and out of
there; the banking system isn't exactly brilliant, and anything you post
tends to get opened. For the early record sales, I would change the money
into dollar bills and send them off concealed in bars of chocolate.' He said
the band had a standing invitation to come to Britain to record a Peel
session, but couldn't afford the air fares and were finding it hard to get
visas.

Peel had become a champion for the band after hearing one of their early
recordings. 'It was just the unexpectedness of it that appealed to me,' he
said, a couple of months before his death last year. 'Most music I get from
eastern Europe tends to be rather grim metal stuff, not awfully good, and
when you see the bands live - of course this is a gross generalisation -
there's always a kind of cabaret approach. There's always someone in the
band dressed as a clown or a monk, and the vocals are always terribly
theatrical.'

Pop that develops in isolation can grow up rich and strange. Influences are
mistranslated, mangled and reimagined. So it is with Fotomoto. They're
Ukrainian but speak Russian and sing in French, something that captivated
Peel. Their songs have a certain elegant charm and a quality of innocence
that's genuinely disarming. On their latest album, Suranov, A?, there are
hints of Stereolab, St Etienne, Depeche Mode and Serge Gainsbourg, as
well as gauzy melodies and an electronic pulse.

As I was soon to discover, it's a sound that's totally at odds with the
environment in which it was produced. Rising from the verdant splendour of
the Ukrainian countryside, Zaporozhye looks like a diabolical inferno; a
city on fire. Clouds of yellow and black smoke blurt from chimneys and jets
of flame shoot upwards into the sky above a tangle of metal and concrete.
Zaporozhye! Even its name sounds like a firework going off. The streets are
dusty with industrial deposits, and sometimes, at night, areas of the city
are enveloped in smog.

Stalin designated Zaporozhye a metal town and began the construction of the
huge hydro-electric dam that dominates the approach from the north. Travel
writer Andrew Evans called it 'a blackened shrine to Ukraine's heaviest
industry ... the prototype of the perfect Soviet city'. One young local put
it more succinctly: 'This whole city is heavy metal.' Hundreds of years ago,
it was home to the hard-drinking Cossacks. Now the region is best known for
housing the continent's largest nuclear power plant. It's hardly an area one
would imagine could be responsible for some of the most delicate and
enchanting music to come out of the former Soviet Union.

Fotomoto's latest album was released by a Russian label; the band say they
are virtually unknown in Ukraine, even in Zaporozhye. That was confirmed by
an impromptu gig they played when I first met them last year, in a scruffy
little club called Nora in the basement of an office block. They insisted it
was the only venue for alternative music in this city of 850,000 people.
Around 30 of their friends sprawled across tatty red sofas, swigging from
bottles of beer they'd brought in from the off-licence. After the gig,
Fotomoto packed all their equipment into the boot of a taxi and went for
hamburgers.

Alex Ivanov is the technical maven of the band, the laptop sorcerer. He's
also the eldest. He came of age when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet
Union, and Western rock music offered a glimpse of another world. He would
listen to scratchy short-wave broadcasts on the BBC World Service, picking
up tantalising fragments of information about youth culture on the other
side of the Iron Curtain, and gaze wonderingly at the British indie charts
in a Czech magazine at the local library: Joy Division, Cocteau Twins, the
Pixies, the Smiths ... exotic voices. 'Strange music, as it seemed to me
then,' he said.

Not so strange now, though, and despite living hundreds of miles from the
Ukrainian capital, Kiev, the four members of Fotomoto insist they weren't
cut off from the global music scene. 'There are plenty of deeper holes on
earth,' said Ivanov. But if they were from London, Paris or Berlin, they'd
be signed to a decent independent label and wouldn't be working for a vodka
company, as Ivanov and Sergey Sergeyev do, or in a recording studio, like
Olya Volodina and Anton Singurov. They wouldn't rehearse and record in a
spare room on the ninth floor of the rickety apartment block where Volodina
and Singurov live.

One of the problems is there's hardly a music industry to speak of in
Ukraine - at least not a legal one. According to the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the global music business body,
Ukraine is one of the top 10 producers of pirate CDs worldwide. The bootleg
merchants make no attempt to conceal themselves. On the grand, tree-lined
boulevards of Kiev, pavement stalls and kiosks openly sell illegal CDs, DVDs
and software as armed police officers saunter past, seemingly oblivious or
uncaring. As Ivanov said: 'These people trade CDs like hot rolls. They
seldom like and know music, they just do it to feed themselves and their
family. It's all the same to them what they sell - CDs, cigarettes or
potatoes.'

A journalist I spoke to in Kiev went further: this was institutionalised
criminality, he insisted. 'Piracy is tolerated, if not encouraged. If it was
discouraged, you wouldn't see it. Because of the near-dictatorial powers of
the president, if they wanted to get rid of it, they could do it in a week.
But there's graft at every level, from the cop on the beat to the local city
administrators, and they just don't care because they're making money.'
I went to a small bootleg factory in Zaporozhye to watch some of the pirates
at work. Its stock room was piled high with illegal copies of bands like
tAtU and the Prodigy, and one of the employees was busily processing new
product: rip and burn, rip and burn ... In a nearby record shop, most of the
CDs by Western artists were decent-quality bootlegs. Many of them were
delivered in a weekly shipment from a supplier in Moscow who could provide
anything from Kraftwerk and Radiohead to Emma Bunton and Gareth Gates.
Particularly popular were illegal MP3 compilations containing the entire
recorded works of, for example, Eminem or Madonna.

However, one type of music was doing good business: Europop. In Kiev, it was
impossible to avoid, blaring cheerily out of every other shop doorway. The
relentlessly upbeat message of Europop - life is fun, we're so happy, come
on baby, let's dance! - almost amounted to a kind of cultural propaganda.
And, of course, life is good for some in Ukraine's new consumer society,
like the oligarchs who've grown fat on the privatisations of state
industries, and Kiev's 'businessmen', with their black jeeps and
mini-skirted molls, living the casino fantasy in neon. But at the city's
raggedy fringes it's a different story, as pensioners scavenge in dumpsters
and beg for coins.

In the minibus-taxis that rattle down Zaporozhye's main drag, the Lenin
Prospect, the soundtrack was a little darker: Russian criminal music -
chanson, a bizarre folk style that glamorises the post-Soviet underworld.
Tattooed hard men sing in a guttural growl of their heinous exploits, of
prison camps and fallen comrades. Their lyrics are decorated with jailhouse
slang. Chanson cassettes invariably depict the artists as stone-cold,
heartless brutes; scarred mugs glowering into the lens, huge diamonds
glistening on their fingers, toting their guitars as if they were
rocket-propelled grenade launchers. They make 50 Cent look fey.

In a culture of Europop and criminal chanson, of prancing girls in skimpy
costumes and macho bruisers in leather jackets, it was hard to know where
Fotomoto fitted in. Probably not at all ... and perhaps that's the point.
Their nonconformism has consigned them to the fringes. Nevertheless, they
haven't deluded themselves that music could become a viable career for them
in Ukraine. 'As we say here, this is a "sick" question. In our city and our
country, our band hasn't any chances,' admitted Singurov.

Faced with a dire economic situation, many young Ukrainians simply want to
escape - a survey in a Ukrainian business magazine last year suggested that
more than 50 per cent of young people were thinking about leaving the
country. For Fotomoto, this wasn't an option. The ties of family and friends
bound them to Zaporozhye, but they are also caught in a gap between dreams
and reality; free to consume the products of the global entertainment
industry, but unable to participate fully.

In Kiev, flyposters advertised nu-metal gigs featuring bands with names like
Braindeath and Holy Blood, but alternatives were scarce even in the capital.
There was simply no cultural infrastructure outside the mainstream, I was
told by Maket and Pistols, two veterans of the Kiev post-punk underground
which was at its most vibrant after Ukraine became independent in 1991.
The waif-like and charismatic Maket was the leader of Ivanov Down, who
played a kind of jagged industrial rock with lyrics in the singer's own
invented fantasy language, achieving cult status in Poland and Russia. He
was even invited to contribute music to Boris Yeltsin's election campaign.

But by 2004, the pickings were slimmer and Maket was dividing his time
between what he called his 'official project' - which seemed to be a more
mainstream rock band sponsored by some local entrepreneur - recording
other-worldly electronic soundscapes in his apartment, and studying the
philosophies of the Maharishi, the Beatles' favourite Indian mystic, under
whose spell he had fallen. Maket said he believed in miracles, which at
least showed he'd managed to retain his optimism. 'Miracles can happen,' he
urged. 'Otherwise, what is life? Nothing!' It was a strangely prescient
sentiment, although he couldn't have known it at the time.

Pistols (nicknamed for his youthful affection for Rotten and co) used to be
Ivanov Down's manager, but now works as a scientist. He sketched out a
dismal portrait of the Kiev scene: 'There's no good music radio at all, no
decent music press, and no viable music industry because the population is
so poor and CDs sell for two dollars each.'

Paul Miazga, the senior editor at a Kiev newspaper, suggested that poverty
and political isolation had helped to ravage the cultural landscape. He
reeled off dark tales of organised crime and high-level corruption, which he
said was crippling the country. It became clear that his paper, the Kyiv
Post, was one of the few questioning voices in a country where media
influence was largely controlled by a few powerful and wealthy men close to
the President, Leonid Kuchma, and the Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych.

Independent media were regularly silenced, editors were instructed how to
report the news through a system of official notices called temniki, and
violence against investigative journalists was commonplace. In the most
disturbing case, in 2000, the headless corpse of a reporter who campaigned
against institutional corruption, Georgiy Gongadze, was found in a forest
outside Kiev. Opposition groups alleged that secret tape recordings
suggested President Kuchma was involved in the killing - which he strongly
denied.

And the pressure was rising as the Ukrainian presidential election
approached. Yet even in the early summer, some were already dreaming that
the poll could prove to be some kind of turning point for Ukraine. 'There's
no shortage of talk that this is the most important year in the country's
history since independence,' said Miazga. 'It could be the changing of the
guard.'

The next few months would be full of joy and turmoil, for Fotomoto as well
as Ukraine. After saving every kopeck they'd earned, and enduring a
punishing 70-hour bus journey across Europe, the band eventually arrived at
Victoria Coach Station in London one bright morning, keen-eyed and ready
to record their Peel session. Against the odds, they'd made it this far.
'This,' said Volodina, 'is something I've always dreamed of.'

But not long after their session was broadcast, Peel was dead. His passing
was particularly felt among bands who hadn't yet (or might never) become
successful, and who still relied on the veteran DJ as their only outlet to
the world. For who would play such records now? Fotomoto were among them,
and they were devastated by his death. They had admired him so much that
they had even used a sample of his voice on one of their early tracks. To
them, Peel wasn't a rock'n'roll institution, admired but rarely listened
to - he was a vital force for good, and a man who exemplified all that was
best about Britain. 'We are grieving,' Volodina emailed me to say. 'It is a
heavy loss.'

In the same message, she explained that the day before, she had been to vote
in Ukraine's presidential election but had been prevented from doing so
because her name wasn't on the electoral roll. She had just been to court in
an attempt to reverse the decision. Her situation wasn't unique. Allegations
of nationwide ballot-rigging and fraud brought hundreds of thousands of
Ukrainians onto the streets after the Prime Minister, Yanukovych, was
declared the winner over the more Western-leaning opposition leader, Viktor
Yushchenko. They felt that a crime against democracy had been committed, one
symbolised by Yushchenko's poison-scarred face. A tipping point had been
reached. The 'orange revolution' had begun.

The sheer scale of it even surprised some of those who were involved. In the
protest camp that sprang up in central Kiev, a group of students told me
they could hardly believe the mass outburst of feeling in the country. As
they sipped sweet tea and warmed themselves in front of smoking braziers,
Ukrainian rock bands thrashed away on a stage in nearby Independence
Square, while a radio station which had set itself up in the middle of the
tent village blasted out sugar-sweet pop. It's probably the only time that
Kylie Minogue has been part of the soundtrack to a civil uprising. Despite
the bitter cold, Kiev felt transformed - it was crackling with energy and
enthusiasm. 'It's different because everyone is smiling now,' said one
intense young activist, his breath steaming white in the freezing night air,
his jacket glowing fluorescent orange. 'This is, more than anything, a
revolution of the mind.' -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
ARTICLES ARE FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
Articles are Distributed For Information, Research, Education
Discussion and Personal Purposes Only
==========================================================
Ukraine Information Website: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
==========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - SPONSORS
"Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"

1. THE BLEYZER FOUNDATION, Dr. Edilberto Segura, Chairman;
Victor Gekker, Executive Director, Kyiv, Ukraine; Washington, D.C.,
http://www.bleyzerfoundation.com.
2. BAHRIANY FOUNDATION, INC., Dr. Anatol Lysyj, Chairman,
Minneapolis, Minnesota,
3. KIEV-ATLANTIC GROUP, David and Tamara Sweere, Daniel
Sweere, Kyiv and Myronivka, Ukraine, 380 44 295 7275 in Kyiv.
4. ODUM- Association of American Youth of Ukrainian Descent,
Minnesota Chapter, Natalia Yarr, Chairperson.
5. ACTION UKRAINE COALITION: Washington, D.C.,
A. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA),
Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M. Andryczyk, President;
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
B. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL,
(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
C. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President, Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine.
6. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Washington, D.C.
7. ESTRON CORPORATION, Grain Export Terminal Facility &
Oilseed Crushing Plant, Ilvichevsk, Ukraine
========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" is an in-depth news and
analysis international newsletter, produced as a public service by the
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service and The Action Ukraine
Report Monitoring Service The report is distributed around the world
FREE of charge using the e-mail address: ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net.

If you would like to read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" please
send your name, country of residence, and e-mail contact information to
morganw@patriot.net. Additional names are welcome. If you do not wish to
read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" around five times per
week, let us know by e-mail to morganw@patriot.net.
========================================================
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs
Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer Investment Banking Group
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013, Tel: 202 437 4707
morganw@patriot.net, www.SigmaBleyzer.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Senior Advisor; Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA)
Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC)
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, Washington, D.C.
Publisher, Ukraine Information Website, www.ArtUkraine.com
========================================================