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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"

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - Number 430
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, TUESDAY, February 15, 2005

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

1. UKRAINE'S NEW GOVERNMENT TURNS UP HEAT ON EX-
PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA
Mara D. Bellaby, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, Feb 15, 2005

2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TELLS PROSECUTORS TO SPEED
UP HIGH-PROFILE CRIMINAL CASES
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 14 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Feb 14, 2005

3. UKRAINE TO CREATE SECRET GROUPS TO FIGHT SMUGGLING
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 14 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Monday, Feb 14, 2005

4. SPOKESMAN SAYS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT IN GOOD HEALTH
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, February 14, 2005

5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
DISCUSS UKRAINIAN TROOPS PULL OUT FROM IRAQ
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, Fri, 11 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, February 11, 2005

6. TYMOSHENKO AND US CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION DISCUSS
ABOLITION OF JACKSON-VANIK AMENDMENT, MARKET-ECONOMY
STATUS FOR UKRAINE AND UKRAINE'S ADMISSION INTO WTO
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, February 11, 2005

7. SPEAKER LYTVYN AND U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
DISCUSS ADMISSION OF UKRAINE INTO WTO AND MARKET-
ECONOMY STATUS FOR UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, February 12, 2005

8. SEN. CLINTON AND PM TYMOSHENKO SHARED THEIR SECRETS
Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, February 12, 2005
Translated by Anastasia Kekutia, 12.02.2005

9. MADELEINE ALBRIGHT SPEAKS WITH YULIYA TYMOSHENKO
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, February 11, 2005
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1750 gmt 11 Feb 05

10. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNOUNCES NEW ERA
IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1900 gmt 11 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, February 11, 2005

11. UKRAINE: NEW FOREIGN MINISTER ON RUSSIAN TIES,
NATO, IRAQ PRESENCE
"Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk: 'Enough of Exploiting the
Topic of the Russian Language in Ukraine, This Problem Does not Exist'"
Interview with Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Conducted by Yanina Sokolovskaya
Izvestia, Moscow, Russia, Fri, February 11, 2005

12. ORIGINAL LETTER TO MANITOBA LIQUOR COMMISSION
Stalin Photo on Massandra Wine from Ukraine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Orysia Tracz" <orysia_tracz@hotmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:34 AM
Subject: Remove Stalin labelled wine, please

13. MANITOBA PULLS WINES WITH STALIN LABELS
CBC NewsOnLine, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, Wed, Feb 9 2005

14. UKRAINE'S OFFICIAL PARTICIPATION IN UPCOMING VICTORY
CELEBRATIONS OF WWII
From: <oksanabh@sympatico.ca>
To: "UKRAINE REPORT 2005" <ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 10:42 AM
Subject: Letter-to-the-Editor

15. GIVING PEACE A CHANCE - SOUTH CAROLINA COUPLE TO
HELP UKRAINIANS ENHANCE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Signed up for two years of service with the Peace Corps
By Wallace McBride, Index-Journal senior staff writer
Index-Journal, Greenwood, South Carolina, Sun, Feb13, 2005

16. UKRAINE'S NATO ASPIRATIONS CAST A CLOUD OVER
RUSSIAN ARMS EXPORTERS
Vedomosti, Moscow, Russia, in Russian 25 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Feb 13, 2005

17. PROBING THE PLOT TO POISON UKRAINE'S YUSHCHENKO
By Francesca Mereu, Staff Writer, The St. Petersburg Times,
St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, February 15, 2005
=========================================================
1. UKRAINE'S NEW GOVERNMENT TURNS UP HEAT ON EX-
PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA

Mara D. Bellaby, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, Feb 15, 2005

KIEV - As Ukraine's ex-President Leonid Kuchma settles into a quiet
retirement, his future is in the hands of some of his fiercest political
enemies, who accuse to ordering the murder of a journalist. President
Viktor Yushchenko, sacked by Kuchma in acrimony as prime minister in
2000, is already cranking up the pressure. He has unleashed his government
to pick through sales of state property and alleged "insider" deals under
the previous regime.

Even Kuchma's retirement package - fat pension, two cars, cook, maid and
much more - is under investigation. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whom
Kuchma once had thrown in jail, ordered the government to come up with a
new, slimmed-down version, to be presented to the Cabinet on Wednesday.

But the real specter haunting Kuchma's future is Heorhiy Gongadze. Gongadze,
a journalist who ran a popular Internet news site highly critical of the
government, was abducted in 2000. His headless corpse was found 50 days
later. His decomposed remains still lie in a morgue in a desolate corner of
Kiev, while his mother, Lesya Gongadze, demands justice and Yushchenko
declares it a moral duty to resolve the case.

In secret tapes made by a former bodyguard, the president was overheard
repeatedly complaining about Gongadze's reporting and ordering then-Interior
Minister Yuriy Kravchenko to "drive him out, throw (him) out, give him to
the Chechens." Kuchma has denied the authenticity of the tapes, and insists
he had nothing to do with Gongadze's abduction.

But the case has become Ukraine's cause celebre, and Yushchenko may have
no choice but to pursue it, even if he is not out for vengeance and would
rather 66-year-old Kuchma faded into comfortable obscurity, as some have
suggested.

The new interior minister, Yuriy Lyutsenko, was one of those who joined the
street rallies in 2000 for Kuchma's impeachment over the journalist's
killing. Heorhiy Omelchenko, one of Kuchma's most aggressive parliamentary
foes, has formally requested the arrest of Kuchma. So far, the prosecutor's
office has not responded.

If Kuchma isn't arrested, Omelchenko warns, he'll claim cover-up. "It'll
mean there is a secret - and illegal - agreement ... that Kuchma can't be
touched."

Kuchma typified the class of ex-communists who took over many Soviet and
eastern European republics in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet
Union. In power for 10 years, he could have sought a third term but decided
to hand over the reins to his hand-picked candidate, former Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych.

But things went awry in a welter of electoral fraud and street protests, and
the ultimate winner was Yushchenko, the man Kuchma's office once called a
fascist and an American stooge.

Anger against Kuchma still runs deep in this nation of 48 million. Many
Ukrainians accuse him of having run the state like a personal fiefdom,
enriching those close to him while the rest of the nation was choked by
poverty and corruption. Oleksandr Lytvynenko, an analyst at Kiev's Razumkov
think tank, said that while Kuchma isn't protected by a formal immunity,
there is an "unofficial immunity for ex-presidents," which he doesn't expect
Yushchenko to encroach upon.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, also senses that
Yushchenko would rather leave Kuchma in honorable retirement and "establish
the pattern that there is life after politics."

Kuchma's problem is, the new government says the previous one exceeded its
powers in bypassing parliament and giving Kuchma a deal that includes a
monthly salary of 8,293 hryvna (US$1,560, A?1,238), and allows him and wife
Lyudmyla to keep their government-owned home in Ukraine's most exclusive
enclave.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko, the new prime minister, has begun the process of
taking the Krivoryzhstal steel mill out of the hands of a consortium which
includes Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk. The group bought the
profitable mill at a rock-bottom price during a widely criticized
privatization deal last year. Prosecutors are sifting through other major
privatization deals and financial transactions, a probe that is likely to
focus on the wealthy clique of businessmen close to Kuchma.

Yushchenko, a Western-oriented reformer whose wife is American, has a
reputation as a compromiser, but his anger at the former regime's attempts
to discredit him runs deep. During a visit last week to Donetsk in eastern
Ukraine, a region that overwhelmingly backed his rival, Yanukovych, the
new president lashed out at officials who in 2003 decorated the city with
cartoon posters depicting him dressed in a Nazi uniform.

Reminding the crowd that his father was imprisoned in Auschwitz, he asked:
"Who ordered these posters? Who hung these up? ... I don't want to forgive
this." Still, those close to Kuchma insist he is not worried.

"He is optimistic," said son-in-law Pinchuk. "I think he's expecting a
normal, full life as a member of the club of ex-presidents." -30-
=========================================================
2. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TELLS PROSECUTORS TO SPEED
UP HIGH-PROFILE CRIMINAL CASES

Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 14 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Feb 14, 2005

KHARKIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has told the
Prosecutor-General's Office to speed up investigations into high-profile
criminal cases, state secretary Oleksandr Zinchenko has said.

"Viktor Andriyovych [Yushchenko] issued instruction regarding a lot of
high-profile cases. He issued instructions to complete the case on Kyrpa's
suicide (Heorhiy Kyrpa was the transport minister - Interfax-Ukraine),
regarding the death of Yuriy Lyakh (head of the Ukrainian Credit Bank
board - Interfax-Ukraine) and many other things," Zinchenko told a news
conference in Kharkiv today.

At the current stage "clear instructions have been completely worked out
regarding the death of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze", Zinchenko said. "I
think four years [since Gongadze's death in 2000] is long enough to have
achieved a real result," Zinchenko added. -30-
=========================================================
3. UKRAINE TO CREATE SECRET GROUPS TO FIGHT SMUGGLING

Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 14 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Monday, Feb 14, 2005

KIEV - Secret mobile interagency groups with wide powers will be created in
Ukraine to fight smuggling, Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko has
said. Tymoshenko was speaking to a news conference today after a joint
meeting with the heads of the customs and border services, the Security
Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor-General's Office, which discussed
combating contraband.

The groups will be created in the next few weeks, but the first group of
experts already left for the Odessa customs house today to inspect goods
clearance services, Tymoshenko said. The government intends to give these
groups a certain percentage of the funds returned to the budget following
their checks, Tymoshenko said, adding that these mobile groups, which are to
be created according to international standards, will check documents for
imported goods at any stage of import.

Ways of preventing possible corruption within the secret groups themselves
should be their make-up involving different agencies, isolation and, in some
cases, reciprocal checks of their performance, Tymoshenko said. [Passage
omitted: the cabinet is going to draft the Stop Contraband action plan.]

The Stop Contraband action plan, which will be submitted for the cabinet's
approval on 23 February, will involve 50 steps to fight corruption. First
Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh will be in charge of coordinating the
government's work in this area.

The Cabinet of Ministers intends to analyse the work of import companies and
to draw up a "white" and "black" list of companies. Names of companies
enlisted "white" will be published, while those enlisted "black" will import
goods on condition that they will be fully checks, Tymoshenko said.

Tymoshenko also said that the Justice Ministry was instructed to urgently
make an inventory of all court rulings involving imports in Ukraine in 2004.
On the basis of this inventory, a list of judges who abused office to cover
up smuggling with court rulings will be compiled, and the judges will be
made answerable. At the same time, Tymoshenko said that the Cabinet of
Ministers does not intend to replace the heads of the state customs and
border services yet.

Tymoshenko said that the problem of smuggling is highly complicated, as
Ukraine has created a system of a chain of authority to cover up corruption,
while the size of bribes reached up to 20 per cent of the cost of imported
goods. [Passage omitted: possible extra budget receipts from anticorruption
measures]

Describing the scale of possible extra budget receipts, Tymoshenko recalled
that the Ukrainian customs officially levied 45bn hryvnyas [almost 8.5bn
dollars] in import duties and taxes in 2004, but the budget received a mere
18bn hryvnyas. [Passage omitted: anticontraband measures expected to boost
domestic production] -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
4. SPOKESMAN SAYS UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT IN GOOD HEALTH

BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, February 14, 2005

KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's consultations with
doctors to restore his former appearance will not affect in any way his
pace, schedule and working capacity. They are held outside his working
hours, the president's press secretary, Iryna Herashchenko, has told
[Russian news agency] RIA Novosti by phone.

"The president visited a clinic in Switzerland over the past weekend [12-13
February], where he had consultations with doctors. Yushchenko has
repeatedly said that he cannot get used to his new face after the poisoning
[during the election campaign], and that he would like to do his best to
restore his former appearance," Herashchenko said.

His busy work schedule is yet another proof that the Ukrainian president is
in good health, Herashchenko said. She declined to comment on the results
of Yushchenko's unofficial visit to Switzerland, saying that "the head of
state makes no secret of his health condition, but this topic is extremely
delicate".

"The president has repeatedly said that all questions about his health,
especially after the poisoning, will be covered openly, but this was a
private visit in this case, he was an ordinary visitor in the clinic,"
Herashchenko said.

At the same time, Herashchenko promised to make public the results of
Yushchenko's medical tests in the Swiss clinic if they prove to be of
fundamental importance to the public. -30-
=========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT, U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
DISCUSS UKRAINIAN TROOPS PULL OUT FROM IRAQ

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, Fri, 11 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, February 11, 2005

KIEV - Today, President Viktor Yushchenko and the US congressional
delegation headed by US senator John McCain discussed the withdrawal of
Ukrainian peacekeepers from Iraq, the president's press service has said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk and State Secretary Oleksandr
Zinchenko were also present. Former US First Lady Hillary Clinton is also
a member of the American delegation.

The parties discussed a broad range of issues on Ukrainian-American
cooperation, ways of optimizing bilateral relations after the victory of
democratic forces in Ukraine [during the presidential election], upholding
the democratic processes in Ukrainian society and the new government's
investment policy.

The politicians also raised the issue of the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops
from Iraq. The Ukrainian president recalled the decision to pull out the
Ukrainians from Iraq, drawing attention to the fact that their presence in
Iraq has not been widely supported by Ukrainian society. Yushchenko said
that prior to carrying out the decision consultations with coalition allies
and the Iraqi government would be held. "The steps to be taken on the issue
will be appropriate and consistent," the president said. He added that in a
few weeks a government delegation led by Foreign Minister Tarasyuk will
visit Iraq and meet with the country's government.

Commenting on Ukraine-NATO relations, Yushchenko said that Ukraine does
a lot to develop them, but pointed out that a lot more is to be done to
explain the organization's work to Ukrainian citizens. The president said
that people do not know much about NATO's goals and functions. He said that
in Ukraine "30 per cent of citizens support joining NATO, 36 per cent oppose
this and the rest have no idea at all what NATO is".

The president also hopes that other countries will understand and support
Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations and stressed the importance of Ukraine's
readiness to take all the necessary steps in this direction. The parties
discussed Ukrainian-Russian relations at the meeting. The also raised the
issue of AIDS in Ukraine and progress in the implementation of assistance
programmes for AIDS-infected citizens. -30-
==========================================================
6. TYMOSHENKO AND US CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION DISCUSS
ABOLITION OF JACKSON-VANIK AMENDMENT, MARKET-ECONOMY
STATUS FOR UKRAINE AND UKRAINE'S ADMISSION INTO WTO

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, February 11, 2005

KYIV - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and a United States congressional
delegation have discussed abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the
United States' Trade Act, the issue of granting Ukraine the status of a
market economy, and Ukraine's bid for admission into the World Trade
Organization. Tymoshenko announced this to journalists at the end of the
meeting with the delegation. "We received the support and hope that
everything is the way Ukraine expects," Tymoshenko said.

She added that she hoped for an increase in the United States' financial
support for Ukraine, particularly for health, education, and democratization
programs, as well as support for small and medium businesses. On the
prospects for abolition of the Jackson-Vanik amendment, Tymoshenko said
that the congressional delegation assured her that this issue would be
resolved soon.

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is a member of congressional the
delegation, told journalists that this was her third visit to Ukraine and
that this was the happiest of her visits. In particular, Clinton said she
was happy to see the results of the Ukrainian people's struggle and added
that she wanted to wish President Viktor Yuschenko and Prime Minister
Tymoshenko success in their efforts to achieve great results for their
people. Clinton said that the United States would support Ukraine's efforts
to achieve this goal.

Several members of the congressional delegation came to the meeting with
Tymoshenko wearing orange scarves bearing the slogans "Yes!" and
"Yuschenko!"

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Senator John McCain heads the
congressional delegation. The delegation also planned to meet with
Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn on Friday. Senators McCain and
Clinton (the wife of former president Bill Clinton) recently nominated
Yuschenko and Georgia's President Mikhail Saakashvili for the Nobel
Peace Prize. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==========================================================
7. SPEAKER LYTVYN AND U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION
DISCUSS ADMISSION OF UKRAINE INTO WTO AND MARKET-
ECONOMY STATUS FOR UKRAINE

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, February 12, 2005

KYIV - Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and a United States
congressional delegation have discussed Ukraine's bid for admission into the
World Trade Organization and the issue of granting Ukraine the status of a
market economy. The parliamentary press service disclosed this to Ukrainian
News. The two sides also discussed the prospects for lifting the economic
sanctions involving certain export operations of Ukrainian companies.

Senator John McCain, who heads the congressional delegation, said that the
common values shares by Ukraine and the United States and their inclination
toward democracy were objective grounds for a real improvement in
Ukrainian-American relations. Lytvyn described the initiative on abolishing
the Jackson-Vanik amendment to the United States' Trade Act as an example
of understanding of and support for Ukraine.

According to Lytvyn, it would also be important to assist the efforts to
alleviate the aftermath of the Chornobyl nuclear accident and process rocket
fuel. Lytvyn stressed that acceleration of relations with NATO and the
European Union are a strategic priority for Ukraine.

Senator Joseph Lieberman stressed that the US highly valued the role the
Lytvyn planed during the conflict that followed the second round of the
Ukrainian presidential elections and assured that the proposed topics of
discussion were important and would find support in the United States.

Lytvyn thanked the United States for the support it provided to Ukraine
during the difficult period. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring]
==========================================================
8. SEN. CLINTON AND PM TYMOSHENKO SHARED THEIR SECRETS

Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, February 12, 2005
Translated by Anastasia Kekutia, 12.02.2005

KYIV -Hillary Clinton after her business lunch with the Prime Minister of
Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko admitted that her visit to Ukraine was one of the
best visits to this country ever, UNIAN informs. That's what she said, "I
express my admiration with my present trip to Ukraine. This is my 3d visit
to Ukraine and it turned out to be the happiest one".

She added," I have seen the results of the struggle for democracy". Hillary
Clinton wished good luck to the president of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and
the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Hillary Clinton assured that the USA
remains the partner of Ukraine. "God bless Ukraine", - she said.

During their meeting with Tymoshenko American Senators expressed confidence
that Ukraine from nowadays would be the democratic country, which would
follow human rights and democratic liberties. And this is just the
beginning. One of the main points of the meeting was the cancellation of the
Jackson -Vanik amendment.

American guests completely agreed with the Prime Minister's arguments and
expressed hope that the amendment of Jackson -Venik would be cancelled in
near future. As the press-centre reports after the official part of the
meeting Tymoshenko had a friendly talk with Hillary Clinton. -30-
==========================================================
9. MADELEINE ALBRIGHT SPEAKS WITH YULIYA TYMOSHENKO

BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, February 11, 2005
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1750 gmt 11 Feb 05

KIEV - Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko has told the leader of the National
Democratic Institute (USA), Madeleine Albright, that she would conduct a
transparent and civilized investment policy, UNIAN learnt from the press
service of the Cabinet of Ministers. Tymoshenko spoke to Albright by phone
today.

Albright congratulated Tymoshenko on her appointment as prime minister of
Ukraine and said that she was pleasantly surprised by the new power team in
Ukraine. Tymoshenko thanked Albright for moral support from the National
Democratic Institute during the orange revolution in Ukraine and said she
hoped for cooperation in the future.

"We have 2006 ahead of us and the parliamentary elections, therefore,
support for democratic institutions in Ukraine by the National Democratic
Institute would be needed as much as during the events of the presidential
campaign," she said. Tymoshenko also thanked Albright for her clear stance
on supporting Ukrainian democracy. "Your stance has always been as brave
and courageous as you are," the prime minister said.

Tymoshenko and Albright also discussed the investment climate in Ukraine.
Albright hopes that from now on the rights of honest and serious investors
will not be suppressed, as was the case during the previous regime. The
prime minister assured her that investment policy would be transparent and
civilized. At the end of the conversation, Albright invited Tymoshenko to
visit the United States. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==========================================================
10. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNOUNCES NEW EAR
IN RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA

TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1900 gmt 11 Feb 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, February 11, 2005

KYIV - Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk has said he has good
personal contacts with Russian Foreign Minister Serhiy Lavrov. Speaking on 5
Kanal TV channel, Tarasyuk dismissed his image in the media as an
anti-Russian diplomat. He announced a new era in relations with Russia,
whose foreign minister Tarasyuk knows well after working together in the UN.

The following is an excerpt from Tarasyuk's interview broadcast on the
Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal on 11 February:

[Presenter] Our guest is the person in charge of all Ukrainian foreign
policy in the coming year, Borys Ivanovych Tarasyuk. Welcome, Borys
Ivanovych.
[Tarasyuk] Good evening.
[Presenter] Thank you for coming to the 5 Kanal studio. This seems to be
your first appearance here in your new capacity. [Passage omitted: Tarasyuk
to present foreign policy priorities at a government meeting tomorrow.]
[Presenter] Ukraine is holding an active dialogue with Europe and the USA.
Guests visit frequently and this looks transparent and promising. What about
relations in the east, relations with Russia? You have an image, a
stereotype in the media, of being disliked in Moscow. It is said that it was
Kremlin who insisted on Borys Tarasyuk's dismissal as foreign minister. So,
what are your personal relations with the Kremlin, with your counterpart
Lavrov? Is there a possibility of dialogue, a dialogue between equals?
[Tarasyuk] As regards stereotypes, I would answer with the title of a film
that was popular over years ago, "Let them say". I don't agree with these
stereotypes. At least in my work, including my previous job as foreign
minister, my principle was to protect Ukraine's national interests. In fact,
if the foreign minister of the Foreign Ministry did not defend state
interests then who needs them? So, I think it is perfectly normal that the
Russian Foreign Ministry is doing the same. This is the main job of any
foreign ministry.
As regards Russia, the president have given clear instructions. The very
fact that several hours after the inauguration the president paid his first
visit to Moscow shows what attention President Yushchenko gives to relations
with Russia. I think that this step was completely justified and the result
justified this step. We can talk about a new era in Ukrainian-Russian
relations. Right after I was appointed foreign minister Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov phoned me. He is my old friend.
[Presenter] Personal contacts are extremely important in diplomacy.
[Tarasyuk] We know each other for 25 years. He used to work in the USSR
mission to the UN and I worked in the Ukrainian mission to the UN. So we
know each other for a very long time. During that phone conversation we
agreed on contacts.
[Presenter] Will he come on 21 February?
[Tarasyuk] We are expecting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's visit
on 21 February.
[Presenter] Borys Ivanovych, thanks you very much for the conversation. I
am sorry but I have to stop it. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring]
==========================================================
11. UKRAINE: NEW FOREIGN MINISTER ON RUSSIAN TIES,
NATO, IRAQ PRESENCE
"Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk: 'Enough of Exploiting the
Topic of the Russian Language in Ukraine, This Problem Does not Exist'"

Interview with Borys Tarasyuk, Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Conducted by Yanina Sokolovskaya
Izvestia, Moscow, Russia, Fri, February 11, 2005

Borys Tarasyuk, the new Ukrainian foreign minister, is a career diplomat.
He has become head of the Foreign Ministry for the second time -- after an
interval of four years. Tarasyuk is considered to be "of a pro-Western
orientation." But the minister himself assures us that his actions are not
pro-Western, nor pro-Russian, but pro-Ukrainian. Tarasyuk told Izvestiya
correspondent Yanina Sokolovskaya about the kind of foreign policy that the
country will be pursuing under the guidance of the leaders of the "Orange
Revolution."
(Sokolovskaya) Does the foreign policy "formula of the new Tarasyuk" make
provision for a rapprochement with Russia?
(Tarasyuk) You should not stick labels on Tarasyuk. There has not been a
Tarasyuk who advocated a pro-Western or an anti-Russian course. I defended
the interests of our state. I think this is clear to my Russian colleagues.
I was speaking on the telephone the other day to my old fiend Sergey Lavrov
-- we have good prospects for cooperation. We are now working on the
preparations for the visit to Ukraine of Vladimir Putin. This trip could
take place in the very next month. We have to take account of Russian
interests in Ukraine and Ukrainian interests in Russia. We have to forget
about the times when we were being intimidated with an energy embargo and
we have to stop trying to work out who is dependent upon whom. We are
equally dependent on each other. Enough of exploiting the topic of the
Russian language in Ukraine, this problem does not exist.
(Sokolovskaya) Do you think that Ukraine's membership of the Single
Economic Area is essential?
(Tarasyuk) The SEA (Single Economic Area) must not impede Ukraine's
European integration. The agreement on the Single Economic Area must
undergo a profound analysis from the viewpoint of how it accords with
Ukraine's economic and legal interests. In my opinion, everything that
leads to a free trade area is acceptable to us.
(Sokolovskaya) How will Ukraine's relations with the European Union develop?
(Tarasyuk) This year we will sign off with the EU on some issues that have
long been on the agenda. These are the acquisition of the status of a
country with a market economy, the easing of the visa arrangements for our
citizens, the preparation of an agreement on a free trade zone between
Ukraine and the EU, and entry to the World Trade Organization. We must
demonstrate to our partners that Ukraine is a new country, the concept of
relations with which has to be revised.
The path to the European Union lies through NATO. We are obliged to take
account of the fact that Ukrainian society is not ready to accept the idea
of membership of NATO. We still have a lot to do, including in the
information sphere. In December I had some serious consultations in
Brussels. It is not difficult to make an application to NATO and that can
be done this year. The question is, what would be the reaction to an
application. I want this reaction to be a guaranteed positive one. For this
a little more time is needed at least. The prospects of our relations with
the alliance will be outlined on 22 February in Brussels at the
Ukraine-NATO summit.
(Sokolovskaya) Are you not afraid that the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops
from Iraq will complicate relations with the West?
(Tarasyuk) The withdrawal of troops cannot affect our contacts. It will
begin only after consultations with our coalition partners and with the
Iraqi Government. We will do nothing that would impact on the security
system in the country. Ukraine has its interests in the Middle East. These
can be implemented in various ways -- through a military or an economic
presence. Economic benefit was the argument used by the last authorities
for pulling troops out of Iraq. But they did not succeed in implementing
their plans.
(Sokolovskaya) The opinion exists that Ukraine's integration into Europe is
harming Russia's Black Sea fleet which is based in Crimea. Will it be told
to quit Ukrainian territory?
(Tarasyuk) I do not think that the presence in Crimea of the Black Sea
Fleet is an obstacle to European integration. Representatives of the EU and
of NATO consider that this issue is a problem for the bilateral relations
of Ukraine and Russia. We must abide by the legal norms and fulfill
agreements that were signed in the past. We shall fulfill our obligations
concerning the Black Sea Fleet. And Russia must do the same.
(Sokolovskaya) Are you ready to reach agreement with Russian politicians?
(Tarasyuk) There are some difficult (nekomfortnyye) politicians in Moscow
but that did not impede me from associating with them in the early
nineties. We used to meet twice a year. Thanks to that dialogue a lot of
things became clear to us. I do not know why that form of contact has
disappeared. Now I, and my Russian friends, are trying to reestablish
contacts between the Ukrainian and Russian elites, and to shed stereotypes.
Sergey Lavrov and Sergey Ivanov are my good partners. I have far more
friends in Russia than there are rumors being spread about me. -30-
==========================================================
12. ORIGINAL LETTER TO MANITOBA LIQUOR COMMISSION
Stalin Photo on Massandra Wine from Ukraine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Orysia Tracz" <orysia_tracz@hotmail.com>
To: <morganw@patriot.net>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 7:34 AM
Subject: Remove Stalin labelled wine, please

Hi, Morgan, This is the letter that started it all. Now to get Massandra
(in Ukraine and elsewhere) to change their attitude. Seems that they see
nothing wrong with the label.

Gentlemen:
I cannot believe that in 2005 I must draw this to your attention. This
weekend, I was at the Liquor Commission, and noticed a display of wines from
the Crimea in Ukraine. I recognized the name Massandra as a famous old
winery. I cannot describe my shock and disgust when I saw the photo on the
label -- Roosevelt, Churchill -- AND STALIN -- at Yalta in 1945.

Stalin?! To promote anything, much less wine? Who in his/her right mind
would use the photo of a mass murderer? Now the Yalta Conference was a
historic event, but it sure destroyed the lives of people in Eastern Europe,
especially Ukraine. It may be marked as a historic event, but certainly not
one to be celebrated, and not one used to promote Stalin.

In today's world it should not be necessary to point out why Stalin is a
monster, a mass murderer who killed many more millions than Hitler ever did.
Just in Ukraine, the Holodomor of 1932-33 (genocide by famine) starved
over 7 million people (some historians say up to 14 million). He
exterminated the best of the clergy and the intelligentsia -- called the
Executed Renaissance. His crimes continued until his death in 1953, and his
legacy remained for decades in the Soviet Union. If you need documentation,
I can provide it for you.

That label looks like it was printed in Canada (Canada Distributors, Inc.).
The distributor should know better. There are more than enough beautiful
vistas and cultural/heritage sites in the Crimea to be promoted on a label,
instead of a photo of a mass murderer. Next, I'm expecting to see Neville
Chamberlain and Adolph Hitler shaking hands on a label for German Riesling.

Just as you would not tolerate seeing Hitler on a wine label, you should not
permit Stalin to appear on one. I expect those bottles to be removed from
all Manitoba Liquor Commissions immediately, and the distributor informed
that nowhere in the world should such a label be permitted. If the
distributor needs education on who Stalin was and just what he did, this can
be arranged. Also, there are still survivors of his gulags and his
persecution living in Canada, who could educate the distributors and the
Liquor Commission. -30-

Thank you. Orysia Tracz, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
==========================================================
13. MANITOBA PULLS WINES WITH STALIN LABELS

CBC NewsOnLine, Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, Wed, Feb 9 2005

WINNIPEG ---The Manitoba liquor board's decision to stop selling
wine with labels depicting former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is drawing
applause from the Ukrainian community.

The Manitoba Liquor Control Commission this week stopped sales of
two Ukrainian wines - a nine-year-old port and a sherry - after receiving
complaints about the labels.

"No mass murderer's mug should grace a wine label," Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk
of the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association said in a statement.
"This is very good news, and we commend the Manitoba Liquor Control
Commission for acting promptly and removing these offensively labelled
wines from their shelves."

The labels show a photograph of Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt
and Britain's Prime Minister Winston Churchill at the Yalta Conference
during the Second World War.

When the "Big Three" Allied leaders met in February 1945, they signed a
pact that agreed, among other things, to repatriate Soviet citizens to
the Soviet Union.

The Ukrainian association said the agreement resulted in the execution
of many Ukrainians and the internment of millions in the gulag. This is the
60th anniversary of the pact's signing.

"Why would anyone want Stalin on a bottle of wine, or any other place,
and think they could promote it by having his picture on it?" said
Orycia Trascz of Winnipeg, who was one of those who complained
about using the image.

She says her uncle was a doctor who was sent to Siberia and
experimented on under Stalin's regime. "He's a mass murderer. He
caused so much hardship for the years he ruled the Soviet Union.
And to glorify him by putting him on a bottle of wine?"

The liquor commission said the wines, produced by the Massandra
Winery in Ukraine, aren't regularly carried by its outlets and have
been removed. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.cbc.ca/news
==========================================================
14. UKRAINE'S OFFICIAL PARTICIPATION IN UPCOMING VICTORY
CELEBRATIONS OF WWII

----- Original Message -----
From: <oksanabh@sympatico.ca>
To: "UKRAINE REPORT 2005" <ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net>
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 10:42 AM
Subject: Letter-to-the-Editor

Dear Editor,

While I applaud President Yuschenko's determination to recognize the victims
of the great Soviet Famine terror in Ukraine in the future, I am very
concerned today, as most fair-minded and knowlegable people around the
world must be, about the lack of Ukraine's official participation in the
upcoming victory celebrations of WWII.

I would be grateful if some clarity could be brought to this matter: is
Ukraine going to be represented as the state that bore the greatest brunt of
the War; or is Russia taking all the credit?

The upcoming commemorations are an important battle for the hearts and minds
of the world. President Yuschenko won the Orange Revolution marking clearly
that Russia is not the master in Ukraine. Now, he must do the same and
insist, if he has already not done so, that the millions and millions of
Ukrainian fallen for liberty and freedom in the War with fascism must be
represented by Ukraine.

Russia must not be allowed to take credit at the expense of Ukraine.

With warm regards, Oksana Bashuk Hepburn
==========================================================
15. GIVING PEACE A CHANCE - SOUTH CAROLINA COUPLE TO
HELP UKRAINIANS ENHANCE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Signed up for two years of service with the Peace Corps

By Wallace McBride, Index-Journal senior staff writer
Index-Journal, Greenwood, South Carolina, Sun, Feb13, 2005

Greenwood residents Mark and Virginia Pulver have signed up for two
years of service with the Peace Corps. They will leave the United
States in March for Ukraine. Virginia is a former JROTC instructor at
Emerald High, while Mark is the school's television production
instructor and computer technician.

There are 33 letters in the alphabet used by Ukraine, characters that
share only a fleeting relationship with English. While it shares a few
things with Russian and Polish, it also has its own set of unique
grammar rules, vocabulary and usage.

Mark and Virginia Pulver have about three months to learn this
language as they prepare for a two-year stint with the Peace Corps.
The couple submitted their application for service on April 1, and
spent the rest of the year waiting for a response.

"We went around thinking about it all year - but not talking about it
- because we didn't know if we were going to get selected," Virginia said.

During the wait, Mark found out he was diabetic. While the problem is
under control, he said it limited his eligibility to certain kinds of
environments. He said he was concerned that his background would hold
him back, and that diabetes might be the final straw.

"I have a lot of education, but no degree," he said. "Their
advertising always makes you feel like, if you don't have a degree,
just stay away. And it's not true."

Three days after returning from Christmas vacation, they got a call
advising them that a package would soon be arriving. Even though their
general destination has been determined, the former United Soviet
Socialist Republic country in Eastern Europe has a cultural gulf that
will make training a bit complicated.

Russian and Ukrainian languages are fairly similar, but still
different enough to qualify them each as individual languages. The
closer the Pulvers are to Russia, though, the more likely they will be
required to learn Russian.

Mark is the television production instructor and computer technician
at Emerald High. Virginia is a former Air Force JROTC instructor at
the same school.

"I felt like we were at a point in our lives when our children were
raised and gone," Virginia said. "I had this vision that we'd sit
around complacent, watching Home and Garden TV on Saturday night
worrying about what color to paint the walls. I just can't see that
being the rest of my life."

The couple will work with Ukrainian businesses to develop processes to
enhance economic development. They will be allowed to assess the needs
of the community and devise a project of their own.

Mark said he'll have to learn how to give up control of the kitchen,
since they will have to live with a Ukrainian family. "I've basically cooked
every meal in the house for 25 years," he said. "I've spent most of the last
year learning how to cook for diabetes, learning to cook low-fat." "Now
we're going to a country where everything is pork, potatoes and cabbage,"
Virginia said.

The couple have been sharing e-mails with other Peace Corps volunteers
participating in the same training session. When they leave the
country, they will be allowed to take only 100 pounds of items with
them - so packing strategies are important.

Because it is so difficult to match couples with a community's needs,
few volunteers are married. Most - about 90 percent - are under age
50, which will mean the Pulvers will be among the senior members of
any Peace Corps group. "We hope we'll be able to be parental figures
for some of the volunteers," Virginia said.

Volunteers are required to maintain ties to some kind of educational
institution. Mark will join with Emerald High, while Virginia is
adopting an Arizona school their grandchildren attend. Photos and
diaries of their trip will be posted on www.pulverpages.com.

The Pulvers have known each other since their own high school days,
where they were debate team partners. "The topic was something to
do with 'mandatory universal service,'" Virginia said. "This was the
Vietnam era, and Mark was a peace-freak guy with long hair and
a headband."

Her future husband was a conscientious objector to the war, but said
he was not opposed to the idea of military service. "Unlike a lot of
people who said they were conscientious objectors, I was registered,"
he said. "I did serve, but I chose a service where I did not have to
carry a gun. (This) status is not against the military, it's against
killing. "We were assigned guns, but I never saw them," he said.

Military service is like any other kind of service project, he said.
Service projects are a means to repay a community, while military
service requires a much broader payment plan. "The military, to us,
was a way to pay back the country," he said. When Mark was
discharged, Virginia enlisted in the Air Force.

"I was able to get my associates, my bachelors and my masters," she
said. "For the first couple of years he was Mr. Mom. He stayed home
and took care of the kids. It was good for us - we learned a lot about
each other."

While they were both involved with non-profit groups for most of their
marriage, the death of their 26-year-old son Caleb in 2002
jump-started an interest in service projects. At the prompting of
Emerald High students they helped found a library in the African
nation of Malawi.

"When our son died we started thinking about doing things outside of
the school," Mark said. "The students got us started with a project
helping to get books to Africa. We spent a year getting books for the
library in Africa, and have people from all over the United States
sending books to this library." The Caleb Library now boasts one
the country's largest book collections.

"It's got books in it, but now we have to sustain it," Virginia said.
"It got us thinking about how you use your life, and the kind of
choices you make in your life."

The couple will leave home Feb. 25, the anniversary of Caleb's death.
The will have orientation in Chicago, and leave in March for Kiev,
Ukraine. On their way out of the country, the Pulvers plan to donate
their car to National Public Radio.

"We don't know what's going to happen when we come back," Mark
said. "We're going to come back here, because our house is here.
And then we'll decide from there." -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.indexjournal.com/news/20050213a_n.html
==========================================================
16. UKRAINE'S NATO ASPIRATIONS CAST A CLOUD OVER
RUSSIAN ARMS EXPORTERS

Vedomosti, Moscow, Russia, in Russian 25 Jan 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Feb 13, 2005

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has made it clear that he wants his
country to join NATO and even before he came to power the previous
government had begun reorganizing the armed forces along NATO-compatible
lines. This has unpleasant implications for Russian arms exports, a national
newspaper wrote, because so many parts for Russian weapons systems are
made in Ukraine. Other former Warsaw Pact countries have seen their defence
industries shrink after joining NATO and this will also happen in Ukraine as
it pursues its aspirations, the newspaper was told by defence experts.

The following is an excerpt from a report by the Vedomosti newspaper on
25 January, with subheadings as published:

The Russian military industrial complex is anticipating some hard times
ahead. Kiev's course towards joining NATO, taking into account the election
of President Viktor Yushchenko, will result in the curtailment of military
production at Ukrainian plants, and without their supplies the prospects for

many Russian exporters do not look good.

According to the assessment of Kiev's Research Centre for the Army,
Conversion and Disarmament Problems, Ukraine exported weapons worth
approximately 600m dollars in 2004. At least 150m of them were under
contracts negotiated through Russia's Rosoboroneksport [state arms
exporter]. But Moscow's Centre for the Analysis of Strategies and
Technologies estimates this share at 300m dollars. Together with Russia,
Ukraine exports engines for Mi-8 helicopters, R-27 air-to-air missiles,
turbines for warships, and a number of components for other weapons.
UKRAINE RUSHES INTO NATO
The winner of the presidential elections in Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, has
repeatedly stated that he wants to make the country a NATO member. In
his election manifesto, "the all-out acceleration of Euro-Atlantic
integration", i.e., entry into NATO, has been declared the main direction
of foreign policy.

Like other East European countries that have joined the alliance, the
Ukrainian military industrial complex will have to curtail production: this
is precisely the way it was in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the
former Warsaw Treaty Organization member countries with the most
developed military production, says Ruslan Pukhov, editor of the journal
Moscow Defence Brief.

Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko states that
approximately 2,000 enterprises interact with one another in both countries;
"without one another they are in principle in no condition to produce any
end product at all". For example, Russia does not produce the R-27 missile,
which foreign clients require when purchasing Russian aircraft. The
production of turbines for large ships is also absent, and domestic
enterprises do not produce equivalent versions of a number of aircraft
engines that Motor Sich produces in Zaporizhzhya.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military and political leadership had no plans
apart from joining NATO even before Yushchenko came to power. In the
Ukrainian Defence Ministry's White Book published in August 2004, the plan
for armed forces development until the year 2015 is formulated entirely on
the basis of NATO standards. For example, it provides that the army should
establish a rapid reaction corps consisting of three brigades: an air mobile
one, a light mechanized one for "maintaining peace" and a mechanized one for
"peace imposition" operations (like in Yugoslavia in 1999).

The other armed forces should support these corps' operations. "[Kiev's]
only plan is the conversion of the army along the lines of European NATO
armies with clearly defined missions within a coalition war, and it would
have been carried out even in case of a victory by [Yushchenko's rival]
Viktor Yanukovych," states a source close to Ukraine's General Staff. Thus,
the Ukrainian air force and subunits of the air defence forces were merged
into a single air command at the very height of the election campaign.

A unified naval command has also been created. For example, the Czech army
was reorganized in a similar manner for the sake of joining NATO, Pukhov
recalls. Its mission within the alliance framework is to provide chemical
defence subunits for intervention contingents. "If it intends to preserve
its own system of security, military and technical cooperation with Russia
is doomed to curtailment," he reasons.
WHAT THE RUSSIAN MILITARY COMPLEX LOSES
A number of Ukrainian defence plants whose directors supported Yanukovych
in the elections may suffer very soon. For example, Vyacheslav Boguslayev,
the general director of the Motor Sich plant, was a confidant of the losing
candidate. "The new authorities may punish us [for that]," fears a manager
of one of the large Ukrainian aviation industry enterprises with sales of
several tens of millions of dollars.

However, "considering Russia's influence on the Ukrainian military
industrial complex", the new Ukrainian authorities will not undertake to
sharply curtail ties with the neighbour for the first one or two years,
assumes Valentin Badrak, the director of Kiev's Research Centre for the
Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Problems.

But cooperation will inevitably wane, Pukhov is certain: firstly
medium-sized enterprises will cease cooperation, and after them large ones
such as Mykolayiv's Zorya-Mashproyekt, Kiev's Artem GAKhK [Artem
State Joint-Stock Holding Company], and Motor Sich. Theoretically Russian
competitors may attempt to set up production of some equivalent products.
Thus, Saturn NPO [the Saturn Scientific Production Association] is
developing the AL-55 aircraft engine, which may replace low-thrust Motor
Sich engines. Russian plants also have capacity for the production of R-27
missiles. But it is difficult to calculate the necessary volume of
investments for such projects, and all the more, the sources of financing
are unclear, says Pukhov. [Passage omitted] -30-
==========================================================
17. PROBING THE PLOT TO POISON UKRAINE'S YUSHCHENKO

By Francesca Mereu, Staff Writer, The St. Petersburg Times,
St. Petersburg, Russia, Tuesday, February 15, 2005

MOSCOW - It was a clear September night when Yevhen Chervonenko left
presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko healthy and in good spirits ahead of
a secret meeting at a dacha near Kiev. Chervonenko, at the time
Yushchenko's head of security and now Ukraine's new transportation minister,
said he usually went everywhere with Yushchenko and even tasted his food.
But that night was an exception. Yushchenko was going to the dacha to dine
with Ukrainian Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy, Volodymyr
Satsyuk.

"I was told that I was not required that night because the organizers wanted
the meeting to be confidential," Chervonenko said in an interview.
Yushchenko's bodyguards also were not allowed to accompany him, he said.
The only member of his team who went along was his campaign manager,
David Zhvania.

Yushchenko, who was already leading Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the
polls, had requested the Sept. 5 meeting to discuss the election campaign
and death threats he had begun receiving in July. The men sat down for a
meal of boiled crayfish, a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and corn and beer,
followed by cold meats washed down with vodka and cognac.

The next day, Yushchenko fell seriously ill and his body was racked with
pain, Chervonenko said. Slowly, a mask of bumps and cysts crept across his
once-handsome face - symptoms that he had ingested a dose of pure TCDD,
the most hazardous dioxin, Vienna doctors later determined.

Now that Yushchenko is Ukraine's president, difficult questions are being
raised about who could have wanted him out of the race so badly that they
were willing to kill him. Interviews with members of Yushchenko's camp and
former KGB officers suggest a shadowy Ukrainian-Russian plot most likely
involving members of the security services of both countries and quite
possibly members of the former Ukrainian government or organized crime
figures that feared losing wealth and influence.

Both President Leonid Kuchma and President Vladimir Putin had placed their
bets on Yanukovych. At least one other attempt was made on Yushchenko's l
life during the campaign, when a car bomb was found outside his campaign
headquarters on the eve of the Nov. 21 runoff vote.

Two Russian citizens from the Moscow region were arrested in connection with
the planned car bombing. Radio Liberty, citing police records, identified
them as Mikhail Shugai, 35, and Marat Moskvitin, 33. A third man, identified
only as Surguchyov, contacted Shugai in Moscow and promised the two men
$50,000 to organize the bombing, according to investigators.Ukrainian
prosecutors are investigating both cases but have said little.

Yushchenko has refused to discuss the attempts on his life while the
investigations are ongoing. But in an interview with CNN last week, he said
he had "no doubt" that his "opponents in the government" had had the most to

gain from his death. Pressed over whether he was poisoned at the Sept. 5
dinner, he replied, "Most likely."

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun, who was in Vienna to
investigate the dioxin poisoning, said medical records support the
suspicions that Yushchenko was poisoned around the time of the dinner,
Reuters reported.

"There is no doubt that this was a planned act, in which several people from
the government were probably involved," Piskun said in an interview with the
Austrian paper Der Standard released on Feb. 9, ahead of publication
Thursday, Reuters reported.

A former KGB agent familiar with the Yushchenko poisoning case said
suspicion had fallen on Satsyuk, the former deputy security service chief
and the host of the Sept. 5 dinner. The former agent, who asked not to be
identified for fear of potential repercussions, said two people with
knowledge of the poisoning were willing to testify against Satsyuk.

The former agent said he firmly believed that the dioxin TCDD was cooked up
in a former KGB laboratory in Russia. "They produced poisons that killed a
person in such a way that the death seemed natural," he said. "This lab was
kept secret, and it existed only in Moscow, not in Ukraine. For this reason
it would have been impossible for the Ukrainians to get the poison in their
country. They needed Russia's cooperation." TCDD is a chemical that
laboratories in only a few countries, including Russia and the United
States, are able to produce.

Serhiy Shevchuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker and the deputy head of a parliamentary
commission investigating the poisoning, said he had looked into where the
poison could have been produced. "I have talked to experts who, sometimes
speaking off the record, said that such a lab existed on Russian soil. But I
don't think that Russia is the only country that has them," Shevchuk said.

Some suspicion has been cast on Gleb Pavlovsky, a Kremlin spin doctor, who
opened a "Russian Club" in Kiev during the election campaign. Ostensibly a
nongovernmental forum to discuss bilateral relations, the club was widely
seen as a means for Moscow to influence the outcome of the election.

In late December, a courier left an envelope with an unsigned letter and a
computer disc at the offices of Ukraine's independent Channel 5 television.
On the disc were excerpts of a telephone conversation between a man in
Moscow and a man in Kiev that suggested the poisoning was Pavlovsky's idea.
The man from Moscow said Pavlovsky did not want to kill Yushchenko but
just "spoil the messiah's appearance and put the seal of Satan on him."

The disc's authenticity has yet to be confirmed, but Volodymyr Ariev, the
Channel 5 journalist who looked into the case, believes it is a key piece of
evidence. He said that through extensive research he had been able to
identify the two men and that they had confirmed to him that they had had
the conversation. Ariev said he could not identify the men for their own
safety but described them as "a well-informed person who lives in Kiev"
and a man who "works for the analytical department at the presidential
administration in Moscow."

Ariev appeared to be referring to the expert department. The Kremlin press
service said it did not know how many people worked in the department or
have its telephone number. "The man in Moscow belongs to a faction in the
Kremlin that opposed what Pavlovsky's people were doing in Kiev," Ariev said
by telephone from Kiev. The Kiev man is helping prosecutors investigate the
case, he said.

Ariev said the men told him that security service officers carried out the
poisoning and the car bomb attempt but did not say whether they were
Russians or Ukrainians. Pavlovsky rejected repeated requests to comment for
this article.

Three former KGB officers said they strongly doubt that Pavlovsky had
anything to do with the poisoning. "Only someone with a KGB mind could come
up with such an idea. This is not the case with Pavlovsky," said Konstantin
Preobrazhensky, a retired KGB lieutenant colonel who lives in Washington.

Oleg Gordiyevsky, a former KGB officer living in London, and Yury Shvets, a
former KGB operative who lives in the United States, agreed. Both said the
computer disc could not be trusted and that they could not imagine someone
like Pavlovsky organizing the poisoning. All three, however, said the
Kremlin most likely gave the Ukrainians a hand in organizing the poisoning.
Although Ukraine had the biggest KGB department outside of Moscow in
Soviet times, it still did not possess the technology to make poisons, he
and Preobrazhensky said.

The KGB had to get approval from the Soviet leadership to poison someone,
but its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service, is "without
control - they don't have to ask anyone for permission now," he added.
Alternatively, the dioxin could have been delivered by former KGB agents who
now work in the private sector and offer their services for a fee, said
independent security analyst Anton Surikov. The FSB declined to comment last
week.

Preobrazhensky said he believed Moscow and Kiev worked together to poison
a candidate they feared they could not "maneuver." Putin is trying to build
a strong state and needs Ukraine as part of the plan, while Ukrainian
oligarchs sought someone able to guarantee their corrupt business interests,
he said, and Yanukovych was the candidate who fitted both needs.

Moreover, he said, poisoning has been a preferred political tool to silence
foes since Putin assumed power five years ago. One of the most prominent
cases was that of Yury Shchekochikhin, a liberal State Duma deputy and
journalist who fought corruption and died in July 2003 after suffering a
severe allergic reaction. Colleagues in the Yabloko party and at the Novaya
Gazeta newspaper believe he was poisoned.

A prominent Chechen rebel, Lecha Islamov, died in a Volgograd prison
hospital in April, also after suffering a severe allergic reaction. His
relatives called it a case of deliberate food poisoning. More recently, Anna
Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta reporter known for her reports about
Chechnya, accused the FSB of poisoning her after she fell seriously ill on a
flight to cover the Beslan school hostage-taking in September.

Shevchuk, the Ukrainian lawmaker, said many questions remained about the
poisoning, including whether a single chemical or a combination of chemicals
was used. Doctors found only dioxin after months of research, but other
agents might have been used that disappeared within a few hours, he said.

Shevchuk said there were two plausible theories about how Yushchenko was
poisoned: that he was slipped a large dose at the Sept. 5 dinner or that he
was poisoned on the campaign trail and then given a large dose at the
dinner.

Arnold Schecter, one of only a handful of dioxin specialists in the world,
said it usually took several days before a person contaminated with dioxin
felt sick. "It would be very unusual that someone feels sick soon after he
was given the dioxin - unless the dose was very huge or the person is very
sensitive," he said.

However, if Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin earlier and then was slipped
a dose of another chemical at the dinner, he would feel sick immediately,
Schecter said.

Ukrainian newspapers reported that Smeshko, the security service chief, said
Yushchenko had felt ill before the dinner and had postponed the meeting at
least once because of his health. But Chervonenko, Yushchenko's head of
security, said his boss did not complain of any illness before the dinner.

"The last time I saw him healthy was when he got into Satsyuk's car to be
driven to the meeting," Chervonenko said. Smeshko did not appear to be
aware of the poison plot.

The former KGB agent who asked not to be identified said the two people
ready to testify against Satsyuk were being held by Yushchenko's team. He
would not identify the two. The Australian newspaper The Age reported last
month that the cook and waiter who had worked at the Sept. 5 dinner were
spirited out of the country by Yushchenko's team and had admitted their
involvement in the poisoning. Satsyuk, who was fired by Kuchma in
mid-December, has denied any involvement in the poisoning.

An additional unanswered question is whether those who poisoned Yushchenko
wanted to kill him or just ruin his appearance. Surikov, the security
analyst, said the security services of the former Soviet republics were so
unprofessional these days that "if they wanted to kill him, they would have
disfigured him, but if they planned to disfigure him, they would have killed
him."

When it became clear that Yushchenko had a good chance of winning the
election, two people who supported Yanukovych died, while others left the
country.

Yuriy Liakh, a close ally of Kuchma's chief of staff, Viktor Medvedchuk, and
chairman of Ukrkreditbank, died on Dec. 3 in an apparent suicide. Ukrainian
news reports said his bank was suspected of having laundered money for
Yanukovych's election campaign, which reportedly spent $600 million. It was
on Dec. 3 that the Ukrainian Supreme Court overturned the Nov. 21 vote and
set a repeat runoff for Dec. 26, which Yushchenko won easily.

On Dec. 27, Transportation Minister Heorhiy Kirpa also died in an apparent
suicide. Yushchenko supporters had accused him of siphoning off government
funds for the Yanukovych campaign and of providing trains to carry
Yanukovych supporters to vote with multiple absentee ballots in the Nov. 21
runoff. According to media reports, Yanukovych has fled to Russia.

On Feb. 2, Ukraine's parliament asked the Prosecutor General's Office to
initiate a criminal case against Kuchma and take him into custody on
suspicion of corruption and wrongdoing. No charges have been filed to date.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.sptimes.ru/archive/times/1044/news/n_14867.htm
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