"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 547
AUR published in Kyiv, Ukraine, FRIDAY, August 26, 2005
--------INDEX OF ARTICLES--------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. WE CELEBRATE THE GREATEST CREATION OF THE UKRAINIAN NATION
President Victor Yushchenko's Independence Day Speech
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
2. UKRAINE: CEREMONY OF THE PRESENTATION OF STATE AWARDS
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
3. NATIONAL AWARDS PRESENTED BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
Yaroslav the Wise Order V
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, August 25, 2005
4. BEHEADED JOURNALIST GIVEN UKRAINE'S HIGHEST HONOUR
REUTERS, Kiev, Ukraine, Wed 24 Aug 2005
5. UKRAINE'S FIRST LADY MEETS MILLA JOVOVICH
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 23, 2005
6. BANQUET TO HONOR UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
2005 Philadelphia Liberty Medal recipient
Saturday, September 17, 2005, 6:00 pm, Philadelphia, PA
The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friday, August 26, 2005
7. UKRAINE TO SEEK RECOGNITION BY THE UNITED NATIONS THAT
THE FAMINE IN UKRAINE IN 1932-1933 WAS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, August 23, 2005
8. U.S. SENATORS' CIS VISIT BEGINS IN MOSCOW THEN TO UKRAINE
Meet with President Yushchenko, tour facilities in Kyiv and Donetsk
Arkady Orlov, RIA Novosti, Washington, D.C., Friday, Aug 26, 2005
9. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE:
LET SPECULATORS BOOST HRYVNIA
Journal Staff Report, Ukrainian Journal, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Aug 25, 205
10. CALYON BANK UKRAINE ON THE ACTIVITY OF BANKS IN THE
FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Jacques Mounier
Head of Calyon Bank Ukraine
(previously Credit Lyonnais Bank Ukraine)
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 547
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
11. CANADA ANNOUNCES NEW AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
12. NO LONGER IN FEAR OF THE BARBED WIRE FENCE
SPEECH: Dr Lubomyr Luciuk
Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Regina, Saskatchewan, Wed, 24 August 2005
13. CANADA: FORMER PM JOHN TURNER PRESENTS FINAL REPORT
ON UKRAINE ELECTION TO PM PAUL MARTIN
The Canadian Press (CP), Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, August 25th, 2005
14. FIRST STEP TAKEN TO UKRAINIAN REDRESS
Office of Inky Mark, Member of Canadian Parliament
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, August 25, 2005
15. FOR A SELF-BILLED "CRITIC OF INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POLICY"
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: By L.A. Wolanskyj
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 547
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
16. UKRAINIANS SEEK A NEW PATH FOR NEWS
by Jim Troyer, Austin, Minnesota, Friday, August 12, 2005
17. PROBLEMS PERSIST IN UKRAINE AMID SUBTLE SIGNS OF PROGRESS
COMMENTARY: By Reno Domenico, for the Courier-Post
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Friday, Aug 19, 2005
18. MOSCOW SEEKS TALKS WITH WEST ON RULES OF
THE GAME' IN NEAR ABROAD
WINDOW ON EURASIA: By Paul Goble
UPI, Tartu, Estonia, Thursday, August 25, 2005
19. UKRAINIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OLEH RYBACHUK
DOWNPLAYS RIVALRIES IN PRESIDENT'S TEAM
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 23 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, August 23, 2005
20. PRESIDENTS CREATE AXIS OF 'POST-SOVIET INDEPENDENCE'
By Milda Seputyte, The Baltic Times
News from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
===============================================================
1. WE CELEBRATE THE GREATEST CREATION OF THE UKRAINIAN NATION
President Victor Yushchenko's Independence Day Speech
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
President Victor Yushchenko's speech in the
Independence Square, 24 August 2005:
Dear Ukrainians!
Everybody that hears and sees me!
Glorious, historic Maidan!
Today we celebrate the greatest creation of the Ukrainian nation -
independent and free Ukrainian state. Fourteen years ago we asserted our
right to be masters in our own house.
I am proud to be a part of this nation. We had enough strength and
unity to make this irreversible step. We have chosen statehood as the main
purpose for our land and as a talent for every one of us. We could not make
a different choice because, like guardian angels, our great ancestors stand
behind us.
They left behind not only a few lines in history books. From them we
inherited spiritual strength and special Ukrainian identity, born from
glory, labors, and patience of many generations.
Russ-Ukraine freely chose its religion and Prince Volodymyr was
christened not a leader of a subjugated nation but a leader of a state that
stretched from Korus in the Crimea to the Baltic shores. The Byzantium, the
Muslim world, and European states sought alliance with that ancient Ukraine.
From those times we have sustained confidence that we can decide our
own fate, we can be equal among other peoples. St. Sophia, where prayers
for our state are held every year on this date, was built in those days.
Our Ukrainian Cossack state has instilled a firm belief in us that
everybody has their rights and liberties and that it is everybody's sacred
duty to defend them. That was where our ancestors were taught honor and
dignity, equality and democracy. The first constitution in Europe, written
by Polyp Orlyk, is an eternal testimonial of Ukrainian thought and Ukrainian
freedom. From that time on, our history has shown that our people will
forever strive for freedom.
Shevchenko's prophetic words, the works of such thinkers and freedom
fighters as Franko and Hrushevskyy, Khvylyovyy and Stus, have instilled in
us our firm belief in Ukraine. This belief sheds eternal light on the roads
traveled and the ones lying ahead of us. Even in the worst of times our
fathers and grandfathers did not forsake it.
The greatest tragedies in the history of humankind tested our nation
in the past century. With two world wars, Holodomor and holocaust,
destruction of our spiritual relics foreign empires wanted to turn our land
into their obedient district. Every other man and every fourth woman
perished in Ukraine between the years 1914 and 1915. Our family tree
has lost a lot of its best branches.
It is written, however, "Nobody lives for himself and nobody dies for
himself." The fates of those that are gone trouble the ones living. We, the
Ukrainians, have learned a significant historic truth - only freedom can
save the people, only independence can lead them to a prosperous and
peaceful world.
Since then that truth has been living in the heart of every Ukrainian.
Millions of people have sustained it with their sweat and blood. Victory
over nazism, which 60-th anniversary we celebrate this year, was a heroic
feat accomplished by many in the name of life and freedom of our people.
Time and time again I turn to you, our dear veterans and our brave
soldiers who, under many flags, fought for Ukraine. It is the right and
honorable thing to shake hands on Independence Day. I believe that some
already did it in May, some - earlier, some will do it today, and still some
will do it tomorrow. Do not leave the old enmities for your grandchildren.
Better than anybody else you know the price of liberation and the price of
Ukrainian unity.
Desire to see our native country free gave us strength to raise
Ukraine from ruins. The restoration of Khreshchatyk and Donbas after the
war, the launches of the Dniepropetrovsk rockets and the Mykolayiv ships,
record-breaking yields of the fields of Tavria, and the flights of "Ruslan"
and "Mriya" are all steps towards the Ukrainian statehood. It was brought
closer by our scientists' discoveries, by unique surgeries done by Ukrainian
doctors, by the poetic Ukrainian cinematography, honest and wise books -
by everything made by the genius and labor of the people.
Independent Ukraine has remained the purpose of life for millions of
our fellow countrymen living in the far-away lands. For its sake they
preserved everything Ukrainian within themselves. They told the world the
truth about Ukraine, stretch out their helping hand, and rejoiced over our
victory with us.
Our statehood has ripened by the end of summer like an apple in
Dovzhenko's orchard. Together we built it - our independence, our free
Ukraine.
We remember everything we lived through and we did. Memory has
become an inseparable part of our identity. We know that Ukraine is being
built by every one of us regardless of the language they speak, church they
attend, or political preferences they have. We all have one fate and one
Ukraine.
Dear friends!
We would like to preserve the dearest of what we have: children and
families, peace and tranquility, jobs and prosperity, hope and belief. We
know that only respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, and justice
can accomplish that. These are our values. They hold our unity and our
strength. And we are ready to come defend them.
We proved it that last fall in this glorious Maidan. Freedom won here
does not belong to any single political force. Millions of people that came
through cold and snow defended honor and dignity of every person in
Donetsk and in Lviv, in Sumy and in the Crimea. With every passing day
people are able to see it better.
The victory of freedom has strengthened our independence and
reaffirmed our choice made in 1991. This year's surveys show that, for the
first time in fourteen years, most Ukrainian citizens called their country
truly independent.
We have come through a tough trial. Ukraine has emerged before the
entire world as a country on a unique mission. I believe that we will be
worthy of it.
For thousands of years borders that divided Europe used to go along
our borders or even cross our land. Nonetheless, they failed to divide us.
The freedom and unity of Ukraine and the stability of our state prove that
the old quarrels can be set aside.
Our example shows that peoples from the Baltic to the Black Sea can be
successful modeling their countries, building democracies, and guaranteeing
security. This is why so many of our neighbors are paying close attention to
us and are seeing Ukraine as a regional leader.
Not only do we see our future being a part of the United Europe but
also believe that Ukraine's success can open new horizons for the entire
continent. I believe that, in the near future, it will not be possible to
imagine new Europe without Ukraine, without its borders, and its role in the
contemporary world.
As President, I represented the new Ukraine in the capitols of many
near and far countries. All negotiations were carried out in the language of
national interests. The world has started reckoning with us. We are invited
to participate in important projects both in the West and in the East. We
have earned a historic chance to become a modern, prosperous, and
respected state.
Dear Ukrainians!
I want to say the main thing!
I am convinced we will unveil our potential. And we should know that
prosperity cannot be presented on a platter. Country's progress, freedom,
democracy and welfare are made by millions of hands. All of us will have to
work hard. We should be firm, single-minded, united and respect each other.
Thus, we won a victory on Maidan and will win in the future.
We have every reason to speak about our prospects. Only a strong
nation could have changed the country so radically over the last months.
Today we speak about Ukraine, very often referring to the word "for the
first time."
For the first time we can express our ideas freely. There is no issues
and persons forbidden for media. A journalist criticizing authorities risks
neither his or her work nor life. Freedom of speech - the alpha and omega of
democracy - became a reality in Ukraine. We have an opportunity to breathe
freely and we are now learning to do it.
For the first time social justice was not only declared but made the
top priority in the work of the new government. As it was envisaged by my
electoral program, the budget was meant for the people. Pensioners got a
minimum pension equal to a living wage for the first time. A mother who
gave birth to a child got a decent financial aid from the state for the
first time.
I know that there is a long way to defeat poverty, yet people saw a
gleam of hope. For the first time social programs include points concerning
the disabled, orphans, servicemen, teachers and doctors. And they can rest
on the state more surely a year after a year.
Ukrainian business deliberately supported changes in the country. For
the first time it demonstrates its willingness to move out of shadow, to get
over shadow barriers and to pay taxes fairly. Entrepreneurs demand stable
and fair rules of play rather than privileges. And for the first time the
state offers partnership instead of pressure.
And the most important thing is that the nation has awakened. Millions
of people feel they are citizens for the first time, they are aware of high
responsibility for their state, their families and their own fates. We
became stronger as we understood that everything was up to us.
This strength enables us to speak honestly about our life looking into
each other's eyes. And I know that hope is next to anxiety in our hearts.
We know why it is so - everything was not so perfect, yet there is no
difficulties that we are unable to overcome. We are getting to the new
stage.
New faces came to power still the face of this new power did not
change much. Dealing with newly appointed officials citizens see the same
bureaucracy and indifference to their problems.
I will not bear it. And staff replacement will go on. Those, who think
that the first wave calmed down and they may work as before, are absolutely
wrong. We have enough decent and honest professionals and I will open the
way for them.
I have been always guided by one thing evaluating the work of state
officials - their ability to see not a paper but a person, their readiness
to support an orphan, disabled or jobless. Such people are trusted and we
will take them to power.
Corruption is retreating rather slowly yet. The former system often
grinds the newcomers before they can change it.
And we start offensive actions against corruption. All top officials
will declare their incomes and expenditures.
From letters, appeals and polls it is well known where corruption is
flourishing now. I demand the government and law-enforcement bodies
would control closely customs, land relations sphere and the process of
granting permits and licenses. Next year we will introduce a common
University entrance test. We will raise the doctor's status and provide a
proper health care financing. We will cut the ground from under
corruption's feet.
Law-enforcers could not do away with crimes yet they are making
progress in this direction. Their weak point is "patronizing" criminals,
being closely tied to them. Law-enforcement bodies will protect us instead
of filling their pockets. My decision to reorganize the State Automobile
Inspection is a warning to everybody: your status won't relieve you of
responsibility. The order on the roads will be secured by another bodies
that will help drivers instead of humiliating them.
Another problem is current economic situation. It is the economy that
lays the ground for the nation's welfare. And we know that the way towards
prosperity is not paved with flowers.
Young, enthusiastic and self-confident government has demonstrated
both macroeconomic culture and increase in social standards. A good
combination of these two priorities is a formula of modern economy which
encourages the strong and supports the weak. There should be consistent
actions and long-term objects to keep such a balance.
The first one is high technologies that can become our economy's
engine, create well-paid jobs quickly and provide high social standards. We
have things to offer the world community within aero-space, communication
and energy industries. I have commissioned the government to encourage
innovations and to create comfortable conditions for investments in all
spheres.
The state's proper assistance just inspires another branches of
economy and culture. The state will particularly focus on coal, engineering
and steel industries.
One of these days I visited the Alchevsk steel plant and saw an
updated work fitting the highest world standards. There was made the
largest national investment for the last 14 years, 2.5 billion hryvnias, -
directed not to buy yachts but to modernize a certain enterprise.
The task of the government is to give such incentives to renovate all
basic branches of national economy.
Dear friends!
Next year is to be a year of countryside. An efficient support of
agrarian sector will give us an opportunity to eat our own bread. Ukrainian
farmers will gain proper and stable position in world food markets.
Millions of people are searching spiritual support. The people want to
hear the voice of their intellectuals - artists, writers, historians and
ethnographers. And your mission is to show the spiritual world to our
society through your works and safeguard our culture against mediocrity.
And a renovated single Ukrainian Orthodox Church is to fulfill its
high-profile mission of returning the nation to its traditions.
Dear friends!
We are in for extensive structural changes within economy and social
sphere: from judicial to municipal reforms. They are to be understood and
widely supported by citizens. I demand the government would have dialogue,
convince people, and show the advantages of each party concerned in this
process.
I am sure it refers to reforming our political system for the most
part.
In November people rallied since the old regime exhausted its
potential. We need such mechanisms that will allow people to control
authorities, to take part in decision-making process and to assert their
rights and interests. Together we will build this system.
Dear Ukrainian people! Only by joint efforts we can guarantee that we
won't return to the past. One of such guarantees is the efficiency of the
future parliament. I believe there are enough patriots among our MPs to
raise the passing score to the Verkhovna Rada. Thus, we will have a real
representative power rather than a club of political parties' owners.
I believe in the people's wisdom and that in spring we will have a
parliament able to accelerate changes, represent different interests and
at the same time to unite our country spreading democratic values. Fairly
elected parliament will learn a lesson from the recent past.
Democracy is a daily influence of people over the government. And I am
happy that an awakened nation searches and finds the ways to do it. In Kyiv
people rally to defend a historical building, in Donetsk - the rights of
accident victims. There are hundreds of such examples.
This is our country and what is happening here is our affair. I
welcome the initiatives of civil organizations, trade unions and others.
Together we will consolidate our democracy.
My dear friends!
Independence is a symbol of our nation. It reminds us of our glorious
forefathers. And we will get over all the difficulties. We are talented and
strong enough to fulfill our dreams. The most important thing is being
united. Together we can do everything, and separately - nothing.
Happy holiday, dear compatriots!
Every happiness and prosperity to our independent and unified
Ukraine!
Glory to you, glory to all of us, glory to God and glory to Ukraine!
=============================================================
2. UKRAINE: CEREMONY OF THE PRESENTATION OF STATE AWARDS
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Presidential address at the ceremony of presentation of state awards,
24 August 2005, Mariyinskyy Palace:
Dear friends!
We are witnessing a historic event. I am convinced that every nation has
years, days, and historic milestones that influence the fate of the country
for hundreds and thousands of years. August of 1991 was such an important
milestone in the history of Ukraine. That was when the life-long dream of
our people - to have their own sovereign state, to determine their own
future and their own path - came true.
This is why, dear attendants, in the presence of the Head of the Verkhovna
Rada Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn and Prime Minister Yulia Volodymyrivna
Tymoshenko, allow me to congratulate You on the Independence Day - the
most glorious day of our state - and to wish every one of you happiness,
prosperity to your families, and many-many years of life.
Our ancestors worked for hundreds of years to make this day a reality. On
this day we remember the names of heroes that searched for truth in their
own land and fought for the freedom of their people. Statehood is our
priceless inheritance for which Ukrainians have paid a very high price. Like
Shevchenko we can say that Ukrainian Independence belongs to us all - the
dead, the living, and the still unborn.
I am also convinced that a lot of efforts to establish independence,
freedom, and democracy were applied by the present-day society, by our
generation. For fourteen years millions of people, despite difficulties and
obstacles, have been working, creating, raising children, and serving their
Motherland with honor and dignity.
We have overcome every obstacle and with dignity have given answers to
all challenges. We have all reasons to be proud and optimistic!
Today we celebrate Independence Day in the new country. We have proven
to the entire world and to ourselves that Ukrainians are a modern European
nation, which upholds the highest values of freedom, justice, and democracy.
Together with the entire world we have defended our choice, which means that
we have defended Ukrainian independence. And we can proudly say today:
Our country lives! Our country shall live!
On this day we honor and reward our heroes. It is a great honor for me today
to award high state honors and honorable titles to the Ukrainians to whom
the people of Ukraine owe their success and achievements. Your merits
before the state and the society at large are different. Nevertherless,
every one of them is priceless and beautiful in its own way.
Certainly, I would like to mention everybody, and I will do it when
Oleksandr Oleksiyovych reads out the decrees; now, however, I would like
to note several names from among the assembled.
There is among us a famous surgeon, a leader of the world medicine -
Oleksandr Oleksiyovych Shalimov. This man has saved the lives of many
people. I know how delicately he reacted when it came to a certain political
problem, described in one of the newspapers; with great agitation he came
to my cabinet and said: "Victor Andriyovych, it has never happened. I have
never said that."
I said to him: "Oleksandr Oleksiyovych, this is politics and anything can
happen. Just turn the page." I remember what great agitation different moral
or political challenges caused this person. This is a great reminder for me,
because people in politics must have, perhaps, gotten used to such things,
but your bright and clear soul has not managed to do that. That was a
wonderful lesson for me.
Here with us is Mykhailo Kostyantynovych Doroshko, a miner. He dedicated
35 years to mining. Honor and glory to his hands!
I am happy to welcome here Petro Tymophiyovych Tronko. Petro
Tymophiyovych, on everything you do you leave a wonderful mark. You have
done much for our country. I am happy that, despite such age difference, we
have been together for many years and have completed very many projects
we can be proud of because we did them for Ukraine.
And those books you have written - more that some library funds can boast of
possessing. You have accomplished a great work in the name of Ukraine. He
has written more books about Ukraine's past than library shelves can hold.
This is why I bow my head before you - thank you.
Ruslan Knyazevych is also among us. A young person, he held his govern-
ment position with honor in such tough time of political trials as the last
presidential elections in Ukraine. I would like to applaud this young person
for withstanding pressure, for demonstrating with his actions the truth, a
position of the Ukrainian citizen. It was not easy, especially at such an
age. I am deeply grateful to Ruslan for such a stance in life.
I cannot pronounce the next name without agitation. Maria Mykolayivna
Silkovska. I would like to tell you a short story. This woman is bringing up
nine children. Her sons - Oleh, Volodymyr, Davyd; daughters - Anna, Lilia,
Natalia, Tetyana, Lesya, Victoria. Did I mention every one?
I bow low before you for your big mother's heart and for the work you do.
This work, believe me, is important not only for your family, but also for
Ukraine, for our Fatherland. Thank you! I am grateful to you!
Today we also honor people who are, unfortunately, no longer among us.
These are heroes. Oleksiy Berest is given the rank of the Hero of Ukraine
posthumously. This is a legendary person who, in 1945, raised a flag over
Reichstag.
Oles Honchar, a giant of Ukrainian literature, will now have the same rank.
It is a point of honor for us to give the deserving praise to those who made
priceless contribution into our state independence. Long live their memory
and glory to them!
Moreover, I have signed a decree to confer the rank of the Hero of Ukraine
upon the unforgettable Heorhiy Gongadze. His name has become a symbol of
free thought and free expression for our nation. We were unable to save his
young life but we must remember that it was given away for the sake of our
freedom and for Ukrainian independence.
Dear friends!
Prior to presenting awards, I would like to wish happiness, prosperity, and
strong belief in the rightness of the chosen path, no matter how hard it may
be at times. You should know that Ukraine needs your hands, your talents,
and, last but not least, your stance in life. We are the leaders of the
nation, people that set examples for tens, hundreds of thousands, or even
millions of people. The country needs your patriotism, your ability to live
on the Ukrainian land and to be Ukrainians.
Allow me to conclude by quoting a few lines by Lina Kostenko - to the
conscience of our nation:
Do not even allow such a thought,
that God will be unkind to us.
Human life is too short.
There is no time for defeat.
Glory to every one of you, glory to Ukraine, and glory to God!
=============================================================
3. NATIONAL AWARDS PRESENTED BY PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
Yaroslav the Wise Order V
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, Aug 25, 2005
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko conferred several state awards during
the Independence Day activities in Kyiv on Wednesday during a ceremony
at the Mariinskyi Palace. State Secretary Oleksandr Zinchenko read the
relevant presidential decrees. Among those honored were the following
according to the Ukrainian News Agency.
Yuschenko conferred the Yaroslav the Wise Order V on academician of
the National Academy of Sciences Petro Tronko.
Tronko is the chairman of the All-Ukrainian Union of Regional Ethnographers,
head of the Ukrainian history's regional problems department of the National
Academy of Sciences' History Institute, vice president of the Association of
Historical Cities of Ukraine, and editor-in-chief of the Kraeznavstvo
magazine.
President Viktor Yuschenko also conferred the Yaroslav the Wise Order V on
Parliamentary Deputy Volodymyr Stretovych of the Our Ukraine faction, who is
the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Fighting Organized Crime
and Corruption.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Stretovych announced in early August
that Yuschenko was initiating his appointment as Ukraine's prosecutor-
general.
President Viktor Yuschenko has also conferred the Yaroslav the Wise Order
V on Verkhovna Rada's deputy of the Our Ukraine faction Ivan Tomych.
Tomych is the head of the Parliamentary Committee for Agrarian Policy and
Land Relations. He was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the list of the
Our Ukraine coalition of parties in 2002.
President Viktor Yuschenko also conferred the Yaroslav the Wise Order V
on opera singer Volodymyr Hryshko. As Ukrainian News earlier reported,
Yuschenko appointed Hryshko as a presidential adviser on February 11.
Hryshko, 44, is a people's artist of Ukraine, an opera singer, a soloist
with the National Theater of Opera and Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera
in the United States
President Viktor Yuschenko conferred the hero of Ukraine award on
journalist Georgy Gongadze, the late head of the Ukrainska Pravda Internet
newspaper.
The award was conferred on Gongadze for his bravery and journalistic work.
According to Yuschenko, Gongadze has become the symbol of free speech.
=============================================================
4. BEHEADED JOURNALIST GIVEN UKRAINE'S HIGHEST HONOUR
REUTERS, Kiev, Ukraine, Wed 24 Aug 2005
KIEV - Journalist Georgiy Gongadze, whose murder in 2000 jolted the
administration of Ukraine's former President Leonid Kuchma, was post-
humously awarded the country's highest honour on Wednesday.
The headless corpse of Gongadze, 31, was found in a wood a month and a
half after he disappeared in central Kiev. Three senior policemen have been
arrested in connection with an investigation still under way.
"I have signed a decree presenting the Hero of Ukraine award (posthumous)
to Georgiy Gongadze," said President Viktor Yushchenko, who won last
December's election on a wave of protests against Kuchma. "He gave his
young life for our freedom and independence," he told an awards ceremony.
The award, citing Gongadze's courage and journalistic activity, coincided
with celebrations marking the 14th anniversary of Ukraine's independence
from Soviet rule. Yushchenko has accused Kuchma's administration of
covering up for the perpetrators of the murder, Ukraine's most celebrated
post-Communist crime.
Gongadze's death marked a turning point in Kuchma's scandal-plagued
10-year term in office and became a rallying point in last year's "Orange
Revolution", which led to the re-run of a rigged presidential poll and to
Yushchenko's victory.
Kuchma, who has been questioned by investigators about the murder, was
linked to the death by recordings of conversations which a former bodyguard
said he made in his office.
Voices similar to his and that of Yuri Kravchenko, interior minister at the
time, are heard discussing how to "deal with" Gongadze. The tapes have
never been admitted as evidence and Kuchma has denied all involvement
in the crime. Kravchenko was found shot dead in March, hours before he
was to testify. Police said he committed suicide. -30-
=============================================================
5. UKRAINE'S FIRST LADY MEETS MILLA JOVOVICH
Press office of the President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 23, 2005
KYIV - Kateryna Yushchenko hosted the famous actress Milla Jovovich and
her mother Galina Loginova at her dacha in the village of Novi Bezradychi.
They shared their experience in charity. In Ukraine, the actress started a
foundation to help the children. During the meeting, Yushchenko and Jovovich
discussed perspectives to cooperate within the framework of the Ukraine
3000 Foundation.
Milla confessed that her visit to Ukraine was very important to her because
she had seen Kyiv, the city of her childhood. The actress stressed she felt
herself Ukrainian and wanted to help Ukraine through various humanitarian
projects.
In her turn, Kateryna Yushchenko thanked the actress for visiting Ukraine.
She thinks it is great that such well-known people represent Ukraine in the
world.
The First Lady also showed the guests her family's house and a small private
collection of ethnographic household objects. Jovovich said she sensed the
genuine Ukrainian atmosphere in this house. -30-
==============================================================
6. BANQUET TO HONOR UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
2005 Philadelphia Liberty Medal recipient
Saturday, September 17, 2005, 6:00 pm, Philadelphia, PA
The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Friday, August 26, 2005
PHILADELPHIA - On Saturday, September 17, Ukrainian President Viktor
Yushchenko will receive the 2005 Philadelphia Liberty Medal, awarded to
those who demonstrate leadership in the pursuit of freedom.
The medal, established in 1988, honors an individual or organization that
has "demonstrated leadership and vision in the pursuit of liberty of
conscience or freedom from oppression, ignorance, or deprivation." It is
administered by the nonprofit Philadelphia Foundation and comes with a
$100,000 prize.
A banquet will be held on September 17 to honor this years Philadelphia
Liberty Medal recipient President Viktor Yushchenko. The Ukrainian
Educational and Cultural Center is taking reservations for tickets.
The banquet will be at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia on
Saturday, September 17th at 6:00 pm. Tickets cost $250, and checks are
to be made payable to "Philadelphia Liberty Medal". Call the UECC office
to reserve tickets.
The Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center is located at 700 Cedar Road
in Jenkintown, PA 19046. Call the office at 215-663-1166 or e-mail at
contact@ukrainiancenterphila.org. The Center is open from 9 am to 3 pm
Monday through Friday and closed on Saturdays for the summer. For more
information, please visit: http://www.ukrainiancenterphila.org/.
=============================================================
7. UKRAINE TO SEEK RECOGNITION BY THE UNITED NATIONS THAT
THE FAMINE IN UKRAINE IN 1932-1933 WAS AN ACT OF GENOCIDE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, August 23, 2005
KYIV - Ukraine plans to prepare a document towards 2007 that the United
Nations will adopt, which will recognize the Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933
as an act of genocide.
Ukraine's Permanent Representative at the UN, Valerii Kuchynskyi,
disclosed this to journalists while responding to a question of Ukrainian
News. In his words, Ukraine is preparing such document and would like for
it to be adopted by the 75th anniversary of the Famine.
As Ukrainian News reported previously, the Hungarian National Assembly
(parliament) passed a resolution in 2003, in which it recognized the Famine
in 1932-1933 in Ukraine as something that was planned in advance and
orchestrated by the Stalinist Soviet system.
Twenty-five UN member states had earlier prepared a joint statement, in
which they referred to the Famine in Ukraine as the result of the policy of
a totalitarian regime.
The Australian Senate (upper chamber of parliament) passed a resolution
in late October 2003, in which it recognized the Famine as one of the
manifestations of genocide in human history.
Prior to this, the House of Representatives of the US Congress (lower
chamber of parliament) declared the Famine as mass murder. Earlier,
the parliaments of Canada and Argentina had condemned the Famine.
The Verkhovna Rada declared the Famine in 2003 as an act of genocide.
According to various estimates, from 3 to 7 million people died as a result.
=============================================================
8. U.S. SENATORS' CIS VISIT BEGINS IN MOSCOW THEN TO UKRAINE
Meet with President Yushchenko, tour facilities in Kyiv and Donetsk
Arkady Orlov, RIA Novosti, Washington, D.C., Friday, Aug 26, 2005
WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee and U.S. Senator Barack Obama
(D-IL) arrive in the Russian capital Friday to inspect the progress of the
U.S-funded Nunn-Lugar weapons decommissioning program, a
congressional spokesman said.
The senators are scheduled to meet with new U.S. Ambassador William
Burns and with representatives of the American International Republican
Institute and National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
The senators will visit a nuclear warhead storage facility in Saratov
Saturday and a missile destruction facility in Perm on Sunday.
The senators will meet with Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko in Kiev
Monday and tour the Central Epidemiological Station to discuss issues
related to biological weapons.
Tuesday the senators are scheduled to tour a conventional weapons storage
facility in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine to study the possibility of extending
the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program to conventional
weapons elimination.
On Wednesday, the senators are scheduled to visit Azerbaijan to meet with
President Ilham Aliyev and hold a separate meeting with opposition parties
to discuss upcoming parliamentary elections in the country. -30-
=============================================================
9. INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND: NATIONAL BANK OF UKRAINE:
LET SPECULATORS BOOST HRYVNIA
Journal Staff Report, Ukrainian Journal, Kiev, Ukraine, Aug 25, 205
KIEV - The International Monetary Fund said Thursday that speculative
attacks have been putting upward pressure on Ukraine's currency and
added the central bank should let the hryvnia gain value to ease the
pressure.
The comment was released a day after the National Bank of Ukraine
warned it could punish a number of unidentified foreign banks that had
been apparently increasingly selling U.S. dollars for hryvnias.
The banks apparently move in anticipation of the hryvnia's appreciation
against the U.S. dollar following comments from Ukrainian officials that the
currency market will soon be liberalized.
"The NBU has continued to accumulate significant international reserves
owing to more recent capital inflow attracted by appreciation expectation,"
the IMF said in a Ukraine policy statement.
The central bank let the hryvnia appreciate 2.7% overnight in April, causing
shock for the economy and for people that had been keeping most of their
savings in hard currency.
The IMF said should the central bank decide to support the hryvnia at the
current level, the speculative attacks will probably continue as banks still
view the hryvnia as undervalued. "Current-account related inflows are likely
to continue under the maintained peg, as the real exchange rate still seems
undervalued," the IMF said.
The IMF recommended adopting a more flexible exchange rate policy, which
means greater appreciation of the hryvnia. "It could help absorb shocks to
Ukraine's highly open economy, stem speculative capital inflows attracted by
perception of an undervalued currency," the IMF said.
The recommendation from the IMF comes in sharp contrast with an early
reaction from the central bank, which indicated that it would rather
"punish" foreign banks that "aim at destabilizing the exchange rate."
In a sign that the central bank has been defying the IMF recommendation, the
NBU on Thursday intervened and purchased an estimated $35 million to help
the hryvnia stay at 5.00 to the dollar. The hryvnia had been trading at 4.98
to the dollar before the intervention, dealers said.
The IMF said that adopting a more flexible forex policy "is neither simple
nor risk free," must be well explained to the public to avoid a panic and
could proceed gradually.
"In the interim, the NBU should continue to strengthen the pre-conditions
for more exchange rate flexibility, including: developing the foreign
exchange markets, in particular by allowing banks daily to trade foreign
currency in both directions; and permitting forward operations," the IMF
said. (nr/ez) [The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
10. CALYON BANK UKRAINE ON THE ACTIVITY OF BANKS IN THE
FOREIGN EXCHANGE MARKET
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: Jacques Mounier
Head of Calyon Bank Ukraine
(previously Credit Lyonnais Bank Ukraine)
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 547
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
Morgan,
We, at Calyon Bank Ukraine (previously Credit Lyonnais) have to react on
the comments provided by the "Action Ukraine Report" , dated Aug 23, on
the same day statement of the National Bank of Ukraine on the activity of
banks in the foreign exchange market.
All the banks in Ukraine received an 08/22 dated mail from the acting
Governor of the NBU, a mail dealing with the same topic, and which is
similar.
The NBU pretends that some banks, early August and before, declared to the
NBU foreign exchange orders ( to sell ) on hard currencies, orders that they
did not have really
We imagine that the NBU has gathered some evidence of it ....and knowing
our system well...we are sure that it has such evidence. Why are the
comments provided by "Action Ukraine Report", dated Aug 23, one sided?
We assume and can understand also that in our very regulated environment
here, some players having understood that "to be sure to be served
something, you'd better ask for a lot", , those players did not resist to
the temptation...to infringe the rules
In its clumsiness, the NBU , pressed also by the authorities to combat
inflation ( ie : inter alia , reduce the money supply, especially the one
generated by hard currencies purchases by the NBU ), decided not to
purchase hard currencies from the market during a few days,...which led to
a UAH reevaluation.
One should wonder thus why some players, used to the NBU hardly
predictable behaviour and clumsiness, played such a game? It did hurt the
market , ie : the companies first and foremost. Such behaviour looks thus
irresponsible.
And, cherry on the cake : the NBU is writing that it came from banks with
foreign capital ! Russian , French, German, Dutch, American, Italian,
Austrian ....No name....
Here also, the NBU has such information.
We, at Calyon Bank Ukraine, did answer to the acting Governor via the
same channel that was used by him.
Our answer was twofold:
- we did not and do not cheat ( without commenting on the rules about
which, one could comment....)
- we hate "foreigners" to be mentioned as culprits . This leads to
suspicions about discrimination and absence of a level playing field.
But our banking market would probably profit from having players that do
not add to our difficulties in behaving in an irresponsible manner, and if
such players are "westerners", we should not be proud of that .
Jacques Mounier, Head of Calyon Bank Ukraine
(previously Credit Lyonnais Bank Ukraine )
Kyiv, Ukraine
=============================================================
11. CANADA ANNOUNCES NEW AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Aug 26, 2005
KYIV - Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister has announced the appointment
Abina Dann, as the new Ambassador to Ukraine, according to the Canadian
Embassy in Kyiv. Ms. Dann succeeds Andrew Robinson.
The Embassy stated that the new Ambassador to Ukraine joined the
Department of Industry, Trade and Commerce in 1980 and since that time
has served abroad as Trade Commissioner in Sao Paulo, The Hague and
New York.
She opened the Canadian Government Trade Office in Mumbai, India, in
1986. In Ottawa, she served the Department of Foreign Affairs and
International Trade as Deputy Director of the Media Relations Office,
Director of the Foreign Policy Communications Division and Director for
Communications and Media for the 2001 Summit of the Americas.
She served as Press Secretary to both the Minister for International Trade
and the Secretary of State for External Affairs, and acted as Official
Departmental Spokesperson. She was also an International Fellow at
Harvard University Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. More
recently, she was Director of the department’s European Business
Development and Connectivity Division.
Ambassador Dann received a BA [Political Science & History] degree
from McGill University in 1974 and a MA degree [Canadian Politics &
International Relations] from Carleton University in 1980. -30-
=============================================================
Send in names and e-mail addresses for the AUR distribution list.
=============================================================
12. NO LONGER IN FEAR OF THE BARBED WIRE FENCE
SPEECH: Dr Lubomyr Luciuk
Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association
Regina, Saskatchewan, Wed, 24 August 2005
I stood the other day on Hill 70, just beyond Vimy Ridge, looking down into
the French town of Lens. There, 88 years ago, on 22 August 1917, the valour
in battle of a Canadian soldier, Corporal Filip Konowal, was recognized with
the highest military decoration of the British Empire, the Victoria Cross.
Yet even as Konowal and thousands of other Ukrainian Canadians fought in
the ranks of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, many thousands of their
fellow Ukrainian Canadians, and other Europeans – people who had been
lured to the Dominion with promises of freedom and free land – were being
branded as “enemy aliens” and herded into Canadian concentration camps.
There they were forced to do heavy labour for the profit of their gaolers.
What little wealth some of them had was confiscated, and a portion of it
still remains in the federal treasury to this very day. They suffered
restrictions on their freedom of movement, association, and free speech,
and even, in 1917, disenfranchisement.
Everything that was done to them took place not because of anything they
had done but only because of who they were, where they had come from.
No wonder that Ukrainian Canadians were reported to still be “in fear of
the barbed wire fence,” decades afterwards.
One of the innocents apprehended during Canada’s first national internment
operations was Mary Manko, a 6 year old Montreal-born girl who would be
transported north by railway car to the Spirit Lake internment camp in
Quebec’s Abitibi region, along with the rest of her family. There she would
watch her two and a half year old sister, Nellie, perish, needlessly.
Mary is 97 years old now, the last known survivor of the internment
operations. While age and ill health keep her from being with us today we
must remember that it was Mary Manko Haskett who charged us, when she
was still able, to never forget what was done to her and all the other
internees. She did not ask for an apology, or compensation. She asked
only that we secure their memory.
Last Sunday I stood at Essex Farm, where John McCrae penned In
Flanders Fields –
“from failing hands we throw the torch, be yours to hold it high. If ye
break faith with us who die We shall not sleep…”
We did not break faith. A score of years ago our community began to
recover the memory of what it had endured – a “national humiliation,” as
an editorial writer described our disenfranchisement in Canada’s oldest
newspaper, Kingston’s Daily British Whig – one that sooner or later would
have to be atoned for.
That time for atonement begins here, today, in Regina, with the first steps
we now take forward together, having signed this agreement in principle that
puts us on the path to securing an acknowledgement of an historic injustice,
and so heralds the way toward reconciliation and a healing. And it does
more, for it signals to all that, forever more, we are no longer “in fear of
the barbed wire fence,” and never again will be. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On behalf of the Ukrainian Canadian community, as represented by the
Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of Taras
Shevchenko and Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association, and the
community’s negotiating team, Mr Paul Grod, Mr Andrew Hladyshevsky and
Dr Lubomyr Luciuk, we offer thanks to Prime Minister Paul Martin and all of
the other good men and women who helped bring us together here today,
to begin working toward a final Ukrainian Canadian Reconciliation Accord,
and in particular the Honourable Peter Milliken, MP (Kingston and the
Islands), who was the first MP to rise in the House of Commons, 27
September 1991, to call for a righting of this historic wrong, and Inky
Mark, MP (Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette), whose Bill C 331 - The
Ukrainian Canadian Restitution Act continues to further that just cause.
=============================================================
13. CANADA: FORMER PM JOHN TURNER PRESENTS FINAL REPORT
ON UKRAINE ELECTION TO PM PAUL MARTIN
The Canadian Press (CP), Brandon Sun
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, Thursday, August 25th, 2005
WINNIPEG (CP) - Last December's extraordinary third round of Ukraine's
presidential election was not perfect, but none of the minor problems
detected taint Viktor Yushchenko's decisive victory, former prime minister
John Turner said Thursday.
Turner, who headed the 500-member Canadian Observation Mission that
monitored the voting in 17 of Ukraine's 25 regions, presented his final
report to Prime Minister Paul Martin during the official opening of the
Ukrainian Canadian Congress's [UCC] new national office in Winnipeg.
Turner said the voting process was peaceful and orderly and was devoid of
the systemic fraud and severe electoral violations that marked the first two
rounds last October and November. "Ninety-five per cent was right-on, open
and transparent," Turner said after taking the stage with Martin.
Turner described the tent camp of hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko
supporters that filled the streets during the Dec. 26 election as "the most
impressive demonstration of democracy I've ever seen in my life." "I'll
never forget it," said Turner. "People of Ukraine deserve democracy, they
worked for it and they showed their solidarity for it."
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, which sent a separate delegation of 500
observers, also presented Martin with its final report Thursday, which
reached the same conclusions as Turner's team.
Martin said he spoke with Yushchenko last week and the president expressed
"undying gratitude" to the Canadian election observers. "At the time all of
us in this country were so proud to hear of the teams in action," Martin
told about 200 invited guests.
"Think of how proud we are today. The comportment of those observers was
impeccable, their commitment was unwavering, their contribution was
inestimable and they did it with an infectious enthusiasm, with expertise
and above all, with an acute sensitivity to local conditions and culture."
Yushchenko, a liberal who was strongly backed by the West, was officially
defeated in the previous two rounds of elections last fall. But his
supporters alleged fraud and poured into the streets of Kyiv, where they
brought Ukraine's government to a standstill and captured world attention
with 17 days of protest.
A third election was ordered by Ukraine's Supreme Court after it annulled
the previous results.
Turner said there were some over-anxious police at some polling stations
and a few ballot boxes didn't work properly, but the problems weren't unlike
those that have been reported in Canada.
The Ukrainian Canadian Congress has already begun planning for a large
election observation mission for next spring's parliamentary elections.
But Turner said he still has fears about the country's political future. He
worries about Yushchenko's health as he suffers the after-affects of
poisoning, as well as possible Russian interference in the government and
the potential succession of the country's Russian-speaking provinces.
Martin, who is in the Manitoba capital for a federal cabinet meeting Friday,
also used his brief speech to highlight Wednesday's announcement in Regina
that the federal government will donate $2.5 million to help remember the
internment of 5,000 Ukrainian Canadians during the First World War.
The money will fund plaques, markers and education exhibits. Those who
were interned lost their property and many were forced into hard labour,
including helping to create Banff National Park.
"To have been there with my colleagues in Regina and to be here today with
you fills me with enormous pride," said Martin. "But it also makes us
recognize how important it is as Canadians that we never allow that kind of
thing to happen again."
The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association said the announcement
is one step on the path to reconciliation and healing.
Irene Sushko, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said the
agreement was indicative of Martin's understanding of the importance of
recognizing the wrongs of the Canadian government's actions.
"This action, coupled with the establishment of the Canadian Museum for
Human Rights in Winnipeg, will greatly assist in ensuring the human rights
and dignity of all Canadians, regardless of their racial, religious or
ethnic backgrounds, will always be protected," said Sushko. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINKI: http://www.brandonsun.com/story.php?story_id=1714
=============================================================
14. FIRST STEP TAKEN TO UKRAINIAN REDRESS
Office of Inky Mark, Member of Canadian Parliament
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, August 25, 2005
OTTAWA - After 12 years of broken promises the Liberal government
finally took the first step towards resolving the issue of redress for
Canada's Ukrainian community.
In yesterday's announcement they agreed to an agreement-in-principle
that provides an initial payment of $2.5 million to Canada's Ukrainian
community for the purpose of commemoration and education.
This proposal was first brought forward by Inky Mark, M.P. for
Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette in 2001 with the tabling of Bill C-331, the
Ukrainian Canadian Recognition and Restitution Act. C-331 was
subsequently re-tabled in 2002 and then in 2004. It has been debated in
the House of Commons and is currently being reviewed by the Standing
Committee on Canadian Heritage.
Mark explains, "When I was elected as a Member of Parliament, one of
my first acts was to consult with Canada's Ukrainian community to draft
Bill C-331. It called upon the federal government to: acknowledge that
thousands of Ukrainian Canadians were unjustly interned and
disenfranchised in Canada during the First World War; provide funding to
commemorate the sacrifices made by these Canadians and; to develop
educational materials detailing this dark period of Canada's history."
"Finally, after 2 decades of lobbying and 12 years since Jean
Chretien, the former Prime Minister, wrote a letter promising to deal
with the issue, this Liberal government has taken the first step towards
resolution."
Mark concluded, "A lot of hard work has gone into reaching this first
step. The federal government must now continue this work with
Canada's Ukrainian community to ensure that this dark history doesn't
repeat itself." -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more information, please contact: Inky Mark, MP
(613) 992-3176, www.inkymark.com
=============================================================
15. FOR A SELF-BILLED "CRITIC OF INTERVENTIONIST FOREIGN POLICY"
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: By L.A. Wolanskyj
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 547
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
RE: REVOLUTION INDUSTRY, PHASE 2:
UKRAINE'S SUMMER OF DISCONTENT
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS: by Christopher Deliso
Balkan-based Journalist, Travel Writer and Critic
AntiWar.com, Redwood City, California, Fri, August 12, 2005
Dear Mr. Deliso,
Your sour introduction does little to endear a reader or to make them want
to continue (so utterly BLAH-se and cynical), but being a Ukraine-watcher
myself for the last 14 years, I'm always curious what conclusions a writer
comes to and on what basis.
Mr. Yushchenko's state of health: Using EuroRSCG as a source to quote the
"value" of the Yushchenko "brand" was incredibly ironic, given that they are
the agency that was hired to disseminate the unsigned memorandum from
the RudolfinerHaus hospital claiming that there was no evidence that Mr
Yushchenko had been poisoned.
Perhaps you weren't able to follow the story closely at the time, but the
memo was prepared by the president of the clinic, whose position is strictly
administrative. He was in no sense "Mr. Yushchenko's doctor." The head
physician and Mr. Yushchenko's attending physician, Mykola Korpan, were both
very cautious about stating that Mr. Yushchenko had been poisoned because
that, they said on more than one occasion, was a determination to be made in
a court of law, not by medical professionals.
They did, however, make it clear that deliberate poisoning could not be
excluded since his body contained an overdose of a powerful dioxin that does
not normally enter the body casually from the environment. For the victim
and for most lay people, the difference between having a poison in your body
and being poisoned is moot, but in a law-oriented culture, the latter
assessment does, indeed, have to be made in a court of law.
THE ORANGE BRAND: Using Ms. Bekeshkina as a source did the poor
lady, who's no political analyst, no favors, because her argument is utterly
silly, not just "not exactly precise," as you put it. Being given a very
profitable state-owned enterprise (the country's largest steelmill) for
half-price at what is supposed to be an open tender just because you're
the president's son-in-law and the partner of his heir-apparent is rather
different than owning a private brand.
If Mr. Lesiuk, who came up with the color and the slogan for a private
individual running for president, chose to donate these to Mr. Yushchenko,
who then handed them off to his son as a gift, it's not anybody's business.
The brand was not state property and no laws of any kind appear to have been
broken--except perhaps the laws of good judgement on Mr. Yushchenko's part
regarding his indiscreet and immature son in the face of a predatory press
rolling up its sleeves for the next round of political fisticuffs in
Ukraine.
However, I don't know anyone who is paying to use the Orange
symbols...especially in a country where even Microsoft can't get its pound
of flesh out of users of Office. So where Mr. Kohutiak gets the figure $100
million beats the heck out of me. Did he mean that Mr. Yushchenko originally
spent that much to have the brand put together?
Or did he mean that the abstract value of what the orange brand did for Mr.
Yushchenko's campaign is around $100 million? Neither you nor he seem to
know or to say, but, either way, the reader is left with a number pulled out
of thin air.
(PS: You don't question why the press is picking up on this non-story, yet
it never wrote boo about the fact that Mr. Kuchma's daughter owned one of
the biggest mobile operators in Ukraine and also ran a very rich foundation
for AIDS that was apparently given huge grants by the Global Fund.)
THE COST OF AN ORANGE FLAG: The quote from Kommersant was also
very curious. Given that Kommersant is a popular paper from Russia--
speaking of journalistic bias--it can be safely assumed that anything that
it wrote regarding events in Ukraine is deliberately intended to discredit
anything going on in Ukraine, especially by playing the "poor pensioner"
card in the run-up to the next elections.
Remember, the Kremlin has made very clear whom it supports, and it is not
the current Administration. But just to make clear that I am not biased
against Kommersant, only against the quality of its reporting and analysis:
The big orange banners were restricted to regional representations and
were almost impossible to get your hands on (and were unlikely to go for as
little as Hr 20 in any case).
The ubiquitous little flags on plastic poles the size of a straw were
distributed by the tens of thousands during the "revolution" for free. I and
just about everybody I know in Kyiv picked up handfuls of them from a
variety of events and passed them along to all kinds of people outside Kyiv
who had not been able to participate, including pensioners and kids.
I can't imagine that any pensioner who wanted one (and the bulk of them, in
eastern and southern Ukraine, most emphatically did not) would have had to
buy a flag, let alone 10 of them.
Be that as it may, however, the basic pension was raised to over Hr 300 two
months before the revolution and to nearly Hr 400 this spring, so Kommersant
even got that bit wrong (never mind the obvious question as to why any
pensioner would intentionally buy the most costly version of an item rather
than one that was 4 times cheaper).
(PS: The very fact that you imagine that Ukrainian pensioners want to "enjoy
their civic right to patriotic pride" in the form of desperately wanting an
orange flag shows how little you understand the mentality of the average
citizen of Ukraine.)
IMPORTS OF BRAZILIAN SUGAR: This is an issue that requires some
understanding of both the politics of sugar and the economics of sugar. You
flunk on both counts. Firstly, beet sugar is incredibly wasteful and costly.
Ukraine needs to go over to cane sugar for its domestic industry to survive
without hurting consumers in a sweets-and home-made jam-loving country.
The sugar lobby that was so well received by Mr. Baranivskiy, a socialist,
includes a number of wealthy confectionary owners in Ukraine, supposedly Mr.
Poroshenko chief among them. It has been crying wolf, claiming it needs
protection as a domestic industry. What it needs is to stop growing a crop
that is overly costly and uncompetitive (and, incidentally, not as sweet as
cane sugar according to some), and grow something more rational.
Secondly, slam-dunked in the legislature, in the end the Government did
nothing. It didn't control prices and it didn't drop duty on imports. The
Ukrainian consumer lost both ways. Most housewives will probably stew
and jam less and encourage their families to eat more fresh fruit this year.
Come to think of it, that's not the worst of all possible options,
either...!
Incidentally, sugar prices skyrocketed in North America during the 1973 oil
crisis, which brings us around to the last item on this list...
SKYROCKETING GASOLINE PRICES: Once again, you keep quoting
Russian sources without offering any analysis or comments as to why
Ukraine's refineries were shut down suddenly (who owns them? who supplies
them?) and why prices are rising the most in "red" country, Crimea and
Dnipropetrovsk, and in erstwhile SDPU (o)-controlled Zakarpattia? (Are
election bells ringing yet?)
For a self-billed "critic of interventionist foreign policy," you certainly
show no criticism anywhere in your article towards Russia's manipulations
and interventions in Ukraine. Perhaps that would be a good place to start
your analysis next time. Then, maybe it will really be worth reading.
Sincerely,
L.A. Wolanskyj
Founder and publisher of Eastern Economist,
EE Daily and MoneyMaker (1994-2003)
Ukraine, E-mail: lidia@ln.ua
=============================================================
Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
=============================================================
16. U.S. AGENCY OVERSEAS PRIVATE INVESTMENT CORPORATION
SEEKS MANAGERS FOR FUNDS INVESTING IN EURASIA
Facilitate investment of risk capital in region's private companies
The funds will invest in companies operating in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of International Information Programs
Washington, D.C. Thursday, August 25, 2005
A call for proposals to manage one or more private equity investment funds
designed to invest in Eurasian countries has been issued by the United
States Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), an agency of the
U.S. government.
OPIC plans to invest up to $100 million in financing, or no more than 33
percent of the total capital of the funds, for companies operating in
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, according to an OPIC
announcement issued August 22.
"By establishing new investment funds for the emerging markets of Eurasia,
OPIC hopes to expand economic development in the region by providing
companies access to the kind of long-term capital that is crucial to their
growth," said Ross Connelly, OPIC acting president and chief executive
officer (CEO).
The following OPIC release provides further information for those interested
in submitting proposals:
OPIC ISSUES CALL TO MANAGE INVESTMENT FUNDS FOR EURASIA
The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
Washington, D.C.. Monday, August 22, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC)
has issued a call for proposals to manage one or more private equity
investment funds designed to invest in Eurasian countries that were members
of the former Soviet Union, OPIC Acting President and CEO Ross Connelly
announced today.
OPIC will contribute up to $100 million in financing, or no more than 33
percent of the total capital of the funds, with the balance to be raised by
the fund managers. The funds will invest in companies operating in Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Deadline for the submission of proposals is September 26. Please visit
http://virtual.opic.gov/eurasia/call.nsf for further details.
The funds are intended to facilitate the investment of risk capital in
private companies operating in the region for new business development and
existing company expansion, restructuring and/or privatization programs.
Responses to the call for proposals will be assessed according to their
credibility and investment strategy, track record of the prospective
managers, and the managers' ability to raise the targeted capital, among
other criteria. OPIC has retained Cambridge Associates LLC, an independent
investment consultant, to assist in evaluating and recommending managers for
the funds.
"By establishing new investment funds for the emerging markets of Eurasia,
OPIC hopes to expand economic development in the region by providing
companies access to the kind of long-term capital that is crucial to their
growth," Connelly said. "We hope to unlock some of the many opportunities
the region presents to potential investors and to bring an infusion of
equity capital to new and growing local businesses."
OPIC was established as an agency of the U.S. government in 1971. It helps
U.S. businesses invest overseas, fosters economic development in new and
emerging markets, complements the private sector in managing risks
associated with foreign direct investment, and supports U.S. foreign policy.
Because OPIC charges market-based fees for its products, it operates on
a self-sustaining basis at no net cost to U.S. taxpayers.
OPIC's political risk insurance and financing help U.S. businesses of all
sizes invest in more than 150 emerging markets and developing nations
worldwide. Over the agency's 33-year history, OPIC has supported $164
billion worth of investments that have helped developing countries to
generate more than 732,000 host-country jobs and $13 billion in
host-government revenues. OPIC projects have also generated $69 billion
in U.S. exports and supported more than 264,000 American jobs.
For further information, contact:
Lawrence Spinelli (202) 336-8690
Timothy Harwood (202) 336-8744
=============================================================
16. UKRAINIANS SEEK A NEW PATH FOR NEWS
by Jim Troyer, Austin, Minnesota, Friday, August 12, 2005
After a week touring newspapers, radio and television outlets in the
area, four Ukrainian editors may be a little closer to choosing a model
for independent media in Ukraine.
They talked about their experience in a round table discussion and
news conference at Riverland Community College.
The four, from weekly regional newspapers in Ukraine, were in the
United States at the invitation of the "Open World" program of the U.
S. Congress.
Ukraine, they agreed, is still adjusting to changes brought about by
independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and
the triumph of their country's Orange Revolution of 2004-2005. That
movement began as a reaction to electoral fraud during Ukraine's
presidential runoff election of Nov. 21, 2004 and led to the election
of Viktor Yushchenko.
Inna Klyshko tied the movement directly to the current role of
newspapers in her country. "The Orange Revolution," she said, "made
people realize that their views won't be noticed if they don't stand up
for themselves. People want information on how to defend their rights."
That newspapers, especially the regional weeklies, have taken the
lead in bringing objective reporting to the Ukrainian people, was a
common theme among the four. Radio and TV outlets, and the larger
"group owned" papers got lower marks.
The TV stations are privately owned, Sasha Churynova noted. "They
are told what to cover and the print media [which remains objective] is
the winner."
Klyshko said she discovered that public radio and television here is
a better model for 'independent media' than commercial news
outlets. "Publishers might have to follow the policies of their owners,
but public radio and TV puts the interest of the public first," she
said.
"Only a newspaper that can support itself can be really
independent," said Tetyana Kalmykova. "We must sell ads to be
independent."
Asked if their papers put ads on the front page, all the editors
said 'no,' but Churynova noted that there is a continuing struggle at
her paper between editorial and advertising departments. Readers, she
noted, complain that ads and news stories appear on the same page.
In answer to a question from Harry Stevens, who coordinated the
visit of the journalists, all four said that no editorials are run in
their papers. "You've got to remember what our recent history is," said
Klyshko. "The people understand one party ideology. Now there are 100
parties."
Churynova sees weak circulation as the biggest threat to newspapers
in Ukraine. "Newspapers here have more readers," she pointed out.
"Right now, it is impossible for us to have daily papers."
Konstantin Gorokhov, a publisher from Yalta in the Crimea, however,
defended the economic model for newspapers in the United States. It's a
circle, he said. "The readers decide what they want; that increases
circulation, and circulation increases advertising, which provides more
money to satisfy readers."
Riverland Community College President Dr. Terrence Leas joined the
discussion, noting the common challenge of the college and the media
"to search for truth and the free exercise of ideas."
Leas announced that RCC instructor Richard Nicolai is now beginning
teaching English composition to three Ukrainians. The distance
learning program is reaching RCC's sister college in Kherson, Ukraine,
via the internet. Americans are also taking the course on line.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: troyers1@charter.net
==============================================================
17. PROBLEMS PERSIST IN UKRAINE AMID SUBTLE SIGNS OF PROGRESS
COMMENTARY: By Reno Domenico, for the Courier-Post
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Friday, Aug 19, 2005
KIEV, Ukraine - As Ukraine prepares for its first Independence Day since
last winter's successful Orange revolution, opinions vary as to the progress
that has been made, and how successful the revolution has been in achieving
its dreams and aspirations.
With President Yushchenko preparing to travel to Philadelphia to accept the
prestigious Liberty Medal, the hot-orange glow of the summer sun is fading
into an eerily early autumn with the first cool winds blowing in off the
Russian steppe -- perhaps portents of things to come.
It is difficult to gauge the status of the situation here. Kiev, the
capital, has always been more economically vibrant and successful than
other parts of the country. Nevertheless, the multiplicity of problems have
left the citizenry increasingly impatient and uncertain.
Factually, some things are very clear. The national currency, the hryvna,
has risen against the dollar, which has caused a considerable loss to many
people who hoarded their wealth in U.S. dollars. Conversely, prices have
risen considerably, with meat products leading the way at a 100 percent
increase. And, inexplicably, inflation has risen, further pressuring the
national economy.
There is some good news. Pensions have been substantially increased,
although the national average is still less than the equivalent of U.S. $50
per month. Teachers and other public workers have been promised
substantial pay increases for the fall but, as always, there is skepticism
among the people that historically has had very good reasons for that
feeling.
Travel restrictions for citizens of the United States, Canada, Japan and
the European Union have been substantially eased, something much
appreciated by the writer.
"The balloon of illusion has burst" is how Oleksander Danilook, 25, a
specialist at the All Ukrainian Center for Entrepreneurial Development,
summed it up. He and his colleague, Andrie Lukasook, 24, a regional
operative for Yushchenko's Our Ukraine political party, agreed that the
euphoria of the revolution has faded to the harsh reality of the predicament
the country faces. Lukasook, however, was more upbeat and saw visible
progress in the ability to organize in his agricultural region of Lutsk.
A more experienced viewpoint comes from Dr. Yuriy Pestryakov, a nuclear
physicist who was drafted out of his academic environment to serve on a
civilian-military team that was in charge of monitoring at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant after the fires were finally put out in 1986; and Jim
Davis, an American who after several years of work with the country's
principal English language weekly, currently is serving as the chief editor
of the FirsTnews Internet daily. Davis has worked and lived in Ukraine for
the last 11 years.
Pestryakov sounded a cautionary note.
"Everything happening here is tied up with overcoming the legacy of the last
(Kuchma) regime. We have spent a long time crawling into this hole, and we
will have a long haul crawling out," Pestryakov said. Pointing out that the
new government is not functioning as well as had been hoped, he reflected
that conflicts inside the governmental Cabinet were causing uncertainty,
which was affecting the business environment.
Davis took a more long-range perspective. "Look," he said, "the
Yushchenko-Tymoshenko government is really a coalition with the socialists
and others; therefore, in order to form the government, they had to share
portfolios with the partners. Consequently, at times it appears that there
are competing interests."
Regarding the economic problems that have worsened for ordinary people,
Davis said: "When Yushchenko came to power, his administration had to
repair a looted state treasury. Now, they are trying to collect taxes and
custom revenues in a legitimate and transparent manner, but in a country
where that really never happened before, it will take some time to change
people's minds and habits. It takes real dedication to pull off what
Yushchenko and his people are trying to do."
An important case in point is that three of four suspects in the death of
Internet journalist Heorhiy Gongadze are about to go on trial. Gongadze,
murdered, then beheaded, was really guilty of only one thing, speaking ill
of certain politicians at the highest level.
However, another suspect who is believed to have personally ended
Gongadze's life by strangulation, Interior Minister Maj. Gen. Olexiy Pukach,
is on the run, and believed to be hiding in Israel. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reno Domenico: Pine Hill, New Jersey,
renodomenico@comcast.net, www.sterlinginstitute.org
==============================================================
Send in names and e-mail addresses for the AUR distribution list.
=============================================================
18. MOSCOW SEEKS TALKS WITH WEST ON RULES OF
THE GAME' IN NEAR ABROAD
WINDOW ON EURASIA: By Paul Goble
UPI, Tartu, Estonia, Thursday, August 25, 2005
Tartu, August 25 - The Russian government wants to open talks
with Europe and the United States to develop what it calls "civilized rules
of the game" for the geopolitical competition between Moscow and the
outside world for influence in the non-Russian countries that emerged after
the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Some officials especially in the West itself are likely to
view these suggestions, which came from a senior official on the staff of
President Vladimir Putin and a deputy foreign minister, as Moscow's grudging
acknowledgement that it faces unprecedented challenges in this enormous
region.
But others, and particularly the leaders and peoples of the
countries in this region whose fate is to be discussed are certain to view
such proposals as the latest attempt by the Russian government to gain
Western recognition of a Russian sphere of influence there and to take
decisions about them without their participation.
In widely disseminated comments to the Novosti news agency
earlier this week, a senior official in the administration of President
Vladimir Putin speaking on condition of anonymity said that Moscow is
planning to change its approach to the countries of the Commonwealth of
Independent States.
"The essence of this new policy direction will consist not so
much of an attempt to reestablish Russia's influence supposedly lost as the
result of ,Orange' revolutions." But rather, he said, Moscow wants to use
talks with the United States and Europe to set "civilized" rules for
continuing geopolitical competition in this region.
The reason such talks are needed, he continued, is that the
West is behind so many of the challenges to Moscow's influence there -
including most recently he said the plans announced earlier this month by
Georgia and Ukraine to form a community of democracies in a belt from
the Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas.
The unnamed presidential aide added that today, "the struggle
is taking place without rules," something Moscow believes is very dangerous
and hopes to see regulated by [mutually agreed-upon and] ,civilized rules
of the game'" between the Russian Federation and the Western powers.
His comments were amplified by Grigoriy Karasin, the new deputy foreign
minister who has responsibilities for relations with CIS member countries,
in an interview published in "Rossiiskaya gazeta." A summary of his remarks
and those of the Kremlin aide can be found at
http://www.rusk.ru/newsdata.php?idar=160880
Karasin said that Moscow hopes to "transform" this region into
"an arena of mutually respectful and predictable partnership," one that
would reflect a new "balance which would improve both the atmosphere and
the character of our interrelationships here with our Western partners."
While insisting that Russia has its own interests in these countries and
will work hard to defend and advance them, the Russian diplomat added that
Moscow recognizes that "other international players have their own specific
interests in the states of the CIS," a situation that he described as "in
principle, normal."
The Russian deputy minister said he believes all sides must
advance their interests "exclusively by honest competition, a struggle of
ideas and conceptions, and not by the use of forceful pressure." And
providing a gloss on his own words, he added that "we cannot agree with
the methods of forced ,democratization'" of all or part of the post-Soviet
space.
The superficial reasonableness of such proposals are likely to
find a positive response from some Western leaders, even among those
who have been at pains to insist that there is no longer any such political
category as the former Soviet space -- as has been the case in Europe
over the last year.
But many of the leaders and peoples of the countries that
Moscow once again wants to negotiate about rather than with are likely to
view the Russian government's suggestions as a dangerous threat to their
situation and thus do whatever they can to prevent such talks from taking
place or any agreements reached.
That is all the more likely because of some of the latest
Russian commentaries on these relationships. This week, for example, on the
66th anniversary of the notorious Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact by which Hitler
and Stalin divided eastern Europe, one Russian nationalist writer argued
that Russia and the West might want again seek to delimit spheres of
influence .
Stanislav Khatuntsev wrote that the pro-American and
anti-Russian attitudes activism of what many call "the new Europe" could
create a situation in which both Moscow and the core countries of Western
Europe might decide on precisely that kind of new repartition of the
continent
(http://www.apn.ru/?chapter_name=advert&data_id=620&do=view_single).
Indeed, he concluded with a rhetorical question that many are
likely to find chilling, "might it not be the case that the demarches of
Warsaw against Moscow and Minsk will lay the foundations for future,
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pacts'?" -30-
=============================================================
19. UKRAINIAN DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OLEH RYBACHUK
DOWNPLAYS RIVALRIES IN PRESIDENT'S TEAM
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 23 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, August 23, 2005
KYIV - The deputy prime minister for European integration, Oleh Rybachuk,
has said that infighting among the movers and shakers in the Ukrainian
administration has significantly subsided, largely thanks to President
Viktor Yushchenko.
Interviewed in a live evening TV programme on 5 Kanal television, Rybachuk
rated the level of tensions in relations among Prime Minister Yuliya
Tymoshenko, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Petro
Poroshenko and State Secretary Oleksandr Zinchenko at five points on a
scale of 10.
He said: "There is a trend for it (tension level) to decrease. I think it is
no higher than five now. And it is falling steadily because it is finding no
support with the president. You know what (former President Leonid) Kuchma
did? He fuelled this, he encouraged people to report on each other, he
staged press leaks. Yushchenko is always a consolidating force."
Rybachuk said he even welcomed elements of competition in the new
administration: "There is a certain degree of competition for influence, and
I would only welcome that. I can say that I once called myself an
anti-monopoly committee which did not allow the door to the president to be
closed to anyone but one person. What is happening today, including in
foreign policy, is a kind of competition, which can only be welcomed."
Speaking of the posts of state secretary and security council secretary,
Rybachuk described both as low-publicity jobs, indirectly commending
Zinchenko for keeping a low profile and criticizing Poroshenko for excessive
publicity. Replying to the presenter's question, he said it would be wrong
to dub Zinchenko "the weakest link" in Yushchenko's administration.
"Zinchenko has taken a low-publicity position, which is actually what a
presidential chief of staff should do. It is not a high-publicity job. The
post of secretary of the National Security and Defence Council should have
even less publicity," Rybachuk said.
"The purpose of these two people is to let the president hear diametrically
opposed views, not to be involved in a war of words, or try to outplay each
other in public, or fight the government. The president is very quick on the
draw in catching interesting ideas."
Rybachuk hailed a recent presidential decree which reaffirmed the Foreign
Ministry's role as coordinator of foreign policy. "I would welcome even more
what the president did yesterday," Rybachuk said. "He signed a decree to
restore the function of the Foreign Ministry to the Foreign Ministry, which
had earlier been shifted to Bankova Street (presidential administration)."
He added that there was a clear division of responsibilities between the
Foreign Ministry, his own functions regarding European integration and
Prime Minister Tymoshenko's activities.
He stressed that it is actually Yushchenko who directs foreign policy: "I
would say that, regardless of changes to the constitution, the president has
been and will be in charge of foreign policy. He has been very active in
this regard."
Rybachuk said that during Yushchenko's tenure Ukraine can expect to make
significant progress on the path towards EU membership. "We can talk of
major progress during Yushchenko's presidency," Rybachuk said.
"This is realistic... Yushchenko's presidency, which may last for 10 years
in theory, would allow us to achieve quite a lot. He is devoted to this
cause (of European integration)." He added: "It is not right to say that
Rybachuk is the engine of European integration, it is actually the
president, and this can be sensed every day." -30-
=============================================================
20. PRESIDENTS CREATE AXIS OF 'POST-SOVIET INDEPENDENCE'
By Milda Seputyte, The Baltic Times
News from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, August 24, 2005
VILNIUS - A new regional alliance of nations aiming to reinvigorate the
economic and democratic integration of Eastern Europe was formed last
weekend on the Crimean peninsula, with the presidents of Poland, Lithuania,
Ukraine and Georgia vowing to cooperate on a host of regional issues.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus saluted the meeting, which also
touched upon obstacles to regional development, such as Belarus.
"I am convinced that only close cooperation among our countries will help
Ukraine and Georgia, and certainly other countries of the region as well,
follow the road of reforms, democracy and economic welfare," Adamkus was
quoted as saying by the President's Office. "Meetings and conversations must
be held on a regular basis," he added.
The Crimean summit was a follow-up to a recent meeting of the Ukrainian and
Georgian presidents - Viktor Yushchenko and Mikhail Saakashvili - in
Borjomi, Georgia, where the two leaders, both of whom came to power after
popular revolutions, declared their intention to form a new organization,
Community of Democratic Choice, that would "unite democracies of the Baltic,
Black Sea and Caspian region" and "begin a new era of democracy and
security across the whole of Europe, from the Atlantic to the Caspian."
Given the two countries' tense relations with Russia, many see the new
community as a challenge to Russia's regional ambitions.
Adamkus was one of the first to respond to the idea of the CDC. "I have said
on a number of earlier occasions that cooperation between the countries of
the Baltic and Black Sea regions has excellent prospects," he said.
"So I welcome the initiative of the new democratic leaders of Ukraine and
Georgia, one which, I hope, will serve a strong stimulus for erasing the
dividing lines in the region, resolving old conflicts, preventing violations
of human rights and opening up opportunities for a new era of democracy,
security, stability and lasting peace," Adamkus said.
Lithuania's president expressed hope that his Baltic counterparts would
support the initiative as well.
Russian political analysts quickly labelled the idea as a conspiracy, and
interpreted the move as a wish to secede from the Commonwealth of
Independent States, a loose alliance of 12 post-Soviet nations that includes
both Georgia and Ukraine.
Konstantin Zatulin, director of the private Institute of CIS Countries, told
Interfax that the two countries "want to be liked by the West and
demonstrate first and foremost to Russia that they left the CIS." He stated
that, in response, Russia should not make any future concessions to these
countries, such as speeding up the process of withdrawing bases from
Georgia.
Viacheslav Nikonov, president of the Moscow-based Politics Foundation,
agreed that the Crimea meeting was a bilateral step to creating an
anti-Russian coalition. "Such an alliance can lead to the isolation of
Russia from its largest trade partner - the EU," Interfax quoted him as
saying.
Rossiiskaya Gazeta reported that the new organization, besides
counterbalancing Moscow's influence, is also intended to develop a new
oil transport corridor from the Caspian Sea to Europe, which would bypass
Russia's Transneft pipeline monopoly.
But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk said that this new alliance
would not be an "alternative to the CIS," and is only in the conceptual
phase. However, he said he was not surprised that CIS members have tried
to find other organizations during the last 14 years since the effectiveness
of CIS was low.
"Neither Ukraine nor Georgia caused the crisis within the CIS, but the
inability to respond to key issues which concern the CIS countries did," he
told a press briefing in Kiev.
Adamkus denied Russian media statements that future cooperation between
the four countries would be aimed against Moscow. "It was stated clearly
that the region has to look toward the West - it has to manage itself under
the new principles, and we have to support each other in this," the
Lithuanian president said.
Another aim of the Crimean meeting was to discuss the increasingly tenuous
situation in Belarus. The heads of Georgia, Lithuania and Ukraine expressed
understanding for Poland in its concern over the situation with the Polish
minority in Belarus and said they would coordinate their policy toward
Minsk. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.baltictimes.com/art.php?art_id=13292
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