"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"
INTERNAL STRUGGLE FOR WTO MEMBERSHIP
AND SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
"Therefore, there is no other way to protect Ukraine's economic interests,
in its relations with the EU and the US than to join the WTO.
Still the situation is not that simple. It has two other dimensions:
1. Time is not waiting for Ukrainians to make the indispensable decisions;
2. Moscow is competing with Kyiv on its way to the WTO." [article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 585
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, October 17, 2005
--------INDEX OF ARTICLES--------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "THE AMBASSADOR'S ARMCHAIR"
Ukraine’s internal struggle for WTO membership and its possible consequences
ESSAY: By Dr. P. Zurawski vel Grajewski
European Institute at Lodz University
As an afterthought to his keynote presentation at Ukraine's Quest For
Mature Nation Statehood; Roundtable VI on Polish Ukrainian Relations
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 585, Article 1
Washington, D.C., Monday, October 17, 2005
2. YANUKOVICH HOLDING BACK SUPPORT OF UKRAINE JOINING WTO
"We shall never betray the interests of our nation."
ITAR-TASS, Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct 14, 2005
3. WTO CHIEF SAYS RUSSIA AND UKRAINE NOT EXPECTED TO
COMPLETE THEIR ACCESSION TALKS BY MEETING IN MID-DECEMBER
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Oct 16, 2005
4. KINAKH CALLS FOR COORDINATION OF UKRAINE AND RUSSIA'S
ACTIVITIES DURING ACCESSION TO WTO
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Oct 12, 2005
5. TERIOKHIN ACCUSES YEKHANUROV'S GOVERNMENT OF
DELAYING UKRAINE'S WTO ADMISSION PROCESS
Viktor Riasnyi, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Oct 13, 2005
6. VICHE OF UKRAINE'S LEADER BOHOSLOVSKA OPPOSES
SYNCHRONIZATION OF WTO ACCESSION OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 12, 2005
7. SECURITY COUNCIL TO TALK OVER UKRAINE'S ACCESSION
TO WTO DURING OCTOBER 17-23 SAYS RYBACHUK
Says that Ukraine will not take steps on its accession
to the WTO simultaneously with Russia.
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Oct 14, 2005
8. UKRAINE'S OFFICIAL AIM IS TO BECOME A MEMBER OF WTO
BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Monday, October 17, 2005
9. UKRAINE POLITICS: A CONFIDENCE BOOST?
NEWS ANALYSIS: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited
London, United Kingdom, Wednesday, October 12, 2005
10. AS GAZPROM GROWS, SO DOES RUSSIA'S SWAY
What brought Ukraine around? Putin used Gazprom
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California, Sunday, October 16, 2005
11. SHUTTING THE DOOR ON A DEAD END
EU membership for Ukraine is a fantasy doomed to failure, today as in 1990.
COMMENTARY: By Ira Straus
The Moscow Times, Moscow, Russia,
Thursday, October 13, 2005. Issue 3273. Page 8.
12. VICTOR'S LAURELS
Chatham House Prize is a serious honour
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Financial Times
London, United Kingdom, Monday, October 17 2005
13. YUSHCHENKO FORESEES ORANGE FUTURE
INTERVIEW: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
By Bridget Kendall, BBC's Talking Point
BBC, United Kingdom, Sunday, October 16, 2005
14. TEXT: FINANCIAL TIMES INTERVIEW WITH UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT
INTERVIEW: With Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
Financial Times, London, United Kingdom, Friday, October 14, 2005
15. LEFTISTS, NATIONALISTS SCUFFLE IN UKRAINE OVER WW2
By Ron Popeski, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, 15 Oct 2005
16. OSCE IN UKRAINE TRAINS CONSULAR OFFICIALS ON
ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING
OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 13, 2005
17. UKRAINE'S MEDIA TOILS TO BECOME 4TH ESTATE
Ukraine's media has become freer since Yushchenko took power
By Khrystyna Nikolaychuk (ncy)
Deutsche-Welle, Bonn, Germany, Sat, Oct 15, 2005
18. AGRICULTURE FUNDING BEING MISUSED, WASTED, AND STOLEN
By Oksana Bondarchuk, FirsTnews, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, October 16, 2005
19. US FUNDING BOOSTS EX-SOVIET SCIENTISTS INCLUDING UKRAINE
Security concerns spur local projects
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff, Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, Friday, October 14, 2005
==============================================================
1. "THE AMBASSADOR'S ARMCHAIR"
Ukraine’s internal struggle for WTO membership and its possible consequences
ESSAY: By Dr. P. Zurawski vel Grajewski
European Institute at Lodz University
As an afterthought to his presentation at the Roundtable UA Quest
Roundtable VI where he was keynote speaker on Polish Ukrainian Relations
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 585, Article 1
Washington, D.C., Monday, October 17, 2005
The Ukrainian economy depends on the export of steel, chemical products and
food; these three branches are the main engines of Ukrainian economic
development. On the other hand, the country depends on the importation of
Russian gas and oil.
The general tendency of the world market is that the prices of steel,
chemical products and agricultural produce go down, when the prices of
energy raw materials goes up.
Such a tendency can (and does) create unfavourable conditions for Ukrainian
trade. Further, Kyiv, while not being a member of the World Trade
Organisation, remains helpless if confronted with anti-dumping procedures
regarding those three main export products of the country; there is not much
it can do.
Therefore, there is no other way to protect Ukraine's economic interests, in
its relations with the EU and the US than to join the WTO.
Still the situation is not that simple. It has two other dimensions:
1. Time is not waiting for Ukrainians to make the indispensable decisions;
2. Moscow is competing with Kyiv on its way to the WTO.
The country that will win, and will become a WTO member earlier than its
competitor, will be able to impose the terms of trade to the less lucky or
rather less clever neighbour.
If Russia wins, Ukraine, which depends on its northern neighbor’s gas and
oil, will be put in an extremely difficult situation. This is why time
matters and why Ukrainians should do their best to be first in that race.
They should; the question is: Will they?
The debate regarding the legislative bills packet which was supposed to
enable Ukraine to join WTO, took on a life of its own in the Verkhovna Rada
(Ukraine’s Supreme Council) at the beginning of this last July.
The packet consisted of 14 projects; during a early three day session, a
bill concerning criminal responsibility for pirated production and sale of
CDs was passed as well as a number of other projects that were adopted
during the first reading.
After that, the Parliament became paralysed. The “opposition” began blocking
and breaking up the debate. Rada sessions were disrupted by deputies from
the Ukrainian Social-Democratic Party and the Party of the Regions (led by
Moscow’s supported Viktor Yanukovych – Yushchenko’s rival in the last year
presidential election).
Deputies of both parties forced their way in rostrum and surrounded the
Speaker of the Parliament, Volodymyr Lytvyn. An ominous atmosphere of
disturbances, whistles, struggles and brawls accompanied the event.
According to the “opposition”, the government (Rada) extracted from
Verkhovna Rada the approval of “laws” that are not properly prepared and
unfavourable for Ukrainian business and the Ukrainian people.
In addition, the EU and the US were accused of forcing Ukraine to accept
Western genetically-modified food protected with preservatives of unknown
composition and unknown ingredients allegedly harmful to the health of
Ukrainian citizens.
The government was accused of pushing the bills in question through in order
to please Washington and Brussels. Speaker Volodymyr Lytwyn assessed the
situation in Parliament as a sign of a serious crisis of authority.
The opposition also used both juridical and constitutional arguments to
block the debate. Before the proceedings, both parties that contested the
WTO bills’ packet declared that they were going to support the act, only if
the MPs who had been nominated to the governmental posts, gave up their
parliamentary mandates.
This applied to 20 people who worked in the Government of Yulia Tymoshenko
and at the same time were deputies to the Ukrainian Parliament (in reality,
they had simply not yet given up their “mandaty”).
The struggle eventually involved the head of the state himself. The bills
were strongly promoted by the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko, in as
much as joining WTO was treated by him as the pre-condition to creating a
free trade zone with the European Union, which, in turn, was perceived as
the first step to the EU membership.
The interests of the country (Ukraine) and the political interests of the
Yushchenko camp were identical in that situation.
Entering WTO, which was indispensable for Ukraine to protect its foreign
trade, was simultaneously extremely desirable for Orange Revolution camp,
which had proclaimed its pro-European and pro-Western orientation and which
was striving for success in Ukraine’s quest to accomplish such a direction.
The success had to be achieved before March 2006, when the parliamentary
elections were scheduled to be held in Ukraine. The achievement had to be
large enough to be effectively presented to the public opinion in order to
win its support in an electoral struggle.
There were few other things besides accession to WTO membership, and the
awaited recognition of Ukraine by the EU and the US as a market economy
which was linked to it, that would have fitted that scenario in a better
way.
Yushchenko delivered a speech to the Rada trying to convince the body that
the WTO bills packet were good for Ukraine and would contribute to its
development. Indeed, he stressed that it was only a small part of what
ultimately had to be done.
During his speech, deputies continued to protest against any further voting,
and Volodymyr Lytvyn was not allowed to continue the proceedings. He
announced a break. The rebellious members of the Parliament were not
done; they destroyed his microphone.
The session was postponed. Yushchenko, as an enticement, ordered those
government officials who will not resign from their parliamentarian seats
dismissed; it proved to be of no avail.
The struggle has gone on and is still in place today. Formally, the
arguments of the “opposition” MPs are serious and are well motivated,
involving either their “noble care for the health of their compatriots” or
“their profound devotion to the rule of law”.
The way in which they demonstrate their respect to the law is an
unconvincing one; still, all the excesses can be explained away with
justifiable emotions, inspired by the cause they have defended.
All this enables them to walk on the “path of glory” of “patriots who
protect the dignity and the interests of Ukraine and its citizens”.
BUT.... In 1717, the Parliament of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth,
surrounded by the Russian regiments, accepted, in silence, a Russian
protectorate over Poland.
From that time on, the armchair of the Russian Ambassador stood in the
chamber of the Parliament and Polish MPs, whether terrorised or corrupted,
received their instructions from the Petersburg court thru the occupant of
the said item.
Nonetheless, during the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1792, while Russian
forces were engaged against the Ottoman Empire, Poles were handed a
unique opportunity to get rid of the Russian domination.
A Great Parliament (a National Assembly) was convened to reform the country.
The first task that needed to be implemented was the creation of the army
strong enough to defend the Commonwealth against renewed possible
Russian interference.
Time was crucial; it was, indeed, of essence. Who would be first - the Poles
with their army or the Russians with their victory over Turkey?
The MPs who were paid by the Petersburg court could not defend Russian
interests openly. They were really dark souled characters, but they were not
stupid.
They started a debate concerning the Russian Ambassador’s armchair (ie -
whether to remove it from the Chamber to demonstrate the newly regained
suzerainty of the Parliament OR to ignore it so as not to irritate Russia as
well as to gain more time to raise an army).
It is easy to guess that the MPs from the pro-Russian Party were “the best
patriots” in that struggle, radically demanding the removal of the armchair.
For a year, the Parliament kept talking, time passed by, Russian armies kept
fighting (and winning against) the Turks and the decision of the Polish Sejm
on the taxation indispensable for rising up new troops kept getting
postponed.
The very next year, Russia invaded Poland, and three years later the country
was erased from the map of Europe for 123 years.
Ukrainian MPs can (and should) draw the conclusions from that history.
Patriots are not always those who speak loudly about their patriotism or
even demonstrate it in a radical, if symbolic, way, but are those who always
act in the interest of their country.
The Verkhovna Rada should decide what is more important: Ukraine’s
membership in the WTO or the details of the ingredients in Western food
imported into Ukrainian market, various procedural games in the Parliament
and the pedestrian struggles of the upcoming elections. -30-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Przemyslav Zurawski vel Grajewski presently serves as the Director
of the Foundation for European Studies, European Institute, University of
Lodz. Dr. Zurawski vel Grajewski has been a key contributor to the “EU-25
Watch”, a project which explores key issues and challenges facing European
integration processes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Essay published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) in cooperation
with the Ukrainian National Information Service (UNIS); Ukrainian Congress
Committee of America (UCCA), Michael Sawkiw, President, Washington,
D.C. and the Center for US-Ukrainian Relations (CUSUR), Walter Zaryckyj,
Director, New York City. Text published by The Action Ukraine Report
(AUR), Number 585, Article 1, Monday, October 17, 2005.
=============================================================
2. YANUKOVICH HOLDING BACK SUPPORT OF UKRAINE JOINING WTO
"We shall never betray the interests of our nation."
ITAR-TASS, Moscow, Russia, Friday, Oct 14, 2005
DONETSK - The Ukrainian Party of Regions will not support the bills, needed
for Ukraine's joining of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), at least until
national producers give their consent to it, Viktor Yanukovich, leader of
the party who is now touring the Donetsk Region (Donbass), said here on
Friday.
"We shall not support the adoption of those laws until the process of
joining WTO becomes transparent, until associations of commodity producers
take part in it and until they express their opinion of every provision of
the bills," he promised.
The ex-prime minister of Ukraine believes "a meeting of commodity producers
from various sectors should be held, with whom the laws should be discussed.
We should discuss the mechanisms, which will be at work after Ukraine
becomes a WTO member.
We should analyse the way the laws will work in our country. It is only
after all that work, that the laws should be put to vote in parliament. In
my opinion, all the words and promises we have heard so far are nothing but
populism.
We shall never betray the interests of our nation, no matter how high is the
price offered to us. National interests are actually the interests of
commodity producers," Yanukovich said. -30-
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3. WTO CHIEF SAYS RUSSIA AND UKRAINE NOT EXPECTED TO
COMPLETE THEIR ACCESSION TALKS BY MEETING IN MID-DECEMBER
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Oct 16, 2005
HONG KONG - The head of the World Trade Organization said Sunday that
he did not expect Russia and Ukraine to complete their accession talks by
the 6th ministerial meeting in mid-December.
WTO Director General Pascal Lami said Saudi Arabia is the only aspirant
likely to complete its accession talks by the time the economics ministers
of member countries gather in Hong Kong for their week-long session.
Earlier this month, senior Russian government officials reiterated their
resolve to get through with the accession talks before year's end. Kimmo
Sasi, PACE Rapporteur on Economic Development of Russia, said the
deadline would be hard, but not impossible, to meet. -30-
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4. KINAKH CALLS FOR COORDINATION OF UKRAINE AND RUSSIA'S
ACTIVITIES DURING ACCESSION TO WTO
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Oct 12, 2005
KYIV - Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Anatolii
Kinakh says that while joining the World Trade Organization, Ukraine and
Russia should coordinate their actions. Ukrainian News has learned this from
the Security Council's press service.
Kinakh believes that the counties should not impede each other's work, while
joining the WTO. "This work should be based and held in line with a
corresponding principle: whatever country joins the WTO first, it should not
put obstacles in the other country's way," the report reads.
Kinakh says again that during his meeting with Russia's Secretary of
Security Council Igor Ivanov and Russian President Vladimir Putin, they
discussed the necessity for tenser coordination of activities between the
countries while joining the WTO.
The sides noted that mutual consultations, active work of experts and deep
monitoring of the accession process are of great importance in such a
complicated process.
In Kinakh's opinion, it is very important to agree separate steps in the
context of interests of Ukraine and Russia's domestic markets, so that no
artificial customs, border and other barriers could be set up.
At the same time, according to the council's secretary, intensified mutually
beneficial cooperation with Russia does not contradict with Ukraine's
intentions to join the WTO before the end of 2005.
He also believes that such cooperation does not impede the country's
Euro-Atlantic aspirations. "Ukraine's cooperation in the eastern direction
will not contradict with the Euro-Atlantic integration strategy and
Ukraine's accession to the WTO," Kinakh said.
As Ukrainian News reported, on Monday and Tuesday, Kinakh is visiting
Moscow (Russia). Ukraine plans to join the WTO in December 2005.
According to the President Viktor Yuschenko's decree, the Foreign Affairs
Ministry is the coordinating center for Ukraine's foreign policy.
The decree limits the circle of people authorized to make official
foreign-policy statements to the president, prime minister, and foreign
affairs minister. Other officials must obtain authorization to make
foreign-policy statements. -30-
==============================================================
Ukraine needs public servants, not public elitists
==============================================================
5. TERIOKHIN ACCUSES YEKHANUROV'S GOVERNMENT OF
DELAYING UKRAINE'S WTO ADMISSION PROCESS
Viktor Riasnyi, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Oct 13, 2005
KYIV - Former Economy Minister Serhii Teriokhin has accused the government
of Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov of delaying the process of admission of
Ukraine into the World Trade Organization. Teriokhin made the accusation at
a press conference.
He criticized the new Ukrainian government for its intention to synchronize
Ukraine's admission to the WTO with the process of Russia's admission into
the organization.
Teriokhin also criticized members of the new government, particularly
Economy Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk, for their statements regarding the
possibility of Ukraine joining the WTO as early as 2006.
According to Teriokhin, the meeting of the working commission on Ukraine's
admission into the WTO was postponed from September 28 to October 13 and
later postponed indefinitely because of contradictory statements by members
of the Ukrainian government.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine has set itself the goal of
securing admission into the WTO in December 2005. According to a decree
by President Viktor Yuschenko, the Foreign Affairs Ministry is the
coordinating center for Ukraine's foreign policy.
The decree limits the circle of people authorized to make official
foreign-policy statements to the president, the prime minister, and the
foreign affairs minister. -30-
==============================================================
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==============================================================
6. VICHE OF UKRAINE'S LEADER BOHOSLOVSKA OPPOSES
SYNCHRONIZATION OF WTO ACCESSION OF RUSSIA AND UKRAINE
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Oct 12, 2005
KYIV - Inna Bohoslovska, the leader of the Viche of Ukraine public
organization, believes that Ukraine has sufficiently strong positions with
regard to admission into the World Trade Organization and that it is not
obliged to synchronize its accession to the organization with Russia, which
is also holding WTO admission talks.
The press service of Viche of Ukraine disclosed this to Ukrainian News.
Bohoslovska believes that Ukraine should be guided by the principles of
national economic egoism during its bid for admission into the WTO and cited
the example of Georgia, which has secured admission into the WTO despite
the difficult situation in the country.
Bohoslovska believes that the debate about Ukraine's admission into the
WTO should be public and that the agreements reached during admission
negotiations should be made public.
"Nobody knows the road along which Ukraine is moving [toward the WTO]
today. If protocols are made public only after the fact, this could cause a
huge number of demonstrations and prompt masses of people to come
into the streets," Bohoslovska said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Security and Defense
Council's Secretary Anatolii Kinakh called for coordination of the actions
of Ukraine and Russia aimed at securing admission into the WTO after a
recent visit to Moscow.
Ukraine has signed bilateral protocol on mutual access to markets of goods
and services with 38 member-countries of the World Trade Organization.
Bohoslovska announced in September that she intended to create a political
party based on Viche of Ukraine. Bohoslovska headed the State Committee
for regulatory Policy and Entrepreneurship from May 2003 to January 2004.
Bohoslovska is also the leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of
Ukraine, which the Justice Ministry registered as No. 15 in May 1993. -30-
==============================================================
7. SECURITY COUNCIL TO TALK OVER UKRAINE'S ACCESSION
TO WTO DURING OCTOBER 17-23 SAYS RYBACHUK
Says that Ukraine will not take steps on its accession
to the WTO simultaneously with Russia.
Daria Hluschenko, Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, Oct 14, 2005
KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko will hold a meeting of the National
Security and Defense Council on Ukraine's accession to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) during October 17-23. Presidential Secretariat Chief
Oleh Rybachuk made the statement at a briefing.
During the meeting the council members will analyze the risks of Ukraine's
accession to the WTO. Quoting the working group report, Rybachuk said that
by now about 80% of bilateral protocols have been coordinated between
Ukraine and WTO members.
Two key countries, with which Ukraine is now coordinating such documents,
are the U.S. and Australia. Apart from this, to join the WTO Ukraine should
adopt 10 bills amending the legislation.
Rybachuk said that Ukraine will not take steps on its accession to the WTO
simultaneously with Russia. "The matter is not about coordinating the
timelines with Russia," Rybachuk said. He stressed that this is impossible
even in theory.
The head of the secretariat declined the information that National Security
and Defense Council Secretary Anatolii Kinakh said in Moscow that the two
countries will allegedly synchronize their joining the WTO.
"Kinakh made the statement, but he was misunderstood. He did not speak of
synchronization," Rybachuk said. He explained that there is an agreement
between countries of the common economic area (CEA), which concerns
WTO accession.
He said that it implies that if one of the countries enters the WTO first,
it shall not use its membership in the organization to put too high demands
for other CEA member states to join the WTO.
As Ukrainian News reported earlier, in May, the National Security and
Defense Council recommended that President Viktor Yuschenko made
instructions to step up talks on Ukraine's accession to the World Trade
Organization in order to obtain membership this year.
In October, Kinakh said that while joining the World Trade Organization,
Ukraine and Russia should coordinate their steps. -30-
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8. UKRAINE'S OFFICIAL AIM IS TO BECOME A MEMBER OF WTO
BEFORE THE YEAR ENDS SAYS FOREIGN MINISTRY
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Monday, October 17, 2005
Ukraine's official aim is to become a member of the World Trade
Organisation (WTO) before the year ends, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
spokesman Vasyl Filipchuk said.
"On behalf of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, which coordinates the foreign
relations of the executive, I am authorised to say that Ukraine's official
aim is to join the WTO before the end of 2005," Filipchuk said commenting on
information that the national security and defence secretaries of Ukraine
and Russia agreed to interact in synchronising their WTO accession bid.
Filipchuk said according to the presidential decree on August 22 2005, on
the role of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry in foreign relations, the
president, prime minister and foreign minister are authorised to comment on
foreign relations issues."
Relevant presidential and prime minister's instructions on completing the
WTO accession process before the end of the year have been given and will
be implemented," Filipchuk said.
Meanwhile, synchronizing the accession of Ukraine and Russia to the World
Trade Organisation will rank among the priorities of a plan for cooperation
between the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council and the Russian
Security Council.
This goal is documented in an agreement reached in Moscow last Monday by
Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council chief Anatoly Kinakh and his
Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov, the press service of the Ukrainian National
Security and Defence Council announced.
The two officials also discussed ways to intensify the security councils'
cooperation in settling the Transdniestrian conflict, delimitating the
Azov-Kerch water area, and defining the status of the Black Sea Fleet. The
status of the fleet will be considered by a sub commission of the
Yushchenko-Putin intergovernmental commission, the press service said.
Kinakh was quoted as saying that Ukraine sees its dialogue with Russia as
a strategic aspect of cooperation.
"We have common economic interests, but we also have long-established
cultural ties," Kinakh told journalists after talks with Federation Council
Speaker Sergei Mironov.
This is the foundation on which all other aspects of cooperation and
friendly relations must rest, including in the energy sector, transport and
information security, and the use of unique scientific, technical and human
resources and a favourable geographical location, Kinakh said. -30-
==============================================================
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9. UKRAINE POLITICS: A CONFIDENCE BOOST?
NEWS ANALYSIS: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited
London, United Kingdom, Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Foreign investors are now assessing how recent political changes in
Ukraine will affect business.
Natalie Jaresko, managing partner at Horizon Capital, a private equity firm
with over $100m under management, reports: "Our firm is fundraising ...
around the world meeting with investors. The one thing that stood out as a
concern for them has been all the uncertainty."
The appointment of Yury Yekhanurov as the new prime minister, a long-time
friend of Mr Yushchenko, may alleviate some of the hysteria that has gripped
government. Vadym Karasiov, a political analyst, believes that the new
government should prove more "trustworthy and effective."
Michael Willard, owner of The Willard Group (US), a public relations firm,
also welcomes the change. "I have known [Mr. Yekhanurov] for the last 11
years and don't think that President Yushchenko could have made a better
choice-he works quietly but effectively".
Ms. Jaresko agrees. "We expect more pragmatism and better organisation,"
she says, and expects "better communication with the business community,
such as discussion of laws and changes before they are implemented. Simply
having a better dialogue with investors is something they can do
immediately".
By contrast, Ms Tymoshenko's government was often accused of acting too
rashly, giving little warning to business, or worse not doing anything at
all.
Foreigners complain, for example, that it has taken nearly nine months to
establish a foreign investor council, whose first meeting is scheduled for
late October.
Victor Kurbatov, a foreign investment consultant, expects Mr Yekhanurov's
government to be more open. "Government decisions will likely be adopted
through compromise following broad discussions with various interests
involved", he says.
HYPOCRISY
Not all foreign investors have a negative view of Ms Tymoshenko, whose party
is now leading opinion polls. "I can testify that when she was involved,
things were done in a way which we considered to be in favour of a more
sound Ukraine", says Jacques Mounier, head of Calyon Bank (France) in
Ukraine.
While Mr Yushchenko accused her of hurting local producers by lifting
protectionist barriers, these are the very laws passed as a prerequisite to
joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO), say his critics, who note how he
then lauded the passage of the WTO bills which have reduced import duties,
giving no credit to Ms Tymoshenko's government.
Mr Yushchenko has also promised to raise salaries and pensions, even though
such pre-election handouts will be partly paid for from reprivatisation
receipts.
Not everyone believes that Mr Yekhanurov can provide the much-needed steady
hand. "Will significant reforms be proposed? Probably not in a pre-election
period, and likely not during the first three months after the elections",
concludes Mr Mounier. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==============================================================
10. AS GAZPROM GROWS, SO DOES RUSSIA'S SWAY
What brought Ukraine around? Putin used Gazprom
By Kim Murphy, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California, Sunday, October 16, 2005
MOSCOW - A year ago, Ukraine appeared to be pulling relentlessly away
from Russia's grasp and into the arms of Europe, and Russian President
Vladimir V. Putin seemed helpless to stop it.
After the democratic Orange Revolution, Ukraine was rushing to join the
World Trade Organization ahead of Russia and talking of reversing the
privatization of companies bought by Russian investors. Together, those
moves represented an economic nightmare for Russia in a nation it once
considered a virtual client state.
The picture looked a lot different Sept. 30, when new Ukrainian Prime
Minister Yuri Yekhanurov arrived at the Kremlin. "We have given a clear
signal," Yekhanurov declared. "Reprivatization problems will no longer worry
our partners."
What brought Ukraine around?
It turned out that Putin had a secret weapon known as Gazprom. The Russian
energy giant supplies Ukraine with a third of its gas at a fraction of the
price the company charges European customers.
When Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders talked of breaking out of Russia's
sphere of influence last spring, Gazprom executives announced that if
Ukraine wanted to move toward Europe, it should begin paying European
prices for its gas.
Most analysts predict such a move could cost as much as $3 billion and
result in the virtual collapse of the Ukrainian economy. Now, after
Yekhanurov's visit, the two sides plan to hold new and presumably more
conciliatory talks on the gas pricing issue.
This is what can happen when the government owns the gas company. With
shipments of 545 billion cubic meters a year, the Gazprom behemoth dominates
Europe and is already the largest-producing energy company in the world.
Now, with the recently announced plans to buy Russian-based OAO Sibneft for
$13.1 billion, open up half its stock to foreign investors and expand into
energy projects across the globe, Gazprom says it could out-earn even
international giants such as Exxon Mobil Corp. within the next five years.
"Just a few years ago, Gazprom's activity was basically limited to the
production of gas in western Siberia, distributing it virtually at cost, or
sometimes below cost, throughout Russia and making a profit by selling it"
to Europe, said Sergei Kupriyanov, deputy head of Gazprom's information
policy department. "Over the past few years, we've demonstrated colossal
growth."
Now, Gazprom supplies about a third of all Western Europe's natural gas,
including 39% of Germany's gas and nearly all of Slovakia's and Bulgaria's.
With plans to acquire a 25% share in massive oil and gas deposits on
Sakhalin Island off Russia's east coast, plus its own huge new Arctic tracts
in the Barents Sea, Gazprom also is poised to become a major gas supplier
to the U.S., Japan and China.
The acquisition of Sibneft, previously owned by billionaire tycoon Roman
Abramovich, marks the company's foray into crude oil. The deal, scheduled to
be signed in the next few weeks, will give Gazprom 650,000 barrels of crude
oil production a day and make it Russia's fifth-biggest oil company.
Analysts say other oil acquisitions could be in the works soon.
Slowly but surely, Putin is building a state-controlled, internationally
powerful energy giant. In less than two years, the Russian president has
effectively renationalized much of an oil and gas sector that had been
dominated by private oligarchs, even as he has opened unprecedented
opportunities for private foreign investment.
It started in October 2003, with the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, chief
executive of oil giant OAO Yukos, on charges of fraud and tax evasion. Yukos
also was handed a bill for $28 billion in back taxes.
The move came as Khodorkovsky was trying to put together a merger with
Sibneft and the subsequent sale of a large stake in the resulting energy
giant to a Western oil major.
Instead, Sibneft wound up in Gazprom's hands. Yukos' main production
facility, Yuganskneftegaz, was sold to state-controlled oil company Rosneft,
whose board chairman is senior Putin aide Igor Sechin, for about half of
what international auditors said it was worth. (Gazprom's chairman is
Putin's chief of staff, Dmitry Medvedev.)
Russian news agency RIA Novosti estimates that 57.4% of the energy sector
is now under state control.
This, it turns out, may be what Putin had in mind all along. Martha Brill
Olcott of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington-based
nonprofit organization, last year examined a doctoral dissertation published
by Putin in the late 1990s.
In it, Putin outlined his vision of an economy built on natural resources,
in which "financial-industrial corporations" large enough to be "able to
compete on an equal basis with the West's transnational corporations" would
exploit Russia's mineral wealth. They also would provide social guarantees
and protect the international position of the Russian state.
Olcott argued that one of Putin's main concerns appeared to be that
oligarchs were siphoning profits instead of reinvesting in bigger and more
efficient production, squandering the engine of Russia's economic future.
Mixed public and private ownership, under the ultimate control of the state,
would be the optimal solution, he concluded.
"All of this is partly tied up with the Russians' view of Russia as a great
power," said Andrew Kuchins, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center. "They
clearly see that their energy assets are their key to being a great power. I
think they also understand that they need to be careful and develop these as
effectively as possible."
Speaking to reporters at an EU-Russia summit in London this month, Putin
portrayed Europe's growing energy dependence on Russia as a win-win
situation.
"I'll remind you that some European countries, members of the European
Union, cover 90% of their gas needs with Russian hydrocarbons. Ninety
percent! And no one's complained so far. Everyone is happy. Russia is a
reliable partner," Putin said.
Russia has decided for the first time to allow European partners to engage
in gas production on Russian territory, he said, and to jointly build the
infrastructure needed to bring Russian gas to market.
"Europeans will control everything from production to the final consumer,
and we will participate as well," the president said. "So the rumor of
Europe's possible loss of independence in terms of energy is hugely
exaggerated."
Gazprom on Sept. 16 announced a shortlist of potential partners in the
development of its giant, 3.2-trillion-cubic-meter Shtokman gas deposit in
the Barents Sea. They include Chevron Corp. and ConocoPhillips from the
U.S., Norway's Norsk Hydro and Statoil, and France's Total.
In exchange for its 25% stake in the Royal Dutch Shell-led Sakhalin-2
project, Gazprom is offering Shell a 50% share in the Zapolyarnoye-
Neocomian project, also in the Arctic.
The two projects not only provide foreign companies with a toehold in
Russian gas, but they also open the door to Gazprom becoming a major
supplier of liquefied natural gas, much of it bound for the U.S.
Gazprom has made it clear that its decision on partners at the Shtokman gas
deposit will depend on opportunities for Gazprom involvement in other
venues. "Naturally, we'd like to receive something in exchange, not money,
but other assets or opportunities," Gazprom's Kupriyanov said.
"Most successful companies implement precisely this sort of strategy: to be
present on several continents, at once in several markets, and not to occupy
one narrow sector, but to diversify in a way that our various areas of
activity complement one another."
The government has acted to take firm ownership of 51% of Gazprom.
Meanwhile, it is pushing through legislation allowing foreign investors full
access to the remaining 49%. Moreover, an initial placement offer of a
minority of Rosneft shares is contemplated for mid-2006, according to the
Russian Economy Ministry.
"From an economic standpoint, they're liberalizing in a quite dramatic way,
compared to any other country in the world," said William F. Browder, CEO of
Hermitage Capital Management.
"A lot of people have characterized the Sibneft deal as being some kind of
renationalization, or the government stepping into the oil sector.
But if you look at it economically, instead of Roman Abramovich owning
Sibneft, foreigners and minority shareholders are going to end up being able
to indirectly own 49% of Sibneft via that share liberalization of Gazprom,"
he said.
"It seems to me that foreigners are getting more access, rather than less,
through this combination of deals."
Yet state control means the Kremlin calls the shots, and Gazprom continues
to be available as an instrument of Russian foreign policy.
That was the case with Ukraine.
Threatening to raise gas prices to Ukraine wasn't Gazprom's only leverage.
When Ukraine countered with threats to raise the prices it charges Russia to
transport Europe-bound gas, Gazprom announced plans to build a 720-mile
pipeline to Europe straight through the Baltic Sea, bypassing Ukraine and
Poland.
For good measure, Gazprom bought up most of Ukraine's potential alternative
gas supplies in Turkmenistan and, in late September, locked up a lease on
gas transport routes Ukraine might look to via Uzbekistan.
Owning the gas company gives the Kremlin leverage over the domestic scene as
well: Gazprom-Media, a division of Gazprombank, owns television stations NTV
and TNT, plus the news radio station Echo of Moscow.
In June, the company bought a 50.19% stake in the respected daily newspaper
Izvestia, and the company announced this month that it would launch a
youth-oriented radio station that would feature news and talk shows.
"It's not like there's a person sitting at Gazprom and calling [NTV] to
tweak the news lineup, not in a literal sense. But there is a common
understanding of the situation," said Arina Borodina, a media analyst for
the Komersant newspaper. "Gazprom is concentrating some strong media
assets in its hand because after all, the next elections aren't that far
down the road."
Many speculate that Gazprom is becoming so powerful that its board
chairmanship is emerging as a likely landing spot for Putin himself, should
he keep his pledge not to run again in 2008.
"I think it's the most likely scenario for him at this time," said
Carnegie's Kuchins. "One, it puts him in a position of tremendous power and
influence . and he has shown a keen interest, clearly, in the strategic
importance of the company's energy assets and its future
development." -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Natasha Yefimova of The Times' Moscow Bureau contributed to this report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VITAL SUPPLIES
European countries rely heavily on Russia's natural gas production.
Top European importers of Russian natural gas in 2003, with the amount
(in billions of cubic feet) imported and the percentage of total domestic
consumption
Germany: 1,045.9 (39%); Italy: 756.2 (28%); Turkey: 431.1 (60%)
France: 402.8 (22%); Hungary: 364 (68%); Czech Republic: 275.6 (79%)
Slovakia: 275.6 (103%*); Poland: 258.0 (62%); Austria: 190.8 (97%)
Bulgaria: 190.8 (65%);
*Slovakia reexports some of the natural gas it imports.
Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, BP, East European Energy
Databook 2004, Commonwealth of Independent States
==============================================================
11. SHUTTING THE DOOR ON A DEAD END
EU membership for Ukraine is a fantasy doomed to failure, today as in 1990.
COMMENTARY: By Ira Straus
The Moscow Times, Moscow, Russia,
Thursday, October 13, 2005. Issue 3273. Page 8.
The reshuffled Ukrainian government is at risk of getting torn both ways
internationally. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is more anxious than
ever for validation of his Western course by an EU membership offer, but
this is nowhere in sight.
Moscow is abuzz with talk of a swing back its way: Ukrainian party leaders,
Orange as well as Blue, are competing for the pro-Russian vote and vying for
Kremlin approval; the new prime minister, Yuriy Yekhanurov, was born in
Russia and is inclined to reconcile.
As Ukraine maneuvers between these two parameters, it may revert to
lurching between West and East.
What is overlooked in the tug of war between the two sides is that Ukraine
could stabilize its orientation between Moscow and Brussels if it shifted
its hopes of joining Western international alliances upward, to the Atlantic
level, where it has a real chance of getting in.
This is because the Atlantic framework is much larger than the European
Union; potentially it could subsume Ukraine's Eurasian ties as well as its
European ties. And that is the one thing that could reconcile Ukraine's two
necessary orientations, rather than merely balance them off against each
other.
The one-sided pro-European dream is embodied in Oleh Rybachuk,
Yushchenko's chief of staff. He is reputed to have said Ukraine would join
the EU in five to seven years' time.
It is reminiscent of what I heard in Ukraine in 1990, when an economist
aligned with the independence movement told me Ukraine would join the
European Community within five years. EU membership is a fantasy doomed
to failure, today as in 1990.
One might have thought the blows of the last year would have disabused
Ukrainians of such expectations. The EU made clear repeatedly that it did
not want Ukraine, no matter that Ukraine had just had a dramatic democratic
revolution, or that polls showed Europeans overwhelmingly wanted Ukraine,
and not Turkey, as a future member.
This month, acting on old commitments, the EU began membership negotiations
with Turkey that are to last a decade and keep any further applicants out in
the cold.
Despite this, the Ukrainian leadership has continued its appeals, with a
pathos that increasingly risks looking ridiculous. As long as EU membership
is conceived as the goal of alignment with the West, the Yushchenko
administration sees no alternative.
This sets Ukraine up for another letdown by the West, similar to the one
that led a decade ago to the two-faced regime of former President Leonid
Kuchma.
If Yushchenko is wise, he will lead the democratic camp away from its EU
chimera and nudge it toward a more sustainable pro-Western policy, building
on the trans-Atlantic dimension of European civilization.
This means transferring Ukraine's primary hopes from the "Little Europe" of
the EU to the "Greater Europe" of NATO and the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development.
Getting into the OECD entails a dual goal for Ukraine -- not just joining,
but making more of the institution. Ukraine needs to achieve membership on
non-utopian terms -- that is, reforms sufficient to meet baseline OECD
standards.
Yet, Ukraine also needs to support and encourage Western efforts at
upgrading the OECD so it can supply the basic things previously hoped for
from the EU. The target should be an intermediate level of integration --
more than the OECD provides now, but less than the EU.
This would be a more realistic solution for Ukraine than EU membership,
which would require mutual integration beyond the two sides' readiness.
There has been a lot of Western think tank discussion of deepening U.S.-EU
relations into a common economic space.
If done by signing a convention open to all OECD members and candidates,
this could solve the problem for Ukraine as well as for some other
countries, such as Turkey.
Ukraine's intimate interdependence with Russia gives it two further
interests in OECD membership: getting Russia into the OECD as well on
similarly fair terms, and forming an OECD subcommittee of former Soviet
states to foster maintenance and renewal of their mutual economic links.
Only in the OECD, with its Western leadership, could this renewal of
regional links be carried out without fear of renewed Russian domination.
As a NATO aspirant, Ukraine must have a similar dual goal. Even former Prime
Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in January that Ukraine and Russia should
join NATO together and "can never be members of different, let alone
hostile, military blocs" because that would tear Ukraine apart.
Thus, Ukraine needs NATO membership on relevant, not utopian terms. This
means it needs help in meeting the terms, with waivers and considerations no
less than those enjoyed by other East European states.
Yet, Ukraine also needs the door to be kept open to Russian membership on
similarly fair terms, and, meanwhile, for Russia-NATO links to be upgraded
so the alliance is not seen as setting Ukraine against Russia.
This requires further adaptation of NATO to new, post-Cold War tasks in
which Russia is not viewed as an enemy and non-zero-sum solutions to the
base in Sevastopol, such as a joint NATO-Russia base.
This in turn entails supporting Western efforts at reforming the alliance to
manage the diversity of the new challenges, such as calls by the U.S. Senate
and Pentagon for more flexible forms of NATO decision-making than consensus.
And Ukraine will need a NATO subcommittee to sustain cooperation of its
military industry with Russia's and to foster arms trade within NATO. The
alternative is unilateral adaptation to NATO arms, which would mean further
erosion of the East European arms industry.
As for the EU, Ukrainian leaders might do well to start thinking along these
lines: They should say openly that they have put too much stock into EU
accession and that Ukraine is not going to get in. The EU is drawing a hard
line along its eastern borders.
This line cannot be softened much by any external partnership, but only by
adding a new layer of integration -- one that is big enough to include the
countries on both sides of that line. Luckily, the trans-Atlantic
institutions are big enough for this; all the post-Soviet countries could
join them without upsetting the balance.
This is not the case in the EU, where the balance is stretched to the limit.
The Economist recently showed that only creation of second-class EU
membership, with reduced voting powers, could give Ukraine a chance of
fitting in without upsetting the balance, but even this option is being
excluded as bad PR.
This leaves Ukraine no choice but to transfer its primary focus to the
trans-Atlantic level. There a Greater Europe already exists in embryo.
Ukraine needs to make more of it.
It would be good to hear something similar from Brussels. As things stand,
Ukraine's hopes are out to sea. The sooner Ukraine refocuses its aspirations
on the trans-Atlantic level, where alone they can be anchored in this era,
the safer it will be for all parties involved. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ira Straus is U.S. coordinator of the Committee on Eastern Europe and
Russia in NATO, an independent nongovernmental international association
that advances consideration of NATO expansion and transformation. He
contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.
LINK: http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2005/10/13/006.html
==============================================================
12. VICTOR'S LAURELS
Chatham House Prize is a serious honour
EDITORIAL COMMENT: Financial Times
London, United Kingdom, Monday, October 17 2005
It is not the Nobel Peace Prize, but the Chatham House Prize is a serious
honour and the selection committee is to be congratulated on choosing a
worthy winner - Victor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president.
Mr Yushchenko courageously pushed his country through a historic change
without provoking violence from the authoritarian former president Leonid
Kuchma or his intended successor, Victor Yanukovich.
Despite Russia's hostility, he advanced Ukraine on the long road of
integration with the European Union and proved freedom's frontiers do not
end on the River Bug but reach deep into the former Soviet Union.
That said, the Orange Revolution's aftermath is proving almost as difficult
as the event itself. As in the anti-communist revolts that swept central
Europe in 1989, the winners have fallen out, with Mr Yushchenko recently
dismissing Yulia Tymoshenko, his fiery ally, and replacing her with a
technocrat prime minister.
Meanwhile, Mr Yushchenko has reached an understanding with Mr Yanukovich
that could, almost incredibly, bring their supporters together in a future
coalition government.
Mr Yushchenko is in an invidious position. He split with Ms Tymoshenko over
a fundamental issue - dealing with the corrupt beneficiaries of the old
regime. Ms Tymoshenko wants a wide-ranging review of untransparent
Kuchma-era privatisations.
Mr Yushchenko believes the costs of such a policy in damaging the investment
climate outweigh the benefits. He wants to take action in a few cases and
then press ahead with economic modernisation.
Mr Yushchenko is correct. Allowing the Kuchma cronies to keep most of their
ill-gotten gains is morally repugnant. But the president must hold his nose
and invest his political capital in building the future.
Reprivatisation should be limited to a few companies such as Kryvorizhstal,
the flagship steel mill, which Kiev is reselling. The priority must be
attracting new investment.
Mr Yushchenko is hampered by the deal struck with Mr Kuchma to secure
peaceful regime change. Following next March's parliamentary elections,
much of the president's power will be transferred to the prime minister.
So instead of thinking long term, Mr Yushchenko must focus on the short-
term issues of his party's poll prospects and its possible post-election
coalition partners. It is in this context that he talked to Mr Yanukovich.
It is to be hoped that Ms Tymoshenko will now see sense. A
Yushchenko-Tymoshenko coalition remains Ukraine's best chance for a
reformist, west-oriented government.
Even if Mr Yushchenko bends with the political wind, he must not break with
the Orange Revolution's ideals. Already he has gone too far in extending
legal immunity from MPs to local assembly members.
It is not just principles that are at stake, but also Ukraine's future place
in Europe. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==============================================================
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==============================================================
13. YUSHCHENKO FORESEES ORANGE FUTURE
INTERVIEW: Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
By Bridget Kendall, BBC's Talking Point
BBC, United Kingdom, Sunday, October 16, 2005
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko believes there could be more
Orange Revolutions across the world, mirroring his party's success.
In an interview for the BBC, he says his country has "set a good example
for the millions of people who still cherish freedom and democracy".
He talks of the effects of his party's rise to power nearly a year ago.
He also says an inquiry is closing in on the likely cause and perpetrators
of the poisoning attempt on his life.
'WONDERFUL EXAMPLE'
Speaking to BBC's Talking Point, he said new information has been gained
on the type of poison used and its properties.
"There are more than 10 possible scenarios which the investigators are
looking at," he told interviewer Bridget Kendall. "I am sure this crime will
be solved," he said, adding that those behind the poison attack were
probably Ukrainians.
He said the Orange Revolution brought new "freedom and democracy" to
the Ukraine, but also put the country on the world map.
"It is pleasing that Ukraine is now known all over the world. We have given
the world a wonderful example of human behaviour," he said.
"And I'm sure what happened last year is something people are proud of in
Western Europe and the United States too, because it shows our common
humanity, regardless of where we live."
He talks about how the revolution was funded by "millions of people" some
who turned up at the party's headquarters with envelopes "stuffed with
cash".
MURDERED JOURNALIST
The Ukrainian president was responding to questions submitted by BBC
listeners and website users. Many questioned Mr Yushchenko on the months
that have followed his party's election success, with some condemning the
revolution as "total farce" and "failure" due to its inability to make
economic reforms.
The sacking of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her entire
government, replaced by Yuri Yekhanurov, was cited as causing upset to
Ukrainians.
Mr Yushchenko said the previous government was "failing as a team" and
said he was forced to take action when the country's economy stopped
growing.
Mr Yushchenko explained his decision to appoint a new prime minister.
Now, he claimed, his government had corrected the downward trend: "So I
hope by the end of the year the growth rate will reach 4.5 to 5%, which
would be among the best in Europe. And we are improving our relations
with investors."
He added that talking with the opposition was crucial to creating a united
Ukraine.
The president was questioned on the investigations into the murder of
journalist Georgy Gongadze who was kidnapped five years ago.
Asked whether former President Kuchma would have immunity if the trail led
to his involvement, Mr Yushchenko said: "No he won't. Everyone is equal
before the law. There is absolutely no doubt about it."
On business at home, Mr Yushchenko pledged that efforts were taking place
to tackle the country's long history of corruption, setting new rules for a
"transparent and competitive market".
He hoped the Ukraine would be in place to join the World Trade Organisation
by the end of the year and it was his aim that the country could also become
a member of the European Union in three years time.
'GOOD DIALOGUE'
On how this would effect relations, with its neighbour Russia and President
Putin, he said: "Our strategy is aimed towards Europe, but it doesn't mean
we are acting or scheming against Russia or anyone else.
"We are simply following our own national interest. And this is what I stand
for as President."
Asked if he would be supporting the bid for democracy in Belarus, the
president said: "There are very complex processes at play both inside
Belarus and in the political discussions surrounding it.
"I am sure that supporting democratic forces in Belarus can only work if you
talk to people. So I think there should be a dialogue and we should be
giving Belarus a chance to change. And this is what lies behind our
approach."
Questioned on whether Russia could experience its own Orange Revolution,
he said: "I'm sure that the Orange Revolution set an example for the
millions of people who still cherish freedom and democracy, whether they
live in Russia, Belarus or anywhere else.
"We set a good example and I can only applaud those who want to change
their country for the better." -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4345676.stm
==============================================================
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==============================================================
14. FULL TEXT: FINANCIAL TIMES INTERVIEW WITH UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT
INTERVIEW: With Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
Financial Times, London, United Kingdom, Friday, October 14, 2005
QUESTION: It's now nearly a year since the Orange Revolution began. What
do you count as your greatest successes, and what are the disappointments?
This is a different country. Some of the blessings that the West has had
traditionally we have obtained basically in the last 12 months.
We can now speak of independent media. There are many problems, a lot of
things still to be done, but on the whole the process of liberalisation of
the media market is going very well.
There is no more repression of the opposition. Everybody can work without
hassles, including for the state, regardless of their political convictions.
You won't find any sign of parliament being pressured or manipulated by the
presidential administration. Parliament is starting to learn democratic
culture. Again we're very far from our goal, and various efforts are being
made to thwart the process, but parliament has started to move in the right
direction.
We radically changed the situation in the social sphere. Ukraine doesn't
have problems supporting its pensioners any more. The minimum pension has
been raised to the level of the minimum living standard. Wages of teachers,
doctors and other public employees were increased by 57 per cent. Spending
on social programs, such as support to mothers and disabled, was increased
by 73 per cent.
The tabular content relating to this article is not available to view.
Apologies in advance for the inconvenience caused.As for disappointments, I
would mention relations between business and the authorities. They haven't
been optimal. The government made mistakes which led to misunderstandings.
I'm referring firstly to the closure of free trade zones and priority
development areas. And the approach to re-privatisation was not optimal. The
desire arose to review previous privatisations, and then several thousands
of them.
All attempts to correct that position under the previous government failed.
And that led to a decrease in investment and slowing of gross domestic
product growth, from about 6.5 per cent in January to negative 1.6 per cent
in August.
There were problems with the trade balance. From the economic standpoint,
that was the main reason for the government's dismissal.
QUESTION: So you wasted a big opportunity in the early part of this year?
Yes, I think the wrong signals were sent and the government chose populist
policies which interfered with the operation of the market and prevented
domestic and international business from realising its intentions.
QUESTION: Why will things be better with the new government?
Above all, it has very apolitical foundations. We have separated the
government from various kinds of PR and efforts to beautify the situation.
The decisions of the government will be public and transparent, in order to
avoid such situations as we had with the Nikopol Ferroalloy plant.
This government won't put any pressure on the courts. It has already given
new signals to business, such as its peaceable approach to the problems that
arose in privatisation. Of course the government will retain its right to
resort to court procedures.
But the fundamentals of Ukrainian policy from now on will be respect towards
property rights. This is a united team, which got rid of many of the
contradictions that were characteristic of the previous government.
QUESTION: So do you expect Kryvorizhstal to be the first and last company to
be taken from its owners?
No, certainly it was the first but it won't be the last. I know that gross
violations were made in the privatisation of some other objects.
I'm convinced we need to take the road of mutual understanding with
business, but we also need to give the same respect to the government's
ownership rights as to those of private business.
QUESTION: Will you go ahead with the auction of Kryvorizhstal?
Yes.
QUESTION : You have no doubts?
No.
QUESTION: Does it make any difference whether a foreign investor buys it?
No. Now there are about twelve candidates. Some are trying to agree on
dumping [i.e. deeply discounted] prices. But the sale will be honest. We
won't permit any falsifying by any side. We really want to hold a showcase
tender, to convince business and Ukrainian citizens of the nation's
potential.
QUESTION: How do see your future political relationship with your former
prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko? Is she now an opponent, or a partner?
A partner would be better. That's not merely out of a desire to please a
certain person, but out of a desire not to traumatise millions of people.
I know all the roads Tymoshenko has travelled.
And along the way I never took anything away from her, I only gave more to
her. And I did so when everyone else had given up on her.
But on the other hand, any kind of politics that forsakes teamwork has no
prospects. I'm allergic to intrigue. That's why I will never welcome into my
circle people who engage in back-stage politics.
QUESTION: Is she the populist you mentioned?
I didn't want next year's budget to repeat the things we did in this year's
budget, which can be done only once every several years. That would be real
populism.
As the governing authorities we have to answer for all our promises. So when
promises were being made one after another, which clearly couldn't be
supported by the budget, it cheapened our politics.
Whether it was decreasing the price of medicines by 40 per cent, or mass
relocating people from Khrushchev-era housing blocks, or setting growth
targets for social indicators at such a pace that it would create a
completely consumption-based economy.
The past eight months have shown how too much of those kinds of policies
directly influences economic growth, and not only GDP, but also investment,
profits and fiscal performance.
QUESTION: Do you intend to make a pre-election agreement with Tymoshenko,
and run in these elections jointly?
No, I'm the president, I'm not running in these elections. But definitely I
will advise my friends to consolidate with other political forces as much as
possible.
QUESTION: So you will advise your friends to make a pact with Tymoshenko?
Yes, a coalition would be better. But there would first have to be an honest
appraisal of what has happened, a demonstration of wisdom and cooling of
emotions.
QUESTION: Not long ago you signed a joint agreement with your opponent in
last year's elections, Viktor Yanukovich. Some of your supporters see this
move as talks with the enemy. How should the agreement be understood?
I spoke not with Yanukovich, but with 13 million people [who voted for him
in last year's elections], who represent principally eastern Ukraine.
My basis was the main slogan that everyone carried on Independence Square
during the Orange Revolution: "East and West together."
I think I and every citizen of Ukraine is denigrated when Ukraine is
divided, when in violation of the constitution someone can speak of
separatism, of an eastern Ukrainian republic. We all need to understand the
precipice Ukraine was standing on.
So my idea was that the leaders of the factions in parliament should sign a
joint declaration for the sake of the future, and reach a mutual
understanding on five to seven key issues.
That is, holding honest elections in March of next year, adopting a budget,
not allowing political repression or persecution, European integration and
joining the World Trade Organisation, and adopting laws [defining the status
of] the president, opposition and government.
And regarding the people who were drawn into falsifying last year's
presidential elections, I proposed to formulate a more or less balanced
policy, to reach a mutual understanding on the issues that can be closed.
We want to move, so shall we slap the cart or the horse?
Shall we imprison people for organising the server [which allegedly gave
unauthorised people real-time access to nationwide voting results data
during the presidential elections], for organising multiple voting at many
polling stations, for the beating of demonstrators outside the Central
Election Commission, which was organised by particular high-ranking
officials?
Or shall we persecute thousands of doctors and teachers [i.e. ordinary
people] who took part in vote fraud?
It wasn't a joint memorandum about the March elections. It was about how to
resolve the key challenges that the political elite faces today, independent
of whether they are from the authorities or the opposition.
That's why it was called the memorandum between the authorities and the
opposition. No one became less, no one became more. Everybody won.
Are you still interested in prosecuting the people involved in your
poisoning, and the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze?
Of course. These are cases that have resonance.
QUESTION: Is it at all possible that your Our Ukraine party could go into a
coalition with Yanukovich's Regions party after the elections?
Most likely, in order to form a majority coalition in the next parliament,
there should be no less than three political forces involved.
I expect that the favourite in the elections will be Our Ukraine, Regions
will be in second place, third place could be shared by parliament speaker
Volodymyr Lytvyn's bloc and Tymoshenko's bloc, and another four or five
groups will get fewer seats. So the coalition will form around three or four
forces.
It would be an extraordinarily great service to Ukraine if the configuration
of parliament represented the country's political divisions. Believe me, as
president and as a citizen of Ukraine, it pains me when in every second
interview a question is raised about the unity of the country.
Such alarms don't fit with the spirit of the third millennium. Ukrainian
politics ought to give that attention.
Europe has shown us what can be achieved with solidarity, tolerance and
mutual understanding, in the building of the common European home and in
the resolutions of particular crises.
I think that the wise authorities are those who replace conflict with the
rivalry of political programs. That's the kind of elections I would like to
see in Ukraine: without the interference of the administration, without the
use of budget funds in support of any party's campaign.
QUESTION: Will you be ready to join the World Trade Organisation this year?
I think we're moving at a good pace to be able to join the WTO in December.
We have already completed more than 40 bilateral agreements on mutual trade
access with current WTO members from Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Negotiations are still to be finished, rather difficult and definitely
important ones, with Australia and the US.
QUESTION: Are you disappointed that the EU has not been more active in
welcoming Ukraine's hopes of future membership?
You know, I am disappointed, because sociological research carried out in EU
countries underlined that not one European nation is against seeing Ukraine
in the EU. In other words, on the level of the public, we have tens of
millions of partners.
We have a correct and understanding attitude towards developments in the EU.
There's no tragedy. There's no crisis. We are thinking over where we are.
We have a three-year action plan. I'm convinced that in three months time we
will add another significant component to that plan: negotiations on forming
a free trade zone between Ukraine and the EU, which will be carried out in
2006 or perhaps into 2007.
I'm convinced that we will get WTO membership and designation by the EU of
market economy status. I'm pleased that the EU is already working on easing
its visa regime for Ukrainians.
We have signed a road map with the EU, where we set out a good plan
including energy projects, regulation of the conflict in Transdnistria, and
building up Ukraine's borders. I would say that more has been done in EU
relations in the past seven to eight months than in the past 10 years.
QUESTION: What about relations with Russia? Russia wants to improve the
terms of gas supplies from its point of view. Do you see this as a purely
economic move by Russia or political?
It seems to me that in our world, oil and gas are politics. We understand
how important these things are for Ukraine's prospects, and that's why we
want to qualitatively improve the level and status of our relations with
Russia.
We need to build more rational relations, more public and transparent, which
would be easy to comment on to all our citizens. We should respect each
other's interests and that should be underlined, because we are eternal
neighbours.
We need to try not to make even any grounds for mutual unpleasantness.
That's why I'm always underlining to my colleagues that we should respect
Russian interests and the Russian state.
We had a wave of democratic changes in the former Soviet Union: in Georgia,
in Ukraine, and something changed also in Kyrgyzstan.
QUESTION: Do you think this wave is now finished or do you think the wave
can reach other countries?
It seems to me the events of recent years were a good example to millions of
people, which demonstrated the advantages of democracy, freedom and rule of
law.
I think those things are the very best education in how to change the old
state structures and systems of governance. I'm convinced they are crucial
and that they determine the social and economic development of any country.
I'm convinced there is a direct correlation between economic development,
social and humanitarian standards and the status of freedom of speech and
democracy.
QUESTION: And this lesson will reach some of the other former Soviet
republics?
Definitely. In different forms, I think, but it will reach them.
QUESTION: So who is next?
It will reach not only those countries. I'm convinced that during the Orange
Revolution, democratic humanity celebrated, independent of whether one was
in Warsaw, Moscow, Brussels or New York.
It was a celebration of human progress. I'm convinced that the world changed
after the Orange Revolution, not only the former Soviet Union. You know,
people have gulped that fresh air.
QUESTION: You promised during the Orange Revolution to fight corruption, but
there have recently been corruption cases involving your government. Not one
case of corruption has been opened against a member of the government. And
the investigative commission of the prosecutor general, the SBU security
service and the interior ministry [formed last month to investigate
allegations of corruption within the presidential administration brought by
Mr Yushchenko's former chief of staff] didn't find any evidence of criminal
behaviour by any administration officials.
But! We took on a country where corruption had been developing for 10 years.
We wanted to change the regime in many ways, one of which was to overcome
corruption.
Already we have changed thousands of executive officials. We want to change
the face of the authorities. We have hired moral people, that is our rule.
We supported freedom of speech and got rid of pressure on the media. Today
the journalist is perhaps one of the more important fighters against
corruption. I mean the honest, unbiased journalist.
We are radically reviewing the functions of the authorities, taking away the
motives for corruption. By the end of November we plan to have annulled more
than four-and-a-half thousand regulations.
These concern the registration and activities of business. We established a
single window for clearing customs, a single window for registering
businesses, which replaced tens of structures.
We are changing the system for allocating construction sites. Now an
investor goes to a tender, makes a bid, and if he wins, he pays the money.
Before, there were 34 different structures and 34 levels of decisions to be
made. That meant 34 levels of corruption.
We have changed the attitude of judges and prosecutors. Every month,
criminal cases are opened against some prosecutors and judges.
That hadn't happened for 14 years. Not one prosecutor had to answer for
inaction or violation of the law. I appointed as justice minister a man who
is devoted to human rights and rule of law: Serhy Holovaty, whose views are
well known in Europe.
This is an integrated approach to the battle against corruption. Because
there is no one key which you can just turn and then say, there's no
corruption. Corruption is a way of life that was imposed on us for the past
ten years. It wasn't just 22 cabinet members, but thousands of people.
QUESTION: Why did you give immunity from prosecution to members of
local councils?
Before that, we had immunity for members of parliament. Our position is
that, in the current situation, immunity doesn't correspond with public
expectations and we set the goal of cancelling it.
But the debate turned out to be difficult, and parliament decided on the
contrary to extend immunity to members of local councils.
My colleagues decided that the most effective response would be to appeal
to the Constitutional Court to cancel immunity, and there's no doubt that we
will win. I have no doubts. And that will be a good example of how to solve
a whole mass of problems.
Signing the bill giving immunity to local deputies was a shortcut, in order
to avoid a lot of wasteful fuss and trouble in parliament over how to
overcome my veto. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
==============================================================
15. LEFTISTS, NATIONALISTS SCUFFLE IN UKRAINE OVER WW2
By Ron Popeski, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, 15 Oct 2005
KIEV - Nationalists and leftists, still divided over the role of a Ukrainian
guerrilla movement in World War Two, skirmished in the centre of Kiev on
Saturday, with police in hot pursuit to keep them apart.
Both sides had wanted to mass in Independence Square, site of last year's
"Orange Revolution" protests, to mark the 63rd anniversary of the founding
of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought both Nazi invaders and
Soviet troops.
As a few thousand communists and other leftists marched down Kiev's main
street, fistfights broke out with demonstrators from the nationalist
UNA-UNSO group sporting black and red armbands.
Eggs, milk cartons and other projectiles were hurled, but no one was
seriously hurt. Riot police confronted protesters from both sides and ringed
the area to prevent new clashes.
Unhealed wounds over wartime activity reflect current divisions between
nationalist western Ukraine, more prone to look to the west for inspiration,
and the Russian-speaking east, more sympathetic to Moscow.
Leftists denounce any notion of "rehabilitation" or official recognition for
the UPA, which numbered 100,000 in western Ukraine at its peak in 1943
during German occupation.
Nationalists want authorities to grant UPA veterans status as war
combatants. UPA veterans, their ranks thinning each year, had been due to
parade on Saturday, but the event was cancelled because of fears of violence
and only a handful turned up.
Rival groups of roughly equal size, many of them elderly protesters, shouted
slogans at each other across police lines in the square, where President
Viktor Yushchenko addressed vast crowds in last year's election campaign.
"Yushchenko wants to rehabilitate the traitors. He's afraid to say so out
loud," Natalya Vitrenko of the leftist Progressive Socialist Party told
supporters from the back of a truck.
Nationalists in western Ukraine, who had suffered repression when the Soviet
Union seized their region from Poland in 1939, joined the UPA en masse in a
bid to secure an independent state.
Tens of thousands of other Ukrainians donned Nazi uniforms and fought the
Red Army in a unit known as the SS Galicia.
Soviet Ukraine suffered huge losses in what Russians and many Ukrainians
still refer to as the Great Patriotic War. Estimates of dead are put at
eight million or more.
Post-Soviet Ukrainian governments have failed to persuade Red Army and
UPA veterans to stage joint commemorations. -30--
==============================================================
16. OSCE IN UKRAINE TRAINS CONSULAR OFFICIALS ON
ANTI-HUMAN TRAFFICKING
OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, October 13, 2005
KYIV - More than 80 representatives of foreign embassies and consulates,
Ukrainian ministries, non-governmental organizations (NGO) and other
international organizations gathered today in Kyiv for a two-day
anti-trafficking course.
The training course, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
(PCU) in co-operation with the Canadian Embassy and the NGO La
Strada-Ukraine as part of a comprehensive national anti-trafficking
programme, will focus on victim identification, best practices, and current
trafficking and anti-trafficking trends in Ukraine.
Other discussion topics will include the services available to victims
returning to Ukraine and awareness-raising materials in foreign diplomatic
missions.
"The fight against trafficking in human beings is a top priority for the
OSCE. Trafficking is a complex problem, and preventing and combating it
requires complex responses which cut across all three dimensions of OSCE
work. The Office of the Co-ordinator stands ready to provide all appropriate
support to Ukraine's anti-trafficking efforts," said Ambassador James
Schumaker, OSCE Project Co-ordinator.
This is the third in a series of training sessions on trafficking in persons
hosted by the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv for consular and visa staff of
foreign diplomatic missions.
Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine, Abina Dann said it was, "vital at this
critical period in Ukraine's history to prevent the trafficking of
vulnerable members of society.
"Canada applauds Ukraine's efforts to counter human trafficking, and
welcomes its commitment to developing a four-year plan for prevention and
victim rehabilitation. We are pleased to join with other foreign missions,
international agencies and non-governmental organizations in working with
Ukraine to curb this tragic phenomenon," she added. -30-
==============================================================
17. UKRAINE'S MEDIA TOILS TO BECOME 4TH ESTATE
Ukraine's media has become freer since Yushchenko took power
By Khrystyna Nikolaychuk (ncy)
Deutsche-Welle, Bonn, Germany, Sat, Oct 15, 2005
Though improved, more progress is needed in Ukraine before the media
can be considered truly free and fair.
Ukraine's media is still in the process of transformation nearly a year
after the "Orange Revolution" put an end to former President Leonid
Kuchma's tenure. But political change has had an immense impact on
Ukraine's journalists, according to the head of the non-governmental
Ukrainian Press Academy, Valeriy Ivanov.
"Only after the peaceful revolution did Ukrainian journalists begin to apply
the universally recognized fundamentals of democratic mass media," Ivanov
said. "During the terms of our ex-presidents Kuchma and Kravchuk, Ukrainian
journalists only put forward one point of view. And they never named their
sources because these sources were usually so-called temniki -- secret
orders from the presidential administration."
The era of temniki has indeed come to an end. Today Ukrainian journalists
work more independently and strive towards a balanced coverage of events.
The change was exemplified by the media's reaction to the recent resignation
of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's government. National broadcasters
presented the views of Tymoshenko's supporters along with those of her
opponents, Ivanov said.
"Back in the days of President Leonid Kuchma you could not even imagine
that a disgraced politician would be given time to present his views on one
of the most popular stations. But this was the case when Yulia Tymoshenko
resigned. Even her political opponents' stations tried to cover the events
in a balanced way."
POLITICIANS IGNORE MEDIA
Despite these clear signs of progress problems remain. Experts say, for
example, that the government still does not deal with the media
appropriately.
"The press can write absolutely anything they want, while the government
attempts to ignore obvious facts," criticized Serhyi Taran, director of the
Institute of Mass Information. "The politicians don't respond to criticism
from the media. That's why we cannot yet claim that the media really
represents a fourth estate in Ukraine."
Another problem is that a powerful few have been trying to divide the media
market among themselves. Two families that formerly supported the Kuchma
regime own most of the country's big private media organizations. At the
same time, redistribution of the television market is a very delicate issue.
"President Yushchenko recently met with influential international media
mogul Rupert Murdoch to discuss acquiring a Ukrainian broadcaster,
apparently a private one," Taran said. "Media experts were all astonished
that the president involves himself in the potential takeover of a private
broadcaster."
According to many experts, transforming Channel 1, the most important
state-controlled broadcaster, into a public TV station would be the right
step towards a more balanced media. But Yushchenko claims that it's still
too early to do so.
Critics believe he's afraid of forfeiting influence on the channel, which is
received by 98 percent of the country, before the next presidential
elections, which are scheduled to take place next year. -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,5830,1738101,00.html
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18. AGRICULTURE FUNDING BEING MISUSED, WASTED, AND STOLEN
By Oksana Bondarchuk, FirsTnews, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, October 16, 2005
Ukrainian agricultural officials know - or should have learned - that budget
funds spent on agriculture have to be very carefully targeted and managed or
they may wind up doing more harm than good.
The comments of Ukrainian agricultural experts suggest that Ukraine's farm
subsidies, although infinitely smaller, are just as badly managed as those
of the notorious EU Common Agricultural Policy.
KYIV, Oct. 15 (FirsTnews) -- The amount of money allocated from the budget
for the agricultural sector in Ukraine has increased each year. The sum for
2005 was nearly 50 percent more than in 2004. Next year the proposed budget
includes UAH 5.7 billion more for agricultural needs, a year-on-year
increase of 17 per cent.
"If we compare 2002 and the budget for 2006, we will see that the main
expenses [for agriculture] have increased by 6 times. However, the financial
condition of agricultural enterprises hasn't changed.
There are no changes in competitiveness of our agriculture, and most
importantly, investment attractiveness hasn't changed either," the president
of the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation (UAC) and counselor to President
Viktor Yushchenko, Leonid Kozachenko, told journalists two weeks ago.
Thus, the increase in financing has not led to an improvement in the general
state of the sector. The reason for this is in the ineffective use of state
finances, which Ukrainian agriculture insiders now cite as a bigger problem
than lack of money.
"Today the committee is talking about the ineffective use of nearly UAH 5
billion that is directed to agriculture, about money being stolen," the head
of the agricultural committee of the parliament Ivan Tomych said at the
press conference on October 11. "If we just add more money, we will never
have an effective agricultural policy," he said.
The best way to use the money is a difficult question, according to
Kozachenko. The main problem with state subsidies is the fact that they are
non-transparent and state intervention in agriculture becomes too
restrictive, he said referring to the many rules and conditions that hamper
farmers' access to funds.
He said the state controls funding more and more. Though prices for produce
are established in good faith, money is given out at the discretion of
certain officials who may not always be acting in fairness, he explained.
"Subsidies will always be manual and they will always be given out to
someone's relative," Yuriy Alatortsev, the chief executive officer of the
company D'Artur TransConsult LLC, told FirsTnews.
As a result, a large amount of the money is going to people who "can't even
make a business plan." That is not an effective use of funds, Alatortsev
said.
Only a small number of farmers receive subsidies, Kozachenko and Tomych
said. According to them, about 90 per cent of farmers did not get any money
for agricultural development.
"For example, we have a program, Fundamental Soils Improvement. UAH
10 million is allotted for it because we have 5 million ha of degraded
soils," Tomych explained
He said it is impossible to use this allotment for improving all degraded
soils because UAH 2 for one hectare is unrealistically low.
"Who will get this money? How will it be divided?" he asked.
Experts agree that absence of information is an obstacle for agriculture
development. Generally, farmers are not aware of the options and funds
available to them. "We don't need 40 [agricultural] programs.farmers don't
know them at all," he emphasized.
"It is important for a farmer to know a program and the goals for which
money is given. There also needs to be some control over [the distribution
of] this money," Alatortsev said.
He emphasized that money should be distributed on the basis of fair tenders
and not left to individuals acting on their own. Only in such a way will
subsidies work successfully and there will be no questions about fair
distribution of funds.
Kozachenko pointed out that there are some programs in Ukraine that are
no longer in effect, yet they still receive allocations from the budget.
Grain of Ukraine, started in 2002, is one such program, said Kozachenko.
"Money for these programs is allotted either by ministry officials or
representatives of local power. And it is not always effective and just," he
said.
Tomych is convinced that the situation can be corrected if the state
provides a transparent financial policy. Farmers from any part of the
country need to have information about what programs are available to them.
Alatortsev thinks that the state should have one unified program that exists
over the long-term. "Money should be allotted only according to one well
thought-out multi-year program," he said. -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://firstnews.com.ua/en/article.html?id=112234
==============================================================
19. US FUNDING BOOSTS EX-SOVIET SCIENTISTS INCLUDING UKRAINE
Security concerns spur local projects
By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff, Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, Friday, October 14, 2005
WASHINGTON -- The US government is providing millions of dollars in grants
to Boston-area universities, medical centers, and high-tech companies to
help employ idle scientists in the former Soviet Union, including weapons
specialists who might otherwise be enticed to sell their deadly expertise
on the black market.
Dozens of scientists and state laboratories who have fallen on hard times
since the collapse of the communist government are collaborating with
researchers at universities including Harvard, Tufts, and MIT, as well as
New England Medical Center and other area hospitals and technology
companies, according to government documents.
The 36 projects underway in Massachusetts and in some former Soviet-bloc
countries include efforts to develop new types of prosthetic limbs, survey
the ecological damage to the Caspian and Black seas, and prevent the
spread of HIV/AIDS in Uzbekistan, according to data compiled by the Globe.
But behind those pursuits is a far more serious fear that -- without the
grants -- the scientists might be tempted by bribes or coerced by
terrorists, according to national security analysts.
In the first poll of its kind, a recent US Department of Energy survey of
more than 600 Russian physicists, chemists, and biologists found that about
20 percent say they would consider working for terrorist groups or
so-called rogue states accused of sponsoring terrorism if they became
desperate enough for work.
Since the mid- to late 1990s, the US government has granted more than
14,000 former Soviet scientists direct payments -- sometimes called
''welfare science" -- simply to keep them from working for countries that
support terrorism. But a more recent grant program is offering scientists
meaningful work with some of the top American research institutions in
hopes that they can bring some of their ideas to the commercial market,
security analysts say.
''I think it is very beneficial because it allows them to grow and is a way
for us to see some of their ideas," said Daniel Serfaty, the president and
founder of Aptima Inc., in Woburn. Aptima has been collaborating with
former weapons scientists at a company called Computer Sciences in Kiev,
Ukraine, through a $200,000 Civilian Research and Development Foundation
grant and $50,000 of the company's own money.
Aptima is working with the Ukrainians to develop business software, but
other collaborations range from enhancing national security to protecting
the environment.
For example, Harvard researchers are working with the Institute of
Biophysics in Siberia to identify ways to rapidly detect chemical or
biological weapons. Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution have teamed up with the Marine Hydrophysical Institute in
Ukraine to study the ecosystem of the Black Sea.
The CRDF, which is funded by a combination of federal tax dollars, private
donations, and contracts, is located in a nondescript office tower in
Arlington, Va. The foundation was established by the US Congress and gets
its federal funding through the National Science Foundation. It has an
annual budget of roughly $21 million.
The CRDF hopes to fill a critical gap for the remains of the massive Soviet
military and civilian research complex. Salaries for government scientists
have plummeted in the former Soviet Union, where research funding has
dropped by up to 75 percent since the end of the Cold War. Supporters of
the program tell the story of a Ukrainian weapons scientist who had been
reduced to harvesting potatoes to feed his family.
Meanwhile, terrorist groups like Al Qaeda and states with links to
terrorism, such as Iran, are willing to pay top dollar for the scientific
expertise that could produce a weapon of mass destruction. It's unclear
exactly how effective the program has been in keeping scientists away from
such employers; no data exists on the subject. But given the destitute
state of the former Soviet Union's scientific community, and the potential
benefits of joint projects, some US researchers say the CRDF grants are
money well spent.
''The entire Russian budget for science is less than the entire budget for
some US institutions from the National Institutes of Health," said Dr.
Gerald R. Pier, a researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston
who recently received a $64,000 grant with the Zelinskii Institute of
Organic Chemistry in Moscow to study potential vaccines for bacterial
infections. Most of the money will go to the Moscow institute, he said,
because ''they need it more than I do."
In Uzbekistan, where rampant intravenous drug use has dramatically
increased the spread of HIV/AIDS, the government has little infrastructure
to deal with public health problems. That's where Donald S. Shepard, a
health economics professor at Brandeis University, hopes to help.
With a grant from CRDF, he recently hosted a workshop for Uzbek officials
in Boston and joined with Azizbek Boltaev, a physician at the Bukhara
Regional Addiction Clinic, to design a research study that would provide
addicts with craving-reduction medication and create a needle exchange
program.
The team is now awaiting word on their application to CRDF for a $100,000
grant. ''Almost all would go to the Uzbek colleagues," Shepard said.
Some of the grants have rescued former Soviet research facilities set to
close. Working with Tufts University and the New England Sinai Hospital and
Rehabilitation Center in Stoughton, the Albrecht Center for Occupational
Expertise, Prosthetics, and Rehabilitation in St. Petersburg developed new
prosthetics that more closely mimic the anatomy of human joints and feet.
''We were able to keep running our biomechanics laboratory, preserving our
highly qualified staff, and expanding our equipment inventory," Dr.
Konstantin Scherbina, the deputy director, said in an interview via e-mail
from St. Petersburg. On Jan. 1, the laboratory will become the Department
of Biomechanics, ''the only such scientific unit in Russia," he said.
Not all CRDF projects have borne fruit. The Aptima-Computer Sciences
business software hasn't hit the market yet, despite several years of
collaboration. ''Until we resolve some issues of intellectual property, we
have decided to put a hold on some additional investment," said Serfaty.
But there is little choice but to expand and improve the collaboration,
according to Deborah Yarsike Ball, a national security analyst at the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and a co-author of
the recent energy department survey of Russian scientists.
''Science in Russia is still very much in a state of flux," she said in an
interview. ''And Russia is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.
Everything is a payoff. That's not conducive to the kind of culture we want
that feels strongly about keeping their knowledge. The problem is not going
to go away any time soon." -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring]
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NOTE: The new book, " Day and Eternity of James Mace"
published by The Day in Kyiv, in English or in Ukrainian, is available
from the www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service. If you are
interesting in finding out how to order the new book please send an
e-mail to ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net. EDITOR
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA) will be assisting
in the famine/holodomor/genocide commemorations in Kyiv during
November of this year. The Federation needs to raise several thousand
dollars for expenses related to the Holodomor Exhibition to be held in
the Ukrainian House. Donations can be made out to the Ukrainian
Federation of America and sent to the Federation at 930 Henrietta
Avenue, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006. Please designate your donation
for the Dr. James Mace Memorial Holodomor Fund. EDITOR
==============================================================
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Oilseed Crushing Plant, Ilvichevsk, Ukraine
4. Law firm UKRAINIAN LEGAL GROUP, Irina Paliashvili, President;
Kiev and Washington, general@rulg.com, www.rulg.com.
5. BAHRIANY FOUNDATION, INC., Dr. Anatol Lysyj, Chairman,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
6. VOLIA SOFTWARE, Software to Fit Your Business, Source your
IT work in Ukraine. Contact: Yuriy Sivitsky, Vice President, Marketing,
Kyiv, Ukraine, yuriy.sivitsky@softline.kiev.ua; Volia Software website:
http://www.volia-software.com/ or Bill Hunter, CEO Volia Software,
Houston, TX 77024; bill.hunter@volia-software.com.
7. ODUM- Association of American Youth of Ukrainian Descent,
Minnesota Chapter, Natalia Yarr, Chairperson
8. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA), Zenia Chernyk,
Chairperson; Vera M. Andryczyk, President; Huntingdon Valley,
Pennsylvania
9. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Washington, D.C.,
Dr. Susanne Lotarski, President/CEO; E. Morgan Williams,
SigmaBleyzer, Chairman, Executive Committee, Board of Directors;
John Stephens, Cape Point Capital, Secretary/Treasurer
10. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL (UACC),
Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, New York
11. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President; John Kun, Vice President/COO; Vera
Andruskiw, CPP Wash Project Director, Washington, D.C.; Markian
Bilynskyj, VP/Director of Field Operations; Marta Kolomayets, CPP
Kyiv Project Director, Kyiv, Ukraine. Web: http://www.USUkraine.org
12. WJ Grain, Kyiv, Ukraine, David Holpert, Chief Financial Officer,
Chicago, Illinois.
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Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs
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mwilliams@SigmaBleyzer.com; www.SigmaBleyzer.com
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Director, Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA)
Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC)
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Chairman, Executive Committee, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council
Publisher, Ukraine Information Website, www.ArtUkraine.com
Member, International Ukrainian Holodomor Committee
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Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
Monopolistic Structures in Society Love Power and Breed Corruption
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