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

"The nationalists whom he [Mr. Putin] has just helped to elect will demand
that he step up his effort to reassert Moscow's dominion over neighboring
states such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, using both economic and
military levers." [article one]

"UKRAINE REPORT 2003," Number 111
U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF)
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine, morganw@patriot.net
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2003

INDEX OF ARTICLES:

1. MR. PUTIN'S PARLIAMENT
EDITORIAL, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Dec 9, 2003

2. RUSSIA AMBASSADOR CHERNOMYRDIN SAYS DUMA
ELECTIONS WILL AID RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 7 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 07, 2003

3. RUSSIAN ANALYST LIKENS US, NATO POLICY IN EASTERN
EUROPE AND ASIA TO NAZI EXPANSIONISM IN THE 1930's.
NATO'S 2004 Istanbul Summit is being called the "Kiev" Summit
Kommersant, Moscow, in Russian, 5 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 07, 2003

4.UKRAINE REITERATES SUPPORT FOR NATO ENLARGEMENT
Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English, 5 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 05, 2003

5. OWNER OF UKRAINIAN ENERGY ASSETS ALEKSANDR
BABAKOV ENTERS RUSSIAN DUMA, WEB SITE SAYS
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian 8 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 08, 2003

6. UKRAINE DECIDES TO DIG NEW CHANNEL IN KERCH STRAIT
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 8 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 08, 2003

7. DNIPROPETROVSK TO COMMEMORATE HOLODOMOR VICTIMS
By Vadym Ryzhkov, The Day, The Day WEEKLY DIGEST.
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, December 9, 2003

8. UKRAINE WILL GET 60 MILLION IN FINANCING FROM THE
WORLD BANK TO FIGHT TUBERCULOSIS AND AIDS
The Day WEEKLY DIGEST of Ukrainian News In English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, December 9, 2003

9. NEW BRIDGE BUILT IN WESTERN UKRAINE
A 365-METRE BRIDGE OVER THE PRUT RIVER IN CHERNIVTSI
UT1, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 6 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 06, 2003

10. WHY IS THE OPPOSITION WEAK IN UKRAINE?
By Taras Kuzio, Resident Fellow at the Center for Russian and
East European Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report, 9 Dec 2003
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, Czech Republic

11. NEW SUNFLOWER OIL CRUSHING PLANT NEAR NIKOLAEV
AgriMarket.Info, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Dec 4, 2003

12. UKRAINE SAYS CHEVRONTEXACO TO FILL KEY OIL PIPELINE
Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, December 5, 2003
=====================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
=====================================================
1. MR. PUTIN'S PARLIAMENT
"The nationalists whom he has just helped to elect will demand that he
step up his effort to reassert Moscow's dominion over neighboring states
such
as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine, using both economic and military levers."

EDITORIAL
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C. December 9, 2003

RUSSIA'S PARLIAMENTARY elections on Sunday mark a watershed in
President Vladimir Putin's drive to reshape the country's political system.
Four years ago the former KGB operative became prime minister of the
post-Communist Russia created by Boris Yeltsin: chaotic, struggling but
undeniably free, and seemingly progressing toward Western norms of
democracy and human rights. Since then Mr. Putin has choked the media,
brought provincial governments under Moscow's control and eliminated
private businessmen as a source of independent power. Now, with an election
that a team of international observers said "failed to meet . . .
international standards," he has succeeded in installing a large
parliamentary majority made up of his own United Russia party and two
extreme nationalist groups also under the Kremlin's control. Two liberal
parties that were the last vestiges of Mr. Yeltsin's pro-Western reformism
were wiped out, apparently failing to obtain the minimum vote needed for
seats in the Duma. These results were both the product and the culmination
of Mr. Putin's policies; they consolidated what a delegation from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) called a
"regression in the democratization of this country."

Where will Mr. Putin go now with his reorganized state? First he will
manage his own reelection in March; eventually he may use his new strength
in parliament to repeal the constitutional provision limiting him to two
terms. Many expect him to concentrate on strengthening the Russian economy
through state-directed capitalism. The nationalists whom he has just helped
to elect will demand that he step up his effort to reassert Moscow's
dominion over neighboring states such as Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine,
using both economic and military levers. He may remain willing to work with
the Bush administration and European governments on issues of mutual
interest, such as the war on terrorism or control of North Korea's nuclear
program. But he will demand that the West accept his quasi-authoritarian
"protected democracy" and recognize a Russian sphere of influence in the
space of the former Soviet Union, while preserving its privileged place in
such institutions as the G-8 and NATO.

This will require a flexible and sophisticated response from the Bush
administration -- which means a new policy. Mr. Bush's quick and trusting
embrace of the Russian leader during his first months in office led the
administration to emphasize partnership with Mr. Putin over other
priorities, especially the promotion of Russian democracy. Recently the
administration has taken steps to check blatant attempts by Moscow to
undermine the independence of Georgia and Moldova; it also echoed the
OSCE's critique of the elections. But the balance needs to be shifted more.

Though the United States will need to do business with Mr. Putin's
government in coming years, its long-term interest lies in trying to revive
the more liberal and democratic Russia that Mr. Putin has systematically
suppressed. That means restoring and augmenting programs to foster and
support an independent civil society and free media in Russia, programs
that unwisely have been cut back in recent years. It also means standing up
to Mr. Putin when he violates the human rights of his citizens or the
sovereignty of his neighbors. Russian analysts were saying yesterday that
the Duma elections will mark the beginning of a new political era in
Russia, one fully created and controlled by Vladimir Putin. They should
also lead to a fresh start in the Bush administration's approach to his
government. (END) (ARTUIS)
======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
======================================================
2. RUSSIA AMBASSADOR CHERNOMYRDIN SAYS DUMA
ELECTIONS WILL AID RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE

Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 7 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 07, 2003

Kiev, 7 December: Russian ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin is
convinced the results of Sunday's [7 December] elections to Russia's
parliament [Duma] will have a positive influence on the development of
Ukrainian-Russian relations.

"I think [the elections] will certainly influence [relations], and influence
them in a positive direction," he said answering a question from journalists
Sunday [7 December] in Kiev at the voting station in the consulate of the
Russian embassy in Ukraine, where he went to vote.

Speaking on the development of bilateral relations in economic areas,
Chernomyrdin said relations were experiencing an upswing and noted monthly
trade turnover had reached 1bn [as published].

Commenting on intergovernmental relations, he said, "All these incidents
which are going on (in particular, in the Kerch Strait - Interfax-Ukraine),
they are like in any family, like in relations between neighbours." (END)
=======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
=======================================================
3. RUSSIAN ANALYST LIKENS US, NATO POLICY IN EASTERN
EUROPE AND ASIA TO NAZI EXPANSIONISM IN THE 1930's.
NATO'S 2004 Istanbul Summit is being called the "Kiev" Summit

Kommersant, Moscow, in Russian, 5 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 07, 2003

The vice-president of the Russian Academy for Geopolitical Problems, Leonid
Ivashov, has likened US and NATO policy in Eastern Europe and Asia to Nazi
expansionism in the 1930s and 1940s. "The speeches of the current NATO and
US ideologists exactly match what the ringleaders of the Third Reich were
saying, and their policy is in many respects reminiscent of that of Hitler
and the other ringleaders of Hitler's Germany," Ivashov said in an article
for the Russian broadsheet Kommersant. He also said the US scenario employed
in Iraq is now being applied to Syria.

The following is the text of Ivashov's article published in Kommersant on 5
December. Subheadings inserted editorially:

There are several reasons for the redeployment planned by the Americans. The
first is a desire to reduce losses of their own troops and to get others to
shoulder this burden. The second is to expand NATO's geography and
functions. According to the fundamental Washington treaty, NATO's zone of
responsibility includes the Euroatlantic region, but today the alliance
aspires to have a presence and to intervene in all regions of the world.
NATO is gradually expanding.
NATO enlargement

The first wave of enlargement is over, and now a second wave is heading
east. NATO's 2004 Istanbul summit is already being called the "Kiev"
summit - it will consider the question of admitting Ukraine. We cannot rule
out the possibility that there will also be talk of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and
maybe Armenia. This will be the third phase of the eastward and southward
advance. NATO's role in Afghanistan is now increasing, and the United States
can be expected to entrust everything to its allies, retaining monitoring
functions itself. The same "NATOization" can also be seen in Iraq. NATO, as
it were, is taking collective responsibility for the state of affairs in
what amounts to the greater part of the world.

This process is dangerous for Russia, because today NATO is actively present
in the CIS and primarily in Central Asia and is compressing the space around
Russia from the west and the south. This is dangerous because military force
is increasingly dominant today in the policy of the United States and its
allies.

NATO and the Third Reich

When the Americans say that there is now no front line, the Cold War is
over, and the relocation is necessary for a more successful fight against
terrorism, I recall the late thirties and early forties. The speeches of the
current NATO and US ideologists exactly match what the ringleaders of the
Third Reich were saying, and their policy is in many respects reminiscent of
that of Hitler and the other ringleaders of Hitler's Germany. And all this
has been and is being presented as a desire for a new world order.

There is also a degree of camouflage in the present campaign. By shifting
responsibility onto the allies, the United States is attempting to free up
military contingents for future acts of aggression. In particular, we are
warily watching the situation surrounding Syria and Iran.

We long ago reached the conclusion that the Americans are pursuing a
scenario-based policy: They transfer a scenario that proves its worth to
another country. There is much in common between the situation in Yugoslavia
and, say, Iraq. Or the "velvet revolution" in Yugoslavia and the use of its
basic elements in Georgia.

Today the scenario is beginning to operate against Syria. There is the same
economic embargo and political and media pressure, and there will be
mounting accusations that Syria is supporting terrorist organizations - once
again Al-Qa'idah and Saddam Husayn will be dragged in. In other words, the
same scenario that operated in Yugoslavia and Iraq has been set in motion.

The world community is expecting fresh trouble, but the universal
anti-Americanism will be converted into national liberation war and
terrorist action. I do not envy US or NATO soldiers. They will continue to
be killed in Afghanistan and the Middle East. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
========================================================
4. UKRAINE REITERATES SUPPORT FOR NATO ENLARGEMENT

Interfax news agency, Moscow, in English, 5 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Dec 05, 2003

Kiev, Brussels, 5 December: Ukraine supports NATO's enlargement and hopes to
join the alliance, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko has said.

"We fully support the process of NATO's enlargement and hope that the
example and experience of the alliance's new member nations will prove
useful for Ukraine, taking account its commitment to fully integrate with
Euro-Atlantic security organizations, which is a crucial driving force for
political, economic and military reforms in Ukraine," Hryshchenko told a
session of the Ukraine-NATO Commission in Brussels on Friday [5 December].

The foreign minister said there are two aspects to Ukraine's interest in
broader cooperation with NATO.

"First, it is important for us to continue the intensive dialogue with the
alliance on strategic issues, including the future role for a reorganized
NATO in international politics, its cooperation with other multilateral
institutions, including the UN, the EU and the OSCE, international
peacekeeping operations, and other vital issues.

Second, we work together with NATO's member countries on a wide range of
practical issues on a daily basis. The joint fight against terrorism, the
threat posed by the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
international crime and the illegal trade in drugs and humans represent just
a small number of areas of our cooperation," he said. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
========================================================
5. OWNER OF UKRAINIAN ENERGY ASSETS ALEKSANDR
BABAKOV ENTERS RUSSIAN DUMA, WEB SITE SAYS

Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian 8 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 08, 2003

A Ukrainian opposition web site has identified Aleksandr Babakov, a Russian
academic who has been elected to the Russian parliament on the list of the
left-wing nationalist Motherland bloc, as the owner of a number of Ukrainian
power distribution companies. Ukrayinska Pravda says that Babakov acquired
the companies in a privatization tender in 2001, which was officially won by
a consortium headed by the Slovak power company VSE (Vychodoslovenska
Energetika).

The following is an excerpt from the article "Russia after the elections:
The owner of Ukrainian power companies has become a member of the Duma",
which appeared on Ukrayinska Pravda on 8 December:

The Motherland bloc's entry to parliament strengthens the position of an
individual who is little known in Ukraine. His name is Aleksandr Babakov. He
is number 8 on the bloc's list, and he has now become a deputy in the Duma.

In the Motherland election list he is identified as a "senior scientific
worker with the Lomonosov Moscow State University". In fact, he is the owner
of at least four Ukrainian regional power companies.

This is the person who is generally referred to in Ukraine as the "Slovak
investor". In 2001, he privatized through the Slovak firm VSE the regional
power companies Sevastopoloblenerho, Khersonoblenerho, Zhytomiroblenerho
and Kirovohradoblenergo. In addition, Babakov coordinates policy with the
power companies that are linked to [parliament deputy Hryhoriy] Surkis and
[presidential administration head Viktor] Medvedchuk. Babakov is also know
as a "representative of the Luzhniki group", since he owns a market at
Moscow's Luzhniki stadium.

The arrival of Babakov and the defeat of [United Energy System of Russia
chairman and co-chairman of the Union of Right Forces Anatoliy] Chubays is
bound to be felt on the Ukrainian energy market. Just how that will happen
is one of the puzzles of post-election Russia. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
========================================================
6. UKRAINE DECIDES TO DIG NEW CHANNEL IN KERCH STRAIT

Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 8 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 08, 2003

Kiev, 8 December: Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma has approved an idea to
build the second navigation channel in the Kerch Strait between the island
of Tuzla and the Russian causeway, Ukrainian Transport Minister Heorhiy
Kyrpa has said.

"I suggested this to the president and he approved my proposal to continue
the channel between Tuzla and the causeway and link it to the Black Sea,"
Kyrpa told journalists after his meeting with Kuchma in Kiev today.

Kyrpa said that the channel had already been registered "with all
international navigation organizations". "This is a full-fledged navigation
channel, which has already been named Tuzla Channel," Kyrpa said. He noted
that Ukraine would probably offer Russia to use the new channel together.

It is necessary to dig 680-700 metres more to complete the channel and
deepen it to five metres, Kyrpa said. "Small-tonnage boats will go through
this channel and deep-water ships - through the Kerch channel," he said.

The channel will also decrease the level of water, which rose after the
Russian causeway had been built, and "water won't wash away the island when
it goes to the Kerch Strait". In addition, this will decrease the load on
the Kerch channel. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
=========================================================
7. DNIPROPETROVSK TO COMMEMORATE HOLODOMOR VICTIMS

By Vadym Ryzhkov, The Day
The Day WEEKLY DIGEST of Ukrainian News in English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, December 9, 2003

Construction of the monument commemorating the victims of the Holodomor
Manmade Famine- Genocide and political reprisals will soon begin in the
southern outskirts of Dnipropetrovsk. The first official monument of its
kind in Dnipropetrovsk oblast, it will be built on the ninth kilometer of
the Dnipropetrovsk-Zaporizhzhia highway - on the site where mass burials of
people killed on orders from Stalin were discovered in the 1970s during
earthworks.

The design of the monument has been endorsed by an expert jury comprising
museum workers, noted sculptors and architects, along with representatives
of the public at large. In the course of a contest that lasted half a year
they reviewed a series of projects, of which only two seemed especially
relevant.

Many jurors supported an original project designed by a group headed by a
young Dnipropetrovsk-based architect Serhiy Poliushkin. He proposed creating
a memorial complex around a barrow common in the Ukrainian steppe. As shown
in the model, its summit is torn apart to resemble the sight of a rifle,
through which one sees a sculptural composition - a child crying over his
dead mother. The author proposed sowing the kurgans with wheat - the eternal
living reminder of the years of the Great Manmade Famine in Ukraine.

However, most jurors voted in favor of a traditional project designed by a
group of Dniprodzerzhynsk architects headed by Harnyk Khachatrian. His
sculptural composition will be dominated by a stylized cross with a
crucified figure symbolizing the Ukrainian people. According to the author's
concept, the monument commemorating the victims of the Holodomor and
political reprisals to be built near a busy motorway should be seen from
afar by all those heading for Dnipropetrovsk.

"This monument should not only remind all the living and especially the
young about the sufferings of the generation of those times, but denounce
the totalitarian regime," Chief Architect of Dnipropetrovsk oblast Ihor
Sokolov said addressing the jury.

It is worth noting that the director of the group of architects that
designed the monument to the victims of the Holodomor and political
reprisals, Harnyk Khachatrian, is a native of Armenia, whose people also
repeatedly faced mass terror and genocide. The sculptor considers Ukraine
his second homeland, where he has lived many years and created a series of
monuments that have immortalized in stone and bronze memorable names and
events.

In the past few years Dniprodzerzhynsk saw the unveiling of monuments to the
mother, to the victims of a streetcar accident that happened there in the
summer of 1996, along with a monument to Taras Shevchenko, with the
presidents of Ukraine and Kazakhstan present for its unveiling.

Khachatrian considers his victory in the recent contest a major creative
success and the construction of the memorial a very responsible matter.

"Memory of the Holodomor victims means a lot to Ukrainians, and such a
monument should have been built in Dnipropetrovsk oblast long ago, which
was one of those hit hardest," he said. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=========================================================
8. UKRAINE WILL GET FINANCING TO FIGHT TUBERCULOSIS
AND AIDS

The Day WEEKLY DIGEST of Ukrainian News In English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, December 9, 2003

President Leonid Kuchma signed the law On Ratifying the Agreement between
Ukraine and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development on the
$60,000,000 loan to prevent the spread of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS in
Ukraine. Verkhovna Rada ratified the document on November 18. It envisions
that the loan must be made by June 30, 2007 or on a later date established
by the bank.

According to the agreement, Ukraine is to pay a one-time commission fee
equaling 1% of the credit total sum or $600,000. The commission fee could
also be forgiven on the date of the agreement coming to effect. The document
also envisages that Ukraine is to regularly pay fees for the unutilized part
of the loan at the rate of 75% of the yearly payments from the principal sum
of the unused part of the loan.

The agreement determines Ukraine's commitments, which are to present copies
of financial accounts for every year of the period subject to audits and
audit reports. According to the agreement, the first report of the project
financial monitoring is to be presented no later than 45 days after the end
of the first quarter after the agreement comes to effect. (END) (ARTUIS)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: There are always various stories and discussions around Kyiv about
what percentage of the funds from programs like this actually end up helping
those the funds were intended to help rather than going to a variety of
predetermined consulting groups. The unusual consulting groups are reported
to obtain sometimes up to 50% of the funds. What the funds are actually used
for and where the funds really end up no one seems to know according to the
various reports that circulate around Kyiv from time to time.
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
=========================================================
9. NEW BRIDGE BUILT IN WESTERN UKRAINE
A 365-METRE BRIDGE OVER THE PRUT RIVER IN CHERNIVTSI

UT1, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 6 Dec 03
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Dec 06, 2003

[Presenter] Things in Bukovyna [south-western Ukrainian region] are going
much better [refers to previous report of a strike]. A 365-metre bridge over
the Prut river has been built in just five months. Residents of Chernivtsi
say that the bridge will improve the economy and the environment in the
region.

[Correspondent] The bridge has been built with the use of European
technologies in just five months. This is considered to be a national record
because the construction has been carried out in difficult geological
conditions. The pillars had to be placed up to 26 metres deep, each one of
them requiring two weeks of work. [Passage omitted: An engineer says he
enjoyed working on the project]

A bypass was promised to the residents of Chernivtsi by [Ukrainian
President] Leonid Kuchma in spring. The builders are now placing the last
beam with a special ceremony.

[Vasyl Kharabura, captioned as deputy head of the Chernivtsi regional
administration] The city of Chernivtsi is overloaded with traffic and this
road will relieve it and give an opportunity for the residents of Chernivtsi
to breathe easier.

[Correspondent] The historic city will now breathe easier, and economists
are already forecasting profits from increasing transit traffic. The bridge
opens a straight path towards the Balkans and the northern Europe. The
carrying capacity of the new structure is more than 80 tonnes.

[Yuriy Irzhytskyy, captioned as director of the Mostobud construction
company] This bridge costs 22m hryvnyas [about 4.12m dollars]. Cars will
begin driving over it before the end of the year.

[Correspondent] This is just one of the construction projects currently
under way. Mostobud will soon commission the Sykhiv transport route in Lviv
Region and begin building a new bridge over the Siverskyy Donets river in
======================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
=======================================================
10. WHY IS THE OPPOSITION WEAK IN UKRAINE?

By Taras Kuzio, Resident Fellow at the Center for Russian and
East European Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report,
Vol. 5, No. 46, 9 December 2003
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Prague, Czech Republic

The "velvet revolution" last month in Georgia that led to the resignation
of President Eduard Shevardnadze should make us contemplate why similar
developments did not take place in Ukraine in 2000-2002. The severity of
the Kuchmagate crisis, after all, led to opposition demonstrations as
large as those in Georgia (20,000-50,000 people). Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma was on the defensive from November 2000, when the
Kuchmagate crisis began, to March 2001, when he regained the
initiative after violence erupted at a mass opposition demonstration
in Kyiv.

Although the authorities did poorly in the proportional half
of the March 2002 parliamentary elections, they made up for this when
most deputies elected in one-seat constituencies joined
pro-presidential factions. Since the elections, the authorities have
consolidated their power by taking control of all key institutions.
Ukrainians are disillusioned with politics as a whole, and
not just with the authorities. All institutions -- presidential and
parliamentary -- obtain low levels of public trust. A June poll by
the Democratic Initiatives polling center found that a striking 48.8
percent of respondents did not trust NGOs and political parties; 57.5
percent said, in the main, they did not trust those groups.

A November Democratic Initiatives poll found that only five
parties could make it through the 4 percent threshold of
parliamentary representation, of which two were pro-presidential:
Ukraine's Regions and the Social Democratic Party-united
(SDPU-o). None of the parties that belong to Our Ukraine would
individually make it (unlike the Communist Party, the Socialist
Party, and Yuliya Tymoshenko's Fatherland Party).

Most Ukrainians believe change is required but do not believe
that they have the power to push these changes through. A poll cited
by the "Ukrayinska pravda" website on 11 March found that only 7
percent believed few changes were necessary in Ukraine. Meanwhile, 45
percent, 38 percent, and 11 percent believed that "radical,"
"evolutionary," and "revolutionary" changes, respectively, were
needed in Ukraine.

Nevertheless, this does not translate into support for
opposition activities. A Razumkov Center poll cited in "Zerkalo
nedeli" on 27 September found that half of Ukraine's population
did not back the opposition protests. A poll cited by Interfax on 25
April found even higher negative views of demonstrations, with 69.2
percent of respondents unwilling to take part in them.

Do the public desire to learn the views of the opposition
(something which is difficult because they have limited access to
television)? When asked if they knew the views of the opposition, 64
percent said "no," according to a 28 May combined poll by four
leading sociological organizations on the "Ukrayinska pravda"
website. When asked if they wished to learn more, only 46 percent
said "yes" completely or partially whereas even more -- 54 percent --
said "no" completely or were primarily disinterested.

How is this explained? A Center for Sociological and
Political Research poll reported by the "Ukrayinska pravda" website
on 25 April found that although 33.2 percent supported the opposition
and only 15.9 percent the authorities, again a striking 31.4 percent
supported neither side.

This reflects a high degree of atomization of the population.
An August Razumkov Center poll found that 90 percent and 92 percent
of Ukrainians believe they have no influence over local and central
authorities, respectively, while 91 percent also believe that human
rights are regularly infringed.

During the 2002 election campaign then head of the
presidential administration, Volodymyr Lytvyn, who is currently
parliamentary speaker, said that the "opposition does not enjoy the
support of the population," according to UNIAN on 23 February 2002.
Although the four opposition parties and blocs (Our Ukraine, Yuliya
Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party)
obtained nearly two-thirds of the votes in the proportional half of
elections, Lytvyn's comment is partially true.

This, of course, does not mean the authorities are popular
either. A November poll by Democratic Initiatives found that if
elections were held at that time, 1.5 percent would vote for Kuchma,
1.3 percent for Lytvyn, and 3 percent for current head of the
presidential administration, Viktor Medvedchuk, whose SDPU-o party is
one of Ukraine's largest by members.

The problem for the opposition is that large negative votes
are to be found both for the authorities and for them. In a May
Democratic Circle poll, Tymoshenko and Communist Party leader Petro
Symonenko obtained two of the highest negative ratings -- 29 percent
and 26.9 percent, respectively. Both leaders suffer from different
problems -- Tymoshenko is a "dissident oligarch" and Symonenko is a
Communist hard-liner. The November Democratic Initiatives poll gave
both Kuchma and Medvedchuk negative ratings of 50 percent. That was
not good news for the opposition as Tymoshenko and Symonenko followed
closely with negative ratings of 44 percent and 25 percent,
respectively.

Even Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko, who is always the
most popular candidate in polls, does not escape some negative
ratings. Yushchenko is the only opposition leader who obtains higher
positive than negative ratings and the lowest negative ratings. At
the same time, 32 percent of Ukrainians would never vote for
Yushchenko, according to a poll cited by the "Ukrayinska pravda"
website on 18 August.

In December 2002 Democratic Initiatives and September
Democratic Circle polls, Yushchenko's negative ratings were
between 14.4 percent-17 percent. Yushchenko reached the peak of his
popularity in April 2002 just after the elections with 29.3 percent,
which declined to between 18-21 percent in September of the following
year.

Questions of "trust" are also a factor in public attitudes to
the opposition. The December 2002 Democratic Initiatives poll gave
low levels of "trust" and high levels of "distrust" to Symonenko
(14.8 percent versus 46.6 percent), Tymoshenko (12.5 percent versus
53.8 percent), and Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz (12.2
percent versus 42.6 percent). The September Democratic Circle poll
found that Yushchenko was trusted fully or mainly by 48 percent of
Ukrainians, although 37 percent still distrusted him completely or
partially. Higher levels of distrust than trust were found for all
other leading Ukrainian officials and opposition leaders.

Large numbers of Ukrainians will never vote for the majority
of leading politicians. According to the September Democratic Circle
poll, this ranges from 34 percent-36 percent for Medvedchuk,
Tymoshenko, and Symonenko and 20 percent-25 percent for Lytvyn, Prime
Minister and Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych, and National
Bank Chairman and Labor Ukraine leader Serhiy Tyhypko. Yushchenko and
Moroz are the most popular: 19 percent and 22 percent, respectively,
would never consider voting for them. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
========================================================
11. NEW SUNFLOWER OIL CRUSHING PLANT NEAR NIKOLAEV

AgriMarket.Info, Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, 12/04/2003 14:06

Nikolaev-based OJSC Agroexport - one of the five largest grain
trading companies in Ukraine - has launched the first line of a new
oil extraction plant in Nikolaev region. Processing capacity of the
commissioned line is 400,000 tonnes of sunflower seeds per day,
Interfax-Ukraina news agency informed.

The total rated capacity of the plant will be 1 million tonnes of
seeds per day, a spokesman for the company has said. He said the
total worth of the project was $10 to 12 million. The new plant will
be producing sunflower oil and meal for export sales.

The spokesman said the construction project was being realised within
the programme of the company's business diversification and would
allow increasing profitability of its export transactions with
oilseed crops and the crushing products.

Agroexport makes export sales of grain and sunflower seeds to more
than 20 countries. It owns 11 grain elevators with total capacity of
800,000 tonnes of storage, trade fleet and a transhipment facility to
reload grains and oilseeds from river onto marine vessels.

As a whole, there are 26 large oil crushing plants in Ukraine and a
number of small crushing shops. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT 2003, No. 111: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
========================================================
12. UKRAINE SAYS CHEVRONTEXACO TO FILL KEY OIL PIPELINE

Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, December 5, 2003

KIEV, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Ukraine has agreed with U.S. ChevronTexaco (nyse:
CVX - news - people) and Kazakh oil companies on crude oil supplies to fill
an idle Odessa-Brody pipeline next year, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Haiduk
said on Friday.

The question on how to use the pipeline is very sensitive in Ukraine.
Russian oil firms wanted to persuade Kiev to reverse it to ship oil to the
Mediterranean while the United States and the European Union backed it as a
transit link in a project to ship Caspian oil to central Europe, which
rivals the Russian plan.

Haiduk said reversing now seemed unnecessary.

"We have confirmation from refineries in Poland, the Czech Republic,
refineries in southern Germany and their owner - Chevron. They have oil and
they are ready to transport it via the Odessa-Brody pipeline," Haiduk told a
news conference.

"There is a contract for nine million tonnes of Kazakh oil and they are
ready to transport it. Now our task is to merge them -- the Chevron oil and
the Kazakh oil," he said.

The Odessa-Brody pipeline was one of the most ambitious projects in
post-Soviet Ukraine, but it has now been idle for two years as oil companies
balked at its complicated logistics requiring multiple trans-shipments.

Haiduk said the government would hold talks in the nearest future on a
schedule for Odessa-Brody operations next year.

Last month Ukraine, Poland and the European Commission also signed a
declaration supporting the pipeline. It invited private investors to join a
Ukrainian-Polish venture to build a segment of the line between Brody in
Ukraine and Plock near Warsaw.

Haiduk said the government was ready to help Russia, where oil production is
booming but exports capacities are limited, by boosting Russian oil transit
via Yuzhny oil terminal in the Black sea port of Odessa by nine million
tonnes.

Odessa handles an average 900,000 tonnes (220,000 barrels per day) of
pipeline crude oil, but this summer has also seen up to 250,000 tonnes
(60,000 bpd) of crude shipped in by rail.

"If they have additional volumes of oil we say let's fill existing oil
pipelines to Odessa. We have done the necessary technical upgrade," Haiduk
said.

"Nine million tonnes in additional volumes of transit oil settle the issue
of pipe reversal. This is the answer to it." (END) (ARTUIS
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
NOTE: Minister Haiduk was fired by President Kuchma late on Friday,
December 5, 2003, for comments he made about other possible energy deals.
=========================================================
"UKRAINE REPORT 2003," No. 111: WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2003
TWELVE ARTICLES
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