"ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
In-Depth Ukrainian News and Analysis
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"

"Ukraine, a country of 50 million people between Russia and the European
Union, is indeed at a tipping point -- and one that ought to be getting a
lot more attention than it has, so far, from the Bush administration and its
European allies........"

What has surprised and disappointed Yushchenko and his allies is the weak
response from Brussels and Washington, which have a lot to lose from such
a repartition of Europe." [article one]

"ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 2004, Number 35
ACTION UKRAINE COALITION (AUC)
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C., Monday, March 1, 2004

INDEX OF ARTICLES

1. UKRAINE'S TIPPING POINT
OP-ED By Jackson Diehl, Columnist
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Monday, March 1, 2004; Page A19

2. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REVEALS EXCERPTS FROM
UKRAINIAN SPY SCANDAL DOCUMENTS
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 29, 2004

3.UKRAINE TO RAISE POLISH STEELWORKS SALE ISSUES WITH EU
Holos Ukrayiny, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 27 Feb 04; p 2
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 28, 2004

4. US RADIO LIBERTY GETS NEW REBROADCASTER IN UKRAINE
It suffers from constant interference from another FM
radio station, which makes the quality of reception poor most of the time.
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 27, 2004

5. UKRAINE FLOATS EUROBONDS WORTH 600M DOLLARS
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 27, 2004

6. MUSEUM IN UKRAINE DISPLAYS CHERNOBYL LEGACY
By Mary Klaus, The Patriot-News
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Sunday, February 29, 2004
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
=========================================================
1. UKRAINE'S TIPPING POINT

OP-ED By Jackson Diehl, Columnist
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.
Monday, March 1, 2004; Page A19

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko ought to be the overwhelming favorite to
win Ukraine's presidential election this year. A former prime minister with
a telegenic sweep of graying hair, he is a proven reformer who promises to
attack the endemic corruption and quasi-authoritarian thuggery of the
current government. His coalition won the most recent national elections,
and he's way ahead in the current polls.

Yet an encounter with Yushchenko in this wintry capital felt more like a
meeting with a persecuted dissident than a democratic front-runner. The
candidate described how his campaign events had been crudely disrupted in
provincial cities. Criminal cases have recently been brought against more
than 20 of his supporters, including his chief campaign financiers. Several
opposition papers that support him have been closed down, and the sole
television station that covers him honestly is in danger of being forced off
the air. In case that's not enough, the ruling party is pushing a
constitutional amendment that would strip the next president of most of his
authority -- allowing the incumbent, Leonid Kuchma, to go on exercising
power through his corruptly assembled majority in parliament.
"We live kind of underground," Yushchenko said. "It's obvious to everyone
that Ukraine is one step away from state dictatorship."

Ukraine, a country of 50 million people between Russia and the European
Union, is indeed at a tipping point -- and one that ought to be getting a
lot more attention than it has, so far, from the Bush administration and its
European allies. If this fall's presidential election is free and fair, it
could decisively move Ukraine toward the consolidation of its still-fragile
independence and alliance with the West. If it is corrupted, the country's
current drift, toward Russia and the neo-authoritarian, neo-imperialist
politics of Vladimir Putin, will accelerate.

As giant Ukraine goes, so, likely, will slip most of the other former Soviet
states that now live uneasily between the expanding European Union and
Russia, or in the nearby caucuses -- Belarus, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan. Putin and the former-KGB circle around him would like to fold
them all into a new bloc dominated by Moscow and able to bargain as a
quasi-equal with the EU and NATO. That's why it's not surprising that
Putin's allies in Ukraine are on the offensive, employing the same tactics
here against Yushchenko that succeeded in eliminating the democratic
opposition in Moscow -- like the shutdown of independent media and
prosecution of businessmen who finance non-government parties.

What has surprised and disappointed Yushchenko and his allies is the weak
response from Brussels and Washington, which have a lot to lose from such a
repartition of Europe. A conference here a week ago, organized by Western
nongovernmental organizations and pro-Western political parties, resounded
with talk of "Ukraine fatigue," an illness bred by exasperation with
Kuchma's government and doubts about whether the country really belongs
inside the Western community.

For years, diplomats complain, Kuchma and his crowd have been saying that
Ukraine would like to join NATO and the European Union, but they have been
unwilling to take steps toward meeting the democratic standards of those
clubs. So Western governments, while saying in principle that their
institutions are open to Ukraine, haven't offered invitations, or even many
incentives.

The Bush administration lately has reduced aid for fellowships, radio
broadcasts and other democracy programs in Ukraine by 50 percent or more.
"The position of the American administration has been a disappointment,"
Yushchenko told me. "The Ukrainian authorities haven't gotten any response
at all from American political circles for disregarding democracy in
Ukraine." He pointed out that Kuchma's cronies recently jerked
U.S.-sponsored Radio Liberty from the air in Kiev, eliminating another
outlet for non-government opinions.

Some administration officials have been working on the problem, and a
meeting of the "deputies" group of senior foreign policy and defense
officials recently considered what the United States might do this year to
promote freedom in Ukraine and Belarus. But the administration's focus on
the "greater Middle East" has tended to shift attention and resources from
the borderlands of Eurasia. And some administration officials remain
reluctant to pursue any policy that risks a fight with Putin.

In fact, the Bush administration has a better chance of stopping the
creeping authoritarianism of Eastern Europe here than it does in Moscow.
Putin angrily dismisses complaints about his consolidation of power, but a
slap by the Council of Europe prompted Kuchma to revise the constitutional
amendment he is pushing in parliament -- though not by enough. While they
may admire Putin's strongman model, Kuchma and his gang fear rejection by
the West and the complete subjugation to Moscow it could lead to. "The
regime is afraid of one thing: the reaction of the West to what is happening
in Ukraine," says Yushchenko. If they hear more of it in the coming months,
democracy here might still be saved. (END) (ARTUIS)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18011-2004Feb29.html
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News >From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
=========================================================
2. MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT REVEALS EXCERPTS FROM
UKRAINIAN SPY SCANDAL DOCUMENTS

Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 29, 2004

A Ukrainian opposition MP has revealed excerpts from what he said are secret
instructions ordering intelligence agents to spy on Ukrainian politicians
abroad. MP Mykola Tomenko read out to journalists parts of the documents,
which he said he had obtained from fugitive Gen Valeriy Kravchenko,
according to a Ukrainian pro-opposition web site.

Gen Kravchenko was an intelligence officer at the Ukrainian embassy in
Berlin until he said that he had been ordered to spy on top Ukrainian
politicians visiting Germany. The documents appeared to order the agents to
collect information about Ukrainian politicians' contacts abroad and also
prevent the screening of a German TV programme about alleged
child-trafficking from Ukraine.

The following is the text of the unattributed article posted on the
Ukrayinska Pravda web site on 27 February; subheadings have been inserted
editorially, except where indicated:

MP [and head of the parliamentary freedom of speech committee Mykola]
Tomenko did not disclose, as he had previously promised, the documents of
Gen [Valeriy] Kravchenko [alleging secret service instructions to Ukrainian
embassies to spy on opposition leaders]. [President Leonid] Kuchma himself,
however, two days ago gave permission for the intelligence officer's archive
not to be a secret, saying that it was all lies anyway.

But, according to Tomenko, even in decoded form the Kravchenko documents
make it possible to find the key to the codes of the Security Service of
Ukraine [SBU]. He was warned about this by staff of the Prosecutor-General's
Office, who received eight circulars from Tomenko on Friday morning [27
February] passed on from Berlin by Valeriy Kravchenko.

"Representatives of the prosecution service promised fairly promptly to make
a decision on the documents, and if I were to publicize them, it would
influence this process and might smash virtually the entire system of the
SBU's encoding," Tomenko said.

Apart from that, he said that Kravchenko himself was against publishing the
circulars. "He did not disclose a single document, and gave them to me to be
passed to the Prosecutor-General's Office. He was categorically opposed to
disclosure, and acted correctly as an officer."

However, Tomenko promised to circulate Kravchenko's material among
journalists if the prosecutor's office fails to open a criminal case within
one week. At the same time, at a news conference in Kiev, Tomenko read out
excerpts from four documents, which, in Kravchenko's words, are evidence of
lawbreaking.

One of the first instructions from Kiev concerned not the opposition, but
spying on officials. Kravchenko believes that that is not the job of the
intelligence service - to collect unofficial information on ministers.

DOCUMENT 1 [web site subheading]

This circular, Tomenko said, quoting Kravchenko, was sent to Ukrainian
intelligence officers in 20 countries. The document is called "Regarding
visits by officials".

This was the excerpt read out by the MP: "In connection with the need for
information coverage of foreign visits by officials of Ukrainian bodies of
state power (of the rank of minister and above), we ask you to send reports
covering the following questions."

There follows a list of information that Kravchenko was supposed to send to
Kiev. He believes that it was illegal to report: "With whom other
(unofficial) meetings were held (by delegation members), including with
business circles, what was agreed at the meetings; other important
information such as documents signed."

"The reports in question are to be sent within 24 hours of the end of the
visit," the document says.

DOCUMENT 2 [web site subheading]

It deals with an already known story: Kravchenko was required to collect
information about the authors and subjects of a report by ZDF [German] TV
channel regarding the illegal export from Ukraine of children or possibly
body parts of children.

Tomenko said that the SBU sent that text to several countries, not only to
Germany. This was text of the circular as read out:

"According to data received, on one unidentified European television
channel, probably German, it is expected that a programme or topic will be
shown aimed at discrediting Ukraine as a state in general and compromising
the highest leadership of our country. The topic will be devoted to the
illegal trade in human donor organs in Ukraine.

For that reason, it is necessary to establish the existence on consular
records\ý [ellipsis as published] of persons (two citizens of Ukraine), and
send urgently to the Centre via the channel\ý [ellipsis as published] all
available information concerning the persons in question: connections,
interests, orientation of material and the media in which it is published.

Collect information regarding the `Mona Lisa' programme, its owners,
founders and heads.

Clarify the likelihood of the appearance of the topic in question on the
`Mona Lisa' TV programme and take measures to prevent it being screened."
Document 3 [web site subheading]

This text, received at the end of 2003, was particularly disturbing to
Kravchenko, Tomenko said. "For the first time since he started working
abroad, there were instructions about clearly political matters," the deputy
said.

The document said:

"We draw your attention to the need to conduct constant work aimed at
obtaining information on the arrival in your country of residence of all
Ukrainian delegations without exception, and also individual persons whose
actions abroad may have a negative influence on the implementation of
Ukraine's domestic and foreign policy strategy.

We require timely and full information on the aforementioned cases sent by a
separate communication. [ellipsis as published]

Work is to be stepped up among the Ukrainian diaspora with the aim of
obtaining required pre-emptive information in the interests of ensuring our
country's security and in the context of preparing political reform and the
presidential elections [due in October in Ukraine]."

DOCUMENT 4 [web site subheading]

This document contains instructions to Kravchenko how to act regarding
non-Ukrainians. These requirements were sent, as well as to Kravchenko, to
intelligence officers in six countries, Tomenko said. The circular says:

"At the meeting with the head of the European Commission's mission [in
Ukraine], [Norbert] Jousten, in November this year, the leader of [popular
opposition bloc] Our Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, launched an initiative to
hold an international conference in Kiev in December 2003 devoted to
discussing European prospects.

Agreement to take part in the conference was allegedly expressed by [former
US president Bill] Clinton, [former US secretary of state Madeleine]
Albright and [former US presidential security adviser Zbigniew] Brzezinski.
The leadership of Our Ukraine is also expecting other celebrities to come.

With the aim of receiving information and operational material concerning
the aforementioned forum, the source must be oriented to obtaining
information on these questions: participants, contacts, purpose, coverage of
reaction to the event, further intentions, plans and possible programme.

Information regarding critical speeches by forum participants about Ukraine
merits special attention."

INSTRUCTIONS DEMANDED ESPIONAGE

Tomenko is convinced that all these demands from the central leadership of
the SBU to its officers in embassies were impossible to carry out using open
sources. They all require operational measures - bugging, shadowing and the
use of agents.

All of that is forbidden by the law on the intelligence agencies of Ukraine,
which Kravchenko repeatedly referred to.

Apart from that, the style of the circulars is surprising, showing a lack of
understanding by the authors of living conditions in the West. What on earth
is the value of an order "to take measures to prevent the screening" of a
topic on the German ZDF channel? "As I understand it, there are two ways of
doing it - physical destruction or bribery," Tomenko suggested.

He said that the circulars did not have traditional signatures: "There are
numbers - codes for directorates, departments and officials."

Tomenko recounted - obviously using Kravchenko's words - the procedure for
receiving these instructions: "The SBU transmits reports via the appropriate
system, and the appropriate person in the appropriate room in the embassy
decodes the document."

Tomenko's impression of Kravchenko himself: the theories being disseminated
by the SBU that the general took this step [i.e. made the allegations]
because of personal problems is not true. The intelligence officer told the
MPs his motives were like this: "As someone who has been working in
intelligence for 30 years, he believes it impermissible on the eve of the
presidential campaign to use elite SBU units to tackle specific political
problems either to maintain someone in power or to get someone into power."

Kravchenko also told Tomenko his version of the conflict with Kuchma's
bodyguards in Baden-Baden [Kuchma told a news conference that Kravchenko had
refused to look into reports of a planned attempt on his life when the
president was recuperating from surgery in the German resort of
Baden-Baden - Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1323 gmt 25 Feb
04]. Along with German special services, he was convinced that there was no
threat against Kuchma's life. That fuss was raised in order to get the
Germans to provide enhanced security for Kuchma and diplomatic numberplates
for his guests' cars.

Tomenko said that in the coming days Kravchenko was due to meet with a
German member of the European Parliament, Gabriele Stauner, the person who
raised the problem of child-trafficking from Ukraine in the EU's legislative
body. On ZDF she was called another potential "victim" of Kravchenko.

GERMAN POLICS SUMMONS KRAVCHENKO

Tomenko also said that Kravchenko had been summoned to the police on 9
March. This was a reaction to the Foreign Ministry statement "that he
illegally appropriated property of the Ukrainian state - a car and a mobile
phone".

Tomenko said that Kravchenko "has already returned the car, and will sort
out the phone matter". The MP said that on Thursday [26 February] the
general "met representatives of the police", and after he gives the phone
back to the embassy, he will have no problems with the German authorities.

The general's further fate may be determined by April. Tomenko said "he
still has a month to decide whether to return to Ukraine - and he is
prepared to do that if a criminal case is instituted regarding the illegal
instructions from the SBU. If that does not happen, then the alternative is
political asylum."

The general himself, in a new interview with Ukrayinska Pravda again said
that he "does not want any asylum". Kravchenko said, "If the
Prosecutor-General's Office reacts to my accusations, I am prepared to
return. If the president guarantees my safety, I will return. But if he
threatens me, I will continue this business here in Germany."

LEGALITY OF SBU INSTRUCTIONS

During the news conference, Tomenko referred to a conversation with a SBU
representative who, without reading Kravchenko's documents, expressed the
certainty that the instructions received by the general were legal.

It is fairly easy to check whether that is so. The law "On the intelligence
agencies of Ukraine" contains the following reference: in obtaining
intelligence information, intelligence agencies are to use "methods and
means of operational investigation activity in the order defined in the law
of Ukraine `On operational investigation activity'".

This latter law contains a list of grounds for carrying out operational
investigation activity. It has to be information that requires verifying
regarding:
- crimes that are being prepared or have been committed by persons unknown;
- persons who are preparing or have committed a crime;
- persons who are hiding from investigation agencies or the court, or who
are evading criminal punishment;
- missing persons;
- sabotage intelligence activity of foreign states' special services,
organizations and individuals against Ukraine;
- real threats to the life, health, housing or property of court and
law-enforcement agency officials in connection with their official
activity [ellipsis as published]

The second grounds for conducting operational investigation activity by the
special services are requests from state bodies to vet people with access to
state secrets and to work with nuclear materials and at nuclear
installations.

The third and final grounds for conducting operational investigation
activity are "the need to obtain intelligence information in the interests
of the security of society and the state".

So should it be understood that the topic on the ZDF channel, the travel of
ministers or opposition activists abroad or a conference with the
participation of Madeleine Albright are all a challenge to "the interests of
the security of society and the state"? Or to "state secrets"? (END)
(ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
Major Articles About What is Going on in Ukraine
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
=========================================================
3. UKRAINE TO RAISE POLISH STEELWORKS SALE ISSUES WITH EU

Holos Ukrayiny, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 27 Feb 04; p 2
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 28, 2004

The Ukrainian government has been unhappy over a recent privatization
decision by Poland, which has damaged the interests of a company from
eastern Ukraine, First Deputy Foreign Minister Oleksandr Chalyy has
indicated. The Industrial Union of Donbas had made a higher bid than the
winner in a tender, but was turned down by the Polish government.

Chalyy rejected the official Polish explanation and said Ukraine would raise
this issue with the EU. Commenting on a recent round of EU-Ukraine
consultations, Chalyy said some progress was reached regarding EU expansion
plans.

The following is the text of an interview Chalyy gave to Anatoliy
Martsynovskyy, entitled "We asked about Huta Czestochowa in Brussels: they
were surprised", published in the Ukrainian newspaper Holos Ukrayiny on 27
February:

The event of the month in relations between Ukraine and the European Union
was the consultations held in Brussels on 23-25 February devoted to drawing
up a Ukraine-EU action plan and questions of overcoming undesirable
consequences for bilateral relations of the coming expansion of the EU.
There was also discussion of the problem of expanding the Agreement on
Partnership and Cooperation between Ukraine and the EU (currently the base
document for relations) to the 10 new members of the union. The first deputy
minister of foreign affairs in charge of European integration, Oleksandr
Chalyy, commented on the Brussels talks for Holos Ukrayiny.

[Martsynovskyy] What were the results of the consultations concerning the
drawing up of the Ukraine-EU action plan?

[Chalyy] We endeavoured to reach a common view in determining strategic
goals for the document. And to a considerable extent the vision of what we
are putting into that document is already coinciding. This gives us the
possibility to home in more specifically on the result during work on
certain sections. The Ukrainian side is pleased with the atmosphere of the
talks and the fact that we started to listen to each other. There
undoubtedly still remain many issues where we would have liked more movement
towards our proposals from the EU, but the trend that emerged at the latest
consultations is positive. Over the coming two weeks we plan to hold the
next round.

[Martsynovskyy] You speak of progress in reaching a common vision of the
document's aim. Previously the Ukrainian side saw one of its aims as
actually changing the format of relations with the EU. What's happening with
that?

[Chalyy] Yes, the Ukrainian approach was and remains a move from relations
of partnership and cooperation to relations of integration and association.
On questions of integration we have a virtually complete coincidence of
positions, and the relevant formulations will be included in the action
plan. Regarding the transformation of relations of partnership into
relations of association, there are differences here. However, I can note
certain steps towards a common, possibly compromise position.

[Martsynovskyy] Russia recently stated that it did not want to expand its
Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation with the EU to the new member
countries. What does Ukraine intend to do?

[Chalyy] Ukraine's position is constructive. We are not considering refusing
to expand the agreement to cover the new members. After all, they are our
partners and neighbours, and we have a big interest in seeing them become
participants in the Agreement on Partnership and Cooperation. At the same
time, we would like their accession to the agreement to take place in
accordance with the aims of the document.

In particular, that there should be no brake on the state of our bilateral
relations, say in the area of border cooperation through the introduction of
visas, in economic cooperation through the expansion of anti-dumping
measures or the introduction of certain new tariff and non-tariff
restrictions. We are conducting a fruitful dialogue here, and I feel that a
way towards understanding has been outlined. And while certain differences
remain, there is still time to discuss them in more depth. There is a
constructive attitude here too.

As for overcoming other possible consequences of EU expansion for Ukraine,
we concentrated on key issues: the speediest possible recognition of
Ukraine's status as a country with a market economy in anti-dumping
investigations, and access of Ukrainian metal goods to the EU-25 market,
taking account of our traditional volumes of deliveries to the entrant
countries. We discussed questions of a bilateral legal treaty basis between
Ukraine and the new, soon to be, EU members and how it will develop after
their entry.

There was a separate discussion of the problem of sensitive documents
concerning veterinary science and the action of non-tariff restrictions in
certification of quality and standards. In a word, there is practical
dialogue at expert level, which makes it possible first to identify problems
in time and second, through joint measures, to seek their resolution.

[Martsynovskyy] The Industrial Union of Donbas company was rejected in the
privatization of the Polish Huta Czestochowa plant, and here one feels
reference to the EU. Did you broach this topic in Brussels?

[Chalyy] Yes, all the more so in that it became a high-profile case
precisely during our visit there. Before that we also discussed questions of
access to the future EU market of Ukrainian metal products. True, the Polish
deputy minister of property, [Andrzej] Szarawarski, in his comments, in
particular public ones, said: the proposal by the Ukrainian company cannot
be realized, since it provides for increasing the production capacities of
Huta Czestochowa, which apparently is counter to the provisions of the
agreement on Poland's accession to the EU.

We asked for explanations from our European colleagues, and their first
reaction was one of surprise. At least, they were not prepared to say
clearly that currently there really were such accords between Poland and the
EU that would pose a problem for our investors in Poland. This is a very
sensitive issue for us. Because when it becomes clear that such restrictions
may really arise, it is also an example of a negative consequence of the
expansion of the union for Ukrainian companies.

And we shall put this question to Brussels and Warsaw. But all the same, it
seems that there is a certain special Polish interpretation of the problem
here... [ellipsis as published] (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Exciting Opportunities in Ukraine for Travel and Tourism
Travel and Tourism Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/tourgallery.htm
=========================================================
4. US RADIO LIBERTY GETS NEW REBROADCASTER IN UKRAINE
It suffers from constant interference from another FM
radio station, which makes the quality of reception poor most of the tme.

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 27, 2004

KIEV - The US-funded Radio Liberty Ukrainian Service will resume
broadcasting in the FM band on 28 February, the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN
reported on 27 February.

The one-hour programme "Morning Liberty" will be rebroadcast by the
Kiev-based Radio Kontynent between 0600 and 0700 local time (0400 and 0500
gmt), UNIAN quoted Radio Liberty as saying.

Radio Liberty's previous Ukrainian partner, Radio Dovira, stopped
rebroadcasting Radio Liberty's programmes on 17 February after Dovira's head
was replaced with a supporter of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Dovira
said that Radio Liberty programming clashed with its new entertainment
format. The Ukrainian opposition, Western critics and Radio Liberty itself
said the move was political and aimed at stifling freedom of speech in
Ukraine in the run-up to the October presidential election.

Radio Kontynent rebroadcasts the BBC Ukrainian Service, Voice of America,
Deutsche Welle and the Western-funded Hromadske Radio (Public Radio). The
station has frequently complained of government pressure, which it says is
politically motivated. It suffers from constant interference from another FM
radio station, which makes the quality of reception poor most of the time.
[Please send queries to kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk]
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
The Story of Ukraine's Long and Rich Culture
Ukrainian Culture Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/cultgallery.htm
=========================================================
5. UKRAINE FLOATS EUROBONDS WORTH 600M DOLLARS

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 27 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 27, 2004

Kiev, 27 February: The Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers has adopted a decision
to issue Eurobonds worth 600m dollars, maturing in seven years and carrying
a 6.875-per-cent coupon, UNIAN has learnt at the Ukrainian Finance Ministry.

The Finance Ministry said this decision followed an analysis of proposals
from investors.

As reported earlier, yesterday the Fitch rating agency rated the Ukrainian
Eurobonds at "B plus". (END)(ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2005, No. 35: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
The Genocidal Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933, HOLODOMOR
Genocide Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
=========================================================
6. MUSEUM IN UKRAINE DISPLAYS CHERNOBYL LEGACY

By Mary Klaus, The Patriot-News
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Sunday, February 29, 2004

KIEV, UKRAINE - In 1979, the accident at Three Mile Island gave the
world a wake-up call about the threat of a nuclear disaster.

Seven years later, Chernobyl was the real thing.

The Chernobyl accident, which happened just 62 miles north of this
capital city of Ukraine, was the worst nuclear disaster in history.
With pictures, video news clips and exhibits, the Chernobyl Museum
here presents a chilling yet fascinating look at that disaster.

During my recent medical mission trip to Ukraine, I visited the
Chernobyl Museum and learned how that nuclear accident caused
problems midstaters feared during the TMI accident.

At 1:23 a.m. April 26, 1986, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station Reactor
4 was operating at about 7 percent capacity during a planned
shutdown. Plant personnel intended to monitor the performance of
turbine generators, which supplied electric power for the plant's own
operation, during a changeover from standard to a backup source of
power.

But the reactor's design made it unstable at low power, and the
operators reportedly were careless about safety precautions during
the test. After a sudden power surge, two explosions destroyed the
reactor core and blasted a large hole in the roof of the reactor
building.

Radioactive debris moved up through this hole into the atmosphere,
carried by a strong updraft. Fires caused by the explosion and the
heat of the reactor core fed the updraft.

An estimated 100 million to 150 million curies of radiation escaped
into the atmosphere before cleanup crews were able to bring the fires
under control and stabilize the situation some two weeks later.

By then, nearly nine tons of radioactive material, 90 times as much
as the Hiroshima bomb, had been released into the sky. Winds over
the following days carried fallout into Belarus, as well as Russia,
Poland, the Baltic region and Scandinavia.

Visitors to the Chernobyl Museum, in an old firehouse, have a "you
are there" experience. The solemn but tasteful displays begin with
dozens of signs of towns that no longer exist because of the
accident.

A clock frozen at 1:23, the time of the accident; firefighter
protective clothing; an ambulance with a canvas litter; and
photographs of the blown up plant reflect the immensity of the
disaster.

Hundreds of pictures of firefighters and rescuers who tried
desperately to contain the disaster and hundreds of other pictures of
children displaced by it give a human face to Chernobyl.

Guides explain that the accident contaminated large areas of land and
caused about 200,000 people around the plant to evacuate and
resettle.

The accident left a legacy of health problems. The accident was
blamed for the rise in the incidence of thyroid cancer among children
in the areas where radiation levels are highest.

Radioactive fallout accumulated in the upper layers of soil, where it
destroyed farmland and threatened surface water and groundwater.
Almost 20 percent of the republic's farmland was removed from
production. The peripheral areas remained at a high risk of
radioactive exposure. The reactor was enclosed in a concrete-and-
steel sarcophagus.

Over the following years, about 600,000 people known as the
liquidators worked on cleanup operations inside the affected zone. An
estimated 180 tons of radioactive material remains trapped inside the
nuclear power plant.

The accident raised concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear
power industry, slowing its expansion for a number of years, while
forcing the Soviet government to become less secretive.

Unable to conceal the accident from the world, Soviet officials
reluctantly acknowledged it during an evening news telecast in Moscow
on April 28 and in brief newspaper accounts on April 30 [1986]. (END)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
MARY KLAUS: 255-8113 or mklaus@patriot-news.com
http://www.pennlive.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/107796428039451.xml?penn
news [paste link together]

NOTE: ["Chernobyl" national museum, Khorevoy, 1., Kyiv, Ukraine
Ph.:8-044 4164329, 4175422, 4174462]
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