"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
THE BBC PROFILES SIXTEEN UKRAINIAN POLITICAL,
GOVERNMENTAL, AND BUSINESS POWERBROKERS
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 100
Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, June 21, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Apr 17, 2004
2. PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, April 21, 2004
3. PARLIAMENT SPEAKER VOLODYMYR LYTVYN
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 07, 2004
4. "OUR UKRAINE" LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 12, 2004
5. OPPOSITION FIGURE YULIYA TYMOSHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 13 May 04
6. SOCIALIST LEADER OLEKSANDR MOROZ
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 7, 2004
7. COMMUNIST LEADER PETRO SYMONENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 07, 2004
8. DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MYKOLA AZAROV
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 27 Apr 04
9. NATIONAL BANK CHAIRMAN SERHIY TYHYPKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Apr 26, 2004
10. FOREIGN MINISTER KOSTYANTYN HRYSHCHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 9 May 04
11. DEFENCE MINISTER YEVHEN MARCHUK
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 11 Jun 04
12. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN PETRO POROSHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 9 Apr 04
13. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN VIKTOR PINCHUK
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 9 Apr 04
14. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN HRYHORIY SURKIS
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 7 May 04
15. PROSECUTOR-GENERAL HENADIY VASYLYEV
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research,UK, 17 Jun 04
16. STATE TAX ADMINISTRATION HEAD FEDIR YAROSHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Jun 18, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. PRESIDENT LEONID KUCHMA
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Apr 17, 2004
Leonid Kuchma, the second president of independent Ukraine, is expected to
step down after the presidential election scheduled for 31 October 2004.
Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled last December that he may stand for
another term in office, despite the fact that the Ukrainian constitution
prohibits one person from serving more than two consecutive presidential
terms. The court argued that this provision of the constitution passed in
1996 does not apply to Kuchma, who was first elected president in 1994.
Kuchma, however, has said on several occasions that he would not stand for
president again.
Kuchma was born into a poor northern Ukrainian family in 1938. His father
was killed by the Nazis in World War Two. In 1960, Kuchma graduated from
university in Dnipropetrovsk - a city from which he would step into big
politics, like Leonid Brezhnev decades before him. Kuchma devoted much of
his life to designing and manufacturing missiles.
In 1960s-80s, he worked at the Pivdenne design bureau and was director of
the Pivdenmash (Yuzhmash) missile manufacturer. In 1990, Kuchma was
elected to parliament. He was prime minister in 1992-93. In 1994, the
post-Soviet industrial elite nominated him for president.
In a hotly contested election in July 1994, Kuchma defeated the first
president of independent Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk. Kuchma ran for president
on promises of civil peace, friendship with Russia, economic reform, and
tough measures against corruption. Ukraine has remained one of the few
post-Soviet states not plagued by ethnic strife; and Russia has become, for
better or for worse, Ukraine's main strategic partner.
Economic performance has, however, been uneven. The five-digit inflation of
1994 was tamed, but economic reform has been slow, and corruption has
plagued all spheres of life, as Kuchma himself admitted on several
occasions. A few people from Kuchma's inner circle - known as "the
oligarchs" - have reportedly accumulated enormous wealth over a short
period, using legal loopholes and nontransparent privatization methods.
Kuchma's second term in office, since 1999, has been marred by scandals.
Kuchma's former bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko, accused him of ordering the
kidnapping of opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, who disappeared in
September 2000. Fragments of conversations which Melnychenko claimed to
have secretly recorded in Kuchma's office implicated the president in abuse
of office, election fraud and physical intimidation of political opponents.
Kuchma flatly denied the accusations.
An international scandal erupted in 2002, when the USA claimed that Kuchma
authorized the sale of hi-tech radar stations to the regime of Saddam
Husayn. Washington then cut aid to Ukraine and distanced itself from Kiev.
Ukrainian radar sets, however, have never been found in Iraq.
When in 2003 Kiev agreed to send troops to support the US-led occupation
forces in Iraq, Washington was mollified. However, reports about corruption
and freedom of speech violations in Ukraine under Kuchma have prevented
Washington from developing closer ties with Kiev.
Though not running for president again, Kuchma is set to be an active player
in this year's election race. A candidate of the ruling elite will not be
able to do without the backing of Kuchma - a man who for 10 years
managed to balance the interests of rival regional groups, "oligarchs", and
ethnic communities in a country deeply divided along linguistic, cultural,
religious, and political lines.
Opposition claims that the real goal of the political reform aimed at
transferring some powers from the president to the prime minister in
parliament, which Kuchma launched last year, is to allow Kuchma steer
the country after the presidential election, possibly as a strong prime
minister.
Kuchma, speaking on his retirement plans on 25 February 2004, said
the following: "I have almost organized my own presidential fund and will
turn my hand to calm politics, where I will have the full and free chance to
say what I think and about everyone." (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
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2. PRIME MINISTER VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, April 21, 2004
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is poised to become one of the
two main contenders for the presidency in the election due to be held on 31
October 2003. Nominated by the parliamentary-government coalition of forces
loyal to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, Yanukovych is thought best placed
among the pro-Kuchma politicians to challenge the popular opposition leader,
Viktor Yushchenko, and to secure safe retirement for the incumbent.
The latest opinion polls have shown Yanukovych overtaking Communist leader
Petro Symonenko, who had been firmly in second place, and edging closer
towards the frontrunner, Yushchenko.
Born into a family of a metalworker and a nurse in 1950 in the east
Ukrainian town of Yenakiyeve and orphaned at the age of five, Yanukovych had
a turbulent childhood, which saw him convicted for beatings and serving time
twice in a penitentiary. The convictions were later overturned, his official
biography says.
Having received a university degree in mechanical engineering at the age of
30, Yanukovych began a successful career as a transport executive in the
coal-mining industry, reaching senior managerial posts and becoming governor
of Donetsk Region, Ukraine's industrial powerhouse populated by 5m people
(in 1997). Yanukovych is regarded as a key figure in the business empire of
Donetsk tycoon Rinat Akhmetov and an initiator of setting up the large
corporation Industrial Union of Donbass.
Yanukovych rose to prominence on the national political scene when Kuchma
named him as prime minister in November 2002. Being viewed as the figurehead
of the Donetsk business and political group, which has been vying for clout
with Dnipropetrovsk and Kiev "oligarchs", Yanukovych is believed to enjoy
the personal trust of Kuchma, whom Yanukovych as a regional governor
supported in all the elections and the 2000 referendum.
Contrary to expectations, the densely-populated and traditionally
pro-Communist Donetsk Region gave more votes to Kuchma than to Symonenko
in the 1999 presidential election run-off. The Yanukovych-led Party of
Regions was also the driving force behind the merger of pro-Kuchma parties
into the For a United Ukraine alliance in the 2001 parliamentary election,
securing the bloc's victory over the opposition's Our Ukraine in Donetsk
Region-in contrast to the rest of the country.
Despite having the physique of a heavyweight boxer (a height of 195 cm) and
his somewhat awkward manner of speaking and carrying himself, often
ridiculed by the Kiev establishment and the opposition, Yanukovych has
surprised his opponents by mastering the Ukrainian language and avoiding any
serious blunders as prime minister.
Analysts say he has succeeded in walking a tightrope between the need to
maintain his image as a representative of Ukraine's Russian-speaking and
Russia-friendly east and the new reputation of a statist determined to
defend national interests.
Having won Vladimir Putin's favour as Kuchma's "consistent successor",
Yanukovych has nevertheless managed to rein in the most fervent proponents
of integration with Russia, stalling plans to reverse the flow of the
controversial Odessa-Brody oil pipeline and somewhat slowing down the
formation of the Single Economic Space of four post-Soviet republic being
pushed for by Russia.
Pundits expect a close contest between Yushchenko and Yanukovych, who has
all the government machinery and the backing of the parliamentary majority
to make up for the gap in popularity ratings. Despite the support publicly
voiced for Yanukovych by the movers and shakers in the
parliamentary-government coalition, such as National Bank governor Serhiy
Tyhypko and presidential chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk, sceptics have
called the coalition's cohesion into question.
People's Democratic Party leader Valeriy Pustovoytenko has already broken
ranks, saying his party is strong enough to field its own candidate, and
casting doubt on the coalition's choice. Speculation is rife that Medvedchuk
may unofficially place his bet on a different candidate while Kuchma himself
may covertly opt to back Yushchenko in return for guarantees of a safe exit.
Yanukovych became a doctor of economics in 2000 and president of the
National Olympic Committee in December 2002. He is married to Lyudmyla, a
housewife, and has two grown-up sons, Oleksandr and Viktor. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
Ukrainian Culture Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/cultgallery.htm
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3. PARLIAMENT SPEAKER VOLODYMYR LYTVYN
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 07, 2004
Volodymyr Lytvyn, 48, has been speaker of the Ukrainian legislature since
2002, when he was elected to parliament as leader of the pro-government For
a United Ukraine bloc of parties. This was the first experience in public
politics for Lytvyn, a career historian and President Leonid Kuchma's former
speechwriter.
Lytvyn was born in a village in quiet northern Zhytomyr Region. He graduated
from the Taras Shevchenko University in Kiev in 1978 with a degree in
history. Since then and until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991 he
taught History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union to university
students and worked in Soviet Ukraine's Communist Party apparatus. In
1991-94 Lytvyn switched to Ukrainian history, and in 1995 he defended a
doctoral thesis on the Ukrainian political elite.
In 1994, the freshly elected Kuchma picked Lytvyn for an assistant position
in his office. Lytvyn quickly climbed the career ladder in Kuchma's
administration. In November 1995 he became its deputy head. In 1996-99,
Lytvyn served as Kuchma's first assistant and chief speechwriter. In
November 1999 he replaced Mykola Biloblotskyy as chief of Kuchma's
administration. Ukrainian journalists then dubbed Lytvyn the eminence grise
for his discreet and effective style.
Hard times came for the ruling elite in the autumn of 2000, when the
president's former bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko accused Kuchma of having
ordered the kidnapping of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. Melnychenko claimed
Lytvyn's was among the voices secretly recorded on the audiotapes
implicating Kuchma, and accused Lytvyn of complicity. Lytvyn angrily denied
the accusations.
When it came to the March 2002 parliamentary elections, Kuchma appointed
the skilful organizer Lytvyn to lead the bloc of pro-government parties, For
a United Ukraine. Lytvyn's task was not easy, given the governing group's
low popularity in the wake of the tape scandal. But he succeeded - using
administrative pressure rather than eloquence or force of conviction, the
opposition alleged. For a United Ukraine came second among party lists and
formed the largest, although short-lived, faction in parliament. In May 2002
Lytvyn was elected speaker by 226 votes - just one ballot more than needed
to secure the position in a legislature bitterly divided between the
opposition and the ruling elite. Ever since, Lytvyn has had to balance
between the interests of parliament's numerous groups to retain his
position. As a result, he is not a close friend or bitter enemy to any of
them, essentially remaining President Kuchma's man.
Lytvyn, suspected of harbouring presidential ambitions by many, has on
several occasions denied that he would run for the top job. Asked what he
would do on retirement in an interview, Lytvyn said he would like to return
to academic work to write a book on the history of government. (END)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDITOR'S NOTE: Speaker Lytvyn was recently elected as head of the
People's Agrarian Party of Ukraine. With this position Lytvyn has
further strengthened his political strength in Ukraine.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
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4. "OUR UKRAINE' LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 12, 2004
Viktor Yushchenko, 50, the leader of the Our Ukraine right-of-centre
opposition bloc, is the current frontrunner in the Ukrainian presidential
race. For more than two years, public opinion polls have been showing that
about a quarter of Ukrainians are ready to vote for Yushchenko, which is
many more than for any other contestant and a significant showing in a
country divided along linguistic, cultural and religious lines.
This will be the first presidential campaign for Yushchenko, but this
banker-turned-opposition-leader is viewed by many as the only contender
capable of beating a candidate of the ruling group.
Yushchenko was born in the village of Khoruzhivka in the northern Ukrainian
Sumy Region. His father served in the Second World War and was sent to
Auschwitz as a prisoner-of-war. On graduating from Ternopil Finance
Institute in 1975, Yushchenko served a brief stint as an accountant at a
collective farm. After military service, Yushchenko's banking career
started.
In 1977-85 he headed an office of the State Savings Bank in a small town in
his native Sumy Region. From there he moved to Kiev to head a department in
the Agricultural Bank. In this bank, later renamed Ukrayina, Yushchenko rose
to be deputy board chairman. In 1993 Yushchenko became head of the
National Bank of Ukraine, which became a factor for stability in the
economic turmoil of the initial post-Soviet years.
Yushchenko's banking career was interrupted in December 1999, when
parliament approved President Leonid Kuchma's proposal to appoint him prime
minister. Under Prime Minister Yushchenko, Ukraine experienced the first
year of post-independence economic growth - 2000. But by trying to eradicate
corruption in the energy industry, to make privatization transparent and
open Ukraine up to the West, Yushchenko upset too many vested interests. In
April 2001 he was voted out of office by an ad-hoc coalition of the ruling
group and the Communists, dismayed at his links with the opposition and his
popularity both at home and in the West.
The Yushchenko-led broad coalition of nationalist forces, Our Ukraine, came
first among parties and blocs in the March 2002 parliamentary election. But
Our Ukraine formed only the second largest faction in the legislature, as
its representatives won only a few contests in the single-seat
constituencies from which half of parliament was formed. In addition, the
ruling group, using administrative pressure, forced a group of MPs to leave
Our Ukraine.
Despite being an opposition force, Our Ukraine has not directly opposed the
ruling group on many important issues, including the appointment of Viktor
Yanukovych as prime minister in 2002 and the dispatch of troops to Iraq in
2003. But Yushchenko has firmly opposed Kuchma's recent plan to curtail
presidential powers in favour of parliament.
Yushchenko usually avoids directly criticizing Kuchma and until recently
preferred to play down his force's stormy relationship with the government
as a mere conflict of generations. He once even called himself a "son" of
President Kuchma. His statements, however, have become more radical in the
run-up to the October 2004 poll.
The west of Ukraine and Kiev are Yushchenko's strongholds, but he is not
popular in the predominantly Russian-speaking east and south of Ukraine.
Many there are afraid of Yushchenko's perceived nationalist orientation. Our
Ukraine scored less than 3 per cent in the densely-populated eastern Donetsk
Region in the 2002 parliamentary election, while support for this bloc in
the Ukrainian traditionalist Ternopil Region in the west exceeded 69 per
cent.
Yushchenko has children from two marriages. His second wife comes from the
US. Yushchenko's hobbies include Ukrainian folk culture and painting. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
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5. OPPOSITION FIGURE YULIYA TYMOSHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, 13 May 04
Yuliya Tymoshenko is a prominent symbol of the Ukrainian anti-presidential
opposition and a leading ally of presidential race favourite Viktor
Yushchenko. Although her party's relations with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine
bloc are uneven, she is widely expected to back Yushchenko's candidacy in
the October 2004 presidential election. During her stint as deputy prime
minister in Yushchenko's cabinet, Tymoshenko went a long way towards
cleaning up Ukraine's corruption-ridden energy sector, in which she herself
was a major player prior to the appointment. But after treading on some
important toes, she was sacked by President Kuchma and spent several months
in jail on fraud charges.
In the past three years she has acquired an image of a firebrand critic of
President Kuchma and formed a political bloc named after herself, which won
twenty-odd seats in the 2002 parliamentary election. Tymoshenko has long
been dogged by fraud allegations dating back to the time when she worked
with fugitive former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who is now on trial in
the US. She insists the charges are politically motivated and being kept
alive by the government in order to discredit her. A US court has recently
dropped all charges against Lazarenko pertaining to his dealing with
Tymoshenko's energy company in the mid-1990s.
Tymoshenko comes from Dnipropetrovsk, a leading Ukrainian industrial centre
where President Kuchma made his career and which gave a name to the
so-called Dnipropetrovsk group. The group includes Pavlo Lazarenko, Kuchma's
son-in-law and influential tycoon Viktor Pinchuk, National Bank head Serhiy
Tyhypko and many other prominent figures. Tymoshenko made her fortunes
running the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine, the company involved in fuel
imports from Russia in the mid-1990s. She was close to Lazarenko for a
while, but after he fled to the USA in 1999 Tymoshenko began an independent
political career.
After the 1999 presidential election, Kuchma appointed the new "cabinet of
reformers" led by Western-minded former National Bank head Viktor
Yushchenko. In the capacity of Yushchenko's deputy for fuel and energy,
Tymoshenko took action to stabilize Ukraine's power generating industry,
which was on the verge of collapse. Tymoshenko had to deal with loss-making
power generating companies, wage arrears at nuclear and conventional power
plants, widespread financial machination at coal mining companies and
depleted fuel reserves. At the time, Ukraine suffered from regular blackouts
in major industrial cities.
Tymoshenko's policy was damaging the interests of business groups running
regional power distribution companies. USDPU MP Hryhoriy Surkis, who was in
control of 10 regional power distribution companies in 2000, is thought to
have suffered after the Yushchenko cabinet persuaded parliament to adopt a
law obliging power distribution companies to clear their debt to power
plants.
Tymoshenko was accused of wrongdoing as the former Unified Energy Systems
head, while pro-presidential TV channels kept mentioning Tymoshenko in the
context of Lazarenko's alleged large scale money laundering.
Under the pressure from Kuchma, Tymoshenko was forced to step down, after
which she was arrested. Imprisoned Tymoshenko soon become the symbol of the
anti-presidential opposition. After a few weeks at a remand centre, a Kiev
district court ruled to release Tymoshenko. After the ruling was passed, the
court head Mykola Zamkovenko was accused of abusing his powers and
subsequently dismissed.
Despite unfavourable forecasts, Tymoshenko's bloc made it into parliament in
2002. After the election, Tymoshenko often criticized Yushchenko who,
Tymoshenko believed, entertained a vain hope of reconciliation with Kuchma.
Tymoshenko urged Yushchenko to adopt a clearly anti-Kuchma platform and to
join the Communists, Socialists and her bloc in a nationwide anti-Kuchma
campaign.
In late 2003, the Communists and Socialists stroke a constitution reform
deal with their apparent enemy, United Social Democratic leader and
presidential administration chief, Viktor Medvedchuk. Yushchenko and
Tymoshenko factions took joint action to disrupt a constitution reform vote
and welcomed the reform failure on 8 April.
In May 2004, western Ukrainian papers said that Tymoshenko might manage
Yushchenko's electoral campaign HQ. Neither Yushchenko nor his MPs denied
these reports as of mid-May.
Ukrainian prosecution still insists on Tymoshenko's involvement in money
laundering and abuse of office but cannot prosecute Tymoshenko as she enjoys
parliamentary immunity. In May 2004, the US court rejected most of charges
against Lazarenko, including a bribe which he had allegedly accepted from
Tymoshenko's Unified Energy Systems. This dealt a blow to a media campaign
against Tymoshenko in Ukraine which widely quoted the US charges implicating
Tymoshenko in Lazarenko's dealings. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
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6. SOCIALIST LEADER OLEKSANDR MOROZ
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Friday, May 7, 2004
If Socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz stands for president this year, this
will be his third presidential campaign. The veteran opposition figure has
been in the top echelon of Ukrainian politics since the late 1980s, and an
MP since 1990. He is perhaps the most experienced and consistent opponent
of President Leonid Kuchma.
Moroz was born into a peasant family in Kiev Region in 1944. Educated as
an agricultural engineer, he worked in the countryside until the mid-1970s,
when he became a Communist functionary. Elected to Ukraine's parliament
shortly before the Soviet Union break-up, Moroz headed the Communist
majority in the legislature until the August 1991 coup in Moscow, when the
Communist Party was temporarily banned.
Moroz then founded the Socialist Party of Ukraine, whose leader he has been
ever since. As parliament speaker in 1994-98, Moroz was the staunchest
opponent of Kuchma's economic reforms, which he believed were too radical.
He has consistently opposed land privatization. He also opposed Kuchma's
earlier attempts to strengthen the presidency vis-a-vis parliament both in
the constitution preparation process in 1996 and in the abortive
constitutional referendum in April 2000.
After Moroz twice came third in two presidential races - in 1994 and 1999 -
many observers thought his best years in politics were in the past. But in
November 2000 Kuchma's fugitive bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko chose
Moroz to publicize at a news conference the scandalous records, which, as
Melnychenko claimed, were secretly made in Kuchma's office.
The records implicated Kuchma in the kidnapping of opposition journalist
Heorhiy Gongadze and physical intimidation of political opponents. Moroz
spearheaded the "Ukraine Without Kuchma" movement, which demanded
Kuchma's resignation. The president denied the accusations and the movement
did not achieve its goal, but it was a major comeback into big politics for
Moroz.
Moroz has always believed that parliament should be stronger than the
president, so he wholeheartedly supported the constitutional reform
proposals aimed at redistributing authority between parliament and the
president in favour of the former, which Kuchma tabled last year.
This drove a wedge between Moroz and the right-of-centre opposition
leaders, Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko, who believe in a
strong presidency. Moroz, who had been widely expected to back
Yushchenko in the election, is now likely to stand for president for a
third time.
Moroz and his Socialist Party essentially express the interests of
smallholders and small and medium-sized businesses. Central Ukraine, where
the small-scale economy dominates, has been the Socialists' natural
stronghold. Moroz's leftist convictions - he still marches under red banners
on 1 May - however, recurrently prevented him from winning the hearts and
minds of the electorate in the conservative west of Ukraine.
But Moroz's attitude to the Soviet past is rather pragmatic. "Whoever isn't
sorry about the demise of the USSR has no heart, and whoever thinks about
its resurrection has no head," he once wrote. Moroz is married and has two
daughters. His hobbies include poetry and chess. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
The Genocidal Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933, HOLODOMOR
Genocide Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
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7. COMMUNIST LEADER PETRO SYMONENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, May 07, 2004
Communist leader Petro Symonenko, 51, is anti-market, anti-American and
pro-Russian. He professes a nostalgic attitude to the Soviet past, drawing
support from the many elderly people impoverished after the collapse of the
Soviet welfare system. Symonenko's voter base has been shrinking, but
opinion polls show that he remains the third most popular presidential
candidate in Ukraine after the right-of-centre opposition leader Viktor
Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Born in Donetsk, Symonenko graduated from the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute
in 1974 with a diploma in engineering. In 1975 Symonenko became a
functionary of the Communist youth organization Komsomol. On joining the
Communist Party in 1978, he climbed the Communist career ladder from deputy
secretary of Donetsk city Komsomol to deputy secretary of the Donetsk
regional Communist Party committee.
In 1991, when the Communist Party was outlawed in Ukraine, Symonenko
moved into business - a fact that he, as an orthodox Marxist, does not like
to recall. Until December 1993 he was deputy director of the Ukrvuhillyamash
machine-building corporation. But when the Communist Party of Ukraine was
founded in June 1993, Symonenko was elected its leader, as a representative
of Donetsk Region, which numerically dominated the party.
In parliament, to which Symonenko was first elected in 1994, his party has
been opposing market reform and President Leonid Kuchma's foreign policy,
which the Communists believe has been excessively pro-Western. Symonenko
stood for president in 1999 and lost the election in the second round to the
incumbent Kuchma, scoring 38 per cent of the popular vote.
The Communist Party did not support the anti-government protests in
2000-01, which erupted when a fugitive former bodyguard accused Kuchma
of having kidnapped opposition journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. The Communists
believed that the protests were inspired by the West. In 2002-03, however,
the Communist joined an anti-Kuchma campaign with the rest of the
opposition.
The government constitutional reform plan, aimed at weakening the presidency
and strengthening parliament, has put an end to the fragile opposition
alliance. Unlike Yushchenko, who believes in strong presidency, Symonenko,
who has long cherished the idea of turning Ukraine into a parliamentary
republic, has backed the plan. Last year Symonenko's party opposed sending
Ukrainian troops to Iraq, and now it is campaigning to recall the
contingent.
When journalists ask Symonenko whether he would stand for president this
year, he usually says it will be up to the party to decide. It is generally
believed, though, that the party will nominate him. Symonenko counts the
ideologically-close Socialist Party of Oleksandr Moroz among his potential
allies. Symonenko's potential voters live mostly in the Russian-speaking
areas in the east and south of Ukraine. But Symonenko's home region,
Donetsk, is no more his stronghold. Prime Minister Yanukovych is more
popular there, polls show. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
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8. DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER MYKOLA AZAROV
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, 27 Apr 04
Mykola Azarov, who combines the posts of Ukrainian first deputy prime
minister and finance minister, is a long-standing ally of President Leonid
Kuchma. Azarov is also understood to be equally close to the Donetsk
business and political group.
The Russian-born politician only recently started making key speeches in
Ukrainian and has been accused by the right-wing opposition of failing to
embrace Ukraine's national identity. Born in Kaluga in 1947 as Nikolay
Pakhlo, he later assumed the family name of his wife, Lyudmyla Azarova.
He earned a geology degree from the prestigious Moscow State University
and worked at a coal mine in Tula, Russia, and then at a mining institute
outside Moscow. Upon moving to Ukraine in 1984, he became deputy head
and then head of a geology and mining institute in Donetsk.
Azarov became involved in politics in the early 1990s. In 1994, he joined
the political council and presidium of the progovernment Regional Revival
party. It was later renamed Party of the Regions and is believed to
represent the Donetsk group's interests. Azarov was elected an MP in
1994, and in 1995-97 he headed parliament's crucial budget committee.
In 1996-2002, he headed the State Tax Administration. Azarov's tenure as tax
chief was marked by accusations of using the office to clamp down on the
opposition. In particular, during the parliamentary election campaign in
2002 an antigovernment web site called Obkom was closed down after the tax
authorities seized its computers and documents. Azarov denied there was any
politics behind the tax inspections.
He was elected to the post of leader of the Party of Regions in March 2001
only to resign from it in December. Azarov said he wanted to forestall
accusations of supporting the party as tax chief in the run-up to the 2002
parliamentary elections. Currently, he heads the party's political council,
which is believed to be the second most important post in the party after
that of its leader, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
When Yanukovych's cabinet was formed in November 2002, Azarov was
appointed to the posts of both first deputy prime minister and finance
minister. However, many doubted whether the two positions should be
combined, saying this gives Azarov too much control over Ukraine's finances.
Azarov's style of management has often been criticized as authoritarian and
high-handed. In January 2004, Economics Minister Valeriy Khoroshkovskyy and
Inna Bohoslovska, who headed the Ukrainian State Committee for Regulatory
Policy and Enterprise, resigned, saying they were pressurized by Azarov.
Analysts suggested that the move signalled a split in the progovernment
camp, as it would have been impossible without the blessing of Viktor
Pinchuk. He is President Kuchma's son-in-law, a major businessman and,
reputedly, a backer of Khoroshkovskyy and Bohoslovska.
As deputy prime minister, Azarov has shown himself to be one on the main
lobbyists for the Single Economic Space, an economic union of Russia,
Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. Despite fears that EU and WTO integration
prospects may suffer, the Single Economic Space treaty was ratified in April
by the Ukrainian parliament, as well as by the parliaments of the other
three member states.
In numerous press interviews, Azarov has pledged allegiance to President
Kuchma, denying ambitions to become president or prime minister. Little is
known about Azarov's hobbies or interests, as he avoids talking about
personal matters. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
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9. NATIONAL BANK CHAIRMAN SERHIY TYHYPKO
BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Apr 26, 2004
Serhiy Tyhypko, the 44-year old chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine,
has frequently been identified as a possible contender for the presidency,
and he has on occasion expressed his willingness to run in the October 2004
elections.
However, with opinion polls suggesting that only around 2-3 per cent of the
electorate would support his presidential bid, Tyhypko has been giving
signals that he will be concentrating instead on building up the party he
leads, Working Ukraine, ahead of the 2006 parliamentary elections.
But Tyhypko appears to have left his options open. Though he said on 15
April that he had been one of those who suggested the nomination Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych as the parliament-government coalition's single
candidate for the presidency, he later said that this choice was only
provisional and Working Ukraine would not formally endorse Yanukovych's
candidacy until the end of May.
BIOGRAPHY
Born in a small village in Moldova, Tyhypko graduated from the
Dnipropetrovsk Metallurgical Institute. After military service, Tyhypko
devoted himself to activity in the communist youth organization (Komsomol).
By the time the Soviet Union collapsed, he had risen to first secretary of
the Dnipropetrovsk regional Komsomol committee.
In October 1991, Tyhypko started his financial career as first deputy
chairman of the Dnipro commercial bank. The following year, he became
chairman of the board of directors of the recently established Privatbank.
Over the next five and a half years, under Tyhypko's management, Privat
rapidly grew into a powerful Dnipropetrovsk-based industrial and financial
group with holdings in the metallurgy, chemicals and fuel sectors.
To this day, Tyhypko tends to be associated with the Privat Group. However,
he insists that he no longer has any connection with the group. In fact,
Tyhypko was on paper only a minor shareholder in the group, where he served
as a hired manager. The main owner of Privat Group is now recognized to be
Ihor Kolomoyskyy.
In 1997, Tyhypko was appointed deputy prime minister for economic issues in
the government of Pavlo Lazarenko, who also had roots in Dnipropetrovsk. He
continued in this post under Lazarenko's successor, Valeriy Pustovoytenko.
During this period, the youthful and vigorous Tyhypko represented the "face
of Ukrainian reforms", negotiating with the IMF and western governments, and
wooing foreign investors. Meanwhile, he continued to be seen as Privat's
lobbyist in Kiev.
When the widely respected former National Bank governor, Viktor Yushchenko,
was appointed prime minister in late 1999, Tyhypko was moved to the post of
economics minister in an apparent demotion.
Tyhypko soon clashed with Yushchenko's deputy prime minister for fuel and
energy, Yulia Tymoshenko, over her energy market reforms, which were said
to harm the interests of Privat and other major players. Yushchenko backed
Tymoshenko, and Tyhypko quit the government in Spring 2000.
Tyhypko was soon elected to parliament from a first-past-the-post
constituency. He joined Working Ukraine, a party with links to
Dnipropetrovsk business, in particular, the influential industrialist Viktor
Pinchuk, later to become the president's son-in-law. Tyhypko was elected
chairman by the party congress in November 2000. Despite its ties to big
business, Tyhypko describes Working Ukraine as being "left of centre".
Tyhypko became a prominent critic of the Yushchenko government in
parliament, and he was one of the driving forces behind the no-confidence
vote in which leftist and centrist forces joined to bring it down in April
2001. Tyhypko was widely tipped for the vacant post of prime minister, but
the job eventually went to Anatoliy Kinakh.
Labour Ukraine entered parliament in the March 2002 elections as part of the
pro-presidential For a United Ukraine bloc and subsequently formed a faction
with Kinakh's Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
Meanwhile, Tyhypko had set up the TAS (the initials of his daughter Tyhypko
Anna Serhiyivna) conglomerate to control his financial and industrial
holdings, many of which appeared to have been transferred from the Privat
Group.
CURRENT POST
Tyhypko controversially replaced Volodymyr Stelmakh as National Bank
governor in December 2002 after Prime Minister Kinakh severely criticized
the bank's activity. The pro-presidential majority removed Stelmakh at the
third attempt in a vote by ballot papers after the opposition blocked the
electronic voting system.
The move was widely seen as part of a deal to distribute government
posts among the factions making up the parliament majority and was
criticized by the opposition as an attempt to politicize the banking system.
In response to suggestions of a possible conflict of interest, Tyhypko
pledged to disinvest from the TAS group and leave Working Ukraine.
However, he remains party chairman and there have been no reports
that he has sold his stake in TAS.
The nattily-dressed Tyhypko is regularly seen on TV, and he gained extra
public visibility earlier this year when he appeared in a much-aired public
service broadcast expounding the virtues of the new 20 hryvnya bill.
After the failure of the parliament majority and left wing factions to
approve the political reform bill on 8 April, serious political problems
have emerged for Working Ukraine. The Party of Industrialists and
Entreprenuers left the joint parliament faction and Working Ukraine itself
lost a number of prominent members including Pinchuk. Pinchuk insisted,
however, that his departure was not the result of conflict with Tyhypko, who
he insisted remained a friend.
Tyhypko is a French speaker and reportedly a chevalier of the Legion of
Honour. His hobbies include weightlifting. Like his predecessor at the
National Bank, Viktor Yushchenko, he is an amateur beekeeper.
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10. FOREIGN MINISTER KOSTYANTYN HRYSHCHENKO
BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 9 May 04
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko is a strong advocate of
the country's "European choice". A former ambassador in western Europe and
the United States, Hryshchenko is credited with having done much to rebuild
Ukraine's relations with the West, after they were severely shaken by a
series of scandals during Leonid Kuchma's second presidential term. However,
Hryshchenko's pro-Western stance has reportedly brought him into conflict
with the more pro-Russian elements in the presidential administration and
the security services, leading to an apparent marginalization of the Foreign
Ministry's role in policy making.
Born in Kiev in 1953, Hryshchenko graduated from the international law
department of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and
trained as an interpreter. Fluent in English and French, he began his career
on the staff of the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 1976.
Between 1981 and 1991, Hryshchenko held various posts in the Soviet Foreign
Ministry. At the time of Ukraine's independence, he was first secretary of
the department for arms reduction and disarmament at the Soviet Foreign
Ministry.
Hryshchenko later served in the arms control and disarmament department of
the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. He was a member of the Ukrainian delegations
at the START-1 and ABM treaty negotiations. He also played a leading role in
negotiations with Russia on dividing the Black Sea Fleet.
In 1995, Hryshchenko was appointed deputy foreign minister. His
responsibilities included European security, bilateral relations with Asian,
Pacific, African and Middle Eastern countries, and negotiating on border
delimitation with Russia, Belarus and Moldova.
>From 1998 to 2000, he served as Ukraine's ambassador to Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg and headed its mission to NATO.
In January 2000, Hryshchenko was appointed ambassador to the United States.
Hryshchenko's term in Washington coincided with a difficult period in
relations between Ukraine and the United States, which cooled significantly
following the unsolved murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze in September
2000 and the release of scandalous recordings allegedly made in President
Leonid Kuchma's study. Relations deteriorated still further in September
2002 after the US government said it had authenticated excerpts from the
recordings in which Kuchma appeared to approve the sale of sophisticated
Kolchuga radar systems to Iraq.
But by the time Hryshchenko left Washington in summer 2003, relations had
improved significantly. No Kolchugas were found in Iraq, and Ukraine became
one of the largest contributors of troops to the US-led coalition in Iraq.
Hryshchenko had reportedly lobbied for the Ukrainian contingent to be sent
to Iraq.
In September 2003, Hryshchenko was appointed foreign minister in place of
Anatoliy Zlenko, who had been forced to retire on reaching the age of 65. In
an article devoted to Zlenko's possible successors, the analytical weekly
Zerkalo Nedeli wrote that Hryshchenko would be acceptable to presidential
administration head Viktor Medvedchuk, with whom he was said to have carried
out "numerous joint projects", but not to the head of the administration's
foreign policy department, Anatoliy Orel, and pro-Russian elements in the
security services. The same newspaper subsequently reported that Hryshchenko
and Orel dislike each other intensely, quoting witnesses who said that their
differences were sometimes expressed in undiplomatic language.
However, Orel appeared to regain the upper hand in November when a
presidential decree was signed putting foreign policy directly under the
control of his department in the presidential administration.
When Kuchma and Russia's Vladimir Putin signed an accord on the joint use of
the Kerch Strait and Azov Sea in Kerch on 24 December, a document widely
seen as advantageous to Russia, it was reported that the Ukrainian
delegation at the negotiations included Medvedchuk and Orel, but not
Hryshchenko. (END)
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11. DEFENCE MINISTER YEVHEN MARCHUK
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, 11 Jun 04
General Yevhen Marchuk, 63, became Ukraine's defence minister in June 2003.
The mandate he received from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is not easy -
to bring the oversized and cash-strapped Ukrainian army in line with NATO
standards. Marchuk's ambitious reform plan provides for cutting the army
almost by half, down to 200,000 servicemen by 2006. This plan's financing is
rather up to the government and parliament, but Marchuk as a military
reformer has one advantage over most of his predecessors - he comes from the
secret service, not from army ranks, so his hands are not tied by corporate
links. In theory, it should be easier for him to expose army corruption and
sack redundant generals. And Marchuk's fluency in English and German may be
helpful in talks with Brussels officials.
Marchuk came to politics from the KGB, which employed him at the age of 22,
when he graduated from Kirovohrad Pedagogical College with a diploma in
Ukrainian and German. By 1990, Marchuk had climbed the career ladder in the
secret service up to the post of first deputy chairman of Soviet Ukraine's
KGB. In 1991, Marchuk's briefly served as the Ukrainian defence and security
minister, and in 1991-94 he headed the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
Marchuk became prime minister in 1995, only to be sacked a year later by
Kuchma with a rare formulation "for the active building of a political
image".
In 1998, he was elected to parliament as No 2 on the list of the United
Social Democratic Party of the current presidential administration chief,
Viktor Medvedchuk. He left the party when it refused to support his
presidential bid in 1999. As an opposition right-of-centre candidate with an
anti-corruption platform, he came fifth in the race, scoring 8.1 per cent of
the popular vote.
Kuchma, who won the election, appointed his former rival as secretary of the
Security and Defence Council in November 1999. In this position, Marchuk
opposed an action plan for reforms in the energy industry, drafted by the
then Deputy Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. But Marchuk's efforts as
Kuchma's chief security aide were mainly concentrated on bringing Ukraine
closer to NATO. He continues this job as the defence minister.
Marchuk has not displayed any desire to run for president for a second time,
though a few Ukrainian newspapers suggested he might do so. Marchuk is one
of the most experienced politicians in the country, yet he is not a member
of any political party. As a state official, Marchuk is not involved in
business, but he is linked to the "serious" daily newspaper Den, which is
edited by his wife. Marchuk has two grown-up children from a previous
marriage. (END)
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Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
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12. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN PETRO POROSHENKO
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, 9 Apr 04
A top Ukrainian businessman, MP Petro Poroshenko, is considered to be a
major financier of Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's
presidential campaign. Poroshenko controls the Ukrprominvest concern that
incorporates chocolate factories across Ukraine, a bus assembly plant in
Lutsk, a Kiev shipyard and many smaller enterprises like the Kiev-based taxi
company Prominvest.
Poroshenko controls the Mriya bank and holds the post of a deputy chairman
of the National Bank of Ukraine supervisory board. In addition, Poroshenko
controls a network of media outlets across Ukraine including the
pro-opposition 5 Kanal national TV channel, the Niko FM entertainment radio
and several newspapers in regions.
In Yushchenko's Our Ukraine faction, Poroshenko heads the Solidarity group
closely connected to Poroshenko's own Solidarity Party which he founded in
2000. Both the party and group are staunch supporters of Yushchenko.
Poroshenko has been appointed Yushchenko's campaign coordinator and envoy
for talks with campaign allies.
In parliament, Poroshenko holds the post of the budget committee head who is
known for its criticism of the 2004 state budget. The cabinet, Poroshenko
believes, has concealed a dozen billion hryvnyas of budget revenues which
will be used to finance the presidential bid of a pro-government candidate.
As an unwavering supporter of Yushchenko, Poroshenko has been an object
of attacks that are believed to be coordinated by the presidential
administration. In parliament, Poroshenko was accused of distributing state
budget funds in favour of constituencies held by opposition MPs.
Poroshenko's businesses were accused of tax evasion and tax audits were held
at many of his companies at the same time, thereby effectively disrupting
their operation. Poroshenko's bus assembly plant in Lutsk lost tax
privileges which is was entitled to as a domestic vehicle building company.
Poroshenko's 5 Kanal TV is facing closure as its broadcasting license could
be withdrawn in favour of an unpopular Kiev-based channel.
However, Poroshenko remains defiant. The 5 Kanal TV channel remain on the
air. His chocolate factories produce new brands of chocolates, the Lutsk bus
plant keeps manufacturing popular buses called Bohdan following a petition
to the Ukrainian cabinet from the Japanese Isuzu car maker which supplies
engines to Poroshenko's buses. Poroshenko's Ukprominvest is said to
cooperate with companies controlled by the Ukrainian Prosecutor-General
Hennadiy Vasylyev.
Petro Poroshenko was born in 1965, is married, has a son and two daughters.
Yushchenko became the godfather of Poroshenko's twin-daughters in 2000.
Poroshenko has admitted to have personal ties with the Ukrainian parliament
speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn. At an early stage of his political career,
Poroshenko was a members of the pro-presidential United Social Democratic
Party and enjoyed the political patronage of the then presidential
administration head Lytvyn. However, in 2000 Poroshenko formed his own
Solidarity parliament group which subsequently voted against ousting
Yushchenko as prime minister. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 100: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
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13. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN VIKTOR PINCHUK
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 9 Apr 04
Viktor Pinchuk is one of the most influential and richest politicians in
Ukraine. He is married to President Leonid Kuchma's daughter and his wealth
is reported to amount to 1.5bn dollars.
Pinchuk is widely believed to be one of the leaders of the so-called
Dnipropetrovsk business group. He is also an informal leader of the Working
Ukraine party, which is headed by National Bank of Ukraine chairman Serhiy
Tyhypko. Also associated with the Dnipropetrovsk group are major businessman
Andriy Derkach and Deputy Prime Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk. President
Leonid Kuchma's career also started in Dnipropetrovsk.
Pinchuk's biggest asset is the Interpipe corporation, which specializes in
pipe production (reportedly owning pipe factories in Nyzhnyodniprovsk,
Novomoskovsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Nikopol, all in Dnipropetrovsk Region).
Pinchuk is also said to be linked to a number of major steel mills (the
Dniprovskyy metallurgical plant, the Nikopol ferroalloy plant), sugar
refineries and banks (Kredyt-Dnipro and Finansy i Kredyt).
Pinchuk is in control of a powerful media empire which consists of
nationwide TV channels ICTV, STB and Novyy Kanal, and the Fakty i
Kommentarii tabloid. Although Pinchuk-controlled media are strictly
propresidential, analysts say that their criticism of the opposition is not
as scathing as that offered by outlets owned by another reputed Ukrainian
media mogul, presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk.
Relations between the two major propresidential figures, Pinchuk and
Medvedchuk, were reported to be cool rather than friendly, which some
analysts attributed to their vying for influence on President Kuchma.
Russian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin was recently reported as
intending to form a business alliance with Pinchuk and Unified Energy System
of Russia chief Anatoliy Chubays after a conflict with Medvedchuk and his
close ally, reputed tycoon Hryhoriy Surkis.
Pinchuk was reported to have had a close relationship with President
Kuchma's daughter, Olena Franchuk, since 1997-early 1998. The two officially
got married in 2002, this is a second marriage for both Pinchuk and
Franchuk. In 2003, Olena Franchuk gave birth to a daughter, called Kateryna.
Olena Franchuk is currently marketing director at Kyivstar, one of the two
biggest Ukrainian mobile operators. In late 2003, Olena Franchuk set up a
fund in her name to fight AIDS, based on Pinchuk's contributions.
During a visit to Ukraine by financier George Soros in late March 2004,
Pinchuk said Soros and he are going to launch a joint project to set up a
network of legal advice centres in Ukraine.
Pinchuk usually keeps a low public profile and has never held top
civil-service posts. In 1997-1999 he was an advisor to President Kuchma.
Pinchuk is currently a member of parliament in the Working Ukraine faction.
One of his few recent media appearances was in reports about a modern art
museum he set up in Kiev.
Pinchuk is Jewish, and is said to be linked to a number of Jewish
organizations and the Jewish-Ukrainian reputed media mogul Vadym
Rabynovych. Pinchuk's hobbies include art, music and theatre. (END)
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14. BUSINESSMAN/POLITICIAN HRYHORIY SURKIS
BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, 7 May 04
Hryhoriy Surkis, 54, is an MP and best known as the owner of the top
football club Dynamo Kiev. But he is also one of those well-connected
businessmen who are referred to as "the oligarchs". Surkis is believed to be
the most affluent member of the informal group of Kiev-based tycoons dubbed
"the big seven" by journalists.
While his long-time partner in business and politics Viktor Medvedchuk is
famous as a public politician, being leader of the United Social Democratic
Party (USDP) and head of the presidential administration, Surkis has
concentrated on business. Surkis's well-advertised foray into big politics
ended in crushing defeat in the 1999 Kiev mayoral election. Surkis's
business interests range from football and media to petrol and power
engineering. "Personally, I have been in business since the age of 20," he
once said in an interview.
Surkis was born into a Jewish family in Odessa in 1949. In 1972 he graduated
from the Kiev Institute of Food Industry with a diploma in engineering. In
1972-1991 he worked in the construction industry in Kiev. As a manager
responsible for material provision, he accumulated his first capital and
made friends with local officials, who would later help him enter the world
of politics. He started his own trading business in 1991. In 1993 he founded
the Slavutych trading concern and bought Dynamo Kiev.
Surkis and Medvedchuk backed incumbent Leonid Kravchuk in the 1994
presidential elections; nevertheless, they managed to established good
personal relations with his successor Leonid Kuchma, and became his informal
advisers. Surkis has been a member of the USDP central council since 1995
and president of the National Football Federation since 1996. In 1998 Surkis
was elected to parliament on the USDP list. In 1999 he challenged incumbent
Oleksandr Omelchenko in Kiev mayoral elections, but was defeated, scoring
less than 17 per cent. He was elected to parliament for a second time in
2002.
Unlike most of his fellow "oligarchs", Surkis does not shun public
attention, but he prefers to be associated with football and politics,
rather than big business. As an MP, Surkis is prohibited from conducting
managerial activities, but he is believed to control large stakes in
businesses ranging from banking, insurance, agriculture, hotel business and
petrol trade to mass media - Surkis controls the Kiyevskiye Vedomosti
popular tabloid and is linked to the Inter, TET, and One Plus One TV
channels. Surkis has repeatedly denied reports saying that he controls a
number of regional electricity networks. (END)
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15. PROSECUTOR-GENERAL HENADIY VASYLYEV
PROFILE: BBC Monitoring Service Research,UK, 17 Jun 04
The nomination and parliamentary approval of Henadiy Vasylyev as Ukraine's
prosecutor-general in November 2003 is viewed as one of the landmark
political achievements by the powerful Donetsk regional business group in
Kiev. Vasylyev, a professional lawyer with a long record as public
prosecutor, seemed keen to swap his high post of first deputy parliamentary
speaker for the top law-enforcement job.
Just like his two predecessors, Vasylyev is regarded as a loyal supporter of
President Leonid Kuchma, but apparently he is a lot more ambitious
politically. The opposition media has also pointed to his considerable
business interests, which extend beyond his home region of Donbass and even
Ukraine.
Vasylyev, 50, was born in Donetsk and received a degree in law in 1976 in
Kharkiv. He worked in the Donetsk Region prosecutor's office from 1976 to
1998, when he had to give up the post of Donetsk Region prosecutor after
being elected to the Ukrainian parliament from a single-seat constituency.
He had been a lawmaker, occasionally moving from faction to faction in the
propresidential camp ever since - until Kuchma nominated him as chief
prosecutor.
According to media reports, Vasylyev represents one of the largest
businesses in eastern Ukraine, the international concern Enerho, which owns
a bank, a coke chemical plant, an agricultural firm and several coal mines,
including two in Russia's Kuzbass. Although he has a vested interest in
promoting the Donetsk "conquest" of Kiev and Ukraine, Vasylyev has been
expected to vie for clout with other Donetsk tycoons, such as Rinat Akhmetov
and Vitaliy Hayduk.
Vasylyev is well connected with pro-Kuchma groups from other regions, such
as the Working Ukraine party, linked with Kuchma's son-in-law Viktor
Pinchuk, and the United Social Democratic Party of Ukraine, led by
presidential chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk. He has also been reported to
cooperate with prominent opposition businessman Petro Poroshenko.
Vasylyev did not mince his words in assessing the work of his predecessor,
Svyatoslav Piskun, before and after taking over. As deputy speaker, he
accused Piskun of "running away from MPs" and ignoring their inquiries. As
prosecutor-general, Vasylyev brushed aside Piskun's public statements that
many of the high-profile cases were about to be solved, stating that
investigations into cases like journalist Gongadze's murder would be
"started from a clean slate". This prompted the opposition to suggest that
Piskun may have been sacked for making too much progress.
Vasylyev carried out a decisive and purposeful reshuffle at the
Prosecutor-General's Office, replacing all deputy prosecutors-general and
many of the regional prosecutors, which has put him firmly in control of the
system. His six deputies distinctly fall into three categories: loyal
Donetsk colleagues, people close to the presidential administration and
efficient functionaries.
Despite his criticism of Piskun, Vasylyev appears to follow exactly in his
predecessor's footsteps, albeit more subtly, causing the opposition to
repeat its accusations that the Prosecutor-General's Office is guided by
political expediency rather than rule of law. Just like Piskun, Vasylyev has
instituted a new case against opposition figure Yuliya Tymoshenko, has
pressed murder charges against fugitive former Prime Minister Pavlo
Lazarenko and has dismissed opposition claims of vote-rigging in the
Mukacheve mayoral election in western Ukraine. Vasylyev is also known as a
proponent of toughening punishment for offences and concentrating even more
power in the hands of prosecutors.
The parliamentary mandate he had to renounce has "remained in the family" as
the by-election in Vasylyev's Donetsk constituency was won by a landslide by
his brother Oleksandr in what the opposition described as a victory of the
government machinery and a result of intimidation of voters. The two
brothers are effectively controlling the prosecutor's office, auditing
bodies and the tax administration in Donetsk Region, having placed faithful
associates in the posts they had held themselves. (END)
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16. STATE TAX ADMINISTRATION HEAD FEDIR YAROSHENKO
BBC Monitoring Service Research, UK, Jun 18, 2004
Fedir Yaroshenko was appointed head of the State Tax Administration of
Ukraine on 11 June. The move is widely seen as strengthening the positions
of First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov, restoring
much of his control over the administration he once headed. Both Yaroshenko
and Azarov are linked to the Donetsk business and political group, which is
also represented by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
Yaroshenko's appointment followed President Kuchma's harsh criticism of the
previous tax chief, Yuriy Kravchenko. Kuchma blamed Kravchenko for falling
VAT proceeds and accused him of being "too preoccupied with administrative
methods".
Contrary to expectations, Kravchenko was not replaced with his first deputy
Serhiy Medvedchuk, the brother of influential presidential administration
chief and United Social Democratic Party leader Viktor Medvedchuk. Some
analysts say that by backing a Donetsk rather than a United Social
Democrat-linked candidate, President Kuchma reinforced a delicate system of
checks and balances within his entourage.
Yaroshenko is a rather low-profile official with a background which links
him firmly to Mykola Azarov and the Donetsk group. Prior to his appointment
as tax chief, Yaroshenko was Azarov's first deputy at the Finance Ministry.
Earlier, since 1997, Yaroshenko was first deputy head of the State Tax
Administration, then headed by Azarov.
Born in the Donetsk Region town of Khartsyzk in 1949, Yaroshenko graduated
from the Voroshylovhrad (now Luhansk) agricultural institute in 1976 and
then worked as accountant and director of several state-run poultry farms in
Donetsk Region.
In January 1997, Yaroshenko, then head of the Yenakiyeve poultry farm and
the Donetskptakhoprom (Donetsk poultry) company, was appointed first deputy
head of the State Tax Administration. Azarov became the administration's
head in October 1996. In 2002, Yaroshenko defended a candidate of sciences
degree thesis dealing with vitamin content in fowl.
In February 2003, less than four months after Azarov became finance
minister, Yaroshenko was appointed state secretary to the Finance Ministry,
which effectively meant deputizing for Azarov. In July 2003, the posts of
ministerial state secretaries were abolished, and Yaroshenko officially
became the first deputy finance minister.
Yaroshenko's return to the State Tax Administration is likely to boost plans
earlier voiced by Azarov to subordinate the tax authorities to the Finance
Ministry.
Kravchenko's resignation was welcomed by the opposition, which had accused
him of using the tax authorities to clamp down on businesses and media
outlets linked to the opposition. Opponents of the current authorities
voiced hopes that Yaroshenko will make the administration's activities more
fair and transparent.
The appointment of Yaroshenko, however, was severely criticized by the
progovernment parliamentary faction of Democratic Initiatives - People's
Power. One of its leaders, propresidential parliamentary majority
coordinator Stepan Havrysh, said that the faction should have been consulted
prior to the move, because the post of tax chief is part of the faction's
quota of government portfolios. (END)
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