"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"
MOST POPULAR TV CHANNELS CONTINUE TO SHOW BIAS
"In the second week of the Ukrainian presidential election campaign (11-18
July), the most popular TV channels continued to display bias in favour of
the prime minister's bid. State-run UT1, channels associated with
presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk and his United Social
Democratic Party (Inter and One Plus One), as well as Ukrayina TV, a major
private channel broadcasting from Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's home
city of Donetsk, remained the most active supporters of his candidacy."
[article number nine]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 121
Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, THURSDAY, July 22, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. U.S. AMBASSADOR HERBST SAYS AUTHORITIES PRESSURE ON
VOLIA HINDERING AMERICAN INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE
Anastasia Savytska, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, July 21, 2004
2. US AMBASSADOR HERBST SAYS UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES IN
PRESSURING CABLE TV FIRM SCARE INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
3. BLACK SEA REGION TAKES CENTRE STATE AS
US WHEAT EXPORTS WILL FALL, UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
By Namrata Nadkarni, Lloyds List, London, UK, Jul 22, 2004
4. UKRAINE READIES NEW NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR LAUNCH
AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
5. UKRAINIAN GREENS SAY DANUBE CANAL PLAN IS "WORST
OF ALL OPTIONS" SPEAK OUT AGAINST CONSTRUCTION
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, July 21, 2004
6. LOCAL UKRAINIAN NEWSPAPER REFUSED PRINTING AFTER
COVERING YUSHCHENKO'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
7.LOCAL UKRAINIAN NEWSPAPER REFUSED PRINTING AFTER
COVERING YUSHCHENKO'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
8. OUR UKRAINE ACCUSES LVIV REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF
FORCING LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS TO COLLECT SIGNATURE
IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YANUKOVYCH
Vasyl Trukhan, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 22, 2004
9. MOST POPULAR TV CHANNELS IN UKRAINE CONTINUE TO
DISPLAY BIAS IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
BBC Monitoring Research Service, UK, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
10. UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER CALLS HIS AGENCY THE
"ARMED ORGAN OF THE AUTHORITIES"
COMMENTARY by Taras Kuzio
Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, 21 July 2004, Volume 1, Issue 56
11. SOVIET ICON LENIN DIED OF SYPHILIS-EXPERTS SAY
By Megan Goldin, REUTERS, Beersheba, Israel, July 20, 2004
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
========================================================
1. U.S. AMBASSADOR HERBST SAYS AUTHORITIES PRESSURE ON
VOLIA HINDERING AMERICAN INVESTMENTS IN UKRAINE
Anastasia Savytska, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, July 21, 2004
KYIV - The United States' Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst has
expressed the belief that the Ukrainian authorities' pressure on the Volia
cable television company, the largest cable television operator in Kyiv
against which the prosecutor's office has filed three criminal cases, is
hindering American investments in the Ukrainian economy. Herbst
expressed this view to journalists during a visit to the Volia cable
television company.
"When [investment] funds see that they are under pressure, they will not
want to invest [in Ukraine]," Herbst said. According to him, the pressure
that is presently being exerted on the Volia cable television company, which
is an American investment project, casts a shadow over American investments
in Ukraine in general.
According to Herbst, the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, who are
hindering development of the businesses of such companies as Volia, could
also create great difficulties for further foreign investments in Ukraine.
"It is important to support the venture funds that are operating in Ukraine
in order to attract investments to Ukraine," Herbst said.
The Volia group of companies is owned by the Ukrainian Growth Fund (UGF),
which is managed by the SigmaBleyzer international company. As Ukrainian
News earlier reported, the Volia cable television company recently accused
Kyiv's Dniprovskyi tax inspectorate of illegally seizing documents from the
company.
The Kyiv prosecutor's office announced on June 10 that it had completed its
investigation into a criminal case in which executives of the Volia company
were accused of engaging in broadcasting activity without obtaining the
corresponding license until October 16, 2003, thus inflicting losses
totaling UAH 10 million on the government. The Volia cable television
company considers the allegations baseless.
In addition to the criminal case alleging operation without licenses, the
Kyiv prosecutor's office has opened three criminal cases accusing the
company of distributing pornographic products. The Volia cable television
company provides analogue cable television broadcasting services under the
brand name Volia Cable and digital broadcasting under the brand name Volia
Premium TV. It also provides Internet access via cable networks under the
Volia Broadband trademark. Over 500,000 apartments in Kyiv receive Volia's
cable services. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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========================================================
2. US AMBASSADOR HERBST SAYS UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES IN
PRESSURING CABLE TV FIRM SCARE INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS
ICTV television, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
KIEV - [Presenter] Pressure on the Kiev cable TV operator, Volia Cable,
may scare foreign investments away from Ukraine, said US Ambassador John
Herbst, who visited Volia's premises today. Herbst said that Volia Cable's
investors are US investment funds. He is sure that US businesses want to see
that their funds work effectively in order to continue increasing cash flow.
Prosecutors in Kiev's Dnipropetrovskyy district [as heard: have accused the
company's management of distributing pornography, violating license
agreements and money-laundering. Meanwhile, Volia Cable, which serves
520,000 subscribers, has complained of pressure from prosecutors.
[Herbst, in English overlaid with Ukrainian translation] Volia Cable is
experiencing huge pressure from representatives of the authorities. When the
funds see that their investment here is under threat, they won't invest
money here, and Ukrainians will not receive new services.
[Volia Cable director Serhiy Boyko and his deputy Valeriy Salyamov were
detained at the end of June on charges of distributing pornography,
violating license agreements and money-laundering. The two were released
from custody by the Kiev appeals court on July 7 a day after a Kiev economic
court rejected a separate lawsuit in which prosecutors demanded that the
company surrender almost 2m dollars in illegal profits - see
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 0819 gmt 7 Jul 04.] (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. BLACK SEA REGION TAKES CENTRE STATE AS
US WHEAT EXPORTS WILL FALL, UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
By Namrata Nadkarni, Lloyds List, London, UK, Thursday, Jul 22, 2004
LONDON - Shipowners can expect a shift in the wheat export market, with the
focus moving to the Black Sea area. This region, made up of countries such
as the Ukraine and Russia, experienced a large harvest two years ago which
saw it switch roles from an importer to an exporter.
The next year the harvests were eagerly examined as a possible source for
good quality wheat, but unfavourable weather conditions led to a drop in
production that had the countries revert to large imports of the grain. This
year a variety of factors, including good weather and a better
infrastructure for harvesting the grain, has led to a a spectacular harvest
for both Ukraine and Russia and will see exports from both these countries
increase.
This will come as good news to countries hoping to import wheat in light of
the fact that the recent bad weather in Kansas in the US has led to such a
deterioration in the white wheat crop that more than half of it is no longer
fit for human consumption. The 445,000 acre crop fell prey to a prolonged
drought which was then further damaged by untimely harvest rains, causing
the grain to suffer sprout damage.
David Frey, administrator of the Kansas Wheat Commission, said: 'It was a
setback for hard white wheat in Kansas this year, no question about it.'
However, he is not completely disheartened, adding: 'It makes excellent
cattle feed.'
With a large percentage of Kansas' contribution to total wheat exports
damaged, it is very likely that US export prices will rise and buyers will
have to look to other countries for a more economical option. Kansas grew
two thirds of all white wheat grown in the US last year.
As if to supply a ready-made option to the buyers' conundrum, Russia is
boasting a bumper harvest this year, with the Russian Agriculture Ministry
declaring harvesting at twice that seen in the same period last year
At the same time last year only 6.82m tonnes of grain was harvested,
compared to the impressive 12.8m tonnes this year. This has allowed the
ministry to forecast a net grain yield of 76m tonnes, as compared to 67.2m
tonnes in 2003.
The rise in the output has been attributed to a higher crop yield as well as
a faster tempo of harvesting. Local experts are reported as being happy with
the quality of grain harvested at this time. Thus, if these conditions
remain constant, it is likely that trade routes from the Black Sea area will
see a rise in activity. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
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4. UKRAINE READIES NEW NUCLEAR REACTOR FOR LAUNCH
AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
KIEV - A new nuclear reactor in Ukraine has been filled with fuel in
preparation for the start of its operation, while a second is set to follow
suit soon, officials said Wednesday. Reactor No. 2 at the Khmelnitskyi plant
in western Ukraine is expected to begin operation on Aug. 14, plant
officials said in a statement. A new reactor at the Rivne plant, also in the
west, is set to be completed later this year.
Once the new reactors are launched, the European Union will help finance
safety upgrades at them through a 67 million euro (US$83 million) loan
program announced Tuesday. The money will be in addition to a 34 million
euro (US$42 million) loan recently approved by the European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development [EBRD] for the same purpose. Ukraine has
committed to modernizing its 13 operating nuclear reactors.
It has shut down Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident,
but is asking Western donors for additional US$350 million to replace a
shelter securing the destroyed reactor. (am/vi/sbg) (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
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========================================================
5. UKRAINIAN GREENS SAY DANUBE CANAL PLAN IS "WORST
OF ALL OPTIONS" SPEAK OUT AGAINST CONSTRUCTION
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, July 21, 2004
KIEV - Representatives of Ukraine's For Wild Nature coalition, the Kiev
ecological-cultural centre and the Pechenihy environmental organization have
spoken out against the construction of a ship canal in the Danube biosphere
reserve. Building the canal through the middle of the reserve is the worst
of all options, Volodymyr Boreyko, director of the ecological-cultural
centre, told a news conference on Wednesday [21 July].
"From the environmental point of view, the reserve is productive when it's
not split into parts, when it is, as it were, whole. When human activity is
carried out in the central part of the reserve, it doesn't exist any more.
That is, you can erect a gravestone for the reserve," he said. The reserve
would suffer far less damage if the canal was built at least on the northern
or southern part of the area.
Boreyko said the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences proposed more than 10
similar alternative options, but the current one was chosen. It was drafted
by the Transport Ministry's Delta-Lotsman state enterprise. "They are
digging it themselves, then they will operate it. That means they will make
money out of it," he said.
He also said that the authorities' claims that the canal was being restored,
rather than built, are yet another excuse before the world community. "A
ship canal has never existed here. There were lots of streams in the Danube
delta, and it was designated as strategic for military activities in 1945,
but nothing more than that. Nobody sails here apart from fishing and motor
boats," Boreyko said.
He also said that if there had really been a ship canal there at some point,
it would not be so shallow now. "They're digging there and can't do
anything. They're deepening and widening it - how can you say it's a ship
canal?", Boreyko said.
Ukrainian environmentalists also said at the news conference that the
government is currently drafting a draft presidential decree on altering the
borders of the Donetsk botanical garden which involves requisitioning 59
hectares of its area, and said they were concerned about this. Boreyko said
the land would be used for a hotel complex, one of the leading figures of
which would be well-known Donetsk businessman Rinat Akhmetov.
Also, Boreyko said that on 1 July 2002 on the initiative of Viktor
Yanukovych, who was then head of Donetsk Region, the cabinet passed a
resolution on taking the botanical garden land. "This means the Donetsk
botanical garden's area will be reduced from 262 ha by almost five times,"
Boreyko said, adding that Yanukovych's estate lies next to the botanical
garden. [Passage omitted: background on the canal issue] (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Ukrainian Information Website: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
=========================================================
6. KYIV HOTELS PLAN TO INVEST UAH 60 MILLION IN
IMPROVEMENTS BEFORE EUROVISION EVENT IN MAY OF 2005
Radisson SAS, Opera, Premier Palace, Sofia Sheraton, Leipzig
Inna Sokolovska, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, July 21, 2004
KYIV - Kyiv hotels plan to invest nearly UAH 60 million [around USD 11.3
million] into preparation for receiving tourists and participants of the
international competition Eurovision in May 2005. This was disclosed in the
statement of the Kyiv city state administration, the text of which Ukrainian
News obtained.
Deputy chairman of the Kyiv city state administration Mykhailo Pozhyvanov
informed journalists that a preliminary decision was made to accommodate
most participants and guests of the competition in three-star hotels
Tourist, Bratislava and Slavutych for a total of 1,900 places.
Before end of 2004 hotels Radisson SAS, Opera and the second stage of
Premier Palace hotel will start working. Before May 2005 Sofia Sheraton and
Leipzig hotels and office and shopping complex Teatralny will start working.
Improvement of hotels envisages replacement of elevators, air conditioning,
equipment of autonomous heating, renewal of furniture and household
appliances.
According to the data of the administration, annual investments into hotel
maintenance constitute around UAH 100 million.
Pozhyvanov said that at present Kyiv hotels can receive about 15,000 people
at the same time, and after introduction of the new hotels they will be able
to receive additional 2,000-3,000 people. He added that the Kyiv city state
administration is also ready to place tourists in Kyiv health resorts.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Kyiv city state administration believes
it necessary to build 5-6 office and hotel complexes for Eurovision-2005.
Eurovision-2003 was held in Istanbul and finished on the night of May 15-16.
Ukrainian singer Ruslana Lyzhychko won the first place. According to the
rules of Eurovision, the fiftieth contest will take place in Ukraine. (END)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: The hotel monopoly in Kyiv has kept hundreds of millions
of dollars of new hotel construction out of Kyiv since independence in 1991.
The hotel monopoly has run off, through a variety of subversive means, most
all of the major hotels companies in the world who wanted to invest in Kyiv.
This has cost Ukraine tens of thousands of jobs and billions in lost revenue
from construction contracts and funds that would have been spent by
business people and tourists. It is a very sad situation and continues to
be a major problem. The above reported $11 million USD is certainly
not enough and not what international investors really want to pour into
Kyiv if it were not for the hotel monopoly. (Editor)
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
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=========================================================
7. LOCAL UKRAINIAN NEWSPAPER REFUSED PRINTING AFTER
COVERING YUSHCHENKO'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian 21 Jul 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
In Cherkasy Region they are refusing to print the newspaper Pole Chesti
[Field of Honour] after it published a report on [centre right opposition
leader] Viktor Yushchenko's nomination as a presidential candidate on
Spivoche Pole [in Kiev on 4 July] and an interview with him, Yushchenko's
personal site has reported.
According to the site, the editor of the social and political newspaper Pole
Chesti in Talne, Valentyn Hordyeyev, has written to Yushchenko.
He said that after the newspaper published a report about Yushchenko's
nomination and an interview with him, "suddenly and without warning, in
violation of a signed contract, the Zvenihorodka printing house refused to
print the newspaper" and broke off the contract signed in February 2004.
According to Hordyeyev, this occurred as a result of pressure from the head
of the information committee of the Cherkasy regional administration, Mykola
Kostetskyy. This civil servant personally threatened the printing house
director with dismissal unless he stopped printing the newspaper, which
covered Yushchenko's views.
Yushchenko's campaign headquarters views this as a case of crude pressure
on regional media and inadmissible interference by a civil servant in the
electoral process. Our Ukraine lawyers are currently studying Hordyeyev's
statement.
Meanwhile, Yushchenko's staff in Lviv has reported, "The deputy head of the
Horodok district council, Yaroslav Skobalo, is forcing the directors of
public facilities and town and village librarians to sign up in support of
the authorities candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych."
"In Pustomyty district, education workers are coming under similar pressure
from the district education department. In general, this situation is being
observed across almost all of Lviv Region and is clearly seen in Striy,
Zolochiv, Peremyshlyany and the districts mentioned above," it is reported
from Lviv Region. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Ukrainian Information Website: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
=======================================================
8. OUR UKRAINE ACCUSES LVIV REGIONAL AUTHORITIES OF
FORCING LIBRARIANS AND TEACHERS TO COLLECT SIGNATURE
IN SUPPORT OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YANUKOVYCH
Vasyl Trukhan, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, July 22, 2004
KYIV - The Lviv regional representative office of the Our Ukraine coalition
has accused district administrations in the region of pressuring librarians,
teachers, and heads of people's houses into collecting signatures in support
of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's presidential bid.
The press service of the representative office announced this in a
statement, a text of which Ukrainian News obtained.
In particular, the statement accuses the Horodok district administration's
head Yaroslav Skobalo is forcing the heads of rural libraries and directors
of people's houses to sign in support of Yanukovych. "A similar situation is
observed throughout the Lviv region," the statement said. The statement
further said that the greatest pressure is exerted in the Stryi, Zolochiv,
Peremyshliany, Horodok, and Pustomyty districts.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the National Bank of Ukraine's Chairman
Serhii Tihipko, who heads Yanukovych's campaign headquarters, has expressed
opposition against the use of administrative resources during the
presidential election campaign.
Yanukovych's election campaign headquarters collected 1 million signatures
in support of his presidential bid on July 21. Yanukovych's election
headquarters started collecting signatures in support of his presidential
bid on July 20. The Central Electoral Commission registered Yanukovych as a
candidate in this year's presidential elections on July 6.
The CEC approved sheets for collecting signatures in support of presidential
candidates on July 8. For every registered presidential candidate, 25,000
signature sheets and 2,500 reserve signature sheets are to be printed.
Presidential candidates are required to submit signature sheets containing
at least 500,000 signatures by September 20. The campaign for the
presidential elections in Ukraine started on July 3. The presidential
elections will be held on October 31. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
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9. MOST POPULAR TV CHANNELS IN UKRAINE CONTINUE TO
DISPLAY STRONG BIAS IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN
BBC Monitoring Research Service, UK, Wednesday, Jul 21, 2004
In the second week of the Ukrainian presidential election campaign (11-18
July), the most popular TV channels continued to display bias in favour of
the prime minister's bid. State-run UT1, channels associated with
presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk and his United Social
Democratic Party (Inter and One Plus One), as well as Ukrayina TV, a major
private channel broadcasting from Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's home
city of Donetsk, remained the most active supporters of his candidacy.
A more balanced picture of the election campaign was presented by channels
associated with President Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law, MP Viktor Pinchuk
(ICTV and Novyy Kanal). Another major station, TV 5 Kanal, owned by MP
Petro Poroshenko of the centre-right opposition bloc Our Ukraine, also
offered fairly impartial reporting.
All the major channels monitored during the week focused on the two election
frontrunners, Yanukovych and Yushchenko. Other candidates attracted a
significantly smaller amount of coverage, which was predominantly factual.
UT1, INTER, ONE PLUS ONE, UKRAYINA
UT1, as well as Medvedchuk-linked stations, portrayed Yanukovych as a man of
action and a tough manager. He was shown travelling around Ukraine, lending
assistance to storm-hit areas in the west, and giving assurances that food
and fuel prices will not rise and that salaries and pensions will grow.
As in the week immediately after the start of the election campaign, the
channels' news programmes featured numerous reports, often shown in
succession, of various parties or NGOs deciding to vote for Yanukovych in
the upcoming election.
Reports about Yanukovych were invariably positive or neutral about him. They
by far outnumbered reports mentioning Yushchenko, which were predominantly
critical or sarcastic. In contrast to reporting in the months leading up to
the start of the presidential election campaign on 4 July, the channels
mentioned Yanukovych more than President Leonid Kuchma.
UT1's flagship 1800 gmt news programme on 11-18 July featured over 30
reports related to Yanukovych, and more than half of them were about various
political forces supporting him. One of the most vivid examples of
prominence given to Yanukovych by UT1 was live coverage of him performing a
duet with Eurovision winner Ruslana on Metalworkers' Day in Dnipropetrovsk.
In the same period, the programme featured over 10 reports critical of
Yushchenko.
About the only neutral report about Yushchenko on UT1's evening news was a
one-liner on 18 July, saying the opposition leader had climbed Hoverla, the
highest mountain in Ukraine, and that his policy is to cut taxes. This was
said almost at the end of a five-minute round-up of election news, after
reports featuring Kharkiv governor Yevhen Kushnaryov praising Yanukovych,
and Progressive Socialist Party leader Nataliya Vitrenko speaking about her
election manifesto.
Only about five reports mentioned Kuchma, and were significantly shorter
than those about Yanukovych.
Similarly, Inter's newscasts featured numerous positive or neutral reports
about Yanukovych, and much fewer reports about Yushchenko, almost all of
them critical.
On 11-18 July, each of Inter's main news bulletins at 1700 gmt contained
from two to as many as six upbeat or neutral reports about the prime
minister or his cabinet. For instance, on 13 July, the top stories in the
programme were: Yanukovych visits storm-hit areas in western Ukraine,
promising compensation; Yanukovych says the Ternopil governor must be sacked
(which he was two days later); the government pledges to raise pensions for
Chernobyl veterans; Yanukovych comments on grain pricing. The programme
also featured a report about Poltava activists who met to voice support for
Yanukovych.
All of the Inter evening programme's reports related to Yushchenko (of which
there were about five) were critical of him. For instance, Slavic Party head
and presidential hopeful Oleksandr Bazylyuk was shown accusing Our Ukraine
of using "administrative resources of power" in western Ukraine. The channel
also reported the Russian paper Versiya's allegations that exiled tycoon
Boris Berezovskiy is supporting Yushchenko Two days later, UT1 broadcast a
similar report, quoting Vitrenko as agreeing with the allegations. As in
this case, the channels' reports about the same events displayed a
considerable degree of similarity, which the opposition puts down to the
alleged existence of media instructions supposedly issued by the
presidential administration.
One Plus One was also positive on Yanukovych and critical of Yushchenko. The
channel's main newscasts at 1630 gmt during the week usually contained about
three positive or neutral reports about Yanukovych. One Plus One's weekly
analytical programme "Epicentre" shown on 18 July reflected the channel's
general slant.
It featured a report about Yanukovych visiting hailstorm-damaged areas in
Ivano-Frankivsk Region. "Don't worry, Ivan," he told a weeping boy whose
mother had been shown tearfully telling the prime minister that her
household had been badly hit by the storms. "Everything will be all right,"
Yanukovych promised. "We'll give you assistance now, and we will continue it
later."
Yanukovych then told Labour and Social Policy Minister Mykhaylo Papiyev,
who was standing at his side with a notebook ready: "As a matter of
priority, give assistance to this woman with kids. Act now."
The programme's presenter, Vyacheslav Pikhovshek, praised Yanukovych's
campaign: "The prime minister's election strategy is simple. It is work."
The programme went on to show similar reports about the prime minister's
visits to other regions, as well as about several meetings to support him.
This part of the 45-minute programme lasted for over 20 minutes.
This was contrasted with Yushchenko's campaign. "His spin doctors have not
realized how his 30th ascension of Hoverla contrasts with Yanukovych's
concrete deeds in Ivano-Frankivsk Region," Pikhovshek said. He added
that "Yushchenko is watching Yanukovych's activities with envy."
The channels also continued efforts to link Yushchenko to radical
right-wingers in western Ukraine. On 18 July, Inter and One Plus One
reported about Viktor Yushchenko's brother, Petro, laying flowers at the
grave of a commander of the Organization of Ukrainian nationalists-Ukrainian
Insurgent Army who was reportedly involved in the genocide of Poles and the
murder of "Soviet cult figure" Gen Vatutin. Pikhovshek said this was an
"unacceptable ideological blunder" on Viktor Yushchenko's part, who says he
represents all Ukrainian regions while "paying tribute to a highly
controversial figure".
The channels also reacted angrily to a TV 5 Kanal report on 12 July that
World War II veterans from Donetsk were supporting Yushchenko. On 14 July,
Ukrayina TV broadcast a report featuring heads of veterans' organizations in
Donetsk, who severely criticized Yushchenko. A man captioned as chairman of
the Donetsk railways veterans' council said: "We veterans of the Great
Patriotic War (World War II) categorically object to this statement that
they were speaking on behalf of the regional organization." He went on to
accuse Yushchenko of approving documents "directed against Great Patriotic
War veterans" when he was prime minister.
A woman, captioned as chairwoman of the labour veteran's council of the
Donetsk Region veterans' council, said veterans "see the efforts of Viktor
Fedorovych Yanukovych, who's from our region, who has really made a lot
of effort and worked to ensure that veterans, real veterans of the Great
Patriotic War and veterans of labour, can live better today."
Reporting about other presidential candidates, particularly Progressive
Socialist Party leader Nataliya Vitrenko and Communist Party leader Petro
Symonenko, the channels often focused on their critical statements about
Yushchenko (as shown by examples from Inter above). Factual reports about
other presidential candidates were also broadcast by the channels, focusing
on them being registered as candidates or declaring income.
PINCHUK CHANNELS
Channels associated with Viktor Pinchuk (particularly, ICTV and Novyy Kanal)
dedicated significantly less airtime to reports mentioning either of the two
candidates. Similarly to reporting by UT1, Medvedchuk channels and Ukrayina,
Pinchuk's channels also dedicated much more attention to Yanukovych than to
Yushchenko. But in contrast, they offered no slanted comment on Yushchenko
and event made sarcastic remarks about the Yanukovych cabinet's activities.
On 11-18 July, ICTV's flagship newscast at 1545 gmt featured only five
reports focusing on Yanukovych and no reports about Yushchenko. This
contrasts with about two or three reports related to Yanukovych in an Inter
or One Plus One evening news bulletins.
Almost all of the reports mentioning Yanukovych were factual and contained
no slanted comment, merely listing parties which decided to support the
prime minister's election bid. One report focused on the cabinet's intention
to raise payments for Chernobyl veterans and equalize military pensions.
Sarcastically, it said that "neither the Cabinet of Ministers, nor the
Defence Ministry nor the Labour Ministry was able to tell this programme to
which level the pensions should be raised."
ICTV also reported about the opposition Reforms and Order Party renaming
itself Our Ukraine, giving no comment.
Similarly, Novyy Kanal also broadcast several factual reports about various
forces coming out in support of Yanukovych in the upcoming election. It also
reported about the nomination of Yabluko party leader Mykhaylo Brodskyy,
who wants to run for president "to take votes away from Yanukovych".
Reports about other candidates in the election were also neutral, focusing
on their nomination, registration or declared income.
TV 5 KANAL
The channel appeared to present a more balanced picture of the election
campaign than it did immediately after the race kicked off. Its reporting
focused on major developments in the election campaign and avoided skewed
comment. Both frontrunning candidates featured prominently in TV 5 Kanal's
news programmes and seemed to get an equal amount of coverage.
For instance, the Our Ukraine-linked channel broadcast neutral reports about
forces deciding to support Yanukovych and the opening of his election fund
account. It showed presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk
saying that Yanukovych will win the presidential election, and Yanukovych's
campaign chief and National Bank governor Serhiy Tyhypko was shown saying
that no administrative resources will be used.
There were few indications of preferential treatment of Yushchenko by the
channel. On 18 July, the channels broadcast a rather long statement by
Yushchenko's spokeswoman about his intentions to win the election (although
she was asked to comment on Reforms and Order Party renaming itself Our
Ukraine). On 12 July, the channel reported about an "all-Ukrainian
association of veterans" which decided to support Yushchenko in the
election.
The channel pointed out that the association's congress was held in Donetsk
"which is considered to be Mr Yanukovych's home region". The veterans were
also quoted as saying that "those who had robbed and deceived them should be
removed from power". As described above, this report prompted reactive
statements broadcast by Ukrayina. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
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10. UKRAINIAN INTERIOR MINISTER CALLS HIS AGENCY THE
"ARMED ORGAN OF THE AUTHORITIES"
COMMENTARY by Taras Kuzio
Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, 21 July 2004, Volume 1, Issue 56
For the first time since the murder of opposition journalist Heorhiy
Gongadze in fall 2000, the possible involvement of Ukraine's Ministry of the
Interior (MVS) has now come under scrutiny in Ukraine. Why now, after four
years? With the presidential election looming in October, the unsolved
Gongadze affair is one of the many dark clouds hanging over President Leonid
Kuchma and his allies, possibly obscuring their hope of ensuring the
election of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych as Ukraine's next president.
After London's The Independent newspaper published leaked documents in the
case (June 19, 24, and 26) and the Ukrainian opposition media picked up the
new developments, the General Prosecutor's office began receiving large
numbers of letters asking, "If really they were involved in his [Gongadze]
murder . . . We fear for our lives . . . " (Ukrayinska pravda, July 14).
The First Deputy Head of the MVS, Mykhailo Kornienko, denied that his
Ministry was involved in Gongadze's murder (Ukrayinska pravda, July 19). But
he did say that an inquiry would be launched into why the MVS had been
following Gongadze. Kornienko ruled out questioning MVS General Oleksiy
Pukach, the former head of MVS surveillance because, he claimed, Pukach had
nothing to do with Gongadze's murder.
Official testimonies leaked to The Independent (June 19) showed that Pukach
ordered both the surveillance and the subsequent destruction of MVS
documents after Gongadze was kidnapped on September 16, 2000. Pukach was
briefly detained on the orders of the former Prosecutor General Svyatoslav
Piskun in October 2003, but was released after Piskun was replaced by
Hennadiy Vasyliev the following month.
On July 14 the Prosecutor General's office ordered the MVS to investigate
why Gongadze had been under surveillance. The date is significant because
Gongadze himself had written to the Prosecutor's Office exactly four years
earlier, on July 14, 2000, that he was being followed and that his
colleagues were being interrogated about him. He was told that the unmarked
cars watching him belonged to the MVS.
President Leonid Kuchma's remarks to then-MVS Minister Yuriy Krawchenko
on the subject were caught on tape by presidential guard Mykola Melnychenko,
who illicitly bugged Kuchma's office from 1999-2000. The recording has
Kuchma saying, "Well, what do you know, should every swine write to the
General Prosecutor?" (Ukrayinska pravda, July 14).
As Gongadze's colleagues at the opposition Internet newspaper Ukrayinska
pravda pointed out (July 14), the fact that Gongadze was under surveillance
by the MVS was already well known. The Parliamentary Commission into the
Gongadze affair had long held this information, but its report has been
blocked from discussion in parliament. The Melnychenko tapes and documents
leaked to The Independent are also additional proof of the surveillance of
Gongadze by the MVS.
If these materials had not been compiled and leaked, the authorities never
would have been forced to come clean about the MVS placing the opposition
under surveillance. The authorities would have continued, Ukrayinska pravda
(July 14) believes, to hide behind its numerous and different stories about
who murdered Gongadze, which range from drug addicts to organized crime.
During Kuchma's second term in office, the MVS have increasingly been
involved in surreptitiously watching the opposition. Nevertheless, until now
the MVS had always denied allegations of politically motivated surveillance.
An MVS statement complained that these allegations were "unprecedented
attempts to compromise the police in the eyes of the people" (Interfax,
September 5, 2002).
As the opposition increased their pressure on the authorities after the
Kuchmagate crisis erupted in November 2000, the MVS also increased its
political surveillance. One document leaked to the head of the Parliamentary
Committee on Organized Crime and Corruption, Our Ukraine deputy Volodymyr
Stretovych, was entitled "Reference information on the preparation by
destructive forces for the holding of mass actions up to September 16, 2002"
(Ukrayinska pravda, October 1, 2003). The document provides good insight
into how the authorities view the opposition as an unnatural component of
the Ukrainian polity.
During the preparations for mass anti-Kuchma protests in September 2002,
thousands of members of opposition parties were called in for interrogation
in the biggest round up since the Soviet era (Interfax, September 14, 2002).
An internal MVS document from November 2002 discussed the mass
demonstrations two months earlier and provided clear instructions for
collecting intelligence on opposition ringleaders (Ukrayinska pravda,
February 13, 2003).
The data to be compiled included place of employment, income, size of
family, political party membership, method of travel to the September 16,
2002 demonstration, who paid for the transportation, and if there was
payment for attendance. Also, which deputies did they see, who organized the
encampments near the Presidential Administration, and did they block
transportation routes?
Another internal MVS document dealt with a second opposition demonstration
on September 24, 2002 (Ukrayinska pravda, February 13, 2003). This document
outlined what type of information the Presidential Administration instructed
the MVS to collect. This included local party structure and
opposition-sponsored activities. In particular, the government wanted to
know of any internal conflicts that existed inside opposition groups.
Our Ukraine political coordinator Roman Besmertny revealed a secret MVS
document numbered "287-Top Secret" that instructed the MVS to place
parliamentary deputies under surveillance (Ukrayina moloda, August 30,
2002). Another recent MVS document sent to western Ukrainian MVS oblast
branches ordered opposition sympathizers to be removed ahead of this year's
elections, especially if they supported challenger Viktor Yushchenko
(Lvivska gazeta, June 22).
These documents provide good insight into to how the MVS see their role in
the Ukrainian state. In particular, Interior Minister Mykola Bilokin advised
his colleagues that they could not stand above politics. This would be
wrong, Bilokin said, as the MVS was the "armed organ of the authorities."
Therefore, Bilokin predicted that when the authorities win the 2004 election
the MVS "will drink for three days!" (Ukrayinska pravda, May 24, 2004). In a
telling example of this viewpoint, Vasyl Vartsaba, head of the
Trans-Carpathian MVS, was promoted to general in gratitude for fulfilling
instructions to interfere in the widely condemned Mukachiv mayoral elections
(Ukrayinska pravda, May 18).
The Prosecutor General's Office was forced to admit that the MVS had placed
Gongadze under surveillance. Yet, MVS illegal activity goes far beyond the
Gongadze case. Since Gongadze's murder in 2000, the Prosecutor General and
the MVS have continued to use Soviet-era, KGB-style tactics against the
opposition (maidan.org.ua, July 2). The same MVS Directorate Against
Organized Crime units involved in Gongadze's murder are still being deployed
against the opposition (as seen in Mukachiv). These units are also
implicated in the 12,000 complaints of torture received to date by the
Parliamentary Ombudswoman on Human Rights (Zerkalo nedeli, March 6-12).
With the MVS serving as the "armed organ of the authorities" it is difficult
to see how the agency can stand aside and permit the presidential elections
to be free and fair. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 121: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Now a major source of Ukrainian news for thousands around the world
=========================================================
11. SOVIET ICON LENIN DIED OF SYPHILIS-EXPERTS SAY
By Megan Goldin, REUTERS, Beersheba, Israel, July 20, 2004
BEERSHEBA, Israel --- There were whispers in the Kremlin and
salons of Europe for decades but it was never more than idle gossip until a
team of Israeli doctors announced that they had solved an 80-year-old
medical mystery.
The posthumous diagnosis by two psychiatrists and a neurologist recently
published in the European Journal of Neurology was that the great Russian
revolutionary and Soviet icon Vladimir Lenin died an agonizing death from
syphilis.
"It's an amazing story, the degeneration of Lenin's mental and neurological
state," said psychiatrist Dr Eliezer Witztum.
The doctors' diagnosis of crippling neurosyphilis that caused massive brain
damage and dementia in Lenin in the last two years of his life is more than
a historical curiosity that sullies the image of the founder of the Soviet
Union.
The disease and a decades-long cover-up by the Soviet authorities, who
turned Lenin into the deity of their fledgling state, highlights the danger
of hiding the mental health of leaders who hold the fate of millions in
their hands, the doctors said.
"His (Lenin's) private business affected the lives of millions because of
his illness, his inability to lead the country at a crucial time," said
Yoram Finkelstein, head of diagnostic neurology at Jerusalem's Shaare
Zedek hospital.
"It was a time of chaos and there was a power vacuum which was
unfortunately filled by Stalin."
The retrospective diagnosis was reached using documents released after the
1991 fall of the Soviet Union -- Lenin's medical chart, autopsy results and
memoirs by physicians who treated Lenin and were sworn to silence after his
death in 1924.
"The symptoms are compatible with syphilis as are the mental changes which
preceded the overt disease," said Finkelstein.
SOVIET COVER-UP?
The official cause given for Lenin's death was cerebral arteriosclerosis,
but only eight of the 27 physicians who treated him and were at his autopsy
signed that report.
His two personal physicians refused to sign. Dr Vladimir Lerner, a
Moscow-born psychiatrist at Israel's Ben Gurion University in Beersheba,
thinks he knows why.
As a young psychiatrist in Moscow, he worked with the son of Lenin's chief
physician who confided that his father once told him that as many as eight
autopsy reports had been drawn up with a different cause for Lenin's death
in each. One cited syphilis.
Proving Lenin died of syphilis was complex as the sexually transmitted
micro organism -- which was rampant and incurable in Europe in the 19th
and early 20th centuries -- was frequently mistaken for other neurological
illnesses.
"Syphilis is often called the great imitator because it imitates so many
diseases," explained Lerner, before reeling off a list of evidence that he
said pointed to a high degree of certainty to neurosyphilis as the cause of
Lenin's death.
Perhaps the most explosive evidence is a decision by a committee of
physicians including syphilis experts to prescribe the drug Salvarsan to
treat the ailing Lenin in 1922.
Salvarsan, a potent drug from arsenic with agonizing side effects, was used
only to treat syphilis, the doctors said.
Their suspicions of a cover-up were fueled by censored medical records
coupled with Soviet documents that reveal the Commissar of Health
instructed the chief pathologist to put forth "evidence" that Lenin did not
die of syphilis.
Blood tests which were taken frequently and would have proved conclusively
that Lenin had syphilis are missing from his medical chart, while the
results of far less accurate urine and lumbar puncture tests are still in
the file.
"There is no direct proof because of the lack of blood tests. Why did they
disappear?" asked Lerner. "Why are there urine and lumbar tests which were
taken infrequently but the results of blood test which they conducted often
have vanished?"
Other evidence included consultations by a renowned syphilis expert who
once gave a cryptic hint when asked about Lenin's illness: "Everyone knows
for which brain disorder I am called."
LENIN'S CRIPPLING ILLNESS
In addition, the doctors studied the changes to Lenin's personality several
years before he became obviously ill. It can take 10 to 20 years from the
time syphilis is contracted for the disease to reach the brain.
Before the revolution, Lenin began to find the sound of loud noise
unbearable. His associates wrote in memoirs that he became quick-tempered,
irritable and sometimes lost self control.
Lenin's brain, preserved at an institute in Moscow, might furnish the final
proof, but the doctors doubt Russian officials will ever allow independent
scholars to study tissue samples. (END) (ARTUIS)
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