"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
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 ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 152
The 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, TUESDAY, August 31, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. MP BORYS TARASYUK: THE NUMBER OF OSCE ELECTION
OBSERVERS FOR UKRAINE NEEDS TO BE TRIPLED
From 650 to at least 2,000 presidential election observers
Press service of Narodniy Rukh Ukrainy (NRU)
The People's Movement of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, 30 Aug 2004
2.UKRAINE'S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION HAS ONLY
REGISTERED 150 INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
3. ROMANIAN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE ON TREATY WITH
UKRAINE, SIGN OF PROTEST OVER DANUBE CANAL CASE
Says Ukraine constantly violates international treaties, defies
Romanian public opinion and international organizations
Radio Romania Actualitati, Bucharest, in Romanian, 30 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Aug 30, 2004
4. UKRAINE ACCUSES ROMANIA OF POLLUTING DANUBE
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 30 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Aug 30, 2004
5. UKRAINE: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ANATOLI KINAKH
BELIEVES GOVERNORS SHOULD BE ELECTED NOT APPOINTED
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
6. UKRAINE: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YANUKOVYCH
PLEDGES TO RAISE WAGES BY 2-3 FOLD BY 2008
Will do this by raising the state budget to UAH 120 billion
Liudmyla Martynova, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, August 20, 2004
7. UKRAINE: DENMARK'S HOLGER CHRISTIANSEN COMPANY
INVESTS $2.5 MILLION IN FACTORY IN LVIV REGION
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
8. KUCHMA INSTRUCTS CABINET TO TAKE MEASURES FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL MARKET
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
9.DIGEST OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
DEVELOPMENTS FOR AUGUST 24-28, 2004
BBC Monitoring research in English 28 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, Aug 28, 2004
10. "MEDIA NOT PLAYING FAIR IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN"
Ukrainian authorities interfere in media on a hitherto unprecedented scale.
ANALYSIS By Jan Maksymiuk, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, August 30, 2004
11. "THE COLD WAR OVER MEDIA FREEDOM IN UKRAINE"
By Roman Kupchinsky, Analytical Reports, Media Matters
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, August 27, 2004, Vol 4, No. 16
12. UKRAINE'S "NEW" WEAPONS STILL HAVE SOVIET ORIGINS
"High Technologies: New Opportunities for Those Selected"
Defense-Express web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 18 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Aug 21, 2004
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152 ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
=======================================================
1. MP BORYS TARASYUK: THE NUMBER OF OSCE ELECTION
OBSERVERS FOR UKRAINE NEEDS TO BE TRIPLED
>From 650 to at least 2,000 presidential election observers
Press service of Narodniy Rukh Ukrainy (NRU)
The People's Movement of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, 30 Aug 2004
KYIV - Answering a question from the "Postup" newspaper, concerning
the opposition's foreign policy during the presidential elections, Borys
Tarasyuk, the curator of Victor Yushchenko's regional headquarters, the
head of Narodniy Rukh Ukrainy (the People's Movement of Ukraine),
and the head of the Verkhovna Rada European integration committee,
stressed that the opposition hoped that as many observers from demo-
cratic countries would come to the elections as possible.
"Taking the conditions in our country into consideration, we are doing
our utmost to raise the number of the OSCE observers from 650 to at
least 2,000.
We are working with a number of governments to achieve that.
Representatives of the "Power of the People" coalition met recently in
Kyiv with a delegation of American senators, headed by Republican
John McCain, to discuss this matter," said Borys Tarasyuk.
He added that, "our presidential elections are seen in the West as "the
most important political event in Europe in 2004." John McCain noted
that the people of the USA and the entire world would pay close
attention to our elections."
Tarasyuk noted that there were various positive indications from the
West. "One such indication is the fact that the possible withdrawal of
Ukrainian troops from Iraq does not mean that Ukraine will lose its
right to join NATO and the EU. Moreover, the West does not want
Ukrainian troops in Iraq to be a kind of "political bribe."
"On the other hand," stressed Tarasyuk, "American politicians and
journalists are saying that undemocratic elections in Ukraine would
deny Ukraine the right to join the European Union and the North-
Atlantic alliance." "At the same time, it has been pointed out that
undemocratic elections would lead to the decline of investments and
to the break up of diplomatic relations between Ukraine and various
international organizations.
It was due to the actions of the West that our president had timidly
changed the military doctrine, previously signed by him, which provided
for Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO," stated Borys Tarasyuk.
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
The Action Ukraine Coalition, "Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"
=======================================================
2. UKRAINE'S CENTRAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION HAS ONLY
REGISTERED 150 INTERNATIONAL ELECTION OBSERVERS
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
KYIV - The Central Electoral Commission has registered one election
observer from the United States, 35 from the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and six from the Ukrainian
Congressional Committee of America to monitor this year's presidential
election in Ukraine. The CEC unanimously made the decision to register
these observers at a meeting.
The CEC registered the observers at the request of the United States
Agency for International Development, the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, and the Ukrainian Congressional Committee
of America. The CEC has now registered 150 official international
election observers.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine on July 13 invested
representatives of international organizations to observe this year's
presidential elections.
President Leonid Kuchma said in June that Ukraine expected the foreign
election observers that would work in Ukraine during this year's
presidential elections to objectively evaluate the elections and provide
adequate information about them.
Campaigning in this year's Ukrainian presidential elections, which will
take place on October 31, officially started on July 3. (END)(ARTUIS)
======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
======================================================
3. ROMANIAN SENATORS REFUSE TO VOTE ON TREATY WITH
UKRAINE, SIGN OF PROTEST OVER DANUBE CANAL CASE
Says Ukraine constantly violates international treaties, defies
Romanian public opinion and international organizations
Radio Romania Actualitati, Bucharest, in Romanian, 30 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Aug 30, 2004
BUCHAREST - [Announcer] The parliamentary groups in the Senate
today refused to take a vote on the Romanian-Ukrainian treaty regarding
judicial assistance and judicial relations in civil cases, as a sign of
protest for Ukraine's stance in the Bystre canal case. Here is a report
from our correspondent, Gabriel Benescu:
[Benescu] The draft bill ratifying the Romanian-Ukrainian treaty on judicial
assistance and judicial relations in civil cases creates an appropriate
framework to further bilateral cooperation in this field. Despite this, the
majority of the floor groups in parliament announced that they would not
vote on this normative act as a sign of protest against Ukraine's stance, a
country that, I quote, constantly violates international treaties, defies
Romanian public opinion and international organizations, end of quote.
Hence, the document was not rejected, but it was sent back to the
Senate's judicial commission. [Passage omitted] (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
A leading news source for thousands around the world
=======================================================
4. UKRAINE ACCUSES ROMANIA OF POLLUTING DANUBE
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 30 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Aug 30, 2004
KYIV - [Presenter] Ukraine has called on Romania to join efforts against
the silting up of the Danube. The Ukrainian authorities are saying Romania
itself is polluting the Danube delta. This is the way one may interpret the
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry note handed to Romania during bilateral
consultations about border delimitation on the continental shelf.
The move follows criticism from Romania, the EU and the USA of Ukraine
over the construction of a canal from the Danube to the Black Sea and the
project's environmental implications. The former Ukrainian ambassador to
Romania, Anton Buteyko, has told 5 Kanal that this move is an obvious sign
of mounting tension over the canal construction and that it is long overdue.
[Buteyko, captioned as deputy head of the (opposition) Ukrainian People's
Party and ex-ambassador to Romania] This has been the right move and
rather belated because the Romanians were dumping mud into our part of
the Danube as far back as last spring. This was registered at the time. I
don't think you can expect a favourable response from the Romanians any
time soon. Their diplomats tend to pile up claims on a large-scale at the
very start of negotiations. (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
A leading news source for thousands around the world
=======================================================
5. UKRAINE: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ANATOLI KINAKH
BELIEVES GOVERNORS SHOULD BE ELECTED NOT APPOINTED
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
POLTAVA - The leader of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs
and presidential candidate, Anatolii Kinakh, considers that the post of
heads of district and regional state administrations should be elected, and
not appointed by decrees of the president. He made the statement at a
meeting with workers of the Poltava-based Znamia plant during a two-day
visit in the Poltava region.
"It is absolutely necessary to resume electing not only at the level of the
districts, but also the regions," said Kinakh. In his words, he participated
himself in the elections of the governor of the Mykolaiv region and won in
1994, when this was an elected post and he gained nearly 70% of the
votes in the region.
"Then we traveled to Kyiv, feeling the legal protection and support of the
people... but, while leaving for Mykolaiv, I knew that there will not be a
Decree of the President on my dismissal," said Kinakh. He also said that
there is a need to radically change the personnel policy in Ukraine
otherwise laws will not function.
In his opinion, the personnel policy and the criteria for paying for
qualified labor has been completely destroyed in the country. "This is not
a personnel policy....this is a trade in portfolios, there is a need to
restore appointment by election," said Kinakh.
As Ukrainian News reported previously, the Central Election Commission
registered Kinakh as a candidate for President on July 15. Campaign in this
year's presidential elections in Ukraine started on July 3 and the elections
will be held on October 31. (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Forward "The Action Ukraine Report" around the World
=======================================================
6. UKRAINE: PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YANUKOVYCH
PLEDGES TO RAISE WAGES BY 2-3 FOLD BY 2008
Will do this by raising the state budget to UAH 120 billion
Liudmyla Martynova, Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, August 20, 2004
KYIV - The leader of the Party of Regions and presidential candidate, Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has promised to raise wages by 2-3-fold in the
coming 3-4 years. Yanukovych made the comment in the course of his visit to
the Poltava region during the time of a meeting with the scientific and
creative intelligentsia of the region.
"We will set the task of increasing the budget to UAH 120 billion for 2-3
years. We will do this and we will increase wages by 2-3-fold. We see how
this will be done," he said. Yanukovych also pledged to increase the amounts
for compensation on depreciated deposits annually. "In this year we put in
UAH 500 million for these purposes, next year we will put in [UAH] 1
billion, that is more than double, and for 2006 more than double it and just
like this each year. Moreover, we will first and foremost return the savings
to elderly citizens who have no possibility to wait," he said.
He noted that the minimum wages will simultaneously be increased from
September 1 of this year from UAH 205 to 237, whereas the wage of
employees in the budgetary sphere, most especially doctors, teachers and
cultural workers will go up by 15.6%. Yanukovych also noted that the
Cabinet of Ministers is presently completing work on the formation of the
draft of the state budget for 2005.
The premier did not want to state any kind of figures for the draft of the
2005 budget, while only noting that it will be better than the budget for
this year. Yanukovych also predicts a significant increase of investments
in Ukraine in 2005.
Speaking about his election campaign platform, Yanukovych expressed
confidence that the people will make the correct choice. "I am confident
that the people's wisdom will win, and, if they do not vote for me, I will
work in the price, of which I am capable. That is I will work until
November 21, and there what you will say so it will be," Yanukovych said.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yanukovych left for a two-day visit to
the Poltava region on Thursday morning. The head of Yanukovych's campaign
team, Serhii Tihipko, stated last week that Yanukovych promises to foremost
of all increase wages in case he is elected President.
Yanukovych pledges in his election campaign platform to increase the average
monthly wage by 2-2.5-fold in case he is elected President. Moreover,
Yanukovych promises to bring the minimum wage to the level of the minimum
wage living.
The Central Election Commission registered Yanukovych as a candidate for
President on July 6. The presidential elections will take place on October
31. According to the data of the State Statistics Committee, the average
monthly wage through out Ukraine rose in June by 8.4% to UAH 601.45,
compared with May. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 152: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Join the free distribution list of The Action Ukraine Report
========================================================
7. UKRAINE: DENMARK'S HOLGER CHRISTIANSEN COMPANY
INVESTS $2.5 MILLION IN FACTORY IN LVIV REGION
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
KYIV - Denmark's Holger Christiansen company has built the Holger
Christiansen Production Ukraine factory in Krakovets (Lviv region) for
regeneration of spent and defective starters. A representative of the
factory disclosed this to Ukrainian News.
"Construction of the factory has been completed," the representative said.
According to him, the cost of construction is USD 2.533 million. The company
has hired 100 people to work at the factory. It plans to increase its number
of workers to 400 by the year 2007.
The company plans to produce goods worth UAH 17.3 million per year.
Holger Christiansen operates on the Ukrainian market of regeneration equip-
ment. It has factories in Denmark, Germany, and Slovenia. (END)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Ukrainian Information Website: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
=======================================================
8. KUCHMA INSTRUCTS CABINET TO TAKE MEASURES FOR
DEVELOPMENT OF UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURAL MARKET
Ukrainian News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, August 30, 2004
KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has given an instruction to the Cabinet
of Ministers to take a set of measures for development of the agricultural
market. The presidential press service informed Ukrainian News about the
relevant directive.
In particular, the President directed the Cabinet to introduce budget-
financed support to grain producers who have agreements with
commodity exchanges on grain sales starting from 2005. Besides, the
government in a two-month term must improve the mechanism of grain
reserve recording and to help with introduction of a mechanism for
ensuring obligation guarantees under agreements with commodity
exchanges.
Kuchma directed the Cabinet to submit to parliament the bill on
peculiarities of creation and activities of payment clearing centers that
would service the agricultural market. The President ordered to earmark
provisions for purchase of essential types of agricultural produce in
necessary volumes in the 2005 state budget. (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Report
=======================================================
9. DIGEST OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
DEVELOPMENTS FOR AUGUST 24-28, 2004
BBC Monitoring research in English 28 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, Aug 28, 2004
The following is a digest of Ukrainian presidential election campaign
developments on 24-28 August ahead of the 31 October election:
LAW
(1) Opposition denies link to Kiev market blast: The campaign headquarters
of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko has said the display
of leaflets in support of Yushchenko among evidence confiscated from
suspects in the explosions at the Troyeshchyna market in Kiev was a case
of "bullying the people". The election material was shown to reporters at a
news conference by the head of the Interior Ministry's Kiev main
directorate, Oleksandr Milenin, on 28 August. Yushchenko campaign
headquarters spokeswoman Tetyana Mokridi said the Yushchenko campagin
was inclined to believe the law-enforcement agencies produced the leaflets
to make people to take campaign literature home or open their door to
campaigners. "If a leaflet, newspaper or any other campaign material
supporting Yushchenko, which people bring home, becomes a piece of
material evidence today, then, following the logic of the law-enforcement
agencies, the whole of the state should be put behind the bars because
campaign materials supporting presidential candidate Yushchenko can be
found in every country cottage," Mokridi said.
She added that the authorities were "flooding Ukraine with fake leaflets
from Yushchenko carrying his campaign symbols, violating all sorts of laws
and doing nothing to find and bring to account those involved". (UNIAN 28
Aug)
(2) Communist says opposition training "militants" abroad: Communist
candidate Petro Symonenko indirectly accused Yushchenko of training
"militants" in Poland. Speaking to voters in Uzhhorod , he said: "I have for
the first time said that those who call for fair and transparent elections
are training certain forces in order to exert physical pressure in the
election or after the first round, and to repeat either the Belgrade of
Tbilisi scenario in Ukraine. According to my information, these militants
are being trained in Poland." (UT1 26 Aug)
(3) Moroz warns of possible state of emergency to cancel election: Socialist
candidate Oleksandr Moroz told voters in Lviv that the statement by the
Security Service, the Interior Ministry and the Prosecutor-General's Office
that the opposition was allegedly preparing acts of provocation was the
death throes of the current authorities. They are preparing to proclaim the
election null and void and declare a state of emergency or hold another
election, Moroz said. The Socialist leader also said that local state
administrations used pressure to collect signatures for Yanukovych. (5
Kanal 25 Aug)
(4) Opposition says people will protest if polls rigged: The head of the
press service of Yushchenko's HQ, Tetyana Mokridi, told reporters that
if the election is rigged "the people will take to the street on their own"
without any prior organization by the opposition. She was responding to
comments by Stepan Havrysh, a representative of Prime Minister and
presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych, that the opposition was planning
mass protests to have western states declare the election null and void.
"This shows that the authorities, which are getting ready for rigging, have
understood that after the formation of territorial electoral commissions
rigging will not take place. Despite numerous attempts by Yanukovych's
people to organize the rigging, the Yushchenko team has all the necessary
tools to prevent this and to defend the results of the vote by millions of
people." (UNIAN 27 Aug)
(5) Kiev Region mayors accuse authorities of pressure: The mayors of
Brovary and Vyshhorod and the acting chairman of the Vasylkiv town
council have accused the authorities of putting pressure on them to campaign
for Yanukovych. They said they were preparing an appeal to parliament.
They will insist that MPs approve a law which would ensure that the local
authorities carry out their direct functions during the presidential
elections.
Vyshhorod mayor Oleksandr Kimlach said the authorities would use picketing
by the rightwing Brotherhood party of minor candidate and TV personality
Dmytro Korchynskyy to put pressure on him. He accused the presidential
administration of coordinating the campaign against him for the sake of
rising real estate prices, as Yanukovych has a house nearby. (5 Kanal 25
Aug)
(6) Voting abroad permitted: The Central Electoral Commission will allow
polling stations abroad outside embassies and consulates in areas where
there are high concentrations of Ukrainians. The decision will make it
possible for many Ukrainians who work abroad to vote in the presidential
election. Unofficial data say one in five voters possessing a Ukrainian
passport works abroad illegally. (One Plus One TV 27 Aug)
POLICIES
(7) Yushchenko not to reprivatize property if elected: Our Ukraine MP Petro
Poroshenko said Russian investors should not fear a Ukraine headed by
Yushchenko, which would not reprivatize state property already sold off.
(Obkom web site 18 Aug)
(8) Communist pledges price controls: Communist candidate Petro Symonenko
said he would introduce price controls on food if elected president. He was
addressing voters in Uzhhorod. (UT1 26 Aug)
CAMPAIGN
(9) Yushchenko points to Yanukovych's criminal past: Yushchenko has said
he is going to support all initiatives aimed at making full biographies of
all presidential candidates transparent and available to voters. He told
reporters in Dnipropetrovsk that he backed a proposal by Our Ukraine
MP Mykola Tomenko to amend the presidential election law to prohibite
individuals with criminal convictions from being nominated.
"When an individual has a conviction and the state is unaware of the
contents of the sentence or the essence of his guilt, when we are talking
about a presidential candidate, then I as a citizen want to know whether
that individual has repented or whether this is the way that individual
behaves. We are talking about the interests of the nation and not of a small
business," Yushchenko said. Yanukovych has two criminal convictions
dating back to the 1970s (UNIAN 25 Aug)
(10) Tymoshenko talks up election pact: There is a secret agreement listing
which members of Yushchenko's coalition with the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc
will be given which posts in a future government if Yushchenko wins the
forthcoming presidential elections, Tymoshenko has said. Speaking in an
interview, Tymoshenko said she did not believe that Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych would necessarily win a landslide victory in his native Donetsk
Region. She said that her political bloc would never form a single party
with Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, since she described Yushchenko as being
"more radically liberal" than herself and they had many differences.
(Zerkalo Nedeli on 21 Aug)
(11) Yushchenko campaigner confident of victory: Ukrainian Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych has not got a clue about economics, Roman Bezsmertnyy, a
senior aide to opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's HQ, has
said. Speaking in an interview, he forecast that President Leonid Kuchma
would not quit politics. The political reform being backed by Yanukovych is
a dead duck, he said. But Yushchenko, when elected president, will enact
reforms to include elected, not appointed, regional governors, according to
Bezsmertnyy. (Glavred web site 21 Aug)
(12) Russian spin doctor opens office: Russian spin doctor Stanislav
Belkovskiy has opened a branch of his National Strategy Institute in Ukraine
in order to "unite Russian and Ukrainian spin doctors to create a single
intellectual space". Another Russian spin doctor, Gleb Pavlovskiy, recently
opened his Russian Club in Ukraine for the same reason. The local
representative of the National Strategy Institute, Ukrainian spin doctor
Kost Bondarenko, said it aimed to be "involved in developing Ukraine's
strategy and its search for identity". (5 Kanal 25 Aug)
(13) Opposition denies hiring Russian spin doctors: Yushchenko campaign
manager Oleksandr Zinchenko has said the campaign does not employ Russian
specialists. He also said the government and current President Leonid Kuchma
would be in opposition within six months. (Ukrayinska Pravda web site 19
Aug)
(14) Kiev Region mayors accuse authorities of pressure: The mayors of
Brovary and Vyshhorod and the acting chairman of the Vasylkiv town council
have accused the authorities of putting pressure on them to campaign for
Yanukovych. They said they were preparing an appeal to parliament. They will
insist that MPs approve a law which would ensure that the local authorities
carry out their direct functions during the presidential elections.
Vyshhorod mayor Oleksandr Kimlach said the authorities would use picketing
by the rightwing Brotherhood party of minor candidate and TV personality
Dmytro Korchynskyy to put pressure on him. He accused the presidential
administration of coordinating the campaign against him for the sake of
rising real estate prices, as Yanukovych has a house nearby. (5 Kanal 25
Aug)
OBSERVERS
(15) Weekly says computer loaded against opposition: The distribution of
quotas for electoral commissions by the Central Electoral Commission has
gone against the opposition. The Zerkalo Nedeli weekly said the opposition
sense that the computer program which allocated the quotas is biased and
favours Yanukovych. The opposition received a high number of representatives
in regions where it enjoys strong support, but few in battleground regions
where support is lower. Although the Our Ukraine bloc and the Socialist
Party will contest the distribution in court, the paper said that they are
unlikely to receive support from the Communist Party. (Zerkalo Nedeli 21
Aug)
(16) Pollsters unite for exit poll: The four largest polling organizations
have set up a consortium to conduct an exit poll on election day. The Kiev
international sociology institute, the Razumkov economic and political
research centre, Social Monitoring and Socis will jointly poll over 50,000
people in all regions. Each organization will hold its own exit poll but
their results will be calculated jointly. This is the first poll of such a
scale in the history of Ukraine. The groups want to minimize errors. (5
Kanal 27 Aug)
FUNDING
(17) Progovernment paper says Yushchenko also surrounded by big business:
If Yushchenko is elected president, the current propresidential business
groups will be replaced by other business groups, a regional Ukrainian paper
has said. Our Ukraine MPs close to Yushchenko are similar to the people in
power today, partly because many of them have served in office in the last
decade, it said. If Yushchenko becomes president then the interests of the
people will continue to be neglected as power will merely shift to other
groups, it added. (Hazeta Argument 21 Jul)
MINOR CANDIDATES
(18) Bazylyuk seeks to unite Slavs: Presidential contender Oleksandr
Bazylyuk has told a Ukrainian weekly that his goal is to unite the Slav
nations of the former USSR. Bazylyuk, who heads the minor Slavic Party,
said that he is "with" the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine politically and
that he dislikes left-wingers. Bazylyuk added that his task for the election
is to muster about 7 per cent of the popular vote. If he were to become
president, his first decree would be to make Russian a state language, since
"Ukraine is Russian", he said. (2000 on 20 Aug) (END)(ARTUIS
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Report
=======================================================
10. "MEDIA NOT PLAYING FAIR IN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN"
Ukrainian authorities interfere in media election coverage
on a hitherto unprecedented scale.
ANALYSIS By Jan Maksymiuk, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, August 30, 2004
Oleksandr Zinchenko, head of the presidential election campaign of
opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko, said on 25 August that the
authorities have taken a "consistent position" to pressure mass media in
Ukraine. "This pressure is increasing and becoming more and more cynical
and severe; this is not simply administrative resource [in use], this is a
strategy," Zinchenko stressed. According to him, only a change of govern-
ment may improve the situation with the freedom of expression in Ukraine.
Even if Zinchenko's assessment of the media situation in Ukraine is
somewhat exaggerated, the past eight weeks of the ongoing presidential
campaign have brought a great deal of evidence to support his point of view.
Regular monitoring of the media behavior in the presidential campaign by
Ukrainian NGOs and international organizations unambiguously shows that
the Ukrainian authorities spare no effort to shape public opinion in favor
of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and miss virtually no opportunity to
broadcast a negative image of his main presidential rival, Our Ukraine
leader Yushchenko.
Two months ago, two Ukrainian NGOs, the Common Space Association
and the Equal Possibilities Committee, started an extensive media-monitoring
project "Ukrainian Monitor -- For a Conscious Choice." The two organizations
focused their attention on election-related reports in 12 programs on six
national television channels and 93 programs on regional television
channels, as well as on those in 10 national and 126 regional newspapers.
Their findings are being published in regular weekly releases at the
http://prostir-monitor.org/ website.
The most influential media in Ukraine are television
channels, so Ukrainian television -- both state-controlled channels and
those owned by oligarchs -- are the focus of attention of most media
watchdogs. All but one of Ukraine's television stations are controlled
and/or influenced by either the government or oligarchs supporting
Yanukovych's presidential bid. Yushchenko's failure to win the support of
some of Ukraine's private media moguls for the 2004 presidential campaign
is widely seen as his major shortcoming.
Presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk controls the
most-watched state channel, UT-1. Furthermore, in his capacity as leader of
the Social Democratic Party-united, Medvedchuk wields influence over two
other popular channels -- 1+1 and Inter. Viktor Pinchuk (President Leonid
Kuchma's son-in-law) and the Dnipropetrovsk oligarchic clan with which
Pinchuk is associated control three television channels -- ICTV, STB, and
New Channel. Yushchenko has only one friendly television station, Channel 5,
which is owned by Our Ukraine businessman Petro Poroshenko. All of these
channels -- plus the Donetsk-based Ukrayina television owned by oligarch
Rynat Akhmetov, Yanukovych's closest ally -- are monitored under the
"Ukrainian Monitor" project.
Since Yanukovych and Yushchenko lead in the polls and are generally
expected to score the best results on 31 October, it is no wonder that the
overwhelming majority of airtime on television and space in newspapers is
devoted to their presidential bids, at the expense of other 24 candidates.
"Ukrainian Monitor" discovered the reporting pattern that has not undergone
any essential changes over the past eight weeks -- UT-1 and the oligarchic
channels provide either positive or neutral coverage of Yanukovych and
predominantly negative coverage of Yushchenko. Additionally, Yanukovych
gets far more airtime than Yushchenko. The pattern is basically repeated at
the regional television level.
The above-mentioned reporting pattern is somewhat reversed on the
pro-Yushchenko Channel 5, whose programs are broadcast over some 40
percent of Ukrainian territory. Channel 5, according to "Ukrainian Monitor,"
provides mainly negative coverage of Yanukovych and positive or neutral of
Yushchenko, even though its reports are more balanced those on other
monitored channels. Channel 5 has not gone unpunished for this coverage
policy -- it was temporarily taken off the air in several Ukrainian regions
by rebroadcasters that usually cited various technical reasons for the move.
Channel 5 claimed the reasons were political.
By comparing the content of newscasts on some oligarchic television
channels, "Ukrainian Monitor" concluded that they use temnyks -- secret
instructions supplied to Ukrainian media outlets by the presidential
administration to tell journalists on what issues they are to report during
a particular week and in what manner. One of the most glaring examples of
this kind of state control over media was a temnyk quoted by some Ukrainian
print media in early July, in relation to the coverage of a pro-Yushchenko's
rally on 4 July: "When covering the event, do not give long shots of the
rally and shots of the crowd; show only groups of drunk people with socially
inappropriate or deviant behavior." Not surprisingly, perhaps, the rally was
attended by unidentified individuals who distributed vodka for free.
A similar, even if less striking bias in favor of Yanukovych can be
observed in the coverage of the election campaign by Ukrainian nationwide
newspapers. Most major nationwide newspapers are openly partisan in their
election preferences: "Fakty i komentari," "Segodnya," Kyivskyy telehraf,"
"Kievskie vedomosti," and "2000" favor Yanukovych; "Vechirni visti" and
"Ukrayina moloda" back Yushchenko; "Silski visti" support Socialist Party
leader Oleksandr Moroz's presidential bid.
Several independent or opposition-leaning regional newspapers
-- including "Ostrov" in Donetsk and "Luhanchany" and "Na dnyakh" in
Luhansk -- have had problems with finding a printing house. Earlier this
month, the tax authorities froze the bank accounts of the Mega-Plus
publishing house, which printed "Vechirni visti," a newspaper linked to
opposition leader Yuliya Tymoshenko, who supports Yushchenko's presi-
dential bid.
Looking at Ukraine's media behavior from a historical perspective,
it should be noted that the first large-scale -- and successful -- attempt
at muzzling the media in a biased manner was made in the 1999 presidential
election campaign, when the government and media tycoons worked in
concert to prevent Moroz from reaching the runoff with Kuchma and vilify
Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, Kuchma's rival in the second
round, as an agent of "Red revenge."
The 2002 parliamentary elections were also marred by biased and
partisan media behavior, even though it did not look so condemnable as
that in 1999, because there were many more political parties and options
involved. In 2002, Yushchenko's Our Ukraine managed to win the election
in a nationwide constituency, in which seats were contested under a
party-list proportional system.
However, this year's election -- apparently because of the clear-cut
Yanukovych-Yushchenko choice facing Ukrainians -- seems to have driven
the authorities to interfere in media election coverage on a hitherto
unprecedented scale. Now Yushchenko needs to make a considerable greater
campaign effort than in 2002 if he wants to offset his media handicap and
persuade Ukrainians that they must choose him, not the pro-government
candidate. (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Forward The Action Ukraine Report to all your associates in Ukraine
=======================================================
11. "THE COLD WAR OVER MEDIA FREEDOM IN UKRAINE"
By Roman Kupchinsky, Analytical Reports, Media Matters
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Friday, August 27, 2004, Vol 4, No. 16
As the 31 October presidential election in Ukraine draws closer, the
state of media freedom in the country is becoming the object of intense
international scrutiny. Delegations of former U.S. administration officials
and congressmen, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), and European human rights groups have visited Ukraine on
fact-finding missions, reminding Ukrainians that their hopes of acceptance
by the West are linked not only to granting the legal right of free
expression, but to its regular, unimpeded implementation.
One of the first to arrive in Kyiv carrying a message on media
freedom was former U.S. national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski. "The
Ukrainian Weekly" reported on 13 June that Brzezinski told students at the
Mohyla Academy on 14 May: "Ukrainians, last but not least, must protect
freedom of the press and subordinate political life to the rule of law, both
of which are essential components of democratic society."
Soon afterwards, the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation
dispatched a mission to Ukraine to prepare a report on media freedom. AP
on 5 August reported that the federation has issued its report and found
that: "Coverage in state-controlled media is heavily biased in favor of
[Prime Minister Viktor] Yanukovych, who is seeking the presidency with
the backing of current President Leonid Kuchma.
"The state-owned television channels 'routinely convey negative
portrayals' of the leading opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, and
newspapers often publish 'strongly propagandistic' materials in favor of
Yanukovych."
The most detailed and authoritative report describing the situation
surrounding the Ukrainian media was made public on 8 June. That day the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) distributed
a special assessment of the visit to Ukraine by OSCE representative on
freedom of the media, former Hungarian dissident Miklos Haraszti.
The OSCE, which currently has an election-monitoring team in Kyiv,
has a long record of monitoring previous elections in Ukraine and therefore
is well versed in the means used in the past to manipulate public opinion.
Despite past Ukrainian violations, the current OSCE assessment presented
a balanced picture of the media in the country:
"Overall, media pluralism is present in Ukraine. The mere quantity
of media outlets is impressive. Different views are represented; politicians
of all ranks are regularly criticized in the media. A lively discussion of
public issues -- alas, not exactly a dialogue -- is taking place.
"The general legal framework in the media field is considered
satisfactory by independent experts from both inside and outside the
country. In some instances, recent media-related lawmaking in Ukraine was
even more forward-looking than relevant legislation in older democracies."
Having established that a pluralistic media exists in the country,
the report goes on to specific issues and this is where many questionable
practices tend to be found.
"Although, in general, political pluralism does exist in the media
in Ukraine, where it seems to be least developed is in the broadcast media,
specifically on television. So even as private television broadcasting
exists at the national and local level, the government's position is
prevalent on the most popular channels that also have the largest area
reach."
The OSCE report had this to say about Ukrainian television:
"The one view dominating the airwaves is that of the government.
"The problem seems to stem from three main causes:
1. an ownership structure that is closely connected to, or
influenced by, the current government;
2. temniki [guidelines on coverage issued by the government], which
play an important role in homogenizing the coverage of public issues; and
3. an institutional framework of frequency allocation and licensing
that allows for favoritism."
The OSCE report gave a breakdown of television coverage of political
news by the major Ukrainian television stations. This showed that on UT-1,
the largest and most influential station, some 95 percent of political
events were presented from the pro-government point of view and less than 5
percent of airtime was devoted to diverging views. The other large stations,
ICTV and Inter, followed suit.
Despite these public admonitions by the OSCE and the Helsinki
Federation, the Ukrainian leadership continued to control media coverage
of the campaign.
As the campaign went into its fourth week, the BBC reported on 5
August that: "Coverage...of the presidential election campaign (26 July-1
August) by Ukraine's three most-watched TV channels continued to be
heavily biased in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
"State-owned UT1, and the private Inter and 1 + 1 channels (all of
whose news coverage is widely believed to be strongly influenced by the
presidential administration) gave uniformly positive coverage to the
activity of Yanukovych's government and to his election campaign, while
devoting much attention to negative stories about his main rival, Our
Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko."
By early August, U.S. officials began to urge the Ukrainian
leadership to play by the rules. AP reported on 5 August that a senior U.S.
administration official, asking not to be identified, told reporters that
media coverage of the Ukrainian campaign "has been decidedly tilted in
favor of government loyalists." The unnamed official was quoted as further
declaring "Ukrainian leaders are mistaken if they believe the United States
will ease pressure on the country because of the more than 1,500 Ukrainian
troops participating in the multinational force in Iraq."
The first official Ukrainian response to these charges came from the
head of the presidential administration, Viktor Medvedchuk, in an article
for the newspaper "2000" on 13 August, in which he outlined his views on
freedom of the press and replied to his country's critics.
"The more I try to analyze the political processes in our country,
the more difficult it is for me to renounce my view that during the past few
years, freedom of the press has become a weapon in the battle of the
opposition with the current government," he wrote. "Furthermore, freedom of
expression is both a shield and a club at the same time. One can use freedom
of the press as a weapon against ones enemies at the same time it can be
used to hide behind, let us say, from criminal prosecution. The point being
that it is useful: you broke the law and the government is guilty."
Medvedchuk then provided his interpretation of the tactics used by
critics of media freedom in Ukraine:
"The universal condemnations of Ukraine are part of the usual
repertoire of some western organizations and are built along a standard
scheme: some event (either fictional or at times real) is magnified to
unbelievable proportions and on this basis conclusions are drawn that
'democracy and freedom of the press are missing,'" he wrote. "At the same
time the details of the event in question and its underlying factors do not
enter into their analysis."
By the end of the article Medvedchuk explained what he saw as the
real threat.
"In the West there exist numerous so-called human rights funds and
organizations that like to hand out left and right their evaluations and
ratings, including about Ukraine. Needless to say, these 'findings' are then
distributed by interested political circles. For example, in the Ukrainian
information sphere the 'analytical materials' of Freedom House are regularly
distributed," Medvedchuk wrote. "In its report published in April 2004, this
organization presented its annual ratings of democracy and press freedoms.
Ukraine once again found itself on the black list. These findings were then
massively circulated with unbridled joy in the opposition's media which one
might be led to believe exists in underground conditions.
"The question is not even related to the fact that the president of
such a well-known human rights organization as Freedom House is the former
director of the Central Intelligence Agency, James Woolsley, the nature of
whose former job hardly qualifies him to be a defender of human rights
(imagine if the former head of the KGB were to head a similar human rights
organization) -- the question is about the objectivity of its findings.
These are questioned even in the West."
Medvedchuk's rhetoric, which was remarkably reminiscent of Cold
War-era Soviet rebuttals to Western charges of censorship and lack of
press freedom, signaled that influential decision makers in the Ukrainian
presidential administration do not intend to let Western critics influence
their behavior. His dark hint that the opposition hiding behind "freedom of
the press" slogans to shield themselves from criminal prosecution, is a
worrying one and might signal that official Kyiv is contemplating more
dramatic measures to insure that its candidate is elected.
Earlier this year a number of prominent Ukrainian and Russian
government figures issued statements questioning the role that Western
nongovernmental organizations play in their countries, at the same time
hinting that these NGOs, many of which are involved in media freedom
issues, might harbor subversive intents.
This line of reasoning was followed up upon on 26 July when Russian
President Vladimir Putin told reporters in Crimea during a Ukrainian-Russian
summit that "the intelligence networks of our Western partners are trying in
every way to hamper our movement toward each other." Putin's reference to
Western intelligence agencies manipulating domestic politics was repeated in
a more roundabout manner in Medvedchuk's article by his claim that
"so-called" Western human rights funds headed by former CIA chiefs were
channeling their findings to the opposition press as part of some sinister
disinformation operation.
The West has relatively little leverage to force Ukrainian leaders
to adopt modern democratic standards in media practices. The Ukrainian
leadership knows this weakness and is confident that it enjoys the full
support of the Russian government in what appears to be a restoration of
Soviet-era media controls. When taking into account that media watchdog
organizations concluded that the Russian media was highly biased in Putin's
favor during the Russian presidential elections in March, it should come as
no surprise if Putin refrains from criticizing Ukrainian media practices
during these elections, in which both Russia and the West have much at
stake. LINK: http://www.rferl.org/reports/mm/ (END) (ARTUIS)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.152: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Forward The Action Ukraine Report to all your associates in Ukraine
=======================================================
12. UKRAINE'S "NEW" WEAPONS STILL HAVE SOVIET ORIGINS
"High Technologies: New Opportunities for Those Selected"
Defense-Express web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 18 Aug 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Aug 21, 2004
KIEV - The low funding of military technological research and manufacturers'
general technological apathy have resulted in a situation where Ukraine's
new products are all based on technologies developed some 15-20 years
ago, a web site has said. It called for borrowing from the US and UK
experience of passing inventors' rights to discoveries made at state expense
on to technology developers free of charge.
The following is the text of the unattributed article, posted on the
Ukrainian web site Defense-Express on 18 August under the title "High
technologies: new opportunities for those selected"; subheadings have
been inserted editorially:
Ukraine still retains a unique scientific, technical and educational
potential, and the national defence industry is accumulating most of the
science-based technologies. However, the efficiency with which they are
used in free-market conditions is clearly inadequate. It is still too early
to say that the creators of technologies and exporters are acting in tandem.
As a result, something that may become a springboard for a technological
leap forward or for the development of the country's export potential may
turn out to be a white elephant.
UKRAINE'S DEFENCE INDUSTRY RESTS ON SOVIET LAURELS
Specialists who are engaged in Ukrainian defence technologies think that the
state has prospects, primarily in the rocket and space, aviation, armoured
vehicle and shipbuilding fields, including the creation of remote-controlled
underwater vessels. The situation is quite favourable as regards the
building of aero engines and engines for armoured vehicles, as well as the
creation of electronic optical devices, navigation equipment, homing heads
for surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles and artillery shells, radio
monitoring stations, sound measurement systems for artillery reconnaissance,
complex control systems, apparatus for radio communications and for radio
and electronic warfare, the creation of pilotless drones and aircraft and
missile aiming systems.
But only a very small part of this is in demand in the home market, where
the customers are primarily the armed forces and the security agencies.
Since Ukrainian independence, the armed forces have purchased only 20
vehicles and 17 units of missile and artillery armaments. "Given the
Ukrainian army's present funding, it is impossible to re-equip it with
modern hardware, the so-called smart munitions and new communications
and reconnaissance systems over the next 5-7 years. In 12 years, the
Ukrainian armed forces have not been given a single tank, aircraft or
helicopter," Defence Minister Yevhen Marchuk said in the newspaper
Den of 3 June.
The lack of interest in the practical use of high technology is also
typical, though, of the real sector of the economy. One explanation for the
"technological apathy" is that the payback period of know-how that is
introduced still exceeds the forecast development period of most companies
in Ukraine. The risk of losing a retail market through trade restrictions is
greater than losing it through the technological obsolescence of production
methods and the inferior quality of the product.
In the state as a whole, the implementation of the innovation strategy is a
matter of lip service and is erratic. Frequent changes in the government
impede the carrying out of consistent action, and the advent of a new
leadership in Ukraine traditionally means the start of a new "technological"
era pandering to the interests of the various teams. At the moment, then,
the "statewide" ideology is put together from the very disparate efforts of
individual state and private bodies.
The potential figure for Ukraine's annual earnings from trade in dual-
purpose technologies is reckoned by experts to be 100m-150m dollars -
and that is only at the first stage. To hang on to the gains already made,
the special exporters [i.e. arms dealers] have been instructed, among other
things, to set up a data bank for the new hi-tech developments in weapons
and military hardware that Ukrainian designers can offer. Terms for
technological transfer are coming to be an integral part of most arms
contracts. Countries in Southeast Asia and the Middle East - traditional
buyers of Ukrainian armaments - increasingly voice their intention not just
to purchase goods, but, along with them, to obtain the licence to produce
them too.
The result is Ukraine's readiness to hand over to Malaysia and Turkey the
technology for producing T-84 tanks, the organization of gunpowder
production in Vietnam and the sale to China of the technology for creating
an ion-plasma engine for space vehicles. The most extensive project,
involving the transfer of a whole industry, is the development of An-140
aircraft production at the company HESA's Iranian factory in Isfahan.
An invention can be sold at any one of three stages in its development - the
"idea" behind the invention, the patented, technically applicable invention
and the applied (commercially developed) invention. Specialists maintain
that the correlation between the number of "ideas", technically feasible
solutions based on them, patents and products manufactured on the basis
of these patents stands (in round figures) at 600:100:10:1. The most
expensive is precisely that materialized "1".
For example, the Americans wanted to buy the technology for producing
Kolchuga passive electronic reconnaissance stations. The Ukrainian
technology salesmen insisted that the price would have to be equal to the
production of 50 items. The deal foundered. But the actual principle seems
to be right, and private as well as state bodies in Ukraine are now
displaying some vigour in protecting military know-how. For instance, the
modernized 36D6 radar station has 19 patents, while the Kolchuga passive
electronic reconnaissance station has five.
But such currently advertised and partially patented products of the
Ukrainian defence industry as the Kolchuga radar station, the Kombat,
Stuhna and Kvitnik high-accuracy munitions, the Kashtan and Nozh defence
systems and so on are developments based on the designs and technology
of the late 1980s and early 1990s. No new weapons have been created
since then. The Centre for Army, Conversion and Disarmament Studies
estimates that Ukraine will be able to maintain its prominent position as
an exporter of military products in the foreign market for no longer than
five years.
During that time, the stocks of "iron" that are still being sold will be
exhausted, as too will the potential for developments that are today
regarded as hi-tech. Once we have become really aware of the "slump" in
arms exports, there will be a heightened demand for effective technological
solutions that are able to remedy the situation and are "digestible" by the
national defence industry. To avoid being left with nothing "hi-tech", we
need to take strategic decisions right now.
MORE MONEY IS NOT THE ANSWER
What can help to raise the efficiency of innovation in our country? The
standard recipe is more money for scientific developments. In 2004, it is
planned to allocate 61m hryvnyas [about 11.4m dollars] to weapons purchases,
35.41m hryvnyas to research and design work, and almost 97.87m hryvnyas
to restoring fighting capability and to repairing and operating military
hardware. This amounts, in total, to nearly 195m hryvnyas - although
1.2bn-1.5bn hryvnyas is needed annually to maintain equipment and armaments
in a combat-ready state, to carry out regular purchases and repairs, and to
conduct research and development.
But more money does not always lead to greater benefits. According to the
Ukrainian Accounting Chamber, out of the 66.4m dollars used by the Defence
Ministry over 10 years to carry out its defence programmes, projects were
carried out to the tune of 11.88m dollars, of which only 14 fed into
production at a cost of 0.47m dollars, or 0.7 per cent of the allocations
used. It is, moreover, significant that what were put into service were
items that were not developed with Defence Ministry money.
The research and development results show that, in 2003, the Ukrainian armed
forces brought into service a camouflage netting kit, cumulative defence
devices, internal communications and switching apparatus, and equipment for
transferring information from punched tape. The camouflage netting and the
cumulative defence devices that were installed on T-84 tanks purchased by
the Americans at the end of last year were not developed on military money
derived from the budget.
COMMERCIAL APPLICATION OF DISCOVERIES
MUST BE SPEEDED UP
There will not be enough money in the state for the introduction of know-
how until an effective legal and organizational mechanism is set up for
putting into economic circulation the rights to the results of scientific
and technical activities in the civilian and military fields. It may well be
necessary to draw on the experience of the USA, where the Bayh-Dole
Act allows inventors' rights to be transferred to developers free of charge.
The substance of the law is that it transfers inventors' rights to
discoveries made with federal support in university laboratories to
developers, so that the discoveries can later be commercialized through
private firms without any repayment to the state of the money spent. Thanks
to such mechanisms operating in the USA, up to 70 per cent of the science-
based products created at state budget expense are now circulating in that
country's economy. The figure for Russia is only 1 per cent. In Ukraine, it
is even lower.
Once the Bayh-Dole Act had been passed, the number of patents in the
USA increased tenfold, and in just 2-3 years the universities had set up
2,200 firms to commercialize scientific and technical results. Universities
and laboratories no longer swallow up budget funding, but generate money
for the American economy, creating 260,000 jobs. Since then, 40bn-50bn
dollars are injected every year into the US budget through the circulation
of privatized intellectual state property. But the law stipulates strictly
that, if, for example, you sell abroad intellectual property that has not
been commercialized at home, you must reimburse the state's costs.
In 1985, the state monopoly on inventions made in the state sector was
abolished in Britain too. Intellectual property is stolen anyway, and we
place our developers and scientists in a position that we know to be unfair.
(There is a threat that most legalized new knowledge will come to us from
abroad.) However, the state must retain the right to make use of research
findings that are "essential to the fulfilment of state functions as regards
ensuring defence and security".
We have not yet got as far as the Bayh-Dole Act, but, to start with, we
should at least look for the happy medium when tackling the problem of
declassifying the accumulated military and dual-purpose know-how. We
could glance into that storeroom at least once a year and remove the
"Secret" classification from the ageing discoveries. After all, some
qualitatively new leap forward occurs every 5-10 years in each of the fields
under development. But there are simply no technologies that get a new
lease of life... [ellipsis as published]. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
ARTICLES ARE FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
Articles are Distributed For Information, Research, Education
Discussion and Personal Purposes Only
========================================================
"To Join" The Free Distribution List
If you know of one or more persons you think would like to "Join"
the distribution list for "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04 please
send us their names, country of residence, and e-mail contact information.
We welcome additional names. To receive the Report please send a
request e-mail to Morgan Williams, morganw@patriot.net. Past issues of
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-03 (125 reports) and UR-04 will
be sent upon request. Let us know if you want the Report sent to a different
e-mail address. Please let us know if you are receiving more than one copy
of the Report. LINK: http://www.artukraine.com/aur/aur1.htm
"To Leave The Distribution List
If you do not wish to receive future editions of "THE ACTION UKRAINE
REPORT"-04, up to five times per week, please be sure and notify us by
return e-mail to morganw@patriot.net.
========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-2004 SPONSORS:
"Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"
.1. THE ACTION UKRAINE COALITION (AUC): Washington, D.C.,
http://www.artukraine.com/auc/index.htm; MEMBERS:
A. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL,
(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
B. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA),
Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M. Andryczyk, President; E.
Morgan Williams, Executive Director, Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
http://www.artukraine.com/ufa/index.htm
C. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President; John A. Kun, VP/COO; Markian Bilynskyj, VP,
Dir. of Field Operations; Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C., website:
http://www.usukraine.org .
2. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Kempton Jenkins,
President, Washington, D.C.
3. KIEV-ATLANTIC GROUP, David and Tamara Sweere, Daniel
Sweere, Kyiv and Myronivka, Ukraine, 380 44 295 7275 in Kyiv.
4. POTENTIAL, launching a new business journal for Ukraine.
http://www.usukraine.org/potential.shtml
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kyiv vs. Kiev----SPELLING POLICY--Chornobyl vs.Chernobyl
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" uses the spelling KYIV (Ukrainian)
rather than KIEV (Russian), whenever the spelling decision is under our
control. We do not change the way journalists, authors, reporters, the
news media spell these words or the other words they use in their stories.
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Executive Director, Ukrainian Federation of America
(UFA); Coordinator, The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC);
Senior Advisor, Government Relations, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF);
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, Washington, D.C.;
Publisher and Editor, www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS),
http://www.ArtUkraine.com Ukrainian News and Information Website;
CONTACT: P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013,
Tel: 202 437 4707, morganw@patriot.net
========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
A Publication Supported Financially By Its Readers
Please add your name to our list of financial contributors!
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04, is an in-depth news and
analysis international newsletter, produced by the www.ArtUkraine.com
Information Service (ARTUIS). The report is now distributed to several
thousand persons worldwide FREE of charge using the e-mail address:
ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net. This is the 144th Report issued so
far this year, out of the more than 200 to be issued in 2004.
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" is supported through The Action
Ukraine Program Fund. Financial support from readers is essential to
the future of this Report. You can become a financial sponsor of The
Action Ukraine Program Fund. Individuals, corporations, non-profit
organizations and other groups can provide support for the expanding
Action Ukraine Program by sending in contributions.
Checks should be made out to the Ukrainian Federation of America,
(UFA), a private, not-for-profit, voluntary organization. The funds should
be designated for the Action Ukraine Program Fund (AUPF), and
mailed to Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson, Ukrainian Federation of
America (UAF), 930 Henrietta Avenue, Huntingdon Valley, PA
19006-8502.
For individuals a contribution of $45-$100 is suggested. Your contribution
to help build The Action Ukraine Program to support Ukraine and her
future is very much appreciated. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
"POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT,
ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY"
An observation that a person's sense of morality lessens as his or
her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, British
historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
True then, true today, true always.
========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE COALITION
"Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"
========================================================