US-Ukraine Business Council

"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"

YUSHCHENKO AGAINST NEW PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

"Yuschenko said he rejected their proposition to hold the new election.
'...We spoke out with a flat statement: if the issue of repeated election
again appears in the talks... there is no sense for us to stay within such
talks," Yuschenko said.

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 242
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, THURSDAY, December 2, 2004

NOTE: The Action Ukraine Report has increased its production
schedule because of the extraordinary events happening in Ukraine.
We are now publishing two Report's each day, whenever possible,
to try and keep up with the huge flow of very important articles. This
is now Report number two-hundred forty-two for the year 2004.

-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"

1. TIE AN ORANGE RIBBON FOR DEMOCRACY
Friday, Dec 3, 2004, towns and cities blanketed with orange ribbons
Tamara Gallo Olexy, Executive Director
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, December, 2004

2. "PUTIN'S BORSCHT"
EDITORIAL: The Baltic Times
News from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, December 1, 2004

3. "DEMOCRACY FOR UKRAINE"
"That Mr. Bush has not said such words to his friend Vladimir
only makes him look weak -- and raises the risk that Ukraine's
democratic revolution will yet be turned back."
EDITORIAL: The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Thursday, Dec 2, 2004; Page A34

4. BITTER LEMONS
Six questions to the critics of Ukraine's orange revolution
COMMENT: Timothy Garton Ash
The Guardian, London, UK, Thursday, Dec 2, 2004

5. KUCHMA'S OFFER OF A POLITICAL TRAP TO RETAIN POWER
By Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mirror
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Thursday, Dec 2, 2004 - Page A22

6. "EUROPE SEES ITS STAKE IN UKRAINE"
The continent's leaders argue they have a vital interest in a democratic
outcome -- but one recognizing Russia's geopolitical concerns
By John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Thu, Dec 2, 2004

7. "YOU SAY YOU WANNA (VELVET) REVOLUTION!?"
By Melana Zyla Vickers, Columnist TCS
Tech Central Station, Washington, D.C., Nov.30, 2004

8. ARMENIAN MP CHIDES PRESIDENT FOR CONGRATULATING
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1115 gmt 30 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Nov 30, 2004

9. "TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES IN UKRAINE"
EDITOR'S CUT: by Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Nation, New York, NY, Mon, Nov 29, 2004

10. YUSHCHENKO AGAINST NEW PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
We see the end of election only through the repeated run-off voting
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 2, 2004 (14:13)

11. KUCHMA, LYTVYN, YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH AGREE
ON SIMULTANEOUS AMENDMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
LAW, POLITICAL REFORM
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 1, 2004 (21:09)

12. CONCILIATORY COUNCIL OF RADA FACTIONS AND
GROUP LEADERS DECIDES TO CREATE EXPERT GROUP TO
PREPARE AMENDMENTS TO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LAW
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 2, 2004 (11:52)

13. KUCHMA, LYTVYN, YANUKOVYCH, YUSHCHENKO AGREE
TO FORM GROUP OF LAW EXPERTS TO REGULATE
PROCEDURES FOR FINISHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 2, 2004 (10:12)

14. TIHIPKO FAVORS HOLDING NEW PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 2, 2004 (09:29)

15.US DOESN'T SEE UKRAINE AS AREA OF CONFLICT WITH RUSSIA
Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Wed, December 1, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. TIE AN ORANGE RIBBON FOR DEMOCRACY
Friday, Dec 3, 2004, towns and cities blanketed with orange ribbons

Tamara Gallo Olexy, Executive Director
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
New York, New York, December, 2004

NEW YORK - In a show of solidarity with our brethren in Ukraine,
the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) is calling for
a nationwide action asking everyone to "Tie an Orange Ribbon for
Democracy."

Ribbons in the symbolic orange color of opposition candidate Victor
Yushchenko, should be tied on trees, lampposts, street signs, etc. in
your neighborhoods.

The ribbons should also be tied in front of your respective government
buildings, before your local Ukrainian churches, Ukrainian National
Homes and where you deem necessary.

The coordinated action is to take place on the evening of Thursday,
December 2nd, so that in the morning of December 3rd towns and
cities are blanketed with orange ribbons. -30-
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Tamara Gallo Olexy: ucca@nyct.net, www.ucca.org
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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2. "PUTIN'S BORSCHT"

EDITORIAL: The Baltic Times
News from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Riga, Latvia, Wednesday, December 1, 2004

The Ukrainian political crisis is so rich with drama, farce, lies and
danger that it is challenging to approach the event from any one angle.
What's more, the strong level of bias in coverage - from both sides of
the conflict itself and on the part of outside observers as well -
complicates any attempt to come up with a disinterested point of view.
Things are much more complex than they appear on the surface of the
TV screen and the newsprint.

Perhaps the most striking feature throughout the tumult has been Russia's
behavior. Watching it, one is shocked at the level of insolence that now
reigns within the walls of the Kremlin. Moscow is hell-bent on the belief
that Ukraine belongs in its sphere of influence - no questions asked, no
arguments accepted. As a result, for weeks now it has made a series of
hypocritical statements and decisions that have effectively put relations
with the West on ice.

In both Portugal and The Hague, Vladimir Putin decried what he said was
foreign interference in the internal affairs of another country. Yet no one
is guilty of the same transgression more than he. More than anything, his
two visits to Ukraine on the eve of the polls - to let the entire country
know that he was on the side of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich -
were the real interference in Ukraine's affairs. And now it has backfired.

Putin's prejudices even got the better of him after the second round of the
elections when he called to congratulate Yanukovich based on what he
had heard from the exit polls. Considering that 1) there were such polls
showing that the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko also won, and 2) that
the degree of reliability of exit polls in general is questionable (even
more so in Ukraine), Putin's phone call is patently ludicrous. Indeed, he
so wanted Yanukovich - President Leonid Kuchma's handpicked
successor and a twice-convicted felon - to win that his emotions
betrayed his judgment. Not good for a president.

What essentially happened in Ukraine is that Russia, which has not
disguised its goal of forging a EU-like trading bloc with Belarus,
Kazakhstan and Ukraine, tried to export its suspect system of political
technology in order to guarantee victory. To be sure, the Kremlin has vast
experience in this realm. When Putin took power in 2000, one of his first
takes was reining in several dozen renegade governors, and he and his
advisers went about it one election at a time - replacing the disloyal with
the loyal.

Realizing how popular Yushchenko is and how anti-Russian the atmosphere
is in western regions of the country, Moscow knew from the very beginning
it was in for a close fight. So it called on its best minds to come up with
a plan that would ensure that Kuchma was succeeded by someone Russian
friendly. The methods were the same: castigate the opponent, show the
good guy standing next to a smiling Putin, and just to be sure, stuff the
ballot boxes.

But the Russian advisers underestimated the opposition and the West, and
now they are livid. Gleb Pavlovsky, who heads the Foundation for Effective
Policy, a Putin-friendly consultancy that led the PR effort in Ukraine,
impugned the opposition, claiming it was staging a "revolution that has the
color of children's diarrhea" and comparing Yushchenko to Hitler. Pavlovsky
described the West's stance toward the crisis as a "political invasion" and
suggested that Russia review its relations with the West.

Vladimir Putin and Co. need a reality check. They need to learn that not
everyone Slav is a Belarusian peasant who can be told what to do, how to
vote, etc. That not every country in the "near abroad" is thrilled about
the Kremlin's system of "managed democracy." That half of Ukraine's
citizens want a better life a la Western Europe and not a la Moscow's
Garden Ring.

Finally - and this is the most important point - Russia needs to realize
that the current schism in Ukrainian society did not appear overnight.
Rather, it is the result of years of corrupt leadership and shoddy reform,
and many are right to blame Russia (in part) for this. Millions of
Ukrainians no doubt went to the voting stations recalling murdered
journalists, the Black Sea Fleet, Russia's grumblings over the status of
the Crimea (which Russia gave to Ukraine in the 1950s and wants to
have back), and other sore spots between the two countries. For years
Russia's leadership paid little attention toward its cousin-country, toward
the latter's insouciant politics, and now they are eating the borscht that
it helped cook. Yet they wonder now why it tastes so bad. -30-
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LINK: http://www.baltictimes.com/art.php?art_id=11538
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. "DEMOCRACY FOR UKRAINE"
"That Mr. Bush has not said such words to his friend Vladimir
only makes him look weak -- and raises the risk that Ukraine's
democratic revolution will yet be turned back."

EDITORIAL: The Washington Post
Washington, D.C., Thursday, Dec 2, 2004; Page A34

WE DON'T YET know how Ukraine's political crisis will end. But one
welcome result is already clear: The attempt by the Ukrainian government
and its backers in Moscow to install an authoritarian regime like that of
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been decisively rebuffed by the people
of Ukraine. Despite the government's brazenly unfair campaign, a majority of
Ukrainians voted for the leader of the opposition, Victor Yushchenko; when
authorities then tried to steal the election, hundreds of thousands of
people took to the streets of Kiev, the capital, igniting what has become a
popular -- and so far peaceful -- revolution.

As in previous pro-democracy revolts in eastern and southern Europe,
the state's instruments of authority have crumbled. Ukrainian police and
security forces have sided with the demonstrators; journalists in
state-controlled media have rebelled and insisted on reporting the truth;
and the once reliably pro-government parliament has passed resolutions
repudiating the election results and, yesterday, removing the government's
would-be president from his current post of prime minister.

It appears doubtful that official candidate Viktor Yanukovych will be able
to take office, even if a pending Supreme Court decision on the election's
validity goes his way. So the vital question for Ukraine, and for the
foreign mediators who have arrived in Kiev, is how a new president will be
chosen. There is one right answer to that question: a new, genuinely
democratic election. Such an election not only offers a peaceful resolution
to the Ukrainian crisis but would confirm that this strategic country of
nearly 50 million people, and the European continent around it, will be
undivided and free.

The real struggle in Ukraine is not about geopolitical orientation; it is
about democracy. Regardless of who becomes the country's president,
Ukraine will need and will seek out close relations with both Russia and
the West. But will Ukraine welcome a free press and independent courts,
respect civil liberties and choose its governments in free and fair votes?
The orange-bedecked protesters camping in the snows of Kiev do so
because they want those freedoms, not because they hate Russia or love
the United States.

Putin, who insists on portraying the conflict in anachronistic East-West
terms, does so because he seeks to install in Ukraine an authoritarian
political system like the one he is constructing in Moscow. To him, liberal
democracy is synonymous with Western influence; he seeks to create a
contrasting bloc of non-democratic countries in Europe that Russia would
dominate. This crude neo-imperialism grossly violates the post-Cold War
ideal of a Europe "whole and free," one to which three U.S. presidents,
beginning with the first President Bush, have committed themselves.

The Bush administration has been backing a democratic solution in Ukraine
while trying to ignore the Russian issue. President Bush has endorsed Polish
President Aleksander Kwasniewski's mission to Kiev; he is seeking to broker
an agreement on new elections. It's not yet clear, however, that European
mediators or Ukraine's pro-democracy forces will succeed; the government
still seeks to wear down the opposition or win its agreement to twisted
"compromise" schemes. Mr. Putin, who massively intervened on behalf of
Mr. Yanukovych and proclaimed him the new president even before the
official, fraudulent vote count was complete, now absurdly denounces
"foreign pressure" in Ukraine.

In the past week German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has twice argued
the case for Ukrainian democracy to Mr. Putin; Canadian Prime Minister
Paul Martin said while standing next to Mr. Bush on Tuesday that "elections
within Ukraine have got to be free from outside influence, and that includes
Russia." That Mr. Bush has not said such words to his friend Vladimir only
makes him look weak -- and raises the risk that Ukraine's democratic
revolution will yet be turned back. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
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4. BITTER LEMONS
Six questions to the critics of Ukraine's orange revolution

COMMENT: Timothy Garton Ash
The Guardian, London, UK, Thursday, Dec 2, 2004

Why are so many west Europeans being such lemons about Ukraine's orange
revolution? Every day brings a new example of some feeble, back-handed or
downright hostile reaction.

Yesterday, it was Simon Jenkins in the Times describing the crowds in Kiev
as a "mob". (Dictionary definition: "a riotous or disorderly crowd of
people; rabble".) Last week, it was Jonathan Steele in these pages,
responding to my enthusiastic column about the Kiev events with such
arguments as this: "Nor is there much evidence to imagine that, were he [the
opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko] the incumbent president facing a
severe challenge, he would not have tried to falsify the poll." Unpick that
contorted hypothetical if you can.

In between, we have two representatives of a pressure group with a highly
dubious track record, Mark Almond and John Laughland, informing us that
somewhere behind or among the demonstrators were, respectively, agents
of George Soros and Ukrainian, anti-semitic neo-Nazis. In the Berlin
Tagesspiegel, I read a comparison of the opposition's tactics with those of
Lenin in 1918; in Italy's La Repubblica, a commentary suggesting that
Warsaw and Vilnius are trying to foist on the European Union a policy of
destabilising the region. And so it goes on.

For 25 years, I have heard these same old arguments against supporting the
democratic oppositions in eastern Europe. Those oppositions, we are told,
threaten European "stability". Behind or beside them are nasty nationalists
and/or the CIA. We must respect the legitimate security interests of Moscow
(an argument originally used to justify the continued existence of the
Berlin Wall). A ghastly Pandora's box will be opened by ....... (fill this
space with: Poland's Solidarnosc, Charter 77, the Leipzig demonstrators -
sorry, mob - in 1989, anti-Milosevic students in Belgrade, Georgian rose
revolutionaries, or now Ukrainians).

Oh yes, and tu quoque: someone else is just as bad, so a plague on both
their houses. "Vladimir Putin," writes Simon Jenkins, "obliterated his
opponents in Russia's last presidential election without a peep from the
west." Well, exactly. But what follows from that is that we should have
criticised Putin's election-rigging more strongly, not that we shouldn't
criticise election-rigging in Ukraine.

Behind all these contorted reservations, we hear an inner voice which says,
in effect, "Why won't all these bloody, semi-barbarian, east Europeans
leave us alone, to go on living happily ever after in our right, tight,
little
west European (or merely British) paradise?" And, quite often, "Why are
those bloody Americans stirring them up to disturb us?" For this is not a
simple left-right divide. It's a divide between, on the one side, central
and east Europeans inside the EU, together with Americans of left and
right, and, on the other, west Europeans of both left and right. Not all
west
Europeans, to be sure. In fact, the EU has spoken out remarkably clearly
on the election fraud, through its Dutch presidency and Spanish foreign
minister. But many west Europeans.

Before I address some questions to the Reluctant West European, let me
first acknowledge a few obvious home truths. This is a very dangerous
situation. There is a real possibility of violence (a little has already
happened
in the east of the country), and of a painful split between Ukraine's more
Russian-oriented east and the more western-oriented west. We must keep
talking to Moscow as well as Kiev. And there is no such thing as the
immaculate victim. The Bosnians in besieged Sarajevo were not immaculate
victims, nor even were the Czechs in Charter 77.

In Ukraine, a country with a tortured history of oppression (remember
Stalin's deliberate famine, the "harvest of sorrow" in which around 14.5
million Ukrainians died), division and occupation, of evils done to and
returned with interest by Ukrainians, that is especially true.

Ukraine has an appalling level of corruption, involving those on the
opposition as well as the government side. Members or supporters of
both do have connections to a mob, in its other sense, meaning mafia.
What follows an opposition victory will be messy, disappointing to most
of those young orange supporters in Kiev's Independence Square, and
sometimes unsavoury, as in all post-communist countries. None of this
means they don't have the right to try, if their candidate wins a new
monitored election which is as free and fair as is possible in such
circumstances.

Now my six questions to the Reluctant West European:

1. Can't you see the wood for the trees?

You point out some bad trees, but here's the shape of the wood: An election
was stolen. Most of the orange revolutionaries want their country to enjoy
more of the freedoms, rights and opportunities that we in western Europe
enjoy, rather than being tied back closer to an increasingly authoritarian
Russia. Wouldn't that be a good thing, for them and for us?

2. Do you think Ukrainians don't deserve democracy?

Please examine your attitude and see if it doesn't reflect some deep-seated
prejudices of west Europeans towards the continent's other half, typecast
for centuries as distant, exotic, mysterious, dark etc. A good test is to
substitute, say, "Spaniards" or "French" for "Ukrainians" in any statement,
and see how it reads.

3. Are you reluctant to support the orange movement just because the
Americans do?

Put thus starkly, most people would say no. But some of the west European
unease undoubtedly comes from the fact that American pro-democracy
organisations have actively supported the Ukrainian opposition, and
Washington does have a geostrategic agenda involving the expansion of
Nato, military bases across central Asia etc. Yet the knee-jerk leftist or
Euro-Gaullist reaction - "if the Americans are for it there must be
something wrong with it" - is silly. Please consider the Ukrainian case
on its own merits, not through an American or anti-American prism.

4. Why is Russia entitled to a sphere of influence, including Ukraine, if
the United States is not entitled to a sphere of influence, including
Nicaragua?

The truth is, neither Moscow nor Washington is entitled to such a sphere.
There are hard realities of economic, military and political power with
which the smaller, weaker neighbours of great powers have to deal. In
the case of Ukraine, this is further complicated by the cultural and ethnic
identification of many eastern Ukrainians with Russia. But these are
constraints with which Ukraine must deal itself, as a sovereign state. The
country of Yalta (a town in the Ukrainian Crimea) should not be subjected
to a new Yalta.

5. Would you rather have George Bush or Vladimir Putin?

Preferably neither. Given the choice between Bush and Putin, I choose
Marilyn Monroe. But it's incredible that so many west Europeans, including
Chancellor Schröder of Germany, seem to prefer as their partner an ex-
KGB officer currently reimposing authoritarian rule in Russia over a man
who, for all his faults, has just been re-elected in a free and fair
election in one of the world's great democracies.

6. If you don't like the Americans taking the lead in Ukraine, why don't we?

To some extent we already are. At the negotiating tables in Kiev yesterday,
there was Javier Solana from Brussels, the Polish and Lithuanian presidents,
and a senior Russian official, but not, so far as I know, any senior
American. And that's right. This is a version of our European model of
peaceful revolution, with the aim of rejoining Europe, not America. Now it's
up to us to support it, with all the peaceful means at our disposal. These
include saying that, in our interest as well as theirs, a democratic Ukraine
deserves a place in the European Union. Agreed? -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
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5. KUCHMA'S OFFER OF A POLITICAL TRAP TO RETAIN POWER

By Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mirror
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, December 2, 2004 - Page A22

KIEV -- On the surface, it looked like a compromise offer that could
help defuse Ukraine's potentially explosive political crisis, made by
a seemingly statesmanlike Leonid Kuchma. Underneath, it was a
last-ditch effort by the outgoing President to maintain his
decade-long hold on this country's political scene.

Mr. Kuchma, Ukraine's veteran puppet master, yesterday offered what
appeared to be a compromise solution to the two men vying to succeed
him, Viktor Yushchenko and Viktor Yanukovich. The country should have
fresh elections, he said. This time they will be honest and fair, he
promised.

The opposition has said all along that the fraudulent election of Nov.
21 should be run again. But Mr. Kuchma, an autocrat by nature who is
suddenly trying to squeeze into the dress of a democrat, is offering
something very different.

Instead of a revote some time in the coming weeks in which voters
would again choose between Mr. Yushchenko and Mr. Yanukovich -
- a situation that would almost certainly see Mr. Kuchma's political
nemesis sweep to power, should the vote be held fairly this time
around -- the outgoing President wants to start the electoral process
all over again. A key condition would be that neither Viktor advance
himself as a candidate in the new poll.

In the meantime, of course, Mr. Kuchma himself would remain
Ukraine's ruler.

It's what those advising Mr. Yushchenko have identified all along as
their worst fear: that Mr. Kuchma, who they believe never really
intended to give up power, would run a farce of an election, cancel
the whole thing and then step into the void that he created in the
name of stability.

In effect, Mr. Kuchma, who is said to have a shaky grasp of what is
happening on the streets of Kiev and other cities, wants Mr.
Yushchenko to throw in all his cards at a time when he has a decided
advantage.

A new election, which could constitutionally be held in three months'
time, would not only force Mr. Yushchenko to abandon his ambition to
be president; it would send the hundreds of thousands gathered on
Kiev's Independence Square home deflated. The Orange Revolution
would have the juice squeezed out of it by a defeat camouflaged to
look like a deal.

The Kremlin's spin doctors returned to Moscow complaining openly
about having been given so little to work with in Mr. Yanukovich, Mr.
Kuchma's hand-picked successor. The 54-year-old ex-convict had long
been regarded by many Ukrainians as a thug, and Russian President
Vladimir Putin's army of interventionists is salivating at the chance
to take another crack at winning over Ukraine with a more palatable
pro-Moscow candidate.

That would likely be Sergei Tyhypko, who stepped down this week
from duties as both the country's central banker and Mr. Yanukovich's
campaign chief.

The opposition, meanwhile, would likely have to turn to Yulia
Tymoshenko, Mr. Yushchenko's ambitious, firebrand ally and the true
driving force behind the Orange Revolution. As good as she is at
rallying the crowds, she is viewed as too radical by many Ukrainians
and cannot match Mr. Yushchenko's widespread support across society.

Mr. Kuchma's "compromise" is a trap into which the opposition would
be foolish to walk. Accepting it would mean giving up both the momentum
and their main advantage, the rabidly pro-Yushchenko crowds on the
street.

In return, they'd get new elections they cannot be certain of winning,
even under fair conditions, and no real certainty that the same
scandalous abuses that marred the last round wouldn't happen again.

Meanwhile, all the police and military units who have publicly
defected to Mr. Yushchenko's side in the past 10 days would be
in a perilous position, potentially exposed to charges of treason.

The crowds, many of whom are increasingly frustrated with Mr.
Yushchenko's gently-gently approach, say he never should have entered
into negotiations with those who they believe stole the Nov. 21 vote.

Fooled so often in the past, they hoped they would dictate to Mr.
Kuchma this time. It seems the wily leader, even at this late hour in
his rule, wants to make sure he's still the one doing the dictating.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
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6. "EUROPE SEES ITS STAKE IN UKRAINE"
The continent's leaders argue they have a vital interest in a democratic
outcome -- but one recognizing Russia's geopolitical concerns

By John Daniszewski, Times Staff Writer
Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, CA, Thu, Dec 2, 2004

LONDON - The electoral crisis in Ukraine was one that few European
leaders and diplomats anticipated. Now many are arguing that the continent's
vital interests are at stake in the former Soviet republic on their
doorstep.

As the struggle between two victory-claiming Viktors - pro-Western
Yushchenko and pro-Moscow Yanukovich - has played out, Europe
has been determined to find a solution to the impasse that meets both its
own democratic proclamations and the geopolitical reality that Russia must
be satisfied.

"We're trying to help," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters
this week, speaking of the fevered diplomatic involvement of the European
Union to find a solution. "I think the concern of everybody at the moment is
how do we best keep [Ukraine] together, work out what has actually
happened, and then work out what should happen and do it in a way that
does not trample on sensibilities" about outside interference.

Preoccupied with war in Iraq, nuclear weapon developments in Iran, terrorism
and a falling dollar, few of the continent's leaders and diplomats suspected
a vote in the Slavic hinterlands would emerge so suddenly as a major
challenge to Europe's values. News coverage of the election was consigned
to the back pages until demonstrations began after the Nov. 21 runoff vote.

But now many respected voices, among them former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher, have concluded that Europe must act to defend its
self-proclaimed democratic values. A "new iron curtain" could fall across
Ukraine if the West does not do so, Thatcher warned from retirement.

For many, the choice was stark: Should Europe accept the widely questioned
victory of Yanukovich for the sake of appeasing Russia? Or insist that
Yushchenko be recognized as the rightful winner - or new elections held -
affirming that Europe will be a zone of transparent popular governance?

Most European leaders and opinion-makers have rallied to the orange-
draped masses that have jammed the squares of Kiev, the Ukrainian capital,
for Yushchenko in the greatest manifestation of people power since the
Communist regimes of Eastern Europe fell in 1989. Some business leaders,
however, have cautioned that keeping Russia happy might be a better long-
term policy.

Timothy Garton Ash, an Oxford modern history professor who has written
extensively on the anti-Communist revolutions, says the rest of the
continent cannot afford to take a pass on the Ukrainians' struggle. "If we,
comfortably ensconced in the institutional Europe to which these peaceful
demonstrators look with hope and yearning, do not immediately support them
with every appropriate means at our disposal, we will betray the very ideals
we claim to represent," he wrote in London's Guardian newspaper.

He argued that the conflict could be decisive for the whole Eurasian
continent, because what happens in Ukraine will determine Russia's
direction. "A Russia that wins back Ukraine, as well as Belarus, will again
be an imperial Russia, as [Russian President Vladimir V.] Putin wishes. A
Russia that sees even Ukraine moving toward Europe and the West has
a chance of itself becoming, with time, a more normal, liberal, democratic
nation-state," Garton Ash wrote.

Responding with a sense of urgency, the European Union's chief diplomat,
former North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Javier Solana,
has been to Kiev twice for negotiations. Polish President Aleksandr
Kwasniewski has accompanied him, and many European leaders have been
consulting by telephone - including German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder,
who spoke Tuesday with Putin.

Their aim: to prevent the disputed election from being validated and to
forestall any moves toward secession by the more Russian-oriented east of
Ukraine. The Schroeder-Putin talks resulted in a signal from Putin that he
might support a rerun of the election to remove any shadow from the results.

There are dangers for Europe in leaning too hard on Russia. As a
left-of-center German newspaper, the Frankfurter Rundschau, noted: "The
correct course would not be doubted if it was just about falsified
elections.. But behind Ukraine is Russia, a wounded world power with
nuclear arsenals [and] in acute danger of slipping into dictatorship and
chaos. It is of vital significance for Europeans that this neighbor becomes
stable, predictable and reliable."

Nevertheless, the greater priority for Europe as a whole is a free Ukraine,
said Federico Rampini, a columnist for the left-leaning La Repubblica in
Rome. "Ukraine is such a large, populated country, and is somehow a buffer
between the European Union and Russia," he noted. "So it's in our strategic
interest that a democratic government governs it first of all." Having a
democrat in power there, he added, would bring "quite an element of safety
and of stability in that area so near to the borders of the EU."

Margot Light, a professor at the London School of Economics, noted that
whoever emerges the victor would still have to deal with Russia and the EU.
"For election purposes, it may be useful to dichotomize them, but in the
end, everybody has to get on with everyone else," she said. Light thinks a
rerun of the second round of the presidential vote has emerged as the most
likely outcome, acceptable both in Europe and to Putin. And a victory by
either candidate would be acceptable in Europe if he won fairly, she said.
"What is very dangerous, however, is how easily it could all become
violent," she said. "And then it is going to be much harder to mend
everything."

Eric Hoesli, an opinion writer for Le Temps in Paris, urged fellow Europeans
not to mislead Ukrainians with false hope the EU is waiting to welcome
Ukraine with membership in the union and economic cooperation and
assistance if it turns away from Moscow. "It's true that the democratic
awakening of the Ukrainians and their claim of belonging in the EU are
thrilling," he said. "However, who thinks for one minute that the EU could
endorse long-term support of Ukraine after its revolution? "The EU has
already enough to do to integrate its eastern part.. Offering illusions to
Kiev's demonstrators today is guaranteeing them many months of hangover
ter." -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Times staff writers Maria De Cristofaro of The Times' Rome Bureau, Petra
Falkenberg and Christian Retzlaff of the Berlin Bureau, Achrene Sicakyuz of
the Paris Bureau and Janet Stobart of the London Bureau contributed to this
report. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at
www.latimes.com/archives.
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. "YOU SAY YOU WANNA (VELVET) REVOLUTION!?"

By Melana Zyla Vickers, Columnist TCS
Tech Central Station, Washington, D.C., Nov.30, 2004

A week has passed since a Moscow-backed, ruling party candidate
was declared victor in fraudulent presidential elections in Ukraine, sending
tens of thousands of protesters into the frozen streets of the ex-Soviet
nation's capital.

The protesters remain, their ranks enriched daily with defectors from the
government: the Ukrainian parliament, dissenting members of the election
commission that announced the discredited result, hundreds of members of
the Ukrainian foreign service, a state-controlled television network, and,
critically, top officers of the army and various groups of police and other
state-security personnel, have switched sides in the last few days. As
importantly, the opposition has attracted the backing of Secretary of State
Colin Powell and a number of European leaders.

Can the opposition keep up the momentum and win?

The popular, post-Communist revolution in Georgia took 21 days,
beginning with fraudulent parliamentary elections, followed by mass
protests, and culminating with President Edouard Shevardnadze
stepping down.

The popular, post-Communist revolution in Serbia took 17 days,
beginning with the fraudulent presidential election in which Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic claimed victory, followed by mass
protests, and ending with Milosevic stepping down on October 5,
2000. Of course, this culmination was preceded and encouraged by
the massive pounding of Milosevic-led Serbia by U.S.-led forces.

The popular Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia took 24 days, from
the clash of student pro-democracy protesters on Prague's main square
on Nov. 17, 1989, through the formation of the Civic Forum political
movement and mass public protests, to the resignation of Communist
President Gustav Husak on Dec.10.

Whether it's 17 days long, 24, or slightly more, the clock for Ukraine is
ticking. Western analysts are looking to a Ukrainian Supreme Court decision,
hearings for which began Monday, for signs of where things are headed. If
the court concludes that the election commission was wrong to declare
ruling-party candidate Viktor Yanukovich the winner, given the widespread
election fraud denounced by international observers, then opposition
candidate Viktor Yushchenko could gain advantage -- possibly a new round
of balloting, or the trigger needed to get the ruling party to step down.

But that's a big if. It's just as conceivable that the court's
lifetime-appointed, Communist-era judges will stretch out their
deliberations over weeks and months, buying time for the ruling party to
consolidate its rump government and freeze the popular revolution. Or that
the court will decide in Yanukovich's favor, lending a false veneer of legal
legitimacy to an illegitimate electoral process. Opposition candidate
Yushchenko knows this full well, and has downplayed the significance of the
upcoming ruling, pushing instead for a new election. For the same reason,
the ruling party has played the court ruling up.

The lessons of Georgia, Serbia, Central Europe and elsewhere show that
there are other critical steps needed in order for Ukraine's velvet
revolution to succeed. The more that are taken, the better.

Ukraine's ruling party and its backer the Russian president need a way out
of their corner. The U.S. can help here. Behind the scenes, U.S. officials
should be persuading Vladimir Putin that his own rather marginal reputation
as a democrat is harmed by association with the Yanukovich election-stealing
camp. Putin needs to be pressed to dump his Ukrainian friend, current
president Leonid Kuchma, who has none of the domestic popularity, perceived
record of fighting corruption, or electoral semi-legitimacy that Putin
himself has. European mediators' proposal Friday for a re-vote may be a sign
that just such a way out is being carved for Russia.

A government spokesman in Moscow quickly announced Russia's support
for the do-over. As long as any new election were held before the end of the
year --before the rich and powerful Yanukhovich camp had time to arrange
to steal it, that is -- it could indeed pave the way for a clean Yushchenko
win and a way for Ukraine's ruling party and Russia to bow off the stage.

Additionally, the U.S. could assure Putin that a Ukraine under Yushchenko
would not be anti-Russian; it can't be, the countries are geographically
joined at then hip. The U.S. officials might also point out that Washington,
too, has been in the position of dumping leaders it once backed -- Marcos
in the Philippines, for instance -- and that all can end well after such a
reversal of loyalties. If Putin can't be persuaded, he should be pushed,
with threats to his country's foreign direct investment and other goodies if
he continues to meddle imperialistically in Ukraine's internal affairs.

Ukraine's security forces -- the military, the police, the interior
ministry -- need to demonstrate they'll refuse to follow orders that harm
the Ukrainian people. Already, several top Army generals, whole police
academies, and top leaders of the Ukrainian equivalent of the FBI have
broken rank with the ruling party and sided with the Constitution and the
opposition. This signals that the security forces may indeed refuse orders
against the people when and if such orders come. In Georgia, when the
security forces refused Shevardnadze's order to crush protests,
Shevardnadze finally understood that les jeux sont faits.

Ukraine's state-controlled media needs to break away from the ruling party.
Only that way can citizens outside the capital be mobilized for the
opposition, because they'll see that the revolution is peaceful and
pro-democratic, not violent and bent on destruction as the TV propaganda
they're being fed now suggests. Already, one state station has rebelled. The
situation is a reminder of how important it would be for the U.S. to
maintain VOA and Radio Liberty programming for the ex-Soviet region.

Other institutions of government need to break away from ruling-party
control. They need to represent the virtues of democratic, civil society and
reject ruling-party authoritarian control. Such institutions include the
Supreme Court, the election commission that announced the discredited
election results, and city and regional governments. Already, five of 15
members of the electoral commission have either opposed giving the election
to Yanukhovich or publicly reversed their earlier pro-Yanukhovich stand. If
another two commission members reverse themselves, the election results will
become invalid.

Distinct elements of society -- students, unions, pensioners, churches --
need to bolster the opposition. Already, Ukrainian students are on the
opposition side, in a popular wave reminiscent of Georgia and Serbia. But
unions, long dependent on the ruling party for financial support, are
divided. Worse, managers from a few key industries in Ukraine's far east are
the backbone of the pro-Yanukhovich camp, a camp that's now roiling the
waters by threatening a separatist vote in the event of an opposition
victory. Nationally, the unions' continuing ambivalence is part of what
keeps the opposition's call for a nationwide general strike from succeeding.
If major labor movements came on side, the country could indeed become
strike-paralyzed. Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, in Ukraine on
Friday, could give Yushchenko great assistance here.

Ukraine's pro-democracy allies in the West need to step up their pressure,
both publicly and behind the scenes. Publicly, the opposition forces need to
hear continuous encouragement and support that they are right and that
fairness and democracy will prevail. Privately, the ruling forces need to be
muscled, or pushed, or escorted gently from power. Georgia's Shevardnadze
may not have stepped down as readily if he didn't have the United States'
Jim Baker whispering that he'd be able to save face, and Germany offering
him asylum.

In South Africa, apartheid-era leader Frederik Willem de Klerk left the
prime ministership and was lauded with a Nobel Peace Prize for allowing a
new country to be born. If Ukraine's current president Leonid Kuchma had a
Shevardnadze-type path paved for him, he and his buddy Yanukhovich might
find it easier to leave power. Among the methods of pressure might be to
remind Kuchma and Yanukhovich of the grisly exit that faced Romania's
clinging communist ruler Nicolae Ceaucescu. (Will it be a Georgian head-bow
or a Romanian bullet to the head, gentlemen?)

To be sure, these milestones aren't a checklist. Much of what happens in a
revolution is psychological -- the tipping point will come when the ruling
party blinks and when the opposition's pressure reaches a boiling point, and
it's impossible to say when that will be. But several of these milestones
must nonetheless be crossed if a new and democratic Ukraine is to emerge
from the seemingly necessary crucible of popular, post-Communist revolution,
and finish the process that started with the breakup of the Soviet Union in
1991. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Melana Zyla Vickers is a columnist for TechCentralStation.com. She
campaigned in Kiev for the Ukrainian secession from the Soviet Union in
1991, and writes regularly on Eastern European issues.
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=========================================================
8. ARMENIAN MP CHIDES PRESIDENT FOR CONGRATULATING
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER ON PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Mediamax news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1115 gmt 30 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Nov 30, 2004

YEREVAN - "Armenia is placing itself against the democratic world and
European entities," a member of the [Armenian] National Assembly
from the opposition Justice bloc, Shavarsh Kocharyan, said in Yerevan today.

He was commenting on the message of Armenian President Robert Kocharyan
to congratulate [Ukrainian prime minister and presidential candidate] Viktor
Yanukovych on his election as Ukrainian president. The parliamentarian also
said that the Armenian president joined a statement critical of the OSCE,
which was signed by some CIS presidents earlier this year.

Drawing parallels between the situation in Armenia after the presidential
elections in 2003 and the developments in Ukraine, Shavarsh Kocharyan said
that the Armenian opposition is more passive because of the lack of "public
order for democratization" and people's unreadiness for nationwide protests.
He also said that "Russia doesn't want to have a strong ally in the region
as Armenia, preferring an easily managed puppet leader". -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.242: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
=========================================================
9. "TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES IN UKRAINE"

EDITOR'S CUT: by Katrina vanden Heuvel
The Nation, New York, NY, Mon, Nov 29, 2004

A Russian friend once said to me, "You Americans are an odd
people. You love our liberals, but you don't like your own liberals."
He added, "You should support your local liberals too."

My friend's words came to mind this past week as I watched the
extraordinary street protests in Ukraine. Anyone who cares about
citizens fighting corrupt regimes can't help but be moved by scenes
of thousands of demonstrators, many of them students, standing for
hours in Kiev's Independence Square in sub-zero
temperatures--waving banners, chanting and protesting what they
believe is a rigged election.

When the Bush Administration rushed to celebrate the protesters'
courage and tenacity, I thought--what rank hypocrisy. These same
officials have shown no respect for American pro-democracy
protesters, and, if they have their way, they'll probably lock their
political opponents out of central Washington when Inauguration
Day rolls around.

On the hypocrisy meter: Consider how the Ukrainian protesters'
charges of election fraud have been treated so seriously by Bush and
his team, while they dismiss such charges when they are raised here
at home. And how exactly does the Bush Administration--which has
said that it cannot accept the results of the Ukrainian presidential
election as legitimate "because it does not meet international
standards"--explain why those international standards don't apply to
the US? What right does this Administration have to lecture Ukraine
when Bush came to office in a non-violent coup d'etat in 2000, and
when numerous reports document that the 2004 election was marred
by GOP voter suppression and intimidation tactics, flawed voting
equipment and unexplained discrepancies between exit polls and
official results in key swing states?

Then there's the reality that the mass street protests in Ukraine are
not as sweet or homegrown as they appear. Although it is virtually
unreported in our media, the US has been closely involved in funding
and training Ukraine's youth protests, and the united opposition.
As Ian Traynor reports in The Guardian, "...while the gains of the
orange-bedecked 'chestnut revolution' are Ukraine's, the campaign is
an American creation, a sophisticated and brilliantly conceived
exercise in Western branding and mass marketing that, in four
countries and four years, has been used to try to salvage rigged
elections and topple unsavory regimes...Funded and organized by the
US government, deploying US consultancies, pollsters, the two big
American parties and US non-government organizations...the
operation--engineering democracy through the ballot box and civil
disobedience--is now so slick that the methods have matured into a
template for winning other people's elections."

It was even US funding that organized and paid for key exit polls;
those gave the opposition candidate Viktor Yuschenko an 11-point
lead and set the stage for charges of vote fraud.

Nor is it accurate to think that we are watching an unalloyed
struggle between democracy and authoritarianism. As Jonathan Steele
observes in The Guardian, "Yuschenko, who claims to have won
Sunday's election, served as Prime Minister under the outgoing president,
Leonid Kuchma, and some of his backers are also linked to the brutal
industrial clans who manipulated Ukraine's post-Soviet
privatization." (It is also worth noting, as The Independent reported
Sunday, that Yuschenko's wife, a US citizen of Ukrainian descent,
worked in the Reagan White House.) Certainly, many Ukrainians
seek a less corrupt, more democratic system, but as Steele notes, "to
suggest that [Yuschenko] would provide a sea-change in Ukrainian
politics and economic management is naive."

Yet, this more realistic view of Yuschenko shouldn't diminish the
democratic awakening in Kiev and other cities. In many ways, as The
Guardian's Nick Paton observes, "this protest is no longer about
America's or Russia's candidate, but an end to the past 12 years of
misrule." The journalists who are breaking with state rules--as well
as the thousands who have filled Independence Square--are "for the
first time, realizing how they could one day have a government whose
main interest is not stealing from state coffers and protecting
favored oligarchs, but actually representing the people who elected
them. For most people, this is a first taste of real
self-determination." But, for now, we need a media which provides
needed historical and political background and context. Since 1991,
every election in the former Soviet Union has been tainted by fraud,
unfair use of state television and, quite often by direct rigging.
Yet, the Bush team has ignored far more egregious examples of voter
fraud, as was the case with Azerbaijan's transparently fraudulent
election last year.

It may well be that the Ukrainian election was one of the most fairly
conducted, with the two candidates ("the two Viktors" as the Russian
press refers to them) even engaging in a nationally televised debate
several weeks before the election. That doesn't mean vote fraud isn't
an issue or that discrepancies shouldn't be challenged but, as Steele
points out: "The decision to protest appears to depend mainly on
realpolitik and whether the challengers or the incumbent are
considered 'pro-Western' or 'pro-market.'"

With the country culturally and geographically divided between the
heavily industrialized East, traditionally allied with Russia, and
the West, a traditional center of Ukrainian nationalism, there is
already talk of secession by leading governors in the Eastern part of
the country. (On Sunday, as many as 3,500 officials from 17 regions
in Eastern Ukraine voted unanimously to seek autonomy by public
referendum if the opposition continues its fight to make Yuschenko
president.)

And though there has been no violence yet, the streets remain filled
with growing crowds of impassioned protesters, eyeball to eyeball
with riot police. In the next few days, the country's Supreme Court
is likely to rule on the validity of the election, which will add a
new element to the chaotic mix. And calls for a recount--to be
overseen by international observers--are being issued by many
European leaders. But that too will take time, and patience is
running thin.

Perhaps of gravest import is that we're witnessing the worst crisis
in US-Russian relations since the end of the Cold War--with both
sides deeply involved in the election, with each having a candidate,
and with each proclaiming the fateful consequences of the election's
resolution. (An important footnote: The US--in actions reminiscent of
the Cold War--has since 1991 encircled Russia with NATO troops
and US bases, from the Baltics to Central Asia. While not condoning
Russia's meddling in Ukraine, some media reporting on this historical
and geopolitical context might provide necessary insight into the deep
anxiety in Moscow about a divided or, perhaps, anti-Russian Ukraine
on its borders.)

Depending on the outcome, and let us pray for a peaceful resolution,
the consequences may well be profound and far-reaching. Even apart
from the possibility of civil violence, the result may be a new
European divide between East and West; the end of any meaningful
Russian cooperation with the US--remember Putin has been one of
Bush's leading European "friends" since the Iraq war began; and if
Ukraine is "lost," we may even witness the destabilization of Putin's
leadership and Russia itself. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Katrina vanden Heuvel has been The Nation's editor since 1995.
She is the co-editor of Taking Back America--And Taking Down
The Radical Right (NationBooks, 2004). She is also co-editor
(with Stephen F. Cohen) of Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with
Gorbachev's Reformers (Norton, 1989) and editor of The Nation:
1865-1990, and the collection A Just Response: The Nation on
Terrorism, Democracy and September 11, 2001.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.thenation.com/edcut/index.mhtml?pid=2034
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Names for the distribution list always welcome
=========================================================
10. YUSHCHENKO AGAINST NEW PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
We see the end of election only through the repeated run-off voting

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 2, 2004 (14:13)

KYIV - Leader of the Our Ukraine bloc Viktor Yuschenko is against
a new presidential election. Yuschenko was speaking to rally participants
on the Independence Square in Kyiv on Wednesday.

Yuschenko said that during a multilateral meeting at Mariinskyi Palace with
the participation of international mediators, President Leonid Kuchma and
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych suggested holding a new presidential
election.

Yuschenko said he rejected their proposition to hold the new election.
"...We spoke out with a flat statement: if the issue of repeated election
again appears in the talks... there is no sense for us to stay within such
talks," Yuschenko said.

He stressed that the first presidential voting round of October 31 took
place and its returns were not put in issue. Yuschenko stressed he believes
that the only possible completion of the presidential election is a repeated
run-off voting. "We see the end of election only through the repeated
run-off voting," he said. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
==========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Names for the distribution list always welcome
==========================================================
11. KUCHMA, LYTVYN, YUSHCHENKO, YANUKOVYCH AGREE
ON SIMULTANEOUS AMENDMENT OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
LAW, POLITICAL REFORM

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 1, 2004 (21:09)

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Verkhovna Rada Chairman
Volodymyr Lytvyn, Our Ukraine coalition leader Viktor Yuschenko and
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych reached agreement on a simultaneous
amendment of the Presidential Election Law, holding political reform in
keeping with Bill #4180 and forming the Cabinet of Ministers on these
principles.

Kuchma declared this after the round-table meeting with the participation
of Yanukovych and Yuschenko in Kyiv's Mariinskyi Palace. The parties
reached a package agreement on amending the Presidential
Election Law, holding political reform together with amending the
Constitution of Ukraine in keeping with bill #4180, and forming the
Ukrainian government on these principles, Kuchma said.

Taking part in the round-table meeting were also Nicolaas Biegman,
European Union's ambassador at large; Jan Kubis, secretary general of
the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Javier Solana,
high commissioner of the European Union for common foreign and security
policy; Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus; Polish President Aleksandr
Kwasniewski; and Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, Polish foreign minister and
the Council of Europe ministers committee head. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
12. CONCILIATORY COUNCIL OF RADA FACTIONS AND
GROUP LEADERS DECIDES TO CREATE EXPERT GROUP TO
PREPARE AMENDMENTS TO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION LAW

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 2, 2004 (11:52)

KYIV - A conciliatory council of leaders of the Verkhovna Rada factions
and groups has decided to set up an expert group to prepare amendments
to the Law of Presidential Election.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn said this at a parliament
meeting. According to him, the group should analyze the laws regulating the
presidential election, taking into account possible rulings of the Supreme
Court on leader of the Our Ukraine bloc Viktor Yuschenko's HQ appeal.
Lytvyn said that the expert group has to prepare suggestions on amendments
to the La of Presidential Election.

"This expert group should analyze the effective legislation on presidential
election and, regarding possible hypothetic rulings of the Supreme Court,
work out different variants of amendments to the law of presidential
election," Lytvyn said.

The speaker added that the expert group should define the terms of holding
the new presidential election or repeated runoff voting. "...We will see how
many days it will take to complete the presidential election," Lytvyn said.

He added that the expert group is to include two representatives form Viktor
Yuschenko, two representatives from Viktor Yanukovych, a representative
of the Central Election Commission (CEC), one representative from each
parliamentary faction, one representative from each Verkhovna Rada
committees for state construction and legal policy.

Lytvyn offered Rada factions and groups to file suggestion on candidatures
of their representatives to the expert group. Lytvyn added that
representatives of Rada factions and groups will hold a conciliatory council
to set up an expert group to prepare amendments to the Law of Presidential
Election at noon on Thursday. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
13. KUCHMA, LYTVYN, YANUKOVYCH, YUSHCHENKO AGREE
TO FORM GROUP OF LAW EXPERTS TO REGULATE
PROCEDURES FOR FINISHING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, December 2, 2004 (10:12)

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma, Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn,
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Our Ukraine Coalition leader Viktor
Yuschenko have agreed to set up a group of law experts so that they regulate
the procedures for finishing the presidential elections.

Kuchma made this announcement after the roundtable talks at Mariinskyi
Palace in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"The parties have reached an agreement on creation of the expert group
for conducting an urgent law analysis and making corresponding proposals
as to the completion of the election of the President of Ukraine based on
the decision of the Supreme Court of Ukraine," Kuchma said.

He took a note of the need to make multiple changes to law in order to
regulate this issue. "Everybody understands that multiple changes to current
laws of Ukraine must be made," he said. The parties reiterated their
determination to not resort to violence in the post-election conflict.

They agreed to unblock the government buildings as soon as possible
and create conditions for their appropriate functioning. The parties request
all political forces to be guided by the need to preserve the territorial
integrity of the country.

They call on parliamentary factions and groups and other organs of state
power and local governments to focus their efforts on settlement of the
socio-political situation and cessation of crisis phenomena in the economy.
The agreement was signed by all participants of the negotiations without
exception, Kuchma stressed.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Kuchma, Lytvyn, Yanukovych and
Yuschenko agreed to hold the next roundtable talks after the Supreme
Court rules on the complaint of Yuschenko HQ against the November
24 resolution of the CEC on declaring Yanukovych the president-elect.

They also agreed to simultaneously amend the Presidential Election Law,
to conduct a political reform in keeping with bill No. 4180 and to form
the government on these principles. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER FOURTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
14. TIHIPKO FAVORS HOLDING NEW PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 2, 2004 (09:29)

KYIV - Serhii Tihipko, the leader of the Labor Ukraine party, speaks
in favor of holding the new presidential elections. He made this statement
to the press. Tihipko said it is the most probable solution to the political
confrontation.

He read out a statement, 7 clauses of which contain proposals as to the
ways out of the political crisis - namely, conducting a political reform
(its effective date should be January 1, 2006), leveling of the
administrative
influence on the electoral process, replacement of Central Election
Commission members, taking measures to prevent election fraud, providing
for equal access to mass media for all presidential candidates, providing
for appropriate conditions for election observers, and prohibiting the prime
minister to run in the race for presidency. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 242: ARTICLE NUMBER FIFTEEN
=========================================================
15.US DOESN'T SEE UKRAINE AS AREA OF CONFLICT WITH RUSSIA

Interfax, Moscow, Russia, Wed, December 1, 2004

MOSCOW - U.S. ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow believes
that a political settlement in Ukraine meets the interests of both
Washington and Moscow.

The United States does not regard Ukraine as an arena of confrontation
with Russia, he told Interfax on Wednesday. It is in the interests of all
friends of Ukraine to settle the situation there by political and lawful
means excluding any use of force, he said.

Any political solution that takes the opinion of the Ukrainian people into
account would suit the U.S., Vershbow said. He would not say what the
ideal solution would be, given that the interested parties in Ukraine should
find this themselves, but the U.S. believes a second runoff could be a
possible solution. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=========================================================
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future is very much appreciated. -30-
========================================================
If you would like to read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04
please send your name, country of residence, and e-mail contact information
morganw@patriot.net. Additional names are welcome. If you do not wish to
read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04, around five times per week,
let us know by e-mail to morganw@patriot.net.
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"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, Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine .
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. BAHRIANY FOUNDATION, INC. Dr. Anatol Lysyj, Chairman,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA,
5. ODUM- Association of American Youth of Ukrainian Descent,
Minnesota Chapter, Natalia Yarr, Chairperson
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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),
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013,
Tel: 202 437 4707, E-mail: morganw@patriot.net
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