"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
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"
LAND OF THE DEAD
Nineteen Years Ago - April 26,1986
Eyewitnesses recall the terrible human cost
On April 26, 1986, the No 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power station
blew apart. Facing nuclear disaster on an unprecedented scale,
Soviet authorities tried to contain the situation by sending thousands
of ill-equipped men into a radioactive maelstrom. In an extract from
a new book by Russian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, eyewitnesses
recall the terrible human cost of a catastrophe still unfolding today.
[Article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 469
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, April 25, 2005
------INDEX OF ARTICLES------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. LAND OF THE DEAD
Eyewitnesses recall the terrible human cost
Extracts from a new book "Voices From Chernobyl"
By Russian Journalist Svetlana Alexievich
The Guardian, London, UK, Monday April 25, 2005
2. HUNDREDS OF CHERNOBYL SURVIVORS RALLY TO
DEMAND MORE COMPENSATION
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Sat, April 23, 2005
3. CALL FOR UKRAINE TO MAKE USE OF CHERNOBYL LAND AGAIN
The Chernobyl area makes up 10 percent of Ukraine's territory
MosNews, Moscow, Russia, Wed, April 20, 2005
4. FRANCE:THOUSANDS MARCH IN ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTEST
Associated Press (AP), Nantes, France, Sat, April 23, 2005
5. UKRAINE'S CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FACES
POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS POWER CUT DUE TO DEBT
Associated Press Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
6. WHY MINISTERS ARE LOOKING AFRESH AT THE NUCLEAR
OPTION WHICH HAS IT ATTRACTIONS
Michael McCarthy, The Independent
London, United Kingdom, Sat. Apr 23, 2005
7. BIG FRIENDS OF LITTLE ITERA
Congressman Kurt Weldon noted among the company's friends
US-backed multinational thwarting Russian giant's Turkmen gas deal
REPORT: By Nikolay Raborov
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian 21 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sunday, Apr 24, 2005
8. UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS ADVOCATE STRONG CURRENCY
Kanal TV 5 Kiev, in Ukrainian 1200 gmt 22 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
9. UKRAINE'S MINISTER OF ECONOMY ASKS UKRAINIANS NOT
TO PANIC AFTER CURRENCY REVALUATION
Natasha Lisova, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
10. CURRENCY MARKET BRACING FOR A SHOCKWAVE
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, April 24, 2005
11. UKRAINIAN PROPERTY CHIEF EXPECTS SUPREME COURT
TO RULE ON STEEL PLANT OWNERSHIP
Inter TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 24 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English, Sun, April 25, 2005
12. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER VOWS TO RESTORE
ORDER ON ELECTRICITY MARKET
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1331 gmt 23 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Sat, Apr 23, 2005
13. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TELLS MOLDOVAN SUMMIT
FREE TRADE IS A PRIORITY
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 22 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
14. BLACK SEA AND CAUCASUS COUNTRIES SAY PIPELINES
ARE ROAD TO EUROPE
Derek Gatopoulos, AP, Komotini, Greece, Sunday, April 24, 2005
15. PRESIDENTS DISCUSS SEPARATISM, RUSSIAN TROOPS
Associated Press, Chisinau, Moldova, Saturday, April 23, 2005
16. RETURN TO THE SOURCE:
10th Annual Folk Art and Culture Tour of Ukraine
August 8-23, 2005, With Folk Art Specialist Orysia Tracz
Folk Art and Culture Tour of Ukraine, Orysia Tracz
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, Friday, April 22, 2005
17. ORANGE REVOLUTION CD AVAILABLE
----- Original Message -----
From: Tamara Koszarny, To: morganw@patriot.net
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005, Subject: Orange Revolution CD
18. LVOV: RALLY ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90TH ANNIVERSARY
PanARMENIAN.net, Yerevan, Armenia, Sunday, April 24, 2005
19. RALLY PARTICIPANTS STATED UKRAINE HAS TO TAKE STEPS
TO OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net, Yerevan, Armenia, Sun, April 24, 2005
20. POLAND: 17th COUNTY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Polish Seym condemned the activities of Young Turkish government.
PanARMENIAN.Net, Yerevan, Armenia, April 24, 2005
21. YULIYA TYMOSHENKO SAYS ROMAN ZVARYCH PRODUCED
ALL NECESSARY PAPERS ABOUT HIS EDUCATION BACKGROUND,
WHILE APPLYING FOR JUSTICE MINISTER'S POST
Oleksandr Khorolsky, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, April 23, 2005
=============================================================
1. LAND OF THE DEAD
Eyewitnesses recall the terrible human cost
On April 26 1986, the No 4 reactor at the Chernobyl power station blew
apart. Facing nuclear disaster on an unprecedented scale, Soviet
authorities tried to contain the situation by sending thousands of ill-
equipped men into a radioactive maelstrom. In an extract from a new
book by Russian journalist Svetlana Alexievich, eyewitnesses recall the
terrible human cost of a catastrophe still unfolding today
Extracts from a new book "Voices From Chernobyl"
By Russian Journalist Svetlana Alexievich
The Guardian, London, UK, Monday April 25, 2005
When a routine test went catastrophically wrong, a chain reaction went
out of control in No 4 reactor of Chernobyl nuclear power station in
Ukraine, creating a fireball that blew off the reactor's 1,000-tonne
steel-and-concrete lid. Burning graphite and hot reactor-core material
ejected by the explosions started numerous other fires, including some
on the combustible tar roof of the adjacent reactor unit. There were 31
fatalities as an immediate result of the explosion and acute radiation
exposure in fighting the fires, and more than 200 cases of severe
radiation sickness in the days that followed.
Evacuation of residents under the plume was delayed by the Soviet
authorities' unwillingness to admit the gravity of the incident. Eventually,
more than 100,000 people were evacuated from the surrounding area in
Ukraine and Belarus.
In the week after the accident the Soviets poured thousands of untrained,
inadequately protected men into the breach. Bags of sand were dropped
on to the reactor fire from the open doors of helicopters (analysts now
think this did more harm than good). When the fire finally stopped, men
climbed on to the roof to clear the radioactive debris. The machines
brought in broke down because of the radiation. The men barely lasted
more than a few weeks, suffering lingering, painful deaths.
But had this effort not been made, the disaster might have been much
worse. The sarcophagus, designed by engineers from Leningrad, was
manufactured in absentia - the plates assembled with the aid of robots
and helicopters - and as a result there are fissures. Now known as the
Cover, reactor No 4 still holds approximately 20 tonnes of nuclear fuel
in its lead-and-metal core. No one knows what is happening with it.
For neighbouring Belarus, with a population of just 10 million, the nuclear
explosion was a national disaster: 70% of the radionucleides released in
the accident fell on Belarus. During the second world war, the Nazis
destroyed 619 Belarussian villages, along with their inhabitants. As a
result of fallout from Chernobyl, the country lost 485 villages and settle-
ments. Of these, 70 have been buried underground by clean-up teams
known as "liquidators".
Today, one out of every five Belarussians lives on contaminated land.
That is 2.1 million people, of whom 700,000 are children. Because of
the virtually permanent presence of small doses of radiation around the
"Zone", the number of people with cancer, neurological disorders and
genetic mutations increases with each year.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNTS
Lyudmilla Ignatenko, Wife of fireman Vasily Ignatenko
We were newlyweds. We still walked around holding hands, even if we
were just going to the store. I would say to him, "I love you." But I didn't
know then how much. I had no idea.
We lived in the dormitory of the fire station where he worked. There were
three other young couples; we all shared a kitchen. On the ground floor
they kept the trucks, the red fire trucks. That was his job.
One night I heard a noise. I looked out the window. He saw me. "Close t
he window and go back to sleep. There's a fire at the reactor. I'll be back
soon."
I didn't see the explosion itself. Just the flames. Everything was radiant.
The whole sky. A tall flame. And smoke. The heat was awful. And he's still
not back. The smoke was from the burning bitumen, which had covered the
roof. He said later it was like walking on tar.
They tried to beat down the flames. They kicked at the burning graphite with
their feet ... They weren't wearing their canvas gear. They went off just as
they were, in their shirt sleeves. No one told them.
At seven in the morning I was told he was in the hospital. I ran there but
the police had already encircled it, and they weren't letting anyone
through, only ambulances. The policemen shouted: "The ambulances are
radioactive stay away!"
I saw him. He was all swollen and puffed up. You could barely see his eyes.
"He needs milk. Lots of milk," my friend said. "They should drink at least
three litres each."
"But he doesn't like milk."
"He'll drink it now."
Many of the doctors and nurses in that hospital and especially the
orderlies, would get sick themselves and die. But we didn't know that then.
I couldn't get into the hospital that evening. The doctor came out and said,
yes, they were flying to Moscow, but we needed to bring them their clothes.
The clothes they'd worn at the station had been burned. The buses had
stopped running already and we ran across the city. We came running back
with their bags, but the plane was already gone. They tricked us.
It was a special hospital, for radiology, and you couldn't get in without a
pass. I gave some money to the woman at the door, and she said, "Go
ahead."
Then I had to ask someone else, beg. Finally I'm sitting in the office of
the head radiologist. Right away she asked: "Do you have kids?" What
should I tell her? I can see already that I need to hide that I'm pregnant.
They won't let me see him! It's good I'm thin, you can't really tell
anything.
"Yes," I say.
"How many?" I'm thinking, I need to tell her two. If it's just one, she
won't let me in.
"A boy and a girl."
"So you don't need to have any more. All right, listen: his central nervous
system is completely compromised, his skull is completely compromised."
OK, I'm thinking, so he'll be a little fidgety.
"And listen: if you start crying, I'll kick you out right away. No hugging
or kissing. Don't even get near him. You have half an hour."
He looks so funny, he's got pyjamas on for a size 48, and he's a size 52.
The sleeves are too short, the trousers are too short. But his face isn't
swollen any more. They were given some sort of fluid. I say, "Where'd you
run off to?" He wants to hug me. The doctor won't let him. "Sit, sit," she
says. "No hugging in here."
On the very first day in the dormitory they measured me with a dosimeter.
My clothes, bag, purse, shoes - they were all "hot". And they took that all
away from me right there. Even my underwear. The only thing they left was
my money.
He started to change; every day I met a brand-new person. The burns
started to come to the surface. In his mouth, on his tongue, his cheeks - at
first there were little lesions, and then they grew. It came off in layers -
as white film ... the colour of his face ... his body ... blue, red ,
grey-brown. And it's all so very mine!
The only thing that saved me was it happened so fast; there wasn't any time
to think, there wasn't any time to cry. It was a hospital for people with
serious radiation poisoning. Fourteen days. In 14 days a person dies.
He was producing stools 25 to 30 times a day, with blood and mucous. His
skin started cracking on his arms and legs. He became covered with boils.
When he turned his head, there'd be a clump of hair left on the pillow. I
tried joking: "It's convenient, you don't need a comb." Soon they cut all
their hair.
I tell the nurse: "He's dying." And she says to me: "What did you expect? He
got 1,600 roentgen. Four hundred is a lethal dose. You're sitting next to a
nuclear reactor."
When they all died, they refurbished the hospital. They scraped down the
walls and dug up the parquet. When he died, they dressed him up in formal
wear, with his service cap. They couldn't get shoes on him because his feet
had swollen up. They buried him barefoot. My love.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sergei Vasilyevich Sobolev, Deputy head of the executive committee
of the Shield of Chernobyl Association
There was a moment when there was the danger of a nuclear explosion, and
they had to get the water out from under the reactor, so that a mixture of
uranium and graphite wouldn't get into it - with the water, they would have
formed a critical mass. The explosion would have been between three and
five megatons. This would have meant that not only Kiev and Minsk, but a
large part of Europe would have been uninhabitable. Can you imagine it? A
European catastrophe.
So here was the task: who would dive in there and open the bolt on the
safety valve? They promised them a car, an apartment, a dacha, aid for their
families until the end of time. They searched for volunteers. And they found
them! The boys dived, many times, and they opened that bolt, and the unit
was given 7,000 roubles. They forgot about the cars and apartments they
promised - that's not why they dived. These are people who came from a
certain culture, the culture of the great achievement. They were a
sacrifice.
And what about the soldiers who worked on the roof of the reactor? Two
hundred and ten military units were thrown at the liquidation of the fallout
of the catastrophe, which equals about 340,000 military personnel. The ones
cleaning the roof got it the worst. They had lead vests, but the radiation
was coming from below, and they weren't protected there. They were wearing
ordinary, cheap imitation-leather boots. They spent about a minute and a
half, two minutes on the roof each day, and then they were discharged, given
a certificate and an award - 100 roubles. And then they disappeared to the
vast peripheries of our motherland. On the roof they gathered fuel and
graphite from the reactor, shards of concrete and metal.
It took about 20-30 seconds to fill a wheelbarrow, and then another 30
seconds to throw the "garbage" off the roof. These special wheelbarrows
weighed 40 kilos just by themselves. So you can picture it: a lead vest,
masks, the wheelbarrows, and insane speed.
In the museum in Kiev they have a mould of graphite the size of a soldier's
cap; they say that if it were real it would weigh 16 kilos, that's how dense
and heavy graphite is. The radio-controlled machines they used often failed
to carry out commands or did the opposite of what they were supposed to do,
because their electronics were disrupted by the high radiation. The most
reliable "robots" were the soldiers. They were christened the "green robots"
[from the colour of their uniforms]. Some 3,600 soldiers worked on the roof
of the ruined reactor. They slept on the ground in tents. They were young
guys.
These people don't exist any more, just the documents in our museum, with
their names.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eduard Borisovich Korotkov, Helicopter pilot
I was scared before I went there. But then when I got there the fear went
away. It was all orders, work, tasks. I wanted to see the reactor from
above, from a helicopter - to see what had really happened in there. But
that was forbidden. On my medical card they wrote that I got 21 roentgen,
but I'm not sure that's right. Some days there'd be 80 roentgen, some days
120. Sometimes at night I'd circle over the reactor for two hours.
I talked to some scientists. One told me: "I could lick your helicopter with
my tongue and nothing would happen to me." Another said: "You're flying
without protection? You don't want to live too long? Big mistake! Cover
yourselves!" We lined the helicopter seats with lead, made ourselves some
lead vests, but it turns out those protect you from one set of rays, but not
from another. We flew from morning to night. There was nothing spectacular
in it. Just work, hard work. At night we watched television - the World Cup
was on, so we talked a lot about football.
I guess it must have been three years later. One of the guys got sick, then
another. Someone died. Another went insane and killed himself. That's when
we started thinking.
I didn't tell my parents I'd been sent to Chernobyl. My brother happened to
be reading Izvestia one day and saw my picture. He brought it to our mum.
"Look," he said, "he's a hero!" My mother started crying.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aleksandr Kudryagin, Liquidator
We had good jokes. Here's one: an American robot is on the roof for five
minutes, and then it breaks down. The Japanese robot is on the roof for
five minutes, and then breaks down.
The Russian robot is up there two hours! Then a command comes in over
the loudspeaker: "Private Ivanov! In two hours, you're welcome to come
down and have a cigarette break."
Ha-ha!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikolai Fomich Kalugin, Father
We didn't just lose a town, we lost our whole lives. We left on the third
day. The reactor was on fire. I remember one of my friends saying, "It
smells of reactor." It was an indescribable smell.
They announced over the radio that you couldn't take your belongings! All
right, I won't take all my belongings, I'll take just one belonging. I need
to take my door off the apartment and take it with me. I can't leave the
door. It's our talisman, it's a family relic. My father lay on this door. I
don't know whose tradition this is, but my mother told me that the
deceased must be placed to lie on the door of his home.
I took it with me, that door - at night, on a motorcycle, through the woods.
It was two years later, when our apartment had already been looted and
emptied. The police were chasing me. "We'll shoot! We'll shoot!" They
thought I was a thief. That's how I stole the door from my own home.
I took my daughter and my wife to the hospital. They had black spots all
over their bodies. These spots would appear, then disappear. They were
about the size of a five-kopek coin. But nothing hurt. They did some tests
on them. My daughter was six-years-old. I'm putting her to bed, and she
whispers in my ear: "Daddy, I want to live, I'm still little." And I had
thought she didn't understand anything.
Can you picture seven little girls shaved bald in one room? There were
seven of them in the hospital room ... My wife couldn't take it. "It'd be
better for her to die than to suffer like this. Or for me to die, so that I
don't have to watch any more."
We put her on the door ... on the door that my father lay on. Until they
brought a little coffin. It was small, like the box for a large doll.
I want to bear witness: my daughter died from Chernobyl. And they
want us to forget about it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Arkady Filin, Liquidator
You immediately found yourself in this fantastic world, where the
apocalypse met the stone age. We lived in the forest, in tents, 200km
from the reactor, like partisans.
We were between 25 and 40; some of us had university degrees or
diplomas.
I'm a history teacher, for example. Instead of machine guns they gave us
shovels. We buried trash heaps and gardens. The women in the villages
watched us and crossed themselves. We had gloves, respirators and
surgical robes. The sun beat down on us. We showed up in their yards
like demons.
They didn't understand why we had to bury their gardens, rip up their garlic
and cabbage when it looked like ordinary garlic and ordinary cabbage. The
old women would cross themselves and say, "Boys, what is this - is it the
end of the world?"
In the house the stove's on, the lard is frying. You put a dosimeter to it,
and you find it's not a stove, it's a little nuclear reactor.
I saw a man who watched his house get buried. We buried houses, wells,
trees. We buried the earth. We'd cut things down, roll them up into big
plastic sheets. We buried the forest. We sawed the trees into 1.5m pieces
and packed them in Cellophane and threw them into graves.
I couldn't sleep at night. I'd close my eyes and see something black moving,
turning over - as if it were alive - live tracts of land, with insects,
spiders, worms. I didn't know any of them, their names, just insects,
spiders, ants. And they were small and big, yellow and black, all different
colours.
One of the poets says somewhere that animals are a different people. I
killed them by the ten, by the hundred, thousand, not even knowing what
they were called. I destroyed their houses, their secrets. And buried them.
Buried them.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vanya Kovarov 12
I'm 12 years old and I'm an invalid. The mailman brings two pension
cheques to our house - for me and my grandad.
When the girls in my class found out that I had cancer of the blood, they
were afraid to sit next to me. They didn't want to touch me.
The doctors said that I got sick because my father worked at Chernobyl.
And after that I was born. I love my father.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ivan Nikolaevich Zhykhov, Chemical engineer
We dug up the diseased top layer of soil, loaded it into cars and took it to
waste burial sites. I hought that a waste burial site was a complex,
engineered construction, but it turned out to be an ordinary pit. We picked
up the earth and rolled it, like big rugs. We'd pick up the whole green mass
of it, with grass, flowers, roots. It was work for madmen.
If we weren't drinking like crazy every night, I doubt we'd have been able
to take it. Our psyches would have broken down. We created hundreds of
kilometres of torn-up, fallow earth.
There was an emphasis on our being heroes. Once a week someone who
was digging really well would receive a certificate of merit before all the
other men. The Soviet Union's best grave digger. It was crazy. -30-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
These are edited excerpts from Voices From Chernobyl, by Svetlana
Alexievich, published by Dalkey Archive Press at £13.99
=============================================================
2. HUNDREDS OF CHERNOBYL SURVIVORS RALLY TO
DEMAND MORE COMPENSATION
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Sat, April 23, 2005
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Hundreds of Chernobyl survivors marched in
downtown Kiev Saturday to demand more compensation for victims of
the world's worst nuclear accident 19 years ago.
The Ukrainian Chernobyl Union, a group representing victims of the
disaster, organized the march to press for an increase in social benefits,
payment of overdue compensation and better medical treatment for
thousands of people directly affected by the accident.
Many protesters carried photographs of loved ones killed in the 1986
accident and banners with slogans reading "Chernobyl is closed, are the
problems of Chernobyl forgotten?" Police estimated the crowd at around
700.
The explosion of Chernobyl's Reactor No. 4 on April 26, 1986 sent
radioactive fallout over then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia and much of northern
Europe. Some 3.3 million Ukrainians, including 1.5 million children, were
affected by the accident at the plant, located about 100 kilometers (60
miles) north of Kiev, and receive financial or other forms of compensation
such as subsidized vacations and medical treatment.
The victims' group said it will soon submit request to parliament for a
tenfold increase in social benefits by 2006. Many, however, said they
suspect the government will not agree to pay them more.
"We are already tired of hoping for better. The draft envisions a big
increase, but ... it seems the government does not have such money,"
said Chernobyl victim Tamara Tikhonova, 68.
The value of the average monthly compensation for those directly affected
by the accident depends on what effects each person suffered, but it rarely
exceeds 250 hryvnas (US$50, Euro 35). These victims include some of
the 25,000 families who lived near to the doomed plant and thousands of
cleanup workers sent to help cope with the immediate aftermath of the
nuclear tragedy.
Some 7 million people across the former Soviet Union are estimated to
suffer from radiation-related effects, and Ukraine has registered some
4,400 deaths blamed on the accident. Chernobyl's last functioning reactor
was shut down in December 2000, but decommissioning works have
continued. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
3. CALL FOR UKRAINE TO MAKE USE OF CHERNOBYL LAND AGAIN
The Chernobyl area makes up 10 percent of Ukraine's territory
MosNews, Moscow, Russia, Wed, April 20, 2005
It is time to make use of the land near Chernobyl again, as most of
the contaminated zone is ready to receive a "friendlier" status, the
president of the Ukrainian Chernobyl Union said, Interfax reports.
On April 26 it will be 19 years since the Chernobyl disaster. Yury
Andreyev, president of Ukrainian Chernobyl Union, said at a press
conference that most of the contaminated zone has been cleaned
with time, and the radiation level in the Chernobyl area is almost the
same as that in Kiev.
Andreyev said it is time to return the land around Chernobyl to the
Ukrainian economy. He pointed out that before the catastrophe 76 towns
in 12 districts that are now considered contaminated used to contribute
90 percent of the country's hops, 70 percent of its flax, and 50 percent
of Ukraine's forests grow there.
"The Chernobyl area makes up 10 percent of Ukraine's territory, this is
almost the size of Belgium, yet it does not contribute to the country's
wellbeing," he was quoted by Interfax as saying.
The no-go zone can also be of use to the economy as well, Andreyev said.
He suggested modern storage sites could be built there for toxic waste,
which is currently buried at various places all over Ukraine, Interfax
reported.
However, Andreyev underlined that changing the status of the contaminated
land is a possibility, but the status of the people who live now or used to
live there can never be changed. The victims of Chernobyl should continue
to receive life-long medical, social and financial help, he said. -30-
=============================================================
4. FRANCE:THOUSANDS MARCH IN ANTI-NUCLEAR PROTEST
Associated Press (AP), Nantes, France, Sat, April 23, 2005
NANTES - Thousands of anti-nuclear demonstrators marched Saturday to
commemorate the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and demand an end to govern-
ment plans to build a nuclear plant in western France.
The protesters, braving rainy conditions, lined up to form the French words
for "Nuclear kills the future, let's abandon it" - visible from the sky - as
part of the demonstration in western Nantes.
Police and organizers from activist group Sortir du Nucleaire both estimated
that about 6,000 people took part in the rally -centered on remembrance of
the April 26, 1986 explosion in Chernobyl, Ukraine . Many marches were
planned across France this week to mark the anniversary. The marchers also
protested government plans to build a pressurized-water nuclear reactor in
the northwestern region of Normandy in 2007. -30-
=============================================================
5. UKRAINE'S CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT FACES
POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS POWER CUT DUE TO DEBT
Associated Press Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
KIEV - The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the world's worst nuclear
accident, is facing a potentially dangerous power cut due to a huge debt,
an official said Friday.
The state-run company responsible for decommissioning the plant where a
reactor exploded in 1986 in the world's worst commercial nuclear accident,
owes more than US$6 million (A€4.6 million) in overdue wages and unpaid
bills for electricity, gas, fuel and transport, said company spokesman
Semyon Shtein.
Shtein warned that the cutoff of electricity and gas supplies could be
"rather dangerous and it can result in breaches of nuclear safety." He did
not elaborate. Shtein said his company had warned Ukraine's government
of the potential danger.
He said the plant will be forced to use its own scarce fuel reserves to
power generators and provide transport for workers, if the plant is cut off
from the power grid and gas supply.
The Soviet-era accident on April 26, 1986, at the plant about 100 kilometers
(some 60 miles) north of the Ukrainian capital sent radioactive fallout over
then-Soviet Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and much of northern Europe.
=============================================================
6. WHY MINISTERS ARE LOOKING AFRESH AT THE NUCLEAR
OPTION WHICH HAS IT ATTRACTIONS
Michael McCarthy, The Independent
London, United Kingdom, Sat. Apr 23, 2005
LONDON - It's the accursed benefit, the great advantage with the terrible
strings attached. Nuclear power has been and remains so controversial
because its potential to provide the world with copious heat and light is
inseparable from its potential to blow us all to bits.
It became a possibility in the first three decades of the 20th century with
a series of successive realisations about the nature of matter, especially
the fact that a tiny amount of it could be converted into a very large
amount of energy.
The key insight was that if the nucleus of an atom could be split by a
smaller, sub-atomic particle, a neutron, the disintegration would send
out more neutrons that would split more atoms in a mushrooming energy
burst " the so called 'chain reaction'. If slow and controlled, the chain
reaction would merely produce heat " that happens in nuclear power
stations. If rapid and unrestricted, it would produce an explosion " that
happens in atom bombs.
After a series of the world's most eminent scientists had worked out the way
forward, the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction was achieved in a
pile of radioactive uranium blocks in the squash court of the University of
Chicago on 2 December 1942. From that date " the birth of the nuclear age "
atomic bombs and atomic power stations were only a matter of time. The
Second World War meant the bombs came first, built by the US and used to
overcome Japan in 1945; the first nuclear power stations began operating a
decade later.
Britain was at the forefront of the development of commercial nuclear power,
with the nuclear plant at Calder Hall in Cumbria producing electricity from
as early as 1956. Another 18 nuclear power stations were built in the UK: 10
Magnox stations (named after the type of fuel), seven Advanced Gas-Cooled
Reactor stations (AGRs) and one Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR) at
Sizewell in Suffolk.
But, gradually, the world-wide love of nukes started to cool. The
international peace and environment movements succeeded in demonising
all things nuclear in a large part of the public mind; the economics, once
so promising, became far more questionable when considerations such as
decommissioning were factored in; and there was a realisation that what to
do with the long-lasting and highly-dangerous waste products was a very big
problem indeed.
Most of all, there were the accidents: notably at Windscale (now Sellafield)
in Britain in 1958, at Three Mile Island in the United States in 1979, and
most of all at Chernobyl in the western USSR (now Ukraine) in 1986, which
sent a plume of radioactivity drifting right across Europe.
To many people, and not a few governments, Chernobyl seemed to justify
the worst fears of anti-nuclear campaigners: that the whole process was
irredeemably dirty and dangerous. It finished off nuclear enthusiasm in many
countries, including Britain, although a small group of nations, led by
France and Japan, kept the faith. (France produces more than two- thirds of
its electricity from atomic power.)
In the 1990s, however, a new advantage of nuclear energy became apparent:
it can generate large amounts of electricity without producing carbon
dioxide (CO2), inescapable when fossil fuels are burnt in conventional power
stations.
The age of global warming had arrived. Mounting CO2 emissions are " most
scientists agree " causing the atmosphere to warm rapidly and, in the past
decade, a changing and destabilised climate has been seen as potentially
the most dangerous threat the Earth has faced.
It is clear that we must replace our carbon-based energy systems. But with
what? Environmentalists answer, renewable energy: power generated from
the wind, the waves, and the sun. But although that is becoming a reality,
it isunlikely to be able to provide the 'base load' " the great chunk of
electricity each nation now requires to run an advanced society " in the
foreseeable future, if ever.
Nuclear can do it. And a view gaining ground among those concerned with
global warming is that only nuclear can do it, in time. There are no
illusions about the political cost. A new British atomic power programme
will be met with ferocious opposition by many environmentalists who have
spent their careers regarding all things nuclear as anathema. But senior
figures in Whitehall now think there is no alternative.
A nuclear future for Britain looks very likely, sooner rather than
later. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
7. BIG FRIENDS OF LITTLE ITERA
Congressman Kurt Weldon has been noted among the company's friends
US-backed multinational said thwarting Russian giant's Turkmen gas deal
REPORT: By Nikolay Raborov
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Moscow, in Russian 21 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sunday, Apr 24, 2005
Text of report Nikolay Raborov entitled: "Attraction of unheard-of bravery;
big friends of little Itera", carried by Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya
Gazeta web site on 21 April; subheadings inserted editorially
During all of last week, rumours circulated throughout the Moscow business
community to the effect that the Turkmenistan authorities were conducting
closed negotiations on the dissolution of Turkmenistan's long-term agreement
with Gazprom on deliveries of natural gas to Russia. Cited as the main
lobbyist force was the Ukrainian leadership, which intends to buy Turkmen
gas directly with the aid of its own operator - which, as many believe, may
be the ITERA company. The last visit by Gazprom Director Aleksey Miller to
Asgabat seemed to resolve the problem: Turkmenistan had confirmed its
obligations to Russia, including in regard to the price aspect. However,
questions remained.
An indirect confirmation - or the first indication - of a deterioration of
relations between Turkmenistan and Gazprom was the cessation of gas
deliveries to Russia as of 1 January of this year, and the demand for a
price increase. On the eve of Miller's visit to Asgabat, it was learned that
Ukraine intends to conclude an agreement with Turkmenistan on direct
deliveries to 50-60bn cu.m. of the blue fuel, already as of next year.
Moreover, the agreement with Gazprom presupposes that Russia will buy
practically all of the Turkmen export gas as of 2007, with the exception of
the Iranian export route.
Turkmen gas oversold with Ukraine, Russia contracts
Thus, Asgabat has "sold" Russia and Ukraine the same volume of gas. It is
simply impossible to provide for two such consumers. This means that, in the
nearest time, Turkmenistan will have to choose to which of the two aspirants
it will not fulfil its obligations. And this is where the lobbyist resources
come in, which, as evidenced by the mass media, are represented from the
Ukrainian side by the Russian (!) company Itera.
Of course, Turkmenistan will not simply complicate relations with Russia,
just like that. There must be a serious motivation here - moreover, not just
an economic one. And obviously, ITERA itself, even if it is supported by the
Ukrainian "orange" leadership, may decide to enter into open conflict with
Gazprom only with serious support.
The explanation of such bravery lies on the surface, in the form of entirely
public and repeatedly publicized facts. The American Senator [Congress-
man] Kurt Weldon has long been noted among the company's friends. The
Republican congressman has exerted a great deal of effort to promote
ITERA's interests on the American market. And its manager, Igor Makarov,
as the mass media reported, was even once invited to lunch at the US
Congress.
There is nothing inexplicable here. The information appearing in the
American Philadelphia Inquirer to the effect that ITERA had paid half a
million dollars to a PR agency, whose owner is the 29-year-old Miss Weldon
(the senator's [congressman's] daughter), is widely known. It would also not
be excessive to recall who is the main financier of the "orange" turnover,
approved by Washington. And the management of ITERA has long been
mentioned in the same context with the main leaders of the new Ukrainian
political elite.
US-backed ITERA vying for Ukraine's lucrative gas market
The redivision of the Ukrainian property market is not far off. Rather, it
would be more correct to say that it has already begun. And the gas
market is one of the most lucrative. And it is difficult to expect that
ITERA, having such lobbyist capacities at its disposal, will remain on the
sidelines and not try to push aside the current operator - the Gazprom
subsidiary RosUkrEnergo.
It is not difficult to see that each one in this combination has his own
interest - including the US State Department, which, along with Poland, is
getting one more point of control over deliveries of Russian raw material
to Europe. Turkmenistan constitutes additional means. Ukrainian business,
with which the mass media often associate Itera, constitutes levers of
influence on policy, and ITERA itself signifies the long-awaited pipeline.
Gazprom will get direct losses, and Russia - on whose territory ITERA
officially operates - will lose the last instrument of influence over
Ukrainian politicians. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
8. UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS ADVOCATE STRONG CURRENCY
Kanal TV 5 Kiev, in Ukrainian 1200 gmt 22 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
KIEV - [Presenter] The strong hryvnya will last long. The National Bank of
Ukraine intends to keep the hryvnya/dollar exchange rate at the same level.
The National Bank head, Volodymyr Stelmakh, said in parliament that the
optimal dollar exchange rate is 5.05 hryvnyas to the dollar. Together with
Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, the National Bank head explained why
the hryvnya has strengthened so quickly.
Stelmakh said that earlier the hryvnya exchange rate was unjustifiably high.
Now the hryvnya has strengthened to meet state budget targets. The state
budget put the dollar-hryvnya exchange rate at 5.1, but the cabinet began
implementing the new state budget not from January, so the dollar
exchange rate has been lowered to make up for this difference.
Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk approved the National Bank's perfor-
mance. He said that in doing so the National Bank is preventing inflation.
[Pynzenyk] The exchange rate is not so important for us, I mean the cabinet
and the public. But inflation does matter. The exchange rate policy should
ensure that inflation is not significant. -30-
=============================================================
9. UKRAINE'S MINISTER OF ECONOMY ASKS UKRAINIANS NOT
TO PANIC AFTER CURRENCY REVALUATION
Natasha Lisova, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine's top economics official pleaded with Ukrainians not to panic
Friday after the sudden rise in the value of the national currency against
the dollar, amid widespread fears that the revaluation would wipe out their
savings. "Don't succumb to panic," Minister of Economy Serhiy Teryokhin
told reporters in the capital. "It won't get worse."
The Ukraine's National Bank on Thursday set the hryvna's exchange rate
against the dollar 2.7 percent higher at 5.05 hryvna, as compared to 5.25
hryvna a day earlier. The move means that every dollar buys fewer hryvnas.
Ukrainians, who mostly keep their money in dollar savings, called the
currency move outright theft, and exporters complained that it could drive
them into bankruptcy.
National Bank head Volodymyr Stelmakh defended the new exchange rate
before a parliamentary session, telling lawmakers that "strengthening the
national currency is only for the welfare of the Ukrainian people," and that
he alone was responsible for the decision.
Teryokhin criticized the move "as too fast" but predicted the bank would
manage to keep the new currency exchange rate until the end of the year
and would avoid a further revaluation. But he stressed that the revaluation
had been necessary before inflation spiraled out of control.
"The National bank cut the Gordian knot," he said, referring to a legendary
knot that couldn't be untied but that Alexander the Great cut with his
sword. "The exchange rate against the dollar at 5.3 hryvna had not been
the real value for a long time and we warned people about this."
President Viktor Yushchenko's government had said that strengthening
the hryvna was part of its effort to fight double-digit inflation. Teryokhin
said the government should manage to hold the inflation rate at around
9.8 percent this year, down from 12.3 percent last year.
Lawmaker Nestor Shufrych, a member of the opposition Social Democratic
Party (United), also criticized the bank's action, saying now Ukraine's
currency exchange "is floating in the air, with no ground to support it."
Bringing the exchange rate to its lowest level since 1999 caused grumbling
among Ukrainians, who have already had to cope with rising meat and
gasoline prices since the new government came to power. The bank had
initially planned to lower the rate further to 5.02 hryvna to a dollar on
Friday, but it remained set at 5.05 hryvna.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's office announced Friday that
it had reached an agreement with Lukoil oil company to lower gas prices to a
government-set level at below 3 hryvna (59 U.S. cents, 46 euro cents) a
liter. On Thursday, the government reached agreement with Ukraine's other
big gas supplier, BP-TNK. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
10. CURRENCY MARKET BRACING FOR A SHOCKWAVE
Kyiv Weekly, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, April 24, 2005
The NBU is preparing the groundwork for the strengthening of the hryvnia.
Its behavior is not always that predictable, which gives grounds for new
rumors to arise. Several weeks ago, bankers were quite skeptical about
the government's forecasts that the exchange rate would drop to Hr 5.0-
5.10/US$.
Now, they believe that an even deeper revaluation is possible. Their
pessimism has fallen to Hr 3.50-4.50/US$. Meanwhile, the NBU also
has given cause for such dollar devaluation moods.
Last week, NBU First Deputy Governor Anatoliy Shapovalov officially
announced the bank's new plans. Specifically, the NBU will considerably
decrease its presence on the inter-bank market. The central bank intends
to abandon its function as a key buyer of hard currency, which it has
heretofore carried out. Therefore, the NBU will stop working in favor of the
economy through emissions of currency, which it had been performing in
real time. Indeed, hard currency was purchased with new money, which
the NBU threw into the money supply.
Shapovalov explained that the country's central bank would become
involved in the operation of the currency market only in critical
situations.
"We will see and judge from the situation on the market. If quotations
change and amount to 10%, then we will certainly intervene," he specified.
In the rest of the cases, bankers and their customers will have to solve
their problems on their own.
The central bank also intends to reinstate certain rights and freedoms to
Ukraine's commercial banks. Soon, the banks will be allowed to sell and buy
hard currency simultaneously. Until now, they were allowed to perform only
one operation of the two - namely, they could either buy or sell foreign
currency but not do both.
By introducing that limitation, the NBU prevented possible speculation on
currency markets. Earlier, those who declared themselves as sellers could
not trade on the interbank market as buyers of cheaper currency. Now, this
will be permitted. In addition to that, the banks will be allowed to
purchase more hard currency for their own needs. Speaking in banking
language, the NBU intends to expand currency positions.
It is believed that the freedom promised to banks will lift the pressure
observed on the interbank exchange for the second week in row. The
problems first appeared around April 7-8, when the NBU demonstratively
ignored trading, as an experiment. As a result, 35-40% of the hard currency
was not sold. Putting it simply, the companies that needed hryvnias were
left without them.
The quotations confirmed a panic on the market. With the average price of
the dollar at Hr 5.20/US $1.00, speculative offers were also registered on
the market at Hr 5.00-5.10/US $1.00. Thus, the market showed that when
set into "free float" the interbank exchange is capable of carrying out the
plans of the government just at a single trading session.
Officially, players on the currency market speak about the need for market
liberalization. "I believe that now the limitations as to the number of
appearances of a bank on the currency market should be lifted," stated
chairman of Reiffaisenbank-Ukraine Ihor Frantskevych.
Unofficially, the bankers admit that all risks are caused by uncertainty.
"Earlier, there was one key player, which operated by clear rules - we sell,
it buys. Now, everything is like "in a fog". Without lifting limitations on
trading, we are being robbed of the possibility of fulfilling customers'
orders for sale, since the NBU is not purchasing hard currency as it did
earlier.
After the NBU leaves the market, we will be able to get any rate as low as
Hr 3.50/US $1.00, because huge amounts of currency are being brought into
the country. Another question is whether exporters, who lost 2-3% of their
proceeds on April 7-8, will be able to survive such a blow," the chairman of
one bank in Kyiv emphasized.
Experts predict that the currency market will definitely affect adjacent
areas - i.e. deposits and loans. The bankers believe that a panic among the
population is possible after the price of dollars at exchange points begins
to fall. "If the hryvnia continues to strengthen rapidly, it could lead to a
mass withdrawal of dollar savings with the objective of converting them to
national currency. In that case, a situation similar to December of last
year, when the banks did not have a dollar supply to return dollar savings,
is quite possible," predicted UkrSibbank Chairman Olekdandr Adarych.
In order to avoid panic, the bankers will try to support the cash exchange
rate. However, they say that the people are well informed and will close
their savings in hard currency in order to open accounts in the national
currency.
Some banks are already experiencing such currency "hunger". It is leading
to increasing rejection in issuing dollar loans, the demand for which has
always been higher than for hryvnia loans due to the lower interest rates.
In any case, if the banks fail to solve the problem with the hard currency
supply shortage, interest rates will rise in the loan and deposit sectors.
For this reason, it is quite likely Ukraine's financial market will have to
live through another shock. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
11. UKRAINIAN PROPERTY CHIEF EXPECTS SUPREME COURT
TO RULE ON STEEL PLANT OWNERSHIP
Inter TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 24 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, In English, Sun, April 25, 2005
The head of the Ukrainian State Property Fund, Valentyna Semenyuk, has
said that the Supreme Court will have to rule on the privatization of the
Kryvorizhstal steel plant. She is convinced that the plant will be returned
to the state despite contradictory court rulings last week. Meanwhile, the
fund is also going to review the privatization of companies where investors
have not fulfilled their commitments, she said. The following is an excerpt
from a report by Ukrainian Inter TV on 24 April:
[Presenter] The head of the State Property Fund, Valentyna Semenyuk, is
in our studio today. Good evening. [Passage omitted: Semenyuk promises
to take an inventory of state property]
[Presenter] On the other hand, the fund also analyses privatization that has
already taken place. Will a certain time frame be set for a review of
privatized companies, or maybe a price limit?
[Semenyuk] You know, the State Property Fund has the main tool today. It
is non-fulfilment of privatization commitments. The privatization programme,
the old 2002 programme that is in force now, and the law on the
privatization of state property, say clearly that if an investor has bought
a company and he is not fulfilling his investment commitments, the State
Property Fund should appeal to a court, which revokes the privatization
contract, and the company returns to the state ownership. This is the main
tool the State Property Fund has. This procedure ensures that the State
Property Fund is in control of the situation. We will do this work
constantly.
[Presenter] Have you sued anyone already? [Semenyuk] A lot. A lot.
[Presenter] As regards court rulings on the Kryvorizhstal plant last week,
there was one decision on Thursday [21 April] and another on Friday [22
April]. What is really happening?
[Semenyuk] You know, one decision contradicts another on the court suits I
submitted in June last year. The Kiev Economic Court ruled in favour of the
State Property Fund and the Prosecutor-General's Office, who acted on
behalf of the state. The contradiction means only one thing - to delay the
case hearing. The Pecherskyy district court - a tame court as we call it -
ruled in favour of certain groups that bought the plant. The Economic court
ruled in favour of the state. I think that appeals will go up to the Supreme
Court. Believe me, I have fought for Kryvorizhstal for a very long time,
even when it was dangerous. I know that Kryvorizhstal will be returned to
the state.
[Presenter] Thank you, Valentyna Petrivna [Semenyuk]. -30-
=============================================================
12. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER VOWS TO RESTORE
ORDER ON ELECTRICITY MARKET
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1331 gmt 23 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Sat, Apr 23, 2005
KIEV - Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko has said that the government
intends to bring order to regional power distribution companies and ensure
their work "in the rigid system of the unified state energy company".
Tymoshenko was addressing a news conference in Kiev on Saturday
[23 April].
"It makes no difference to me who is fighting there - [Russian businessman
Konstantin] Grigorishin against [Ukrainian tycoon Hryhoriy] Surkis or Surkis
against Grigorishin, or whose protection they use. I can say that a couple
of more months - and no-one will be fighting there. We will simply bring
order there, and regional power distribution companies will be working in
the rigid system of the unified state energy company," Tymoshenko said.
She added that the current government received a heavy legacy in the field
of regional power distribution companies. "Regional power distribution
companies, which are the main suppliers of electricity to consumers, were
given to clans, and oligarchic wars started around this between clans,"
Tymoshenko said.
At the beginning of this year a battle was launched for the control of a
whole number of regional power distribution companies in which the state
either has no stakes or has blocking stakes of 25 per cent. The controlling
stakes in regional power distribution companies, which remain state-owned,
have been transferred to the Energy Company of Ukraine national joint-stock
company. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
13. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT TELLS MOLDOVAN SUMMIT
FREE TRADE IS A PRIORITY
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1041 gmt 22 Apr 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, Apr 22, 2005
CHISINAU - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said that the
fully-fledged implementation of the accord on the creation of a free trade
zone should become a priority task for the member states of GUUAM
[union of Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova] for the
nearest future. Yushchenko was addressing the GUUAM summit in
Chisinau on Friday [22 April].
"Our region has a big domestic market, and also a significant resource
and scientific-technical potential. I am confident that it can become a
large trading centre, if used efficiently. The fully-fledged implementation
of the GUUAM accord on the creation of a free trade zone should become
a priority task for the nearest future," Yushchenko said. This step will
createprerequisites for joint projects, especially for the transit of energy
resources towards Europe, he added.
Yushchenko expressed satisfaction with the growing trend of trade between
the GUUAM member states. "In 2002-04 alone it more than doubled. This
year has confirmed that these trends are strengthening," Yushchenko said,
adding that this was due to "macroeconomic stabilization, reform of the
economies and the resumption of trade and economic ties". -30-
=============================================================
14. BLACK SEA AND CAUCASUS COUNTRIES SAY PIPELINES
ARE ROAD TO EUROPE
Derek Gatopoulos, AP, Komotini, Greece, Sunday, April 24, 2005
KOMOTINI, Greece (AP) - Trade and energy officials from 12 Black
Sea and Caucasus countries pledged Saturday to expand ties with the
European Union through the development of major energy networks,
including new pipelines to Caspian Sea oil fields.
"Everyone wins," said Evripidis Stylianidis, Greece's overseas trade
minister at the end of four days of meetings. "Pipelines are good for the
economy, for the environment, and for international development - and
that helps peace and stability in the region."
Oil companies and regional governments are keen to find alternatives
to shipping Caspian oil through Turkey's busy Bosporus Strait, already
used to transport more than 50 million tonnes of oil a year.
"There is a growing danger of an accident with the concentration of
many ships in the strait," Stylianidis said after the meetings in the
northeastern city of Komotini, hosted by the Organization of Black Sea
Economic Co-operation, a regional trade forum founded in 1992.
"Energy via pipelines will be faster and cheaper, and will pose a
smaller environmental risk," he said.
In June, the new Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline is due to start operation,
carrying Caspian oil 1760 kilometres across Azerbaijan and Georgia
to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.
Additional projects are planned to link Bulgaria's Black Sea port of
Burgas to Alexandroupolis in neighbouring Greece and Vlora, Albania.
Turkey's deputy foreign minister, Ender Arat, said the Baku-Ceyhan
project would start on time, despite reports of delays. "There were
someconstruction delays in Georgia and other problems, but all of this
has been resolved," Arat said.
He said a proposed pipeline across Turkey from the Black Sea port of
Samsun to Ceyhan would be a cheaper option than planned Balkan
ventures. But Greece's Stylianidis said most proposed pipeline routes
were not competitive, but complementary. "Every country proposes the
route that serves its own interests," he said. "There is a strong will of
the governments involved to back the Burgas-Alexandroupolis project."
Greece passed the rotating six-month presidency of the Organization of
Black Sea Economic Co-operation to Moldova on Saturday. Representatives
of the organization's 12 members - Greece, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Bulgaria, Georgia, Moldavia, Serbia-Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Turkey
and Ukraine -also signed a declaration pledging closer co-operation, in
areas from energy and tourism to fighting organized crime and ties with
the European Union. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
15. PRESIDENTS DISCUSS SEPARATISM, RUSSIAN TROOPS
Associated Press, Chisinau, Moldova, Saturday, April 23, 2005
CHISINAU, Moldova -- Leaders of several former Soviet states urged
Russia on Friday to pull its troops out of Moldova and Georgia and
discussed separatist crises affecting several countries on former
Soviet soil.
At a summit of the GUUAM group -- comprising Georgia, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova -- leaders also pledged to seek
closer ties with the European Union and the United States.
The countries adopted a statement at the end of the summit calling on
Russia to fulfill obligations it made at a 1999 summit of the Organization
for Security and Cooperation in Europe and withdraw troops and weaponry
from Moldova and Georgia. Also referring to Russia, the statement con-
demns separatism and the territorial disintegration of the states, and calls
for the "peaceful resolution and in line with international law conflicts in
Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan."
Romanian President Traian Basescu, who with Lithuania's president took
part an observer, said conflicts in the region could be resolved by granting
limited autonomy to the separatist regions.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko presented a plan to help resolve
the crisis with Moldova's self-declared Transdnestr republic, which borders
Ukraine. The region is not recognized internationally but receives strong
support from Russia. Yushchenko said Transdnestr should remain part of
Moldova while benefiting from wide autonomy. Under the plan, observers
from the OSCE would monitor the border between Ukraine and Transdnestr.
GUUAM, created in 1997 to expand cooperation outside the influence of
Russia, is expected to get the status of an observer in the UN General
Assembly by the end of the year. Uzbek President Islam Karimov did not
take part in the meeting. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
16. RETURN TO THE SOURCE:
10th Annual Folk Art and Culture Tour of Ukraine
August 8-23, 2005, With Folk Art Specialist Orysia Tracz
Folk Art and Culture Tour of Ukraine, Orysia Tracz
Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada, Friday, April 22, 2005
WINNIPEG - 10th annual tour. Museums, walking tours, lectures, artists,
folk art, shopping, traditional cuisine, Ukrainian hospitality. You don't
have to be Ukrainian to enjoy the trip. Interpreting into English at all
times.
Places: Kyiv, Kaniv, Ternopil, Kam'ianets'-Podils'kyi, Kolomyia, Lviv,
Carpathian Mountains (Kosiv, Yaremche, other villages). Visits to
ancestral villages arranged. Opportunity to stay a week longer on your
own (accommodations) for the same cost. $3,650 Canadian. (includes
air, hotels, meals, museum admissions).
Connections from other North American and international cities arranged.
Limited number of participants. We have had travelers from across North
America, and Australia, and many repeat participants.
For reservations and details: Irena Zadravec, Thomas Cook - Regent
Travel, (204) 988-5100, sblair@thomascook.ca. For more information
regarding tour contact Orysia Tracz: dorohy@hotmail.com -30-
=============================================================
17. ORANGE REVOLUTION CD AVAILABLE
----- Original Message -----
From: Tamara Koszarny,
To: morganw@patriot.net
Sent: Friday, April 22, 2005,
Subject: Orange Revolution CD
Dear Mr. Williams- I would like to know if I can let your subscribers
know that I have a multimedia for PC CD about the Orange Revolution.
This CD is one of the most extensive on the Orange Revolution. It
has 1400 photos, 45 min. of videos,and 10 hrs of audio. It also has
54 articles of documents, songs, jokes, animations and games.
It is available for $18.95 US and ordered by e-mailing me at
tkoszarny@hotmail.com. Hope that it is possible to do this.
Thank-you, Best regards, Tamara
=============================================================
18. LVOV: RALLY ON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE 90TH ANNIVERSARY
PanARMENIAN.net, Yerevan, Armenia, Sunday, April 24, 2005
LVOV, Ukraine - Some 1 thousand Lvov resident, mostly Armenians,
rally in the city center on the 90th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
in 1915.
The rally participants went along Lvov central streets to the monument to
Taras Shevchenko. Priests were in the forepart of the procession, whose
participants have red carnations and lighted candles in their hands.
They carry transparencies: "All those not censuring the genocide are its
participants," "Armenian Genocide in Ottoman Empire awaits for its
"Nuremberg," "Non-acknowledgement of the Armenian Genocide cannot
be justified by any national interests."
Honorary President of Akhtyur Armenian Association of Lvov Karapet
Bagratuni said those gathered demand that Turkey and other countries of
the world, which have not recognized the Armenian Genocide, to properly
acknowledge it. In his words some 3 thousand Armenians live in Lvov.
Militia does not hamper those gathered. It should be noted that April 22
unknown people again wrote offensive expressions on the walls of the
Armenian church situated in the center of Lvov. -30-
=============================================================
19. RALLY PARTICIPANTS STATED UKRAINE HAS TO TAKE STEPS
TO OFFICIALLY ACKNOWLEDGE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
PanARMENIAN.Net, Yerevan, Armenia, Sun, April 24, 2005
DNEPROPETROVSK, Ukraine - A khachkar (cross-stone) monument
in memory of victims of the Armenian Genocide is put in Dnepropetrovsk
today. Besides, the third mourning rally initiated by the Armenian
community was held.
Rally participants stated Ukraine has to take steps to officially
acknowledge the Armenian Genocide, which will contribute to
prevention of such crimes against humanity in the future. -30-
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20. POLAND: 17th COUNTY TO RECOGNIZE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
The Polish Seym condemned the activities of Young Turkish government.
PanARMENIAN.Net, Yerevan, Armenia, April 24, 2005
Preparatory works, preceding the adoption of the "Armenian resolution" by
the lower house of the Polish parliament did not take long. Official Ankara
did not even manage to undertake any actions to intervene the consideration
of the issue at the Seym. In the nearest future the resolution will be
submitted to the upper chamber. There is no doubt that the resolution will
be passed very quickly in the upper chamber too.
Thus, we can assert that already 17 countries of the world consider Armenian
genocide as an incontestable fact. Before Poland the genocide was officially
recognized by the legislative bodies of France, Russia, Canada, Italy,
Vatican, Switzerland, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, Cyprus,
Slovakia, Uruguay, Argentina and Lebanon.
YEREVAN, Armenia - The resolution passed by the Polish lawmakers does
not differ much from the other similar documents, passed in other countries.
The most important thing mentioned in the document is that the events of
1915 are considered genocide and it is stressed that the condemnation of
genocide is the obligation of the whole humanity. It is worth noting that
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland did not make special efforts to
fail the passing of the resolution.
Thus, it is quite clear that Warsaw is not afraid to oppose Ankara. It
should be mentioned that the foreign policy of Poland is oriented towards
USA and it is believed that Polish diplomats try to agree their decisions
with Washington. If so, in this cases Warsaw afforded independency. USA
will not be happy to realize that the EU membership of Turkey may be
conditioned by the recognition by Ankara of the crimes committed by the
Young Turkish government.
In any case, it is obvious that the resolution passed by the Polish Seym
will become a powerful stimulus for the process of international recognition
of Armenian genocide, because Poland is not just a EU member state, but a
state pretending to regional leadership. The influence of Poland in Europe
grows year by year.
The analysis of the process of recognition of Armenian genocide has
revealed a notable tendency. The countries that first recognized Armenian
genocide had a powerful Armenian community. The last wave of international
recognition of the genocide has spread in countries where Armenians do not
have enough resources to influence lawmakers. There is no powerful
Armenian community both in Poland and Slovakia and in Netherlands.
This proves the groundlessness of assertions of Ankara that the
parliamentarians of western countries serve their Armenian electors. In
reality, it is just the opposite. Genocide is still not recognized in
countries, like Georgia, Syria and Iran where there are very large Armenian
communities.
In terms of the international recognition of Armenian genocide, the last
year was quite productive. From April 2004 till now "Armenian resolutions"
have been passed in the parliaments of Canada, Slovakia and Netherlands.
The European parliament has passed a document where it is mentioned
about the 1987 resolution, which recognized the fact of genocide.
Soon, the problem of Armenian genocide will be considered in the
parliaments of Germany and Hungary who where the allies of Turkey
during the World War. The Council of British Grinet County and city
administrations of several Australian cities have adequately evaluated
the events of 1915.
The recognition of Armenian genocide by municipal and provincial bodies
is perhaps a new tendency. This is an important policy, since it obliges
central authorities. Armenian genocide is recognized by 36 Italian and 30
French cities, two cantons of Switzerland and the Welsh parliament. The
number of American states that have officially recognized Armenian
genocide reached 37. Not long ago the genocide was recognized by the
states of Vermont, Nebraska, Tennessee and Louisiana.
The question of the genocide is still in the US Congress agenda. Last year
the subcommittee of the Committee of International Affairs approved the
draft resolution where Armenian genocide was mentioned together with the
Holocaust and the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda. 167 out of 425
members of the House of Representatives treat the events of 1915 as
genocide. 60 members insist that the issue should be put on the agenda.
The 90th anniversary of the tragedy is commemorated in the background of
active international campaign for the recognition of Armenian genocide. If
after 80 years the genocide was recognized only by two countries, during the
last 10 years 15 countries recognized Armenian genocide. There is not doubt
that by the 100th anniversary of the genocide, the whole world will be with
us. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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21. YULIYA TYMOSHENKO SAYS ROMAN ZVARYCH PRODUCED
ALL NECESSARY PAPERS ABOUT HIS EDUCATION BACKGROUND,
WHILE APPLYING FOR JUSTICE MINISTER'S POST
Oleksandr Khorolsky, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, April 23, 2005
KYIV - While applying for the job, Justice Minister Roman Zvarych produced
all the necessary papers to certify his education as making him classified
for the post, Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko reassured mediapeople in
Kyiv on Saturday.
It is not the Government's concern, she said, to check whether he really
completed his college education, rather this is personnel departments' job,
and they are vetting this matter.
As Mr Tymoshenko told the journalists, she does not intend to backtrack on
her idea to make all Government members' education certificates public.
I've told the ministers about this, Yuliya Tymoshenko said. -30-
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