"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 529
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, TUESDAY, July 26, 2005
------INDEX OF ARTICLES------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. WORLD BANK CONTINUES TO ADVOCATE HASTE IN
UKRAINE'S EFFORTS TO JOIN WTO
By Oksana Bondarchuk, FirsTnews
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, July 23, 2005
2. BUDGET AIRLINE CENTRALWINGS WILL FLY TO UKRAINE
Company granted routes to Odessa, Kiev. and Lvov
Polish News Bulletin, Warsaw, Poland, Sun, Jul 24, 2005
3. POLAND BACKS TURKEY'S, UKRAINE'S EU BIDS DESPITE
'BAD CLIMATE' FOR ENLARGEMENT
The first six months of the [President Viktor] Yushchenko
rule were not exactly a success
Rzeczpospolita web site, Warsaw, Poland, in Polish 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Jul 25, 2005
4. "THE CRACKS IN EUROPE'S EXPANDING EMPIRE"
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
By Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Lebedev
Financial Times, London, UK, Mon, July 25 2005
5. RIVAL VIEWS DIVIDES TOP LEADERSHIP IN UKRAINE
By Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune (IHT)
Europe, Tuesday, July 26, 2005
6. TYMOSHENKO'S POLICIES LEAD TO ECONOMIC CRISIS SAYS
BORIS NEMTSOV, ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
By the way she is not listening to the president
Interfax- Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 22, 2005
7. SIX MONTHS ON, THE APPEAL OF UKRAINE'S 'ORANGE REVOLUTION'
IS STARTING TO FADE
COMMENTARY: By Mary Dejevsky in Kiev
The Independent, London, UK, Mon, 25 July 2005
8. STATE IS STEALING BREAD FROM PRIVATE GRAIN TRADERS
PM Tymoshenko and others want to interfere in private markets again
ANALYSIS: By Heorhiy Bohdanov
The Kyiv Weekly #28 (168), Kyiv, Ukraine, July 22-29, 2005
9. UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER FORECASTS GRAIN
HARVEST OF 42 MILLION TONNES
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Monday, July 25, 2005
10. HALF YEAR STATISTICS: UKRAINE ECONOMY SLOWS DRAMATICALLY
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Mon, July 25, 2005
11. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER REJECTS TALK OF ECONOMY COOLING
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1826 gmt 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, July 25, 2005
12. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT UPBEAT IN ASSESSMENT OF
FIRST 6 MONTHS IN POWER
Yushchenko was three hours late for the press conference
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
13. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SAYS SACKINGS MAY LOOM THIS YEAR
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1916 gmt 25 Jul 05
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1820 gmt 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Jul 25, 2005
14. UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS EX-PRES SON-IN-LAW
TO RETURN SHARES IN NIKOPOL FERROALLOY PLANT
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, July 25, 2005
15. FINANCE MINISTER PYNZENYK: UKRAINE HAS LIQUIDATED
THIS YEAR'S BUDGET IMBALANCE
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
16. NSDC SECRETARY POROSHENKO: UKRAINE WILL CREATE
ATTRACTIVE CONDITIONS TO ATTRACT CHINESE INVESTORS
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
17. JAPAN BANK TO LEND TO UKRAINIAN IMPORTERS
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan, Monday, July 25, 2005
18. UKRAINE, JAPAN PLAN TO COOPERATE ON SATELLITE
CONSTRUCTION, LAUNCHING
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1545 gmt 24 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Jul 24, 2005
19. UKRINFORM CAPABLE OF PERFORMING MISSION OF POWERFUL,
INFLUENTIAL, AUTHORITATIVE NATIONAL INFORMATION AGENCY,
SAYS DIRECTOR-GENERAL CHAMARA
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, July 25, 2005
20. UKRAINE'S FINANCE MINISTRY CANCELS VAT PAYMENT
ON HUMANITARIAN AID IMPORTS
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 22, 2005 02:27 AM
21. UKRAINIAN NOT ALLOWED TO BRING HER CHILDREN TO IRELAND
Immigrant worker: "'If we can't have our families here, what's the point?'
Kitty Holland, Irish Times,Dublin, Ireland, Jul 23, 2005
22. KIEVAN PRINCE VLADIMIR RELICS RETURNED TO KIEV
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Sun, July 24, 2005
23. RUSSIAN CHURCH WARNS AGAINST UKRAINE-STYLE UPRISING
By Oliver Bullough, Reuters, Moscow, Russia, Sat, July 23, 2005
24. TRYPILLYA - AN ENIGMATIC CIVILIZATION
From the archive of Tovarystvo Kolo-Ra
Photos by Yury Tymochko
Welcome to Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Issue 2 (33), 2005
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), #529
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 26, 2005
25. U.S. HOUSE PASSES HCR128- URGING RUSSIAN FEDERATION
TO RECOGNIZE COMMUNIST OCCUPATION OF THE BALTICS
The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC)
Washington, D.C., Friday, July 22, 2005
26. UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST LEADER SAYS US CLAIM THAT RUSSIA
ACKNOWLEDGE OCCUPATION OF BALTIC STATES BY USSR
JEOPARDIZES TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, July 25, 2005
=============================================================
1. WORLD BANK CONTINUES TO ADVOCATE HASTE IN
UKRAINE'S EFFORTS TO JOIN WTO
By Oksana Bondarchuk, FirsTnews
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, July 23, 2005
The World Bank is rather like a doctor that continues to push very painful
medicine to improve Ukraine's overall trade position with the rest of the
world. So far the patient is having problems getting it down his throat.
Expeditious accession to the WTO remains official policy of the presidential
administration and the government, not least because they see it as a
necessary step on the way to EU membership, but powerful and so far
decisive elements in the parliament take a largely negative view.
KYIV, July 22 (FirsTnews) -- Despite opposition in the Ukrainian parliament
by the Communist, Socialist and People's parties, whose base of support
include rural residents and farmers, Ukraine remains on track to join the
WTO, perhaps by the end of the year, international experts said at a World
Bank news conference on Friday.
"Ukraine should enter the WTO as quickly as possible," Paul Bermingham,
World Bank regional director for Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova repeated
several times during the meeting with journalists.
Bermingham and World Bank senior economist Mark Davis both spoke
about Ukraine's prospects for WTO membership and agreed that joining the
148-member organization is important for further development of the
Ukrainian economy. "About 97 percent of trade around the world is between
the countries of the WTO," Davis said
"Ukraine would be providing other countries with access to the Ukrainian
market, but in the return for that Ukraine gets the same reciprocal access
to all other countries that are WTO members," he added.
Joining the world market would bring many benefits for Ukrainian producers,
especially for farmers who have a substantial share in the state economy.
Farmers, however, are in no hurry to enter the WTO. Recent events in the
parliament revealed the depth of the opposition to membership.
"This question [entering the WTO] remains one of the most painful for
Ukrainian villages," Ivan Tomych, a deputy and the head of the Verkhovna
Rada committee for agricultural policy and land management, said last April.
Tomych cited as the main problem an absence of effective state policy in the
agricultural sector, an opinion that is shared by farmers.
"We should prepare to enter the WTO, but the problem is that today in
Ukraine there is no policy of serious and organized support of agrarians,"
Oleksandr Gorodenko, general director of the company Freedom Farm said.
Davis agrees that the WTO considers that problems exist in the way that the
state supports the agricultural sector in Ukraine. Changes in the rules will
impact farmers. "It is a difficult question [financial support for farmers].
The WTO is a big club. You want to join a big club and you have to meet
requirements," Davis said, responding to a question posed by FirsTnews.
He considers that government subsidies for agriculture cause "distortions"
in the sector, but this problem may be solved by putting "resources into
helping and assisting. in a more encouraging way."
With lower salaries and living expenses, Ukraine has the advantage of being
a "low-cost" producer. Davis said most countries have higher land prices,
bigger salaries and expenses, and costs are greater in general.
Access to cheaper raw materials is another benefit for Ukraine, according to
Davis, and lead to increased production volumes and more exports.
Despite advantages, farmers would have to compete on the world market.
On the one hand, WTO membership would open world markets to Ukrainian
farmers. However, it would mean that produce from other WTO countries would
be available in the local market, increasing competition at home.
"The competition leads to more efficiency among local producers," Davis said
Davis points out that even though Ukraine has "comparatively low-quality"
products, it is a question of time and entering this organization will bring
to Ukraine the latest technologies and investments. "I see the problem in
the quality of our products, but it is a question of time," Gorodenko agreed
with the World Bank representative.
Dmytro Klysak the director the Dnipropetrovsk-based company, STD Agro,
has more optimistic view of the situation. "We will have to raise the
quality of our products, but I think the quality of many of our products is
not bad," he said.
Both Ukrainian World Bank representatives admit that there will be some who
will not benefit from this process. Davis said that some enterprises won't
be successful, especially the ones, according to Yury Alatortsev, the chief
executive officer of the company D'Artur TransConsult LLC, that are not
financially managed well. "Unprofitable businesses will lose out in the
competition," Alatortsev said.
Despite the anxiety generated by the prospect of WTO membership, a recent
poll of 800 respondents in four oblasts, conducted by the Institute of
Village Development, indicates that 39 percent of farmers and 51 percent of
agricultural managers approve of entering the WTO.
Twenty-three percent of farmers and 15 percent of managers are completely
opposed. Half of those who approve think that Ukraine should not rush to
membership. "We should start the process now, but at the same time some
compensation should be foreseen and entering must be gradual," Klysak said.
=============================================================
2. BUDGET AIRLINE CENTRALWINGS WILL FLY TO UKRAINE
Company granted routes to Odessa, Kiev. and Lvov
Polish News Bulletin, Warsaw, Poland, Sun, Jul 24, 2005
WARSAW - Budget airline Centralwings, belonging to national airline PLL
LOT, will be the first economy carrier to fly to Ukraine. The Civil Aviation
Office (ULC) granted the company routes to Odessa, Kiev and Lvov. Before
the company starts to fly to Ukraine, it has to present Poland's neighbour
with proper documents, such as insurance, licenses and so on.
Centralwings President Piotr Kociolek is cautious, however. "Ukraine is a
very promising market and we stand the chance of being there first, but
flights will be possible next year at the latest," he says. The company will
first run an analysis of prospective ports to which it will fly. Polish
regions are looking forward to new routes to Ukraine.
"We've been co-operating with Lvov for a long time. Therefore, I know how
much the new routes are needed," says Andrzej Wysocki of the local
authorities in Cracow. Entrepreneurs and travel companies are also waiting
for new flights, which will facilitate co-operation with Ukraine.
=============================================================
3. POLAND BACKS TURKEY'S, UKRAINE'S EU BIDS DESPITE
'BAD CLIMATE' FOR ENLARGEMENT
The first six months of the [President Viktor] Yushchenko
rule were not exactly a success
Rzeczpospolita web site, Warsaw, Poland, in Polish 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Jul 25, 2005
WARSAW - Poland will not abandon candidate countries, especially Ukraine.
However, our diplomats admit: now is the worst climate for enlargement in
years. Within the next two months the EU "25" must decide whether to start
accession talks with Turkey or break the pledge made to Ankara. Poland
does not have any doubts.
"We never considered the idea of a special EU partnership with Turkey,"
Deputy Foreign Minister Jan Truszczynski says about the proposal mooted by
Wolfgang Schauble. "The only option we are taking into consideration is full
membership," he adds.
Nevertheless, he, too, admits that in the new situation Turkey does not
stand a chance of joining the community as long as western societies do not
become convinced to this. This is going to take years.
Polish diplomats see the support for Turkey as a way of paving the way to
the EU for Ukraine. Already at the end of last year Poland wanted Kiev and
Brussels to prepare an association treaty that would contain a pledge of
admitting our eastern neighbour to the community.
Pawel Swieboda, the head of the EU department at the Polish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, reckons, however, that now it is better to focus on less
spectacular goals. Primarily on implementing projects already agreed on by
the EU and Ukraine. The most important among them are the ones that apply
to economics.
The EU's Recognizing Ukraine as a market economy would make it possible to
lift numerous anti-dumping levies imposed by the EU "25" and would open the
European market more widely to Ukrainian products. Admitting Ukraine to the
World Trade Organization will modernize the country's economy much more,
though.
In this way domestic businesses, accustomed to years-long monopoly, will
meet with international competition. The final goal of the already-reached
Ukrainian-EU agreements is to be the establishment of a free-trade area
between the EU "25" and our eastern neighbour.
What Kiev sees as a test for the EU's political intentions is the easing of
visa issue regulations. To encourage western capitals to do this, the
Ukrainians have allowed residents of the community to travel to their
country without restrictions.
Poland has also managed to persuade Germany and France to help Ukraine
create modern administration. Within the framework of the Weimar Triangle
a project will soon be announced that envisions direct training of Ukraine's
administration functionaries by their French, German and Polish
counterparts.
Polish diplomats admit, however, that the implementation of these ideas
may fail not only because of the EU's fears, but also due to the lack of
enthusiasm for carrying out reforms in Kiev.
The first six months of the [President Viktor] Yushchenko rule were not
exactly a success. The economy slowed down rapidly, foreign investors
did not become convinced to Ukraine, and signals about persecuting
supporters of the previous government are multiplying. -30-
=============================================================
4. "THE CRACKS IN EUROPE'S EXPANDING EMPIRE"
COMMENT AND ANALYSIS:
By Mikhail Gorbachev and Alexander Lebedev
Financial Times, London, UK, Mon, July 25 2005
The rejection of the European Union's proposed constitution in France and
the Netherlands has shocked the European elite, who seemed to take for
granted popular support for building a common European house. Although
warnings that ratification could run into problems had been plentiful even
before the constitution was signed, the would-be founding fathers brushed
off the sceptics. Europe's well-oiled bureaucracy still cannot believe that
a systemic failure has occurred, one that could jeopardise the very basis of
its existence.
Subsequent developments, including the refusal of Britain and others to
proceed with the ratification process and the show of disunity at last
month's EU summit, not just on the constitution but also on the crucial
budget and finance issues, suggest that the European project is facing a
profound crisis. What has happened is not yet a catastrophe, but could mark
the beginning of one unless an in-depth analysis is undertaken and lessons
are learnt.
The crisis cannot be explained purely in terms of the politics of two, three
or five of the 25 EU member states. Interpreting the defeat of the Yes
campaigns as a show of popular distrust for the governments of France and
Holland, or as a product of the low standing of Jacques Chirac, the French
president, and Jan Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, in opinion polls,
is wishful thinking. Nor can the votes be explained as an expression of
disagreement with new restrictions on national sovereignty. The real reason
is different.
In our view the main reason is that the EU's rapid enlargement has created
an unwieldy system. Nevertheless, European commissioners persist in
starry-eyed talk about enlargement at any price. western Europe's expansion,
which has absorbed eastern Europe and, with the opening of accession talks
with Turkey almost crossed the Bosporus into Asia, has caused widespread
anger among the citizens of the "Old World". This is understandable: for the
European man in the street, it has meant the influx of cheap labour from and
the flight of industries to the east.
The ideologues of the new Europe will now have to think hard whether
continued chaotic expansion into the east could bring about the collapse of
the European house itself, at least in its current form. For what is France
if not the cornerstone of that house?
A Frenchman interviewed on the street by EuroNews asked a very good
question: what would happen if referendums were held in those countries
that have already ratified the constitution by votes of parliament? After
all, both in France and in the Netherlands most of the "representatives of
the people" - from both the ruling parties and the opposition - favoured
ratification.
The opposition in Germany has already started questioning the parliament's
decision to ratify the constitution, and the issue could become contentious
in the run-up to elections in September.
It is clear that Europe's political elites have only themselves to blame for
what has happened. The referendums revealed a chasm that divides EU
elites and the people of EU countries. It now appears that the framers of
the constitution had not envisaged any mechanism in case the ratification
process went off course.
In other words, they had decided everything beforehand, dismissing any
thought that the people they claim to represent could disagree with them.
The sad result is that the document born with so much pain and signed with
so much pomp was thrown into question in just a few days.
The EU crisis could destabilise political systems in Europe. After all,
democracy - government reflecting the will of the people - is the main value
of the European order. The attempt by elites to exclude the people from the
decision-making process could lead to the rejection of those very elites by
society.
In the worst-case scenario, forces that have until recently been
marginalised could return to the centre of political life. It is notable
that the almost forgotten "Internationale" became the victory song of some
of the constitution's opponents in France.
Under this same scenario, the Baltic republics and Russia's former Comecon
partners in eastern Europe, who were looking forward to a life of plenty
under the blue skies and yellow stars, could face severe problems. Expecting
generous handouts, they had refurbished their houses to European standards,
in the process gutting much of their industrial capacity beyond repair.
But whether "old Europe" will be willing to continue doling out money to the
new arrivals is now in question. The fact that, during the recent summit's
heated debate on budget issues, many of the EU's established members
supported London's unwillingness to subsidise lossmaking
agricultural production does not bode well for the newcomers.
Another aspect of the defeat of Brussels' bureaucracy concerns membership
aspirations of countries to the east of EU's current borders - Turkey,
Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia - and of the Belarussian opposition. What is
needed now is a serious change of direction on both the strategy
and tactics of building a united Europe, particularly the pace of the
unification process.
Worth recalling in this regard is the need to build a united Europe not only
from the west but also from the east. This highlights the importance of
creating a common economic space embracing Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
and Kazakhstan - a process that could bring huge benefits to those four
countries and also to the EU. Interaction between these two systems is key
to a united greater Europe.
Finally, recent developments should give much food for thought
about Russia's relationship with, and attitudes towards, the EU. Many in
Russia have openly gloated over the EU's recent troubles. Much of their
commentary could be summarised as: "Put your own house in order before
lecturing us." True, as far as democracy is concerned, Russians are tired of
being Europe's whipping boys. But, instead of gleefully rubbing our hands,
we should see what lessons we can learn for ourselves. -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mikhail Gorbachev was the president of the Soviet Union. Alexander
Lebedev is a member of the State Duma and head of the Russian Academy
of Sciences' Integration Research Centre.
=============================================================
5. RIVAL VIEWS DIVIDES TOP LEADERSHIP IN UKRAINE
By Judy Dempsey, International Herald Tribune (IHT)
Europe, Tuesday, July 26, 2005
YALTA, Ukraine - Eight months after hundreds of thousands of demonstrators
ousted a corrupt government, Ukraine's peaceful Orange Revolution is being
undermined by personal rivalries, conflicting reform programs and lack of
coordination between the two people who did most to lead the revolt,
according to advisers and supporters in both camps.
They say the struggle between President Viktor Yushchenko, a former chief of
Ukraine's National Bank, and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, a former
business tycoon, over shaping Ukraine's future is delaying much-needed
reforms. It could even erode the popular support that put both leaders - who
are very different - into power.
"Timoshenko is very left-wing, hugely populist, paternalistic and also very
charismatic," said Boris Nemtsov, a former vice-prime minister of Russia,
leading member of the liberal Union of Right Forces political party and now
an adviser to Yushchenko. "Yushchenko is a liberal, democrat,
European-oriented politician. Such ideological differences are very hard to
overcome. There is jealousy and rivalry while reforms keep being delayed."
Yet, say their advisers and analysts, they depend on each other. Yushchenko
needs Timoshenko's power, popularity and political guile to keep a fragile
coalition of liberals, socialists and communists together before next
March's parliamentary elections. Timoshenko likewise needs Yushchenko's
support in order to retain the office of prime minister, who is appointed by
the president.
Neither politician will admit publicly to clashing with the other. But the
openness with which their advisers discussed the problem at a weekend
conference in Yalta illustrates that the rivalry and clash of agendas are
hampering change. This means that much-needed reforms proposed by the
International Monetary Fund and the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development - including introduction of clear property rights, the rule of
law and privatization - have not gotten very far.
"There is a question hanging over the Yushchenko-Timoshenko team," said
Grigoriy Nemyrya, adviser to the prime minister and director of the Center
for European and International Studies in Kiev.
"There is a lack of coordination and coherence inside the government. If
last December's revolution was a managed revolution, then a managed
counterrevolution is possible over the next eight months," he said. "It
would be damaging for Europe and Ukraine. It would be catastrophic for
the region."
Nemtsov and Nemyrya were among several top advisers and business
people at the weekend conference held in the Livadia Palace, a favorite
summer residence of the Russian czars perched above the southernmost
tip of Ukraine's Crimean coast. It was here, early in 1945, that the United
States, Britain and the Soviet Union decided the postwar fate of Germany
and Eastern Europe. After Nazi Germany capitulated four months later,
Eastern Europe soon came under Soviet domination.
Sixty years on, with the Soviet Union gone, Germany reunited and former
Communist countries in the EU and NATO, there is another agenda. "This
is about bringing Ukraine back to Europe," said Marek Siwiec, a Polish
legislator in the European Parliament and board member of the Yalta
European Strategy, a nongovernmental organization that organized the
conference.
The aim of Yalta Ukraine Strategy is to muster international support for
Ukraine's eventual membership into the European Union. It is headed by
Steven Byers, a former British trade and industry minister in Prime Minister
Tony Blair's government. But the driving force behind it is the oligarch
Viktor Pinchuk, who is chairman of the giant Interpipe corporation and
son-in-law of the former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma.
Kuchma stepped down last December after Yushchenko was elected his
successor in elections that were rerun because of massive protests at
electoral fraud in an earlier November vote.
At the Livadia conference, Ukraine's staunchest supporters from inside and
outside could not hide their disappointment over the slow pace of reforms.
"There is mounting anger in Western business circles over the lack of
radical liberal reforms and the failure to establish a functioning legal
system," said Alexander Rahr, a Russian expert and program director at
the German Council for Foreign Relations in Berlin.
With parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, Rahr and other
analysts said Ukraine's legislators will balk at any reforms that could
damage their election chances.
This was clear two weeks ago, when the government tried to win
parliamentary approval for new laws required for joining the World Trade
Organization.
The debates literally ended in fistfights as Socialist Party legislators
backed by the Ministry of Agriculture fought hard to prevent any lifting of
the high tariffs on sugar imports in order to protect domestic farmers.
"The point is that useful reforms have to be unpopular," said Dmitriy
Vydrin, director of the European Integration and Development Institute in
Kiev. "Yet when you look at what is taking place in the Parliament, you see
too many factions which are still being influenced by the big businesses.
The government has not pushed through enough changes or reforms to
break those links."
Some attribute the slow pace of reforms to the chaotic organization of the
government as well as the resistance to change from state and local
officials.
"There is no clarity over how instructions are issued," said Timoshenko's
adviser, Nemyrya. "There is one set of instructions issued by the prime
minister, another by the secretariat, another by the Security Council and
another by the parliamentary factions."
The tension between the two leaders means they do not intervene effectively
to clear up the confusion, according to their respective advisers. This is
damaging Ukraine's image abroad - European foreign investors, for
example, are staying away until the government passes a law on property
rights, privatization and intellectual property rights.
"The delay in setting out clear property rights affects how the government
will proceed with privatization," said Igor Burakovsky, director of the
independent Institute for Economic Research in Kiev. "Timoshenko is
pursuing populist measures ahead of the March elections," he added.
Pensions have been increased for the third time since last autumn. The
receipts earned from privatization were meant to finance the increases. But
during the first six months of this year, only $100 million had been earned
from privatization sales - well short of the target of $1.2 billion for all
of 2005.
"We are losing time and we are losing good will from abroad," Burakovsky
said. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/07/25/news/ukraine.php
=============================================================
6. TYMOSHENKO'S POLICIES LEAD TO ECONOMIC CRISIS SAYS
BORIS NEMTSOV, ADVISOR TO PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
By the way she is not listening to the president
Interfax- Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 22, 2005
KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's unpaid economic advisor
Boris Nemtsov told Radio Svoboda that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's
political course is leading Ukraine into an economic crisis.
"The country is entering a crisis zone," Nemtsov said. "This crisis is
caused by the policy conducted by Miss Tymoshenko. And by the way, she
is not listening to the president, who was elected by the people of Ukraine.
I will not support a mindless policy that is pushing the country into a
crisis," he said.
Tymoshenko's political course has already led to "a halt in economic growth.
The prices for vital products, including gasoline, sugar and meat, are
growing very quickly," Nemtsov said.
The Ukrainian government needs to consolidate, Nemtsov said. Lack of
consolidation creates "muddy waters" in the economy and allows multiple
centers of authority to exist, which makes it harder to accomplish necessary
tasks, he added. -30-
=============================================================
7. SIX MONTHS ON, THE APPEAL OF UKRAINE'S 'ORANGE REVOLUTION'
IS STARTING TO FADE
COMMENTARY: By Mary Dejevsky in Kiev
The Independent, London, UK, Mon, 25 July 2005
Revolutions are dangerous things, even when they are peaceful and bathed
in an orange glow. Six months after Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration as
democratically elected president of Ukraine, his government seems to have
lost much of its early sense of purpose.
On the surface, the capital, Kiev is still high on the euphoria of "people
power". Independence Square is a dawn to dusk festival starring hundreds
of Ukrainians from all over the world feeling good about being Ukrainian.
You want a book by or about Yushchenko? No problem. A bust, a portrait?
Pick the size, and take one of the Prime Minister, Julia Tymoshenko, while
you are at it. The religious pictures and small, reproduction icons are laid
out adjacent to the portraits of the revolutionary duo: the icons of
yesterday and today, side by side.
But the chat behind the stalls is no longer uncritical. "Were you there?"
One excited visitor asked a rough-hewn seller of folk music CDs.
"Yes," he replied slowly, "and the crowds were unbelievable: they covered
the square and went way down the Khreshchatik" (Kiev's renowned main
thoroughfare). He went on: "And you know what: they set up stalls selling
beer every few yards and there weren't any loos, and you can just imagine
what it was like."
The disappointment is echoed in the columns of newspapers that had once
been lavish in their support for the orange batallions. The revolution
belonged in part to them, because it was they who insisted the elections
conform to the law and then ensured that they did.
But it also belonged to Ukraine's young urban population, who saw in Mr
Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko not only a different future for themselves
and their country but a future in which they and Ukraine would be part of
Europe. Of course, it was always going to be hard for the orange revolution
to live up to the expectations invested in it.
And, like the somewhat hazy and idealised vision of Europe, those
expectations were often ill-defined. So far as the intelligentsia was
concerned, they hoped above all for an end to the pervasive corruption. Many
journalists hoped for the freedom to report as they wished, and without any
financial constraints.
Such aspirations were utopian. But many Ukrainians - not only those who had
flocked in person to Independence Square - had convinced themselves they
had accomplished a revolution and thought that after December everything
would be possible.
For those now swelling the ranks of doubters, all that the new government
has produced to reward their heroic efforts in the snow are price rises,
leadership squabbles and a series of excited and ill thought-out policy
moves based on a free-market ideology very few Ukrainians fully understand.
Top of the list of misfired government initiatives is the review of earlier
company privatisations, which were widely seen as corrupt. To the population
at large, it seemed so simple: just confiscate the ill-gotten gains from the
millionaire oligarchs and spread the largesse around. For an elected
government, operating - or trying to operate - in an international context,
however, it is not so easy.
How can privatisations be reversed without destabilising Ukraine's fragile
market and discouraging wary foreign investors? The prime example is the
country's largest steel mill, Kryvorizhstal, sold last year for what was
regarded as an unfairly low price to a consortium that included the then
president's son-in-law and, in effect, renationalised last month.
A new auction has been promised but the timing and mechanics seem to
change by week, if not by the day, and lawsuits are already looming.
Responsibility for reviewing privatisations rests with the prime minister,
Julia Tymoshenko, herself a first-wave "oligarch" who has sworn hence-
forward to work by the book.
The President and Prime Minister had intended that 14 economic bills would
be passed into law before the summer recess. They were crucial to fulfilling
the conditions for membership of the World Trade Organisation and an
integral part, too, of the "action plan" drafted by the European Union as a
preliminary to agreeing a start date for talks on EU accession.
In the last week before the recess, however, the Rada descended into
shouting and brawling between pro-Yushchenko reformers and their opponents.
Worse, all the antagonism produced only eight new laws. The one regarded
as most crucial for WTO membership, on copyright, was passed but the rest
have been held over until the autumn.
If, as some expect, the March elections reflect disillusionment with Mr
Yushchenko and do not produce a more reformist parliament, then any chance
of legislating for serious restructuring of the economy, let alone of early
EU accession, could be lost for several years.
Among Mr Yushchenko's many foreign patrons, there is deep concern that
progress is not nearly so fast as had been hoped. One visiting US dignitary
with an interest in the success of the "revolution" said: "These people just
don't know how to do politics. They are not schooled in the techniques and
the necessary give and take".
He was not alone in his frustration. There is a growing consensus in Ukraine
that Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko have frittered away much of their
political capital. If they cannot regain momentum in the autumn, there is a
real risk Ukraine will sink back into inertia.
After a series of political and diplomatic gaffes last December, President
Putin has left Ukraine to its own devices. Suggestions that Russia was
involved in the murder of Ukraine's most celebrated investigative
journalist, Georgy Gongadze, or in the dioxin poisoning of Mr Yushchenko
before the election have been rebutted.
Probably it was always unreasonable to expect tangible results from the
Orange revolution so soon. But Mr Yushchenko's options for rallying his
disappointed cohorts are decreasing. His call earlier this week for a
comprehensive reorganisation of law enforcement, to include the disbanding
of the notoriously corrupt traffic police, looked more like a crowd-pleaser
than a serious blueprint for change.
Challenged to say what the government had achieved, the head of the
Crimean administration, Ivan Matvienko, snapped at a local reporter: "You
don't plant a potato one day, then dig it up the next because you are
feeling peckish." -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article301479.ece
============================================================
8. STATE IS STEALING BREAD FROM PRIVATE GRAIN TRADERS
PM Tymoshenko and others want to interfere in private markets again
ANALYSIS: By Heorhiy Bohdanov
The Kyiv Weekly #28 (168), Kyiv, Ukraine, July 22-29, 2005
Ukraine is entering the second straight season of relatively successful
grain production and export. In order the agrarians to make more money
the state is planning to get involved in grain export, encroaching on
private grain traders
In the beginning of June, the government approved minimum prices for a
number of grain crops of 2005 harvest. The objective is not to allow price
collapse due to the predicted good yield. However, Vice Premier Anatoliy
Kinakh has said the established prices, the level of which could bring
15-20% profitability for agrarians, have concerned the grain market players.
They believe the set prices are too high, because they do not reflect the
real situation of the market, in particular good prospects for good yield
with availability of considerable reserves. The market predicts that keeping
the price high will boost the prices for flour and cereals for domestic
consumers excessive grain supply on the domestic market.
Naturally, the latter could be resolved by selling the excess grain abroad.
On the one hand, a number of EU countries also expect large excess of grain.
On the other hand, Russia carries out an aggressive export policy and offers
sale prices that are much lower than in Ukraine. By some indicators, the
export has actually turned out unprofitable altogether. For example, the
minimum purchase price of 1,000 kg of 3rd class wheat is US $140 while its
real export price at the moment is at US $115.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's premier has her own opinion on the subject. Yulia
Tymoshenko stated that 2005 harvest grain will be exported by state
traders - State Reserve Committee and JSC Khlib Ukrainy. The objective
of this is to minimize involvement of intermediaries who "buy grain from
farmers at very low prices and sell it at world prices."
"The government is not looking to pressure grain traders," added Economy
Minister Serhiy Teryokhin. "We are simply creating a system that will not
allow a number of major grain traders to dictate prices to producers." On
this issue, Tymoshenko and Teryokhin have the same position as the
Agrarian Policy minister, Socialist Party member Oleksandr Baranivskiy,
who has recently had serious arguments on other issues with the two
officials.
SPU leader Oleksandr Moroz also insists on holding the price through the
state acquisitions: "If the government does that, the grain traders will not
lower the prices lower than the state. Farmers should be given an
opportunity to sell grain to the state at the price they like."
In return, domestic grain traders have warned that monopolization of export
by the state will lead to disruption of existing export contracts, which in
the end will be overtaken by Russian and Kazakh exporters. As a result,
Ukraine could lose its markets in North Africa, Middle East and especially
in the south of Europe, in particular Spain, where the biggest over the past
decade draught has destroyed crops.
Traders also remind that the Ukrainian wheat supplied for export is chiefly
of poor quality and only thanks to low prices can be traded at world
markets. Now Russian companies could take Ukraine's place as suppliers
of forage grain. The announced minimum purchase prices for Ukrainian wheat
has at once made Russian grain more competitive. The cabinet estimated a
1,000 kg of forage wheat at US $100, while Russian prices are US $10 lower
now.
If the murky forecasts of traders come true and farmers will simply have no
one to sell, the collapse, so much feared by the government, will be
inevitable. Its first symptoms have already showed on the market. The new
harvest barley is sold at Hr 560/t with the approved minimum price at Hr
700/t. In this connection, Baranivskiy has already called upon the agrarians
to hold back on barley, predicting that its price would creep up to Hr 700/t
soon.
It is also worth mentioning that the minimum purchase prices are important
during the settlements with land owners, calculation of in kind wages etc..
The prices may collapse but settlements with the farmers are made with
grain at established prices. The traders will feel shortage of grain and
then, failing to sell it at the same price, will also fall short of money.
Certainly, price collapse is extremely dangerous for agrarian sector
regardless of whether it is caused by careless actions of the government
on the market as traders are warning or "conspiracy of market players" as
Tymoshenko and Teryokhin say in such cases.
Decreased profits will make it hard for agrarians to get prepared for the
fall sowing campaign - purchase proper volumes of seeds, fertilizers,
insecticides and fuel. The only thing to hope for is that the government,
grain traders and farmer manage to work out compromise solutions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.kyivweekly.com/english/article/?962
=============================================================
Send in names and e-mail addresses for the AUR distribution list.
=============================================================
9. UKRAINIAN AGRICULTURE MINISTER FORECASTS GRAIN HARVEST
OF 42 MILLION TONNES
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1800 gmt 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, Monday, July 25, 2005
KIEV - Agricultural Policy Minister Oleksandr Baranivskyy has said that the
grain harvest is better than last year's and forecast that grain production
would be 42 million tonnes. However, he expressed concern that grain
traders would attempt to drive prices down.
Speaking during a studio interview on 5 Kanal TV on 25 July, Baranivskyy
said, "When they offer no more than 500 hryvnyas [per tonne] for 3rd grade
wheat on the market, this is a problem for growers."
Baranivskyy said that to prevent the market from collapsing, the state
should buy at least 3 million tonnes of grain.
Commenting on today's eight-hour meeting with President Viktor Yushchenko,
at which the results of the government's first six months were summed up,
Baranivskyy said that Yushchenko had given a positive assessment of his
ministry's work. -30-
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Agricultural policy minister Oleksandr Baranivskyy is a
member of the Socialist party. It is normal for Socialists, who do not like
private markets and like to have government controlled markets, to attack
grain traders. Socialists have been doing this for years in many countries
around the world. Editor
=============================================================
10. HALF YEAR STATISTICS: UKRAINE ECONOMY SLOWS DRAMATICALLY
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Mon, July 25, 2005
KIEV - The Ukrainian economy's growth has slowed dramatically, according
to data made public by the State Statistics Committee on July 14. The former
Soviet republic's GDP expanded during the month of June at a low 1.1 annual
rate, and grew only by 4 percent during the first six months of 2005.
The country in previous years had been among the world's strongest
economic performers, turning in 12 percent annual expansion during 2004,
and 9 percent annual expansion in 2003. This year's slowdown seems to be
accelerating, the report said, citing a healthy 5 percent annual growth rate
in January through March, and a less-than-impressive 3.5 percent rate in
April through June.
The report blamed a dramatic drop in new construction orders, followed by
reductions in wholesale and retail sales over the first six months of 2005
for the bad news. Record hikes in imported fuel costs - a key element in the
industrial commodity manufacturing that drives the Ukrainian economy - also
were a contributor to the worrying news, the report said.
Ukraine's Europe-leaning government came to power last January on the
strength of promises to improve the country's economy through more
transparent enforcement of corporate law, and a reduction of corruption.
The country's industrial barons however have come under fire from the new
government to pay taxes, fuel bills, and salaries on time; which has reduced
both overall production volumes and profit margins for the country's steel
and chemical sectors.
The report threw into doubt the Ukrainian government's chances of staying
within a planned 3 percent deficit, which is predicated on increased
government collections via GDP expansion over 2005 at 8.2 percent.
=============================================================
11. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER REJECTS TALK OF ECONOMY COOLING
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1826 gmt 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, July 25, 2005
KIEV - Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko is sure there is no
cooling of the economy. UNIAN's correspondent reports that she said this
today at a news conference after a cabinet meeting. "No one is talking about
a cooling of the economy, we are talking about dynamic growth, which will
only develop and develop at a normal strong pace," she said.
Commenting on the fall in GDP this year, Tymoshenko said one shouldn't
look only at the percentages, but at the real figure. She said nominal GDP
was 143.7bn hryvnyas [28.74bn dollars] ]in the first half of 2004, and
173.5bn hryvnyas in the first half of this year, which is 20.7 per cent
more.
She said all Ukraine's indicators had positive signs in front of them in the
first half of this year. She said the first-half results lead to the
conclusion that Ukraine had become a "land of success". " Ukraine became
a land of hope and freedom for the world during the presidential election.
After our united team started work, it became a land of success," she said.
GDP was 4 per cent in the first half of this year, 4.7 per cent in January-
March, and 13.2 per cent in the first half of 2004. -30-
=============================================================
12. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT UPBEAT IN ASSESSMENT OF
FIRST 6 MONTHS IN POWER
Yushchenko was three hours late for the press conference
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko gave an upbeat assessment
Monday of his first six months in office but also sounded a warning to
members of his often-feuding government not to abandon the unity that
brought them to power.
"We must demonstrate that we have stayed the same as we were seven
months ago on Independence Square," Yushchenko said after a marathon
eight-hour, closed door session with his top ministers.
Yushchenko came to power in January after last year's mass protests - known
as the Orange Revolution - in which a divergent group of opposition groups
and their supporters rallied in the streets to challenge a fraud-marred
presidential vote.
The vote was re-held and Yushchenko convincingly won, going on to form a
coalition government that brought together wealthy oligarchs, pro-business
politicians and Socialists.
The team won popular support for their pledges to improve living standards
and fight the corruption and cronyism that had marred the decade-long rule
of former President Leonid Kuchma. "All the immediate tasks that we put
before us for the first half of the year, we solved them," Yushchenko said.
He claimed 489,500 new jobs had been created - halfway to the goal he set
himself of one million new jobs every year. Yushchenko also praised the 4%
growth in Ukraine's economy even though it represents a slowdown from last
year, and the government's success at holding inflation at 6.4%.
"Today I can look in the eyes of those people who before this hadn't
received pensions of a minimum living standard, of handicapped children
and mothers who give birth to a kid," Yushchenko said, referring to new
social benefits and the increase in pensions paid by his government.
Yushchenko called on the government and parliament to improve relations,
asking them to "work as one team."
This month, lawmakers refused to pass all the parts of the government's
much-sought after package of legislation that is needed before Ukraine
can join the World Trade Organization.
"You should be able to forgive and focus on the state," Yushchenko said,
flanked by Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and Prime Minister Yulia
Tymoshenko.
Yushchenko and his allies face parliamentary polls next spring, a major
test at a time when political reforms will have transferred much of the
presidency's powers to the prime minister, who will be chosen by the
political forces that triumph in the legislative vote.
Yushchenko didn't address some of the thorniest issues to face the new
government, such as the fuel crisis earlier this fall and rising food
prices. Notoriously late, Yushchenko kept journalists waiting Monday for
almost three hours. At one point, he noted that he doesn't own a watch.
=============================================================
Send in a letter-to-the-editor today. Let us hear from you.
=============================================================
13. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT SAYS SACKINGS MAY LOOM THIS YEAR
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 1916 gmt 25 Jul 05
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1820 gmt 25 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Jul 25, 2005
KIEV - Ukrainian ministers and regional leaders could lose their jobs later
this year if certain measures haven't been implemented, President Viktor
Yushchenko said on 25 July, as reported by Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
Speaking at a news conference after the cabinet reported to him on its work
in the first half of 2005, Yushchenko said that a one-stop-shop route for
registering new businesses and an experimental procedure for allotting land
for industrial and residential housing should be functioning throughout the
entire country by 1 September.
He said local executive officials should report by the start of autumn on
employment policy, attracting investment and small and medium business
creation in the regions. "If these issues are not being dealt with, we will
hold a government meeting on the results of the third quarter, at which -
these colleagues should consider themselves warned - we will be talking
about personal responsibility and whether the heads of regional
administrations, specific ministers and their deputies are up to the job,"
Yushchenko said.
Yushchenko also said Ukraine has a good chance of seeing serious growth
in GDP this year, UNIAN news agency reported him as saying. "I am
convinced that we will see an increase and a good growth dynamic for
GDP," he said. -30-
=============================================================
14. UKRAINIAN COURT ORDERS EX-PRES SON-IN-LAW
TO RETURN SHARES IN NIKOPOL FERROALLOY PLANT
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, July 25, 2005
KIEV - A Ukrainian appeals court ruled Monday that the 2003 privatization
sale of a major metal plant to former President Viktor Kuchma's son-in-law
was illegal, and ordered the controlling stake to be returned to the state.
The Kiev Appeals Court ruling also calls on the government to return the
money paid by Viktor Pinchuk's consortium after a repeat sale of Nikopol
Ferroalloy Plant is held.
The decision represents another major defeat for Pinchuk, who together
with another tycoon was stripped of his ownership of Ukraine's biggest
steel factory earlier this year. Pinchuk's lawyer, Serhiy Vlasenko, pledged
to appeal.
Pinchuk's Interpipe Corp. bought its initial 25% stake in the Nikopol
factory in 2003 and won the right of first offer to buy another 25% plus one
share stake in a later auction that no other bidders were allowed to
participate in. Both stakes were sold for a total of $81 million.
The factory, a key asset in Pinchuk's Interpipe group, is a major producer
of ferroalloys and serves at least 15 of the world's largest steel
producers.
In May, Kiev's Economic Court rejected a lawsuit by the Prosecutor General's
Office and declared the privatization legal. The Prosecutor General's Office
and the Cabinet appealed, resulting in the freezing of the shares and
Monday's ruling.
Vlasenko argued that the proper court to consider the matter should be the
Economics Appeals Court, which also has part of the case before it.
President Viktor Yushchenko has pledged to review dozens of enterprises
suspected of being privatized under shady circumstances during Kuchma's
10-year tenure. Much of Kuchma's term was marred by corruption, nepotism
and alleged government links with organized crime. -30-
=============================================================
15. FINANCE MINISTER PYNZENYK: UKRAINE HAS LIQUIDATED
THIS YEAR'S BUDGET IMBALANCE
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
KYIV - Ukraine's consolidated budget revenues totaled 57.7 billion during
the first half of this year, Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk announced this
at an expanded meeting of the Finance ministry on Monday. According to
him, this amount is 50% more than the country's consolidated budget
revenues in the first half of last year.
According to Mr. Pynzenyk, the amendments that were made the Law on
the State Budget for 2005 enabled the ministry to "liquidate the budget
imbalance" and, consequently, find funds for paying state-sector wages,
financing social programs, and supporting the Pension Fund. He
announced that all the budget's expenditures were financed during the
first half of this year.
Mr. Pynzenyk said that another goal that was achieved during the first half
of this year was creation of equal taxation conditions for all taxpayers
without preferences and protectionism.
Moreover, according to him, the tax preferences in free economic zones
and priority development territories were abolished at the government's
initiative because of their ineffectiveness. -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Some economic reports and statements by analysts do
not agree with a few of the statements above by Viktor Pynzenyk. The
English translation is not good so it is difficult to understand exactly
what Pynzenyk was saying. Editor
=============================================================
16. NSDC SECRETARY POROSHENKO: UKRAINE WILL CREATE
ATTRACTIVE CONDITIONS TO ATTRACT CHINESE INVESTORS
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 25, 2005
KYIV - The secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council
(NSDC), Petro Poroshenko, met with the head of the CITIS industrial,
commercial, and investment company and the deputy mayor of Shanghai
during his visit to China.
The Ukrainian side expressed interest in the company's housing construction
program as well as interest in participating in projects in the oil,
mechanical engineering, space, and tourist areas. They also discussed the
possibility of cooperation on development of infrastructures and
construction of roads.
After negotiations, the Yuzhnoye design bureau (Dnipropetrovsk) and the
Chinese Academy of Space Technologies signed an agreement on
cooperation in the area of peaceful exploration of space.
Mr. Poroshenko and the deputy mayor of Shanghai agreed on exchange of
visits and information about the development of the investment, trade,
economic, mechanical engineering, humanitarian, tourism, and cultural
spheres.
Mr. Poroshenko stressed that Ukraine's doors are open to Chinese
companies and that the Ukrainian authorities would create conditions that
are attractive as possible in order to attract Chinese investors to Ukraine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: There must have been by now one-thousand statements
by very top Ukrainian officials that Ukraine will create attractive
conditions to attract international investors. But the top officials do not
stay in Ukraine long enough to agree exactly what to do (if this is even
possible), how to do it, who will do it and follow up to make sure it gets
done. The endless flow of statements about creating much better and
very attractive conditions for investors are beginning to sound very
hollow by now. Editor
=============================================================
17. JAPAN BANK TO LEND TO UKRAINIAN IMPORTERS
The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan, Monday, July 25, 2005
The Japan Bank for International Cooperation announced Saturday it would
begin extending loans to Ukrainian importers of Japanese goods and sign
a deal with the State Export-Import Bank of Ukraine.
The deal provides maximum loans of 50 million dollars to Ukrainian
companies that import Japanese construction and production equipment
through the export-import bank.
The latest deal is expected to boost development in Ukraine by channeling
funds to Ukrainian companies, raising exports from Japan.
Ukraine developed a steel industry when it was part of the Soviet Union,
since the region is rich in iron ore and other minerals. However, a lack of
funding has hindered operations at Ukrainian companies, which need new
drilling equipment and trucks.
Viktor Yushchenko, the country's pro-Western president, took power in
January after the country was rocked by mass street protests, dubbed the
Orange Revolution. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
18. UKRAINE, JAPAN PLAN TO COOPERATE ON SATELLITE
CONSTRUCTION, LAUNCHING
ICTV television, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1545 gmt 24 Jul 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Jul 24, 2005
KIEV - [Presenter] The official Ukrainian delegation led by President Viktor
Yushchenko today returned from distant Japan. They have brought a package
of agreements - in particular, on cooperation in building a Ukrainian
communications satellite, First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh told
journalists.
The Ukrainian satellite will be built using Japanese technology on the basis
of the Sumitomo company, but only after the Ukrainian government provides
guarantees. In addition, there are plans to cooperate on space research.
Japan is interested in the possibility of using Ukrainian booster rockets
for launching satellites. They even made a request to the National Space
Agency of Ukraine.
However, this is not the only sphere where there are prospects for
developing Ukrainian-Japanese relations. Among the others are road and
rail construction - in particular, the possibility of building a monorail
from Kiev to Boryspil [international airport] was discussed, as well as
reconstruction of Boryspil airport.
Our special correspondent Ruslana Moskalenko summarizes the results
of the president's Far Eastern visit.
[Correspondent] Japan has seen Ukraine as a new and promising partner.
Ukraine fulfilled Tokyo's hopes by supporting its peacekeeping initiatives
and reform of the UN Security Council. The countries' cooperation in the
area of nuclear disarmament may become the most significant in the world.
[Yushchenko] Few can understand us and our problems, the challenges that
exist in Ukrainian society 20 years after the Chernobyl disaster, better
than the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So we are counting on your
understanding of the circumstances connected to the Chernobyl disaster.
[Correspondent] Viktor Yushchenko made this appeal after visiting the
Hiroshima memorial museum. He laid a wreath as a symbol of Ukrainians'
solidarity.
A government commission formed during the visit will conduct political,
economic and cultural cooperation. Its first meeting is planned to be held
during Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's visit to Kiev. [Passage omitted: a
joke about the small size of Japanese bees]
Among the economic achievements, interest in financing Ukrainian aircraft
construction, agreement on creating a joint stock exchange, readiness of the
Japan Bank for International Cooperation to give loans. [Passage omitted:
sums up results of visit] -30-
=============================================================
19. UKRINFORM CAPABLE OF PERFORMING MISSION OF POWERFUL,
INFLUENTIAL, AUTHORITATIVE NATIONAL INFORMATION AGENCY,
SAYS DIRECTOR-GENERAL CHAMARA
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, July 25, 2005
KYIV - The country should have a powerful, influential, and authoritative
national information agency, and "we have serious grounds to expect
Ukrinform to be capable of performing such a mission," Ukrinform's
Director-General Viktor Chamara said on Monday.
Mr. Chamara was speaking at the roundtable conference entitled "Ukrinform:
Ways of Reforming and Development Priorities."
According to him, Ukrinform is one of the oldest European information
agencies to which governments have assigned the function of disseminating
official information, disclosing the official positions of the countries'
leaderships, and the positions of the countries themselves.
Ukrinform has started reforming itself in implementation of the orders of
the president of Ukraine and several government decisions, Mr. Chamara
said.
He informed participants in the roundtable that Ukrinform was undergoing
structural reorganization and that subdivisions that would enable the agency
to position itself more powerfully and qualitatively on the domestic and
external information markets were being created.
According to him, there are plans for targeted work in Europe, Asia,
America, and the Middle East through attraction of qualified specialists
that are competent in these regions. Moreover, according to him, the agency
is working to introduce new information directions and create multimedia
products. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Many of Ukrinform's English translations leave much to be
desired. Any organization that wants to be a powerful, influential, and
authoritative cannot attain this status with the present quality of the
English translations of their news articles. Editor
=============================================================
20. UKRAINE'S FINANCE MINISTRY CANCELS VAT PAYMENT
ON HUMANITARIAN AID IMPORTS
Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 22, 2005 02:27 AM
One of the issues that have complicated humanitarian aid to Ukraine
appears to have finally been put to rest with the Finance Ministry's
announcement that there will no longer be any attempt to collect VAT
on humanitarian aid contributions to Ukraine.
If this really puts an end to the practice that has been a long-time source
of controversy, it will be welcomed by international organizations.
KYIV, July 22 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Finance Ministry of Ukraine has
cancelled VAT on import of humanitarian aid, the State Customs Service
of Ukraine reported.
The norm has been cancelled on the instructions of President Viktor
Yushchenko after the board meeting of the State Customs Service on
July 19.
Speaking at the board meeting, chairman of the State Customs Service
Volodymyr Skomarovsky said "such norm was absolutely transparent
towards those people who receive humanitarian aid... All the obstacles
have been removed today." -30-
=============================================================
21. UKRAINIAN NOT ALLOWED TO BRING HER CHILDREN TO IRELAND
Immigrant worker: "'If we can't have our families here, what's the point?'
Kitty Holland, Irish Times, Dublin, Ireland, Jul 23, 2005
Immigrants are being prevented from bringing over their families, even
though they can support them, writes Kitty Holland. Olga Dubyna had to make
a choice: which of her two children she would apply to have join her new
life in Ireland. Having been refused in her application to have both her
sons come here, she is now applying for just one.
From the Ukraine, the 43-year-old single mother came here in 2001. She had
been earning $30 a month as a secondary school teacher in Kiev when she
replied to an ad from an Irish recruitment agency.
"I got a job in a fish factory in Finglas, as a general operative," she
says. She left her two children, Leo, then aged 11, and Anotoliy, then aged
9, with her parents. "In Ireland I was able to earn Euro 300 a week. It was
an amazing amount of money," she enthuses.
"When I left my children they did not have clothes for the winter, or good
shoes. The first time I sent Euro 300 home, my mother told me they went
straight out and bought jackets and boots for the children. They were the
happiest she had ever seen them. I was happy. I was looking forward to
bringing them to live with me here."
Though eligible to apply to bring her children to Ireland one year after her
arrival, she first applied in 2004 having been told she would need
substantial savings to qualify. She had saved almost Euro 20,000 and was
confident of success.
"They [ Department of Justice] refused because I did not show enough
finances. But how much should I have? What is the criteria? I do not know."
She appealed and was again refused. She has now applied again, but this
time just for Leo. "I am hoping that maybe they will let me if it is just
one." If she is successful she will then apply for Anotoliy.
She has been back once to see them, last year. When asked what it was
like to leave them, she says: "It is awful". Her voice trails as she wipes
tears from her cheeks. Swallowing hard she adds, "It is very difficult."
Asked what she will do if she is again refused, she says she doesn't know.
She cannot give them the life they have grown used to if she returns to
Kiev, and she has built a life here for them.
Olga's case is one of hundreds that come to the attention of such
organisations as the Migrant Rights Centre (MRC) and the Immigration
Council of Ireland (ICI) every year.
"It is the one issue that people, once they get here, want sorted out
quickly," says Siobhan O'Donoghue, director of the MRC. "But there is no
transparency around the criteria necessary for having visa applications
approved. There is a total lack of information."
Ravi Shukler from India, who manages the Chandni Indian restaurant in
Ballsbridge, Dublin, has been in the Republic on a work permit since 2003.
With savings of Euro 30,000, a Euro 480 per week job and free accommo-
dation, he has applied three times to have his wife Manta, son Aviral (4)
and daughter Vanshika (2) join him. He has been refused twice and is
awaiting a decision on his third application. The only reason he has been
given is "finances".
"I cannot understand it. It is so upsetting because I do not know what I
have done wrong. My status is legal. I have plenty of money to support my
family. It seems I am dealing with an infrastructure with no systems in
place." The Department of Justice would not comment on individual cases.
"The whole area of family reunification, especially for migrants on work
permits as opposed to those with working visas, is one which we must, must
see properly addressed in the forthcoming legislation," says O'Donoghue. "It
is absolutely unacceptable for us to have migrants working here, clearly
investing in this country and contributing to it through their work and
their taxes, when they are not allowed to have their families here with
them."
THE DEPARTMENT IS currently receiving submissions on the "forthcoming
legislation" - the Immigration and Residence Bill - due for publication in
the autumn. It, and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment's
Employment Permits Bill - also due to be published in the autumn - will
represent the most comprehensive statement of Ireland's immigration policy
since the Aliens Act of 1935.
Some 100,000 people have come to this country, for employment purposes
alone, from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) since 2000. As the
Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, puts it in his foreword to his
Department's discussion document on the Bill: "Ireland has become one of
the most desirable places in the world in which to live and work."
With economic success has come enormous demand for workers. The CSO
predicts the economy will need some 50,000 immigrants a year over the next
decade to maintain economic growth at about six per cent a year. The
Minister continues in his foreword: "In order to maximise the benefits of
diversity, migration needs to be managed and proper structures and
procedures need to be established."
There are concerns, however, about the Department's proposals. These are
numerous and complex, though overall is a sense that the legislation will
not represent a thorough overhaul of the immigration system - a system which
the Immigrant and Minority Ethnic Led Organisations (IMELO), an umbrella
group formed in response to the planned legislation and which represents 26
ethnic minority groups, describes as "a warren of one-off schemes and
single-issue legislation, lacking clear standards and guidelines".
This experience of the system as a complex "warren" is as applicable to the
immigrant restaurant manager seeking family reunification, as it is to the
trainee doctor seeking an exit and re-entry visa to sit an exam in Britain
or the South African farm labourer seeking an extension to their right to
stay in Ireland after escaping an exploitative employer.
Again and again in the Department of Justice's discussion document, it is
proposed issues will be dealt with in "secondary legislation" and it is
stated that the Bill "will respect the principle of Ministerial discretion".
The IMELO says in its submission: "The structural defects in the immigration
system are scarcely addressed in the Government's proposals which depend
greatly on ministerial discretion and unspecified secondary legislation."
Immigrants will remain, it says, "in limbo in the current system waiting for
a trickle of one-off schemes that might take years to implement and would be
subject to variations in the political climate".
SIPTU AND THE Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) have particular
concerns about the work permits system and the continued potential for
exploitation when permits are issued to the employer rather than the worker.
The worker is effectively tied to the employer if they want to stay in the
State.
The ICTU is not convinced this will be properly addressed in the Employment
Permits Bill. While the worker will now "hold" the permit, the permit must
still be applied for by the employer, and the permit is still tied to that
employer.
Perhaps ironically, immigrant support groups and the Immigration Control
Platform agree when they both say at the heart of immigration policy should
be a concern for social cohesion.
"We do not pursue a zero immigration policy," says Aine NI Chonaill,
chairperson of the ICP. "But Ireland is a society, not just an economy, and
long-term concerns about the desirable level of immigration and social
cohesion must weigh heavily on Government."
While the ICP calls for stringent controls, others say Ireland must face up
to the fact that immigrants will want to build lives here. If social
cohesion is to be achieved we must treat them "as human beings, not just
units of labour", says Denise Charlton, director of the Immigrant Council of
Ireland. If controls fail to recognise their human needs, social alienation
and a two-tier society are the inevitable results.
At a conference in Dublin last month, US Senator Bruce Morrison said
attempts to fudge the issue and "pretend" that immigrants are here only
temporarily would "create disaster". Urging the Government to introduce a
Green card system, enabling immigrants to live here permanently, he said to
do otherwise would create "ghettos" of undocumented immigrants and social
division.
Both the Department of Justice and the Department of Enterprise say all
concerns will be taken on board over the next few months as the Bills are
drafted.
Back in Chandni restaurant in Ballsbridge, Ravi speaks wistfully of his
brother's recent emigration from India to Australia. A software engineer, it
took him two months to process an application to have his wife and two
children join him.
"The system was so clear that they were even told how much luggage they
were allowed to bring with them - 160 kilos each. I was telling him about my
situation, and you know what he said? He said professionals should think
twice about going to Ireland. He is right. We come here to work, but why do
we work?" he asks. "For our families. If we can't have them with us what is
the point of it?"
The deadline for submissions on the Immigration and Residence Bill is Jul
31. Submissions may be sent by post in an envelope marked Immigration and
Residence in Ireland to: Immigration and Citizenship Policy Unit, Department
of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, 13-14 Burgh Quay, Dublin 2 .
Submissions may also be sent by e-mail to: immigrationpolicy@justice.ie
=============================================================
22. KIEVAN PRINCE VLADIMIR RELICS RETURNED TO KIEV
RIA Novosti, Moscow, Russia, Sun, July 24, 2005
KIEV - The remains of Kievan Prince Vladimir will return to the local
Monastery on the Caves later today. Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All
Ukraine-the prelate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-is bringing the relics
back from the Rostov-on-Don diocese, in Russia, church spokespeople told
the Novosti Ukraina news agency Sunday.
Prince Vladimir (years of reign 980-1015) introduced Kievan Rus to
Christianity in 988. His remains were uncovered by archeologists in 1635, in
a marble sarcophagus of the Church of the Tithes-Kievan Rus' first stone
cathedral, built in 988-996 and destroyed by Batu Khan in 1240.
Part of the relics went to the Moscow Kremlin's Assumption Cathedral. The
other part was placed at the Caves Monastery, where it remained almost
until World War II. In prewar years, the Kiev-based relics were loaned to
Leningrad for an anthropological study, on whose basis a sculpture of
Prince Vladimir was to be created, but went missing during the war.
The relics that are now returning to Kiev were in the 1980s transferred from
the Moscow Kremlin to the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in
Rostov-on-Don. -30-
=============================================================
23. RUSSIAN CHURCH WARNS AGAINST UKRAINE-STYLE UPRISING
By Oliver Bullough, Reuters, Moscow, Russia, Sat, July 23, 2005
MOSCOW - Russia's church said on Saturday a Ukraine-style revolution
would rip the country apart -- the latest top institution to warn Russians
against an uprising.
Last year's "Orange Revolution" in Ukraine and 2003's "Rose Revolution"
in Georgia have worried many Russian officials, who say pro-democracy
movements in ex-Soviet states are a Western plot to undermine Moscow's
influence.
"Russia has already lived through a coloured revolution -- a red one ...
Russia will not survive another revolution," Interfax news agency quoted
Orthodox church spokesman Vsevolod Chaplin as telling members of the
pro-Kremlin youth group Nashi.
"If our country falls apart, it will not become a group of little
Switzerlands but one big Yugoslavia pulled apart by bloody chaos, which
no foreign peace-keepers could deal with."
The bloodless revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine were sparked by
government attempts to rig elections, and some Russian officials have
mobilised to prevent such an uprising in Russia.
The main KGB successor agencies of the ex-Soviet states have met to
coordinate steps to stop the pro-democracy movement spreading, and
Russia's FSB has demanded tighter controls on non-governmental
organisations (NGOs).
President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday foreigners were meddling in
Russia's politics by financing NGOs, and offered to fund them himself from
Kremlin coffers.
"We understand that he who pays the piper calls the tune," Putin told NGO
leaders.
The youth group Nashi is widely seen as a Kremlin attempt to forestall
pro-democracy activists' attempts to set up mass movements. The Kremlin
has no formal links to the group, but top Putin aides have addressed a
Nashi summer camp currently being held to the west of Moscow.
"The defence of the country's unity, its independence and its spiritual
freedom must be the business of all society and every one of us," Chaplin
told the camp.
The Orthodox church was oppressed under the Soviet Union, with many
churches demolished or used as factories and warehouses.
Since 1991, it has established a cosy relationship with the Kremlin and
former KGB spy Putin frequently attends major religious events. -30-
=============================================================
24. TRYPILLYA - AN ENIGMATIC CIVILIZATION
From the archive of Tovarystvo Kolo-Ra
Photos by Yury Tymochko
Welcome to Ukraine magazine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Issue 2 (33), 2005
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), #529
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Back in 1900, Pablo Picasso on a visit to an exhibition of Trypillya
ceramics which was held in Paris, exclaimed in admiration, "These works
of art are excellent examples for modern artists to follow - look at these
fantastic shapes of earthenware, look at these elegant ornaments!" They
say that it was the Trypillya exhibition in Paris that inspired Picasso to
start creating his own ceramics.
DISCOVERY -----------
Archaeological finds made by the Ukrainian archaeologist Vikentiy Khvoyka
(1850-1914) in the 1890s led to the discovery of a Neolithic culture which
was named Trypillya after the place where the first finds were unearthed.
The more historians learn about the Trypillya culture, the more amazed they
become.
Later, similar finds were made in Moldova and Rumania and it became
clear that the Trypillya (also known as Cucuteni-Trypillya) culture was a
major Neolithic European culture that arose in Ukraine in the late sixth
millennium BCE and spread over vast territories.
The discovery of the Trypillya culture was, in fact, no less sensational
than Heinrich Schliemann's discovery of the ruins of ancient Troy and
excavation of Mycenae, but for various reasons Trypillya remained much
less known to the general public.
According to Khvoyka, the Trypillya people were autochthones and were
among the first to practice agriculture; other historians changed their
views on the historical processes in Europe and argued that the Neolithic
culture arose in the plains between the Danube and the Dnipro and then
spread to other parts of Europe.
ARTIFACTS AND SYMBOLS ----------
Modern archaeological methods and advanced technology make it possible
to establish dates of artifacts, events and phenomena that took place in the
past with a high level of precision. Thus it has been established that the
Trypillya culture arose at about 5,250 BCE and lasted to about 2,750 BCE.
The Trypillya people settled along the rivers and their settlements were
discovered in the forest-and-steppe zone that stretched from the
Carpathians and the Danube all the way to the Dnipro River.
The available evidence suggests that the Trypillya people's social
organization centred around clans divided into families. The Trypillya
people practised shifting agriculture, growing wheat, barley, millet and
beans. Seeds and stones of grapes, apricots, wild plums, apples and pears
were found in the excavations of some of the settlements.
Trypillya houses were made of timber and woven willow branches covered
with a coating of clay with admixture of chaff; the roofs were supported by
wooden pillars. Characteristically, the walls of typical Ukrainian peasant
huts of much later times were also coated with clay mixed with chaff.
The Trypillya houses had windows but apparently no chimneys and the smoke
from the hearths and sacrificial altars escaped from the windows and doors.
The floor was made of clay which was then exposed to fire to harden it; the
interior walls were painted brown, white or red.
All the structures in a settlement were erected in concentric circles around
the central "square." Once in fifty or seventy years the settlements were
abandoned and the people moved elsewhere, burning down the abandoned
settlement.
The Trypillya people, in addition to farming and animal husbandry, knew
metalworking, weaving and pottery. Their copper technology was quite
advanced. A wide variety of implements made of copper or flint - knives,
axes, bores, scrapes, sickles and others, and they are a good indication
that various crafts were developed in the Trypillya culture to quite an
advanced level.
"Shops" were set separately and some distance away from dwellings,
close to the quarries or deposits of ore. The Trypillya people invented the
potter's wheel and two-tier ovens for baking their earthenware. The
earthenware vessels and other items were painted and decorated with
ornaments which have preserved their colours after six thousand years of
being buried in the ground.
Probably the most important Trypillya discovery was the wheel. In this
respect, the Trypillya people were ahead of many other cultures. Some
historians are of the opinion that the Trypillya people used draft animals,
oxen in particular, for pulling heavy ploughs made of horn. Some of the
representations of bulls painted on vessels show them harnessed and
pulling what looks like sledges.
Many of the unearthed Trypillya vessels are of elegant shapes and of various
sizes, ranging from very small to very large ones. Obviously, they were used
for different purposes, some of them for storage of grain and liquids. Some
of the Trypillya earthenware artifacts must have been used in rituals; the
purpose of others remains mysterious and their significance is highly
conjectural.
Of a particular interest are clay models of what could have been temples and
of other buildings, of chairs, tables and of what look like "thrones." They
provide, if their interpretation is correct, some ideas as to how Trypillya
buildings and furniture looked like. Clay figurines of men, women and
animals are stylized and simple in style but have the rudiments of realistic
representation.
Trypillya vessels and other artifacts were painted and decorated with
ornaments. Spirals are particularly numerous; symbolic representations of
snakes and of the sun (a circle with the cross in it) can be interpreted as
reflecting such abstract ideas as the flow of time and seasonal changes.
Other popular decorative elements include stylized representations of dogs
which means that dogs must have been domesticated and used for guarding
the fields and houses; at the same time, such representations could have had
a symbolic meaning - dogs as protection against evil spirits.
A number of symbols and signs are believed to be more than sheer ornaments -
they could have been messages of some sort and thus can be interpreted as
the first steps on the way to the creation of script. Some of these signs
bear a certain resemblance to Sumerian cuneiform characters.
DECLINE AND CONTINUITY ----------
At the earlier stages of the Trypillya culture, settlements were
comparatively small, made up of no more than a dozen houses, but gradually
some of the settlements reached the size of a town with hundreds or even
thousands of houses in it. In the 1960s, in the Land of Umanshchyna,
Cherkasy Oblast, thanks to aerial photography huge Trypillya settlements,
spread over areas of many hectares, were discovered - Sushkivka, 27
hectares; Chycherkozivka, 50 hectares; Pyanizhkove, 60 hectares; Kosenivka,
70 hectares; Vilkhovets, 110 hectares; Dobrovody, 250 hectares; Maydanetske,
270 hectares; Nebelivka, 300 hectares; Talyanka, 450 hectares (there are two
and a half acres in a hectare).
In March 2002, the entire area of 2,045 hectares with these settlements
concentrated in it, was given a status of a national culture preserve,
Trypilska kultura (Trypillya culture).
The new methods and sophisticated technology used in determining historical
dates enable us to get a more clear picture of the position of the Trypillya
culture among other contemporaneous European cultures and cultures in other
parts of the world.
The discovery of Trypillya settlements of enormous sizes which may, in fact,
be called towns and which date to the fourth millennium BCE, make them
unique for their time. No settlements of such sizes have been discovered so
far neither in Mesopotamia nor in Egypt, the seats of the world's most
ancient civilizations. The major cities of the Indus Valley, Mohenjo-Daro
and Harappa arose about a thousand years later, in the mid-third millennium
BCE.
After 3,500-3,300 BCE a decline of the Trypillya culture began. The reasons
for the decline are not clear, but it coincided with the considerable
changes in climate which brought the average temperatures down. The
Trypillya people must have begun moving to other areas, losing most of their
cultural and technological achievements in the process. But some of them
were nevertheless preserved for posterity.
There is a growing number of historians who are of the opinion that basic
features of the Trypillya culture found their reflection in the types of
houses built in Ukraine in the early medieval and later times, in the
ornaments used to decorate earthenware, in the cosmogonic and other
symbols to be found in Ukrainian embroidery, painted Easter eggs, in the
way houses were painted and decorated, even in traditions and customs.
They argue there is a traceable continuity from the Trypillya culture down
through the ages to the culture of Ukraine in the medieval and quite recent
times. Whether these cultural features were passed on from generation to
generation through the intervening cultures - Sarmatian, Scythian, etc., or
whether there are direct genetic links between the Trypillya people and the
people of today's Ukraine is for the future science to establish, but some
obvious cultural links are apparent even now to the discerning eye of the
scholar. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UKRAINIAN SOCIETY: TOVARYSTVO KOLO-RA
There is a Ukrainian society, Tovarystvo Kolo-Ra, which promotes know-
ledge about the Trypillya culture, engages in reconstruction of the
Trypillya ceramics and organizes sightseeing tours. Established in 1994
in Kyiv, the society gathers all the relevant information that comes from
archaeological excavations, research, and historical studies and makes
it available to all those who may be interested in the ancient history of
Ukraine. E-mail: kolo-ra@i.com.ua; Website: http://www.trypillya.kiev.ua
The Kolo-Ra Society organizes bus tours:
Zoloty vinok Kyivshchyny (Golden Garland of the Land of Kyivshchyna)
(1) 1- or 2-day tours -----Kyiv - Trypillya with a visit to the Regional
History
Museum - Rzhyshchiv with a visit to archaeological excavations sites
and ceramics reconstruction shops - Kaniv with a visit to the Pereyaslav
Historical-Ethnographic Preserve - Kyiv
(2) 6-day tours -----Kyiv - Uman - Talne - Odesa - Kyiv
(3) 8-day tours -----Kyiv - Trypillya - Rzhyshchiv - Kaniv - Pereyaslav-
Khmelnytsky - Cherkasy -Talne with a visit to the Trypillya "proto-towns" -
Uman - Vynnytsya -Ternopil - Verteba Pechera (Cave) - Kyiv
(4) 11-day tours -----Kyiv - Trypillya - Rzhyshchiv -
Pereyaslav-Khmelnytsky -
Cherkasy - Talne with a visit to the Trypillya "proto-towns" - Uman -
Nemyriv - Vynnytsya - Kamyanets-Podilsky - Ternopil - Verteba Pechera
(Cave) - I vano-Frankivsk - Kyiv
If you join a tour that takes you to the town of Rzhyshchiv in early July,
you can become a witness of an exciting festival, Rzhyshchivsky vinok
(Rzhyshchiv Chaplet), the events of which include: a fair with a great
selection of applied and decorative art wares; a folk song-and-dance
contest: historical boats shows Princess Olga and Svarog; exhibitions of
traditional and historical dress and of reconstructed ancient ceramics; an
archaeological conference; making earthenware and ceramics vessels and
baking in the Trypillya oven reconstructed for this purpose; looking for and
picking medicinal herbs; ancient pagan rites, excursions, and other curious
and edifying happenings.
The Tovarystvo Kolo-Ra Society has been engaged in archaeological
excavations carried out jointly with the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In
the past five years, 12 new Trypillya settlements have been discovered and
the foundations of several houses have been unearthed.
A historical and archaeological complex is planned to be created in the
vicinity of Rzhyshchiv, in which ancient houses and household items from
the times of the Trypillya culture, Bronze Age, ancient Slavs and Kyivan Rus
will be recreated as faithfully as it is possible and put on public display.
The Tovarystvo Kolo-Ra Society is carrying out a project, Trips to the
Ancient Cultures and Traditions of Eastern Europe, which is supported by
the Embassy of Canada in Ukraine and by the Fund Ukrayina 3000 [Victor
Yushchenko's Foundation.] -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.wumag.kiev.ua/index2.php?param=pgs20052/92
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: The second issue of the "Welcome To Ukraine" magazine for
year 2005 has just been published. This world class magazine in color,
published four times a year in Kyiv, is truly outstanding and one of the
best magazines about Ukraine published in the English language.
For complete information on how to obtain the latest copy of the
"Welcome to Ukraine" magazine or how to subscribe for one to three
years send an e-mail to ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net. -30-
==============================================================
25. U.S. HOUSE PASSES HCR128- URGING RUSSIAN FEDERATION
TO RECOGNIZE COMMUNIST OCCUPATION OF THE BALTICS
The Joint Baltic American National Committee, Inc. (JBANC)
Washington, D.C., Friday, July 22, 2005
Washington, DC - The United States Congress has issued another
signal to the Russian Federation that it should be truthful about its past
Soviet legacy with respect to the Baltic countries. Legislation seeking an
acknowledgement and condemnation by the Russian Federation of the
Soviet Union's occupation of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania passed today,
July 22, in the House of Representatives.
The legislation passed by unanimous consent, meaning that there was no
opposition. House Concurrent Resolution 128 (H. Con. Res. 128) was
introduced by Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL) on April 29. The measure
had also received the strong support of Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), and
other members of the House Baltic Caucus.
The complete text of H. Con. Res. 128 will be available on the congressional
website http://thomas.loc.gov, along with the floor statement of Congressman
Shimkus (see below). JBANC believes that by admitting and condemning the
Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltic countries, the Russian
Federation can develop more tolerant relations with its neighbors and chart
a more positive course for its own future.
There were twenty-nine co-sponsors of H. Con. Res. 128 (House Baltic Caucus
members marked by an "*"): Xavier Becerra (CA)*, Howard L. Berman* (CA),
Mary Bono* (CA), Christopher Cox* (CA), Danny K. Davis (IL), Lloyd Doggett*
(TX), David Dreier* (CA), J.D. Hayworth (AZ), Tim Holden* (PA), Darrell Issa
(CA), Jack Kingston (GA), Dennis Kucinich* (OH), Daniel Lipinski (IL),
Stephen Lynch (MA), Thaddeus McCotter* (MI), James McGovern* (MA), Grace
Napolitano* (CA), Michael Rogers* (MI), Dana Rohrabacher* (CA), Edward R.
Royce* (CA), Loretta Sanchez* (CA), Adam B. Schiff* (CA), David Scott (GA),
E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (FL), Mark E. Souder (IN), Lee Terry* (NE), Fred Upton*
(MI), Henry A. Waxman* (CA), Frank R. Wolf (VA).
Including its sponsor Rep. Shimkus, 20 of the 30 supporters are members of
the House Baltic Caucus. The Caucus, co-chaired by Congressmen Shimkus
and Kucinich, currently has 70 members. Nearly a third of Caucus members
co-sponsored. Support was completely bi-partisan, with 16 Republicans and
14 Democrats. 12 of the 30 supporters are from California, an indication of
the excellent activism of the Baltic American Freedom League there.
Illinois and Michigan congressional delegations mustered three supporters
each. JBANC would also like to recognize the efforts of the Midwest Baltic
Coalition and the Baltic-American organizations of Oregon for their great
help in getting the legislation introduced. The Senate already passed their
version of the measure (S. Con. Res. 35), on May 19. It was introduced there
by Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), and co-sponsored by Senators Richard Durbin
(D-IL), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
In conjunction with the passage of H. Con. Res. 128, July 23 marks the 65th
anniversary of the U.S. policy of non-recognition of the Soviet occupation
of the Baltic countries. For over half a century, the U.S. never wavered in
its support for the sovereignty of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles issued the first U.S. public statement
on the Soviet takeover of the Baltics, condemning that act, and recognizing
the true nature of the predatory intervention by the USSR upon its
neighbors: http://estonia.usembassy.gov/sumnerwelles.php
In addition, the week of July 17-23 marks the 57th anniversary of Captive
Nations Week, marking support for peoples that suffered and are still
victimized by communism and tyranny. President Bush has issued a
proclamation on this occasion:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050715-12.html
JBANC represents the Estonian American National Council, Inc.,
American Latvian Association, Inc. and Lithuanian American Council.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Statement of Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL)
HCR 128: Russian Recognition of Occupation of the Baltics
July 22, 2005
MR. SHIMKUS: Mr. Speaker, I am here to encourage passage of H.Con.
Res. 128, a resolution that I am proud to have sponsored, that calls on
Russia to acknowledge the occupation and subsequent suffering of the
Baltic people under Soviet control. I implore my colleagues to support this
important resolution.
This resolution comes to the floor in a timely manner. This week is Captive
Nations Week, first declared so by the U.S. Congress on July 17, 1959 as a
Joint Resolution against the continuing Communist domination of the Baltic
Countries. President Bush has again declared this week 'Captive Nations
Week' and urged Americans "to reaffirm their commitment to all those seeking
liberty, justice and self-determination." I can think of no better way than
to honor the memories of those that fought for freedom against Communist
control than to pass this resolution.
During Communist occupation of the Baltics, hundreds of thousands of
people were torn from their families and deported to Siberia, many never to
be heard from again. No one can be exactly sure of the amount of those that
died or fled Soviet control, but it has been estimated from 500,000 to as
high as 750,000. You cannot meet a person in these countries that didn't
have a family member or loved one who wasn't affected by these horrible
practices.
Russia has been unwavering of its non-recognition of the mass deportations,
torture, and murders committed by the Soviet regime. I feel, along with the
29 cosponsors of this legislation, that Russia needs to acknowledge the
mistakes of the past so it can move forward and become a truthful state, and
in turn a stronger democracy.
It is important that the United States join with our allies in the Baltics
and stand for Democracy and rights of individuals to be protected
everywhere. Democracy and freedom cannot exist without truth and
transparency; I would hope Russia would take a step forward as a nation by
acknowledging the past. I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of this
resolution. -30-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
JOINT BALTIC AMERICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE, INC.
Estonian American National Council, Inc.; American Latvian
Association, Inc.; Lithuanian American Council, Inc.
400 Hurley Avenue, Rockville, MD 20850
Karl Altau, Tel: (301) 340-1954; Fax: (301) 309-1406,
E-Mail: jbanc@jbanc.org; Net: http://jbanc.org
==============================================================
26. UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST LEADER SAYS US CLAIM THAT RUSSIA
ACKNOWLEDGE OCCUPATION OF BALTIC STATES BY USSR
JEOPARDIZES TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY OF UKRAINE
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, July 25, 2005
KYIV - Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko says that the claim of the
United States that Russia should acknowledge occupation of Lithuania,
Latvia and Estonia by the Soviet Union in 1940-1991 jeopardizes territorial
integrity of Ukraine. Ukrainian News learned this from his statement.
The CPU leader stressed that the claim stated in the US Congress resolution
of July 22 casts doubt on the results of the Yalta (1946), Potsdam (1945)
and Helsinki (1975) conferences based on which the border have been
established between the European countries, including the borders of
Ukraine.
"The July 22 resolution of the Congress unties the hands of reactionaries
and nationalists of Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Russia, who will not miss
an opportunity to lay territorial claims to Ukraine," Symonenko stated. He
added that the resolution also endangers territorial integrity of Belarus.
"In such a way, the Gordian knot of European territorial problems is not
getting loose but, on the contrary, becomes tighter and extremely
destabilizes the general political situation on the European continent," the
CPU leader opined. He fears that the resolution puts Ukraine under threat
of territorial division. "A long-standing dream of geopolitical chess player
Zbigniew Brzezinski," he added.
Symonenko insists that any, even silent, support of the "aggressive policy"
of the United States by President Viktor Yuschenko would amount to national
treason and make Ukraine a target of terrorist attacks.
Foreign media reported that the US called on Russia to acknowledge that the
USSR had occupied Baltic States between 1940 and 1991.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Ukraine is surprised by Russia's doubts
over Ukrainian ownership of the Tuzla Island and considers this an attempt
to make territorial claims to Ukraine. -30-
==============================================================
UKRAINE INFORMATION WEBSITE: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
==============================================================
SigmaBleyzer/SigmaBleyzer Foundation Economic Reports
The SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Group offers a comprehensive
collection of documents, reports and presentations presented by its business
units and organizations. All downloads are grouped by categories:
Marketing; Economic Country Reports; Presentations; Ukrainian Equity Guide;
Monthly Macroeconomic Situation Reports (Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine).
LINK: http://www.sigmableyzer.com/index.php?action=downloads
UKRAINE WILL SUCCEED
==============================================================
"WELCOME TO UKRAINE" & "NARODNE MYSTETSTVO" MAGAZINES
UKRAINIAN MAGAZINES: For information on how to subscribe to the
"Welcome to Ukraine" magazine in English, published four times a year
and/or to the Ukrainian Folk Art magazine "Narodne Mystetstvo" in
Ukrainian, published two times a year, please send an e-mail to:
ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net.
==============================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An Agent Of Change
A Free, Non-Profit, Public Service Newsletter
ARTICLES ARE FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
Articles are Distributed For Information, Research, Education
Discussion and Personal Purposes Only
==============================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT- AUR" - SPONSORS
"Working to Secure & Enhance Ukraine's Democratic Future"
1. THE BLEYZER FOUNDATION, Dr. Edilberto Segura, Chairman;
Victor Gekker, Executive Director, Kyiv, Ukraine; Washington, D.C.,
http://www.bleyzerfoundation.com.
2. KIEV-ATLANTIC GROUP, David and Tamara Sweere, Daniel
Sweere, Kyiv and Myronivka, Ukraine, 380 44 298 7275 in Kyiv,
kau@ukrnet.net
3. ESTRON CORPORATION, Grain Export Terminal Facility &
Oilseed Crushing Plant, Ilvichevsk, Ukraine
4. Law firm UKRAINIAN LEGAL GROUP, Irina Paliashvili,
President; Kiev and Washington, general@rulg.com, www.rulg.com.
5. BAHRIANY FOUNDATION, INC., Dr. Anatol Lysyj, Chairman,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
6. VOLIA SOFTWARE, Software to Fit Your Business, Source your
IT work in Ukraine. Contact: Yuriy Sivitsky, Vice President, Marketing,
Kyiv, Ukraine, yuriy.sivitsky@softline.kiev.ua; Volia Software website:
http://www.volia-software.com/ or Bill Hunter, CEO Volia Software,
Houston, TX 77024; bill.hunter@volia-software.com.
7. ODUM- Association of American Youth of Ukrainian Descent,
Minnesota Chapter, Natalia Yarr, Chairperson
8. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA),
Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M. Andryczyk, President;
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania
9. 9. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Washington, D.C.,
Susanne Lotarski, President; E. Morgan Williams, SigmaBleyzer,
Chairman, Executive Committee, Board of Directors; John
Stephens, Cape Point Capital, Secretary/Treasurer
10. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL,
(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
11. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President; John Kun, Vice President/COO, Washington,
D.C.; Markian Bilynskyj, VP/Director of Field Operations; Kyiv,
Ukraine. Web: http://www.USUkraine.org
===============================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" is an in-depth, private, non-
profit news and analysis international newsletter, produced as a free
public service by the non-profit www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service
(ARTUIS) and The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service The
report is distributed in the public's interesting around the world FREE
of charge using the e-mail address: ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net.
Additional readers are always welcome.
The text and spelling found in the articles is that which was distributed by
the various news services. The AUR does not change the wording, the
English or the spelling found in the original articles and none of the
translations are by the AUR unless specifically marked as such. The
AUR does change the format of some of the articles to fit the format used
in this publication, cuts very long paragraphs into two to four paragraphs
to allow much easier and quicker reading and changes the headlines we
find that are not clear and accurate, which is quite often.
If you would like to read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT- AUR"
please send your name, country of residence, and e-mail contact
information to morganw@patriot.net. Additional names are welcome. If
you do not wish to read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" around five
times per week, let us know by e-mail to morganw@patriot.net. If you
are receiving more than one copy please contact us and again please
contact us immediately if you do not wish to receive this Report.
===============================================================
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR - AUR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Director, Government Affairs
Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer Private Equity Investment Group
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013, Tel: 202 437 4707
mwilliams@SigmaBleyzer.com; www.SigmaBleyzer.com
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Director, Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA)
Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC)
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Chairman, Executive Committee, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council
Publisher, Ukraine Information Website, www.ArtUkraine.com
& www.ArtUkraine Information Service (ARTUIS)
===============================================================
Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
===============================================================