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Action Ukraine Report

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary

"Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"

UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE DAY NUMBER FOURTEEN
Since breaking with the Soviet Union
Wednesday, August 24, 2005

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 544
Published in Kyiv, Ukraine, MONDAY, August 22, 2005

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

1. AUSTRIAN RAIFFEISEN BANK BUYS 93.5% IN UKRAINE'S AVAL BANK
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, August 21, 2005

2. UKRAINE REVENUE UP AS TAX DODGING FALLS, PREMIER SAYS
By Garfield Reynolds in Moscow, Bloomberg, NY, NY, Fri, Aug 19, 2005

3. USA: ATLANTA ECONOMIST SHEILA TSCHINKEL TO ADVISE
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER YULIYA TYMOSHENKO
By Nema Etheridge, GlobalAtlanta
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 5, 2004

4. ODESSA: OLD SOVIET GERM FACTORIES POSE NEW THREAT
Once Mined for Pathogens in Bioweapons Program, Labs Lack Security
By Joby Warrick, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sat, Aug 20, 2005

5. ALL ABOARD THE KIEV-WARSAW "SMUGGLERS' EXPRESS"
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Mon, August 22, 2005

6. UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE DAY 2005 CELEBRATED THE NEW WAY
LESS GUNS, MORE MUSIC AND SPORT
By Aleksandra Matoshko, FirsTnews, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, Aug 22, 2005

7. UKRAINIANS CELEBRATE THEIR COUNTRY'S INDEPENDENCE
Festival annual affair for hundreds who fled to the USA
By Dalondo Moultrie, Of The Morning Call
The Morning Call Online, Allentown, Pennsylvania, Mon, Aug 22, 2005

8. 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINE
STATEMENT: Embassy Staff, Embassy of Ukraine
Washington, D.C., Friday, August 19, 2005

9. GEORGIA AND UKRAINE: AN ODD COUPLE
Two presidents who should swap jobs
The Economist, London, UK, Sat, August 20-26, 2006

10. RACING TOWARDS THE WTO
OPINION: by Nikolay Vardul’, Editor of Economic Politics
Kommersant, Moscow, Russia, Monday, Aug 22, 2005

11. USAID READY TO HELP UKRAINE REFORM ITS JUDICIAL SYSTEM
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

12. CABINET CANCELS 69 ENTREPRENEURSHIP REGULATORY ACTS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

13. YUSHCHENKO TO ATTEND FESTIVITIES MARKING UN'S 60TH
ANNIVERSARY IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 13-17
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

14. CHERNOBYL "DEAD ZONE" COULD BE REDUCED IN SIZE
New Europe, Athens, Greece, Monday, August 22, 2005

15. SOFTLINE TO MERGE WEBSITES OF UKRAINIAN DIPLOMATIC
MISSIONS AND CONSULATES
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

16. SPEAKER LYTVYN MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF WORLD
CONGRESS OF UKRAINIANS ASKOLD LOZYNSKYJ
Oksana Torop, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

17. LYTVYN CALLING ON UKRAINE'S CABINET OF MINISTERS TO
DRAFT LAW REGULATING STATUS OF OUN AND UPA WWII FIGHTERS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

18. IV WORLD FORUM OF UKRAINIANS TO TAKE PLACE IN KYIV
NOVEMBER 20-21, 2005
World Congress of Ukrainians, Kharkiv, August 16-19, 2005
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 19, 2005

19. HOLLYWOOD STAR MILA JOVOVICH ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT
OF CHARITABLE FUND FOR AIDING UKRAINIAN CHILDREN
Ihor Solovei, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, Aug 20, 2005

20. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS DIVIDE, TROUBLE PAST SOVIET-STATES
In Ukraine history textbooks treat almost every
issue from an anti-Russian position.
Window on Eurasia: By Paul Goble
UPI, Tartu, Estonia, Fri, August 19, 2005

21. GEORGIAN LEADER DANCES AT ARTEK YOUTH CAMP IN
CRIMEA FREE OF "SOVIET NONSENSE AND RUBBISH"
Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi, in Georgian 1300 gmt 19 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, August 19, 2005

22. POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ADAM DANIEL ROTFELD VISITS LVIV
TO PAY TRIBUTE OF HOMAGE TO UKRAINIAN GRECO-CATHOLIC
CHURCH SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO SAVED HIS LIFE
Ihor Bachun, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

23. UKRAINIAN GREEK-CATHOLIC CARDINAL SEEKS DIALOGUE
WITH PRO-MOSCOW CHURCH, MOVE'S OFFICE FROM LVIV TO KYIV
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 21 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, August 21, 2005

24. PRES YUSHCHENKO GUARANTEES CREATION OF EFFECTIVE
UKRAINIAN STATE PROGRAM TO PROTECT ORPHAN CHILDREN
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, August 20, 2005
=============================================================
1. AUSTRIAN RAIFFEISEN BANK BUYS 93.5% IN UKRAINE'S AVAL BANK

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, August 21, 2005

KYIV - Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (Vienna, Austria) has
acquired 93.5% of shares in the Aval bank. Raiffeisen International made
the statement, a copy of which is available to Ukrainian News.

"Yesterday, on August 20, Raiffeisen International completed talks on the
purchase of the joint-stock post and pension bank Aval, the statement
reads. Under the agreement reached, the cost of transaction will not be
made public.

The transaction is to be approved by the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU)
and other relevant bodies of Ukraine and Austria. According to Herbert
Stepic, the board chairman of Raiffeisen International, the very purchase is
important step in further strengthening of leading positions of Raiffeisen
International both in Ukraine and Central and Eastern Europe.

"Ukraine is one of the most important markets for us. Due to this purchase,
Raiffeisen gains number 1 position in the country," Stepic said.

According to him, Aval has healthy economic base and large network of
affiliates all over Ukraine, which goes in line with development plans of
Raiffeisenbank operating in Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News reported earlier, Raiffeisenbank (Ukraine) said in March
this year that it planned to create a network of 450 structural subdivisions
throughout Ukraine before the year 2008 and that it was not ruling out the
possibility of acquiring a Ukrainian bank for this purpose.

Early this year, the owners of the Aval bank started talks with Austria's
Raiffeisen financial group on a possible sale of the bank.

Net assets of Raiffeisenbank (Ukraine) were valued at UAH 4,455.3 million
as of April 1, 2005, when its credit and investment portfolio amounted to
UAH 3,779.1 million and its capital totaled UAH 360.2 million.

Raiffeisenbank (Ukraine) reported profits of UAH 22.942 million for the year
2004. The shareholders of Raiffeisenbank (Ukraine) are the Raiffeisen
International Bank Holding AG with 99.997% and Raiffeisen Zentralbank
Osterreich with 0.003%.

Net assets of the Aval bank were valued at UAH 15,018.9 million as of July
1, 2005, when its loan portfolio amounted to UAH 10,630.5 million, and
capital UAH 1,318.0 million. The bank ended 2004 with a profit of UAH
18.248 million. The Aval bank's management controls over 50% of the
shares in the bank. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
2. UKRAINE REVENUE UP AS TAX DODGING FALLS, PREMIER SAYS

By Garfield Reynolds in Moscow, Bloomberg, NY, NY, Fri, Aug 19, 2005

KIEV - Ukraine's government has already collected 50 percent more in budget
revenue so far this year, compared with 2004, after a campaign to reduce
corruption increased tax collection, the country's premier said.

Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, a former gas executive and one of the
country's wealthiest people, said her seven-month-old government has been
successful in raising revenue and reducing corruption that flourished under
former President Leonid Kuchma.

"All of the tax rates are exactly the same, yet the revenue received is 1
1/2 times greater,'' Timoshenko, 44, said yesterday in an interview in Kiev.
"This is simply the legalization of the economy, the legalization of
profit.''

President Viktor Yushchenko tapped Timoshenko, ranked the world's third most
powerful woman by Forbes Magazine, to help organize and inspire protesters
during last December's Orange Revolution that ousted Kuchma following
elections that the European Union ruled as being riddled with fraud.

Yushchenko and Timoshenko took office pledging to crack down on corruption,
boost investment and forge closer ties to the European Union.

The yield on Ukraine's 7.65 percent bond fell 0.013 percentage point to 6.07
percent as of 9:24 a.m. London time. The price of the bond, which matures in
June 2013, rose 0.85, or $8.50 per $1,000 face value, to 109.685, according
to Commerzbank AG prices.

FIGHTING SMUGGLERS
"We have radically reduced the amount of smuggling in Ukraine,'' Timoshenko
said. ``As a result, we have increased by at least 2 1/2 times the budget's
revenue from import duties, without any sort of tariff increase -- the
reverse is the case, some tariffs were reduced.''

Timoshenko is confident her government can afford to raise wages for all
government employees by 15 percent from Sept. 1 even as growth slows. The
former Soviet republic's $60 billion economy should grow about 6 percent
this year, compared with 12.1 percent last year, the Economy Ministry said
last month.

Ukraine's gross domestic product expanded 4 percent in the first half of the
year, led by a 7.7 percent increase in agriculture, the State Statistics
Committee said Aug. 16. Construction contracted 7.7 percent and wholesale
and retail trade fell 2.5 percent.

ATYPICAL MEASURES
Economists should be wary about using standard macroeconomic measures
to judge Ukraine for the next two years because the previous government's
figures were distorted and industries such as construction and wholesaling
are being transformed, she said.

The government discovered 5 billion hryvnia ($1 billion) were paid out last
year as rebates on value-added taxation rebates that were based on
fictitious exports, calling into question the 2004 figures for GDP and the
trade balance, Timoshenko said.

"Our entire wholesale market had been set up through state finances, and it
was a clearly corrupt system, there was a whole row of middlemen,''
Timoshenko said. ``Now that we have cleaned this all up and are holding
open tenders for every order, for the first time ever in Ukraine, we have a
15 percent decline in wholesale trade: Is this a negative or a positive
dynamic?''

The construction industry has been similarly affected by a crackdown on
illegal land sales that has forced some companies to suspend or cancel
work on plots they were granted under the Kuchma regime, she said.

The other drag on the economy has been the decline in international steel
prices, hurting a metals industry that accounts for a quarter of Ukraine's
exports.

European benchmark steel prices have plunged 33 percent this year, the
steepest decline since 1998, according to Metal Bulletin prices on
Bloomberg. China's production of the material surged 29 percent last month,
outpacing the declines in regions such as Europe and North America.

ASSET SALES
The government isn't relying on state asset sales, such as the $2 billion
auction of VAT Kryvorizhstal, the country's biggest steelmaker, scheduled
for October.

"We want to transform the face of privatization in Ukraine, and we're not
aiming to sell stakes in strategic companies simply for the sake of the
budget, which would be incorrect,'' Timoshenko said. "We are seeking to
privatize those assets where we want to change the quality of the
management, to attract investment, remove state corruption.''

Revenue for the budget from state asset sales is welcome, as it will give
the government more money to invest in development, she said.
The government's campaigns against theft, bribery, tax evasion and smuggling
are disrupting some areas as they lay the groundwork for sustainable growth,
Timoshenko said.

KUCHMA SALES
Promises to also probe sales by Kuchma, on suspicion some were illegal or
sold to relatives and friends at a discount, has raised concern over
property rights in the country.

Ukraine is this year experiencing its first agricultural boom since Soviet
times, and the food-processing industries are growing at a ``simply unique''
pace of 16 percent. "For the first time in Ukraine, agriculture is growing,
after there had been a continuous regression in the development of
agriculture,'' Timoshenko said. -30-
=============================================================
3. USA: ATLANTA ECONOMIST SHEILA TSCHINKEL TO ADVISE
UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER YULIYA TYMOSHENKO

By Nema Etheridge, GlobalAtlanta
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, August 5, 2004

Atlanta economist Sheila Tschinkel would welcome meeting with Georgia
travelers when she moves to Kiev, Ukraine, in September to work as
economic adviser to Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko.

"I've heard that she's the hardest working person in the Ukrainian
government," Ms. Tschinkel said, noting that she was prepared to work
long hours to assist Ms. Tymoshenko in implementing economic reform
policies in the Ukraine.

"I told her that I would work American hours, which essentially means no
vacations," she told GlobalAtlanta in a farewell interview at her Atlanta
residence.

Ms. Tschinkel, who served as senior vice president and director of research
at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, has advised Lithuanian, Bulgarian
and Uzbekistani governments on implementing economic reform policies
since she left the Fed in 1995.

Dealing with debt management, fiscal policy reform and the decentralization
of banking systems, Ms. Tschinkel has assisted representatives of the
International Monetary Fund, the U.S. Agency for International Development
and the World Bank.

While she describes her work as helping to implement economic reforms
into the day-to-day framework of a country, she is careful to note that she
only takes an advising role when working with local government officials.

She facilitates discussions between government officials and representatives
from international aid agencies and coaches officials into making their own
decisions on economic policy, she said.

"It's their government. [Officials] have to make the decision(s) on their
own, and they have to take responsibility for their decisions," she said,
adding that most government officials who she had worked with had been
extremely motivated to implement economic policy changes but needed
guidance in making their decisions.

"Ideally, you should get done and people should be able to do this
themselves, without you," she said. Ms. Tschinkel, who has never lived in
the Ukraine, will wait to learn about the people and the Ukrainian
government before deciding how to advise Ms. Tymoshenko, she said.

Ms. Tymoshenko, the founder and former president of United Energy Systems
of Ukraine, a private energy company that imported natural gas supplies from
Russia, began her own opposition party in the Ukrainian government in 1999.

During Ukraine's 2004 presidential elections, Ms. Tymoshenko joined with
opposition candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, and was appointed prime minister
in January after Mr. Yushchenko was elected president in the re-run of an
internationally contested election in November.

Ms. Tymoshenko was also named the third most powerful woman in the world
by Forbes magazine, following Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
China's vice premier and minister of health, Wu Yi.

Ms. Tymoshenko chose Ms. Tschinkel as her economic adviser upon the
recommendation of U.S. ambassasdor to the Ukraine, John Herbst, whom
Ms. Tschinkel met in 2003 while working in Uzbekistan. Mr. Herbst was
serving as U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan at that time, Ms. Tschinkel said.

A harpist, a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta and a board member of the
Georgia Council for International Visitors, Ms. Tschinkel welcomes friends
from Georgia during what she envisions to be a year-long stay in Kiev.

"The door's open and if people want to make connections, I'd be more than
happy to do what I can do to help," she said. Ms. Tschinkel is to begin her
position in Kiev in September. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report]
=============================================================
4. ODESSA: OLD SOVIET GERM FACTORIES POSE NEW THREAT
Once Mined for Pathogens in Bioweapons Program, Labs Lack Security

By Joby Warrick, Washington Post Staff Writer
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Sat, Aug 20, 2005

ODESSA, Ukraine -- For 50 years under Soviet rule, nearly everything about
the Odessa Antiplague Station was a state secret, down to the names of the
deadly microbes its white-coated workers collected and stored in a pair of
ordinary freezers.

Cloistered in a squat, gray building at the tip of a rusting shipping dock,
the station's biologists churned out reports on grave illnesses that were
mentioned only in code. Anthrax was Disease No. 123, and plague, which
killed thousands here in the 19th century, was No. 127. Each year,
researchers added new specimens to their frozen collection and shared
test results with sister institutes along a network controlled by Moscow.

Today, the Soviets are gone but the lab is still here, in this Black Sea
port notorious for its criminal gangs and black markets. It is just one of
more than 80 similar "antiplague" labs scattered across the former Soviet
Union, from the turbulent Caucasus to Central Asian republics that share
borders with Iran and Afghanistan. Each is a repository of knowledge,
equipment and lethal pathogens that weapons experts have said could be
useful to bioterrorists.

After decades of operating in the shadows, the labs are beginning to shed
light on another secret: How the Soviet military co-opted obscure civilian
institutes into a powerful biological warfare program that built weapons
for spreading plague and anthrax spores. As they ramped up preparations for
germ warfare in the 1970s and 1980s, Soviet generals mined the labs for raw
materials, including highly lethal strains of viruses and bacteria that
were intended for use in bombs and missiles.

The facilities' hidden role is described in a draft report of a major
investigation by scholars from the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at
the Monterey Institute of International Studies. The main conclusions of
the report, which was provided to The Washington Post, were echoed in
interviews with current and former U.S. officials familiar with the labs.

Most scientists who worked in antiplague stations in Soviet times knew
nothing of their contributions to the weapons program, the report says.

The labs today are seeking to fill a critical role in preventing epidemics
in regions where medical services and sanitation have deteriorated since
Soviet times. But an equally pressing challenge is security: How to prevent
the germ collections and biological know-how from being sold or stolen.

"They often have culture collections of pathogens that lack biosecurity,
and they employ people who are well-versed in investigating and handling
deadly pathogens," said Raymond A. Zilinskas, a bioweapons expert and
coauthor of the draft report on the antiplague system. "Some are located at
sites accessible to terrorist groups and criminal groups. The potential is
that terrorists and criminals would have little problem acquiring the
resources that reside in these facilities."

Managers of the old antiplague stations are aware of their vulnerabilities
but lack the most basic resources for dealing with them, according to the
Monterey authors and U.S. officials. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union
in 1991, budgets at the institutes have fallen so steeply that even the
simplest security upgrades are out of reach. One facility in a Central
Asian capital could not even afford a telephone and had no way of
contacting police in the event of a break-in. At least two antiplague
centers outside Russia have acknowledged burglaries or break-ins within the
past three years, though there are no confirmed reports of stolen pathogens
or missing lab equipment, Monterey officials said.

The lack of modern biosafety equipment is also raising concern among U.S.
officials about the potential for an accidental release of deadly bacteria
and viruses. In Odessa, where 44 scientists and about 140 support staff
carry out research in the I.I. Mechnikov Antiplague Scientific and Research
Institute, scientists wearing cotton smocks and surgical masks work with
lethal microbes that in the West would be locked away in high-containment
laboratories and handled only by scientists in spacesuits.

The lab's scientists said their training in handling dangerous materials
allowed them to work safely with pathogens without Western-style safety
equipment -- which they viewed as unnecessary and which in any case they
cannot afford.

"Many of the institutes are located in downtown areas, and some work with
pathogens with windows wide open," said Sonia Ben Ouagrham, who
coauthored the Monterey study with Zilinskas and Alexander Melikishvili.

The obscurity of the antiplague stations is hampering their ability to fix
the problems, the researchers said. The institutes were not officially part
of the Soviet bioweapons complex, so they have been deemed ineligible for
the tens of millions of dollars in aid given each year by U.S. and Western
governments to keep former weapons scientists from selling their expertise.

Western governments are just beginning to look for ways to help the
institutes, and not only because of the bioterrorism threat. In a two-year
study of Russia's biotech industry, a panel of the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences recently urged former Soviet republics to modernize the antiplague
labs and integrate them with other global networks that seek to prevent
outbreaks of diseases from becoming pandemics. "The Russian Anti-plague
System, regardless of any involvement it might have had in the former
offensive program, serves an important public health need," said David
Franz, panel chairman and director of Kansas State University's National
Agricultural Biosecurity Center.

Any weakening of the antiplague network has consequences for the control
of infectious diseases throughout the world, and especially in Europe, said
Monterey's Zilinskas.

"These institutes have served to prevent diseases such as plague, tularemia
and Crimean-Congo fever from spilling over," he said, referring to a
flulike fever sometimes referred to as "rabbit flu" and a hemorrhagic viral
fever. "Some Europeans are unaware of this biological threat on their
southeastern flank. Others are aware, but so far, are choosing not to be
engaged."

GROWTH OF A SECRET SOVIET SYSTEM
The name "antiplague" reflects a grim reality of the Czarist and early
Soviet periods, when the first antiplague stations were created: Plague, or
black death, was a frequent visitor to Russia and neighboring countries
well into the 20th Century.

Plague is caused by a bacterium, Yersinia pestis , and it is most commonly
transmitted to people by animal or insect carriers, such as rats. It is the
same illness that killed an estimated one-third of the population of Europe
in the 14th century. Today, plague is easily treated with antibiotics,
although a rare form of the disease -- pneumonic plague, caused by
breathing the bacteria into the lungs -- is highly lethal and is considered
a weapon of choice for germ warfare or bioterrorism.

In Odessa alone, a sea port of just over 1 million people, tourists can
visit eight different cemeteries for plague victims, including Plague
Mountain, a grassy mound that served as a mass grave for victims of an
1812 outbreak that killed more than 2,600 people.

The first antiplague stations were established to help contain such
outbreaks. A dozen of them already were operating by the end of the reign
of the last czar. The start of the Soviet era in 1917 brought many new
institutes, new priorities and an expanded list of diseases, including
tularemia, cholera and anthrax.

The Monterey Institute's report studies how the institutes evolved under
Soviet leadership , and draws on scores of interviews and visits to more
than 40 antiplague institutes and field stations. Some details emerged
previously from the writings and testimony of Soviet weapons scientists.

By all accounts, the antiplague network grew dramatically under the
Soviets, both in size and sophistication. By the end of the Soviet period
it boasted 14,000 employees and 88 permanent facilities, including six
major antiplague institutes, 26 regional stations and 53 smaller field
stations.

Odessa's facility was a regional station, first opened in 1937 to battle
recurring outbreaks of plague linked to infected rats that were arriving by
ship. The original building on a municipal dock was later exchanged for a
walled compound of three-story buildings painted pale blue. Inside,
scientists dissected infected rats and birds in separate virology and
bacteriology labs, using equipment that would be considered outmoded in
many U.S. high schools today. For years, until the lab purchased autoclaves
for cremating contaminated materials, the bodies of the diseased animals
were simply buried in the lab's courtyard.

Beginning in the 1950s, the Soviet military began to exert influence over
research priorities in the facilities. At first, the Monterey report says,
antiplague institutes were asked to help bolster the nation's defenses
against a possible foreign biological attack. The assignment was code-
named "Problem Five," and it required scientists to expand on their
already-proven ability to respond to a sudden outbreak. Researchers
refined techniques for detecting and identifying pathogens, established
rapid-response teams and aided the investigation of new drugs.

A growing international consensus against biological warfare prompted the
Soviets to shift to a new direction. In 1969, President Richard M. Nixon
unilaterally halted U.S. production of biological weapons. Three years
later, the Soviet Union joined the United States and other nations in
signing the Biological Weapons Convention, outlawing biological weapons.

Within the next two years, the Soviets secretly began to build a massive
offensive weapons program. Much of it was hidden inside a sprawling
civilian-run enterprise called Biopreparat, which put tens of thousands of
scientists to work on bioweapons projects disguised as pharmaceutical
research.

The ruse worked. Western governments did not become fully aware of true
of purpose of Biopreparat until a leading Soviet scientist, Vladimir
Pasechnik, defected to Britain in 1989.

A STEADY SUPPLY OF VIRULENT STRAINS
When Soviet generals began their expanded buildup of bioweapons in the
1970s, they looked to the antiplague network for help, the Monterey authors
said. The largest antiplague institutions were enlisted into a new program,
code-named "Problem F," or simply "Ferment."

According to Zilinskas and others, the antiplague institutes were a
goldmine for the military because they provided "ready-to-use information,
biomaterial and expertise."

Precise details of the antiplague institutes' work remain unclear. The
Russian government still refuses to officially acknowledge the existence of
the Soviet Union's offensive weapons program. Russia also has outlawed
any disclosures of classified information from the pre-1992, Soviet era. But
scientists now living outside Russia have brought many key facts to light,
the researchers said. It is now known, for example, that key antiplague
institutes during this period came under the command of Soviet military
officers, some of whom once worked at military biological facilities.

It is also clear, they said, that Soviet bioweapon engineers relied on the
antiplague institutes for basic research and identification of pathogen
strains that were exceptionally lethal.

"There was a secret law that enjoined all antiplague institutes to send the
government any kind of virulent strain that might be used for defensive
purposes," said Zilinskas. Soviet bioweapons that most likely originated in
antiplague centers include bacterial strains that cause plague, anthrax and
tularemia, the report concludes. In addition, it is believed that one of
the antiplague facilities, in Volgograd, helped Biopreparat scientists
develop weaponized versions of the bacteria that cause glanders and
melioidosis, two livestock diseases that also attack humans. "This
collaboration probably went beyond the mere supplying of strains," the
authors write. "It included efforts to weaponize wild bacterial strains."

The bioweapons program was so secret that many researchers didn't know
about it. Lev Mogilevsky, deputy director of the Odessa research facility
and a 36-year veteran of the antiplague system, said he believed it was
impossible that his institute could have contributed to the creation of
offensive biological weapons. But he did remember working on joint projects
with military medical units in the 1970s and '80s, during which the
exchange of information was decidedly one-way.

"We would hold meetings to discuss Problem Five, and there would be
many institutes participating, including military ones," Mogilevsky
recalled. "Our contributions would be open, but the military's never were.
They revealed nothing."

UNDER-FUNDED, UNDER-STAFFED AND UNSECURED
Today, the Odessa antiplague station and others like it throughout the
former Soviet Union face a new generation of difficulties. Even the simple
task of gathering field specimens can be a challenge, because it requires
travel. That means using the institute's aging van, which is often in need
of repairs, and purchasing gasoline, which the lab cannot afford.

To grow bacteria for testing, the scientists need a sterile nutrient broth,
or growth medium, common to biological labs all over the world. But again,
the Odessa lab has no money for such supplies. Workers improvise by
collecting meat scraps, boiling them down in the lab and skimming off the
fat.

The list goes on: Glassware. Lab chemicals. Fax paper. Microscope parts.
Testing kits.

"Our budget has been very much decreased. The equipment that we have is
old," said Mogilevsky. "Basically what we have is enough to sustain the lab
at a very low level of activity."

Other shortages, unrelated to lab work, trouble the institute's deputy
director. He worries about broken alarm sensors, ancient locks that need
replacing and walls that should be built higher and stronger to keep out
intruders. He wonders whether a single guard is enough, and if not, how he
could possibly afford another.

When the Monterey Institute and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit
group, brought scores of antiplague scientists together two years ago for
their first post-Soviet-era meeting, complaints about inadequate supplies
and plummeting budgets were a common refrain. In fact, Odessa's plight
was nowhere near the worst.

"All were in poor shape," said Zilinskas, who has helped launch a program
that brings antiplague scientists to the United States for training. "Some
of the facilities received literally no money from their governments, at
all."

Many of the centers in the ex-Soviet republics continue to maintain high
professional standards, the researchers said, thanks in part to a core of
older scientists who were trained under the Soviet system in classic
laboratory techniques. But today, training is harder to come by, even for
the few young scientists who are willing to accept starting salaries of
less than $25 a week.

Over time, continued cost-cutting inevitably will undermine the labs'
ability to function at all. And that, the researchers said, has a cost of
its own.

"If the system shuts down because of lack of equipment and funding, there's
a risk of an epizootic outbreak among animals that becomes an outbreak
among humans," said Monterey's Ouagrham. "And humans travel." -30-
=============================================================
5. ALL ABOARD THE KIEV-WARSAW "SMUGGLERS' EXPRESS"

New Europe, Athens, Greece, Mon, August 22, 2005

Midnight has passed when the Kiev-Warsaw express slowly rolls towards
the Polish border. "No cigarettes? No vodka?" In Jagodin, the blonde
Ukrainian customs officer with bright red lipstick finds it hard to believe
that the travellers actually resisted the temptation of cheap Ukrainian
goods, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) said in a special report last week.

Then, before signs for the Polish border appear, the train suddenly stops,
causing passengers in their sleeping compartments to stir.

No one arrives to check passports, but a group of Ukrainian women hurry
along the corridor clutching plastic bags, whispering among themselves and
with the conductor. Just as the passengers, who were expecting border
controls, settle back into sleep, one of the Ukrainian women knocks on the
door of a compartment and demands entry.

She does not seem to have a reservation, but communication is difficult
given that she does not speak Polish. Even without words, however, it
quickly becomes evident that, unlike her fellow passengers, this woman is
not a tourist.

Pulling one package of cigarettes after another from her bag, she hurries
between compartments, stashing them. Judging from the sounds coming from
the corridor, her co-travellers are also busy hiding smuggled goods. When
the woman leans over to hide some cigarette packages under the seat of
Philip Keene, the 33-year-old Englishman is roused from a stunned silence.

"Nyet!" he calls, gesturing to show his objection to having smuggled
cigarettes hidden next to his travel bag. "My God," he murmurs.

"Unbelievable." The Ukrainian woman sulks because none of the other
travellers in the compartment agrees to have cigarettes hidden among their
luggage. As she climbs onto a bunk bed and starts removing boards from the
ceiling, it appears she has stuffed her stockings with more cigarettes and
wrapped them around her body.

Every one watches in silence until German backpacker Barbara Schneider
exclaims, "Looks like we landed on the smugglers express!" Keene glances
grumpily up at the bunk where the Ukrainian is now pretending to be asleep.
"If she stays here all night, I wont sleep," he announces with a sigh,
looking at the numerous locks on the compartment door. The locks are meant
to keep out unwanted visitors, but what happens when the unwanted visitors
are passengers?

The tension mounts as the train rolls into a hall and stops. Customs and
border officers in Polish uniform stand around in small groups smoking. A
short while later a young border guard starts knocking on doors and reaching
in his hand for passports: "Dokumenty? Paszporty?" A customs officer follows
and, moving from one compartment to the next, asks, "Anything to declare?"
Silence.

"They don't seem to be very diligent, do they?" Schneider says sceptically.
Suddenly there is a commotion in the corridor. One of the officers takes out
his walkie-talkie and a group of men dressed in black appear. One of them
shoulders a drill while another keeps a set of screwdrivers and other tools
at the ready.

"Open", one of them orders, pointing at Schneiders backpack, and then,
shining his flashlight in the Ukrainians face and pointing at a small bag,
asks, "Is this all?" She nods. "Open," he says.

The Ukrainian climbs down from the bunk and opens the bag slowly. The
customs officer pulls out one cigarette package after the next, throws them
on the floor and then flashes his light at the ceiling. "Everyone into to
the corridor" he says curtly, then unscrews some ceiling boards, revealing
more hidden cigarettes.

With each confiscated package of cigarettes the smugglers expression
turns more and more sullen. She looks down the corridor to where one of
her friends is trying, with gestures, to find out what penalties they face.

The corridor is crowded with tourists by now, some leaning against the
walls, yawning. Three customs officer rush around, opening luggage and
lifting off wall panels.

As several large garbage bags are filled with confiscated cigarettes, the
smugglers take advantage of the ruckus to snatch back some cigarettes
packages and hide them in compartments that have already searched.

The custom officers try to keep the situation under control, but there are
more smugglers than officers. One grabs his walkie-talkie to call for
reinforcements and orders one of the conductors to pull the garbage bag
onto the platform out of reach.

In another compartment a customs officer has unscrewed the lower bunk
beds and put them in the already-crammed corridor. "What the hell!" a
heavily-tattooed man exclaims when the officer starts to dislodge the floor
boards. It's a good night for Polish customs: the hollow space under the
floor is full of cigarettes.

A young Polish tourist is so impressed by the operation that she reaches for
her camera to take a picture of the cache. "Oh my God", repeats Keene, a
teacher at a quiet international school in Kuwait. "Now this is a real
Eastern European adventure. Ill have something to tell back home."

Finally, after a delay of more than an hour, the tired but content-looking
custom officers finish their search and the train continues its journey to
Warsaw. The smuggler tries to re-enter the compartment, but is told in no
uncertain terms by the other occupants that she is not welcome. "I only do
my job!" she snaps but finally grabs her stuff and joins the other women.

Finally, 18 hours after departing from Kiev, the train stops at Warsaw East
station. This is where the smugglers usually leave the train to sell
smuggled cigarettes or spirits at the huge Stadion Dziesieciolecia bazaar.
Today, not one of the Ukrainian women leaves the train, the report said.
=============================================================
6. UKRAINE'S INDEPENDENCE DAY 2005 CELEBRATED THE NEW WAY
LESS GUNS, MORE MUSIC AND SPORT

By Aleksandra Matoshko, FirsTnews, Kyiv, Ukraine, Mon, Aug 22, 2005

KYIV - The first Ukrainian Independence Day to take place since the
Orange Revolution will be celebrated "the new way" according to the
statements issued by the Cabinet of Ministers and the Kyiv City
Administration.

Apart from traditional concerts in the city center and a brass band parade,
Kyivans can expect the launch of thermal balloons "Ukraine-Poland," a
sailing competition, "Kyiv Regatta - 2005" and free admission at all city
museums and similar facilities.

The main difference in this year's Independence Day celebration is that
there will be no military parade. "There is too much aggression in our life,
so we should celebrate Independence Day with concerts and happiness,
not military parades," Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said in her official
statement on the observance.

The celebrations will start with greetings from the President Viktor
Yushchenko who will address the Ukrainian people at noon from what has
become the main stage of the country - Maidan Nezalezhnosti. A presidential
press service statement said Yushchenko considers Independence Day the
main state holiday and plans to spend this day with people of Ukraine, "who
actually fought for independence."

Also during the day, Yushchenko, Tymoshenko, Volodymyr Lytvyn and
members of the Cabinet of Ministers will lay flowers at the monuments to
Volodymyr the Great, Taras Shevchenko and Mykhaylo Hrushevsky. Also
the president will take part in the festive mass "Prayer for Ukraine" at
Sofiya Kyivska, a presentation of awards at Mariyinsky Palace and
other related events.

Rather than the military parade, citizens may choose to attend sporting
events of every type, including the paintball championship of Ukraine, a
special hockey tournament, "Independence Cup" marathon championship,
theKyiv chess open chess competition and many others.

Special cultural events include 50th jubilee city flowers exhibition, an
arts event entitled, "There's no better land than the one called Ukraine"
and a charity concert, "Ihor Zavadsky and the best young accordion players
of Ukraine." Also, a movie festival, "New Movies of Ukraine" will also open
on August 24.

The Kyiv City administration will use independence day to show off recent
accomplishments with the official opening of the new Boryspilska Metro
station and the reconstructed Yuriy Gagarina avenue.

As always the largest independence crowds of all will be seen in the evening
at the traditional open air concerts in the city center. This year the
concerts will be held under the motto "Independence. Europe. Future" on two
giant stages, one of Maidan Nezalezhnosti and the other on European Square.

One tradition that will not be broken is the conclusion of the Independence
Day observances with a gigantic late night fireworks display.

The celebrations are obviously designed with the idea in mind to provide
something for every Ukrainian on this day. However, for those with a yen for
the regular appearance of goose-stepping Tax Police in the military parade,
there will be disappointment. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.firstnews.com.ua/en/article.html?id=87701
=============================================================
7. UKRAINIANS CELEBRATE THEIR COUNTRY'S INDEPENDENCE
Festival annual affair for hundreds who fled to United States.

By Dalondo Moultrie, Of The Morning Call
The Morning Call Online, Allentown, Pennsylvania, Mon, Aug 22, 2005

She came to this country 10 years ago chasing a dream and running from
communist oppression. But listening to a soloist sing a song in her native
tongue on Sunday brought tears to the eyes of Ukraine-born Oksana Ford,
who lives in Philadelphia.

''I deeply miss my country,'' Ford said as she wiped away streaming tears.
''It was nice how life-loving are my people.'' Ford was among hundreds of
people at the 14th annual Ukrainian Folk Festival at Ukrainian-American
Sports Center on Lower State Road in Horsham, Montgomery County,
Sunday afternoon.

Ford said she makes the trip from Philadelphia every year to celebrate with
her countrymen her homeland declaring its independence from the Soviet
Union on Aug. 24, 1991.

Thoughts of how Ukrainians won that independence clouded Ford's mind and
eyes Sunday. ''I remembered how my people fought for independence. Millions
of people died for this,'' she said. ''My father and mother fought for this.
That is why I cried.''

But the gathering was not meant to be a sad one. Children scurried around
the sports complex eating ice cream and water ice, and ethnic dishes such
as pierogies, holuptsi and kielbasa.

Folk dance troupes performed in lavish red, green and gold costumes,
twisting and twirling for the audience's delight. About a half-dozen vendors
hawked traditional Ukrainian folk art and crafts.

Irene Badulak of Quakertown showed off her intricately designed examples
of pysanky - Ukrainian Easter eggs. Badulak said she picked up the
centuries-old art when she was 6, being taught by her mother, whose mother
taught her.

''Pysanky is the art of writing on eggs with beeswax,'' Badulak said. ''It's
a tradition passed down from generation to generation since pre-Christian
times.'' Pysanky is time-consuming but can be lucrative, Badulak said. Her
most expensive shell, a small ostrich egg, took about 40 hours to complete
and will probably fetch $1,200, she said.

Badulak's type of entrepreneurial spirit and ability to earn a decent living
are what Ford said brought her to the United States, where she became a
citizen this year. ''We came to work here and make our lives better,'' Ford
said. ''We came here to help our families back home. We appreciate
America.''

Yet hearing the song about a Ukrainian woman who is proud of her history and
independence brought back memories of her first home, Ford said. Having
adopted a new land and a dual identity, Ford said she has love for both her
homes.

And, she said, the Ukrainian Folk Festival helped her reconnect with
brethren from her birth home. Wiping away the last of her tears, Ford said,
''This festival is my country.'' -30- (dalondo.moultrie@mcall.com)
=============================================================
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=============================================================
8. 14TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE INDEPENDENCE OF UKRAINE

STATEMENT: Embassy Staff, Embassy of Ukraine
Washington, D.C., Friday, August 19, 2005

Dear friends,

On August 24, 2005, we all celebrate the 14th anniversary of the
Independence of Ukraine, an event which embodies the centuries-old
aspirations of the people of Ukraine. Today, we can proudly say that
Ukraine is an established independent state.

Last year, the people of Ukraine attested to the whole world their love of
freedom and commitment to democracy when they bravely stood up for their
right to freely and fairly elect their government. Ukraine's historic Orange
Revolution has changed the direction and pace of the development of the
Ukrainian society.

It proved that Ukraine has a mature, dignified, and open-minded civil
society; and provided the opportunity for Ukraine to succeed as a
democratic, strong, and prosperous European country.

We're witnessing the beginning of a new era in the Ukrainian-American
relationship. President George W. Bush and President Viktor Yushchenko in
their Joint Statement The New Century Agenda for the Ukrainian-American
Strategic Partnership said "We commit our two nations to stand together as
global partners for freedom, security and prosperity in the 21st century."

By demonstrating their support of the Maidan, Ukrainians from all over the
world contributed outstandingly to the peaceful victory of freedom in
Ukraine. A special role was played by the Ukrainian American community,
which has continuously and tirelessly worked to help Ukraine over the years.
Ukraine appreciates this contribution and support.

No matter where we live, this is a time of hard work and great
accomplishments for all of us - Ukraine's future depends on our joint
efforts. So let us together raise and strengthen Ukraine's prestige!

God bless Ukraine!
Embassy's staff, Washington, D.C.
=============================================================
9. GEORGIA AND UKRAINE: AN ODD COUPLE
Two presidents who should swap jobs

The Economist, London, UK, Sat, August 20-26, 2006

TBILISI - STRUGGLING with a divided government and a fractious parliament,
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's president, last week visited Georgia to see his
friend Mikhail Saakashvili, whose problems are even worse. Mr Saakashvili,
who swept to the Georgian presidency after the "rose revolution" a year
before Ukraine's "orange" one, imparted tips on how to govern after an
upheaval and , perhaps inadvertently, how not to.

Georgia and Ukraine share two characteristic post-Soviet difficulties:
endemic corruption and Russian meddling. In both areas, Mr Saakashvili has
scored some successes. Russia has dropped its preposterous conditions for
leaving its remaining military bases in Georgia (its Black Sea fleet is
still based in Ukraine's Crimea), agreeing to be out by 2008, a reversal of
policy that Mr Saakashvili attributes partly to American pressure. But in
other respects, the Russians are irking Mr Saakashvili more than they are
Mr Yushchenko. A porn film, depicting a supposed mile-high tryst between Mr
Saakashvili and Yulia Timoshenko, Ukraine's prime minister, captures a
prevalent Moscow attitude to its disloyal former vassals.

Mr Yushchenko has only to contend with the enduring suspicion of Russophone
eastern Ukraine. Mr Saakashvili faces Russian sponsorship of Abkhazia and
South Ossetia, two breakaway Georgian enclaves. The Georgians believe that
Russians were involved in a bombing in Gori in February: Mr Saakashvili
says he hopes it wasn't the federal government. Both Georgia and Ukraine
are vulnerable to capricious spikes in Russian gas prices; both want to
diversify energy supplies.

On corruption a big issue in both revolutions Mr Yushchenko has muddied
his reputation by angrily rebuffing questions over his son's mysteriously
extravagant lifestyle. But he has also emulated Mr Saakashvili's
anti-corruption strategy of wholesale sacking and prosecutions, even if
critics say some punishments look like vendettas. In Georgia, the strategy
seems to be working: tax revenues are up as businesses come out of the
shadows, and graft-facilitating red tape has been cut. Mr Saakashvili is
dispatching Kakha Bendukidze, his principal tape-cutter, to help do a
similar job in Ukraine.

Another problem that Mr Saakashvili can advise on is the post-revolutionary
let-down. He says he is over the "expectation crisis" of earlier this year,
and has delivered such concrete improvements as better roads, more
trustworthy police, education reform and more reliable power. But his
critics say he has focused too little on the tough business of the economy
and too much on symbolic triumphs and stunts, such as his Ajaria adventure
(see article), Russian bases and the idea of a new block of democracies
that he and Mr Yushchenko proposed last week.

This concern for public relations is an aspect of what some say is his
biggest failing: his tendency to behave like a revolutionary, trusting only
a few loyalists, disliking criticism and valuing ends above means, as in
some of the questionable methods used in his early anti-corruption push.
Zurab Zhvania, his prime minister, was said to be a restraining influence
on the president's impetuosity. But he died in February. Mr Saakashvili has
bolstered the presidency's powers; his party has a huge parliamentary
majority; and he has no serious rivals. The biggest protests against his
government came after two popular wrestlers were jailed for extortion. The
president says that the country's critical media compensate for the
opposition's weakness; some complain that they are tame.

By contrast, the cerebral Mr Yushchenko may be too unrevolutionary. Even
during the revolution he was hardly rabble-rousing, and he has not been
able to discipline his government into coherent policy-making. He is due to
give many of the president's powers away in a constitutional reform a
mistake, says Mr Saakashvili: he "should at least keep what he has." If
they could borrow each other's personalities for a while, they might both
do better. Time for a presidential job swap? -30-
=============================================================
10. RACING TOWARDS THE WTO

OPINION: by Nikolay Vardul’, Editor of Economic Politics
Kommersant, Moscow, Russia, Monday, Aug 22, 2005

The Kiev’s decision to leave so-calling Unified Economic Space is a signal
about the end of the lesson in post-Soviet economic geography. The UES
was created to bring closer economically the to each other leaders of two
groups within the CIS – Russia with Eurasian Economical Confederation
and Ukraine with GUAM.

It is time for changes. And these changes most likely will go beyond the
post-Soviet geography. The exit of Ukraine from the UES also means that it
is racing toward the World Trade Organization. The logic here is simple –
the U.S. and the European Union are main guards at the WTO gates.

Both of them have some issues with Russia concerning the Moscow’s race to
the WTO. These problems have political and as well as economical nature.
And Washington together with Brussels wouldn’t lose the chance to tease
Kremlin by letting Ukraine to join the organization first.

Also, the exit from UES is also can be considered as Kiev’s strike to the
Russian policy in the region, which would be approved by the U.S. and EU.
There is another side to it too. If Kiev would win the race to Geneva, where
WTO headquarters located, then Moscow would have to get Ukraine’s
approval for its trade policy before becoming the WTO’s member itself.

And in that case, Kiev might remind Moscow about the gas, pipelines and
other stuff that gave Ukraine some headaches. Formally, all full-fledged
members of the trade organization have to put an approval stamp to let a
candidate through the gates.

However, it is no point to dramatize the situation. As of right now, the
main goal for Russian negotiators is to defend their positions in the talks
with the USA. It doesn’t really matter if Georgia, which is already a
member, or Ukraine, which is still trying to become one, would try to
prevent Russia from joining the WTO. In this organization there are first
among the other “equal” members. And these first members, like the U.S.,
for instance, might tease Russia, but doubtfully would not let it in.

The WTO itself right now badly needs success. The organization is going
through the time of crisis. In 2001 the so-called Doha’s round of
negotiation has started. The subject is to lower subsidies for agricultural
exports from developed countries. This step should support internal
producers in developing countries. So far, the negotiations have came to
the grounding halt.

Even the holding of Hong Kong’s Conference of Ministers (the highest organ
of WTO) in December 2005 is under the question. In these conditions, it is
in WTO interest to bring on board Russia – the only largest country outside
of the realm of the organization.

By the way, the acceptance of new members is done on the Conference of
Ministers. And if the Hong Kong meeting would be canceled, two years from
now (that is how often the conference is called) Russia and Ukraine might
come to finish of their race together. -30-
=============================================================
11. USAID READY TO HELP UKRAINE REFORM ITS JUDICIAL SYSTEM

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

KYIV - The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is ready to
render assistance to Ukraine in judicial reforms and creation of a register
of court decisions. Press service of the Justice Ministry informed Ukrainian
News about this statement made by USAID Deputy Mission Director Karen
Hilliard at a meeting with Justice Minister Roman Zvarych.

According to the report, USAID is also ready to help study experience of
other countries in the area of court organization, judicial proceedings,
criminal and procedures legislation, status of judges, hiring foreign
specialists for consultative support and creation of working groups to
handle complicated and pass substantiated decisions.

At the meeting Zvarych confirmed that his ministry sees the necessity to
preserve the Civil Code and incorporate some Business Code provisions
in it, after which the Business Code should lose its effect.

Zvarych has invited representatives of USAID and the Center for Commercial
Law, which was founded thanks to support of USAID, to become members of
the Justice Ministry's working group to be headed by Deputy Justice Minister
Leonid Yefymenko.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Zvarych is calling for abolition of the
Business Code and inclusion of its main provisions in the active Civil Code.

In May, President Viktor Yuschenko appointed a commission to handle issues
of judicial system reform and appointed Secretary of the National Security
and Defense Council Petro Poroshenko to chair it. -30-
=============================================================
12. CABINET CANCELS 69 ENTREPRENEURSHIP REGULATORY ACTS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

KYIV - The Cabinet of Ministers has cancelled its 69 resolutions in the area
of regulation of activity of entrepreneurs. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko
made the statement at a press conference, commenting on the decision
passed at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on August 17.

"Yesterday the government made its first step: 69 acts of government; at
that the acts that kept the most corruptive millstone on the neck of
entrepreneurs were annulled in full," she said. According to the prime
minister, at its next meeting the Cabinet of Ministers plans to cancel 119
entrepreneurship regulatory documents more.

Tymoshenko said that in general she is pleased with the pace of work of the
authority on revision of regulatory acts and voiced hope that by September
1, according to President Viktor Yuschenko's commission, all regulatory acts
of central and local authorities hampering the work of enterprises will be
cancelled.

As Ukrainian News reported earlier, the Cabinet of Ministers, ministries and
regional state administrations plan to cancel 2,249 acts regulating
entrepreneurial activity by September 1.

Speaking at July 9 congress of the Our Ukraine People's Union party,
Yuschenko has promised that the new regulatory policy will be presented
and that 1,300 acts with which the ministries and agencies regulate business
will be nullified by September 1.

Presidential decree No.901/2005 of July 1 entitled "On Certain Measures on
Implementation of the Government's Regulatory Policy" directed the Cabinet
of Ministers to systematize and harmonize regulatory acts and significantly
reduce their number by September 1. -30-
=============================================================
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=============================================================
13. YUSHCHENKO TO ATTEND FESTIVITIES MARKING UN'S 60TH
ANNIVERSARY IN NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 13-17

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko is going to pay a visit to the United
States between September 13 and 17 to attend festivities marking the
60th anniversary of the United Nations Organization.

Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk made this statement to the press,
answering the question of Ukrainian News.

He said there is a tight schedule for Yuschenko's stay in New York and it
includes meetings with the heads of states and governments whose
delegations will attend festivities.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko was on an official visit to
the US April 3 through 7, during which he addressed the US Congress with
the request to support Ukraine's entry to the World Trade Organization in
2005, grant Ukraine a market economy status by September, repeal the
Jackson-Vanik Amendment, and assist in European integration. -30-
=============================================================
14. CHERNOBYL "DEAD ZONE" COULD BE REDUCED IN SIZE

New Europe, Athens, Greece, Monday, August 22, 2005

Ukraine's government is considering reducing the size of the 30-kilometre
"Dead Zone" around the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear power station,
Segodnya newspaper reported last Tuesday, cited by Deutsche Presse-
Agentur (dpa).

A reactor at the plant exploded in April 1986 in the world's worst nuclear
power accident. Since then, an area around the site some 2,600 square
kilometres large has been closed to human inhabitation, due to radiation.

Ukraine's State Committee for Nuclear Regulation (UCNC), the agency
responsible for monitoring and administering the closed region, has begun
a study on whether the area should be cut by more than two thirds, leaving a
10-kilometre exclusion zone.

"The radiation (in the zone) is degrading much more quickly than predicted,"
said Elena Mykolaichiuk, a UCNC spokeswoman. "It is possible that some
areas could be opened to agriculture...and even human inhabitation."

No decision has been made, and an official change in the size of the
exclusion zone would be possible only after review of the proposal by the
government, she added.

The study came two months after scientists working in the zone discovered
radioactive elements present in the area, primarily isotopes of Strontium,
were becoming inert almost twice as fast as expected rates for their
200-year half-lives.

Analysis showed that erosion and rain was concentrating radioactive dust
and dirt in lower ground, leaving areas higher up practically free from
radioactivity.

The process has reduced the area within the zone considered contaminated
by radiation by nearly 20 percent in the 19 years since the accident.
Original estimates expected a reduction of only nine to 10 percent over that
period.

Due to the absence of hunters and a swampy terrain, the Dead Zone has
developed one of the largest wildlife populations in Europe. -30-
=============================================================
15. SOFTLINE TO MERGE WEBSITES OF UKRAINIAN DIPLOMATIC
MISSIONS AND CONSULATES

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, August 18, 2005

KYIV - Softline, a Kyiv-based software manufacturer, intends to merge the
websites of Ukrainian diplomatic missions and consulates abroad. The
press service of Softline disclosed this to Ukrainian News.

"Although they will be merged conceptually, the websites of the diplomatic
missions will have their own individual designs, styles, and contents that
will meet the requirements of the positioning of our country," the press
service said.

The company also says that it plans to merge 95 websites. The merger of
the websites will be based on the principle of the sub-portals of data
center of the Foreign Affairs Ministry "image" portal
(http://ukraineinfo.gov.ua).

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Softline has upgraded the website of
the Ministry of Internal Affairs (http://www.mfa.gov.ua).

Founded in 1995, Softline is a business automation software designer and
systems integrator. The SigmaBleyzer international investment company
[through its private equity Ukrainian Growth Funds] controls Softline.
=============================================================
16. SPEAKER LYTVYN MEETS WITH PRESIDENT OF WORLD
CONGRESS OF UKRAINIANS ASKOLD LOZYNSKYJ

Oksana Torop, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

KYIV - On Friday, August 19 Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn
held an official meeting with Askold S. Lozynskyj, President of the World
Congress of Ukrainians.

The meeting dealt with Ukraine's democratic development and ways to
consolidate the Ukrainian society.

In this connection Volodymyr Lytvyn underscored the importance of the
spiritual component in societal relations.

In turn, Askold Lozynskyj informed the host side about the Congress's
memorandum, which is being polished for sending to the President of
Ukraine and which contains some proposals, primarily with regard to
recognition of the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and the
Ukrainian Rebel Army.

In both parties' opinion, this must be a single governmental document,
rather than several papers.

As Mr Lytvyn stressed, common perception of this problem may be
objective only if the Ukrainian society is broadly informed about history
realities.

During the meeting Mr Lozynskyj underscored the need for forming
additional polling stations abroad for Ukrainian citizens there and the
Ukrainian State's greater effort to protect the rights of Ukrainian
nationals abroad.

The parties to the meeting made some critical utterances about the Law on
Ukrainians abroad. According to Askold S. Lozynskyj, shortly the World
Congress will formulate its proposals toward amending the Law. -30-
=============================================================
17. LYTVYN CALLING ON UKRAINE'S CABINET OF MINISTERS TO
DRAFT LAW REGULATING STATUS OF OUN AND UPA WWII FIGHTERS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn is calling on the Cabinet of Ministers
to draft a law that would regulate the status of the fighters of the
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent
Army (UPA).

Lytvyn's spokesman Ihor Lytvyn announced this after a meeting between Lytvyn
and the World Congress of Ukrainians' President Askold Lozynskyi. Lytvyn and
Lozynskyi discussed major trends in the public and political development of
Ukraine. 'Today, it is necessary to pay attention to the spiritual component
of our life,' Lytvyn said.

Lozynskyi said that the World Congress of Ukrainians has drafted a
memorandum for submission to President Viktor Yuschenko. According to
Lozynskyi, one of the main provisions of the memorandum is a call on him
to make a decision on recognition of the fighters of the OUN and UPA as
participants in the Second World War.

On his part, Lytvyn noted that the problem regarding the status of OUN and
UPA fighters is a moral/political problem and that it should not be limited
to provision of the necessary privileges. According to him, all other
aspects are derivatives.

Lytvyn believes that it is necessary for the Cabinet to prepare a single
draft law instead of all the draft laws that already exist and those that
are awaiting registration and submit it to the parliament for consideration.
According to Lytvyn, consideration and adoption of such a document could
be used to demonstrate the existence of a pro-government coalition in the
parliament.

Lytvyn and Lozynskyi also discussed the status of the Ukrainian language.
According to Lytvyn, the Ukrainian language is the state language and it is
necessary to create conditions for development of the languages of ethnic
minorities in Ukraine. However, according to him, the issue of recognition
of any other language apart from the Ukrainian language as a national
language is not on the agenda.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko directed Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko in May to take measures to restart the operation of the
government commission studying the activities of OUN and UPA.

In late May, the Ukrainian People's Party started collecting signatures in
support of its call for recognizing fighters of the UPA as participants in
the Second World War. The party said it planned to collect 1 million
signatures of in the Lviv region and 2 million throughout Ukraine.
=============================================================
18. IV WORLD FORUM OF UKRAINIANS TO TAKE PLACE IN KYIV
NOVEMBER 20-21, 2005
World Congress of Ukrainians, Kharkiv, August 16-19, 2005

Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, August 19, 2005

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk met with representatives of
Ukrainian communities abroad on Friday, the press service of the Foreign
Affairs Ministry has announced.

The representatives are in Ukraine to attend the annual meeting of the World
Congress of Ukrainians that took place in Kharkiv from August 16 to 19.

Mr. Tarasyuk informed the representatives about the political and economic
situation in Ukraine following the Orange Revolution and the steps of
President Viktor Yuschenko and the government aimed at stepping up
cooperation with members of the Ukrainian diaspora.

He stressed, among other things, Mr. Yuschenko's support for the Foreign
Affairs Ministry's initiative on transferring the coordination of this work
to the Foreign Affairs Ministry and creating a new department for the
affairs of foreign-based Ukrainians with the ministry for this purpose. He
informed the representatives about the main functions of this new department
and presented its head, Oleksandr Novoselov.

Mr. Tarasyuk also announced the President Yuschenko has made a decision
on holding the IV World Forum of Ukrainians in Kyiv from November 20 to 21.

Mr. Tarasyuk stressed the need for proper consular and cultural support for
Ukrainian communities abroad. In this context, he informed the
representatives about the measures that the government is taking to create
a network of Ukrainian cultural and information centers abroad as well as to
protect Ukrainian citizens abroad.

He informed them that a center for assisting Ukrainian citizens abroad has
been opened in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Mr. Tarasyuk and the
representatives also exchanged views on ways of improving government
policy with regard to foreign-based Ukrainians and solving the existing
problems.

He thanked Ukrainians abroad for facilitating the revival of Ukraine and
actively support democratic forces during the presidential elections and the
Orange Revolution of 2004. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring]
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19. HOLLYWOOD STAR MILA JOVOVICH ANNOUNCES ESTABLISHMENT
OF CHARITABLE FUND FOR AIDING UKRAINIAN CHILDREN

Ihor Solovei, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, Aug 20, 2005

KYIV - On Saturday, August 20 Hollywood star Mila Jovovich of Ukrainian
extraction announced the establishment of a charitable fund for aiding
Ukrainian children, in conjunction with the Ukrainian Export-Import Bank.
According to the movie star, she has donated 80,000 USD to the ARTEK
juvenile international recreational center in Crimea.

Though Mila Jovovich was invited to the Eurovision, she opted for visiting
the ARTEK. As she said, caring for kids is not the Hollywood's vogue, rather
this is necessity as the world without children has no future.

Commenting on her visit to the ARTEK, Mila Jovovich said she had gone into
raptures and joined the singers together with her mother Galina Loginova
during the Artek Is Yes performance. Replying to the journalists' question
about what helps her look so beautiful and young, Mila Jovovich noted that
all Ukrainian women are beautiful. -30- [Action Ukraine Report]
=============================================================
20. HISTORY TEXTBOOKS DIVIDE, TROUBLE PAST SOVIET-STATES
In Ukraine history textbooks treat almost every
issue from an anti-Russian position.

Window on Eurasia: By Paul Goble
UPI, Tartu, Estonia, Fri, August 19, 2005

Tartu, August 19 - Many Russians are angered by the negative
image of their country offered in the history textbooks several former
Soviet republics have now introduced in their schools, but they are also
troubled by problems with Russian history textbooks now being used in
their own country.

Russian commentators have long complained about the ways in
which textbooks now employed in the Baltic states and the former Soviet
bloc countries describe Russia and the Soviet Union. But as schools are
about to open this fall, more of them appear to be especially angry about
the content of new textbooks in Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.

In an article appearing this week in "Novyye Izvestiya,"
Mikhail Pozdnyaev writes that changes in textbooks in these three countries
which in recent months have re-oriented themselves relative to the Russian
Federation and the West confirm the age-old truth that "history is written
by the victors" (http://www.newizv.ru/print/29888).

In Ukraine, he notes, history textbooks treat almost every
issue from an anti-Russian position. The inclusion of Crimea in Ukraine in
1954, he says, is described by these texts as an effort by Moscow to put
moral responsibility on Ukraine for the deportation of the Crimean Tatars
and to force Kyiv to take responsibility for the recovery of that region.

The famine of 1932-33, Pozdnyaev continues, is described in
these textbooks as a plan by Moscow "to crush the desire of Ukrainians for
independence." And these books present Viktor Yushchenko's triumph last
year as "a victory for the entire Ukrainian people which wants to live a
wealthy and happy life."

The situation in Georgia is not terribly different, the
"Novyye Izvestiya" author writes. There Russia's approach to Georgia is
denounced as invariably imperialistic: Russia, one Georgian text asserts,
"does not need a unified and strong Georgia." And another says that
Moscow has intentionally resettled representatives of other nationalities
on Georgian territory.

With regard to the recent past, the Georgian texts are even
more explicitly negative, Pozdnyaev says. The entire Soviet period in
Georgian history, they say, "was marked by bloody terror and repressions.
[And] the hidden war against Georgia continues even now. Its goals are to
stop the movement of Georgia toward freedom and democracy."

And in Moldova, the textbooks play up the positive qualities
of the Romanian nation with which Moldovans are closely linked and portray
Russia throughout history as "a monster, a country of outcasts and
occupiers." Moreover, one textbook says that Moldovans in Transdniestria
"do not have any social problems except oppression by the Russians."

Not surprisingly, many Russians feel that these textbooks
distort their history and are being used to train a new generation in these
countries to dislike or even despise them and their country. But more
intriguingly, at least some Russians are equally worried about the history
textbook situation in their own homeland.

Problems with Russian history textbooks became the center of
attention recently when officials intervened to strip one textbook of its
official certification when senior officials learned that it asked students
to defend or criticize Yabloko leader Grigoriy Yavlinskiy's observation
that "in 2001, a police state was formed in Russia."

Many teachers were appalled by what they saw as the
politicization of the curriculum or even the reimposition of a single
official view, a fear that was only exacerbated when President Vladimir
Putin weighed in with the observation that textbooks should be so written
as to "develop in young people a feeling of pride about their history and
their country."

Since 1991, teachers have been relatively free to select the
textbooks they want to use, Pozdnyaev reports, but they have generally
used only those with official approval in order to avoid taking personal
responsibility. Now, the authorities have reduced the number of history
texts receiving such approval, thereby limiting still further discussion of
controversial issues.

At present, however, the textbooks available for use in Russian
schools still offer a variety of positions on most issues. But in many
cases, they offend readers by passing over all too briefly key events in
the country's past or avoiding any discussion of the most contentious
issues and personalities -- even as they devote enormous attention to the
current ruler.

In all these ways, Russian history textbooks recapitulate many
of the problems governments there have had in the past - including how to
instill patriotic feelings among young people fated to live in a country
where their national past often has proved even less predictable than its
future. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
21. GEORGIAN LEADER DANCES AT ARTEK YOUTH CAMP IN
CRIMEA FREE OF "SOVIET NONSENSE AND RUBBISH"

Rustavi-2 TV, Tbilisi, in Georgian 1300 gmt 19 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, August 19, 2005

[Presenter] The leaders of Georgia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine
discussed the [Borjomi] declaration in Crimea where they have been taking
part in events marking the 80th anniversary of [Soviet-era youth camp]
Artek.

Mikheil Saakashvili, Valdas Adamkus, Aleksander Kwasniewski and Viktor
Yushchenko spent [yesterday] evening together at the camp. First they
visited the Artek school and sports complex and then dined with the
children. Later the four presidents attended a concert featuring Ukrainian
pop star Ruslana who asked Mikheil Saakashvili to the stage.

The four leaders danced a Ukrainian dance with the children.

[Saakashvili] I have changed, this place has changed [since Saakashvili's
holiday at Artek over two decades ago], but the spirit of young people
willing to be together, free of Soviet nonsense and rubbish, indeed is very
important.

What we have done in Georgia this year, where 15,000 young people have
attended youth camps, is, partly, what I learned at Artek. I say partly
because [the Soviet] regime was a bad regime and [the USSR] was a bad
country with a bad ideology. Nevertheless, being here was a pleasure.
[Video shows Saakashvili dining and dancing with children at Artek] -30-
=============================================================
22. POLISH FOREIGN MINISTER ADAM DANIEL ROTFELD VISITS LVIV
TO PAY TRIBUTE OF HOMAGE TO UKRAINIAN GRECO-CATHOLIC
CHURCH SPIRITUAL LEADERS WHO SAVED HIS LIFE

Ihor Bachun, Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, August 19, 2005

KYIV - Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs Adam Daniel Rotfeld visited Lviv
to pay the tribute of homage to the Ukrainian Greco-Catholic Church's
spiritual leaders.

His trip's particular objective was the St Dormition Laura. When he was
three he was saved from the Nazi invaders by the Laura's monks, who
reared him for six years until his parents found him in 1947.

As the Polish Minister commented on the years, spent with the monks,
there were many Ukrainian, Polish and Jewish kids among the Laura's
juvenile inmates.

All of them were saved largely thanks to Metropolitan Andriy Sheptytskyi.
Adam Rotfeld also laid flowers at the Monument to Polish soldiers at the
Lychakivske Cemetery in Lviv.

In the evening the Polish Foreign Minister was supposed to hold a meeting
with activists of Lviv City's Polish organisations. -30-
=============================================================
23. UKRAINIAN GREEK-CATHOLIC CARDINAL SEEKS DIALOGUE
WITH PRO-MOSCOW CHURCH, MOVE'S OFFICE FROM LVIV TO KYIV

TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, in Ukrainian 1700 gmt 21 Aug 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sat, August 21, 2005

KIEV - The leader of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, Cardinal
Lyubomyr Huzar, has said that with his move to Kiev from western Ukraine
he hopes to have better opportunities to facilitate the process of
reconciliation between different religious groups in Ukraine and to meet
with the head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate,
Volodymyr.

Huzar today held his first service in Kiev amid angry protests by radical
political forces and Moscow Patriarchate faithful. The following is an
excerpt from a report by Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal on 21 August:

[Presenter] On 20 August 2005 the head of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic
Church [UGCC], Cardinal Lyubomyr Huzar, who also has the title of
Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia, announced that his church will move its
centre from Lviv to Kiev. [Passage omitted: more of presenter's
introduction]

[Correspondent] The modern Ukraine has not had any serious religious
conflicts in a while. After the notorious burial of Patriarch Volodymyr
Romanyuk [Kiev Patriarchate leader who was not allowed to be buried at the
St Sofia Cathedral of the Moscow Patriarchate], all the disputes involved
only ownership rights for church buildings and criticism of the church for
involvement in politics.

Today the faithful got a new reason to be concerned. The move of the
UGCC to Kiev is not simply the moving of the cardinal's residence. It means
construction of the main cathedral of the Greek-Catholic Church right across
from the Pechersk Lavra [main Orthodox temple], and most importantly, on
the left bank of the Dnieper river, territory that has historically been
Orthodox only.

Each of the aforementioned factors by itself is not to the liking of the
Moscow Patriarchate or pro-Russian politicians. Combined, they united
absolutely different groups of people - the Bratstvo [radical party] of
Dmytro Korchynskyy, the Progressive Socialists of Nataliya Vitrenko,
activists of the Derzhava party led by Hennadiy Vasylyev and Orthodox
believers of Volodymyr Sabodan [head of pro-Moscow church].

[Protesters chanting] Uniates out! Uniates out! Uniates out!

[Correspondent] The picketers were waiting for the arrival of Cardinal
Huzar. Bratstvo activists blocked all the roads to the unfinished cathedral
and got ready to throw eggs, demonstrating their protest this way. The
service began at the scheduled time, and it was led by Huzar, who arrived
ahead of time and waited for the ceremony in a small chapel. Police
prevented the three hundred protesters from getting to the cathedral. All
they could do was to begin their rally and to vent their frustration in
arguments with passers-by.

[Man, addressing picketers in Russian] Why are you chanting "Bandera
[Ukrainian nationalist leader] out"? Moskals [derogatory term for Russians]
out! Bandera out?

[Correspondent] The noise from the rally did not disrupt the religious
service. Several thousand believers, who have been waiting for this day for
many years, listened to Huzar. They were especially pleased to see
autocephalous and Kiev Patriarchate Orthodox priests standing together
with them.

[Father Yevstratiy, press secretary of Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Kiev
Patriarchate] We consider this an internal matter of the Greek-Catholic
Church. If they have made this decision, they have this right. Our church
hopes that the Greek-Catholic church will respect the fact that most
believers in Ukraine are Orthodox, and that the UGCC will not engage in
proselytization, a practice which has been condemned by all the Christian
faiths, which means it will not convert Orthodox Christians to the
Greek-Catholic faith.

[Correspondent] Both events ended simultaneously. The Greek-Catholics
left the territory of the church, and belligerent Orthodox faithful vacated
the square in front of it. Their actions did not bring any trouble, and did
not prevent the blessing of the cathedral either. They promised to continue
their fight and said they will announce an all-Ukrainian mobilization of the
Orthodox church if needed.

[Woman, in Russian] He should go his Galicia and bless his Galicians there.
There is no place for him here in the Kievan Rus. The Kievan Rus has always
been Rus, and it will remain Orthodox.

[Man] If we are moving towards Europe, I find it simply unpleasant to hear
this uproar. These people have not made a single step towards Europe.

[Correspondent] The head of the UGCC himself intends to facilitate the
easing of tension. The cardinal said that today's events were emotional and
will be forgotten fast. He is convinced that his move to Kiev will only help
find understanding between different churches.

[Huzar] I hope that here I will have more opportunities. I have to admit
that for four or even five years I have not had a chance to meet
Metropolitan Volodymyr personally in a quiet atmosphere, exchange
opinions with him and explain our viewpoints. We are not enemies.

[The leader of the Derzhava party, former Ukrainian Prosecutor-General
Hennadiy Vasylyev, has called Greek Catholics "aggressors" and said his
party must "make them abandon their plans", the Interfax-Ukraine news
agency reported at 1034 gmt on 21 August 05.] -30-
=============================================================
24. PRES YUSHCHENKO GUARANTEES CREATION OF EFFECTIVE
UKRAINIAN STATE PROGRAM TO PROTECT ORPHAN CHILDREN

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sat, August 20, 2005

KYIV - President Viktor Yuschenko guarantees the creation of an effective
state program to protect orphan children. The presidential press service
disclosed this in a statement, citing his declaration in Vorokhta in the
Ivano-Frankivsk region. "At stake are tens of thousand of children who are
deprived of paternal care," the press service quotes Yuschenko's words.

It noted that the new government program should provide comprehensive
guarantees to orphan children until they attain the age of 18 years.
Yuschenko also said that he is going to approach social organizations that
are able to create a family-type home, and he would also turn to people that
want to take an orphan into the family.

Besides, Yuschenko noted that after orphans attain the age of 18 years, the
state should take upon itself the commitment to provide them with education,
housing facilities and jobs.

In his words, the state plans to make a request to enterprises and business
organizations to aide the employment of graduates of boarding schools and
orphan homes.

Yuschenko also disclosed that implementation of the program of construction
of social housing facilities will begin from the autumn, and this will
afford graduates of boarding schools the opportunity to be admitted to
hostels, and upon the creation of a family to receive separate housing
facility.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, having signed the corresponding decree
in July, Yuschenko instructed the Council of Ministers of the Crimea, as
well as the state administrations of Kyiv, Sevastopol and the regions to
improve care for orphan children and children that are deprived of the
guardianship of their parents. Yuschenko left the Crimea on August 19 for
the Ivano-Frankivsk region to visit a camp for orphan children in Vorokhta.
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