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Action Ukraine Report
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR
An International Newsletter, The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis and Commentary
LIFE IS SHORT: RIDE YOUR BEST HORSE FIRST

Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR - Number 871
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor, SigmaBleyzer
WASHINGTON, D.C., WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2007
INDEX OF ARTICLES ------
Clicking on the title of any article takes you directly to the article.
Return to Index by clicking on Return to Index at the end of each article

1. UKRAINE'S CHANCE
LEAD EDITORIAL: Financial Times
London, UK, Tuesday, September 24, 2007
2. ALLEGED ELECTION FRAUD IN UKRAINE
Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, Sep 24 2007

3. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES PRIME MINISTER OF
PLOTTING TO RIG PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
Ukrayinska Pravda website, Kiev, in Ukrainian 25 Sep 07
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 25 Sep 07
BBCC Monitoring Service, United Kingdom, Tue, Sep 25, 2007

4. UKRAINE: ROCKY ROAD TO DEMOCRACY AFTER YEARS OF
RECRIMINATIONS BETWEEN MAIN PARTIES
Luke Harding, Ostroh, Ukraine, The Guardian
London, United Kingdom, Monday, Sep 24, 2007

5. FIVE U.S. CITIZENS RECEIVE THEIR PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS
IN NEW YORK FROM UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTER YATSENYUK
Vasyl Losten, Antonij Shcherba, Morgan Williams, Oksana Lykhovyd
and Virlyana Tkach for their dedicated service to Ukraine
Action Ukraine Monitoring Service, New York, NY, Wed, Sep 26, 2007

6. UKRAINE COMMITTED TO EU INTEGRATION REGARDLESS OF
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS, FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS
INTERVIEW: With Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Foreign Minister, Ukraine
AP Worldstream, New York, NY, Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007

7. LETTER TO A FRIEND, PARTY OF REGIONS ELECTION PAMPHLET
Electoral Pamphlet from the Party of Regions
Sent by Taras Kuzio & Translated by Lisa Koriouchkina for UKL
The Ukraine List (UKL) #420, Compiled by Dominique Arel
Chair of Ukrainian Studies, Univ of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON, Canada, 24 September 2007
UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

10. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO GAMBLES
ON UKRAINIAN VOTERS TO REVIVE HIS REVOLUTION
By Sebastian Alison, Bloomberg News
Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, Wednesday, September 26, 2007
11. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO'S INTERVIEW WITH EURONEWS
Press Office of the President of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, September 22, 2007

12. LANDKOM CROP PRODUCTION COMPANY ON FERTILE GROUND
Large scale farming in Ukraine, 50,000 hectares by end of 2007
By Toby Shelley, Financial Times, London, UK, Monday, Sep 24 2007

13. POLISH ALUMINUM COMPANY KETY OPENS PLANT IN UKRAINE
Polish News Bulletin, Warsaw, Poland, Tue, Sep 25, 2007

14. ALFA LAVAL'S STRONG DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE CONTINUES
WINS ORDER FOR THE GROWING BREWERY INDUSTRY
Business Wire, Sweden, Monday, Sep 24, 2007

15. EAST EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS FUEL RETURN OF SERVANT CLASS
Top sources for servants: Philippines, Ukraine, Latvia, Malaysia and Zimbabwe.
By Roger Dobson, Independent, London, UK, Sunday, 23 Sep 2007

16. INTERNATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF UKRAINIAN BANKS GROWS
Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sep 21, 2007

17. UKRAINE FINANCE: BANKING SECTOR RISK
NEWS ANALYSIS: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited
New York, NY, Thursday, September 20, 2007

18. BUSINESS AND PLEASURE IN UKRAINE
By Ben West, Financial Times, London, UK, Saturday Sep 22 2007.

19. CHORNOBYL NPP, HOLTEC INT SIGN CONTRACT TO BUILD
$200 MILLION SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE FACILITY
Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007

20. UKRAINE SIGNS TWO HUGE CONTRACTS, ONE FOR SAFE
CONFINEMENT SARCOPHAGUS, ONE FOR STORAGE OF SPENT
NUCLEAR FUEL AT CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
French company Novarka and U.S. company Holtec International
Press Office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007
21. UKRAINE'S FUEL AND ENERGY MINISTER AND US ENERGY
SECRETARY DISCUSS COOPERATION IN ENERGY SECTOR
Interfax Ukraine Economic, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 18, 2007
FACILITY WILL ECONOMIZE USD 10 BILLION IN TEN YEARS
Boiko Meets with U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman in Vienna
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007
24. MRS T MEETS MRS T FOR A NICE CUP OF TEA
Jenny Booth & Agencies, Times Online, London, UK, Fri, Sep 21, 2007
25. MARGARET THATCHER MEETS YULIA TYMOSHENKO
By Ben Martin, Telegraph, London, UK, Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
26. THATCHER BLESSES UKRAINE IRON LADY
By Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times
London, United Kingdom, Sunday, September 23, 2007
By Gene M. Burd, Marks Sokolov & Burd, LLC
Philadelphia, PA, Monday, September 24, 2007
28. UKRAINIAN MINDED BOOKS
"Why did He Annihilate Us?/Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor"
By Nadiya Tysiachna, Iryna Yehorova, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, September 18, 2007
29. HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 IN UKRAINE: DOCUMENTS. MATERIALS
"This book is the quintessence of what we know about the Holodomor"
By Ihor Siundiukov, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 4, 2007
30. IN THE MERCILESS LIGHT OF MEMORY
Security Service of Ukraine holds roundtable on declassified archival
materials about the Holodomor and political repressions in Ukraine
By Ihor Siundiukiv, The Day Weekly Digest,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 4, 2007
========================================================
1. UKRAINE'S CHANCE

LEAD EDITORIAL: Financial Times
London, UK, Tuesday, September 24, 2007

Ukrainian voters are understandably less than thrilled by the choice offered
in next Sunday's parliamentary elections.

In the three years since the 2004 Orange revolution, they have seen their
leaders quarrel, swap corruption charges and generally fail to establish a
stable government.

If the opinion polls are right, the election will not make a decisive
change: President Viktor Yushchenko, prime minister Viktor Yanukovich and
opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko will remain in charge of the three
biggest political blocs, with none having a majority. The only answer will
be more bickering and more bargaining.

Moreover, the country's business oligarchs wield more power than they did
under the authoritarian former president Leonid Kuchma.

Rinat Akhmetov, the richest, has an estimated fortune of $15bn-plus. That
puts him behind Roman Abramovich, Russia's wealthiest man, who has about
$19bn. But Russia's economy is five times larger than Ukraine's.

No businessman in the world has as much domestic economic clout as Mr
Akhmetov. Even if he abjured politics, he would inevitably have big
political influence. In fact, Mr Akhmetov is an MP and active backer of Mr
Yanukovich's Regions party.

With so much power in one man's hands, it will be hard for Ukraine to
develop a healthy democracy. Little wonder, voters are disillusioned.

Yet, Ukraine's political life is in far better shape than seemed possible
before the Orange revolution. The elections will doubtless be hit by
localised claims of ballot-rigging, but the days of nationwide fraud are
gone; the media are largely free; and there is real political competition
among the parties.

The economy is distorted by gross inequality but it is growing at its
fastest-ever pace. Ordinary Ukrainians may still not have much, but they
have more than at any time since independence.

Russia is backing pro-Russia politicians in the polls, but its efforts are,
fortunately, a far cry from its central role in Mr Yanukovich's scandal-hit
2004 campaign.

Meanwhile, the west has dropped its wholesale enthusiasm for Mr Yushchenko
for more measured support for politicians backing European Union-oriented
policies. Ukrainians will vote on Sunday mostly free of direct foreign
influence.

Voters must put pressure on party leaders to ensure the country pursues EU
membership with as much determination as possible. The country's leaders
must implement accession-linked policies - and seek support from businessmen
at a politically acceptable price.
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2. ALLEGED ELECTION FRAUD IN UKRAINE

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA), Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, September 24 2007

KIEV - Officials from Ukraine's national intelligence agency the SBU accused
a provincial election council of registering close to 100 000 non-existent
persons on voter rolls, Korrespondent magazine reported Monday.

The alleged election fraud attempt took place in the eastern Kharkiv region,
said SBU spokesperson Andrij Mukhtaev, citing the results of a secret
investigation conducted by the spy agency. Ukraine is set for a September 30
national election to select a new parliament.

Most (94 000) of the discrepancies found in the SBU investigation were
duplications in two different voter rolls of a single
legitimately-registered voter, Mukhtaev said.

Oleksander Krivtsov, a Kharkiv province election official, conceded voter
rolls "are still being finalised" in the run-up to the Sunday election, but
argued the SBU - Ukraine's version of the KGB - had no right to enforce
election fraud law.

The voter roll errors were honest mistakes and regional election commission
would make sure the mistakes were corrected, Krivtsov said.

Many voter roll errors discovered by the SBU investigation are linked to
typographical errors stemming from spelling differences, as Kharkiv is a
Russian-speaking province but Ukrainian voter rolls must be in Ukrainian, a
language not so well understood in Kharkiv, he said.

The accusations and counter-accusations were typical of the tense run-up to
the vote, which will determine whether Ukraine's government will become more
pro-Europe and free market-oriented, or remain on its current pro-Russia and
big business-oriented track.

The election is a three-way battle between the ruling pro-business Regions
party, the anti-corruption Tymoshenko party, and the nationalist Our Ukraine
party. Currently, Regions is leading in polls with the Tymoshenko party
second and closing.

Leaders of all three parties have accused their opponents of preparing to
commit election fraud, although Ukraine's last parliamentary election, in
2006, was in general free and fair, according to international observers.

The close rankings in the current battle could make a few percentage points
decisive in determining which two party-coalition will control the next
legislature, and so the temptation to fix voting results is increased this
year, observers said.

Kharkiv is traditionally a strong supporter of Regions' pro-Russia party
platform. The province saw massive vote fraud in 2004, when local officials
allowed individual voters to cast as many as thirty ballots in favour of
selected candidates, a supreme court review later found.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko in June ordered the SBU to make
prevention of internal election fraud during the 2007 vote a top priority
for the intelligence agency, whose normal missions are hunting down foreign
spies and terrorists.

Volodymyr Sivkovich, a serving MP for Regions, accused Yushchenko of
targeting the SBU's agents against Regions, because of Yushchenko's
opposition to Regions' pro-Russia policies.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution in 2004 came after millions of irate voters took
to the streets in response to a presidential election fixed in the Regions
candidate's favour. Mass demonstrations eventually reversed the election
result, putting Yushchenko into power. - Sapa-dpa
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========================================================
3. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ACCUSES PRIME MINISTER YANUKOVYCH
OF PLOTTING TO RIG PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

Ukrayinska Pravda website, Kiev, in Ukrainian 25 Sep 07
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian 25 Sep 07
BBCC Monitoring Service, United Kingdom, Tue, Sep 25, 2007

KIEV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has accused his arch rival,
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, of plotting to rig the upcoming
parliamentary election. Yushchenko also said that appointing his erstwhile
Orange revolution ally Yuliya Tymoshenko as prime minister after the
election is a definite possibility.

President Yushchenko was speaking in Sumy during a live TV link-up to
Ukraine's central and northern regions on 25 September. No nationwide
Ukrainian TV channels were observed to carry the broadcast. It was entitled
"Tasks for the future government".

The Ukrayinska Pravda website quoted Yushchenko as saying during the
broadcast: "Why does Yanukovych speak of falsification at each of his
rallies? The reason is that he is planning falsification. It will happen.
What I'm talking about is how do we deal with this problem."

He said he was surprised that the prime minister "gets around by helicopter,
telling every rally that fraud is in the making".

"I'd like to tell Yanukovych personally and other colleagues as well that
the government is personally responsible for holding a free, fair and
democratic election," Yushchenko said.

Asked about the possibility of appointing Tymoshenko as prime minister,
Yushchenko said: "As regards the possibility that you mentioned, there's
nothing fatal about it. We can go back to it, it stands a lot of chance. The
important thing is that lessons get learnt," the Interfax-Ukraine news
agency reported at 1719 gmt.

Disagreements over the post of prime minister was a key reason why the
Orange coalition fell apart following the dismissal of Tymoshenko as prime
minister in 2005.

Yushchenko also said that Ukraine's army will become fully professional
starting from 1 January 2010, Interfax-Ukraine said in a separate report at
1648 gmt. He regretted that the army is becoming the subject of what he
called "dirty political demagoguery".

Ukraine is holding a parliamentary election on 30 September. Front-runners
are Yanukovych's Party of Regions, propresidential Our Ukraine-National
Self-Defence bloc and the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc, in that order.
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========================================================
4. UKRAINE: ROCKY ROAD TO DEMOCRACY AFTER YEARS
OF RECRIMINATIONS BETWEEN MAIN PARTIES

Luke Harding, Ostroh, Ukraine, The Guardian
London, United Kingdom, Monday, Sep 24, 2007

OSTROH - The scene is western Ukraine. It is mid-morning, and in an
attractive town square bathed in autumnal sun and lined with fir trees a
crowd is waiting.

A tall figure bounds on to a stage. His elderly supporters cheer and start
waving their blue flags. They chant: "Yan-u-kov-ich, Yan-u-kov-ich."

The man addressing them is Viktor Yanukovich - Ukraine's prime minister.
Three years after his victory in Ukraine's rigged 2004 presidential election
sparked the country's pro-democracy movement - the Orange revolution - Mr
Yanukovich is back.

Ukraine is now in the grip of another movement. This time, however, it is a
counter-revolution led not by glamorous students wearing tight-fitting
orange T-shirts, but by toothless old ladies in headscarves waving icons.

The battlefield isn't Kiev, with its blossom-filled boulevards, but a series
of dusty ex-Soviet provincial towns.

Next Sunday Ukrainians go to the polls following months of political turmoil
between Mr Yanukovich, the country's prime minister since August 2006, and
Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-western president.

In 2004 Mr Yanukovich was the villain of the Orange revolution after trying
to steal the presidential election using intimidation and fraud. Mr
Yushchenko won the re-run vote.

Since then, though, Ukraine's orange actors have fallen out and - largely
unnoticed by the west - Mr Yanukovich has made an unexpected comeback.
PREDICTABLE
Polls put his Party of the Regions at 32.9% in the runup to Sunday's early
election - which Mr Yushchenko called in May after accusing his rival of
luring away his MPs and attempting an extra-constitutional parliamentary
coup. Mr Yushchenko appointed Mr Yanukovich prime minister in 2006 after
his own allies failed to form a government.

With its steep-walled medieval castle and gold-domed monastery, Ostroh is
part of Ukraine's orange-supporting heartland. If Mr Yanukovich represents
one strand of Ukraine - its Orthodox Russian-leaning east - Mr Yushchenko is
said to represent the other - its Catholic, pro-European west. Now, though,
Mr Yanukovich is picking up votes here too.

Up on stage two Ukrainian maidens present Mr Yanukovich with bread and
salt. He then launches into his speech, telling the crowd that his 13-month-old
government has brought stability to Ukraine and restored economic growth.

He attacks his rivals, dismissing the charismatic orange leader Yulia
Tymoshenko as a "cow on an ice rink".

After his speech, the prime minister tells the Guardian he hopes Sunday's
election will end the political conflict paralysing his country.

"We hope that after the elections the political situation will have
stabilised and that we won't have the problems we have right now between
different branches of government. The next step is constitutional reform,"
he said.

Aides insist the new Mr Yanukovich is nothing like the old one, and has
absorbed the lessons of his 2004/5 defeat. He is studying English, and plays
tennis with the US ambassador.

Far from being a Russian stooge he is, in fact, a Ukrainian nationalist,
they add. "He's very changed. He's become a democrat," Sergiy Lovochkin,
the head of his private office, says.

Mr Yanukovich himself insists he is not "pro-Russian" or "anti-western" but
believes in a pragmatic foreign policy that serves an independent Ukraine's
national interests. "Our aim is to become a reliable bridge between Europe
and Russia," he says.

He believes his good relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia have paid off.
In 2005 - when he was in opposition - the Kremlin turned off Ukraine's gas
supplies. "We will never repeat the same mistake as 2005 when the situation
with gas was very difficult," he told the Guardian.

Ukraine now had more than 26 billion cubic metres of gas reserves, he said,
adding: "Our relationship with Russia is clear, steady and predictable." But
he also wants "good strategic relations with the EU" - which Ukraine aspires
to join by 2017.

Moreover, Mr Yanukovich is now deploying the same modern techniques as
his Orange adversaries. In 2004 Mr Putin promptly congratulated him after his
fraudulent victory - in what turned out to be a PR disaster.

Mr Yanukovich has now hired his own firm of US consultants. Ironically, he
is the biggest beneficiary of the democratic changes he once tried to
thwart.

Meanwhile, Mr Yushchenko's Our Ukraine-led faction is languishing in the
polls on 16.4%. Support for his ally, Yulia Tymoshenko - whom Mr Yushchenko
sacked as prime minister in 2005 - is 15.4%. Together the two orange
alliances could score a narrow election victory next Sunday, in which case
Ms Tymoshenko would get her old job back as prime minister.
DISILLUSIONED
Most analysts believe it is more probable that Mr Yanukovich's ruling
coalition will again control Ukraine's Rada or lower house. There are also
rumours that Mr Yanukovich could form a new parliamentary alliance with Mr
Yushchenko, despite profound personal and ideological differences.

Opponents say Mr Yanukovich has not been a good leader. "He's been a
disastrous prime minister," says Hryhoriy Nemyria, Ms Tymoshenko's foreign
affairs adviser and deputy chairman of her BYuT party.

The prime minister's party was old, corrupt and undemocratic, he said. It
was also unhealthily reliant on Rinat Akhemetov, a billionaire oligarch and
member of Mr Yanukovich's party, he alleged.

Many Ukrainian voters appear disillusioned with all three main political
leaders. "If politicians did one-tenth of the things they'd promised it
would be better.

But things haven't improved here at all," Valery - a mechanic - said,
speaking in the small town of Sarny, one of five places in western Ukraine
visited by Mr Yanukovich in his helicopter last Thursday.

Few political experts believe that the constitutional crisis that has
paralysed Ukraine will end next week. Legal challenges to the result are
likely. Nonetheless Ukraine is gradually evolving into something unthinkable
a decade ago: a competitive democracy.

"From the outside Ukrainian politics looks like a mess. But I think this is
normal for a country that only three years ago had a semi-authoritarian
regime and is now struggling to become a democracy," Natalya Shapovalova,
a political expert at Kiev's International Centre for Policy Studies, said.
She added: "I'm rather optimistic." (www.guardian.co.uk/ukraine)
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========================================================
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========================================================
5. FIVE U.S. CITIZENS RECEIVE THEIR PRESIDENTIAL AWARDS
IN NEW YORK FROM UKRAINE'S FOREIGN MINISTER YATSENYUK
Vasyl Losten, Antonij Shcherba, Morgan Williams, Oksana Lykhovyd
and Virlyana Tkach for their dedicated service to Ukraine

Action Ukraine Monitoring Service, New York, NY, Wed, Sep 26, 2007

NEW YORK - Five U.S. citizens received their Presidential Awards from
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk at a meeting and ceremony
held in New York City Monday evening at the Ukrainian Institute of America.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was in New York attending
the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly. Minister Yatsenyuk spoke
about Ukraine's foreign policy and thanked the five awardees for their
outstanding service to Ukraine.

Ukraine's President Victor Yushchenko announced a series of state awards
on Independence Day to those who made a contribution to Ukraine's
development. Yushchenko stated the awards were to those, "who have
served the Ukrainian state most loyally. I thank them for their professional
and creative efforts."

The five U.S. citizens who received their presidential awards in New York
on Monday were:

[1] Vasyl LOSTEN, bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic diocese in Stamford,
CT, in 1997-2005, a US citizen, awarded the Distinguished Services Order
(3rd degree);

[2] Antonij SHCHERBA, head of consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox
church in the USA, a US citizen, awarded the Distinguished Services
Order (3rd degree);

[3] Morgan WILLIAMS, President, the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council;
Director, Government Affairs, Washington Office, SigmaBleyzer,
a US citizen, awarded the Distinguished Services Order (3rd degree);

[4] Oksana LYKHOVYD, art producer of the Ukrayinska rodyna group
of singers, New York, a US citizen, awarded the title of the Honorary
Worker of Arts of Ukraine;

[5] Virlyana TKACH, art producer and director of the Mystetska grupa
Yara theatrical group in New York, a US citizen, awarded the title of the
Honorary Worker of Arts of Ukraine.

The Decree of the President of Ukraine # 739/2007 in part states the
following: "On awarding state decorations of Ukraine to foreign citizens
for distinguished personal contributions in strengthening the image of
Ukraine in the world, spreading the word about Ukraine's historical and
present-day achievements and on the occasion of the 16th anniversary of
Ukraine's independence..."

President Yushchenko "Wished the awardees success and expressed
hopes they would continue to use their intellect to benefit Ukraine," in
his Independence Day statement.

The order "For the Distinguished Services" is awarded for distinguished
services in the economy, science, social, cultural, military, state, civil
and other sectors. The 3rd degree is reserved specially for decorating
foreigners" - the official document on state orders states.

Minister Yatsenyuk was introduced by Jaroslav Kryshtalsky, President
of the Ukrainian Institute of America. Ukraine's Ambassador to the
United States Oleh Shamshur, and the Permanent Representative of Ukraine
to the United Nations, Ambassador H.E. Mr. Yuriy Sergeyev, attended
the meeting.
62ND SESSION OF THE UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who is attending the 62nd
session of the UN General Assembly, met a number of counterparts there
on 24 September and also delivered a report on how Ukraine is implementing
the Kyoto protocol on climate change, the UNIAN news agency said on 25
September.

In a report the UNIAN quoted Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andriy
Deshchytsya as saying that Yatsenyuk met Czech Foreign Minister Karel
Schwarzenberg.

They discussed the Czech Republic's visa policy ahead of the country's
accession to the EU's Schengen zone and agreed on bilateral consultations on
consular and legal issues, the agency said. It added that the two ministers
confirmed their interest in regional projects such as the Vysegrad group.

Yatsenyuk also discussed easing visa regulations with Slovak Foreign
Minister Jan Kubis, the agency said in the same report. They agreed to sign
an accord relaxing visa restrictions for residents of border areas similar
to the one signed recently by Ukraine and Hungary, the report said.

Yatsenyuk also met Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who informed his
Ukrainian counterpart that an Iraqi embassy will open in Kiev soon.

UNIAN added that on the same day Yatsenyuk met Island's President
Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, Comoros President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed
Sambi, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Monaco's Prince Albert II,
as well as the foreign ministers of Sweden and Mauritius.

UNIAN said that Yatsenyuk attended a high-level meeting on climate change,
which took place as part of the 62nd session of the UN General Assembly.

Addressing the meeting, Yatsenyuk said that a new organization should be set
up to bring about "environmental solidarity and responsibility and to create
an all-encompassing system of international environmental security".
He also spoke of Ukraine's efforts to implement the Kyoto protocol, the
agency said.
MEETS WITH U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE RICE
On September 23, 2007 in the framework of the visit to New York, Minister
for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk met with the U.S.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In the course of the conversation, the parties exchanged views on the state
and prospect of bilateral cooperation and in particular discussed the issues
of political dialogue, commercial-economic and branch cooperation,
interaction in the sphere of energy security, defense, counteraction to
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and regional security.

The heads of the foreign policy offices of the two countries discussed the
possible terms of visits at high and top levels. In this context, Mr.
Yatsenyuk renewed the invitation for Mrs. Rice to visit Ukraine in the near
future.

In addition, the parties discussed the preparation of a new Roadmap of the
Ukrainian-American relations in which special attention will be paid to
educational programmes and students' and youth's exchanges.

During the meeting, Mr.Yatsenyuk and Mrs.Rice discussed the political
situation in Ukraine in the view of new election to the Parliament of
Ukraine on Sunday, September 30.
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6. UKRAINE COMMITTED TO EU INTEGRATION REGARDLESS OF
PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION RESULTS, FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS

INTERVIEW: With Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Foreign Minister, Ukraine
AP Worldstream, New York, NY, Tuesday, Sep 25, 2007

NEW YORK - Ukraine's goal of gradual integration with the European Union
will continue regardless of the results of Sunday's elections because this
is one of the few issues on which the rival political parties actually
agree, Foreign Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said.

But closer cooperation with NATO is a different matter due partly to
Russia's opposition, Arseniy Yatsenyuk said in an interview with The
Associated Press on Monday.

"Polls have consistently shown that more than 60 percent of Ukrainians favor
closer political and economic cooperation with the European Union,"
Yatsenyuk said. "And all major political parties _ including to my own
surprise the Ukrainian Communist Party _ now back this."

Yatsenyuk refused to speculate when Ukraine could join the grouping, saying
the nation must focus on implementing EU-mandated reforms.

Sunday's snap election is the product of a hard-won agreement between
President Victor Yushchenko and his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
It is meant to ease a confrontation that has paralyzed politics in the
country since the 2004 Orange Revolution.

At the time, street protests against fraud forced a revote in the
presidential election in which Yanukovych was initially declared the winner,
but which Yushchenko eventually won.

Yanukovych, however, staged a remarkable political comeback last year when
his party received the most votes in parliamentary elections and formed the
ruling coalition.

Yanukovych's party, which leads in the opinion polls, is seen as generally
closer to Moscow. But that will not affect the country's pro-EU policy,
Yatsenyuk said.

"No matter which party emerges as the largest or which coalition government
is formed, the political elites agree on the reforms needed to make Ukraine
more compatible with EU membership," he said.

But there is no such agreement on eventual membership in the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, despite calls from some Ukrainian politicians for a
referendum on joining the alliance.

"There is a very low public awareness of what NATO means," Yatsenyuk
said. "Only about three percent of Ukrainians have any idea what it is."

Moscow, too, has repeatedly voiced concerns about the Western alliance's
eastern expansion to its borders since the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia
and Lithuania joined the bloc in 2004. "The Russians are very cautious on
NATO, sometimes even blunt," Yatsenyuk said.
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7. LETTER TO A FRIEND, PARTY OF REGIONS ELECTION PAMPHLET
Electoral Pamphlet from the Party of Regions
Sent by Taras Kuzio & Translated by Lisa Koriouchkina for UKL
The Ukraine List (UKL) #420, Compiled by Dominique Arel
Chair of Ukrainian Studies, Univ of Ottawa
Ottawa, ON, Canada, 24 September 2007
Dear Compatriot!

I found this letter in an old shoe box in the attic. A short stack of
pre-war letters tied with a frail rope. And yellowed letters from the front
line, folded into accurate triangles. Here▓s one of those letters that
arrived together with a death notice.

I am writing this letter in a dugout, half buried with soil from
explosions. Today, we fended off five attacks, but with each attack there
were fewer of us left. But we knew what we were fighting for. For the
chestnuts of Pushkinskaya St.; for the evening shadows of Deribasovskaya
St.; for gentle waves of our bluest Black sea. For the right to be a free
man in his own country.

I am writing to you, my love. I am happy that I have you. That I had spent
the happiest days of my life with you. I used the past tense ⌠had spent■ and
it occurred to me. Yes, indeed, I had spent. And the close breath of death
makes me realize how much I did not have enough time to tell you. And
perhaps, ashamed to express my feelings, I would have never told you that,
but now I will. Do you remember as we were walking on the beach and seagulls
were flying over our heads. You know, I treasured every single minute I
spent with you. How could we let the enemy destroy all of this?

How could we give them our sea and our sky, our stars over the city where
you and I met? I am bequeathing you my life √ live it for the both of us.
For our love, for the future. I ask of you √ do save our son.

I am writing to you, son. Now, as you are reading this letter, you are an
adult. I am writing to you to make you realize that we could not do anything
differently. Because we had to defend our motherland, your future. So that
you would live in peace in a free country. Treasure it. Value freedom. Live
with dignity. Care for your mother. And remember that you are from Odessa.
Save the memory of us.

Every family in Odessa has letters like this one. After reading the letter
of a soldier who sacrificed his life 66 years ago for our blue sky and our
happy life, I wondered what he would have said had he seen nationalists and
descendants of Bandera walking the streets of Ukrainian cities.

Had he seen political heirs to Bandera and Shukhevych trampling over those
who died in the Great Patriotic War.

Had he seen Orange politicians re-writing our history and wanting to deny us
our genetic memory, the memory of our fathers.

Had he seen them surrender our lands to those who our fathers paid such a
dear price for to defeat.

Had he seen how the defenders are turned into criminals and invaders.

He would not have had second thoughts as to what he should do. He would
have risen to defend the future, because the enemy is already at the door.

Friend, do you remember how as a child you were standing at the monument
⌠Eternal Fire■ with pure tears in your eyes and with your throat dry from
emotions, you whispered: ⌠We will never betray you!■

Our duty today is to win!

The voting bulletin on September 30th is our weapon!

Let▓s be worthy of a memory of fathers and grandfathers!

Let▓s not betray them! Let▓s defend Odessa!

The Party of Regions
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8. YANUKOVYCH SACKS HIS AMERICAN SPIN DOCTOR MANAFORT

UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

KYIV - Paul Manafort, who had been heading the political campaigns of the
Party of Regions since 2005, was sacked from the electoral headquarters.

The reason is that the party's rating began to fall. Now "regionals" are
working out two scenarios to frustrate the election, according
"Ekonomicheskiye Izvestiya" daily.

According to the newspaper's sources, the Party of Regions headquarters
made a final decision to sack the American spin doctor after the party
headquarters chiefs realized that the party's rating fell by 5-7% nearly 10
days ago.

Namely at that time, PoR recalled its old slogans - to give the state status
to the Russian language, and began to use anti-NATO rhetorics. On 19
September PoR claimed that it may refuse from taking part in the electoral
campaign.

On the eve of it, Party of Regions adherents began to pitch tents and
construct a stage at the Maydan Nezalezhnosti Square in the center of Kyiv.
Besides, on 21 September the U.S. Senate adopted a resolution in support of
the orange revolution achievements in Ukraine.

Paul Manafort is close to the USA Republican Party. "The dismissal of
Manafort, who I know personally very well, was an expected decision", said
Victor Ukolov, BYuT spin doctor (#147 in the electoral list). According to
him, during the last three-five years, the Party of Regions' rating has
significantly fallen in the east of the country.

"During the last two weeks, the "regionals" have been looking for a
scapegoat, and chose Paul Manafort", V.Ukolov believes. "I was confident
that they would sack their HQ chief Borys Kolesnikov, or some of his
deputies, because Paul is a real professional, but "regionals" did not
listen to his advice", the BYuT spin doctor says.

According to the information of Taras Beresovts, chief editor of "Polittekh"
project, the decision to sack Paul Manafort from the electoral campaign was
made in the Party of Regions headquarter last week. "To blame foreigners for
the failure of the campaign is the simplest way, because blaming Kolesnikov
means blaming Akhmetov", the expert notes.

According to him, the party is now considering two scenarios of the further
developments: to cancel voting results in some western district on the basis
of alleged mass falsifications, and to resume talks about creating an
autonomy of eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.

Vassyl Khara (#28 in the Party of Regions list) could not say anything about
the dismissal of Paul Manafort. "I was against involving Americans in our
work since the very beginning.

This was the reason why I left the post of the HQ chief as early as in 2005.
It is hard for me to believe that the people, who do not know our special
features, and no one know who they are working for - for us or our rivals,
can be fair. If they were sacked, it happened too late", he stressed.
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LINK: http://unian.net/eng/news/news-213712.html
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9. NO SHIFTS PLANNED IN TEAM OF PARTY OF REGIONS
CONSULTANTS BEFORE PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION

UNIAN, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 25, 2007

KYIV - No staff shifts will take place in the team of the Party of Regions
headquarters' consultants before the election.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, Party of Regions political council
member Serhiy Levochkin claimed this to journalists today.

"This [the information about the dismissal of American spin doctor Paul
Manafort - UNIAN] is a provocation. Our opponents are trying to divert the
attention from the discussion of pre-election programs", S.Levochkin.
He explains this information appeared because the rating of the Party of
Regions' opponents has been falling, while the rating of the Party of
Regions has been growing.

As UNIAN reported earlier, today "Ekonomicheskiye Izvestiya" daily,
referring to its sources in the PoR HQ reported that the Party of Regions
sacked American spin doctor Paul Manafort because of the falling of the
party's ratings.
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10. UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO GAMBLES
ON UKRAINIAN VOTERS TO REVIVE HIS REVOLUTION

By Sebastian Alison, Bloomberg News
Yalta, Crimea, Ukraine, Wednesday, September 26, 2007

YALTA - In 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin
met in the Russian port of Yalta to redraw the map of Europe, in the process
setting the stage for the Cold War.

These days, Yalta -- now a part of independent Ukraine -- again finds itself
witnessing a possible geopolitical realignment as President Viktor
Yushchenko's Orange Revolution is about to be either rejuvenated or
overturned after three years of dashed hopes and political stalemate.

Yushchenko, swept into power after street protests overturned a rigged
presidential ballot, is gambling that Sept. 30 parliamentary elections will
strengthen support for his pro- Western views.

The man he defeated for the presidency, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,
is seeking to solidify his power in order to pursue closer ties with Russia.

The election may determine ``whether the Orange Revolution has succeeded
or failed,'' said Taras Kuzio, research associate at the Institute for
European, Russia and Eurasian Studies at George Washington University in
Washington.

Kuzio said the vote will be based on "regional and linguistic divides'' that
may give Yanukovych, 57, and his Party of the Regions an edge. The
Russian-speaking east mainly backs Yanukovych, while the more agricultural,
Ukrainian-speaking west is behind the Orange camp.
INTERDEPENDENT
Russia has claimed an interest since the dissolution of the Soviet Union led
to Ukraine's independence. "Our economies are so interdependent, so mutually
complementary, we naturally cannot abandon the idea of furthering the
relationship,'' said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for Russian President Vladimir
Putin.

While European Union foreign-policy chief Javier Solana said in Kiev Sept.
14 that "Ukraine is a friend of the European Union,'' Kuzio said such
statements aren't enough to refute suggestions that the EU has largely lost
interest in Ukraine. "They've refused, on every occasion since the Orange
Revolution, even to offer Ukraine a long-term prospect of membership.''

Nowhere is Ukraine's caught-in-the-middle position more evident than the
Crimean peninsula, which includes Yalta, a subtropical city of 80,000.

Crimea was actually a part of Russia until 1954, when Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev gave it to what was then the Ukrainian satellite republic. Most
locals are ethnic Russians, and Russian is the dominant language. All
election posters are in Russian, unlike in the capital, Kiev.
YALTA'S LANDMARKS
Yalta's landmarks, as well as the comments of its residents, reflect its
ambivalence. At the Livadia Palace, a white marble building constructed for
Tsar Nicholas II in 1911 and the site of the 1945 conference, the three men
who drew up the Yalta agreement are all revered.

Roosevelt, just two months short of death, was given rooms in the palace.
The billiard room has Soviet, British and U.S. flags on the table, as it did
when he hosted a breakfast there for Stalin and Churchill on Feb. 11.

Roosevelt "was such an educated man,'' said Margarita Poleva, a guide at
Livadia. "He was so instrumental in setting up the United Nations.''

Her words of praise for an American president contrast with the tensions
over issues such as U.S. plans to deploy a missile defense system in eastern
Europe; Russian criticism of its policies over Iraq and Iran; and Russia's
withdrawal from the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty, limiting troop
numbers.
'BETRAYAL'
Valery Andryushenko, 62, a Yalta taxi driver with a Ukrainian father and a
Russian mother, is certain that ``Ukraine should move closer to Europe.''

Europe "is more civilized and richer,'' he said. At the same time, "to break
contacts with Russia would be impossible.'' He's against NATO membership,
citing ties with former Soviet states. "To throw all that away and join NATO
would be a betrayal.''

A Sept. 1-10 survey of 2,004 Ukrainians by Kiev's Razumkov Centre for
Economic and Political Studies showed 33.9 percent support for Yanukovych's
party, to 13.1 percent for Yushchenko's Our Ukraine.

That kind of result would leave former Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko's
alliance, which had 23.5 percent in the poll, holding the balance of power.

Yushchenko fired Timoshenko, 46, after the two fell out over the pace of
reform. Yanukovych had the largest parliamentary faction, forcing the
president to appoint him prime minister. Continuing tension between the two
men prompted Yushchenko to dissolve parliament and call this weekend's vote.
MISSING THE BOAT
Yushchenko "really missed the boat'' by failing to establish his authority
more firmly after the revolution, Kuzio said. "He had the chance in 2005 to
demolish Yanukovych. He never took that chance, and it's coming back to
haunt him.''

Disillusionment with Yushchenko has thrown the spotlight on Timoshenko, says
Michael Emerson, a research fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies
in Brussels. "She's the outstanding personality, who's younger, and has a
lot of popular support,'' he said.

Analysts say it's possible the elections will push the politicians closer
together. "Yanukovych has admitted that Ukraine needs a balanced
relationship between Russia and Europe,'' said Amanda Akcakoca of the
European Policy Centre in Brussels.

Yanukovych and Yushchenko "have recognized over the last 12 months that
they must work together'' and may move toward "a grand coalition'' that
would change the constitution to "make a clearer balance of power between
the president and the prime minister.''

If they don't, she said, voter skepticism will only grow: "Most Ukrainians
don't trust anyone.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sebastian Alison in Yalta at Salison1@bloomberg.net .
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aqp0LdVWLyj4&refer=europe
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11. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO'S INTERVIEW WITH EURONEWS

Press Office of the President of Ukraine
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, September 22, 2007

[EuroNews] Mr President, welcome to EuroNews. Why did you initiate
parliamentary elections last spring?
[Yushchenko] The situation is simple enough. After honest and democratic
elections, parliament changed the results of the vote. The majority parties
began to buy the MPs from other parties by bribing them with money. First
two MPs, then another two and 13 more.

Then they announced that the following week there could be another 25. It
was a violation of the constitution. The Parliamentary majority had become
illegitimate, because it was not based on a coalition of parties, but on the
mandates of MPs. The constitution forbids that.

As President, I called on Parliament to stop these practices, and revert to
the status quo, but unfortunately that was not done. The only thing I could
do in that situation was to organise the early elections to bring legitimacy
back to the Ukrainian parliament.

[EuroNews] What do these elections mean to Ukraine?
[Yushchenko] They're very important for the country and very important for
Ukrainian politicians. And I am sure that after the elections, what is
happening in Parliament - this political corruption - will, in the main,
stop.

We will radically reduce the field of political corruption, about 'buying'
laws, and modifying election results. It is essential that the country
begins to understand that we can escape crises like these through democratic
means.

[EuroNews] There's a feeling that since the orange revolution, Ukraine has
only seen political confrontation. But has people's quality of life changed
since then?... how is the economy developing?

[Yushchenko] I will say that after the Orange Revolution, there were changes
that the Ukrainian economy had not seen for fifteen years. In terms of
macro-economics, our Gross Domestic Product grew at 7, 7 and a half, 8 per
cent.

It is a stable parameter which has given us the opportunity to change lots
in terms of the budget. In 2005 - in just a single year - we increased
income revenues by 54 per cent, and in 2006 by 37 per cent. Ukraine has not
seen social discontent for 2 and a half years.

For example, the minimum wage and minimum pension are at the same level.
It is a very sensitive subject for Ukraine, especially for its 14-million
pensioners. In 2005, wages went up by 50 per cent, people's real incomes
went up by 21 per cent.

And many other things too - I'm very happy with the nation's economic
potential and the social and humanitarian potential of its people. They are
changes which the country has been waiting for for a long time.

[EuroNews] Why didn't you support the idea of a referendum on the status
of the Russian language, and on Ukraine's joining NATO?

[Yushchenko] I am not sure that the language of another country lets us
identify ourselves as Ukrainians. It is not even up for discussion.

Secondly, the linguistic politics which features in the Ukrainian
constitution gives precise details on the development of the Russian
language or any other minority languages. Our doctrine on language is
clearly inspired by the European language charter. It corresponds exactly.

Now, on NATO. No-one has asked us whether we want to join NATO or not.
The time will come when we will be asked and we will give a national response.
I have already said that for Ukraine, joining NATO or not is a question for a
national referendum. There are no discussions on that subject. The answer
will come from the people.

[EuroNews] Is European integration a national issue in Ukraine?
[Yushchenko] It is very current. Deep inside, society sees it quite simply.
Right now, the EU is the Ukraine's main trading partner. And each year,
these relations develop a little more. Each year we reach into new corners
of the European market.

It was very important for us to sign a three year EU/Ukrainian deal which is
proving a success. It already applies to more than 70 different fields. We
have signed a common energy system deal. There is the resolution adopted on
the Odessa pipeline - from Brody to the EU - there are agreements on outer
space, airspace and other fields.

Now, Ukraine is knocking on the door of the World Trade Organisation. We
believe that membership could improve relations with our neighbours - large
and small - but above all the EU. It is already a topical subject which
touches Ukrainian citizens in everyday life.

[EuroNews] Ideally, how do you see Ukraine's short-term future?
[Yushchenko] It is a European country. It is a democratic country. It is a
country where the principal democratic values are clearly and irrevocably
fixed - starting with the right to choose all the way through to freedom -
the freedom of speech.

It is a country which, I am sure, will set the standards in human rights and
law. We will bring corruption to an end - it will become a thing of the
past - an ill which touches all spheres of society. We talk publicly about
it and we publicly fight against it. And I am sure we will succeed.

I am sure we will be the country of affluence, and of human dignity - a
country which will enjoy fair, open and friendly relations with its
neighbours, be it in economic, social or humanitarian spheres. I am very
optimistic about Ukraine's prospects, because it's a country which has
always been at the centre of Europe.

When I talk about European values, I know my country has contributed to
them at great cost. Ukraine has helped shape European policy.
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12. LANDKOM CROP PRODUCTION COMPANY ON FERTILE GROUND
Large scale farming in Ukraine, 50,000 hectares by end of 2007

By Toby Shelley, Financial Times, London, UK, Monday, Sep 24 2007

Landkom, which will launch plans for its initial public offering on Monday,
has a simple proposition - to grow high-value crops on an Australian scale
but on land of European fertility.

The intention is to raise ё40m to fund land rent and equipment acquisitions.
Several existing investors, including a Credit Suisse investment fund, have
agreed not to dilute their stakes. Pre-IPO investors put ё6.9m into the
company this year.

With 28,000 hectares under production this year, Landkom is on track to
control 50,000 ha by the end of the year. The target is to farm 10 times
that area in four years.

The land is rented on 15-year leases from tens of thousands of western
Ukrainian villagers to whom the state parcelled out land in the mid-1990s.
Much of it lay unworked for more than a decade because the owners lacked
the resources.

The company has right of first refusal on the plots in anticipation of the
lifting of a moratorium on sales put in place to stop landgrabs by wealthy
businessmen.

Land with comparable yields in Northern Ireland would cost ё400 per ha a
year to rent. Richard Spinks, director and founder, said Landkom was paying
far under 10 per cent of that in Ukraine.

To that cost advantage is added the benefits of scale. The average UK farm
is 60 ha while Landkom grew 7,000 ha of rape seed alone this year. Mr Spinks
said Ukraine wheat could be grown at six times typical Australian yields but
on a comparable scale.

Mr Spinks argued that high agro-commodity prices reflected an upward trend
in demand. For example, the EU cannot meet its requirements for rape seed
oil to add to diesel, he said.
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13. POLISH ALUMINUM COMPANY KETY OPENS PLANT IN UKRAINE

Polish News Bulletin, Warsaw, Poland, Tue, Sep 25, 2007

WARSAW - Grupa Kety from the aluminum sector is to officially open
today its factory in Ukraine operated by its subsidiary Alupol. Alupol is
to produce aluminum profiles for construction purposes.

Due to delays in obtaining necessary permits the factory commenced
production at the end of June this year, half a year later than initially
planned.

According to Adam Piela, deputy CEO and financial director of Kety, the
delay did not allow Alupol to win any major contracts this year as potential
clients could not wait any longer.

Alupol's capacity presently stands at around 8,000 tonnes of aluminum
yearly, which if fully utilised may allow the company to achieve revenue of
ZL100m.

The factory in Ukraine was constructed cost ZL50m. According to Biela, the
investment should begin bringing in a profit in six years. Alupol's factory
opens new possibilities for Kety as aluminum consumption in Poland's eastern
neighbours is many times lower than in the EU.
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14. ALFA LAVAL'S STRONG DEVELOPMENT IN UKRAINE CONTINUES
WINS ORDER FOR THE GROWING BREWERY INDUSTRY

Business Wire, Sweden, Monday, Sep 24, 2007

Alfa Laval (STO:ALFA) - a world leader in heat transfer, centrifugal
separation and fluid handling - has received an order for process solutions
to two breweries in Ukraine. The total order value is approximately SEK 50
million. Delivery will take place late 2007 and during 2008.

Ukraine has a very long tradition of brewing beer. It goes back more than
200 years. As the consumption of beer now is increasing the Ukrainian
brewery industry is growing and both of the two orders are to increase
capacity.

"It is very satisfying that the brewery industry in Eastern Europe now is
investing again," says Lars Renstrom, President and CEO of Alfa Laval.

"Both these orders in Ukraine are a clear proof of that Alfa Laval's
solutions to the world's breweries are of highest quality and in demand."
The orders have a large scope and consist of many different products and
system solutions from Alfa Laval.

Did you know that Ukraine was the fastest growing market for Alfa Laval
during 2006, in terms of percentage? Annual sales in the country are
currently approximately SEK 200 million and the largest applications for
Alfa Laval can be found within food, steel industry and inorganic chemistry.
About Alfa Laval
Alfa Laval is a leading global provider of specialized products and
engineering solutions based on its key technologies of heat transfer,
separation and fluid handling. The company's equipment, systems and services
are dedicated to assisting customers in optimizing the performance of their
processes.

The solutions help them to heat, cool, separate and transport products in
industries that produce food and beverages, chemicals and petrochemicals,
pharmaceuticals, starch, sugar and ethanol.

Alfa Laval's products are also used in power plants, aboard ships, in the
mechanical engineering industry, in the mining industry and for wastewater
treatment, as well as for comfort climate and refrigeration applications.

Alfa Laval's worldwide organization works closely with customers in nearly
100 countries to help them stay ahead in the global arena.

Alfa Laval is listed on the Nordic Exchange, Nordic Large Cap, and, in 2006,
posted annual sales of about SEK 20 billion (approx. 2,2 billion euros). The
company has some 11,000 employees. www.alfalaval.com.
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15. EAST EUROPEAN IMMIGRANTS FUEL RETURN OF SERVANT CLASS
Top sources for servants: Philippines, Ukraine, Latvia, Malaysia and Zimbabwe.

By Roger Dobson, Independent, London, UK, Sunday, 23 Sep 2007

There was a time when the flustered British housewife of a certain rank
would look disdainfully at the dirty marks on her cutlery and despairingly
exclaim: "You just can't get the staff."

The good news for the overworked middle classes who are looking for help
with the chores is that now they can.

Migration from eastern Europe, Africa and Asia is creating a ready supply of
willing downstairs staff, with more and more being employed to watch the
kids and clean the bathroom in a kind of international class system,
according to a new report.

Just this week, the socialite Tara Palmer-Tomkinson revealed that she had a
"massive staff", mainly from Ukraine. "As I don't have a husband, I rather
look forward to having people around me. I have half the Ukraine here every
day. It's like the Russian army coming in to clean. I want to come back at
night and feel like I'm in a five-star hotel," she said.

The bad news for the migrants, however, is that high-powered executives and
business people are increasingly picky about who they employ, with white
women being the preferred home help, the study, by Bridget Anderson of
Oxford University, says.

Men are considered too much of a risk to be looking after young children,
especially girls, and black people are unpopular as au pairs.

While race was described by one agency as "the unmentionable", there are
also more complex reasons for the choosiness. The British middle classes are
looking for domestic help who can't easily pack up and leave, which means
employing people from war-torn countries or from non-EU countries whose
presence in Britain is dependent on their employment.

The top five sources for maids and butlers are the Philippines, Ukraine,
Latvia, Malaysia and Zimbabwe.

"It is legal for a private householder to refuse to employ someone on the
grounds of their colour, their nationality or their religion, and from our
interviews with employers, it is clear that they do," say the researchers,
whose work is to be published in the European Journal of Women's Studies.

"Employers are not only looking for generic 'foreignness', however, but
typically also seek particular nationalities or ethnicities of worker, which
can raise difficulties for agencies who are not allowed to discriminate on
the basis of 'race'."

Half of British households employ some form of domestic staff in an industry
now thought to be worth around ё20bn a year. On average, each household
spends around ё1,924 on chauffeurs, dog walkers, babysitters, nannies and
cooks.

Relations with domestic staff do not always run smoothly, however. Sting's
wife, Trudie Styler, was sued by her cook, Jane Martin, earlier this year.

Ms Martin claimed sexual discrimination after being forced to work 14-hour
days while pregnant. The tribunal heard how Ms Styler, 52, abused her
domestic staff to make her "feel royal".

Where do they get their staff?
PHILIPPINES
Main provider of cleaning staff in domestic households. Described by
President Gloria Arroyo as a nation that provides "supermaids".
UKRAINE
Female domestic workers from the Ukraine are very popular with UK
working mothers looking for au pairs.
ZIMBABWE
Zimbabweans mainly work as cleaners in schools and hospitals.
LATVIA
Many Latvians work as butlers due to the comparatively good salaries
compared with other domestic work.
MALAYSIA
Malaysians gravitate towards domestic work - many work as household
maids in the UK.
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http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2990167.ece
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16. INTERNATIONAL OWNERSHIP OF UKRAINIAN
BANKS GROWS TO 30.2% IN JAN-JULY

Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sep 21, 2007

KYIV - The proportion of foreign [international] capital in the combined
charter capital of Ukrainian banks increased to 30.2% at the end of August
2007 from 27.6% at the beginning of 2007, the National Bank reported on its
website.

The combined charter capital of Ukrainian banks increased by 34.8% to
35.393 billion hryvni in the nine-month period.

The number of banks with foreign capital remained at 42 on September 1
compared to 35 at the start of the year, with the number of wholly
foreign-owned banks remaining at 17. The National Bank said 173 of the 196
banks registered in Ukraine were operating on September 1.
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17. UKRAINE FINANCE: BANKING SECTOR RISK

NEWS ANALYSIS: The Economist Intelligence Unit Limited
New York, NY, Thursday, September 20, 2007

CURRENT ASSESSMENT
Although the banking sector is generally sound, a number of structural
weaknesses remain a concern, as does the rapid rise in lending to households
and enterprises in recent years-particularly the extent of unhedged
foreign-currency lending to businesses, and increasingly to households.

The ratio of total loans to assets is estimated to have risen to around
two-thirds, and banks have been borrowing heavily abroad to meet demand.

The supervisory framework governing banks has nevertheless improved,
capital-adequacy ratios are still generally good, and the sector is finally
seeing significant inflows of foreign investment.

The ratio of non-performing loans (NPLs) fell from 30% at the end of 2004
to less than 18% by September 2006. Although this is still high, the ratio of
loans not being serviced is much smaller, at less than 5%.
POSITIVE FACTORS
Net banking sector assets have risen steadily in recent years.

The regulator has increased minimum capital requirements (albeit by less
than the IMF recommends). It has also tightened capital quality standards
and raised provisioning requirements for unhedged foreign borrowing.

The economic slowdown ended in early 2006, and real GDP growth is now
expected to average around 6% in 2008-09. A favourable economic environment
will help consumers and enterprises to meet their debt-service payments,
thereby maintaining asset quality.
NEGATIVE FACTORS
Lending, particularly to households, is increasing rapidly. This has raised
concerns about the ability of enterprises and home owners to repay in the
event of external shocks, or a downturn in inflated housing prices in the
capital, Kiev.

Although capital-adequacy ratios are generally sound, at around 14% or
above in recent years, this is undermined by concerns about the lack of
transparency with regard to bank ownership.

The further increase in natural gas prices expected in 2008 will harm the
competitiveness of enterprises in certain key sectors, which poses a risk to
banks' asset quality.

Surging consumer lending doubled bank profits in 2006, but high overheads
continue to dampen profitability and ensure wide interest rate spreads.
RATING OUTLOOK
Stable: The sector will become less fragmented, particularly as foreign
banks continue to deepen their involvement in Ukraine. A larger foreign role
will improve capitalisation, increase competition and bring down interest
rates.

Some of the sector's structural problems will nevertheless persist, which
increases vulnerability to external economic shocks and future bouts of
political uncertainty-both of which remain substantial risks in Ukraine.
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18. BUSINESS AND PLEASURE IN UKRAINE

By Ben West, Financial Times, London, UK, Saturday Sep 22 2007.

As second home buyers become more adventurous, moving into Croatia,
Bulgaria and even Romania, there is one country on Europe's eastern fringes
that almost everyone has overlooked.

Larger than France √ indeed Europe's biggest country √ it has stunning
coastlines, nice ski resorts and attractive towns and cities steeped in
history. But Ukraine, the former Soviet state that borders Russia, Belarus,
Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Moldova, has a lot of bad press to
overcome.

Best known as home to Chernobyl, scene of the world's worst nuclear
accident, the country also remains one of Europe's poorest, still recovering
from a 1990s economic collapse triggered by the fall of the Soviet Union.

In recent years news has been dominated by the 2004 presidential election √
during which the eventual winner, Viktor Yushchenko, was poisoned √ and the
pro-western Orange revolution, which has had fewer lasting effects than
supporters hoped amid continued domestic power struggles and tensions with
Russia.

In April Yushchenko dissolved the opposition-controlled parliament and new
elections are scheduled for September 30.

As in other former Soviet states, Ukraine's legal and political systems are
still evolving. Government initiatives since 1996 have fuelled a significant
economic recovery centred on oil, gas, mineral and vodka production but the
country of 49m people still suffers from rampant bureaucracy, corruption,
inadequate infrastructure and low wages, amounting to an average of 1,391
hryvnia ($280) a month.

So why on earth would foreigners want to buy there? Perhaps because it
offers a chance to get in on the ground floor of a market in which property
professionals see great potential.

There is hope that the election will end the political turmoil, pave the way
for permanent democratic reforms and create a more appealing climate for
international investment, which could eventually lead to the country joining
the European Union.

World Trade Organisation membership is just around the corner and visa
requirements for EU and US citizens have already been relaxed.

In the past three years some house prices have jumped by 500 per cent and
agents say there is still room for growth. "It's taken off quite
dramatically," says John Miller of property and construction consultancy
Thomas and Adamson, which has been operating in Ukraine for 12 years.
"Though there have been clashes with Russia and some political instability,
this shouldn't be a great concern for the residential buyer."

According to Alex Abramovych, director of Ukraine property specialists
UAProperty.com, flats and houses in Ukraine now cost $1,382 per sq metre, up
nearly 50 per cent from a year ago, while average rents are $251-$324 per
month, a 29 per cent increase over 2006. (Prices are typically quoted in
dollars, although euros and sterling are also used.)

Kiev is easily the most expensive market, with average sales prices nearing
$3,000 per sq metre and rents for most one-bedroom apartments at more than
$600 per month.

Buying activity has tailed off in recent months as a result of the steep
run-up in prices and many fear a correction is imminent. But Abramovych and
others remain bullish. "The economy has much improved and growth will
continue in Kiev and the resort zones, where dem and exceeds customer
requests," he says.

Ukraine's attractions are also not ­simply financial. Its cities are full of
beautiful gothic, Byzantine and baroque architecture and most towns have a
cathedral. The countryside is largely unspoilt and peppered with pretty
little villages.

The coastline is lined with ­early-20th century resort towns. And the
Carpathian mountain range, one of Europe's largest, provides a dramatic
landscape, with wild forests home to lynx and boar and snow-covered slopes
allowing for a long ski season.

So far, foreign buyers have focused on three areas: the capital Kiev; the
thriving tourist zones of the Black Sea coast in the Crimea; and the
Carpathians.

Kiev has many historic landmarks. including churches, monuments and
archaeological sites, as well as shops, restaurants, cafИs, nightclubs,
theatres and galleries. Enlivened by its river, the Dnipro, the Old Town is
particularly attractive.

"My first visit to the Ukraine was one and a half years ago," says Lou
Zidenberg, 60, who lives in California but also owns an apartment in Kiev.
"I was amazed when I saw the growth that was going on in that country. My
flat cost me $100,000 and I estimate it is worth about $350,000 now."

Other cities of interest include Sevastopol and Odessa in the Crimea. Yalta
is also a popular tourist spot on the southern coast, with about 80km of
beach attractively framed by mountains that dispel the cold northerly winds
and allow the region to benefit from temperatures averaging 25╟C between
June and September.

UK-based John Parr, 51, a business manager for a telecommunications systems
company, often works in Russia and eastern Europe and has also invested in
Ukraine.

With his wife Jackie, a teacher, he bought a one-bedroom apartment close to
the harbour in Balaklava in the Crimea in November 2005 and a plot of land
in the Carpathian mountains last year .

"We decided to invest in Ukraine because we visited Balaklava and really
liked it," he says. "It is beautiful and has a fascinating history. The
apartment is mainly for personal use but we rent it out for a few weeks in
the summer."

He acknowledges that there are challenges to owning in an unestablished
holiday-home market. "Language can be a bit of a problem even though I can
speak some basic Russian. And getting to Balaklava takes a while. It is a
three-hour flight from London to Kiev and then another one-hour flight to
Simferopol, then a one-hour car journey. There are no cut-price flight
operators going to Ukraine yet."

Still, he's happy with his decision. The apartment "cost $52,000, I reckon
we spent a further $18,000 on complete renovation and furniture, and now it
is worth about $100,000".

In the Carpathians, one- and two-bedroom houses can still be found for
$20,000-$40,000, though prices are higher at the new resort developments
being created by Ukrainian and Polish companies targeting a growing domestic
middle class as well as Polish, Russian and Baltic holidaymakers.

Activity is centred around the quaint village of Slavsk, the most popular of
Ukraine's mountain resorts with three distinct seasons: summer for hiking,
cycling and fishing; autumn for mushroom and berry picking; and winter for
skiing. The local government is also injecting $100m into road, slope and
lift improvements.

UK developer Hanroc has recently entered the market with the Eagle Valley
Mountain Resort, 75 apartments with a leisure and spa centre in a private
valley near one of the Slavsk lifts, due for completion in 2009. Off-plan
prices range from about $50,000 for a studio to $335,000 for a five-bedroom
penthouse.

Rental demand is strong since Slavsk attracts 50,000 visitors per day in
peak season but has only 150 hotel rooms, m any of which are booked up to
two seasons in advance. And, according to local estate agents, property
values are expected to rise by an annual 35 per cent or more for the next
three years.

Natasha Kravchuk of Thomas and Adamson's Kiev office warns that buyers
must still be cautious, however. "If you are buying new-build from local
developers, research them well as there have been a couple of high-profile
failures.

"Check carefully what permits the developer has and his obligations to
deliver the property on time. Most are delivered six to 12 months after the
agreed date and there is usually no clause in the contract for
compensation."

Those in search of older homes should find a reputable estate agent and
think carefully about which areas they want to be in.

Builder James Jennison from Wales bought a two-bedroom rural cottage with
land near Melitopol about 3km from the Azov Sea. "People think that this
part of the world can be quite cold but when I visited in August it was over
40╟C .

"The wildlife is fantastic; I've seen eagles. It is a wonderful country with
the friendliest people, beautiful countryside and beautiful architecture.
And [the house] only cost me ё8,000."
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk; Local agents, UAProperty.com.
tel: +44 845-0944 650; www.uaproperty.com
Thomas & Adamson. tel: +38 04-4490 6064; www.thomasandadamson.com
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19. CHORNOBYL NPP, HOLTEC INT SIGN CONTRACT TO BUILD
$200 MILLION SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL STORAGE FACILITY

Interfax Ukraine News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007

KYIV - The Chornobyl NPP state company and U.S. company Holtec
International on the construction of a spent nuclear fuel storage facility.

Chornobyl NPP Director General Ihor Hramotkin and Holtec President and
Chief Executive Officer Kris Singh signed the deal in Kyiv on Monday in the
presence of Ukrainian President Viktor Yuschenko and European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) President Jean Lemierre.

A joint, 52-month project to build a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel
with Holtec International is estimated to cost $200 million dollars, deputy
chief of the presidential secretariat Oleksandr Chaly said. The project
complies with International Atomic Energy Agency standards, he added.
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NOTE: Holtec is a member of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council
in Washington, D.C.
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20. UKRAINE SIGNS TWO HUGE CONTRACTS, ONE FOR SAFE
CONFINEMENT SARCOPHAGUS, ONE FOR STORAGE OF SPENT
NUCLEAR FUEL AT CHORNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER PLANT
French company Novarka and U.S. company Holtec International

Press Office of President Victor Yushchenko
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007

KYIV - President Victor Yushchenko on Monday attended a ceremony to
sign a contract between the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the French
construction company Novarka to build the New Safe Confinement and a
deal between the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the American energy
technology company Holtec International to build Storage for Spent Nuclear
Fuel 2.

Yushchenko said today's ceremony was a "great historic event." "After
searching for engineering, political, technological and financial solutions
for twenty years we are now laying the first fundamental brick in this
project, which is called the construction of the safe sarcophagus at the
unit of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the storage for spent nuclear
fuel," he said.

Yushchenko said the event had "exceptional importance" for Ukraine and the
world. "On behalf of the Ukrainian state, I would like to thank all of you
for this wonderful job.

"I am convinced today we will be able to say frankly to the nation and the
international community, perhaps for the first time, that there has been a
response to the problem of building the New Safe Confinement at the
Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant," he said and added this was a "great step
in the cause to minimize the aftereffects of the Chornobyl disaster."

Yushchenko said the NSC would protect other countries as well: "We are
speaking about the unique planetary project, as the danger that has been
emerging from this place affects not only Ukraine [but also other states]."

The president thanked the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
[EBRD] and the donor states for making the project possible. He said Ukraine
had fulfilled its international obligations to close the Chornobyl Nuclear
Power Plant.

"Ukraine has completed the conservation of the facility, which will make it
safe for fifteen years, so any nuclear accident there is now impossible," he
said, urging Novarka and Holtec International to implement the project
"rhythmically and in solidarity."
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LINK: http://www.president.gov.ua/en/news/data/1_19003.html
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21. UKRAINE'S FUEL AND ENERGY MINISTER AND US ENERGY
SECRETARY DISCUSS COOPERATION IN ENERGY SECTOR

Interfax Ukraine Economic, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 18, 2007

VIENNA, Austria - Fuel and Energy Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Boiko and
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman have met to discuss cooperation
in the energy sector between Ukraine and the United States.

Last Sunday they met in Vienna, Austria as a part of a meeting of the Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) Organization.

During the meeting, the Ukrainian minister praised the initiatives of the
U.S. government and thanked Bodman for his personal contribution to
the creation of global nuclear energy partnership.

He said that Ukraine sees great prospects in the activities of the
organization in settling urgent problems and promoting the further
development of the world's nuclear sectors.

Boiko said that Ukraine and the United States have already had successful
experience in international cooperation in the nuclear sector, in
particular, the project on the standardization of Ukrainian nuclear fuel.

The minister thanked his counterpart for settling issues on additional
financing of the project, adding that the diversification of nuclear fuel
supplies is strategically important for Ukraine.
CENTRAL NUCLEAR WASTE STORAGE FACILITY, HOLTEC
Boiko also said that another strategically important project for Ukraine is
the project to build a central nuclear waste storage facility, and noted
that the U.S. company Holtec had won the tender to build the facility.

He said that the realization of the project would help Ukraine to save $10
billion over 10 years. He said that an additional agreement on the
possibility to carry out a restricted volume of work before the Ukrainian
cabinet adopts a law on the building of the central nuclear waste storage
facility was signed in 2007 in order to speed up the realization of the
project.

In turn, Bodman said he highly appreciated joint work of the two countries
on the standardization of nuclear fuel. Moreover, the sides discussed the
visit of Ukrainian specialist on alternative energy, which is scheduled for
next week.
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22. UKRAINE: FUEL & ENERGY MINSTER BOIKO PREDICTS HOLTEC
PROJECT TO CONSTRUCT CENTRALIZED SPENT FUEL STORAGE
FACILITY WILL ECONOMIZE USD 10 BILLION IN TEN YEARS
Boiko Meets with U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman in Vienna

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007

KYIV - Ukraine's Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko predicts that the
realization of a project to construct a centralized spent fuel storage
facility for Rivne, Southern Ukrainian, and Khmelnytskyi nuclear power
plants will economize USD 10 billion in ten years.

Ukrainian News learned this from the press service of the Fuel and Energy
Ministry, which quoted Boiko at a meeting with U.S. Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman in Vienna (Austria) on September 16.

The statement reads that the meeting took place in the frames of the Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). Boiko highly assessed the initiatives of
the U.S. government and thanked Bodman for his contribution in the creation
of the GNEP.

The Ukrainian minister emphasized that Ukraine saw great perspectives for
the activities of the GNEP on the settlement of vital problems and further
development of the nuclear power industry in the world.

Boiko further said that the project to construct the centralized spent fuel
storage facility for Ukrainian NPPs, a tender of which has been won by
Holtec International (the United States), was of strategic importance for
Ukraine's energy security.

According to Boiko, an additional agreement on the realization of the
project was concluded this year about the possibility of a limited volume of
works ahead of the endorsement by the Ukrainian parliament of a law on the
construction of centralized spent fuel storage facility.

Boiko noted that Ukraine and the United States had successful experience in
international cooperation in the nuclear power industry, including within a
project on qualification of Ukrainian nuclear fuel.

The Ukrainian minister thanked Bodman for the settlement of issues related
to additional finance to the project and noted that the diversification of
nuclear fuel was strategically important for Ukraine.

Bodman highly assessed the joint work by Ukraine and the United States on
the qualification of Ukrainian fuel.

Bodman further said, according to the press service, that it was necessary
to secure transparent procedures of cooperation in the realization of a
project on joint exploration and submission of an application form by
Naftohaz Ukrainy national joint stock company and the U.S. Marathon
International Petroleum Ltd. to receive a license for exploration and
extraction of carbohydrates in the northwest part of the Dniprovsko-
Donetska depression.

Boiko and Bodman discussed a visit of Ukrainian specialists on alternative
energy to the United States to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory
(NREL) in Denver.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, in December 2005, Enerhoatom and
Holtec International, the United States, signed a contract on construction
of the centralized spent fuel storage facility for Rivne NPP, Southern
Ukrainian NPP, and Khmelnytskyi NPP.

By the end of 2009, Ukraine intends to stop exporting spent fuel to Russia
after the centralized spent fuel storage is built.

The first stage of the facility has to save 2,500 reactors of VVER-1000 type
and 1,080 reactors of VVER-440 type. Zaporizhia NPP has a spent nuclear
fuel facility.

On September 16, Ukraine officially joined the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership. Organization's principles are peaceful use of nuclear materials
and formation of joint view concerning use of relevant technologies,
increase of the nuclear reactor level and handling with nuclear wastes.

Besides, the cooperation accepts preparation of joint political decisions in
the field of nonproliferation of nuclear weapon.
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23. BREAKTHROUGH FOR CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR DECOMMISSIONING
PROGRAM IN UKRAINE, TWO MAJOR CONTRACTS SIGNED

UNIAN News, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, September 17, 2007

KYIV - International efforts to make the scene of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear
accident environmentally safe have taken a major step forward, according to
a press release, forwarded to UNIAN by EBRD.

Today Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant signed two important contracts, one to
build a new steel structure to seal off the damaged unit 4 with the Novarka
consortium and another one to complete the spent nuclear fuel storage with
Holtec International.

Currently unit 4 is protected by a shelter built immediately after the
accident in 1986 under extremely hazardous conditions and which, despite
recent successful stabilisation works, is decaying.

The "New Safe Confinement" will be an arch-shaped structure 105 metres high,
150 metres long and with a span of 260 metres. It will be constructed on the
site and later be slid over unit 4.

Construction work is expected to take 48-52 months and the shelter will then
create the conditions for the ultimate dismantling of Chernobyl's unit 4
which still contains 95 percent of its original nuclear inventory.

Construction of the New Safe Confinement is the most visible project under
the Chernobyl Shelter Implementation Plan (SIP) agreed between the
Government of Ukraine and the international community in 1997.

The plan contained many other elements which had to be completed over
recent years in order to allow work on the confinement to begin. The total
SIP cost is now estimated to be $1.39 billion.
SECOND CONTRACT SIGNED WITH HOLTEC INT
A second contract which was signed with Holtec International is equally
important. Holtec's assignment is to complete the spent nuclear fuel storage
facility for more than twenty thousand spent fuel assemblies generated
during the operation of the Units 1-3 up to December 2000.

An approximately 1.5 year design and regulatory approval phase will be
followed by delivery and installation of the equipment.

The facility, to ensure safe and secure storage of the Chernobyl spent fuel
for one hundred years, is a key element of the overall Chernobyl
decommissioning plan.

International donors have made significant contributions to finance these
projects via donations to the Chernobyl Shelter Fund and the Nuclear Safety
Account, which are managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development.

Together with the Government of Ukraine the Bank also ensures supervision
of the effective implementation of the projects.

EBRD President Jean Lemierre said this is an important day for Ukraine and
the world. "This shows what Ukraine and the international community working
together can achieve on a very difficult and complex issue.

"Everything that has been achieved so far is proof of the determination of
all parties concerned to work together, to overcome difficulties and to find
and implement joint solutions.

"The successful implementation of the project depends not only on the
progress of the construction work, but also on the continued commitment of
both the Ukrainian authorities and the international community."

As of end-June 2007, the Chernobyl Shelter Fund has recorded total
contributions of euro739 million from the following donors: Austria,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, European Community, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom,
and the United States. Donations have been made by Iceland, Israel, Korea,
Portugal, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia.

The Nuclear Safety Account has so far received contributions of Euro285
million from: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, the European Community, Finland,
France, Germany, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland,
the United Kingdom, Ukraine and the United States.
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24. MRS T MEETS MRS T FOR A NICE CUP OF TEA

Jenny Booth & Agencies, Times Online, London, UK, Fri, Sep 21, 2007

Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of Ukraine's Orange revolution, came to
pay homage yesterday at the feet of Baroness Thatcher, the veteran former
leader of the Conservative party.

The two diminutive, blonde, female, former Prime Ministers sat down to tea
at the Goring Hotel in London to discuss the dark days of the Cold War - and
possibly also motherhood, pearls and iconic political hairdos.

Mrs Tymoshenko, whose advisers were cheekily billing the private meeting as
"Mrs T meets Mrs T", praised Lady Thatcher as Britain's saviour and thanked
her for championing freedom for the former Soviet bloc states of Eastern
Europe.

Political observers say that Mrs Tymoshenko, the fiercely ambitious leader
of the Ukrainian opposition, may have been hoping for some of the Iron
Lady's stardust to rub off on her campaign, as elections near on September
30.

Lady Thatcher's aims were less clear, although she is known to enjoy homage,
and to feel aggrieved that little of it is forthcoming from David Cameron
and the Conservative leadership.

There was plenty of praise from her tea companion.

"I have long admired Lady Thatcher, and drawn inspiration from her success
in transforming her country from being the sick man of Europe into one of
Europe's strongest economies, and raising UK living standards to one of the
highest in the world," said Mrs Tymoshenko.

"Her model has been followed and emulated by Tony Blair, Gordon Brown
and Nicholas Sarkozy.

"She was firm in adversity and stood up to oppression when others remained
seated. Her words spoke for countless millions across Eastern Europe who
had no voice.

"She helped write a new chapter for our nation and we remain indebted to her
courage."

A beaming Lady Thatcher appeared animated at the encounter, and even
permitted the Ukrainian politician to put an arm around her shoulders.

She wished Mrs Tymoshenko well for the future, expressed a hope that the
Ukrainian elections would be free and fair, and as the meeting ended
bestowed on her a signed copy of her political memoirs.

Last week Lady Thatcher caused a stir when she took tea with Gordon Brown,
once a vehement political opponent, thus directing the political limelight
away from Mr Cameron's efforts to launch a Conservative policy document
on the environment.

Some Tories claimed that Mr Brown had taken advantage of the "frail, lonely"
Lady Thatcher for a photo opportunity, but others asserted that the former
Premier knew perfectly well what she was doing.

Lady Thatcher appears to be fast becoming a political monument to whom it
is fashionable to pay tribute. US Republican presidential hopefuls Rudy
Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney have all recently paid her a visit.
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LINK: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2505255.ece
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25. MARGARET THATCHER MEETS YULIA TYMOSHENKO

By Ben Martin, Telegraph, London, UK, Saturday, Sep 22, 2007

Lady Thatcher met another iron lady of politics yesterday, holding talks
with Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko to discuss topics
close to both their hearts - economic reform and winning elections.

Mrs Tymoshenko, who became the Ukraine's first female prime minister in 2005
before her government was dismissed amid scandal just seven months later,
said she had long admired Lady Thatcher and thanked her for helping lift the
Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe.

Wearing the blonde, braided hair that is her trademark, Mrs Tymoshenko said
Lady Thatcher had transformed Britain from the "sick man" of Europe into one
of Europe's strongest economies.

"She was firm in adversity and stood up to oppression when others remained
seated," Mrs Tymoshenko said. "Her words spoke for countless millions across
Eastern Europe who had no voice. She helped write a new chapter for our
nation and we remain indebted to her courage."

Lady Thatcher responded by saying she hoped Ukraine's election, due on
September 30, would be free and fair and a "guiding light for democracy in
Eastern Europe".

"I wish for Ukraine to quickly complete its transformation and for its
people to enjoy the benefits of a prosperous democratic nation at the heart
of a modern Europe," she said. "The Orange Revolution gave hope to
freedom-loving people everywhere. Its spirit clearly lives on."

Lady Thatcher gave Mrs Tymoshenko a signed copy of her memoirs and
Mrs Tymoshenko presented Lady Thatcher with a boxed replica of a 2000
year-old Scythian artwork.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/09/21/wthatcher121.xml
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26. THATCHER BLESSES UKRAINE IRON LADY

By Marie Colvin, The Sunday Times
London, United Kingdom, Sunday, September 23, 2007

UKRAINE's former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, flew into London last
week to meet Baroness Thatcher, vowing to drag her country kicking and
screaming away from the Russian bear and into the European fold if she
returns to office after elections next weekend.

"Real women don't do U-turns," she said after the meeting, referring to
Thatcher's famous declaration that "the lady's not for turning".

Tymoshenko curled into the back seat of a car, dressed in a sleek cream wool
shift matched with 4in high heels. "I think I can be an iron lady and inside
still a human," she said. "It's about the ability to preserve the human
touch."

Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, her party, is tipped to do well in the elections and
she is the favour-ite to be the next prime minister. With her trademark
braid curled around her head, hers is one of the two faces of the orange
revolution, a striking contrast to that of Viktor Yushchenko, the president,
who was disfigured by an attempt to poison him with dioxin, an act he
blames on the Russians.

She admits the braid is a "pin on". "I found the style simple," she said.
"It saves time, and it's very traditional."

Tymoshenko is pro-western and pro-free market, hence the meeting with
Thatcher, who was so taken with her that she told her she would have liked
to campaign on her behalf.

A billionairess who made her fortune in the free-for-all chaos of the
mid 1990s in Ukraine's gas business, she is brimming with confidence that
her party will win at the polls.

Tymoshenko, 46, was supposedly betrayed by Yushchenko when he went
back on a deal that saw her agree not to run for president if she could
serve as prime minister. He dismissed her after seven months.

He then suffered the ignominy of being forced to replace her with a
candidate approved by his arch-rival, the pro-Rus-sian Viktor Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko is passionate in her convictions and has no fear of Ukraine's
macho political style. "Women are stronger. Like Thatcher, I'm committed to
changing my country for the better," she said. She was delighted with a gift
of Thatcher's memoirs, inscribed "To Julia, Fighter for Freedom".

Her mission is "first, to preserve our hard-won independence and to get rid
of post Soviet bureaucracy". She promised to fight corruption, the single
most difficult issue and one that polls show is people's biggest concern.

Even Moscow does not scare her. "If the independence of the Ukraine is at
stake, then I will call people on to the streets."

It will be a tough fight. In parliamentary elections last year the single
largest share of the vote went to the Party of the Regions, led by
Yanukovych.

Tymoshenko flew back in a private jet to campaign in these very regions
where Ukraine's 17% ethnic Russian minority, many of whom pine for closer
ties with Moscow, are concentrated. A heady mix of beauty and brains, a
whirlwind of energy, like Thatcher she may change her country for ever.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article2511689.ece
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27. TIMOSHENKO SIGNS THE CONTRACT WITH INVESTORS

By Gene M. Burd, Marks Sokolov & Burd, LLC
Philadelphia, PA, Monday, September 24, 2007

On September 10, Yulia Timoshenko met with the representatives of the
Western business and legal community, foreign government representatives
and the media where she gave highlights of her economic policies and signed
a document entitled 'Contract with Investors'.

A copy of the Contract with Investors will be available at the web site of
Marks Sokolov & Burd, LLC (www.marks-sokolov.com) and via e-mail
from Gene Burd at (gburd@mslegal.com).

Ms Timoshenko said that she was confident that her alliance with Yushenko
will be victorious and stated that she intends to form a democratic
coalition consisting of three or four political forces (possibly including
communists) working together. She also said that her goal is for foreign
investors to understand developments in the Ukrainian politics.
The Continuing Privatization Efforts -----
Ms Timoshenko has been critical of the present government for its lack of
transparency during privatization. She contrasted the second privatization
of Krivorozhstal which she called "honest" with the recent privatization of
Dneprenergo which according to her was simply a transfer to Rinat Akhmetov.
She also mentioned the inadequate efforts toward the privatization of the
power industry and agriculture.

Ms Timoshenko said that she stands behind her past efforts to privatize 569
wholly or partially state owned companies and will pass laws to that effect.
Her primary concern is privatization of companies in the mining and natural
resource industries.
'Economic Zones' will be Replaced by 'Investment Zones' -----
Ms Timoshenko has also been critical of the former 'free economic zones'
regime which according to her "killed" competition and which was misused
for tax evasion.

Rather, she has proposed to implement a regime of 'investment zones' in
underdeveloped areas. Goods manufactured in these zones will be exported
duty free but subject to duty if sold in Ukraine.

Investment and technology for investments will be tax free for as long as
the investment zone regime exists. Components and spare parts will be duty
free for a period of five years. Ms Timoshenko has promised to adopt the
'investment zones' laws within one month of coming to power.
Acquisition Of Non-Agricultural Lands Will Be Streamlined -----
Ms Timoshenko has promised to streamline procedures for the acquisition
of non-agricultural lands. She said that the acquisition process currently
requires 126 signatures which need to be done twice - first when the
application is submitted and second when it is approved.

The new land acquisition law will require local governments to put the
requested parcel of land up for auction within 10 days of a request or if
unavailable to put up for auction a substitute parcel of equal value. She
said that the law will be adopted within four to six weeks after the
election.
Less Red Tape -----
Ms Timoshenko said that she will fight bureaucracy by analyzing the function
of each bureaucrat and fire those who are unnecessary in order to destroy
the "corrupt bullion" of licenses and permissions. She did not specifically
name any licenses or permissions that she thought should be eliminated. Nor
did she present a time frame for their elimination.
Agricultural Land is Not for Sale -----
Ms Timoshenko said that until the laws regulating use of agricultural land
are implemented there will a moratorium on the sale of agricultural lands.
She stated that the present lack of legislation regulating the use of
agricultural lands will cause problems if the lands are allowed to be
privatized. For the meantime, these problems can only be avoided by
maintaining a moratorium.
Customs and Certifications -----
Ms Timoshenko stated that she wants to streamline customs procedures
wherein imported goods are checked and rechecked even if they have valid
certifications. She said she wants to implement a regime in which European
certificates of quality will be accepted.
Taxes -----
Ms Timoshenko has promised to significantly decrease payroll tax and VAT.
She said that the present VAT regime is a source of corruption and
inefficiency and that it can be substituted for by other taxes. However,
she did not explain specifically which taxes could substitute VAT and what
economic effects these taxes would have.

The decrease or even elimination of VAT is a common platform between the
Timoshenko Block and the Party of the Regions who are the main political
forces in Ukraine together with Our Ukraine.

These changes were promised in the previous elections, but so far they have
not happened. Moreover elimination of VAT would contradict certain EU
Directives.

Answering questions from the audience, Ms Timoshenko said that no
politician in any country can assure which direction future legislation will
take. There has to be a legal system that works.

Lastly, she said that in order to force politicians to keep their promises
there has to be a democratic system in which they can be voted out of
office.

It does not matter whether the system is parliamentary or presidential -
either one can work as long as the functions of each branch are clearly
delineated and a system of checks and balances is imposed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gene M. Burd is a member in the law firm Marks Sokolov and Burd, LLC
and the head of its representative office in Kyiv. He was born in Ukraine
and was educated in the United States where he also practices law.

Marks & Sokolov, LLC (operating in Ukraine as Marks Sokolov and Burd,
LLC) is a boutique law firm known for its ability to handle complex
litigation and commercial work in countries around the world including the
U.S., Russia and Ukraine. The firm has offices in Philadelphia, Moscow,
and Kiev and its lawyers are fluent in English, Russian, and Ukrainian.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Marks & Sokolov, LLC is a member of the U.S.-Ukraine
Business Council in Washington, D.C.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
28. UKRAINIAN MINDED BOOKS
"Why did He Annihilate Us?/Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor"

By Nadiya Tysiachna, Iryna Yehorova, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, September 18, 2007

Yurii Logush, a well-known international company's chairman [Kraft
Ukraina], called to the editorial office one day and asked to find our
newspaper's issue containing the continuation of the material written by
Stanislav Kulchytsky and entitled "Why did Stalin annihilate us?"

It occurred that he was collecting all publications of his author's cycle.
(It is a steadfast tendency. Many respected Ukrainian historians,
philosophers, literature critics and linguists confessed that they had whole
piles of The Day's press cuttings, until they were incorporated into the
books Ukraine Incognita, Dvi Rusi, Wars and Peace, Day and Eternity of
James Mace, Apocryfy of Klara Gudzyk, and My Universities from our
newspaper's library.)

Obviously, a same thing is happening this time. In the first numbers of
September, the book by Stanislav Kulchytsky "Why did He Annihilate Us?/
Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor," based on The Day's publications
(2005-2007), was published.

It contains valuable photos from engineer Vinerberger' collection and from
the collection Famine in the Soviet Ukraine 1932-33, published at the
Harvard University in 1986 using the resources of the Central State Archives
of the Cinematic-Photographic Documents of Ukraine. The foreword was written
by Editor in Chief Larysa Ivshyna, and the book was published under her
overall editorship.

The afterword was written by Director of Ukrainian Sciences Department at
the Rome University "La Sapienza", writer Oksana Pakhliovska. The
presentation of the book by Stanislav Kulchytsky Why did He Annihilate
Us/Stalin and the Ukrainian Holodomor took place within the framework of the
14th Forum of Publishers in Lviv.

A roundtable "Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-33. Document Heritage" was held in
the Mirror Hall at the Lviv-based Ivan Franko National University. Novelette
Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-33: Documents and Materials was introduced too
(Kyiv Mohyla Academy Publishing House). It was compiled by Ruslan Pyrih.

"I have been studying this topic practically since 2004," Stanislav
Kulchytsky explains, "although I have been studying the Holodomor probably
since 1985. The thing is that today the question of the Holodomor as an act
of genocide has been broached, therefore, one has to reinterpret everything
in the view of this. Actually, the new book of " The Day's Library" is
revealing the topic of the Holodomor as an and act of genocide.

"Clearly, the famine of 1932-33 was an all- union one, however, it was much
worse on the Ukrainian territory than anywhere else. Everywhere the famine
was caused by grain- collections. But Ukrainians faced something else - not
grain-collection, but a punitive action of confiscation of all means for
living.

"Since one could not buy food anywhere else (a rationing system was
implemented,) peasants started to day in masses (they did not receive the
ration cards.) What was the reason for this? In order to feed the peasants
afterwards. Thus, the state first had confiscated everything, and afterwards
started to feed them, so to say, from hands.

"Obviously, not all were fed, for millions died. This was a lesson taught by
Stalin to the Ukrainian peasants that were not eager to work for the state
for nothing, because everything they collected had been confiscated for
three years.

"However, Stalin also learnt a lesson. Starting from 1933, the base of
coexistence of collective farms and state economy were built in another way:
it was based on taxes.

"This meant that the state had recognized that produced good remained within
the ownership of peasants and collective farms, therefore, this was no slave
work, but that of a serf."

Stanislav Vladyslavovych responded in a laconic to the question, why the
book was published in Russian, "The purpose was to make people living in the
east and south of Ukraine in particular, and also in the Post-Soviet area,
read the book, "

Head of the Radio and Television Department at the Lviv- based Ivan Franko
National University Vasyl Lyzanchuk asked, in which way the scholar's
evolution develops in the view of such a dramatic theme.

"A well-known American Scientist James Mace, who studied the Ukrainian
Holodomor, published the article How Ukraine was Allowed to Believe in a
foreign magazine in 1994," Kulchytsky said, "The article consisted of nine
chapters, one of them devoted to me. I must say that at first there was a
misunderstanding between me and James, but afterwards we have reached a
consensus.

For he wrote that Kulchytsky was a soviet professor at first, and became
simply a professor after starting to study the Holodomor."

In his turn, Head of the Ukrainian Revolution Department at the Institute of
the History of Ukraine of the NAN of Ukraine, compiler of The Holodomor in
Ukraine 1932-33: Documents and Materials Ruslan Pyrih explained that in 2003
the archives of the Russian President transferred the Political Bureau
materials that have never been published previously to the Russian State
Archives of the social-political history.

"It was resolved that I would take this project," the scholar went on. "The
collection is a synthetic one. The Russian study of early texts have
published many similar projects like Tragedy of Soviet Village or Lubianka
for Stalin. Ukraine has few of these books.

Therefore their most interesting documents and too the documents from the
Political Bureau, foreign intelligence services and Stalin, Molotov and
Kahanovych's correspondence have been included to my book. The materials
and documents from the total of 15 Ukrainian central and oblast archives and
five RF archives were included into the collection."

The associate worker of the State SBU branch archives, historian Dr. Vasyl
Danylenko, who took part in publication of Declassified Memory, said that
both books, Why Did He Annihilate Us and Holodomor in Ukraine 1932-33:
Documents Materials, belong to the decade's best ones for their significance.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/187798/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
29. HOLODOMOR 1932-1933 IN UKRAINE: DOCUMENTS. MATERIALS
"This book is the quintessence of whatwe know about the Holodomor"

By Ihor Siundiukov, The Day Weekly Digest
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 4, 2007

As The Day has already reported, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Publishers have
just published a fundamental study entitled Holodomor 1932-1933 r.r. v
Ukraini. Dokumenty i materially [The Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine:
Documents and Materials].

This compilation contains several hundred documents that provide evidence
of the Stalin's totalitarian regime's terrible crime against the Ukrainian
people and humanity in general.

The book has sparked great public and scholarly interest, attracting all
kinds of readers. The Day asked the compiler of the study, the historian
Ruslan Pyrih, to tell us briefly about the history of the book's creation.

This study is the result of the collective efforts of many individuals. Its
"birth" was not easy and took a long time. What can you tell me about the
background of this publication?
TWO LANDMARK BOOKS
Here in front of me are two landmark books: Holod v Ukraini 1932-1933
rokiv [The Famine in Ukraine in the Years 1932-1933] (a collection of 248
documents; a pioneering scholarly work on the problems of the Holodomor,
which was published in 1990, the second-to-last year of perestroika, when
the ruling party realized that it was impossible to conceal the horrible
truth) - and this newly published study of the Holodomor.

I happen to be the compiler of both these books. Comparing these two
studies, one can see the immense and amazing path covered by our historical
science in these past 17 years.

In fact, all of us, scholars, had to resolve an enormous number of problems,
including limited access to the documentary sources available at the time
and a certain fear of drawing conclusions and bitter generalizations, which
was caused by well-known factors.

However, I must mention such valuable and useful works as Kolektyvizatsiia i
holod v Ukraini [Collectivization and Famine in Ukraine (published in 1992,
this is a collection of documents, materials, and articles), and Holod v
Ukraini (1932-1933 rr. Prychyny i naslidky [Famine in Ukraine in 1932-1933:
Causes and Consequences] (a collection of articles published by Naukova
Dumka in 2003 on the initiative of Academician Valerii Smolii).

By the way, 2003 was the year when hundreds of formerly highly classified
files of the 1920s and 1930s were transferred from the archive of the
president of the Russian Federation (the former Politburo archive) to the
Russian State Archive of Social and Political History, which made it
possible to put them into scholarly circulation, including in Ukraine.

Our new book was ready for printing in 2004, but it spent three years on the
list of "indispensable" publications that enjoy state support because there
were no funds to publish it. But all that is in the past.

I am especially grateful to the Ukraine-3000 Foundation, the Kyiv-Mohyla
Academy Publishers, the Naukova Dumka Publishing House, Ms. Olha
Bazhan, the legendary General Prystaiko, and many other people who helped
make this book possible.

[The Day] What makes this study unique?
You can judge for yourself. I will mention only a few statistics. Our book
contains 1,700 documents, both new ones and those that were published
earlier (1,200 pages). We can say that this is the quintessence of what we
know about the Holodomor today.

Typologically, these documents include materials of the Union organs (the CC
AUCP(b), Sovnarkom, and VUTsVK), documents from the corresponding
organs of the Ukrainian SSR, and those of local organs.
DOCUMENTS NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED
But this book contains certain documents - and this is important! - that
have never been published before.

These are documents of foreign diplomatic missions in the early 1930s,
foreign civic organizations, and the private papers of individual people
from those terrible years: letters, complaints, diaries (for example, one by
Dmytro Zavoloka, a Communist Party functionary, and another by a
Kharkiv-based teacher named Radchenko).

To my mind the documents of the Politburo included in the collection have
the greatest importance (about 100 resolutions, 65 of which have never been
published before).

What can we see from those documents? We see that the Ukrainian people
did not go mutely like lambs to the slaughter (for example, at least 50
district party committees protested against the decisions and resisted them).

We see that the arrival in Ukraine of "the heavyweights" (Molotov and
Kaganovich) was instrumental. We see that there was some relief given to
starving regions, but it was highly selective (it was not so much relief as
loans).

[The Day] A surprise question: what do you dream about now that the
book has been published?
I want the book to live a life of its own, independent of any institutions
or authors. Then I will be happy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/187308/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[return to index] [Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service]
========================================================
30. IN THE MERCILESS LIGHT OF MEMORY
Security Service of Ukraine holds roundtable on declassified archival
materials about the Holodomor and political repressions in Ukraine

By Ihor Siundiukiv, The Day Weekly Digest,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, September 4, 2007

"For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest." This is what
Hitlers, Stalins, Pinochets, Pol Pots and their ilk forget when they destroy
innocent people - from thousands and hundreds of thousands to dozens of
millions.

Ukraine needs to know the terrible documented truth about the millions of
our compatriots who were mowed down by Stalin's scythe of death.

This is no exaggeration because the Holodomor period (as well as the entire
stretch of the 1920s and 1930s) is a pivotal era of Soviet history, and the
attitude to this period depends to a large extent on its interpretation and
assessment.

What is needed above all is the political will to make public the documents
about the crimes of Stalin's tyranny, which until recently were top secret.
We can now say that Ukraine's political leadership does have this will.

On Aug. 27, in pursuance of President Viktor Yushchenko's instruction to
make a further study of the history of political repressions against the
citizens of Ukraine and Ukrainians living abroad and the president's decree
"On Measures to Mark the 70th Anniversary of the Great Terror - the Mass
Political Repressions of 1937-1938," the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)
hosted a roundtable debate "The 1932-1933 Holodomor and Political
Repressions in Ukraine in Documents from the Archives of the Security
Service of Ukraine."

The organizers of the roundtable also launched the book Rozsekrechena
pam'iat. Holodomor 1932-1933 rokiv v Ukraini v dokumentakh GPU NKVD
[Declassified Memory: The Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine in the
Documents of the GPU NKVD], which contains declassified documents on
Soviet political repressions in Ukraine.

In his speech acting SBU head Valentyn Nalyvaichenko emphasized that
today there can be no secrets, cover-ups, or distortions with respect to the
political repressions.

"The Ukrainian secret service is opening up all the available archival
materials on this subject to the Ukrainian public and the world community
and is inviting researchers, historians, and all committed individuals to
cooperate," he noted.

"The SBU does not doubt that the Holodomor was anything but genocide of
the Ukrainian people, a pre-planned and pre-conceived crime, and documents
confirm this.

"Our task is to map out a strategy for reviving the Ukrainian people's
national memory, and we are pinning special hopes on the Institute of
National Memory, recently established in keeping with President Viktor
Yushchenko's decree."

As for the SBU's concrete actions to achieve this extremely important goal,
Nalyvaichenko announced that the SBU has already formally requested Russia's
Federal Security Service and its counterparts in the Republic of Kazakhstan
to help in the work of checking the lists of victims of repressions and
furnishing the required archival documents.

Vasyl Danylenko, deputy chief of the SBU archives, spoke about the history,
importance, and need for this publication. He noted that this study is the
first comprehensive publication of documents from the GPU NKVD on the
Holodomor, which will be of paramount scholarly and practical importance.

Researchers will be greatly interested in the documents that expose the
Holodomor's "triggering mechanism," including minutes of the AUCP(B)
Politburo meeting on Sept. 16, 1932, which laid down the procedure of
applying the draconian law "On the Theft of Socialist Property" (popularly
known as the "five ears law").

The documents contained in the book show that the GPU - both on the
All-Union and Ukrainian republican level - was actively involved in
suppressing the Ukrainian peasantry.

Ukrainian filmmaker Alexander Dovzhenko, whose comments were also recorded
by secret agents and reported to the authorities in 1933, said very clearly
at the time, "The Ukrainian countryside is dying. Ukrainian villages are on
the brink of extinction."

These documents are being published for the first time, as are the
photographs taken by a peasant from Baturyn, named Bokan, which are a
damning indictment of the terror by famine.

In her speech historian Valentyna Borysenko focused on the great importance
of oral testimonies in Holodomor studies because researchers throughout the
world value precisely this kind of information, especially when it comes
from children, who can memorize even the minutest details.

Borysenko noted that Robert Conquest and James Mace, the world-acclaimed
Holodomor researchers, had always relied on this kind of evidence.

Many of the roundtable participants spoke warmly and with extreme gratitude
about the late James Mace whose publications were frequently published in
The Day.

Askold Lozynskyj, head of the Ukrainian World Congress, recalled that Mace
used to tell him (and was prepared to bolster his view with figures) that if
there had been no Holodomor, the population of Ukraine would have reached
100 million by the late 20th century.

The audience listened with rapt attention to Dr. Bohdan Futey, a judge on
the US Court of Federal Claims, who summed up the findings of the
International Commission of Inquiry into the 1932-33 Famine in Ukraine
(Sundberg Commission, 1988-1990) which was set up on the initiative of the
World Congress of Free Ukrainians.

The documents of this commission as well as those of the US Congress-
sponsored Commission on the Ukraine Famine (in which Mace was the
powerhouse) are still important and necessary.

The Sundberg Commission, which does not, however, believe that the Soviet
leadership aimed to destroy the Ukrainian nation once and for all, arrived
at the following conclusion: "The majority of the commission believes that
the Soviet government deliberately used the Holodomor, once it began, to
pursue its policy of denationalization. This policy flouts the moral
foundations on which all of humankind rests. Without a doubt the top
leadership of the USSR bears responsibility for this."

Some speakers proposed that the actions of Stalin and his associates be
classified as "crimes against humanity" on the grounds that calling these
misdeeds "genocide" will raise some purely juridical problems because the
relevant UN convention that gives the definition of genocide was approved in
1947.

Therefore, it would have been a retroactive application of the convention to
the crimes that were committed well before it was adopted. However, others
presented a different, no less convincing, argument: the massacre of the
Armenians, which was committed by the Ottoman Empire even earlier, in 1915,
has been recognized as genocide by the vast majority of the world community.

Karl Jaspers, a prominent 20th-century German philosopher, wrote: "The
machine of terror becomes powerful when those who do not wish to have
anything to do with this machine also come to be terrorized."

To a large extent these words explain the causes of the terrible events that
were discussed at the SBU roundtable. The search for the truth must continue,
and new secret police archival documents must be revealed to the public.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/187297/
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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