Ukraine, Georgia Agree to Reverse Flow of Oil in Disputed Pipeline

KIEV, Ukraine -- The flow of oil in a key Ukrainian pipeline will be reversed to carry oil shipments from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan to Western Europe, instead of pumping crude from Russia to the Black Sea port of Odessa, the Ukrainian and Georgian prime ministers said Feb. 28.

The decision about the Odessa-Brody pipeline, announced following a meeting between Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and her Georgian counterpart, Zurab Nogaideli, is likely to complicate relations between the two former Soviet republics and Russia.


Viktor Yushchenko (l) greets Georgian PM Zurab Nogaideli (r)
Last summer, Ukraine's Cabinet agreed to open the long-idle pipeline for shipments of Russian oil to Odessa. But the United States has opposed that, saying it will increase Ukraine's energy dependence on Russia and raise chances of an oil spill as more tankers travel through Turkey's clogged Bosporus strait.

Georgia stands to benefit from the new deal because it will earn transit fees. And Georgia, like Ukraine, is interested in expanding its self-reliance compared to the regional energy power, Russia.

Russia is Ukraine's largest trade partner and energy supplier, while key Russian pipelines and other infrastructure links with Europe run through Ukraine.

Nogaideli traveled to Ukraine on Feb. 27 for a three-day trip and was scheduled to meet top Ukrainian officials, including President Viktor Yushchenko.

It was Nogaideli's first trip abroad since filling the post after the sudden death of Zurab Zhvania, who apparently fell victim to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Later in the day, Nogaideli and Yushchenko discussed boosting bilateral ties, and agreed to refresh an alliance of five former Soviet republics aimed at enhancing regional stability and encourage economic development.

The GUUAM group - comprising Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova - was established in 1997 in a bid to seek cooperation outside Russian influence.

Kiev Goes 'Orange' For Eurovision

KIEV, Ukraine -- The song that became the anthem of Ukraine's "orange revolution" has been chosen to represent the country at this year's Eurovision song contest.

The hip-hop tune Together we are many! (Razom nas bahato!) by Greenjolly beat 18 other contestants in an interactive vote in a qualifying final in Kiev.

It became an instant hit with many Ukrainians who rallied against last November's rigged presidential poll.

Ukraine will host Eurovision 2005 in May as it won the contest last year.


Ruslana and Wild Dances
The country's winning entry at the show in Turkey was Wild Dances by Ruslana.

'Now or never!'

Razom nas bahato! is a remake of the famous revolutionary song Pueblo unido jamas sera vencido! (The people, united, will never be defeated!) from the 1960s.

It was written by the Greenjolly duo in the early days of the mass protests in Kiev that eventually brought West-leaning President Viktor Yushchenko to power.

"No to falsifications!... No to lies! Yushchenko - yes! Yushchenko - yes! This is our president - yes, yes!" the song says.

"We aren't cattle!... We are Ukraine's daughters and sons! Now or never! Enough with the wait! Together we are many! We cannot be defeated," it says.

Greenjolly won the right to represent Ukraine in a telephone and SMS vote during Sunday's final shown live on UT1 television channel.

However, some local music experts have criticised the viewers' choice, saying the Eurovision is not a contest for political songs.

The Car in Which Gongadze Was Driven Away Has Been Located

KIEV, Ukraine -- In the Gongadze investigation, a witness who saw the journalist get into a car “planted by the police” has been identified and the car has been located.

Yuriy Lutsenko, Minister of Internal Affairs stated this in an interview on ICTV television.

“We have clearly identified those who got Gongadze into the car. This car is also now in our custody,” stated the Minister.


Murdered Journalist Gongadze
Lutsenko again affirmed his certainty that the police will identify not only those who detained Gongadze, but also those who contracted his detention. “This will be more complicated, but we will get them,” added the Minister.

He also confirmed that not all police who “followed, tapped conversations, and got [Gongadze] to get into the car” are criminals, because they were carrying out the order of their superiors, not knowing that this order was a crime.

“If we need to preserve the anonymity, or even stimulate the solution of this crime with financial reward, we will do so, because this is the most famous criminal investigation in the world right now,” added Lutsenko.

Ukraine Prosecutors Probe Bizarre Russian Link in Yushchenko Poisoning

KIEV, Ukraine -- In a bizarre twist to the mysterious poisoning that disfigured the face of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, investigators in Kiev are probing a new lead that involves a Russian political consultant.

Prosecutors are studying an audiotape of a conversation which alleges a role in the dioxin poisoning by Kremlin-connected spin-doctor Gleb Pavlovsky, a spokesman for the prosecutor general told AFP.



Pavlovsky, a key campaign advisor to Yushchenko's defeated Moscow-backed rival Viktor Yanukovich, dismisses the claims as a 'fabrication.'

'The prosecutor has said he knows whose voices are on the tape. This is one of the versions we are working on,' said Vyacheslav Astapov, a spokesman for Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun.

The tape recording is of a bugged conversation between a Kremlin official in Moscow and a man in Kiev who is close to Ukraine's SBU secret services, the journalist who passed the tape to prosecutors, Volodymyr Ariev, told AFP.

'The person in Kiev told his contact in Moscow that the poisoning was Pavlovsky's idea. The aim was to disfigure Yushchenko's face, not kill him,' said the Channel 5 journalist, adding that the plot appeared to involve rogue Russian secret service elements.

Kyiv Post Editorial: Too Many Corpses

KIEV, Ukraine -- It has tended to be lost in all the excitement of a new government that some influential Ukrainians, with important ties to the nation’s business and political elite, have died recently under strange circumstances. There has been no adequate accounting for these deaths, but there must be if Ukraine is to move forward.

First, on Dec. 3 of last year, lawyer Yuriy Lyakh, 39, was found dead in his office at the Kyiv headquarters of the Ukrainian Credit Bank, of which he was the chairman. The case was ruled a suicide, and a note was reported to have been found on the scene. Lyakh had ostensibly stabbed himself to death in the neck with a paper knife.

With a paper knife? It doesn’t take a paranoid to view the official version of Lyakh’s death with a certain suspicion. Lyakh was, to put it mildly, well-connected. He was one of the so-called Big Seven, a group of associates of Viktor Medvedchuk, the former Presidential Administration chief, head of the influential Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united), and perennial power-player. Media reports have placed Medvedchuk at the center of the election fraud controversy that led to the so-called Orange Revolution, and implied that he wanted a hard line taken with anti-government protestors.

Then, on Dec. 27, Transportation Minister Heorhy Kirpa was found shot dead in a bathhouse near his home outside Kyiv. Korrespondent.net, the Post’s Russian-language sister publication, reported that Kirpa had met with an unknown member of Ukraine’s elite hours before his death. His demise was also ruled a suicide. The Prosecutor General’s Office reportedly opened an investigation into whether Kirpa had been driven to kill himself.


Heorhy Kirpa
Next, on Feb. 14, Roman Nikiforov, head of Donetsk’s Artemivsky Champagne Factory, reportedly shot himself by mistake with a rubber bullet. The Artemivsky Champagne Factory, media reports allege, is co-owned by powerful Donetsk-based tycoon Rinat Akhmetov.

President Viktor Yushchenko has, appropriately, ordered the PGO to investigate the Lyakh and Kirpa deaths. We’re not sure current Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Pyskun, a holdover from the previous power structure, is the man to get to the bottom of these peculiar cases, but Yushchenko’s move is a start, if only a start. Time will tell whether Nikiforov’s death deserves investigation as well.

For years, Ukraine has been a country in which suspicious deaths – starting with the king of them all, the 2000 murder of investigative journalist Georgy Gongadze – don’t get solved. Capital mysteries drag on for years, as if powerful people don’t want them solved. It’s hard to imagine a better index of corruption than that. If Ukraine is to become the “European” country Yushchenko says it is, it must stop being one in which the authorities are blase (or self-interested) in solving capital crimes, and in which skeletons are allowed to rattle eternally in official closets. How can Ukraine move forward if it’s weighted down with corpses?

All these cases must be resolved to the satisfaction of reasonable people; the era in which the government drags its feet on investigating suspicious cases must end. Pressure has to be kept on Yushchenko and his government until there are answers. Taking him at his word, Ukrainians should never let him compromise.

Bush Advises PORA to Work in Moldova, While They Want to Focus on Belarus

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- The civic campaign PORA which took part in the Orange Revolution, will expand its activities in Belarus and Moldova.

Vladyslav Kaskiv, the leader of PORA, announced the organization’s intention to support democracy in Belarus during a meeting in Bratislava of US President George Bush with representatives of pro-democracy organizations.

According to a PORA press release, PORA’s intention to be active in Belarus evoked a “positive reaction” from Bush.


PORA Activists During Orange Revolution
Bush also supported the idea expressed by PORA that “freedom cannot stop at the Ukrainian border” and added that the object of such an international collaboration could be supporting democratic elections in Moldova.

Kaskiv also proposed the formation of an “International Democracy Institute” with a headquarters in Kyiv.

Following his meeting with the leaders of the various democracy movements, Bush appeared on the central square of Bratislava and talked about the potential for the spread of democracy around the world. During his speech, Bush mentioned the achievements of Ukrainians and Ukraine’s potential seven times.

At the same time, as reported by the Institute of Mass Information, another Ukrainian was to meet with Bush – UT-1 sign-language translator Natalia Dmytruk, who used sign language to report the truth about the election falsifications.

As has been reported, Natalia Dmytruk ignored the prepared text of broadcaster Tetiana Kravchenko during the November 25 morning news telecast about Yanukovych’s victory. Instead, Dmytruk told viewers the following: “The results of the Central Election Committee have been falsified. Don’t believe them. Yushchenko is our president. I feel sorry that it has come to broadcasting lies. I will no longer take part in it. I don’t know if we will see one another again."

Yushchenko Poisoning Answers Remain Elusive

KIEV, Ukraine -- Five months after Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko first showed signs of dioxin poisoning, there are still more questions than answers about how he was poisoned and who was behind it.

It isn't even clear if the intent was to kill him or to weaken him so he would drop out of the race for the presidency.

Whatever the intent, it failed. Yushchenko swept to power after one election was declared fraudulent and he clearly won the second.

His skin pocked with dioxin-induced acne and him suffering pain so great he required infusions of drugs directly into his spine, Yushchenko took on almost messianic status.

"In a sense, he became a living martyr, a walking resurrection story," said Andriy Ermolaev, a political analyst at Kiev's Center for Social Studies.

Last week, Yushchenko said at a news conference that he was aware of tapes that might tie the poisoning to the Russian Federal Security Service, successor to the Soviet KGB.

The tapes reportedly contain the voices of Russian FSS employees talking about the poisoning and implicating a Russian official, Gleb Pavlovskiy. The tapes were given to a Ukrainian TV station in December and handed over to investigators Tuesday.

Pavlovskiy has denied any involvement. But the idea that the Russians might somehow have harmed Yushchenko appeals to many here who thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was too quick to congratulate Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, on his "victory" after the first, fraudulent election.

Yushchenko said he would make no judgment on the reports of Russian involvement until the Ukrainian prosecutor completes his investigation.

The investigation has centered on a Sept. 5 dinner Yushchenko shared with three other men at a home outside the capital. The details of that dinner were revealed by Volodymyr Boyko, a reporter who in September broke the news that poisoning might be behind Yushchenko's deterioration.

According to Boyko, the dinner's host was Volodymyr Satsyuk, the No. 2 official in Ukraine's secret service. His boss, Ihor Smeshko, was also there, as were Yushchenko and David Zhvania, Yushchenko's close friend and one of the country's richest men.

According to an official report, Yushchenko was stricken with nausea the next morning. At first he tried traditional Ukrainian home remedies. But his symptoms worsened and by 7 p.m., suspecting food poisoning, he sought a doctor's care.

On Sept. 10, deathly ill, he flew to Austria for treatment. When he returned to Ukraine eight days later, chloracne scars had disfigured his face.

The dinner would have been an ideal setting for administering the dioxin, said Max Daunderer, a Munich toxicologist. The amount of dioxin needed for Yushchenko's level of poisoning would be significantly smaller than a grain of salt.

"And alcohol speeds up and intensifies the uptake of poisons," he said.

Others are less certain. Dr. Arnold Schecter, one of the world's leading dioxin experts at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas, said he believes the symptoms surfaced too quickly for the dinner to have been the source of the poison.

"In medicine, there's always the exception, but dioxin usually takes at least three days to produce symptoms," he said. "Frankly, the timing of getting sick the next day would point away from the dinner."

Satsyuk denies that the poisoning could have taken place at his home. "We ate from the same platters, drank from the same bottles," he said. None of the other men fell ill.

German Bank May Issue 2 Billion Euro Credit to Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- Deutsche Bank and Ukraine’s oil and gas company Neftegaz are drafting an agreement on a credit of up to two billion euros for an energy project to overhaul the Ukrainian gas transportation network.



First Vice Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh told journalists on Saturday, “We are preparing a serious draft for a Deutsche Bank credit to the national joint stock company Neftegaz Ukrainy to a sum of about two billion euros for the technical modernisation of the gas transportation system and other projects.”

He said the work could be completed before President Viktor Yushchenko’s official visit to Germany scheduled for March 8-9.

According to Kinakh, one of the issues to be discussed in Germany will be cooperation in the creation of a gas transportation consortium.

“I support the resumption of systemic work on the creation of a consortium on a trilateral basis,” Kinakh said.

Earlier Ukraine, Russia, and Germany agreed to create a consortium for the development and management of the gas transportation system. Russia will contribute natural gas, Ukraine will provide transit capacities, and Germany will act as a consumer.

Yushchenko has stressed the need to resume work on the consortium with the participation of the European Union.

More Former Communist States on the Verge of Orange Revolution

MOSCOW, Russia -- Ukraine's pro-democracy ‘Orange Revolution’ may be about to sweep eastwards as three more former communist states hold elections in the coming days.

Opposition parties in Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are cloaking themselves in orange, hoping to "do a Ukraine" and remove unpopular governments in parliamentary elections.


Ukrainian Orange Revolution
Like Ukrainians, opponents in these states complain of living under the yoke of tyrannical governments little changed from the days when they were part of the Soviet Union. They are optimistic that the elections will see the old guard swept from power.

Tajikistan goes to the polls today and Kyrgyzstan tomorrow, but opposition in the two countries has not enjoyed the same support from America as Victor Yuschenko’s party did in Ukraine.

What is missing from central Asia is American aid. Washington poured in help and expertise for the revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine. American money financed newspapers, think tanks and parties.

In both Georgia and Ukraine, PR experts advised on strategy, and Americans trained opposition youth groups in non- violent resistance.

In the case of Ukraine this paid off handsomely, with the youth group Pora - the name means ‘It is time’ - setting up the so-called Tent City protest in the heart of Kiev.

But in central Asia, America fears the beneficiaries of popular discontent may be Islamic parties who are hostile to the West. Kyrgyzstan has also helped America build an important air base for flights in and out of Afghanistan.

Observers also see problems in making the Orange Revolution exportable.

"If you are talking about these central Asian countries it depends on the level of the people," said Olena Viter, the executive director of Ukraine’s School for Policy Analysis. "The middle class was the main player that was interested in this revolution. But it was not only in the elections. There was a very long process before."

But Kyrgyz opposition leader Roza Otunbaeva, of the Ata Jurt party, said the people were "absolutely ready" for a Ukraine-style change. "We’re not talking about a revolution but about the peaceful, calm and constitutional transfer of power," he said.

What has galvanised them was the sight of opposition supporters in Ukraine refusing to take no for an answer. On November 21, when the government rigged elections, hundreds of thousands of protesters flooded the streets of Kiev.

Despite the intense cold and threats of attack by police and troops, Ukraine’s protesters remained on the streets of the capital. After three weeks of deadlock, the government buckled, called new elections and saw opposition hero Yushchenko elected president.

Two weeks after Ukraine’s revolution, neighbouring Romania followed suit. Opposition champion Traian Basescu won an election against former communist Adrian Nastase, amid streets awash with orange banners and flags.

Some see the Orange Revolution as a "second wave" bringing democracy to former communist nations which have yet to break with the past.

Best placed to see change is Moldova, which goes to the polls on March 6. It is sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania, and controlled by Europe’s last ruling Communist party.

Further east, the opposition faces tougher obstacles. In Tajikistan, tax police shut down the main opposition newspapers last summer. They have since reopened but face continued harassment.

Neighbouring Kyrgyzstan has a much stronger opposition but they, too, have hit problems. The government is demanding each candidate pays a $768 registration fee - a fortune in a country where the average annual wage is $345.

Ukraine to Change Ideology of Privatisation

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian government plans to change the ideology of privatisation in order “not to eat away” the revenue generated by the sale of state property, First Vice Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh said.

He told journalists on Saturday, “It is unacceptable when all financial gains are directed towards consumption. We will try to make sure that the resources from privatisation go into innovative projects, small and medium-sized business support.”

In his words, the government is finalising a privatisation programme for 2005. It will be based on the transparency of privatisation auctions and equal access to them for all investors, he added.

Kinakh said privatisation revenue in 2005 was expected at 2.5 billion grivnas (almost 500 million U.S. dollars), which is half of what was projected by the previous government in the 2005 budget that will need to be corrected now.

The first vice prime minister confirmed that the national communication operator Ukrtelecom would not be privatised in 2005 because its sale will require “a serious pre-privatisation preparation”.

He said the government was still mulling over the list of property to be sold in 2005.

Kinakh also said that a special working group set up by the Ukrainian government was examining the legitimacy of the privatisation of about 20 enterprises.

“We are scrutinising the privatisation of several companies, including Krivorozhstal (metallurgical mill) and energy-related ones,” he said.

According to Kinakh, “The government will not allow the situation to slide to the re-division of property.”

He promised that the government would “protect the rights of owners”.

Founder of Amnesty International Dies

LONDON, England -- Peter Benenson, the founder of Amnesty International, has died, the human rights organization said Saturday. He was 83.

Benenson set up Amnesty International in 1961 after reading an article about the arrest and imprisonment of two students in a cafe in Lisbon, Portugal, who had drunk a toast to liberty.


Peter Benenson
He initially set up Amnesty, which is based in London, as a one-year campaign, but it went on to become the world's largest independent human rights organizations. Currently, it has more than 1.8 million members and supporters worldwide.

"Peter Benenson's life was a courageous testament to his visionary commitment to fight injustice around the world. He brought light into the darkness of prisons, the horror of torture chambers and tragedy of death camps around the world," said Irene Khan, Amnesty's secretary-general.

"This was a man whose conscience shone in a cruel and terrifying world, who believed in the power of ordinary people to bring about extraordinary change and, by creating Amnesty International, he gave each of us the opportunity to make a difference," she said.

"In 1961 his vision gave birth to human rights activism. In 2005, his legacy is a world wide movement for human rights which will never die."

Amnesty International has been active in Ukraine, for a number of years.

Poroshenko Orders Inventory of Country's Weaponry

KIEV, Ukraine -- A top defense official ordered officials Feb. 25 to take an inventory of all military weaponry and equipment in Ukraine, just days after two anti-aircraft missile systems were discovered missing from a military depot.

Petro Poroshenko, recently appointed chief of Ukraine's Defense and Security Council, gave the military six weeks to perform a "total inventory," noting that it would be an "extremely difficult task" given the size of the country's weapons stores.



He said that once the inventory was completed, he would be "absolutely public and open" about the circumstances surrounding the disappearance discovered Tuesday of two SA-7 Grail missile systems from a depot in Ukraine's southern Crimean peninsula.

The Defense Ministry said an investigation had been launched into the missing systems - also called Strela-3M, or Arrow.

The heat-seeking Strela missiles are produced in Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Egypt, former Yugoslav republics and elsewhere and are the anti-aircraft weapon of choice for guerillas, rebel forces and terrorists worldwide.

Ukraine's new government has been trying to clamp down on illicit weapons deals that flourished under former President Leonid Kuchma. Last month, a key Ukrainian lawmaker revealed the secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling Ukraine's nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China.

Ukraine Strips Ex-President of Retirement Perks

KIEV, Ukraine -- The cabinet Saturday stripped former president Leonid Kuchma of a plush - and widely criticized - retirement package that featured a monthly pension, two cars, a government home and much more.

New Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had ordered the government to come up with a new, slimmed-down package for former officials.

Kuchma's privileges were cancelled based on a decision by the Ministry of Justice that the previous government "exceeded its responsibilities," the cabinet said in a statement.

On Jan. 19, five days before President Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in, acting Prime Minister Mykola Azarov signed an order giving Kuchma a monthly salary worth about 8,200 UAH and allowing him and wife Lyudmyla to keep their government-owned home in Ukraine's most exclusive enclave. The package also gave Kuchma two aides, an adviser, securities, two cars, four drivers and a countryside residence.

Anger against Kuchma runs deep in this country of 48 million. Many Ukrainians accuse him of having run the state like a personal fiefdom, enriching those close to him while the rest of the country was choked by poverty and corruption.

Yushchenko, sacked by Kuchma in acrimony as prime minister in 2000, has cranked up the pressure on Kuchma and the previous government, ordering all sales of state property to be re-examined along with alleged "insider" deals under the previous regime.

Prosecutors are sifting through other major privatization deals and financial transactions, an investigation that is likely to focus on the wealthy clique of businessmen close to Kuchma.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko asked the country's Prosecutor General's Office to open a criminal case against Former President Leonid Kuchma, the party's press service said.

"The Prosecutor General's Office has to open a criminal case against Kuchma on crimes he committed when he served as Ukrainian president, which carry a sentence of high treason" said Symonenko.

Profile: Boris Nemtsov

MOSCOW, Russia -- Boris Nemtsov, once a rising star in the Russian political firmament, has joined forces with Ukraine's new liberal president Viktor Yushchenko.

His post as adviser to Mr Yushchenko might help export the "orange revolution" to Russia, some analysts say.

Mr Nemtsov - who is not renouncing Russian citizenship - insists his work in Ukraine will focus entirely on economic issues.

"The main thing is to normalise our relations and bring Russian investment into Ukraine," he told BBC Russian.com.

But the western-orientated market reformer, who was a favourite of former Russian President Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, does not deny seeking to influence the political climate in Russia.

On Monday he was in Kiev to welcome Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who was on his first visit to Ukraine since the "orange revolution" - the massive street protests that helped secure Mr Yushchenko's election victory.

"Ukraine's success on the path to European integration is also Russia's success, and their failures are also our failures," Mr Nemtsov told the BBC.

"Our help to fraternal Ukraine ultimately means that the situation in Russia will get out of its present rut and the grey bureaucratic dictatorship will not last forever."

Mr Nemtsov's new appointment drew a mixture of excitement and scepticism.

Reformer

A nuclear scientist and environmentalist, he shot into the post of Nizhny Novgorod regional governor after the fall of communism.

The region, bristling with military industries, became a showcase for foreign investment in Russia - helped by Mr Nemtsov's media awareness. He quickly became one of Russia's most prominent politicians.

Many observers speculated that Mr Yeltsin was grooming Mr Nemtsov as his successor. He was appointed Russian deputy prime minister in charge of economic reform.

But he came to regret that decision, for it heralded the beginning of his political decline.

Any presidential ambitions he had were undermined by the August 1998 economic crisis, which also cost him the government job.

Along with other prominent liberals, Mr Nemtsov then created the Union of Right Forces (SPS).

Initially the party seemed very successful, gaining about 10% in the December 1999 election and forming an influential faction in the Russian parliament. But in the next few years the SPS attitude to Russia's new president Vladimir Putin evolved from conditional support to open opposition - and the party lost supporters.

In the 2003 election the SPS failed to reach the 5% threshold needed to enter parliament. It even got fewer votes than Grigory Yavlinsky's liberal Yabloko movement, which also suffered a major defeat.

Mr Nemtsov resigned as SPS leader and pursued a business career, while making futile attempts to reunite Russian liberals, left in total disarray by the election catastrophe.

Helping Revolution

Ukraine's "orange revolution" came as a breath of fresh air for the Russian liberals, because it made Mr Putin's increasingly authoritarian regime look not all that invincible.

Mr Nemtsov took an active part in the opposition rallies in Kiev's Independence Square, and was frequently seen alongside Mr Yushchenko and his ally Yulya Tymoshenko during their campaign.

Still his appointment as adviser came as a surprise.

Mr Yavlinsky - his arch-rival for leadership of the Russian liberal camp - had been seen by some analysts as a possible candidate for the post of Ukrainian prime minister.

Mr Yavlinsky hails from the Lviv region of western Ukraine and was even once a Ukrainian boxing champion.

But instead Ms Tymoshenko was made prime minister.

This was another shock for Moscow, which in the heat of the Ukrainian election battle even brought fraud charges against her.

Ukrainian analysts quoted by the Russian government newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta said Mr Nemtsov's appointment was made "to bridge the gap between Mr Yushchenko and the Russian-speaking population".

But other experts told the liberal Russian Gazeta newspaper that Mr Yushchenko was simply avenging Moscow for its open support of his main rival in the controversial elections, Viktor Yanukovych.

"Ukraine is now criticising the Russian model of controlled democracy, while Mr Nemtsov represents the Russian opposition. I don't think he can be of much help," expert Anatoly Galchinsky told Gazeta.

But according to analyst Konstantin Simonov, quoted by Rossiyskaya Gazeta, now Mr Nemtsov "will be able to say on every corner in Russia that he is a fully-fledged envoy of the orange revolution, claim the role of Russia's Yushchenko and lead a Russian 'orange fifth column'".

Ukraine Moves a Step Closer to Europe

KIEV, Ukraine -- During President Viktor Yushchenko's first month in office, he visited Europe twice, appearing at the European Parliament, EU, Council of Europe, and NATO. After a month of such visits and meetings there can be no doubt that Yushchenko is serious when he spoke of "the end of multi-vectorism". Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk said that Ukraine's foreign policy will now be "consistent and predictable" and move away from the previous policy of "sending contradictory measures depending on which country he [former president Leonid Kuchma] was visiting".

Much has changed under Yushchenko, but not everything. The West does view Yushchenko as genuinely committed to the domestic policies required for Euro-Atlantic integration. Kuchma had always demanded a signal of future membership from the EU before launching reforms.



However, most Western governments did not expect a Yushchenko victory or an Orange Revolution, much less greater Ukrainian interest in joining NATO and the EU. The strains caused by his ascendancy were evident during Yushchenko's meetings in Western Europe this week. Ukraine's allies in its quest for Euro-Atlantic integration are the United States, Canada, the post-communist new members of the EU, and Scandinavia.

Of these countries, the United States is key to Ukraine's NATO membership, but Washington can only indirectly lobby for its inclusion in the EU. President George W. Bush mentioned Ukraine twice in his State of the Union address, and Ukraine's democratic revolution certainly fits his announced plans to support democracy around the world.

Bush and Yushchenko met at NATO headquarters shortly before Bush's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. During their encounter, Bush compared Yushchenko to George Washington, praising him as somebody who had just led a "peaceful revolution based upon the same values that we hold dear".

Bush invited Yushchenko to visit the United States in the first week of April. Their talks contrast sharply with U.S.-Ukraine relations under Kuchma. Bush refused to meet Kuchma until the June 2004 NATO summit in Istanbul when they briefly met as part of a U.S. "thank you" for Ukraine's military contribution to Iraq.

Nevertheless, the Bush administration continues the difficult task of ideologically supporting Ukraine's democratic revolution while remaining geopolitically committed to cooperating with Russia. Since the Orange Revolution, the balance has tipped in Ukraine's favor, leaving Russia increasingly seen as autocratic, imperialist, and of little further use in the campaign against international terrorism. Advocates of supporting Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration are now emerging in the U.S. Congress, leaving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her purported russophilism in the minority.

The "Old Europe" countries of France, Germany, Belgium, and Luxembourg continue to remain apathetic towards Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. French President Jacques Chirac's early departure from the Ukraine-NATO Commission was seen by many as a diplomatic snub. France, a non-military member of NATO, was always lukewarm towards EU enlargement in general, while Great Britain has been more enthusiastic. However, London remains apathetic toward Ukraine. Britain's position is likely to gradually become more positive, particularly with U.S. prodding.

Moscow seeks to block Ukraine's westward orientation through the "Old Europe" bloc. Although Russia's official position is that Ukraine's membership in the EU is "OK" (while NATO is "nyet"), Moscow cannot truly wish Yushchenko success. But the more it lobbies "old Europe" to block Ukraine's EU aspirations, the more it will drive Ukraine into the hands of NATO, where the United States dominates and membership is easier to attain.

Russia now has a much less pliant government in Kyiv. Yushchenko and the government of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are looking for the right diplomatic formula to reject the CIS Single Economic Space. They also want Russia to treat Ukraine as part of the "Far Abroad," not the CIS "Near Abroad."

For the first time, Ukraine's foreign policy will be coordinated by a united group ideologically committed to Euro-Atlantic integration. These include Foreign Minister Tarasyuk (returning to the post after Putin successfully lobbied for his removal in October 2000), Defense Minister Anatoliy Grytsenko, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Oleh Rybachuk, and Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Petro Poroshenko. Tymoshenko will focus on domestic affairs.

Ukraine's emerging new foreign policy will be judged on its success in having Ukraine designated a market economy this year and receiving WTO membership before the March 2006 parliamentary elections. Kyiv is committed to fulfilling the just-signed three-year Action Plan (with an additional 11 action points drawn up to provide additional support to Yushchenko) and completing the ten-year Partnership and Cooperation Agreement by 2007. Yushchenko believes these accomplishments will lead to an accession treaty with the EU in 2007-2008.

The situation with NATO is more complex. Attaining NATO membership is easier and quicker than that for the EU. Grytsenko has predicted that Ukraine would be a NATO member by 2009. However, there will be some domestic opposition from the Communist Party and former Kuchma loyalists, as well as opposition from Russia. Consequently, Tymoshenko's government program omits any mention of NATO and does not plan to accelerate the application process until after the 2006 elections. Nevertheless, after the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting, Yushchenko confirmed that he is seeking Ukraine's integration into both NATO and the EU.

Poroshenko left the NATO-Ukraine Commission with greater optimism about NATO's readiness to provide "very strong and powerful support". Both Bush and NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer emphasized NATO's "open-door" policy that would admit Ukraine if its reformist policies are successful. Yushchenko hopes that the EU will also move to an "open-door" policy after 2007.

Ukraine President to Visit Iran

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko plans to visit Iran in the first half of this year, the presidency announced here Thursday after the ex-Soviet republic's new leader held talks with a visiting Iranian envoy.

Mehdi Safari, a special envoy of Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, discussed ways to expand economic cooperation between the two countries, said a statement issued by Yushchenko's office.


Viktor Yushchenko (l) and Mehdi Safari (r)
Among areas where joint projects are being studied are the construction of gas pipelines, the oil sector, shipbuilding, space technology and the aircraft industry, the statement said.

Yushchenko, a reformist liberal who took power earlier this year after his Western-backed "orange revolution" ousted the pro-Moscow regime, has not hesitated nonetheless to ruffle Washington's feathers.

Ukraine is to pull out its troops from Iraq, dealing a blow to the US-led coalition forces, and continue to develop ties with Iran, a country seen as a "rogue state" by the United States, which accuses it of developing nuclear weapons.

LUKOIL Promises to Invest $300 Million in Ukrainian Plants

KIEV, Ukraine -- Russia’s LUKOIL company plans to invest nearly $300 million of its assets in Ukraine in the next few years, LUKOIL’s chief Vagit Alekperov said after meeting Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko on Thursday.

He said that the company intended to go ahead with the modernization of the Lukor petrochemical plant and the Odessa oil refinery.

Besides, LUKOIL plans to launch the construction of a plant for the production of industrial oils near Kiev this year. The 18-month-long project is estimated to cost nearly $20 million.



The LUKOIL Company owns seven oil refineries in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Romania. Their aggregate refining capacity accounts for nearly 58.6 million tons a year.

The LUKOIL-Ukraina Holdings, a production and commercial regional structure of Russian LUKOIL, intends to create a network of 250 gasoline stations. The holdings comprise commodity operator “Litasko Ukraina”, the Lukoil-Odessa oil refinery and the LUKOIL-Ukraina regional sales enterprise.

Vagit Alekperov and Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko discussed the investment climate in Ukraine at a meeting in Kiev on Thursday. The Ukrainian leader pledged to create equal rules of the game for all the investors without fail.

NSDC Head Promises to Stop Closures of Russian Schools

KIEV, Ukraine -- The secretary of Ukraine’s national Security and Defense Council, Petro Poroshenko, has promised to stop the process of closures of Russian language schools, to restore Russian language instruction groups at colleges, and to create a television channel and radio stations for the country’s Russian speaking population.

“We shall see to it that Ukraine’s Russian-speaking citizens have their own television channel and their own radio stations, and that the protection of their constitutional rights be fully guaranteed. This will be done to ensure nobody should be able to play the language card again in the 2006 Parliament elections, or in any other year,” Poroshenko told a news conference in Kiev.

President Intervenes in Kiev Row

KIEV, Ukraine -- Newly-elected Ukrainian president Viktor Yushchenko is to intervene in the ownership row over the country's top football club Dynamo Kiev, the Interfax agency reported.

A district court in the Ukrainian capital has ordered 98.71 percent of the shares in the club to be frozen following a lawsuit by the Pacific International Sports Clubs limited.

The dispute has the highest profile of dozens of reviews of the properties once owned by the Ukrainian government and privatized during the 1990s.

Yushchenko told Kiev reporters he was monitoring the case personally, and gave his promised the dispute would be resolved in accordance with the law.

A conversation on the matter between Yushchenko and Leonid Kravchuk, a former Ukrainian President, took place earlier in the day, Yushchenko said.


Dynamo Kiev President Ihor Surkis
A defiant Dynamo Kiev president Ihor Surkis said Thursday that the court decision would not threaten the team or its owners.

Surkis called Wednesday's ruling by Kiev's Pechersk district court "pure speculation," and said that "from the legal point of view we have everything right," according to a statement issued by the club.

"The unprecedented ... decision, which was made so quickly, is in the competence of the lawyers," he added.

Surkis stressed that he was currently concerned only with Thursday's UEFA Cup match at Villarreal.

"We'll talk about everything else after the game," he told the club's Web site.

Pacific International Sport Clubs Ltd is a company, owned by Russian businessman Igor Grigorishin.

It sought the seizure of shares as part of a planned appeal to restore its priority right for purchasing the club's stock.

The Pacific International Sport Clubs Limited has claimed that during the sale of 98.71 percent of the club's stocks from 2000-04, its right of priority purchase was violated. The company also claimed that this stock sale was in violation of the law and was performed without informing it.

The court order came less than a week after a top government official warned that the 11-time Ukraine league champion could come under scrutiny as part of the new government's review of past privatizations.

Profound Generation Shit Follows Ukraine's Orange Revolution

KIEV, Ukraine -- Revolutions such as in Serbia (2000), Georgia (2003), and Ukraine create a profoundly close, but ultimately complicated, relationship between the younger and middle generations who are jointly battling the older. The middle generation came to power in all three countries only with the help of democratic revolutions that prevent election fraud.

The revolutions themselves would be impossible without the energy of young people. Two-thirds of the Orange Revolution crowds were young people. President Viktor Yushchenko would not be in power today without the help of Ukraine's youth. His gratitude for this support was evident when he greeted the crowds after his official inauguration and when he sent greetings to the congress of the PORA! (It's Time!) youth group.



All three revolutions saw similar trends. The old guard removed by these revolutions was born in the 1930s and 1940s. This generation -- Slobodan Milosevic in Serbia, Eduard Shevardnadze in Georgia, and Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma in Ukraine -- were holdovers from the communist era. Their formative careers took place in the 1960s and 1970s, during the Brezhnev "era of stagnation." In Ukraine this torpor was made doubly worse by the rule of hard-line Ukrainian Communist leader Volodymyr Shcherbytsky from 1972 to 1989.

These formative years certainly had a negative influence on Kravchuk, then ideological secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine, and Kuchma, then director of Pivdenmash, the world's largest producer of nuclear weapons. Ukraine began its post-Soviet development led by de-ideologized former Communists, who shared a lack of vision, an inability to break with Soviet ways of thinking and acting, and tolerance of corruption. They demonstrated "Little Russian" inferiority complexes, favored deception, and were prone to cynicism. Kravchuk aptly titled his memoirs, We Have What We Have.

Ukraine's neo-Soviet generation has been replaced by one that was born in the 1950s and 1960s, whose formative careers were under Gorbachev in the 1980s and independent Ukraine in the 1990s. Their background and socialization are totally different, a factor that will have a profound and positive impact on Ukraine's domestic and foreign policies.

The new cabinet includes individuals who are committed to "Europeanizing" Ukraine. Mykola Tomenko (Humanitarian Affairs), former U.S. citizen Roman Zvarych (Justice), Serhiy Teriokhin (Economics), and Viktor Pynzenyk (Finance) are committed to breaking with the Soviet methods that still exist in many areas of government by introducing European standards and making government more accountable and transparent.

Tymoshenko's cabinet includes 10 members born in the 1950s and eight born in the 1960s. Yushchenko is himself 51 and Tymoshenko 44. The new cabinet also includes two younger members, born in the 1970s, appropriately dealing with the Environment and Families and Youth.

The new cabinet's most radical departure from the Kravchuk-Kuchma era rests in placing the "power ministries" in the hands of young civilians. Interior (MVS), probably the most corrupt of these ministries, is in the hands of young Socialist Party activist Yuriy Lutsenko, who is committed to rooting out corruption and resolving the murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. Lutsenko was an active organizer in the Orange Revolution.

Lutsenko replaced Mykola Bilokin, whose reputation, according to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst, "was unacceptable." Lutsenko has vowed to de-criminalize and de-politicize the MVS. When he presented Lutsenko to the MVS, Yushchenko declared that the ministry should now serve "not the authorities, not criminal groups, but people".

The Security Service (SBU) run by Tymoshenko's right-hand man, Oleksandr Turchynov. (Tymoshenko is nicknamed "the Terminator," while Turchynov is known as "the Detonator.") Turchynov inherits a power ministry that did play a positive role in uncovering fraud in the 2004 elections. Presenting Turchynov to the SBU, President Yushchenko said, "In the SBU there was much that was not undertaken in the national interest, because individuals managed to get into it who were influenced not by state interests, but the interests of certain groups".

Ukraine's new minister of defense, Anatoliy Grytsenko, is a former military officer who recently led Kyiv's best think tank, the Center for Economic and Political Studies. Commonly known as the Razumkov Center, the institute specialized in national security issues. Grytsenko headed the analytical-research wing of the Yushchenko election team.

The common thread uniting these new ministers, along with Oleh Rybachuk, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, as well as the returned Foreign Minister, Borys Tarasyuk, is a real commitment to democratization, rooting out corruption, and integration with Europe. The Kuchma-era mismatch between un-European domestic policies combined with stated foreign policy goals of joining the EU and NATO will no longer exist.

President Yushchenko's positive reception in the West shows that Western leaders accept that Ukraine is finally serious about "returning to Europe." The generation shift in Ukraine corroborates this new orientation.

People Close To Yushchenko Fear Probe Into Reporter's Murder - Politician

KIEV, Ukraine -- An influential Ukrainian political leader said many of the Ukrainian officials, including politicians close to President Victor Yushchenko, fear the ongoing investigation into the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.

"If the investigation proceeds objectively, hundreds of Ukrainian politicians will find themselves in the dock," Alexander Moroz, leader of the influential Socialist Party, said in an interview with the newspaper Silski Visti.

He said he would insist on the resignation of the Prosecutor- General's Office's top figures if they do not order the use of recordings of conversations in ex-president Leonid Kuchma's office.

Analysis: Moscow Steps In To Check Kyiv's European Drive

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Kyiv on 21 February to remind the new, pro-Western government of President Viktor Yushchenko that it has some important obligations in the "eastern direction" left to it by its predecessor.

In September 2003, then-President Leonid Kuchma signed an accord on the CIS Single Economic Space uniting Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan

"Under the present conditions, when the European markets are closed for us,... it's better to have a real bird in the hand than two in the bush," Kuchma commented at that time. But the situation has since changed.

Eternal Friendship?

The same day that Lavrov was visiting Kyiv, Ukraine and the EU signed a three-year Action Plan envisaging EU support for Kyiv's bid to obtain market economy status in the coming months, to join the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to sign a free-trade agreement with the EU. Moreover, President Yushchenko was to leave the same day for Brussels to take part in a Ukraine-NATO Commission session, where he reiterated Ukraine's commitment to closer rapprochement with NATO. Lavrov's trip to Kyiv thus appeared to be primarily a check of Kyiv's true intentions under the Yushchenko presidency, who has recently set Ukraine's priorities as remaining in an "eternal strategic partnership" with Russia and seeking vigorous Euro-Atlantic integration at the same time.

"Russia is Ukraine's eternal strategic partner," Yushchenko reportedly told Lavrov in Kyiv, which might have been expected. But subsequently, perhaps having remembered how nasty Moscow behaved toward him during the Ukrainian election campaign, Yushchenko went on in a less suave mood: "But I would not like to comment on all the pages of our bilateral relations. If we are friends, we should turn these pages." Additionally, Yushchenko told Lavrov what the latter was predictably prepared in advance to hear: "But it is important that our relations with the East do not block our path to Europe."

Ukraine Had A Seat At NATO's Table This Week

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk appears to have been equally noncommittal and smooth with Lavrov. "We face the need to develop a strategic partnership under agreements reached by our presidents," Lavrov told Tarasyuk. To which Tarasyuk responded: "If we are talking about a free-trade zone [within the CIS Single Economic Space], in principle this would not cause any problems in terms of our integration with the European Union or our membership in the World Trade Organization. If we are talking about a deeper level of integration [within the CIS Single Economic Space], there could be problems."

It might sound peculiar, but both Yushchenko and Tarasyuk might still be less than fully aware of the level of integration -- or problems, for that matter -- stipulated by the accord on the Single Economic Space. The text of that accord has never been made public in either Ukraine or any other signatory country, and Yushchenko's legal experts are now reportedly studying it to advise him as to what the document actually commits Kyiv to doing. Judging by earlier press reports, the agreement calls for the formation of a free-trade zone and a customs union of the four states, as well as a high level of political coordination of their economic and financial policies. Kuchma reportedly signed the accord with a reservation saying that Ukraine would commit itself only to those provisions that did not contradict its constitution.

The Verkhovna Rada ratified the agreement on the creation of the Single Economic Space comprising Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan in April 2004, also reportedly unaware of its verbatim provisions. Opponents of the agreement, who at the time included Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc, and the Socialist Party, argued that its full implementation would deprive Ukraine of any prospect of joining the European Union.

Space For Optimism

Only Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko appeared to have unambiguously lifted Lavrov's spirits during the visit. According to Lavrov, Tymoshenko "clearly confirmed" to him that Ukraine is interested in the further development of the Single Economic Space. But Lavrov should know that Tymoshenko's pledges or ideas are not always in line with those of Yushchenko. For example, last month Tymoshenko suggested that Ukraine might seek NATO membership jointly with Russia. "My personal view is that Ukraine and Russia cannot find themselves in qualitatively different, let alone mutually hostile, defense [alliances]," Tymoshenko wrote in a Russian newspaper in January. Prudently, Yushchenko has remained silent on this idea in Brussels this week, while promising to develop strategic partnerships with both the EU and Russia.

Russian press comments on Lavrov's trip to Kyiv can be aptly summarized by a subhead in "Kommersant-Daily" that reads: "Sergei Lavrov was given a warm, indifferent reception [in Kyiv]." Russian reporters underscored the fact that Lavrov's visit was primarily an exercise in diplomatic verbosity and has brought no practical results in bilateral relations. At the same time, most Russian press comments admitted that in the current situation, Kyiv has no apparent reason to be especially eager for integration with Russia, in particular, or with the Single Economic Space in general. Even if both Kyiv and Brussels carefully avoid mentioning any prospects or time frames for Ukraine's EU or NATO membership, Russian commentators now appear to realize that such integration options for Kyiv have become considerably less fantastic than they were just several months ago.

Ukraine Plans to Withdraw Iraq Troops This Year

KIEV, Ukraine -- In a move likely to dismay Washington, Ukraine's new defense minister said Thursday that his country plans to pull out all of its 1,650 troops in Iraq by the end of this year.

"I believe that our troops will be withdrawn this year," the Interfax news agency quoted Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko as saying.

The defense minister, who took up his post earlier this month, said that no concrete timetable would be announced before a meeting scheduled next week of the national security and defense council.


Ukrainian Troops in Iraq
"The president will decide what month this will take place and it is the president's decision whether or not this will be carried out in two or three phases," he said.

Last week, Hrytsenko said that around 700 of Ukraine's 1,650-strong contingent serving in a Polish-led multinational division would probably leave Iraq by the end of April.

Ukraine's decision is an unwanted headache for the United States, with Poland already having decided to pull out a third of its 2,400 soldiers from the war-torn country because of strong domestic opposition to the deployment.

Last year Spain's incoming Socialist government withdrew the 1,300 Spanish troops serving in Washington's "coalition of the willing."

New pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko promised during his election campaign late last year to pull Ukrainian troops out of Iraq - the sixth-largest contingent in the US-led coalition forces.

The United States, which backed him during the "orange revolution" standoff with Leonid Kuchma's regime that brought him to power, responded by insisting that any withdrawal should be made gradually and in a coordinated way.

A defense ministry spokesman in Kiev reiterated Yushchenko's pledge to consult, including with the Iraqi administration elected in January, before making any concrete moves.

"Before it withdraws its forces from Iraq, Ukraine will hold consultations with its coalition partners and the provisional government in Iraq," ministry spokesman Andrei Lysenko said.

But commentators in Kiev said the withdrawal was not in doubt and Ukraine was willing to risk US ire, despite its hopes of one day joining NATO as well as the European Union that Yushchenko sought to advance this week in Brussels.

"Of course Washington would like Ukraine to stay in Iraq, but Yushchenko can hardly back down on this issue as it was a campaign pledge," foreign policy expert Alexander Sushko said.

Those EU members of NATO who opposed the Iraq war, including France and Germany, would welcome Kiev's decision as they "would like Ukraine to be less pro-American and more pro-European," he noted.

Kuchma deployed troops in Iraq in what observers said was an attempt to mend fences with Washington, which accused him of approving a sale of military equipment to Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq despite an international embargo.

A total of 18 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in Iraq.

The former Soviet republic has the sixth largest contingent in the US-led coalition after the United States, Britain, South Korea, Italy and Poland.

Japan to Assist Ukraine in Realization of Investment Projects

KIEV, Ukraine -- On request of the Japanese Embassy to Ukraine a meeting was staged between Minister for Transport and Communication Yevheni Chervonenko and Japanese Ambassador to Ukraine Kishichiro Amae.

Kishichiro Amae informed the Ukrainian Minister about Japan's readiness to assist Ukraine in realization of joint projects within the framework of economic cooperation with Ukraine and about the Japanese Government's decision to grant a credit to the tune of $170 million for the reconstruction of the state-run International Air Port Boryspil.

Yevheni Chervnonenko noted a great significance of this event, as the first Ukrainian-Japanese project in the transport sphere, and informed the Japanese diplomat that all documents for signing a Credit agreement between the Ukrainian Cabinet and the Japanese International Cooperation Bank to finance development of the state-run International Air Port Boryspil will be submitted to Japan in the near future for studying and signing.

Kishichiro Amae suggested to the Ukrainian party to sign an agreement during President Viktor Yushchenko visit to Japan in the first half of 2005.

During the meeting the parties also discussed a possibility for Japanese companies to make investments in the Ukrainian railroad transport modernization and renewal of its rolling stock; construction of highway junctures for railroad-automobile bridge across the Dnieper River in Kyiv; completing construction of the Kyiv-Odesa highway and a joint construction of a new deep-water container port.

Poland to Support Ukraine EU Membership Bid

KIEV, Ukraine -- Poland will actively support Ukraine on the road to the European Union (EU) while Kiev counts on the wide experience gained by Warsaw' in EU membership negotiations. Such is the leading idea of discussions on the first day of talks between Wlodzimierz Czymoszewicz, Marshal of the Polish Sejm, and Ukrainian partners. On Thursday, on the final day of his visit to Kiev, Czymoszewicz is to meet with Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko.

Integration into Europe was discussed on Wednesday during Czymoszewicz meetings with Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Speaker Vladimir Litvin and Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko. Czymoszewicz received assurances that the Verkhovna Rada "will support Ukraine's policy course towards integration into Europe" and will ratify all the necessary documents. However, Litvin pointed out, "much will depend on a new make-up of parliament to be elected in 2006".

During the upcoming meeting with Viktor Yushchenko, the Marshal of the Polish Sejm intends to raise the subject of a continuation of the construction of the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline towards Plock so that the Heads of Government of the two countries could discuss the matter in specific detail early in March.

Ukraine Pushes for EU Talks at the Latest in 2007

STRASBOURG, France -- Addressing MEPs in Strasbourg, Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko presented his ambitious plans for reforms, with a goal to start membership talks in 2007 – or earlier – at its centre.

President Yushchenko gave his speech to European parliamentarians on Wednesday (23 February), after a series of talks in Brussels, where both the EU leaders and the Ukraine officially endorsed an action plan for co-operation with the country.

"The borders of Europe now stretch from the coast of Portugal to beyond Kiev. We have chosen Europe: it is not just a question of geography, but a matter of shared spiritual and moral values", Mr Yushchenko told the MEPs, referring to them as the "godfathers and godmothers" of his newly born democratic society.

While stressing that Kiev still also wants to deepen relations with Russia, he pointed out "European integration is the only path open for Ukraine. It is time to move beyond words and take action to develop democracy, the rule of law, freedom of the media and to tackle corruption. We must not lose this unique opportunity to bring the EU and Ukraine closer".

Mr Yushchenko said he believed Kiev could start EU membership talks directly after concluding the first projected stage of the action plan’s timetable in 2007.

However, talking to journalists later on, he suggested that if Ukraine met the so-called "Copenhagen criteria" - basic EU membership requirements on democracy and rule of law - prior to that, the talks could begin even earlier.

Asked about the possibility of Ukraine joining the EU before Turkey – with less controversy and stronger popular support – Mr Yushchenko diplomatically replied that he did not want to "cast shadow on the interest of other countries, [or] compete with Turkey now".

Neighbour or applicant country?

While the action plan endorsed this week is viewed as a step closer towards EU membership by Kiev, it is part of a different Neighbourhood policy framework projected in Brussels.

The Neighourhood policy was originally created for countries unlikely ever to be considered for accession, but Ukraine insisted during this week’s talks that the co-operation in its framework should not be considered as an alternative to the process of EU accession.

Court Freezes Shares in Flagship Ukraine Football Club

KIEV, Ukraine -- A court on Wednesday froze shares in the flagship Ukrainian football club Dynamo Kiev, less than a week after a top minister warned the club could be targetted in a probe into past privatizations, the Interfax news agency reported.

Dynamo Kiev, a 13-times Soviet league winner, dominates the football world in this former Soviet republic, having won every title except for 2002 and the year the league was set-up, 1992, when it finished runners-up.

The Kiev court upheld a complaint from a company called Pacific International Sports Clubs Limited (PISCL), that its rights were violated through the sale of more than 98 percent of the stock to third parties.

The court determined that the plaintiff, owner of 0.1 per cent of stock in Dynamo Kiev, should have had a priority right as an existing shareholder in the joint-stock company to acquire the shares.

Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko said on Friday that the ownership of Dynamo Kiev could be reviewed under a probe into allegedly corrupt privatizations during the decade-long rule of former president Leonid Kuchma.

The club's president is Ihor Surkis, the brother of the chairman of the Ukrainian football federation, Grigory Surkis, a lawmaker with close political ties to the ousted regime.

The court determined that the acquisition by several companies of 98.71 per cent of shares in Dynamo Kiev between 2000 and 2004 violated PISCL's rights and ordered documents about the stock's ownership from the registry company.

Ukraine's SBU Security Service chief Olexander Turchinov denied any political motive for the court decision.

"I don't think this is a question of politics. It's a problem that is purely an economic dispute which should be resolved through the courts," he was quoted as saying by Interfax.

Putin Congratulates Yushchenko on Birthday

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko on birthday and stressed constructive relations that the presidents of Russia and Ukraine have, the Russian presidential press service said on Wednesday.

“I praise highly the results of the recent meeting in Moscow, constructive relations that we maintain. I hope that our continued direct dialogue will serve to the development of an equal and mutually beneficial Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in all spheres,” Putin said in the congratulatory message.

Viktor Yushchenko turned 51 on Wednesday.

Kiev Seeks to Assuage Moscow

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine sought Wednesday to soothe Russia's fears about the expansion of the European Union, even as he declared in the European Parliament that his country's destiny lay with the West.

"We have chosen Europe not just geographically, but also its spiritual and moral values," Yushchenko said.

In his first address to the Parliament in Strasbourg, Yushchenko, who won power in December following a rerun of disputed elections, said Ukraine wanted to start EU accession negotiations, possibly as early as 2007, although he also conceded that the internal reforms necessary to join the EU "would not be easy."


Viktor Yushchenko (l) and Javier Solana (r)
Earlier in the day, in a move that is likely to antagonize Moscow, he signaled the probable reversal of the flow of a major Ukrainian pipeline, a step that could reduce Western Europe's reliance on Russian oil.

But in a gesture toward Moscow, he said: "Our moving toward Europe is not a problem for Russia because it will mean Russia will also move closer. We would not use our membership in the EU and NATO against Russia and its people."

European Union officials also sought to ease Russian concerns by playing down the prospect of an early entry by Ukraine into the EU.

Javier Solana, the EU's chief diplomat, warned the Ukrainian people not to expect too much from Brussels too soon. "In a very short period of time, we have done a lot together, but we have to move at a rhythm that is possible," he said after Yushchenko met with him and José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, in Brussels earlier Wednesday.

Solana's cooler stance reflects a split in the EU toward closer links with Ukraine.

Poland and the Baltic countries want to secure Ukraine's place in the Union, fearing delay could weaken reformers such as Yushchenko and cause Ukraine, a former Soviet state, to slip back toward Russia.

But others, such as Solana, believe Ukraine is not ready politically to join the EU. They fear eastern regions, which still have a strong allegiance to Moscow, could split away if Yushchenko leans too quickly to the West.

They also believe that the EU is not ready to accept another big country. France is among the most reluctant to countenance the prospect of Ukrainian membership. France is expected to hold a referendum on the new European constitution in the spring. Voters may reject it because they are worried that the EU, which grew from 15 to 25 countries last year, is becoming too big and unwieldy. The French government wants to avoid deepening these concerns by considering Ukraine's membership.

On Tuesday, President Jacques Chirac of France left a NATO-Ukraine meeting early, which some diplomats interpreted as a snub to Yushchenko. However, officials Wednesday insisted the departure was not meant as a gesture against Ukraine.

Yushchenko met NATO leaders at a summit meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to push for closer ties. However, he did not apply for formal entry, and in the past has said that many Ukrainians still harbor anti-NATO fears from the Soviet period when the trans-Atlantic military alliance was vilified.

A poll published Wednesday, by the Fund for Democratic Initiatives in Ukraine, showed that 48 percent of Ukrainians rejected NATO membership, while only 15 percent were in favor. But 44 percent supported EU membership.

In Brussels and Strasbourg, Yushchenko said he wanted to improve relations with Russia. One key condition for EU membership is that Kiev not bring disputes with its neighbor into the union. "I understand it is not possible to move toward Europe," he said in Brussels, "without having good relations with Russia."

Despite Yushchenko's conciliatory remarks, his comments on the key pipeline, the Odessa-Brody, are a rebuff to Moscow.

Last year, Leonid Kuchma, Yushchenko's Russian-leaning predecessor as president, ignored Western protests and reversed the pipeline's flow, so that instead of taking Caspian oil to the West it moved Russian oil to the Black Sea.

However, the Ukrainian government is now considering returning the pipeline to its original use and could extend the pipeline to Gdansk in Poland.

"We believe" the Odessa pipeline "project can be organically included in the concept of a unified energy market" in Europe, he said. "The project will allow us to explore new fields and new markets."

The move would reduce Ukrainian and Western European dependence on Russian oil. This would ease some fears about the EU's rising dependence on Russia for its energy needs at a time when Europeans and the United States are worried about the decision by the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, to roll back democratic reforms and crack down on dissent.

Ostash: New Ukraine-EU Relations Have Been Born in Brussels

KIEV, Ukraine -- "Today and yesterday in Brussels could be characterized as the birth days of the new relations with EU and the beginning of a long but prospective road to the European integration. We have left behind the foreign policy approaches used by the former president," declared the vice president of the OSCE Parliamentary assembly Ihor Ostash, MP.

He thinks that the most important event in Brussels was the signing of the Ukraine-EU Action Plan, since it anticipates serious cooperation in adopting Ukrainian legislation to European standards and solving the issue of acquiring the status of the free market economy by Ukraine, which will make it possible to enter the European market. The deputy paid special attention to the future signing of the agreement on exporting Ukrainian textiles and steel. "Better steel export and anti-damping protection is especially important for the eastern regions of Ukraine, as they are the most interested in it," he stressed.

Moreover, the Action Plan opens up the possibility of the new and more serious treaty with the EU, thinks the PA OSCE vice president. "The year 2008 could become the final year of the partnership treaty with the EU and the signing of the treaty on the associate membership," he is convinced.

The people's deputy also backed the president's position on Ukraine's joining NATO. He noted that, "joining NATO is easier than joining the EU," and it is possible to comply with the necessary conditions within two years. "However, the people of Ukraine will have to make a corresponding decision. If there are talks about unifying the nation, there is a need of helping people [understand and] accept NATO," noted Ihor Ostash.

At the same time he noted the importance of the success of the new government in the 2006 parliamentary elections. "The Euro-Atlantic aspirations of Ukraine will depend on how convincing the steps made by the new government team are because the president will get at least four-five years to implement his programme," noted the people's deputy, "The victory in the parliamentary elections is a serious precondition for joining both the EU and NATO."

Prosecutors Following New Yushchenko Lead

KIEV, Ukraine -- Prosecutors are following a new lead that might shed more light on the dioxin poisoning of Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, an official said Wednesday.

Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun has acquired audiotapes of what appeared to be a conversation between Russian secret service officials discussing the alleged role of Moscow political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky in Yushchenko's poisoning, said Piskun's spokesman, Vyacheslav Astapov.

"The prosecutor said he knows whose voice is on the tapes," Astapov said.

The tapes were first aired last year on Kiev's pro-Yushchenko TV5 but were widely dismissed as a hoax.

In the recordings, people described as Russian agents appeared to be discussing Pavlovsky's role in a plot aimed at damaging Yushchenko's ratings by ruining his good looks with toxic chemicals.

Astapov told The Associated Press that the prosecutors have "all the materials … and are working with these people." He did not elaborate.

Yushchenko fell ill in September after dining with the former head of the Ukrainian Security Service, Ihor Smeshko, and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk. He went to an Austrian hospital for treatment, but the illness took him off the campaign trail for weeks and left him badly disfigured.

Subsequent tests confirmed he was poisoned with a massive dose of dioxin in what Yushchenko has called an assassination attempt. Both top security officials have denied any involvement in the poisoning.

Pavlovsky also denied involvement.

"When the tapes appeared on TV5, I took it as a joke … but when I heard the prosecutor-general had taken them, that turns a TV joke into a lie," the British Broadcasting Corp. quoted Pavlovsky as saying earlier this week.

Pavlovsky promoted Viktor Yanukovych, the former prime minister who was backed by the Kremlin in last year's race for president. Yushchenko won a court-ordered rerun of the election on Dec. 26 after the Supreme Court ruled that a Yanukovych victory in an earlier round was fraudulent.

Piskun ordered investigators earlier this month to inventory all highly toxic poisons located on Ukrainian territory and said prosecutors had acquired the exact formula of the dioxin, which can be produced in "four or five laboratories abroad," including in the United States and Russia.

Oleksandr Turchinov, the new head of Ukraine's security agency, said late last week that an investigation had been launched into Satsyuk's activities on suspicion of abuse of power. Turchinov also hinted that investigators might be looking into Satsyuk's possible involvement in Yushchenko's poisoning.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin wished Yushchenko a happy 51st birthday Wednesday in a gesture of reconciliation amid tensions between Moscow and Kiev.

The Kremlin press service made the unusual decision to send a press release quoting part of Putin's message. Usually, such public presidential missives are reserved for significant birthdays for Russian actors, musicians, cosmonauts and other national figures.

"I highly appraise the results of our recent meeting in Moscow and the constructive character of relations growing up between us," Putin said. "I consider that the continuation of our direct dialogue will serve the development of equal and mutually beneficial Russian-Ukrainian cooperation in all spheres."

Yushchenko, who was visiting the European Union headquarters in Brussels, met President Bush on Tuesday and attended the NATO summit.

Russia has watched warily as Ukraine, along with formerly Soviet Georgia, has sought to follow in the footsteps of the three Baltic countries, deepening ties with Western organizations such as the EU and NATO and moving out from under the Kremlin's shadow.

Yushchenko made Russia his first foreign destination following his inauguration last month.

Yushchenko Calls on European Lawmakers to Assist Ukraine’s Entrance in EU

STRASBOURG, France -- President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko, turning to European lawmakers, has called on them to assist giving perspective of EU membership to Ukraine.

According to an UNIAN correspondent, the European lawmakers have met the Ukrainian President with applauds.

Victor Yushchenko has noted in his speech that the European Union and Ukraine have no right to abstain from using the “unique chance, which appeared after the Orange revolution in Ukraine.”

The Ukrainian President has said that the Orange Maydan is a symbol of the new Europe, created by citizens, who fought for their right to live in a free Europe.

“The Orange revolution confirmed that Ukraine belongs to the European civilization, not only geographically, but entirely, spiritually, politically, and mentally”, Victor Yushchenko claimed.

Yushchenko Claims that Two Witnesses on Gongadze Case Were Murdered

STRASBOURG, France -- President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko claims that two witnesses on the case of Georgiy Gongadze were murdered.

Victor Yushchenko has said this in Strasbourg at a press conference, asked about the investigation of the Gongadze case.


“I have information, which renders me optimistic, that we can put an end to this story… Many things were wiped out, two out of the four main witnesses were murdered”, said Victor Yushchenko, giving no details.

According to him, the main problem in the Gongadze case is to preserve the materials which may indicate the guilty.

The President has disclosed that after his meeting with Lessia Gongadze, a “special group of police and SBU departments was set up and subjected to the General Prosecutor’s Office”. According to him, this group is being used for an effective probing into this case.

“As of today, two cases, which are indirectly connected with the death of Giya Gongadze, have been passed by the PGO to court”, said the President.

Ukraine's Army Said Two Anti-Aircraft Missiles Missing

KIEV, Ukraine -- Two anti-aircraft missiles are missing from a southern military depot in Ukraine, the Unian news agency reported Tuesday, citing the Ukrainian military.

Two packages containing the missiles systems known as SA-7 Grail, which is also called the Strela-3M, or Arrow, are unaccounted for in a military depot in Ukraine's southern Crimean peninsula, Unian reported.

Defense officials could not be reached to comment.

The Unian report stopped short of saying how the military discovered the missing weapons. It said only that a local commander notified police and demanded an investigation.

The heat-seeking Strela missiles are produced in Russia, Eastern Europe, China, Egypt, former Yugoslav republics and elsewhere and are the anti-aircraft weapon of choice for guerillas, rebel forces and terrorists worldwide.

Ukraine's new government has stepped up efforts to clamp down on illicit weapons deals that flourished under the former President Leonid Kuchma.

Last month, a key Ukrainian lawmaker revealed the secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling Ukraine's nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China.

Ukraine Bid To Join Nato Threatens Wider Rift With Russia

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Cold war tensions threatened to flare anew yesterday after Ukraine, once the heart of the Soviet industrial-military complex, declared its intention to join Nato and won the blessing of the United States.

Ukraine’s admission would bring Russia’s Black Sea naval base and much of the former Soviet armaments industry into the embrace of the American-led military alliance, and expand Nato to Russia’s southwestern border.


President Bush (front L) and President Yushchenko (front R)
The newly elected President Yushchenko told a special Ukraine-Nato summit in Brussels of his long-term aim to join the 26-member alliance, although he insisted it was not a move against its giant neighbour Russia. “We want to see Ukraine integrated into both the European Union and the North Atlantic alliance,” he said.

President Bush supported Ukrainian membership in principle provided it made sufficient reforms. He declared: “Nato has an open door for those European democracies who fulfil the obligations. There is strong support for President Yushchenko in his challenging endeavour to bring Ukraine closer to Euro- Atlantic integration.

“We welcomed Mr Yushchenko and reminded him it is a performance-based organisation, and that the door is open. Nato will help him.”

Russia is coming to terms with its failure to prevent Mr Yushchenko winning December’s election, but is deeply troubled by the threat to its national security by Ukraine’s courting of Nato. Russia’s Southern Fleet is based in Sevastopol, southern Ukraine. The country is also a key designer, manufacturer and exporter of weapons, especially missiles, many of which are in Russia’s arsenal.

The country was controlled by Russia for 300 years before it won independence after the collapse of communism in 1991.

Russia had previously resisted Nato’s eastwards advance, and virulently opposed membership for the far less strategicially important former Soviet Baltic states.

Mr Yushchenko sought to pre-empt Moscow’s protests by declaring: “Let me say clearly that Russia is our strategic partner. Ukraine’s policy on Nato is in no way directed against any other country, including Russia.” However, Ukraine’s move is certain to add to the tensions when Mr Bush meets President Putin tomorrow in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava.

Mr Bush questioned Russia’s commitment to democracy in a major speech in Brussels on Monday, and Washington is concerned about Moscow’s plans to sell nuclear fuel to Iran and missiles to Syria. Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, the Secretary-General of Nato, said he would support Ukraine’s membership and announced a fund to decommission 1.5 million small arms and 133,000 tonnes of munitions in Ukraine as part of reforms of its military.

Ukraine is likely to win the strong backing of other former Soviet bloc countries that have escaped Moscow’s orbit.

Antanas Valionis, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, insisted that concern over Russia’s reaction should not inhibit any plan by Nato to welcome former Soviet states. “We have to co-operate with Russia, but at the same time there are sovereign states which are choosing their road, their way to democracy . . . and our obligation is to support them,” he said.

If Ukraine does join Nato, it will enable the alliance to control its weapons exports and to prevent them falling into the hands of hostile states or terrorist groups. Those risks were highlighted yesterday when Ukraine’s Unian news agency reported that two anti-aircraft missiles had gone missing from a military depot in Crimea.

Last month a key Ukrainian lawmaker revealed the secret indictments or arrests of at least six arms dealers accused of selling nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China.

Who Poisoned Viktor Yushchenko?

LONDON, England -- Was President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine poisoned on the orders of a Russian "political technologist" working for the Kremlin?

That's one of the sensational claims being examined by Ukraine's chief prosecutor as he gets to grips with the new inquiry into how Mr Yushchenko - the main opposition candidate in last year's elections - apparently ingested a large dose of dioxin, severely disfiguring his face, and according to some accounts, almost killing him.

The allegation's contained in a leaked tape that's been impounded by the prosecutor. A copy's also been obtained by Newsnight, which has conducted its own investigation into the poisoning.

On Tuesday, the man at the centre of the allegation - Gleb Pavlovsky, the head of a pro-Kremlin Moscow think-tank, categorically denied the suggestion that he had thought up the idea of giving Mr Yushchenko the "mark of the beast".

"For what reason anyone would do this is hard to imagine," he told Newsnight. "And how I could have come up with the idea... it's absurd, and absurd that in Kiev it's being discussed seriously."

When the tape of an apparently tapped telephone conversation mentioning Pavlovsky was first aired on Kiev's Channel 5 television, it was widely dismissed as a falsification - a deliberate attempt by Pavlovsky's enemies in the Kremlin to discredit him after his failed attempts to promote the Kremlin's preferred candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, in the election battle.

Criminal Investigation

The prosecution's decision to use it as evidence in their inquiry has surprised everyone - including Pavlovsky.

"When the tapes appeared on 5th Channel, I took it as a joke," he told Newsnight. "A bit vulgar for my taste... in the style of Orson Welles... But when I heard the Prosecutor-General had taken them, that turns a TV joke into a lie."

Mr Pavlovsky vehemently denies any involvement in an alleged attempt to poison Mr Yushchenko.

The criminal investigation is still in its fairly early stages. But the signs are that the possibility of a Russian link is one of its main lines of inquiry.

Officials have said the poison could only have been produced in one of four or five laboratories, probably in Russia or the United States.

The Interior Minister claims he knows who brought the poison across the border, and which member of parliament accompanied it.

Viktor Yushchenko, who campaigned for more democracy and closer links with the West, was taken seriously ill on September 6th or 7th with severe abdominal and back pain.

He was flown to Vienna for emergency treatment. Doctors could find no explanation for his illness, but when he returned to Kiev he claimed he'd been poisoned by the "political cuisine" of the Ukrainian Government.

Unusual Circumstances

Suspicion centred on a mysterious dinner attended by Yushchenko on 5 September 2004 - hosted by Volodymyr Satsiuk, the deputy head of Ukraine's secret service, the SBU.

Mr Satsiuk's denied any possibility of poisoning at the meal - and Newsnight's seen a photo of him embracing Mr Yushchenko at the end of the evening.

Volodymyr Satsiuk hosted the dinner party at which it is claimed Mr Yushchenko was poisoned.

The meeting was held under highly unusual circumstances. Yushchenko gave the order to dismiss his usual security detail. But he was apparently worried about attending. And his wife claims that when he returned there was an unusual metallic taste on his lips.

But witnesses and experts Newsnight has spoken to have cast doubt on whether Yushchenko could have been poisoned at that dinner.

Mykola Katerinchuk, an MP and friend of the Ukrainian leader said: "It would have been too obvious, too unprofessional."

And Alistair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at Leeds University in the UK points out that dioxin does not normally cause severe gastro-intestinal damage as suffered by Mr Yushchenko.

The likelihood is either that Mr Yushchenko ingested a cocktail of poisons, or that he was poisoned earlier than is generally thought - and possibly on several occasions.

The inquiry still seems a long way from the truth. No-one has yet been arrested and Newsnight has learned that some key witnesses have not been formally questioned.

But it has the potential to provoke a serious political rift between Ukraine and Russia - two countries that now say they want to work together again.

Ukrainian President's Speech: NATO

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- "Mr. Secretary General, your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends.

Today’s meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission at the highest level gives me first a chance to speak before the leaders of the state that altogether assume the responsibility to develop and protect the values of the Euro-Atlantic community.

My address to you is the result of victory, the Ukrainian people obtained freedoms and consolidated independence of Ukraine. Millions of Ukrainians went out in orange on Independence Square in Kiev, on the streets and squares all around Ukraine, to protect the dignity and right to choose the future themselves.

They stayed until the very end and withstood cold, fear and discord. It is very important that the citizens of Ukraine didn’t feel lonely in the fight for freedom.

I want to use this opportunity and pass the words of thanks from the Ukrainian people to the representatives of the NATO member states who supported their right to choose. In particular I want to thank the observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of NATO who witnessed the fact of falsification, contributed to the honest rerun of the voting. Your support has helped the Ukrainian democracy to win.

I want to express the special gratitude to the Secretary General, Mr. Scheffer. His statement on the alliance's commitment to territorial integrity, political independence and democratic development of Ukraine was made right in time. Undoubtedly, this statement confirmed once again that the relations between NATO countries and Ukraine are the strategic ones.

The European choice made by the Ukrainian people opens up opportunities for their elevation to equality to a new level.

Our course is to use the possibility of the country (inaudible). This includes the introduction to European standards in policy, economy and social life without the (inaudible) of the so-called multilateral policy in the past.

Our declarations which correspond to our actions, a course integration in the European and Euro-Atlantic structures from now on will determine the strategy and tactics of our policy.

We believe that Ukraine’s participation and engagement in the North Atlantic community of democratic peoples will strengthen peace and security on the European continent. We are ready to make all necessary efforts to achieve this noble goal.

We have already created a strong foundation for our mutual relations and can extend it.

Participation of the Ukraine in peacekeeping efforts of NATO was highly assessed. Implementation of the Action Plan is an important priority for us, indeed, these are the real steps forward but I am convinced that the time has come to speak about principles and new possibilities. And the changes in Ukraine open a way for elevating Ukraine’s relations with the alliance to a qualitatively new level in the development of civil society, the establishment of independent judiciary and freedom of speech and fight against corruption provide the real possibility for the substantial deepening of relations between Ukraine and NATO in the near future.

The most important task for the new government of Ukraine will be to bring political, social, economic and defense systems of the state in full compliance with the Euro-Atlantic standards.

We want every citizen of the country to see the advantage of these standards. Exactly in this understanding, we want the Ukrainian society to realize that the European future of Ukraine is inseparably linked with the deepening of its relationships with the alliance.

Thank you for your attention."

Yushchenko Appeals For Closer Ties With NATO

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- President Viktor Yushchenko said today that Ukraine will press for closer ties with NATO and the European Union as part of his country's new drive to integrate with the West.

He described this as a key policy goal ahead of a meeting with leaders from the 26-country defense alliance in Brussels.


President Yushchenko (l) Meets President Bush (r) at NATO Headquarters
"Our course towards integration with European and Euro-Atlantic structures will from now on determine the strategy and tactics of our policy," Yushchenko said. "We believe that Ukraine's participation in the Euro-Atlantic community of democratic peoples will strengthen peace and security on the whole European continent. We are ready to make every effort to achieve this noble goal."

Afterward, Yushchenko said that Ukraine is seeking long-term integration into NATO and the European Union.

But he also stressed that Russia remains Ukraine's "strategic partner."

Yushchenko is the only leader from outside NATO invited to meet alliance leaders today.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer told Yushchenko the alliance is prepared to back Ukraine's efforts.

EU Apprehension An Obstacle To Membership, Yushchenko Aide Says

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A horror of accepting another big country is preventing the European Union from embracing Ukraine as a new member, according to the country's deputy prime minister.

In an interview Monday, Oleg Rybachuk, deputy prime minister for European integration, said he hoped EU nations would successfully adopt the new European constitution because that would help Europe determine its political future and pave the way for closer integration with Ukraine.

"The biggest obstacle is lack of political consensus about the future of the EU within the EU," he said. "There is enlargement fatigue. They are still horrified by the prospect of further enlargement with a multimillion population country."

Rybachuk was in Brussels to sign a new co-operation deal with the EU forging closer trade and economic links. Rybachuk, who spoke in an interview between meetings with Peter Mandelson, the trade commissioner, and Javier Solana, the foreign policy chief, said that the EU would grant Ukraine market economy status within the next "couple of months." Ukraine would join the World Trade Organization by the end of the year, he added.

In a strong rebuff to Moscow, Rybachuk, a close ally of President Viktor Yushchenko, said Russia could not oppose the former Soviet's state shift to the West.

"Russia can't declare it does not support" Ukraine, he said. "Although what happens in their minds is different,"

"Here it is a Ukrainian issue," he added. "The European model has better qualities. It is very human to choose something that is better. That is competitive advantage."

Yushchenko met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, in Kiev on Monday before flying to Brussels. At the meeting, Yushchenko said Ukraine's objective was "pragmatic relations with Russia, ties which will be friendly and close," Reuters reported.

"Russia is Ukraine's eternal strategic partner," Yushchenko said. "I would not like to comment on all the pages of our bilateral relations. If we are friends, we should turn these pages."

In Brussels he will meet with President George W. Bush, as well as Canadian and European leaders to discuss closer ties. On Wednesday he addresses the European Parliament in Strasbourg to make the case for Ukraine's closer integration with the EU.

Rybachuck, who has been in his current role for only two weeks, said Ukraine had secured democracy but now had to develop rule of law to qualify for closer EU ties. He refused to speculate when Ukraine might join the EU, but expressed hope that negotiations toward greater integration would not end once the current agreement ends in 2007.

He said corruption remained one of the biggest challenges for the country. He said about 60 per cent of Ukrainians now supported the move toward the EU, but the government still had to convince the entire country that its future lies in the west. Parliamentary elections next year would be crucial, he said.

In a separate interview, Mandelson confirmed that Ukraine was progressing rapidly toward closer ties with the EU.

"It is realistic for Ukraine to join the WTO by the end of this year," he said.

Rybachuck said Mandelson had agreed to draw up a list of conditions for Ukraine to meet. If it met them Ukraine would get market economy status, and that no new conditions would be added.

The new status will be a huge boost to Ukraine's integration into the West. It will make it easier for the country to trade with the EU, especially in steel, of which Ukraine is a large producer.

Bush Says Ukraine Must Be Welcomed Into Western Family

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Ukraine must be welcomed into the "Euro-Atlantic family" after its recent election crisis, US President George W. Bush said as the EU signed a new action plan for the former Soviet republic.

Bush's comments came ahead of talks with new President Viktor Yushchenko, who is expected to push Tuesday for the European Union (EU) to open the way for eventual EU membership for his country.


US President Bush Speaking in Brussels
Bush praised the role of European leaders in helping to resolve the political crisis in Ukraine, which led to a re-run of the contested presidential polls in December.

"As the free government takes oath in the country and as the government of president Yushchenko pursues vital reforms, Ukraine should be welcomed by the Euro-Atlantic family," he said in a speech in Brussels.

Yushchenko is to meet with Bush and European leaders here on Tuesday on the sidelines of summit meetings of the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The EU, whose foreign policy chief Javier Solana was a key mediator in Ukraine's two-month political crisis, has offered to strengthen ties with Kiev but stopped short of talking about EU membership.

The EU on Monday finalized an "action plan" for Ukraine, laying out a series of benefits the EU intends to offer the country.

"Now you have a responsible Ukrainian government," said Oleg Rybachuk, Ukraine's vice premier in charge of European integration, at Monday's signing ceremony.

"You have responsible partners," he told his EU hosts, "and if we put our signatures on something, there is no way we are not going to deliver on it."

EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner said Ukraine and the 25 EU member states shared "a very rich agenda".

"So, please use it in order to go forward towards coming closer to the EU step by step," she said. "We are committed to helping you."

But speaking before heading to Brussels Yushchenko -- the architect of Ukraine's "orange revolution" -- said Kiev would settle for nothing less than the opening of accession talks with the EU as of 2007.

"I suggest we complete the action plan with a very important clause stipulating that, as of 2007, we will start negotiating with a view to Ukraine's entry into the European Union," Yushchenko said.

After taking in 10 new members last year, mainly former Communist nations from eastern Europe, and deciding to launch accession talks with the EU's large Muslim neighbor Turkey, there is little appetite for holding out a hand to a relatively impoverished Ukraine with nearly 50 million inhabitants.

Earlier in the day the European Union had also appealed to the United States to join it in taking steps leading to Ukraine's possible admission to the World Trade Organization (WTO) this year.

"We feel that it is important for us all to pull together for Ukraine to be allowed into the WTO, if possible in 2005," said a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson.

Ukrainian President Does Not Favor Expensive Birthday Gifts

KIEV, Ukraine -- The President's family has called upon the Ukrainian community not to present expensive birthday gifts to Victor Yushchenko, as stated Iryna Gerashchenko, spokeswoman to the President of Ukraine.

"The President's birthday is not a national holiday. This is a holiday for his family and friends. Yushchenko's family will pleased to see your congratulations on his personal web-site," the spokeswoman emphasized.

"The practice of ostentatious birthday celebrations by top officials is past history," and expensive presents "will be regarded as misunderstanding of changes within our country and government and the denial of the new political culture." Under Yushchenko there will be neither elaborate receptions nor fancy birthday celebrations, no auto cavalcades, elaborate bouquets and super-expensive gifts, said Gerashchenko.

The President and his wife are aware of serious problems plaguing social and humanitarian spheres of the country, and “will be happy and grateful if money saved on the gifts and expensive bouquets would be targeted on backing projects within social and humanitarian areas.”

Victor Yushchenko will turn fifty one, tomorrow, February 23rd.

Ukraine: Yushchenko Goes To Brussels To Ask EU For Membership Talks

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is knocking at the EU doors asking Brussels to let the country in as a member as soon as possible.

During his three-day visit to the EU capital Yushchenko will address European Parliamentary members and present a program for Ukraine's integration into the EU.

Before embarking on the trip, Yushchenko said over the weekend that in six months Ukraine intends to file an application for admission to the EU, with the talks beginning in 2007. He added that Ukraine will take a series of steps in this regard. These steps include the EU "granting the Ukrainian economy a market status, [Kyiv’s easing of] the visa regime for EU citizens, and joining the World Trade Organization."

Brussels doesn't seem ready for a quick embrace of Ukraine and will only promise better trade terms and fewer visa restrictions.

Stuart Hensel of the Economist Intelligence Unit says that Germany and France are opposed to making any promises to Ukraine. The two countries are likely to block any serious EU commitments for quick Ukrainian admission -- opposing Polish and Lithuanian efforts. However, even without a promise in Brussels for membership talks, Yushchenko's visit will be important in the long run. Even without a promise in Brussels for membership talks, Yushchenko's visit will be important in the long run.

"I don't think he can realistically expect too much. I think the nature of the disagreement or the lack of consensus within the EU suggests that [Yushchenko is] not going to get the concrete promises that he wants this time around. But what he [can do is make] himself and his policy much more familiar in Brussels [and] to reconfirm his commitment to the things that the EU would like him to do and what he would like to do for Ukraine," Hensel said.

Hensel said the EU doors are open for Ukraine just as they are for any other European country, but if Ukraine is serious about joining the EU it needs to continue on with reforms.

"To move as quickly as possible on the domestic front -- to entrench many of the more serious reforms that the EU wants. Particularly, in the realm of entrenching stronger democratic institutions and a market economy. And once it does that it's in a very strong position. Yushchenko realizes that the EU basically has a standing promise to all European countries that if they satisfy basic democratic and market-economy principles, they are eligible for membership," Hensel said.

Hensel sayid that the fact that Turkey is now on the road to joining the EU makes it quite difficult for Brussels to indefinitely deny membership to Ukraine.

Oleksandr Sushko is the director of the Center for Peace, Conversion, and Foreign Policy, a Kyiv-based think tank. He said that polls indicate that many Ukrainians associate the EU with a better life and some 50 percent of them support membership in the union.

During his trip to Europe, Yushchenko will also address the Ukraine-NATO Commission. However, NATO membership is a much more complicated problem, as it lacks the popular support among Ukrainians that EU membership enjoys. "Our society has an ambivalent attitude [towards NATO]," analyst Sushko said. "The number of those opposed is higher than the number of those who support [it]."

He said several "Cold War" stereotypes of NATO as an aggressive organization are still alive among many Ukrainians. Sushko said the government is not trying to push the NATO question. Kyiv’s official position is to work on the programs that have already been agreed to with the alliance and in two or three years move closer to NATO membership criteria.

Yushchenko also admits that Ukraine is not ready to join NATO and that it is too early even to discuss it.

Ukraine Leader Wants Pragmatic Ties with Russia

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, in a cool welcome to Russia's foreign minister, on Monday said he sought "pragmatic" ties with his country's former imperial master in which they both put the past behind them.

But the West-leaning Yushchenko also put the accent on future relations with the European Union when he spoke at the start of a visit by Sergei Lavrov, aimed at soothing tensions after the political tussle over last year's Ukrainian election.

Russian press commentators said Lavrov was keen to turn a fresh page with Ukraine, particularly after suffering a diplomatic rebuff last Friday in Georgia, another ex-Soviet state where a pro-Western leader has come to power.

"Russia is Ukraine's eternal strategic partner. I would not like to comment on all the pages of our bilateral relations. If we are friends, we should turn these pages," Yushchenko told Lavrov.

Yushchenko, who seemed brisk and formal during his appearance with Lavrov at an investment conference, said his objective was "pragmatic relations with Russia, ties which will be friendly and close."

Lavrov is the most senior Russian official to visit Ukraine since Yushchenko, who wants to shift his country into mainstream Europe, was elected last December after a long and divisive campaign against a candidate backed by Moscow.

Yushchenko made his comments ahead of a trip later on Monday to Brussels in which he was to participate in a NATO summit and meet President Bush.

BALANCE

During the 14 years of independence from the Soviet Union, Ukraine has tried to balance its foreign policy between the West and Russia.

But the 50-year-old Yushchenko has made eventual EU membership and moving out of Moscow's sphere of influence a key objective of his foreign policy since taking office in January.

Taking up this theme on Monday, Yushchenko told a business forum in Kiev that Ukraine had its specific interests in developing relations with Russia.

"But it is important that relations with the East do not block our path to Europe," the Russian news agency Itar-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

Earlier on Monday, Lavrov met Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko with their talks focusing firmly on economic issues.

Russia has an international warrant for Tymoshenko's arrest in connection with accusations of smuggling and forgery while she was head of a private gas company. She denies the charges.

Tymoshenko said it was now time to re-examine many issues in bilateral relations and start "a new civilized history in relations between Ukraine and Russia."

"We discussed investment policy issues. We are opening doors to decent businessmen and investors from Russia," Tymoshenko was quoted in a statement by her press service."

"We want doors to be opened from the Russian side for our investors and businessmen."

In Former Soviet Republics, High-Profile Deaths Spark Rumors

MOSCOW, Russia -- The dioxin attack on Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko isn't the only intrigue involving the health of high-profile figures in the former Soviet Union.

In the past 10 weeks, the chairman of the board of the government-affiliated Ukrainian Credit Bank was found dead in his office; Ukraine's transport minister was found dead, shot in the head; and Georgia's reformist prime minister was found dead in a friend's apartment, the apparent victim of a faulty gas heater.

Revenge? Suicide? Accident? In the former Soviet Union, no theory is discarded, the legacy of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and his henchmen, who pioneered the subtle but deadly use of poisons. Their victims officially were listed as dying of heart failure or stroke.

At Kremlin parties, Stalin often waited until others had sipped their wine or started to eat before partaking himself.

Now Ukraine and Georgia are coping with the recent deaths of top political figures and wondering if there's more to the story.

In early December, Yuriy Lyakh, 39, chairman of the board of the government-affiliated Ukrainian Credit Bank, was found dead in his office. An investigation continues, but Lyakh reportedly was stabbed through the neck with a knife or letter opener. Why is unclear.

Then in early January, just days after the vote that gave Yushchenko the Ukrainian presidency, the transport minister, Georgiy Kyrpa, was found dead of a single pistol shot to the head.

The death was ruled an apparent suicide. Earlier, there were widespread rumors in Kiev, Ukraine, that Yushchenko's rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, had physically assaulted Kyrpa because the minister, who had the railways in his portfolio, had allowed trainloads of Yushchenko supporters from western Ukraine to reach the capital.

Then in late January, Georgia's reformist prime minister, Zurab Zhvania, was found dead in an apartment. He and a friend, a regional politician, apparently had been poisoned by carbon monoxide from a faulty gas heater.

Police blamed the heater and a poorly ventilated apartment - neither of which are uncommon in dilapidated apartments in post-Soviet Georgia - but more than a few analysts in Georgia believe the men were murdered by opponents of President Mikhail Saakashvili, who had called Zhvania "my closest friend."

Allegations right now are fed largely by rumor, informed by old cases such as the 1978 murder-by-poison of Bulgarian expatriate journalist and writer Georgi Markov in London. A coroner's inquiry determined that Markov had been poked with a sharply pointed umbrella containing the deadly poison ricin, probably by a Soviet or Bulgarian agent.

But there are some cases that clearly are murders. Yushchenko has again called for a resolution to the probe into the 2000 beheading of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

Former Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma has been heard on secret recordings approving the murder of Gongadze. Kuchma says the tapes are fakes and denies any involvement. Meanwhile, Yushchenko has reportedly decided to name the street outside Kuchma's former headquarters after Gongadze.

Unanswered Questions Swirl Months After Yushchenko Was Poisoned

KIEV, Ukraine -- Five months after Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko first showed signs of dioxin poisoning, there are still more questions than answers about how he was poisoned and who was behind the act.

It isn't even clear if the intent was to kill him or to weaken him so he'd have to drop out of the race for the presidency.

Whatever the intent, the poisoner failed. Yushchenko swept to power after one election was declared fraudulent and he clearly won the second.

With his skin pockmarked with dioxin-induced acne and suffering pain so great that he required infusions of drugs directly into his spine, Yushchenko took on almost messianic status.

"In a sense, he became a living martyr, a walking resurrection story," said Andriy Ermolaev, a political analyst at Kiev's Center for Social Studies.

Whether that will be enough to solve the poisoning mystery is unknown.

Last week, Yushchenko said at a news conference that he was aware of audiotapes that might tie the poisoning to the Russian Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the old Soviet KGB.

The tapes allegedly contain the voices of Russian FSS employees talking about the poisoning and implicating a Russian official, Gleb Pavlovskiy. The tapes were dropped off at a Ukrainian television station in December and were handed over to investigators last Tuesday.

Pavlovskiy has denied any involvement. But the idea that the Russians might somehow have harmed Yushchenko appeals to many here who thought Russian President Vladimir Putin was too quick to congratulate Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yanukovych, on his "victory" after the first, fraudulent election.

Yushchenko said he would make no judgment on the reports of Russian involvement until the Ukrainian general prosecutor completes his investigation. No date has been set for its completion.

So far, the investigation has centered on a Sept. 5 dinner that Yushchenko shared with three other men at a country home outside the capital. The details of that dinner were revealed by Volodymyr Boyko, an investigative reporter, who in September broke the news that poisoning might be behind Yushchenko's sudden deterioration.

According to Boyko, who recently recounted his findings while seated at a small table on the upper floor of a central Kiev disco, hosting the dinner was Volodymyr Satsyuk, the No. 2 official in Ukraine's Secret Service. His boss, Ihor Smeshko, was also there.

On the other side of the table sat Yushchenko and David Zhvania, Yushchenko's close friend and one of the country's richest men.

"We ate with strong appetites, we drank with strong thirsts," Satsyuk would later tell Ukrainian television. "It was normal men's company, a relaxing evening."

According to an official report, what followed was anything but normal.

Yushchenko was nauseous the morning after the meeting. At first he tried traditional Ukrainian home remedies - eating fats, taking saunas. But his symptoms worsened and by 7 p.m., suspecting food poisoning, he sought a doctor's care.

On Sept. 10, deathly ill, he flew to Austria for treatment. When he returned to Ukraine eight days later, a network of scars called chloracne had disfigured his face.

The dinner would have been an ideal setting for administering the dioxin, according to Munich toxicologist and author on poisons Max Daunderer. The amount of dioxin needed for Yushchenko's level of poisoning would be significantly smaller than a grain of salt.

"And alcohol speeds up and intensifies the uptake of poisons," he said. "Without the alcohol consumed with the meal, he probably wouldn't have developed the chloracne and no one would have suspected the cause of his problems."

Others are less certain. Dr. Arnold Schecter, one of the world's leading dioxin experts at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Dallas, said he believes the symptoms surfaced too quickly for the dinner to have been the source of the poison.

"In medicine, there's always the exception, but dioxin usually takes at least three days to produce symptoms," he said. "Frankly, the timing of getting sick the next day would point away from the dinner."

Satsyuk adamantly denies that his home could have been the scene of the poisoning. "We ate from the same platters, drank from the same bottles," he said. None of the other men fell ill.

Dioxin is an odd poison for a political assassination. No one is known to have been killed that way.

Which is why many think the intent was not to kill, but to disfigure.

"Consider this," said Volodymyr Polokhalo, chief editor of Ukraine's Political Thought magazine. "Yushchenko is the perfect politician: handsome, charismatic, energetic, and he is running against a sour, unfriendly man.

"Then, when he returns, his face is hideous, he has no energy and he is unsure of himself. Rumors started very quickly that he was a sickly man, and he lost support."

A parliamentary commission set up to find out what was wrong didn't help when it reported no definite cause - opening up Yushchenko to ridicule for a long list of medical problems from herpes to back pains.

Volodymyr Sivkovych, who headed the commission, defended its work. "All I did was try to tell the truth, with the best information I had, which wasn't much," he said.

Now everyone is waiting for the investigation to find the guilty parties, even in the United States, where Schecter says experts are scrambling to learn all they can.

"What worries me the most is that we haven't heard a clean bill of health telling us he's not suffering from the symptoms that often accompany dioxin poisoning," Schecter said.

Polokhalo, the editor, says time will tell.

"Right now, there are still many questions, many concerns," he said. "But come back in six months and we will start to have some answers."

Russia Says Ukraine, Georgia are Sovereign

MOSCOW, Russia -- The Kremlin signaled a fundamental foreign policy shift Sunday, acknowledging that two former Soviet republics, Ukraine and Georgia, are no longer part of the Russian orbit.

Days before a potentially tense summit meeting between Kremlin chief Vladimr Putin and President Bush, the Russian foreign minister said in an interview broadcast Sunday that Moscow views the two former republics "as absolutely sovereign, absolutely equal states in the new geopolitical architecture."


President Putin (l) and President Bush (r)
The policy change was sure to be welcomed by the Bush White House given that Russia had angrily accused the United States of involvement in recent political turmoil in both countries that produced new, Western-leaning governments.

In a clear step away from confrontation, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov now said that the Kremlin only required openness from the former republics and other countries as they formulate policy and develop relations.

"The main thing is that this process should be transparent, should strengthen existing good relations and should not be aimed against any other country," Lavrov said on state-run RTR television.

Since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Moscow has struggled to maintain influence with the former republics - now independent countries - that ringed the one-time communist superpower.

In the intervening years, the Kremlin has relied on a tortured foreign policy concept under which the former republics were known as the "near abroad," which signaled that Russia did not view them as absolutely sovereign.

The policy began unraveling as the three Baltic nations - Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia - quickly aligned themselves with the West, but the other former republics largely were treated by Moscow as if the Kremlin still had a say.

There was a further crack in 2003 when the so-called "Rose Revolution" in Georgia propelled the reformist President Mikhail Saakashvili to power and brought down his predecessor, Eduard Shevardnadze, who was Soviet foreign minister before the collapse.

Tensions continued in the Caucasus mountain country, however, because of Moscow's perceived backing of ethnic separatist movements that threatened to split the already tiny country into smaller pieces. And a recent visit to Tblisi by Lavrov did little to smooth over differences, including the status of two Russian bases in Georgia and the two countries' shared border.

After the visit, Georgian Foreign Minister Salome Zurabishvili said the two countries' relations were "at a very low point." Lavrov agreed: "The visit was not an easy one," he said.

Sunday's policy declaration could improve Georgian ties, and the remarks were certain to be welcomed in Ukraine, where Lavrov was to arrive for fence-mending meetings Monday. Moscow was closely aligned with and publicly favored the candidacy of Viktor Yanukovych in tumultuous elections last year that put reformist and Western-leaning Viktor Yuschenko in power.

In a statement released Friday, Alexander Yakovenko, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said Moscow saw "great significance" in Lavrov's visit to Kiev, which is intended to "continue the active political dialogue aimed at strengthening strategic partnership between us."

Among the issues to be discussed during Lavrov's meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart, Borys Tarasiuk, will be a free-trade zone between the two countries, final resolution of a dispute involving the Kerch Strait connecting the Azov and Black seas and the status of Russia's Black Sea naval fleet, which is based in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.

Yakovenko also said Russia and Ukraine "together make a significant contribution to reinforcing the energy security of Europe." Russia is Europe's largest single supplier of natural gas, most of which is transported via Ukrainian pipelines.

In a clear reference to the United States, Lavrov also said countries looking to involve themselves more deeply in policies of former Soviet countries should make their interests clear to the Kremlin.

"Russia wants to respect the interests of different countries - those neighboring us as well as those that would like to be more active in this region," he said. "But ... their interests here and their purposes should be understood and should not contradict the norms of relations between civilized countries."

Ukraine Election Emboldens Opposition in Former Soviet States, Worries Kremlin

MOSCOW, Russia -- When hundreds of Russian students, unionists and pensioners rallied in Moscow's Pushkin Square to protest welfare reforms a week ago, many in the crowd waved orange scarves and banners, the symbol of the pro-democracy revolt that rocked neighbouring Ukraine.

The choice of colour appeared calculated to make the Kremlin see red.

"We need an Orange Revolution here," said Igor Tulmanov, 23, a student.

"Our authorities are too arrogant, too authoritarian. They should be reminded that the people exist."


Kiev's Orange Revolution
Kremlin spokesman Gleb Pavlovksy calls it the "orange contagion," a potential wave of democratic activism around the former Soviet Union inspired by the peaceful revolts that overturned Moscow-allied regimes in Georgia in 2003 and Ukraine last December.

While few experts predict a pro-democracy upsurge in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin's grip on power remains formidable, they warn that former Soviet territories as far-flung as Kyrgyzstan, in central Asia, and Moldova, in eastern Europe, could be ripe for rebellion.

"People throughout the former Soviet space have learned from Ukraine that you can act together and make things change," says Alexander Konovalov, director of the independent Institute for Strategic Assessments in Moscow.

"The Ukrainian example could have a big impact on the political systems in many former Soviet countries, Russia included."

Georgian President Mikhael Saakashvili and newly inaugurated Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a joint declaration last month hailing their campaigns as the leading edge of "a new wave of liberation that will lead to the final victory of freedom and democracy on the continent of Europe."

That challenge has apparently sent shudders through the Kremlin, reeling in the face of Russia's own mass protests against cuts in social services.

"Russian authorities are very worried that all their cosy relationships with post-Soviet regimes could fall apart if the people suddenly jump onto on the political stage," says Masha Lipman, an expert with the Carnegie Centre in Moscow.

"Putin has built this system of 'managed democracy' in Russia and the message from Ukraine and other places is that it might not be so manageable after all."

First in line could be Kyrgyzstan, where parliamentary elections are slated for Feb. 27.

President Askar Akayev, who's ruled the tiny state of five million for the past 15 years, has already faced weeks of street demonstrations over his order to ban a key opponent, former foreign minister Roza Otunbayeva, from the election.

Akayev has pledged to step down in October and appears to be grooming his daughter, Bermet, to succeed him. After a recent visit to Moscow for consultations with Putin, Akayev warned that if the opposition takes to the streets "it would lead to civil war."

Some Russian experts warn of a "Tulip Revolution" - the local opposition's chosen symbol - in the near future for Kyrgyzstan, which hosts both Russian and U.S. military bases.

"Akayev is lost," says Alexei Malashenko, another expert with the Carnegie Centre in Moscow. "Kyrgyzstan's population is disillusioned with the elite. The opposition is strong, well-organized and has international as well as domestic backing."

Ferment in Kyrgyzstan might spread to more important Moscow allies in central Asia.

The long-time leader of oil-rich Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, who has changed the constitution to extend his own rule and allegedly fixed elections, dissolved the leading opposition party last month after it sent a delegation to Ukraine to study the "Orange Revolution."

In Uzbekistan, which also hosts a key U.S. military base, President Islam Karimov has ruled with an iron fist since the demise of the Soviet Union.

Karimov recently jeered at those "who are dying to see that the way the elites in Georgia and Ukraine changed becomes a model to be emulated in other countries." He warned: "We have the necessary force for that."

Unrest also looks possible in Moldova, where Communist President Vladimir Voronin has fallen out with his previous backers in Moscow and faces a strong challenge in March parliamentary elections.

Moldova's pro-western Christian Democrats are sporting Ukrainian-style orange scarves and flags in the streets of the capital, Chisinau, according to Russian media reports.

"After the events in Ukraine, leaders all over the former Soviet Union are suddenly seeing orange," says Lipman.

"Who knows where this orange ball will roll, but it could become very interesting."

Ukraine is Mired in Past Scandals

KIEV, Ukraine -- As Ukraine's ex-President Leonid Kuchma settles into a comfortable retirement, his future is in the hands of some of his fiercest political enemies, who accuse him of misdeeds ranging from corruption to ordering the murder of a journalist.

President Viktor Yushchenko, sacked by Kuchma in acrimony as prime minister in 2000, is cranking up the pressure. He has unleashed his government to pick through sales of state property and alleged "insider" deals under the previous regime.

Even Kuchma's retirement package — fat pension, two cars, cook, maid and much more — is under investigation. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whom Kuchma once had thrown in jail, ordered the government to come up with a new, slimmed-down version.

But the real specter haunting Kuchma's future is Heorhiy Gongadze.

Gongadze, a journalist who ran a popular Internet news site highly critical of the government, was abducted in 2000. His headless corpse was found 50 days later. His decomposed remains still lie in a morgue, while his mother, Lesya Gongadze, demands justice. Yushchenko has declared it a moral duty to resolve the case.

In secret tapes made by a former bodyguard, the president was overheard repeatedly complaining about Gongadze's reporting and ordering then-Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko to "drive him out, throw (him) out, give him to the Chechens."

Kuchma has denied the authenticity of the tapes, and insists he had nothing to do with Gongadze's abduction.

Not losing steam

But the case has become Ukraine's cause célèbre, and Yushchenko may have no choice but to pursue it, even if he is not out for vengeance and would rather the 66-year-old Kuchma faded into comfortable obscurity, as some have suggested.

The new interior minister, Yuriy Lyutsenko, was one of those who joined the street rallies in 2000 for Kuchma's impeachment over the journalist's killing. Heorhiy Omelchenko, one of Kuchma's most aggressive parliamentary foes, has formally requested the arrest of Kuchma. So far, the prosecutor's office has not responded.

If Kuchma isn't arrested, Omelchenko warns, he'll claim a cover-up. "It'll mean there is a secret — and illegal — agreement ... that Kuchma can't be touched."

An American 'stooge'

Kuchma planned to turn over the reins to his hand-picked candidate, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, but things went awry in a welter of electoral fraud and street protests, and the ultimate winner was Yushchenko, the man Kuchma's office once called a fascist and an American stooge.

Anger against Kuchma still runs deep in this nation of 48 million. Many Ukrainians accuse him of having run the country like a personal fiefdom, enriching those close to him while the rest of the nation was choked by poverty.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, an analyst at Kiev's Razumkov think tank, said that while Kuchma isn't protected by a formal immunity, there is an "unofficial immunity for ex-presidents," which he doesn't expect Yushchenko to encroach upon.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, also senses Yushchenko would rather leave Kuchma in honorable retirement and "establish the pattern that there is life after politics."

Ukraine Relaxes Visa Policy for EU

KIEV, Ukraine -- European Union citizens will have an easier time getting to Kiev for the Eurovision Song Contest in May, thanks to a new relaxed visa policy.

Oleg Rybachuk, Ukraine's deputy prime minister in charge of European integration, said the new hassle-free policy, which was put together at the request of President Viktor Yushchenko, will be ready as early as April, The Moscow Times reported Friday.


"We are talking about substantial simplifications," Rybachuk said. "We will not be having those lines, those procedures. You will be able to get on board the plane and get your visa upon arrival in Ukraine."

Thousands of tourists are expected to arrive in Kiev for Eurovision, which will feature contestants from 40 European countries this year. The Ukrainian capital takes its turn as host of the annual music competition May 19, after Ukrainian pop star Ruslana won the top award in 2004.

Piskun Offers 5 Million Hryvnya Reward

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's Prosecutor General Piskun has offered a reward of 5 million hryvnyas ($943,000) for help in solving the murder of H. Gongadze.

This is the first time that Ukrainian authorities have offered a reward to the public to help solve a major crime.

Piskun also promised full immunity from prosecution to those co-workers of security and/or police services, including former employees, who have information about the matter.

Piskun stated that one former services employee is already actively cooperating with the investigation.

Yushchenko Calls for Measures to Resolve Government Row

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko on Saturday made light of a threat to quit by a prominent minister in Ukraine's newly-installed government and called for measures to resolve the row which prompted it.

Justice Minister Roman Zvarych suggested this week that he was being subjected to pressure and his office said he was considering resigning -- two weeks after the government was put in place in the ex-Soviet state.

Cabinet colleagues said Zvarych was angry over a decision earlier this week to ban the re-export of oil to stabilise domestic fuel prices.

"These are growing pains for the government," Interfax Ukraine news agency said Yushchenko told reporters during a visit to a factory. "I see no tragedy in what has happened."

The row opened the first public cracks in the government headed by Yulia Tymoshenko, a former deputy prime minister who played a leading role in rousing supporters in the "Orange Revolution" protests that helped bring Yushchenko to power.

Divisions so soon after the appointment of a disparate cabinet caused consternation among its supporters and was being watched by investors counting on Yushchenko to push forward with his liberal agenda.

The U.S.-born Zvarych, who played a key role in the mass protests, has since said nothing about his intentions. Other ministers believed the cabinet would solve the issue.

Yushchenko appeared to give at least indirect backing to Zvarych's position against the move. He said the dispute over re-export had to be solved by market means.

"The main reason is linked to the fact that oil comes in without any value added tax," Interfax quoted him as saying. "Introducing VAT on entry would make all scheming impossible. My aim is to regulate matters legally in terms of VAT."

Kiev depends heavily on energy imports and buys up to 80 percent of its energy resources, mostly from Russia, and re-exports are a lucrative business for oil companies.

Ukraine To Investigate Former Security Chief

KIEV, Ukraine -- Oleksandr Turchinov, the new head of the Ukrainian Security Service under reform-minded President Viktor Yushchenko, said today that his agency has begun an inquiry into possible abuses of power by the former deputy head of that service.

Turchnivov said today that investigators were examining a number of actions of Volodymyr Satsyuk.


Ukrainian Security Service (KGB) Headquarters in Kiev
Satsyuk and his former boss, Ihor Smeshko, have been accused of complicity in September's near-fatal poisoning of Yushchenko, who was a candidate at the time opposing the handpicked candidate to succeed longtime President Leonid Kuchma.

Yushchenko fell ill after a dinner with the two top security officials.

Yushchenko was elected president amid massive protests that have been deemed an Orange Revolution, after the color identified with opposition backers.

Turchinov said only that he will discuss what he called "more serious issues" later.

Also today, Ukraine's opposition Communist Party proposed a bill in parliament to re-nationalize major companies in the mining and metallurgical sectors in order to increase the state's role in strategic sectors of the economy.

In Moscow, new Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko said that Russia may keep its lease for its Black Sea fleet at the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol until 2017, when it is due to run out.

Hrytsenko said he believes that the presence of the Russian fleet will not hinder Ukraine's bid to join the NATO military alliance.

NATO said today that it has established a trust fund to help Ukraine destroy 133,000 tons of surplus munitions, 1.5 million small arms and light weapons, and portable air-defense systems.

Yushchenko Appoints Poroshenko NSDC Secretary

KIEV, Ukraine - President Viktor Yushchenko has signed a decree to appoint Petro Poroshenko secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, the presidential press service reported on Saturday.


NSDC Secretary Petro Poroshenko
Under the decree, the Security Council will include 12 members. Poroshenko has been instructed to submit proposals, within a month, on amendments to the law “On the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine” and a draft regulation on the Security Council’s apparatus. He has been also instructed to submit proposals on improving the Security Council’s activity and its composition.

Yushchenko abolished the coordinating committee for fighting corruption and organised crime. Its functions have been handed over to the National Security and Defence Council.

Ukraine May Apply for EU Membership in Six Months

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has confirmed the words of First Vice-Premier for European Integration Oleg Rybachuk that Ukraine may apply for joining the European Union in six months.

He said that the deadline, which was formally chosen by the vice-premier, was correct. “A new vision of Ukraine’s integration with the European Union will be a subject for discussion in Brussels on February 22,” Yushchenko told a news conference on Saturday. Ukraine should have clear understanding of the EU integration processes and should formulate its application for the EU membership and build concrete cooperation plans within this context.

The Ukrainian leader expressed the hope that negotiations on Ukraine’s entry to the European Union would start in 2007. He noted that he would pay special attention to discussing the date for starting official EU entry talks during his visit to Brussels.

Besides, Yushchenko wants to get some assurances from the European Union that the talks with Ukraine would resemble those, which the EU is beginning with Turkey. He recalled that Ukraine’s plan of cooperation with the European Union, which is going to be discussed in Brussels, would be over in 2007. “I suggest finishing this plan of action with an extremely vital provision that we will begin negotiations on Ukraine’s entry to the European Union in 2007,” the Ukrainian president went on to say.

Yushchenko admitted that Ukraine should take a series of steps on its path to the EU membership. “That is why we don’t want the discussion to focus on when Ukraine joins the European Union,” he added.

Commenting on Ukraine’s relations with NATO, Yushchenko stressed that the Ukrainian society was currently unprepared to see Ukraine as a member of NATO, which has been presented as a tool of the American imperialism for decades. “We can dream up sitting comfortably in our chairs and say that becoming part of the North Atlantic Alliance is our goal,” Yushchenko went on to say.

“In fact, it’s true. But talking about it now is unlikely to make this idea more popular,“ the Ukrainian president explained.

Yushchenko told the same news conference on Saturday that he intended to strengthen Ukraine’s relations with the Ukrainian Diaspora in foreign countries and stressed the need for drafting a national program of this cooperation.

“The question of creating a department that will deal exclusively with problems of the Ukrainian Diaspora and their solution is currently being considered,” Yushchenko told a news conference on Saturday.

“If the Ukrainian Diaspora abroad knew about the economic developments in Ukraine, it would participate directly or indirectly in many of these processes,” Yushchenko went on to say. The Ukrainian president added that there was an objective to draft a special national program of cooperation with the Diaspora and include the financing of its projects, primarily those in the humanitarian sphere, in the state budget.

The Supreme Rada (parliament) passed a law on the legal status of foreign Ukrainians in late November 2003. The then Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma vetoed that parliamentary decision. The law defines the legal status of the Ukrainians living abroad and the procedure for getting this status. According to this document, a Ukrainian residing abroad is a person who considers himself to be Ukrainian. He (she) can either be a citizen of a foreign country or have no citizenship at all.

US, Britain, Norway to Help Ukraine Destroy Excess Weapon Stocks

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 (Xinhuanet)-- The United States announced Friday that it has joined hands with Britain and Norway to have signed up to a NATO project that will help Ukraine destroy over 1 million excess small arms and light weapons and tons of munitions.

"This represents the largest partnership trust fund project ever undertaken by NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and responds to Ukraine's request for help in eliminating 1.5 million small arms and light weapons, and 133,000 tons of munitions," the US State Department said in a statement.

"These stockpiles, some of which date from the Soviet era, are a threat to public safety and the environment and a potential proliferation risk," the statement said.

The demilitarization program is due to start in the spring.

Russian Black Sea Fleet Can Stay At Sevastopol: Ukraine Minister

SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine -- Russia can keep its lease until 2017 for its Black Sea naval fleet at the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, Ukraine's new Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko said on Friday.

"In my view, Ukraine will not seek to review the timeframe for the Black Sea fleet's presence on our territory. I don't think Russia will either," the Interfax news agency quoted the defense minister as saying.


Russian Fleet at Sevastopol
"When our current bilateral agreement runs out, this issue will be resolved in the interests of both our countries and taking into account cooperation with other states, and it will be resolved in a positive manner," he added.

Russia's Black Sea fleet is based in Sevastopol, a Crimean port city bordering the Black Sea under a lease granted to Moscow that runs until 2017.

Pro-West President Viktor Yushchenko, who was swept to power last month in this ex-Soviet republic after ousting the pro-Moscow regime, has made joining the European Union and the US-led NATO military alliance a strategic goal.

Ukraine Soccer Club Said May Face Review

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian soccer club Dynamo Kiev could come under scrutiny as part of the new Ukrainian government's review of past privatizations, a top government official said Friday, drawing an angry response from the club's president.

Deputy Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko said he would not rule out that Dynamo's ownership would be examined as part of a government effort to contest privatizations conducted illegally during the 10-year presidency of Leonid Kuchma, which ended last month.


Dynamo Kiev Soccer Club
Dynamo's president, Ihor Surkis, called Tomenko's statement "incompetent" and said there were no legal grounds for questioning Dynamo. The club "has never belonged to the state and, thus, has never been privatized," he said.

Surkis said the club was part of a non-governmental sports organization during the Soviet era and became a joint-stock company after Ukraine gained independence in the 1991 Soviet collapse. No privatization contest has been ever announced for the club, he said.

Tomenko's statement was politically charged because Surkis' brother, Hryhoriy, is president of Ukraine's soccer federation, a lawmaker and one of the leaders of the party headed by Viktor Medvedchuk, who was Kuchma's administration chief and a former Dynamo lawyer.

Kuchma was replaced last month by Viktor Yushchenko, a former opposition leader and foe of the influential Medvedchuk. Yushchenko was elected in a December revote after his supporters staged massive protests against the presidential runoff election that officials initially said he lost.

Plans by Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to review questionable privatizations of the past have sparked fears that the campaign could be tinged by political interests and the desire for revenge.

Dynamo has been a dominant soccer club since the Soviet era.

Repair of Leaking Chernobyl Sarcophagus Begins

CHERNOBYL, Ukraine -- Work has begun to repair the sarcophagus that was hastily built in 1986 to contain the radioactive debris of Chernobyl’s No. 4 reactor, after experts warned it was so old it could collapse at any minute.

Workers will only be able to spend a few minutes at a time at the site, which is still spewing radiation, so they will have to plan out each step of the reconstruction in detail, the Vesti news program reported.


Chernobyl’s No. 4 Reactor
Plans to repair the shelter were underway for several years, but it was only recently, with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko elected in December, that the funding was found.

With the inauguration last month of President Yushchenko, a pro-Western former opposition leader, new authorities have taken power in Ukraine who enjoy enormous American and European goodwill. As a result, financial backing for the project came from abroad.

Repair plans include adding a second shelter around the old one. “Shelter 2” is a huge 19,800-ton steel arch designed to be assembled nearby, then slid into place on rails to minimize workers’ radiation exposure. The sarcophagus is designed to last at least 100 years, providing improved conditions for further stabilization work and eventual cleanup of radioactive debris isolated inside.

The director of the Chernobyl electric station downplayed concerns of an accident stemming from replacing the sarcophagus. “Even if there is an accident, the contamination radius should not exceed 30 kilometers,” he was quoted as saying.

Today, radiation levels in the exclusion zone — a radius of nearly 20 miles from the plant — vary wildly, depending on where radioactive debris fell in 1986. Some places register only natural background radiation, but driving in a car with a dosimeter, one passes through places where the reading zooms up to 100 times normal levels.

Orange Revolution Acts as Beacon to Investors

KIEV, Ukraine -- Standing between rows of transmission shafts on the expansive shop floor of a Ukrainian truck factory, Stefan Laxhuber, a German fund manager, watches intently as workers bolt the different pieces that make up a drive train on to big steel frames gliding slowly down the production line.

"Some of their processes are very modern, and some are not," observes Mr Laxhuber. He was one of about 20 western European fund managers who recently took an excursion into Ukraine's industrial hinterland guided by Concorde Capital, a local brokerage keen to encourage foreign investment.

They hope to be in the vanguard of a new wave of foreign investment in Ukraine, long one of the most overlooked markets of eastern Europe.

They are betting that Ukraine's new pro-western president, Viktor Yushchenko, will move quickly to implement the sweeping economic liberalisation he is promising. Concorde calls it "Investing Orange", after the Orange Revolution that helped to bring Mr Yushchenko to power.


An AvtoKraz Heavy Truck
The fund managers' first stop was AvtoKraz, a factory in Kremenchuk, central Ukraine, which makes super-heavy trucks that look as if they could have driven out of the 1970s. The company is growing quickly thanks to the recovering regional economy and a contract to supply 2,000 trucks to the Iraqi army.

Mr Laxhuber started buying Ukrainian equities in 2003, and since then they have doubled or tripled in value. "I'm looking to increase the Ukraine weight in my fund," he says.

Yesterday another group of more than 100 investors descended on Kiev for a conference organised by Renaissance Capital, a Russian investment bank that last year opened a branch office in Kiev. Some of the investors were due to fly out to the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk to visit a rocket factory and a steel pipe mill.

Tomas Fiala, managing director of Dragon Capital, a Ukrainian brokerage, says he sees most foreign investment falling into two broad categories. Some investors want to produce goods for the domestic market, which is growing rapidly: gross domestic product rose 12 per cent last year. Others see Ukraine as a low-cost production base with easy access to the European Union market. European clothes makers and contract manufacturers are shifting production into Ukraine's western regions, just across the new EU border.

The task for Mr Yushchenko's new government will be to translate the curiosity shown by investors such as Mr Laxhuber into a sustained increase in inward investment.

Foreign direct investment (FDI) doubled from $690m (€532m, £366m) in 2002 to $1.4bn in 2003, but remained flat in 2004.

The Economist Intelligence Unit forecasts FDI will reach $1.9bn in 2005. But Mr Fiala predicts it will reach $3bn. And he says it could be pushed higher by one or more big deals, such as an expected resale of Kryvorizhstal, the country's largest steel mill.

Production of mass commodities such as steel and chemical fertilisers is the lifeblood of Ukraine's economy, and these remain largely insider-dominated sectors. Close ties between the dominant business groups and the former government scared off potential investors and led producers in the European Union to demand protection from what they saw as unfair competition. As a result, Ukraine sells most of its exports to other emerging markets, especially Russia, China and the Middle East.

Mr Yushchenko hopes his democratic credentials will help to pry back open the doors to EU markets. He says he is determined to shift the economic base from commodities to higher-value-added products.

But many Ukrainian companies are ill prepared to break into western markets. AvtoKraz, for example, sells its old-fashioned trucks mainly to developing countries, where budgets are small and roads are bad.

Concorde is hoping to persuade AvtoKraz's owners to sell a stake of 25 per cent plus one share, which would give the minority owner a veto over major company decisions. Such a deal, worth up to $25m, would not change AvtoKraz's world Mr Fiala says the company would need an investment of at least $200m to compete against the big freight truck makers. But it would be a first step.

Viktor Yushchenko: Ukraine's Accidental Revolutionary

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko, a pro-Western leader catapulted to the presidency of Ukraine on the back of a huge pro-democracy movement, is not your archetypal revolutionary leader.

In an interview with AFP ahead of a visit Monday to Brussels, he said that his country would settle for nothing less than the opening of accession talks with the European Union from 2007.


President Viktor Yushchenko
Sitting in an ornate salon in his new residence, it was a long way from the November and December days when an "orange revolution" -- after the trademark colour of the opposition -- swept him into power after he was initially denied victory in rigged elections.

A trained banker, Yushchenko is not a gifted orator. Reporters would come back from his briefings as chief of Ukraine's central bank with pages full of notes but few quotes understandable outside the financial sector.

Yet revolutionary leader is what he became, when hundreds of thousands of people joined his stand against the ruling regime of Leonid Kuchma.

His face -- bloated and pockmarked -- became a potent symbol of the rot of the outgoing regime. The handsome features were badly disfigured in September in what doctors have since said was a result of a massive dioxin intake, and which he has charged was a murder attempt.

The 50-year-old is a dignified, deeply religious man, whose insistence on high moral standards and decency inspires confidence among supporters.

He is also notorious for a painfully slow decision-making process, a desire not to offend that often results in an inability to say 'no', and for being shockingly unpunctual.

The third president of an independent Ukraine was born in 1954 in the village of Khorujevka in eastern Ukraine and began his career in the banking sector in 1976.

In 1993, at the age of 39, he became the chief of Ukraine's central bank, catching the eye of an American ethnic Ukrainian consultant with the KPMG audit firm.

"He was very open-minded and very free-market oriented," said Katherine Chumachenko, who is today Yushchenko's wife. "I found it very interesting that somebody so young and in such an important position really had such a Western outlook on the economy."

Yushchenko headed the central bank in the first tough years of post-Soviet reform. In 1996 he introduced the country's first stable post-Soviet currency, the hryvna, to great fanfare, managing to keep the nascent unit stable while a similar experiment in neighboring Russia had a roller-coaster ride.

After six years, he was tapped to become Kuchma's cabinet chief.

He leapt at the chance, stacking his government with young liberals, focusing his efforts foremost on breaking the powerful but invisible bond between the state and organized crime.

Over the next year Ukraine enjoyed its first rise in economic growth since the Soviet Union's collapse.

But as his anti-corruption drive charged ahead, Yushchenko came up against ever more powerful enemies in both parliament and the government and Kuchma, bowing to an irate parliament that had earlier voted down an austerity budget proposed by Yushchenko, dumped him from office in April 2001.

He enjoyed his first taste of popular success that day, as 15,000 people rallied in the streets in his support, turning him into an instant opposition leader at a time when Kuchma himself was fighting off allegations linking him to the murder of an opposition journalist.

With the revolution won, Yushchenko faces the harder task of making good on his campaign promises: a fight against corruption, for transparent government, levelling the field for business players, and setting Ukraine toward European integration.

Sale of Ukraine Steel Mill Reversed

KIEV, Ukraine -- A court ruled Thursday that the privatization of Ukraine's largest steel mill was illegal, setting the stage for the first confrontation between some of the nation's biggest businessmen and the new government that vows to undo deals that put state property in the hands of people close to the previous administration.

The court annulled its own ruling that had allowed the sale of the Kryvorizhstal mill last year to former president Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, and tycoon Rinat Akhmetov despite reportedly higher offers from bidders in the United States and Russia, a court official said.

The sale became one of Ukraine's most disputed post-Soviet privatizations, and new President Viktor A. Yushchenko had vowed to reverse it.

"This ruling is the first one that does not recognize this privatization as legal," said lawyer Irina Nazarova, who represents a group of lawmakers loyal to Yushchenko.

Pinchuk said in a statement that he would accept "any decision independently taken by the courts under the rule of law" and that "Ukrainian authorities themselves should comply with court decisions."

In an interview with Ukraine's Korrespondent magazine published this week, Pinchuk said that his and Akhmetov's reputations as "honest businessmen and patriots" were of the utmost importance in resolving the issue.

In a sign that Pinchuk is eager to establish good relations with the new government, he hosted a luncheon that featured Yushchenko during last month's World Economic Forum in Switzerland, a high-powered gathering of government and business leaders.

Pinchuk's corporate lawyer Oleksiy Reznikov, however, dismissed the court's ruling Thursday as "cynical and damaging."

"The court acted against the law," Reznikov told reporters, announcing plans to appeal to a higher court. The case could eventually reach Ukraine's Supreme Court.

Nazarova, lawmaker Pavlo Ignatenko and a group of deputies filed suit last year to annul the privatization, claiming the deal violated the rights of Ukrainian citizens to buy stakes in the company.

Yushchenko has called the mill's sale for $800 million a theft. He pledged earlier this week that his government would return the mill to the state "at any cost." He has said that if the mill is put up for a transparent resale open to foreign bidders, the government might receive more than double what it sold it for last year.

Andriy Dmytrenko, an analyst with the Kiev-based Dragon Capital investment bank, called the court ruling "one of [the] first steps in the process of the cancellation of murky privatization deals."

Pinchuk urged the government in a statement to conduct its inquiries into past privatizations "in a controlled manner, transparently and involving dialogue."

"Avoiding a murky and legally dubious process is the best way to improve the image of Ukraine in the international community, particularly in relation to European investors," he said.

Analysts have warned that a massive re-privatization could be used as political revenge by the new leadership against Kuchma loyalists and could scare potential investors.

Yushchenko tried to dissipate those fears Monday, telling an investment conference that a list of enterprises to come under scrutiny "will be limited and final and will not be extended after its completion."

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Wednesday that the government would investigate the privatization of about 3,000 enterprises to learn whether they had been sold at discounts to tycoons connected with the former government.

Eurovision 2005 Will Be Second Significant Event In The World After Orange Revolution

KIEV, Ukraine -- At briefing, held on the results of the first meeting with a new staff of the Committee on Eurovision 2005 organization, co-heads of this Committee Mykola Tomenko and Oleg Rybachuk assured, that Eurovision Song Contest in Ukraine will be organized in the best way. As Mr Tomenko noted, Eurovision in Kyiv will be the second significant event in the world after Orange Revolution.


Vice Prime Ministers Rybachuk (l) and Tomenko (r)
According to Vice Prime Ministers, among the issues raised today at Organization Committee, financial aspect remained topmost priority. Mykola Tomenko reassured, this problem will be solved soon. In particular, financing sum adopted in the budget after consultation with Finance Minister may clime from 30 ml to 70-100 ml. Besides, with the help of advertising for capital formation meant for contest holding as many as possible native commercial and trade brads are supposed to be attracted.

As for souvenir production, Mr Tomenko noted, Organization Committee will supervise everything to stop monopoly in producing and distributing Ukrainian souvenirs and symbolism during song contest conducting. “This option is for separate discussion, but the main objective remains to present in this production Ukrainian face and uniqueness of our country”.

He also pointed “hotel problem”, lying in provision enough places for tourist and English speaking staff and prices for these services as well. “Now this problem is being solved, and the Ministry of Economy will be in charge of it. We don’t want foreign guests once have visited our country to say, that there are the highest prices in Ukraine” – said Tomenko.

It is also important to organize tourist trips for foreign visitors. “Foreigners shall broaded the idea of our country, their knowledge shall not be restricted only by Palace of Sport and Independence Square – reckons Vice Prime Minister. In this view, he suggests organizing short but demonstrative tourist trips, for example, throughout Chernigiv, Cherkasy and other regions of Ukraine.

During briefing co-heads of Organization Committee stated, that its activities are to be in action, and now working groups will be responsible for concrete problems solving. In particular, meetings, conferences, discussions as for the contest are going to be held in Palace of Sport, Kyiv City Administration and other institutions involved in Eurovision 2005 organization.

Yushchenko Meets With EU Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine President met with EU commissioner for External Relations and the European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk and Ukraine’s representative to the European Union Roman Shpek.

The matter of their discussion was the European prospects for Ukraine. The President outlined his position on the three-year action plan Ukraine-EU. He accentuated that his team stands for filling this plan with concrete propositions regarding European integration. Everyone realizes that the process of joining the European Union is hard and strenuous.

During the meeting they also discussed the issue of reducing visa restrictions, mostly for students, promotion of cooperation between Ukraine and the EU common safety and joint energy projects.

“We want our relations with the EU to be predictable and successful,” emphasized Victor Yushchenko, “Ukraine should be confident that Europe won’t turn its back on us.”

In her turn, Benita Ferraro-Waldner stressed she considers the action plan Ukraine-EU an opportunity to bring Ukraine to the European Union. She accentuated they expect Ukraine to start real work.

The meeting took place ahead of Ukraine President’s upcoming visit to Brussels and Strasbourg where he is to address EU MPs.

Ukrainian-American Software Entrepreneur Returns To Kiev To Boost Democracy

PALO ALTO, USA -- A Ukrainian-American software and publishing entrepreneur is returning to his native Ukraine to introduce XML-driven projects to help establish a more open society and government.

Roman Kagarlitsky, chief executive officer of RenderX of Palo Alto, Calif. said his firm is teaming up with the Ukrainian National University to create an information technology laboratory. The effort will publish typeset-quality electronic and print output.

Ukraine recently elected its first president in an open election. "I believe that with the new democratic development in Ukraine there is a huge potential for leveraging Ukraine resources and expertise for software development," Kagarlitsky said in a statement. "Our funding for this facility at the University is intended to enable the intellectual capital of Ukraine to create software products in line with international standards."

The cooperative effort plans to introduce document delivery solutions related to democracy and human rights. The RenderX-university combine is already hard at work on an XML-based system for monitoring and delivering legislation.

Kagarlitsky was born in Kiev.

Ukraine To Reduce Troops In Iraq By April

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s new defence minister said on Thursday it was "perfectly realistic" to reduce dramatically the number of troops the country has deployed in Iraq as part of the US-led military coalition there by April.

"It is perfectly realistic to reduce our presence by 700 men by around April," Defence Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko told reporters following a meeting with his Polish counterpart, Jerzy Szmajdzinski. Ukraine currently has 1,650 soldiers deployed in Iraq.

"This will not compromise the fulfilment of our mission" in the country, Hrytsenko said.

President Viktor Yushchenko, who promised during his election campaign to pull Ukrainian troops out of Iraq, said the withdrawal should be done in coordination with other coalition members.

"In calling for the withdrawal of our contingent, we must preserve all our partnership relations with the other participants in the resolution of the conflict in Iraq," Yushchenko said separately.

The Ukrainian president also said however that the decision to send Ukrainian troops to Iraq as part of that coalition was an attempt by his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, to "clean up his image before the international community."

Ukraine To Step Up NATO Entry Efforts

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk said his country will embark on the road leading to the soonest possible entry into NATO.

"The strategy will remain unchanged, but its implementation will be accelerated," Tarasyuk told a news conference following a meeting with EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner in Kyiv on Thursday.

Ukraine has repeatedly made statements confirming its readiness to join the alliance, the minister said.

The February 22 meeting of the council of NATO heads of state in Brussels will offer President Viktor Yushchenko a chance to inform Ukraine's partners about its desire to join NATO and to tell them about the political situation in the country, he said.

Ukraine’s Justice Minister Threatens to Resign Due to Lawmakers’ Interference

KIEV, Ukraine -- The US-born justice minister of Ukraine, Roman Zvarych, threatened to quit, complaining that powerful business and political leaders were interfering in his work and that members of his family were being pressured into unspecified "corruption."

"I will not allow businessmen who are also deputies and who have very strong positions in the oil sector to become involved in the work of my ministry," Zvarych said in a telephone interview broadcast on the private Kanal 5 television network.

He said his future would depend on how Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko responded to his concerns.

Zvarych added that he "will not tolerate attempts to drag members of my family toward corruption following acts and decisions by certain members of the government."

He did not elaborate.

A spokeswoman for President Viktor Yushchenko said he "is aware of the intention of Justice Minister Roman Zvarych to resign.

"He is aware of the situation that caused this decision by the minister," spokeswoman Irina Gerashchenko said. "Members of the government must demonstrate professionalism in their work and be team players."

Gerashchenko did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding Zvarych's threat to quit but said she believed Tymoshenko would find a "solution" to his apparent concerns.

Zvarych, a member of the Our Ukraine coalition that took power in the wake of the "orange revolution" in the country, is a key member of the new government confirmed by parliament on February 4.

Born in the United States into a Ukrainian immigrant family, Zvarych is a trained lawyer and built his career as a professor at Columbia University in the United States before moving to Ukraine in the early 1990s following the breakup of the former Soviet Union.

Probe Opened Into Illegal Wire-Tapping of Yushchenko, Tymoshenko Conversations

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian Security Service has initiated a criminal case into illegal wire-tapping of telephone conversations of former opposition leaders Viktor Yushchenko and Yulia Tymoshenko.

"The matter concerns wire-tapping of telephone conversations involving Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, as well as opposition members during the presidential election campaign.

The Security Service opened a criminal case on the illegal use of special monitoring devices. "We opened the criminal case and have conducted the investigation and questioning. We will inform you about the results in the near future," Security Service chief Oleksandr Turchynov said at a press conference on Thursday.

Ukraine: New Government Could Make Life Difficult For Ex-President Kuchma

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Kuchma is unlikely to have a quiet retirement as long as his political opponents are in power.

The former president has been accused of offering state property to his relatives and friends, selling weapons to rogue states and involvement in the 2000 murder of journalist Heorhiy Gongadze.

Such charges have yet to be proven in court, but the evidence against Kuchma is believed to be mounting.

Igor Losev, a professor of history and philosophy at Kyiv's Mohyla Academy, said Ukraine's new president and prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko and Yuliya Tymoshenko, respectively, have already launched an investigation into the cloud of accusations surrounding Kuchma.

"The new Tymoshenko government is already investigating the possibility of stripping him of all [retirement] privileges given him by the former government," Losev said.

Kuchma currently enjoys a generous pension, the use of two automobiles, a cook, a maid, and much more. All this could be put in peril if the government pursues its case against him.

A number of Kuchma's close friends and relatives have come under scrutiny as well.

Tymoshenko recently announced the cancellation of a dubious privatization deal involving the Kryvorizhstal metallurgical plant, which is co-owned by Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, and Rinat Akhmetov, a prominent businessman from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

The trend appears aimed at stripping Kuchma of his power base. Yushchenko announced on 15 February that the government is preparing to reexamine the privatizations of some 30-40 major businesses.

But the most perilous charge potentially facing Kuchma is his alleged involvement in the unresolved killing of Gongadze, who ran a popular Internet news site that often criticized the government.

Gongadze was abducted in 2000 and subsequently murdered. In secret tapes made by a former bodyguard, Kuchma is overheard repeatedly complaining about Gongadze's reporting and ordering then-Interior Minister Yuriy Kravzhenko to "drive him out, throw [him] out; give him to the Chechens."

Kuchma has said he was not involved in Gongadze's murder and claimed the recordings are fakes.

Many opposition politicians disagree.

Losev said the new government had no choice but to investigate Kuchma's alleged crimes: "The new authorities will be pressed to do something about Kuchma, because the people who supported them [during the Orange Revolution that brought Yushchenko to power] will not accept Kuchma being allowed to enjoy a peaceful retirement. That would suggest there is some kind of link between Kuchma and the new authorities."

Losev said, however, it was unlikely Kuchma would ever be put behind bars. He said such a move would be too great a political risk for Yushchenko and Tymoshenko.

"If Kuchma is tried in court, it will mean that no future Ukrainian president could be considered a sacred cow, judicially speaking," Losev said. "It would mean that the standard of responsibility for any future head of state and other officials would be raised."

Losev said Ukrainian politicians feel as though they belong to a single ruling elite, regardless of party affiliation. Were Yushchenko to take Kuchma to court, it would mean a radical break with political tradition.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, an analyst with the independent Rozumkov Center, a think thank in Kyiv, said the country's ex-presidents enjoyed what he called an "unofficial immunity" and that rule of law had yet to become accepted practice. But, he said, that could change with time.

"The problem is that everything in Ukraine is happening all at once," Lytvynenko said. "A legal consciousness is being formed [in the society], new laws and new policies are being introduced. Everything is done all at once."

Kuchma, meanwhile, appears to be trying to make the most of his retirement while he can. The former president traveled this week to the Czech Republic for a month in the spa town Karlovy Vary.

Kuchma's spokesman dismissed speculation Kuchma's trip was meant to help him escape criminal allegations in his home country.

Kuchma’s Enjoying His Rest With An Unidentified Woman

KARLOVY VARY, Czech Republic -- Ukrainian ex-president Leonid Kuchma is occupying one of the most luxurious villas in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic, according to a report by Kiev's TV channel 1+1.

Leonid Kuchma arrived at 13:00 via direct charter plane from Kiev. There were 3 persons on board the plane, one of them was a woman who later joined Kuchma for a walk along the colonnade.


Hotel Mignon - Czech Republic
Paparazzi failed to identify the woman as Kuchma's wife, says the channel.

A speaker for the Ukrainian Embassy in Prague, Andriy Motorniy said: “It’s his personal business who will join him in his sanatorium treatment”. Kuchma lives (with the woman) in one of the best villas in Karlovy Vary. It’s the part of hotel complex Mignon where post-soviet politicians like to stay. Recently the president of Kazakhstan was there.

Kazakh businessmen Kairat Boranbayev and Zelina Katranova own the hotel.

The three-story mansion occupied by the Ukrainian couple is situated on Sadova Street in a picturesque nook near a Russian Orthodox Church.

Hotel Mignon refused to give any information about Mr. Kuchma, except for his treatment: tuberculous treatment, balneotherapy, rehabilitation – massage, swimming-pool, etc.

According to unofficial information Mr. Kuchma’s treatment will last from 3 to 4 weeks.

Ukraine to Contest Thousands of Privatizations Under Kuchma Government

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine will contest the disputed privatization of some 3,000 former state enterprises that were turned over "to private but dishonest hands," Ukraine's new prime minister said Wednesday.

Many of Ukraine's privatizations took place under murky circumstances, with the companies being sold at unexpectedly low prices, sometimes to people with close connections to former president Leonid Kuchma.

Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko said prosecutors had launched investigations earlier into illegal privatizations, "but closed them after receiving telephone instructions" - indicating people in Kuchma's government had intervened.

"This practice will end, and it will be done very quickly . . . to restore justice and legality," said Tymoshenko, a key leader of the Orange Revolution that swept President Viktor Yushchenko to power.

She said Ukraine's prosecutor-general's office will contest the privatization of some 3,000 former state enterprises.

"We will return to the state what was handed over to private but dishonest hands," Tymoshenko said in a statement after a cabinet meeting.

The comment apparently indicated an intention to resell such companies to new bidders rather than renationalize them. "The rights of honest business will effectively be protected," said Tymoshenko, who was a fierce opponent of Kuchma.

Yushchenko, who took office last month, and Tymoshenko had promised the privatizations would be examined. The number reportedly cited by Tymoshenko gave the first indication of how wide the campaign might be.

Yushchenko and government officials previously have said that among the major privatizations to be investigated is that of the Kryvorizhstal steel mill, one of the world's most profitable, which was bought at a rock-bottom price last year by a consortium that included Viktor Pinchuk, Kuchma's son-in-law.

Two other key bidders - Russia's OAO Severstal and a consortium made up of United States Steel Corp. and the LNM Group - protested the mill's auction.

Other deals facing possible scrutiny are for Ukrrudprom, an ore mining and processing enterprise that was also was sold to a Pinchuk-linked group, and the Petrovsky steel mill. Only local companies were allowed to participate in those auctions.

Russian Adviser Rejects Yushchenko Poisoning Claims

MOSCOW, Russia -- A Russian political adviser has denied reports he was involved in the poisoning of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

The then opposition leader, Mr Yushchenko was poisoned during Ukraine's presidential campaign last September.

His doctors say he was given a lethal amount of dioxin, probably mixed with his food.

Mr Yushchenko has always maintained his political enemies had tried to kill him, and his new Interior Minister says authorities know the identity of those responsible.

Earlier this week a Ukrainian television station alleged a Russian political adviser, Gleb Pavlovsky, was involved in the poisoning.

He was in Ukraine advising Mr Yushchenko's Russian-backed rival.

Mr Pavlovsky has told Russian news agency Interfax that the report is a lie and one he completely rejects.

Powell, Yushchenko and Bono Among 166 Nobel Peace Prize Candidates

OSLO, Norway -- At least 166 names figure on this year's list of Nobel Peace Prize candidates, the Nobel Institute said on Wednesday, with observers expecting to find former US secretary of state Colin Powell and Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko in the running.

"The number of candidates is not final. We will continue receiving some depending on how fast the postal service works," head of the Nobel Institute Geir Lundestad told AFP.

Submissions of candidate names for this year's Nobel Prize had to be postmarked by February 1, but the Nobel Committee's five members can submit their own candidates for the prestigious prize up until their first meeting of the year on February 22.

The number of candidates is not expected to surpass the record 194 individuals and organizations in the running for the prize last year, but the list already includes 137 individuals and 29 organizations.

As tradition dictates, the Nobel Institute never reveals the identities of the candidates. However, those entitled to submit nominations for the prize -- including past laureates, members of parliament and cabinet ministers from around the world and some university professors -- are allowed to disclose their suggestions.

Powell, Yushchenko, Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili and Irish U2 singer Bono are said to figure on the list, and former Czech president Vaclav Havel and Pope John Paul II are also expected to be in the running.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has also been mentioned as a candidate due to its recent attempts to get Iran and North Korea's nuclear ambitions under control, as has Chinese businesswoman and prisoner of conscious Rebiya Kadeer, for her work for the rights of the minority Uygur people in China's Xinjiang province.

Other names on this year's list are thought to include the "1,000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005" movement and US President George W. Bush.

Also figuring amidst the candidates are the Japanese association Hidankyo, which organizes survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bombs, and British humanitarian organization Oxfam, which both are celebrating their 60th anniversaries this year.

"We witness a large diversity of geographical origins and areas of interest," was all Lundestad would divulge.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner is usually picked by the end of September and announced in mid-October, with the prize awarded in a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of the death of Nobel prize founder Alfred Nobel in 1896.

Last year the prestigious prize for the first time went to an environmentalist, Kenyan Wangari Maathai, also the first African woman to win the award, and the year before it went to Iranian lawyer and activist Shirin Ebadi.

The award consists of a diploma, a gold medal and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor (1.4 million dollars, 1.1 million euros).

Ukraine's Premier Will Have Immunity

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia will not arrest Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko if she travels to Moscow, though criminal charges against her remain in force, local media quoted Russia's prosecutor general as saying.

As a senior government official, Tymoshenko enjoys immunity from arrest, Vladimir Ustinov said.

Tymoshenko is wanted in Russia on charges of bribing military officials while she was head of the Ukrainian power grid. She denies the charges.

Ukraine's Natural Gas Exports to Europe Soar in January

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine increased exports of natural gas to Europe in January to 416.6 million cubic meters, up from 120 million cubic meters exported in December 2004, an Energy and Fuel Ministry official said Wednesday.

In January Ukraine resumed natural gas exports to Germany, after suspending them in November 2004, the official said. In January Ukraine exported 319.8 million cubic meters of gas to Germany, from zero in December 2004, while gas exports to Romania fell to 96.8 million cubic meters from 120 million cubic meters in December.

Ukraine exported about 4.9 billion cubic meters of gas to Europe in 2004, of which 3.6 billion cubic meters was exported to Germany, about 1 billion cubic meters to Romania and about 300 million cubic meters to Hungary.

Ukraine is mostly re-exporting natural gas it buys from Turkmenistan.

Ukraine Privatisation Branded 'Theft'

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko has announced sweeping reforms of his predecessor's controversial privatisation of state assets and generous retirement package.

Mr Yushchenko told a conference of investors that the privatisation of about 30 companies owned by the state would be re-examined.

One of the companies was the steel giant Kryvorizhstal, sold to former president Leonid Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, for $800 million in June. Mr Pinchuk bid half as much as his competitors.

Mr Yushchenko, who has described the privatisation as theft, said: "Many other companies will be put through the same procedure." The Interfax news agency said he would announce a final list soon.

The 10-year Kuchma administration, widely accused of nepotism and corruption, presided over the dubious privatisation of many state assets.

Mr Yushchenko won a re-run election in December after leading weeks of protests claiming electoral fraud by the Kuchma government.

He told the Guardian in an interview shortly after his victory that Mr Kuchma would have to "answer under the law, like any other citizen . . . whether they are the president's son-in-law or his charlady in his office".

The new Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, who was once jailed by Mr Kuchma, has ordered her Government to draw up a revised retirement package for the former president, who has a generous pension, two cars, a cook, maid and other luxuries. It will be presented to cabinet today.

A series of criminal investigations into the former administration's conduct have also been opened. One MP urged prosecutors to investigate claims that the old administration sold six nuclear-capable Kh-55 missiles to Iran and six to China, in defiance of international treaties.

More attention is being paid to the death of internet journalist Georgi Gongadze, found beheaded in 2000. Mr Kuchma is heard on secret digital recordings, apparently made by a former bodyguard, telling his interior minister to "drive him out, throw him out, give him to the Chechens". The former president denies the tapes are authentic or that he was involved in the killing.

Mr Yushchenko has said that he "owes it to Georgi" to pursue the investigation of his death, and says he will rename the street where Mr Kuchma's administration was based after the journalist. Mr Kuchma was this week reported to have gone for a brief holiday to Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic.

Mr Yushchenko has pledged to improve relations with Russia, which backed his adversary, the former prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, in the electoral crisis, and insisted the neighbours' relationship will not impede his bringing the Ukraine into the EU.

But on Monday he took a step towards winning over Moscow when he appointed Boris Nemtsov, a prominent Russian liberal MP and critic of Vladimir Putin, a part-time adviser to improve business ties with Russia.

Washington has moved to bolster the new-found democratic freedoms it maintains led to Mr Yushchenko's inauguration by giving Ukraine an extra $US60 million in aid for this year and next.

A White House statement said the money "includes $US60 million to support the new Government's ability to consolidate gains Ukraine has made, establish the rule of law, combat corruption, and accelerate economic reforms".

The US has given Ukraine $US58 million to support democracy during the past two years.

Russia claimed US financial support to such "democratic institutions" had helped the opposition win.

Ukraine Turns Up Heat On Ex-Leader Kuchma

KIEV, Ukraine -- As Ukraine's ex-President Leonid Kuchma settles into a comfortable retirement, his future is in the hands of some of his fiercest political enemies, who accuse him of misdeeds ranging from corruption to ordering the murder of a journalist.

President Viktor Yushchenko, sacked by Kuchma in acrimony as prime minister in 2000, is already cranking up the pressure. He has unleashed his government to pick through sales of state property and alleged "insider" deals under the previous regime.

Even Kuchma's retirement package - fat pension, two cars, cook, maid and much more - is under investigation. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, whom Kuchma once had thrown in jail, ordered the government to come up with a new, slimmed-down version, to be presented to the Cabinet on Wednesday.

But the real specter haunting Kuchma's future is Heorhiy Gongadze.

Gongadze, a journalist who ran a popular Internet news site highly critical of the government, was abducted in 2000. His headless corpse was found 50 days later. His decomposed remains still lie in a morgue in a desolate corner of Kiev, while his mother, Lesya Gongadze, demands justice and Yushchenko declares it a moral duty to resolve the case.

In secret tapes made by a former bodyguard, the president was overheard repeatedly complaining about Gongadze's reporting and ordering then-Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko to "drive him out, throw (him) out, give him to the Chechens."

Kuchma has denied the authenticity of the tapes, and insists he had nothing to do with Gongadze's abduction.

But the case has become Ukraine's cause celebre, and Yushchenko may have no choice but to pursue it, even if he is not out for vengeance and would rather 66-year-old Kuchma faded into comfortable obscurity, as some have suggested.

The new interior minister, Yuriy Lyutsenko, was one of those who joined the street rallies in 2000 for Kuchma's impeachment over the journalist's killing. Heorhiy Omelchenko, one of Kuchma's most aggressive parliamentary foes, has formally requested the arrest of Kuchma. So far, the prosecutor's office has not responded.

If Kuchma isn't arrested, Omelchenko warns, he'll claim cover-up. "It'll mean there is a secret - and illegal - agreement ... that Kuchma can't be touched."

Kuchma typified the class of ex-communists who took over many Soviet and eastern European republics in the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union. In power for 10 years, he could have sought a third term but decided to hand over the reins to his hand-picked candidate, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

But things went awry in a welter of electoral fraud and street protests, and the ultimate winner was Yushchenko, the man Kuchma's office once called a fascist and an American stooge.

Anger against Kuchma still runs deep in this nation of 48 million. Many Ukrainians accuse him of having run the state like a personal fiefdom, enriching those close to him while the rest of the nation was choked by poverty and corruption.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, an analyst at Kiev's Razumkov think tank, said that while Kuchma isn't protected by a formal immunity, there is an "unofficial immunity for ex-presidents," which he doesn't expect Yushchenko to encroach upon.

A Western diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, also senses that Yushchenko would rather leave Kuchma in honorable retirement and "establish the pattern that there is life after politics."

Kuchma's problem is that the new government says the previous one exceeded its powers in bypassing parliament and giving Kuchma a deal that includes a monthly salary of equal to $1,560, and allows him and wife Lyudmyla to keep their government-owned home in Ukraine's most exclusive enclave.

Meanwhile, Tymoshenko, the new prime minister, has begun the process of taking the Krivoryzhstal steel mill out of the hands of a consortium which includes Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk. The group bought the profitable mill at a rock-bottom price during a widely criticized privatization deal last year.

Prosecutors are sifting through other major privatization deals and financial transactions, a probe that is likely to focus on the wealthy clique of businessmen close to Kuchma.

Yushchenko, a Western-oriented reformer whose wife is American, has a reputation as a compromiser, but his anger at the former regime's attempts to discredit him runs deep. During a visit last week to Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a region that overwhelmingly backed his rival, Yanukovych, the new president lashed out at officials who in 2003 decorated the city with cartoon posters depicting him dressed in a Nazi uniform.

Reminding the crowd that his father was imprisoned in Auschwitz, he asked: "Who ordered these posters? Who hung these up? ... I don't want to forgive this."

Still, those close to Kuchma insist he is not worried.

"He is optimistic," said son-in-law Pinchuk. "I think he's expecting a normal, full life as a member of the club of ex-presidents."

Yushchenko Asks Europe to Take Ukraine Seriously

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko urged investors Tuesday to take seriously his plans to haul Ukraine into the European mainstream, saying his ex-Soviet state was no child "in short pants" seeking entry to an exclusive club.

Yushchenko also restated assurances that his administration, committed to clean government, would not launch a wholesale revision of 1990s privatization but confine its examination to a few dozen questionable deals. These, he said, would include the sell-off last year of the giant Kryvoryzhstal steel mill.

The president, elected in December on a wave of protests against electoral fraud, said a three-year plan to prepare for European Union membership involved securing this year status as a market economy and membership of the World Trade Organization.

"There is not a single point in formal or practical terms to keep us from acquiring market economy status," he told an investment conference run by Renaissance Capital. "Our aim is by November to fulfil all requirements for WTO membership.

His government was resolved to introduce European standards in Ukrainian politics and social programs, with a special cabinet post set aside for European integration.

"Let no one get the impression that our nation is standing in short pants at the gates of Europe, knocking to get inside," he said in an emotional address met by a standing ovation.

"We are not Europe's neighbors. We are the center of Europe. What we are is the EU's neighbor. And we want EU membership."

FAST ACTION AGAINST CORRUPTION

Yushchenko pledged fast action to eliminate corruption and create a proper business climate -- key planks of his plan to launch talks by 2007 on an association agreement with the EU.

Ukraine, he said, had in hand the first chance in at least two centuries to harness its statehood to national interests.

"It is possible we will make mistakes," he said. "I am not afraid of mistakes. But I want you to be standing alongside us." He told investors a review of post-Soviet privatizations, to be drawn up soon, concerned only two or three dozen sell-offs. "This list will be limited and closed in that it will not be revived. There will be one such list."

During Ukraine's long election campaign Yushchenko said he would demand larger sums from investors deemed to have acquired property on the cheap in dubious circumstances.

He told the conference Kryvoryzhstal "will be returned to the state, and a public, international tender will be organized. You will see ... that we will bring into the state budget three or four times the sum from the first tender."

Yushchenko last week said his administration could consider returning the plant to the public sector. The winners of last year's $800 million sale included the son-in-law of ex-President Leonid Kuchma and a close ally of former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, defeated by Yushchenko in the December election.

The Stealthy Role of Military Informers in Ukraine Revolution

KIEV, Ukraine -- In the heat of the huge November street protests that shook Ukraine, the cell phone of Volodymyr Antonets, the former commander of the nation’s air force, began to ring incessantly.

“We’ve got work at 2300" hours, one caller said. It was November 28.

The colonel general, now an opposition activist, understood immediately—thousands of troops the interior ministry had placed around Kiev ahead of the presidential election run-off vote a week earlier had been given arms and live ammunition and were boarding trucks to take them toward the crowds blocking government buildings in central Kiev to protest the result.


Interior Ministry Troops During Orange Revolution
It seemed Ukraine’s peaceful mass protests were about to get bloody.

It was the moment that Antonets had been working toward for two years as the chief of “the military project” at the election campaign of the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.

He ordered his small army of 500 former defense, interior and intelligence officers into central Kiev—the secret weapon of Yushchenko’s campaign was about to face off against their former colleagues in the cold, snowy streets.

In preparing for the election, Yushchenko’s campaign paid special attention to law-enforcement agencies, developing a network of sympathetic informers who ended up playing a crucial role in averting bloodshed that night.

“After two years of work the army was on our side,” said Roman Bezsmertnyi, who headed Yushchenko’s campaign until a few months before the election.

To do so, Antonets assembled a team of people like him, hundreds of people who for various reasons didn’t like the regime of President Leonid Kuchma.

Many had bones to pick with a leadership they accused of forcing them out of beloved jobs because they refused to take the party line.

Police officer Anatoly Anto­nets, whose calm voice fills with passion when he talks of mistakes in reforming Uk­raine’s armed forces, came to Yushchenko’s campaign in late 2002, offering his 20-plus years of experience in the Soviet and Ukrainian armies.

The former deputy defense minister organized his team on a triple strategy—campaigning on behalf of Yushchenko among the 10 percent of the electorate connected with the armed forces; developing a network of informers and security personnel to use during mass protests that appeared inevitable if the regime tried to rig the election; and working out proposals for the armed forces under a president Yushchenko.

By election time, he had gathered together 500 officers from the military, police and intelligence who worked in shifts at the heart of the protests on Kiev’s central Independence Square.

The group aimed to prevent disturbances from any groups that may be sent by Yush­chenko’s election rival, pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, and monitor the movement of troops in order to know how to respond.

Their sources could hardly be better—the son of former policeman Grigory Petrik, for example, had returned six months earlier from duty with a special forces unit and kept in touch with his old buddies.

So when an alarm rang in the barracks of the interior troops, many campaign officials began getting urgent phone calls.

Later the interior ministry official, who gave the order, said it was just a training exercise. The opposition leaders said many sources told them otherwise—that it was meant to be much more than that.

As Antonets headed to the streets to prepare the peaceful response, David Zhvania, a deputy campaign chief, began to visit his contacts.

One of them was Igor Smeshko, the head of the SBU intelligence services who Zhvania said began making calls to stop the order being carried out.

“Igor began to call both the general prosecutor and the interior minister . . . [as well as] the head of Kiev police, saying the order did not stand up,” Zhvania said.

In the end, it was not carried out and the troops returned to the barracks. Many say the SBU role was not as positive as such reports suggest, but Zhvania sticks to his interpretation.

“There was one player in the SBU and that was Smeshko,” he said.

“He understood the government was too old and degraded, he did not want a convict for a president. Then, when he saw a million on the streets, he would have to have been crazy to make another decision.”

Smeshko, who did not keep his job under the Yushchenko government, declined repeated requests for an interview.

Ukraine`s NATO Aspirations Cast a Cloud Over Russian Arms Exporters

MOSCOW, Russia -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has made it clear that he wants his country to join NATO and even before he came to power the previous government had begun reorganizing the armed forces along NATO-compatible lines. This has unpleasant implications for Russian arms exports, because so many parts for Russian weapons systems are made in Ukraine. Other former Warsaw Pact countries have seen their defence industries shrink after joining NATO and this will also happen in Ukraine as it pursues its aspirations. The following is an excerpt from a report by the Vedomosti newspaper:

The Russian military industrial complex is anticipating some hard times ahead. Kiev's course towards joining NATO, taking into account the election of President Viktor Yushchenko, will result in the curtailment of military production at Ukrainian plants, and without their supplies the prospects for many Russian exporters do not look good.


R-27 air-to-air missile
According to the assessment of Kiev's Research Centre for the Army, Conversion and Disarmament Problems, Ukraine exported weapons worth approximately 600m dollars in 2004. At least 150m of them were under contracts negotiated through Russia's Rosoboroneksport [state arms exporter]. But Moscow's Centre for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies estimates this share at 300m dollars. Together with Russia, Ukraine exports engines for Mi-8 helicopters, R-27 air-to-air missiles, turbines for warships, and a number of components for other weapons.

Ukraine Rushes Into NATO

The winner of the presidential elections in Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, has repeatedly stated that he wants to make the country a NATO member. In his election manifesto, "the all-out acceleration of Euro-Atlantic integration", i.e., entry into NATO, has been declared the main direction of foreign policy.

Like other East European countries that have joined the alliance, the Ukrainian military industrial complex will have to curtail production: this is precisely the way it was in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the former Warsaw Treaty Organization member countries with the most developed military production, says Ruslan Pukhov, editor of the journal Moscow Defence Brief. Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko states that approximately 2,000 enterprises interact with one another in both countries; "without one another they are in principle in no condition to produce any end product at all". For example, Russia does not produce the R-27 missile, which foreign clients require when purchasing Russian aircraft. The production of turbines for large ships is also absent, and domestic enterprises do not produce equivalent versions of a number of aircraft engines that Motor Sich produces in Zaporizhzhya.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military and political leadership had no plans apart from joining NATO even before Yushchenko came to power. In the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's White Book published in August 2004, the plan for armed forces development until the year 2015 is formulated entirely on the basis of NATO standards. For example, it provides that the army should establish a rapid reaction corps consisting of three brigades: an air mobile one, a light mechanized one for "maintaining peace" and a mechanized one for "peace imposition" operations (like in Yugoslavia in 1999). The other armed forces should support these corps' operations. "[Kiev's] only plan is the conversion of the army along the lines of European NATO armies with clearly defined missions within a coalition war, and it would have been carried out even in case of a victory by [Yushchenko's rival] Viktor Yanukovych," states a source close to Ukraine's General Staff. Thus, the Ukrainian air force and subunits of the air defence forces were merged into a single air command at the very height of the election campaign. A unified naval command has also been created. For example, the Czech army was reorganized in a similar manner for the sake of joining NATO, Pukhov recalls. Its mission within the alliance framework is to provide chemical defence subunits for intervention contingents. "If it intends to preserve its own system of security, military and technical cooperation with Russia is doomed to curtailment," he reasons.

What the Russian Military Industrial Complex Loses

A number of Ukrainian defence plants whose directors supported Yanukovych in the elections may suffer very soon. For example, Vyacheslav Boguslayev, the general director of the Motor Sich plant, was a confidant of the losing candidate. "The new authorities may punish us [for that]," fears a manager of one of the large Ukrainian aviation industry enterprises with sales of several tens of millions of dollars.

However, "considering Russia's influence on the Ukrainian military industrial complex", the new Ukrainian authorities will not undertake to sharply curtail ties with the neighbour for the first one or two years, assumes Valentin Badrak, the director of Kiev's Research Centre for the Army, Conversion, and Disarmament Problems. But cooperation will inevitably wane, Pukhov is certain: firstly medium-sized enterprises will cease cooperation, and after them large ones such as Mykolayiv's Zorya-Mashproyekt, Kiev's Artem GAKhK [Artem State Joint-Stock Holding Company], and Motor Sich. Theoretically Russian competitors may attempt to set up production of some equivalent products. Thus, Saturn NPO [the Saturn Scientific Production Association] is developing the AL-55 aircraft engine, which may replace low-thrust Motor Sich engines. Russian plants also have capacity for the production of R-27 missiles. But it is difficult to calculate the necessary volume of investments for such projects, and all the more, the sources of financing are unclear, says Pukhov.

Probing the Plot to Poison Ukraine's Yushchenko

MOSCOW, Russia -- It was a clear September night when Yevhen Chervonenko left presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko healthy and in good spirits ahead of a secret meeting at a dacha near Kiev.

Chervonenko, at the time Yushchenko's head of security and now Ukraine's new transportation minister, said he usually went everywhere with Yushchenko and even tasted his food. But that night was an exception. Yushchenko was going to the dacha to dine with Ukrainian Security Service chief Ihor Smeshko and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsyuk.

"I was told that I was not required that night because the organizers wanted the meeting to be confidential," Chervonenko said in an interview.


Yushchenko in July 2004 - two months before poisoning
Yushchenko's bodyguards also were not allowed to accompany him, he said. The only member of his team who went along was his campaign manager, David Zhvania. Yushchenko, who was already leading Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the polls, had requested the Sept. 5 meeting to discuss the election campaign and death threats he had begun receiving in July. The men sat down for a meal of boiled crayfish, a salad of tomatoes, cucumbers and corn and beer, followed by cold meats washed down with vodka and cognac.

The next day, Yushchenko fell seriously ill and his body was racked with pain, Chervonenko said. Slowly, a mask of bumps and cysts crept across his once-handsome face - symptoms that he had ingested a dose of pure TCDD, the most hazardous dioxin, Vienna doctors later determined.

Now that Yushchenko is Ukraine's president, difficult questions are being raised about who could have wanted him out of the race so badly that they were willing to kill him. Interviews with members of Yushchenko's camp and former KGB officers suggest a shadowy Ukrainian-Russian plot most likely involving members of the security services of both countries and quite possibly members of the former Ukrainian government or organized crime figures that feared losing wealth and influence.

Both President Leonid Kuchma and President Vladimir Putin had placed their bets on Yanukovych.

At least one other attempt was made on Yushchenko's life during the campaign, when a car bomb was found outside his campaign headquarters on the eve of the Nov. 21 runoff vote.

Two Russian citizens from the Moscow region were arrested in connection with the planned car bombing. Radio Liberty, citing police records, identified them as Mikhail Shugai, 35, and Marat Moskvitin, 33. A third man, identified only as Surguchyov, contacted Shugai in Moscow and promised the two men $50,000 to organize the bombing, according to investigators.

Ukrainian prosecutors are investigating both cases but have said little.

Yushchenko has refused to discuss the attempts on his life while the investigations are ongoing. But in an interview with CNN last week, he said he had "no doubt" that his "opponents in the government" had had the most to gain from his death. Pressed over whether he was poisoned at the Sept. 5 dinner, he replied, "Most likely."

Ukrainian Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun, who was in Vienna to investigate the dioxin poisoning, said medical records support the suspicions that Yushchenko was poisoned around the time of the dinner, Reuters reported.

"There is no doubt that this was a planned act, in which several people from the government were probably involved," Piskun said in an interview with the Austrian paper Der Standard released on Feb. 9, ahead of publication Thursday, Reuters reported.

A former KGB agent familiar with the Yushchenko poisoning case said suspicion had fallen on Satsyuk, the former deputy security service chief and the host of the Sept. 5 dinner. The former agent, who asked not to be identified for fear of potential repercussions, said two people with knowledge of the poisoning were willing to testify against Satsyuk.

The former agent said he firmly believed that the dioxin TCDD was cooked up in a former KGB laboratory in Russia. "They produced poisons that killed a person in such a way that the death seemed natural," he said. "This lab was kept secret, and it existed only in Moscow, not in Ukraine. For this reason it would have been impossible for the Ukrainians to get the poison in their country. They needed Russia's cooperation." TCDD is a chemical that laboratories in only a few countries, including Russia and the United States, are able to produce.

Serhiy Shevchuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker and the deputy head of a parliamentary commission investigating the poisoning, said he had looked into where the poison could have been produced.

"I have talked to experts who, sometimes speaking off the record, said that such a lab existed on Russian soil. But I don't think that Russia is the only country that has them," Shevchuk said.

Some suspicion has been cast on Gleb Pavlovsky, a Kremlin spin doctor, who opened a "Russian Club" in Kiev during the election campaign. Ostensibly a nongovernmental forum to discuss bilateral relations, the club was widely seen as a means for Moscow to influence the outcome of the election.

In late December, a courier left an envelope with an unsigned letter and a computer disc at the offices of Ukraine's independent Channel 5 television. On the disc were excerpts of a telephone conversation between a man in Moscow and a man in Kiev that suggested the poisoning was Pavlovsky's idea. The man from Moscow said Pavlovsky did not want to kill Yushchenko but just "spoil the messiah's appearance and put the seal of Satan on him."

The disc's authenticity has yet to be confirmed, but Volodymyr Ariev, the Channel 5 journalist who looked into the case, believes it is a key piece of evidence. He said that through extensive research he had been able to identify the two men and that they had confirmed to him that they had had the conversation. Ariev said he could not identify the men for their own safety but described them as "a well-informed person who lives in Kiev" and a man who "works for the analytical department at the presidential administration in Moscow."

Ariev appeared to be referring to the expert department. The Kremlin press service said it did not know how many people worked in the department or have its telephone number.

"The man in Moscow belongs to a faction in the Kremlin that opposed what Pavlovsky's people were doing in Kiev," Ariev said by telephone from Kiev. The Kiev man is helping prosecutors investigate the case, he said.

Ariev said the men told him that security service officers carried out the poisoning and the car bomb attempt but did not say whether they were Russians or Ukrainians.

Pavlovsky rejected repeated requests to comment for this article.

Three former KGB officers said they strongly doubt that Pavlovsky had anything to do with the poisoning. "Only someone with a KGB mind could come up with such an idea. This is not the case with Pavlovsky," said Konstantin Preobrazhensky, a retired KGB lieutenant colonel who lives in Washington.

Oleg Gordiyevsky, a former KGB officer living in London, and Yury Shvets, a former KGB operative who lives in the United States, agreed. Both said the computer disc could not be trusted and that they could not imagine someone like Pavlovsky organizing the poisoning.

All three, however, said the Kremlin most likely gave the Ukrainians a hand in organizing the poisoning.

Although Ukraine had the biggest KGB department outside of Moscow in Soviet times, it still did not possess the technology to make poisons, he and Preobrazhensky said.

The KGB had to get approval from the Soviet leadership to poison someone, but its Russian successor, the Federal Security Service, is "without control - they don't have to ask anyone for permission now," he added.

Alternatively, the dioxin could have been delivered by former KGB agents who now work in the private sector and offer their services for a fee, said independent security analyst Anton Surikov.

The FSB declined to comment last week.

Preobrazhensky said he believed Moscow and Kiev worked together to poison a candidate they feared they could not "maneuver." Putin is trying to build a strong state and needs Ukraine as part of the plan, while Ukrainian oligarchs sought someone able to guarantee their corrupt business interests, he said, and Yanukovych was the candidate who fitted both needs.

Moreover, he said, poisoning has been a preferred political tool to silence foes since Putin assumed power five years ago. One of the most prominent cases was that of Yury Shchekochikhin, a liberal State Duma deputy and journalist who fought corruption and died in July 2003 after suffering a severe allergic reaction. Colleagues in the Yabloko party and at the Novaya Gazeta newspaper believe he was poisoned. A prominent Chechen rebel, Lecha Islamov, died in a Volgograd prison hospital in April, also after suffering a severe allergic reaction. His relatives called it a case of deliberate food poisoning. More recently, Anna Politkovskaya, a Novaya Gazeta reporter known for her reports about Chechnya, accused the FSB of poisoning her after she fell seriously ill on a flight to cover the Beslan school hostage-taking in September.

Shevchuk, the Ukrainian lawmaker, said many questions remained about the poisoning, including whether a single chemical or a combination of chemicals was used. Doctors found only dioxin after months of research, but other agents might have been used that disappeared within a few hours, he said.

Shevchuk said there were two plausible theories about how Yushchenko was poisoned: that he was slipped a large dose at the Sept. 5 dinner or that he was poisoned on the campaign trail and then given a large dose at the dinner.

Arnold Schecter, one of only a handful of dioxin specialists in the world, said it usually took several days before a person contaminated with dioxin felt sick. "It would be very unusual that someone feels sick soon after he was given the dioxin - unless the dose was very huge or the person is very sensitive," he said.

However, if Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin earlier and then was slipped a dose of another chemical at the dinner, he would feel sick immediately, Schecter said.

Ukrainian newspapers reported that Smeshko, the security service chief, said Yushchenko had felt ill before the dinner and had postponed the meeting at least once because of his health. But Chervonenko, Yushchenko's head of security, said his boss did not complain of any illness before the dinner. "The last time I saw him healthy was when he got into Satsyuk's car to be driven to the meeting," Chervonenko said.

Smeshko did not appear to be aware of the poison plot.

The former KGB agent who asked not to be identified said the two people ready to testify against Satsyuk were being held by Yushchenko's team. He would not identify the two.

The Australian newspaper The Age reported last month that the cook and waiter who had worked at the Sept. 5 dinner were spirited out of the country by Yushchenko's team and had admitted their involvement in the poisoning.

Satsyuk, who was fired by Kuchma in mid-December, has denied any involvement in the poisoning.

An additional unanswered question is whether those who poisoned Yushchenko wanted to kill him or just ruin his appearance.

Surikov, the security analyst, said the security services of the former Soviet republics were so unprofessional these days that "if they wanted to kill him, they would have disfigured him, but if they planned to disfigure him, they would have killed him."

When it became clear that Yushchenko had a good chance of winning the election, two people who supported Yanukovych died, while others left the country.

Yuriy Liakh, a close ally of Kuchma's chief of staff, Viktor Medvedchuk, and chairman of Ukrkreditbank, died on Dec. 3 in an apparent suicide. Ukrainian news reports said his bank was suspected of having laundered money for Yanukovych's election campaign, which reportedly spent $600 million. It was on Dec. 3 that the Ukrainian Supreme Court overturned the Nov. 21 vote and set a repeat runoff for Dec. 26, which Yushchenko won easily.

On Dec. 27, Transportation Minister Heorhiy Kirpa also died in an apparent suicide. Yushchenko supporters had accused him of siphoning off government funds for the Yanukovych campaign and of providing trains to carry Yanukovych supporters to vote with multiple absentee ballots in the Nov. 21 runoff.

According to media reports, Yanukovych has fled to Russia.

On Feb. 2, Ukraine's parliament asked the Prosecutor General's Office to initiate a criminal case against Kuchma and take him into custody on suspicion of corruption and wrongdoing. No charges have been filed to date.

Standard & Poor's Rates Ukraine

MOSCOW, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian government is facing rather daunting tasks because it inherited a divided country, according to a statement released by the international rating agency Standard & Poor's Monday.

"The recent political crisis showed that Ukrainian society is divided according to several aspects - ethnic, religious and political," the agency points out.

Last time, the agency revised Ukrainian ratings in summer 2004. On July 20, 2004, the long-term ratings of the country were raised to a "B+" and short-term credit ratings in national and foreign currencies were affirmed at a "B" level. The rating outlook was changed to "stable."


According to S&P analysts, the upgrading of Ukraine's credit rating will depend on the policy conducted by the new government and the effectiveness of the reform process. In particular, the agency reports, the new Ukrainian president is facing changes in the Constitution that envision the limitation of the broad powers he currently has and the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

One of the major factors constraining Ukraine's ratings is the country's weak institutional environment, S&P experts believe. Other constraining factors include obstacles related to the restructuring of the national industry, shortcomings in the sphere of corporate governance and a weak payment culture in all economy sectors.

According to S&P, "it will be difficult" to make the administrative process more transparent and to conduct an institutional reform in a system that "for many years was permeated by corruption and lawlessness." In addition, it will take a long time and great effort to improve the legal system. The promise to review the results of privatization conducted in recent years might become one of the first real challenges for the new authorities, the agency indicates.

"We can expect that President Yushchenko's new administration will have to make a great effort to ensure the legislative support of measures aimed at strengthening the legal infrastructure, further restructuring of the economy and creating a more democratic and civil society and also prepare Ukraine for possible accession to the European Union," the statement says.

The agency believes that the methods chosen by the new government to solve the problem of confrontation and contradictions within the Ukrainian society will have great importance considering the fact that the majority of population in the eastern regions of the country voted against the elected president.

"The fact that Mr. Yushchenko departed on a visit to Moscow the day after his inauguration indicates the importance of Ukraine's relations with Moscow and the necessity of a careful approach towards this issue," S&P stresses.

In the near future, timely and adequate political steps toward stability in the financial and budget-management spheres will also have key importance for upgrading Ukraine's credit rating.

For instance, by the end of 2004, inflation in Ukraine exceeded 12 percent, although in December 2003 it was 8 percent and on average in 2003 - 5.2 percent. The November 2004-January 2005 political crisis negatively affected the country's investment climate and it will take time to improve investment expectations, S&P believes. At the same time, the agency notes the slowing of inflation. For instance, in January 2005 it was less than 2 percent compared to 2.4 percent in December 2004.

The 2005 consolidated budget, approved by the former government, envisions a certain reduction of expenditures; therefore the budget deficit is set to total 2.2 percent of the GDP. It is expected that in March 2005 the new government will introduce serious adjustments to the budget.

"In particular, the new authorities will have to correct mistakes made by the former government that went on a spending spree during the election campaign that Ukraine can hardly afford," the agency underlines.

The implementation of urgent political and economic reforms combined with drastic measures on budget adjustment and the increase of foreign investment will create conditions for a more favorable ratings outlook in the future.

"Despite the fact that Ukraine is facing rather daunting tasks, President Yushchenko has proven his ability to conduct successfully key reforms," S&P concludes.

Government Will Prepare New Benefits Package For Kuchma

KIEV, Ukraine -- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko on Feb. 12 ordered her government to prepare a new benefits package for ex-President Leonid Kuchma to replace a cushy - and secret - deal signed just before he left office.

The old benefits package reportedly provided Kuchma with a monthly salary of 8,293 hryvna ($1,560; 1,238 euros) and allowed him to keep his government-owned home in Ukraine's most exclusive enclave.

At his disposal are a cook, two maids, two cars with four drivers, and he and his wife Lyudmyla are entitled to free medical services and travel within Ukraine.


Ex-Presidents Kravchuk (l) and Kuchma (r)
The deal, signed secretly four days before President Viktor Yushchenko's inauguration last month, far exceeded the benefits provided to Ukraine's first president, Leonid Kravchuk.

Kravchuk told The Associated Press that he receives a 4,000 hryvna ($755; 585 euros) monthly pension, free medical care, six bodyguards and a car.

Tymoshenko, a ferocious critic of Kuchma, who once had her jailed on corruption charges she claims were politically motivated, had ordered her government to look into Kuchma's deal.

Justice Minister Roman Zvarych reported back Feb. 12 that the previous government had abused its authority by signing it. He pledged to prepare a new benefits package, which will be presented to the Cabinet ahead of its meeting Wednesday, the Cabinet's press office said.

Kuchma is deeply unpopular in this ex-Soviet republic, where mass demonstrations that followed last year's fraud-marred election helped usher the opposition into power a decade after he became president.

Also Feb. 12, the Cabinet issued instructions to cancel two orders that gave groups linked to Kuchma's son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, a long-term rental of valuable forest land outside Kyiv and on the Black Sea, Ukraine's TV5 reported. The Cabinet of Ministers press office said it couldn't immediately confirm the report.

The government also continued to take steps to return to state control a profitable steel mill bought last year by a consortium that included Pinchuk in a widely criticized privatization deal. On Feb. 5, Tymoshenko ordered the government to return the Kryvorizhstal steel mill to the state so it could be resold at auction to higher bidders.

Russia: Ukraine Can Join EU

MOSCOW, Russia -- Ukraine's new pro-West leaders have every right to aim for membership of the European Union, a top aide of Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday, denying any friction over the former Soviet satellite's strategic shift.

"Ukraine is independent and sovereign and has the right to choose its priorities. If it wants to move more rapidly towards European integration, that's its right," the Kremlin's special representative for the EU, Sergei Yastrzhembsky, told reporters.


Sergei Yastrzhembsky
"Relations between Russia and the European Union have not become more difficult in any way since the presidential election in Ukraine," he added.

Russia clashed with the European Union and the United States during the disputed Ukrainian presidential election late last year in a Cold War-style battle for influence in the former Soviet sphere.

Moscow openly backed the pro-Russian candidate, whose victory in rigged polls was overturned after weeks of mass protests, leading to the election of West-leaning Viktor Yushchenko in a run-off poll.

Yushchenko took office last month vowing to take Ukraine into the US-led NATO military alliance and start membership negotiations with the European Union by 2007.

His victory was seen as a major setback for President Putin's goal of reestablishing a Russian zone of influence in Moscow's former backyard and a boost to democratic pro-West movements throughout the former Soviet Union.

Wife of Murdered Reporter Willing to Come Back to Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- The widow of murdered journalist Georgy Gongadze, Myroslava, is going to come back to Ukraine if several conditions are fulfilled.

"I can’t imagine my life without Ukraine, that’s why it goes without saying that I will come back", - she said in an interview given to "Gazeta po-kiyevski"(UNIAN).

At that Myroslava mentioned that she would be back if criminals were punished. She talks not only about killers but about those who gave orders to murder her husband. "The first condition is a fair justice", - she has emphasized.

The widow of the journalist thinks it is fair to talk about the "compensation for our sufferings". And the second condition is a job.

Myroslava Gongadze said that she had met the President of Ukraine Viktor Yuschenko in Strasbourg, but they were not able to have "a serious conversation".

According to her, there was no confirmation of the information given by Yuschenko before the session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. He had said that the prosecution had brought two matters related to Gongadze’s case into the court.

According to Myroslava, Yuschenko had announced that the case of Gongadze’s murder would be brought into the court in two months but the General Prosecutor has already said that it is impossible.

Myroslava reminded that the expertise of Melnychenko’s tapes was not done and Leonid Kuchma, Volodymyr Lytvyn, Yuriy Kravchenko and Leonid Derkach were not questioned and there was no sense in bringing the case into the court without this part of investigation.

Russian Nemtsov Appointed Yushchenko Adviser

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's pro-western president, on Monday appointed one of Russia's leading liberal opposition figures as an adviser - a move likely to ruffle Kremlin feathers.

Boris Nemtsov, a leader of the Union of Right Forces, has been a staunch supporter of Mr Yushchenko and appeared with him during last year's Orange Revolution protests in Kiev.

His appointment highlights the strong bond between Ukraine's new government and Russia's liberals, who hope to stage a political comeback after failing to win parliamentary representation in the 2003 election.

"Yushchenko's victory in Ukraine was also a victory for Russian liberals," Mr Nemtsov told the Financial Times. However, Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, may not be happy to see one of his most outspoken critics advising the president of a neighbouring country.

The head of Russia's Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, the main industrial lobby, said during a visit to Kiev on Monday that it would not be "proper" for Mr Nemtsov to advise Mr Yushchenko on political matters.

Kirill Frolov, a Russian political analyst, said the appointment, and a recent announcement by exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky that he was planning to live in Kiev, confirmed that "Orange Ukraine would become a bridgehead for Vladimir Putin's opponents".

Mr Yushchenko's spokeswoman portrayed the appointment as reflecting Mr Yushchenko's interest in hearing a broad range of views.

"Ukraine's new leaders are interested in every politician or representative of the business elite who can add something to developing bilateral ties to work as a goodwill ambassador," she said.

Mr Nemtsov was governor of Russia's central Nizhny Novgorod region and deputy prime minister in 1997-1998. But his Union of Right forces failed to get into parliament last year, leaving him on the margins of Russian politics.

Mr Nemtsov said he would not receive a salary from the Ukrainian government and would still live in Moscow. His job, he said, would be to channel Russian investment into Ukraine's economy, something Mr Putin encourages. But the Russian leader may not care for Mr Nemtsov's sales pitch, however.

Mr Nemtsov said: "There is a unique window of opportunity for Russian companies in Ukraine. In Russia, conditions for private business are getting worse and money is running away from the country. But instead of taking their money to Swiss banks or to Cyprus, Russian businessmen can be investing into Ukraine's economy."

Yushchenko Hopes To Return To Former Appearance

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's consultations with doctors concerning the treatment of his facial condition will not influence his schedule or work capacity and will take place during non-working hours, Yushchenko's press secretary Irina Gerashchenko told RIA Novosti by telephone Monday.

"Last weekend, the President visited a clinic in Switzerland to consult with doctors. Earlier, Mr. Yushchenko repeatedly said that it was difficult for him to get accustomed to his disfigured face after being poisoned and that he would like to do everything possible to return to his former appearance," she said.

His intensive work schedule testifies to the President's good health. However, she refused to comment on the results of Mr. Yushchenko's unofficial visit to Switzerland on the grounds that "though the head of state does not keep secret the state of his health, this theme is nevertheless very delicate."

"The President repeatedly stated that all the questions concerning his health, especially after poisoning, will be considered openly, but in this case he visited the clinic privately, as an ordinary patient," Irina Gerashchenko asserted.

At the same time, if the results of the medical examination at the Swiss clinic turn out to be important in terms of Ukrainian society, the press secretary promised to make them public.

Ukrainian Business Expects Tranparency

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian business leaders, many of whom backed new president Viktor Yushchenko in disputed elections last year, hope he will bring transparency and clear regulations, ending a past marked by murky relationships between politics and business.

"Everybody is waiting for one thing - the same playing rules for everybody, without exception," said Oleg Boiarine, the managing director of Eurocar, which builds Audi, Skoda and Volkswagen cars in the Ukraine.

Eric Francke, the managing director of the country's biggest cellular operator, UMC, said: "We expect transparency from the new government. Getting a permit should be open to everyone."

Many business leaders threw their weight - and their money - behind the "orange revolution" that carried Yushchenko to power.

Ukrainian business sees the victory of Yushchenko, a former central bank governor, as an opportunity to end the widespread corruption common under former president Leonid Kutchma, leaving behind an authoritarian regime that divided the country along the lines of powerful clans.

Olexander Slobodian, the honorary president of major brewer Obolon, said his company was the victim of constant harassment under Kutchma for his support of Yushchenko.

After his election, Yushchenko vowed to fight corruption and "separate politics from business. Taxes will be cut but they will be paid by everyone."

He promised that tax and sanitation authorities, as well as firefighters would no longer stage raids to put pressure on firms.

"The state's policies towards business will be more transparent and clearer," said Viktor Grigoriev, who heads Russian aerospace group Kaskol. "That will make the Ukrainian economy more attractive to investors."

Since independence in 1991, the Ukraine has received only $8 billion in foreign direct investment.

Ukraine: Street Rebel Becomes Country's Top Cop

KIEV, Ukraine -- The appointment of Yuriy Lutsenko as Ukraine's interior minister was probably the most surprising cabinet choice made by President Viktor Yushchenko. Ukraine's Interior Ministry, a mammoth organization employing some 500,000 people, will now be headed not only by its first civilian minister, but also by a person who has thus far not had any significant experience in law enforcement.

To make matters even worse for Yuriy Lutsenko, the Interior Ministry, which is tasked with fighting endemic corruption in the country, is proverbially corrupt itself. Lutsenko will have to start his cabinet career with a radical cleanup of his workplace, which will hardly make him popular with his co-workers.

Until now, the 41-year-old Lutsenko has been primarily known as an opposition politician and a passionate leader of antigovernment street protests in 2000 and 2001 conducted under the slogan "Ukraine Without Kuchma," and those in November and December 2004 that have come to be known as the Orange Revolution.


Lutsenko (l) working crowds during "Ukraine Without Kuchma" demonstrations in 2001
Beside Yushchenko and Tymoshenko, Lutsenko was one of the most popular figures addressing orange-clad crowds from the rostrum on Independence Square, or Maydan Nezalezhnosti, in Kyiv. Pro-Yushchenko supporters dubbed him a "field commander" of the Orange Revolution, for his smooth coordination of revolutionary crowd movements between the presidential administration headquarters and the parliament building in Kyiv. Some also called him the "Maydan disc jockey," apparently for his ability to entertain demonstrators with a good joke or a story between the waves of rock music that rolled from the Independence Square stage when politicians were not making speeches.

Lutsenko's inclination to present his contribution to the Orange Revolution in an amusing manner was reflected in an interview he gave to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on 21 December, five days before the repeat election between Yushchenko and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

"Naturally, we have pressured Kuchma and continue to pressure him by blocking the presidential administration building and, primarily, by blocking his suburban residence," Lutsenko said. "It is in a forest, under our supervision. We are afraid that Yanukovych may attack [former President Leonid Kuchma], so we are guarding him a little bit."

Lutsenko is an electronics engineer by education. He joined the Socialist Party in 1991. From 1994 to 1996, he served in the regional administration in Rivne, his native city in northwestern Ukraine. From 1997 to 1998, he served as Ukraine's deputy science minister, and until 1999 as an aide to Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoytenko.

In December 2000, he was one of the leaders of the "Ukraine Without Kuchma" street-protest campaign. Some Ukrainian commentators humorously note that 2001 was a period when Lutsenko, who led protesters against cordons of riot police in full gear, came closest to the problems that need to be tackled, as well as presented, by the Interior Ministry.

In 2002 and 2003, Lutsenko was sporadically involved in disabling the electronic voting system in parliament, when the opposition could not find a different way to prevent the pro-government coalition from passing a bill. Lutsenko acknowledged in an interview last year that disabling the system was easy for him, not only because he was trained in electronics, but also because of his experience during his compulsory military service in a communications unit of the KGB troops of the former Soviet Union.

The Orange Revolution popularized Lutsenko as a sort of folk hero and jester. But most Ukrainian analysts concede that Lutsenko is vigorous, ambitious, open-minded, and knowledgeable, and that he will have few problems either turning himself into a demanding and purpose-oriented bureaucrat, or learning the basics needed to run the Interior Ministry.

The insightful, thoughtful side of Lutsenko can be seen in a perception about the Orange Revolution that he shared with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.

"There have been two tactics for developing the revolutionary situation that was originated by the Independent Square [rallies]," Lutsenko said. "The first one, which has been urged by Yuliya Tymoshenko and other people, is to take a revolutionary path, capture [government] offices, proclaim Yushchenko's victory, and appoint a revolutionary cabinet of ministers. I have opposed such a tactic and supported an evolutionary development of events, which we are actually witnessing today. It is also a victorious tactic, even if somewhat longer. What is important, it is definitely a bloodless tactic and an elegant one, as Yushchenko says."

Lutsenko's first personnel decisions after taking office were to sack General Serhiy Popkov, deputy interior minister and commander of the interior troops, as well as Major General Hennadiy Heorhiyenko, head of the Interior Ministry's Traffic Police Department. According to Ukrainian and foreign media reports, Popkov was on the verge of bringing special-police troops to Kyiv in late December to break up the Orange Revolution. Popkov subsequently denied the media allegations, saying the troops were on battle alert but never left their deployment units.

The dismissal of Heorhiyenko was most likely connected with what ordinary Ukrainians see as the widespread corruption of the traffic police, who have turned bribe-taking from drivers into their main source of income and into a habit accepted practically on a nationwide scale. "Who can trust a cop who doesn't take money?" a police supervisor asks in the famous 1973 American cop movie "Serpico." Ukraine's traffic police seem to understand trustworthiness in much the same way.

While introducing Lutsenko to the Interior Ministry staff, Yushchenko said the new minister's primary task is to discourage police from taking bribes and to mobilize them for serving the people.

Yushchenko has given Lutsenko two months to achieve the first tangible results in his new job.

Ukraine: Yushchenko Has Strong Words For Would-Be Separatists In Eastern Ukraine

DONETSK, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has threatened to take legal action against politicians in eastern Ukraine who are calling for the Russian-speaking part of the country to secede. Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko issued a stern warning to politicians in Ukraine's industrial east: Give up any idea of splitting from the rest of the country, or get ready for a fight.

The main purpose of the president's trip was to present the new regional governor, Vadim Chuprun. But Yushchenko did more than that.


President Yushchenko (l) State Secretary Zinchenko (c) and Interior Minister Lutsenko (r) in Donetsk
On a visit to the mainly Russian-speaking city of Donetsk, he described pro-separatism politicians as "sick" and said they would answer in court for what he called "the nonsense they have been spreading."

The Ukrainian leader also called for an end to corruption, business clans and the shadowy economic activities characteristic of that part of the country.

"I do not want to see corrupt authorities," he said. "I do not want to know the price for [obtaining the position of] Donetsk regional police chief because nobody will pay that price. There will be a police chief who will serve several million people here, people who are currently dispirited."

Donetsk and other the Russian-speaking parts of eastern Ukraine broadly backed Yushchenko's pro-Russian opponent Viktor Yanukovych in the presidential contest late last year. Several Russian-speaking regions threatened in December to organize a referendum on partition if Yushchenko became president, but later backed down.

Serhiy Harmash is publisher of "Ostrov," an independent Internet magazine in Donetsk. He said that local officials were surprised by the harsh tone of Yushchenko's two-hour address.

"The local elite was shocked. Everybody hoped that the president, as a politician, would come to seek some kind of compromise with Donetsk," Harmash says. "But it was just the opposite -- Yushchenko came not to look for a compromise but to put forward his own conditions."

But, Harmash says, such tough tactics might just work. He said the officials attending Yushchenko's speech appeared intimidated by his threat that they would no longer be able to dictate their own rules to the rest of the country."Yushchenko stated very clearly, and even said openly, that he would take strong measures to prevent any kind of separatism." -- Serhiy Harmash, "Ostrov" publisher

During the meeting, Yushchenko also openly questioned the legality of a number of privatization deals in the Donetsk region, and indicated that if local business clans refuse to answer to Kyiv, they might be stripped of both their power and their money.

Harmash says Yushchenko left the local functionaries with few options.

"Yushchenko stated very clearly, and even said openly, that he would take strong measures to prevent any kind of separatism," Harmash says. "And not only separatism, but also any moves toward the federalization [of Ukraine]. Legal actions will be taken against such moves. So no one is going to dare encourage separatist feelings. Appealing to coal miners will also not work. You have some grounds for doing something like that. The president said yesterday that the money the state allocates for coal miners find its way into the pockets of local mining officials. So, [Yushchenko]] has his own capacity for appealing to coal miners."

Oleksandr Lytvynenko, an analyst with the Rozumkov Center, an independent think thank in Kyiv, agrees that the general population in eastern Ukraine is tired of the political dealings of local officials. He says there is no inherent civil conflict between eastern Ukraine and Kyiv. Recent tensions, he says, are only a result of the presidential election.

"What we have is not a civil conflict; just elections. The new president (Yushchenko) was elected, and the elections were recognized as being legitimate," Lytvynenko says. "And it is difficult to believe that supporters of former [candidate] Yanukovych and even his compatriots from Donetsk would choose to stay in the opposition only on principle."

Even Yanukovich himself, Lytvynenko says, has recently taken a more conciliatory attitude toward Yushchenko, and has suggested he is willing to cooperate with the new administration.

Ukraine Approves Action Plan With EU

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian government adopted on Saturday an action plan on furthering cooperation with the European Union (EU), Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Saturday.

The three-year plan, adopted at a cabinet meeting, is expected to be formally signed at a regular meeting of the Ukraine-EU cooperation commission, scheduled for Feb. 21, said Tymoshenko.

The plan is aimed at strengthening cooperation between Ukraine and the EU in energy, economy and technology, and on the establishment of a bilateral free trade zone with the EU bloc and the simplification of the visa-issuing process with EU countries.

Ukraine hopes to start negotiations on accession to the EU by 2007, and views the adoption of the action plan as a step toward joining the 25-member bloc.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko had announced his intention to launch his country's application to join the EU by 2007 once the action plan is completed.

Justice Minister Zvarych Voices Protest Against Lustration

KIEV, Ukraine -- The recently appointed Justice Minister of Ukraine, Roman Zvarych, has voiced his protest against adoption of the Lustration law. He said that his position is also supported by Prime Minister Tymoshenko. In the event the proposed law is adopted by Parliament, he indicated that he will appeal to President Yushchenko to veto the legislation. This information was aired on the “Era” radio station. Lustration, according to the Sussex European Institute (SEI), refers to the vetting of public officials in eastern Europe for links to the Communist-era security services.

The Justice Minister feels that neither of the two scenarios of the proposed Lustration law currently registered in Parliament are acceptable. One of them proposes lustration for individuals who participated in falsification of the recent presidential elections or cooperated with intelligence services of foreign countries. The other scenario proposes lustration for all individuals who held high-ranking positions in the Communist Party or the Communist Youth Organization during Soviet times.

Justice Minister Zvarych noted that lustration violates human rights. However, he did not explain whether any human rights are violated in the situation where only former bureaucrats of the Communist Party, the Communist Youth Organization, or those who cooperated with KGB (SBU) have chances to be appointed to high-ranking government positions.

There Will Be No Stalin Monument in the Crimea

CRIMEA, Ukraine -- The Crimean government, quietly and without fanfare, cancelled plans to place at the Livadia Palace a monument to mark the 60th anniversary of the Yalta Conference in which Stalin participated.

The original plan, which caused international protests, foresaw a sculptural composition by Tsereteli of Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt.


Sculptor Tsereteli in his Moscow studio
Numerous protests reported earlier from both the Crimean and international communities may have played a role in having the authorities reconsider the plan. As a result, instead of a monument of the three individuals, there will remain a monument of Roosevelt.

There was no official explanation for the decision given.

Kiev's Independence Square: Epicenter of the Orange Revolution

KIEV, Ukraine -- Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti) is the city's main square and one of the most popular places for meetings. On weekends the traffic is blocked on Khreschatyk Street and visitors can enjoy a pleasant walk down the middle of the street. Ukraine's independence movement, from Moscow, began in this square when hundreds of university students went on a hunger strike in 1989, which led to the demise of the Communist Party in Ukraine. At that time stood a huge red marble statue of Lenin. When the statue was torn down, many of Kiev's citizens took part in its demolition.


The reconstruction of Independence Square was finished in 2002 and profoundly changed the city's image. During the reconstruction the Lyads'ky Gate was found, underground, on the square. It was the same gate which was assaulted by Batu Khan in the 13th century, having lost any hope to force his way through the Golden Gate. He managed to destroy the Gate enough to allow his numerous troops to break into the city. You will see the gate as a backdrop to fountains, which gather people around. If you have a chance, visit the underground shopping center "Globus" right under the square, where you will be able to have a rest from the noisy and crowded street. "Globus" consists of hundreds of western shops, boutiques and fast-food outlets.

Independence Square is Kiev's main square and one of the biggest and most interesting squares in Europe. It is composed of an eastern and western side with Khreschatyk running in between. Though the rear of the western side is marred by advertising signs and a McDonalds. The square's center has glass domes, fountains and green spaces. In the summer, food and beer tents are set up towards the rear and souvenir and book sellers put up their tables along the side walkways. The square is full of all sorts of people from teenage skaters to babushkas collecting empty beer bottles. Definitely the place to come to hang out and people watch, especially the hundreds of beautiful Ukrainian girls that gather on the square, every day.

Epicenter of the Orange Revolution

Ukraine's Orange Revolution of 2004-2005 was a series of protests and political events that started on Independence Square and mushroomed throughout the country in response to allegations of massive corruption, voter intimidation and direct electoral fraud during Ukraine's Presidential Run-off Election of November 21, 2004, as reported by numerous domestic and foreign observers. The run-off was called to give one of the two finalists of the presidential election held on October 31 a clear mandate to become the country's third president since its 1991 independence following the demise of the Soviet Union. Orange was adopted by the protesters as the official color of the movement because it was the predominant color in opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko's election campaign during his run for president.

Independence Square became epicenter of the revolution which included a large tent city on Khreschatyk Street - the action was highlighted by a series of nationwide protests, sit-ins, and planned general strikes, organized by supporters of opposition candidate Yushchenko following the disputed results of the November 21 run-off election. At times the demonstrators on Independence Square swelled up to 1 million people.

Due in large part to the movement's efforts, the results of the original run-off were annulled and a second run-off election was ordered by Ukraine's Supreme Court for December 26. Under intense international scrutiny, the official results of the second run-off proved to be virtually problem-free, legally valid and clearly in Yuschenko's favor. He was declared the official winner and with his inauguration on January 23, 2005 in Kiev, the Orange Revolution reached its successful and peaceful conclusion.

Clinton and Tymoshenko Shared Their Secrets

KIEV, Ukraine -- US Senator Hillary Clinton after her business lunch with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko admitted that her visit to Ukraine was one of the best visits to this country ever, UNIAN informs.

That’s what she said, “I express my admiration with my present trip to Ukraine. This is my 3d visit to Ukraine and it turned out to be the happiest one”.


Senator Hillary Clinton
She added,” I have seen the results of the struggle for democracy”. Hillary Clinton wished good luck to the president of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko and the Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Hillary Clinton assured that the USA remains the partner of Ukraine. “God bless Ukraine”, – she said.

During their meeting with Tymoshenko, American Senators expressed confidence that Ukraine from nowadays would be the democratic country, which would follow human rights and democratic liberties. And this is just the beginning.

One of the main points of the meeting was the cancellation of the Jakson–Venik amendment.

American guests completely agreed with the Prime Minister’s arguments and expressed hope that the Jakson–Venik amendment would be cancelled in near future.

As the press-centre reports, after the official part of the meeting, Tymoshenko had a friendly talk with Hillary Clinton.

Colorado Doctor Watches History Unfold in Ukraine

COLORADO, USA --When Dr. John Schmidt of Pueblo got off the airplane in Lviv, Ukraine, on Jan. 12, he saw orange everywhere.

"Orange hats, orange coats, even orange shoes," the dermatologist recalled. "Everywhere you looked, people were wearing orange. Of course, that was the color for everyone supporting Viktor Yushchenko."

The "Orange Revolution" took place in November and December and signaled Ukraine's turn toward Western democracy.

Yushchenko lost the first election for president last year, but millions of Ukrainians protested in the streets - day after day - that the election had been rigged by then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. When the nation's supreme court ordered a second election - which Yushchenko won on Dec. 26 - Ukrainians in the capital city, Kiev, and elsewhere celebrated.

"My good friend (Dr. Andriy Horodylovskiy), who met me at the airport, had just spent eight days protesting in the streets," the 55-year-old Schmidt said. "And the amazing part is the revolution took place without any violence."

Schmidt said that the fervor of Ukrainians for Yushchenko gave him a new appreciation for the political freedoms that Americans take for granted.

Schmidt travels to Ukraine three times a year to support a medical charity he established, Veselka, the Ukrainian word for rainbow.

He gathers dermatological medical equipment and supplies, and he ships them to a clinic and hospital in the city of Lviv. He has helped train the 40 dermatologists who work there.

It is a program Schmidt had no thought of creating when he first visited Ukraine six years ago, looking for the ancestral home of his grandfather.

"Just as a lark, I asked my guide to show me a dermatology clinic, and Dr. Horodylovskiy and I struck up an immediate friendship," Schmidt said. "But I couldn't believe how poorly equipped their clinic was. In some areas, they were 40 years behind our medicine."

After his return from that trip, Schmidt established his nonprofit organization and began visiting Ukraine regularly.

Last summer, his organization shipped 42,000 pounds of medical equipment to Lviv. And he followed that up with a regular January visit - which is why he found himself shoulder-to-shoulder with hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians Jan. 23 in Independence Square in Kiev, waiting to see Yushchenko inaugurated as president.

Russian Parliamentarians To Meet With Ukrainian Counterparts In Kiev

MOSCOW, Russia -- Representatives of both houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and Federation Council, will go to Kiev to hold talks with deputies of the Ukrainian Supreme Rada, member of the Federation Council's committee for CIS affairs Vasily Duma told journalists.


Russian State Duma
In his words, the delegation comprises members of the Russian-Ukrainian inter-parliamentary commission for cooperation.

This is the first visit to Ukraine of the commission members after the election of new President Viktor Yushchenko, Mr. Duma noted.

According to him, the inter-parliamentary commission is to discuss legislative and practical issues of the implementation of Russian-Ukrainian intergovernmental agreements. The talks will also focus on the whole range of lawmaking activities aimed to promote bilateral links and cooperation in the economic, scientific-technical and cultural spheres.

Moreover, at issue will be the improvement of legislation of the two countries in the sphere of labor migration. According to official information, about 2 million Ukrainians work on Russian territory, Mr. Duma said adding that their unofficial number is twice bigger.

Ukraine's relations with the European Union and its prospects to join this organization will be on the agenda of the talks. [The post of the European Integration Minister was introduced in the Ukrainian government under Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, the main ideologist of the orange revolution].

The opening of a Russian cultural center in Ukraine will be discussed, as well. The sides signed a relevant agreement and a Ukrainian cultural center was opened in Russia, Vasily Duma said. "We expected the new Ukrainian leadership to consider this issue," he noted.

Ajna Hase - Creator of Tymoshenko’s Lace-Backed Frock

KIEV, Ukraine -- Julia Tymoshenko’s favorite couturier is the Italian team of Dolce & Gabbana, but the dress she wore when she made her debut in Parliament was created a Ukrainian fashion designer - Ajna Hase.

In spite of her unusual name, Ajna was born in a Cherkassan village. Her name is a pseudonym. 29 year-old Ajna has been working in Kiev for five years. Her list of well-known clients includes Liudmyla Omelchenko and Maryna Kinakh. She was introduced to Julia Tymoshenko by Oleksander Turchynov’s wife.

In an interview with the BBC, Ms. Hase related that Julia Tymoshenko is a discriminating customer who knows her mind and does not often take advice.

“We have often joked that she could be a fashion designer herself. She sees details that even I with my training and experience do not notice,” said the couturier.

"She wants every outfit to be feminine. She favors fur and both fine and large-patterned lace. She likes relaxed lines and soft fabrics. Her style can be labeled as business-romantic. I am glad to see that she is breaking the stereotype of standard business attire. This is as it should be. She is beautiful, youthful, and besides that, she is the Premiere. She has earned the right to be innovative with her wardrobe.”

Ajna Hase has been designing for Julia Tymoshenko since last spring. The couturier says that Ms. Tymoshenko’s favorite colors are pink, beige, pale violet, grey, and black. However, the Ukrainian premiere is not fond of red because, according to Ajna, it is too aggressive, and there is nothing aggressive about Julia Volodymyrivna’s figure.


On her days off Ms. Tymoshenko likes to wear jeans; but to keep from looking too casual she accessorizes her outfits with something feminine like a fur coat or a brocade jacket.

Ms. Hase does not reveal the cost of the Premiere’s outfits. Suffice it to say that the clothing in her boutique has price tags ranging from about 500 hr. for a chiffon blouse to 5,000 hr. for a coat or suit.

BBC could not discover who braids Tymoshenko’s plait every morning. All they know is that hairdresser comes to her home, but his name is a secret.

A high-end Kiev hair salon frequented by television journalists, delegates to the Chamber of Deputies and their wives charges 196 hr for a coiffure like Tymoshenko’s.

Ukraine's Yushchenko due in Washington in April

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko is likely to visit Washington next month to hold talks with US President George W. Bush, the former Soviet republic's Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk said.

Rybachuk said the talks would focus on conditions for the former Soviet republic's membership in the World Trade Organization, the Interfax news agency reported.


President Yushchenko with US Senator McCain
He also said that Yushchenko was expected to make a speech before the US Congress during his stay, whose dates were not specified.

The talks were expected to focus on revocation of the Jackson-Vanik amendment against Ukraine, a Cold War era provision which blocked the Soviet Union from getting most favored nation trading status for severely limiting Jewish emigration.

Yushchenko is due to travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels on February 22 for a meeting that will also include US President George W. Bush.

Orange Fever in Old USSR

PHILADELPHIA, USA -- Who can forget the pockmarked face of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko after his soup apparently was poisoned by dioxin during the recent presidential campaign?

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians demonstrated peacefully against the rigging of the election in favor of Yushchenko's opponent, who was openly supported by Russia, Ukraine's big neighbor.


Kiev's Independence Square
Miraculously, grass-roots pressure paid off - with European and U.S. support. A rematch on Dec. 26 reversed the election results.

Recently, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the now-President Yushchenko was asked the $64,000 question: "Do you know who tried to kill you?"

"I personally know who did it," he said. "The circumstances of the dinner are very specific."

"Will the trail lead to Moscow?" he was asked.

"Can I refrain from answering?" he replied.

This cautious response holds the key to the spread of democracy on the fringes of Europe - and in Russia - in the coming years.

Ukraine's Orange Revolution has become the inspiration to beleaguered liberals living in today's Russia and in other former Soviet republics with repressive regimes.

Young people from Belarus, the last Stalinist state in Europe, flocked to the Kiev demonstrations. Moldovans, beset by criminal mafias, also are watching.

At Davos, Yushchenko talked of a new day for Ukraine, with a free press, the rule of law and a crackdown on a sickening level of corruption.

But will Russia try to undercut him? Ukraine depends on Russia for its energy supplies. The Kremlin also can stir up trouble among the large population of ethnic Russians in Ukraine.

Why does Ukraine make Russian President Vladimir Putin so nervous? One key reason is that Ukraine now has become a model for the Russian political opposition.

Russia has moved back to authoritarianism under Putin. But Russians saw the Orange Revolution unfold on television, despite the Kremlin's tight control of the electronic media. Some say that the Kiev demonstrations inspired ongoing street protests in Russia against cuts in social spending.

Another reason: Yushchenko wants to change the way that Ukraine's government operates. He declared at Davos that foreign investors would no longer have to pay bribes to do business. He promised to reform a system in which a phone call from a government official to a judge could ensure a verdict.

In a country in which journalists have been murdered - including the notorious beheading of investigative reporter Heorhiy Gongadze - Yushchenko says things such as: "You can't talk of democracy in any country without a free press."

Many suspect that the active probe into the Gongadze case will lead to high officials in the government of the previous president, Leonid Kuchma, possibly to Kuchma himself.

Such brave pledges can't sit well with Putin, whose Russia is also a haven for corruption where many journalists have fallen victim to unsolved murders.

Condoleezza Rice was correct, on her first overseas trip as secretary of state, to underline U.S. support for democratic processes in Russia's neighborhood.

Yushchenko knows he has a big problem with Russia. His first foreign visit was to Moscow, where, he said, "I told Mr. Putin that the main thing we have to do is turn this page over."

The Ukrainian leader wants to "revitalize good relations with Russia, even for those frustrated by Russia's behavior."

No one knows whether Yushchenko will dare to follow the dioxin trail if it should lead into the Kremlin.

At a dinner at Davos, he offered a toast, joking that it was necessary to click glasses so drops of his wine would splash into the glasses of his fellow diners.

So long as such jokes are germane, Yushchenko will need strong U.S. and European support.

Zakarpatska Ex-Governor Detained

UZHOROD, Ukraine -- According to Ukrayinska Pravda, the ex-governor of Zakarpatska oblast, one of SDPU leaders, Ivan Rizak was detained in Uzhgorod.

"Rizak was detained under article 115 on suspicion of making the head of Uzhgorod university Volodymyr Slivka commit suicide” – a speaker of oblast prosecution said.


Ivan Rizak
According to her, Rizak was questioned by the prosecutors office. The press service still does not know whether Rizak will be arrested.

Rizak was named a governor of Zakarpatye when Viktor Medvedchuk became the head of Kuchmas's Presidential Administration. At the same time Rizak headed Zakarpatskiy oblast committee of the SDPU and is currently a member of SDPU.

According to unofficial information, he covered criminal groups of the city as a governor and took part in the falsification of the elections of Mukachevo’s mayor.

Yushchenko Heads to Switzerland for Medical Consultations

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko, whose poisoning last year left his face deeply pockmarked, was heading to Switzerland Feb. 11 for medical consultations, his office said.

Yushchenko will be accompanied by Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Pyskun, who plans to meet with doctors at a Swiss dermatological clinic as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into Yushchenko's nearly fatal dioxin poisoning, the president's press office said.

A spokeswoman gave no details about the clinic or the treatment. Yushchenko expects to return to Ukraine on Feb. 13.

Earlier this week, Pyskun visited Vienna to speak with the doctors who treated Yushchenko after the poisoning last September.

Yushchenko fell ill after a dinner with the top two officials from the Ukrainian Security Service. The illness took him off the campaign trail for weeks and left his face badly scarred and discolored.

Subsequent tests confirmed Yushchenko was poisoned with a massive dose of dioxin. He has called it an assassination attempt.

During a meeting of business and political leaders in Switzerland two weeks ago, Yushchenko declined to comment on Swiss media reports that he had been treated at Geneva's University Hospital in early January. The hospital also refused comment on the reports, citing strict medical secrecy laws.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Yushchenko said that the dinner with security officials was the most probable place where he was poisoned. Both security officials have denied any involvement in the poisoning.

Yushchenko won the presidency in a court-ordered revote on Dec. 26 following an earlier vote that the Supreme Court ruled was fraudulent.

Senator Hillary Clinton and U.S. Delegation Visit Yushchenko and Tymoshenko

KIEV, Ukraine -- On Friday, February 11, 2005 a U.S. delegation headed by Republican Senator John McCain visited Ukraine.

This was reported by “Novosti-Ukrajina” as announced by the press office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.


Senators Clinton, McCain and Lieberman (left to right)
Included in the delegation was Senator Joseph Lieberman (Democrat-Connecticut]), Hillary Clinton (Democrat-New York), Lindsey Graham (Republican-South Carolina) and members of the House of Representatives, Howard Berman (Democrat-California), Jane Harman (Democrat-California), Ellen Tauscher (Democrat-California), John Larson (Democrat-Connecticut), Mark Udall (Republican-Utah), and John Schwartz (Democrat-Pennsylvania).

The congressional delegation met with Ukraine’s President Victor Yushchenko, Verkhovna Rada Chairman, Volodymyr Lytvyn, and Prime Minister Julia Tymoshenko.

As reported by the press office, “the agenda included discussions on Ukrainian-U.S. cooperation, establishing mutual relations subsequent to the democratic victory in Ukraine, strengthening support for Ukraine, particularly by the U.S. Congress and Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic goals.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs notes that this visit is a historic event showing support for Ukraine. The high-level delegation included members of both houses of Congress and represented both the Republican and Democratic parties.

The Revolution Is Purging the Ranks of Its Opponents

KIEV, Ukraine -- Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, continued his introductions of new regional leaders yesterday with a short visit to Donetsk. Meanwhile, the arrival of the Orange Revolution in the regions is being accompanied by a radical purge of the old nomenklatura, which continues to suffer noticeable losses. At the same time, events in Ukraine are attracting increasing international attention. The presidents of the United States and Poland, George Bush and Aleksander Kwasniewski, discussed them yesterday, and Hilary Clinton and other influential U.S. congressmen are due to arrive in Kiev today.


Presidents Aleksander Kwasniewski and George Bush
Meanwhile, over the last several days, the Ukrainian capital has been watching how the broom of the Orange Revolution continues to sweep away the power structures of the old nomenklatura. On Wednesday evening, information that the new interior minister had fired Sergey Popkov, the infamous commander of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's internal forces, appeared on the Ukrainian government website. We remind our readers that on November 28 of last year, by order of Lieutenant General Popkov, who held the position of deputy interior minister, several thousand special forces troops were put on the alert. The leaders of the Orange Revolution believe they were being sent to break up the meetings.

Yesterday, another revolutionary leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Tomenko, showed the door to former heads of the state media, suggesting they voluntarily submit their resignations. The deputy prime minister advised them to “submit written notice of resignation from their positions in view of the sad history of relations between society and journalists, which was not limited to the election campaign.” Tomenko said that “the government will soon propose a qualitatively new information policy model, which will make government interference in media activities impossible.”

As it turns out, old staffers appointed to a new position may also not fit into the revolutionary reality. A curious thing happened with the appointment of Vitaly Oluiko as head of the administration of Khmelnytskyv Region. He had been on the job only four days, but the people of this western Ukrainian region actively disliked the fact that Oluiko had supported Yanukovich in the elections. As a sign of protest against this appointment, they set up pickets in Kiev at the buildings of the government and the president's secretariat and got their way. On Wednesday evening, Irina Gerashchenko, the president's press secretary, reported that after lengthy consultations, the president had accepted Oluiko's resignation.

At the same time, the administrative staff revolution also implies the formation of institutions that did not exist under the previous government. Vadim Rybachuk, the deputy prime minister for European integration, said yesterday that the office of state secretary, discredited by the former government, would be restored in Ukraine. In his words, the state secretaries should not change with a change in government. “They are specialists and experts who must function professionally. State secretaries will have no connection with the secretariat of Ukraine. And the president has mentioned this repeatedly.”

Meanwhile, the Orange Revolution remains at the center of international attention. Yesterday in Washington, Polish President Aleskander Kwasniewski and U.S. President George Bush congratulated one another on their contribution to the victory of democracy in Ukraine. “None of this would have happened without the participation of the United State,” Kwasniewski emphasized after talks with President Bush. “Without the role played by the United States, it would have been impossible to end the crisis in Ukraine and strengthen democracy in that country. This is a success for Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, but it is also our common success.” “I was impressed by President Kwasniewski's leadership with respect to Ukraine. He showed impressive leadership,” Bush replied, adding that “the Ukrainian people benefited from this; the whole world appreciates it, and I also appreciate it.” According to Bush, the United States and Poland “will continue to discuss Ukraine further.”

For this purpose, an official delegation of the American Congress arrives in Kiev today, where it will meet with Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko, and Vladimir Litvin, the speaker of the Supreme Rada. Republican John McCain is heading the delegation, which includes such well-known Democrats as Hilary Clinton and Joseph Lieberman. The talks are expected to include a discussion of ways of strengthening American–Ukrainian relations after the democratic elections in Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of State Emphasizes Ukraine’s Orange Revolution

PARIS, France -- U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice emphasized the role of the Ukrainian Revolution in the expansion of world democracy.

She made these remarks during her speech at the National Foundation for Political Sciences in Paris during her first state trip to France, as reported by the “Voice of America.”


Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Addressing a gathering of students, lecturers, current and former French government officials, Ms. Rice said that the United States and Europe have made great strides in setting aside their differences and channeling their shared values toward promoting democracy.

“We are sure to succeed because democracy is in the air all around us. Freedom is spreading from the villages of Afghanistan to the town squares of Ukraine, from the territory of Palestine to the streets of Georgia and the polling places in Iraq,” she said.

Ms. Rice indicated that it was difficult to imagine freedom and democracy where it had not existed before. In the question-and-answer part of the program, she said that recent events have proved it to be possible.

“One cannot be unmoved by the significance of the Rose Revolution in Georgia, the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, or by the Palestinian people and their newly-chosen leader who declared that it was time to set aside arms and live at peace with Israel,” said the Secretary of State.

Echoing the theme of last month’s inaugural address by President Bush, Ms. Rice reiterated that the United States and other democratic countries have a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a global alliance of powers to promote the spread of world peace.

Kyiv Post Op-Ed: Chumachenko Could Be a Great Diplomat to Diaspora

KIEV, Ukraine -- Wives of heads of state traditionally adopt causes during their husbands’ tenures in office. In the United States, Laura Bush has made adult literacy her crusade, while Nancy Reagan became associated with anti-drug efforts. Closer to home, Ludmila Kuchma did a great job as first lady in adopting the plight of children as her prime area of concern. Her patronage of the Ukraine to Children Fund, which aided needy mothers and kids, and the Hope and Kindness Fund, was invaluable. She was a force behind helping children afflicted by the Chornobyl disaster, and helped raise funds for orphanages and other care facilities for kids.
Now it’s the turn of Viktor Yushchenko’s wife, Katerina Chumachenko, to choose a cause to represent. I’d like to suggest one for her: she should take the responsibility for rebuilding Ukraine’s shattered relations with its close to 5 million-strong Diaspora community in the West.


Kateryna Chumachenko with Javier Solana
For a number of years, Ukraine’s relationship with ethnic Ukrainians living in the West has been terrible, for a variety of reasons. Some are historical. Diaspora Ukrainians tend to be from Ukraine’s nationalistic west, former Polish territory, with no Russian influence until World War II. Many felt alienated by a Ukraine in which the Russified east had a lock on political and economic power. They also disliked the country’s post-Soviet leadership, which had close ties to Moscow, and many of whose members had been part of the Communist power structure.

Diasporans made a tactical mistake, meanwhile, by stressing the language issue. In a country in which even many true Ukrainian patriots feel comfortable speaking Russian, the Diaspora’s anti-Russian fixation was bound to alienate people.

That independent Ukraine has been extremely corrupt has not helped relations, of course. A country in which an estimated more than half of the economy is in the shadows and the president is implicated in major crimes is not the country Diaspora Ukrainians helped to create. After the moral and practical support Diasporans in the United States, Canada, Great Britain and elsewhere gave to the Ukrainian national idea, they’ve felt betrayed by reality.

The nadir perhaps came in August of 2003, when the Ukrainian World Congress, a Diaspora organization, tried to hold a meeting at Kyiv’s Ukraine House. At the last minute, in what appears to have been a dirty trick played by someone in high office, the facility was made unavailable. The message from the Kyiv power class was clear: Diaspora stay out. The Diaspora took the hint, and in fact had already been staying away for years.

At present, no Diaspora organization is playing an important role in Ukraine.

Now Ukraine has changed, and the Diaspora should be encouraged to return here. They can accomplish a tremendous amount. Various national diaspora communities have done great work on behalf of their respective countries in the Baltic countries, in Israel, and elsewhere, and informed, well-intentioned foreigners can do the same thing here. The Ukrainian Diaspora is big, well-educated, rich and looking for an excuse to return to a country to which it’s still very attached.

Chumachenko is the person who can rebuild the shattered relationship. A Diaspora Ukrainian herself, she was born in Chicago, and speaks Ukrainian with an American accent. (She’s even technically a U.S. citizen, as the Ukrainian citizenship she applied for during the presidential campaign has not yet come through.) She’s attractive and a good politician in her own right.

What could she do specifically? Go back to the States, and of course to Canada, home to a massive Ukrainian ethnic population. She could meet with the leaders of the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress and of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, on their own turfs. She could be a regular presence at the Ukrainian Institute of America on 5th Ave. in New York City, lecturing about developments here in Ukraine and attending social and cultural events. She could make herself a patron of the Ukrainian Museum in Manhattan’s East Village, which this spring will take a massive step forward by moving into new premises. She could get involved with the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, and with the Ukrainian studies program at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. Diaspora-driven charity organizations like the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund will be glad for her attention, and she could help steer Diaspora money to Ukrainian hospitals and Ukrainian schools. Chumachenko could make an effort to be present in the lives of the Ukrainian-American communities in New York City, New Jersey, her hometown of Chicago, and the many Canadian towns and cities where Diaspora sentiment is strong.

The Diaspora’s alienation from today’s Ukraine is a fact, but it’s wider than it is deep. People of Ukrainian descent all over the world want to come back to Ukraine, bringing their money and their expertise with them. The new Yushchenko government could be what draws them, and Chumachenko should be its best diplomat.

Whose Strategists Took Yushchenko to Victory?

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russian political strategists who worked at the Ukrainian ex-Premier Viktor Yanukovich's headquarters during the recent presidential election lost to a team of professionals with better skills, Alexander Oslon, the president of Russia's Public Opinion foundation, says in Gazeta. What happened in Ukraine, he thinks, is not a feat of ingenuity, but a stage in the development of political methods tested in Serbia and Georgia.


Yushchenko and Tymoshenko during Orange Revolution
Meanwhile, the involvement of "a team of highly-skilled professionals" in the Ukrainian election remained unconfirmed until yesterday, when a prominent American PR-company Rock Creek Creative, known for providing the US government and CIA with information support in the past, announced it had helped develop a Web portal for Viktor Yushchenko's supporters.

This revelation confirmed the suspicions of Russian officials about the foreign origin of the "orange revolution." However, analysts believe foreign PR-companies only played a supporting role in the events in Ukraine. They would not have succeeded on their own if it had not been for the Ukrainian people, believes expert from the Moscow Carnegie Center Andrei Ryabov.

He thinks there was a fair competition among Western, Ukrainian and Russian political strategists during the Ukrainian election. The latter, particularly Gleb Pavlovsky, the president of the Effective Politics Foundation, played a proactive role in the Yanukovich campaign. The Kremlin openly supported Mr. Yanukovich.

A PR-company cannot start a revolution and the American influence on events in Ukraine is largely exaggerated. After Boris Yeltsin's presidential victory in the 1996 election, many people also claimed the Americans had masterminded it, although their contribution was close to zero, insists Igor Bunin, the director general of the Center for Political Technologies.

The expert believes Ukrainian political strategists played the main role in providing the PR forMr. Yuschenko. That some of them became members of Ukraine's new cabinet supports his conclusions. For example, Nikolai Tomenko, the director of the Institute for Politics became a deputy prime minister, and Anatoly Gritsenko, the president of the Razumkov Center for Economic and Political Studies, was appointed defense minister.

Yushchenko Reaches Out to Donetsk

DONETSK, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko visited Ukraine's hostile Russian-speaking east Thursday in an attempt to reach out to a region that voted overwhelmingly against him in last year's bitter presidential race.

In a two-hour speech before local officials and lawmakers in the Donetsk region, Yushchenko presented a new governor, outlined the government's policy priorities and sought to appease tensions.


Yushchenko greeting supporters in Donetsk
"I came here to help you," Yushchenko told a suspicious hall, drawing moderate applause. "I want to help you to live better. That is my aim, and we must stop looking at each other with hatred."

The trip was Yushchenko's first to the hometown of losing presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych since the Nov. 21 presidential voting sparked a political crisis.

Yanukovych was declared the winner of that vote, but tens of thousands of Yushchenko supporters claiming election fraud jammed the capital Kiev in demonstrations. The Supreme Court later annulled the election and ordered a Dec. 26 revote, which Yushchenko won.

The protests that became known as the Orange Revolution were viewed with deep suspicion in Donetsk. At the height of the protests, officials in many eastern Ukrainian regions raised the prospect of separatism.

Those calls quickly subsided, but fears in the east remain high about Yushchenko's ties to nationalists and about his reform-oriented, pro-European government.

About 300 anti-Yushchenko protesters gathered outside the regional administration building, shouting "Yushchenko out!" and "Shame on Yushchenko!"

A crowd of about 100 Yushchenko supporters gathered across the square, holding his orange campaign flags.

"We really suffered during the election, worrying about the results, so today is like a huge celebration for us," said 24-year-old Lena Supova, wearing an orange armband. "He's very brave to come here, so we have come out to greet him so that he sees friendly faces."

Plainclothes police surrounded anti-Yushchenko protesters, and uniformed police ran tight security checks for officials and reporters entering the regional administration building to hear Yushchenko's speech and his presentation of the new Donetsk governor, Vadym Chuprun, a former ambassador to Turkmenistan who comes from the region.

Many in the east, where coal mining is a major industry, remember Yushchenko's days as head of the Central Bank when economic reforms led to mine closures, putting whole towns out of work. Some also worry that Yushchenko's preference for the Ukrainian language and his strong support in Ukraine's west -- where nationalism is high -- will lead to discrimination against the mostly Russian-speaking east.

"I know that I don't have too many friends in this hall," Yushchenko said. He delivered his entire speech in Ukrainian, drawing some low-volume complaints from the audience.

He repeated his campaign promises to combat corruption, raise living standards and bring Ukraine closer to the West.

He strongly criticized separatist statements by local officials, warning that "separatism is as dangerous as terrorism," and chided local officials for failing to achieve faster economic growth.

Yushchenko also promised to protect the Russian language and Russian schools and pledged that Russia will remain Ukraine's "strategic" partner.

Yushchenko Congratulates Klitschko Brothers on Winning the Golden Camera Award

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko has congratulated Ukrainian boxers Vitaliy and Volodymyr Klitschkos on winning the Golden Camera, the honorable award by the German media.

In his letter of congratulation Victor Yushchenko thanked the Klitschko brothers’ activity in public and political life of Ukraine and their “assistance to the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom and democracy.” “You have contributed to the fact that the whole world saw another face of our country and Ukrainians striving for freedom,” the message reads.

Victor Yushchenko believes this award demonstrates the international recognition of sports professionalism, courage and patriotism of the Klitschko brothers.

Analysis: Problems In Ukraine's Coal Industry Run Deep

PRAGUE, Czechoslovakia -- According to Roman Kupchinsky, of Radio Free Europe, reforming Ukraine's coal industry is one of the major problems facing President Viktor Yushchenko and the government of newly appointed Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. Tymoshenko knows the power of coal from personal experience. She tried to reform the industry while she was deputy prime minister from 1999 to 2001. She was abruptly removed from office in January 2001 by former President Leonid Kuchma, charged with fraud and money laundering, and jailed for several weeks. The charges against her were eventually dismissed.


Donbas coal miners on a break
The problems plaguing the coal industry in the heavily populated and economically depressed eastern Donbas Basin, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, are severe and multifaceted.

A Long-Neglected Industry

Ukraine has huge coal reserves, estimated at some 37 billion tons. The industry employs 450,000 people and produced 90 million tons of coal in 2004. Poland, by way of comparison, had only 140,000 people employed in the coal industry in 2002 and produced 95 million tons that year, according to the World Bank.

According to the World Bank, approximately two-thirds of Ukraine's 193 existing mines are unprofitable and should be closed. Ukraine's coal industry has been in a critical state of health for decades and survives mainly due to subsidies from Kyiv, which amounted to some $2 billion in 2003 and 2004.

Such subsidies are not nearly enough, however, to maintain proper safety standards. In its August 2000 country brief on Ukraine, the U.S. Energy Information Administration found that "outdated equipment, a lack of spare parts, and poor safety procedures have resulted in safety problems and lost production, exacerbating the industry's inefficiency."

The industry's lack of productivity has also been calculated by the World Bank: "While a coal miner in Ukraine produced on average about 100 tons of (washed) coal in 1995, the comparable figures were 200 tons in Russia, 400 tons in Poland, 2,000 tons in the United Kingdom, and 4,000 tons in North America."

Most mines belong to state-owned coal enterprises run by managers appointed by the Ministry of Fuel and Energy, into which the Coal Ministry was incorporated in 2000. During the two Kuchma administrations, these two ministries were headed by people close to the so-called Donetsk clan, an informal grouping of business and political leaders in that region.

The Ukrainian Coal Ministry was described in a December 1998 World Bank report, "Restructuring the Coal Industry in Ukraine," as follows: "Arranging barter trades and bombarding the Finance Ministry and cabinet with requests for additional investment funds and production subsidies became the main occupation of the Coal Ministry."

The Human Cost Of Coal Mining

The high rate of fatal accidents in the Ukrainian coal industry is mainly due to criminal negligence, industry officials in Kyiv say. Four miners in Ukraine are killed for every 1 million tons of coal extracted. Ukraine's coal industry is considered the world's second deadliest, after China. More than 4,000 coal miners have died in accidents in Ukraine since 1991.

Timber, needed to construct mine shafts, is in short supply in Ukraine and is often reused until it rots, creating dangerous conditions.

Most mine fatalities in Ukraine are related to methane gas explosions, and most of these accidents take place in mines that produce coking coal used in the steel industry. These are also some of the most profitable mines in the industry.

A former deputy director of a coal enterprise in the city of Krasny Luch in Luhansk Oblast told RFE/RL that some fatal mine accidents in coking-coal pits are connected to management directives to extract up to three times the daily norm of coal, for which miners would receive double their monthly wages. The average monthly wage of a Ukrainian coal miner in January 2005 was 1,400 hryvnyas ($255). Coal enterprise managers, according to this former official, had signed profitable contracts with steel manufacturers to sell more coking coal in order to increase steel production.

However, existing ventilator systems that pump out the deadly methane gas that is a byproduct of mining are capable of removing only the amount of methane released during normal levels of coal extraction. The increased production results in an excess of methane gas that, when mixed with extra coal dust, often leads to fatal explosions. This former official also says that "rock dusting," a procedure of spreading limestone powder to make coal dust inert, is often not implemented by management, despite its low cost.

These facts, sources in the coal industry told RFE/RL, are often hidden from government commissions sent to investigate accidents. To date, no mine director or enterprise manager in Ukraine has been punished for allowing workers to mine coal in unsafe conditions. Only lower-level managers have so far been disciplined.

Inefficiency And Corruption

Coal-extracting machines widely used in Ukraine have drill bits fixed at drilling seams with widths of 1 meter and are incapable of being adjusted to dig narrower seams. This greatly increases the amount of waste rock mixed with the coal and decreases efficiency.

A former coal enterprise manager from Luhansk explained to RFE/RL how he had attempted to purchase a German-made extracting machine with an adjustable drill bit. He said he was ordered by a high official in the Ministry of Fuel and Energy to buy a fixed 1-meter drill made in Donetsk. This enterprise manager said he later learned that the ministry official had a vested interest in the drill-making factory in Donetsk.

Moreover, specialists in the Ukrainian coal industry told RFE/RL that some profitable mines are declared bankrupt and closed, then flooded to prevent their collapse. The closures are used as proof that the Fuel and Energy Ministry is attempting to reform the industry. After some time, however, these mines are bought by private companies at far below their real value; the new owners drain the water and resume profitable mining.

On 7 February, Mykhaylo Volynets, the head of the Ukrainian Confederation of Trade Unions and a member of the parliamentary Energy Committee, told Ukrainian television that there are presently 6,000 illegal coal mines operating in Ukraine that produce some 5 million tons of coal annually. He said these unregistered mines employ women and children, who work in unsafe conditions and receive no social benefits. Volynets added that local authorities and law enforcement agencies in the Donbas Basin are aware of the existence of these mines but are bribed to remain silent.

Coking Coal And Accusations Of Steel Dumping

For the past decade, successive Ukrainian governments have provided massive subsidies to the coking-coal industry. This policy has been, in fact, a subsidy to the metallurgical industry by providing it with low-cost coke. These subsidies, in turn, led to accusations of Ukrainian manufacturers dumping steel onto world markets.

On her website, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow says that "from 1997 through 2000, carbon steel slab imports [into the United States] from key producers have risen dramatically: Brazil up 25 percent; Mexico up 13 percent; Russia up 106 percent, and Ukraine up 542 percent."

The corruption-prone cycle of "coking coal-coke-steel" is illustrated by the 2004 tender terms for the privatization of the giant Kryvorizhstal mining and smelting enterprise, which the Yushchenko government is reviewing, saying that it serves as an example of corruption under Kuchma's regime.

The terms announced for the tender included provisions that any bidder must have a history of producing 1 million tons of coke and 2 million tons of steel in Ukraine annually in the past three years. This limited the sale to only two bidders: the Investment-Metallurgical Union (IMU) consortium and the Industrial Union of the Donbas. The IMU is co-owned by Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of former President Kuchma, and Rinat Akhmetov, the widely acknowledged leader of the Donetsk clan and one of Ukraine's richest citizens. The IMU won the tender, paying almost $800 million for the enterprise, while others offering up to $3 billion were disqualified. On 28 January, a court in Kyiv blocked the IMU from taking possession of Kryvorizhstal, saying the bidding procedure discriminated against foreign bidders.

The coke industry in Ukraine is largely owned by Akhmetov. According to an article in "Invest Gazeta" on 13 January 2004, Akhmetov's ARS company developed into a firm "that coordinated the mining and sales of coking coal, as well as the production of coke. ARS now controls all the coal and coke chemical assets among Rinat Akhmetov's business interests."

Pinchuk owns Interpipe Trust, the largest Ukrainian enterprise producing wide-diameter pipes sold to Russia for use in its oil and gas pipelines. The second largest is Khartsyzk Tube and Pipe, owned by Akhmetov.

In March 2004, Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Serhiy Yermilov was dismissed for, among other reasons, wanting to curtail state subsidies for coking coal. This subsidy, Yermilov said, was, in fact, a subsidy to the steel industries owned by a small circle of men close to former President Kuchma.

The Politics Of Coal

The troubles in Ukraine's coal industry far surpass those of other energy sectors.

-- Restructuring the coal industry would mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs in a politically sensitive region.

-- Retraining programs for coal miners are not in place; the prospects for miners performing other jobs are bleak.

-- Entire municipalities in the Donbas Basin rely on the coal industry to pay for medical care, schools, public transportation, and other vital infrastructure.

How the new Ukrainian government intends to handle this problem is hard to forecast. Any coal reforms are sure to provoke angry reactions from vested interests in the Donbas Basin and from members of parliament involved in the metallurgical and energy-generation sectors of the economy.

The Donbas has shown itself willing to raise the specter of territorial separatism in order to maintain existing coal subsidy policies and schemes. The country's eastern regions had also threatened to secede as a possible response to the Orange Revolution demonstrations in Kyiv. How real the threat of separatism is remains questionable, but few have any doubts that the owners and managers of the coking coal-coke-metallurgical industries in Ukraine will lobby to prevent the implementation of far-reaching reforms and will continue to use coal as a political weapon.

Ukraine Jewish Community Represented at Gala Event

KIEV, Ukraine -- This week, the Jewish community in Ukraine was represented at a gala concert organized by Kiev Mayor Olexander Omelchenko in honor of an official visit to the Ukrainian capital by a delegation from Andorra. The event opened with speeches by the Mayor and Minister of Education for Andorra and launched into a celebration of dance and music, culminating in a performance by a symphony orchestra.

Of the approximately 100 persons in attendance, the Jewish community was represented, with both Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Azriel Chaikin and Chief Rabbi of Kiev Yonathon Markowitz receiving invitations. This exclusive event also involved dozens of dignitaries, city officials, and the good bulk of the Ministers appointed to Ukraine's Cabinet this past week.

During the event, Rabbi Markowitz also took the opportunity to speak with numerous attendees, including Kiev Mayor Olexander Omelchenko, Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Naomi Ben Ami and USA Ambassador John E. Herbst. The invitation from the Mayor represents a developing tradition of good relations with the Jewish community in Kiev.

Cabinet to Submit 2005 Draft Budget

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Victor Yushchenko said that on March 15, 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine will submit to the nation's parliament the new 2005 draft budget. According to Victor Yushchenko, it will be "the most social budget" enabling him to keep his pre-election promises. "We are now going to translate our promises into actions." The President added that the former government's commitments, especially those in social sphere, would also be met.


Cabinet of Ministers Meeting
Victor Yushchenko pledged that the new government would revise the policy of free trade and priority development areas where, according to him, Hr 7 billion of budget receipts are lost annually, as well as the policy of managing such enterprises as Ukrnaftogaz, Ukrtelecom and Ukrainian Railways where Hr 5-9 billion are lost per year.

Thus, Victor Yushchenko is going to fill up the budget by Hr 15-18 billion. "Through stocktaking of objects privatized in non-transparent way, Hr 20-25 billion will be raised to the budget. By drawing these funds it will be possible to put the 2005 budget in the black and to meet the government's engagements," the President pointed out.

Effects of Ukraine Joining EU, NATO: Russian Opinion

MOSCOW, Russia -- Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the Russian State Duma for International Affairs said in a recent Ekho Moskvy radio interview he believed that Ukraine's so-called European choice was a debatable issue because Europe doesn't have a single pattern to imitate. He went on to deliberate on which country represents the Western model for him, saying that Japan was a good example in his view.

Kosachev said that "if Ukraine opts for this model, it's all right because Russia has opted for exactly the same model. It's another thing, however, if this choice is determined by geographical conditions when a country needs to turn its back on the East and to face the West in order to resolve domestic problems faster. For instance, the Baltic states made this choice in the early 1990s. They made anti-Russian rhetoric a priority of their foreign policy and this speeded up considerably their rapprochement with the West. They used to complain loudly: Look, we are being mistreated. The Soviet Union mistreated us and now Russia is doing the same. Please take us under your wing soon. I must say that this tactic worked. However, it will hardly work in Ukraine's case because the scale of problems here is totally different."

"I suspect that the Baltic countries, unfortunately, are still clinging to the same tactics out of habit, even if they don't really need it now," Kosachev said.

He continued: "But in Ukraine, I repeat, this tactic will hardly work. I think that Ukraine's honeymoon with the so-called West will end quite soon, and Ukraine will have to make very difficult choices. They could be steeped in electoral rhetoric, pardon me this repetition, but now they will have to be made in real life."

Asked about the first steps of the new Ukrainian leadership, Kosachev said that, " for the time being, they have created more questions than they have given answers. First of all, the government line-up. Whereas the economic bloc looks quite professional, the power-wielding sector is made up of people who got there, first of all, thanks to their political behaviour and democratic beliefs. We remember we had a similar experience in Russia in the late 80s-early 90s when nonprofessionals filled in many key state posts and simply destroyed certain power-wielding structure despite all the good intentions aimed at reforming power-wielding structures as soon as possible. We are still reeling from the consequences."

He continued: "Another answer that still has not been given is about the essence of the government's economic policy. The programme presented by Mrs Tymoshenko [prime minister] to the parliament can be described as 'Faith, Love, Hope'. It contains very many nice-sounding slogans to which any normal person would subscribe but since the devil is in the details and the programme still lacks these details, we can't talk about whether this programme can be implemented at all and, in particular, whether it can be implemented while maintaining the old cooperation ties with Russia. We have no answers to this."

Staying on economic issues, Kosachev went on: "The Ukrainian economy remains in a state of deep post-Soviet crisis. Both the current cabinet and the former Ukrainian authorities admit that the quite high pace of Ukraine's economic development - 8-10 per cent a year, one of the highest in Europe last year - is not leading, in fact, to a real improvement in the people's wellbeing. In other words, real salaries are not growing. According to objective estimates, up to 80 per cent of Ukraine's population lives below the poverty line, whereas in Russia this index has dropped from 40 to slightly over 20 per cent in the last five years. In Ukraine it is still 80."

Kosachev continued: "Second, according to objective analysts, Ukraine's high economic growth depends mainly on Russian capital having entered Ukraine vigorously in the last few years. We can debate why it happened. Perhaps certain reasons lie not in Ukraine but in Russia itself. Nevertheless, it's a fact. And if Ukraine makes the so-called European choice, this trend will change.

"As for Mrs Tymoshenko's anti-oligarchic moves, so far her actions look more not like a struggle against oligarchs, but like a mere redistribution of capital. Some people managed to make a fortune under the previous authorities - incidentally, Tymoshenko herself belongs to the oligarchs who made their fortunes in previous years - whereas others failed to achieve this. And I have an inkling that even if Ukraine's current new leadership is fired by the pure and sincere desire to put things right in the economy, it will remain, this way or another, hostage to the people who have not yet become oligarchs but who want to become one. We have passed this way too. I think that Ukraine will not escape this experience."

Further on, Kosachev commented disparagingly on certain attempts in Ukraine to deny historical and cultural ties between Russia and Ukraine.

He said: "I hope that apart from the obvious historical ties, the economy will remain the mainstay of our relations, about which we spoke so much [just] now. For instance, it's not widely known, but about 80 per cent of the Ukrainian military-industrial complex produces unfinished output, that is, it depends on cooperation with Russia, and accordingly, over 80 per cent of the Russian military-industrial complex is tied to integration with Ukraine." Kosachev urged both countries to preserve their various ties.

Kosachev then returned to the subject of the EU, pointing out: "Ukraine has applied for membership of the European Union. It's a political, not an official application. The European Union has been consistently saying `no' to Ukraine, the last time at the gathering of EU ministers on 31 January. They are ready to develop relations of partnership but the issue of membership is not on the agenda. And then Ukraine has to make up its mind whether it wants to live for the next 10, 20 or more years in a paradoxical regime of suspended pleasure - after all, we in Ukraine will join the EU one day and the very thought of this prospect is sweet to us - or they will have to join the Single Economic Space with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan or other integration groups, because here we are talking not about political declarations, but about quite specific decisions. If Ukraine joins the EU, the rate of import duties will be reduced to zero on the Ukrainian side. At present, let's say, the Russian rate is 7.2 per cent of import duty on goods imported from the EU. And Ukraine will simply have to choose: either to join the Single Economic Space and set the 7.2-per- cent rate of duty on European goods, or to make a kind of proviso to the effect that we will, perhaps, stick temporarily to this principle, but on the whole we will be striving towards zero. This will hardly be acceptable to Russia because this is destroying in principle the Single Economic Space. But this is for Ukraine to decide."

Kosachev then answered a question from listeners about the recent elections in Ukraine, saying: "The fact that foreign money was involved in the Ukrainian elections - American, European, Russian or other money - is beyond any doubt. But I somehow have a feeling that there was no falsification, there was no bribing of voters. In a nutshell, the money put into the Ukrainian project [election] by our rivals on that territory was used more efficiently and professionally and, whether we like it or not, everything remained absolutely within international law. And the ensuing result can't in any way be dismissed by claims that someone has paid for something."

In his final answer to a listener, Kosachev said that "NATO has an open-door policy and, unlike with the EU, it's possible to join the queue and seek membership. Ukraine's new defence minister has already said that, from the military point of view, technically, Ukraine's membership of NATO is possible within two to three years. What is needed is only a political decision. But being a kind of specialist in this field, I am asking myself the following question: What does it spell for us if Ukraine joins NATO in two to three years? It means that, before this deadline, Ukraine must get rid of foreign military bases on its territory because this is a requirement for becoming a NATO member. And what are the foreign military bases? It's Sevastopol [in Crimea] and it is 2017 until which time we have agreed with Ukraine to keep our military base there, for which we are paying very real money. I'm apprehensive of the prospect that Ukraine's theoretical or practical membership of NATO may call into question the future of our naval base in Sevastopol."

The presenter added that "this openness on both sides may prove lethal for the military-industrial complex". Kosachev agreed: "Absolutely! This destroys the economic basis of our cooperation. Also, it brings about a colossal drain of our high technologies which are the pride of our military-industrial complex. We will simply have to start many projects from scratch."

Ukraine Beats Albania 2-0 in World Cup Qualifier

TIRANA, Albania -- Ukraine's Andriy Rusol and Andriy Husin struck in each half to clinch a 2-0 win against Albania in their World Cup qualifying Group Two match on Wednesday.

The win put Ukraine six points clear at the top with 14 points from six matches ahead of Greece, who beat visitors Denmark 2-1 to move onto eight points from five games.


Ukrainian players after defeating Albania
Rusol put Ukraine ahead five minutes before the break as he controlled a corner by Andriy Voronin and was given time to fire past goalkeeper Foto Strakosha to silence the home crowd.

Husin grabbed Ukraine's second goal just before the hour mark after connecting with a free kick from Andriy Shevchenko that eluded the makeshift Albania defence.

Albania played defensively fearing counter-attacks to feed Ukraine strikers Shevchenko and Andriy Voronin but the home side subsequently failed to find the attacking edge that saw them beat European champions Greece in their opener last September.

The defeat means Albania are stuck on six points from five matches as their dream of qualifying for the 2006 World Cup fades despite progress under German coach Hans-Peter Briegel.

Yushchenko Visits Zhytomyr Prison

KOROSTEN, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s President made an unscheduled visit to work camp 71 in Korosten, Zhytomyr oblast. 1361 men are imprisoned there. The President was accompanied by the Secretary of National Security and Defense Council and newly appointed governor of Zhytomyr oblast Pavlo Zhebrivskyi.

Victor Yushchenko met the staff and prisoners of the camp and inspected their living conditions.

The President has commissioned Pavlo Zhebrivskyi and local authorities to solve the problems of this camp. Victor Yushchenko pledged to meet with the State Department of Ukraine for Execution of Punishment to discuss further functioning of the prison system.

The President is convinced the new government must humanize prison conditions, “Current penitentiary system incites people against society and does not rehabilitate them,” said Yushchenko. He believes, “the penitentiary system is meant not to debase people but to make people understand that freedom has a high price."

Ukraine's Yushchenko Probably Poisoned by Government: Attorney General

VIENNA, Austria -- Ukraine's attorney general reportedly says he has gathered proof that President Viktor Yushchenko was deliberately poisoned in a plot probably involving the government.

"There is no doubt that this was a planned act, which probably involved people from the government. Not everybody has access to such substances," Svyatoslav Piskun was quoted as saying in the Thursday edition of Der Standard daily, published on its website late Wednesday.

Piskun said he was in Vienna to speak with the doctors here who treated Yushchenko after he fell ill on September 6 while campaigning in the country's bitterly contested presidential vote.

The same doctors said in December that tests had shown Yushchenko, who was left with blisters and scars on his face, had suffered dioxin poisoning and said they suspected foul play.

"Today I obtained documents here that give us the medical proof that Yuschenko was poisoned," Piskun said, adding that the medical reports were compiled by experts in Austria, Britain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Yushchenko was probably poisoned around the time he attended a dinner in early September at which the former deputy chief of the Ukrainian secret service was present, he said.

"We have always known roughly when the poison was administered. But the meeting today with Doctor Nikolai Korpan, the doctor of President Yushchenko, brought us some proof. The time probably coincides with the dinner, but we cannot say that it was exactly this day," he told the newspaper.

Asked whether he had specific poisoning suspects in mind, he said: "The circle of suspects is so big that I do not want to leave anybody out and hurt their feelings."

Ukrainian public prosecutors in October dismissed Yushchenko's health crisis as a case of food poisoning but reopened their investigation after the Austrian doctors revealed their findings, shortly before he went on to defeat Viktor Yanukovich in a rerun presidential vote late last year.

Yushchenko claimed from the start that he was the victim of poisoning by political opponents, telling reporters: "The aim was to kill me."

Ukraine's New PM targets 'Kuchma clan'

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's new rulers have started to unwind the country's biggest privatisation on the grounds that it was "bare-faced robbery" and set about stripping the former president, Leonid Kuchma, of his official perks.

The process is being driven by the country's new Prime Minister, Julia Tymoshenko, who suffered at the hands of the old regime when she spent more than a month in jail on what she says were trumped-up embezzlement charges.


PM Tymoshenko
There is personal animosity between Mrs Tymoshenko - known as the "Orange Princess" because of the role she played in the Orange Revolution - and Mr Kuchma, who fired her when she was deputy prime minister in his administration in 2001.

And now that the tables have turned the so-called "Kuchma clan" - the billionaire businessmen who grew rich under the former president - are also believed to be firmly in her sights.

Her attack, which has apparently been sanctioned by Ukraine's new President Viktor Yushchenko and is likely to see many of the country's most lucrative assets redistributed, will be two-pronged.

Firstly, one of Mrs Tymoshenko's first acts as Prime Minister was to begin the reversal of the 2004 privatisation of Krivorozhtal, Ukraine's biggest steel producer. The company employs 52,000 people, and has pre-tax profit of about $300 million.

The move, announced at the administration's first cabinet meeting last Saturday, strikes right at the heart of the Kuchma clan. The company is co-owned by Viktor Pinchuk, an MP who is also Mr Kuchma's son-in-law, and by Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man, who bankrolled the election campaign of Mr Yushchenko's defeated presidential opponent, Viktor Yanukovych.

Its sale last year took place amid accusations of corruption and nepotism.

The deal was pushed through by Mr Kuchma in the face of vocal opposition. The tough auction rules set out by Ukraine's state property fund meant that foreign bidders, of whom there were many, were barred from bidding.

Mr Kuchma's son-in-law and others snapped up Krivorozhtal for what was regarded as a ludicrously low price of around $800 million; a US-UK consortium had offered $1.5 billion.

Mrs Tymoshenko called the sale "a bare-faced robbery" and Mr Yushchenko has said the sale needs to be reversed in order to give Ukraine a future.

Mr Yushchenko said: "Many of its shares were transferred without any competition, in the same way as Catherine the Great handed out land in the south of Ukraine to her lovers and favourites 200 years ago.

"If ... we forget how Krivorozhtal was stolen we will never bring order to this country."

Legal proceedings to renationalise the firm have now begun and the government has said it will re-auction Krivorozhtal fairly once these proceedings are completed.

Mr Kuchma's perks as a former president are, it would seem, next in the firing line.

Mrs Tymoshenko has ordered the government to conduct a detailed analysis of the "legality" of his state privileges, which are reported to include a state-owned dacha (country house), two cars and four drivers, an undisclosed monthly cash payout, two assistants, an adviser and a security detail. Calls to prosecute Mr Kuchma, who does not enjoy legal immunity, have also begun. His detractors accuse him of treason, corruption and of ordering the murder of an investigative journalist.

Mr Kuchma denies he has done anything wrong. Mr Pinchuk has said Mr Kuchma is relaxed about the situation. Earlier this month he said his father-in-law was going to the gym every day and working on setting up a special foundation.

President Yushchenko vs President Putin

WASHINGTON, DC -- What a difference a year can make! A year ago, President Vladimir Putin represented the new trend in the former Soviet Union. He had successfully consolidated political power and won a solid parliamentary majority. Russia had carried out comprehensive market economic reform and judicial reform. Its international standing was high.

Today, Putin does not seem to get anything right. The lawless confiscation of the Yukos oil company has jeopardized his radical tax and judicial reforms. His handling of the bloody Beslan hostage drama showed the weakness of his centralized state. His heavy-handed intervention in the Ukrainian presidential elections provided evidence that he was not only antidemocratic but also anti-Western. The recent popular protests against his social benefits reform have depressed his popularity at home.


Presidents Yushchenko and Putin
As one star falls, another rises. Ukraine's "orange revolution" has lifted the democratic reformer Viktor Yushchenko to the skies. He has set off a new democratic trend in the post-Communist world.

Both Russia's current malaise and Ukraine's democratic revolution are taking place in the midst of an economic boom. Last year, Russia's economy grew by 7 percent, Ukraine's by 12 percent. So the issue is politics, not the economy.

The focus lies on the generators of the boom. In the mid-1990s, young people took on the challenge of transforming the seemingly moribund Soviet smokestacks. They succeeded beyond any expectations. Alas, as Herbert Hoover once said, "The trouble with capitalism is capitalists." Some of the new owners became hugely and conspicuously rich. Since their property rights were weak, the "oligarchs" reinsured their property rights by buying up politicians, judges and other officials.

Both Russian and Ukrainian politics are now driven by a popular urge to defeat this corruption. The United States faced a similar challenge with the "robber barons" of the 19th century.

Putin's response was to pioneer a strategy of political centralization, enhanced state control and mild authoritarianism, relying on the secret police. He argued this was necessary in order to restore order, reduce corruption, boost economic growth and promote social equity.

Today, these policies seem to have rendered the Russian state more dysfunctional. The reinforcement of state power and secrecy appear only to have boosted high-level corruption. Far-reaching centralization of power has reduced both the capacity and the quality of government decision-making. And as the media have been muzzled, the government has become subject to its own disinformation.

Although Russia's economic growth remains high, it was lower than that in most former Soviet countries last year. Now Putin's secret-police friends are called the new oligarchs. Putin's authoritarianism no longer looks like a solution.

In Ukraine, President Yushchenko has thrown down an ideological gauntlet with his democratic revolution. Like Putin, Yushchenko is raging against corruption and oligarchs, but he prescribes the opposite cure. As he stated at his inauguration, "Only a democratic state values human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity." Yushchenko's commitment to freedom and democracy is being reinforced by his calls for European integration, while Putin reminiscences about the "vast and great" Soviet Union.

The economic programs of the two presidents are remarkably similar. Both advocate a free but social market economy. Both countries have a flat personal income tax of 13 percent. Ukraine needs to catch up with Russia in market economic legislation, but with rising authoritarianism, the role of the state is growing in Russian business.

The critical issue is the property rights of the oligarchs. Putin has given up much of his initially good economic policies by ruthlessly going after one oligarch, leaving the property rights of others in doubt. Yushchenko must avoid repeating his mistake. Yet he campaigned for the re-privatization of Kryvorizhstal, the last, biggest and most controversial privatization in Ukraine. Having been bought by Ukraine's two wealthiest oligarchs (Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk), it is a palatable political target. The challenge to Yushchenko is to limit re-privatization to the politically necessary and then sanctify property rights. For economic growth, Ukraine needs more privatization rather than re-privatization.

Ukraine's "orange revolution" has made democracy look modern again. Yushchenko's challenge now is to balance calls for social justice with the need for secure property rights.

Ukraine Will Aggressively Promote Ukraine's Agriproducts Onto Export Markets

KIEV, Ukraine -- The government of Ukraine intends to assist to a maximal possible extent the promotion of locally produced food products onto external markets, the newly appointed Minister of Agrarian Policy Olexandr Baranivsky told the press on February 9.


Ukraine's golden wheat
"We will be pursuing aggressive export policy. We will be assisting the agricultural producer to a maximal degree, in order that they have a possibility to promote their goods abroad", said Baranivsky.

At the same time, he said, the process was not going to be easy, as Ukrainian products were of rather high quality and would be posing a competition to foreign goods, therefore surely not all the countries would be welcoming these initiatives.

Baranisvky assured that the government would be solving these issues on a legislative level and would be lobbying the interests of Ukraine on an international scale.

Ukraine Repeats EU Membership Calls

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine wants to start EU accession talks within the next three years and so is considering distancing itself from a Moscow-led economic union.

"We have a three-year action plan (with the EU) and we can speak about starting negotiations at the end of this period, in other words 2007," said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk, according to AFP.


Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk
Mr Tarasyuk also believes that the EU will officially recognize "in the second half of this year...the prospect of Ukraine's accession to the EU".

EU foreign ministers have welcomed Ukraine's efforts towards democracy, but have avoided mentioning possible EU membership.

In a separate interview, Ukraine's new Justice Minister Roman Zvarich said that the country is re-considering joining the planned Russia-led Common Economic Space (CES).

Talking to Russian daily Izvestia, Mr Zvarich pointed out that he "cannot imagine" how one country can meet the requirements for joining CES and the EU at the same time.

Russia has been pushing for an economic union with Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan.

"It won't do to flip back and forth between the West and the East -- that's nonsense," Zvarich said, according to AFP. "Our strategic aim is European integration," he added.

Ukraine is also hoping to join the NATO before the EU, claiming that many other former Soviet bloc countries have done the same.

Steel Groups to Bid for Ukrainian Mill

KIEV, Ukraine -- Mittal Steel and Arcelor, the world's two largest steel makers, and US Steel, a US producer, are to consider bidding for Ukraine's biggest steel mill, which the new government plans to repossess from last year's buyer.

Their interest came as the government of Yulia Tymoshenko, prime minister, ordered the body that manages privatisations to cancel what she said were "illegal" decisions related to the Kryvorizhstal mill. The mill was sold last year to local businessmen for $800 million after foreign bids of up to $1.5 billion were rejected.


Prime Minister Tymoshenko
Several other, smaller, privatisations that appeared to favour allies of the previous government are also expected to be reversed.

Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's newly-installed president, said on Monday that he expected to bring in up to 25 billion hryvnya ($4.7 billion) by reviewing questionable privatisation deals. Ms Tymoshenko, sworn in last Friday, also moved to begin talks with the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund for loan programmes tied to economic reforms.

Both bodies last year suspended loans to the country after complaining of non-transparent fiscal policies.

Tomas Fiala, managing director of Dragon Capital, a Ukrainian brokerage, said Kryvorizhstal should fetch at least $3 billion.

Ms Tymoshenko's plan for the steel mill could yet run into road blocks, however. The mill's current owner is determined to defend its control of the mill in court.

Last year's tender excluded foreigners by requiring bidders to have a record of producing coke in Ukraine. Despite that, London-based businessman Lakshmi Mittal's steel group and US Steel placed a joint bid of $1.5 billion, while Russia's Severstal bid $1.2 billion.

Russia's Evrazholding also is expected to bid.

Ms Tymoshenko said the cabinet would study the possibility of keeping the mill in state hands to earn profit, but her cabinet is under pressure to find new revenues. Serhy Teryokhin, economy minister, yesterday said the government was facing a shortfall in this year's budget of 32 billion hryvnya ($6 billion).

Washington Creative Firm Played Major Role in Ukraine Democracy Movement

WASHINGTON, DC -- Two weeks after the historic presidential inauguration of Viktor Yushchenko in the Ukraine, an American marketing and communications firm has disclosed its role in aiding the Ukrainian democracy movement.

Rock Creek Creative, based in the Washington, D.C. area, helped develop the communications strategy, branding and de facto policy Web site of the Orange Revolution. The site served as the primary public forum that enabled political dialogue in the chaotic 12 months prior to the election. The site became the virtual freedom plaza for the democracy movement.



Rock Creek Creative was also instrumental in promoting the "Ukraine in Europe and the World" conference held in Kiev in February 2004. This event focused Western media attention on the impending elections and provided a forum for international dignitaries to publicly debate what was at stake with Ukraine’s relations to the West. Conference speakers included President-elect Yushchenko along with former Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel and former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright.

"Rock Creek Creative has not been willing to admit its role in promoting Ukrainian democracy until now," said Scott Johnson, the firm’s principal. "While we have been involved in many international projects during our 19-year history, we have never before been so directly involved in a campaign that so strengthened democracy in a country.

"We were honored to have played a role. Ukraine needed the debate, the conference and something like the Orange Revolution. The Ukrainian people were the real winners here," Johnson added.

Prior to the Web site’s launch in December 2003, most Ukrainians were unaware of the strength of their numbers or of the degree of Western support for their cause. The site, also brought international attention to the challenges and opportunities Ukrainians faced while attempting to realign their nation with the European Union and the NATO alliance.

"When Rock Creek Creative was first approached about this project, our initial thought was that it would be fairly simple," said the firm’s Web strategist Paul K. Ward. "What we learned was that we had to create a Web site that would not only be secure from attack, but that would also not be seen as a vehicle for any U.S.-driven political message, which it was not. It was important that visitors, no matter how sophisticated, not discern any U.S. involvement just because the communication strategy came from Rock Creek Creative."

Added Johnson: "We took pains to ensure that our involvement with this cause did not become an issue for our client or the democracy movement. We also crafted messages that were credible and resonated with all our different audiences -- the Ukrainian leaders, the Ukrainian people, other European nations and the international press."

The Rock Creek Creative team featured the firm’s President Margaret Johnson along with Scott Johnson, Paul K. Ward and Creative Director Christopher Lester. The team selected images and content that would be culturally significant to Ukrainians and that depicted the future of the country as full of opportunity and hope. The site featured images and pages that loaded quickly to accommodate Ukrainian and Eastern European visitors who largely use dial-up Internet connections.

"The Web site was hosted on specially-configured servers in Europe and all server software was licensed for use in the Czech Republic. It’s hard enough to keep garden-variety hackers from penetrating security on the sites we build; imagine what it was like keeping the servers running in these circumstances," said Margaret Johnson.

About Rock Creek Creative

Based in Bethesda, Maryland, Rock Creek Creative is a marketing, communications and branding firm that provides innovative outreach strategies for government, private sector and not-for-profit clients. Rock Creek Creative has led branding campaigns for NATO, the CIA, French defense and aerospace giant Thales and various agencies of the U.S. Government.

Ukraine to Withdraw Troops From Iraq Soon — Yushchenko

KIEV, Ukraine -- In the near future Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry and Defense Ministry will be instructed to withdraw Ukrainian troops from Iraq, President Viktor Yushchenko said Tuesday.

Iraq remains within the zone of Ukraine’s interests, Yushchenko said. He was speaking while introducing Foreign Minister Boris Tarasyuk to Foreign Ministry staff.

The goals of the Ukrainian peacekeeping mission in Iraq have been attained, therefore withdrawing the contingent is on the agenda, Yushchenko said. At the same time, Ukraine should not “pretend it has nothing to do” with Iraq that country has the second-largest oil deposits in the world, which can be an alternative supplier of energy to Europe for years to come, Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko said Ukraine had “a colossal interest” in Iraq, and therefore military inspectors, businessmen and diplomatic missions should work there, UNIAN news agency reported. “That is the corps which should replace our troops there,” he said. Yushchenko said the Foreign Ministry and the Defense Ministry had received instructions “which have almost been carried out and which contain a vision of the time framework of Ukrainian troop withdrawal".

Over 30,000 Signatures Collected to Dump MP Taras Chornovil

Lviv, Ukraine -- Citizens of Lviv collected over 30,000 signatures to initiate recalling of Taras Chornovil, a member of Parliament (Verkhovna Rada), who currently represents this region. Chornovil was the head for Yanukovich's presidential campaign.

Signatures were being collected in dozens of places in Lviv. The signatures will be collected until March 1, and then directed to the local electoral committee.

Taras Chornovil’s electorate was offended by his allegations as to the falsifications that purportedly took place in Lviv region during the presidential runoff revote on December 26. People are most disappointed at Taras Chornovil’s reluctance to meet with his electorate and failure to react to their appeals over a year.

The initiative group of Lviv electorate representatives aims at collecting 70 thousand signatures.

There has been no precedent for recalling an MP in Ukraine and there is no appropriate legal procedure for doing that. By directing a petition with signatures to the Speaker of the Parliament, Volodymyr Lytvyn, the Lviv voters hope to have Ukrainian Parliament react to their initiative.

Yushchenko Proposes Amnesty on Capital

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday proposed an amnesty on illegally acquired capital as part of a crackdown on the nation's large shadow economy that has robbed government coffers of much needed funds.

Many Ukrainian businesses downplay their profits and pay employees under the table, while Ukrainians hide their earnings to avoid taxes. The wealthiest often keep their savings in overseas bank accounts beyond the authorities' reach.

"We are prepared to enter into a capital amnesty and a fiscal amnesty, in exchange for bringing the economy into the light," Yushchenko said while reappointing Oleksandr Omelchenko to be governor of the wealthy Kiev region, the Interfax news agency reported.

He didn't provide further details.

Ukraine's new government is desperate to fill a predicted 32 billion hryvna ($6 billion, €4.7 billion) deficit in this year's budget. Yushchenko's team has blamed a series of populist measures, such as a one-time increase in pensions, that former President Leonid Kuchma's government used to try to woo voters ahead of last year's presidential election.

Among the steps being considered to top up government coffers is the re-privatization of some state-owned enterprises that were sold off for cheap prices, often to businessmen close to the government.

Vyacheslav Astapov, spokesman for the Prosecutor General's office, said that all regional prosecutors are currently conducting checks of the legality of big, post-Soviet privatization deals. The regional prosecutors have until Monday to report back to Kiev, and the results will be passed on to the Cabinet of Ministers.

"They will be focusing on the biggest enterprises, the big deals, checking their legality," Astapov said.

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko announced last weekend that the government plans to reverse the sale of a massive steel mill that was bought cheap by a consortium involving Kuchma's son-in-law.

Many Ukrainians consider the deal one of the most corrupt of this nation's post-Soviet privatizations. Analysts said if the mill - one of the world's most profitable - is put up for a transparent resale, open to foreign bidders, the government might receive more than double the $800 million (euro665 million) it sold the mill for last year.

Investment bankers have urged the new government to proceed carefully as it takes another look at privatization to avoid creating the impression that it is on a witch hunt against supporters of the former government.

Yushchenko Tells Secret Service to Get Out of Business

KIEV, Ukraine -- President Viktor Yushchenko, introducing Ukraine’s new security chief, told the discredited State Security Service today that it should get out of politics and commerce and concentrate on fighting corruption and winning the people’s trust.

“With a joint effort from the president and the security service, we will make this country honest,” Yushchenko told security officials.

He named Oleksandr Turchynov, an ally of new Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, to head the organisation. The appointment immediately sparked speculation that Turchynov, a civilian without any law enforcement experience, was sent in to dismantle the agency.

The security service had been considered one of Ukraine’s most corrupt agencies, with officers accused of working for the business elite and allegedly involved in illegal weapons sales.

The agency was also accused of playing a key role in Yushchenko’s near-fatal poisoning last year during the election campaign. Yushchenko has said he most likely received the dioxin poisoning at a dinner with the agency’s former top two leaders; both denied any involvement.

Ukraine Minister Vows "Commotion" in Tackling Graft

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's new justice minister, a prominent figure in the "Orange Revolution" that propelled President Viktor Yushchenko to power, has vowed to act vigorously in uprooting corruption in the ex-Soviet state.

Roman Zvarych, a U.S.-born legal expert who took Ukrainian citizenship in the 1990s, said he would tolerate no exceptions in enforcing Yushchenko's pledge of clean government.

"The Justice Ministry will not stand for even the smallest indication of corruption in the institutions of authority," Zvarych, 52, told Reuters in an interview.

"This is the task assigned to me by the president of Ukraine. That may mean that the minister will not have many friends, but that is of no interest to me.

"The priority is to cleanse the administration of corruption ... What I will say is that as long as I am in government there will be plenty of commotion in the bodies of state authority."

Zvarych, 52, was in the front ranks of activists backing Yushchenko's charges of fraud in November's presidential poll.

A skilled debater in his pronounced diaspora Ukrainian accent, he put the then-opposition's arguments forward in speeches to parliament and in preparing the case for the Supreme Court hearing that annulled the election.

Yushchenko won a re-run of the vote staged in late December.

The president made the fight against corruption a key plank in his campaign, denouncing ex-President Leonid Kuchma's administration as "criminal". He told parliament last week he would stand for no theft in government, while acknowledging that most Ukrainians saw such a notion as a "fantasy".

At its first full-fledged meeting at the weekend, the cabinet said the Justice Ministry had been charged with drawing up a code of conduct for civil servants.

"This document will once and for all establish the duties of public employees and how to keep from being discredited," he said.

He promised strict rules, with legal oversight, for large expenditures by ministries and other institutions -- including privatisation deals.

"We would like to bar senior officials from signing contracts and holding tenders without formal legal approval to ensure the deals are lawful," he said. "Call it centralisation if you will. But I want to establish order to this area."

Yushchenko has pledged he will not overturn 1990s selloff deals en masse, but says the public purse should be compensated for purchases of state property conducted in unfair conditions.

The president has frequently cited the selloff last year of the giant Kryvoryzhstal steel mill and prosecutors have launched proceedings to overturn the deal.

The son of Ukrainian immigrants born in New York, Zvarych is a graduate of Columbia University. He said he hoped to create a legal framework for land ownership and for starting in business.

The U.S. example, he said, would prove useful.

"I would like things to be conducted in such a way that it takes a Ukrainian no more time than it does in the United States to get a business started," he said.

"That means anyone going into a regional office of the