Donetsk Prosecutors, Courts Strike Back

DONETSK, Ukraine -- Several prosecutors and courts recently decided high-profile cases in favor of individuals who were prosecuted when President Viktor Yushchenko came to power in 2005.

Yushchenko continues to have problems with Yanukovych
At the same time, the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor-General’s Office, which is controlled by individuals hailing from Donetsk, are threatening prominent members of the Yushchenko team with imprisonment.

They have re-opened closed criminal cases involving at least two of Yushchenko’s allies. Yesterday’s plaintiffs are becoming today’s defendants and vice versa.

Yushchenko’s allies say this is political score settling.

Their opponents, however, maintain that justice is being restored.

They are using to their advantage the fact that many of Yushchenko’s allies lost their immunity from prosecution by resigning from parliament in order to make it possible for Yushchenko to call an early parliamentary election.

Ironically, a call for the full cancellation of the deputy immunity is one of the main slogans of the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc and of their allies, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc.

Their opponents, the Donetsk-based Party of Regions (PRU), have only grudgingly obeyed Yushchenko’s early election decree, and they are in favor of preserving parliamentary immunity.

On July 19 the Supreme Court upheld a PGO appeal against the closure of a criminal case against Oleksy Ivchenko, the leader of the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (KUN) and a long-time ally of Yushchenko.

The PGO suspects that Ivchenko embezzled state funds when he chaired the state-controlled oil and gas company Naftohaz Ukrainy in 2005-2006.

The PGO opened the criminal case against Ivchenko last February.

At that time Deputy Prosecutor-General Tetyana Kornyakova told the media that top Naftohaz managers had illegally received bonuses and used charter flights for private needs.

A district court in Kyiv closed the case, but now the PGO has re-launched it.

KUN has described this decision as a “provocation.”

A political analyst close to Yushchenko’s team, Vadym Karasyov, suggested that this move was in line with the PRU election strategy of portraying Yushchenko’s people as poor managers.

Ivchenko was elected to parliament in 2006, so he only recently acquired immunity from prosecution.

Simultaneously, the PGO has resumed investigating a criminal case involving Andry Shkil, a former people’s deputy from Tymoshenko’s bloc.

Segodnya, a newspaper linked to the PRU, reported this case under the headline “Andry Shkil May Face 12 Years in Prison.”

Shkil is suspected of having masterminded a clash with police near the office of then-president Leonid Kuchma in March 2001, when he was one of the leaders of the opposition movement “Ukraine Without Kuchma.”

According to Segodnya, it was PRU member Vladyslav Zabarsky who suggested in a letter to the PGO that Shkil’s case should be resurrected as he had lost his deputy immunity.

On July 19, the Donetsk Region Prosecutor’s Office released a statement saying that businessman Viktor Pinchuk, who in 2005 accused former Donetsk Region Council chairman Borys Kolesnykov of extortion, is wanted by police.

The prosecutors said that Pinchuk is suspected of giving false testimony in Kolesnykov’s case.

Kolesnykov currently manages the PRU’s election campaign.

Pinchuk accused Kolesnykov of extortion and abuse of power.

Based on Pinchuk’s testimony, Kolesnykov was arrested in April 2005, but he was released after several months in prison as the PGO ruled there was no evidence of a crime.

Pinchuk waged a media war on the “Donetsk clan.”

He founded Anti-Corruption Fund and published a book, Donetsk Mafia, in which he accused Kolesnykov and his friend, Donetsk tycoon Renat Akhmetov, of crimes.

A court in Donetsk banned the book as libelous.

In a statement released on July 25, Pinchuk asked Ukrainian Ombudswoman Nina Karpachova for protection, complaining that Donetsk courts had seized all his property at Kolesnykov’s request.

He said that Kolesnykov was guided by “personal revenge.”

Yushchenko has lost a defamation suit against a company whose billboards carried a cartoon of him dressed in a Nazi uniform ahead of his visit to Donetsk during his presidential campaign tour in October 2003.

On July 20 a district court in Donetsk dismissed Yushchenko’s suit against the Plazma advertising company.

Yushchenko in early 2005 asked the law-enforcement bodies to investigate Plazma’s activities, and he sued Plazma last November.

Yushchenko is going to appeal, according to one judge.

Meanwhile, a “museum of Orange Revolution victims” is about to be opened in Luhansk, a PRU stronghold.

Ukraina, a TV channel linked to Akhmetov, has reported that separate exhibitions in the museum will be about former transport minister Heorgy Kirpa and former interior minister Yuriy Kravchenko, who “died tragic deaths.”

Both committed suicide when Yushchenko came to power.

The museum has plans to tour throughout Ukraine, Ukraina said.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

Mexico Striker Castillo To Join Shakhtar

ATHENS, Greece -- Mexico striker Nery Castillo is set to join Ukrainian club Shakhtar Donetsk.

Mexico striker Nery Castillo
Castillo, 23, traveled to Ukraine on Monday. Greek media reported that Shakhtar had offered €16 million (US$21.8 million) to break Castillo's contract with Greek champion Olympiakos which ends in 2010.

The reports said Castillo was due to sign a four-year contract with an annual salary of over €2 million (US$2.7 million).

Olympiakos has not made any comment on the reports.

Castillo scored four goals to help his country finish third in the Copa America which ended earlier this month. Brazil won the tournament held in Venezuela.

After returning to Greece, Castillo said he had failed to successfully re-negotiate his contract with Olympiakos, where he has played for seven years.

"It was my wish to stay at Olympiakos ... but I did not hear what I expected to hear from them," Castillo said last week, confirming transfer interest from Shakhtar and England's Manchester City.

Castillo helped Olympiakos clinch its 10th league title in 11 seasons, scoring 12 goals.

Source: FOX Sports

Ukraine's Elites Remain Above The Law

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s orange elites are facing a growing scandal surrounding Yuriy Lutsenko, head of the pro-presidential Our Ukraine-People’s Self Defense bloc (NUNS).

Yuriy Lutsenko
Lutsenko allegedly lobbied on behalf of Ukrainian New Telecommunications (UNTC) when he was interior minister.

Lutsenko’s wife is UNTC’s financial director, and the company was established in 2005 by members of Lutsenko’s extended family from Rivne oblast.

Lutsenko allegedly supported instructions to shift Interior Ministry cell phone contracts to UNTC.

The Lutsenko scandal suggests that Ukraine’s ruling elites remain above the law.

Since Ukraine became an independent state in 1992, only three senior Ukrainian officials have been charged and sentenced, two in Germany (Viktor Zherdytskyy and Ihor Didenko) and one in the United States (Pavlo Lazarenko).

No senior Ukrainian officials have ever been charged inside Ukraine, in part because they possess parliamentary immunity.

In a June 20 address to the country, President Viktor Yushchenko called upon parliament to revoke its right to immunity as a step toward “overcoming parliamentary corruption.”

He claimed that Ukraine’s parliament was the world’s most corrupt, a factor that negatively influenced the national interest and rule of law.

Yushchenko called for separating business and politics, saying, “People in big business should be separate from the political life of the country,” due to potential conflicts of interest.

Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc have both stated their readiness to voluntarily forfeit their immunity.

NUNS is collecting signatures to hold a referendum on ending immunity, claiming that corrupt businessmen run for parliament to hide from the law.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych criticized these calls for action and accused the president of “populism.”

He also pointed out that calls to revoke parliamentary immunity are regularly heard during election campaigns but quietly forgotten afterward.

As media restrictions have eased, the press has leveled accusations of abuse of office and corruption against the president’s son and other orange leaders.

Consequently, the orange camp has adopted a two-pronged standard response of denying the media’s right to make such investigations and claiming that the accusations are part of a political conspiracy.

NUNS member Volodymyr Stretovych, head of the parliamentary committee to combat organized crime, has claimed that the latest allegations against Lutsenko are an orchestrated conspiracy against “one of the most popular leaders of the democratic camp.”

According to him, the accusations against Lutsenko are the criminal world’s response to the prospect of losing parliamentary immunity.

However, ending parliamentary immunity is unlikely to remove Ukrainian elites’ legal privileges for several reasons.

First, Ukraine inherited this political culture of elites being above the law from the Soviet era.

Second, there is also a close link, particularly evident among the orange national democratic camp, between elites and the preservation of Ukrainian statehood.

Yushchenko and his allies who went on to establish Our Ukraine opposed efforts to impeach former president Leonid Kuchma over the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze, as they believe that the president represents the state and any undermining of his position would thereby undermine the Ukrainian state.

Third, the elites enjoy a strong degree of mutual solidarity.

When corruption accusations were made against Yushchenko’s allies in September 2005 he agreed to launch an investigation, but he outlined its pre-determined conclusion by publicly declaring their innocence.

Two examples demonstrate the difficulty of breaking with the culture of elite immunity.

First, in 2005, Yushchenko bestowed Gongadze with the “Hero of Ukraine” title as he “gave his young life for our freedom and independence.”

But then eighteen months later a presidential decree awarded a state medal to former prosecutor Mykhailo Potebenko, who reportedly covered up Kuchma’s involvement in Gongadze’s murder.

Second, Prime Minister Yanukovych has a criminal record.

Yanukovych served two prison terms: in 1967-70 for theft and robbery and in 1970-1972 for the “infliction of bodily injuries of medium seriousness.”

There were reports that a Donetsk oblast court had allegedly annulled his two convictions in 1978, but the relevant documents were found to be forgeries executed when Yanukovych first became prime minister after 2002.

Yushchenko has defended his nomination of Yanukovych as prime minister in August 2006, claiming he had little alternative.

However, Article 12 of Ukraine’s 1993 law on State Service clearly states that persons with a criminal record cannot be appointed or voted into a government post.

This seemingly would eliminate Yanukovych’s eligibility to be prime minister or president.

Polls in 2004 found that 60-69% of Ukrainians believed that a former felon should not be president.

The Lutsenko corruption scandal will tarnish the orange camp going into the September 30 parliamentary elections.

Lutsenko is close to Yushchenko, who is depending on him to improve the pro-presidential camp’s results in the 2006 elections, when it obtained only 14% of the vote.

Based on similar cases, no charges are likely to be laid against Lutsenko, and the culture of elite protection will not change even if parliamentary immunity is removed.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

Government Study: Almost 40 Per Cent Of Ukraine Economy In Shadow

KIEV, Ukraine -- Almost 40 per cent of Ukraine's entire economy operates off the books on the black market, according to a government report made public on Monday.


The precise size of Ukraine's shadow economy - 39 per cent - was a dramatic jump over a 2006 estimate of 27 per cent, the Ministry of Economy report said.

Part of the increase was due to a change in how the statistic was calculated, Korrespondent magazine said.

A staggering 227 billion dollars of Ukrainian economic activity this year will never be recorded on official company books or subject to taxation, because of the public's still-massive unwillingness to declare income, the 2007 report estimated.

The most widespread means of corporate tax dodging, the study found, is payment of salaries in two parts: a small amount declared to the government, and a more substantial portion given employees under the table.

The dodge is common in Ukraine, partly because tax inspectors enjoy a wide degree of autonomy in enforcing tax law.

A strict Ukrainian tax inspector is capable of making unprofitable almost any business simply by obliging it to pay, in full, all labour and social service taxes, which are benchmarked to the size of staff salaries.

Off-the-books payment of salaries in cash is routine in practically all medium and large business, particularly in Ukraine's industrial east, where as much as 75 per cent of all business activity is conducted off the books, according to the report.

The average personal salary in Ukraine once under-the-table payments are taken into account is approximately 800 dollars a month - almost triple the current official figure of 260 dollars, the government estimated.

Industries earning the lion's share of their income in the shadow economy include agriculture (72 per cent) and construction (71 per cent), the report said.

Salary payments off-the-books are highest in agriculture (4.4 times the amount reported to the government), heavy industry (3.9 times more), and construction (2.5 times), according to the report.

The most law-abiding sector of the Ukrainian economy was services, where some 18 per cent of transactions were in the black market, and almost 45 per cent of salaries were paid on the books, the survey found.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Textbooks Rewrite History To Fit Putin’s Vision

MOSCOW, Russia -- As Russia flexes its foreign policy muscles against the West and President Putin enjoys record approval ratings, the Kremlin is turning its attention to schools to instil a new sense of nationalism in children.

Russia's ex KGB President Putin
Two new manuals for teachers have been accused of glossing over the horrors of the Soviet Union and of including propaganda to promote Mr Putin’s vision of a strong state.

One, for social studies teachers, presents as fact Mr Putin’s view that the Soviet collapse was “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century”.

It describes the United States as bent on creating a global empire and determined to isolate Russia from its neighbours.

Many of those behind the second book, a history of Russia from 1945 to 2006, have close links to the Kremlin.

Its final chapter is titled Sovereign Democracy, a term coined by a key Kremlin aide, Vladislav Surkov, as an ideological justification for Mr Putin’s authoritarian rule.

The chapter quotes Mr Surkov repeatedly and praises Mr Putin as the man responsible for “practically every significant deed” in Russia since 2000, when he became President.

Mr Putin’s most controversial actions are shown in an approving light, including the destruction of the Yukos oil company and the imprisonment of its chairman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The book describes this as an “unambiguous message” to business to “obey the law, pay your taxes and don’t try to put yourselves above the Government”, adding: “They got the message.”

Mr Putin’s support for Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine’s rigged presidential election of 2004 is also defended.

Mass protests in the Orange revolution eventually brought his pro-Western rival, Viktor Yushchenko, to power, but the manual states: “Yanukovych was the only candidate capable of truly resisting Yushchenko. So Russia’s choice was clear.”

The book describes Josef Stalin as “the most successful Soviet leader ever” and dismisses the prison labour camps and mass purges as a necessary part of his drive to make the country great.

The manuals are intended to serve as the basis for developing new textbooks in schools next year, though Education Ministry officials insisted that they would not be compulsory.

Mr Putin gave them his seal of approval at a conference he hosted for teachers at his presidential dacha last month.

He described Stalin’s Great Purge of 1937, in which 1.5 million people were imprisoned and 700,000 killed, as terrible “but in other countries even worse things happened”.

Discounting the Soviet Union’s long history of oppression, he said: “We had no other black pages, such as Nazism, for instance.”

Leonid Polyakov, editor of the social studies manual, told Mr Putin that Russia was “disarmed ideologically” after the Soviet collapse, leaving other countries to judge whether it was a democracy.

He said: “We are developing a national ideology that represents the vision of ourselves as a nation, as Russians, a vision of our own identity.

Teachers will then be able to incorporate this national ideology, this vision, into their practical work in a normal way and use it to develop a civic and patriotic position.”

Pavel Danilin, who wrote the chapter on Sovereign Democracy, told The Times that it explained the “core transformation” of Russia under Mr Putin.

“We understand that the only guarantee for our democracy is our sovereignty, our strong state, our strong army, our strong economy and our strong nation,” he said. “It is not an ideology. It is just common sense. And my intention was to explain that common sense to teachers.”

Mr Danilin, 30, is a projects manager at the Effective Policy Foundation, a think-tank with close links to the Kremlin.

He was more blunt about his intentions on his web blog in response to criticism from teachers that much of the book was simply Kremlin propaganda.

“You will teach children in line with the books you are given and in the way Russia needs,” he wrote, adding that schools had to “clear the filth and if it doesn’t work, then clear it by force”.

Alexander Filippov, who edited the history manual, is deputy head of another research institute linked to the Kremlin.

He told The Times that the book was a response to the poor quality of existing textbooks and that “sovereign democracy is not proposed as the national ideology for schools”.

Source: Times Online

Ukraine Speaker Recalls Parliament Before Elections

KIEV, Ukraine -- The speaker of Ukraine’s parliament recalled lawmakers yesterday for an extraordinary session of parliament on July 31, two months before the country holds a general election.

Speaker Oleksander Moroz
News agencies reported that Speaker Oleksander Moroz, leader of the Socialist Party allied to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, had convened the session to review regulations governing the September 30 vote.

Yanukovich, leader of the Party of Regions based in Ukraine’s Russian-speaking east, has been at loggerheads with pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko for much of this year and a deal to go to the polls was meant to break the impasse.

Opposition leaders accused Moroz of reneging on the pact, designed to ensure that campaigning, which starts in early August, is fair.

“Holding an extraordinary session not only poses a threat to a democratic and civilised exit from this crisis by way of elections, but also draws the attention of the international community to Ukraine,” RIA-Novosti quoted Nikolai Tomenko, deputy leader of the Bloc Yulia Tymoshenko, as saying.

Opinion polls show that voters are likely to return a pro-Yanukovich majority, failing to break the political gridlock in Ukraine, a country of 47 million that falls into both the Russian and European spheres of influence.

Commentators also say that Moroz has little interest in the early polls, as opinion surveys show that his Socialists may fail to win enough votes to be returned to the Verkhovnaya Rada (parliament).

Source: Gulf Times

Work In Committees Key To Making Most Of ACC Membership

KIEV, Ukraine -- As more Ukrainian businesses venture into the global marketplace, the important role played by international business organizations has grown proportionally.

Mr. Jorge Zukoski, President of the ACC in Ukraine
Established in 1992, the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine (ACC) is one of the most effective non-government business organizations working in Ukraine. The ACC provides its members with information services, assistance with establishing contacts and protecting their interests in interaction with the country’s governmental bodies.

Help in networking with other business colleagues and lobbying business interests are the primary reasons companies choose to join the ACC, according to its members. They enjoy the benefits of sharing and comparing their experiences in dealing with various business problem areas and find common approaches to finding business solutions.

“Companies want to become members of the chamber so that they can have access to the chamber’s resources, particularly for information, and for lobbying,” said James Hitch, chairman of the board of directors of ACC and a managing partner with global law firm Baker&McKenzie.

“Also, companies can raise issues and seek solutions from Ukrainian government authorities by putting them forward with the chamber, which can ‘anonymously’ raise these problems with the relevant government authority, with whom the chamber has developed good communications over the years,” said Hitch.

The ACC ensures that it represents its members in an exclusively transparent and fair manner. And while the ACC cannot lobby or represent the interests of any individual member or small group, it can promote business interests of all of its members combined, or of categories of members, including agricultural producers, food processors and others involved in the export of products from Ukraine.

“The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine lobbies fair market rules for all business players. The Chamber does not seek special privileges for member companies,” said Myron Wasylyk, a member of the board of directors of ACC.

According to members, good examples of the business networking opportunities provided by ACC are the Chamber’s committees that address specific problematic areas. Separate committees address issues of investment, legislation, taxation, intellectual property rights, labor and employment. Other committees are devoted to specific industries, such as telecommunications, banking and financial services, pharmaceuticals and agriculture.

Speaking about additional benefits of ACC membership, Hitch mentioned that many Ukrainian companies join the ACC to take advantage of the unique programs that are not available from other business organizations. For example, the ACC has a Corporate Social Responsibility committee and program, under which members participate in charitable activities and projects involved with promoting good government, rule of law and ethical codes of conduct.

According to Hitch, Ukrainian companies are increasingly raising the same concerns shared by multinational corporations, including similar investment, corporate governance, and management issues. They draw benefit from interacting with the managers and employees of the other members during regular membership and committee meetings, and specials events, like the Captains of Industry series.

“The reason for any company to join an NGO, like the ACC or EBA (European Business Association), is to heighten company visibility within the business community,” said Robert Reed, vice president and external affairs director of The Willard Group (TWG), a Kyiv-based public relations and advertising agency.

With 13 years experience in Ukraine, TWG has been a member of ACC since 1999. Reed cautioned, however, that merely joining the ACC will not automatically benefit a business.

“Companies need to be pro-active in attending events, meetings, as well as participate in committees,” said Reed.

Chamber members also view the ACC as an opportunity to establish long-term relationships with Ukrainian political and business elites. This is achieved by the high level of organization that is typical for all ACC meetings and events.

“ACC has helped our company connect with stakeholders of all persuasions, particularly those from the business and political spheres. Events are well-conceived and well-executed and we have learned a great deal about Ukraine’s business dynamics through our membership,” said Antonius Papaspiropoulos, manager for communications and government affairs with Royal Dutch Shell, which has been operating in Ukraine since 1992. He added that stakeholder engagement is a fundamental business imperative for his company.

According to Boris Krasnyansky, managing partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers Ukraine, the ACC is a good platform for international business, as well as for those Ukrainian companies interested in developing business and expanding into other markets. PricewaterhouseCoopers Ukraine opened its office in Ukraine in 1993 and joined the ACC in 1997.

The “ACC helps member companies consolidate their views on the most important issues for the economy’s development, and deliver those views to the decision makers,” said Krasnyansky.

Maxim Kopeychikov, partner at the Ilyashev and Partners law firm, said his firm decided to join the Chamber because the ACC is quite effective in implementing best business practices from around the world into Ukraine’s business environment and legislation.

“Actually, we were not thinking about any personal benefits. We still hope that, together with the ACC, our ideas on improving Ukrainian legislation will be implemented into law,” said Kopeychikov. Founded in Kyiv in 1997, his firm joined the Chamber in 2003.

The ACC is highly valued in business circles as a promoter of investment activity. According to members, many foreign companies looking to invest in Ukraine make a point of first visiting the ACC’s offices in Kyiv to find out more about the overall investment climate and the environment in their particular fields of business and industry.

“ACC is undoubtedly an effective lobbyist and its membership list alone is testament to its foreign investment prowess. Any issue that has the weight of the ACC behind it cannot be ignored,” said Royal Dutch Shell’s Papaspiropoulos.

Source: Kyiv Post

Deputy Chief Of Staff Shlapak Accuses Government Of Incompetence

KIEV, Ukraine -- Oleksandr Shlapak, President Yushchenko’s first deputy chief of staff, has criticized the government for its social and security policies and said its performance and inability to preserve economic growth “cannot make anybody happy”, according to the President`s press-office.

First Deputy Chief of Staff Oleksandr Shlapak
Shlapak said on Thursday the country’s falling GDP and slowing industrial growth contradicted the government’s “boastful reports” and added that the cabinet of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had no action plan.

He said the country’s debt was growing (USD 15. 512 bln) and added that there was no need to take loans abroad, especially given the premier’s optimistic projections.

He said Ukraine’s VAT debt was UAH 12.8 bln, calling the situation “critical” and describing it as a “powerful source of corruption.”

He added that VAT was rebated disproportionately and hence non-transparently.

The government has also failed to ensure Ukraine has all the necessary documents to join the World Trade Organization and so the country’s accession has been put off again, he said.

He also slammed the government for its inability to control inflation and cope with last week’s chemical spill in the Lviv region and this week’s tornadoes.

Shlapak demanded that the cabinet implement President Yushchenko’s new social policies “without additional talks” and urged the prime minister to sack the ministers whose “performance is inadequate to the scale of their duties.”

Source: UNIAN

Raise Teachers’ Salaries

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine’s educational system is failing the grade when it comes to producing qualified candidates for the professional workforce.


The number of bribes offered to or demanded by teachers has risen year-on-year, while the quality of education offered by the country’s institutions of higher learning has remained low.

The Constitution guarantees the right to a free education.

The reality, however, is that education is not free, as pupils, students or their parents end up paying the cost of a bribe or the price of low-quality education.

Efforts to combat corruption in the educational system have targeted the system of university admissions, but corrupt practices within the classrooms of the country’s high schools and universities remain largely unaddressed.

Several solutions are required for dealing with these problems.

One would require admitting that free universal education is something that the state does not and cannot provide.

Private institutions should be allowed to play a greater role in educating the nation’s youth.

And to boost the quality of state institutions, education should be paid for, the bribes legalized and teachers’ salaries raised significantly.

To place more power into students’ hands, a system of student loans should be developed and introduced.

Bribery would be curbed, as finances would be transferred directly from banks to universities.

The banking sector, which is vital to the country’s economic growth, would see its business increase with the new line of services.

And the students themselves would take their education more seriously, as they would have a vested financial interest in completing studies and securing gainful employment.

The temptation to demand or accept a bribe will exist until teachers are paid at a level where supplementary incomes are no longer necessary.

Salaries should be boosted, or the bribes being given and taken should be legalized.

Otherwise, low wages for teachers will continue to result in the low quality of graduates entering the country’s workforce.

Source: Kyiv Post Editorial

The Face Of Disaster

KIEV, Ukraine -- There wasn’t much the government could say following last week’s chemical spill in Lviv Region, but they could have found a better spokesman to say it.


The world learned quickly that a train had derailed, causing a fire and then a cloud of noxious gas that covered over 50 square miles of countryside.

As the specter of Chornobyl, Ukraine’s claim to infamy, slowly resurfaced in the public consciousness, a sober and intelligent statement by Ukraine’s authorities would have been nice.

Instead, we got an earful of past incompetence from an official who should have stayed in the past.

Even if someone out there in television land was willing to give the Ukrainian authorities the benefit of the doubt regarding the latter’s ability to handle the situation, the delusion was soon dispatched by Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk.

“A disaster has happened. After the Chornobyl catastrophe we are confronted with a situation that can pose a real threat to our people,” Kuzmuk said from the scene.

As it turns out, the comparison between the Lviv spill, which has yet to claim any casualties, and Chornobyl, the world’s worst nuclear accident, was a huge exaggeration.

The comment spurred panic and did little to instill confidence in thousands who fled their homes in the vicinity of the spill.

As if to compensate, Kuzmuk returned to TV screens the next day to tell people in the disaster zone that they could “breathe easily” and feel free to drink from their wells and graze their livestock.

Having served as defense minister during some of the country’s worst military disasters, such as the leveling of a block of flats with a stray missile and the shoot-down of a Russian passenger liner over the Black Sea, Kuzmuk was a poor choice to break the news.

But he has returned from the scrap heap of discredited officials twice already.

If Ukraine wants to convince its citizens and others that it isn’t a disaster zone, then a good first step would be to at least find a better spokesman during catastrophes.

Source: Kyiv Post

French Firm Could Build Shield Over Main Chernobyl Reactor

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine could sign a contract with a French firm in September to build a giant protective shield over a damaged reactor in Chernobyl, the scene of the world's worst nuclear disaster, the emergencies minister said Wednesday.

This graffiti was made in Pripyat town, which was the first town to be affected with radiation when Chernobyl accident happened. Artists from Moscow, Minsk, Berlin went down there 20 years later to make a tribute to all those people who passed away and who are still suffering from the causes of this catastrophe. The Chernobyl reactor is on the left in the background.
"The Assembly of Chernobyl Shelter Fund Donors made a decision in London July 17 to give its approval to the contract to build the shelter with the Novarka concern, with a preliminary cost of 490 million euros (about $680 million)," Nestor Shufrych said.

The decision came after numerous delays since the fund - which comprises 28 countries, including the G8 nations and is run by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - pledged in 2005 to allocate about $200 million on a new vault to contain radioactive material still inside the plant's main, fourth, reactor since the powerful 1986 explosions.

The project is a tricky one, above all because of the radiation involved. A huge steel vault, which will be made away from the reactor site and will then be slid into place on rails, will seal the plant for 100 years, and further measures are expected to reduce the radiation threat or remove radioactive material from the plant.

Much of the radioactive material inside the plant is temporarily contained by a Russian-designed "sarcophagus."

The devastating disaster in then Soviet Ukraine killed and affected nine million people across the world, according to UN estimates.

Vast areas, above all in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, were contaminated by the fallout of the explosion. An 18-mile zone, from which about 135,000 people were evacuated after the disaster, remains largely deserted to this day.

Source: RIA Novosti

Germany: Flossenbuerg Concentration Camp Opens As Museum On 62nd Anniversary Of Liberation

BERLIN, Germany -- Holocaust survivors on July 22 marked the 62nd anniversary of the Flossenbuerg concentration camp liberation at the opening ceremony for a museum on the site.

Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko, right, his wife Kateryna, second right, and their children walk at the former concentration camp site in Flossenbuerg near Weiden, Germany July 22. Yushchenko and his family visited the former concentration camp where his father Andrij Andrijowytch was a prisoneer in 1944.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, whose father was detained at Flossenbuerg from December 1944 to April 1945, took part in the memorial service.

"For me this concentration camp has a very human dimension," Yushchenko said, adding that he had a 1944 aerial view of Flossenbuerg showing the camp and the prisoners and that "I know one of those people is my father."

An estimated 30,000 prisoners lost their lives at Flossenbuerg in the southern German state of Bavaria. Many of them were from the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, including Jews from Hungary and Poland, as well as political prisoners from Germany.

From its founding in 1938 to its liberation on April 23, 1945, by American troops, more than 100,000 people were detained at the camp and its more than 90 external branches.

"I bow my head in front of you," Bavarian Governor Edmund Stoiber said in a speech to the 84 former prisoners who participated in the ceremony. "We will do everything to make sure that you will never be forgotten."

After World War II, parts of the camp were torn down and replaced by a factory and private homes. Only in the mid-1990s did former prisoners start returning to Flossenbuerg to push for a memorial.

Several camp barracks were restored and a research center was opened. The new permanent exhibition will focus on the suffering of individuals.

Source: AP

EU Will Not Cope With Ukraine’s Euro Integration

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Commission Chairman Jose-Manuel Barroso in an interview, published Monday in “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung”, has claimed that in the foreseeable future Turkey and Ukraine will not be able to join the European Union.

European Commission Chairman Jose-Manuel Barroso
“We have taken the responsibility to hold negotiations with Turkey. The negotiations are one thing, and the accedence – is another,” the Head of the European Commission said.

Answering the question, whether Ukraine is a European country, Barosso said: “Definitely. But, neither we, nor Ukraine can cope with its joining EU now.”

As earlier reported, ex President of Poland Alexander Kvasnevsky called it quiet real the prospective of Ukraine’s joining EU in 2020.

But, as the Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of Germany to Ukraine Reinhardt Schafer claimed, the European Union at the official level didn’t consider the year 2020 as the possible date of Ukraine’s joining.

Source: Trend News

Accident-Prone Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- The modern Ukrainian state was born from the ashes of Chernobyl, the world’s worst nuclear accident. So, one might think that the young country’s leaders would be a particularly careful lot. Keep thinking.

Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk in photo as Defense Minister
Just over 20 years since the fateful Chernobyl blast, on April 26, 1986, Ukraine is still scaring its neighbors and its citizens with accidents at least partly rooted in official negligence.

A chemical spill in western Lviv Region was the latest disaster to strike, causing around a thousand people to evacuate their homes, and over 180 to be hospitalized.

A freight train carrying tanks of yellow phosphorus, which is both poisonous and flammable, derailed on its way from Kazakhstan to Poland on Monday, July 16.

A blaze ensued, followed by a noxious cloud of smoke that covered around 90 kilometers of surrounding territory, including 14 villages with 11,000 residents.

Within a few days, the government was reporting that everything was under control and that there was no danger from poisonous gas or contamination on the ground.

But it didn’t take long for people to start making comparisons with Chernobyl.

In fact, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, himself a veteran of more than one Ukrainian catastrophe, first recalled the ghost of the nuclear nightmare in an appearance on Ukrainian television shortly after the spill.

A day later, after having visited the scene of the spill, Kuzmuk was telling his countrymen that they could feel free to drink water from their wells and graze their cattle in meadows near the scene of the spill.

Other comments by officials aired by the nation’s media only added to the feeling of uncertainty.

Thankfully, no fatalities have been reported, as of the writing of this piece.

But that’s little reason to breathe easily.

Ukraine has a history of tragic disasters, and history keeps repeating itself with alarming frequency.

In 2000, a stray missile demolished a block of flats in a small town just outside of Kyiv, killing three. It was mislaunched during a training exercise by Ukraine’s military, then headed by Defense Minister Kuzmuk.

A year later, in October 2001, the Ukrainian military mistakenly shot down a Russian passenger liner over the Black Sea, killing almost 80 people on board.

This time, Kuzmuk was forced to resign. But that didn’t prevent him from being reappointed to the Cabinet a few years later by now former President Leonid Kuchma, his political benefactor.

Then there was the Sknyliv air show disaster, another world record breaker, which saw 80 more people killed when a jet fighter crashed into a crowd of spectators in the summer of 2002.

Since then, Ukraine has witnessed explosions at military depots, in 2004 and 2006, with the first one creating a first class fire works display that wrought havoc and significant material damage in the surrounding countryside.

“What’s going to happen next?” is not an entirely unfair question to ask.

Yes, accidents, including very deadly ones, happen everywhere, and Ukraine may be particularly prone to them due to its ongoing, difficult transition since independence from the Soviet Union.

But a disturbing pattern has emerged over the years.

For one thing, few, if anyone, and certainly not anyone high up, is ever held responsible for Ukraine’s disasters. Indeed, Kuzmuk is a perfect but by no means the only example of Ukrainian officials' resilience to blame.

Now a deputy prime minister in the government of Viktor Yanukovych, Kuzmuk recently denied that the Ukrainian military was responsible for the shoot-down over the Black Sea, although Ukraine agreed to pay damages.

In the Sknyliv disaster, only the pilots were sentenced to prison terms, while the air show organizers and higher military officials got off clean.

If no one was responsible in these disasters, then no one will be responsible for preventing future ones.

But just because no one is punished doesn’t mean that plenty of noisy accusations haven’t been made.

Following last week’s chemical spill, for example, the parliamentary opposition, as well as President Viktor Yushchenko’s Secretariat have taken turns in blaming their mutual foe – the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

In particular, both BYuT and the Secretariat called for the dismissal of the country’s Transportation Minister, Mykola Rudkovsky. With elections around the corner, no one should be surprised.

However, this kind of response to disaster does little to prevent new ones.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office has also opened a criminal case, but as history has shown, the chances of anyone being tried are slim to nothing.

The chances of meaningful compensation and a transparent investigation are also lean, but President Yushchenko has promised both this time around.

The reform-minded president might even be able to keep his word, as the chemical spill has yet to claim any lives. Thus compensation should be manageable.

As for the investigation, the EU has offered to send specialists to monitor the extent of the environmental damage.

But a more burning issue is whether anything will be done to prevent such accidents from reoccurring.

Ukraine’s security service, the SBU said that after having conducted a check of the country’s rail system in May, following the derailment of a passenger train, it reported safety concerns, but they weren’t addressed.

Yushchenko has warned that he won’t tolerate any “Soviet” cover-ups.

But in the mean time, the Ministry of Agriculture has come out with a statement saying that all produce from the affected area is safe, despite warnings by independent experts urging a fuller study of the spill’s effects.

The emergency crews have put out the fire and, hopefully covered up all the spilt phosphorus with sand, but the poison might have leaked into the ground, especially during recent heavy rains.

The Emergency Ministry has boldly announced that it would send the yellow phosphorus back to Kazakhstan. But is this wise – especially considering that the government itself has been saying that the tanks in which the chemicals were being transported were the cause of the accident? What if there is another spill on the way back to Kazakhstan?

Clearly, the most important thing at this stage in the game is to figure out what went wrong and make sure it doesn’t happen again. The same can be said for Ukraine’s other deadly disasters in recent years.

As most of these were caused by the country’s military, it is encouraging that Yushchenko put a civilian reformer in the job immediately after replacing Leonid Kuchma as president in January 2005.

Among other badly needed reforms, Defense Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko has stepped up cooperation with NATO, which has helped Ukraine dispose of dangerously idle ammunition.

Also, the country seems to be on the right track in reforming its nuclear industry, seeking Western help to process spent fuel and seal up the deadly Chernobyl reactor.

But the reappearance of controversial figures like Kuzmuk in the government of Viktor Yanukovych raises concerns that Hrytsenko’s reforms could be reversed if the factions endorsed by Yushchenko don’t do well in the upcoming early elections. Also, the Chernobyl sarcophagus is still plodding along.

If Ukraine wants to get through its accident-prone early years in one piece, it’s going to take a marked change in attitude toward dealing with disaster.

To keep them from reoccurring, the country, especially the military, needs serious reform. And if they do happen, transparency and responsibility should be the operative words.

Accident can happen anywhere, but Ukraine’s had more than its share in these formative years of the young country.

Source: Eurasian Home Analytical Resource

Ukraine Pro-Presidential Bloc Calls For Abolishing Deputy Immunity

KIEV, Ukraine -- A sign-up campaign in support of abolishing the deputy immunity will be launched in Ukraine on Monday. The pro-presidential bloc “Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defence” initiated the campaign.

Yulia Timoshenko (L) and Yuri Lutsenko (R)
“The struggle for abolishing the deputy immunity is one of the main principles of the bloc’s election campaign,” the bloc’s leader and former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko emphasized.

According to him, “It is the first step in the crusade against corruption and crime in the country.”

President Viktor Yushchenko earlier called on all parties to refuse from the deputy immunity in a new parliament. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich calls only for abolishing the deputy immunity in criminal cases.

The election race in Ukraine will begin officially on August 2 and will last till September 30, when early parliamentary elections should be held.

However, the leading players on the political stage have been conducting an agitation campaign for a long time.

If the pro-presidential bloc stakes on the abolishment of the deputy immunity, Yulia Timoshenko’s bloc began agitating for holding a referendum on changes in the Ukrainian Constitution simultaneously with the early parliamentary elections.

Nine questions are offered to be put up for a referendum, including the choice on a type of government – a presidential or a parliamentary republic.

If Ukrainians vote for the presidential power, the president should also head the government.

If a parliamentary republic is chosen, the Supreme Rada will appoint a premier and a government. Timoshenko offers to abolish the post of president.

The pro-presidential bloc took this initiative as “nonobligatory for execution,” as such issues cannot be resolved at referendums.

The Party of Regions considered an idea voiced by Yulia Timoshenko’s bloc as “political cheating at play.”

Political scientist Viktor Bozhenko links an initiative to hold a referendum with Timoshenko’s striving to invigorate interest of voters to her bloc.

Political scientist Andrei Yermolayev does not rule out that it may be a landmark deal with favorable referendum results for the president in exchange for guarantees of Timoshenko’s premiership.

Source: Itar-Tass

Ukraine: Media Riddles Around The Phosphorous Cloud

KIEV, Ukraine -- The available information about the phosphorous cloud following the railway accident in the Ukraine last Monday is becoming more and more cryptic.

Emergency staff work at the site of a poisonous chemical spill near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv
The political involvement of most media and other factors are causing contradictions among official sources that are making press work extremely hard. Moreover, nobody is permitted to reach the accident location. The site of the accident was closed to visitors following the intoxication of three TV journalists who got too close.

Location of the cloud

TV channel Novyj Kanal translated a telephonic interview with officers from the Ministry of Internal Affairs during which the existence of any cloud whatsoever is firmly denied. Immediately after the interview a press conference by Kiev mayor, Mr. Leonid Chernovezkij, announces that starting next Monday a daily report about the movements of the same cloud will be available to the population. The service will be provided by the Kiev administration.

In an interview to TV channel UT-1 an officer of the ecological service admitted that they have no real data about the area closer to the accident, because not even government officers are permitted to reach it. The officer said that most data about the hypothetical movements of the cloud (if the cloud exists) are made based on computer simulations they receive from Russian vendors, because no such simulation model is currently available in the Ukraine. The closest available on spot measures are related to areas located several kilometers away from the epicentre.

Removal operation

In the same press release the Mayor of Kiev also announced that no transport of whatever dangerous material will be allowed in the town area. The removal by railway of the phosphor containers involved in the accident was originally planned for today. It’s unclear how Kiev’s transit refusal may affect the operation and whether the mayor has the authority to block national traffic on the railways.

According to the Press Manager of the Ministery for Emergency Situations, Mr. Igor Krol', four containers will be lifted and put back on the rails today. Five containers have already been lifted. Yet the weather may affect the operations, as violent storms and very strong winds are expected in the area. This is going to introduce a serious risk factor for the phosphor that still remains on the ground. The contaminating products are in fact insulated from the air by means of pillows made of air and foam; a strong wind may cause new emergencies by even just partially removing such insulation structures.

Health consequences

Various TV channels report one of the firemen who first arrived on location to be in very critical conditions. The channels give no exact figure about the number of people seeking help in hospitals, the media simply report the flux to be uninterrupted. A medical doctor in a TV interview for Novij Kanal said people are mostly in panic, but not really ill. At late evening a press release from the Ministery for Emergency Situations gives the following figures: 184 people, among them 52 children, 14 people belonging in the emergency squads who managed the accident, 3 medical operators that went to assist people in the polluted area.

Polemics are mounting about the way in which the emergency has been managed. The president of the Ozhidov village Council (the worst hit village) declared in a TV interview for Novij Kanal that they were immediately forbidden to drink water, but never were given any medicine or fresh water, neither were they told what they could use for first aid.

President says "no cloud"

President Viktor Yushchenko issued a couple of official communications about the "absence of any need to declare the accident area as ecologically damaged" and added that he has the intention to invite Polish experts on location, to have an independent verification. He invited the population of the affected area "not to frighten foreign investors". The passage of the president to the "no cloud" front may prelude to a less contradictory official information.

Yushchenko issued an official call to speed up the closure of the Chernobyl atomic power plants on July, 20. Immediately after he left the country with his family for an unofficial visit to Poland, that will be followed by an official visit to Germany. He is expected to travel to Germany on the evening of July 21.

The Ukraine Procuror General, Mr. Aleksandr Medvedenko, declares to the press that he has visited the accident site together with the President, and that all necessary measures are being taken, both for the liquidation of the accident and the defense of the civilian population. He notes that "it takes courage to work there, for the personnel af the Ministry for Emergency Situations". He announces that a complex cycle of medical care is being planned for about 1500 children of the affected area.

In the same interview the Procuror General announces that the Government of Kazakhstan will accept being returned the phosphor left (the goods were originally from Kazakhstan). Yet in the same hours the director of Kazphosphat (the vendor) declares in an interview to the newspaper Segodnja that he gathers that "the phosphor will be stocked in the Ukraine, because it makes no sense to transfer it back. Moreover, you can hardly imagine that Russia would accept the passage of such a dangerous damaged load on their railways".

Source: Afrique en ligne

Yatsenyuk Sees Ukraine-EU Summit On Sept 14 As Planned

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The Ukraine-EU summit will take place on September 14 in Kiev, as earlier scheduled, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk told journalists on July 17 after a working visit to Brussels.

European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk in Brussels on July 17, 2007.
He met with EU High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner and European Commissioner for Trade Peter Mandelson.

The political crisis in Ukraine did not impact Kiev's relations with the European Union, Yatsenyuk said. "An important message I am bringing to Ukraine is that the summit will take place, and it will take place in September. Thus, nothing is threatening Ukrainian-EU relations," Yatsenyuk said.

The minister also confirmed that a report on progress at talks on a new Ukrainian-EU basic agreement will be presented at the summit. "I hope 2008 will be the year of signing a new basic agreement," he said.

Yatsenyuk also said that it is necessary that early parliamentary elections in Ukraine are held in line with democratic standards.

"Democratic and transparent elections are a clear sign that Ukraine is a developing society that can integrate into Europe. Thus, it is absolutely clear that the more democratic and transparent the elections are, the more progress we will achieve. This will be a test for Ukraine's political system, whether the country is ready to enter Europe," Yatsenyuk said.

Solana underlined the importance of a free and fair poll. The elections should lead to a stable government able to implement important political and economic reforms.

As regards international and regional issues, Solana and Yatsenyuk exchanged views on the efforts to solve the Transdnestria conflict in Moldova, Kosovo and the current state of play concerning the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty.

Following his meeting with Yatsenyuk, Mendelson said is confident that Ukraine's WTO accession will open new opportunities in bilateral relations between Kyiv and Brussels.

Europe is looking forward to Ukraine's accession to the WTO because it opens doors for other options in bilateral relations, he said in Brussels.

Mendelson said Ukraine's membership in the WTO is an matter for the near-term.

As EU commissioner he has worked closely enough with the government of Ukraine to be sure that the WTO and Ukraine would soon reach agreement on this issue and Ukraine would join the WTO soon, he said.

In response to a question, Mendelson said he was unaware of any link between Ukraine's WTO accession and Russia's.

Yatsenyuk said that Russia has its own path to WTO entry, just as Ukraine does. "We should not do anything in common with Russia in the sense of any synchronization," he said.

Source: New Europe

Ukraine Criticises Russian Pullout From Europe Force Limit Treaty

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine on Friday criticised Russia's recent rejection of a European force limitation treaty, saying the Kremlin move 'could negatively affect the European security system.'

Russian T-90 tank
Moscow last weekend suspended its participation in the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) agreement in seeming retaliation to a Washington plan to locate parts of a missile-defence shield in Poland and the Czech Republic.

The CFE agreement - now set to become null and void after a 150 day waiting period - froze the maximum numbers of tanks, armoured personnel carriers, combat helicopters, and artillery cannon on the European continent.

Russia's abandonment of the agreement posed a potential security threat to Ukraine that 'Ukraine reserves the right to takeall necessary and adequate steps to counter,' according to a Foreign Ministry statement.

Though couched in diplomatic language, the communique is one of the most direct criticisms by Kiev of Moscow foreign policy in years. Ukraine normally avoids conflict over security issues with its giant northern neighbour, which provides Ukraine practically all its imported energy.

'The entire regime of European security could be destroyed,' the statement warned.

The Foreign Ministry statement was made public one day after an emergency meeting of Ukraine's National Security Council, held in the Black Sea resort Yalta where Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko was on Summer holiday.

Kiev's announcement called on Russia and NATO to return to CFE standards, for the sake of regional security. The present treaty now abandoned by Russia was clearly obsolete, and 'requires further diologue,' the statement said, agreeing with a key Kremlin complaint about CFE.

Ukraine's influential Korrespondent magazine, one of the country's largest news weeklies, called the Russian decision to leave CFE a strategic blunder, 'as it will inevitably drive Ukraine towards NATO.'

Though Ukraine is a regular host to NATO maneuvres, the suggestion of Ukrainian membership in NATO is highly divisive in the former Soviet republic, with between 50 and 60 per cent of Ukrainians firmly opposing the idea according to most polls.

Ukrainian suspicion of NATO is grounded in a long history of being invaded by more technologically-advanced foreign powers, and NATO operations in Serbia and Afghanistan seen by many Ukrainians as unprovoked NATO attacks against weak opponents.

NATO officials have repeatedly taken the boilerplate line that Ukrainians are not much interested in NATO, because they are poorly informed about the Atlantic Alliance.

'But if Russia rebuilds its army, many Ukrainians will see no other choice but NATO,' Korrespondent commented.

Source: Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Ukraine President Tours Spill Site

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko toured the site of a massive hazardous chemical spill yesterday as numbers of local residents sickened from the accident continued to increase.

President Yushchenko (in white shirt)
The Ukrainian leader travelled to the village of Ozhidov in the country’s western Lviv province yesterday afternoon.

A Tuesday freight train derailment in Lviv cracked open six of 15 50-tonne hazardous chemical containers filled with liquid phosphorus, sparking a fire and a poisonous smoke cloud covering an estimated 90sq km of land.

At least 11,000 people are believed to have been downwind from the cloud. A total of 152 emergency workers and local residents have been hospitalised after exposure to the toxic chemical, according to a Health Ministry statement.

At least 2,000 people have received some kind of medical treatment for early symptoms of phosphorus exposure, typically including headache, dizziness and loss of appetite, the Interfax new agency reported.

Repair teams had removed three undamaged phosphorus containers from the rail-carriage debris by yesterday morning. Repair and clean-up work was continuing, but poisonous fumes from broached containers were hindering the effort.

Ozhidov’s only pharmacy had run out of most supplies by yesterday morning, and prices for basic household supplies had doubled in the region, Korrespondent magazine reported.

Ozhidov Mayor Oleksander Shakh told the Channel 5 television channel: “We no longer expect help from government, our hope is on charitable people ... we need simple help – mineral water, basic foods and detergents.”

Officials from five major Ukrainian government bureaucracies – the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Transport, the national railroad Ukrzhelesnitsia, the army, and the police – all have sent teams to the area, and since Tuesday have been vocal in asserting that the situation is under control.

Yushchenko’s decision to travel to the accident site, despite official assurances the government was doing everything possible to help, was seen by observers as additional proof that the Ukrainian leader was dissatisfied with the clean-up so far.

A Yushchenko spokesman on Wednesday called for the resignation of Transport Minister Mykola Rudolkovsky over the accident. Rudolkovsky on Thursday said there were no grounds for him to quit his job.

Prior to the trip, Yushchenko laced into Rudolkovsky in front of Kiev reporters, calling the minister “a general for weddings ... not capable of controlling any part of the Transport Ministry ... but the staff of the ministry building in the capital”.

Political finger-pointing in the wake of the accident has been intense even by Ukrainian standards.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled in the country for September 30.

Source: DPA

Ukraine’s NATO Membership Is Path to ‘Small’ Cold War

MOSCOW, Russia -- The majority of NATO proponents in Ukraine believe that the admission process may only be accelerated in 2011, when Poland - a principal (after the U.S.) driving force behind this process - assumes the EU rotating presidency.


Yet it is quite possible that Ukraine might join the alliance as early as 2008.

Proponents

The "pro" party is led by President Viktor Yushchenko, the Defense Minister, and the Foreign Minister. Their goal is to cut Ukraine off from Russia forever and to ensure Kiev's early integration into Western structures.

The United States is seeking to use Ukraine as a counterweight to Russia's influence, bringing its military and political infrastructure closer to Russian borders.

U.S. allies in the EU, such as Poland and Latvia, are driven by their Russophobia complex. Furthermore, Poland without Ukraine is just an average European country, wedged in between its historic enemies - Russia and Germany. Poland with Ukraine is a great European power.

The NATO bureaucracy's motive is its subconscious institutional expansion, the desire to enlarge budgets, territories, military structures, and public outreach.

Opponents

The "con" party is led by Ukraine's public opinion, driven by the reluctance to see the country become an enemy of Russia, as well as by the general distrust of NATO.

Needless to say, this is a result of years of propaganda.

The Russian authorities are nervous about the physical proximity of NATO and U.S. military-political infrastructure, continuing to pin their hopes on the restoration of a close relationship with Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Constitution says that the republic is a neutral state, not affiliated with any blocs, and therefore, NATO membership is at odds with the country's Fundamental Law.

NATO and EU member countries - representatives of the so-called Old Europe, who have their own position which does not fully coincide with that of the U.S. - do not wish to fall out with Russia over Ukraine, while they have no special interest in Kiev's membership of the alliance.

Pros vs. Cons

The "pro party" is rather stable, based on common interests. Within the "con party," only Russia - its governing authorities and public opinion - has a distinct, pronounced interest, while other "party members" do not.

War Fatigue

Kiev's admission to NATO could be precipitated by elections in the U.S. and in Ukraine, as well as developments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Washington afford to continue these wars: American public opinion is increasingly pushing for the military pullout. The 2008 election campaign is getting into gear.

Unless the Republicans do something before then, they will lose dismally to such Democratic radicals as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

The U.S. will come up with a new policy. It will gather its allies, and ask them what to do next.

Washington will admit that it was wrong to have started the war in Iraq, but that the West cannot pull out of Iraq or Afghanistan.

However, we are unable anymore to continue the war on our own, the U.S. president will say, so it is time to invoke Article 5 of the UN Charter.

Cat's Paw

So [other] NATO countries will have to enter the war. The leaders of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands will realize that if the U.S. pulls out of Iraq or Afghanistan, they will have to fight there all the same.

He who decides to send his soldiers to this unpopular war will commit political suicide.

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands are exactly the Old Europe that does not want to set on a collision course with Russia over Ukraine if they can help it.

But in the new conditions, the leaders of these countries will understand that Ukraine as a NATO member is their salvation - an opportunity to minimize their manpower contribution and save their political careers.

After all, Ukraine has a population of 48 million plus leftovers from the Soviet Army.

Other NATO member states will contribute what they can to this war effort - money (Japan and the U.S.) and military hardware (the U.S., Germany, France, and Italy).

The obstacle in the form of Ukrainian public opinion will be easily cleared.

A massive propaganda campaign will be launched, bankrolled by NATO.

The issue of NATO membership will, as Yushchenko promised, go before a referendum.

The question, however, will not be "Do you want Ukraine to become a member of the North Atlantic alliance and to send its soldiers to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan?"

It will be different: "Do you agree with military reform in Ukraine, which includes NATO membership and transition from conscription to a contract-based, professional army?"

The majority will vote for abolishing the draft. The conscripts' mothers will overwhelm the opponents.

No one will remember about the Ukrainian Constitution - they will only remember about the National Security Law, which now includes (at variance with the Fundamental Law) a provision about Euro Atlantic integration as a national security goal.

Later, they will say that the transition to a professional military will take time, but no one knows exactly how much - maybe 20 years or so.

But NATO membership could be granted already in the fall of 2008.

Of course, Ukrainian politicians will think that they will be able to get out of sending their soldiers to the war: they are constantly devising schemes designed to deceive everyone, and will, as always, end up deceiving everyone, including themselves.

Russia

Needless to say, the Russian authorities understand the danger of this scenario.

But today, Russia does not have any leverage over Ukraine's domestic policy.

There are no programs, funds, grants, media, institutions, and so on.

There are no systemic channels of communication with Ukrainian journalists, experts, NGOs or students.

In any event, Ukraine is not a priority: there are more pressing things to do, such as divvying up ministerial posts, state corporations, and billions of dollars.

Furthermore, presidential elections are just around the corner.

Some people think that if the overwhelming majority of Ukrainian politicians have interests in Russia, as well as personal connections within the Russian establishment, the Kremlin, has leverage to influence Ukrainian politics.

It is rather dubious, however, that these personal connections or economic leverage can prevent Ukraine's admission to NATO.

Some people are betting on Ukraine's infrastructural, and above all energy dependence, but the possibilities of using this influence are even now limited by political considerations.

Should the leading Western powers really commit themselves to their scenario, the possibility of using Ukraine's energy dependence to exert pressure on it will be minimal.

In the end, Russia will just stare in amazement at the Ukrainian Armed Forces pass under American control and Ukrainian politicians swear allegiance to NATO.

And then questions will start to be asked: "Who lost Ukraine?" "Who allowed the enemy to come to our doorstep?" and finally, "Who betrayed the Motherland?"

Amid Russia's de facto encirclement by NATO, there will be a surge in anti-Western mood.

The majority of Russian politicians, including the most reasonable and responsible, will be unable to resist such pressure, which will result in a sharp turn toward nationalism.

But the West will firmly uphold its interests, responding harshly and cold-bloodedly to Russia's half-hearted, toothless threats.

Thus a ‘small' Cold War will be revived. Ukraine's admission to NATO is a red line that will create a fundamentally new geopolitical situation for Russia.

Source: Moscow News

Profile: Boris Berezovsky

LONDON, England -- Boris Abramovich Berezovsky was born into a Jewish family in Moscow and studied forestry and then applied mathematics, receiving a doctorate in 1983.

Boris Abramovich Berezovsky
He did research on optimisation and control theory, publishing 16 books and articles between 1975 and 1989, and becoming chair of a laboratory at the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He started out in business in 1989 by buying and selling cars from the state manufacturer AutoVAZ and setting up a new intermediary called LogoVaz in 1992.

Mr Berezovsky became one of the original oligarchs under President Boris Yeltsin, lending money to the state in return for valuable stakes in AutoVAZ, the state airline Aeroflot, and several oil companies which he organised into the giant Sibneft.

Among his associates was Roman Abramovich, now owner of Chelsea football club, although the two are no longer close.

Mr Berezovsky went on to buy media companies including the television channels ORT and TV6, and the newspapers Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Novye Izvestiya and Kommersant which he used to support Yeltsin's re-election in 1996.

He entered parliament himself and became secretary general of the Commonwealth of Independent States which included most of the countries of the former Soviet Union.

He supported Vladimir Putin's campaign for the presidency in 2000.

Soon afterwards he fell out with Mr Putin and moved to Britain, buying a 172-acre estate in Surrey.

He is said to have provided millions of pounds in financial backing for the "Orange Revolution" of Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine.

President Yushchenko faced opposition from the country's Russian neighbours and survived an attempt to poison him.

Mr Putin launched an attempt to get Mr Berezovsky extradited from Britain over fraud allegations connected with Aeroflot but he was granted political asylum in 2003 on the grounds he had a reasonable fear of persecution.

Alexander Litvinenko alleged in a press conference in Russia that he had been asked by his superiors in the FSB (formerly the KGB) to assassinate Mr Berezovsky.

Litvinenko was later arrested and fled to Britain where he worked for Mr Berezovsky.

He was allegedly poisoned and died later in hospital.

Source: Telegraph

Number Of People Sickened By Toxic Smoke From Phosphorus Fire In Ukraine Up To 145

KIEV, Ukraine -- The number of people sickened by smoke from a chemical fire triggered by a train derailment reached 145 on Thursday, a health ministry spokeswoman said, as Ukraine's transport minister suggested the accident was caused by safety violations.

Transport Minister Mykola Rudkovsky suggested safety rules may have been violated
All of the 145 victims were hospitalized, including 43 children, health ministry spokeswoman Olena Titarchuk said. On Wednesday, officials reported that 69 people had fallen ill since the accident on Monday.

The accident occurred when a freight train derailed outside Lviv, near the Polish border, and 15 of its 58 cars overturned. Six tanker cars containing phosphorus ruptured and caught fire, sending smoke and noxious fumes over 90 square kilometers (35 square miles) of Western Ukraine.

Transport Minister Mykola Rudkovsky suggested safety rules may have been violated, saying on Ukrainian television that if hazardous cargoes were transported following regulations and using appropriate equipment, accidents such as Monday's did not happen.

"If some defects appear in the technical condition of equipment, then accidents similar to the recent one happen," Rudkovsky said, without elaborating.

"The Soviet-era practice of issuing appeasing bureaucratic reports instead of taking professional measures, and concealing the actual situation instead of honestly informing the public, can no longer be accepted in Ukraine," President Viktor Yushchenko told government officials, according to a statement.

The emergency situations ministry said Thursday the situation was under control, and there was no lingering health threat, according to spokesman Ihor Krol.

But some toxicology experts warned the area may still contain hazardous levels of chemicals.

"This accident is very dangerous, and its consequence can be unpredictable. I doubt that there is no threat for people now," said Zofia Kubrak, a chemistry and toxicology specialist at Lviv Medical University.

The freight train was traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland when it derailed outside Lviv, near the Polish border.

Hundreds of people living in villages in the area were evacuated, while other families fled on their own.

The emergency ministry said authorities planned to send the tanker cars still loaded with phosphorus back to Kazakhstan. Rescuers are continuing to spray anti-fire foam on the damaged tankers to prevent new fires.

Phosphorus, which can catch fire on contact with air hotter than 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), can cause liver damage if consumed.

Phosphorus compounds are chiefly used in fertilizers, although they are important components of pesticides, toothpaste and detergents, as well as in explosives and fireworks.

About 50 million tones of cargo — 70 percent of which includes dangerous substances such as chlorine, nitrogen, ammonia and petroleum products — is transported by rail through Ukraine's territory annually.

The accident touched nerves still raw more than two decades after the catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, north of the capital, Kiev.

Source: International Herald Tribune

69 Poisoned In Ukraine By Toxic Cloud After Train Derailment

KIEV, Ukraine -- The number of people treated for exposure to toxic smoke from a phosphorus fire in Ukraine more than tripled Wednesday from 20 to 69, officials said a day after a train loaded with the chemical derailed and caught fire.

Firefighters work at the site of a fire where a freight train carrying highly toxic phosphorus derailed in western Ukraine, near Lviv.
About half of those affected, including 19 children, were hospitalized following exposure to the smoke, emergency department spokesman Ihor Krol said. He said their lives were not in danger.

Independent Channel 5 television, without citing sources, reported that 72 people were hospitalized, and some residents and experts questioned the authorities' claims that people the 14 villages in the affected area were out of danger.

Concentrations of phosphorus residue in the air over two of the affected region's 14 villages, Anhelivka and Lisove, remained 23 times higher than normal, the Nature Ministry said early Wednesday.

Later in the day, however, the ministry said concentrations over the villages had decreased dramatically in a matter of hours and were within the range considered safe.

"It has dispersed. We cannot explain processes in nature," said a ministry spokesman who refused to give his name, citing the department's policy.

Zofia Kubrak, a chemistry and toxicology specialist at Lviv Medical University, contended that such a drastic decrease was impossible in light of the weather conditions.

"We have neither wind nor rain in the region. That just couldn't have happened," Kubrak told The Associated Press.

"It is a very serious accident which can have unpredictable consequences for people," she said.

Kubrak said that some people in the Lviv region complained of discomfort in the throat and mouth, which she said were typical symptoms of phosphorus poisoning.

"In our villages, half the population suffered strange headaches, and it was difficult to breathe. People's faces were baked," a red-faced woman identified only as Lyudmila told Channel 5 from a Lviv hospital where she brought her two small grandchildren.

"I was vomiting and had headaches," her granddaughter said.

But Krol said the health threat had dissipated. "The cloud of a toxic gas dispersed and there is no threat for people's lives," he said.

In the immediate aftermath of the accident, residents of the Lviv region were advised to stay inside and not to use water from wells, eat vegetables from their gardens or drink the their cows' milk.

But Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk, who traveled to the area, said on television Wednesday that tests showed it was safe to eat vegetables and drink well water.

Maria and Olexiy Moskva, a couple in the village of Ozhydiv, were not so sure.

"We don't wear gas masks, but just in case, we locked our cow in a shed and won't eat our apples or cucumbers," Maria Moskva said on Channel 5.

Emergency workers continued to sprinkle contaminated land with soda and sand.

The train, traveling from Kazakhstan to Poland, derailed near the city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border, and 15 of its 58 cars overturned, Krol said. Six of the tankers caught fire and a cloud of smoke from the burning phosphorous spread over a 90-square kilometer (35-square mile) area.

The highly toxic substance, which can catch fire spontaneously on contact with air at temperatures higher than 40 C (104 F), can cause liver damage if consumed.

Of the 11,000 people living in the contaminated area, 815 were evacuated, Krol said Tuesday. Media reports said that other people had left the villages amid health fears.

Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych pledged to punish anyone found responsible for the accident.

The accident touched nerves still raw more than two decades after the catastrophe at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.

Concerns about the government's response and openness linger from the 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, then a Soviet republic.

Moscow kept the world's worst civilian nuclear accident under wraps for days and played down the disaster long afterward.

Kuzmuk on Tuesday compared the disaster to Chernobyl and warned of unpredictable consequences, though he later backtracked on his remark.

Phosphorus compounds are chiefly used in fertilizers, although they are important components of pesticides, toothpaste, detergents as well as explosives and fireworks.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Transport Minister Urged To Resign After Train Carrying Toxic Chemical Caught Fire And Derailed

KIEV, Ukraine -- Secretariat Chief of Staff Viktor Baloha said President Victor Yushchenko had full information about Monday’s accident in the Lviv region, according to the President`s press-office.

Rescue workers at the site where a freight train carrying highly toxic phosphorus derailed in western Ukraine, near Lviv July 16, 2007.
Several Ukrainian villages are at risk from a giant poisonous cloud that formed after a train carrying a toxic chemical caught fire and derailed.

Hundreds of villagers from the area have been evacuated and tens have been taken to hospital.

The fire aboard the train carrying highly flammable yellow phosphorous was put out late on Monday.

Baloha said the president had issued a decree to cope with the disaster and ensure that its victims are safe.

He said railroad accidents “have become frequent recently” and accused Transportation Minister Mykola Rudkovsky of being incompetent, urging him to resign.

Source: UNIAN

Poison Threat From Ukraine Train

KIEV, Ukraine -- Several Ukrainian villages are at risk from a giant poisonous cloud that formed after a train carrying a toxic chemical caught fire and derailed.

The exact cause of the blaze aboard the train is not yet known
The cloud covers an area of 90sq km (56sq miles) above some 14 villages near the town of Lviv.

Hundreds of villagers from the area have been evacuated and at least 20 people have been taken to hospital.

The fire aboard the train carrying highly flammable yellow phosphorous was put out late on Monday, reports say.

The train was travelling from Kazakhstan to Poland and Ukrainian rescue teams are still said to be working at the site of the accident.

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kuzmuk compared the accident to the blast at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in 1986.

"A disaster has happened. After the Chernobyl catastrophe we are dealing with a case that can pose a real threat for our people," the Associated Press news agency quotes Mr Kuzmuk as saying.

"It is an extraordinary event, the consequences of which cannot be predicted."

While hundreds of villagers have been evacuated, those who remain in the area have been advised to stay indoors and avoid eating vegetables or animal produce sourced locally.

Phosphorus compounds are mainly used in fertilizers, but can also be used to produce pesticides, cleaning products and explosives.

Source: BBC News

Four Hurt In Ukraine Train Crash

MOSCOW, Russia -- Four rescuers were seriously injured Monday when a freight train carrying highly toxic phosphorus derailed in western Ukraine, causing a fire, Russian news agencies reported.


In the accident, near the city of Lviv, about 10 tankers overturned and caught fire, Itar-Tass and Interfax-Ukraine said.

Authorities ordered villages in the area to be evacuated.

The injured firefighters, who had been the first to arrive at the scene, were rushed to hospital in serious condition, Itar-Tass quoted an official at the local office of the ministry for emergency situations as saying.

Interfax-Ukraine said the fire was under control, but according to Itar-Tass firefighters were still battling the blaze.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Kuzmuk and officials from the emergency situation ministry were at the scene of the accident whose cause was not immediately known.

Source: AFP

Pope Names Assistant Secretary As Coadjutor Archbishop In Ukraine

VATICAN CITY, Vatican -- Pope Benedict XVI has named his assistant personal secretary, Msgr. Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, to be coadjutor archbishop of the Latin-rite Archdiocese of Lviv, Ukraine.

Coadjutor Archbishop Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki
Msgr. Mokrzycki, 46, served as assistant personal secretary to Pope John Paul II from 1996 until the pope's death and returned to the Apostolic Palace as assistant personal secretary to Pope Benedict.

Italian newspapers reported that Maltese Msgr. Alfred Xuereb, an official in the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, would move into the vacant secretary's role. The Vatican did not confirm the news.

In addition to running the pope's private office, his personal secretaries live in the papal household, concelebrate Mass with the pope each morning and eat their meals with him.

Both of the secretaries accompany the pope on foreign trips and at least one of them joins the pope for his annual summer vacation in the Italian Alps and at the papal summer villa in Castel Gandolfo.

Archbishop-designate Mokrzycki was born March 29, 1961, in Majdan Lukawiecki, Poland, and studied theology at the Catholic University of Lublin.

He was ordained to the priesthood in 1987 by then-Archbishop Marian Jaworski, a close friend of Pope John Paul II and the Poland-based apostolic administrator of Lviv.

When the Latin-rite Archdiocese of Lviv was re-established in the newly independent Ukraine in 1991, then-Father Mokrzycki formally became a priest of the archdiocese.

He served as personal secretary to Cardinal Jaworski and will succeed him as archbishop of Lviv. Cardinal Jaworski will celebrate his 81st birthday in late August.

Source: CNS

Ukraine To Open Embassy In Kabul

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Foreign Minister of Ukraine Arseny Yatsenyuk has said that his country would open its embassy in Kabul by the end of the current year.

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Arseny Yatsenyuk
Speaking at a joint news conference with his Afghan counterpart Dr. Ragin Dadfar Spanta on Saturday, the Ukrainian FM hoped that friendly relations between the two countries would improve in future.

The foreign dignitary said that his country would help Afghanistan in energy, education and reconstruction sectors. Besides, Ukraine would also help Afghanistan in formation of its military.

Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Minister Dr. Rangin Dadfar Spanta said Ukraine would help Afghanistan in gas and energy sectors, construction of small water resources, promotion of engineering, de-mining and other sectors.

Presently, 50 Afghan students are being allowed to get admission in Ukrainian educational institutions under special quota for Afghanistan.

To a question about the action taken by the government of Pakistan against the Lal Masjid, Spanta said terrorism must be dealt with an iron hand anywhere in the world.

Source: Afghan News

Ukraine Striker Andrei Shevchenko Linked With Move To Former Club AC Milan After A Disappointing Season At Chelsea

LONDON, UK -- Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has cast off rumours that 30-year-old striker Andrei Shevchenko is set to move back to AC Milan though the Italian side is closely linked with a new deal with the Ukrainian striker who is believed to want to switch back to his former club.

Ukraine Striker Andrei Shevchenko
Shevchenko has struggled at Stamford Bridge since arriving for £30million last summer, and now the Daily Express says Milan are ready to test the London club's resolve by offering half that amount to bring him back to the San Siro.

But Mourinho has remained adamant saying that he has not heard anything from the player regarding a move away from Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will speak with Andriy Shevchenko before deciding whether to sell him back to AC Milan at a massive loss.

The Chelsea boss is reportedly happy to let the £130,000-a-week striker go back to Italy, but the final decision rests with Abramovich.

Abramovich, who is a personal friend of Shevchenko, is keen to give the striker more time to impress.

But if the Ukraine international wants to return to Milan, then Abramovich could let him go despite the huge loss on the fee.
When asked if Shevchenko would stay at Chelsea, Mourinho said: "Why not? He's here.

"He didn't say that to me [that he wanted to leave]. He is working since day one, he's playing, he does his work, his personality didn't change. For me he looks the same Sheva."

Source: Premiership

Another Democracy Neglected

SAN FRANCISCO, USA -- In his second inaugural address, in January 2005, President Bush declared a new, cardinal goal for his administration, "to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture."


Immediately, his critics began calling this a subterfuge -- pulling an evergreen issue out of the diplomatic handbook to shift the focus from the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

No matter the actual motivation, after 2 1/2 years, dozens of speeches and hundreds of millions of dollars have been devoted to this effort. So it might be worthwhile to look at the results by focusing on one country: Ukraine.

It has turned into a poster child for the flawed premise of Bush's paint-by-numbers approach to encouraging democratic transitions in authoritarian states: Hold an election, celebrate its successful completion -- then move on.

In fact, just a few months after Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," in late 2004, the State Department announced it was cutting foreign assistance for Ukraine because it had "moved toward graduation." Within a year, Ukraine had descended into political chaos.

Does that sound familiar? Of course Iraq is the most infamous example. After the first Iraqi election in January 2005, President Bush effused: "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the center of the Middle East."

Now, of course, Iraq is burdened with a dysfunctional, sectarian government that has proved to be incapable of enacting even the most modest political reforms. Not even the spin in the White House benchmarks report this week could change that.

Lebanon -- another state Bush described as a beacon of democracy in the Middle East -- again is teetering on the edge of civil war.

In Afghanistan, the Taliban, thrown out of power in the American invasion almost six years ago, are back and growing stronger by the week, threatening the American-backed government of Hamid Karzai.

And then there's the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, where the Bush administration pushed the Palestinians to hold elections -- and then immediately set out to undermine the party that won, Hamas.

Now, of course, Hamas has seized Gaza, and the Bush administration is embracing Fatah, the corrupt, unpopular ruler of the West Bank.

It's hard to find a place where the administration's democracy initiative is not in trouble.

In Ukraine, the United States began spending several million dollars a month in 2003. Government contractors trained citizens to form opposition political parties and stage popular uprisings.

As an example, Washington paid one Vermont-based organization, the Institute for Sustainable Communities, $11 million to help bring about a "fundamental cultural shift" in Ukraine, as the institute put it, "from a passive citizenry under an authoritarian regime to a thriving democracy with active citizen participation."

Sure enough, after the United States had spent $58 million on efforts such as these, the newly trained citizens of Ukraine staged a popular uprising in the fall of 2004.

They demanded, and won, new elections to overturn the fraudulent vote that had elected Prime Minister Viktor F. Yanukovych as president. He was widely regarded as a stooge of Moscow.

The popular, pro-Western opposition candidate, Viktor A. Yushchenko, took his place.

Washington crowed with delight. Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell flew to Kiev for the inauguration. Chalk one up for Bush's democracy drive.

From there, the White House turned its attentions to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Ukraine had been taken care of -- or so it seemed.

Back in Kiev, meanwhile, Yushchenko found himself at the head of a government with dysfunctional democratic institutions, no effective agencies or institutions allowing him to reform the education system, health care or other government services.

None of that had been needed in a Soviet-era autocratic regime.

It took only months for his government to descend into confusion, chaos and perpetual political imbroglios. Eventually Yushchenko found himself with little choice but to appoint his nemesis, Yanukovych, as prime minister.

That only worsened matters. Finally, in May, Yushchenko and Yanukovych agreed to hold new elections, in September. Yanukovych, thrown out of office just three years ago, could easily win.

Is this the Bush administration's fault? No. But Washington largely lost interest in Ukraine after the glorious, American-funded revolution. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice stopped by once in 2005, to buck up Yushchenko. Otherwise Ukraine languished on its own.

Had the administration spent even half as much time, energy and resources on helping the new president as it did unseating the old one, perhaps the outcome might have been different.

As it turned out, Ukraine's experience reverberated through the region. Leaders of nearby states, including Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Azerbaijan, began cracking down on foreign funded pro-democracy groups. Russia passed a new law that virtually shut them down.

During his first presidential campaign, Bush famously said he did not believe the United States should be involved in "nation building." Given his record since, we all might wish that he had held his ground.

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

EU Should Stop Silly Shouting About Ukraine

YALTA, Crimea -- At a recent high-level European Strategy meeting in Yalta, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russia’s ambassador to Ukraine and former prime minister of Russia, reportedly said it’s time the Europeans stop silly shouting and give Ukraine a definite membership date.

Russian Ambassador Viktor Chernomyrdin (L) and President Viktor Yushchenko
Ukraine needs a definite prospective.

There is a certain humour and provocation in what Chernomyrdin said but there is also a certain truth in describing the EU’s lukewarm policy towards Ukraine.

He also gave the impression that Russia, at least at its public pronouncements, is relatively relaxed about Ukraine getting closer or even joining the European Union.

Now obviously NATO, of course, is a very different situation altogether.

Some analysts say that the EU needs to assure Ukraine that cooperation in different levels will lead to eventual membership.

This may help carry out much-needed reforms and carry the necessary steps to be eligible for accession.

Ukrainians are at best confused about the EU.

From Viktoriia, an airline stewardess on a flight from Brussels to Kiev to Oleg, a young student walking on Kiev’s busy Khreschatyk Street, the EU is an uncertain proposition.

A deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, Natalia Prokopovich told a group of European journalists in Kiev that she visited many regions of Ukraine and “nobody knows what it means membership in the EU, or NATO. It is good. But why is it good?”

Ukraine is not united on whether it’s worth to pay the price to join the EU.

Ukrainian diplomats have repeatedly said, as if reading out of a script, that Ukraine wants more that cooperate with the EU in the framework of the European Neighbourhood policy or the extended ENP.

They want to become members.

But they also realise they have to do their homework and carry out the necessary reforms.

In this framework Ukraine is likely to join the World Trade Organisation at the end of this year and after that start negotiations on setting up the Free Trade Zone between the Ukraine and the EU.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has said that Ukraine needs an EU beacon to follow. And what brighter beacon that the offer of membership.

Source: New Europe

Yushchenko's Multi-Vector Election Strategy

KIEV, Ukraine -- On July 4 Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko called a high-level meeting of oligarchs, the third such gathering in his presidency.

Viktor Yushchenko
The first took place in October 2005 after Yuriy Yekhanurov replaced Yulia Tymoshenko as prime minister.

Yushchenko has always maintained cordial relations with the moderate business leaders who surrounded former president Leonid Kuchma. Viktor Pinchuk (Interpipe steel), Ihor Kolomoysky (Pryvat holdings), and Serhiy Taruta (Industrial Union of Donbas) aligned themselves with Yushchenko after his election as president.

At the July 4 meeting Yushchenko said, “Dear colleagues, I call upon you to do one thing: we are one team! A team of businessmen and officials…And your opinions are as important as those of the Ministry of Finances. We should see one another as members of one family.”

The July 4 meeting was obviously part of Yushchenko’s preparations for the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 30. Oligarch Renat Akhmetov, affiliated with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, did not attend the meeting, citing a scheduling conflict.

However, Yushchenko may have had Akhmetov in mind when he praised those oligarchs and businessmen who had opted to separate business and politics, such as Pinchuk. Yushchenko again called for the end of parliamentary immunity to discourage businessmen from standing for parliamentary seats to avoid prosecution.

Yushchenko’s reasons for calling the meeting were spelled out in the package of accompanying documents prepared by the presidential secretariat. According to the papers, the aim is to “reach a mutual position on cooperation between the authorities and big business.”

This was to be spelled out in a memorandum, although it was never signed. Yushchenko outlined his plans to hold quarterly meetings with oligarchs.

How will this attempt to forge an alliance with the oligarchs sit with Our Ukraine voters? It runs contrary to efforts to repackage Our Ukraine as a national democratic force, closer in spirit to the Yulia Tymoshenko bloc (BYuT).

To begin with, Yuriy Lutsenko, head of the Our Ukraine-Self Defense election bloc (see EDM, July 5), is anti-oligarch and refuses to consider the option of creating a parliamentary coalition with the Party of Regions.

Lutsenko aims to return Our Ukraine to the anti-oligarch and anti-corruption election program that helped propel Yushchenko’s 2004 election campaign.

The eclectic nature of Yushchenko’s 2007 election campaign (both pro- and anti-oligarch) is nothing new and has always had a place in his policies. As prime minister in 1999-2001, Yushchenko and his allies refused to support the Ukraine without Kuchma movement in 2000-2001.

He later combined cooperation with the Arise Ukraine! protests in 2002-2003 with attempts to cooperate with the moderate wing of the Kuchma camp.

In Kuchma’s newly published memoirs he recalls how Yushchenko’s 2004 presidential campaign advertisements on Ukrainian television channels began and ended with the cry: “The authorities are bandits; away with the authorities!”

Kuchma was comforted, he recalled, when Yushchenko told him that he need not take these harsh slogans to heart: “Do not listen to what I say about you and the authorities at meetings. Do not place importance on them. Do not take them to heart. This is politics.”

Yushchenko’s attempt to organize oligarch support is aimed at undermining the Party of Regions’ dominance of eastern-southern Ukraine. Other centrist, pro-Kuchma parties were marginalized after Yushchenko’s elections.

Two orange political forces (BYuT and Our Ukraine-Self Defense) dominate western and central Ukraine.

This is the first time in Ukraine’s history that the Donetsk clan has dominated eastern-southern Ukraine. In the Soviet era, Ukraine was run by the “Dnipropetrovsk mafia.” Volodymyr Shcherbytsky, who ruled Ukraine from 1972 to 1989, hailed from that region.

Currently Dnipropetrovsk oligarchs Pinchuk and Kolomoysky are aligned with Yushchenko, but they have not invested in political projects that could counter the Party of Regions.

The Dnipropetrovsk clan re-entered central Ukrainian politics after Kuchma was elected president in July 1994. Dnipropetrovsk is also the first and only region to launch a dissident oligarch party -- (Pavlo Lazarenko’s Hromada (1997-99).

This was followed by the creation of the pro-Kuchma Dnipropetrovsk clan’s Labor Party, whose leading stars were Pinchuk (Kuchma’s son-in-law) and Serhiy Tyhipko of the Interpipe group. A rival Dnipropetrovsk clan, Pryvat led by Kolomoysky, never secured a political patron.

Rumors in Ukraine that Pryvat were aligned with Tymoshenko have never been substantiated. A recent London trial launched by a Russian oligarch against Kolomoysky did unearth evidence of his close ties to Oleksandr Tretyakov, a former senior adviser to Yushchenko.

Following Yushchenko’s election, Ukraine’s oligarchs dispersed in one of four directions.

Exit: Pinchuk followed through on his promise to separate business and politics by not standing in the 2006 and 2007 elections. Tyhipko resigned as head of the Yanukovych election campaign following massive fraud in round two of the 2004 presidential elections.

Without Tyhipko, his Labor Ukraine party collapsed, leaving Dnipropetrovsk politically unrepresented. Yushchenko could be seeking to revive the Labor Party’s political fortunes.

Entry: After contesting the 2002 elections as a member of the pro-Kuchma For a United Ukraine bloc, the Party of Regions stood as an independent political force for the first time in the 2006 parliamentary elections and placed first with 32%.

Akhmetov entered politics for the first time when he stood in the 2006 elections in the top 10 of the Party of Regions.

Marginalization: Parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn’s People’s Party (the former Agrarian Party), former prime minister Valeriy Pustovoitenko’s People’s Democratic Party, and former presidential administration head Viktor Medvedchuk’s Social Democratic Party United (SDPUo) became marginalized.

Cooptation: President Yushchenko co-opted the Industrial Union of Donbas when its two senior directors were given the number two slots in the presidential secretariat (Valeriy Chalyi) and National Security and Defense Council (Hayduk).

Yushchenko’s multi-vector strategy for the 2007 elections seeks to compete with BYuT for second place by placing Lutsenko, popular with Orange Revolution activists, at the head of the Our Ukraine-Self Defense bloc.

Meanwhile, Yushchenko’s overtures to oligarchs seek to counter the Party of Regions domination of eastern-southern Ukraine. It remains to be seen if one vector will undermine the other.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

As Ukraine Looks Toward NATO, Moscow's Maritime Interests Shift Eastward

MOSCOW, Russia -- Legendary Russian General Alexander Suvorov founded Russia’s Black Sea naval base at Sevastopol in 1783.

Russian Naval Commander Admiral Vladimir Masorin
Since the collapse of communism in 1991, Russia’s presence in the Crimean peninsula has increasingly been a bone of contention between Moscow and Kyiv, and Russia is slowly moving to vacate the centuries-old site in favor of a base located on Russian territory near the Sea of Azov.

The shift will not be cheap, however. Russian naval commander Admiral Vladimir Masorin told a meeting of the Maritime Board of the Russian government in Novorossiysk, “We need to find 25 billion rubles [$980 million] to create the social infrastructure”.

Three piers have already been constructed at a site that will eventually be able to accommodate up to 100 ships.

The issue of Russia leasing the Sevastopol naval base for approximately $100 million annually has become an increasingly fractious issue for the Ukrainian government of President Viktor Yushchenko, who is seeking closer Western ties and possible eventual Ukrainian entry into NATO.

Russian use of Sevastopol epitomizes the complexity of Ukrainian-Russian relations, as the rent for the facility is currently deducted from Ukraine's debt to Russia for its energy imports.

Disputes between Kyiv and Moscow have periodically flared since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991; it took six years (until May 1997) for Russia and Ukraine to sign a “Peace and Friendship” treaty dismissing Russia’s territorial claims against Ukraine.

After 1991 Russia initially refused to recognize Ukrainian sovereignty over Sevastopol and the entire Crimean peninsula, maintaining that Sevastopol was never actually incorporated in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic because of its military base status.

Possible Ukrainian entry into NATO remains a fractious issue with implications extending far beyond Moscow and Kyiv, however.

Earlier this week hundreds of protesters from the pro-Russian Progressive Socialist Party picketed regional government offices in Odessa as officials met to discuss Ukraine's integration with NATO.

Anti-NATO feelings remain substantial in Ukraine, with the pro-Russian Union of Orthodox Christian Citizens of Ukraine stating that it would field up to 100,000 protesters against this month’s joint NATO-Ukraine Sea Breeze-2007 maritime exercise, involving 21 warships and 1,200 NATO troops from 14 countries off Odessa and Mykolayiv.

The July 9-22 Sea Breeze exercises epitomize Ukraine’s ambivalent attitudes toward increasing cooperation with the West.

Ukraine’s contribution to the exercise is 10 warships, three fighters, eight helicopters, and troops and marines.

The decade-old annual training exercise emphasizes shipboard and damage-control training.

Nearly 1,000 of the operation’s 2,500 participants are Ukrainian, with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps deploying about 700 people.

The remaining personnel are from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, and Turkey.

While the two countries have increasingly divergent military security perceptions, their economies nevertheless remain tightly linked.

Two weeks ago Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych visited Moscow for bilateral economic discussions with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov and discussed next month’s meetings between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Viktor Yushchenko.

Ukraine remains Russia's fifth-largest trading partner.

It is Russia’s largest trading partner among the former Soviet republics, with Russia accounting for 30% of Ukraine's foreign relations.

Among major bilateral issues is the fact that most Russian natural gas deliveries to Europe transit Ukraine, a point of economic pressure that Russia has not hesitated to use in the past.

Grudgingly acknowledging its new strategic relationship with Kyiv, Moscow is also reluctantly planning to abandon its radar bases in Sevastopol and Mukachevo near Ukraine’s border with Slovakia.

While Russia is withdrawing its naval units from Ukraine, its oil revenues have nonetheless boosted its naval ambitions, with Admiral Masorin stating that the Russian fleet will deploy up to six aircraft attack groups within the next 20 years, three of which will be based in the Northern Fleet, with the other three based in the Pacific.

The Pacific deployment is one of the clearest signs that Moscow is increasingly viewing Asia as an area of strategic interest even as it downgrades its traditional European military visibility.

As a clear indication of Moscow’s shifting naval ambitions, Masorin stated that the Russian navy will construct a new naval base in Vilyuchinsk on the Kamchatka peninsula.

While Moscow seems prepared to downsize its traditional presence in the Black Sea, its attentions are shifting increasingly eastwards away from Russia’s traditional Slavic emphasis toward its incipient Asian destiny.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

Russia Gives Up Ukraine Bases

MOSCOW, Russia -- Russia plans to abandon two missile defence bases in Ukraine, including one 700 kilometres away from a planned US radar site that Moscow opposes, a top Russian daily reported yesterday.


The Russian government has submitted a draft bill to the lower house of parliament that would end an agreement under which Moscow finances the bases for around 1.3 million dollars per year, Vedomosti reported.

The bases, in Mukachevo near Ukraine’s border with Slovakia and in Sevastopol in the south, would be replaced with radar stations in Russia, the report said, noting that both stations had experienced technical problems.

Ukraine, which technically owns the sites but which leases them to Moscow, offered the United States the right to use them in 2005, a Russian defence ministry official told the newspaper.

Russia claims that US plans for an anti-missile radar station in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland threaten its security, fuelling tensions between the former Cold War enemies in recent months.

The Ukraine bases are similar to one in Azerbaijan that Russian President Vladimir Putin recently suggested could be used by the United States in place of the bases in Central Europe, the report said.

Source: The Times

Government’s Ukrtelecom Sale Plans Continue To Flop

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian government has repeatedly failed in its bid to raise more than $200 million within recent weeks by privatizing minority stakes in fixed-line telephone company Ukrtelecom, one of the country’s most prized assets.


The tender, intended to showcase the multi-billion-dollar company to investors ahead of the sale of a larger stake to strategic investors, has gone sour. Investors have refused to show up for tenders organized in recent weeks, alleging that the starting price was too high.

And the failed tenders have given Ukraine’s pro-Western president, Viktor Yushchenko, another reason to criticize the governing coalition of his arch rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Yushchenko has over the years repeatedly called for a majority stake in the aging telecom giant to be privatized to a strategic investor capable of infusing fresh capital needed to compete with fast-growing mobile telecommunications companies that have gradually eaten away at Ukrtelecom’s potential clientele.

A longstanding debate

On July 4, Yushchenko’s administration once again urged the government and State Property Fund (SPF), headed by Socialist Party member Valentyna Semenyuk, to quickly privatize Ukrtelecom to a strategic investor rather than wasting time with failed minority auctions.

Such a strategy has in the past year been widely opposed by Yanukovych’s government and Semenyuk. But the failed auctions of recent weeks have essentially proven them wrong, and the president right.

On July 4, Yushchenko’s administration criticized the idea of selling minority stakes in Ukrtelecom and emphasized the idea of attracting a strategic investor by selling a controlling share. Deputy administration chief Oleksandr Shlapak said there was no need to postpone the privatization of a majority stake in Ukrtelecom.

The failed auctions for a minority stake have shown that there is no other realistic strategy for the company’s future, he suggested.

Debates over whether to sell off minority shares or a majority stake in Ukrtelecom have carried on for almost 10 years. During this period, the telecom giant has seen one of its most prized assets, mobile telecommunications leader UMC, sold off to Russia’s Sistema telecom group.

Left without a promising mobile phone business, Ukrtelecom has struggled to keep up with customer demand in a market that has seen mobile phone penetration rise above 100 percent.

Western portfolio and institutional investors were said to express their interest in buying stakes in Ukrtelecom, as were Ukrainian billionaires, such as Rinat Akhmetov.

Comstar-UTS, a fixed-line operator in Russia controlled by Moscow tycoon Vladimir Yevtushenkov, the majority owner of Sistema, was also interested in the company.

This March the SPF approved a plan to privatize Ukrtelecom. According to the plan, a 50 percent stake plus 1 share would remain in state ownership, while 37.86 percent was to be placed among foreign investors on international stock exchanges.

According to the plan, 5 percent was to be auctioned off on five Ukrainian stock exchanges, a move intended to raise more than $200 million for state coffers and tease Western investors ahead of larger bids on foreign exchanges.

Originally, the SPF planned to complete the sale of Ukrtelecom’s share to foreign investors by the end of the year, within a period from August to December.

The sale of a 5 percent stake was to have been implemented from March 28 through June 23, but repeated auctions failed to attract bidders. Only one auction found a buyer, granting the investor 0.072 percent of the company for almost $3.1 million.

The failed auctions and upcoming early parliamentary elections, scheduled for Sept. 30, threaten to put off the government’s bold privatizations plans altogether.

Currently Ukrtelecom is 92.778 percent state-owned. A 7.14 percent stake was privatized on privileged terms to employees and top management in 2006.

A debacle of a sale

The first 1 percent stake in Ukrtelecom was supposed to be auctioned on the Ukrainian Stock Exchange (UFB) on May 22. However, on May 21, a Kyiv Economic Court ruling imposed a ban on the planned sale.

The lawsuit was filed by Dotrin-2002, an advocacy group for the disabled in Khmelnytsky Region. The court ruling also banned the sale of a 1 percent stake scheduled to take place on the PFTS, Ukraine’s main trading platform, on June 8. The SPF and UFB challenged the court decision, but the damage was already done.

Market insiders suggested that the advocacy group was merely used as a front for powerful business interests. Their aim could have been to scare off bigger foreign bidders, increasing their chance to get shares in the prized company for less.

Later, an auction scheduled for May 29 at the UFB was cancelled. No bids were submitted.

Then, auctions scheduled to take place at the UFB on June 5, 12, 19 and 26, and July 3 and 10 also failed due to a lack of bids.

Auctions scheduled to take place at the Kyiv International Stock Exchange on July 5 and 12 were cancelled due to a lack of bids.

Analysts say an exaggerated starting price on bids has chased away potential investors. They doubt Ukrtelecom will be privatized this year as originally planned.

Also, on June 19 the Kyiv Economic Court imposed a ban on the sale of Ukrtelecom’s shares at auctions scheduled to take place on June 21 on the Kyiv International Stock Exchange, July 11 on the Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange and Aug. 1 on the Inneks exchange.

The court issued the ruling according to the solicitation of a private company, Transcom.

What’s next?

While market analysts continue to stress that procrastination in selling a controlling share in Ukrtelecom drives the value of the whole company down and scares potential investors, stubborn SPF leadership continues to unsuccessfully push forward its ill-fated privatization plans for the company.

Nina Yavorska, head of the SPF’s press service, said recent court decisions that banned sales of the company’s stakes frightened off potential investors. Nevertheless, she said that “we offer stakes for sale almost every day.”

Currently the SPF is also preparing to offer 37.86 percent of the company on the London Stock Exchange.

“This will be a unique project. The State Property Fund has not yet entered international markets,” Yavorska said.

Few analysts actually expect a tender for a larger stake on the LSE to go forward, given the failures to auction off minority stakes in recent weeks.

Oleksandr Ryabchenko, director of the Kyiv-based International Institute for Privatization, Asset Management and Investments, said that the strategy the SPF chose to privatize Ukrtelecom was doomed from the very beginning.

The company faces deep challenges and needs a strategic investor fast, he added.

Currently Ukrtelecom controls about 78 percent of Ukraine’s fixed-line communications market. But with the increasing availability of mobile communications, the company’s profits are thinning.

The company has big plans on paper, but none will go forward without strategic private management. One of the plans Ukrtelecom has developed to catch up with mobile telecommunications operators entails the launching of a 3G network, or third-generation technology that offers customers fast audio and video communications using mobile telephones.

After many years of poor management, it’s a big step in the right direction, but “development of a 3G mobile communications network, for example, requires big investments,” Ryabchenko said. And big investors are not likely to pour their cash into such big and potentially risky plans in return for a minority stake.

Ryabchenko said the state could raise $2-2.5 billion by selling off a controlling share in the company.

“The current way [of selling the company’s stakes] – first to sell small stakes on the stock market, to sell everything, except for the controlling share – automatically leads to decreasing of [stakes’] prices on the stock market…This is the wrong strategy,” he said.

Bickering between the political camps of Yushchenko and Yanukovych are expected to shift into high gear ahead of the Sept. 30 elections. The Ukrtelecom privatization debate is not expected to be settled during this turbulent period. It could also become one of the issues for debate.

“The situation will not change before the elections,” predicted Ryabchenko.

Source: Kyiv Post

Retail Major Marks & Spencer Launches First Store In Ukraine

KIEV, Ukraine -- Marks & Spencer, one of the leaders in retail trade in the UK, opened its first shop in Ukraine late this May.

Marks & Spencer print ads are geared towards a generation raised on "Sex and the City".
Opening of the new clothing store, located at the Komod shopping mall on the left bank of the Dnipro River, marks the continued march of Western retailers onto the promising Ukrainian market, where rising salaries and purchasing power have driven up domestic consumption steadily for several years now.

The Ukraine branch of M&S was opened as a franchise by Turkey’s FIBA Group, which owns the rights to M&S shops in Turkey, Russia and Ukraine. FIBA Group has opened eight M&S shops in Russia since 2005 on a franchise basis.

The company could have similar bold expansion plans for Ukraine, but officials did not respond to Post inquiries regarding such plans.

More than 15 million people in the whole world visit M&S shops every week. The Marks & Spencer chain includes 530 shops in the UK. The company’s 220 shops in 35 countries operate on a franchise basis.

The company’s shops located in foreign countries offer consumers stylish high-quality clothes, home products and high-quality food products. For the time being, Marks & Spencer in Ukraine will offer clothes, underwear, lingerie and accessories. Marks & Spencer goods are oriented mostly toward middle-class consumers.

Andriy Krivonos, head of the Ukrainian Franchise Association, said that the “launch of a new chain would not create a breakthrough on the market.” Nevertheless, the new chain will, like other retailers to follow, add something new to this fast-growing market, Krivonos added.

According to Krivonos, Marks & Spencer in Ukraine does not have any competitors in terms of shop format, since “no other chain sells clothes, underwear, lingerie and accessories under one brand.”

However, Marks & Spencer goods will experience competition from clothing brands represented on the market of Ukraine. Among these are Arber, Arber Woman, Voronin, and VD1.

Nevertheless, there are other retailers on the Ukrainian clothing market who pose some form of competition for Marks & Spencer, though being as they are, they cannot be considered Marks & Spencer’s direct competitors. Most of them operate on a franchise basis as well.

Maratex Ukraine, which runs its Esprit and Peacocks shops on a franchise basis, has been operating in the country since 2002.

Argo Trading Network Ltd. is considered to be the pioneer in franchising on the Ukrainian clothing market. The company was founded in 1991 as a joint venture between Belgium, Ukraine and Israel. Over the years, the company has opened many stores on a franchise basis in Ukraine. Some of the company’s well-known stores are Benetton, Adidas and Mango.

A Ukrainian company, MD Group, has been operating on the market for several years already. Its stores, like Tommy Hilfiger, Accessorize, and Sasch, among others, also operate as franchises.

A Ukrainian company Helen Marlen Group, which represents more expensive clothing brands, like Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Burberry, Roberto Cavalli, also operates its stores under franchise agreements in Ukraine.

A Polish company LPP S.A., which operates a chain of clothing stores called Reserved, is among the more recent players on the Ukrainian clothing market. The company entered the Ukrainian market in 2003. Reserved stores in Ukraine are a direct investment by the parent company in Poland.

But more competition is expected to arrive.

Krivonos predicted two to four new retail chains would enter Ukraine each year within the near term.

“It is difficult to predict who will come here next, since there are so many such companies in the world,” Krivonos said.

However, European chains will be more active on the local market than American or Asian companies, since Ukrainian people are closer in their mentality to people living in Europe.

Franchising as a form of company operation is becoming more and more popular in Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian market of franchising is very developed,” Krivonos said, adding that it is one of the most dynamic in the region. As to the clothing market, he noted that “it has become popular to sell clothes here.”

Source: Kyiv Post

Beach Bliss In Kiev, With A Whiff Of Sewage

KIEV, Ukraine -- Irina, a Ukrainian pensioner, eased back on a lounge chair on one of the tree-covered islets of Hydropark beach -- a taste of summer luxury only steps from downtown Kiev.

A man goes in the water in the Dnieper river as a sign reads " Swimming is prohibited" at Hydropark in Kiev on a hot summer day.
"The beach and the sun makes me healthy," she said with satisfaction, before admitting, her look turning sour, that there was a downside: "The water is polluted, and sometimes my swimsuit smells like faeces."

As summer temperatures soar, Kievans enjoy a luxury that few Ukrainian city dwellers have: over 200 hectares (500 acres) of sandy beaches located near the city centre along the Dnieper river.

Kiev boasts some 430 swimming spots, as well as 60 beaches, 26 of which are official approved for splashing around.

Most beaches are short on umbrellas and lounge chairs. But environmentalists say this should be the least of bathers' worries.

"Kiev is a unique city, a European capital with beaches where you can swim -- that's a great advantage. But swimming here is not always safe," said Sergei Kurykin, leader of the Green party and a former environment minister.

According to Kurykin, who himself has avoided city swimming for a decade now, the main danger comes from city drains and sewers, which pour up to two million cubic meters (70.5 million cubic feet) a day of run-off into the river.

"The water treatment system is obsolete," which could allow pathogenic bacteria to pour into the river. As if that were not enough, the sand is not cleaned and rubbish dumps from nearby cafes attract rats, Kurykin said.

Kiev's sanitary authorities say that the quality of the water in the Dnieper, like the sand at approved swimming spots, is up to sanitary standards.

"On official beaches there is nothing to fear. Everything is regularly cleaned and rodents are killed," Sergei Timoshenko, a sanitary official, told AFP.

Some city beachgoers are not convinced, however. While she sunned herself at Hydropark, Irina voiced her concern. "They say that there is a sewer pouring into the river not far from here," she said.

There is also public fear about the safety of another popular swimming spot, a nearby reservoir known as "the Kiev Sea."

The 1986 Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, which struck less than 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Kiev, left tonnes of radioactive silt in the reservoir, though ecologists and officials insist that it is safe for swimming.

The silt, they say, is safely anchored to the bottom of the reservoir.

If all this doesn't ward off would-be beachgoers, they still have to run a gauntlet of vendors hawking food, soft drinks and alcohol at Hydropark, and endure some unappetizing smells before actually getting their feet wet.

Still, none of this is enough to scare off most Kievans, happy not to have to drive six hours south to reach beaches on the Black Sea. According to official statistics, up to 23 million trips were made to the city beach between May and September last year.

"There's no reason to exaggerate. If it were dangerous, the authorities would have forbidden swimming here," said Lyudmila, a 30-year-old vendor whose skin was still damp with river water.

Ruslan, a student, said he came to Hydropark every chance he had. "Personally, I love to swim, though some people just come to gawk at the pretty girls," he said.

Source: AFP

Klitschko Defeats Brewster On TKO

COLOGNE, Germany (AP) – Volodymyr Klitschko fought most of his title bout against Lamon Brewster with a broken left hand, his trainer said.

Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko (R) lands a punch to his challenger Lamon Brewster from the U.S. during their IBF heavy weight boxing World Championship title fight in Cologne, July 7, 2007. Klitschko won the title fight after Brewster gave up in round six.
Klitschko, who defeated Brewster on a technical knockout Saturday, July 7 to defend his IBF and IBO heavyweight titles, suffered a fracture below the middle knuckle of his left hand during the first round, his assistant trainer Jamen Ali Bashir told The Associated Press.

Klitschko iced his hand immediately after the match, and is now wearing a cast from his left hand up past his elbow, Bashir said before boarding an airplane at the Cologne airport.

"It will take eight weeks to heal," Bashir said.

Despite the injury, the Ukrainian dominated the first five rounds, and landed several strong left jabs that largely went unanswered.

In the sixth round, two massive left-right combinations rocked the American, and Brewster's trainer Buddy McGirt stopped the fight before the seventh round could start.

Both trainers said afterward that Klitschko would have knocked him out in the seventh round.

The win avenged one of Klitschko's most painful losses. When the two met in 2004, Brewster stopped Klitschko with a fifth-round TKO to win the vacant WBO championship in Las Vegas.

Klitschko dominated that fight early on and knocked down Brewster in the fourth round, but the American was saved by the bell. Two left hooks by Brewster in the fifth turned it around.

On July 7, Brewster was returning after a yearlong absence following a loss to Sergei Liakhovich in April 2006 during which the American suffered a detached retina in his left eye that required surgery.

He returned from his layoff to fight Klitschko without even a warmup bout.

Klitschko's record is now 49-3, with 44 knockouts, while Brewster is 33-4 with 29 KOs.

Source: Kyiv Post

Ukraine Lifts Ban On Russians

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine Monday lifted a travel ban against five well-known Russians after citing a need to improve relations between the two countries.

Russian ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky
The five were banned from entering the Ukraine for attempting to "undermine Ukraine's territorial integrity" and "inciting ethnic and national hatred," the Ukrainian foreign ministry said.

The ministry said the five could now enter the Ukraine but would be stopped on the border each time to be warned of the consequences of repeating their actions, RIA Novosti reported.

The five are identified as Konstantin Zatulin, a Russian lawmaker; ultra-nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky; nationalist analyst Alexander Dugin; pro-Kremlin journalist and TV anchor Mikhail Leontiev and political consultant Gleb Pavlovsky, believed to be behind a purported Russian attempt to interrupt the Ukrainian Orange Revolution in 2004, RIA Novosti said.

Source: UPI

Ukraine: Clear Sailing Expected For Sea Breeze Naval Exercises

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- Warships from NATO countries are docking in Ukrainian ports. Protesters are pitching tents and preparing for noisy demonstrations. Police are escorting foreign military personnel in armored buses for their protection.

A Turkish frigate enters the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa July 8, 2007. Navy and air forces from 13 countries will take part in the Sea Breeze-2007 NATO military exercises, which started on Monday in Ukraine.
It's time for the 2007 version of Ukraine's Sea Breeze naval maneuvers, which began Monday near the southern port of Odesa.

The multinational exercises, held under NATO's Partnership for Peace program, have been taking place nearly every year since 1997.

2006 Maneuvers Torpedoed

But they became the subject of bitter controversy in 2006 when thousands of communists and other opponents of pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko protested the impending presence of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory.

The 2006 Sea Breeze exercises were canceled hours before they were to begin. The official explanation was that the U.S. Navy needed to send its warships to the Middle East amid rising tensions in Lebanon.

This year, although protests are planned, the maneuvers are less divisive. For one thing, Yushchenko has taken care to get parliamentary approval for the exercises -- something he neglected to do in 2006. According to the country's constitution, the deployment of foreign troops on Ukrainian territory must be approved by the parliament for each individual case.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko, speaking to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on July 8, said he doesn't expect protests to disrupt this year's exercises.

"This is an absolutely legal decision that has been approved by the central government, represented by the president, Cabinet of Ministers, and parliament," Hrytsenko said.

"This decision foresees undertaking of military exercises in the interest of the country by the military force," he added. "People have the constitutional right to protest and to take some actions, but nobody has the right to interfere with the implementations of the exercises. Whoever will try to do that, is acting against laws upheld by law-enforcement agencies."

To take some of the edge off the inevitable protests, Ukrainian authorities have moved Sea Breeze from the Crimean Peninsula -- home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, many pro-Moscow groups, and a territory which Russian nationalists claim as their own -- to the southern ports of Odesa and Yuzhny.

Yushchenko's political rival, pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has also expressed support for the maneuvers, saying they are needed to help protect the Black Sea region and fight terrorism.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based defense analyst and columnist for the Russian newspaper "Novaya gazeta," says that unlike in 2006, Yanukovych is not interested in turning the exercises into a political issue this year.

"Yanukovych wants to portray himself as a friend of the West and a responsible politician," Felgenhauer said. "A year ago they were kind of fighting it out about who is going to be taking over the government. It was a different situation. Right now, at present, the situation has changed a bit internally."

Bad Timing

The aborted 2006 Sea Breeze exercises were scheduled to take place during the highly charged political atmosphere following that year's parliamentary elections when the pro-Western Yushchenko and the pro-Moscow Yanukovych were vying for control of the government.

The issue of foreign troops on Ukrainian soil provided Yanukovych with a convenient way to score political points against Yushchenko.

In May 2006, moreover, two months before the exercises were scheduled to take place, Yanukovych's Party of Regions and other pro-Russia groups organized protests when a U.S. ship docked in the Crimean port of Feodosiya without parliamentary approval.

The hardcore opposition to the exercises is still planning protests. A group called the Odesa Anti-NATO Self-Defense Committee says it will put thousands on the streets. But Ukrainian authorities say they will not tolerate any attempts to interfere with Sea Breeze this year.

"The opposition is scattered right now. There are the communists and some other pro-Moscow groups, but they don't get the support they need from the Yanukovych faction," Felgenhauer said.

The Sea Breeze exercises are scheduled to last two weeks, from July 9-22.

Thirteen countries -- Armenia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United States -- are contributing sea and land forces.

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Ukraine And Poland Unprepared For Hosting Soccer Cup

BERLIN, Germany -- Five years from now, Poland and the Ukraine will host the European Soccer Championships. Both are struggling to find billions of euros needed to build basic infrastructure such as roads, stadiums and hotels.

A lot of work needs to be done before game time. It will be interesting to see where Ukraine plans to find 20 billion euros.
Poland needs to do construction work on approximately 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles) of roadway. But they're 10 billion euros ($13.6 billion) short with no solution in sight, according to Wojciech Malusi, who heads an association of Polish road construction companies.

Warsaw's city hall doesn't know where to get money needed for projects like lengthening the metro lines. A regional train route needs to be built along with a national sports center with ultra-modern arena needs to go up.

Finding enough money is not the only one problem. Vendors at a fairground that is supposed to be razed to make way for the national stadium, are holding out for more compensation.

"They shouldn't think that we're going to willingly leave this place. If necessary, we'll take to the streets, like the miners did. Our work place here is more important than soccer and a show for Europe," one man said.

European Union will help out

At least Poland, unlike the Ukraine, can count on getting some help from the European Union. Brussels has promised 18 billion euros in the next years for infrastructure plus an additional 11 billion for road construction.

Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has taken a confrontational tone with the EU. Most recently, Poland angered its EU counterparts by nearly derailing a treaty deal over disagreements about voting rights.

"The government should simply refrain from this tone that we're the tiger of Europe. We're one of the poorest countries in the European Union," Malusi said.

While the money from the EU is welcome, Poland doesn't have the necessary 15 percent co-financing the EU help requires, Malusi said.

Kaczynski urged people to be patient and not to be influenced by the "hysteria created by the media." There's no problem yet, Kaczynski said. Preparation work has started and a minister will soon be appointed to oversee the projects.

"We're only human and can't do everything at once," he said. "But we certainly will have a handle on it."

The Polish public seems less optimistic. Only half of people in a recent survey thought the country was preparing well for the 2012 games.

Ukraine distracted by political problems

The Ukranian government plans to invest more than 20 billion euros to get the country ready for the European soccer championships.

The Ukraine needs to make massive improvements to its infrastructure. Streets and rail lines need to be built. Airports and hotels are not up to international standards. And it all has to be done in five years.

A political standoff has kept the government distracted. But Ivan Fedorenko of Ukraine's football association said all political parties signed on to a letter guaranteeing their support of the event and understand what it means to Ukraine.

"In only five years we must do the impossible," Fedorenko said. "Then we can invite the representatives from the European Union to the final game in Kiev and say to them: look here, we're a European country and we're ready to become part of the European community."

It's an ambitious goal. The country is still far behind European standards and won't get any money from the European Union to help get up to speed. Of the 20 billion euros, 90 percent will come from private capital, primarily from abroad. For foreign investors, the soccer championship is a signal that Ukraine is a good place to do business, said Ricardo Giucci, of the German advisory group for the government in Kiev.

But the Ukraine still has an image problem. Until now, many politicians didn't worry about what the rest of the world thought. That's changing, Giucci said.

More hotel beds a priority

Giucci expects a lot of foreign investors to be interested in the hotel sector. The country lacks modern hotels. Without modern accomodations, the Ukraine will face a lot of criticism come tournament time, Giucci said.

Ostap Protsyk, who is responsible for international affairs in the Ukranian host city of Lemberg, said the city continues to attract more European tourists. There are currently 6,000 beds available in town. To accommodate rising interests, they could use three or four times as many, Lemberg said.

"This is not only for the European Championships, but also for normal requirements for a city with a large tourist potential," he said.

Source: Deutsche Welle

Voronin Delighted To Be Liverpool Bound

LONDON, Engkand -- Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin is chomping at the bit to get his Liverpool career underway and is confident he will fit in well at Anfield.

Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin is chomping at the bit to get his Liverpool career underway and is confident he will fit in well at Anfield. The 27-year-old has signed a a four-year deal to play for Rafael Benitez after a spell in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen.
The 27-year-old has signed a a four-year deal to play for Rafael Benitez after a spell in Germany with Bayer Leverkusen.

Voronin said he is looking forward to linking up with the likes of Steven Gerrard and Xabi Alonso.

"Obviously they are two of the best players in Europe, and it's very important for a striker to play with such great players," Voronin told www.liverpoolfc.tv.

"It makes it easy for strikers if there are top players behind them in midfield.

"I am pleased to be here finally and very excited to be at a new club. "I've noticed how the atmosphere here is really good.

Benitez believes Voronin will give him a variety of options up front.

"He is a player with pace and good movement," The Spaniard said.

"He plays between the lines, between defenders. He is a good worker also and he scores goals.

"He's not the kind of player you can talk about strengths, because he has many things he can give to us."

Voronin insists he is not concerned by the record purchase of Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid or the threat posed by Dirk Kuyt or Peter Crouch.

"The task in front of Liverpool at the start of every season is to win trophies and I want to be part of that," he said.

"I want to help them achieve things. After being in Germany for 12 years I felt it was time for a change, and then even more so when the offer came in from Liverpool."

"I am confident. If I wasn't confident, I would not have made the decision to come here. I feel I can adapt and be a success in the English game."

As one striker begins his Anfield career, another's looks to be over after Marseille claimed to have reached an agreement to sign French striker Djibril Cisse.

The 25-year-old spent last season on loan with Marseille, but remained a Liverpool player.

West Ham were rumoured to have made an approach but he now looks likely to sign a four-year deal with the Mediterranean giants, who have also signed out-of-contract Anfield colleague Boudewijn Zenden.

Source: AFP

Russia 'Silent' On Poison Inquiry

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian prosecutor general has said Russia is not co-operating with his inquiry into the poisoning of President Victor Yushchenko in 2004.

Viktor Yushchenko before (L) dioxin poisoning and after (R)
Oleksandr Medvedko said that despite two requests, Moscow had not provided a sample of dioxin, the poison given to Mr Yushchenko before he was elected.

The highly dangerous toxin left his face badly disfigured and pockmarked.

An investigation into the attempted murder of Mr Yushchenko was opened, but no-one has ever been charged.

Mr Yushchenko's pro-Western allies have accused Russia of being behind the attempt to kill him, a charge Moscow denies.

'No Explanations'

Tests in late 2004 revealed that pure TCDD, the most harmful known dioxin, had been used on Mr Yushchenko.

At a press conference in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, Mr Medvedko said only three countries in the world produced the chemical.

He said a sample could point to the origin of the poison and that he had therefore asked for dioxin samples from these places.

Mr Medvedko said his office had received samples from the UK and USA, but not yet from Russia.

"We sent two letters asking for legal assistance in this sense, but there has been no positive result yet," he said.

"The Russian side is giving no explanations. They are keeping silent."

Mr Medvedko said he hoped to press the matter by holding talks with his Russian counterpart in the near future.

Mr Yushchenko was poisoned shortly before he swept to power in the 2004 liberal Orange Revolution, which overturned Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's allegedly fraudulent election victory.

Source: BBC News

Did Yushchenko Borrow Kuchma's Ideas For The Constitution

KIEV, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian constitution will most certainly be changed after the snap parliamentary election scheduled for September 30, no matter who wins the vote.

Ex-President Leonid Kuchma (L) with PM Viktor Yanukovych (R)
Both President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych admit that the constitutional reform of 2004-2006, which increased the power of parliament at the expense of the president but stopped short of transforming Ukraine into a parliamentary republic, was imperfect.

The proposed remedies, however, are very different. While Yanukovych wants to further weaken the presidency, Yushchenko plans to restore presidential powers.

Yanukovych, speaking on a visit to Luxembourg on June 18, said that it should be possible to amend the constitution in a new parliament, so that “one branch of power should not interfere with the work of another one.”

Yanukovych’s National Unity Coalition in the outgoing parliament backs a bill on constitutional amendments aiming to weaken the president.

The bill suggests depriving the president of the right to dissolve parliament if it fails to meet for 30 days and of the rights to appoint the ministers of defense and foreign affairs and the head of the security service.

The bill would also cancel the requirement for parliament to discuss bills drafted by the president ahead of schedule and disband the National Defense and Security Council (NSDC), which is chaired by the president.

In an article published in the weekly Zerkalo nedeli on June 30, Yanukovych said that constitutional reform must continue.

Yanukovych rejected Yushchenko’s calls to cancel immunity from prosecution for members of parliament.

He said that the president should also lose the right to appoint two ministers to the cabinet, because that arrangement “violates the integrity of the cabinet as a body whose responsibility is collective.”

The entire cabinet has to be formed by the parliamentary majority, according to Yanukovych.

On June 27 Yushchenko came up with his own proposals for a new constitution.

Addressing the nation on television, he called the 2004 reforms "interference in the constitution that has led this country into a blind alley” and suggested cutting parliament’s term in office, reducing the number of parliamentarians, and establishing a bicameral legislature.

These ideas are not new. Yushchenko’s predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, offered the same menu in late 1990s in order to weaken parliament.

A popular referendum of April 2000, which many observers said was rigged, approved the introduction of a bicameral parliament, but the legislature rejected this idea.

So as not to repeat Kuchma’s mistake, Yushchenko suggested circumventing parliament and introducing the amendments via referendum.

Yushchenko’s main legal adviser, Ihor Pukshyn, developed the president’s ideas in an article in Zerkalo nedeli.

He said that the upper chamber should be formed by regional representatives, who should serve longer than parliamentarians elected to the lower chamber from party lists.

Pukshyn said that a new constitution should give the president the right to dissolve parliament “for political reasons” and not just for failure to form a cabinet or inactivity for 30 days.

He also suggested increasing the NSDC’s role. Yushchenko has been increasingly relying on the NSDC in his tug-of-war with Yanukovych’s cabinet.

Parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz, who is the leader of the Socialist Party allied with Yanukovych, flatly rejected Yushchenko’s proposals.

This is not surprising, as Moroz was one of the authors of the 2004-2006 constitutional reform.

Speaking on television on June 27, Moroz accused Yushchenko of “striving for authoritarianism.”

In a statement released by his party on July 2, Moroz said that Yushchenko “is trying to take even more power than Kuchma wielded.”

Volodymyr Lytvyn, a former ally of Kuchma and former parliamentary speaker, suggested that Yushchenko wants a bicameral parliament because he is tired of endless conflicts with parliament, so he wants “to set up a structure working as a cushion between the president and parliament.”

Yushchenko’s opponents believe that he plans to fill the upper chamber with his appointees, probably regional governors, which Kuchma also considered.

It is interesting that Yushchenko’s allies have not been overly enthusiastic about his proposals.

Yulia Tymoshenko, like Yushchenko, supports a strong presidency.

However, speaking to Channel 5, she said that Ukraine does not need a bicameral legislature.

At the same time, she supported the idea of amending the constitution by referendum, without asking parliament’s opinion.

Former foreign minister Borys Tarasyuk, who is the leader of the nationalist People’s Movement party (Rukh) allied with Yushchenko, recalled that the Council of Europe rejected Kuchma’s April 2000 referendum. “The referendum issue should be approached very carefully,” he said.

Tarasyuk’s ally in the Pravytsya (Right Wing) bloc, Yuriy Kostenko, who is the leader of the People’s Party, warned that Yushchenko’s constitutional ideas might split Ukraine. “We can get a constitution for the left bank and another one for the right bank,” he told Channel 5.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

Ukraine: NATO Chief Reflects On Ukraine-NATO Charter

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Ukraine and NATO are preparing to mark the 10th anniversary of the Ukraine-NATO Charter, which was signed on July 9, 1997. To mark the occasion, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer sat down with Ukrainian journalists in Brussels, to discuss relations between Kyiv and the alliance.

NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
Some may feel discouraged by the ongoing turmoil in Ukrainian politics, but de Hoop Scheffer said that to him, it is a sign the country has grown into a healthy democracy.

At the same time, he underscored that the partnership between Kyiv and the alliance has grown correspondingly.

"You now have a much more mature political debate [in Ukraine], which did not exist before," he said. "With all the consequences, I am always positive to see political debate. I'll not enter that political debate because it is not up to me to enter what is specifically Ukrainian. But, the partnership, at the same time, has grown. Mention to me one other NATO partner like Ukraine who is participating in all NATO's operations and missions. I don't know a second one."

De Hoop Scheffer said his words of praise did not mean Ukraine's leaders should rest on their laurels and he urged further changes, especially in modernizing the country's armed forces and security structures:

"I think that the essential reforms should go on. I hope they will go on -- security sector reform, defense reform, oversight of the armed forces, security sector in the wide sense that also concern the Interior Ministry troops."

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has been an ardent supporter of his country's membership in the alliance.

But opinion polls show most of his fellow-citizens remain opposed or indifferent. That contrasts with the majority of Ukrainians who would like their country to join the EU.

De Hoop Scheffer said he would not enter the domestic debate on whether Ukraine should seek NATO membership.

"I never comment on opinion poll figures, but I do know that in Ukraine, of course, this is a group who is critical on NATO membership, which is their legitimate right," he said. "I say again, I'll not enter the Ukrainian debate. As I said on the video conference a moment ago, NATO is not washing powder. I'm not going to Ukraine to sell NATO. You don't sell NATO. You explain what NATO is."

Public Opinion In Ukraine

The NATO leader did say he thought some alliance opponents in Ukraine might not be well informed about the bloc's purpose and mission.

"I think that those people who are critical [of NATO] -- and we have to work on them, and we want to assist and help in that regard, that's why we have a Kyiv office -- that they perhaps should know more and should be informed better about what NATO is, what NATO is doing," he said.

De Hoop Scheffer dismissed concerns, regularly expressed by Russia, that the alliance's eastward expansion could be seen as a threat that destabilizes security in the region.

"As a general rule, I have never seen NATO enlargement as a threat to anyone or anybody," he said. "Every nation joins NATO out of its own free will. NATO has never pressed or pressured any nation [into] joining NATO. That is based on performance, as you know, the decision, which taken by the free will of the people."

Source: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

UniCredit Agrees To Acquire Ukraine's Ukrsotsbank

MILANO, Italy -- UniCredit SpA, Italy's biggest bank, agreed to acquire AKB Ukrsotsbank in its third takeover in three months. The deal values the Ukrainian company at $2.07 billion.

Federico Russo, President of the Board, UniCredit Bank in Ukraine
UniCredit will pay cash for 95 percent of Ukrsotsbank, the Milan-based bank said today. The acquisition comes after smaller Italian rival Intesa Sanpaolo SpA in April dropped a bid for the Kiev-based lender.

Chief Executive Officer Alessandro Profumo's 2005 purchase of Munich-based HVB Group, Europe's biggest cross-border takeover, gave UniCredit 3,000 branches and 24 million customers in central and eastern Europe.

The Ukrsotsbank acquisition, however, comes at a high price and may not be well-received by investors, said Ralf Breuer, an analyst with WestLB in Duesseldorf.

``It's far beyond the point where we can apply a price to book value'' to the acquisition, said Breuer, who has a ``hold'' rating on UniCredit shares. ``The sentiment toward Profumo has pretty much turned around. The crowd trusted him blindly for a long time.''

UniCredit is the fastest-growing of Italy's top three banks after completing deals worth $25 billion in two years and tripling assets over the past three years. Profumo set aside plans to acquire Paris-based Societe Generale SA in May to buy domestic rival Capitalia SpA for $29.5 billion. On June 21, he agreed to spend $2.2 billion to take over AO ATF Bank to enter Kazakhstan.

Shares Fell

UniCredit shares fell 1.1 percent today to 6.64 euros ($9.03) in Milan, giving the company a market value of 69.3 billion euros. The stock, which is up 62 percent since the HVB acquisition was announced in June of 2005, is flat this year.

UniCredit's valuation of Ukrsotsbank, Ukraine's fourth- biggest lender, is 48 percent higher than the $1.4 billion Intesa valued the company at in September. Ukrsotsbank, which has 497 branches and 2.6 billion euros in assets, more than doubled its profit to $57.3 million last year.

The acquisition will help UniCredit tap Ukraine's retail market, where loans are poised to expand by 60 percent this year, according to company forecasts.

Ukrsotsbank reported a 63 percent increase in assets last year, and Chief Executive Officer Borys Timonkin said in January he expected the bank to quintuple its assets to $20 billion in 2012.

UniCredit already has two units in the country that have six branches and 524 million euros in assets and work primarily with corporate clients. The Italian bank will continue to consider ``add-on'' acquisitions in central and eastern Europe, Profumo said today.

Interpipe

UniCredit plans to conclude the acquisition in the fourth quarter. It's buying the Ukrsotsbank stake from Interpipe Group, a steel-pipe maker run by Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma.

In addition to the purchase price, UniCredit will pay a further $130 million to existing Ukrsotsbank shareholders for its share in a capital increase that is expected to be completed before the deal is completed.

Credit Suisse Group was the lead financial adviser for UniCredit, while Merrill Lynch & Co. advised Interpipe.

Source: Bloomberg

French Priest Uncovers Long-Buried Horrors Of Holocaust In Ukraine

PARIS, France -- Children, stomachs empty and knees quivering, saw and heard Nazis massacre Jews across the killing fields of Ukraine. Teenagers were forced to bury the victims, shoveling dirt over neighbors and playmates.

Father Patrick Desbois
Today, these witnesses — now aged men and women — are unburdening themselves of wartime memories, many for the first time, in testimonies to a French priest. Their words may change history, as they shed light on this poorly known chapter of the Holocaust.

The project is central to a broader reassessment of the Nazi horrors in Ukraine. Last month, a team of rabbis visited a newly found grave site in the Ukrainian village of Gvozdavka-1 where thousands of Jews were killed during the Nazi occupation.

That was just one site among many: Father Patrick Desbois and his mixed-faith team have been criss-crossing Ukraine for six years and have located more than 500 mass graves, many never before recorded.

At least 1.5 million Jews were killed on hills and in ravines across Nazi-occupied Ukraine, most slaughtered by submachine guns before the gas chambers became machines of mass death. Researchers are only now peeling back layers of Soviet-era silence about what they call the "Holocaust by bullets."

Part of Desbois' work so far — video interviews with Ukrainian villagers, photos of newly discovered mass graves, archival documents, and shell casings — is on public display for the first time in a haunting exhibit at Paris' Holocaust Memorial through Nov. 30.

"I'm not here to judge," Desbois, whose Catholic grandfather survived a Nazi camp, said in an interview with The Associated Press. The people whose stories Desbois records, he stresses, were "children, adolescents. They were poor. They were afraid."

And they stayed afraid for decades after World War II.

Soviet leaders gloried in victory over Hitler but focused on their nation's overall war losses, numbering as many as 27 million — barely mentioning the systematic slayings of Jews. Witnesses to the Holocaust and even survivors were considered suspect, with many accused of collaboration and sent to Soviet labor camps. Fear of speaking out about the Nazi occupation lingered even after the USSR collapsed in 1991.

The destruction of Ukrainian Jewry is symbolized by Babi Yar, a ravine outside the capital, Kiev, where the Nazis killed about 34,000 Jews during just two days in September 1941. But there were many other killing fields. Desbois' group Yahad-In Unum has covered about a third of Ukraine so far, and the 500 mass graves it has uncovered is quickly approaching previous estimates that put the number in all of Ukraine at 726.

Paul Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, predicts Desbois' team will reach a higher total. He calls their work "critical" to humanity's understanding of the Holocaust.

It fulfills a "memorial purpose, a scholarly research purpose, and a public education purpose," he said. The Paris exhibit, the first time Desbois' painstaking, behind-the-scenes work has been made public, serves the third goal.

Desbois "discovered that elderly eyewitnesses who had never been asked about this, when speaking with a priest, opened up. If you are ever going to bare your thoughts, if you are a Christian, you will bare them to a priest," Shapiro said.

Given Ukraine's history of anti-Semitism, from imperial-era pogroms to modern-day vandalism of Jewish sites, some are reluctant to absolve these Ukrainian witnesses and participants of responsibility in the Holocaust.

Shapiro, however, said: "It is too late to be in a blame game. Our obligation is to understand."

Healing wounds between Jews and Christians has been central to Desbois' career. He heads a group called Yahad-In Unum (which combines the Hebrew and Latin words for "together") founded in 2004 by Paris' influential Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, whose Jewish mother died at Auschwitz, and Rabbi Israel Singer.

Troubled by his grandfather's stories of the Rava Ruska camp in western Ukraine, Desbois visited in the 1990s and asked the mayor where the Jews were buried. The mayor said he didn't know.

One year, Desbois returned to find a new mayor — and 110 farmers waiting to lead him to the grassy knoll.

"I was shocked. It was miserable. To see this place, and these old, weary faces," Desbois said.

Since then, Desbois has been on a mission to fill out historical records. Some of his interview subjects have looked out on grave sites from their kitchen windows for decades.

Some even helped dig those pits, or fill them in.

Samuel Arabski, in a video testimony at the Paris exhibit, described a massacre in his village near Zhytomyr in central Ukraine in 1941, when he was 14:

"A policeman gave me a shovel. ... When I saw people still moving in the grave, I fell sick. A neighbor pushed me away so I wouldn't fall in the pit. ... Then my mother came, and asked me questions I wasn't able to answer."

A few of those bodies stirring beneath the dirt managed to survive. Executioners were generally allowed one bullet per victim, but sometimes only managed to wound, not kill, Desbois said. Witnesses to numerous massacres told him of "stirring" graves and of victims who escaped only to be executed in a later massacre.

Nina Lisitsina was one of the survivors. At 5 years old, in 1944, she was rounded up near Simferopol in Crimea and forced along with other victims to strip off all her clothes to get ready for an execution.

"I remember a woman next to me, a child in her arms. I lost consciousness, and couldn't hear the shots. Apparently they weren't bothering to finish everyone off.

"When I regained consciousness, it was nighttime. I grabbed on to roots of a tree to get out of the ravine. I don't know how I managed."

Her story, too, is part of the Paris exhibit.

Desbois cross-checks every statement with Soviet archives at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and German records. He registers an event or site only after obtaining three independent witness accounts.

Many executions were never recorded, including those of Jewish women who acted as servants and sex slaves for Nazi officers, and those of children who were shot after failed attempts to gas them to death in trucks — an experimental precursor to the gas chambers, Desbois said.

Holocaust scholars say at least 1.5 million of Soviet Ukraine's 2.7 million Jews were killed during World War II, and in later years Soviet anti-Semitism drove more away. Today, Ukraine officially has about 100,000 Jews, though the real number is believed to be about 500,000 of its 52 million people.

Yahad in-Unum's researchers rely heavily on family members of victims or survivors. At the Paris exhibit, which is displayed entirely in English and French, a sign near the exit asks anyone with information about someone killed by Nazis in Ukraine to leave a note in an adjacent box or to send an e-mail.

"I want to return dignity to the families," he said. "Every story helps us."

Source: International Herald Tribune

Ukraine Downgraded In Human Trafficking Report

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine has made little progress in its fight against human trafficking this year, due largely to the government’s failure to implement reforms, a US report released last month said.

Trafficking of women and children, for prostitution, is a big problem in Ukraine.
According to a number of sources, another problem hampering Ukraine’s battle with trafficking is a lack of cooperation between Ukraine and trafficking destination countries in prosecuting traffickers.

Ukraine was downgraded from its 2006 ranking in the US State Department’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons/People (TIP) report, released June 12.

In the ranking, which was the result of monitoring conducted between April 2006 and March 2007, Ukraine was downgraded from its Tier 2 ranking in 2006 to the Tier 2 Watch List, reflecting the country’s failure to make sufficient progress combating trafficking over the last year.

“The Government of Ukraine does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so,” the report stated.

The annual report monitors the efforts of governments worldwide to combat severe forms of trafficking in persons. Its authors reproved Ukraine for failing to prosecute and punish traffickers and to protect trafficked persons.

Russia, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Belarus joined Ukraine on the Tier 2 Watch List this year. There are 32 countries on the Tier 2 Watch List in total. Uzbekistan was the only CIS country to fall into Tier 3, the report’s worst ranking, which included 16 countries.

Former Soviet republics experienced severe economic depression and poverty after the breakup of the USSR, which has made them vulnerable to large-scale human trafficking.

Ukraine remains a major source of and destination for men, women, and children trafficked internationally for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has estimated that approximately 100,000 Ukrainians have been trafficked since 1991.

In one of the latest human trafficking-related cases in Ukraine, on June 19, police detained a Kyiv resident for allegedly trying to sell five Ukrainian women into sexual exploitation in Germany.

In addition to poverty and unemployment, widespread corruption and the “possible complicity” of government officials are also believed to impede the prosecution of traffickers by supporting cross-border smuggling and document forgery.

Ukraine’s government has taken some steps to broaden its anti-trafficking efforts over the year.

In September 2006, the Interior Ministry established a special unit within its Anti-Trafficking Department to combat trafficking for labor exploitation and to monitor businesses involved in employing Ukrainians abroad. However, only four investigations into labor exploitation were conducted in the first four months of the special unit’s inception.

In March 2007, the government adopted the National Anti-Trafficking in Persons Program, which for the first time earmarked funds for anti-trafficking efforts. Although the US report commended the program as a “positive step,” it said that higher levels of funding are necessary for the plan to be effective.

Despite these measures, only a small number of convicted traffickers faced punishments suitable to the gravity of their crimes.

Last year, 47 of 86 convicted traffickers received probation rather than jail time and most of the others received between two to eight years imprisonment. The assets of 18 convicts were confiscated.

The report also claims that victims’ rights are often not respected during the prosecution of traffickers, and said that some judges and prosecutors “demonstrated unsympathetic, negative, and sarcastic attitudes toward victims.”

Ukrainian citizens trafficked internationally are most often destined for Russia, Poland, Turkey, The United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, the Czech Republic, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Serbia, Montenegro, Spain, Hungary and Israel, according to the report.

In addition to domestic and international trafficking of Ukrainians, the country is also a major transit country for women from Central Asian countries, like Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, who are trafficked for sexual exploitation in Europe.

Frederick Larson, the Counter-Trafficking Program Coordinator for Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova at IOM, agrees with the TIP report that impunity for traffickers is among the main problem areas.

“The prosecutorial and judicial systems fail in providing sufficient punishment for those individuals who are taken to court,” Larson said.

However, he emphasized that Ukrainian authorities have made commendable efforts to stop human trafficking, and even “more [efforts] than many other countries.”

Larson said that while most cases have involved the sexual exploitation of women and children in the past, he has seen an increase in the number of labor exploitation cases in the last two years.

IOM, which provides medical, psychological and legal assistance to trafficking victims, has helped over 4,000 trafficking victims in Ukraine since 2001.

Larson said that while trafficking victims want to help the government prosecute traffickers, they are often reluctant to testify in court.

“There is still a huge stigma in Ukrainian society when it comes to trafficking, especially related to sexual exploitation. Many of these people come from smaller cities … their families don’t even know they were trafficking victims,” Larson said.

Larson stressed that there should be an increased focus on the countries of destination, where trafficking might not be a priority for authorities.

“It is very difficult for the Ukrainian authorities to combat a transnational crime on a national level. They need competent counterparts in the destination countries that make [fighting trafficking] a priority,” Larson said.

In line with Larson’s claim, Amnesty International (AI) released a report June 12 criticizing Greece, a major destination country for Ukrainian trafficking victims, for not protecting the rights of sexual trafficking victims brought to its country.

The report cites gaps in Greek law and procedures that undermine efforts to help trafficked women and girls.

“…[C]ontinued protection for trafficked women is made conditional on their willingness to testify in court against their traffickers,” the report cites Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at AI, as saying.

“Some are silenced by threats of reprisals from their traffickers. As a result, traffickers escape justice while their victims do not get assistance.”

The report claims that despite a series of new laws introduced by Greece since 2002, authorities have “failed to correctly identify most trafficked women and only a few have received limited protection or assistance.”

According to official statistics obtained by AI, between 100 and 200 women and children are identified each year as having been trafficked in Greece, however, local NGOs estimate that thousands of trafficked women and children remain unidentified each year.

Source: Kyiv Post

Stall Tactics Pose Threat To Elections

KIEV, Ukraine -- Premier Viktor Yanukovych is calling for the country’s political leaders to sign a new agreement before elections can move forward.

Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz
Meanwhile, despite previously agreeing to early elections, Rada Speaker Oleksandr Moroz has referred to the early elections as “political adventurism.”

“A question arises to Moroz: Why did he sign the ‘decision of the three’ [with Yanukovych and President Viktor Yushchenko] to hold elections on Sept. 30,” asked Oleksandr Chernenko, press secretary for the Committee of Voters of Ukraine, the country’s largest NGO and elections watchdog.

Moroz has accused Yushchenko of violating the early elections agreement.

Moroz became speaker on July 6 last year after surprising his one-time “Orange” allies Byut and Our Ukraine by joining the Party of Regions and the Communists to form a majority coalition in parliament.

Byut and Our Ukraine accused Moroz of betrayal, while Moroz maintained that he did what was best for the country.

Support for the Socialist Party has fallen since the March 2006 elections, when they received 5.6 percent of the popular vote. Various public opinion polls have shown that support for the Socialists has fallen below 3 percent – the minimum required to qualify for seats in parliament.

“Moroz may or may not want elections, but everything is moving toward them taking place. The main thing is for the Central Elections Commission to function, and here Moroz’s wishes are not that important,” Chernenko said.

Meanwhile, Party of the Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych wrote in the influential Dzerkalo Tyzhnia weekly newspaper on June 30 that a new political agreement should be signed for the elections to go ahead.

He wrote the appeal after President Yushchenko appeared in television commercials saying that elections would go ahead as planned and no new “universals” would be signed.

“The document should outline mutual commitments to not block the work of the Central Elections Commission, principles for the formation of district and polling station commissions, and pledge to accept the [election] results that will be made public by an official decision of the CEC. If this is not done, then we will enter a new crisis right after elections,” wrote Yanukovych.

“I would not place great hopes on some kind of new agreements, because they do not bind anyone to anything… A devaluation of all these agreements and signatures has occurred in Ukraine,” Chernenko said.

“The CEC is the biggest danger to these elections. Political forces stand above the CEC, and it should not be that way. [Political forces] need to say ‘let’s forget what’s in the past and all work toward guaranteeing the elections’ and pass these instructions to the members of the commission. This has not yet happened,” Chernenko said.

New moves

Also this week, reports surfaced that the pro-presidential Our Ukraine and the People’s Self-Defense political parties had decided upon the people who would lead their joint electoral bloc list. On June 28, the two parties announced that they would run for parliament together.

Oleksandr Tretiakov, an Our Ukraine leader, told journalists that former Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko would be number one on the election list. But places on electoral lists are subject to approval by delegates at national conventions, which the bloc has not yet held.

The announcement of the creation of the joint bloc caught other pro-presidential forces by surprise, specifically, the Rukh Ukrainian Right bloc of three political parties, which have supported Yushchenko since 2002.

On July 4, the bloc’s press service said that placing Lutsenko at the head of the pro-presidential electoral bloc list is a bad idea because of his “internationalism.” Lutsenko was a member of the Socialist Party before breaking ranks and forming People’s Self-Defense.

Meanwhile, Byut, led by fiery oppositionist Yulia Tymoshenko, said that it would not join any “mega-blocs” and would run in the elections as a separate political force.

The Communists have condemned Yushchenko’s dismissal of parliament and call for new elections, but said they would participate in them. The party has also indicated that it would run alone. Various polls show that the Communists have a good chance of crossing the 3 percent qualifying barrier.

Meanwhile, Chernenko’s NGO is also preparing for the Sept. 30 date.

“We have an action plan for the election monitoring, public education and training of election commission members. We are preparing our network and will present an initial report before the start of the campaign, where we will state the level of preparedness and the dangers to the campaign,” Chernenko said.

“We will issue regular reports on violations, and conduct a public education campaign for voters on changes to election law and problems with voter lists. We will explain to voters how to resolve these problems and how to protect their rights.”

Source: Kyiv Post

Yushchenko Urges Privatization Of Ukrainian Telecom Giant Ukrtelekom

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's administration on Wednesday urged the swift privatization of telecommunications giant Ukrtelekom — a move that has faced opposition from supporters of his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.


The sale of Ukrtelekom, in which the government holds a 92.9 percent stake, has been repeatedly postponed despite Yushchenko's calls for an auction this year.

The State Property Fund, headed by a member of Yanukovych's governing coalition, recently proposed leaving a controlling stake in state hands and sought to sell off smaller chunks of shares. A court prohibited the sale of a 1 percent stake in may.

Yushchenko's office strongly criticized the idea, and his administration on Wednesday amplified its call for an effort to attract a strategic investor by selling off a controlling share.

"There is no need to postpone the privatization of this object," said deputy administration chief Oleksandr Shlapak.

Government officials have predicted that a 50 percent stake could go for at least US$3 billion (€2.5 billion) at auction, though analysts have said it would probably fetch much less, citing outdated equipment.

In 2005, the government sold off the flagship steel mill Kryvorizhstal, netting US$4.8 billion (€4.1 billion) in the former Soviet republic's biggest and most profitable privatization auction to date.

Source: International Herald Tribune

Former Interior Minister To Lead President's Alliance In Ukrainian Parliamentary Elections

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko's party on Monday tapped a top ally, former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, to lead an alliance of pro-presidential forces in September parliamentary elections.

Yuriy Lutsenko
Lutsenko was a leading organizer of the massive 2004 street protests, dubbed the Orange Revolution, that helped propel Yushchenko to the presidency in a bitter struggle against Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

He later opened corruption investigations into some of the closest allies of Yanukovych, who returned to the premier's post last year after his party won he most votes in parliamentary elections.

Yushchenko and Yanukovych reached an agreement this spring to hold new parliamentary elections on Sept. 30 in a bid to defuse the persistent power struggle in this country.

Yushchenko's Our Ukraine party and Lutsenko's People's Self-Defense party agreed last week to join forces for the elections, and Our Ukraine said Monday that Lutsenko would be the top candidate from the pro-presidential alliance.

Yulia Tymoshenko, another Orange Revolution leader who opposes Yanukovych, said her party would run separately.

Lawmakers in the 450-seat parliament will be chosen exclusively by voting on party or alliance lists, with the groups receiving the most votes allotting seats to their listed candidates. There will be no direct voting for individual candidates.

In March, prosecutors began looking into allegations of abuse of power by Lutsenko and searched his apartment. Lutsenko has denied any wrongdoing.

Source: Kyiv Post

Ukraine To Sell Its Only Submarine

KIEV, Ukraine -- The only submarine owned by Ukraine's navy will be put up for sale after a complete overhaul is finished, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency reported on Monday.

Ukraine's Tango class "Zaporizhya" submarine
Ukrainian Defense Minister Anatoliy Grytsenko said the vessel has been undergoing a major overhaul for the past 10 years, but the work will probably be completed at the end of 2007.

The vessel will then be exhibited around the world to attract potential buyers, the minister said.

The proceeds from the sale are estimated at 50 million to 70 million U.S. dollars, which will be invested in streamlining the country's naval force, the official added.

The vessel, originally owned by the Soviet Union, was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet in 1990 and has belonged to Ukraine's navy since 1997.

It went into operation 35 years ago, covering a total distance of 13,000 sea miles.

It cruised in many maritime spaces, traveling to as far as the Arctic Pole, Cuba and the Barents Sea.

Source: Xinhua

Klitschko, Brewster Ready For Rematch

COLOGNE, Germany -- Considering the usual hype before a heavyweight title fight, Wladimir Klitschko and Lamon Brewster talked about their rematch in measured tones, showing plenty of respect for each other.

Boxer Vladimir Klitschko from the Ukraine speaks during a news conference in Cologne, Germany, on Monday, July 2, 2007.
Klitschko will defend his IBF title Saturday at Cologne Arena.

The topic of poisoning was brushed off by Klitschko, who raised suspicions of being poisoned by Brewster's camp after the Ukrainian lost to him on a technical knockout in their first fight in April 2004.

"I am not thinking of the past, there are no parallels between the two fights," Klitschko said at Monday's news conference.

Brewster didn't want to dwell on the subject.

"Between the two us, he knows and I know that I didn't poison him," Brewster said. "I was the better fighter that night."

Brewster was saved by the bell after being knocked down in the fourth round of that fight, then floored Klitschko twice in the fifth to stop the fight.

Klitschko (48-3 with 43 knockouts) won the IBF title by stopping Chris Byrd in April 2006. He's defeated Calvin Brock and Ray Austin in his last two defenses.

Brewster (33-3, 29 KOs) upset Klitschko in Las Vegas in 2004, capturing the WBO title.

The American defended it three times, beating Kali Meehan, Andrew Golota and Luan Krasniqi, but lost in April 2006 on a unanimous decision to Sergei Liakhovich.

"I don't have many words to say today, I want to thank Wladimir for accepting this challenge. Not many fighters want to fight me," Brewster said.

Both boxers said they were in great shape.

"I've waited more than three years for this fight to happen," Klitschko said.

Emanuel Steward, Klitschko's trainer, said his boxer was in his "prime."

"We are not underestimating Brewster," Steward said. "He is an old-school fighter. He is a serious fighter, he punches with both hands.

These are the two best punchers in the heavyweight division.

We'll have to be careful until the end. But Wladimir is in his prime and no fighter can beat him."

Brewster's trainer, James "Buddy" McGirt, said Klitschko showed he was a "true champion" by choosing to fight Brewster.

"My prediction is that Brewster will regain the title," McGirt said. "These are the two best fighters in the world and we are going home with the championship."

Source: AP

Ukraine: Western Laziness Vs Russian Clumsiness

KIEV, Ukraine -- The battle for geopolitical influence over Eurasia in the 21st century is at a fair stalemate in Ukraine, where Western laziness has been almost perfectly balanced by Russian clumsiness.


"When we became independent, our country went up for grabs," said Oleksey Tkach, a Kiev-based political scientist. "But after a decade and a half of great-power competition, Ukraine is a country in nobody's camp."

The West's approach to Ukraine, analysts say, has been to preach democracy and to offer accession, some time in the distant future, to NATO, the European Union, and the World Trade Organization.

Active diplomacy by Western nations has been limited to setting the Ukrainians simple tasks deemed important by decision-makers in Brussels or Washington, observers say.

There have been some coups in the West's "goal-specific" stance towards Ukraine, the best known being Ukraine's voluntary rejection of its nuclear arsenal in the early 1990s.

Other successful agreements include the shut-down in 2000 of a dangerous reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station, and Kiev's deployment in 2003 of an infantry brigade to Iraq.

But now, Ukrainian academics highlight the other side of that limited Western approach.

"The policy of the West has been, 'Ukraine is corrupt and undemocratic, so the only possible approach towards Kiev is pragmatism'," said Orest Laleniuk, a historian.

"Materially, the West has done little to help us. Not only has there never been a Marshall Plan for Ukraine, there has never even been a discussion of a Marshall Plan," he complained.

"Sometimes, Western governments seem more interested in Chernobyl, AIDS, and the work of Western NGOs in our land, than helping Ukraine become a real country with real laws and a real economy," added the usually pro-Western Korrespondent magazine.

Seven years after a group of Western nations promised Ukraine 1.2 billion dollars to help clean up still-radioactive territory around Chernobyl and develop clean electricity sources, less than 20 per cent of the cash has been handed over, the magazine noted.

By contrast, the Russian approach towards Ukraine has been anything but hands off. The overarching goal - officially denied by the Kremlin but openly discussed on Russia's national television channel - is to keep Ukraine decisively in Russia's orbit.

Russian and Ukrainian heavy industry remain tightly entwined, new Russian industries such as mobile communications and marketing have penetrated deeply into Ukraine's markets, and Russia's Black Sea Fleet remains based in the Ukrainian port Sevastopol.

But the image of the "ugly Russian" has died hard in Ukraine. Nearly a generation after Ukraine became an independent state, Russian officials still berate Kiev officials for insisting that Ukrainian, rather than Russian, be Ukraine's state language.

Sometimes, clumsy Russian diplomacy has blown up in the Kremlin's face. A recent instance was Russian President Vladimir Putin's open backing of a candidate in Ukraine's 2004 presidential election.

The election turned out to be rigged, and a pro-European president wound up in the office, after millions of Ukrainians took to the streets to protest the election fraud.

More damaging still, however, was the so-called "gas war" of early 2006, when talks between Kiev and the Kremlin over natural gas pricing failed, and Russia cut off natural gas deliveries to Kiev.

Some 80 per cent of Russia's natural gas exports to Europe, and 50 per cent of its oil, are piped through Ukraine. As a result of the row, gas deliveries to Europe briefly fell by some 20 per cent.

Both Russia and Ukraine quickly backed off from their hardline negotiating positions, agreeing on a new price in less than a month.

But by that time, Washington and Brussels had begun to question Russia's use of its "energy weapon," seriously damaging the Kremlin's attempts to portray itself as a reliable partner.

That development, while it has been seen as a failure of Russian diplomacy, is of little comfort to Ukraine, however.

"It was unfortunate gas supplies to Europe were interrupted," Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko told Kiev reporters in February.

"But no one will defend Ukrainian interests, but ourselves."

Source: Earth Times

Europe's Most Important Country

MOSCOW, Russia -- It will be up to the next presidents of Russia and the United States to repair the relationship between their two countries.


That relationship is worse than need be, and some improvement can come fairly quickly with the new atmosphere that new administrations usually bring.

There will, however, be a better chance for that improvement if each side has a policy based on a clear perception of the real dynamics of the other's situation.

Though the dynamics that drive both Russia and the United States are the direct result of the end of the Cold War, they could scarcely be more different.

The United States' historical task is to learn how to operate as the first unrivaled superpower in history. Like the super rich, superpowers get everything but sympathy.

And yet the task has stressful challenges to which the past can offer precious little guidance. In the past, most great powers had other great powers to balance them out and spur them on.

Historian Martin Kenner has said the civil rights movement in the United States probably made faster progress because there was a Soviet Union to take the United States to task for hypocrisy.

Russia's situation has its unique aspects as well. Usually once a country is shorn of its empire, it does not return to great power status, becoming instead one of the middling nations.

Russia may yet prove a two-time exception to that rule. The tsarist empire that collapsed in 1917 was reborn as Soviet Russia.

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 resulted in a much weaker Russia but one that still has nuclear weapons and whose gas and oil give it economic power it could not otherwise derive from its own economy.

And that leads to the question of what is the dynamic driving post-Soviet Russia? Is it haltingly seeking its way to a more "normal" and "civilized" society, to use a couple of current buzzwords?

Former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski was expressing the hope of many of Russia's neighbors when he said: "Now that Russia is not so big and not so influential in the world, it can focus on creating democracy and civil society."

But Poland's current leadership betrays anxieties about Russia's intentions in its alacrity to allow U.S. anti-missile bases on its territory.

NATO membership and U.S. missile bases -- what better guarantee of a secure future for Poland?

Russia's most anxious neighbor is Ukraine, which unlike Poland is not in NATO.

Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister and current leader of the parliamentary opposition, worries about "Russia's long-standing expansionism and its present desire to recapture its great-power status at the expense of its neighbors."

Ukraine has cause for concern. If Russia is driven to regain great-power status, Ukraine has to be the chief target.

With Ukraine under its control, Russia would be mighty again.

And there are historical claims -- Kiev is the mother of Russian cities, as every Russian schoolchild knows.

Almost half the country is Russian-speaking. There are contested territories.

Control would not be exerted in an obvious and old-fashioned way with artillery and infantry.

Daniel Fried, U.S. assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs said recently: "We do not want a weak Russia, but a strong Russia must be strong in 21st-century, not 19th-century, terms."

But that's just the problem. Russia will use more contemporary methods -- energy blackmail and media manipulation -- to achieve those old ends.

Democracy is certainly weak in Russia, but society has become stronger.

People start businesses, worship, travel abroad and live without fear of the state.

The other dynamic at work in Russia is the urge to be a superpower again, and that tendency is most likely to be manifest in relation to Ukraine.

For that reason Ukraine is right now the most important country in Europe.

Source: Moscow Times

South Korea And Ukraine Sign Uranium Mining And Nuclear Power Deal

SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea has signed a deal to cooperate in building nuclear power plants and developing uranium with Ukraine, the country's energy ministry said on Sunday.

Ukraine's Novokonstantinovskoye uranium mining plant
South Korea will help Ukraine build and operate nuclear power facilities and Ukraine will allow South Korea to join its uranium development projects, according to a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries.

Resource-poor South Korea, which relies on a stable supply of raw material to feed its export-driven economy, is keen to develop mines so that it will be less vulnerable to soaring raw material prices.

Ukraine is the world's ninth-largest producer of uranium, used to fuel most of the world's nuclear reactors.

Nearly 40 percent of energy generated domestically comes from nuclear power plants, the largest single source of power in South Korea.

South Korea's state-run Korea Resources will also seek co-development of copper mines in Ukraine, the ministry said in a statement.

Separately, South Korea has submitted a letter of intent to join the Tavan-Talgoi project, the largest unmined coking coal deposit in the world, during a visit to Mongolia.

Source: Mineweb