NEWSBRIEFS (05/12/02)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kinakh chooses Cabinet over Rada

KYIV - Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh, who was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from the For a United Ukraine election list, has announced that he will give up his parliamentary mandate and continue to work in the government, UNIAN reported on May 7. Mr. Kinakh told 1+1 Television the previous day that he sees his role in the government in consolidating the country's rate of economic development, which he called one of the highest in Europe. Vice Prime Minister Volodymyr Semynozhenko also decided to resign his parliamentary seat and remain in the government. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine celebrates May Day

KYIV - This year, the largest May Day rally in Ukraine took place in Kharkiv, where pro-presidential parties from the For a United Ukraine bloc drew some 100,000 people, according to police reports. Some 1,000 leftists at a separate rally in Kharkiv called for "toppling the existing regime," Interfax reported. The Communist Party and the Progressive Socialist Party attracted several thousand people to two separate May Day rallies in Kyiv under anti-government slogans. In Dnipropetrovsk, a pro-government rally gathered some 20,000 people, while the Communists were able to mobilize only 2,000 supporters for a separate meeting. Some 4,000 people celebrated May Day in Symferopol and some 1,000 in Luhansk. There were no May Day rallies in Lviv or Ivano-Frankivsk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Symonenko calls for leftist unity ...

KYIV - Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko on May 1 called on all leftist forces in Ukraine to unite in order to fight the "Kuchma regime," UNIAN reported. According to Mr. Symonenko, President Leonid Kuchma's "anti-popular" and "pro-Western" policies will be implemented in the Parliament by both For a United Ukraine and Our Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... others organize "popular opposition"

KYIV - The Progressive Socialist Party of Natalia Vitrenko, the Russian Bloc, and a number of minor leftist and pro-Russian parties signed an accord on May 1 regarding the creation of a bloc to be known as Popular Opposition, UNIAN reported. The accord slams President Leonid Kuchma and his predecessor, Leonid Kravchuk, for implementing the policies of the International Monetary Fund and the United States in Ukraine, and accuses both officials, as well as the country's former legislatures of "destroying the unity of Slavic states." Ms. Vitrenko, who was presented as the Popular Opposition leader during the Progressive Socialist Party's May Day rally, said President Kuchma and U.S. President George W. Bush combined efforts in order to have "America's favorites - Viktor Yushchenko, Yulia Tymoshenko and Oleksander Moroz" elected to the new Verkhovna Rada. Ms. Vitrenko's party failed to overcome the 4 percent voting hurdle to qualify for representation in the new Parliament. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Presidential staff chief goes to Rada

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on April 29 signed a decree relieving Volodymyr Lytvyn of his duties as the head of the presidential administration in connection with Mr. Lytvyn's transfer to the Verkhovna Rada, UNIAN reported on April 30, quoting Central Election Commission Secretary Yaroslav Davydovych. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Former Crimean chairman chooses Kyiv

KYIV - Following his defeat in the election for the post of chairman of the Crimean Supreme Council, Leonid Hrach announced on April 30 that he will give up his deputy's mandate in Crimea and take a parliamentary seat in the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv, UNIAN and Interfax reported. Speaking at a May Day rally in Symferopol the following day, Mr. Hrach accused "the entire state in its political sense," and President Leonid Kuchma in particular, of obstructing his election bid in Crimea. "Now I will fight against them," Mr. Hrach added, referring to his future work in the Verkhovna Rada. He also hinted that he is going to run in the 2004 presidential election, saying, "Today the presidential march is actually beginning." (RFE/RL Newsline)

U.S. diplomat expelled from Ukraine?

KYIV - Quoting unidentified sources, the Kyiv-based weekly Zerkalo Nedeli/Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported on April 27 that a U.S. diplomat had been expelled from Ukraine on March 20 for spying, after which a security officer at Ukraine's Consulate General in New York was asked to leave the United States in a tit-for-tat expulsion. The weekly reported that the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv refused comment on this development. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Leaders pessimistic about Rada majority

KYIV - Former Parliament Chairmen Oleksander Moroz and Oleksander Tkachenko told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service on May 1 that they do not foresee the creation of a stable, permanent majority in the newly elected Verkhovna Rada. "I think there will be a situational majority with the participation of Communists during the election of the Verkhovna Rada leadership and the heads of parliamentary committees," Mr. Tkachenko said. According to Mr. Tkachenko, the Communist Party is likely to find common language in the Parliament with the United Ukraine faction rather than Our Ukraine. Mr. Moroz did not rule out that the current Verkhovna Rada may be led by a lawmaker who has previously been its speaker. Aside from Messrs. Tkachenko and Moroz, there are two other former chairmen in the current legislature: Ivan Pliusch and Leonid Kravchuk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Melnychenko appeals to Putin over secrets

KYIV - Mykola Melnychenko has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to take measures to prevent the release of Russia's state secrets, Ukrainian media reported on May 4. Mr. Melnychenko wrote in an open letter that he was expected to testify to the U.S. Justice Department on May 9. He added that the tapes he made secretly in Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's office contain Mr. Kuchma's conversations with former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and Mr. Putin, and are related to Russian state secrets. Mr. Melnychenko asked the Russian authorities to officially raise the issue with U.S. law enforcement officials to let him preserve the secrets during his testimony. The former presidential bodyguard filed a similar request with the Ukrainian authorities in 2001 but has received no answer. Kyiv denies that the recordings are factual. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Chernomyrdin: no border demarcation yet

KYIV - Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Viktor Chernomyrdin has said neither Russia nor Ukraine is ready for border demarcation, UNIAN reported on April 29, quoting the ForUm website. "We are not ready for that and do not intend to put a fence between Russia and Ukraine," Mr. Chernomyrdin said, adding, "It is our agreement that demarcation is out of the question as of yet." He said the issue of demarcation is being imposed on Ukraine by Western countries. According to the Russian envoy, the West is concerned because Ukraine's neighbors Poland and Hungary will soon join the European Union. He stressed that neither Russia nor Ukraine can currently afford the demarcation because of the lack of funds and because the border is very long. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Black Sea Fleet deal expected in June

MOSCOW - Ukraine and Russia are planning to sign a comprehensive agreement on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in June, Russia's Industry, Science and Technologies Minister Ilia Klebanov said on April 29, according to RIA-Novosti. In Kyiv the same day, Mr. Klebanov and Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Vasyl Rohovyi presided over a meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials who will work out details of the fleet's future deployment in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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