NEWSBRIEFS

Kyiv denies selling radar to Iraq

KYIV - Kyiv on September 24 denied that it sold a radar system to Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions, Ukrainian media reported, quoting the presidential press service. "The Ukrainian president has repeatedly stated that his country has sold neither military weapons nor military technology to Iraq," the presidential press service stated in response to reports earlier the same day that Washington has blocked $54 million in aid to Ukraine over suspicions that the Ukrainian government may have sold a Kolchuha radar system to Iraq. According to the statement, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry had sent an open letter to the head of the United Nations Security Council "a few days ago," requesting the creation of a special commission to investigate Ukraine's possible role in providing arms to Iraq. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Presidential administration is occupied

KYIV - Fifty lawmakers from the Communist Party (19), Socialist Party (12), Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (11), and Our Ukraine (eight) entered the presidential administration building on September 24 with the intention of handing President Leonid Kuchma the resolution of the September 16 protest rally demanding his resignation, Ukrainian media reported. The deputies' action took place after a 5,000-strong crowd of anti-Kuchma demonstrators moved from the rally in front of the parliamentary building to the square in front of the presidential office. Following Mr. Kuchma's refusal to meet them, the deputies declared a hunger strike and spent the night in the presidential building, which was blocked by specialforces troops. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma forced to meet with opposition

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma commented on September 24 that the occupation of his office by national deputies is a "manifestation of Bolshevism," the UNIAN news service reported. He added that he would not meet with them because he sees no specific proposals from their side. However, Mr. Kuchma changed his mind and met with Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz, Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) and Yurii Orobets (Our Ukraine) on the morning of September 25. The opposition leaders told journalists after the meeting that Mr. Kuchma refused to step down. Meanwhile, presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk announced that the president has proposed the creation of a parliamentary commission to deal with allegations of illegal arms sales by Ukraine. Mr. Kuchma wants the commission to tackle not only the recent accusation that Ukraine sold a radar system to Iraq but also all other allegations of illegal arms deals voiced during Ukraine's 11 years of independence. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada urged to impeach Kuchma

KYIV - While the 5,000-strong crowd picketed the parliamentary building on September 24, lawmakers were engaged in a heated debate, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Yulia Tymoshenko, Petro Symonenko and Oleksander Moroz appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to put aside previously scheduled legislative issues and to urgently discuss the current political situation in Ukraine as well as President Leonid Kuchma's impeachment and early presidential elections. Ms. Tymoshenko said her caucus will boycott the parliamentary session as long as these issues are not properly addressed. Mr. Moroz proposed holding an emergency parliamentary session devoted to Ukraine's arms trade. "The state budget has not received a single kopiyka from arms sales, while nearly 3 billion hrv ($560 million) filled the pockets of the head of state and his adherents," Mr. Moroz added. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko also called on lawmakers "to stop talking nonsense about laws and budget" and to address the current political crisis. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Smirnov appeals for democratic state

KYIV - Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Smirnov on September 24 reported to the Verkhovna Rada on police behavior during the September 16 anti-presidential rally in Kyiv and appealed to lawmakers to show "exemplary respect for the law" and "take a step toward building a democratic state," the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Mr. Smirnov said police have evidence that people were paid money to participate in the September 16 rally. Yulia Tymoshenko immediately denied this allegation. The internal affairs minister also accused some lawmakers, including Ms. Tymoshenko, of assaulting police officers when they dismantled an opposition tent camp near the presidential office on September 17. According to Mr. Smirnov, only some 15,000 people - not 30,000, as reported by some media - took part in the September 16 demonstration. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moroz: Rada should discuss allegations

KYIV - Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz on September 24 appealed to the Verkhovna Rada to hold a closed parliamentary session with the participation of the president and Cabinet members to discuss the alleged illegal arms sales by Ukraine to Iraq, UNIAN reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Protesters occupy state TV studio

KYIV - Some 200 opposition activists led by opposition leaders Oleksander Moroz, Yulia Tymoshenko and Petro Symonenko on September 23 occupied for 90 minutes the headquarters of the UT-1 television network, demanding that National Television Company Director Ihor Storozhuk give them 10 minutes on air to broadcast a statement on the planned September 24 rally, UNIAN reported. Mr. Storozhuk refused and a blank screen was shown in place of the regular nightly news. However, he reportedly agreed "to do everything possible" to grant the opposition airtime for open debate on September 24. "For the past week, the UT-1 program was littered with any imaginable information except that on what was actually taking place in Ukraine. For more than a week, the opposition's views have been distorted or ignored," Mr. Symonenko told journalists in explaining the goal of the occupation. Kyiv prosecutors have launched a criminal case against the opposition activists who occupied the UT-1 facilities. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Authorities release arrested protesters

KYIV - Ukrainian authorities released the last nine protesters who had been jailed after riot police broke up their tent camp outside the president's office on September 17, but ordered them not to leave their home cities pending the conclusion of criminal investigations, Ukrainian media reported. "[We] decided not to apply extreme measures of punishment against them, but to take more humane measures," the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Procurator General's Office said in a joint statement. Kyiv-based courts have punished the 64 people arrested, UNIAN reported, quoting an Internal Affairs Ministry official. Fifty-one demonstrators were jailed for terms of one to 10 days, while the others were fined or given warnings. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Police break up tent camp in Kharkiv

KHARKIV - Before dawn on September 22, police dismantled four tents pitched by activists of the "Arise, Ukraine" protest campaign in downtown Kharkiv the previous day, UNIAN reported. Several opposition activists remain at the site and are collecting signatures under an appeal demanding the ouster of President Leonid Kuchma and Kharkiv Oblast Administration Chairman Yevhen Kushnariov. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma: protests may scare investors

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said in Odesa on September 18 that such protest actions as that in Kyiv on September 16 may frighten away potential investors in the country's economy, UNIAN reported. "Ukraine primarily needs political stability. People will come to Ukraine with their capital only if they see peace and order here," Mr. Kuchma said. The Ukrainian president also said he does not accept protesters who put forward "not demands, but ultimatums." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opposition tells world: ignore Kuchma

KYIV - The Fatherland Party press service told UNIAN that an appeal to world leaders to "ignore" President Leonid Kuchma has been sent to nearly 50 countries. The appeal, which was adopted during the September 16 anti-presidential rally in Kyiv, calls on world leaders not to make political contacts with Mr. Kuchma "in exchange for economic and political concessions" from him. It also urges the world's heads of state not to invite President Kuchma to international summits and official meetings. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Questions on parliamentary majority

KYIV - The nine pro-presidential parliamentary groups are trying to woo Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine in order to create a parliamentary majority, but Our Ukraine refuses to cooperate in such a format, Interfax reported on September 19. On September 15 Our Ukraine signed a declaration to seek a parliamentary majority with only four of the pro-presidential groups. Meanwhile, UNIAN reported that Yurii Kostenko from Our Ukraine and Serhii Tyhypko from Labor Ukraine/Party of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs have agreed on a draft coalition accord. According to the draft, a future coalition Cabinet will be appointed proportionally to the number of deputies in parliamentary coalition groups. The draft also stipulates that each group will propose its own candidate for the post of prime minister, while the prime minister will be selected by the entire coalition through a vote. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor files suit against Yulia

KYIV - The Procurator General's Office has filed the first of several planned lawsuits against opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko and her business partners, Interfax and the Associated Press reported on September 19. Prosecutors accuse Ms. Tymoshenko, her husband, father-in-law and other colleagues of large-scale misappropriation of state funds when they ran the now-defunct United Energy Systems of Ukraine. Earlier this month, the Verkhovna Rada turned down a motion to lift Ms. Tymoshenko's parliamentary immunity. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian leaders honor Soviet partisans

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma, Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh, Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Hennadii Vasiliev and other officials on September 20 honored the Soviet partisan movement in Ukraine during the Nazi occupation (1941-1944) by laying flowers on the graves of two partisan commanders, Sydir Kovpak (1887-1967) and Oleksii Fedorov (1901-1989), UNIAN reported. Both commanders have been given the status of legendary heroes in the Soviet historiography. Later the same day, Mr. Kuchma awarded medals to a group of former partisans. In keeping with a June presidential decree, Ukraine was to mark for the first time the Day of Partisan Glory on September 22. There are currently 4.57 million people in Ukraine with the status of war veteran. (RFE/RL Newsline)

7 million Ukrainians seek jobs abroad

KYIV - More than 7 million Ukrainians have to leave their country in search of jobs abroad, the Parliament's human rights commissioner, Nina Karpacheva, said. Speaking at the international conference "Human Rights in Ukraine" she said the main reasons for emigration are poverty and unemployment. According to the commissioner, 27 percent of people in Ukraine live in poverty. This figure is even larger in the Crimea, Zakarpattia, and the Khmelnytskyi, Kherson, Volyn and Luhansk regions, where 33 to 40 percent of the population is destitute. (ITAR-TASS)

36.7 M tons of grain harvested in 2002

KYIV - Ukrainian farmers collected 36.7 million tons of grain this year, UNIAN reported on September 18, quoting Agricultural Ministry Secretary Serhii Melnyk. Mr. Melnyk was reporting the 2002 harvest results to the Verkhovna Rada's Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations. He said this year's average grain yield was 2.82 tons per hectare. Meanwhile, the committee chairman, Ivan Tomych, predicted that nearly 70 percent of Ukrainian farms and agricultural enterprises will suffer fiscal losses in 2002. According to Mr. Tomych, the losses will be due to a fall in domestic prices for grain, meat, and milk. In 2001, 7,320 farms and agricultural enterprises in Ukraine were profitable (56.9 percent of their total number), compared with 65.5 percent in 2000. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Symonenko: 200 nuclear warheads lost

KHARKIV - Speaking at a news conference in Kharkiv on September 12, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said, "We will once again raise the issue of [Ukraine's] arms sales, in particular, regarding the whereabouts of 200 Ukrainian nuclear warheads." Mr. Symonenko said he has already spoken about this issue in the Parliament. He explained that Ukraine, in order to meet its international obligations, had to ship 2,400 nuclear warheads to Russia but transferred only 2,200. "We do not know where those [missing] 200 are," he noted. In commenting on Mr. Symonenko's claims, Defense Ministry spokesman Kostiantyn Khivrenko said, "This could hardly be possible. Two hundred warheads are not a needle in a haystack." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prytula receives official protection

KYIV - The Security Service of Ukraine has provided personal protection for Olena Prytula, the editor-in-chief of the Ukrainska Pravda website, UNIAN reported on September 12, quoting a Security Service spokesman. Ms. Prytula had appealed for official protection, arguing that her life could be in danger in connection with the investigation into the death of journalist Heorhii Gongadze. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Armenia, Ukraine concerned by tensions

YEREVAN -Speaking at a press conference in Yerevan on September 11, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian said he is sure President Robert Kocharian would agree "with pleasure" to mediate between Russia and Georgia if asked to do so, RFE/RL's Armenian Service reported. In Kyiv, Foreign Affairs Ministry press service spokesman Serhii Borodenkov said on September 12 that Ukraine is "extremely concerned" over the Russian-Georgian crisis, and believes that it should be resolved by exclusively peaceful means, according to ITAR-TASS. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Dzerzhinskii remembered on anniversary

MOSCOW - September 11 marked the 125th anniversary of the birth of Feliks Dzerzhinskii, founder of the Soviet secret police, RosBalt and Izvestia reported on September 12. Izvestia described Dzerzhinskii as a person who chose security over freedom. An impoverished Polish nobleman who once dreamed of becoming a priest, Dzerzhinskii became a fanatic in the mold of Osama bin Laden, a man who was willing to commit terror for the sake of goals he believed were noble, the daily continued. Dzerzhinskii organized the Red Terror in order to combat injustice and was a man who saved children by killing adults, the paper said. "Dzerzhinskii has never left us. He remains in our hearts, souls, and minds," Izvestia concluded. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, September 29, 2002, No. 39, Vol. LXX

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