NEWSBRIEFS (04/06/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kyiv denies selling Iraq anti-tank missiles

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi on April 1 denied that Ukraine has supplied anti-tank Kornet missiles to Iraq, UNIAN reported. "Newsweek" reported on March 31 that Iraq has purchased 1,000 laser-guided Kornet missiles. The magazine cited unidentified Pentagon generals as saying that Ukrainian dealers sold about 500 Kornets to Iraq in January. According to Mr. Lubkivskyi, the report is "yet another attempt" to undermine Ukraine's international standing. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv reacts to mention in Bush speech

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi told journalists on April 1 that the ministry has never asked the United States to consider Ukraine a member of the "anti-Iraqi coalition," according to UNIAN. He was apparently referring to a statement made on March 29 by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual, who said Kyiv consented to the U.S. request that Ukraine be mentioned during a speech U.S. President George W. Bush gave last week in Tampa, Fla., as a supporter of the U.S.-led military action against Iraq. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma pledges humanitarian aid to Iraq

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma told journalists in Kyiv on March 26 that Ukraine, "within the limits of its capabilities," will provide humanitarian assistance to Iraq, UNIAN reported. Mr. Kuchma also said Kyiv wants to participate in the post-war reconstruction of Iraq, but added that he does not know whether Ukraine will be "allowed" to do so. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Our Ukraine to become party?

KYIV - Our Ukraine held a forum of democratic forces in Kyiv on March 29, Interfax and UNIAN reported. Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko proposed that the bloc be transformed this fall into a broader social and political organization that would lay foundations "for a new, powerful, European-fashioned political party," Interfax reported. Mr. Yushchenko also told the forum that there are no "strategic differences" between Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, adding that the two organizations could unite their efforts during the upcoming presidential-election campaign. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lytvyn seeks pontiff's intercession

ROME - In a meeting with Pope John Paul II on March 28, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn asked the pontiff to address the Ukrainian and Polish peoples on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of a bloody interethnic conflict in Volyn, now in northwestern Ukraine. In 1943-1944, Poles and Ukrainians in Volyn killed each other in a bloody interethnic conflict, with an estimated 75,000 Poles and 35,000 Ukrainians dying. On February 13 Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski announced in a joint statement that Poland and Ukraine have agreed to honor the memory of all the victims of the conflict. "I asked the Pope to express his thoughts, in order to bring about deeper mutual understanding and reconciliation between Poland and Ukraine," said Mr. Lytvyn. "Remembering our past, drawing conclusions, we should make a step into the future, and I asked His Holiness to address the Ukrainian and Polish peoples on the occasion of these events." (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Rada seeks explanation of arrest

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on April 2 requested that the procurator general inform lawmakers about the recent arrest of former Vice Prime Minister Leonid Kozachenko, UNIAN reported. Three agrarian groups - the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners, and the Ukrainian Grain Association - have asked the Parliament to look into the case against Mr. Kozachenko, who was responsible for agricultural reforms, and hold a debate on the situation on the Ukrainian grain market. According to the appeal, the abuse of office and tax-evasion charges against Mr. Kozachenko were brought by incompetent people who, the document adds, might have been inspired either by "politicians who are ready to surrender state interests for pursuing their strictly personal interests," or by "foreign-influenced centers that are not interested in Ukraine's being a flourishing grain producer." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv lifts ban on U.S. poultry imports

KYIV - Ukraine has lifted a ban on U.S. poultry imports just three months after it came into effect, Interfax reported on April 1, quoting the chief of the State Veterinary-Medicine Department, Petro Verbytskyi. The import ban entered into force on January 1. Under an agreement reached in Washington last week, U.S. exporters must provide new certificates attesting that the poultry was treated with neither growth stimulants nor agents to ward off infection. According to ITAR-TASS, the poultry ban proved an obstacle to a U.S.-Ukrainian protocol on mutual access to commodities and services markets, which, in its turn, is a prerequisite for Ukraine's entry admission to the World Trade Organization. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Mongolia to boost ties

KYIV - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Mongolian counterpart Natsagiyn Bagabandi pledged in Ulaanbaatar on March 30 to step up bilateral cooperation in the political, economic, military and humanitarian spheres, Interfax and UNIAN reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland urged to help construct pipeline

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on March 26 that the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline should be extended as soon as possible to the Polish port of Gdansk, UNIAN reported. He added that Poland, which has expressed interest in constructing this pipeline, has not been making any specific steps to this end. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma: Melnychenko tapes bogus

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on March 26 that the secret audio recordings allegedly made in his office by his former security officer Mykola Melnychenko should be examined in Ukraine and in accordance with Ukrainian laws, UNIAN reported. At the same time, Mr. Kuchma stressed that the Melnychenko tapes are "simply non-existent," adding that now this topic is of interest only for the Ukrainska Pravda website and the politicians who gravitate toward it. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Moldova names new envoy to Ukraine

CHISINAU - Former Foreign Affairs Minister Nicolae Cernomaz was appointed on March 26 as Moldova's new ambassador to Ukraine, Flux reported. Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev said Ukraine is "a strategic country" for Moldova, and expressed the hope that Mr. Cernomaz's experience will soon lead to an improvement in the two countries' political and economic relations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

CPU supports UOC-MP claims

KYIV - The Communist Party of Ukraine recently released a statement accusing the Pylyp Orlyk Institute of Democracy (POID) and the US-Ukraine Foundation of ignoring a decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued on November 19, 2002, and discrediting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP). According to the statement, the foundation and institute had been warned in advance of eviction from the building of the Monastery of the Holy Presentation of the Lord (UOC-MP) by February 23. On March 5, monks of the UOC-MP monastery and about 40 faithful had occupied the Kyiv building that houses the POID and the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation offices. The Kyiv Post reported on March 13 that the POID has filed a suit in court regarding the situation. The Communist Party's statement read in part: "The parliamentary faction of the Communist Party of Ukraine demands that political and other non-religious and non-governmental organizations stop interfering in the internal affairs of the Church and state, observe constitutional religious rights and freedoms, and ensure unimpeded transfer of the buildings of the Monastery of the Holy Presentation of the Lord to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We insist that this conflict be transferred from the political dimension to the dimension of observing the law and restoring the right of freedom of conscience to our citizens." (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

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