NEWSBRIEFS (09/14/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Kostenko: Communists split opposition

KYIV - Yurii Kostenko, head of the Ukrainian Popular Rukh, which is a constituent of Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, has accused the Communist Party of splitting the opposition by supporting a new political reform draft proposed by the presidential administration, UNIAN reported on September 8, quoting the Ukrainian National Rukh press service. "By cooperating with the presidential administration in the constitutional reform issue, the Communist Party is destroying the democratic opposition in Ukraine," Mr. Kostenko said. Last week the Verkhovna Rada registered a political reform draft law that 254 lawmakers from the pro-presidential majority and the Communist Party reportedly support. Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc in April signed a memorandum pledging to pool efforts to implement their own version of political reform in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, U.S. sign memo on USAID

KYIV - Ukrainian Economy Minister Valerii Khoroshkovskyi and Christopher Crowley, director of the U.S. Agency for International Development's (USAID) Regional Mission for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, signed an intergovernmental memorandum in Kyiv on September 8, Interfax reported. The memorandum calls for $150 million to be spent in Ukraine under a USAID program in 2003. Mr. Crowley said the money will finance projects implemented jointly with Ukrainian organizations to step up the country's economic development, reforms in the banking sector and preparations for Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Socialists have different ideas for reform

KYIV - The Socialist Party press service has publicized the party's view of key proposals for the upcoming constitutional reform in the country, Interfax reported on September 6. Contrary to the draft bill submitted to the Verkhovna Rada last week, the Socialist Party wants to preserve the election of the president by direct ballot. The Socialist Party also proposed that local elections, like parliamentary ones, be held under a fully proportional party-list system. According to the Socialists, all constitutional changes should take effect in 2006, after a new legislature and local councils are elected on a proportional basis. The Socialist Party caucus in the Verkhovna Rada includes 21 deputies. Its support may be crucial for making the political-system reform happen in Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Gongadze case solved?

KYIV - Procurator-General Sviatoslav Piskun told Interfax in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, on September 3 that his colleagues have concluded investigations into a number of high-profile criminal cases, including the 2000 murder of Internet journalist Heorhii Gongadze and the secret tapes allegedly made in Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's office by former presidential bodyguard Mykola Melnychenko. Mr. Piskun said prosecutors have placed three suspects in the Gongadze case on a search list, but declined to reveal their names. Mr. Piskun also said prosecutors have charged Mr. Melnychenko with forgery and revealing state secrets. He stressed that three tests performed have failed to authenticate the Melnychenko tapes. Therefore, he added, the Procurator General's Office has ordered one more test - a unique "phono-psycholinguistic" test - that should answer the question of whether "the people whose voices were allegedly taped could say what is heard [on the Melnychenko tapes]." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Yulia accused of bribing Lazarenko

KYIV - Prosecutor Andrii Khochunskyi told journalists in Kyiv on September 3 that investigators have collected evidence that Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous opposition bloc, paid $86.88 million in bribes to former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, Interfax reported. According to Mr. Khochunskyi, the sums were transferred from Ms. Tymoshenko's account in a Cypriot bank to Mr. Lazarenko's accounts in Polish and Swiss banks during 1996. "She gave bribes to [Lazarenko] for the creation of favorable conditions for financial and economic operations of the Unified Energy Systems of Ukraine on the gas market and for assistance in making this company a monopoly," Mr. Khochunskyi said. Ms. Tymoshenko headed UESU in 1996-1997. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tymoshenko sues prosecutor for slander

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous opposition bloc, has brought a lawsuit against Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun, charging that he defamed her honor and business reputation in a recent interview with the Delovaya Nedelia weekly, Interfax reported. "The entire life of Yulia Tymoshenko is built upon deception," Mr. Piskun reportedly told the weekly. "She deceives her family, the state, the people, the president, law-enforcement bodies and her voters." The Procurator General's Office recently requested that the Verkhovna Rada lift Ms. Tymoshenko's immunity so that she can be prosecuted for allegedly giving bribes. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma appoints new SBU chief

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma on September 4 appointed Ihor Smishko to head the Security Service of Ukraine (known by its Ukrainian acronym as SBU), Interfax reported. Mr. Smishko, 48, served as first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council prior to his appointment. He replaced Volodymyr Radchenko, who was appointed as secretary of the NSDC last week. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Estonia, Ukraine sign defense agreement

TALLINN - Estonian Defense Minister Margus Hanson and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yevhen Marchuk, signed an eight-article agreement on defense cooperation between their ministries in Tallinn on September 8, BNS reported. The cooperation will focus primarily on legal counseling and the exchange of experience in defense-force reform, NATO membership and international peacekeeping missions. Mr. Marchuk said that Ukraine wants to join NATO and is planning to reduce its armed forces and bring their structure into line with NATO standards. Mr. Marchuk also met with Parliament National Defense Committee Chairman Sven Mikser and President Arnold Ruutel, and visited the Estonian-Ukrainian Society. He was scheduled to travel to Tartu the next day to visit the Baltic Defense College. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tax Service gets credit of $40 M

KYIV - First Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov and World Bank Director for Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine Luca Barbone signed an accord in Kyiv on September 4 under which Ukraine will obtain a credit of $40 million for a 10-year program to modernize its Tax Service, Interfax reported. Mr. Azarov said the program will help make the work of the Tax Service more transparent, and tax regulations simpler and clearer. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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