NEWSBRIEFS (09/21/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukrainians honor slain journalist

KYIV - Some 3,000 people gathered in Kyiv on September 16 to honor Internet journalist Heorhii Gongadze on the third anniversary of his disappearance, Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Gongadze's decapitated body was found at Tarascha near Kyiv in November 2000. The secret tapes made by presidential security officer Mykola Melnychenko linked President Leonid Kuchma and former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko to Mr. Gongadze's killing. "[Gongadze] was the only journalist who took a solitary stand against the authorities," opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko told the gathering. "Kuchma and Kravchenko should be at this meeting and [should] beg for forgiveness on their knees," she added, according to the Ukrainska Pravda website. Earlier the same day, a cross was erected at the site near Tarascha where Gongadze's body was found. "This is not just a symbol of the death of a man, this is a symbol of truth, of the fight for truth," Socialist Party Chairman Oleksander Moroz said during the ceremony. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New U.S. ambassador in Kyiv

KYIV - John Herbst, the new U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, presented his credentials to Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko in Kyiv on September 15, Ukrainian news agencies reported. "My primary goal is to improve our bilateral relations in all aspects," Mr. Herbst told journalists after his meeting with Mr. Gryshchenko, who until recently was Ukraine's ambassador to the United States. "As Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and the [Ukrainian] government, we, too, want to see Ukraine integrated into the Euro-Atlantic community," Interfax quoted Ambassador Herbst as saying. Mr. Herbst previously served as ambassador to Uzbekistan. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada discusses single economic zone

KYIV - Following a request from Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the Verkhovna Rada on September 16 began to mull the controversial draft accord between Russia, Kazakstan, Belarus and Ukraine on the creation of a single economic zone, Ukrainian news agencies reported. Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who represented Kyiv in drafting the accord, told lawmakers that the document does not threaten Ukraine's accession to the World Trade Organization or its future integration with the European Union. Mr. Azarov also argued that the accord will not impair the country's sovereignty. Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko said Kyiv should sign this accord with "reservations" in order to avoid violating the country's Constitution and legislation. Our Ukraine, led by Viktor Yushchenko, issued a statement on September 15 calling on President Leonid Kuchma not to sign this accord. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Economic zone on Cabinet's agenda

KYIV - The Cabinet of Ministers is expected on September 17 to adopt a stance on the possible signing of the draft accord between Russia, Kazakstan Belarus, and Ukraine on the creation of a single economic zone - which has provoked much controversy in Ukraine - by President Leonid Kuchma during a Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Yalta on September 18-19. Meanwhile, Labor Ukraine leader Serhii Tyhypko, who is also chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine, has threatened that his party will recall its three representatives in Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet - Vice Prime Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, Industrial Policy Minister Anatolii Miyalytsia and Economy Minister Valerii Khoroshkovskyi - if they fail to support the creation of a single economic zone of the four CIS states, Interfax reported on September 11. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma pushes single economic zone

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said in Luhansk on September 12 that the draft agreement on the formation of a common economic zone by Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan and Ukraine worked out earlier this year provides that every signatory to the agreement may independently adopt resolutions regarding the "format" of its integration with the others, Interfax reported. Mr. Kuchma's words seemed to address the fears shared by some Ukrainian lawmakers and Cabinet members that the agreement, if signed, could deprive Ukraine of some of its sovereignty and hamper Kyiv's integration with the European Union and NATO. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Committee recommends rejection of zone

KYIV - The parliamentary Committee for European Integration has recommended that President Leonid Kuchma not to sign an agreement on a common economic zone with Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan, the signing of which is reportedly expected to take place at a CIS summit in Yalta on September 18-19, Interfax reported on September 10. The committee said it believes the agreement contradicts the country's course for the integration into Europe and the Constitution of Ukraine. Vice Prime Minister Vitalii Haiduk told journalists on September 10 that he opposes the creation of a supranational controlling body as stipulated by the draft agreement on the common economic zone of the four CIS countries. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EU commissioner urges "Wider Europe"

KYIV - The European Union's Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen told Ukrainian President Kuchma at a meeting in Crimea on September 11 that Ukraine and the European Commission should focus on talks regarding the signing of a joint-action plan within the EU's Wider Europe initiative, Interfax reported, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Kuchma reportedly said during the meeting that "Ukraine's strategic course toward European integration remains unchanged." The following day, Mr. Verheugen met with lawmakers from the Verkhovna Rada's Commission for European Integration, headed by Borys Tarasyuk. According to Mr. Tarasyuk, the EU official expressed hope that Ukraine's intention to form a common economic area with three other CIS countries will not change Kyiv's course toward integration with Europe. (RFE/RL Newsline)

292 deputies said to support reform draft

LUHANSK - President Leonid Kuchma said in Luhansk on September 12 that 292 lawmakers now back the constitutional reform draft recently submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, Interfax reported. Constitutional amendments in Ukraine need 300 votes in the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada for approval. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Cabinet submits 2004 budget draft

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada has registered a 2004 budget draft, Interfax reported on September 10. The document submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers projects budget revenues at 58.2 billion hrv ($10.9 billion) and a deficit of 2.37 billion hrv. The government expects that GDP in 2004 will grow by 4.8 percent, while the annual inflation rate will be 6 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada vice-chair thrown out of SDPU

KYIV - The Political Bureau of the Social Democratic Party-United (SDPU) on September 10 expelled Verkhovna Rada Vice-Chairman Oleksander Zinchenko from the SDPU, Ukrainian news agencies reported. SDPU lawmaker Nestor Shufrych said Mr. Zinchenko was ousted for failing to put his signature to a draft constitutional reform plan that was recently prepared by the presidential administration and lawmakers from the Communist and Socialist parties. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Nazi hunter makes offer in Romania

BUCHAREST - Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, on September 12 in Bucharest offered a $10,000 reward to anyone providing information leading to the prosecution of war criminals, Reuters and AFP reported. Mr. Zuroff has headed a similar "Operation Last Chance" in the Baltic states and Ukraine, which exposed 241 suspected war criminals and sent 55 of them to prosecutors. Mr. Zuroff said "Romania was a satellite state of Nazi Germany and actively participated in the implementation of the Final Solution,." yet, "not a single Holocaust perpetrator has been investigated, let alone prosecuted in post-Communist Romania," according to Agence France-Presse. Reuters quoted Mr. Zuroff as asking: "Does Romanian society, Romanian leadership have the courage to bring these people to justice? This is what we hope will happen." (RFE/RL Newsline)

German pilot pays fine for trespassing

KYIV - Erhard Ulver, a 74-year-old German pilot, has paid a fine of 3,400 hrv ($640) and left Ukraine with two other German senior citizens, Interfax reported on September 16. Ukrainian police on August 18 detained Mr. Ulver and his two passengers for flying a private airplane to Dnipropetrovsk, eastern Ukraine, without permission. According to the agency, the three Germans were meeting friends and doing some sightseeing during their one-month stay in Dnipropetrovsk. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poland begins new visa regime

WARSAW - Polish consulates in the Belarusian cities of Miensk, Brest and Hrodna, and the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Lutsk and Odesa, have begun issuing visas for Belarusians and Ukrainians with validity as of October 1, the PAP news agency reported on September 5, quoting the Polish Foreign Ministry. To comply with the European Union's visa policy, Warsaw introduced visas for Belarusians and Ukrainians as of October 1, signing relevant intergovernmental accords with Miensk and Kyiv earlier this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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