NEWSBRIEFS (09/28/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Ukraine wants role in U.N. peacekeeping

UNITED NATIONS - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma told United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in New York on September 23 that Kyiv regards the United Nations as the principal arbiter in international security issues and declared Ukraine's readiness to actively participate in peacekeeping operations under the aegis of the international body, Interfax reported. In particular, Mr. Kuchma promised to provide technical aid to a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Liberia. The previous day, President Kuchma addressed the 58th session of the United Nations General Assembly, delivering a speech devoted to Ukraine's efforts in combating AIDS. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma upbeat over free-trade zone

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said at the close of the Commonwealth of Independent States summit in Yalta on September 19 that the implementation of economic-cooperation documents signed by CIS leaders during the summit will allow CIS members to create a full-scale free-trade zone and to switch to a "subsequent, higher stage of mutual relations," Interfax reported. "We have reached consensus on practically all issues," Mr. Kuchma noted. Commenting on the accord on the creation of a single economic space by Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakstan, the Ukrainian president said, "Under the present conditions, when the European markets are closed for us ... it's better to have a real bird in the hand than two in the bush." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Opponents charge betrayal of interests

KYIV - Parties constituting the Our Ukraine bloc have begun collecting signatures under an open letter to President Leonid Kuchma in connection with his signing of an accord on the creation of a single economic zone with Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan, Interfax reported on September 19, quoting Our Ukraine deputy head Yurii Kostenko. "Your participation in the creation of a so-called single economic area under the conditions contradicting the current constitution, legislation and international commitments of Ukraine ... is provoking the indignation of Ukrainian citizens," the letter reads. "Since you have signed this accord despite arguments to the contrary, we demand that the Verkhovna Rada launch the procedure of your impeachment for the betrayal of national interests of Ukraine." Our Ukraine also slammed Mr. Kuchma for launching a constitutional reform that, the letter claims, is intended to enable him to remain in power. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Envoy resigns over single economic space

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has accepted the resignation of Ukrainian Ambassador to Romania Anton Buteiko, Interfax reported on September 23, quoting presidential spokeswoman Olena Hromnytska. Mr. Buteiko stepped down to express his "resolute disagreement" with Ukraine's participation in forming a single economic space that also includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan. Ambassador Buteiko submitted his resignation via e-mail on September 19, immediately after President Kuchma signed the relevant accord at a CIS summit in Yalta. Mr. Buteiko previously served as vice minister for foreign affairs and as Ukraine's ambassador to the United States. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Official warns of customs, currency unions

KYIV - Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs Oleksander Chalyi said at a conference on European Union-Ukraine relations in Kyiv on September 23 that Ukraine should limit its participation in the newly formed CIS single economic space with Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan to the formation of an efficient free-trade zone that could promote Ukrainian goods and services, UNIAN reported. Mr. Chalyi added that those four countries' free-trade zone should be based on principles of the World Trade Organization. He said Ukraine cannot form a customs or a currency union with CIS countries if the country wants to pursue its declared goal of integration with Euro-Atlantic structures. Meanwhile, Oleksander Motsyk, another Ukrainian vice minister of foreign affairs, told journalists the same day that Ukraine will aim to extend EU norms to the operation of the CIS single economic space, Interfax reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lawmakers present new reform proposals

KYIV - Lawmakers from the pro-presidential majority in the Verkhovna Rada have prepared a new version of a recently submitted constitutional reform bill, Interfax reported on September 18. According to the new version, the president should be elected by the current Parliament in 2004, and not by a new Parliament in 2006 as stipulated by the former draft bill. The new version also proposes that the next parliamentary elections be held under a fully proportional election law in 2007, not in 2006 as prescribed in the former bill. Pro-presidential majority leader Stepan Havrysh said the new proposals were communicated to President Leonid Kuchma, who has not rejected them. "The concept [of these proposals] is to prevent honest elections in this country," Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko commented. Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said he is against extending the powers of the current Verkhovna Rada until 2007 but added that he has not yet decided whether to support the idea to elect the president by Parliament as soon as 2004. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Four presidents discuss economic zone

YALTA - While Commonwealth of Independent States presidents on September 18 held informal bilateral and multilateral meetings in Yalta, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakstan - Vladimir Putin, Leonid Kuchma, Alyaksandr Lukashenka and Nursultan Nazarbaev, respectively - met to discuss the planned signing on September 19 of an accord on the creation of a single economic zone by those four countries. According to Interfax, the four leaders expressed their readiness to sign the accord, which caused controversy especially in Ukraine. "We do not see any obstacles [to signing the accord]," Mr. Nazarbaev told journalists. Messrs. Putin and Lukashenka reportedly were also in favor of signing the prepared accord. But Mr. Kuchma failed to say unambiguously whether he would sign the document without reservations. The Verkhovna Rada on September 17 had recommended that he sign the accord on a CIS single economic zone provided that it does not contradict the Constitution of Ukraine, laws or Ukraine's international commitments. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Four heads of state sign accord

YALTA - The presidents of Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakstan signed an accord in Yalta on September 19 on the creation of a single economic zone by those four countries, Interfax and UNIAN reported. "This is a very serious step toward real integration in the 12-year history [of the CIS]," Mr. Kazakstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev commented. "I did not doubt for a moment while signing the document that I'm doing this in Ukraine's national interests," Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma told journalists. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Putin rejects comparison with USSR

KYIV - Speaking at a joint press conference alongside the presidents of Kazakstan, Ukraine and Belarus in Yalta on September 19, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed suggestions that the newly agreed single economic zone represents a step toward restoring the Soviet Union, the RTR and ORT news services reported on September 21. He called talk of a revival of the Soviet Union nonsense. The Soviet Union was a complicated page in Russian history, he said, adding, "It was, heroic, creative and tragic, but it is closed." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv plans big grain imports

KYIV - Vice Prime Minister for Agriculture Ivan Kyrylenko told the Verkhovna Rada on September 9 that Ukraine imported 750,000 tons of wheat and 230,000 tons of rye this year, Interfax reported. He added that, in connection with this year's poor crop, the government deems it necessary to import an additional 2 million tons of grain by the end of the year. Mr. Kyrylenko urged deputies to allow the government to cancel value-added tax payments for grain importers until next August and continue waiving customs duties for wheat and rye imports until June 2004. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Pipeline seeks foreign partners

KYIV - UkrTransNafta has invited authorities and companies in Russia, Kazakstan, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan to provide 380,000-420,000 tons of technological oil next month for the Odesa-Brody pipeline, Interfax reported on September 8, quoting the UkrTransNafta press service. The purpose of the decision is "to bring the Odesa-Brody pipeline into use immediately after the [Ukrainian] government has chosen the direction for the transport of oil along the pipeline" so as to avert the threat of damage to the pipeline this autumn and winter. Earlier this year, Russia urged Ukraine to use the Odesa-Brody pipeline in the "reverse mode," that is, for pumping Russian oil from Brody to Odesa. Kyiv has not yet made a decision on this issue. (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |