NEWSBRIEFS (10/12/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

PM says Ukraine has market economy

WASHINGTON - Ukraine's Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych told a conference called "Ukraine's Quest for Mature Nation Statehood: Ukraine's Transition to a Developed Market Economy" in Washington on October 7 that Ukraine is a country with a functioning market economy, Interfax reported. "It is possible to state unambiguously that Ukraine has consciously chosen a development path toward a market economy and has crossed the Rubicon beyond which there is no return to the past," Mr. Yanukovych said. The Ukrainian Prime Minister met with U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, who was reportedly interested in whether Ukraine wants to use the Odesa-Brody pipeline to pump oil from Odesa to Brody or in the "reverse mode." Mr. Yanukovych said Ukraine has not made a decision yet on Odesa-Brody, stressing that the pipeline will transport oil from the company that will offer the "best economic conditions" to Kyiv, UNIAN reported. He added that apart from the TNK-BP oil company, which wants to use Odesa-Brody to pump Russian crude in the "reverse mode," no other company has made any specific proposal for using the pipeline. (RFE/RL Newsline)

EU supports Kyiv's move toward Europe

YALTA - European Commission President Romano Prodi, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana reassured Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in Yalta on October 7 that the expanded EU will support Ukraine's reforms oriented toward European integration, Ukrainian and international media reported. "We want your country to be fully integrated into the European Union one day," Mr. Berlusconi, who is chairing the rotating EU presidency, said at a news conference. "Without a doubt Ukraine is a European country, and we hope Ukraine will move quickly through the necessary stages," he added, noting that these stages mean obtaining World Trade Organization membership, achieving market-economy status, joining the EU free-trade zone and gaining EU associate membership. "I admit quite openly that Ukraine is not ready for full-fledged EU membership by practically all criteria, but we are pursuing the ambitious task of achieving this goal," President Kuchma said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lawmakers vow boycott over election bill

KYIV - The parliamentary caucuses of the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc said on October 2 that they are refusing to vote in the Verkhovna Rada until a draft bill stipulating parliamentary elections under a fully proportional party-list system is included on the current session's agenda, the UNIAN and Interfax news services reported. According to both caucuses, the parliamentary leadership decided on September 29 to include the issue on the legislative docket. Lawmakers from the Socialist Party, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine blocked the parliamentary rostrum and brought the session to a halt after Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn proposed another issue for consideration. The adoption of a fully proportional election law is reportedly a sine qua non for the Socialist Party to support a constitutional-reform bill submitted to the Verkhovna Rada last month. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian soldier dies in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Sgt. Yuriy Koydan of the Ukrainian contingent participating in stabilization efforts in Iraq, was killed on September 30 when the BRDM-2 armored reconnaissance vehicle under his command overturned while patrolling an airport in Al-Kut, Interfax reported on October 1, quoting a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman. The ministry said that preliminary information indicated the driver of the vehicle caused the accident by making a "risky turn." Approximately 1,650 Ukrainian troops are serving in the Polish-led stabilization force patrolling southern Iraq. Sgt. Koydan is the first Ukrainian soldier to be killed in Iraq. (RFE/RL Newsline, The New York Times)

5,000 protest single economic space

IVANO-FRANKIVSK - Nearly 5,000 people took part in a demonstration in Ivano-Frankivsk, western Ukraine, on October 5 to protest the accord among Russia, Belarus, Kazakstan and Ukraine to create a Single Economic Space, UNIAN reported on October 6. A resolution adopted at the rally called the accord signed on behalf of Ukraine by President Leonid Kuchma a "betrayal" of national interests and appealed to the Verkhovna Rada not to ratify it. The demonstration was organized by Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and other organizations active in western Ukraine. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Macedonian president visits Ukraine

UZHHOROD - President Leonid Kuchma met with his Macedonian counterpart, Boris Trajkovski, in Uzhhorod, Zakarpattia Oblast, on October 3, Interfax reported. The two presidents reportedly discussed bilateral cooperation and the situation in the Balkans. "Ukraine is a state with high rates of economic development, and it may render Macedonia great support in its economic development," President Trajkovski said. It was announced after the meeting that the Macedonian-Bulgarian firm Granat-AHM was hired as the general contractor for a $45.5 million project to repair 210 kilometers of a mountainous road connecting Kyiv and the town of Chop on the Hungarian border, the DPA news service reported. (RFE/RL Newsline)

No decision yet on pumping oil

KYIV - Fuel and Energy Minister Serhii Yermilov on October 6 denied media reports claiming that the UkrTransNafta supervisory board had decided on October 3 to fill the Odesa-Brody pipeline with Russian oil and pump it in the direction opposite to the pipeline's original design, UNIAN reported. According to Mr. Yermilov, the issue of filling the Odesa-Brody with oil is of strategic importance to the country; thus, a relevant decision will be made by the Ukrainian government. Mr. Yermilov said the president has postponed until January 15 a decision on whether to use the Odesa-Brody in accordance with its original design, for pumping Caspian oil to Europe, or to fill it with Russian oil and pump it to Odesa. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Verkhovna Rada appeals to Bush, Blair

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada appealed on October 3 to U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for their help in resolving the problem of the Navstar-1 tanker with 21 Ukrainian crew members who were apprehended in the Persian Gulf in August by a British Navy ship for smuggling diesel fuel out of Iraq, Interfax reported. The appeal says the Verkhovna Rada believes that "Ukraine may hope for your goodwill assistance in determining the fate of Ukrainian citizens who have found themselves in an extremely difficult situation." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kyiv warns Moscow on Kerch strait

KYIV - Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Ministry has issued a statement warning the Russian government that its plans to build a dam between Russia's Taman Peninsula and the islet of Tuzla in the Kerch Strait may violate Ukraine's state border and territorial integrity, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reported on October 3. Following the construction of the dam, the Russian side is reportedly going to set a frontier post on the islet, which Ukraine considers to be its own territory. The Kerch Strait is a shallow channel connecting the Azov Sea with the Black Sea and separating Crimea in the west from the Taman Peninsula in the east. (RFE/RL Newsline)

| Home Page |