NEWSBRIEFS (04/04/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Our Ukraine stages protest rally

KYIV - Some 9,000 people turned up for an anti-government protest rally organized by Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine in front of government headquarters in Kyiv on March 31, Interfax and UNIAN reported. Mr. Yushchenko told the rally that poverty is the single biggest problem in Ukraine, and demanded that Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet raise wages and pensions. He also appealed to Ukrainians to continue protests if the government fails to heed that demand. According to Mr. Yushchenko, the government is hiding 10 billion hrv ($1.9 billion) in budget revenues. "Today we have to secure a victory - to make the government bring 10 million hrv out of the shadows," Mr. Yushchenko said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bloc to form 'European-model' party

KYIV - Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko announced that his bloc has begun to create a new, "European-model" party, Interfax reported on March 29, quoting the Our Ukraine press service. According to Mr. Yushchenko, taking part in a parliamentary election under a fully proportional party-list system is a key political task for Our Ukraine. "In order not to lose time, we should now formulate a response to this challenge," Mr. Yushchenko said. The Ukrainska Pravda website quoted Borys Tarasyuk, leader of the Ukrainian National Rukh, which is a constituent of Our Ukraine, as saying on March 30 that the idea to set up a political party based on Our Ukraine before the 2004 presidential election is "political suicide." He commented: "This [idea] will divert organizational and human resources from the main goal - preparing the victory of [Our Ukraine's presidential] candidate." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Soros receives cool reception

KYIV - U.S. financier and philanthropist George Soros, who is currently on a visit to Ukraine, said on March 30 that he bears no grudges for obstacles he faced to holding a roundtable on human rights in Yalta, Crimea, earlier the same day, Interfax reported. The management of the Livadia Palace, where the roundtable was scheduled to take place, announced on March 29 that the palace will be closed until April 1 because firemen are using it for training. The palace eventually hosted the event only after an order from Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Mr. Soros said the inhospitality with which he was confronted was inspired by presidential-administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk. On March 31, before the inauguration of a forum of human rights activists in Kyiv, two assailants claiming to belong to the organization Brotherhood splashed water and glue on Mr. Soros. (RFE/RL Newsline)

IMF approves $605 million loan

KYIV - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has approved a one-year, $605 million credit facility to Ukraine, Interfax reported on March 30. "Ukraine has achieved a broad-based and sustained economic recovery, and has subdued inflation following the 1998-99 financial crisis," IMF acting Managing Director Anne Krueger said, praising Ukraine for macroeconomic stability, a strong balance of payments, and the replenishing of international reserves. The Ukrainian government will use the loan primarily to cover high-interest government bonds issued during the late 1990s, the DPA news agency reported, quoting Finance Minister Mykola Azarov. Meanwhile, Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko commented that the IMF decision on the loan is "groundless," adding that "shadow turnover in the fiscal-policy sphere" has become the official course of Ukrainian government policy, according to Interfax. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Has Ukraine lost track of missiles?

KYIV - Ukrainian Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk said in an interview with the Kyiv-based newspaper Den on March 25 that after assuming his post in June he ordered an inventory to be taken of Ukrainian military property. Mr. Marchuk said his inventory revealed a 900 billion hrv ($169 billion) gap with the inspection made six months earlier under his predecessor, Volodymyr Shkidchenko. "Unfortunately, even such exotic things happen today as [that] we are looking for several hundred missiles," Mr. Marchuk said. "They were removed from military service, but we cannot find them. They are said to have been utilized. But where are [the] results of their utilization?" Former Defense Minister Oleksander Kuzmuk told the Ukrainska Pravda website on March 26 that Mr. Marchuk's revelations are "nonsense." "I will not even comment on such nonsense. We have this habit of washing our dirty laundry in public," Mr. Kuzmuk said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Marchuk: missing missiles could not fly

KYIV - Defense Minister Yevhen Marchuk said on March 30 that the missiles that went missing in the 1980s pose no threat because they could not fly, Interfax reported. Mr. Marchuk was commenting on his revelation last week that the Ukrainian military cannot account for "several hundred missiles." (RFE/RL Newsline)

CIS foreign ministers meet

MIENSK - The CIS Council of Foreign Ministers held a session in the Belarusian capital of Miensk on March 26 to discuss draft documents on cooperation to combat crime, conduct peacekeeping operations, and monitor elections, Belapan reported. The session also reportedly addressed the coordination of Commonwealth of Independent States members' stances on nuclear non-proliferation as part of preparations for the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference scheduled for 2005. Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka, who met with CIS ministers before the session, said he regards the quick establishment of a free-trade zone as the CIS's top priority. "We do not need any new declarative documents - it is necessary to finalize domestic procedures for the ratification of agreements that were signed earlier," RFE/RL's Belarusian Service quoted Mr. Lukashenka as saying. Mr. Lukashenka also expressed his hope that recent changes in the Russian government will contribute to furthering Belarusian-Russian relations. "We can prove to the whole world that we can advance considerably in our relationship," he said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Kuchma cites unfulfilled promises

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma said on March 26 that Ukraine will complete two reactors at the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi nuclear-power plants on its own, Ukrainian Television reported. "Basically, this amounts to us making a challenge to the world, above all, to the G-7, which undertook a commitment but has not yet honored it," Mr. Kuchma said. "They promise to give us money this summer or autumn. Well, they may keep it for themselves. We will do it without them. I have no doubt about that." The Ukrainian president was referring to an earlier pledge by Western governments to assist Kyiv in completing the two reactors to make up for the power loss caused by the closure of the Chornobyl power plant in 2000. Mr. Kuchma threatened to sack Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Kliuyev "with a bang" if the reactors are not started "on time." The government previously pledged to complete the Khmelnytskyi reactor in August and the Rivne reactor in October of this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poll reveals attitude toward government

KYIV - Ukraine's Social Research Institute and Social Monitoring Center found in a March 6-12 poll that 14 percent of respondents have a positive attitude toward Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet, while for 32 percent describe their opinion as more positive than negative, Interfax reported on March 23. Of those polled, 16 percent said their evaluation of the government is negative. The poll also examined the presidential prospects of Ukrainian politicians under two scenarios: a) Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko runs as the single opposition candidate and there is no single pro-government candidate; b) Mr. Yanukovych runs as the single pro-government candidate and there is no single candidate from the opposition. Pollsters predicted that, under the first scenario Mr. Yushchenko would win 30 percent of the vote; Mr. Yanukovych, 14 percent; Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko, 12 percent, National Bank of Ukraine Chairman Serhii Tyhypko, 3 percent; and presidential administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk, 2.5 percent. Under the second scenario, Mr. Yushchenko would be backed by 25 percent of voters; Mr. Yanukovych by 18 percent; Mr. Symonenko by 10 percent; Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz by 7 percent; Yulia Tymoshenko by 6 percent; and Radical Socialist Party Chairwoman Natalia Vitrenko by 3 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada OKs government program ...

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada voted 239-38 on March 16 to approve the government's action plan for 2004, called "Consistency. Efficiency. Responsibility," Interfax reported. The vote simultaneously acknowledged the performance of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's Cabinet in 2003 as satisfactory. Most lawmakers from Our Ukraine, the Communist Party, the Socialist Party and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc did not participate in the vote. A separate motion by the opposition to rate the government's performance last year as unsatisfactory was supported just by 109 lawmakers, well below the 226 votes required for approval. (RFE/RL Newsline)

... and suspends media audits

KYIV - Also on March 16, 294 legislators voted to impose a moratorium on official audits of media outlets in Ukraine during the 2004 presidential-election campaign, UNIAN reported. A similar resolution, which was proposed by Mykola Tomenko from Our Ukraine and Ivan Bokii from the Socialist Party, was rejected by the Parliament earlier this month. President Leonid Kuchma issued an instruction to state authorities on March 15 to introduce a similar moratorium. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada extends ban on sale of farmland

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada voted overwhelmingly on March 3 to extend a ban on the sale of agricultural land until 2010, reported the Kyiv Post on March 18. Under the nation's land code, the ban, introduced at the end of 2001, was to expire by the end of this year. In the first of three required readings, 299 parliamentarians from the right and left opposition blocs, as well as pro-presidential forces, voted to extend the moratorium on the land sales. In the debate on the bill, lawmakers expressed concerns that existing land law was insufficiently developed for sales to take place, and fears that wealthy individuals would take advantage of the opportunity able to buy up land at low prices. Many lawmakers, including members of opposition blocs Our Ukraine and the Socialists said that tens of laws needed to be passed before Ukraine was ready for agricultural land sales. (ARTUIS)

| Home Page |