NEWSBRIEFS (06/06/04)

NEWSBRIEFS

Rada fails to admonish prosecutor

KYIV - The Verkhovna Rada on June 1 rejected a proposed resolution saying an investigation by the Procurator General's Office into allegations of vote rigging in a mayoral election in Mukachiv on April 18 is unsatisfactory, Ukrainian news agencies reported. The resolution was backed by 206 of 414 deputies present (226 votes were necessary for approval). The vote followed reports on the Mukachiv case presented by Deputy Procurator General Mykola Holomsha, representatives of the Internal Affairs Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine, as well as Ukrainian Ombudswoman Nina Karpachova. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Socialists, Communists to confer

KYIV - The leaders of the Socialist Party and the Communist Party are planning to hold a conference to discuss the possible fielding of a joint candidate in the Ukrainian presidential election scheduled for October 31, Ukrainian news agencies reported on June 1, quoting Socialist Party Chairman Oleksander Moroz. Last week, Communist Party Chairman Petro Symonenko said he has proposed fielding a joint presidential candidate and forming a coalition for the subsequent parliamentary elections. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Will opposition run separately?

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the eponymous opposition bloc, said on Inter Television on May 25 that she will run in the upcoming presidential election on her own if Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko and Socialist Party head Oleksander Moroz fail to establish an election coalition with her party, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Ms. Tymoshenko added that despite her "insistent" attempts to sign such a coalition accord, neither Mr. Yushchenko nor Mr. Moroz has agreed to do so. Mr. Moroz commented that such an accord could be signed if the Tymoshenko Bloc and Our Ukraine support proposed constitutional amendments intended to reform the country's political system. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prosecutor will not challenge election

KYIV - Deputy Procurator General Mykola Holomsha said in the Verkhovna Rada on June 1 that the Procurator General's Office cannot file a formal protest against the contentious mayoral election in Mukachiv on April 18, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Mr. Holomsha argued that such a move is beyond the office's competencies. In response to Mr. Holomsha's statement, the Our Ukraine opposition bloc demanded the dismissal of Procurator General Hennadii Vasyliev, accusing him of "cynical inactivity" in the investigation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

By-election held in Odesa Oblast

ODESA - Anton Kisse, deputy chairman of the Odesa Oblast, won the by-election to the Verkhovna Rada in constituency No. 136 in Odesa on May 30, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported. Mr. Kisse obtained some 10,500 votes out of nearly 35,000 cast during the ballot. Turnout did not exceed 22 percent, reportedly because of heavy rain. Mykhailo Brodskyi, a candidate supported by the Our Ukraine opposition bloc, was third with some 4,800 votes. The by-election was held because Serhii Kyvalov, who was elected in 2002, gave up his mandate after being elected head of the Central Election Commission earlier this year. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Lawmaker switches caucuses

KYIV - Lawmaker Mykhailo Dobkin has left the Center group in the Verkhovna Rada and joined the Social Democratic Party-United parliamentary caucus, Interfax reported on June 2, quoting Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn. "[After Dobkin joined Center], he and his father were subjected to repression, and his father was even arrested," Our Ukraine lawmaker Volodymyr Yavorivskyi told journalists of Mr. Dobkin's defection. "As soon as he signed a request to join the SDPU faction, his father was released. Don't you see yourselves what is going on in the Verkhovna Rada?" The current breakdown of forces in the Rada appears to be: Our Ukraine, 100 deputies; Ukraine's Regions, 63; the Communist Party, 59; the SDPU, 39; Democratic Initiatives-People's Power, 28; Labor Ukraine, 29; Socialist Party, 20; Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, 10; Center, 18; National Democratic Party and Party of Entrepre-neurs and Industrialists, 17; Soyuz, 17; and Agrarian Party, 16. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine to go it alone in WTO bid

KYIV - Ukrainian presidential spokesman Vasyl Baziv told journalists on May 28 that Ukraine does not intend to coordinate the process of joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) with the three other signatories of the accord on the creation of the Single Economic Space (SES), Russia, Belarus and Kazakstan, Interfax reported. "It is our position that every country has already gone its way and should now follow its own path," Mr. Baziv said. "The main thing is not to enter the WTO together or separately, but to enter it as soon as possible." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Border treaty signed with Romania

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has signed into law the Ukrainian-Romanian border treaty that was ratified by the Verkhovna Rada earlier this month, Interfax reported on May 27. The treaty, which was signed by Mr. Kuchma and his Romanian counterpart in June 2003, sanctions the land border between the two states as it was delimited in 1961. It also confirms that Serpents Island in the Black Sea belongs to Ukraine. However, the document leaves open the issue of delimitation of the continental shelf in the vicinity of the island. The Ukrainian-Romanian land border is 609 kilometers long. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court rejects imprisoned sailors' appeal

KYIV - Mykola Mazurenko and Ivan Soschenko, two Ukrainian sailors who were sentenced in October to seven years in prison each for smuggling Iraqi oil from the port of Umm Qasr, have lost an appeal against their sentence with the Iraqi Supreme Court, Interfax reported on May 26, citing the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine. Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivskyi said the Ukrainian government will continue to press for their release. The two are being held in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison complex. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court postpones Silski Visti hearing

KYIV - Kyiv's Court of Appeals on May 25 deferred the hearing of the appeal against the closure of the opposition newspaper Silski Visti for an indefinite time, the Mass Information Institute website reported on May 26. In January the Pecherskyi District Court in Kyiv imposed a ban on the publication of Silski Visti, finding it guilty of publishing anti-Semitic materials and fomenting interethnic enmity. The Court of Appeals reportedly demanded that Silski Visti and the International Anti-Fascist Committee, which sued the newspaper, provide additional information and materials for the case. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Journalist jailed for five days

MUKACHIV - A court in Mukachiv, Zakarpattia Oblast, on May 25 sentenced journalist Kostiantyn Sydorenko to five days in jail, finding him guilty of resisting police officers, UNIAN reported. Mr. Sydorenko denied the charge during the trial, which reportedly lasted two minutes. The reporter was detained on suspicion of possessing explosives on May 23, while he was going to a police station to recover a stolen camera. Mr. Sydorenko covered the controversial mayoral election in Mukachiv on April 18 for the Horiacha Linia (Hot Line) website. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Prodi denies remarks on Ukraine, Belarus

KYIV - Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, has denied saying that Ukraine and Belarus have no prospects of joining the European Union, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported, citing an interview he gave to the Kyiv-based newspaper Den (The Day) of May 27. "We are working together on further strengthening our relations within the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy," Mr. Prodi told the newspaper. "This policy is not linked to [EU enlargement], because this issue is not on the current agenda." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Warning against economic overheating

KYIV - Anatolii Halchynskyi, head of the Council of the National Bank of Ukraine, said at an international conference on monetary policies in Kyiv on May 28 that Ukraine's economy shows signs of overheating, Interfax reported. According to Mr. Halchynskyi, the current pace of industrial production growth of 17-18 percent is an "economic anomaly" rather than a matter for optimism and might also lead to economic overheating. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Arguments close in Lazarenko case

SAN FRANCISCO - Ukraine's former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko misused his high office to get rich by laundering money from business schemes in his homeland, a federal prosecutor stated in closing arguments. Meanwhile Mr. Lazarenko's defense attorney urged jurors to judge their client by the lax standards he said prevailed in Ukraine in the 1990s after the collapse of communism. Mr. Lazarenko faces charges of money laundering, wire fraud and extortion that could bring a maximum of five years in prison if he's convicted. In May federal Judge Martin Jenkins dismissed counts that alleged Mr. Lazarenko funneled money into foreign bank accounts in exchange for awarding natural gas contracts when he was his country's top energy official in 1995. Mr. Lazarenko has denied that he siphoned funds or accepted bribes in exchange for government contracts and favors. He claims his fortune was earned legitimately during a time of transition in Ukraine. Defense attorney Doron Weinberg argued, "This was a time when things were in flux. This was a time in which people were learning how to move from a state-run economy to a private economy." (Associated Press)

Kuchma invited to NATO summit

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma has been invited to the NATO summit in Istanbul on June 28-29 to take part in a meeting of the Ukraine-NATO Commission, UNIAN reported on May 27, quoting Michel Duray, head of the NATO Information and Documentation Center in Ukraine. "This will be a top-level event," Mr. Duray told the news agency. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Douglas Bereuter (R-Neb.), who is president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, visited Kyiv earlier this week and told a news conference on May 26 that Ukraine could join NATO as early as in 2007. Rep. Bereuter is to present a report based on his visit at the next session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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