NEWSBRIEFS (03/05/06)

NEWSBRIEFS

Pynzenyk wants gas deal canceled

KYIV - Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, who is on leave to campaign for the March 26 parliamentary elections, said on February 28 in an online news conference that Kyiv should back out of a deal increasing the price of imported gas in 2006 to $95 per 1,000 cubic meters and restart talks on the issue with Russia, Reuters reported. "The country must go back to the starting point. We have all the objective conditions to achieve a proper balance of interests between Ukraine and Russia," Mr. Pynzenyk said. "Russia has the gas, but doesn't have the pipelines. We have the gas transport system without which it's impossible to export gas to Europe. That gives us the opportunity to defend our interests in our talks on gas," he added. Mr. Pynzenyk's Reforms and Order Party is running for the parliamentary elections in a bloc with the Pora party. According to most surveys, the bloc is well below the 3 percent voting threshold qualifying for parliamentary representation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Klitschko: corruption is main problem

KYIV - The chief problem faced by Kyiv is corruption, according to mayoral candidate Vitalii Klitschko. During a presentation of his pre-electoral platform on February 28, Mr. Klitschko noted that he promises to solve a number of problems, including those in the sectors of transportation, housing and public utilities. There are people who are trying to turn Kyiv into a second Manhattan; Kyiv is Kyiv and should remain Kyiv, Mr. Klitschko said. He also promised to work toward turning Kyiv into a cultural capital. New York is the financial capital, Paris is the tourist capital, London is the business center and Kyiv should be a park-city, he said. Answering questions regarding the Elite-Center real estate scandal, Mr. Klitschko noted that Kyiv authorities are responsible for the situation. Mr. Klitschko is also at the top of the Pora-Reforms and Order Party election list for the Kyiv Rada elections and the parliamentary elections. (Ukrinform)

Latvia hosts Lesia Ukrainka exhibit

KYIV - Riga, the capital of Latvia, is hosting an exhibition of outstanding Ukrainian poetess Lesia Ukrainka's works at the Elias artistic-historical museum. The exhibition is dedicated to the 135th anniversary of Ukrainka's birth. The exhibition was organized by the cultural-enlightenment society Source together with Ukraine's Embassy in Latvia and a range of Ukrainian public organizations in the country within the framework of the joint project "Let's Be Acquainted: We Are Ukrainians." Kicking off the exhibition, Ukrainian Ambassador to Latvia Raul Chilachava noted the significant contribution of Ukrainka's works to Ukrainian and world literature. He also stressed the necessity to organize such events to promote friendly relations between countries. Within the framework of the exhibition a performance of Ukrainka's best-known drama, "Forest Song," was staged by Latvian pupils. (Ukrinform)

Yulia confirms her PM ambitions

KYIV - Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous political bloc, said on television on February 27 that she harbors no "presidential ambitions," the Ukrayinska Pravda website reported. "Under the new Constitution [that came into effect on January 1], the president has practically lost all of his powers," Ms. Tymoshenko added. She stressed that she would like to return to the post of prime minister, from which she was dismissed by President Viktor Yushchenko in September 2005. Speaking about her attitude toward the current Cabinet of Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov, Ms. Tymoshenko said she is "close to being in opposition" to it. "I cannot say that I am in opposition, but I don't approve of much of what the government is doing," she said. According to a poll by the Sotsiovymir Sociological and Political Research Center conducted on February 19-24, Ms. Tymoshenko is the most trusted politician in Ukraine, with 22.4 percent of respondents declaring confidence in her and 22.1 percent distrusting her. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Major film to spotlight Chornobyl

KYIV - A major film project on Chornobyl is being launched in Ukraine with the participation of world film stars. The author of the project is Oleksander Rodnianskyi, one of the most successful documentary film directors in post-Soviet countries. The new film is expected to have a budget of $15 million to $20 million. The film will focus on the aftermath of the Chornobyl nuclear accident: the end of an epoch, the collapse of the former Soviet Union, the tragedy of millions of people and the clear realization of the need for change. (Ukrinform)

Ambassador meets with Business Council

WASHINGTON - Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United States Oleh Shamshur met with members of the Ukraine-U.S. Business Council on February 24. The members of the council informed Dr. Shamshur about growth of the interest in the development of trade and economic relations with Ukraine, including investing in the country's economy with the purpose of establishing up-to-date production of hi-tech merchandise for sale in Ukraine and export abroad. Ambassador Shamshur informed the members of the council about the measures taken by Ukraine's leadership to improve the investment climate, the economic priorities of the government of Ukraine and priority investment spheres. Also discussed were the current politics and foreign policy of Ukraine, including its Euro-Atlantic integration and the accession to the World Trade Organization. (Embassy of Ukraine)

Yushchenko: no language problem

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said on February 24 in Ivano-Frankivsk that he is convinced there is no Russian language problem in Ukraine. He was commenting on the Crimean Verkhovna Rada's decision to hold a local consultative referendum on March 26 on granting Russian the status of Ukraine's second state language. The very fact that this referendum, which was initiated by the Party of the Regions, has been timed to the parliamentary and local Rada elections points to the referendum's political, pre-election dimension, he noted. As reported earlier, Crimean Procurator Viktor Semchuk sent a letter to the President's Permanent Representative to Crimea Volodymyr Kulish, in which Mr. Semchuk substantiated his view of the Crimean Parliament's February 22 resolution as illegitimate. The Crimean Procurator's Office has asked the president to use his constitutional right to stop the resolution's enactment since it contracts the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. (Ukrinform)

President promotes honest elections

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko has signed a decree establishing a Public Council under the President for Ensuring Honest Elections, the presidential press service's website announced on February 25. The council is chaired by the head of the National Academy of Sciences, Borys Paton. "As the president of Ukraine, I will make every effort to ensure democratic [parliamentary] elections," Mr. Yushchenko said in a national radio address on February 25. "On March 26 the Ukrainian people will elect not a prime minister or a chancellor, but primarily a new parliamentary majority. I believe that it will be a democratic majority," he added. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Two presidents discuss pipeline

KYIV - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and his Polish counterpart, Lech Kaczynski, pledged in Kyiv on February 28 to pursue talks on extending the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline across Poland to the Baltic Sea, Ukrainian and international media reported. However, President Kaczynski suggested at a joint news conference after his meeting with Mr. Yushchenko that they have not achieved any progress on the project. "If Poland does not build [its] section of the oil pipeline, Ukraine naturally is entitled to choose whatever option suits it best," Reuters quoted Mr. Kaczynski as saying. "The Odesa-Brody project, [extended] subsequently to Gdansk, may become one of the most interesting projects of Europe's wholesale oil market," the Ukrainian president told the news conference. Ukraine completed the 674-kilometer Odesa-Brody pipeline in 2002. Failing to find both oil suppliers and buyers, Kyiv decided to reverse the pipeline flow in 2004 to take Russian oil south. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Tarasyuk against NATO referendum

KYIV - Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk has described the recent proposal to hold a referendum on Ukraine's NATO membership as a provocation, Interfax-Ukraine reported on February 24. "Given the political forces proposing the referendum, it looks like an attempt to stage a full-scale nationwide provocation," Mr. Tarasyuk said at a news conference in Chernihiv on February 24. The referendum idea is being promoted, among other forces, by the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party - United led by Viktor Medvedchuk. Mr. Tarasyuk recalled that Mr. Medvedchuk, in his former capacity as head of the presidential administration, signed many documents declaring Ukraine's commitment to Euro-Atlantic integration. "It looks like he has woken up and realized that it [NATO membership] allegedly does not meet the interests of the Ukrainian people," Mr. Tarasyuk added. "I view it as a provocation because the people suggesting the referendum did nothing during their decade-long period in power to clearly explain to Ukrainian citizens what NATO and the EU [European Union] mean," he noted. Opinion surveys routinely find that more than 50 percent of Ukrainians oppose potential NATO membership. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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