NEWSBRIEFS

What kind of coalition for Ukraine?

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko met on April 11 with leaders of the five political forces that won parliamentary mandates in the March 26 elections to discuss the formation of a governing coalition, Ukrainian media reported. "We are standing at the starting line. We have time, several weeks, to walk this road with dignity," Mr. Yushchenko said at the meeting. Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous political bloc, told journalists after the meeting that a coalition agreement between her bloc and two other allies in the 2004 Orange Revolution, Our Ukraine and the Socialist Party, may be ready by April 13. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yurii Yekhanurov from Our Ukraine refused on April 11 to rule out a deal with the Party of the Regions led by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. He also did not reject the idea of a possible "grand" coalition incorporating the Orange Revolution allies and the Party of the Regions. But the Tymoshenko Bloc's press service ruled out the latter option, affirming in a press release later the same day: "Our position is clear: the cooperation of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Party of the Regions within a single parliamentary coalition is impossible." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Orange allies continue negotiations

KYIV - Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of the eponymous political bloc, met with Roman Bezsmertnyi, head of the Our Ukraine People's Union, and Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz on April 10 to discuss the formation of a democratic coalition in the newly elected Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian media reported. "Our decision is firm. All three sides have declared that a coalition will consist of three political forces - the Our Ukraine bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party. Any other political forces will not be allowed to join it," Ms. Tymoshenko told journalists after the meeting. The three allies from the 2004 Orange Revolution reportedly decided to draft a coalition agreement within the following two days. "We believe the road we have taken is the right one. We see no threats so far," Mr. Bezsmertnyi commented on the coalition talks. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Official election results announced

KYIV - The Central Election Commission on April 10 made public the final results of the March 26 parliamentary poll, Ukrainian media reported. The Party of the Regions won 32.14 percent of the vote; the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, 22.29 percent; Our Ukraine, 13.95 percent; Socialist Party, 5.69 percent; and Communist Party, 3.66 percent. In the 450-seat Verkhovna Rada, the Party of the Regions will have 186 seats, the Tymoshenko Bloc 129, Our Ukraine 81, the Socialists 33 and the Communists 21. Of the remaining 40 parties and blocs, the closest to overcoming the 3 percent voting hurdle were the Natalia Vitrenko Bloc (2.93 percent) and the Lytvyn People's Bloc (2.44 percent). Election turnout was 67.7 percent. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Court bans publication of election results

KYIV - The Supreme Administrative Court has prohibited publication in the newspapers Holos Ukrayiny and Uriadovyi Kurier of the results of the March 26 parliamentary elections released by the Central Election Commission earlier this week, reported Ukrainian news agencies, quoting CEC member Serhii Dubovyk. The election results acquire legal force only after publication. The court decision follows an appeal by the Natalia Vitrenko Bloc, which charged that the CEC violated the procedure for publicizing the election results. According to the CEC, the Vitrenko Bloc obtained 2.93 percent of the vote, thus narrowly failing to overcome the 3 percent barrier for parliamentary representation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Regions proposes coalition agreement

KYIV - The chief of the Party of the Regions election campaign, Yevhen Kushnariov, said that a draft coalition agreement by the Regions Party will be sent to all political forces that passed the 3 percent barrier to enter the Parliament. "We've decided that negotiations should start on the day of official announcement of results of the elections," Mr. Kushnariov said. He explained that thus far the Regions Party had held no negotiations on forming a parliamentary majority. "The leader of the party had preliminary consultations with Yurii Yekhanurov [Our Ukraine] and means to hold consultations with SPU [Socialist Party] leader Oleksander Moroz and CPU [Communist Party] leader Petro Symonenko. If Yulia Tymoshenko wants to join the negotiations, we are open for a dialogue," he said. Mr. Kushnariov confirmed that post distribution was not discussed during the consultations. "But if the coalition is created with us, then the prime minister must be the leader of the winning party." Under the Regions Party's coalition agreement, the winning party would get the posts of the prime minister, first vice prime minister, vice prime minister for economic and agricultural matters, and the ministers responsible for budgetary affairs and other principal posts. (Ukrinform)

Yanukovych sees "universal coalition"

KYIV - According to the Regions Party's website, it was reported on April 5 that the leader of the Party of the Regions, Viktor Yanukovych, is pressing for what he calls a "universal coalition," which must incorporate both the pro-presidential forces and the Regions Party. Mr. Yanukovych offered his opinion that, in forming a new government, President Viktor Yushchenko must think about the nation's future and about creating a viable, efficient parliamentary majority, that is, a coalition that would maximally take into account society's prevalent sentiment and which would, figuratively speaking, reflect the configuration of the entire society. (Ukrinform)

Yanukovych: don't repeat 2005 mistake

KYIV - The leader of the Party of the Regions, Viktor Yanukovych, said revival of the "maidan team" is a repeat of the mistake made in 2005 in its worst variant. The ex-prime minister offered that assessment in an article in Zerkalo Nedeli, it was reported on April 10. According to Mr. Yanukovych, attempting to create a coalition, the political opponents of the Party of the Regions urge unification of democratic forces, to which they refer only as the Orange parties. Thus, the Party of the Regions, which practically won the elections and is supported by millions of voters, is declared a priori a "non-democratic force," he said. Unfortunately, Mr. Yanukovych continued, "such calls are aired by the president, too, though he should place himself "above the struggle." Mr. Yanukovych said Ukrainian politicians should move toward establishing an efficient parliamentary majority and "to get rid of all maidan anachronisms." He added, "We won't be able to constructively work for the benefit of the country, if labels keep on being pinned on the Party of the Regions." (Ukrinform)

President signs Chornobyl bill

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko on April 7 signed the bill on "The All-National Program of Overcoming the Chornobyl Disaster for 2006 to 2010," which the Parliament passed on March 14. The program provides for a series of measures in health care and the improvement of social protection for persons who suffered from the Chornobyl disaster, strengthening and maintaining nuclear safety and anti-radiation protection for the population of radiation-polluted areas. On April 26 Ukraine will mark the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian citizens were involved in combating the accident's consequences. As a result of the disaster, 17 countries of Europe, with a general area of 207,500 square kilometers, were polluted with radiation. (Ukrinform)

Chornobyl march slated for Miensk

MIENSK - The Belarusian opposition is planning to stage a march in Miensk on April 26 to mark the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl catastrophe with or without official permission from the city authorities, Belapan reported on April 11, citing opposition leader Alyaksandr Milinkevich. Mr. Milinkevich noted that the march will be a politically charged event, and the release of political prisoners will be high on its agenda. "[The march] should show the Belarusians that there are increasingly more people who are not indifferent, who are able to defend their dignity," he said. "We're beginning a siege of the fortress, an information and mobilization siege. And it is very important for us to know to what extent our civil society is ready to stand up against the regime." In the official application for permission to hold the march, Viktar Ivashkevich, deputy chairman of the Belarusian Popular Front, asked the Miensk City Executive Committee to allow some 1,000 demonstrators to gather on the capital city's October Square at 6 p.m. on April 26, march along Independence Avenue to the National Academy of Sciences and hold a rally there. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine wants to discuss USSR assets

KYIV - The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry has expressed disagreement with the position of Russia, which has refused to discuss with Ukraine issues involving the former USSR's assets located abroad and has stated that Ukraine's claims to them are groundless. In a commentary issued on April 7, the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine stressed that the issues should be resolved on the basis of exhaustive information about the assets and liabilities of the former USSR, underscoring that it has not yet received such information. According to the ministry, the data about the structure of the former USSR's assets and liabilities contained in the documents that were signed in the early 1990s were merely preliminary working data. In particular, according to the ministry, the data do not include the sizes of the currency and diamond reserves of the former USSR and its investments abroad - including the capital of Soviet banks in deposit accounts with foreign banks. According to the ministry, joint work aimed at determining, evaluating and distributing the former USSR's liabilities has not been completed. Moreover, the ministry said that the Ukrainian-Russian intergovernmental agreement of December 9, 1994, on the so-called "zero option" for sharing the former USSR's assets and liabilities does not contain such information. As a result, the Ukrainian Parliament still has not ratified this agreement. At the same time, reports from Russia indicate that the former USSR's real estate assets abroad alone are worth over $400 billion. The Foreign Affairs Ministry stresses that Russia and Ukraine have equal status as the primary inheritors of the former USSR and that Russia's proclamation that it is the "successor state of the USSR" is legal nonsense. The ministry notes that a proposal was again made to Russia in March of this year to continue bilateral consultations on the entire range of issues involving inheritance of the former USSR's assets and liabilities. Thus, Ukraine considers the issue of sharing the former USSR's assets and liabilities an issue that remains open for constructive dialogue. (Ukrinform)

Greens seek new coalition of left

KYIV - The Green Party of Ukraine means to create a coalition of left forces. "We mean to be the new left," said Maryna Bondarenko, the party's press secretary. She stressed that the new coalition "must become the third force to partition the 'blue' and 'orange.' " According to the party spokesperson, the Green Party convened a congress to discuss post-election strategies and to tackle some internal issues. On March 25 some members of the political council of the party decided to discharge Chairman Vitalii Kononov from his position at the head of the party. The 87,000-member-strong party gained 0.54 percent of the ballots, which is 137,845 votes, in the March 26 elections.

New benefits for birth mothers

KYIV - According to Vice Prime Minister Viacheslav Kyrylenko, a governmental committee has endorsed amendments to the procedures for allocating benefits to birth mothers. The amendments provide for paying birth benefits to Ukrainian females who give birth to babies while temporarily abroad. The baby birth allowance is 8,500 hrv (about $1,700 U.S.). Raising these benefits was one of the main points in Viktor Yushchenko's election platform. (Ukrinform)

"Gulag" book presented in Kyiv

KYIV - A translation of American journalist Anne Applebaum's book "Gulag: A History" was presented in Kyiv, reported Ukrinform on April 5. In 2004 the book won the Pulitzer prize. According to different sources, after World War II as many as 2 million Ukrainians were deported to the "Gulag." (Ukrinform)

German experts discuss Chornobyl

BERLIN - On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl disaster, the German Bundestag's Committee on the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety held an open session, with the participation of experts and public figures. Between 600,000 and 1 million persons may be regarded as victims of the Chornobyl disaster, according to a member of the non-governmental organization International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Angelica Claussen. She added that some 100,000 persons have died from illnesses caused by the nuclear blast. She argued that the figure of 4,000 Chornobyl victims, which was cited by a 2005 report issued by the United Nations, is bogus. According to the Bundestag Environment Committee's Vice-Chairperson Eva Bulling-Schroeter, a group of Bundestag members was supposed to travel to Ukraine to learn the true situation in the Chornobyl zone. Some 900 Chornobyl NGOs operate in Germany, aiding Chornobyl victims to the tune of 20 million euros annually. Since 1998 the German government has contributed 60.5 million euros to Ukraine through the Foundation of the Protection of Chornobyl, of which 12.4 million euros were allotted in December 2005 for the construction of a new sarcophagus at the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. (Ukrinform)

McCain calls for tougher line

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a vocal critic of many of President Vladimir Putin's policies, said in Washington on April 2 that the "glimmerings of democracy are very faint in Russia today" and that the United States should take a tough response to those policies, news agencies reported. He stressed that Mr. Putin has repressed the Russian media, backed the authoritarian rule of Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka and not cooperated with Washington on the Iranian nuclear issue. Sen. McCain repeated his earlier call to President George W. Bush not to attend the summit of the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries in St. Petersburg in July. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Bush will not boycott G-8 summit

WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush said at the Washington offices of Freedom House on March 29 that he wants to attend the Group of Eight (G-8) industrialized countries summit in St. Petersburg in July because he fears that shunning President Vladimir Putin to protest his foreign and domestic policies would be counterproductive, strana.ru and mosnews.com reported. "I need to be in a position where I can sit down with [Putin] and be very frank about our concerns," Mr. Bush added. He noted that unnamed members of Russian human rights groups have told him in the past that their "universal consensus ... is that it is important for the United States to be in a position to be able to express our concerns" to the Russian authorities. The president added that leaders of unnamed other countries often ask him to "pass a message for me" to the Russians at top-level U.S.-Russian meetings. He said that he has not "given up" hope on democracy in Russia. U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Andrei Illarionov, who recently resigned as economic adviser to Mr. Putin, have called on Mr. Bush not to attend the summit. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine wants to serve on rights council

KYIV - Ukraine is among a score of nations seeking membership in the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was established last month. The council's members will be elected at a U.N. General Assembly session on May 9. Ukraine, being one of the U.N.'s co-founders, is a member of many U.N. institutions, including ECOSOC, the Commission for Human Rights, the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Statistics Commission, the UNICEF Executive Committee and other bodies. Ukraine was thrice elected as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. In 1997 Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko of Ukraine was elected president of the 52nd session of the U.N. General Assembly. (Ukrinform)

Gas, electricity tariffs to be raised

KYIV - The government on March 30 decided to increase the price of gas for the general population and state-supported organizations by 25 percent as of May 1, the UNIAN news service reported. In May, individual consumers will have to pay 220 hrv ($43), while budget-subsidized organizations will pay 360 hrv ($71) per 1,000 cubic meters of gas. The government also increased the price of electricity for individual consumers by 25 percent as of May. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 16, 2006, No. 16, Vol. LXXIV

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