NEWSBRIEFS

Coalition expected by end of May

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko is concerned over the long process of coalition-forming and the "fuss" surrounding it, presidential press secretary Iryna Heraschenko told a news briefing on May 17. She said the president is ready to meet with "the coalition three," but only if an integral draft coalition agreement is ready. "The president knows that every political force has its own parcel of documents on the future political agreement. The president is confident that each of them has reasonable ideas, but he asks the coalition participants to take care about creating an integral document," she said. According to Ms. Heraschenko, President Yushchenko is still optimistic about the coalition. "He believes all disputed issues will be settled and the coalition will be formed by the end of May and Ukraine will have a new government within the first 10 days of June." The presidential spokeswoman confirmed that the president had met with Yulia Tymoshenko, Roman Bezsmertnyi and Yurii Yekhanurov in the past two days, but Socialist Party representatives failed to participate in the meetings. Party of the Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych didn't take part in the meetings, but Messrs. Yushchenko and Yanukovych probably spoke via telephone, she added. (Ukrinform)

How many coalition drafts are there?

KYIV - Socialist Party Secretary Yosyp Vinskyi told journalists on May 15 that the three allies of the 2004 Orange Revolution coalition - the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, the Socialist Party and Our Ukraine - have agreed on a draft coalition agreement on forming a new government following the March 26 parliamentary elections and will sign it "in the coming few days," Interfax-Ukraine and the Ukrayinska Pravda website reported. According to Mr. Vinskyi, the draft agreement stipulates that the Tymoshenko Bloc will receive 50 percent of the government posts, the Socialist Party one-seventh of them, and Our Ukraine the remainder. Meanwhile, Our Ukraine spokesman Tetiana Mokridi said on May 16 that Our Ukraine continues working on a coalition accord, but she failed to explain how this accord is related to that mentioned by Mr. Vinskyi. Moreover, Kommersant-Ukraine on May 16 quoted Roman Zvarych of Our Ukraine as saying that the bloc is working on its own coalition document. "Yes, Vinskyi has handed me something in a red file, but I don't know what precisely. We have our own draft agreement prepared," Mr. Zvarych said. (RFE/RL Newsline)

President: Orange-Blue coalition is out

KYIV - President Viktor Yushchenko said in an interview in the May 12 issue of the Warsaw-based Gazeta Wyborcza that he does not foresee the creation of an "Orange-Blue" governing coalition between the Our Ukraine bloc and the Party of the Regions. "The best option is an Orange coalition [of Our Ukraine, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party]," Mr. Yushchenko said. "It is possible that the Party of the Regions will support us in some situations. ... But an Orange-Blue coalition is excluded today." Mr. Yushchenko added that he does not rule out that Ms. Tymoshenko may once again assume the post of prime minister. The president stressed that future coalition partners, before forming a Cabinet of Ministers, should agree on a "common strategy" regarding reprivatization, the status of veterans of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the status of the Russian language in Ukraine and European integration. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Rada to convene May 25

KYIV - The new Ukrainian Parliament of the fifth convocation, which was elected on March 26, will convene its first sitting on May 25. The decision was passed at a May 15 meeting of the deputies' working group charged with preparations of the first session of the Verkhovna Rada. (Ukrinform)

Naftohaz head is sacked

KYIV - A meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on May 11 dismissed Oleksander Ivchenko from the post of the head of Naftohaz, Ukraine's state-run gas-transportation monopoly, Ukrainian media reported. Mr. Ivchenko, who headed Naftohaz since March 2005, reportedly asked to be relieved from his post in order to take up a parliamentary seat. Under Ukrainian legislation, national deputies cannot hold government or corporate posts. Mr. Ivchenko was Ukraine's key negotiator in a January gas deal with Gazprom, under which the price of gas imported by Ukraine in 2006 rose to $95 per 1,000 cubic meters. Gazprom officials have already signaled that they want to raise this price again in the second half of 2006. Meanwhile, in an interview with the Kyiv-based business weekly Kontrakty on May 11, President Viktor Yushchenko reiterated his stance that the gas price agreed to in January will last five years. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Poll: Regions preferred in coalition

KYIV - A recent poll has found that 42 percent of Ukrainians favor the participation of the Party of the Regions led by former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in a future governing coalition, while 35 percent of Ukrainians say such a coalition should be a replica of the Orange Revolution alliance and include just the Our Ukraine bloc, the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc and the Socialist Party, Interfax-Ukraine reported on May 10. The poll was conducted on April 14-30 among 2,038 respondents by the Kyiv Center of Political Studies and Conflict Studies jointly with the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukrainian hacker found guilty in U.S.

WASHINGTON - A San Francisco court found Ukrainian citizen Maksym Vysochansky guilty of computer crimes and sentenced him to three years of imprisonment, reported Ukrinform's Washington-based correspondent, Natalia Bukvych, citing the U.S. Justice Department's press service. Mr. Vysochansky, also known as Kovalchuk, since 2000 had been engaged in selling unlicensed software via the Internet, including such popular software as Adobe, Autodesk, Borland and Microsoft. He was also found guilty of a series of computer crimes against American banks and money laundering. He was arrested in 2003 in Thailand, where he was vacationing. On March 26, 2004, he was extradited to the U.S. For more than two years the case had been investigated by a special group combating electronic crime that was staffed by U.S. Secret Service agents and other officials. (Ukrinform)

Quitting CIS not on agenda

KYIV - Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk, citing recent reports in the Ukrainian press that Ukraine might soon quit the CIS, as well as commentaries by Russian politicians on the topic, told journalists in Kyiv on May 11 that, at present, Ukraine's withdrawal from the CIS is not on the agenda. "Nobody passed a decision on quitting the CIS," Mr. Tarasyuk said, adding that the situation is being analyzed and consultations are being held. He noted that Ukraine is pressing for efficient cooperation within the framework of the CIS, but, unfortunately, "Ukrainian initiatives, which are important for citizens of CIS countries, meet no support." According to Mr. Tarasyuk, this proves the ineffectiveness of the CIS as an institution. (Ukrinform)

Ministry focuses on study of WWII

KYIV - In order to provide an objective account of World War II in Ukrainian textbooks, Education and Science Minister Stanislav Nikolayenko on May 11 signed a decree on the formation of a working group within his ministry. The working group, together with the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences, the Education and Science Ministry's relevant departments, the Institute of Innovation Technologies and Education and the scientific commission of the Education and Science Ministry are to introduce amendments aimed at proper study of the second world war in schools and institutions of higher education. (Ukrinform)

Monument planned to honor Mace

KYIV - The Kyiv City Hall on May 6 sent a draft directive to the Cabinet of Ministers on erecting a monument in Kyiv to American scholar and historian James Mace. The expenses are expected to be paid by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Dr. Mace was born in Muscogee, Oklahoma, on February 18, 1952. In 1983-1986 he and Dr. Robert Conquest collected materials for the "Harvest of Sorrow," widely viewed as the most important historical work about the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine. Dr. Mace devoted a number of research papers to the topic of the Famine. Dr. Mace was staff director of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine, whose final report stated the Great Famine of 1932-1933 was genocide perpetrated by the Soviet regime against the people of Ukraine. In 1993 Dr. Mace moved to Ukraine. He lectured at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy before his death in 2004. (Ukrinform)

Rukh aims to create new party

KYIV - The National Rukh of Ukraine has initiated the establishment of a single right-center party aimed at participation in the next presidential, parliamentary and local elections, it was reported on May 10. The NRU has invited national-democratic parties to unite in the new party. According to the NRU statement, the party should create a standing coordinating body of member-parties' leaders. The future party must work out and actively press for implementation of a common program of protection of Ukraine's interests. The NRU was established in September 1989. Between 1989 and 1991 the NRU was a central organization of the national Ukrainian democratic movement, led by Vyacheslav Chornovil, who died in a car accident in 1999. Presently, the National Rukh of Ukraine is a member of the pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine bloc and is led by Foreign Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk. (Ukrinform)

Archeologists to search Black Sea

KYIV - The scientific and research ship Endeavor of the Institute of Archeological Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island has arrived in the port of Sevastopol. Ukrainian and American archeologists congregated aboard to perform archeological excavations in the Black Sea in search of World War II antiques. As noted by Volodymyr Kyrychenko of the State Department of Underwater Heritage of the Institute of Archeology of Ukraine, the inclusion of the Endeavor in the Pontic Expedition 2006 will take research to a new level, as there is now an opportunity to perform dives to the depth of 3,000 meters. According to Mr. Kyrychenko, the ship will investigate the Antique Epoch, the Middle Ages and the Second World War. The venue of excavations stretches from Khersones bay in Sevastopol to the Bosphorus and from Sarych cape in Crimea to Sinop cape in Turkey. The expedition aims to gather information on World War II-era ships, such as the Armenia, Lenin, Kharkiv, Blameless, Merciless, Gifted and the Dzerzhinski. The expedition is scheduled to last through May 23. (Ukrinform)

New project about Holocaust victims

KYIV - Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial complex in early May launched an international project on Holocaust victims in Ukraine. The Yad Vashem staff has developed a special questionnaire, the so-called "Witness Letter." According to Deutsche Welle, the letter can be filled out by anybody who possesses information about murdered Jews. The form requests the name, address, date of birth, education and dwelling place of the victim, said Borys Maftsyr, project director. The completed letters should be sent to Yad Vashem or given to local Jewish communities. Naomi Ben-Ami, Israeli ambassador to Ukraine, said that close collaboration in the search for victims has been established between the two countries. "We have always worked with archives. We have wonderful relations, so there shouldn't be any difficulties with the gathering of information," she said. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

New bishop ordained for Drohobych

DROHOBYCH - The episcopal ordination of Father Yaroslav Pryriz took place in Drohobych, Lviv Oblast, on April 29. On March 2 Pope Benedict XVI named him auxiliary bishop for the Sambir-Drohobych Eparchy of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC). Patriarch Lubomyr Husar, head of the UGCC, was the principal ordainer. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Kostenko now a vice minister

KYIV - According to the government's website, Yurii Kostenko, former ambassador to Japan, has been appointed vice minister of foreign affairs. On March 24 President Viktor Yushchenko relieved Mr. Kostenko of his ambassadorial position. Mr. Kostenko had been Ukraine's envoy to Japan since January 2001. In December 2004 he was appointed Ukraine's ambassador to the Philippines, combining the two ambassadorial posts. (Ukrinform)

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 21, 2006, No. 21, Vol. LXXIV

| Home Page |