[Ohio UZO News] Economist; EDM; State Dep't; Time magazine ( Putin on Ukraine)

[Deychak, Orest]

Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  

Veselykh Svyat!

 

Orest, Orysia, Natalie and Olesyk 

 

Economist

Ukraine's government 

Return of the orange princess

Dec 19th 2007 | MOSCOW 
>From The Economist print edition


Yulia Tymoshenko wins a second chance



IT WAS a telling contrast. Just one day after President Vladimir Putin
more or less appointed himself Russia's next prime minister, the Rada
(parliament) in Kiev chose in a free vote to make Yulia Tymoshenko
Ukraine's prime minister. It also exposed the fallacy that post-Soviet
Slav countries cannot be democratic. 

AFP

 

Yes, I have my majority-at last

Ukraine has been cited by the Kremlin as an example of democratic
turbulence to be avoided. Russian television has gloated over Ukraine's
chaotic politics, pointing up the advantages of Russia's stable system,
in which decisions are taken by the Kremlin and rubber-stamped by the
Duma. Ukraine's politics have been messy ever since the orange
revolution of late 2004, when Viktor Yushchenko became president. 

Yet for all the disillusion in the orange camp, Ukrainians gave it one
more chance in the parliamentary election on September 30th. Ms
Tymoshenko's party did well, taking votes from the Party of the Regions
led by Viktor Yanukovich, the outgoing prime minister. With the
pro-Yushchenko Our Ukraine block, Ms Tymoshenko had enough seats to push
out the Party of the Regions. But it took two months for her to form a
coalition. Nerves were further frayed on December 11th, when the
electronic voting system failed to register two votes for Ms Tymoshenko.
But on December 18th the parliament at last backed Ms Tymoshenko, by a
one-vote margin. 

The good news is that Ukraine has proved itself to be a genuine
democracy, with a fierce competition for power and now a functioning
opposition. As one Russian oligarch notes, Ukrainian politicians have
tried it all to win power: election-rigging in 2004, money to bribe
politicians to switch sides in 2005-06 and now democracy. 

Ms Tymoshenko and Mr Yushchenko have been here before. He made her prime
minister in early 2005, only to fire her months later. She blames her
failure on the fact that she did not have her own team and was
undermined by Mr Yushchenko's friends. Now she is in a stronger position
and has already shaped her own cabinet. She promises judicial and
economic reform, more open government and an end to murky intermediaries
in the gas trade with Russia. But some pledges may be impossible to
deliver.

Her first challenge is to keep the orange coalition together. The Our
Ukraine block consists of ten parties. Some of Mr Yushchenko's
supporters cannot stand Ms Tymoshenko. Mr Yushchenko may feel
justifiably threatened by her as a potential presidential candidate in
2009. But to be credible, Ms Tymoshenko must tame her populist
instincts. In a presidential election she will be judged on her record
as prime minister. If the orange coalition fails to modernise and reform
Ukraine, it would betray those who three years ago helped stage the
orange revolution in the snow of Kiev. It would also set a bad example
for other ex-Soviet republics-and give even more cause for Russian
gleefulness. 

Eurasia Daily Monitor

TYMOSHENKO CABINET GETS DOWN TO WORK

December 20, 2007
 
The coalition of President Viktor Yushchenko's Our Ukraine - People's
Self-Defense (NUNS) and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) succeeded in
electing Tymoshenko as prime minister on Tuesday, December 18. The
coalition appointed her cabinet on the same day. Tymoshenko promised to
review gas accords with Russia, find "understanding" with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, and establish normal relations with the
opposition. Viktor Yanukovych, whom Tymoshenko replaced, predicted that
her government would not be effective and may not last longer than in
2005, when she became prime minister for the first time in the wake of
the Orange Revolution.
 
Tymoshenko was backed by 226 votes from the NUNS-BYuT coalition in the
450-seat legislature. As on December 11, when she mustered only 225
votes, the opposition caucuses of Yanukovych's Party of Regions (PRU),
the Lytvyn Bloc, and the Communists did not cast a single vote in her
favor (see EDM, December 13). Tymoshenko was not sure of her election on
December 18 either. The coalition numbers 227 deputies, one of whom did
not turn up because of illness, and another one - Yuriy Yekhanurov, who
succeeded Tymoshenko as prime minister in 2005 - said he would not back
Tymoshenko. Only personal intervention from Yushchenko, who phoned
Yekhanurov and persuaded him to change his point of view, prevented
Tymoshenko from falling short again.

Faults in the "Rada" electronic voting system were blamed for
Tymoshenko's fiasco last week. This time deputies voted on Tymoshenko by
a show of hands, so as to prevent a single vote from being missed. This
cumbersome procedure was used also for the subsequent approval of
Tymoshenko's cabinet. It was backed by 227 votes, one more than
Tymoshenko received. Former parliament speaker Ivan Pliushch, a
dissenter from NUNS who refused to either join the coalition or support
Tymoshenko, changed his mind this time.

As expected, the defense portfolio went to Yekhanurov; the pro-Western
diplomat Volodymyr Ohryzko became foreign minister; Yuriy Lutsenko
returned to the post of interior minister, and Tymoshenko's right-hand
man, Oleksandr Turchynov, became first deputy prime minister (see EDM,
December 13). Turchynov said he will supervise the law-enforcement
bodies, finance, and the economy. The entire economic and energy block
in the cabinet went to BYuT people. NUNS representatives will tackle
mostly humanitarian matters. The health and education portfolios went to
the fathers of two young NUNS deputies, which may prompt fresh
accusations of nepotism, which plagued Tymoshenko's first cabinet.
 
Tymoshenko left one chair in her cabinet vacant, apparently for somebody
from either the PRU or Lytvyn Bloc. The new cabinet has fewer deputy
prime ministers than Yanukovych's, and Tymoshenko said that the vacant
position would be filled "in the future" for the sake of "an expanded
democratic coalition."

Hours after her approval by parliament, Tymoshenko said that her first
steps will include a review of the gas trade accords with Russia, a
review of the draft state budget for 2008, and the adoption of a law on
the opposition.

"My position has not changed: there should be no intermediaries on the
gas market," she said, meaning RosUkrEnergo, an intermediary from which
Ukraine has been buying a mixture of Russian and Central Asian gas since
early 2006. Tymoshenko said she wants to launch new gas talks with
Russia as soon as possible. She added that Ukraine will be a reliable
partner for the EU in gas transit. Russian gas supplies to the EU were
seriously affected by disagreements over prices between Ukraine and
Russia in early 2006.

Tymoshenko said that she hopes to find "mutual understanding" with
Putin. Asked about Putin's choice as his successor, Dmitry Medvedev,
Tymoshenko said that she could not comment, as she does not know
Medvedev well enough.

Yanukovych declared that his PRU will be in opposition to Tymoshenko's
cabinet and promised to set up a "shadow cabinet" to "watch the
government." He predicted that the numerical weakness of the NUNS-BYuT
coalition would not allow it to exist for long. Yanukovych also said
that her election promises were too unrealistic to be fulfilled. He
probably meant the promises to reimburse Ukrainians for the
multi-billion dollars in savings lost in the Soviet Savings Bank within
two years and to cancel military conscription from 2008. Many people in
NUNS, including Yekhanurov, Lutsenko, and Yushchenko himself, also doubt
this is possible.

Subsequent votes of the coalition may not be as unanimous as for
Tymoshenko and her cabinet. One of the NUNS leaders, former foreign
minister Borys Tarasyuk, warned that NUNS might split. He complained of
interference in the coalition's matters by the head of Yushchenko's
secretariat, Viktor Baloha. He said that a group of NUNS deputies were
unhappy with the choice of agriculture minister Yuriy Melnyk, the only
member of the Yanukovych's cabinet who will continue to serve under
Tymoshenko. Tarasyuk hinted that Melnyk's candidacy was imposed by
Baloha.
 
(Ukrayinska pravda, Channel 5, Rada TV, UNIAN, December 18; Segodnya,
December 19)
 

--Pavel Korduban

State Department

Daily Press Briefing
Tom Casey, Deputy Spokesman
Washington, DC
December 19, 2007

Excerpt on Ukraine:

QUESTION: Russia's President Vladimir Putin today in his interview with
Time Magazine accused the United States in destroying what -- destroying
Ukraine by dividing its people into pro-Russian and pro-Western sides
and by supporting the so-called Orange Revolution forces. Do you have
any comments on that?

MR. CASEY: Well, the United States position consistently has been to
support the Ukrainian people and their desire to have a stronger and
more transparent and open democracy. The Ukrainian people, of course,
make the choices as to who they elect for president or for parliament.

We noted yesterday and we're pleased to see that now, sometime after the
election, Ukraine does now have a new government and we look forward to
working with it. We certainly would hope and expect that Ukraine would
have good relations not only with the United States and with countries
in Western Europe, but with Russia as well.

I think it's everyone's expectation that Russia, as a neighbor and as a
close trading partner, will have relations that are positive and
productive with Ukraine, and we certainly want to see that happen.

Time Magazine

Excerpt dealing with Ukraine and other former republics from December 12
Time Magazine Putin interview:

TIME: Let's talk more about how Russia interacts with the former Soviet
republics. 

PUTIN: As I've said, I believe the collapse of the Soviet Union was a
tragedy, but what happened happened. I believe that we should build our
relations with the former Soviet republics on the basis of absolute
equality. Through this approach, we can embark on a process of economic
integration, realizing our natural competitive edge in the global
economy. We have a common energy system. Electricity. We have a common
transportation system. Like in the European Union, we do not have to
invent the rules of use of national languages. We have a lingua franca
in the former Soviet Union, Russian. We have many other things that
bring us together. Many economies, many industries are not able to
sustain themselves without relying on countries like Ukraine, Belarus,
Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics. I believe that we must
build our relations based on those principles. 

TIME: What about some of the conflicts you've had with the former Soviet
republics on gas prices? 

PUTIN: What conflicts? There are world prices, international prices for
gas. And we sell gas to everyone at world market prices. Why should we
sell to anyone below the world market prices? Do Americans sell to
anyone below the market price? Could you come to a store in the United
States and ask, well, I'm from Canada, we Canadians are close neighbors,
give me that Chrysler at half price. What would you hear from the
salesman? Go away! 

TIME: Well, if I were California I might sell gas at a discount to
Nevada, to benefit a neighboring state. 

PUTIN: I believe that this is a violation of the market principles,
damaging the economies in question. Within Russia, we've adopted a
program of reaching the world price levels for domestic consumption. Any
other approach would distort economic indicators and economies, making
one sector dependent on other sectors, leading to cross-subsidies and
destroying the economy. We do understand the difficulties of our
partners. For 15 years, we were selling them energy resources way below
the market prices subsidized to the tune of $3 billion to $5 billion a
year for Ukraine. This cannot last forever. The Europeans are always
criticizing us. They want us to introduce international pricing
standards. Otherwise, they say, our enterprises would enjoy an unfair
advantage over European enterprises. So within the country we should
sell at world prices while to our neighbors we should sell below the
world prices? This is discrimination. Let's be frank and speak directly
and call a spade a spade. What I'm about to say is not aggressive in any
way, but I urge you to be frank. The United States somehow decided that
part of the political elite in Ukraine is pro-American and part is
pro-Russian, and they decided to support the ones they consider
pro-American, the so-called orange coalition. Well, O.K., you decided to
support them. Do as you please, although we don't believe it's right. Of
course, they have people with different outlooks there and with
different political tastes, but as I've already mentioned, if a
politician wants to be popular, he or she must protect the national
interests first of all, be Ukrainian nationalists in the good sense of
this word. And they are. They are not pro-Russians. They are not
pro-Europeans. They are not pro-Americans. They are all pro-Ukrainians,
but somehow Americans divided them all into pro- this or that. We
believe that is a mistake. Let them settle their issues themselves.
Everything that's been done there is unconstitutional, which has created
distrust among various political groups and citizens, thus undermining
Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and economy. That's what
the United States has done and is doing in Ukraine and in Georgia. What
we say is, leave them alone, without choosing sides. When everyone saw
that destabilization was under way in Ukraine, they tried to force
Russia to subsidize the Ukrainian economy at our expense. Why? If you
want to support someone, you pay for it. Nobody wants to pay. In this
room, I once discussed this with a European politician and I said, you
pay for it, and he replied, am I an idiot? Well, I'm not an idiot
either. One has to look at the real problem. We should not be guided by
generalities, and the situation prevailing there is very dangerous in my
view. Everything must be done to consolidate society, consolidate the
country. Strategically, it would be right that the pro-Russian,
pro-Western groups would unite and think about the future of their own
country and create such a power structure that would only further
consolidate the nation rather than divide it among the Westerners,
Southerners or Easterners, or whatever. What is happening now is a
movement toward further destruction, which is a pity because Ukraine is
very close to us and because almost half of the population have either
friends or relatives in Russia. There are 17 million ethnic Russians
there, officially. Almost 100% of the people consider Russian as their
mother tongue. 

TIME: Do you think Ukraine will ever again become part of Russia? 

PUTIN: Of course not. We don't want it. We do not want to include anyone
into Russia again because for us it would only bring an additional
economic burden. We want to realize our national competitive advantage
in the world economy. We can only speak of economic integration. It's
quite useless to try to force upon anyone new state structures without
the will of the relevant people. In the modern world, it's not even
necessary. Look at Europe, where national borders are no longer as
important as they used to be. 

 




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