[Ohio UZO News] CSCE Press Release; EDM; FT

[Deychak, Orest]

 <http://www.csce.gov> Helsinki Commission News

 


234 Ford House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-6460
Rep. Alcee L. Hastings, Chairman
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, Co-Chairman
For Immediate Release

www.csce.gov <http://www.csce.gov> 
Media Contact: Fred Turner
202.225.1901
February 7, 2007

 



NEW CHAIRMAN AND CO-CHAIRMAN APPOINTED TO THE COMMISSION ON SECURITY AND
COOPERATION IN EUROPE


Experienced Commissioners Take Up New Leadership Posts for the 110th
Congress


(Washington) - Representative Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) has been appointed by
the Speaker of the House of Representatives to serve as chairman of the
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Commission), and Senator
Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) has been appointed by the President of the United
States Senate to serve as co-chairman of the Commission for the 110th
Congress. 

The first African-American to chair the Commission, Chairman Hastings brings
considerable international experience to the leadership post, having served
on the Commission since 2001 and in a variety of other assignments involving
foreign policy and intelligence during his congressional career. 

"My leadership role at the Commission will provide me with an important
platform from which to increase security, broaden economic development and
bolster respect for human rights, with the ultimate aim of upholding the
dignity of each person," said Mr. Hastings. "Through engagement at home and
abroad, I hope to forge partnerships that will translate the historic
Helsinki commitments into concrete deeds. I will speak out when
circumstances warrant, and I will also listen to those seeking to be heard."


Chairman Hastings has held several leadership positions, including
president, of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (PA), an inter-parliamentary
body bringing together parliamentarians from the 56 OSCE countries. Rep.
Hastings currently serves as president emeritus of the OSCE PA and also
serves as the Special Representative on Mediterranean Affairs. In addition,
Chairman Hastings has lead OSCE International Election Observation Missions
to Azerbaijan, Belarus and Ukraine. 

Co-Chairman Cardin has been a strong advocate when it comes to core
principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law. As a Congressman,
Mr. Cardin, served on the Commission from 1993 to 2006. His extensive work
in the field of international trade has given him a unique perspective on
the interrelationship between the human, economic and security dimensions of
the OSCE. He has also been an outspoken advocate of justice and the rule of
law in responding to post-conflict situations. 

"I believe that everyone - both in America and around the world - deserves
to live with dignity, free of oppression and discrimination," said Sen.
Cardin. "Unfortunately, too many people still live under a dark cloud of
abuse, torture and intimidation. We need to give these ethnic and religious
minorities a voice and draw the world's attention to their plight. I am
proud to continue leading the Helsinki Commission in its mission to advance
basic human rights and economic opportunity to people around the world." 
Senator Cardin currently serves as a vice president of the OSCE PA, having
earlier held several leadership posts in that body, including chairman of
the General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and
Environment. 

The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine
members from the U.S. House of Representatives, and one member each from the
Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce. The positions of Chair and
Co-Chair are shared by the House and Senate and rotate every two years, when
a new Congress convenes. 

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S.
Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the U.S. Government charged
with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Final Act and other commitments
of the 56 participating States in the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). 

                                                                     # # # 

(Note:  Both the new Chair and Co-Chair are no strangers to Ukraine, and
have traveled there officially in the last few years -- Rep. Hastings as
President of the OSCE PA for the December 2004 and March 2006 elections, and
Sen. Cardin as part of a Helsinki Commission Congressional delegation
together with former Chairman Rep. Chris Smith in February 2005. OD)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Eurasia Daily Monitor, The Jamestown Foundation
February 7, 2007 -- Volume 4, Issue 27
 
UKRAINE BARS RUSSIAN-PROPOSED ALIENATION OF NATIONAL GAS TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Russian President Vladimir Putin's February 1 call to "unite" Ukraine' gas
transit system with that of Russia has strongly backfired. In Kyiv,
opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko initiated and the Verkhovna Rada adopted
almost unanimously on February 6 a law banning any form of alienation of
Ukraine's pipelines and other assets of the national company Naftohaz
Ukrainy.

Putin had stated in his annual news conference (Kremlin.ru, February 1) that
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and the government of Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych favored sharing control of Ukraine's transit pipelines
through a consortium or similar deal with Russia, in return for Ukrainian
"access" to oil and gas extraction projects on Russian territory. Presenting
this idea as a Ukrainian proposal, Putin disclosed that it would figure on
the agenda of Yushchenko's upcoming visit to Russia. Putin omitted to say
that one extractive project under consideration for this deal, in Russia's
Astrakhan oblast, has Dmytro Firtash as its main owner. Firtash fronts as
the main shareholder in the purportedly Ukrainian half of Gazprom's offshoot
RosUkrEnergo.

Putin's apparently calculated bean-spilling proved premature and forced
Kyiv's proponents of this deal on the defensive politically. The
Tymoshenko-initiated bill garnered 430 votes, with none opposed, in the
450-seat Rada.

The law bans any deals that would involve the sale, transfer, merger, joint
venture, concession, lease, putting up as collateral, joint, or trust
management, mortgaging, and any change in the status of ownership or control
of Ukraine's gas transport system and other Naftohaz assets. It also
stipulates that Naftohaz may not be declared bankrupt. The law would only
allow transfer of Naftohaz assets hypothetically to an entity that would be
100% state-owned.

Government members who apparently have been conducting talks on the issue
with Russia seek to relativize the new law's significance. First Deputy
Prime Minister and Finance Minister Mykola Azarov, Deputy Prime Minister
responsible for energy Andriy Kluyev, and Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy
Boyko (all from the Party of Regions) cite existing legislation that bars
"privatization" and "change of ownership" of Ukraine's gas transit system.
Thus they seek to portray the new law as redundant. However, the new law is
far more comprehensive and closes all possible avenues for alienating these
national Ukrainian assets to Russia.

The government's pro-Russian elements are clearly aware of the new law's
significance, as could be seen in Azarov's televised interview in Kyiv (in
Russian throughout) angrily terming the law "stupid" and its rationale "a
lie." In two separate interviews Azarov defended the proposed "gas transport
consortium" and "joint management" of Ukraine's pipelines with Russia. More
cautiously and ambiguously, Kluyev told the Rada before the vote that the
government has "no plans at this time to turn the gas transport system over
to Russia, to the European Union, to Belarus, or to anyone." Thanks to
Putin's indiscretion and Tymoshenko's initiative, however, the political
atmosphere made it impossible even for pro-Russian deputies to stop the
passage of the law.

Yet ambiguities persist even among some pro-presidential groups and
Yushchenko himself. Following Putin's statement, which had credited him with
what Putin termed this "revolutionary" idea, Yushchenko confined himself to
a brief comment calling for a cautious, go-slow approach (Interfax-Ukraine,
February 3). After the parliament's vote, Anatoliy Kinakh -- chairman of the
Rada's national security and defense committee and leader of the Party of
Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, a component of the pro-presidential Our
Ukraine -- clearly hinted to the press that he favors "joint management"
with Russia of Ukraine's gas transit system. Kinakh had taken this position
also while serving as Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council
during the December 2005-January 2006 gas crisis. This time around, he
additionally suggests inviting unspecified "European countries" as well as
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan to the proposed Russia-Ukraine gas
transport consortium.

The law comes none to soon, as bilateral discussions are ongoing about ways
and forms of shared Russian-Ukrainian control over Ukraine's gas transit
system.  Putin and Yushchenko expect to meet in March in Russia, and an
intergovernmental group is due to work out specific proposals in this
regard. This law gives Ukraine breathing space to interest the European
Union (not Germany in its national capacity) to become involved in the
modernization of Ukraine's gas transit system in the EU's own interest.

(Interfax-Ukraine, UNIAN, Channel 5 TV (Kyiv), One Plus One TV (Kyiv),
February 5, 6) 

--Vladimir Socor


(Way to go, Verkhovna Rada! OD)


 
Financial Times

Ukraine safeguards control of pipeline


By Roman Olearchyk 

Published: February 7 2007 02:00 

Legislators in Ukraine, a main transit route for Russian fuel supplies to
Europe, passed a law yesterday safeguarding state control over the country's
vast gas pipeline transportation system.

The law is a barrier to Moscow's ambitions for gaining control of pipelines
responsible for pumping Russian supplies to Europe.

Russia's Gazprom is seeking ownership or management rights over pipelines in
transit countries, including Ukraine.

The legislation was passed amid fears in Kiev that the governing coalition
had offered Moscow a stake in the pipeline in return for hydrocarbon
production assets in Russia.

 

 

 

 

 

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