[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: State Dep't; AP; CT; EDM; KP; Kommersant

[Deychak, Orest]

U.S. Department of State

Daily Press Briefing
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC
July 16, 2008

Excerpt:

...QUESTION: Russia's foreign policy document which has been approved by
President Medvedev said that Russia maintains its negative position
towards NATO plan to grant Ukraine and Georgia NATO membership. What do
you think? How difficult will it be after this for Georgia and the
Ukraine to get membership action plans in December?

 

MR. MCCORMACK: Well, NATO - NATO, at the summit in Bucharest that
President Bush attended, made very clear its position on MAP and
eventual membership for Ukraine and Georgia. I don't think they could
have been clearer. It was a very strong statement. And while there is a
NATO-Russia Council, and again, we as well as other members of NATO
consult closely with Russia, they don't have a vote. So it will be the
position of NATO members to decide when to extend MAP status, when to
extend membership status to any of the states....

 

Chicago Tribune

No extradition in poisoning; Russia won't release key figure in case,
officials say 

17 July 2008

Chicago Final

13

KIEV, UKRAINE

Ukrainian officials say Russia has refused to extradite a key figure in
the investigation into the dioxin poisoning that disfigured and nearly
killed President Viktor Yushchenko.

Ukraine has asked Russia to hand over Volodymyr Satsyuk, the former
deputy chief of Ukraine's security service. He is also wanted for
suspected abuse of office in a separate probe.

A prosecutors' spokesman said Wednesday that Russia's Prosecutor
General's Office has declined to hand Satsyuk over because he holds
Russian as well as Ukrainian citizenship. The Russian prosecutor's
office could not be reached for comment.

Yushchenko, who was an opposition leader at the time, fell severely ill
during the 2004 presidential election campaign after dining with Satsyuk
and his boss, national security service chief Ihor Smeshko. Satsyuk has
denied allegations that poisoning was administered at that dinner and
has accused Yushchenko of concealing information.

Associated Press

Ukraine Orange Troubles; Ukraine ruling coalition heading toward
collapse 

By MARIA DANILOVA 

Associated Press Writer

17 July 2008

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - The hero and heroine of the Orange Revolution are
once again on the brink of divorce. And it's ordinary Ukrainians who are
paying the price.

In the seven months since President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko reunited in a coalition government with vows to carry
out crucial reforms, they have spent more time sniping at each other
than governing.

Experts say the question isn't if, but rather when the coalition will
collapse.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians are having to tighten their belts to cope with 30
percent inflation -- the highest in Europe. Economic progress has been
hampered by rampant corruption and the lack of judicial, land and other
reforms.

"It's hard to imagine how could it be worse. They simply haven't done
anything. It's been a political crisis," said political analyst Ivan
Lozowy.

The country's top two officials were allies when they led the 2004
pro-democracy protests that shook this former Soviet republic loose from
the grip of Russian influence and launched often chaotic democracy for
its 46 million people.

While they share a common vision of a more Western-leaning Ukraine, the
bookish, careful Yushchenko and the glamorous, impetuous Tymoshenko are
seen as likely opponents in the 2010 presidential election and they have
sought to undermine each other at every turn.

The sense of disappointment over broken promises of prosperity and quick
European Union integration has devastated Yushchenko's popularity -- his
support ratings in polls have sunk below 10 percent. Tymoshenko has
dropped from 30 percent to 20 percent.

Their rivalry has severely strained the governing coalition. Last month,
two lawmakers quit the alliance, threatening its ability to hold on to
the narrowest-possible majority in parliament.

Most experts believe Yushchenko and Tymoshenko will replace the
defectors and restore the minimum of 226 lawmakers needed to keep the
coalition in power. But the experts still don't expect the government to
last beyond the fall.

Analysts predict Yushchenko may call yet another early parliamentary
election -- the third in less than three years -- or someone will form a
new coalition, this time involving the opposition.

Tymoshenko, 47, has seen nearly every initiative of her government
either challenged or blocked by the president's office.

Most notably, her attempts to privatize key enterprises and raise money
for the budget have been stalled by presidential decrees. Her program to
compensate millions of Ukrainians for savings lost amid the Soviet
collapse also has been put on hold.

The rivalry reached its peak in May when Tymoshenko's faction in
parliament blocked the rostrum and prevented Yushchenko, 54, from
delivering his state-of-the-nation speech. An embarrassed president was
forced to post his speech online.

"Both sides have used the budget dispute as a tactic in their
longer-term fight for political supremacy," said Geoffrey Smith,
strategist at the Renaissance Capital investment bank in Kiev.

There have been some achievements.

Experts praise Tymoshenko for cleaning up the shady natural gas trade
with Russia and removing intermediaries that were widely seen as
mechanisms to siphon large sums money into private pockets.

Yushchenko, meanwhile, is noted for his push to get NATO membership for
Ukraine and bring it closer to the European community. Despite his
failings, many credit him for his role in bringing freedom of speech,
holding free elections and allowing civil society to gain strength.

Eurasia Daily Monitor

July 16, 2008


TYMOSHENKO CABINET SURVIVES NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE

The opposition in Ukraine's parliament has failed to oust the government
of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Only 174 deputies in the 450-seat
chamber voted in favor of a no-confidence motion against her on July 11,
far short of the 226 needed. Summer vacation started for parliament on
the same day. This means that Tymoshenko stays until at least September,
when parliament will reconvene.

This was a victory against the odds for Tymoshenko. She no longer has
the support of a majority in parliament after two deputies left the
coalition of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (BYT) and President Viktor
Yushchenko's Our Ukraine-People's Self-Defense bloc (NUNS) (see EDM,
June 25). Nor does she enjoy the backing of Yushchenko or those
ministers who represent NUNS in her government. Yushchenko is unhappy
with her economic policy, and he apparently views her as a probable
rival in a presidential election campaign that should start in 2009.
Nevertheless, the opposition turned out to be even weaker than the
Tymoshenko government.

The Party of Regions (PRU), which is headed by erstwhile presidential
contender and former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has been
insisting on a no-confidence vote ever since the pro-government majority
in parliament ceased to exist last month. Speaker Arseny Yatsenyuk, who
belongs to NUNS, initially refused to proceed with the motion, but he
backed down when the PRU threatened him with dismissal. On July 8 the
BYT started to block the parliamentary rostrum physically in order to
prevent the vote, holding a vigil in the session hall (Channel 5, July
8-10).

Yanukovych predicted that a no-confidence motion would be backed by more
than 226 votes. He expected that the two smallest caucuses in
parliament, the Communist Party and the Lytvyn Bloc (BL), and dissenters
from NUNS would contribute to the PRU's initiative to oust Tymoshenko
(UNIAN, July 10). Something went wrong for the PRU on July 10, however,
when the BL suggested postponing the no-confidence vote until September
or October. The Communists started to hesitate, and the BYT unexpectedly
stopped its blockade of the rostrum (Segodnya, July 11).

PRU senior member Mykola Azarov, a former finance minister, explaining
the reasons for the motion in a speech to parliament on July 11,
criticized the Tymoshenko government mainly for record-high inflation.
He said that Ukrainians had to pay 50% more for eggs and 80% more for
vegetable oil in May 2008 than a year before (Ukrainska Pravda, July
12). Those figures left the majority of parliament unimpressed. The
no-confidence motion was backed only by 172 deputies from PRU plus two
dissenters from NUNS.

Leonid Hrach, one of the Communist leaders, said that his party refused
to support the PRU because the PRU did not support the anti-NATO
protests that the Communists launched several weeks ago in southern
Ukraine, where the Sea Breeze international military exercise was under
way (Segodnya, July 11). Several informed commentators, however, alleged
that Tymoshenko had reached some kind of agreement with the
Ukrainian-Russian businessman Konstantin Grigorishin, who is believed to
be among the main sponsors of the Communists (Segodnya, July 11;
Ukrainska Pravda, July 12).

Segodnya, a newspaper linked to Rinat Akhmetov, the richest man in the
PRU, accused Yanukovych of undermining the effort to ouster Tymoshenko.
According to Segodnya, Yanukovych torpedoed talks with the Communists
when he learned that Yushchenko's team, which he viewed as a potential
ally, would not back him for prime minister once Tymoshenko was out.
Segodnya suggested that the PRU should stop "exchanging the principles
that it declares for secret agreements with the Orange," apparently
meaning Yushchenko (Segodnya, July 13).

Tymoshenko feels more than confident now, and she apparently holds
Yushchenko at least partially responsible for the attempt to oust her.
Commenting on the abortive no-confidence motion, she said that her
opponents wanted to get rid of her government in order to set up a new
ruling coalition on the basis of the PRU and NUNS. She suggested that
neither the Communists nor the BL were interested in a new coalition "of
the president and Yanukovych" (ICTV, July 13). She also blamed
Yushchenko for parliament's failure to amend the state budget on July 11
(Channel 5, July 12).

Raisa Bohatyryova, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense
Council, predicted a new attempt to dismiss Tymoshenko in the fall. She
said that the no-confidence vote had not been thoroughly prepared by
Tymoshenko's opponents, but she forecast that "in September there will
be a trend toward finding some compromise among the parties that are not
in the majority and organizing a vote of no-confidence again"
(Interfax-Ukraine, July 11). Bohatyryova's prediction can be interpreted
as a threat. She acts as a bridge between Yushchenko and the PRU,
simultaneously being a member of Yushchenko's team and remaining one of
the leaders of the PRU.

--Pavel Korduban

 

Kyiv Post

Ukraine takes steps to curb trafficking 

by Alexandra Stadnyk, Kyiv Post Editor
Jul 16 2008

 

http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/29255/print/

 

 

And for a laugh (sardonic, perhaps), read:

 

Kommersant [Russia], July 16




 U.S. Is the Cause of Russia's, Ukrainian Clashes - 

The problems in relations of Russia and Ukraine are triggered by
interference of the third party, the United States, said State Duma
member Sergei Markov. Markov is also the director of Political Research
Institute. 

 

"The key problem of Russia's-Ukrainian relations is that they don't
exist. There are the relations of Russia, Ukraine and America," Markov
announced at the news conference in Moscow. Therefore, Ukraine couldn't
be viewed a sovereign state, the official went on, pointing out that
Ukrainian government is losing control over its structures there.

 

"We should help the Ukrainian nation restore sovereignty," Markov
declared. 

 

According to Markov, Ukrainian authorities don't comply with a number of
clauses of Russia's-Ukrainian Treaty on Partnership and Cooperation,
including in respect of the right for the Russian language. 

 

That treaty was inked in Kiev May 31, 1997 and took effect April 1,
1999.

 

The relations of Kiev and Moscow have clouded recently and the RF Black
Sea Fleet is one of the stumbling blocks. Under the bilateral treaty,
the Black Sea Fleet may station in Ukraine till 2017 and the document
provides for the optional prolongation. Regardless, Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko has committed the bureaucrats to elaborate documents
for terminating the treaty on expiration

 

 

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