Ukrainian True

Ukraine's leaders gather on Sofiyska Square to mark the 1,000th anniversary of St. Sophia

2011-09-24T11:18:00.001-07:00

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that the event had been attended by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Ukrainian government ministers, as well as Verkhovna Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Head of Kyiv City State Administration Oleksandr Popov, Ukraine's first president (1991-1995), Leonid Kravchuk, and representatives of various Christian confessions in Ukraine.

While addressing the people who gathered on the square, Yanukovych said: "St. Sophia Cathedral was and remains the embodiment of the spirit of Christian unity and a connecting link between the religious traditions of East and West."

He noted that the cathedral is destined to become "a blessed cover, under which Ukraine will establish itself as a European state." Yanukovych also expressed his compliments to the staff of the Sophia of Kyiv National Sanctuary for their work on the protection and reconstruction of the monument.

Prosecutors could prevent Tymoshenko ally from going to Europe during Yanukovych visit

2011-06-19T14:49:00.001-07:00

in an apparent attempt to prevent him from visiting Europe next week for talks with European Union officials.

Hryhory Nemyria, a former deputy prime minister and close confidant of Tymoshenko, said he hopes to visit Strasbourg and Brussels next week to represent the Ukrainian political opposition during a June 21 visit to the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe by President Viktor Yanukovych.

Nemyria hopes to inform European Union leaders about alleged political persecution back home being waged against Tymoshenko’s political camp. His plans were to represent Tymoshenko, who is banned from travel outside of Kyiv in connection with investigations thatare seen by many, including the U.S. and European Union, as politically motivated.

But on June 17, it appeared that Nemyria’s plans to visit Europe in place of Tymoshenko could be derailed by Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s office. According to documents obtained by the Kyiv Post, prosecutors on June 17 ordered Nemyria to arrive for a round of interrogation on June 20.

Seen by Tymoshenko allies as an attempt to hush up the opposition in Ukraine, the development comeshours after prosecutors rejected an appeal by Tymoshenko to make a brief visit to Brussels and Strasbourg next week.

After months of interrogations, prosecutors on June 17 filed a case against Tymoshenko in court accusing her of exceeding authority while prime minister in 2009 by approving a natural gas supply agreement with Russia. This is one of three cases against her.

Ukrainian president appoints ambassadors to Lithuania and Zimbabwe

2011-04-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has appointed Valeriy Zhovtenko Ukraine's Ambassador to Lithuania and Valeriy Hrebeniuk has been appointed head of the country's diplomatic mission to Zimbabwe.

Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych signed relevant decrees on April 8, the president's official Web site reported.

Since 2006, Zhovtenko has served as deputy head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's department for Central and Eastern Europe.

Hrebeniuk is currently combines the post s of Ukraine's ambassadors to South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.

Regions Party says only individuals with Ukrainian citizenship should be allowed to buy land

2011-04-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

When a moratorium on the sale of agricultural land is cancelled, the right to purchase agricultural land should be given only to individuals, who are citizens of Ukraine, the leader of the parliamentary faction of the Party of Regions, Oleksandr Yefremov, has said.

"The faction and the ministry have worked out an approach [to this matter], which could be used at the initial stage... The first step on the path towards the land market can be permitting to purchase and sale land only to individuals - citizens of Ukraine," he said during the "Big Politics" talk show on the Inter Channel on Friday evening.

He noted that the parliament worked out two bills related to lifting the moratorium on land sales, namely a bill on the inventory of land and the bill related to the land market.

U.S. Department of State: Ukraine sees less acts of anti-Semitism

2011-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:00

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the U.S. Department of State has noted that the number of acts of anti-Semitism in 2010 in Ukraine has decreased.The U.S. Department of State said this in the "2010 Human Rights Reports: Ukraine" published on its Web site on April 8.

The report says there were a number of acts of anti-Semitism, some involving vandalism of Jewish property. According to the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine's (VAAD) there were nine incidents of vandalism during the year compared with 19 incidents in 2009, and 13 in 2008.

There were no reports of violent incidents of anti-Semitism.

The report lists last year's desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Ternopil, Pavlohrad, Sumy and desecrations of Holocaust monuments in Kirovohrad and in Sevastopol, and paint thrown on the walls of a synagogue in Sumy.

At the same time, there were no reports that the authorities had identified suspects or made arrests in cases of vandalism against Jewish property in 2009, including swastikas on the walls of Jewish Charity Center in Melitopol, Nazi symbols on the front door of the Kyiv office of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and paint splashed on the monument marking the birthplace of Rabbi Menachem Schneerson in Mykolaiv.

In 2010 members of marginal populist and nationalist parties and organizations continued to make occasional extremist, intolerant, and anti-Semitic statements. In January unidentified individuals in Sudak, Crimea were reported to have passed out leaflets calling for genocide against Jews in the country. As of the end of the year, there had been no further developments in the incident.

The report also names the reaction of law-enforcement officers on the anti-Semitic statements by Serhiy Ratushnyak, the former mayor of Uzhhorod, and member of Kherson City Council Serhiy Kyrychenko.

According to the report, Anti-Semitic articles continued to appear in small publications, although their number and circulation continued to decline. According to VAAD, 46 anti-Semitic articles were published in major print media outlets in 2009, compared with 54 in 2008 and 542 in 2007. VAAD said the sharp decrease in anti-Semitic publications was due primarily to concerted political and social pressure by NGOs, the government and the Jewish community on the Academy of Personnel Management (MAUP). In previous years, MAUP, a private higher-education institution, accounted for nearly 90 percent of all anti-Semitic material, but has now ceased the publications.

The document also noted the continued efforts to combat anti-Semitism by senior government officials and politicians from various political parties by speaking out against extremism and social intolerance, and by criticizing anti-Semitic acts.

According to the government the SBU acted to prevent at least six hate crimes in 2009 and 2010, including illegal activities by skinhead groups in Cherkassy and Dnepropetrovsk and an attack on the cultural center Hesed Haim in Sumy.

An estimated 103,600 Jews live in the country, comprising approximately 0.2% of the population,, the report quotes the data of government census and international Jewish groups. Local Jewish leaders estimated the number of persons with an ethnic Jewish heritage to be as high as 370,000.

European Union commissioner excludes Greek debt restructuring

2011-04-10T10:21:00.001-07:00

A restructuring of Greek debt is out of the question, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Saturday.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that several euro zone finance ministers told European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet in a conference call last week they had doubts if Greece would meet its fiscal targets and suggested Athens should restructure its debt.

"We do exclude (a Greek debt) restructuring. We have a solid plan and we are working on the basis of that plan and it is based on careful analysis of debt sustainability," Rehn told a news conference, when asked about the German magazine report.

The Der Spiegel report said several finance ministers had said Athens would be unable to meet its fiscal targets and return to the markets for funding next year and asked if a debt restructuring for Greece would be sensible in view of the situation. But Trichet blocked the idea and said he was not willing to discuss it, Der Spiegel said.

Asked to comment on the magazine report, Trichet echoed Rehn's comments:

"On Greece, I would say we have a plan, that plan has been approved by the international community and approved by the European institutions and we apply the plan."

Der Spiegel said Rehn had told the EU Commission last week that any idea of a Greek restructuring, if it were to be required, should not be discussed in public but would simply happen at some point.

Der Spiegel said Trichet feared that a restructuring could damage confidence in the entire euro zone and could hit banks holding Greek debt hard.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble viewed Trichet's concerns about capital markets to be exaggerated and not credible, Der Spiegel said.

In Godollo, Hungary, where EU finance ministers and central bankers met on Saturday for a second day of informal talks, Schaeuble warned against fueling speculation in financial markets. Speculation over solutions to Greece's problems when it has to return to normal debt markets next year was not helpful, he said.

"We are at any moment ready to cooperatively find solutions to new problems," Schaeuble said.

"They are not advanced by speculative remarks."

Public debate on a restructuring has been almost taboo since Athens accepted a 110 billion euro ($157 billion) bailout from the EU and International Monetary Fund nearly a year ago, and opposition to the idea remains high across the zone.

The Greek government has repeatedly ruled it out and the ECB also opposes it.

But privately, some senior euro zone government officials are acknowledging what economists have been saying for months -- that some form of restructuring may have to happen, probably in 2012.

Aid under Greece's three-year rescue package is due to flow until June 2013, but to emerge safely from its bailout, the government will have to demonstrate before then that it can tap capital markets for long-term funding. Athens has said it would like to resume selling longer-maturity paper later this year, or in 2012 at the latest.

U.S., Ukraine fight human trafficking

2011-02-16T04:30:00.001-08:00

The United States and Ukraine say they will step up efforts to combat human trafficking in the eastern European country.

Experts say more than 100,000 Ukrainians have been trafficked abroad and forced into indentured labor or prostitution since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Ukraine's Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko signed an agreement Tuesday to fight what Clinton called the "tragic worldwide blight" of trafficking.

She said cooperation would be strengthened. One effort she cited was Ukraine's recent transfer to the United States of a trafficker who made $1 million in profits from the women he exploited.

Clinton and Gryshchenko also discussed nuclear proliferation, democratic reform, HIV/AIDS and

Under pressure, Onopenko wants chat with president

2011-02-11T23:28:00.001-08:00

In a Kyiv Post interview, Supreme Court Chief Justice Vasyl Onopenko criticizes last year’s judicial reforms saying they disrupted the balance in the nation’s judiciary system.

Since Viktor Yanukovych took over as Ukraine’s president one year ago, he has systematically monopolized most levers of power in the country by putting loyalists in charge of all branches of government. The only major exception is one influential position in Ukraine’s judiciary branch. Vasyl Onopenko remains chief justice of Ukraine’s Supreme Court, a position he was elected to nearly five years ago when he was a political ally of current opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

Last year, Yanukovych’s governing coalition tried to undercut the Supreme Court’s influence by adopting legislation that sharply cuts its authority. But the move drew strong protest from the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters. The commission is pressuring Yanukovych’s governing coalition to return lost authority to the court. It remains to be seen if Yanukovych’s administration will do so.

Even if they do, however, Onopenko’s days at the court could be numbered. He claims to be facing increasing pressure to step down, citing criminal investigations into his one of his daughters and his son-in-law, Yevhen Korniychuk, a former deputy justice minister, arrested last year and still jailed on abuse of power charges for not holding a competitive bid in the selection of Magisters law firm to represent state-owned Naftogaz, the energy monopoly.

In a Kyiv Post interview, Onopenko questioned the fairness of investigations into his relatives and pledged not to quit. He criticized last year’s judicial reforms saying they disrupted the balance in the nation’s judiciary system and called for a face-to-face meeting with Yanukovych.

Read the Ukrainian-language version of Valeriy Onopenko's interview with the Kyiv Post here

Kyiv Post: You are calling for a meeting with Yanukovych. Is a date set?

Vasyl Onopenko: I did initiate such a meeting to inform the president about the real situation in the justice sphere after last year’s judicial reform. But a meeting has not yet been scheduled.

KP: Do you consider the raid by prosecutors earlier this month at the Kyiv office of Magisters law firm, in which your son-in-law Yevhen Korniychuk once worked, as one of the investigations through which someone is trying to put pressure on you?

VO: I do not think so. I do not have and have never had any connection with this company. This company also had no relation to the Supreme Court of Ukraine. And Korniychuk left the firm long ago.

KP: You have said that criminal proceedings against your relatives are indirect pressure on you. What is the goal of those who resort to pressure you?

VO: There are two scenarios here: either to make me change my position as head of the Supreme Court, or to make me resign.

KP: Who do you think is behind such a plot?

BO: I don’t want to rush to judgment or speculation, but hope that a meeting with the president will help me clarify this.

KP: Political analysts say the pressure could be coming directly from deputy head of the presidential administration Andriy Portnov or the first deputy prosecutor general, Rinat Kuzmin. Do you see such an explanation as plausible? Both reportedly had conflicts with Korniychuk.

VO: As far as I am informed, there really were some personal conflicts between Korniychuk and these individuals. However, I am convinced that one cannot use official powers to resolve personal conflicts. This would be abuse of power. [Editor’s Note: Neither Kuzmin nor Portnov have responded to recent Kyiv Post interview requests. Both were not immediately available for comment when called for response to Onopenko’s comments.]

KP: Don’t you think that in the centralized power structure that exists in Ukraine today, such pressure could not be approved without permission from the top, from President Yanukovych?

BO: I find it hard to judge. I need to meet with the president, above all to discuss the state of the justice system and the negative consequences of judicial reform. It has been six months since it was adopted. Its effects are obvious. Courts as judicial bodies and judges have lost their independence. This is a direct threat to the judicial protection of human rights. As a result, the country and, therefore, the president as head of state, are losing credibility. Only those who aim to manually control the courts are benefiting.

KP: The president, by law, has formal influence over parliament and the Cabinet, but not on the judicial branch. Hypothetically speaking, why would you, therefore, seek to talk with the president on these matters?

VO: The president is the guarantor of the constitution and human rights. In fact, most of his powers extend to the executive branch, the police, which in the absence of an independent judiciary are becoming uncontrollable and therefore dangerous to society. At the same time, a president has certain powers to solve personnel and organizational issues of the judiciary. In addition, the president is a subject of legislative initiative and signs laws adopted by the parliament. So, altogether these powers give him an opportunity to influence the situation.

KP: Will you raise the issue of criminal cases against your relatives during your meeting with the president?

VO: This is not the main question of the meeting. The main thing I want is to inform the president of the problems that exist now in the judiciary branch. Recently, during the official opening of the court year in Strasbourg, in which I participated on the invitation of the president of the European Court of Human Rights Jean-Paul Costa, I met with the European parliament commissioner for human rights, judges of the European Court of human rights and with the management of the Venice Commission. They are very concerned with the reduction of the level of judicial protection of human rights and liberties in Ukraine.

When the current law on the judiciary was discussed, I was the only one among top state officials to strongly oppose it. I told the parliament not to adopt the bill. I also asked the president to veto it. Then the president told me: let it work for six months and let’s see the results. Today we see the results are mostly negative.

The Supreme Court has been denied the ability to perform its constitutional function. No one guarantees the unity of case law and equal application of laws in state courts. The Supreme Court, which previously did it, is now deprived of such powers. [Other] courts have gained status higher than the Supreme Court. For a case to get to the Supreme Court, you need permission from five judges of a high court to allow the Supreme Court to even review it. This does not exist anywhere in the world! It deprives citizens of access to the highest judicial body in the country and deprives the Supreme Court of the right to judge. If a high court does not allow the case to proceed to the Supreme Court, then citizens or legal entities have no other choice but to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.

KP: Would you say that the Supreme Court of Ukraine may now be the last outpost of an independent judiciary in Ukraine?

VO: It’s true. The Supreme Court is the most competent, impartial and independent judicial body. It is the highest judicial instance that, according to the constitution, can make a final decision. But the current laws [adopted last year] prevent us from performing this role.

KP: But people in Ukraine’s business community say that you are one of the perpetrators of the system in which arbitration takes place outside the court and decisions and court rulings can be bought. What do you say to that?

VO: No one can blame me for this.

KP: Then why do businesses, including foreign businesses in Ukraine, have such little faith in its domestic courts?

VO: I am not standing behind every single court. Such cases are ruled in economic courts. And I have nothing to do with economic courts.

KP: But they name you?

VO: They can name whoever they want to. Even the sun has spots on its surface. But I have nothing to do with arbitration in economic courts. This is a provocative question that should not be even asked. This is not the first time I said that those who are not satisfied with my firm position [regarding the judiciary] say things like that.

KP: Maybe the Supreme Court’s authority was limited because you have a different view, because you are not part of the loyal team?

VO: That’s what many experts, politicians, and journalists say.

KP: If the situation regarding your family does not change even after you meet with the president, how will this story end? What might be your next steps?

VO: My term as Supreme Court chairman ends in September. Until then, I have no reason to leave. Of course, these investigations against my relatives do not, from a psychological standpoint, contribute to a good mood. When a criminal case is launched in what is a civil dispute (his daughter's alleged failure to pay back a loan), it is frustrating. How will it end? By closing down the proceedings in the case, because this is a civil, not a criminal case.

KP: Have prosecutors already contacted your daughter?

VO: This is a question for the General Prosecutor’s Office. My daughter, Iryna, is an adult and independent person who makes her own decisions and actions and should be responsible for them.

KP: Did you talk to her after the criminal case against her was launched?

VO: After it was launched – no.

KP: Why not?

VO: As a parent, I do not want to complicate her situation. She is now suffering because of me. However, I am willing to help her resolve the civil dispute by paying off the loan.

KP: Back in December 2004, in the heat of the Orange Revolution, the Supreme Court played a big role in making a ruling that ordered a repeat vote in the disputed presidential election. You were not head of the court then. But if the justice system in Ukraine deteriorates further, could the court – now under your leadership – make any decisive decisions which could make a difference?

VO: First of all, as I’ve said, the Supreme Court has been, generally, deprived of the rights to make decisions as such. Secondly, even if the Supreme Court had this authority, I could not answer this question because decisions are made by all of the court’s judges. Thirdly, you posed a hypothetical question, the circumstances of which are not known. Fourthly, some of these questions you posed are not a subject to review for the Supreme Court, but for the Constitutional Court.

KP: What will you try to achieve during your meeting with the president?

VO: There will be a more global discussion about the situation in Ukraine, criminal prosecutions, including arrests of people. This is not about my relatives. It’s about the general situation. Cases regarding my younger daughter and the husband of my eldest daughter, Yevhen Korniychuk, are only specific examples of a general problem.

As a lawyer, I always held the position that arrest should be a last resort. As lawmaker, I introduced a bill according to which only those suspected in murder – that is people that may be dangerous to society – should be detained. But now in Ukraine we see the level of arrests to be the highest of all European countries.

KP: So you think you that Korniychuk should not have been arrested?

VO: Based on the circumstances known to me as a lawyer, I see no legal grounds for detaining and arresting Korniychuk. As far as my daughter goes, at issue is a common civil dispute. She was ready to solve, to pay off the debt, but suddenly the legal action started. It turns out that paying back the loan was not needed. They needed to make a criminal case out of a civil one in order to discredit and pressure me through my daughter. On Jan. 31, they filed a lawsuit. The following day, the General Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal case.

KP: Don’t you see the fact that Kuzmin signed the decision to launch a criminal case against your daughter as a signal of direct pressure upon you?

VO: I’m so often asked about pressure on me through this case. Each time I answer I have fewer reasons to say no.

Tarasiuk: An ‘authoritarian’ Ukraine will never join European Union

2011-02-11T06:54:00.001-08:00

The Kyiv Post speaks with two-time Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk, who now heads parliament's committee on European Integration.

As President Viktor Yanukovych reaches the end of his first year in office, one of the clearest changes in Ukraine since he took over from his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, has been in foreign relations.

Yanukovych says he’s pursuing a course of European integration, while also nurturing relations with Russia. After he ended Yushchenko’s efforts to join the NATO military alliance and signed an agreement to prolong the stay of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on Ukrainian territory by 25 years, critics accused him of moving too close to Ukraine’s former imperial master.

But tensions in that relationship have recently come to the fore. Russia has refused to budge on longstanding Ukrainian pleas to reduce the price of critical natural gas supplies, or to abandon plans to build two pipelines to deliver gas to Europe which bypass Ukraine, potentially depriving Kyiv of millions of dollars in transport revenues.

The Kyiv Post spoke with two-time Foreign Minister Borys Tarasiuk, who now heads parliament’s committee on European integration, to find out where Yanukovych is taking the country, how successful he has been, and what the risks of his policies are.

Kyiv Post: If the current government is so pro-Russian, as many experts believe, why are their attempts to negotiate down the price of Russian natural gas imports taking so long and, so far, proving unsuccessful?

Borys Tarasiuk: Russia is acting in a rather unfriendly way toward the current Ukrainian government when it constructs the so-called North Stream pipeline and continues talking about construction of the South Stream pipeline – both bypassing Ukraine’s Europe-bound gas transportation system. Those projects will obviously cause harm to both Ukraine and the European Union, as they will plunge Europe into more gas dependence on Russia.

Meanwhile, Russian big business is eager to snap up its slice of attractive parts of Ukraine’s economy, just like our domestic big business groups. The authorities should realize that.

KP: Maybe they do already realize it. Recently in Davos, Yanukovych called Russia’s South Stream not a commercial project, but a “way to pressure Ukraine.” Does this mean that Yanukovych and his team are starting to move away from Russia?

BT: I suppose our ruling team merged with Russia so closely that it is now finding it very difficult to drift apart from it. Realism is catching up to Ukraine-Russia relations. Alas Ukraine’s authorities are starting to realize that Russia will not be satisfied as long as an independent Ukrainian state exists. T

he mere existence of Ukraine as a state is a challenge for the Russian political elite. And the more Ukrainian authorities protect the country’s national interests, the worse relations between Ukraine and Russia will get.

KP: Yanukovych’s recent trip to Poland reconfirmed the importance of integration into the EU for Ukraine’s foreign policy. How do you view Ukraine’s current relations with Europe?

BT: I welcome that Yanukovych has conformed to Ukraine’s strategy of joining the EU, but declarations are no substitute for real actions. I doubt that a Ukraine where the Constitution and laws are violated, where the president is actually establishing authoritarian power, where the opposition faces selective justice, where political repressions exist, will ever join the EU.

KP: But Ukraine is negotiating on an association agreement with the EU. Isn’t it a success?

BT: The association agreement will really take relations between Ukraine and the EU to a new level, but it will not be an achievement of the current authorities. They are only following up on what was laid out by their predecessors, including me.

The European Union refused for a long time to call the new agreement with Ukraine an agreement on association, but in 2009 the EU finally revised its stance. I expect that the association agreement will be ready for signing in the second part of this year, and in one or two years it will be ratified by the EU states.

The visa-free regime was also laid out in 2005 when we abolished visas for EU nationals. In my opinion, the visa-free regime with the EU will be established in one or two years, provided the Ukrainian authorities go on fulfilling their obligations to Europe.

KP: What do you think about the attempts of Ukraine to intensify relations with China? Could China become our new strategic partner?

BT: Theoretically it’s possible, but in practice Ukraine hasn’t achieved anything new in relations with China. When bilateral trade between our countries increases to $10 billion from the current $5 billion, then I will say that the current authorities achieved more than we did. But for now, I don’t see any innovations in Ukraine’s foreign policy.

NATO respects Ukraine's nonaligned status

2011-02-11T06:52:00.000-08:00

Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee Walter Gaskin has said the year 2011 will be a difficult one due to financial limitations.

"The year 2011 will be a difficult year for all of us, taking into account some financial limitations and limits, but I hope that through joint efforts we will be able to achieve the set goals," he said at a meeting with Chief of General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Colonel-General Hryhoriy Pedchenko, in Kyiv on Friday.

During the meeting the sides discussed the current situation and prospects for the development of the cooperation between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the NATO Military Committee.

Gaskin thanked the Ukrainian side for its participation in NATO military operations, and at the same time expressed respect for Ukraine's nonaligned status.

"We respect Ukraine's nonaligned status. At the same time we are very grateful to Ukraine for its contribution to operations to settle crises under the guidance of NATO, its participation in the Kosovo Force (KFOR), Operation Active Endeavour,and operations in Afghanistan," he said.

Speaking about further military cooperation between Ukraine and NATO, Gaskin said that one important aspect was to increase the capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and to bring them into operative compatibility with NATO forces.

Czech Republic not to extradite Danylyshyn to Ukraine

2011-02-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

The Municipal Court in Prague on Wednesday issued a ruling eliminating the possibility of extraditing former Ukrainian Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn to Ukraine, Radio Liberty has reported.

Such a court ruling confirmed that the status of political refugee that was granted to Danylyshyn by the Czech Interior Ministry on Jan. 13, 2011 cannot be canceled, Danylyshyn's lawyer Marina Makhitkova told Radio Liberty.

Danylyshyn, who served as Ukraine's economy minister in the government led by former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in 2007-2010, was put on the state and international wanted list in August 2010.

On Oct. 19, 2010, he was detained in the Czech Republic at Interpol's request.

The Czech Republic granted political asylum to Danylyshyn. Ukraine insisted on his extradition.

Ukraine no longer in danger of suspension

2011-02-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Ukraine are no longer in danger of a suspension which could have cost the country the right to co-host Euro 2012, FIFA and UEFA said on Wednesday.

Soccer's world and European governing bodies said they were satisfied progress had been made to end political interference in the Ukraine Football Federation (FFU), which had faced a Feb. 4 deadline.

"The latest developments are seen positively and... this is an important step forward to unify and strengthen football in Ukraine," FIFA and UEFA said in a joint statement.

"Under these circumstances, FIFA and UEFA are convinced that there will be no need to suspend the FFU, but they will continue to monitor the situation over the next few weeks to have the confirmation that the situation in Ukrainian football is definitely stabilised."

FIFA and UEFA do not tolerate outside interference in member federations and the European body said last month that Ukraine, due to co-host the tournament with neighbours Poland, could not stage the event if suspended.

A ban would also have meant the three Ukrainian clubs still involved in European competition would have forfeited their matches.

Shakhtar Donetsk have been drawn against AS Roma in the last 16 of the Champions League while Dynamo Kiev face Besiktas and Metalist Kharkiv meet Bayer Leverkusen in the knockout stages of the Europa League

UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino said last month that FIFA and UEFA had received documents showing that some state and regional authorities were putting pressure on delegates.

FIFA warned the FFU against trying to dismiss its president Hrigory Surkis before the end of his current term, which expires after Euro 2012.

Several FFU members tried unsuccessfully in December to sack Surkis who has been accused by some fans of favouring Dynamo Kiev, a team run by his brother Ihor.

The soccer scene in Ukraine reflects competing interests among major oligarchs and local media reports said several key figures in the political establishment, including Euro 2012 minister Borys Kolesnikov, wanted Surkis out.

Ukraine's preparations for the event have also been dogged by delays in building stadiums and other infrastructure, earning the warnings from UEFA.

Kremlin drown Lukashenko in the blood.

2010-08-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

The conflict between Moscow and Minsk enters the home stretch. According informed sources in the Belarusian capital, the Kremlin has decided to overthrow President Lukashenko. As the edition of Evening News, the surrounding Alexander Grigorievich already know who and when to feed the Kremlin led by the state.
"What a war, if the victims do not?"
According to reports from Minsk, it becomes clear that he had in mind, Vladimir Putin, commenting on the information war between Moscow and Minsk. "What a war, if the victims do not?" - Said the security officer in July. It seems that Alexander Lukashenko will have to become a victim of this.
The moment chosen for its removal successful: this winter, take place in Belarus presidential election. In order to limit their opponents on the campaign trail, Alexander Grigorievich survive a vote from February to December. The date is expected to be named president controlled the parliament in the near future. (It is already known that an extraordinary session of the National Assembly scheduled for September 7).
The first time in its history, opponents batski may nominate a truly single candidate. They will be a former rector of Belarusian State University Alexander Kozulin, who was already actively energetically promoting Gasprom NTV. With this decision fellow opposition camp disagrees only BPF that makes their candidate.
But the credibility and mass of the oldest national association has long been waning. Following the announcement of another "elegant victory" Lukashenko opposition withdraws people into the streets.(сайты) And since in 1994 in Belarus, no one knows what the real results of crucial votes, there is nothing to prevent the opposition to declare: won Kozulin.

Разработка сайтов в барнауле
туристический автобус kia granbird

The new gas deal with Russia.

2010-08-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

Ukrainian government wants to sign a new agreement with Russia on natural gas to turn RosUkrEnergo 12.1 billion cu. meters.
To a press conference, the Verkhovna Rada deputy of Yulia Tymoshenko, Prime Minister Sergei Sobolev opposition government.
"Why would a new gas contract to the Ukrainian side? In my view, one answer: you need to pay the RosUkrEnergo - he said. According to Timoshenko, negotiations are conducted Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko to Russian gas monopoly Gazprom, has not led to any results which.
Sobolev said that among the conditions that the Russian side proposes to sign a new contract - a joint venture of Naftogaz and Gazprom.

Merkel asked to discuss with Yanukovych oppression of freedom of speech

2010-08-27T11:21:00.000-07:00

Reporters Without Borders called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss with President Viktor Yanukovich on freedom of speech in Ukraine.
It says the head of the German branch of Christian Rikerts in a letter to the Chancellor, said Radio Liberty.
After Yanukovych elected president of Ukraine has repeatedly carried out attacks on journalists and held systematic attempt to pressure the media by the authorities, say Reporters Without Borders.
"We are watching with alarm the fact that after the Orange Revolution in 2004 press freedom is under threat again" - specified in the organization.
"Reporters" Merkel told that they would "appreciate it if Yanukovych reminded that such a policy preventing freedom of speech and the press contrary to the agreement on association between Ukraine and EU".
In a letter to Chancellor Rikerts expressed concern that attacks against Ukrainian journalists may remain unpunished.
Of particular concern is the fate of missing human rights editor Kharkov weekly newspaper "New Style" Basil Klimenteva.
"Reporters" Merkel asked to call Yanukovych to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation of this case.
Yanukovych's visit to Germany to be held August 30.

German journalist Yanukovych: Do not you, that your intelligence has to be another chief?

2010-08-27T11:13:00.001-07:00

When the pressure on the media and intelligence services say excessive lightness Ukrainian journalists, environment Yanukovich would prefer a copy of paid in shares of the opposition. When the same journalists indicate corruption in the actions of top officials of the country - from the Prime Minister to the President himself - they simply cease to notice. The secret is simple: to justify in the eyes of its own voters is too small for the head of state.
It is quite another matter if the President is preparing for a foreign visit. As part of preparation predpiarnoy Viktor Yanukovych and Anna Herman found time and opportunity to meet at least a dozen journalists. And, fortunately, so far in such meetings, the administration is not possible to dictate their own rules and choose who to invite to interview, and who will be denied, "because there are no places."
Bankova servility to foreign media is limitless. They do not bother even if some of the journalists who had come there was someone who was once called Viktor Yanukovych "laughingstock on the remote control" from Paul Manafort.
Nevertheless, the president's circle for each such visit all the more difficult to protect the reader from the western Ukrainian realities. In next Monday Viktor Yanukovych to visit Berlin. The visit will be accompanied by the publication of his interview with German media, which was recorded the night before. Among the group of German journalists and a correspondent Frakfurter Allgemeine Zeitung Konrad Schuller.

What Ukraine need opposition?

2010-08-27T03:24:00.000-07:00

Not in Ukraine had formed a new chain of power at once proclaimed the establishment of the opposition. And once more. However, as it turned out, this is not the case when the number of passes in quality.
Throughout operation of the new government with no opposition is proved to be a real political force. Of course, you can remember numerous actions that sought to hold the political forces that determine themselves the opposition. But their meaning, to put it mildly, was implemented in an advantageous for power keys.
For example, take the situation with the visit to Ukraine, Patriarch Cyril.
Ukrainian opposition launched around this stormy protest movement that did not bring any real consequences. Instead, pushed by the support, even potentially, the opposition forces - a significant part of Ukrainian society.
All this seems very convenient for the authorities, which in this background can easily position itself as the only defender of orthodoxy. "
Or: opposition forces recently launched a campaign against the oppression of free speech and censorship. It somehow goes to second question that any display of censorship there is an empty place, and motivated.
Actually, limiting information flow when there is something to conceal.
So on the last - the hidden - just none of the opposition in no hurry to speak.
For example, any reasoned criticism from the opposition not been Memorandum between Ukraine and the IMF.
Those who read this document, he knows that there is criticism that. Language and freezing of salaries of budget and on raising the retirement age for women. This is somehow in opposition forces modestly silent, but have to "blow" on it at every turn.
Why silent? Perhaps because the opposition themselves, read, yesterday the government - not sinless in this regard. Also, any criticism of the IMF, even indirectly, obviously very dangerous for the Ukrainian opposition

Independence Day vs Day Dependencies

2010-08-26T08:33:00.000-07:00

Yanukovych prefer isolation, communication in terms of minimum number of proven time and again, supporters and official, dry, if not terse style of communication with them. Tymoshenko can not live without a live broadcast without the thousands of, and therefore, random audiences.
HE barely speaks the national language, with errors, using cheat sheets with five-inch letters. SHE speaks fluent hours nadryvaye oneself hoarse voice. . Thus she prays and sings in memory of folk song "Cranberry Red," "For Ukraine." He's with folk art is familiar, but instead prefers to camp almost autobiographical chanson ("a stick, two string ... I owner of the whole country is).
According to our sources, on Independence Day he was with the morning could not find a place not yet received a telegram of congratulations to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and only then went to prayer in the Kiev-Pechersk Lavra of the Moscow Patriarchate. SHE publicly urged not to hope for help of foreign countries and international organizations.
Apparently, he took a deeply personal speech Mrs. Clinton about how in July this year, she met with your President, Foreign Minister, high schools students, and many others who are willing to share their ideas and talents with his country, especially here it is place of "ideas" and "talents".
Pertinent to note, President Barack Hussein Obama prior to the announcement by the Central Election Commission of Ukraine official results of the second round of presidential elections personally congratulated him on his victory. Like most of the team owners at once marched to the headquarters at St. Michael's Square - welcome designated "winner".
In 2004, this obscene role of demand Dmitry Medvedev has taken over Vladimir Putin.
He removed the military parade.
People in form, and even in such quantity to cause his clear dislike.
Therefore, according to his military rule mentioned only as defendants:
- Reserve captain, who completed the Customs Service chief Anatoly Makarenko;
- Appointed by Democrats first zamministrom Defense Valeriy Ivashchenko.
And, apparently, is not an exhaustive list. To be continued.
Meet people in general form can not be him. Then they oduhotvoryvshys, somehow just strive to resign.

Ukraine wants the border as in the USSR

2010-08-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

Ukraine insists on maintaining the border in the Kerch Strait from Russia, which existed in Soviet times but is willing to compromise on economic issues.
This was announced by Director of Information Policy Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Oleg Voloshin a briefing on Thursday in Kiev, the Interfax-Ukraine.
He said that interest in Ukraine and its right to lie in the fact that in Soviet times there was a border in the Kerch Strait, it was marked on appropriate maps.
"Our position in these matters remain unchanged - the border in the Kerch Strait is required, it will be east of the island of Kosa Tuzla" - said Voloshin.
Regarding economic issues, according to Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ukraine is ready to discuss with Russia. "We are ready to compromise, we are ready to meet in these matters" - he said.
In 2003 there was a diplomatic conflict, when Russia based on his vision of the issue of water border with Ukraine started building the dam in the Kerch Strait.
Border Service of Russia representative stated that the island of Tuzla in the Kerch Strait, where the Russians are building the dam for the connection of the Ukrainian territory of the Russian bank of the Taman peninsula, upon completion of works will be exhibited frontier of Russia.
MFA of Ukraine said that under international law any work on the border can take place only in accordance with appropriate agreements in both countries, while the construction of the dam is at a time when bilateral negotiations on maritime delimitation in the Kerch Strait is not complete