[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: AP; WSJ; KP; CT; VOA

[Deychak, Orest]

AP

Russia: Ukrainian soldiers fought for Georgia

August 24, 2009

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's top investigative body alleged Monday that Ukrainian soldiers fought alongside Georgian troops in last year's war with Russia.

The claim — quickly denied by Ukraine — is likely to further roil relations between Moscow and Kiev. Less than two weeks ago Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter to his Ukrainian counterpart complaining of an array of alleged insults and offenses.

The statement Monday by Russia's Prosecutor General's Investigative Committee said both Ukrainian troops and about 200 militants from the Ukrainian nationalist organization UNA-UNSO fought on the Georgian side in the August 2008 five-day war, during which Russian forces advanced deep into Georgia.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Konstantin Sadilov said no Ukrainian troops fought in the war, though he did not exclude that other Ukrainians not with the military may have taken part.

The deputy head of UNA-UNSO, however, also denied any involvement, saying: "Regrettably, UNA-UNSO squads and individual members of the organization did not take part in the Georgia-Russia war," according to the Interfax news agency.

The Russian committee statement said evidence of the Ukrainians' participation was found in the process of gathering evidence for filing genocide charges. Russia contends that Georgia's barrage of the capital of separatist South Ossetia at the outset of the war constituted genocide; the city was populated mostly by ethnic Ossetians.

Although there appears to be little support from outside Russia for a genocide case, Moscow's determination to pursue it underlines the Kremlin's deep resentment of the Georgian government. Linking Ukrainian troops to genocide, even tangentially, could give Moscow additional justification for pressuring and denouncing Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.

Russia seethes at Yushchenko's push to obtain EU and NATO membership for Ukraine. The Kremlin also still bears a grudge against him for the 2004 Orange Revolution protests that ushered him into office after a fraudulent election purportedly won by the Kremlin-backed candidate.

Ukraine holds a new presidential election in January, and Yushchenko is seen as almost certain to lose due to his inability to contain domestic political turmoil.

Analysts viewed Medevdev's letter as a transparent attempt to undercut Yushchenko's re-election possibilities. Medvedev accused Yushchenko of undermining the Russian Orthodox Church by supporting a splinter church in Ukraine, and of trying to damage European energy security. Much of the Russian gas sold to Europe transits Ukraine


The Wall Street Journal Europe


 


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203550604574358630544395184.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


 


Is Ukraine Fit for the EU? 


The Brussels-brokered loan offer may encourage Kiev to clean up its corrupt gas sector.


By TOMAS VALASEK <http://online.wsj.com/SEARCH/SEARCH_CENTER.HTML?KEYWORDS=TOMAS+VALASEK&ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=BYLINEAND>  


The European Union just helped put together a consortium of international banks to offer Kiev up to $3.6 billion in loans to buy Russian gas. The idea is to prevent a repeat of the January 2009 crisis, when Moscow shut down gas deliveries to Ukraine after Kiev failed to pay its energy bills. As Ukraine transits 80% of Russian gas exports to the rest of Europe, the stoppage left many EU member states in the cold as well. Ukraine has been hit hard by the economic crisis and is having even more trouble than usual paying for Russian gas. If Ukraine agrees to the terms of the loan, the money may help avert an immediate crisis and trigger badly needed Ukrainian reforms. At the same time, though, the funds will also "Europeanize" the next gas spat, potentially undermining EU-Ukrainian relations.

The money from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank will allow Ukraine to continue filling its gas reservoirs. Although the gas will technically belong to Ukraine, EU governments—having arranged the loans to purchase it—will expect Ukraine to maintain uninterrupted supplies. If a crisis breaks out again and Kiev taps "European" gas for its own use, EU governments will be furious and the country's chances of EU membership will diminish. The gas loans may thus turn out to be the most important test of Ukraine's EU fitness as Brussels will expect the country to live up to its contractual obligations to deliver gas to Europe. That would be a complete change from the crisis in January 2009, when the EU acted as a "concerned third party." Back then it treated the gas stoppage as a commercial and political dispute between Ukraine and Russia, helping to broker an agreement between the two parties

This will not be lost on Russia, which is not keen on Ukraine joining the EU. By turning off gas to Ukraine, Moscow could thus force on Kiev a draconian choice: Use stored gas to supply Europe and suffer economically or supply the domestic industry at the expense of EU customers and see its hopes of joining the bloc ruined. 

Luckily for Kiev, Russia may now have more reason than ever to avoid another fight: Gazprom, the dominant Russian gas producer, lost over $1 billion in the January crisis, and its financial situation has worsened since then, mostly due to low gas prices on the back of the global financial crisis. This also explains why Moscow has been a more constructive actor in recent months. It has paid in advance the entire annual fee for the rights to transit gas through Ukraine, and it is not claiming penalties (to which it is entitled) for Kiev taking fewer deliveries than it contracted.

But Russian energy maneuvers are only part of Kiev's problems. Gas is to Ukraine what cocaine was to Colombia—it has corrupted an entire generation of politicians, who grew rich skimming off profits from the gas trade. Billions are stolen through shady intermediaries who handle gas sales to Ukraine and yet more money goes missing in black trade that exploits price differences in gas retail prices on the Ukrainian market. Trading companies buy gas ostensibly destined to poor households at cheaper, subsidized rates and then sell it to some steel smelter for a lot more. Moscow of course happily collaborates with Ukrainian politicians for a share of the booty. The EU increasingly questions whether Ukraine can ever be a reliable transit country, irrespective of what Russia does. 

To dispel EU gas-supply fears, Ukraine has granted European monitors wide access to its gas facilities. But that will not be enough. Ukraine needs to reform its gas sector to end corruption and the expensive gas subsidies to households, which are bankrupting the country. If it fails to do so, the pressure will grow on Ukraine to allow even greater European control over its gas system. EU officials have hinted at the possibility of forming a joint EU-Ukrainian consortium by encouraging EU gas companies to take a stake in Naftogaz, the country's oil and gas monopoly.

Europe's entry into a joint gas consortium, though, would be an imperfect solution. Those EU governments that are traditionally close to Moscow, such as Germany and Italy, would want to avoid a fight with Russia and probably insist that the country be included in the consortium. But this would be tantamount to putting a fox in charge of a chicken coop. Russia has little regard for Ukrainian sovereignty, and it would surely try to use its control over the country's gas grid to undermine Ukraine's attempts to draw closer to the EU. 

Far better for Ukraine to continue running its own gas pipelines. To that end, EU pressure on Ukraine to reform its gas laws to fight corruption and cut consumption would be more constructive than its direct involvement. The recent loan offer is a step in the right direction; it requires Ukraine to introduce reforms first in order to qualify for the money. 

Kiev has of course failed to live up to similar reform pledges in the past. This time, things are different. Ukraine needs foreign money to keep the gas flowing. Also, until recently, Ukrainian leaders could semi-convincingly argue that reforms, which would raise domestic gas prices, should wait until the economy improves and until after presidential elections scheduled for January 2010. But the World Bank is ready to spend part of its $500 million offer on mitigating the social impact of higher gas prices. So those concerns are no longer as relevant as they used to be.

The Ukrainian government has now started raising gas prices for households, although some subsidies remain. After the elections, there will be no more excuses for postponing further reforms. To remain solvent and truly autonomous, Ukraine needs to consume less gas and clean up its gas trading system. As Europe could soon "own" part of Ukraine's gas reserves, a failure to reform could otherwise set up Kiev and Brussels for a serious showdown during the next gas spat and sink Ukraine's EU membership plans. Let's hope the EU-arranged loans will help concentrate minds in Kiev. 


Mr. Valasek is director of foreign policy and defence at the Center for European Reform. 


 


Kyiv Post


SBU chief describes claims by Russia about Ukraine's involvement in attacks on South Ossetia as untrue


August 25, 2009

Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko has said that claims by the Russian Prosecutor's Office Investigative Committee that Ukrainian soldiers and members of the Ukrainian National Assembly and Ukrainian People's Self-Defense (UNA-UNSO) political organization were involved in attacks on South Ossetia in August 2008 are untrue.

"Everybody won't like my answer again. My fundamental position lies in the fact that Ukraine was and is not a party in this conflict. We're not an aggressor in this situation… So we don't need any comments on these or those claims, especially when they are misleading," he told Interfax-Ukraine in Kyiv on Tuesday.

"This is complete nonsense," Nalyvaichenko said, adding that last year, the SBU informed the public, including the international community, "about fabricated cases and attempts to hire our citizens in order to pull them into the territory of Abkhazia last year."

"Accusations of the alleged participation of Ukrainians in this or that armed conflict … are untrue claims," he said.

Nalyvaichenko also called on all sides to abide by a "major principle – international law."

"There were international observers in Georgia, particularly those from the United Nations and the OSCE, and they conducted monitoring and have irrefutable evidence … and true documents on what actually happened on the territory of Georgia," he said

Chicago Tribune

Drowning victim had passion for art 

By Joseph Ruzich, Special to the Tribune 

25 August 2009

Chicagoland Final

7

Dilbara Arapova "had a bad feeling about the place."

She and her husband, Vasily Fedorouk, an internationally renowned sculptor from Westmont, were playing with their dog, Era, near Horsetail Lake in the Cook County forest preserve in Palos Township on Sunday morning. It was the first time they had taken the dog to the location, and Arapova was leery.

"There were a lot of weeds [along the shore]," Arapova said.

The 2 1/2 -year-old German hunting terrier went into the lake to fetch a ball but got caught in some vegetation. Fedorouk, 59, jumped into the lake, freed the family pet but wound up getting entangled himself, officials said.

"He was waving his hands in the water," Arapova said. "At first I thought he was joking. Then he went underwater and I started to scream. I couldn't help him. I can't swim."

Arapova said another man at the scene, who also couldn't swim, called police on a cell phone. Police and paramedics arrived about eight minutes after the incident, Arapova said, but it was too late.

Fedorouk was found submerged in 6 to 8 feet of water and later was pronounced dead. An official with the Cook County medical examiner's office said Monday that Fedorouk died of accidental drowning. Arapova said police told her that Fedorouk apparently got caught in fishing line.

On Monday, Arapova and her son, Anton Fedorouk, 24, were grieving and making funeral arrangements for a man who was being recalled as a hardworking, passionate artist.

"He would work from sunup to sundown on his sculptures," Arapova said. "That was his passion. He would want to be remembered for his art. He [once] told me that after he dies, his art will still live on forever."

Fedorouk, who immigrated to the United States with his wife from Ukraine in 1992, attended the Lviv Academy of the Arts, in Lviv Ukraine, in the mid-1970s.

Fedorouk's Web site states that his works have been exhibited internationally and are in private collection in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, Yugoslavia, Belgium, Brazil, Norway, Korea and Israel. Fedorouk also donated many public pieces, including a piece for the Seattle 1990 Goodwill Games. Fedorouk used a variety of hard materials, including bronze, wood, clay and his greatest love -- stone -- in his sculptures.

Arapova said Fedorouk made a living making pieces for private collectors.

Some of his pieces are on exhibit in the Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art in Chicago.

Anton Fedorouk was not surprised that his father risked his life for Era. "He loved our dog. He would do anything to save it."

 

(Note:  You can see color photos of his sculptures in the current, August 23 issue of The Ukrainian Weekly, page 17  http://www.ukrweekly.com/)

 

Voice of America

 

Україна – 18 років Незалежності. Думки експертів США. 

Мирослава Ґонґадзе 
Вашингтон
24/08/2009

 

Video and text in Ukrainian:

http://www.voanews.com/ukrainian/2009-08-24-voa1.cfm

 

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