[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: State Dep't; IHT; WoE; HC News and note

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State Department

Ukraine/Russia: Agreement to Restore Gas Flows to Europe 

Press Statement

Robert Wood

Acting Spokesman

Washington, DC

January 22, 2009

The United States welcomes the resolution of the gas dispute between Ukraine and Russia. We understand gas flows have been restored to European customers. 

This incident underscores the need for transparent, market-oriented arrangements for the sale and shipment of natural gas and the importance of diversifying energy supplies. The United States stands ready to support European Union efforts to enhance its energy security.

The International Herald Tribune

Can Ukraine leverage gas deal with Russia? 

By Judy Dempsey

Wednesday, January 21, 2009 

BERLIN: Last Saturday night, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin of Russia and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Tymoshenko, met behind closed doors in Moscow to end an energy dispute that had left millions of households in eastern Europe without heating.

When the meeting - attended by no note-takers - was over, the two leaders emerged to face the cameras. Tymoshenko, dressed in black, had a satisfied look on her face.

After weeks of tense negotiations that involved the European Union, Kiev reached a compromise with Moscow over how much Ukraine would pay for its gas imports and how much Russia would pay for sending gas across Ukraine's transit pipeline network to Europe. Those parts of the deal made the news.

What is not so well known is that their agreement also involved RosUkrEnergo, a Russian-Ukrainian energy trading company that has played a considerable role in thwarting Tymoshenko's efforts to push through economic reforms.

"The agreement is a big success for Ukraine," said Hryhoriy Nemyria, Ukraine's deputy prime minister and an ally of Tymoshenko. "The deal allows us to deal directly with Moscow and not through RosUkrEnergo. It will mean predictability, stability and transparency in the energy sector. Ukraine will no longer be vulnerable to external influences," he said, referring to Russia.

Tymoshenko, a controversial, ambitious politician who knows the energy sector inside out after working in this lucrative business before entering politics, had long sought the dismantling of RosUkrEnergo. The board members of this shadowy, intermediary gas trading company include Aleksandr Medvedev, deputy chairman of Gazprom, Russia's state-owned energy company, and the Ukrainian oligarch (and Tymoshenko opponent) Dmitry Firtash.

RosUkrEnergo was established in 2004 by Putin, who was then president of Russia, with the aim of promoting Russia's energy and political interests in Ukraine. He had one consistent strategy for his western neighbor. "It was to get hold of Ukraine's gas pipeline transit network, which sends 80 percent of Russian gas to Europe," said Dietmar Stüdemann, former German ambassador to Kiev. "If Russia succeeded, it would undermine Ukraine's sovereignty."

Putin skillfully played on Ukraine's divisions, winning over some of the oligarchs who oppose Tymoshenko. With their help, RosUkrEnergo went out to buy gas from Central Asia and export it to Ukraine and Eastern Europe. The price, quantity and distribution were never precisely known.

"The existence of RosUkrEnergo perpetuated corruption, kickbacks, lack of transparency and vested interests for very powerful people in Russia and in Ukraine," said Anders Aslund, an expert on Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "It made it difficult to begin reforms in the energy sector," added Aslund, who has just written a fascinating account of Ukraine's turbulent years since regaining its independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991.

It would be naïve to place all the blame on RosUkrEnergo for Ukraine's inability to reap the benefits of the Orange Revolution of 2004-2005. The country is rife with corruption on almost every level, according to the World Bank and Transparency International. Many reforms, especially combating corruption, have been promised, but few delivered.

Then there are the bitter power struggles between the two Orange Revolution leaders, Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko. At one stage last year, they were not even on speaking terms. The Parliament, whose legislators represent the interests of the oligarchs rather than the electorate, has been fractious and disruptive.

The infighting has benefited Viktor Yanukovych, leader of the pro-Russian Party of the Regions that is based in the eastern, industrial part of the country.

Yanukovych was Putin's preferred candidate during the 2004 presidential election, which he won amid widespread reports of fraud. After a rerun demanded by hundreds of thousands who created the Orange Revolution, he was defeated by Yushchenko. Yet to the dismay of Orange Revolution supporters, Yanukovych, thanks to the power struggles among the political elite and among the oligarchs, managed two years ago to become prime minister for a short time.

Such turmoil has not only disillusioned the Ukrainian people. The outside world, which had been entranced in 2004 by the Orange Revolution's courage to stand up to an authoritarian regime, has become fed up with the vagaries of Ukrainian politics. They have not helped Kiev's applications to join NATO and the EU, which were once received with a certain amount of sympathy.

Even in its relationship with Russia, Ukraine has lost international support. In 2006, when Moscow first shut down its gas pipelines crossing Ukraine to the West in order to teach its rebellious neighbor a lesson, Western public opinion was firmly with Kiev.

That dispute was ostensibly about what price Ukraine should pay Russia for its gas imports. But there was an underlying political motive: Putin was furious with the Orange Revolution, fearing Moscow would lose further influence in a fiercely proud country determined to pursue the path of democratization. Then, Ukraine's leaders found it easy to blame Russia for the energy shortages in Europe, even though Ukraine siphoned off quantities destined for Russia's European customers.

During the latest energy dispute, Putin and Gazprom ran a highly professional public relations campaign. It was Ukraine, not Russia, that was responsible for the cutoff, claimed Moscow. Ukraine found itself on the defensive. While the Kremlin and Gazprom arranged conference calls with international media, the government in Kiev had absolutely no public relations strategy. "Ukraine was caught off guard," said Stüdemann. "Russia conducted a much better PR campaign."

Tymoshenko's last-minute success in Moscow in persuading Putin to cut RosUkrEnergo out of energy deals between both countries is all the more remarkable under these circumstances. It could give the Ukrainian prime minister an opportunity to press ahead with major reforms, winning her popular support and over time even regaining Western sympathies. But do Tymoshenko and Yushchenko have the political will to seize the moment?

"Ukraine's leaders squandered the Orange Revolution," said Igor Burakovsky, director of the independent Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting in Kiev. "With RosUkrEnergo out of the picture, there just might be a chance for a new beginning. I would not like to bet on that."

 

Window on Eurasia: Finno-Ugrics Seek Support from Kyiv against Russian 'Colonialism'

 

Paul Goble

 

            Vienna, January 22 - The gas Moscow is now using as a political weapon against Ukraine was first stolen by Russia from the Finno-Ugric peoples of Western Siberia, and that "amoral theft" should be condemned not only by the European Union but "particularly" by Ukraine, a Finno-Ugric activist has told a Kyiv newspaper.

            In an interview published in "Gazeta" two days ago, Rostislav Martynyuk, a Finno-Ugric scholar and activist of the Society of Peoples of the Finno-Perm Group, said that 80 percent of "so-called Russian" gas comes from the Khanty-Mansiisk district and the Yamal  Peninsula, whose peoples in 1992 declared the natural resources there to be their property.

            "Ignoring" their actions, Martynyuk said, is "against the law."  But "from the very first, when the Khanty and Mansi declared sovereignty over their resources, the Moscow cartels systematically bought up the organs of local power and [many] ordinary people' there as well (gazeta.ua/index.php?id=278743&lang=ru).

            "Are the indigenous peoples receiving compensation from the gas and oil Moscow takes from the region?" the Finno-Ugric activist asked rhetorically. "In the best case, they receive bribes," over in the form of "a bucket of vodka."  But this, like Moscow's use of gas as a political weapon, is "illegal and provocative behavior" and must be condemned. 

            And Ukrainians should be the first to recognize this, Martynyuk continued.  That is because at one time, Russia discovered gas in Ukraine and exported it to Russia.  That was "theft," too, the activist argues. And just as Moscow is using the money it earns from the sale of Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets gas now, it used Ukrainian gas in the past.

            In response to "Gazeta" journalist Igor Kozlovsky's questions, Martynyuk acknowledged that the Finno-Ugric peoples are having a hard time organizing to press their demands.  On the one hand, he notes, they are relatively small and extremely dispersed peoples and that in many places there are 50 residents who have come from outside to every one of the natives.

            And on the other, he noted that members of the Finno-Ugric peoples are subject daily to "a five minute hate" program on Russian television where Putin and pro-Kremlin journalists like Mikhail Leontyev tell them that their gas has been stolen not by Moscow "billionaires" but by Ukrainian transit workers.

            But Martynyuk said he nonetheless was hopeful about the future, adding that many Finno-Ugrics in Western Siberia had been inspired by Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves' call last year for them to draw on the example of their European "relatives" and "struggle for national liberation and statehood."

            That is what many are now doing, Martynyuk said, and they look to Ukraine for support not only because it is suffering from the same kind of "colonial" policy that Moscow is visiting upon the Finno-Ugrics of Western Siberia but also because there are many members of Finno-Ugric diasporas in Ukraine itself.  

            One of the biggest obstacles to Finno-Ugric activism inside the Russian Federation is that the groups speak languages, which while all members of the same language family, are not mutually intelligible, a pattern that Soviet policy sought to magnify in the languages its  officials used in schools and media.

            But now, there may be a way to bridge such divides so that the members of these communities to use Russian as their lingua franca. That is a new Finno-Ugric Esperanto language that scholars have prepared drawing on the Finno-Ugric languages now inside Russia as well as Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian (http://www.mskomi.ru/n/article.php/5116).

            While Esperanto-type languages often have not succeeded, this one appears more likely to not only because it taps into the desire of Finno-Ugrics to unite with the three Finno-Ugric countries but also because of the 240-page online dictionary and grammar released this week (shaer.ru/component/option,com_docman/task,doc_details/Itemid,32/gid,4/).

            At least it has some in Moscow concerned.  Journalist Yana Amelina who has often attacked non-Russian activism has just published an article in a Russian nationalist journal denouncing as absurd albeit dangerous such efforts at what she dismisses as "internet separatism"  (russdom.ru/node/1239).

 

		

 


CARDIN APPOINTED CHAIRMAN OF U.S. HELSINKI COMMISSION FOR 111TH CONGRESS


 

(Washington, DC) U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) today expressed his appreciation to Majority Leader Harry Reid after his appointment as Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) for the two-year period of the 111th Congress. Chairman Cardin, also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement: 

"For more than three decades, the U.S. Helsinki Commission has played an important role in furthering America's foreign policy objectives. I am honored to take the reigns as chairman at such a critical time in our nation's history," said Chairman Cardin. 

"This week our nation has begun to write a new chapter in history. President Obama understands the urgent need to rejuvenate U.S. diplomacy to better advance America's priorities and rebuild our nation's position as an active and responsible member of the global community. I look forward to working with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as she leads the effort to restore our nation's credibility in the area of human rights, as we strive to define a 21st century relationship with Russia, and in so many other areas that will help make our nation and our world more secure. As Chairman of the U.S. Helsinki Commission, I also intend to focus a brighter spotlight on the plight of refugees and the need for transparency in resource extraction and commerce. 

The outgoing Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (FL-23), noted, "I want to congratulate Senator Cardin on assuming the Chairmanship of the Commission. I greatly appreciated his advice and candor during my tenure as Chairman. I look forward to playing an active role on the Commission as Co-Chairman and bringing greater attention to the many issues we face abroad." 

Formally known as the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency that monitors progress in the implementation of the provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords and works to address and assess democratic, economic, and human rights developments firsthand. The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce. 

Chairman Cardin has had a long-standing career in foreign affairs and human rights. He currently is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has served as a member of the U.S. Helsinki Commission since 1993, including Ranking Member from 2003-2006. In the 110th Congress, he was appointed as Co-Chairman of the Commission, and is currently Vice President of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly. 

Congressman Hastings will soon be appointed by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as Co-Chairman of the Commission for 111th Congress. 


The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission, is a U.S. Government agency that monitors progress in the implementation of the provisions of the 1975 Helsinki Accords. The Commission consists of nine members from the United States Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense and Commerce.

(NOTE:  On a personal, Ukraine-related note, our new Chairman is  familiar with Ukraine, and I have had the privilege of accompanying him and other Helsinki Commissioners on two visits to Kyiv - in 2005 and in 2007 -- where we also had the opportunity to visit Chornobyl.  Sen. Cardin has visited the Holodomor Memorial during both of his visits.  Also, Co-chairman Hastings is  familiar with Ukraine and has been there on four occasions, including as leader of the OSCE international election observation mission there in 2006.  OD).

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