[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: KP/Reuters; State Department; FP; OSCE

[Deychak, Orest]

Kyiv Post


Update: Tymoshenko, Yanukovych close to coalition deal


 

June 1, 2009

 

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former premier Viktor
Yanukovich, longstanding rivals, are on the verge of clinching a deal to
form a "broad coalition" in parliament, Ukrainian media reported on
Sunday.

Talks between groups led by the two politicians have taken place
intermittently for more than a year amid recurring bouts of the
political upheaval that have buffeted Ukraine since the 2004 "Orange
Revolution" brought pro-Western leaders to power.

The authoritative Internet news service Ukrainska Pravda quoted its
sources as saying the leaders, the country's two most popular
politicians in the run-up to a presidential election, had reached a
"preliminary agreement" on Saturday.

The deal called for forming a coalition, drafting a programme of common
action until 2024, including running jointly in parliamentary elections,
and altering the constitution to have the president elected by
parliament.

Interfax Ukraina news agency said consultations were proceeding, with a
deal expected within days. "Everything could be decided today or
tomorrow," Interfax quoted a source as saying. "The issue is providing
guarantees for the two sides."

There was no comment from either Tymoshenko's bloc or Yanukovich's
Regions Party. Nor was there any comment from President Viktor
Yushchenko, whose standing lies in tatters more than four years after
the mass "orange" rallies in his favour. 

PREMIER, PRESIDENT AT ODDS

Tymoshenko was allied to President Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 mass
"orange" rallies against election fraud and was named premier by him
twice, but the two have been constantly at odds.

Yanukovich was the revolution's main loser.

Initially declared the winner of the 2004 presidential poll, he lost a
re-run election to Yushchenko after the result was overturned. He
returned as premier for a time in 2007 after the collapse of an "orange"
government.

Russia backed Yanukovich in 2004 and has been irritated with Yushchenko,
especially his drive for Ukraine to join NATO and his denunciations of
Moscow's intervention in Georgia last year.

Moscow has developed better ties with Tymoshenko after a spat over a
plan for the EU to upgrade Ukraine's gas transport system.

Tymoshenko and Yanukovich have a long history of hostility, at least in
public. It is unclear whether they could overcome differences and
produce the stability long sought by the European Union after more than
four years of political sniping.

The current premier is a vocal defender of disadvantaged voters and
draws much of her support from nationalist western Ukraine and the
centre of the country. Yanukovich's electoral heartland lies in the
Russian-speaking industrial east.

The two sides have voted tactically together, mainly to counter
Yushchenko's interests.

Yanukovich leads polls with over 20 percent, while Tymoshenko, hit by
the effects of economic crisis, stands at about 15 percent. Yushchenko
lags far behind in single figures.

Parliament set the next presidential election but Oct. 25, but that
ruling was struck down and a new date must be set. (Reporting by Ron
Popeski; editing by Myra MacDonald) 

U.S. Department of State

Excerpt from FY 2010 Department of State Congressional Budget
Justification <http://www.state.gov/s/d/rm/rls/statecbj/2010/index.htm> 

The International Affairs budget (also referred to as Function 150 of
the Federal budget) provides the funding to carry out U.S. foreign
policy. This funding supports the worldwide operations of the Department
of State, maintaining effective American representation at embassies and
posts in foreign countries, as well as the operations of the U.S. Agency
for International Development. This funding also supports a broad array
of foreign assistance programs and other U.S. Government activities to
achieve foreign policy priorities. 

Ukraine

 

Foreign Assistance Program Overview

U.S. assistance is intended to foster a democratic, prosperous, and
secure Ukraine fully integrated into the

Euro-Atlantic community. The United States will continue to promote a
legacy of sustainable institutions

that advance democratic reform, rule of law, energy security, human
rights, and economic growth. Ukraine

faces additional, serious economic problems as a result of the global
financial crisis. Endemic corruption

remains a serious obstacle to progress, and a factionalized political
environment has also slowed the

legislative, judicial, and market reforms necessary for closer
integration with the European Union, and

greater integration into the world economy. Increased political will
from the Government of Ukraine will

also be required to ensure transparency, security, and diversification
of the energy sector and to curb one of

Europe's fastest growing HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis epidemics.

 

Request by Account and Fiscal Year (FY):

 

FY 2008 Actual                     FY 2009 Total            FY2010
Request

TOTAL $119,310,000                       $89,419,000
$118,953,000

 

 

For detailed funding breakdowns and explanations on the various
categories of assistance to Ukraine, see
http://www.state.gov/f/releases/iab/fy2010cbj/pdf/index.htm (it's a PDF
file - best to do a "find" for Ukraine, as it's a long document covering
the entire world, but especially noteworthy are pp. 388 -- 394)

 

Foreign Policy

Ukraine: A Delicate Balancing Act
<http://www.acus.org/new_atlanticist/ukraine-delicate-balancing-act> 

David J. Kramer and Damon Wilson
<http://www.acus.org/content/david-kramer-and-damon-wilson>  | May 29,
2009 

 

Russia has always had a knack for overshadowing its neighbors - and this
time the West, focused on Moscow, is distracted from a crisis in
Ukraine. As U.S. President Barack Obama gears up to "reset" Russia
relations, Ukraine is in disarray. The country is teetering between
economic collapse, Russian influence, and vague promises of Western
support. It will take decisive moves from Washington to help pull
Ukraine back from the edge. At the least, Obama should visit ailing
Ukraine and prove that good relations with Russia don't meant forgetting
the rest of the region.

 

Economic decline is largely to blame for Ukraine's perilous predicament.
The country paid heavily for of its massive corporate foreign debt,
failure to push through serious economic reform, and unwillingness to
clean up a terribly corrupt energy sector. The International Monetary
Fund and World Bank forecast an 8 to 9 percent drop in GDP this year,
and that might be a conservative estimate; the economy has contracted
some 30 percent in the first quarter alone. Ukraine's currency, the
hryvnya, has fallen 40 percent against the dollar. Unemployment may
reach 10 percent and mass protests are not out of the question --
especially in the troubled east.

 

Finger-pointing among Ukrainian politicians, already a national sport,
will only accelerate as the country gears up for January 2010 elections
for president (and possibly early parliamentary elections, too). Many,
including Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (who has been feuding with
President Viktor Yushchenko since the Orange Revolution brought him to
power in 2004) are calling for constitutional reform that would
strengthen Ukraine's parliament and weaken the presidency.
Constitutional reform, important though that may be, is a divisive
distraction at a horrible time. What would be more helpful is economic
reform, as the IMF recommended as part of its $16.4 billion deal last
year.

 

But politicians are desperate for quicker solutions, even ones that may
not have Ukraine's long-term interests in mind. Enter Moscow, which has
provided loans to the tune of several billion dollars already to Kiev
and is interested in buying up more Ukrainian properties and assets.
Russia might not be acting out of mere kindness of heart; a campaign to
regain its sphere of influence might be at work.

 

If so, it's a campaign with strategic implications. Russia's Black Sea
fleet is set to operate in Ukraine's port city of Sevastopol until 2017.
In its current economic predicament, Ukraine will be in a weaker
position in contentious negotiations with Moscow about whether to renew
the arrangement. The same is true as the country rejects Russian
nationalist claims that Crimea, internationally recognized as part of
Ukraine, really belongs to Russia. Clashes between the two countries
over gas delivery to Europe are also likely to continue -- with Russia
in a position to apply further pressure on Ukraine, (though Ukraine also
needs to pay its bills so that future cutoffs are harder to justify).

 

Why should the international community be concerned about Ukraine's
fragility? In a word: location. The country of more than 46 million
people is a strategically placed capitalist (albeit fragile) democracy
on the fault line between Russia and the European Union. Messy and
frustrating as Ukrainian politics may be, the country has been both
peaceful and democratic since the Orange Revolution in 2004. The media
in Ukraine are freer than ever, and the parliament (the Rada) is no
rubber stamp for the executive branch -- more than some of Ukraine's
neighbors can say. Ukraine is central to achieving the goal of a Europe
that is whole, free, and at peace. It's the right country in the right
place. But if the West turns away, gains from the past five years could
be lost.

 

Visible U.S. support for Ukraine is critical as the country struggles
through the coming months. Obama should avoid boosting one politician
over another prior to any elections. A visit to Kiev on the president's
scheduled trip to Moscow in July would help, sending a powerful message
that America will not seek to improve relations with Russia at all
costs, neighbors included. On his trip, Obama must make clear that he
seeks better relations with Ukraine and other countries in the region
even as he improves ties with Moscow. It's a delicate balancing act, but
neither policy can succeed without the other.

 


David J. Kramer is senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall
Fund of the United States. He was assistant secretary of state for
democracy, human rights and labor and a deputy assistant secretary
responsible for Ukraine from 2005 to 2008.  Damon Wilson is director of
the international security program at the Atlantic Council. He served as
special assistant to the president and senior director for European
affairs at the National Security Council from 2007 to 2009. This essay
was published at Foreign Policy's The Argument
<http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/28/ukraine_on_the_brink>
blog.  Photo:  Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images. 


 


OSCE


Press Release 


 

OSCE Project Co-ordinator completes series of training sessions to
support establishment of the State Voter Register in Ukraine 

 

 

KYIV, 29 May 2009 - The last of a series of training sessions organized
by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine for some 2,400 officials
involved in maintaining the voter registry ended today. 

 

The 51 training sessions, conducted all over the country in co-operation
with the Central Election Commission (CEC), aimed to support the
building and maintenance of an electronic voter database. The
establishment of a state voter register is a longstanding recommendation
of the OSCE.

 

"We provided the CEC with computer equipment to assist the establishment
of the State Voter Register. These trainings sessions aimed to prepare
the staff of bodies responsible for the registry's maintenance for their
tasks," said Lubomir Kopaj, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine.

 

As a next step, the Project Co-ordinator and the CEC will launch a
nationwide awareness campaign that aims to encourage public interest,
participation and confidence in the voter registry.

 

The three-week training courses and the awareness campaign form part of
a project that aims to further strengthen Ukraine's election processes,
implemented by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine with the support
of the European Union, the Canadian International Development Agency,
the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Irish Aid and
the Strategic Programme Fund of Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth
Office.

 

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