[Ohio UZO News] Ukraine: HC press release; WH press release; FT (2); NYT

[Deychak, Orest]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE || September 30, 2009

U.S. Helsinki Commission Press Release

www.csce.gov <http://www.csce.gov/> 

 

Co-Chairmen Applaud Ukraine Decision 

to Protect Babyn Yar (Babi Yar) Memorial

 

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, and Co-Chairman Congressman Alcee L. Hastings (D-FL) today applauded Ukrainian officials for abandoning plans for a hotel project near the sacred site of Babyn Yar (Babi Yar), where over a two-day period from Sept. 29, 1941, more than 33,000 Jews -- half of them children -- were massacred by Nazis and dumped into a huge ravine. Between September 1941 and 1943, some 150,000 people, mostly Jews but also ethnic Ukrainians, Russians, Poles and Roma, were executed by Nazi troops at the wooded area on the outskirts of Kyiv.  

 

"The city authorities of Kyiv deserve credit for their rapid response to concerns from human rights and Jewish groups on this issue. I applaud their swift action to overturn the city council’s insensitive decision and respect the memory of the victims at Babyn Yar," said Chairman Cardin, who last visited the memorial park in 2007. "I further commend Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko for his pledge Tuesday to protect as a sacred spot the site of the Nazi massacre.” 

 

"Jewish groups, and human rights groups more generally, within and outside of Ukraine were right to decry the earlier ill-advised decision to build a hotel so near the site of these unspeakable atrocities," said Co-Chairman Hastings who also visited Babyn Yar in 2007. "Upon learning of this plan, the Helsinki Commission immediately expressed its concerns to the Ukrainian authorities. Such hallowed ground as the memorial is no place for hotels and commercial development. I welcome President Yushchenko's commitment Tuesday that the Ukrainian leadership ‘will not allow any defilement of the memory’ of those killed and ‘will ensure the proper protection of their place of perpetual rest.'" 

 

Babyn Yar is now parkland which contains several monuments to victims of the massacre whose remains lie there.

 

###

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the U.S. Helsinki Commission, is an independent agency of the Federal Government charged with monitoring compliance with the Helsinki Accords and advancing comprehensive security through promotion of human rights, democracy, and economic, environmental and military cooperation in 56 countries. The Commission consists of nine members from the U.S. Senate, nine from the House of Representatives, and one member each from the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce.

 

WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary
___________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    September 30, 2009


President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

John F. Tefft, Nominee for Ambassador to Ukraine, Department of State
John F. Tefft has been a career Foreign Service Officer for 37 years.  He most recently served as United States Ambassador to the Republic of Georgia from 2005-2009.  Prior to that assignment Mr. Tefft served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs and was responsible for US relations with Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova.  From 2003-2005 Mr. Tefft was the International Affairs Advisor at the National War College in Washington, DC.  He served as the United States Ambassador to Lithuania from 2000 to 2003.  He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the US Embassy in Moscow from 1996 to 1999, and served as Charge d’affaires from November 1996 to September 1997.  His other Foreign Service assignments include:  Jerusalem, Budapest and Rome.   Mr. Tefft holds a Bachelors Degree from Marquette University and a Masters Degree from Georgetown University.

 

(Note:  John Tefft’s nomination was also sent to the Senate on September 30.  I’ll add on a personal note that he is a seasoned professional who  worked on Ukraine as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State during a critical period and carries an excellent  knowledge and understanding of Ukraine and the region. OD)

Financial Times

www.ft.com

Naftogaz defaults on $500m eurobond

By Roman Olearchyk in Kiev 

Published: October 1 2009 

Naftogaz, the cash-strapped Ukrainian energy company, failed yesterday to pay a maturing $500m eurobond but seemed closer to convincing note holders to accept a debt restructuring offer that is needed to avoid default.

Naftogaz officials insisted that their indebted company, which is critical to Europe's natural gas supply, did not have funds to pay the bond but were upbeat about their chances of avoiding default.

The company received a boost late yesterday when a group of Russian investors that had pledged to block restructuring announced that it would now accept.

Belize-registered Corlblow said that "following frank discussions" with Naftogaz, it "ceases its opposition to the proposed restructuring".

The company's success will weigh heavily on its plans for restructuring nearly $1.7bn in near-term foreign debt.

With its debt considered quasi-sovereign, a default by Naftogaz would be a first for a sovereign company in eastern Europe this year. It could also spark energy supply fears in Europe.

Debt and price disputes in recent years between Naftogaz and Russia's Gazprom culminated in a spat last January that temporarily cut gas flow to Europe.

"We are conducting meetings with our creditors and frankly I am convinced that our proposal will be accepted," Oleh Dubyna, Naftogaz chairman, said yesterday during a visit to London for talks with creditors.

"We already have some positive feedback from some banks, so I think everything will be fine."

Ukrainian officials said that Naftogaz would pay a $20m coupon on its eurobonds, which was described by analysts as a sweetener aimed at enticing note holders into converting the mature bonds into a new five-year issue.

Investment bank Renaissance Capital said that, while investors were being offered "more stick than carrot" the chances of a quick, amicable settlement "are now very high".

Financial Times

Ukraine plant privatisation flops

By Roman Olearchyk 

Published: September 30 2009 

An attempt by Ukraine's cash-strapped government to raise revenue by privatising a chemical plant flopped yesterday, damaging the country's prospects of pulling out of recession amid bitter political rivalries.

Kiev's privatisation agency cancelled the privatisation of Odessa Portside Plant, saying the offer of $600m (€412m, £377m) from a company representing Igor Kolomoisky, a billionaire, did not reflect fair value for the plant, strategically located on the Black Sea.

The auction had been beset by problems, as Yulia Tymoshenko, prime minister, pushed for the sale in defiance of a ban imposed by Viktor Yushchenko, the president. Mr Yushchenko and Ms Tymoshenko are set to vie with other candidates for the presidency. Had the sale held up, it would have generated badly-needed revenues for Kiev's government

New York Times

Pavel Popovich, 79, a Pioneer In Space for the Soviet Union 

By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 

1 October 2009

NYTF

Late Edition - Final

24

MOSCOW -- Pavel Popovich, the fourth Soviet man to go to space, died Wednesday in Crimea. He was 79.

His death, at a sanitarium, was announced by the head of the federation of astronauts, Vladimir Kovalenok. Itar-Tass quoted sources as saying that Mr. Popovich died of a stroke. He was five days short of his 80th birthday.

Mr. Popovich is best known for piloting the Vostok 4, which in August 1962 was one of the first two manned satellites to orbit the earth at the same time, a trip that made him the sixth person in orbit.

The other spacecraft orbiting at that time, Vostok 3, was piloted by Andrian Nikolayev, who died in 2004. Mr. Popovich also took part in a longer 15-day mission as commander of the Soyuz 14 spacecraft in July 1974.

Pavel Romanovich Popovich, born in 1929 in the Kiev region of what is now Ukraine, was part of a pioneering team trained to pilot the Vostok craft, the first manned vehicles the Soviets sent into space.

Mr. Popovich always described himself as the first Ukrainian to go to space.

He was the eighth man in space but the sixth man to go into orbit, which the first two manned United States spaceflights did not achieve.

Mr. Popovich won two Hero of the Soviet Union awards, his country's highest honor.

His death came the same day as the launching of a Russian astronaut, an American astronaut and a Canadian space tourist on a Soyuz rocket bound for the International Space Station.

 

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