Vladimir Putin, Moscow Mayor And Patriarch Kirill Promote Russian Interests In Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, Moscow Mayor, Yury Luzhkov, and Patriarch Kirill flocked to Ukraine last week.
While the official goals of the visits were different, each promoted the Kremlin’s ideology of a single Russian worldview and personally congratulated President, Viktor Yanukovych on his birthday, the man who made it possible for them to preach this ideology in Ukraine.

His predecessor, the nationalist President, Viktor Yushchenko, and Putin, shunned each other. Relations between Kyiv and Kirill’s church were strained, while Luzhkov was persona non grata in Ukraine. These relationships have dramatically changed under Yanukovych.

The guests from Moscow literally felt at home during their visit.

Putin’s July 24 visit to Yanukovych’s summer residence in the Crimea had a rather symbolic meaning. Commenting on a plea by Ukrainian pipe makers to open up the Russian market, Putin nonchalantly dismissed the business dispute as a “family matter,” suggesting that his “special relations with Yanukovych” might help solve it.

The most spectacular event involving Putin’s participation, covered by the Ukrainian and Russian media, was his visit to a bikers’ festival near Sevastopol, a city where the Russian Black Sea Fleet will stay until 2042 and possibly beyond (rather than until 2017 thanks to the gas-for-fleet agreement reached with Yanukovych last April).

Putin played the macho leader, as he likes to do before a domestic audience. Putin drove a Harley-Davidson and addressed bikers, many of whom arrived from Russia, with a speech praising freedom.
Luzhkov’s visit raised controversy even before his arrival. He told a press conference in Moscow on July 19 that he would not change his view on the status of Sevastopol which is “a Russian city,” adding that “We must never leave either Sevastopol or the Crimea;” since losing Sevastopol which is strategically important “would be tantamount to losing the south of Russia,” he told naval officers in Moscow three days later.

The Ukrainian foreign ministry promptly criticized Luzhkov for the statements which “contradicted the recently established atmosphere of constructive and good-neighborly relations between Ukraine and Russia”. This did not prevent him from visiting Sevastopol.

In 2008, Kyiv declared Luzhkov persona non grata for his repeated calls to return Sevastopol to Russia. However, in June 2010, Yanukovych revoked that decision. Luzhkov publicly expressed his gratitude to Yanukovych speaking in Sevastopol’s main square.

He praised Yanukovych’s team for “the atmosphere of friendship and cooperation” and also told the cheering crowd that “the Russian Black Sea Fleet will stay in Sevastopol forever”.

Unlike Putin and Luzhkov, who visited only the Crimea, Patriarch Kirill went to several places including Kyiv. This visit was unlike last year’s, when Kyiv protested Kirill and characterized him as an unwanted guest.
From among the two largest rival Orthodox churches, the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Moscow Patriarchate, Yushchenko clearly favored Kyiv on the basis that he wanted to establish a single national church independent from Moscow.

However, Yanukovych openly sided with the Moscow Patriarchate, whose clergy backed his victorious presidential election campaign in 2009-2010.

From the Moscow Patriarchate’s point of view, Kirill’s July 20-28 tour of Ukraine was a home visit, because the Moscow church is more popular than the Kyiv church among the Orthodox communities in the densely populated and largely pro-Russian east and south.

Kirill pointedly ignored Kyiv Patriarch Filaret who was excommunicated by Kirill’s predecessors for setting up the Kyiv Patriarchate in 1992. Last year, Filaret tried to meet Kirill, but was ignored. The current government made it clear that it supports Kirill, allowing him to preside over a mass in St. Sophia’s Cathedral in Kyiv on July 26.

Prior to his visit, only ecumenical services were allowed there annually, as the cathedral, the cradle of Ukrainian Christianity, has museum status. Filaret’s representatives said they would demand that the government also permit them to serve in St. Sophia’s church in the future.

Yanukovych is unlikely to make such a concession to Filaret, especially after Kirill, who on July 23 decorated him with the Russian Orthodox Church’s highest award, the order of the Holy Prince Vladimir, emphasized that his church was “the absolute antipode” to Filaret’s.
Kirill also ruled out any reconciliation with the Kyiv Patriarchate during the synod which he chaired in Kyiv on July 26. Instead, the synod called on Filaret’s “schismatic’s” to “return to the canonical church through repentance.”

The synod criticized the authorities for interfering in church matters in the past, possibly referring to Yushchenko’s idea of an Orthodox Church independent from Moscow It also stated that nothing should now prevent the followers of Filaret from “repentance”.

Moscow VE Day Parade

Ukraine-Russia Deal On Naval Base, Natural Gas Could Pose Challenges In Region

MOSCOW, Russia -- Ukraine's decision to host a Russian naval base for 25 more years in exchange for cheaper gas, ratified Tuesday despite a brawl over it in the Ukrainian parliament, does little to alter the immediate military balance in the Black Sea but presents other challenges for U.S. goals in the region.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has played down the significance of the pact, saying it should be seen as part of an effort by Ukraine's new president, Viktor Yanukovych, to improve ties with both Russia and the United States in a "balancing act" that "makes sense to us."

But analysts say the deal could hurt Western efforts to support Ukraine's fitful democratic transition, both by allowing it to postpone reforms of its corrupt energy sector and by provoking another round of infighting in the country after years of political instability.

Some also warn that the deal could boost those determined to restore Russia's influence over its neighbors and complicate NATO plans to use the Black Sea as a base against potential foes in the Middle East and Central Asia. The Pentagon, for example, has considered putting part of its missile shield against Iran on ships in the Black Sea.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, visiting Kiev before the ratification vote, hailed the deal as a breakthrough in ties with Ukraine and emphasized how much money Russia was giving up to keep its fleet in Sevastopol, on the southern tip of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula.

"The proposed price seemed absolutely exorbitant," he said, saying the discount amounted to $40 to $45 billion in savings for Ukraine. "It would be possible to build several bases with this money, but for us, this is an issue of cooperation with Ukraine rather than just the financial aspect."

But Ukraine, which has been battered by the global recession and is seeking an IMF bailout, most likely would not have been able to pay the prices Russia had been asking for natural gas.

As a result, critics say, Ukraine could have negotiated a discount without extending the base lease, originally set to expire in 2017, especially since it owns the pipelines that Russia uses to deliver the gas it sells to Europe.

The deal gives Ukraine about 30 percent off the prices set in the contract it signed with Moscow last year, after a standoff during which the Kremlin cut gas supplies to Europe. But that contract set prices so high that the newly negotiated discount brings them down only to current market levels, said Edward Chow, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"They gave something -- extending the naval base lease -- in order to get what they were really entitled to from the beginning," he said of the Ukrainians, noting that Russia had already renegotiated contracts with other customers in Europe and given them discounts because of falling demand and prices.

The new agreement, Chow argued, is the latest in a series of deals that have benefited powerful industrialists in Ukraine and allowed the country to avoid cleaning up its corrupt gas sector, believed to be a source of funds for politicians. Like those before it, he added, the new deal is so flawed it is unlikely to last long and could again threaten the supply of gas to Europe.

For example, he said, the pact requires Ukraine to buy more gas in subsequent years, perhaps more than it needs. But it doesn't require Russia to continue using Ukraine's pipelines, a key source of income for Kiev. The Kremlin plans to build new pipelines that circumvent Ukraine.

David Kramer, a former George W. Bush administration official now at the German Marshall Fund, said the deal could "feed some of the worst instincts in Russian psychology" about the former Soviet Union, especially after an uprising in Kyrgyzstan toppled a government opposed by the Kremlin.

"They may feel they're on a roll, and usually before too long, the Russians overplay their hand and do it in an unhelpful, unproductive way," Kramer said. But he added that he is more worried about the polarizing impact of the deal on Ukrainian politics, which could make it difficult for Yanukovych to govern effectively.

The intensity of emotions over the decision to extend the Russian lease until 2042 was evident Tuesday as fistfights broke out in parliament and opponents set off smoke bombs and threw eggs at the speaker. But Yanukovych's slim majority prevailed, allowing him to push through a new budget without a sharp rise in utility fees and clear the way for the IMF loan.

The new lease has also caused concern in other countries on the Black Sea, especially Georgia, which Russia defeated in a brief war in 2008. Although the Russian fleet is in poor shape, Moscow plans to upgrade it with Mistral-class helicopter carriers from France.

Radu Tudor, a defense analyst in Romania, one of three NATO allies on the Black Sea, said the Russians' extended presence in Sevastopol poses less of a military problem than a political one.

"They continue to see security as they did in the Cold War, with NATO as the enemy," he said. "So it's going to be much harder now to transform the Black Sea from a Russian lake into a NATO sea."

Ukraine's Yanukovych signals shift over Russia fleet

The newly elected president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych has suggested he would allow Russia's Black Sea Fleet to remain in his country beyond 2017.

Mr Yanukovych, during his first visit to Moscow since his election last month, said he would open a "new page" in relations with Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he hoped the "black streak" in ties between the two nations would be over.

Tensions rose under Ukraine's previous Pro-Western administration.

Mr Yanukovych's predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, had wanted Ukraine to join Nato - a move strongly opposed by Moscow.

After talks on Friday with the new Ukrainian president, Mr Medvedev said there could now be full co-operation at all levels.

Mr Yanukovych responded by saying that all major issues which had been causing tensions could now be dealt with.

On the Black Sea Fleet, he said the issue would be resolved soon in a way "that will satisfy both Russia and Ukraine".

The fleet is stationed in the port of Sevastopol in southern Ukraine, but its lease runs out in 2017 and its fate has long been a contentious issue between Moscow and Kiev.

The Kremlin is keen to extend the lease. Mr Yushchenko had opposed the move, but Mr Yanukovych has promised to seek a compromise.

Mr Yanukovych defeated pro-Western candidate Yulia Tymoshenko, in February' s presidential election.

Moscow is delighted that the pro-Western leaders of the Orange Revolution have now been defeated, the BBC's Richard Galpin reports from the Russian capital.

The big question is how far the reconciliation between Moscow and Kiev will go, our correspondent adds.

Gas supplies may be a source of friction in the talks.

Officials say the Ukrainian leader is expected to lobby for lower gas prices, as well as seek billions in loans from Russia to help cover the country's soaring budget deficit.

Same Faces, No Issues, As Ukrainians Prepare To Vote

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine is about to elect a new president, but the main contenders are anything but new. In first place in the polls is former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the villain of the 2004 race, which was decided only after the country’s Orange Revolution.
Since 2004, Mr. Yanukovych has done much to shed his image as an ex-con, Russian stooge and henchmen of eastern oligarchs. He showed himself to be a confident manager after returning to head the government in 2006. But, he lost that position due to a coalition of Orange politicians, as surely as he lost the presidency to Orange revolutionaries in 2004.Yanukovych can now with equal force of argument be seen as the comeback kid or a perpetual loser. It depends on how one looks at it, really. Some feel that the ageing strongman from Donetsk doesn’t even need the hassle of public office any more.After all, with the prompting of numerous American PR gurus, the man has had to change so much – his speech, his hairdo and ultimately his views. More importantly, so has the presidency changed, its authorities watered down from the dictatorial days of Leonid Kuchma just as the victorious Orange team was about to take power.The Donbass region from where Yanukovych hails from has also changed: Independence has set in, the Ukrainian language is no longer taboo, wealth and globalization have begun to brighten the lives of bleak coalmining towns.The oligarchs of Donetsk can no longer justly be characterized as anti-Western revanchists bent on bringing Ukraine back into the Russian fold. They borrow money from Western lenders, sell their products abroad and compete with Russian tycoons for market share in Ukraine.Against such a background, the “old” Yanukovych is a dinosaur. But Ukrainian politics has always been more of a merry-go-round than a tug-a-war: once you climb on board, you can keep riding until you fall off, or the music stops.Yanukovych continues to ride, out of inertia more than anything else. Why run for president? Because politics is now the only trade that he knows, because eastern Ukraine doesn’t have any other candidate to put forward.So what does Mr. Yanukovych stand for now in terms of policy? Well if his latest public statements can be taken seriously, Yanukovych wants to strengthen Ukraine’s position in its relations with the IMF.“I think that both sides – the IMF and the Ukrainian government – are at fault for the disruption and discrediting of the loan program for Ukraine. The Cabinet of Ministers took on obligations that it couldn’t perform. Massive IMF funds were used without transparency, and the authorities haven’t been able to explain where the money was spent.”Mr. Yanukovych is right about IMF money being misspent – the case of Bank Nadra being the best example of such misspending – however, it wasn’t the government that controlled the National Bank as the global financial crisis struck last year.What Yanukovych is really saying – in addition to taking a campaign swipe at his primary election opponent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, is that he doesn’t want Ukraine to be pushed around by international lending organizations.Here in lies the vague basis of some kind of policy: namely, tighter fiscal control but also more rule setting by Ukraine’s industrialists.As for Ms. Tymoshenko, she’s been on Ukraine’s political stage even longer than Yanukovych. Also a former premier, she rose to fame in the long struggle to dethrone Kuchma. That struggle culminated during the Orange Revolution, after which Yushchenko was crowned Ukraine’s new king.As queen, Ms. Yulia soon filed for divorce and the three-way struggle for executive power that has characterized Ukrainian politics ever since began.Unlike Mr. Yanukovych, whose main support base is in the east, and President Yushchenko, whose remnants of a support base are in the west, Tymoshenko feels confident all over the country. She’s currently rated No.2 by polls, which always underestimate her, but her personal determination and campaign skills far outweigh those of her opponents.She is, indeed, such a force to be reckoned with that some (including Tymoshenko) are suggesting that Yanukovych has promised Yushchenko to be premier in exchange for campaign support.“If 18 candidates are running for president, it’s clear that none of them has a chance of winning. Instead, they are all running against one candidate. It’s all a campaign strategy that envisions they all work together to get Yanukovych elected in return for appointments after the elections,” she said.As always, Tymoshenko is positioning herself as the underdog, the defender of the people under attack by the forces of evil. What this translates to in terms of policy is known more commonly as populism. Tymoshenko has Orange (i.e. pro-Western) credentials but is not shy about courting favor with the Kremlin; and her economics are predicated more on political rivalries, but appear to be more transparent than those of her opponents.In short, Ms. Tymoshenko is a policy in progress, in flux and always in response.Maybe this is why President Yushchenko has said that a Tymoshenko victory would lead the country to “catastrophe.”“Tymoshenko is the essence of the crisis, a crisis in everything that she touches,” he said. The president has further blamed his former co-revolutionary for betraying the Orange team and predicted that her political career would soon come to an end.Although the president’s statements definitely betray a rather skewed interpretation of recent Ukrainian history, suffice it to say that he clearly seems more critical of Tymoshenko than his former arch enemy Yanukovych.It was the fight against Yanukovych, the oligarchs and the bandits that rallied hundreds of thousands in Kyiv to protest the initial, fraudulent results of the 2004 ballot and hand Yushchenko the presidency. Now, Mr. Yushchenko is attempting to vilify his former ally, Ms. Tymoshenko, before the people.The faces in Ukraine’s never-ending political drama have remained the same – not much of a choice for voters. But the issues have become completely blurred, if they exist at all.

Hr 4 million to be allocated to hold presidential election in foreign electoral districts

Ukrainian president in foreign polling stations. The Central Election Commission approved the amount of expenditure on preparing for and holding the presidential election in foreign electoral districts at a meeting on Friday.The commission earlier set up 114 polling stations abroad, including five in Germany and five in Russia.

Tymoshenko Predicts Yanukovych Defeat In Presidential Election

KIEV, Ukraine -- Premier and presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko addressed journalists in the Big Politics live talk show broadcast by the Inter TV channel.
Commenting on the alleged lead of Viktor Yanukovych in the polls reported by the media, she called them fabricated, saying: “I guess, as experienced journalists you should know the true value of such polls. They are hatched in campaign staffs and then poured out at the people.They shouldn’t really be trusted.” Tymoshenko recalled a miserable 0.5% forecast for her party back in 2002 when BYT, in fact, scored 8%. The story repeated in 2004 when such made-to-order polls gave BYT only 12%, and her party won over 24% of the vote. "Ukrainians are being manipulated by the media, starting from TV news and ending with pseudo polls. Their brains are washed to the wishes of the masters of life, Tymoshenko replied.

CALL FOR UNITY

The premier recalled her statement made in Lviv last week for democratic candidates to unite in the runoffs around the highest scorer.“I think, every sensible person in Ukraine realizes that if the mafia [referring to the Party of Regions] comes to power it will be the end of Ukraine’s normal development,” Yulia Tymoshenko stressed.

PRESIDENT, CENTRAL BANK LAUNCHED FINANCIAL HOLODOMOR

A deliberate financial Holodomor [famine] was launched in Ukraine. It was well-orchestrated and is still being implemented, she warned.Asked about who is to blame, she responded by pointing to politicians who strive to ruin the country as a means of preserving or gaining power. She stressed the Central bank is the main perpetrator, with President Yushchenko controlling the bank. “I don’t believe the president was not in the know about the bank’s wheelings and dealings,” she added.The country has been deliberately cash-strapped by the Central bank and pocket commercial banks. As a result, crediting businesses has been stopped due to abominable 16% rate charged by the Central bank and the 30-35% by commercial banks. The economy is being strangled, the premier continued.The Central bank printed 100 billion hryvnias. Instead of channeling the money to the economy, it gave it to commercial banks which bought hard currency for it and funneled it out of Ukraine to off-shore zones After the election, I’ll turn this financial beehive out [a reference to Yushchenko’s hobby as a beekeeper] and show the nation through which banks the money was funneled abroad,” the premier warned.“We’ll have the prosecutor general with enough political will and courage not only to expose but also to bring to account,” she said.

FIGHTS FAT CATS

The premier complained that the fat cats that came to power during Pres. Kuchma’s rule still dominate the country. They own major enterprises and most of the media. If you want to oppose the system, you inevitably will be in the opposition. They are all against me, Tymoshenko admitted.“The prosecution is controlled by the Party of Regions, same as the bulk of the media and local authorities. In the Verkhovna Rada there is no effective majority ready to implement reforms,” she said.The will of Ukrainians who protested on the Maidan in 2004 has not been implemented by Yushchenko, Tymoshenko charged, and her goal is to see this done. The Maidan is not history, she stressed.

THIEVES MUST GO TO JAILS

Tymoshenko threatened to prosecute those who lined their pockets with illegally stolen state property. “I have a long list of people who deserve being jailed for what they have done to Ukraine in the past 18 years,” she warned.Asked what she expects the fat cats to do, Tymoshenko presented her code for the tycoons: “pay taxes honestly, pay fair wages to employees, invest in modernization instead of funneling money to off-shore accounts.”

OFFICIALS GO ON STEALING BINGET

Tymoshenko described the present situation as being very grave, especially due to large-scale theft of state property by officials.Asked if she will press for the prosecution of Pres Yushchenko, she said it would be wrong to name the corrupt officials at the moment.Simultaneously, she was indignant and fuming, accusing Viktor Yanukovych of grabbing a former government residence in Mezhyhory [a 600-sq.m house and 140 hectares of land]. She also mentioned that Yushchenko has bought a 13-heactare lot of “golden” land in the Kyiv suburbs in 2009.

DENIES BEING IN THE MONEY

Asked whether she was a hobo [Yushchenko once, after analyzing her tax declaration, compared her to a hobo, saying the country cannot be run by a persons without any property, land or money] or a billionaire, Tymoshenko responded by saying she had been prosecuted by the Kuchma regime. “If I had billions, they would have found them,” she commented.She stressed she had been cleared of all the charges by all the 30 judges of the Supreme Court.

Crimean Tatar Leader Backs EU, NATO Membership For Ukraine

SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- The outgoing leader of Crimea's Tatars says that NATO membership for Ukraine is the safest way to avoid a repeat of the Russian-Georgian war of 2008.
Mustafa Dzhemilev, the head of the Crimean Tatars' Mejlis or parliament, spoke on December 4 ahead of the Kurultai, or Crimean Tatar Assembly, to be held in Sevastopol on December 5-6.Dzhemilev said he supports Ukraine's moves to join the European Union and NATO. He added that although a referendum in Ukraine might show a lack of support for joining NATO, it is the duty of politicians to convince people to take "the right direction."Dzemilev said European integration will be useful for Crimean Tatars in terms of protecting human rights and gaining support for minority issues.The agenda of the Kurultai will include discussion of the January presidential election in Ukraine and the election of a new head of Mejlis, replacing Dzhemilev.He said his decision to leave the post is not supported by many members of the Crimean Tatar diaspora or the Kurultai.Dzhemilev, who spent many years in the gulag as a Soviet dissident, has been the chairman of the Crimean Tatar Assembly since 1991.He said incumbent Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko had unfortunately failed to keep his campaign promises.Dzhemilev called for a tolerant election campaign to take place without insults and social polarization, and said many people still have to overcome "Soviet propaganda" and review their personal values.Dzhemilev said that any discussion about Crimean Tatar separatism or annexation to Russia is baseless, but he said that one of the most important and worrying questions for Crimean Tatars is the preservation of their national identity.He added that more efforts should be made in terms of security because of attempts made by Russian authorities to undermine Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar bodies.Dzhemilev said he believes that Russia's Federal Security Service is behind reported operations to assassinate him. He referred to the arrest on October 26 of two alleged members of an Islamist group, At-Takfir wal-Hidjra, who were reportedly planning to kill Dzhemilev.

Can Lazarenko Hurt Tymoshenko's Bid?

KIEV, Ukraine -- Behind almost every successful politician and businessperson is a mentor who helped put the person on the path to fame and fortune. Yulia Tymoshenko had one too: Pavlo Lazarenko, convicted U.S. felon.
Lazarenko served under ex-President Leonid Kuchma as prime minister from 1996-1997. He is now serving an eight-year prison sentence in America for laundering money, part of the ill-gotten fortune he amassed in the nation that he allegedly ran like a mafia boss.In the early 1990s, Lazarenko helped make Tymoshenko, the current prime minister, a big-time player in the lucrative gas-trading business and also gave the rising star a political boost.Now, as Tymoshenko is one of two front-runners in the Jan. 17 presidential election, the question is: Can the ex-prime minister hurt the current prime minister politically?Lazarenko has hinted that he can, telling leading Inter TV channel in 2005 that he could “turn much in the arrangement of political forces in Ukraine upside down.” But Tymoshenko has kept her distance and dismissed attempts to tie her to his wrongdoing as merely more scurrilous attacks on her from her enemies.The consensus seems to side with Tymoshenko – that Lazarenko is harmless to her now -- even among those who might wish otherwise.“Lazarenko cannot significantly influence the course of political events in the country,” Oleh Lytvak, who coordinates law-enforcement activities for the Presidential Secretariat, told UNIAN news agency on Dec. 1.Lytvak would be in a position to know more than most. As acting prosecutor general during 1997-98, Lytvak worked on the Lazarenko case.“Much has changed during his absence,” Lytvak told UNIAN. “Lazarenko today is correctly associated with past criminal acts. The only thing he could do if he returned would be to start talking about his unpunished accomplices. He has that right. But then the Prosecutor General’s Office would be obliged to open an official investigation, a full, all-encompassing and objective one.”Taras Berezovets, a political analyst at the Kyiv-based Politech think tank and a campaign adviser for Tymoshenko’s eponymous bloc in parliament, is even more certain.“Many young voters don’t even know who Lazarenko is,” Berezovets said. “Tymoshenko’s relationship with Lazarenko is not a stain on her political career. She has proven that over and over again during the years as an opposition leader and running in parliamentary elections.”A third voice echoing this sentiment is that of Serhiy Taran, director of the International Democracy Institute, a Kyiv-based think tank. He said Tymoshenko’s business and political dealings with Lazarenko took place too long ago to matter today. “If there had been documented evidence of wrongdoing between Lazarenko and Tymoshenko, state prosecutors would have used it against her during the early 2000s,” Taran said.The decade-long court battle between American law enforcers and Pavlo Lazarenko came closer to an end on Nov. 18, when a U.S. appeals court judge shaved 11 months off the ex-prime minister’s prison sentence.The presiding U.S. judge hasn’t decided whether the convict will spend an additional 18-32 months in a prison or confined at his San Francisco Bay Area home, wearing an electronic bracelet. Lazarenko also has yet to cough up millions of dollars he accumulated in Ukraine.One thing is clear: Tymoshenko and Lazarenko go way back.Tymoshenko earned a fortune during the crony capitalist 1990s, when she headed a natural gas trading company, United Energy Systems of Ukraine. The company profited handsomely from state contracts awarded by then-Prime Minister Lazarenko.Documents leaked by Ukrainian prosecutors over the years suggest that Tymoshenko’s companies made payments to Lazarenko-controlled companies in return for lucrative gas contracts. And it was precisely for laundering dirty money from such dealings that U.S. officials convicted Lazarenko, whose activities extended into U.S. jurisdiction.U.S. prosecutors are proud of the conviction. “The sentence against Lazarenko should send a strong message to corrupt foreign public officials,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney David Anderson in a statement issued by the Justice Department on Nov. 19.Lazarenko has vowed over the years to return to Ukraine in order to clear his name. He said so again on Nov. 18. “After my release I will go to Ukraine to work hard and work honestly,” Lazarenko said. “In the past 10 years I have come to a full understanding. Every way that I personally could punish myself, I have punished myself.”Some doubt he will ever come back, noting that he is wanted for serious crimes, including murder.Ukrainian prosecutors in 2000 said they suspected Lazarenko of being involved in the 1996 murder of parliament deputy Yevhen Shcherban, the 1998 slaying of central bank chairman Vadym Hetman, abuse of office, extortion, fraud, embezzlement and theft of state property. Lazarenko has denied all the charges, claiming they are politically motivated.Lazarenko served as energy minister and deputy first prime minister years before Kuchma tagged him to become premier in June 1996. Lazarenko had by then amassed a fortune buying and selling energy contracts and arranging trades with state enterprises buying natural gas at state-government-subsidized rates.Lazarenko was able to leverage illegally procured gas into virtually any commodity through unregistered barter transactions; he could then trade the goods on the open world market.Kuchma, Lazarenko and Tymoshenko are from Dnipropetrovsk, where in the 1990s, businessmen and bankers teamed up with public officials to devise ways for bankrupt state and commercial enterprises to purchase cheap Russian gas. Regional suppliers set up payment in whatever way the former Soviet plants could: cash, goods or shares.Tymoshenko has for years denied wrongdoing in her business and political relationship with Lazarenko.The topic of Tymoshenko’s business dealings with Lazarenko has not been an issue during the years-long trial, where the star witness had been former Lazarenko associate, Petro Kyrychenko, the Ukrainian businessman from California who, in the early 1990s, helped Lazarenko set up foreign bank accounts. FBI agents recreated the web of Lazarenko’s bank transfers from evidence found in Kyrychenko’s garbage.With Kyrychenko’s help, U.S. prosecutors untangled a complex series of transactions involving banks in Poland, Switzerland and Antigua, and ending up in banks in San Francisco. The money laundered had been extorted by Lazarenko, prosecution lawyers said.
Lazarenko timeline
May 1996 – appointed prime minister
July 1997 – resigns under pressure
Dec. 1998 – detained in Switzerland
Feb. 1999 – arrested in New York
June 2000 – convicted in Switzerland (in absentia)
June 2004 – convicted in the United States of money laundering and fraud
Aug. 2006 – sentenced to nine years in prisonNov. 2009 – resentenced to eight years in prison

European Observers See Corruption, Media Bias, Public Disappointment Marring Ukraine Vote

KIEV, Ukraine -- European lawmakers issued scathing criticism of Ukraine's electoral system Thursday as they began a mission to observe a January presidential vote, saying the election will likely be marred by corruption, media bias and widespread public disappointment.
The election is being closely watched by Europe and the U.S. Five years after the Orange Revolution street protests helped propel a pro-Western leader to power over a Russian-backed rival, the front-runners - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych - appear likely to focus on reinvigorating troubled ties with Moscow.Matyas Eorsi of Hungary, who is leading the observer mission from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE, told a news conference the election is not expected to meet the organization's standards.Eorsi suggested democratic practices could be swept aside by the bitter rivalries among prominent candidates, who also include incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko."We are worried that political cynicism will be on the rise. We understand that here in Ukraine, the political struggle is widely regarded as a struggle of personalities, ambitions and financial interests rather than a competition of political ideals," he said.Eorsi added that corruption and the media's role are serious concerns. "The media, many of the media, are also under strong financial influence, and very often this financial influence is created by the candidates," he said.Tadeusz Iwinski of Poland, another PACE observer, said Ukrainian election laws lack transparency and urged politicians to heed the group's recommendations for reform. "The problem of electoral laws makes for a permanent challenge," he said.A Central Election Commission spokesman, Konstantin Khivrenko, and a commission member, Mikhail Okhendovsky, declined to comment to The Associated Press on the observers' remarks.The assessment, unusually pessimistic for observers speaking two months before the vote takes place, contrasted with comments from the head of the monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which also got under way Thursday with a news conference. Heidi Tagliavini said the OSCE mission, which will field more than 600 observers for the Jan. 17 vote, would reserve judgment until they have analyzed the situation."We have arrived here with no preconceived ideas or hidden agendas," Tagliavini said. "We will let the facts speak for themselves."Claims of electoral fraud led to the Orange Revolution - massive protests that erupted after Yanukovych, who had open support from then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, was declared the winner of a 2004 presidential vote. The Supreme Court threw out the election and Yushchenko, who advocates NATO membership for the ex-Soviet republic, won a rerun.After years of political gridlock and economic trouble, Yanukovych is leading in the opinion polls, followed by Tymoshenko - Yushchenko's ally in the Orange Revolution but now his foe.

Ukraine '10: In Presidential Race, The Biggest Billboard Wins

KIEV, Ukraine -- Size does matter. Particularly when it comes to campaign ads in Ukraine's January 17 presidential election. Here, the guiding principle is: the bigger, the better. In a country where advertising was practically nonexistent during the Soviet era, today the billboard is king.
One of the first things a visitor notices upon leaving Ukraine's main airport, Boryspil, en route to Kiev is the seemingly endless chain of billboards that escort her all the way to the capital. Currently, it's the slogans of presidential hopefuls that make up the lion's share of this type of advertising.Vadym Karasyov, a prominent Ukrainian political analyst and director of the Institute for Global Strategies, recently made the claim that Ukrainians are not guided by political programs when they go to the polls. Rather, he argued, they vote for the slogan they like best.So Ukraine's 18 presidential candidates have their work cut out for them -- and billboards are proving perhaps the biggest and most immediate way of bringing those slogans to the voter.The 'She' CampaignYulia Tymoshenko, the current prime minister and one of the leading contenders for the presidency, launched her billboard attack well before the campaign's official kickoff on October 18.As early as August, signs were already appearing over the capital's streets bearing messages like: "They strike -- she works," "They block -- she works," and "They ruin -- she works." The slogans were unveiled references to the Ukrainian parliament, which has spent the good part of 2009 doing basically nothing because one faction or another was blocking the rostrum.Despite the fact that the signs bore no identifiable copyright marks, photographs, or indication of political affiliation, it wasn't difficult to decipher that the "she" in question was none other than Tymoshenko.Now "she" is all over the country, on billboards of all shapes and sizes. And in a clever turn, the "she" has now become more than just Ms. Tymoshenko: Now "she" is Ukraine herself. As a recent ad announces: "She works, she will win, she is Ukraine."Some political analysts have praised the "she" campaign as memorable. And indeed, the charismatic Tymoshenko, with her ever-present braids, appears to have had little trouble solidifying her public image. Current polls put her in second place, with a healthy lead over her former Orange Revolution partner, incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko.'For The People'The man she trails behind is Viktor Yanukovych, someone who has had his share of negative image perception. Yanukovych, leader of today's parliamentary opposition, lost in the last presidential election to Yushchenko.A tall, imposing figure of a man, Yanukovych is an awkward and undynamic communicator. Twice imprisoned for theft and violence in his youth, Yanukovych continues to be perceived by some as a thug, despite having his criminal record expunged.Whether the very digitally enhanced image beaming down from his campaign billboards will change that perception remains to be seen. Where Tymoshenko has identified herself as Ukraine, Yanukovych, true to form, is simply himself.Initially, Yanukovych's billboards boasted that each and every person's complaint, idea, and view would be heard. The next round of ads, logically, suggested the listening period was over and one of action had begun. Last but not least, a third group of Yanukovych billboards proclaimed, in a brusque and seemingly Soviet manner: "Your opinion has been heard. The problem has been solved."Currently, his leading campaign slogan is "Ukraine for the people." In a recent call-in program with RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, political analysts deemed the slogan ineffective and perilously reminiscent of the old Soviet slogan "Everything for the people." One listener even suggested that if Yanukovych really is listening to all views and all people, then he should listen to the portion of the electorate who don't want to see him become president and quit the race.Misfires And Mystery MenAnother candidate who has taken his campaign to the billboards is the current parliamentary speaker, Volodymyr Lytvyn. He plastered Kiev with bright yellow, anonymous billboards with such mysterious slogans as "Only he is worthy of leading Ukraine," and "Only he can be trusted with our future."While no one had any trouble identifying the "she" as Tymoshenko, for weeks no one quite knew who the "he" in question could be. Some suspected it was the incumbent, Yushchenko. But then Lytvyn dispelled the mystery and, overnight, his face appeared on billboards.The youngest of the candidates, 35-year-old former Foreign Minister and parliamentary speaker Arseniy Yatsenyuk, was initially thought by many to be Ukraine's fresh young hope in these elections. He created the Front for Change, claimed to be a new style of politician, and by spring 2008 he was pulling in 12-13-percent support.And then he hired a Russian team to run his campaign. They devised a pseudo-military approach and message for him. An intent-looking Yatsenyuk now peers down from a billboard that proclaims "Ukraine will be saved by new industrialization." Promises extend to a battle-ready army. A productive agrarian sector. Healthy and educated people. Yatsenyuk's youthfulness and new approach have evaporated amid a misguided, khaki-colored campaign that harks back to Soviet ideas and slogans.Billboard slogans are slowly giving way to television commercials, but the boards still continue to be omnipresent throughout the country.Tymoshenko's slogans have even inspired witty rebuttals from another female candidate on two of the biggest billboards to date, which claim: "I will win, so she can stop working," and "I will win, so she can have a rest."Those promises are made by Inna Bohoslovska, formerly of Yanukovych's Party of Regions, a so-called technological candidate with no chance of winning but whose sole purpose is to siphon votes from others.

EU Turns Away From Ukraine

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- EU officials are casting a wary eye at Ukraine as it prepares for watershed presidential elections in January that look likely to spark a lurch back towards the Russian sphere five years after the former Soviet republic was supposedly set free by the "Orange Revolution".
The cautious approach in Brussels is again raising questions about the EU's apparent lack of a strategic vision – and political courage – in its dealing with its eastern neighbours.Fierce rivalry between President Viktor Yushchenko, who is standing for re-election, and his prime minister and principal opponent, Yulia Tymoshenko, is feeding worries about the recession-ravaged country's political and economic stability.Yushchenko's decision this month to approve a 20% increase in wages and pensions, characterised by critics as a crude pre-election bribe, led the IMF to freeze the fourth instalment of a $16.4bn bailout package. That in turn increased credit market fears of a sovereign default.Tymoshenko, a famously combative millionaire currently leading in the polls, accused the president of deliberately sabotaging the IMF agreement to starve her government of cash and undermine her presidential bid.But she in turn has been accused of sucking up to the Russians, in the shape of the prime minister, Vladimir Putin, who as Russia's then president opposed the Orange Revolution and is an inveterate Yushchenko foe.After late-night talks with Tymoshenko in the Crimean resort of Yalta last week, Putin said he had agreed to waive various penalties and amend Russia's natural gas supply contract with Ukraine to avoid a repeat of last January's dispute, which led to serious gas shortages in eastern and central Europe."It would be very good to meet the new year without any shocks," Putin said, adding that transit fees next year would rise by 60% – a change potentially worth billions of dollars to Ukraine. Tymoshenko's response was unctuous. "You, as a strong country, are meeting us halfway," she said.The deal was seen as both a none-too-subtle attempt to show that she, unlike Yushchenko, could do business with Moscow, and as blatant electoral interference by Putin.Ukraine's shenanigans have even led football's ruling body, UEFA, to seek assurances that preparations and financing for the Euro 2012 championship, to be hosted jointly by Poland and Ukraine, will not be affected by the elections. UEFA is also worried that visa-free travel arrangements with the EU have yet to be agreed.All this is watched with trepidation in Brussels, where José Manuel Barroso, the European commission president, recently telephoned Yushchenko to reportedly express concern over the way the IMF bailout and Europe's gas supplies have become political footballs.According to euobserver.com, commission plans to offer €500m in economic aid are under review "because of Kiev's unwillingness to curb public spending or to clean up waste and corruption at its national gas company, Naftogaz". About 80% of EU natural gas supplies from Russia transit Ukraine.Such is the animosity between the rival camps that EU officials fret that the election, which is also contested by the pro-Russian former prime minister Viktor Yanukovich, could end in stalemate and possibly violent recriminations, as happened in 2004 when Yanukovich was initially declared the winner and then unseated.These strains and stresses lend an air of crisis to the EU-Ukraine summit on 4 December, which is shaping up as the first big test for the untried diplomatic skills of the EU's new foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton.Officials say the EU aims to give Ukraine a "stern warning" that substantive political and financial reform is a prerequisite for progress on issues such as visas and future association and trade agreements.But full EU membership, on which Yushchenko set his heart, is now a receding prospect. Impatience with Ukraine across the EU is growing, with France and Germany, for example, delaying its accession to the EU's energy community treaty.More significantly, last year's Russian invasion of Georgia, and Moscow's accompanying claims of Ukrainian support for Tbilisi, have driven home the message in Brussels that forging closer, structural ties with Ukraine could have severe, negative consequences for EU-Russian relations.Given the much reduced appetite for further EU enlargement, it seems certain that the high watermark of EU-Ukraine ties has already passed. It's no consolation for Yushchenko that much the same applies to Georgia, Belarus and Turkey.And for many in Europe who hoped for better, braver things along the EU's post-Soviet eastern frontier, it's galling to conclude that, in a sense, Putin has won.

European Observers See Corruption, Media Bias, Public Disappointment Marring Ukraine Vote

KIEV, Ukraine -- European lawmakers issued scathing criticism of Ukraine's electoral system Thursday as they began a mission to observe a January presidential vote, saying the election will likely be marred by corruption, media bias and widespread public disappointment.
The election is being closely watched by Europe and the U.S. Five years after the Orange Revolution street protests helped propel a pro-Western leader to power over a Russian-backed rival, the front-runners - Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych - appear likely to focus on reinvigorating troubled ties with Moscow.Matyas Eorsi of Hungary, who is leading the observer mission from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, or PACE, told a news conference the election is not expected to meet the organization's standards.Eorsi suggested democratic practices could be swept aside by the bitter rivalries among prominent candidates, who also include incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko."We are worried that political cynicism will be on the rise. We understand that here in Ukraine, the political struggle is widely regarded as a struggle of personalities, ambitions and financial interests rather than a competition of political ideals," he said.Eorsi added that corruption and the media's role are serious concerns. "The media, many of the media, are also under strong financial influence, and very often this financial influence is created by the candidates," he said.Tadeusz Iwinski of Poland, another PACE observer, said Ukrainian election laws lack transparency and urged politicians to heed the group's recommendations for reform. "The problem of electoral laws makes for a permanent challenge," he said.A Central Election Commission spokesman, Konstantin Khivrenko, and a commission member, Mikhail Okhendovsky, declined to comment to The Associated Press on the observers' remarks.The assessment, unusually pessimistic for observers speaking two months before the vote takes place, contrasted with comments from the head of the monitoring mission from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which also got under way Thursday with a news conference. Heidi Tagliavini said the OSCE mission, which will field more than 600 observers for the Jan. 17 vote, would reserve judgment until they have analyzed the situation."We have arrived here with no preconceived ideas or hidden agendas," Tagliavini said. "We will let the facts speak for themselves."Claims of electoral fraud led to the Orange Revolution - massive protests that erupted after Yanukovych, who had open support from then-Russian President Vladimir Putin, was declared the winner of a 2004 presidential vote. The Supreme Court threw out the election and Yushchenko, who advocates NATO membership for the ex-Soviet republic, won a rerun.After years of political gridlock and economic trouble, Yanukovych is leading in the opinion polls, followed by Tymoshenko - Yushchenko's ally in the Orange Revolution but now his foe.

Ukrainians Hold Muted Celebration Of 2004 ‘Orange Revolution’

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukrainians turned out yesterday in Kiev to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Orange Revolution, amid disillusionment with political leaders and a severe economic crisis.
Several dozen people celebrated in the capital’s main square - a stark contrast to the tens of thousands who on November 22, 2004 led protests which prompted the cancellation of rigged election results.Draped in orange, the colour of pro-Western candidate Viktor Yushchenko, the demonstrators protested a vote that returned the Russian-backed incumbent President Viktor Yanukovich.After three weeks, the peaceful uprising achieved its goal - the supreme court annulled the vote due to fraud, ordered a new poll and after a clear victory Yushchenko was declared president on January 23, 2005.But hopes of prosperity have been set back by the economic crisis which saw the national currency lose 40% of its value and aspirations of political stability undermined by bickering national leaders.“Of course I feel disappointed. (The political leaders) have betrayed the ideas of the revolution,” said Andry Avramenko, who took part in the Orange Revolution protests and had an orange scarf draped round his neck.

Russia, EU to keep constructive relationship under new EU leadership

Stockholm, November 19 - Relations between Russia and the EU will develop constructively no matter who heads the European Union, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said. "Whoever may come to the leadership of the European Union or its individual executive institutions, all these respected people will realize the importance of relations between the EU and Russia. Similarly whoever may be the president of the Russian Federation, we realize perfectly well what unified Europe means to us," he said at a press conference following the Russia-EU summit in Stockholm.Medvedev stressed that Russia is also part of Europe and "relations with the EU for Russia are a key component of international relations."He said that according to different estimates 50% to 60% of Russia's turnover is with European countries. "Therefore we are inevitable partners. Moreover, we are friendly partners. In this respect I am sure that everything is going to be good in the future as well," he said.The new leadership of the EU will be elected on Nov. 19.

Russia's Iran reactor 'delayed'

Russia has said a nuclear power station it has been building at Bushehr in southern Iran will not be completed by the end of this year as planned.
Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko said the delay in launching the plant, which will have two pressurised water reactors, was for "technical reasons".
Correspondents say Russia's decision to delay the opening is clearly political.
On Sunday, Russia and the US both warned Iran that time was running out for talks over its nuclear programme.
Speaking after talks in Singapore, US President Barack Obama said it was unfortunate that Iran still seemed unable to say yes to a "creative" international plan to allay suspicions that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons.
His Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, said he still hoped to persuade Tehran to send its low-enriched uranium to Russia, where it would be further processed to fuel an Iranian research reactor, but warned that "other means" could be employed if progress was not made on the issue.
Iran has failed to give a clear response.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to unveil its latest report on Iran on Monday.
The report will cover findings by inspectors who recently visited the newly-revealed uranium enrichment facility near Qom. Teheran says its nuclear programme is for entirely peaceful purposes.
Russian officials had said earlier this year that the Bushehr plant would be completed before 2010, but on Monday Mr Shmatko said that although progress had been made, there would be no launch. "We expect serious results by the end of the year, but the launch itself will not take place," he told reporters. "The engineers have to reach their findings."
"The building of the Bushehr station is defined absolutely 100% by technological conditions."
The Bushehr nuclear plant was first planned with German help in 1974, but was shelved after the Islamic Revolution. Russia took up the project in 1995, and after numerous delays a timetable for construction was finalised two years ago.
Any nuclear fuel from the plant will be brought from and returned to Russia so that it cannot be used for a weapons programme.
The BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow says the decision to delay the completion of Bushehr is clearly political - an expression of Russia's frustration at Iran's failure to accept the offer now on the table from the international community.
Russia has other levers over Tehran - it is also delaying the delivery of what could prove to be a crucial air-defence system for Iran, our correspondent says.
The contract for the S-300 surface-to-air missiles was signed two years ago, but Moscow says nothing has been delivered so far.
In recent weeks, top Iranian officials have called for the highly-sophisticated missiles to be handed over.
Speaking on Sunday after talks with Mr Obama, President Medvedev said he was unhappy with the pace of progress on the enrichment deal offered to Iran.
Mr Obama said Iran had failed "so far at least" to respond positively to a deal to send enriched uranium abroad for reprocessing. Russia and France have offered to do this.
Under the plan brokered by the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and agreed by Russia, the US and France, Iran would send about 1,200kg (2,600lb), or 70%, of its low-enriched uranium, to Russia by the year's end for processing.
Subsequently, France would convert the uranium into fuel rods for use in a reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes.
This is seen as a way for Iran to get the fuel it needs, while giving guarantees to the West that it will not be used for nuclear weapons.
Iran has raised "technical and economic considerations" with the IAEA and has missed deadlines to respond.
Iran revealed the existence of the Fordo enrichment facility, which is being built about 30km (20 miles) north of Qom, in September.
Mr Obama's administration has set an end-of-year deadline for serious progress towards a comprehensive solution.
Correspondents say Russia and China are reluctant to agree to new Security Council sanctions, so a coalition of countries, including the EU, might take action themselves.
Iran is already subject to UN sanctions, including financial scrutiny and restrictions on arms imports, and for keeping uranium enrichment activities at its Natanz plant secret.

Eighteen to run for Ukraine's presidency

Eighteen people will run in Ukraine's presidential election on January 17, 2010. The term when a candidate could reapply for registration if their initial registration application was rejected expired on Nov. 11.The Central Election Commission should decide by Nov. 13 whether to register those whose applications have been accepted.Apart from the 18 candidates, a number of other nominees who also submitted their applications to the Central Election Commission, including former major of the presidential state guard Mykola Melnychenko. But none of them have a chance to be registered as they have not paid the mandatory election deposit of Hr 2.5 million.According to the opinion polls, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and the leader of the opposition Party of Regions Victor Yanukovych will be the front runners in the presidential race.Incumbent President Victor Yuschenko will be also running for a second term in office.Other candidates are Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, former parliamentary speaker and head of the Front for Change party Arseniy Yatseniuk, and former NBU governor Sergiy Tigipko. All three are running for the presidential office for the first time.The Communist Party Leader Petro Symonenko and Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz, Civil Position leader, ex-minister of defense Anatoliy Hrytsenko and MP Inna Bohoslovsta will also contest for the post.Besides, the CEC registered self-nominee Vasyl Protyvsikh, whose surname translates as "Against-everyone," as a candidates for president of Ukraine. Head of the Ivano-Frankivsk Chamber of Commerce Protyvsikh had a different last name - Humeniuk - before Oct. 2, 2009.

Ukrainian speaker says Prime Minister Tymoshenko won’t be dismissed before elections

Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn is sure that Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will not be dismissed before the presidential elections. "I am rushing to calm everybody down. All this behind-the-scenes talk that the replacement of the Ukrainian prime minister could be brought up will not materialize," Lytvyn said on Inter television channel on Friday evening."Nobody will want to take on such responsibility and add points in favor of Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko before the end of the presidential campaign," he said.Even if a proposal to dismiss Tymoshenko is submitted to the parliament by a group of parliamentarians or by President Viktor Yuschenko, Tymoshenko will continue to perform prime ministerial duties, he said.Otherwise, "She would say: my dear fellows, I was keeping everything together as much as I could. However small the pensions and the salaries were, they were paid. Now you are seeing a complete collapse, and those who voted for this decision are responsible for this," he said.The same situation happened in 2006, when Prime Minister Yuriy Yekhanurov was dismissed, Lytvyn said."The ratings of those political groups that voted for Yekhanurov's dismissal dropped. I think the right conclusion was made out of this and nothing of the sort will happen again," he said.

Poles angry, Russians baffled

Reports in a Polish magazine, Wprost, that Russian troops staged war games in September which simulated a nuclear attack on Poland and cast the nation as a potential aggressor have stoked another spat between Warsaw and Moscow.
But it was reported calls from Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski to deploy NATO forces in Central Europe which really upset the Kremlin.
With the long-running missile shield row only recently resolved, it was hoped that relations would calm down, but reports that Sikorski urged Washington to provide "strategic reassurance" for Poland bemused Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, Reuters reported.
"I would like to be sure that he actually said that, and if he did I would be deeply astonished," Lavrov told reporters. "I'm astounded because he and I discussed in tiny detail the problems that should be resolved in the context of European security."

Medvedev calls for economy reform

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has called for profound reform of the economy in his annual state of the nation address.
The Soviet model no longer worked, he said, and Russia's survival depended on rapid modernisation based on democratic institutions.
An oil and gas-based economy had to be reworked with hi-tech investments.
Inefficient state giants should be overhauled and issues of accountability and transparency addressed, he said.
"Instead of a primitive economy based on raw materials, we shall create a smart economy, producing unique knowledge, new goods and technologies, goods and technologies useful for people," Mr Medvedev said.
"Instead of an archaic society, in which leaders think and decide for everybody, we shall become a society of intelligent, free and responsible people."
Russia's industrial and technological base declined rapidly with the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and the relative recovery it has seen this century owes much to its oil and natural gas exports
A year ago, in his first such address, Mr Medvedev made a surprise announcement about deploying missiles close to Poland.
This time the focus was on transforming Russia into a more modern and open country, by introducing sweeping reforms.
More than one million Russians were at risk of losing their jobs, he said, and pressing social issues needed to be addressed.
"We can't wait any longer," Mr Medvedev said.
"We need to launch modernisation of the entire industrial base. Our nation's survival in the modern world will depend on that."
Government had to become more transparent, he said, and corruption should be punished. The giant state companies created by his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, had "no future", he said.
"Inefficient enterprises must go through bankruptcy proceedings or leave the market," he said. "We won't be protecting them forever."
Mr Medvedev promised to strengthen democratic institutions but warned that any attempts to disrupt national stability with "democratic slogans" would be stopped.
"Freedom means responsibility and I hope everyone understands that," he said.
And he promised a pragmatic foreign policy that would focus on improving Russians' living standards.
In other comments, Mr Medvedev
• Called for a "joint reliable platform" to strengthen Europe's security, saying such a body would have prevented the war with Georgia
• Described the situation in the North Caucasus as Russia's most serious internal problem and pledged to fight "terrorist crimes" there
• Suggested that the number of time zones in Russia - currently 11 - should be reduced
The Russian president gave a bleak assessment of the current situation and there was much in the speech that implied deep criticism of Mr Putin.