Kiev Should Be Considered As Future EU Member Says Azarov

YALTA, Ukraine -- Kiev's accession to the European Union in the future is inevitable and should be reflected in the political association agreement between Ukraine and the EU, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said on Saturday.

Kiev intends to integrate with Europe and plans to sign a political association agreement by the end of 2011, which will lead off formation a free trade area with EU.

However, Europe still undecided whether to include the prospect of Ukraine's membership in the EU in the association agreement or not, which in fact is just a bureaucratic dispute, said Azarov.

"We definitely need to include, if we think about the future. Let's remember what China was 30 years ago, and then look for at least 10 years ahead. Ten years later, our current disputes would seem absolutely pointless. But we have to finish this discussion," said Azarov.

European Commissioner Fule to meet with Yanukovych and Azarov in Yalta

European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule will meet Ukrainian leaders in Yalta to discuss urgent issues between Ukraine and the European Union.

Fule will visit Ukraine on September 15-17 to participate in the 8th Yalta Annual Meeting "Ukraine and the World: Common Challenges, Common Future" in the Livadia Palace in Yalta.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Dykusarov said during a briefing on Tuesday that the EU commissioner would meet Ukrainian delegation.

"During the meetings, the sides will discuss relations between Ukraine and the EU, in particular, within the context of the completion of talks on the signing of the Association Agreement, the creation of a free trade area, and the development of the dialogue on the visa-free regime," he said.

Yanukovych Looks For Partners For Ukraine Beyond EU

YALTA, Ukraine -- Ukraine will push for reforms that would allow it to join the European Union, but will also develop cooperation with other world powers, including Russia and the United States, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said on Friday.
Ukraine has no alternative for the European choice, but since the EU is not ready even to discuss the Ukrainian membership, we will choose the pace, forms and methods of integration by ourselves, in accordance with our national interests," Yanukovych told participants in a forum of the Yalta European Strategy (YES) organization promoting Ukraine's integration with Europe.

"Integration should stimulate the development of the national economy. We will continue maintaining active cooperation with other international political and economic centers," he said.

The development of economic links with Russia, especially in the aircraft construction and energy spheres, maintains one of the main planks of Ukrainian foreign policy, the president said.

"We are returning again to cooperation and strategic partnership," he said.

Relations between Russia and Ukraine sunk to post-Soviet lows during the presidency of Yanukovych's pro-western predecessor Viktor Yushchenko, but ties have improved significantly since Yanukovych's election in February.

Ukraine also intends to develop its ties with the United States and developing countries, Yanukovych said.

"We are planning to raise relations with China, India and South Korea to a strategic level," he said.

Ukraine Zoo Director Says Animal Poisonings Politically Motivated

YALTA, Ukraine -- The Ukrainian State Science and Research Institute in Kyiv confirms that 10 animals in the Crimean Zoo died earlier this year as a result of poisoning, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports.
The 10 rare animals in Yalta's Kazka (Fairy Tale) Zoo suddenly died one after another in March and April. Institute officials say the animals were poisoned by a highly toxic drug that is not available in regular drug stores.Zoo director Oleg Zubkov told RFE/RL that he gave the forensic test results to Crimean police and urged them to find the perpetrator.Zubkov, who is a well-known Crimean politician, says the poisoning of the animals in his zoo was meant as a message to him, as he has enemies in business and politics.He added that the animals were poisoned after Yalta's prosecutor was sacked for allegedly taking bribes, and claimed that the prosecutor's nephew has been trying to take over a property in front of the zoo which is currently a parking lot.

Russia and Ukraine,

Russia, Ukraine, Sevastopol,

A Nation Deeply Unhappy
Those are the damning results of a poll released on Nov. 11. The survey was commissioned by the Washington-based International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology and funded by the United States Agency for International Development.“The Orange Revolution provided the chance for major changes to take place in the nation. But the survey results suggest that this opportunity was not utilized by Ukraine’s political elite,” said Jamie Dettmer, IFES’ director for communications and advocacy.Of 1,218 citizens surveyed between Oct. 17 and Oct. 28, only 15 percent believe that they live in a democratic country. Ukrainians were almost unanimous in their deep disappointment with the current economic and political situation in the nation, with 93 percent registering this sentiment.The survey suggests complete frustration in a society that once had high hopes for change. “Political standstill is stalling reforms and sidelining the development of state institutions that could help Ukraine overcome crises and reach economic growth,” Dettmer added.The poll results were made public on the very day that Victor Yushchenko, Ukraine’s increasingly unpopular president, announced he would delay plans to hold a snap parliamentary election. If an early election happens at all, it will probably take place next year at the soonest.“It would not be reasonable to hold elections during the year-end holidays,” Yushchenko said during a trip to Warsaw on Nov. 11.The poll results became known a day before the Verkhovna Rada voted on Nov. 12 to oust presidential loyalist Arseniy Yatsenyuk as acting speaker. A total of 233 out of 450 members voted to get rid of Yatsenyuk, 34, as leader.The rising public dissatisfaction comes a year before a presidential election campaign expected to feature rivals Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Party of Regions leader Victor Yanukovych.Fed upThe polls also found that 76 percent of citizens believe Ukraine is moving into chaos. It shows the highest disappointment rating in recent years of any IFES-commissioned poll, its director, Rakesh Sharma, said.In February 2005, just after the Orange Revolution, some 43 percent considered Ukraine to be on the way to stability. In September 2007, during pre-term parliamentary elections, some 47 percent said that the country is becoming more stable.The picture is so much bleaker today. “It’s impossible to live and to expect that everyday life will become more worthwhile,” said Valentyna Dudenko, a Kyiv pensioner. “I don’t trust anyone in power anymore.”While the 2004 Orange Revolution was seen as a major victory for democracy in post-Soviet Ukraine, the poll clearly shows that two bitter parliamentary elections since then have eroded public trust.The poll indicated that citizens see corruption to be as widespread as ever and don’t believe the nation’s justice system is capable of defending basic human rights. Citizens polled by the IFES study said the most corrupt institutions in the country were parliament, police, customs and the educational system.Citizens are feeling the pinch of inflation, and see worsening relations with Russia as one of the most serious problems.The IFES poll shows that 84 percent don’t trust Yushchenko, 83 percent don’t trust parliament, 72 percent don’t trust the government and 63 percent mistrust Tymoshenko. The villain of the Orange Revolution – Yanukovich – was not unscathed, either. Some 64 percent distrust him, the polls indicate.“The [political elite] killed the hopes of Ukrainians from the Orange Revolution for a better state and nation,” said Mykhailo Nodelman, a Kyiv teacher who supported Yushchenko in 2004. “The president is the first to blame.”Its not only the president, but the entire presidential system of government that bothers people, too. In the IFES survey, only 25 percent favored a presidential system of government. A bit more, or 38 percent, would prefer a parliamentary system of government. Only 12 percent support the status quo, a mixed parliamentary-presidential system with unclear divisions of authority.The poll showed that only 3 percent of Ukrainians think political parties serve the interests of the population, while 56 percent said parties serve their own interests. “Ukraine’s political elite don’t understand that power means responsibility. The power must serve people, not itself,” said Kyrylo Nesterov, a university student. “I don’t see any sense in voting at the elections. My vote will change nothing.”More elections aren’t the answer, citizens say. According to the IFES poll, more than three quarters believe that an early election won’t help and a similar number believe they don’t have any influence on decision-makers.A glimmer of hopeDespite the overwhelming pessimism, analysts do not think Ukraine is on the verge of collapse. “If you were to ask people in Western Europe what they think about their politicians, they will also be heavily disappointed,” said Sergiy Taran, the director of International Democracy Institute. “People like their political elites only in authoritarian countries.”Taran said that Ukrainians' highly negative feelings today are a threat only to the current political elite. “This political elite has become bankrupt, just like its predecessor before 2004,” he said.But, unless new faces emerge, voters will be confronted with the same old choices on election ballots.
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When Love Hurts KIEV, Ukraine -- In Ukraine, bitter divorces among the country's influential and rich elite are just starting to make headlines of their own Twice-divorced real-estate tycoon Donald Trump knew how to get out clean.Along with a hand in marriage, he offered his former partners expensive accessories: pre-nuptial agreements. Ivana Trump and Marla Maples, with $25 million and $1 million in farewell dowries, respectively, even wished him well with his new brides.The painful divorce cases of the rich and famous, such as Trump, have been splattered all over tabloids in the West for decades. In Ukraine, such bitter splits among the country’s influential and rich elite are just starting to make headlines of their own.Juicy divorce details, assets in contention and even family photographs dominate the pages of such paparazzi publications as www.tabloid.com.uaYet the process of divorcing a mogul in Ukraine remains a far cry from tales of glitter, fortune and fame seen in the West. Most Ukrainians see marriage contracts as urban legends from Hollywood films with no relevance to local realities.“But when you leave home and cannot come back because of guards at the door … then it is serious,” said Marharyta Chervonenko, drawing a line through her 18 years of marriage.She married a big shot. Her ex-husband is Yevhen Chervonenko, an affluent businessman and former car racer. He is also a former transportation minister and was governor of Zaporizhya Oblast. Now he supervises preparations for the Euro 2012 soccer championship to be co-hosted by Ukraine and Poland.The Chervonenkos got divorced in 2007 without benefit of a prenup that would spell out how to divide the considerable assets. They went along with the “all-is-fair-in-love-and-war” scenario, so the split has become quite nasty.“Since then, I have been through raider attacks, bankruptcy and threats,” she said. “He once told me that I broke up with the system, not just him.”Fearing she would be left with nothing after divorce, Marharyta launched a fight over the couple’s assets two years ago along with a public campaign to defend her rights and help others in similar situations.Under Ukrainian law, divorcing couples must split everything they accumulated in marriage 50-50 – unless there is a contract, of course. The Ukrainian rich, however, rarely list assets in their own name. They declare only small official incomes, a path that leads to a lot of mystery and insinuations in turbulent times.The Chervonenko case seems to be just like that.When the former racer landed in politics, he transferred some of his businesses to his wife’s name, she said. Their properties had a different story.In court, a judge managed to revoke Marharyta’s rights to their house in a prestigious Kyiv suburb and her mother’s flat in Yalta. The ex-husband, however, was not a beneficiary.A former friend who had officially given these properties as presents to the Chervonenko family suddenly decided to take them back and won the case.Marharyta did not give up and continues appealing the verdict. Her daughter from a previous marriage also filed a lawsuit against her former stepfather, alleging that he denied her entry to the flat where she is still formally registered.Yevhen Chervonenko refused to comment on personal matters.This messy case is likely to drag on.“These processes take years,” said Zoryslava Romovska, author of Ukraine’s Family Code.“A defendant pretends he is sick, and then his lawyer is sick. Then, they are both on a holiday and so it goes in circles.”According to Justice Ministry statistics, every second marriage ends in divorce in Ukraine. But, strangely enough, prenups are still frowned upon.“A prenup will not guarantee you love, but it will ensure stability,” Romovska said.For instance, a husband moves in with his wife into her flat. Under civil law, he can live there indefinitely. However, authorities will make him leave in the event of divorce, if there is a contract. Contracts can be beneficial in other ways, too, spelling out responsibilities.“You cannot contract how many times a week you should kiss each other,” laughed Romovska. “However, no one can stop you from specifying that a woman is responsible for raising children and a man for making money.”A prenup is free in form, she added, and lawyers usually include whatever the couple thinks is important. Family law does not clarify the division of responsibilities. It says that only material rights can be discussed in a contract. But its author, Romovska, argues that domestic duties have a direct relationship to the joint assets.An average prenup costs Hr 800. However, even lawyers ignore them.One lawyer who might have wished he had a prenup is Serhiy Vlasenko, famous for defending Victor Yushchenko’s case in the Supreme Court during the disputed 2004 presidential vote. On the waves of the Orange Revolution, the popular uprising, Vlasenko set the stage for Yushchenko winning the presidency.Famous after appearing on television during the legendary court case, Vlasenko married a model and socialite, Natalya Okunska.Although it was not his bride’s first marriage and she had children, the lawyer failed to arrange a prenup. Accusing each other of adultery and assault, they divorced last September. Okunska hooked up again with her previous husband, himself high in political echelons and father of one of her children.“It’s all over the papers, I have nothing to add,” said Vlasenko, chary on words.In earlier interviews, he denied beating his wife and specified that he provides for the children in line with a financial agreement they had. Okunska, however, is complaining that she was exploited and then left with nothing.Romovska said in cases like these, there could be psychological reasons behind the mess.“Like any other divorcees, the women of oligarchs are left with a scar,” said Romovska. “Despite a car, a house and a dacha left by their husbands, they keep lamenting for their former status and money.”Not all of them, however. A Ukrainian dancer who married a distant cousin of Sophia Lauren, the famous Italian actress, said she wanted neither.“We bought a wedding dress and a tuxedo with my own money,” said Olga Kopitsa, now 32, reflecting on her marriage with Roberto Skala, now 35. “I thought the rest would come in its own time.”At a concert in Pisa, he spotted her on stage and in a few months they got married. When Kopitsa got pregnant, they moved in with his family in Naples. She claims to have felt like a prisoner there.“He rarely worked and only partied with friends,” she recalled. “His family watched my every step. I was allowed a bath only once a week and could only watch TV until nine in the evening.”She finally escaped on the pretense of a holiday in Ukraine. Kopitsa said all she wanted was a divorce to start a new life at home. But without a marriage certificate, it seemed impossible. With the help of the Italian Embassy in Kyiv, she located their marriage certificate and then divorced under Ukrainian law. In Italy, however, she may still be considered officially married. “We didn’t have a prenup. We had nothing,” she shrugged.Skala was not immediately available for comment.Most lawyers, however, recommend a contract in the event of marriage to foreigners, since divorce laws vary wildly. The Economist magazine even published “A Globetrotters Guide to Divorce” for those born in one country, married in another and working somewhere else.In Ukraine, a woman was traditionally blamed for divorce. High-profile cases were hushed up. Across the ocean, things were different. Backed by the prenup, Trump wife No. 1 wrote a self-help book for divorcees. Trump wife number No. 2 co-starred in a reality show “Ex-wives Club.”Marharyta Chervonenko seems to have started a trend by going public with her version of “The War of the Roses,” the 1989 Hollywood hit movie starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.She founded an organization called “I Am Strong” to help abandoned wives. She says in marriage she felt like a horse running in a circus arena. She now claims to be better off helping others get over the same.
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Alberta Approves Memorial Day For Ukrainian Genocide

EDMONTON, Canada -- Premier Ed Stelmach's voice cracked as he spoke about an Act introduced and passed unanimously Thursday that makes every fourth Saturday in November an official memorial day in Alberta for the Ukrainian famine and genocide, or Holodomor.
"I do this with a great range of personal emotion," said Stelmach, whose grandparents immigrated to Alberta from Ukraine a century ago.In a speech heavily peppered with Ukrainian phrases and words, Stelmach called the famine forced upon Ukrainians in the early 20th century "one of the most heinous atrocities of modern history." He outlined how millions of people from his ancestral home were starved to death by Soviet policies that stripped grains from Europe's traditional "bread basket.""My grandfather and grandmother were amongst those early pioneers who came to Alberta in the late 1890s," Stelmach said. "Marie and I still maintain the original farm that they settled on, till the same soil that they did and . . . "The premier took a long pause before continuing, "And we also give thanks for the abundant crops that soil yielded."Sadly, he said, the dark black soil of the Ukraine his own ancestors treasured could not offer the same happy yields through the early 1930s.The Act was introduced by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Gene Zwozdesky - who is also of Ukrainian descent.
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Russia and Ukraine

Struggling Ukraine Braces For Tough IMF Medicine
KIEV, Ukraine -- The global economic crisis has hit with hurricane force in Ukraine, which faces turmoil as it seeks to comply with the terms of an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, experts said.
As world leaders head to Washington for a summit on the crisis this weekend, Ukraine has the dubious distinction of being the first country to get IMF help this year, having been approved for a 16.4-billion-dollar loan last week.Ukraine received the first tranche of the rescue loan Monday, boosting state efforts to prop up banks amid a broad downturn, largely caused by a drop in the price of steel, the key export of this ex-Soviet republic of 46 million people.The Washington-based fund offered assistance once Kiev adopted a package of measures including "a prudent fiscal stance," Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, IMF mission chief for Ukraine, told reporters after the loan was approved.Those steps included a bank rescue programme, a zero-deficit budget for 2009 and movement towards "a flexible exchange rate" for the hryvnia, Ukraine's embattled currency.Some experts fear that could lead to a further devaluation after the hryvnia fell about 20 percent against the dollar in recent weeks."The purchasing power of Ukrainian consumers in dollar and euro terms will become worse. Much worse," said Dmytro Boyarchuk, the head of CASE Ukraine, an economics research centre in Kiev.Meanwhile, the balanced budget along with reduced tax revenues from the steel sector means the government will have trouble paying social benefits, Boyarchuk said."Next year we can expect many backlogs in the payment of pensions," he said.And in a move likely to cause grumbling this winter, Pazarbasioglu said Kiev had pledged "to correct the pricing policies in the energy sector," meaning an end to subsidized heating bills.Ukrainians face a 35 percent rise in their gas bills starting December 1, according to media reports.All this is unwelcome at a time when mass layoffs are expected in Ukraine's industrial east, work is frozen at numerous construction sites and more than 20 banks have received help from Kiev's central bank to ease liquidity problems.Experts described the IMF's terms as painful but necessary and argued that some measures were inevitable."The rise in gas fees would have happened anyway," said Ildar Gazizullin, an economist at the International Centre for Policy Studies in Kiev.The IMF loan restored confidence in Ukraine and its conditions "will force the politicians to focus and work together," said Peter Vanhecke, chief executive of Renaissance Capital Ukraine, an investment bank."With the IMF you get an international stamp of approval for your country," Vanhecke said in an interview.The decision to accept the IMF's tough medicine was a sharp turnaround for Ukrainian politicians, accustomed to handing out government largesse after years of rapid economic growth."Politicians will have to adjust their populist rhetoric and wean the populace off the idea that the government can guarantee social benefits when the money is lacking," the Kyiv Post, a weekly newspaper, said in an editorial.Aside from the economic fallout, some also fear the crisis could undermine democracy in Ukraine, which faces an ongoing political crisis that may lead to snap parliamentary elections early next year.Kiev's ruling pro-Western coalition collapsed in September amid feuding between President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, former allies in the "Orange Revolution" of 2004."The economic crisis, as well the extended political crisis... have boosted society's desire for order, for the 'strong hand' model of government," said Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst at the Penta think tank in Kiev.That may increase the appeal of neighbouring Russia, where former president Vladimir Putin embarked on an authoritarian path during his eight years in the Kremlin, Fesenko added."There is some demand for a Ukrainian Putin," he said. "But it's not clear whether there is such a person."
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NATO Reaffirms Close Ties With Ukraine
TALLINN, Estonia -- NATO defense ministers on Thursday reaffirmed the alliance's commitment to assist Ukraine in its goal of joining the military bloc, a move likely to further strain the West's relations with Russia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the meeting with Ukrainian defense officials was "productive" but that Ukraine still faced numerous obstacles before it could become a NATO member."It's clear that ... Ukraine still has some distance to go in being ready for membership in the alliance," he said.Ukrainian leaders need to bolster public support for NATO membership and address budget constraints for financing military reform, Gates said.Even the talks, designed to assess overall bilateral cooperation and whether Ukraine has met targets, is likely to anger Russia.Russia, which borders Ukraine, is vehemently opposed to Ukrainian membership in the military alliance and generally regards NATO as irrelevant after the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.One thing NATO members receive is a promise of mutual defense if any of them are attacked by countries outside the alliance.NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer dismissed Moscow's objections to strengthening ties between the military alliance and Ukraine."A country's right to freely choose its security alignments is an important principle ... and it is a principle that we will not compromise," de Hoop Scheffer said.Earlier this year NATO leaders said at a summit in Romania that Ukraine could eventually become a member of the alliance.However, many NATO members are tepid toward the prospect of Ukrainian membership, given the country's political turmoil and a lack of popular support among the population for the military alliance.Ukrainian Defense Minister Yury Yekhanurov acknowledged the criticism of Ukraine and that Kiev was facing an uphill struggle in integrating with the military alliance. Much of the problem, he said, boiled down to a lack of money to implement reforms."Sometimes in Ukraine there is a lack of funds for necessary reforms in the security sector," Yekhanurov said.He said 19 non-governmental organizations are working with the Ukrainian Defense Ministry to bolster public support for NATO membership.Ukraine and Russia have traded barbs in recent weeks, particularly over Russia's naval fleet in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol. Russia wants to keep its warships at the base after the current contract expires in 2017, but the current Ukrainian government insists that the ships should leave.Yekhanurov reiterated Thursday that Ukraine was unhappy with having no control over Russian ships anchored at the Sevaspotol base as this could draw the nation into an armed conflict with a third country.Russia used its Black Fleet ships stationed in Sevastopol in its war against Ukraine's ally Georgia in August.
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