Ukraine’s ‘Most Important Task‘

President Viktor Yanukovych on June 23 heard the same drumbeat of criticism that’s been playing in national leaders’ ears for more than a decade.

If the message is getting through, it somehow isn’t getting carried out.

“Address the systemic and pervasive corruption that…touches the lives of every citizen at every level,” Thomas Mirow, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, said at an investors’ council meeting chaired by Yanukovych.

Some of the largest foreign and domestic investors in Ukraine came to tell Yanukovych what they thought of his plans to improve the economy and investment climate, two key components of the president’s plan to transform the country.

Foreign direct investment is expected to reach $5.81 billion this year, due to “reforms carried out by the Ukraine state and an improving climate for investment,” Ernst & Young’s 2011 Ukraine foreign direct investment report stated. In 2010, FDI inflows stood at only $4.15 billion

Ukraine ranked 10th in Central and Eastern Europe for the number of FDI projects – 178 – and number of jobs created – 7,487 for the years 2006-2010.

Ukraine is a high-risk destination for investment. According to the June Euromoney Country Risk Survey, Ukraine remains among the 10 riskiest countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Kononchuk said government government institutions need to be strengthened, laws adopted that treat everyone equally.

Speaking at the investment council meeting, Ukraine’s richest man, a longtime backer of Yanukovych, was upbeat. “We’re going in the right direction,” said billionaire Rinat Akhmetov. “There’s a favorable investment climate in Ukraine today.”

Speaking with the Kyiv Post, Cargill’s CEO Greg Page stressed that a vast amount of investments could pour into Ukraine to help develop the nation’s promising agriculture sector, double harvests within a decade and, in turn, feed an increasingly hungry world.

But he warned that if protectionist policies such as last season’s grain export restrictions persist along with preferences for insiders, Cargill, which has invested $150 million in Ukraine thus far, could roll back on investments.

“This is a great place for the world to grow more food. But all the gifts that nature provides can be undone with bad policies,” Mr Page said.

Kiev Expects Chinese Investment Deluge After Hu Jintao’s Visit

China’s President, Hu Jintao, signed important political and trade documents during his June 18 – 20 visit to Ukraine, winding up his CIS tour in which he also visited Kazakhstan and Russia.

While Beijing is interested mainly in military-technical cooperation, Kiev views China as primarily a source of investment for its weak economy.

Although the practical meaning of the documents signed should not be underestimated, the symbolic benefits for Kiev from establishing personal contacts with the leader of the world’s second largest economy may be even more important.

This was the first visit to Ukraine by a Chinese leader in a decade.

Prior to his arrival in Kiev, Hu spent a day in Crimea with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, after which he called Ukraine “a close friend and important partner for China”.

While Kiev has been struggling for years to move closer to the European Union and fend off Moscow’s attempts to draw Ukraine back into its orbit, relations with China were largely neglected, reaching their nadir under the previous Ukrainian president, Viktor Yushchenko.

However, Yanukovych after his election as president in February 2010 proclaimed China as one of his foreign policy priorities.

He met with Hu Jintao twice before Hu’s visit to Ukraine, including his visit to China in September 2010.

It should be relatively easy for pragmatic Yanukovych to conduct business with China as, unlike Brussels and Moscow, Beijing does not set uncomfortable political conditions for developing economic cooperation.

Yanukovych and Hu did sign a political document but it did not require sacrifices from Kiev.

The strategic partnership declaration signed in Kiev on June 20 obliges the two sides to respect each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty as well as the economic and political model of the partner state.

China and Ukraine also pledged to develop close cooperation in the UN, and China promised not to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine as a non-nuclear state.

The Ukrainian daily Segodnya, which is close to the ruling party, reported on June 21 that Kiev hopes to develop an exclusive relationship with China through representing its interests in Europe once Ukraine signs a political association agreement with the EU, hopefully this year.

Yanukovych and the Ukrainian media stressed the importance of the economic accords reached with China.

Yanukovych and Hu agreed that trade turnover between the two countries should reach $10 billion compared to $6 billion last year, when bilateral trade increased by 50 percent compared to 2009.

Yanukovych said economic agreements worth $3.5 billion were signed with China, but he did not provide details.

Yanukovych’s aide for national projects, Vladislav Kaskiv, specified that this figure was only a forecast for the end of 2011 while the single investment project thus far launched with China is the railroad link from Kiev to the international airport of Boryspil, for which China’s Eximbank agreed to lend $372 million under Ukrainian government guarantees.

The documents signed in Kiev also included a protocol on information exchange regarding exports and imports, an agreement on Chinese assistance in education to Ukraine worth $12 million and a memorandum between the two countries’ energy ministries which provides for joint oil and gas projects, information exchange on strategic energy facilities and cooperation in nuclear energy.

Yanukovych invited Chinese investors in agricultural and infrastructural projects and offered Ukrainian participation in the construction of nuclear plants in China and in joint nuclear projects in third countries.

He also offered Ukrainian pipes and compressors for the gas pipeline project which China and Russia are about to conclude.

The Ukrainian Coal and Energy Ministry said in a press release that it agreed with the Chinese company Sinohydro to jointly build hydropower stations in Ukraine.

Ukraine and China also signed a contract aimed to restore production at the Oriana potash fertilizer producer in Western Ukraine, which has been idle for almost a decade.

No specific figures were provided on the investment projects let alone military-technical cooperation, which Yanukovych and Hu must have discussed behind closed doors.

There was no press conference and the two leaders made only short statements to the press after their talks.

Details of the military-technical agreements reached will emerge in the local press only later as it often occurs on such occasions.

China is reportedly especially interested in Soviet-Ukrainian technologies to make engines for warships, in particular for aircraft carriers.

Ukraine recently supplied engines for the first Chinese aircraft carrier to be launched this year.

Ukraine sold its hull, which is the still-born Soviet aircraft-carrying cruiser Varyag, to China in 1998.

China is also interested in Ukrainian Antonov aircraft, the R-27 air-to-air missiles and anti-tank missiles, the 6TD-2 tank diesel engines and the Zubr hovercraft.

Russia's roads to nowhere

Prosecutors and officials are shuffling their papers in preparation for a bumpy ride after discovering 361,000 km of “missing” Russian roads.

The gap between paper trails and tarmac tracks came to light during an audit where two state agencies gave very different accounts.

An audit by Rosimushchestvo, the federal property agency, found that there are 411,600 km of road in the country.

This is eight times more than Rosavtodor’s hitherto credited figure, the agency administers roads for the ministry of transport.

The fact that 361,000 km of asphalt are apparently unknown to the authorities could put road users at risk – drivers find themselves using routes maintained by unidentified contractors and not subject to state controls.

Quite who is at the bottom of the discrepancy is unclear but the prosecutors are very keen to point out that the law has nonetheless been broken.

“The difference in data between Rosavtodor and Rosimushchestva’s length of federal highways violates the law, it amounts to 361,000 km, which cover 1.8 billion square meters,” the prosecutor’s office said on its website.

All public roads “of federal importance” are federal property, the prosecutor says. The government has assigned the maintenance and unified state register of them to Rosavtodor. But Rosimushchestvo is the body responsible for keeping track of all federal property, RBK reported.

The ministry of transport has duly written to the ministries of transport and of economic development for information on appropriate measures to protect the interests of federal property.

The two agencies, meanwhile, have been asked to agree on a figure and develop a system for accounting and registering roads and the land they are on.

And heads could start to roll as the prosecutor has asked the ministries just who is responsible for the current confusion.

Matvienko tipped for speaker's role

Valentina Matvienko looks set to be the next speaker of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house. A few technical glitches stand in her path from the governor’s office of St. Petersburg to the head of chamber but these look set to be ironed out.

Yet despite warm words from United Russia acolytes and President Dmitry Medvedev there are murmurings of dissent led by her predecessor.

She must first be put forward by an MP in one of Russia’s regional legislatures or municipal councils and then be appointed to the senate by a senator from executive or legislative branch.

There are two more sessions planned before the end of the spring session and supporters are confident that Matvienko will negotiate all hurdles without complications.

“First of all, the Federation Council is the chamber of the regions and the manager who headed an important and strategic region, such as Petersburg, can count on the full and maximum support of the senators,” Ilyas Umakhanov, first vice speaker of the chamber,said.

“I like the idea,” Medvedev said, Russia Today reported. He pointed out that Matvienko has worked in different government posts and acquired a wealth of experience. If one of the top jobs is fulfilled by a woman then this will contribute to modernization and developing the state, he added.

“It seems to me that there is one particular nuance here,” foreboded Sergei Mironov, former speaker himself. He was booted out of office after criticizing Matvienko in May.

“In my opinion Matvienko did not top the United Russia lists in the regional legislatures in 2007 and in order to become a senator you must unfailingly become a member of a regional legislature or municipal council.

“I think that where there is a will there is a way, but the situation has some piquancy about it, because it was Ms Matvienko who initiated my removal from office. It turns out that it was just to vacate the space,” he jibed.

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

The Magic of St.Petersburg

Moscow film festival opens - but Russian film is confined to cyberspace

Moscow’s International Film Festival was chosen to stage the international premiere of summer blockbuster Transformers-3.

But not everyone was happy that one of the country’s biggest cinema events could not find a major Russian movie to kick-start the action.

Nikita Mikhalkov, the event’s president, could do little more than regret the way Hollywood blockbusters stifle even the best local productions.

And he admitted that simple finance was the key factor behind the choice.

“Any category ‘A’ event has to start with a significant picture, and this is pure commerce we can’t ignore,” he informed.

For lovers of Russian cinema, it seems, the best may already be in the past.

But if the Moscow festival is a disappointment for patriotic movie-lovers, an online project is taking the highlights of Soviet “kino” to a wider audience than ever.

YouTube’s movie project has launched a Russian section, bringing classics from Tarkovsky as well as popular comedies of the “Brillyantovaya Ruka” mould to computer screens all over the world – entirely legal and free of charge.

Some films have been uploaded with English subtitles so cinema fans can enjoy the service regardless of their Russian language skills.

Currently, there are about 400 films from renowned studios of the Soviet era – Mosfilm, Lenfilm and some others – as well as Star Media, a contemporary TV producer that promises to upload additional 90 films in near future, Moskovskiye Novosty reported.

The YouTube Movies project (‘Kinozal’ in Russian) was first introduced in the USA and the UK after the company signed a deal with a number of film studios, including Sony Pictures and MGM.

This year’s festival has entries from all over the world – but only two pictures directed by Russians are in the main competition programme.

However, some critics suspect that Nikolai Khomeriki’s “Heart’s Boomerang” and Sergei Loban’s “Chapiteau-show” might be two too many.

“Possibly, many people would share the view that it would be more appropriate to see [both films] in the Prespectivy (‘Prospects’) programme – a competition for debutants and people who created their second film,” Kirill Razgolov, programme director of the festival, told KP.

And this is neither an accident, nor an attempt to make up for the shortage of Russian films in the programme, according to Razgolov.

“But they are in the main competition, and this also helps us surprise and shock the critics,” he said.

This year’s “Perspektivy” programme has only one contestant from Russia – Andrei Bogatyryov with his film “BUGgY”.

Alekperov stays at Lukoil helm

Lukoil, Russia’s largest privately-owned oil company, will continue under the guidance of President Vagit Alekperov for the next five years.

Shareholders supported his re-election at Thursday’s AGM.

It had announced last fall that he wished to continue in the role because of the company’s “numerous projects”.

Fake alcohol kills four Russian sailors

Four Russian sailors have died after drinking counterfeit alcohol in a port in Indonesian, according to local channel MetroTV.

The four, Anatoly Bagin, Gennady Bogdanov, Olga Smetanina and Yevgeny Yakutin, are believed to have used a bootleg Chinese liquor to make cocktails. Three crewmates have been hospitalized.

Last month a group of Russian tourists in Turkey were poisoned by fake booze on a yacht trip. Four of them died and a fifth was declared brain dead this week

Laser attacks are the new scourge of Russian aviation

Laser attacks are the new scourge of Russian aviationby Alina Lobzina at 24/06/2011 18:48Laser-toting pranksters are flirting with disaster as they target Russian aircraft in growing numbers – and risk bringing down a jet with catastrophic consequences.

A simple laser pen has become the scourge of airports after a string of incidents where pilots reported being distracted by beams of light as they came in to land.

In recent weeks there have been reports of laser strikes at Moscow’s Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports, as well as in Rostov-na-Donu.

“Russian aviation first encountered this problem about a year ago,” Sergei Izvolsky, a representative of the federal aviation agency Rosaviatsiya, told the Moscow News.

“These are unitary rays, and it’s obvious that it can’t be illumination from buildings or disco-equipment,” he said dismissing the possibility that blinding could be accidental.

“People may not realise the seriousness of consequences,” he added.

Take-off and landing are done mostly manually, and if pilots can’t see anything for just a second, it might lead to a rough landing or even worse, Izvolsky said.

And although using laser-pointers or illuminating objects isn’t illegal by Russian laws, endangering flight safety is clearly condemned in the Criminal Code, the expert said.

Currently there are no restrictions on selling laser-pointers, and they can be easily bought anywhere in Russia.

Investigators may be able to find out culprits’ location but unfortunately no further progress has been reported yet.

According to them, someone directed a laser beam from the distance of 5-6 kilometres from the village of Shakhovo in the Moscow region, RIA Novosti reported.

A laser-pointer with a range of 10 kilometers can be bought for about 1,000 roubles ($35.50) in numerous online-shops.

Luckily, the culprit didn’t manage to pick out the flight deck this time.

“We have addressed the law enforcement bodies,” Izvolsky said. “And we have to work together to find out the most efficient way of tackling the problem,” he added.

Russian aviation, already reeling from this week’s Petrozavodsk disaster, is in desperate need of an upgrade, VTB Capital transport analyst Yelena Sakhnova warned.

And lasers do nothing at all to help.

“And if people like that just add to these problems, the situation might get even worse,” she warned.

The trend is increasingly worrying. Over the past six months there have been 40 reported cases – a sharp increase in previous years.

“There have been three cases registered over the past 24 hours,” Izvolsky said, including one at Russia’s biggest airport, Moscow Domodedovo.

In the second half of 2010 there were just five cases reported, he said.

Ukraine's 'Iron Lady' Goes On Trial

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's "Iron Lady" Yulia Tymoshenko on Friday goes on trial for alleged abuse of power in a case she has dismissed as a political vendetta orchestrated by her opponent President Viktor Yanykovych

One of the leaders of the pro-Western Orange Revolution in 2004 and Ukraine's former prime minister, Tymoshenko narrowly lost out to her old rival Yanukovych in presidential elections last year, becoming his fiercest critic.

She is now the target of several investigations including for abuse of power that allegedly caused severe financial losses for Ukraine after the country's row with Moscow over Russian gas deliveries in early 2009.

"This kangaroo trial will take place on personal orders of Viktor Yanukovych," Tymoshenko said this week.

"Everything that happens around me is an attempt by Viktor Yanukovych to eliminate me as his competitor," she said, describing her case as bearing "the hallmarks of political repressions."

Tymoshenko is accused of causing a loss to the former Soviet republic's budget of 1.5 billion hryvnia ($190 million) when she signed a new energy contract with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin after a brief interruption of gas deliveries in early 2009.

The charges carry a sentence of between 7 and 10 years, jeopardising Tymoshenko's ability to take part in parliamentary polls next year and the next presidential elections in 2015.

Analysts have previously said that it was not in the Yanukovych administration's interests to jail the 50-year-old charismatic prime minister as a new jail term would reinforce her image as a martyr.

But her lawyer said he had a sense of foreboding about the upcoming trial set to begin 0600 GMT in central Kiev.

Yulia Tymoshenko Attacks Ukraine Judge As 'Puppet Of The President'

KIEV, Ukraine -- Yulia Tymoshenko, the darling of Ukraine's Orange Revolution, has denounced a judge trying her on abuse of office charges as a puppet of the country's "Soviet-style" government.

Calling her trial which began on Friday "a farce," the glamorous former prime minister claimed that she was being politically persecuted by President Viktor Yanukovych who narrowly beat her to the presidency last year.

"Yanukovych is a coward. He is afraid of political competition and opposition," she said, sporting her trademark blonde hair braid and a beige designer suit.

His aim was to remove her from the political arena and he would therefore ensure that she was found guilty, she added.

On trial for allegedly abusing her power as prime minister when she brokered a gas deal with Russia in 2009 that prosecutors claim lost Ukraine the equivalent of £118 million, she denies any wrongdoing.

"The court system has been privatised by Yanukovych and his circle," she said, before telling the presiding judge, Rodion Kireyev, that he should withdraw himself from the case due to his alleged partiality.

"I declare you a puppet of the presidential office," she told him amid a stifling court room in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

The 50-year-old Ukrainian opposition leader shot to global prominence in 2004 when she helped lead the pro-Western Orange Revolution which overturned a fraud-tainted electoral victory by Mr Yanukovych, the current president.

She then served two stints as prime minister in the administration of pro-Western President Viktor Yushchenko.

But the two personalities frequently clashed, and though some progress was made, much of their time appeared to be wasted bickering with one other.

An admirer of Baroness Thatcher, Mrs Tymoshenko is also facing two other sets of similar charges.

With parliamentary elections looming next year and a presidential vote in 2015, she believes the aim is to disqualify her from contesting them by having her classified as a convicted felon.

Yulia Tymoshenko: Ukraine's 'Iron Lady'

KIEV, Ukraine -- Yulia Tymoshenko, Ukraine's ex-prime minister, who went on trial Friday, has combined feminine charisma with a hard-edged pragmatism in over a decade in the rough world of Ukrainian politics.
Far from being perturbed by a trial for abuse of power that could see her jailed for several years, Tymoshenko entered the courtroom Friday in one of her trademark pastel suits with her golden hair braid, as ever, intricately knotted on her head.

But the woman known in Ukraine as the "Iron Lady" after her heroine Margaret Thatcher or sometimes as just "Vona" ("She") has had to draw on all her reserves of political steel after a traumatic one-and-a-half years.

After helping lead the Orange Revolution and serving as prime minister, in early 2010 she set her sights on the top job of president but lost out in a bitterly personal contest to her arch-rival Viktor Yanukovych.

She stayed uncharacteristically silent for days after losing in the final round in February 2010, apparently already sensing that the consequences of her defeat would be more than just political.

Within months of losing the elections, prosecutors opened a criminal probe against her and she now faces charges on three separate counts of abuse of power.

Tymoshenko was forced to sign a pledge not to leave Kiev during the investigation and, although she has not been jailed, she has also witnessed the imprisonment of several former top allies in similar probes.

These included her former interior minister Yury Lutsenko, who staged a month-long hunger strike to protest his imprisonment but remains in detention.

"All authoritarian regimes are built on fear. It is very important to be able to cope with fear," Tymoshenko, who spent several weeks in prison half a decade ago, said earlier this year.

"I am not a monster without emotion. I have fear like any other person. But you can master it."

Tymoshenko, 50, has traditionally been seen as pro-Western, compared with Yanukovych's more pro-Russian tilt.

But she has repeatedly shown a capacity to shed her political skin and latterly while in power sought to position herself as being on good terms with Moscow, especially with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Born in the industrial city of Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine, Tymoshenko won prominence and allegedly huge wealth in the chaotic 1990s as head of United Energy Systems of Ukraine, which imported Russian gas.

One of her mentors from that era was former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who helped her build up the business and is now jailed in the United States for embezzlement and money laundering.

Tymoshenko became a deputy prime minister under the presidency of Leonid Kuchma in 1999 but was fired in 2001 after falling out with him.

In a dramatic sequence of events, she was then briefly imprisoned on charges of forgery and gas smuggling.

The charges, which she says were politically motivated, were quashed in 2005 in mysterious circumstances.

Her businessman husband Olexander, whom she married as a teenager, was implicated in the same scandal and spent a year in jail and then two more years hiding from the authorities.

Tymoshenko was the chief ally of former President Viktor Yushchenko in the 2004 Orange Revolution that swept the old pro-Kuchma order from power, and she served twice as prime minister under Yushchenko's presidency.

But the pair's relationship descended into sometimes comical bickering as the two former Orange heroes developed an implacable enmity.

The Tymoshenkos' daughter Yevgenia, meanwhile, sparked tabloid interest in 2005 with her marriage to Sean Carr, a British hard rock musician.

Chinese presidential visit hyped up, but details on billion-dollar deals scarce

A three-day visit to Ukraine by Chinese President Hu Jintao, coming at the end of a tour that included Russia and Kazakhstan, led to bold declarations with President Viktor Yanukovych.

But it will take time to see if any of them, including a goal to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion from the current $7.7 billion a year, will come true. It also remains to be seen whether all of the announced agreements worth $3.5 billion will actually happen.

he Chinese president ended his trip to Ukraine on June 20, after he bargained hard over natural gas prices during a Moscow visit.

Yanukovych seemed satisfied with Ukraine-China relations.

“According to our estimates, the financial value of agreements, projects and contracts signed during the visit is about $3.5 billion,” Yanukovych said. But neither he nor other officials revealed specific details breaking down where such a figure came from.

In turn, Hu said the right words to his hosts: “The main aim of the Chinese government is to establish and develop China-Ukraine relations, a strategic partnership.”

The strategic partnership declaration includes mutual support of state sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect for the development chosen by each of the states, mutual non-use of force or threat of force, economic or other pressure, etc.

This was the first visit to Ukraine by a Chinese president in 10 years, and the third meeting between Hu and Yanukovych since the Ukrainian president took power in 2010. Political analysts said the mere fact that a Chinese president visited is a success.

“Chinese leaders don’t just do political tourism. This visit demonstrates China’s attention to and interest in Ukraine,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the Kyiv-based think tank Penta.

“The question is now how Ukraine will take advantage of that. It was very important that China, one of the biggest world powers, reminded that it is a guarantor of Ukraine’s security.”

Ukraine said it landed a $372 million loan from China which will be used to build a high-speed railway connecting Kyiv and Boryspil International Airport using Chinese technology and companies. Discussions are also under way involving an additional $2 billion worth of infrastructure projects in Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine hopes to sell its airplanes to China and attract investment into its agriculture and coal mining sectors.

Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk came away happy after China decided to give $12.3 million in technical assistance for educational programs that are intended to bring both countries closer together.

Yukos lawyers launch new parole request

The lawyers of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s business partner and co-defendant Platon Lebedev have filed a parole request with a court in Arkhangelsk Region.

An earlier request was thrown out by a court in Moscow, but after Lebedev was transfered to serve his sentence in Velsk, northwestern Russia, his lawyers are trying again.

He and Khodorkovsky are set to remain behind bars until 2016 after being convicted in two separate cases related to financial offenses during their time in charge of Yukos, Russia’s biggest oil company in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Time to ground Tu-134s - Medvedev

Russia’s Tu-134 fleet is set to be grounded, President Dmitry Medvedev said during a visit to RIA .

Following Monday’s crash in Petrozavodsk the president said it was time to retire the Soviet-era workhorses of the sky from service.

However, preliminary analysis of flight recorders suggests that the crash was not due to any technical problem with the aircraft, and pilot error is believed to be the most likely cause.

Russian courts will submit to Christ alone

Alexander Torshin, acting chairman of the Federation Council, will only pay attention to Europe when Jesus Christ is put in charge.

Fending off criticism of a law which he hopes would allow Russia to override the European Court of Human Rights at will, he made it clear that he was only willing to submit to one authority – and not one found in Strasbourg.

Only Jesus can tell Russia what to do

“The obligatory conclusion of the Constitutional Court is our reference point. The constitutional court is at the head of our court system. The European Court of Human Rights is not the sole guardian of truth. When Jesus Christ becomes head of the court, I will call back my bill,” Torshin said.

“I think that everything is in order here. No one is taking anything away from anyone. I just think that we should not be told how to construct our own laws,” he told Interfax.

He stressed that this bill is aimed at protecting Russia’s sovereignty, which was being “really violated.”

Human rights activists concerned

Earlier, human rights groups had expressed concern over the proposed bill that would allow courts to ignore European decisions if they contradict Russia’s constitution.

That could force Russia out of the Council of Europe.

Russia’s human rights commissioner Vladimir Lukin claimed he would look at the bill in detail on how it fits the “human rights declaration signed by us.”

Court rules against Russia again

In the meantime the Strasbourg court ruled that keeping information about socially active citizens and using “preventative” measures against them within the “guard control” program is illegal.

The complaint was filed by Nizhny Novgorod human rights activist Sergei Shimovolos in 2008. He claimed the police were following his movements and keeping track of his trips, often questioned him and even arrested him once.

Shimovolos was arrested in May 2007 before a “march of discontent” in Samara for no apparent reason. The activist could not prove his case in Russia’s courts, but applied to Strasbourg and won his case.

“The suspicion must have been caused by the fact that the claimant was a member of human rights organisation,” the court concluded, ruling Russia’s actions illegal.

The court ruled that a database on socially active people was a violation of human rights and freedoms. The database was created by an unpublished order of the Interior Ministry.

Europe Wants Ukraine To Meet Its Standards

KIEV, Ukraine -- European integration remains the “invariable priority” in both Ukraine’s home and foreign policy, as claimed by the Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych when speaking for the third time at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) session in Strasbourg.

The main points of his speech were on the fulfillment of Ukraine’s commitments to the Council of Europe (CoE), the fight against corruption and dialog with the opposition.

Previously, PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu noted after his meeting with Yanukovych: “We welcome and support the priorities of the Ukrainian presidency in the Council of Europe. We also welcome and support the reforms in Ukraine, in particular the ones concerning the constitution, election legislation and cleanup of corruption.”

Meanwhile, the CoE Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland assured that the CoE will provide Ukraine with any necessary help in carrying out the reforms.

However, the questions asked by the MEPs showed that they expected to hear something else from him.

Hence PACE has adopted a resolution in which it first of all called on the Ukrainian authorities “to ensure that judicial measures are not used selectively, and investigations, prosecutions and trials are held with maximum transparency” and warned the Ukrainian authorities against “the possible use of criminal law as a tool to achieve political ends”.

Secondly, PACE “is worried by the growing selective prosecutions of the opposition leaders in Ukraine and the disproportional measures used in the case with Tymoshenko and the former Interior Minister Lutsenko.”

That is why the first question asked by the MEPs concerned the persecutions of the Ukrainian opposition.

A group of popular parties wondered why they refused Yulia Tymoshenko’s request to come to Strasbourg.

Yanukovych replied that he supports the thesis that the Ukrainian politicians shouldn’t have any borders. “[However], I, as president, don’t have any right to order the investigator or the Prosecutor General to let somebody go somewhere,” he added.

When commenting on whether the situation with Tymoshenko can affect the image of Ukraine abroad, Yanukovych claimed that his prime interest is that the image of the country doesn’t suffer from the claims about political persecutions, in particular, of the former Prime Minister Tymoshenko.

“If you ask me this question, I would have done something to eliminate this process with Tymoshenko [and her claims about political persecutions],” he stated.

It should be noted that the question of selective persecution of the opposition and the ban on free movement for the opposition leaders is the main problem issue in the dialog between the EU and Kiev.

British ambassador Lee Turner has also emphasized this.

This is well-known in Mykhailivska Street but, in all probability, Bankova Street doesn’t want to even hear about it and uses the correct yet formal excuse that all the decisions are made by the public prosecutor.

Obviously, the Ukrainian government has to do its best to make the trials of the opposition as transparent as possible.

They should probably reach an agreement with the opposition, in particular the fraction BYuT-Batkivshchyna that approached Yanukovych with a letter asking to ensure a fair trial for Tymoshenko.

“We ask the Ukrainian president to assume the measures provided by his powers concerning the unprejudiced and fair investigation and to make the trial public,” reads the letter.

The fraction BYuT-Batkivshchyna also insists that the public and the media have access to the courtroom and asks to provide the corresponding premises, namely the Ukrainian Home conference room.

Besides, the fraction also insists on the direct transmission of the session on the First National channel since this trial isn’t an ordinary one and the case is resonant.

Jordan, Ukraine Sign Five Deals To Boost Ties

AMMAN, Jordan -- His Majesty King Abdullah on Wednesday held talks with Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych which focused on boosting bilateral relations, as the two sides admitted that much has to be done in that regard.

The two leaders also examined the latest regional developments and efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution as well as several regional and international issues.

The two-way talks, followed by a broader meeting attended by HRH Prince Ghazi Ben Mohammad, the King’s special adviser and personal envoy, and several officials, addressed means to push cooperation between the two countries, especially in the economic field.

The two sides agreed to take “institutional and tangible steps” to encourage mutual investments through better liaisons between the Jordanian and Ukrainian private sectors, highlighting potential in the energy, technology, transport, railway and military sectors.

On Middle East peace, King Abdullah emphasised that the two-state solution is the sole formula that leads to an independent Palestinian state, in accordance with the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital.

On the sidelines of the visit, the King and the Ukrainian president attended the signing of five agreements to boost diplomatic, health and military cooperation and combat money laundering.

At a joint press conference, the King noted that the Jordanian-Ukrainian economic relations still do not reflect the desired level.

“There is a lot of work to be done and we are taking our countries further towards this direction,” King Abdullah said.

With regard to the agreements signed between Jordan and Ukraine, King Abdullah voiced confidence that the deals will pave the way for better ties.

King Abdullah highlighted the mega-projects that Jordan is implementing in the fields of energy, water and railway, pointing out that these projects entail good opportunities for the private sector to invest in.

“We need to activate the Jordanian-Ukrainian ministerial committee to increase visits of economic delegations and set up trade fairs in the two countries,” the King added.

On his talks with the Ukrainian president, His Majesty said the meeting provided the chance to examine the developments in the Middle East region, noting that Ukraine can play an effective role to assist the Middle East to overcome the challenges facing it and work to boost chances for peace.

Addressing the press, Yanukovych lauded King Abdullah’s efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region.

“We highly appreciate the intensive efforts led by His Majesty King Abdullah to achieve peace in the Middle East and boost the security and stability of the region and its people.”

Yanukovych also asserted Ukraine’s support for the efforts exerted to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He emphasised the King’s visit to Kiev as a significant step towards better relations.

Also yesterday, King Abdullah presented Yanukovych with the Nahda Medal of First Order while the Ukrainian president conferred upon King Abdullah the medal of distinction, awarded to world leaders and statesmen in appreciation of their achievements.

Moreover, the King held talks with Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Vladimir Lytvyn during which they stressed the need to exchange parliamentary and legislation-related expertise. Discussions also focused on the Mideast.

Means to upgrade economic cooperation also were at the centre of the talks His Majesty held with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Mykola Azarov.

Ukraine Reopens Audio-Tape Probe

KIEV, Ukraine -- A Kiev court ordered prosecutors to reopen an investigation into audio recordings made more than a decade ago, to determine once and for all whether they link former President Leonid Kuchma to a journalist's grisly murder.

Prosecutors have cited the recordings, which a former presidential bodyguard says he made in Mr. Kuchma's office from 1999 to 2000, in linking the ex-leader to the murder of the journalist, whose headless body was found buried in a forest outside Kiev in November 2000.

Mr. Kuchma, 72 years old, has long insisted the recordings were doctored.

His lawyers on Thursday prevailed in persuading a Kiev court to order an investigation into how and why the bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko, made the tapes.

The ruling was the latest twist in a saga that has gripped Ukraine—both by dredging up explosive allegations against Mr. Kuchma and raising questions about why they are surfacing now, under the leadership of President Viktor Yanukovych, who was once a Kuchma protégé.

Prosecutors appointed by Mr. Yanukovych surprised many in Ukraine in March when they charged Mr. Kuchma with actions they say led to the murder of muckraking journalist Georgy Gongadze.

Mr. Kuchma denies the charge and currently awaits trial.

The prosecutors have said they have authenticated the portion of the tapes that pertained to the Gongadze murder.

But until recently they insisted they couldn't prove the tapes' authenticity and never used them in court.

It wasn't clear immediately after Thursday's ruling how the tapes would be authenticated.

But the conclusion could go a great distance in helping to frame the last decade in Ukrainian politics.

Some political analysts say Mr. Yanukovych is trying to display his power and independence, and say the case against the man who elevated him to prime minister in 2002 is timed to blunt Western concerns about criminal probes into other opponents, which U.S. and European Union officials say appear to be politically driven.

"It's a diversionary tactic," said opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who is set to appear in court Friday in a separate case on charges of abuse of power.

Opponents of Mr. Yanukovych say the criminal case against Mr. Kuchma could be designed to vindicate him.

Mr. Yanukovych, in a recent interview, denied any political motivation and said the case would be decided by a court.

The tapes' release more than 10 years ago was a watershed event in Ukraine, which was shocked by audio recordings and transcripts that appear to capture the foul-mouthed president along with current and former top officials implicating themselves in crimes ranging from rigging elections to stealing state assets.

Mr. Melnychenko said he has "thousands of hours" of recordings from 1999 to 2000 that depict cronyism, corruption and impunity.

The tapes have never been fully released but Mr. Melnychenko and others familiar with extracts said voices on them include those of Mr. Yanukovych, then a regional governor, and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, then head of the powerful state tax administration.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Yanukovych declined to comment on whether his voice was on the tapes.

Mr. Azarov said through a spokesman that the recordings weren't authentic.

Renat Kuzmin, a senior prosecutor, said other recordings hadn't yet been investigated.

The U.S. has given credence to one extract from the recordings.

In 2002, the Bush administration froze aid to Ukraine after authenticating a section in which Mr. Kuchma appears to approve the sale of a Kolchuga radar system to Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

In extracts first leaked to journalists by an opposition politician in November 2000, Mr. Kuchma allegedly discussed with top officials how to silence Mr. Gongadze, a harsh critic of his rule who founded a news website that published investigations into government corruption.

In one widely circulated audio file, a voice that Mr. Melnychenko and others familiar with the tapes allege is Mr. Kuchma's pesters then-police chief Yuri Kravchenko to get rid of Mr. Gongadze.

The voice on the file says: "Throw him out, drive him out, give him to the Chechens."

Those revelations triggered a protest movement against Mr. Kuchma that culminated in the Orange Revolution in 2004, which propelled Viktor Yushchenko into office ahead of Mr. Yanukovych, the incumbent's hand-picked successor.

Mr. Yushchenko pledged during his campaign to solve the crime, but while three police officers were convicted of the murder and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, critics continued to press for an investigation into who masterminded the killing.

The mystery around the case deepened in 2005, when Mr. Kravchenko, the police chief, was found dead from two gunshots to the head in what investigators called a suicide.

After Mr. Yanukovych won Ukraine's February 2010 presidential election, prosecutors said Mr. Kravchenko ordered the murder, a move critics called a coverup.

EU Hails Breakthrough That Russia And Ukraine Will Join Its Nuclear Stress Test System

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European Union said Thursday that Russia and Ukraine are among seven nations to join their nuclear stress test program to examine whether atomic power plants can withstand accidents and disasters.

The 27 EU nations agreed on such a program last month and had called on other countries to join the plan.

Thursday’s announcement was a first big breakthrough to expand the program.

Under the tests, “experts from other countries will evaluate the assessment carried out by their national experts,” the EU said in a statement.

Armenia, Croatia, Switzerland, Turkey and Belarus were the other nations joining the program.

“This is a huge joint step forward, for us, and for the neighbors on the European continent,” EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said.

Russia also applauded the move and wanted more countries to join.

“We urge them to conduct the tests and ... exchange results,” Sergey Kirienko, the head of Russia’s nuclear agency Rosatom said in a statement.

The EU test should last through much of the rest of the year and the final results will be announced publicly by April.

The idea of performing “stress tests” on nuclear plants arose because of the accidents at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan following the earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

European nuclear plants are being regularly checked as it is, but under the system, the checks will be toughened up and coordinated across the EU and face peer review by multinational teams of experts, who could decide at short notice on checks on location.

The EU itself has 143 nuclear reactors. Russia has 32, and another 11 under construction.

Ukraine, site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster, has 15 with two under construction.

Ukraine Disrupts $72M Conficker Hacking Ring

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's security service said Thursday it had disrupted a cybercrime ring that cost the banking industry more than $72 million using Conficker, a fast-spreading worm unleashed in 2008.

The hackers allegedly used Conficker to spread antivirus software, according to a translation of a news release from the SBU, the Ukraine's state security service.

The antivirus software, however, contained malware that collected online banking details.

The SBU said it conducted 19 raids on Tuesday in tandem with law enforcement in other countries.

Latvian police arrested two people, and more than 40 financial accounts were frozen in banks in Cyprus and Latvia.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation also participated in the investigation along with agencies in the U.K., the Netherlands, France, Germany, Cyprus, Latvia and two other unnamed countries, according to the release. Thirty servers were seized in countries outside the Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities questioned 16 people and have seized computer equipment, documents and money. SBU and FBI officials with knowledge of the case could not be immediately reached.

Conficker, also known as "Downandup," was one of the most severe computer security problems in recent years. It took advantage of a vulnerability in Microsoft's software, infecting at least 3 million PCs and possibly as many as 12 million, forming a massive botnet.

The problem grew so bad that a group of companies and organizations formed the Conficker Working Group in late 2008 to research the malware and find ways to block it.

In February 2009, Microsoft offered $250,000 as a reward for information that lead to the conviction of the person or people who wrote Conficker.

Iran, Ukraine Team Up To Build Planes

KIEV, Ukraine -- A senior Ukrainian aviation official says Iran and Ukraine plan to cooperate on the construction of 78 Antonov-148 aircraft.

Dmitry Kiva, the chairman of the Kiev headquarters of the Antonov Aerospace Company, made the remarks at the Paris Air Show on Tuesday, and expressed hope that all the planes would be manufactured by the end of 2011, DPA reported.

Kiva stated that Antonov and the Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Industrial Company have signed a contract to manufacture the planes.

He went on to say that Antonov will produce the twin-engine mid-range turboprop for the mid-range jet airliner.

The Iranian Defense Ministry has been manufacturing a licensed version of the Antonov-148 since 2009.

The manufacturing cost of each An-148 unit, which can carry between 68 and 99 passengers, is estimated at between $18 and $22 million dollars.

Iran is cooperating with Ukraine and Russia in the production and operation of the Antonov An-140 airliner, which can carry 52 passengers.

After purchasing the production license for the An-140 from Ukraine in 2000, Iran built its first Iran-140 passenger plane in 2003.

First test-flown in 1997, the An-148 has a range of 2,100 to 4,400 kilometers.

Ukrainian News: Ukraine, China agree on opening Ukrainian Consulate General in Guangzhou

The Cabinet of Ministers and the National Council of China have agreed to open a Consulate General of Ukraine in Guangzhou (Guangdong Province, China), the press-service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine told Ukrainian News.

"Kostiantyn Hryschenko, minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine, and Yang Jiechi, minister of foreign affairs of the People's Republic of China, on June 18 signed an agreement on behalf of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Chinese government to establish the Consulate General of Ukraine in Guangzhou," the statement said.

The agreement reflects mutual desire to develop bilateral relations in economy, culture, and deepen friendship between the two nations, the press-service said.

The document was sealed within the framework of the official visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to Ukraine.

As Ukrainian News reported, Ukraine's Ambassador to China Yurii Kostenko said the Consulate General of Ukraine would be located in the Guangdong Province with the population of more than 100 million.

The province accounts for 25% of the industrial output of China.

The functioning of the consulate general in the province will facilitate solutions to a number of legal, trade, economic and other questions.

Ukraine deems promising the cooperation between Donetsk region and the province of Guangdong.

EU seeks to protect forests with curbs on illegal logging

The European Union says illegal logging is pervasive and is a threat to biodiversity.

Ukrainian timber exporters could be shut out of the $49 billion European Union wood market if they don’t comply with restrictions designed to curb illegal logging, which is rampant in the nation.

The measure, which will be enforced starting in 2013, bans the sale of illegally logged timber and requires EU importers to take steps to assure that they are in compliance.

Other traders in the EU supply chain will need to keep records of their suppliers and customers to allow the products to be traced.

Classified into 44 different product groups, the measure will affect wood-producing Ukrainian companies that either directly export raw-to-finished wood products to the EU or through intermediaries.

The regulation is an example of a growing trend to encourage proper forest management and discourage violators.

“Presently throughout the world, there is a movement toward sustainable forestry management,” said Viktor Mauer, head of the civic council under the State Forest Resource Agency. “

And in this relation, there is timber that is illegally harvested, and timber that is harvested in breach of biological diversity, for example.
The World Bank estimates that 20-30 percent of all timber harvested in Ukraine is illegally logged.
Experts say that current government procedures for certifying the legality of wood origins are weak and contain loopholes such as the ability to alter documents and opportunities for bribes to forest rangers.

Global annual losses from illegal cutting of forests, including governments’ loss of tax revenue, are estimated at more than $10 billion, more than eight times the total of official developmental assistance for sustainable forest management, according to World Bank calculations.

Forests cover 17.5 percent of Ukrainian territory, or some 603,000 square kilometers, according to the forest law enforcement and governance project financed by the European Union.

The EU says illegal logging is so pervasive that it poses a threat to forests and biodiversity.

Ukraine last year exported $828 million in timber and timber products, the Ukrainian State Statistics Committee reported.

The forestry sector accounts for roughly 1.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, more than $1 billion.

Serhiy Sagal, head of the Furniture Industry Association said that last year Ukrainian companies exported 2.9 million cubic meters of wood to the West, mostly to EU countries, and $50 million worth of furniture.

“The EU directive will affect everybody in the forestry industry. This is serious, it could be a real barrier to the EU market,” Sagal said.

“Nobody knows how to comply. The authorities aren’t informing us and they really should pay more attention, especially since the State Forest Resource Agency is the largest exporter of wood,” he added.

Roughly 10 percent of forestland – or 1 million hectares – is certified and about 30 wood-harvesting companies have certification that the origin of their wood is legal, according to Vitaliy Storozhuk, a forestry expert and consultant to the World Bank.

But more needs to be done to strengthen tracking systems, Storozhuk said.

The scope of wood certification needs to be broadened, the World Bank expert said, together with forestry management bodies.

“We should turn our efforts towards the state supervising the origin of wood, from harvesting to processing. It is necessary to develop or extend the concept of a national electronic wood tracking system,” he said.

According to the World Bank, sustainable forestry management is “hampered by: poor roads, overly conservative harvesting levels, and inappropriate forest classifications.”

Environmentalists say forests provide a broad variety of environmental, economic and social benefits including timber and non-timber forest products and environmental services essential for humankind, such as maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functions and protecting the climate system.

Ukraine ranks eighth in Europe in terms forestland percentage, the majority of which is located in the northern parts of the country and in the Carpathian Mountains where many old growth forests live.

The new EU legislation is similar to the U.S. Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to handle fish or wildlife produced illegally outside the U.S.

An amendment to the Lacey Act to extend it to timber products was agreed by the U.S. Congress in June 2008.

St.Petersburg

Contract Killing Suspected In Briton's Ukraine Death

LONDON, England -- A millionaire British businessman is feared to have been the victim of a ‘contract killing' on the night he celebrated his first wedding anniversary with his internet bride.

Barry Pring, 47, was hit by a car doing 128 km/h (80 mi/h) as he waited for a cab on the hard shoulder of a deserted dual-carriageway in Ukraine.
The car's lights were switched off at the time of impact and debris at the scene included false number plates and a bogus taxi sign.
Initially the case was treated as a "hit and run accident" but police are now investigating the theory that Pring was deliberately targeted.
And senior police sources in Ukraine said that the case is close to being upgraded to a murder inquiry.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has been told the local mafia could have been involved.
Pring's widow Anna Ziuzina, 29, was at his side a few minutes before he died.
She had left the spot to fetch her gloves from a nearby restaurant, where they had just enjoyed a romantic meal.
She vehemently denies having anything to do with her husband's death and police inquiries will need to consider whether she was the target.
The woman, a former stripper, who Pring met through an online dating agency, never lived in Britain during their marriage.
However, she has been granted legal aid to fund her claim for a share of her husband's £1.5 million ($2.4 million) estate.
On Friday night her mother, Olga, said: "When Anna married Barry, she had no information about his financial position. They fell in love. It was a normal relationship. Anna did not know he was wealthy until after he died. His death was a tragedy for Anna, and for all of us."
For more than three years, detectives in Ukraine have been investigating Pring's death in February 2008, details of which have never previously been reported.
But amid allegations of police corruption, incompetence and a cover-up, no one has been brought to justice.
The probe was quietly closed last year but was reopened this January after the victim's family and their MP, Neil Parish, put pressure on the Ukrainian ambassador in London.
Hague has been told in parliament there are "possible mafia connections in the case".

Yelena Bonner: Russian human rights activist dies at 88

The Russian human rights activist Yelena Bonner has died at the age of 88 after a long illness.

She married the nuclear scientist and fellow human rights activist Andrei Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.

Mrs Bonner became active in the human rights movement in the 1960s, and was a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a rights monitoring body.

She swiftly became one of the Soviet Union's leading rights activists.

When her husband was sent into internal exile for his activism, it was Mrs Bonner that made sure his writing got out, and when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, it was his wife who collected the award on his behalf.

She was arrested for anti-Soviet agitation in 1984 and exiled to Gorki, but she was allowed to travel to the US a year later.

Sakharov died in 1989, but Yelena Bonner continued her political activism and criticism of the Russian political system.

"Until the [Communist] party truly gives up all its wealth to the people who really earned it, everything, down to the last... rouble, Stalinism will still triumph and it will still triumph until we can establish the principle of sovereignty," she said in 1991.

"Sovereignty of the individual, sovereignty of the family and home, sovereignty of every ethnic group and every state."

Mrs Bonner was a fierce critic of President Boris Yeltsin after he sent troops into Chechnya.

Last year, she was one of the first and most prominent signatories of an online petition against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.