Euro 2012: Are Poland And Ukraine Ready To Host Festival Of Football?

KIEV, Ukraine -- On Friday the countdown will officially begin to soccer's Euro 2012 finals -- arguably the climax to the second biggest festival of football on the planet behind the World Cup.

he draw for the co-hosted tournament will be held in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, and football fans across the continent will learn the fate of their beloved nations.

It will kick off a six-month countdown to the date of the first game on June 8, to be held in the Polish city of Warsaw. The final will be held in Kiev on July 1.

Amid the excitement, critics have questioned whether the stadiums and infrastructure will be delivered on time for the visit of thousands of fans to Eastern Europe.

Here, CNN examines the myriad of issues on the field, and off it.

What is the European Championship?

The competition was born in 1960 and is held every four years.

It sees Europe's top soccer nations battle it out to be crowned the continent's best team.

There is a two-year-long qualification period, at the end of which 16 teams make the finals.

They are then drawn into four groups of four, with the top two teams progressing from the group to the quarterfinal stage.

The last installment, hosted by Switzerland and Austria in 2008, saw Spain beat Germany 1-0 in the final.

Which venues will stage the games?

There are four stadiums in each country that will host games.

Poland's newly built National Stadium in Warsaw will stage the opening game, while the PGE Arena in Gdansk and the Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw have also been constructed specially for the tournament.

Poznan's Municipal Stadium will also host games.

In Ukraine, Kiev's Olympic Stadium has the honor of the final, while the Donbass Arena in Donetsk, the Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv and the brand new Lviv Arena will also stage games.

What are the fears surrounding the tournament?

Euro 2012 was awarded to Poland and Ukraine by European football's governing body UEFA in 2007 -- the first time Eastern Europe has been called upon to host a major football tournament.

But their preparations have been criticized for the delayed building of stadiums and infrastructure projects necessary to support the thousands of fans that will descend on both countries come June.

As early as 2008, UEFA president Michel Platini was speaking of the need to resolve problems with the project, saying of Ukraine he had to "wake them up a little" and tell them to "get going."

Despite rumors that Scotland offered to step in should the tournament be taken away from Ukraine, Platini said it would remain with the its original hosts.

There are still issues to resolve around the stadium in Lviv, with Polish authorities facing similar concerns over their brand new Municipal Stadium in Wroclaw.

Ukrainian deputy prime minister Boris Kolesnikov told CNN World Sport's Pedro Pinto this week that at no stage did he think the tournament would be stripped from his country: "Neither the president nor the government feared they'd lose the right to host the championship.

Of course we were a little bit scared to physically not be on schedule.

Our sleepless nights, there have been too many to say, but construction has kept going 24/7 during the last 15 months."

But World Soccer's Gavin Hamilton told CNN that Ukraine's focus on getting the stadiums ready has come at the expense of the infrastructure needed to stage the event.

"The concern is that externally, outside of the stadiums, the transport infrastructure hasn't been brought up to speed, there aren't enough hotels.

"So there will be trouble for fans getting around the tournament. As far as UEFA are concerned, in terms of putting on a television spectacle for the world, Ukraine has done a very good job in getting the stadiums ready."

What has CNN discovered in Ukraine?

On a whistle-stop tour of the four cities and stadiums that will host matches in Ukraine, Pinto said he had been impressed with the football arenas but found that some building projects were still battling to be ready, such as the one at Lviv airport, where construction on a new terminal and a lengthened runway continues 24 hours a day.

He said: "Having spent the last week traveling across both countries I can tell you that if you are a football supporter, you needn't worry. The stadiums look great and although some of the roads and railways may not be completed by the start of the tournament, enough progress will have been made to make the fan experience a good one."

What are the costs involved?

According to UEFA figures, revenues taken during the 2008 tournament were $1.7 billion, with an estimated television audience of 4.8 billion for the 31 matches.

The final was broadcast to 231 countries around the world.

Speculation in Ukraine, from the Kyiv Post, claims the country's total cost of staging Euro 2012 is $14.5 billion, paid for by a combination of private and public money.

The paper claims Poland's estimated costs are in the region of $30 billion.

Mikolaj Piotrowski, communications director for PL.2012 -- the national coordinating company for Euro 2012 in Poland -- told CNN:

"The investment, thanks to Euro 2012, has accelerated infrastructure development in this country by three to five years. The overall cost has been $27 billion and has made Poland the largest construction site in Europe."

Yury Gromnitsky, head of the press office for the vice-prime minister of Ukraine, told CNN:

"Ukraine has invested $750 million in sport infrastructure to host Euro 2012, not including the cost of the airport and transportation infrastructure. But being host has really acted as a catalyst for this development to take place."

All four airports in Ukraine's host cities are being revamped, while a series of new hotel developments have also been built -- 67 in Donetsk alone.

A high-speed rail link will be in operation to ferry fans between host cities, and new road networks have also been built.

Ukraine’s First Mosque With Minaret Inaugurated

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's first grand mosque Ar-Rahma, stands for mercy, accompanied with a minaret is inaugurated on Saturday following a ceremony in capital Kiev on the twentieth anniversary of the independence of Ukraine.

Anna Herman, representative to Ukraine president said in her address at the opening ceremony "On the occasion of the inauguration of this mosque, I congratulate all Muslims in Kiev and Ukraine.

This occurrence is a symbol of Ukraine's and Ukraine constitution's protection of human rights and liberty of conscience. This is the success of our democratic state."

"In the 20th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine we have proved that one can live without religious disputes, conflicting with complaisance and tolerance, respect to other cultures, religion and high moral values." added Anna.

Herman concluded her speech as "I want tranquility in this house (mosque), in the houses in Ukraine and all over the world."

Available to accommodate three thousand prayers, the mosque was reportedly under construction since 1994 when the first foundation was laid in Tatarka district atop Shchekavitsya hill.

The first attempts to build a mosque in Kiev were at the end of 19th century and at the beginning of 20th.

However two World wars and the October revolution in 1917 completely impeded progress.

The next attempt to build a mosque was made only in 1991.

Before that Muslims were forced to hold mass gatherings in apartments, libraries, and sports complexes.

Popadiuk: Celebrating Ukraine

WASHINGTON, DC -- Dec. 1 marked the 20th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence referendum.

More than 90 percent of Ukraine’s population voted that day in 1991 to affirm the parliament’s independence declaration, thus cementing the dissolution of the Soviet state and the rise of a free and independent Ukraine.

With the Soviet hold lifted, Ukraine was viewed by many as a state with great economic potential and one with potentially great social and political vibrancy.

Ukraine, however, has fallen short.

A common view now is that it is a stalled state, unable to move forward on major economic reform and with a fraying democratic fabric.

In truth, Ukraine is not the failure many portray it to be, nor is its success as easy or guaranteed as early observers believed.

The record, as with any process of nation-building, is mixed.

Overall, Ukraine’s successes outweigh its shortcomings.

Ukraine’s existence as a state is a success in itself given the fact that many observers believed that Ukraine would not be able to survive the pangs of independence and the pressures of Russian nationalists, particularly regarding Crimea and the Black Sea fleet.

Both issues, heavily identified with Russia’s history, appear to have faded into the background now.

Ukraine’s historical geographic split between competing empires over the centuries, the large Russian minority and a large Catholic minority in a predominantly Orthodox society were also seen as possible fault lines.

Ukraine has established its presence as a state, deftly dealing with the religious, ethnic and geographic fissures that could have split the society apart.

Ukraine’s ability to deal with these issues serves as an example in a region that has experienced a variety of conflicts.

Indeed, Ukraine has set a course as a stable regional actor and over time, can help strengthen regional cooperation.

Ukraine has also had a series of national and local elections that have led to peaceful transfers of power.

Ukraine has elected four presidents.

While many of these elections have been marred by irregularities - and outright fraud in the case of the 2004 presidential election that led to a new election and the election of President Viktor Yushchenko - a process has been established for the peaceful transfer of power.

The 2004 peaceful democratic revolution, known as the Orange Revolution for the color of the banners of the democratic forces that brought Mr. Yushchenko to power, initiated wide, popular participation in the political process and gave hope to the populace that the future belongs in their hands.

Many of the economic and political hopes of that revolution fell short, but it did establish a benchmark for popular expectations.

Equally important, unlike many of her neighboring states, Ukraine has established a host of political parties, all of which serve as a foundation for the continued development of a civic and participatory society.

Ukraine also possesses numerous natural resources, a strong industrial base and a highly educated population that augur well for future economic development.

A free-market economy is taking root, although the environment for business transactions is far from ideal due to a lack of certain standards, such as a viable judicial system and legal transparency.

On the international level, Ukraine has been able to maintain a stable relationship with Russia, even while jousting with Moscow over gas supplies and prices, and at the same time has extended its role in the larger international community.

Ukraine has participated in a variety of international peacekeeping missions and is a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program.

It has also become a member of the World Trade Organization and is increasing its efforts for greater integration into Europe.

Ukraine also gave up its large nuclear arsenal, underscoring its own commitment to peaceful state relations and, through this step, serves as an example to other states.

That Ukraine faces numerous challenges is undeniable.

The backsliding in democratic rights, the persistent corruption, and the inertia on further economic reform under the current government of President Viktor Yanukovych all pose formidable hurdles.

On this 20th anniversary, however, the people of Ukraine have much to be proud of when they take their short history into perspective.

They have maintained their independence and state and have established democratic principles that can serve as the foundation for overcoming the challenges they face.

It is important that the government of Mr. Yanukovych take steps to nurture this democratic spirit and, thus, move Ukraine forward and not take measures that impinge on democratic processes and are reminiscent of the stagnant past.

Funeral held for Russia’s HIV prevention efforts

A protest featuring coffins and funereal music outside the Health Ministry served to bid a final farewell to HIV prevention and treatment in the country, activists conducting the protest said on Thursday, World AIDS day.

Russia is just one of only several countries, where the number of HIV positive people is increasing, according to the Russian-based Federal AIDS Research Center, and the rate of infection is to double in the next five years according its head Vadim Pokrovsky.

Since 2009, over 60,000 people every year have been diagnosed HIV positive.

Passers-by were bedazzled to see a funeral train marching down Ulitsa Ilinka, flanked with government offices, and some even followed the group to the Health Ministry.

Accidental onlookers took their mobile phones out to shoot the group standing in front of the grey building behind two coffins with signs “prevention” and “treatment” pinned on their lids.

“We’ve been staging these protest for years,” Sergei Golovin, one of the rally organizers from the movement Patsiensky Kontrol, or Patients’ Control, told, shortly after police rounded all the protesters from the site. “No-one ever went out to meet us from the ministry,” he added.

In some Russian regions, over 1 percent of population aged 15-55 has HIV, according to the center’s data. The numbers are exceptionally high for people between 25 and 35 years of age.

“It’s a terrifying number of 2.5 percent of men aged 30-35 who are registered as HIV positive, which means one in 40,” head of the center, Vadim Pokrovsky, told journalists.

Since 1987, when the officials started recording numbers, 636,979 HIV positive people have been officially registered in Russia, and 104,257 of them are now dead, according to Pokrovsky.

The ministry, however, seems to have a more positive view on the situation, according to chief specialists for HIV-diagnostics and treatment, Alexei Mazus.

“The epidemic in Russian has come to a new stage where it can be controlled,” he told RIA Novosti in an interview. The progress was due to healthcare officials, who carried out lifesaving programs with the backing from the state, he added.

Pokrovsky said, however, that his center’s research said the problem continued to grow.

“Over the past 10 moths 48,363 new cases have been found, which is by 9.6 percent more than for the same period next year,

Tymoshenko Too Ill For Trial

KIEV, Ukraine -- Yulia Tymoshenko, due to declining health, probably won't attend a court session in Ukraine appealing her prison sentence, a supporter said.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year prison term after being convicted of abusing her authority when, as prime minister in 2009, she helped broker a gas deal with Russian energy company Gazprom.

That deal returned gas supplies to Ukraine but the current government claims it ruined an economy battered by recession.

A Ukrainian court of appeals is to hear the case Thursday in Kiev.

A colleague, however, said the former prime minister likely won't attend because of poor health.

"Yulia Tymoshenko is unlikely to participate in the court hearing because, unfortunately, her health is deteriorating quickly," Oleksandr Turchynov, deputy head of the opposition the All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" party was quoted by her Web site as saying.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych ordered Tymoshenko transferred to a pretrial detention center's "European-standard" medical ward earlier this week.

Doctors during Tymoshenko's most recent checkup were unable to pinpoint the cause of her ailments though her lawyers have said she's unable to get out bed.

Her Western supporters say the charges against her are politically motivated. She lost a bruising 2010 campaign for president to Yanukovych.

Isolation Won't Heal Ukraine's Democratic Deficit

KIEV, Ukraine -- Twenty years ago today, Ukraine's citizens ratified their country's independence in a nationwide referendum, thereby ushering in the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union and launching their tortuous march toward a market economy, democracy and sovereignty.

Two decades later, the aims and expectations of Ukraine's citizens have not been met.

The country today lacks an independent judiciary to enforce the rule of law.

Its economy is distorted by corruption, and its sovereignty is threatened by a weak economy and extreme energy dependence on neighboring Russia.

Yet it is precisely because Ukraine has completed only part of its march to democracy that thoughtful American and European diplomacy and engagement can help Ukraine complete its transition.

One such opportunity will come on Dec. 19, when the European Union is due to hold a summit in Kiev.

It had been expected that the summit would be an opportunity for the EU to sign a far-reaching association agreement with Ukraine that includes a "deep and comprehensive free trade agreement."

Now that hope is under threat, in large measure because of the Oct. 11 jailing of opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for "criminal abuse" of office.

Though Poland, which holds the EU presidency, wants to proceed with an agreement, Brussels is preparing to put off signing the agreement, arguing that more time is needed to review the final text.

Stefan Fule, the EU commissioner for enlargement, told reporters on Oct. 22 that the EU was "disappointed" by the Tymoshenko verdict and declared that "there are certain conditions the EU and its member countries consider essential in order that we could make this last step in signing the agreement."

Such an approach may be to the benefit of Brussels bureaucrats, who can boast of upholding human rights in the wake of the Tymoshenko verdict.

But a decision to postpone the agreement would be a serious miscalculation for a variety of reasons.

By demanding that Ms. Tymoshenko be released before any agreement is signed, Brussels is turning Ms. Tymoshenko's case into a political bargaining chip.

If President Viktor Yanukovych satisfies Europe's call for Ms. Tymoshenko's release, he will be seen as horse-trading rather than truly remedying a flawed judicial process.

Since its independence, Ukraine has been a frequent subject of Western pressure.

But far from working to remedy democratic deficiencies, such pressure has more often hindered or even reversed the process of reform.

In the early 1990s, Ukraine was denied economic and technical assistance with its post-Soviet transition until it agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal.

Though the country did eventually surrender its weapons, the absence of sound policy advice for the new Ukrainian state led to crippling hyperinflation and steep economic decline.

Similarly, in the early 2000s, President Leonid Kuchma became an international pariah for his alleged links to the death of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.

As a result, Ukraine temporarily drifted closer to Russia's orbit, with numerous pro-Western ministers and government personnel dismissed as a result of increased Russian influence over Ukrainian policy.

Yet when Ukraine's citizens demonstrated their commitment to democratic values through the 2004 Orange Revolution, the Western response in terms of aid and assistance to the country was feeble.

Little wonder that Ukraine's leaders and citizens feel they are the whipping boys of the West.

It is important that this impression be combatted.

Ms. Tymoshenko herself has called on Europe to sign the association agreement.

She understands that a Ukraine that is linked more closely to the EU is more likely to make progress toward greater democracy than a Ukraine isolated and subject to Russian pressure.

While President Yanukovych deserves criticism for some regression in democratic practices and human rights, he is hardly building an authoritarian state.

Ms. Tymoshenko's wrong-headed prosecution has obscured the significant record of progress under Mr. Yanukovych: deep reductions in the size of government, lowered tax rates for big business and small entrepreneurs, reduced government subsidies for energy and the extensive prosecution of current government officials on corruption charges.

Democracy, too, Ukraine has made progress under Mr. Yanukovych.

Major opposition parties recently reached a compromise with Mr. Yanukovych's party on a new election law that gives opposition forces significant rights to monitor vote counting in local election districts.

According to opposition leaders I recently met in Kiev, the law, though flawed, establishes a basis for a competitive parliamentary election next November.

Ukraine is on the path to becoming a vibrant market democracy. Its citizens are highly mobilized, its civil society well-developed and its media open to a broad spectrum of opinion.

Any attempt, by Mr. Yanukovych or others, to establish an authoritarian state would require mass repression and would likely end in failure.

But Ukraine's path toward reform can be significantly accelerated if Brussels and Washington adopt pragmatic policies that do not press Ukraine's leaders, but rather create space for them to make the right decisions.

Should Mr. Yanukovych fail to answer a positive EU gesture on Dec. 19 by addressing the case of Ms. Tymoshenko and other jailed opposition leaders, the EU will have ample opportunity to voice its displeasure by recommending that its parliaments not move forward to ratify an association agreement.

But signing the association agreement has to be the first step.

AIDS In Ukraine: Still No Cure For Corruption

KIEV, Ukraine -- Today is World AIDS day. And once again, UNAIDS's annual report shows that the situation in eastern Europe and central Asia is dreadful, offsetting some progress in Africa.

Ukraine's HIV infection rate, 1.3% of over-15s, is the worst in Europe. Ukraine and Russia account for 90% of all HIV cases in the region.

Fewer than one-fifth of Ukrainian HIV patients receive anti-retroviral treatment. Botswana and Rwanda manage more than 80%.

In both Russia and Ukraine the epidemic is driven by intravenous drug use, with addicts accounting for around half of all cases.

Yet the Ukrainian government seems uninterested in prevention programmes.

"There's a line in the national AIDS programme budget for prevention," says Andriy Klepikov, head of AIDS Alliance Ukraine, "but its value is set at zero".

Places like the Drop In Centre in Kiev's Holosiiv district are funded by international donors.

The centre offers drug users tea, coffee and information, and is a base for harm-reduction initiatives such as itinerant needle exchanges.

When I visited, eight patients on the local methadone programme gathered to air their complaints.

They're grateful to the centre for providing them with somewhere to sit and chat, they say.

They find the atmosphere at the state-run (but foreign-funded) methadone clinic hostile.

"Police are stationed nearby and they regularly search us," says Pavel Kutsev, the centre's chairman, himself an addict of 30 years.

Drugs, the group agree, are a cash cow for the corrupt police: they take bribes from those they find in possession, they take a cut from the dealers, or even sell drugs directly.

Drug users are also useful scapegoats for other crimes: "If you detain them without access to drugs they will sign any papers you want," says Kostiantyn Pertsovskyi at AIDS Alliance.

It's not exactly heroin that most Ukrainian addicts use, but rather cheaper liquid opiates made in the country.

These are more dangerous than straight heroin: even if the syringes are clean, the liquid itself may be contaminated with HIV thanks to dirty equipment used by the dealers, or sometimes deliberate use of blood as a mixer.

So "substition therapy" — weaning users off opiates and on to controlled alternatives like methadone — is clearly crucial to reducing the risk of infection.

But aside from the discouraging atmosphere at methadone centres, the programme is, participants say, half-baked.

There is no co-ordination between methadone distribution and anti-retroviral treatment, notes Mr Kutsev.

Patients are sometimes forced to make long and expensive journeys across Kiev.

Moreover, without the prospect of proper rehabilitation, methadone can be a life sentence.

"My daughter injects drugs", says Oksana, a patient at the clinic, "but I would advise her not to go on methadone. The drugs she could potentially quit, but not this."

Yet funding for alternatives is a distant dream.

Ukraine's government has recently agreed a co-funding deal with the Global Fund, an international organisation, worth $85m over the next two years, but AIDS Alliance says that the government's bit will be spent almost entirely on medical treatment rather than prevention.

"They usually procure medicines at a higher price than they need to," says Mr Klepikov. His (widely shared, if unproven) suspicion is that kickbacks are at work.

The rate of new HIV infections in Ukraine is stabilising: it was up this year, but only by 1%.

This improvement is largely the result of prevention programmes, says Mr Klepikov, who laments the lack of funding for such schemes.

Another annual report published this week may help explain Ukraine's performance on HIV/AIDS.

Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index showed Ukraine slipping 18 places to 152nd out of 183 countries.