RUSSIAN WRITER SLAMS UKRAINIAN SECRET POLICE

The famous Russian writer Vasily Aksenov was surprised to find out that a copy of his novel THE ISLAND OF CRIMEA had been confiscated by Ukrainian secret service (SBU) as a piece of evidence in a case of political persecutions. Mr. Aksenov who lives in France and is visiting Sevastopol where he is chairing a panel of experts at the Film Festival named after the title of his novel said that today’s SBU officers are worth of their fathers in the 1980s when reading The Island of Crimea could cost a Soviet citizen three years in jail.
The book Ostrov Krym – The Island of Crimea – was seized in the end of January when the SBU agents were searching the apartment of journalist Nadezhda Poliakova, correspondent for Russian information agency REGNUM. Mrs. Poliakova and all members of her family, including her underage son, were interrogated by the security police. The Ukrainian occupational regime was furious at the coverage by Mrs. Poliakova of a symbolic action by the youth organization of Proryv staged on the Chongarsky isthmus January 20. The young people had dug a trench on the isthmus to demonstrate that the Crimea was cutting itself off from the mainland Ukraine. They said they had been inspired by an episode from the Island of Crimea novel by Vasily Aksenov. The police failed to build up a case against the Proryv. The charges of violation of the Ukrainian sovereignty laid by police did not stand in court.
Speaking at a press conference in Sevastopol yesterday Vasily Aksenov said that he had heard only about the trench-digging and reacted to it with humour. He suggested that the Ukrainian authorities should build a channel across the isthmus. It could bring them a lot of money, the writer said. He finds it odd to persecute young people for staging a peaceful act of protest.
The Proryv organization has enthusiastically reacted to Vasily Aksenov’s remarks. One of the leaders of the group Alexander Dobychin vowed to stage another political performance and to base it on a new novel by the famous Russian writer to be published in 2007.

RUSSIAN TSAR VENERATED IN UKRAINE

A Way of Cross was held in Kiev yesterday to commemorate the 88th anniversary of the assassination of the Russian Royal Family by Bolsheviks. Tsar Nicholas II and his Family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church as martyrs for faith. Crowds of the faithful participated in the Way of Cross in the capital of the Ukraine on 17 July, day when the Family of the Tsar had been shot in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. The outpouring of monarchist sentiments yesterday in Kiev shows to the failure of the Ukrainian nationalistic ideology.

UKRAINE: TURMOIL IS GOING ON

Talks to form a grand coalition in the Ukraine’s Parliament ended on Tuesday in failure. The nationalistic “Nasha Ukraina” pulled out of talks after the Party of Regions rejected its demand to exclude Communists from the grand coalition. Now, the Supreme Rada is under control of a majority formed by three parties, all supporting closer Ukrainian relations with Russia. The Ukrainian puppet president Victor Yushchenko suffered a major defeat from his rival Victor Yanukovitch. Last week, Yushchenko had rejected the majority’s proposal to nominate Mr. Yanukovithc a prime minister. Tuesday, the three party coalition submitted his candidacy to Yushchenko again. Most observers believe that Mr. Yushchenko has no choice but to give in and to ask Yanukovitch to form a new government.
Mr. Yanukovitch’s ascension would barely change the situation in the Ukraine. Its economy is on thee brink if a total collapse, gas and oil prices are up, living standards are dropping dramatically. A threat of disintegration is looming. If the ruling nationalists would persist in their refusal to cooperate with Mr. Yanukovitch they would push Eastern and Southern regions to embark on a secession process known as “Severodonetsk initiative”. This movement goes back to 2004 when are group of regions who refused to accept the results of the orange coup d’état were planning to form a new independent republic. A youth organization has started a campaign for a “civilised divorce” between East and West of the Ukraine. The Eurasian Union of Youth is planning to collect a hundred thousand signatures in support of the idea of two Ukrainian states.

CRIMEAN POPULAR FRONT: "STOP KUCHMISM!"

The Popular Front “Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia” is opposed to the nomination of Victor Yanukovitch as a prime minister of the Ukraine. The Front held a press conference in Simferopol yesterday. Its coordinator Valery Podyachy said that leader of the opposition Victor Yanukovitch who may become a new prime minister is a man of Leonid Kuchma (former President). Mr. Podyachy reminded that the first Constitution of the Crimea and a position of President of the Crimean Republic were abolished under President Kuchma and speaker Alexandre Moroz. The coordinator of the Popular Front “Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia” thinks that “kuchmism should be prevented from coming back”. Ideological chief of the Front Sviatoslav Kompaniets pointed out that the pro-Western policies of President Yushchenko lets Russia mobilise its forces to counter them. “This would speed up the transition of the Crimea under Russian rule”, - Kompaniets added. The Popular Front is advocating the return of the Crimea to Russia. It thinks that Parliament should be dissolved and be replaced by a direct presidential rule to restore order in the country.
(The Tavrichesky Kurier, www. Freecrimea.org)

YUSHCHENKO MAY DISBAND PARLIAMENT

President of the Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko rejected the opposition’s proposal to nominate his former presidential rival Victor Yanukovitch candidate to the position of prime minister. Yushchenko issued a letter to Parliament which, as some maintain, contains a hint at dissolving the Supreme Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). Yushchenko says that Parliament's move this week to declare the Orange Revolution coalition dead and replace it with a new Anti-Crisis Alliance violated the constitution as well as parliamentary rules.
Ukraine has been plagued by political turmoil since legislative elections in March, in which the Party of Regions won the most seats but fell short of a majority. The inconclusive result underscored the divide between the largely Russian-speaking east, which looks to Moscow, and the nationalist Ukrainian-speaking west. The new elections could be a disaster for the Ukraine. Kiev does not have funds to conduct a new voting and Mr. Yushchenko’s party may turn into a marginal political grouping. The President’s rating is extremely low due to his inept leadership and incapacity to redress economy. The new elections may result in emergence of two main parties in Ukrainian Parliament: The Party of Regions of Victor Yanukovitch and the Bloc of Yulia Timoshenko. The first may get a land slide in the Eastern and Southern regions of the Ukraine. It could produce a stand-off between Ukrainian and Russian speaking areas ending up in a break-up of the country.
Meanwhile, Russian MP Konstantin Zatulin, Director of the Instutute for the CIS Studies blames the West for the turmoil in the Ukraine. Speaking at the round table in Moscow on “Relations between Russia and the West in the lead-up to the G-8 Summit”, Mr. Zatulin pointed out that the political crisis in the Ukraine was triggered by Western support of certain individuals in their drive to seize power. According to Mr. Zatulin, the West has been constantly saying to them: “Go ahead!” “Those politicians have practically brought the Ukraine to its break-up and defeat”, Zatulin said. The head of the Institute for the CIS Studies noted that “even Americans have to slow down the pace of their initiatives in the Ukraine”.

“UKRAINE IN A SORRY STATE”, EU

BRUSSELS, July 12, 2005 (Reuters) - The European Union on Wednesday bemoaned a political crisis in Ukraine, saying the country was "in a sorry state" and deserved better government.

Erkki Tuomioja, the foreign minister of Finland, which holds the six-monthly EU presidency, told the European Parliament Ukraine was making it more difficult for the European Union to engage with the country.

"But we will certainly do so; it is strategically important," he said. "It is important for the Ukrainians."

"Ukraine is in a sorry state ... I believe the Ukrainians deserve a better government than they seem to be getting at the moment," Tuomioja said.

Ukraine has been in crisis since inconclusive elections three and a half months ago left it without a fully fledged government and parliament little more than a year after the "Orange Revolution", whose leaders became darlings of the West.

That euphoria was short-lived and efforts to form a coalition by groups behind the revolution that propelled President Viktor Yushchenko to power collapsed this month.

An alternative was hastily assembled, led by the Regions Party of Viktor Yanukovich, the president's rival in the 2004 election in the revolution's aftermath.

While facing the prospect of a government of his adversaries, Yushchenko has vowed to accept no big changes to his programme of moving into the European mainstream.

Yushchenko set his sights on early EU membership after the pro-Moscow government was ousted in 2004 but Ukraine currently falls under the European Union's Neighbourhood Policy, which holds out the prospect of closer economic ties, not membership.

EU leaders have in the past year become more downbeat about the pace of future enlargement after numerous polls showed concern among EU citizens about its impact on their jobs.

DESPERATE WOMAN IN CRIMEA JUMPS OUT OF WINDOW

A 43 year old woman committed suicide last Thursday by jumping out of the window at the city hall in Alushta, a resort town in the Crimea. Single mother of a 14-year old son Natalia Kobeleva died instantly. She got desperate after a conversation with Mayor Vladimir Shcherbina whom she came to meet over the destruction of a small cabin on her plot near the city. The authorities ordered the eviction of Ms Kobeleva and other owners of vegetable garden plots they had received 20 years ago. Natalia lived off growing vegetables. The plot was her only income. Rumours have it that the city hall authorities promised the plots area to a private firm for building luxury condos. Kickbacks from developers are not ruled out. Natalia’s neighbour Nadezhda Volochkova threatened to follow suit if the city hall would confiscate her vegetable garden. Corruption in the Ukraine under the new regime is getting worse than ever. Living standards have dropped significantly and continue to go down. Political instability has created tensions and nervousness that can partly explain such incidents as the tragic death of Natalia Kobeleva. Her 14-year-old son lives now at her sister’s. His future is uncertain.