Tymoshenko: None of Yushchenko’s words is true

News / 10 February 2009 | 18:00

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko declares that accusations of President Yushchenko have no grounds.

Tymoshenko said right after the speech of the President, and then it was announced that the meeting will be further held behind close doors.

Despite the fact that the session was promised to be open, the President thanked the press for its work and insisted on leaving.

In her turn, the Premier tried to take the floor in presence of the press. “Before the press leaves I want to state that none of the words of Mr Yushchenko regarding gas deal or loan is true,” Tymoshenko underlined.

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Tymoshenko did not have permission to make gas deals – Yushchenko

News / 10 February 2009 | 17:25

President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko believes that the situation in the energy sphere of Ukraine threatens the Ukrainian statehood, the President said opening a session of the National Security and Defense Council on Tuesday.

According to him, the NSDC session should consider the issue of guaranteeing the energy security of Ukraine, which is equal to the issue of Ukraine’s independence and statehood.

Yushchenko also stressed that Premier Tymoshenko did not have a granted permission for making gas deals with Russia. 

“There was no corresponding permission, as the government did not support such development of events and agreemetns at its session,” Yushchenko said.

The President hopes that the temporary investigation commission of the parliament will be able to clarify the situation regarding Moscow gas deals.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Tymoshenko also takes part in the NSDC session. 

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Ukraine at least 15 years away from NATO – Russian envoy

News / 10 February 2009 | 16:40

Russia’s envoy to NATO said on Tuesday he believed the issue of Ukraine’s membership of the military alliance would remain unresolved for at least 15 years, RIA Novosti reported.

Last December, European NATO members led by Germany blocked U.S.-backed bids by Ukraine and Georgia to join programs leading to membership in the Western military alliance. The refusal was welcomed by Russia, which strongly opposes the alliance’s expansion into the former Soviet Union.

“If the issue is to be resolved some day, this will happen no sooner than in 15, 20 or 25 years,” Dmitry Rogozin said during a video conference.

He said Ukraine’s bid for a membership action plan had receded to the background and that NATO had analyzed the situation in Ukraine and determined that the country was in a state of “permanent trauma, with constant conflict between all branches of power and an uncompromising public opinion on NATO integration.”

Rogozin said Ukraine’s NATO issue would be similar to talks between Turkey and the European Union on the country’s integration with the EU. 

The situation with Georgia’s bid for NATO membership is no less complicated, the envoy said, citing the separatist republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which Russia recognized as independent after Georgia attacked South Ossetia last August in a bid to bring the region back under its control.

Rogozin noted that Georgia had excluded Abkhazia and South Ossetia from a referendum on NATO membership, and he said this meant the Georgian president had as a point of fact opted for joining NATO without the secessionist regions long before the August conflict.

He said that by allowing Georgia to join under its post-August borders, NATO would be forced to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia as Russia had done.

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President criticizes Kyiv government

News / 10 February 2009 | 15:50

President Viktor Yushchenko criticizes the Kyiv government for unreasonable rising of prices for housing services, president’s press office informed. 

“I expect the Kyiv city administration to conduct a better thought out policy. In other case, apparently, I would have to ask the Prosecutor General’s Office and other authorities to check the observation of law in this field,”Yushchenko told a press conference.

President Yushchenko reminded that it is not the first time when he has to obliges Kyiv Mayor to bring housing tariffs back to the norms. “If this does not happen I will have to take stronger measures,” he warned.

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NATO: Ukraine should learn to defend itself

News / 10 February 2009 | 15:00

Ukraine lost the information campaign during the gas conflict with Russia, James Sherr, the head of the Russia and Eurasia programme at Chatham House (Royal Institute of International Affairs) in London, believes.

“This crisis showed that Ukraine’s officials don’t understand the importance of communication at the governmental level. The West did not hear Ukraine,” he told a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

According to Sherr, Ukraine take a number of corect steps, but Europe did not know about it; and those who knew did not understand why Ukraine did this or that.” 

“The problems caused by the gas crisis are clearly problems of a European nature and they will not be solved until the EU itself becomes a protagonist and is willing to understand and deal with the political dimension of this relationship, and develops the tools to do so,” he said.

“We must understand two things. First, in this crisis Russia consistently and conspicuously behaved like a country that is not part of the Euro-Atlantic community and has no wish to be a part of it. Second, Ukraine conspicuously failed to behave like a country that wishes to be part of the Euro-Atlantic community. This is the similarity, and this is the difference,” Sherr pointed out. 

According to the expert, Ukrainain officials should have contacted their European colleagues regularly and informed them about the course of the gas crisis, its reasons and taken steps. 

“The country must completely change the principle of communication with Europeans if it wants to integrate into Europe,” Sherr underlined.

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Yushchenko may face impeachment in summer?

News / 10 February 2009 | 14:10

After the law on temporary investigation commission of the parliament, simplifying the impeachment procedure, has been adopted, politicians abd experts start talking about Yushchenko’s dismissal. But to accomplish this, a union between BYuT and the Party of Regions is needed. Tymoshenko repeatedly stated that iti s senseless to dismiss Yushchenko, as the situation in the country is difficult enough.

Nevetherless, one of the ByuT members Andriy Portnov stated that his political force can conduct the impeachment procedure withing three or four months. “If the Prime Minister ordered BYuT lawyers to conduct this procedure, we would accomplish it within three or four months, and we don’t need any law for this,” he said.

According to Portnov, “the President is guilty of more than 80 positions.” “These are illegal decrees of the President, illegal suspension of governmental decrees, liquidation of courts and dismissal of constitutional judges. These are positions the President can be accused of,” Portnov explained.

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Faina to arrive at Mombasa on Thursday

News / 10 February 2009 | 13:20

The Faina, a ship recently freed by Somali pirates, will arrive at the Kenyan port of Mombasa no earlier than Thursday, the Ukrainian president’s press secretary Iryna Vannykova said, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

“According to the preliminary reports, constantly received by the Ukrainian president, the ship has completed most of the journey, however, sailing conditions slightly worsened due to the influence of ocean currents, therefore, the Faina will arrive no earlier than noon of February 12, 2009,” president’s press service reported on Tuesday.

Vannykova said that a U.S. warship from the Fifth Fleet of the U.S. Navy is accompanying the ship on its way to the port.

“The sailors received a long-standing opportunity to have a daily contact with their families, which has had a positive effect on their morale,” she said.

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Coordination Council for Adaptation of Ukraine’s Legislation to the EU Legislation holds sittings

News / 10 February 2009 | 12:30

Monday, February 9 Vice Prime Minister for European and International Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria chaired the fifth sitting of the Coordination Council for Adaptation of Ukraine’s Legislation to the Legislation of the European Union.

Opening the meeting Hryhoriy Nemyria stressed that the activity in approaching the national legislation to the European norms is a priority component of the process of Ukraine’s advancement to the EU and illustrates at most interdependence of the process of European integration with internal state reforms.

He pointed out that the Parliament plays the key role in the process of adaptation of Ukraine’s legislation to the European and urged to intensify the cooperation between the Parliament and the Government.

According to him, in order to establish effective cooperation the joint sittings of the Ukraine-EU Committee and European Integration Committee of the Verkhovna Rada has been launched. 

In his speech Hryhoriy Nemyria also underlined that “the process of harmonization of the legislation has to be clearly synchronized with the negotiation process between Ukraine and the EU, in particular with the concluding of the Association Agreement which includes issues of creating a free trade zones, forming the joint air space and membership in Energy Community”.

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