Ukraine’s European course will not change – official

News / 24 November 2009 | 17:55

Ukraine’s course towards European integration will remain unchanged under any political circumstances, irrespective of who is going to become the next president, Volodymyr Ohryzko, first deputy secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, told an international conference on the condition and future perspectives of the Ukraine – European Union relations in the multipole world.

At the same time, he noted that unfortunately the Ukrainians often hear from the EU that integration is a matter of the future, which is a source of “serious disappointment in the Ukrainian society.”

“We need the European Union to form its eastern policy, and which is most important to us, the Ukrainian policy,” Ohryzko noted. In his words, the EU must decide “whether it wants to have Ukraine among its members, or this is just future territory where European goods would be sold.”

 

“Under any political circumstances the year of 2010 must become the one of decision-making, or the perspective will be finally lost,” Ohryzko underscored.

 

UKRINFORM

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Ukraine must participate in European security system – Yanukovych

News / 24 November 2009 | 16:28

Ukraine must participate in efforts to build collective security for Europe, one of the country’s presidential candidates and an opposition leader said, according to RIA Novosti.

“Ukraine should take an active part in developing a European collective security system,” pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych, who leads the opposition Party of Regions, told the Freedom of Speech program on ICTV Monday evening.

Yanukovych also spoke for the ex-Soviet state’s further cooperation with NATO, but stressed that it should stay outside of the alliance.

The pro-Western leaderships of Ukraine and Georgia have been seeking to join the Western military alliance, but at the NATO summit in April 2008, members refused to admit the post-Soviet countries into the Membership Action Plan (MAP), a key step for membership.

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Tymoshenko to deprive gas distribution licenses for debts

News / 24 November 2009 | 15:25

Private gas distribution companies may be deprive of licenses if they fail to settle their accounts with Naftogaz of Ukraine. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said opening a conference on the supply of natural gas to Ukraine, and payments for it.

According to her, the Cabinet is toadoptsuch a resolution at its meeting on November 25. The government also sent a relevant letter to the National Commission for energy regulation, Yulia Tymoshenko noted, National radio reported.

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WHO to provide Ukraine with vaccine and recommendations

News / 24 November 2009 | 13:22

World Health Organization (WHO) to provide Ukraine with 5 million vaccine dozes for vaccination against pandemiv flu, as agreed during a meeting of President Viktor Yushchenko with the WHO experts that dealt with the situation of combating the flu epidemic in Ukraine.

 

The President emphasized the fact that Ukraine views the WHO experts’ activity in Ukraine very significant for outlining further steps to combat the flu epidemic and making provisions for prevention new waves of the epidemic in case of their occurance.

 

The World Health Organization will also provide recommendations for vaccination against the A(H1N1) flu, Deputy Director of the WHO Regional Office for Europe Nata Menabde has said. She said this at a meeting with representatives of the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UKRINFORM reported, referring to the Ukrainian Health Ministry’s press service. Menabde said that Ukraine should itself decide on the need to conduct vaccination against pandemic flu.

“This should be a political decision taken at the level of the government, the president, and the parliament,” she said.

Ukraine’s chief state sanitary doctor Oleksandr Bilovol said while addressing international experts: “We’re asking the WHO to provide particular recommendations in order to take a decision in the issue of vaccination to prevent the repetition of the situation that happened in Kramatorsk and fundamentally changed the attitude to immunoprophylaxis in the state.”

In order to improve the situation on informing the public about risks linked to vaccination and infectious illnesses, UNICEF representative in Ukraine Yukie Mokuo offered assistance in holding the information campaign.

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President’s Secretariat predicts gas price of USD 300 per 1,000 cubic meters in 1Q10

News / 24 November 2009 | 11:17

The President’s Energy Security Commissioner Bohdan Sokolovskyi predicts that in the first quarter of 2010 the price of Russian natural gas for Ukraine will be about USD 300 per 1,000 cubic meters, according to UKRINFORM.

This price, he said, is above the average European, because the “design formula for Ukraine contains a base price of USD 450 per 1,000 cubic meters.”

At the same time, Sokolovskyi emphasized, “It is too early in the day to talk about an exact price of Russian natural gas.”

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Yushchenko pledges to force Russian navy out of Crimea

News / 23 November 2009 | 16:40

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko pledged on Monday in an election campaign statement to force Russia’s Black Sea Fleet to leave Ukraine’s Crimea by 2017, according to RIA Novosti.

“The Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation must be pulled out of Ukraine before 2017 in accordance with the Constitution of Ukraine and the agreements signed,” Yushchenko said in a statement published on the website of the country’s Central Election Commission.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet uses a range of naval facilities in Ukraine’s Crimea, including a base in Sevastopol, as part of a 1997 lease agreement valid until 2017.

Yushchenko has led calls for Russia to prepare to withdraw its fleet from Ukraine’s territory when the agreement on the base expires, although Russia hopes to extend the lease.

A total of 18 candidates have been registered to run in the Ukrainian presidential election due on January 17.

West-leaning Yushchenko, who came to power as a result of the 2004 “Orange revolution,” is struggling to reach double figures in opinion polls.

Polls point to Viktor Yanukovych, Yushchenko’s opponent in the controversial 2004 race, as a leading contender, along with Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, an ally-turned-rival of the incumbent president.

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Studying resumed in Ukraine

News / 23 November 2009 | 14:10

According to the Cabinet’s decision, an academic process at schools, higher education establishments and kindergartens is resumed on Monday, November 23 in a major part of Ukraine’s regions, First Deputy Premier, Chief of the State Antiepidemic Commission Oleksandr Turchynov said. 

However, according to him, the flu and ARI situation fundamentally differs in various regions of the country, hence, in some areas the quarantine will be extended. 

Kindergartens in Kyiv region will start working November 23, while schools and institutes of higher education – November 25.

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Ukrainian President calling on government, central bank, IMF to establish cooperation

News / 23 November 2009 | 12:34

President Viktor Yushchenko has sent letters of intention to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the government and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) with proposals for removing obstacles arising from the failure of previous agreements with the Fund and continue the cooperation, Yushchenko said Friday at a meeting with G7 ambassadors and the European Commission representatives, according to UKRINFORM. 

Yushchenko expressed confidence that the plan of reforms provided by the Memorandum is crucial for Ukraine, which can no longer delay deep reforms in fiscal, energy and banking sectors. 

The head of state also explained his motivation in signing the law on a rise in social standards. The President, however, stressed that this signature did not prevent further work with the IMF as social protection of the most vulnerable people in Ukraine had been fixed in the Memorandum.

Media reported earlier that IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the Reuters news agency that Fund would continue cooperation with Ukraine only after presidential elections. 

At the same time, the IMF headquarters in Washington told Ukrainian journalists that Strauss-Kahn had expressed the IMF’s readiness to continue cooperation with Ukraine “as soon as the country’s leadership reaches consensus on this issue.” 

For his part, Ukrainian Vice Premier for European and International Integration Hryhoriy Nemyria rejected these reports saying that Strauss-Kahn statements had been wrongly interpreted. 

The IMF approved the Stand-By Arrangement with Ukraine in November 2008 in an amount equivalent to about USD 16.4 billion, and allocated the first disbursement of USD 4.5 billion. 

On May 12, 2009 Ukraine received the second tranche worth USD 2.8 billion. 

Part of that tranche, worth USD 1.5 billion, was sent directly to the national budget of Ukraine to finance the government’s external commitments. 

The third tranche amounted to USD 3.3 billion instead of the USD 3.2 billion planned earlier. 

The IMF initially planned to allocate the fourth tranche, worth 2.5 billion Special Drawing Rights (around USD 3.71 billion), to Ukraine on November 15, 2009. 

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Finance Ministry forecasts the IMF will decide on extending the fourth disbursement for Ukraine by November 30.

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OSCE mission starts to monitor presidential election campaign in Ukraine

News / 23 November 2009 | 10:33

A mission of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) has started to monitor the presidential election campaign in Ukraine. Over 50 observers will represent the OSCE in Ukraine.

Another 600 short-term observers from the OSCE will arrive in the country on the polling day. The election campaign in Ukraine started on October 19.

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Ukraine seeking part in Russia’s Glonass project

News / 20 November 2009 | 17:49

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has offered Russia her country’s participation in the ambitious Glonass global positioning project, according to RIA Novosti.

Glonass – the Global Navigation Satellite System – is the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Global Positioning System, or GPS, and is designed for both military and civilian use. Both systems allow users to determine their positions to within a few meters.

“We have agreed that the Glonass system would be more efficient if Ukraine became an intrinsic part of this project. Ukraine has all resources necessary for this,” Tymoshenko said after talks with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday.

The 18 satellites the Glonass system requires for continuous navigation services covering the entire territory of the Russian Federation are currently in orbit.

Another six satellites still have to be launched to bring numbers up to the 24 needed to provide services worldwide.

A total of 9.9 billion rubles ($360 million at the current exchange rate) was allocated for Glonass from the federal budget in 2007, and 4.7 billion rubles ($170 million) in 2006.

Putin signed an order on September 12, 2008, providing an additional $2.6 billion to develop the system.

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