A wish and a prayer for the Ukrainian democrats, please

Ukraine Activists Rethink Travel Plans

Ukraine rivals clash in TV debate

Rival presidential candidates in Ukraine have clashed in a live TV debate - days before Sunday's re-run of the disputed election.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, whose victory last month was declared illegal because of fraud, was facing opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.

Mr Yushchenko, opening the debate, accused the authorities of rigging the original election against him.

Mr Yanukovych denied the claims, urging Mr Yushchenko to begin a dialogue.

Following the disputed election on 21 November the country was gripped by a political crisis, with hundreds of thousands of protesters on the streets of the capital Kiev.
Ukraine's Supreme Court ordered a re-run of the second round of voting.

Since then campaigning has been bitter, with both sides trading personal insults.

A convoy of Mr Yushchenko's supporters has been moving deeper into eastern areas which have shown strong support for his rival.

Meanwhile, Ukraine promises to be high on the agenda at talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in the German city of Hamburg.

Correspondents say both sides are keen to play down differences over the crisis.

Mr Putin originally backed Mr Yanukovych's candidacy and recognised his victory, but later accepted the need for a re-run of the poll.

Trading accusations

West-leaning Mr Yushchenko opened the 100-minute debate which was shown live on Ukraine's state television.

He said some 3.1 million votes were stolen by the authorities during the original run-off.

"They had tried to steal our future," Mr Yushchenko said.

Mr Yushchenko also praised hundreds of thousands of his supporters who took to the streets to protest over the disputed vote.

In his opening remarks, Moscow-backed Mr Yanukovych - speaking in Russian and later switching to Ukrainian - denied that he was the pro-government candidate.

Instead, he accused outgoing President Leonid Kuchma of uniting with "representatives of the orange coup" to act against the interests of the people.

And in an almost direct reference to President Kuchma, Mr Yanukovych called on Mr Yushchenko to begin a dialogue to prevent what he described as "the old powers" from dictating their will.
"Do you agree to calmly sit down together with me before the poll and agree how do we live after the poll?" Mr Yanukovych asked, saying he wanted to avoid any splits and clashes.

The debate sometimes looked like a shouting match as the rivals interrupted each other to trade accusations.

However, after the closing statements they shook hands.


Given the high level of interest in the election, TV sets showed the debate in many bars and public places.
Interest in the election was further heightened earlier this month, when doctors confirmed that Mr Yushchenko's mysterious illness in September was caused by poisoning.

Tests revealed that a huge dose of dioxin had been used, leaving the candidate's face disfigured.

Ukraine separatists given Russian arms, warns opposition

By Askold Krushelnycky in Kiev
22 December 2004


Fears are mounting that Boxing Day elections in Ukraine will be wrecked by an orchestrated campaign of violence after reports that pro-government "thugs" were being supplied with weaponry from a Russian naval base in Crimea.

Hryhoriy Omelchenko, an opposition MP, claims to have evidence that up to 300 AK-47 automatic rifles, as well as grenades and explosives, have been handed over to groups linked to separatist politicians in eastern Ukraine.

A spokesman for the Russian Black Sea fleet, based in the Ukrainian peninsula of Sevastopol, denied the allegations.

Mr Omelchenko, a former Soviet-era KGB officer who also served as a colonel in the Ukrainian intelligence service after independence, said he received his information from serving officers. "The intention is to use bloodshed to disrupt the election so badly that it is declared invalid," he told The Independent. Separatist politicians in east Ukraine threatened to declare the region autonomous and create "self- defence units" after the presidential election victory of their Kremlin-backed candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, the Prime Minister, was quashed and a new election ordered.

"[After the violence] they will argue that any new election should have neither [Viktor] Yushchenko nor Yanukovych as candidates and fix it for one of their people to win," he said.

Mr Omelchenko, the deputy chief of the parliamentary committee on organised crime and corruption, said the plan calls for police officers loyal to Mr Yanukovych from his eastern Ukrainian fiefdom of Donetsk, to lead "small groups of criminals" given guarantees of immunity.

"They will be in civilian cars, in convoys of about 10 cars with five people in each one," he said. "Their job will be to cause as much violence and mayhem as possible so the government declares the election invalid.

"I hope that if these people know their plans are no longer secret they will think twice about them and they will throw all these weapons down a well or an old mine shaft."

Volodymyr Lytvyn, the speaker of the parliament, said parliament would ask the prosecutor general's office and the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) to investigate.

The pro-Western opposition leader, Mr Yushchenko, advocates Nato and European Union membership, and Vladimir Putin, Russia's President, has worked hard to prevent him becoming president.

Mr Putin visited Ukraine on the eve of both previous presidential election rounds, in October and November, to boost Mr Yanukovych's popularity among Ukraine's large Russian ethnic minority, and has been chastised by the West for unseemly interference.

There have also been reports that Russian special forces have been present in the country. Many of Mr Yushchenko's colleagues suspect Russia was involved in the poisoning, last September, of the opposition leader, which left him hideously scarred.

The opposition claims that as part of the scheme to use violence, the government has attempted to replace the chief of the civilian and paramilitary police in Kiev, the capital, with Vladimir Vorobyov, a general from Donetsk.

Yuriy Pavlenko, an opposition MP and Yushchenko ally, said government plans to unleash heavily armed paramilitary forces against pro-democracy protesters last month were only blocked by senior Kiev police officers who vowed to defend the protesters. He said the same people foiled the attempt to install General Vorobyov at a meeting last Friday night. Mr Pavlenko said: "I think they want bloodshed to start and for the police and special forces to stand by initially, and then to go in and attack the opposition supporters under the pretext of restoring peace."

The MP said that as part of an opposition compromise with the government last month, Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing President, was to fire the Minister for Internal Affairs, Mykola Bilokon, who has been accused of colluding in massive electoral fraud and of abusing his powers on many other occasions. Instead he was allowed to take leave. Mr Pavlenko believes General Bilokon may soon be reinstated.

"General Bilokon has proved in the past that he is ruthless and he knows that if Mr Yushchenko becomes president, he will be prosecuted. He has nothing to lose and the danger is that many of these people feel they have nothing to lose," Mr Pavlenko said.

Quote:

Ukraine separatists given Russian arms, warns opposition

Source

Well, SerSo, actually this article reports, quotes even the sources.

So, why do you think it is biased?

And by "another biased article" - are you referring to The Independent in totaliter or only to their reports about the Ukraine?

Ukraine's Constitutional Court says restrictions on home voting violate constitution; election to go on

Dec 25

KYIV (AP) - Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled on Dec. 25 that parts of recent legislation restricting the voting rights of homebound people violate the country's constitution, clouding the presidential rerun vote one day before ballots were to be cast.

The decision by Ukraine's highest court won't delay Sunday's vote, but creates a headache for the Central Election Commission, which is required by law to implement the ruling, but has less than 24 hours to do so.

"We will fulfill the decision of the Constitutional Court," said Yaroslav Davydovych, head of the Central Election Commission. "We don't have another alternative. The vote must be held."

Supporters of opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko had pushed for the restrictions saying they are necessary to prevent a repeat of the vote fraud that marred the Nov. 21 presidential runoff.

Ukraine's Supreme Court invalidated the results of the November vote, canceling the victory of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and ordering a new ballot on Dec. 26.

The Constitutional Court said in its ruling that the restrictions allowing only people with the most severe disabilities to vote at home were unconstitutional and must be lifted immediately.

It ordered the Central Election Commission to act immediately to implement its decision.

The move could benefit Yanukovych, who pushed for lifting the restrictions, saying they will deprive millions of their right to vote.

The United Nation's International Labor Organization website estimates that 14 percent of Ukraine's population, or about 8 million people, are disabled, which is twice the average of industrialized countries. According to the ILO, veterans of the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan, the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and the high number of accidents at coal mines in eastern regions of the country account for the high figures.

Nestor Shufrych, a lawmaker and Yanukovych ally, said the court's ruling would affect about 3 million people. He said Ukrainians who qualify have until 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) Saturday to notify their local election precinct that they want to vote at home.

However, it appeared unlikely that the cash-strapped Ukrainian government would be able to solve the major logistical problem of preparing those people to vote at the last minute.

That could become a basis for legal challenges to the election results.

"Of course, if one side or another is not pleased with the results of the vote, they will appeal on the basis of the Constitutional Court's decision," Shufrych said.

Yushchenko's spokeswoman, Iryna Herashchenko, insisted the ruling wouldn't harm the opposition leader's chances. "The decision of the court will not disrupt the election," she said.

Markian Bilinskyi, an analyst with the Kiev-based U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, said the ruling could "open a window for a substantial number of appeals."

"Depending on the margin between the two candidates, I think it gives ground for Yanukovych's people to question the legitimacy of the vote," Bilinskyi said. "It's a scorched earth tactic - to make sure Yushchenko does not get to the presidency if Yanukovych cannot win."

Yushchenko is considered the front-runner, with most poll results showing him easily defeating his rival, who was severely weakened by the court's annulment of his victory and massive opposition protests.

The Constitutional Court only began considering Yanukovych's appeal of the home-voting restrictions on Dec. 24, and it had not been expected to deliver a ruling so quickly.

A court official said the ruling would add legitimacy to the result of Sunday's vote.

"No one will ever be able to say that the president was elected illegitimately and illegally. It would have been a lot worse if we took the decision after the election," court chairman Mykola Selivon said.

Ihor Zdanov, a political analyst with Kyiv's Razumkov think tank, said the decision was not a victory for Yanukovych because it gives him too little time to react and the court upheld the other election law changes, making it more difficult to challenge the winner's victory in the courts.

Parliament passed the changes as part of a package deal that included political reforms initiated by allies of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.

The court ruling didn't affect other parts of the deal. However, Yushchenko warned Dec. 24 that if his opponents sought to thwart part of the deal, his backers wouldn't hesitate to challenge the rest of the package, in particular reforms that weakened presidential power.

Tension is running high in Ukraine ahead of Sunday's vote, amid fears of violence. Police have pledged to maintain law and order during the rerun.

In a Friday night address to the nation, Kuchma - who has largely abandoned Yanukovych, his former protege - accused both candidates of turning the campaign bitter.

"Both sides succumbed to the temptation to attribute to oneself only glory and to accuse one's political rival of all sins, both unintentional and fictitious," Kuchma said.

"We must prove to ourselves and to the world that we are able honestly and without fear elect the person whom we consider the best, despite any pressure."

The vote will be monitored by 12,187 foreign observers from 43 international organizations and 31 countries.

Russia's fiery nationalist politician, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, was denied accreditation to help monitor the vote after missing the deadline by 24 hours, CEC's Davydovych said.

[..]It's true that I've yet to see the first article that reports positively on the East-Ukrainian political leaders[..]

[..][Yanukovych] supporters have been described in various reports (both from places like Donetsk and from the minority pro-Yanukovych rallies in Kiev) as people who just want stability, who appreciate the way Yanukovich has ensured prosperity for their region over the past years, who are loyal to their region's leader. People who are afraid of Ukrainian nationalism, and/or who say - "we've had turmoil and change for so long, the economy went down the drain - now we almost had achieved a certain stability, and these (Orange) people want to start changing everything again!". Better take a step in place and consolidate, was their take.[..]

When you look at The Guardian or The Independent coverage for the Ukraine (same for the BBC and e.g. most German papers), you'll certainly find as well what nimh described above.[..]

Well, if there werent persuasive precedents, SerSo, it would be easier to dismiss stories like Omelchenko's, which might or might not turn out to just be political bravado.

I'm thinking, for example, of how the Russian army base in Moldova, then Lebed's fiefdom, furnished the Transnistrian separatists with arms and logistical support once the Moldovan nationalists got in a first election victory.

With such precedents, it's not strange that people are wary of such scenarios now.

KYIV. Dec 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Exit polls indicate that Viktor Yushchenko has collected over 10% of ballots than his rival Viktor Yanukovych in the Sunday presidential runoff in Ukraine.

According to a poll taken by Sotsmonitoring ,Yushchenko collected 58.1% of the vote and Yanukovych 38.4%, according to a poll of the Razumkov Center, 56.5% and 41.3% respectively and according to an Interfax poll, 53.0% and 41.3% respectively.

In addition in an exit poll conducted by U.S. Luntz Research Company for ICTV Yushchenko got 56% of the vote and Yanukovych 41%. [UA EUROPE EEU EMRG POL VOTE] ml

Kiev. Pro-Russian candidate for President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovych did not recognize his loss at the Presidential elections in the country despite exit poll results after the end of the Election Day, AFP reported.

I wonder what Putin's going to say?