A wish and a prayer for the Ukrainian democrats, please

Uzbekistan forces out refugee agency

By Alexander G Higgins
Published: 21 March 2006

The UN refugee agency, which has sought to block the return home of Uzbek refugees, has been given a month to leave Uzbekistan.

The Uzbek authorities have accused the UN High Commissioner for Refugees of protecting criminals and terrorists by opposing deportations of Uzbek asylum-seekers from Kyrgyzstan.

The UNHCR said it regretted the decision, but would comply with the order. " It's very rare that an office gets closed down," said Astrid van Genderen Stort, a spokeswoman.

"Sometimes an employee is told to leave if there is a fight between the individual and the government, but not the entire agency operation," she said. But, she added, "UNHCR works in countries upon the invitation of a country. If a country doesn't want us to work there any more, we can't go and impose ourselves."
At the centre of tensions between the government and the agency have been hundreds of refugees from Uzbekistan who fled to Kyrgyzstan last May following the bloody suppression of an uprising in the eastern Uzbek city of Andijan.

The UNHCR recognised most as refugees and evacuated 439 of the Uzbeks from Kyrgyzstan to Romania. In recent weeks, the dispute has come down to four Uzbek refugees, two of whom were denied asylum by the Kyrgyz Supreme Court in February despite their being granted refugee status by the UN. The UNHCR has urged the Kyrgyz government not to return the four to Uzbekistan, where rights groups say they might be tortured.

Swift fall of bloc in Ukraine lifts pro-Russia leader
Faction's exit from Orange coalition puts outcast on path to be new prime minister

By Peter Finn
The Washington Post

MOSCOW -- Ukraine's new coalition government of pro-Western democratic parties was predicted to be fragile. It proved so weak that it collapsed Friday before it even got started.



And out of the rubble emerged the man who was cast as the villain in Ukraine's democratic triumph known as the Orange Revolution. In a remarkable turnaround, Viktor Yanukovych, the losing, pro-Moscow candidate in the disputed presidential elections that led to massive street protests in 2004, appears set to become prime minister.


This week was supposed to bring the formal reconstruction of the unstable alliance that led the Orange Revolution, named for the color worn by the protesters. Instead, the bloc dissolved into familiar squabbling after its smallest member, the Socialists, broke ranks to get its own man elected to a parliamentary post.

Socialists jump ship

The Socialists then signed on to what they called a new "anti-crisis" coalition with the Communists and Yanukovych's Party of Regions. The agreement was signed Friday evening in front of journalists in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital.

The recent political turmoil and indecision in Ukraine have frustrated the European Union and the United States. They had hoped to see the country well along in restructuring necessary to open it to Western institutions and greater foreign investment.

The White House had considered sending President Bush to Ukraine, hailing it as an outpost of openness and free enterprise. Instead, he went to Hungary last month.

The pro-Moscow Yanukovych opposes or questions many of the goals of President Viktor Yushchenko, notably membership in the NATO alliance and the European Union. Yanukovych is interested in what is called the "single economic space," a concept promoted by the Kremlin to bind Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus together.

Because of constitutional changes that came into force after Yushchenko assumed the presidency, the post of prime minister is more powerful than it had been. The holder of the office is no longer appointed by the president but independently elected by parliament. The president retains the right to propose candidates for three key ministries, including foreign affairs, but his ability to constrain the prime minister is much reduced.

Coalition's unraveling

The Orange coalition fell apart for the first time last September. Yushchenko dismissed his prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, the charismatic crowd-pleaser who galvanized the popular revolt that swept Yushchenko into office. He said corruption was rampant under her stewardship; she accused some of the president's key advisers of corruption.

Elections followed in March. Yanukovych's Party of Regions emerged as the largest single party, but no one party won an overall majority.

The three that had led the Orange Revolution--Yushchenko's Our Ukraine, Tymoshenko's bloc and the Socialists, led by Oleksander Moroz--together had enough seats to form a government. But weeks passed with no agreement on how to overcome the bad feelings between them.

In June, the three parties finally agreed to a new coalition. Tymoshenko would be prime minister, and Petro Poroshenko, a controversial tycoon and member of Yushchenko's party, would be speaker of parliament. The two are fierce rivals.

But on Thursday, Moroz, the Socialist leader, appeared to have had sudden second thoughts about the deal.

`I've got evidence'

"I've got evidence to show, which I am not going to do now, that the election of such charismatic people [as Poroshenko and Tymoshenko] to the country's highest offices will inevitably create an explosive mixture," he said. "It would spell the end of the coalition in the course of several months with all the consequences to follow."

The Socialists then nominated Moroz as speaker. Yanukovych's Party of Regions, joined by the Communists, saw an opening and backed him. He was elected Thursday evening.

His former partners were left to fume. "We consider that the coalition never took place," Tymoshenko said. "Thus, the coalition did not unravel; it never existed in the first place."

"Moroz is a professional betrayer and a greedy, cynical and a mercenary man," David Zhvania, a member of Our Ukraine, told reporters.

Moroz quickly adjourned parliament until Tuesday, when a new coalition led by Yanukovych might be put to a vote.

If Yanukovych becomes prime minister, the stage would be set for persistent confrontation between pro-Russian coalition forces and Yushchenko, further hampering efforts to reverse a slowdown in economic growth and set policy in a nation that has been independent only 15 years.

Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune

The president, however, retains power over foreign and defense policy. And on Friday, Yushchenko renominated his two current appointees to the Foreign and Defense ministries, Boris Tarasyuk and Anatoly Hrytsenko.

Under the nonbinding coalition agreement signed with Yanukovich and other party leaders Thursday, the new government pledged to pursue Yushchenko's main policy goals, including cooperation with NATO.

"We've been clear from the beginning that we would be willing to work with any government that emerges from a democratic process," he said.

He noted that the election in March, in which Yanukovich's party won the most seats, though not a majority, had been credited as Ukraine's freest since independence from the Soviet Union. "That is a sign of success from, say, the Orange Revolution," he said.

Big bucks behind 'Orange' betrayal

The romantic notion of Ukraine's Orange Revolution is shoved under the rug as the country returns to 2004 with a little help from oligarchs who must protect their business interests.

Commentary by Jen Alic for ISN Security Watch (04/08/06)

As the Ukrainian parliament prepared to vote Friday on pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych's nomination to be the country's next prime minister, bringing full circle the dramatic Orange Revolution that saw pro-Western president Viktor Yushchenko assume power, it appears that oligarchic business interests are behind the chain of events.

<snip>

[T]he oligarchs appear to be the real winners in this latest twist of Ukrainian fate, and Tymoshenko's description of the Tuesday agreement as a smoke screen for "insider dealings of dividing posts and distributing businesses" most likely is not far from the truth.

It seems certain that Yanukovych's comeback likely will mean a new redistribution of property.

According to Kommersant, Yanukovych has not been calling the shots these days, rather Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's wealthiest man and number seven in the Regional Party election list.

Kommersant said Akhmetov was believed to be the "main instigator" in the Orange coalition split, and that his main goal was to keep Tymoshenko from becoming prime minister, which was looking very likely before 6 July, when Oleksandr Moroz's Socialist Party faction left its Orange allies to form a new coalition with "regionalists" and communists, leading to the most severe parliamentary crisis in Ukraine's history.

It was only three weeks earlier that the allied parties of the Orange Revolution had, after tough negotiations, signed a coalition agreement that should have led to political stability in Ukraine and a path towards Euro-Atlantic integration.

Tymoshenko would have hit the oligarchs hard and ignored Akhmetov's interests, and this time he has proved a more formidable force. She had promised to renationalize 3,000 enterprises who privatizations she considered shady at best. She would have attacked business in Donetsk, and Akhmetov's empire was a key target. As prime minister before she was unceremoniously sacked by Yushchenko, she had opened criminal cases against Akhmetov.

Once Yanukovych's nomination for prime minister is approved, Akhmetov and other oligarchs will be given strong protection, and anyone with business interests left in the Tymoshenko Bloc will likely run scared, giving up ideology for security for their businesses.

The divvying up of posts already has begun, though informally, and Yanukovych's Party of Regions looks set to get most of the economic bloc, including the State Property Fund, which is responsible for privatization.

Still, though big business clearly has won out over the democratic and reform-minded ideals of the Orange Revolution, some say a new government led by Yanukovych (with oligarch Akhmetov pulling the strings) will be more US friendly than at first thought. After all, oligarchs tend to pay little heed to ideology and are happy to ignore east-west ideological boundaries if it creates a more favorable climate for their empires.

Tymoshenko has pledged to form opposition to the regionalists-led coalition, which could seal the fate of the Orange Coalition once and for all, as part of the Our Ukraine faction, disappointed at Yushchenko's decision, would likely join the opposition, according to Gavrylyuk. In addition, he said, the oligarchic part of the pro-presidential bloc, whom Tymoshenko has accused of ousting her last year from the prime minister's seat and sympathizing with regionalist coal barons, are likely to be co-opted by the winning coalition.

Under the circumstances, Tymoshenko could feel free to run for president in 2009, while Yushchenko, who long has feared her rivalry within the Orange Coalition, might be backed by his former regionalist rivals in what could prove yet another twist to Ukraine's rapidly changing political scene.

What revolution?

Poverty-hit Ukraine enjoys boom in property prices

The Independent
Published: 06 January 2007

One of Europe's poorest countries, Ukraine, is enjoying an unlikely property boom that has delighted developers but left many ordinary Ukrainians out in the cold.

Some properties have rocketed in value by 600 per cent in the past three years, and prices in Kiev, the capital, reportedly rose by up to 25 per cent in the last two months of 2006 alone.

Property investors and people who already owned their homes have been the big winners. But young Ukrainians and renters now find themselves shut out of the market, with no prospect of buying.

"I'm young and I rent an apartment and make pretty good money, but I can't even afford to get a mortgage," said Anna, a secretary who did not want her surname to be published. Mortgage rates are, she says, as high as 12 per cent. "Even foreigners are surprised by how expensive it has become here."

Kiev now bristles with cranes and building sites that work 24 hours a day, rushing to meet what appears to be an insatiable demand for new housing.

Analysts say that if you bought a decent flat for the going rate in Kiev three years ago (just £15,000), it would now be worth £100,000, an increase of more than six-fold. Small city-centre flats in Kiev are now changing hands for £200,000 and more.

The huge price hikes have made Ukraine one of the most expensive places to buy property in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Yet average monthly salaries range from just £80-£180, depending on the region, and few people have savings.

And, to add insult to injury, many of the buyers are foreigners out to make fast money by renting or reselling. Irina Radko, of estate agents UA Property, says that many of the buyers are British.

"Our clients are mostly from the UK, but we also have customers from the USA, the UAE, Cyprus, New Zealand and Canada."

The most popular area to buy is Kiev, she added, followed by Crimea (a Black Sea holiday destination) and the Carpathian Mountains.

The trigger for Ukraine's property boom appears to have been the country's pro-Western "orange revolution" in 2004. The new President, Viktor Yushchenko, abolished visa requirements for EU and American citizens, and let it be known that his country was open for business.

Although he has since lost much of his influence and been forced to share power with a pro-Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, friendly investment conditions he created remain in place.

But foreign investors' good fortune has been local people's misery. Government buildings in Kiev are frequently picketed by people angry about poor living conditions. "The politicians promise that something will change, but nothing ever does," said Anna.

And, to add insult to injury, many of the buyers are foreigners out to make fast money by renting or reselling. Irina Radko, of estate agents UA Property, says that many of the buyers are British.

"Our clients are mostly from the UK, but we also have customers from the USA, the UAE, Cyprus, New Zealand and Canada."

The most popular area to buy is Kiev, she added, followed by Crimea (a Black Sea holiday destination) and the Carpathian Mountains.

The trigger for Ukraine's property boom appears to have been the country's pro-Western "orange revolution" in 2004. The new President, Viktor Yushchenko, abolished visa requirements for EU and American citizens, and let it be known that his country was open for business.

Although he has since lost much of his influence and been forced to share power with a pro-Russian Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych, friendly investment conditions he created remain in place.

Leader: Russia's grasp on Ukraine rising

Thousands Rally for Change in Belarus

Washington Post
Monday, March 26, 2007

As many as 10,000 protesters took to the streets of Minsk, the capital of Belarus, on Sunday in one of the largest demonstrations ever staged against the authoritarian rule of President Alexander Lukashenko.

The demonstrators marched in three groups to a meeting away from the city center after riot police prevented them from entering a central square. No injuries were reported, but several activists were arrested, organizers said.

The rally was addressed by Alexander Milinkevich, who ran against Lukashenko for the presidency last year in elections that were widely condemned as flawed.

"We are the majority. We will win," Milinkevich told the protesters, who were marking the anniversary of the establishment in 1918 of an independent republic that was quickly suppressed by Red Army troops. "The authorities will fall under the pressure of their lies."

BBC NEWS
Ukraine leader calls early poll
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has dissolved parliament and called a snap election, in an escalation of the country's political crisis.

The move comes amid a long-running power struggle between the pro-Western president and pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Lawmakers in parliament said the decree was "a step towards a coup d'etat" and vowed to continue to work.

Mr Yanukovych urged the president to back down on the dissolution.

Analysts say the move could plunge Ukraine into renewed political turmoil.

Thousands of supporters of both sides have been out on the streets in recent days.

'My obligation'

The announcement of the new election - set for 27 May - followed seven hours of failed talks between Mr Yushchenko and parliamentary leaders.

Mr Yushchenko accuses Mr Yanukovych of trying to usurp his power by illegally luring pro-Western lawmakers over to his coalition to increase his parliamentary majority.

Under the constitution, only factions - not individuals - can change sides. But last month 11 lawmakers allied with Mr Yushchenko switched sides.

If Mr Yanukovych gains 300 deputies in the 450-seat house, he would have the power to overturn presidential vetoes and oversee new constitutional change.

"My actions are dictated by the strict necessity to save the state's sovereignty and territorial integrity," the president said in his televised address to the nation. "It is not only my right, it is my obligation."

And he accused rivals of using an "unconstitutional process" to form a parliamentary majority. "Deliberate efforts are being made in parliament to worsen the political crisis, posing a threat to our country and people," he said.

Pro-Western opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko celebrated the dissolution in an overnight rally in Kiev with about 200 supporters. She said the president had made a "courageous decision".

Rival rallies

Mr Yanukovych said Mr Yushchenko should not publish the decree, which would mean it would not come into force.


Mr Yanukovych said his rival should instead "sit down at the negotiating table" and that a dissolution would "lead to a significant worsening of the situation in the country".

MPs backed a resolution stating that the legislature would continue to function, and that they would refuse funding for the election.

"The people's deputies have enough courage to withstand blackmail, threats and... ultimatums," parliamentary speaker Oleksandr Moroz said in a statement.

Supporters of Mr Yanukovych have also vowed to defy the president's decision, setting up tents in parks outside parliament.

Over the weekend, tens of thousands of supporters of both factions turned out on the streets of Kiev for rival rallies.

Mr Yushchenko became president in January 2005, following the pro-democracy Orange Revolution which overturned a rigged victory for Mr Yanukovych.

But Mr Yushchenko was forced to accept his rival as prime minister after his allies failed to win a majority in the March 2006 parliamentary election, and the two men have repeatedly clashed.

Yushchenko orders troops `to secure` govt buildings

New Europe
26 May 2007

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on May 25 ordered troops to secure government buildings, escalating a long-running political conflict in the country to unprecedented levels.

The president in a formal statement instructed Alexander Kikhtenko, commander of the Interior Ministry's combat troops division, to "maintain security" at buildings in the capital currently controlled by forces loyal to Yushchenko's opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.

There were no early reports of troop movements as a result of Yushchenko's order, Deutsche-Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Yushchenko's very public order mobilising interior ministry troops came after a day of scuffles and punch-ups between government security guards loyal to Yushchenko and police riot control units loyal to Yanukovich.

Uniformed police supporting Yanukovich broke their way into the Prosecutor General's office building on Thursday, to return to his working desk Sviatoslav Piskun, whom Yushchenko had sacked earlier in the day.

The riot-control officers, members of a paramilitary police unit called Berkut, used boots and fists to force their way past building security and return Piskun to his post.

Violence then broke out between the Berkut troopers and a small group of masked soldiers that, according to media reports, were part of the elite Alpha counterterrorism unit, which belong to the Yushchenko-controlled national spy agency the SBU.

SBU spokesmen, however, flatly denied Alpha participation in the clashes, and identified the masked troopers as members of a police unit loyal to Yushchenko.

Troops from the Titan brigade, yet another paramilitary force loyal to Yanukovich and the national police, clashed with members of the state security service, a ceremonial unit loyal to Yushchenko, in an third punch-up at the Prosecutor General's office.

The Titan soldiers smashed a radio belonging to the security service officers, and choked several into submission before television cameras, as they wrestled the pro-Yushchenko agents out of the building on May 24 evening.

Defence Minister Anatoly Hrytsenko, who is loyal to Yushchenko, on May 24 warned security forces from escalating the conflict. The dispute must be settled by peaceful means, he said.

Yushchenko's instruction to the interior ministry troops commander to "maintain security" at government buildings appeared aimed at escalating the conflict, by planning the employment of proper combat units against the lightly-armed, though reportedly well-trained, Titan brigade and Berkut troopers loyal to Yanukovich.

The key buildings in the stand-off, the constitutional court and the prosecutor general's office, were relatively quiet on May 25 afternoon, although some 1,500 Yushchenko and 6,000 Yanukovich supporters were demonstrating in front the latter building. Some twenty Berkut troopers were reportedly still inside the building, with reinforcements on hand nearby.

Yanukovich, according to news reports, was planning to retaliate against Yushchenko's order to the interior ministry troop command by nominating in parliament Alexander Kuzmiuk, a former defence minister, to the position of Vice Premier for Defence and Security.

Kuzmiuk is a long-serving soldier sacked after a series of deadly Ukrainian military accidents including the accidental shooting down of a civilian aircraft. He nevertheless still commands the loyalty of some army units, observers said.

Yanukovich in a national television address late on May 24 evening blamed Yushchenko for the day's incidents and called on "the international community ... to convince the president to return to a policy of following the rule of law." Armed conflict and civil war "will not be permitted," he said.

The conflict between Yushchenko and Yanukovich heated up in early April when the president ordered parliament dissolved and called for new elections. Yanukovich has said the order was unconstitutional. Now the two sides are also arguing over the date for parliamentary elections. Yushchenko wants the elections to take place before the summer break while Yanukovich is pushing for the fall.

Ukraine Sets Elections for Sept. 30, Defusing Crisis

May 27
Bloomberg

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych set parliamentary elections for Sept. 30, defusing a political crisis that has lasted almost two months, Yushchenko's office said.

The two leaders, joined by parliament speaker Oleksandr Moroz, agreed on the election date after seven hours of talks that ended shortly after 4 a.m. in Kiev. Parliament will meet on May 29 to approve the date, according to a joint statement by the three men.

"Our main concern was to find conditions for elections on a legal basis. We have finally come to that decision,'' Unian news service cited Yanukovych as saying.

The current political standoff was ignited April 2, when Yushchenko, 53, ordered the dissolution of parliament, where Yanukovych's coalition has a majority. The prime minister's supporters responded with a series of measures that whittled away presidential powers. Yanukovych contested the need for a new ballot.

The deal shows that Ukraine has become "an adult democracy,'' the president said at a press conference.

The Council of Europe welcomes the deal and said Ukrainians should feel proud that the agreement was reached without the help of outside arbitrators, according to a statement by secretary general Terry Davis today.

Prosecutor Dispute

Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko raised the prospect that force could be used when he said internal security troops loyal to Yushchenko were heading for Kiev. Television footage showed police vehicles blocking at least one road into the Ukrainian capital to head off the threat of force. Other television tape showed one unit of unarmed troops eating their rations in a forest.

Out of a potential 35,000 internal security forces, only 2,050 of the troops had in fact left their bases to reinforce the security of public buildings in Kiev, Unian said today. The Interior Ministry forces carry only light arms and have no armor or heavy weapons.

In the city, a police officer, who declined to give his identity, said the troops were in any case being sent to Kiev where today is the annual ``Kiev Day,'' a day of rock concerts and dancing on the main Kreshchatyk avenue. Their deployment was routine and resembled that of earlier years, he said.

Taking Control

On May 24, Yushchenko, who has taken personal control of most of Ukraine's security apparatus over the past two months, triggered a new phase in the crisis by firing state Prosecutor- General Svyatoslav Piskun, arguing that Piskun's refusal to stand down as a member of parliament broke the law.

Interior Ministry troops loyal to Yanukovych, 56, then prevented the new acting prosecutor from entering his office, prompting Yushchenko to add the internal security troops to the forces under his direct command. [..]

On Independence Square, or Maidan Nezalezhnosti, where crowds massed in November 2004 until the Supreme Court ordered the repeat presidential election, eastern Ukrainians today began dismantling the tents where they have been camping out to support Yanukovych's earlier refusal to accept a new parliamentary poll.

Small Protest

Their protest, limited to a handful of tents, was never as impressive as the tent city of several hundred that went up along the snow-covered Kreshchatyk in 2004. By noon today, only six tents, three of them large enough to house about 20 people, remained. Some of the easterners wore t-shirts marked "Donbass'' after the coal-mining region where they live and written across a portrait of Yanukovych. [..]

Businessmen in the east of the country, such as Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest "oligarch,'' though mainly supporters of Yanukovych, had put pressure on him to come to an agreement with Yushchenko out of concern that continuing instability would harm the economy, Pyotr Korenev, a former Soviet Army lieutenant-colonel who lives in Kiev, said.

"Akhmetov and others have a lot of their money tied up in heavy industry in the east of the country and they were getting worried for their investments,'' Korenev said.

In addition to approving the election date, parliament, on May 29, will nominate new members to the Central Election Commission "to secure honest, transparent and democratic'' elections, Yushchenko and Yanukovych said in their statement. It will also vote on laws needed for Ukraine's application to join the World Trade Organization, they said.

No good guys? or no good guys with any power?

Ukrainian Election Deal Loses Ground