My dear friends,
Seasons greetings wishing you and your families
a happy and prosperous New Year.
Have a nice winter holidays, stay healthy and happy!
Sincere yours,
Oleg(in 1960) and Oleg (in 2010)

U.S. Government Statement on Investigation of Ukrainian Opposition Politicians

30 December 2010. Although as a rule the U.S. Government does not comment on the specifics of individual cases, we have raised with the Ukrainian government our concern that while corruption should be pursued, prosecution should not be selective or politically motivated. In that context, we also raised our concern that when, with few exceptions, the only senior officials being targeted are connected with the previous government, it gives the appearance of selective prosecution of political opponents.
http://ukraine.usembassy.gov/scud.html

Lutsenko to celebrate New Year in prison

Employees of the special subdivision of the Security Service of Ukraine “Alfa” detained ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko near his house in Kyiv. Criminal case is instituted against Lutsenko because of abuse of power. The Prosecutor General's Office instituted a criminal case against ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko on the basis of offence stipulated by part 3 of article 364 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office disclosed this to UNIAN. Pechersk district court of Kyiv changed a preventive punishment to ex Interior Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko from a written undertaking not to leave the country to taking him into custody so most probably Lutsenko will celebrate New Year in prison
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-413459.html

Yanukovych strongly influenced country’s life

Political experts have described the year 2010 for Ukraine as the year of President Viktor Yanukovych. "This was the year of the new president; it could be called the year of Yanukovych. He strongly influenced the political and social life of the country. He started forming a new political regime in the country, Director of the Penta Center for Political Studies Volodymyr Fesenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday. Director of the Kyiv Center of Political Studies and Conflictology Mykhailo Pohrebynsky agreed with his colleague and noted that the year 2010 was very eventful. According to him, the most important events were the victory of Yanukovych at the presidential elections, the cancelation of the political reform of 2004, the reduction in conflicts among the branches of power, and the replacement of Kyiv's government.
http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/93315/

The next scuffle in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

Today, at 7.20 p.m. lawmakers from the Party of Regions burst into the session hall of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine through the doors of presidium and after rough scuffle occupied the presidium, which has been blocked by the lawmakers from the "BYUT-Batkivschina" fraction. Some lawmakers from opposition were taken to hospital. The lawmakers from the Party of Regions will stay in the parliament for whole night. Lawmakers from the Party of Regions Volodymyr Rybak said this an UNIAN correspondent. "We should ensure a normal work of the parliament in the morning", he noted.

http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-411977.html

AvtoKrAZ to ship 23 trucks to Philippines in early 2011

December 15, 2010 (Interfax Ukraine). The AvtoKrAZ holding company (Kremenchuk, Poltava region), the only producer of heavy trucks in Ukraine, plans to ship 23 trucks to the Philippines in early 2011 to work at the first of Philippine nickel ore opencast mines. The holding's press service reported on Tuesday that the contract was signed in the middle of December with Japan's Hanwa Co., Ltd., representatives of which visited the holding. One of the spheres of the Japanese company's activity is trading with vehicles and industrial equipment.

http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/eco/56058/

NATO and Ukraine discuss cooperation under new Strategic Concept

December 8, 2010 (Interfax). The first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Commission after the adoption of the alliance's new Strategic Concept has taken place, Deputy Ukrainian Foreign Minister Oleksandr Horin has said. Summing up the meeting in Brussels, he noted that the allies had praised Ukraine's fulfillment of the yearly national program and offered their recommendations for a new document." Actually, there was no criticism. They only proposed that we consider NATO member-states' recommendations and add them to the yearly program for next year," he said. According to the deputy minister, this document is being considered and will be adopted this year." The meeting was positive. The majority of the states expressed their opinions. For instance, the United States noted that Ukraine had asked them for expert help in the creation of the Election Code, while the others raised the issue of energy security," Horin said. He also reported that the allies "stressed that Ukraine had successfully implemented the program, which is an important mechanism for reform and the development of cooperation with the alliance."

http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/92331/

All schools in Poltava closed for quarantine

December 8, 2010 (Interfax) All 42 schools in Poltava city have been closed for quarantine until December 19 inclusively and the winter holidays will be reduced by four days, as the flu and acute respiratory viral infection rate exceeds the epidemic threshold. The press service of Poltava city executive committee told reporters that the number of those who have fallen ill exceeded the epidemic threshold by two times: the illness rate among pupils is 437.7 per 10,000 citizens, while the epidemic threshold is 213.5. "This, in turn, led to a change in the terms of the winter holidays in comprehensive educational institutions of the city: from December 27, 2010 to January 9, 2011 (14 calendar days) to the period from December 31, 2010 to January 9, 2011 (10 calendar days). December 27-30 will be working educational days," reads a report by the press service.

http://www.interfax.com.ua/eng/main/55469/

Russia to completely re-arm anti-aircraft defense by 2020

December 1, 2010 (RIA Novosti). Russia will completely re-arm its air defense forces by 2020 and the process will start as soon as next year, a military official has said. Spokesman for the Russian Air Force, Colonel Vladimir Drik, told the ITAR-TASS news agency on Wednesday that apart from S-400 and Pantsir-S, the air- and space-defense troops would receive the newest Russian anti-missile system known under temporary name s-500. “Starting from 2011 we plan to supply the anti-aircraft missile forces with newest weapons and military hardware in mass quantities and by 2020 we plan to raise the share of such weapons to 100 per cent of the total,” Colonel Drik said. While describing the S-500 missile system, the military official said that the weapon will be able to take down high-speed targets, including those moving in the stratosphere and on low space orbits. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev dedicated part of his annual address to the Federal Assembly to the reform and re-armament of the Russian military forces. In particular, the president said that the military should pay special attention to the strengthening of the national air- and missile-defense. He said that the anti-aircraft and anti-missile systems should be united into one complex that should be able to control space. He also said that the unified complex would be subject to the strategic command.

http://rt.com/news/rearm-anti-aircraft-defense-2020/