Sweden may help Ukraine carry out EURO 2012 projects

KYIV, November 18 /UKRINFORM/. Ukraine hopes that Swedish firms and corporations will take part in implementation of a number of attractive investment projects, including those on the construction of hotels, roads and other infrastructure facilities for the UEFA 2012 European Football Championship.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Hryhoriy Nemyria voiced this hope in Brussels, during his meeting with Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, the vice premier's press service reported.
The parties also discussed cooperation in power industry. In this connection the vice premier noted that Ukraine views the use of alternative and renewable sources of energy, including thanks to Swedish knowhow, as an important component of the effort aimed at diversification of power industry.

http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/

Energy to top agenda for Putin, Tymoshenko Yalta conference

(MOSCOW) - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will meet today with his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko for talks on energy amid unease in Europe over possible cuts in gas supplies this winter, officials said. The two premiers, who have flaunted their strong relationship over the past months, are due to meet at the Livadia Palace in Yalta, the venue for the historic Yalta Conference in 1945 between Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, said a Ukrainian official. On Friday, Putin and Tymoshenko will join their counterparts from other post-Soviet states in an effort to ramp up cooperation in energy and create a joint air defense system, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman said. Energy issues are likely to top the Ukrainian agenda as Tymoshenko will seek better terms for Russian gas to help Ukraine's struggling economy ahead of the January presidential polls, in which she is a frontrunner, analysts say. Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed gas issues will figure in the talks but denied that Putin and Tymoshenko would discuss the upcoming presidential polls in Ukraine.
http://www.eubusiness.com/

Nothman’s bowl to go overseas

On March 20, 2010, Ivan Mazepa’s birthday, the Ukrainian Museum in New York will launch the exhibit Ukraine–Sweden: At the Crossroads of History. Almost half of exhibits will be provided by six Swedish museums and three Swedish collectors. Because of wars and ruination Ukraine suffered in the past centuries, many Cossack-era items have been lost forever, whereas part of them are still being preserved in Sweden’s archival funds. Among other unique items Swedish side has agreed to provide a unique church bowl. After the Battle of Poltava it was buried under the ground on the battlefield by regimental priest Georg Nothman. Soon after the battle the reverend father was taken prisoner and served a ten-year sentence in Siberia. Upon his return to Ukraine he went to the Poltava battlefield, found the bowl, and went on foot to Sweden via Russia. Today this relic is being preserved in Stokholm’s Museum of Swedish Army (Armemuseum).

Russia and EU agree on Early Warning Mechanism

The European Union and Russia agreed on November 16th to establish an early warning mechanism to shield Europe from potential energy supply cuts and protect consumers in the event of a repeat of last year's Russia-Ukraine gas dispute. The agreement requires both sides to notify the other of any likely disruption to supplies of oil, natural gas or electricity and to work together to resolve the problem. Third parties would also be allowed to participate, the European Commission said. "An energy crisis like the one the EU suffered in January is harmful for supply, transit and consuming countries alike," EU Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said after signing the agreement with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Shmatko. "We need to do everything necessary to make sure that such a situation never happens again," he said in a statement.
Concerns are growing that the dispute could be repeated this January, when Ukraine holds presidential elections. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said the country had struggled to pay its latest monthly gas bill to Russia.

Last winter, millions of EU citizens were left in the cold because of a gas dispute between Russia and Ukraine. Russian gas supplies to Europe via Ukraine - a route that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas - were halted for more than two weeks in January due to a quarrel between Moscow and Kiev.

EurActiv with Reuters

Epidemy of influenza and acute respiratory viral infection in Ukraine (latest data)

According to the data of the Ukrainian Ministry of healthcare, as of 12 november 2009 the total number of cases of influenza and acute respiratory viral infection is 1 253558. Among them 65616 people have been hospitalized. There have been 239 casualties. 30 cases of A1/H1N1 virus have been confirmed.
The Government Ukraine along with the Ministry of healthcare of Ukraine and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine are taking measures to prevent the spreading of epidemy. Being forced to use masks in crouded places many have turned this ordinary protection mean into the real masterpiece. Look at the picture to make sure of it!

Firebursts in the night sky

MOSCOW (AP) - Huge explosions and flames ripped through a Russian military arsenal for hours, killing two firefighters and sending personnel fleeing to a bomb shelter to wait out the worst of the firestorm, officials said. The dozens who took refuge in the shelter Friday were at first feared trapped in the conflagration, but later emerged safe dispelling initial worries of a high death toll. But a subsequent report said 11 others were unaccounted for. Russian TV broadcast footage of orange flames and thick smoke clouds rising from the naval munitions facility in Ulyanovsk, a city 720 kilometers (430 miles) east of Moscow. Frequent explosions set off firebursts high in the night sky. The blasts broke apartment windows near the facility and set off car alarms miles (kilometers) away, residents told Russian media. The blasts and blaze erupted while ammunition was being destroyed at the facility, according to the Federal Security Service branch in the province. Artillery shells and other munitions were stored at the site. Two firefighters were killed and seven military personnel were injured, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said. Some 3,000 civilians were evacuated from nearby homes, Ulyanovsk provincial governor Sergei Morozov said.
News agency Associated Press

Ukrainian-Swedish exhibition will go to United States

In March 2010, The Ukrainian Museum plans to mount an important exhibition – Ukraine-Sweden: At the Crossroads of History (17th-18th Centuries). The exhibition was shown to widespread acclaim in 2008-2009 at the National Museum of Ukrainian History in Kyiv to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the Swedish-Ukrainian alliance, the Battle of Poltava, and the death of Hetman Ivan Mazepa. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden attended the opening of the exhibition in Kyiv.
Ukraine-Sweden: At the Crossroads of History includes more than 100 priceless historical artifacts from Ukraine and Sweden, Ukraine's ally in the Battle of Poltava, one of the most critical events in Ukraine's history. The exhibition promises to be a poignant reminder of an event that, to this day, continues to irk Russia. It will also demonstrate to the American public and to younger Ukrainian Americans that the battle to preserve Ukraine's independence was already being fought, by Hetman Mazepa and his Cossacks, 300 years ago. Learn more about it at:
http://www.ukrainianmuseum.org/sponsorship_mazepa_e-sml.pdf