President Kravchuk writes open letter to President Yanukovych

April 08, 2010 (UNIAN). Former President of Ukraine Leonid Kravchuk has written an open letter to the incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych. Here are the main outlines of this letter.

“Dear Viktor Fedorovych,

Soon Ukraine will mark the 20-th anniversary of its independence. This is a sufficient stretch of time to allow to make some conclusions. We have to admin that the Ukrainian powers that be have failed the expectations of Ukrainians for a better life. Today, Ukraine is at the crossroads amid an extremely grave political, social, economic and spiritual situation.

Ukraine is among Europe’s poorest countries with highly corrupt government, with wavering foreign policy course. It is divided along historical, political and ideological lines. The nation is not formed, same as the country’s political elite.

As regards our political leaders, in the conditions of Wild-West capitalism, brutal political practices, they have degraded, flouting the nation’s interests and dreaming only about cushy seats and money. Ukraine is ruled today by immoral fat cats...

The whole text is available at

http://zik.com.ua/en/news/2010/04/08/223981

Leonid Kravchuk is a former second secretary of the Commnist Party of Ukraine. He is the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, 1994, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament).

Yanukovych to pay visit to Kazakhstan today

KIEV, April 7 (RIA Novosti). Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is heading to Kazakhstan on Wednesday to discuss possible gas supplies to Ukraine with his Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev. The visit comes just two weeks after Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov visited the Russian capital, Moscow, in an attempt to persuade his counterpart Vladimir Putin to reduce the price Ukraine pays for Russian gas, which is seen by the Ukrainian authorities as "unfair." The agenda of forthcoming talks between Yanukovych and Nazarbayev remained under wraps until Tuesday. It was only known that the talks would see the signing of a number of bilateral agreements. On Tuesday, during a meeting with Azarov dedicated to the 2010 draft budget plan, Yanukovych said the plan "burst at the seams" because of high gas prices. Yanukovych, who came to power in February after narrowly winning a presidential runoff against then premier Yulia Tymoshenko, has been seeking to revise a long-term gas deal signed by Tymoshenko and Putin in early 2009. After talks with Azarov on March 25, Putin said he did not view the Russian-Ukrainian contract on gas deliveries as "unjust" or "unbeneficial", but said talks on the issue were possible. The prime minister indicated, however, that Russia was not going to reduce gas prices at no expense for Kiev. "If the question of reviewing prices is raised, then the question 'what for?' arises. We asked our colleagues what they are ready to offer in response," he said.
In return for cheaper gas, Ukraine wants to offer Russia a stake in its gas transportation system, which currently accounts for about 80% of Russian natural gas exports to Europe. Putin said after talks with Azarov Russia is positive about the idea of creating a consortium with Ukraine to modernize its gas transportation system and that it is ready to invest funds into the project. However, he said Russia and Ukraine would not directly link a reduction in prices with Russia's stake in the gas consortium. Last year, Russia reduced its gas price for Ukraine by 20%, but in 2010 the market price, which fluctuates depending on oil prices, was introduced. In the first quarter of this year, Ukraine will pay $305 per 1,000 cubic meters of Russian gas. The price will grow to $320 in the second quarter due to rising oil prices. Media reports have said Kiev would like gas prices to be nearly halved to $170 per 1,000 cu m. Meanwhile, the 2010 budget plan being prepared by the Ukrainian government stipulates the gas price of $334 per 1,000 cubic meters. The Ukrainian prime minister earlier discussed cooperation in the gas sphere with Kazakh Foreign Minister Kanat Saudabayev, who visited Kiev in late March.
http://www.unian.net/eng/news/news-371151.html

Medvedev, Yanukovych ride in Soviet-era car, visit chapel in Moscow

April 5, 2010 Moscow (RIA Novosti). Russian President Dmitry Medvedev met on Monday with his Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yanukovych, who is on a private visit to Moscow, for the second time in five weeks. Yanukovych reportedly arrived in Moscow to attend the baptism of his former schoolmate's grandson. Earlier, the deputy head of the presidential administration, Anna German, said no meetings with Russia's leadership were planned during Yanukovych's stay in the Russian capital. Yanukovych was elected Ukraine's president in this past February's runoff. He assumed office on February 25, replacing Viktor Yushchenko whose presidency saw Ukraine-Russia relations deteriorate. The new Ukrainian leader reiterated his intentions to improve ties between Kiev and Moscow during his official visit to the Russian capital in early March.
During Monday's meeting in Gorki, Medvedev's residence outside Moscow, the Russian president took his Ukrainian counterpart for a drive in his white Soviet-era Pobeda car. The two leaders also visited a chapel, as the meeting took place amid Easter celebrations. The Russian president's press secretary, Natalia Timakova, told RIA Novosti Medvedev and Yanukovych were expected to discuss issues of bilateral relations during an informal dinner. Earlier on Monday, Yanukovych met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and visited the grave of cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy in the Novodevichye cemetery. Yanukovych's press secretary earlier said the president was going to honor "the memory of a man who played a significant role" in his life. During his election campaign, Yanukovych had to defend himself from critics over his two Soviet-era convictions on assault charges. In the 1970s, Beregovoy, then a deputy of the U.S.S.R. Supreme Soviet, successfully pushed for Yanukovych's convictions to be formally erased from the records.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100405/158442940.html

See video at

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian/multimedia/2010/04/100405_yanukovych_medvedev_video_ak.shtml

Pobeda (vilket betyder seger på ryska), eller GAZ-M20 var en sovjetisk personbil som åren 1946-58 serietillverkades av GAZ i en komplett fabrik för tillverkning av Opel Kapitän som beslagtagits av tyskarna som krigsskadestånd. Pobedan fanns även i en fyrhjulsdriven terrängversion (GAZ-M72). GAZ, Gorkovskij Awtomobilnyj Zavod startades 1929 som ett samarbete mellan Ford och Sovjetunionen. I början gjorde de Ford modell A och AA, senare gjorde de egna modeller som Pobeda, ZIM, Volga och lyxbilen Tjajka (Mås).

More than two hundred anti-personnel mines have been found in the Kherson Region (Ukraine)

April 4, 2010 (URA-INFORM news agency) In Kherson region, local residents at a distance of 1,5 m from the single-track railway discovered anti-personnel mines since the WWII. According to the press service of the Emergencies Ministry, until the evening sappers found 230 82-mm anti-personnel mines. Work on the extraction of ammunition resumed. At the scene works pyrotechnic team of Main emergency department in the Kherson region.

http://en.ura-inform.com/neformat/2010/04/04/miny

Not long ago nine mortar mines dated back to WWII were found in Konstantinivka Village of Kherson region in the private house holding during digging the well. The extraction and disposal will be carried out by the pyrotechnic team from the Main Directorate of the Ministry for Emergencies in Kherson Region.

Easter Greetings

I wish all SMB members and those who just going to join SMB a joyous Easter celebration. May this holiday bring joy, faith, hope and love into your home.

Glad Påsk!

Oleg Bezverkhnii

Medvedev to discuss situation with party leaders

April 2, 2010 Moscow (Itar-Tass) President Dmitry Medvedev will discuss the situation in the country following the latest terrorist attacks in the Moscow metro and in Dagestan with leaders of parliamentary parties on Friday.
The meeting with United Russia Chairman and State Duma speaker Boris Gryzlov, Fair Russia leader and Federation Council speaker Sergei Mironov, Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, and LDPR chief Vladimir Zhrinovsky was initially scheduled for Thursday, but was postponed as the president traveled to Makhachkala following a major terrorist act in Dagestan.
A high-ranking United Russia official told Tass Gryzlov will call to unite efforts in the fight against terrorism.
However Zyuganov will call to dismiss the government, which he said “is incapable of coping with any task”. “We shall never end corruption and terrorist acts if we do not have professionals on all levels,” Zyuganov said and called to revise “crazy and mediocre” army and police reform.
Fair Russia Party will warn against infringements on civil liberties in the fight against terrorism. “We shall urge that any actions of law enforcers do not affect civil freedoms,” leader of the party faction in the State Duma Nikolai Levichev said. He warned the political modernization announced by the president may stall and even backtrack because of calls to toughen and mount control in the country.
Besides, all parties except for the ruling United Russia will complain of unfair elections.
Zyuganov said several improvements have been made, however the latest election in March showed the system continues to favor the ruling party.
Mironov said he would submit a report to the president “with all the facts of unfair competition” at the March election.
Zhirinovsky will propose to hold regional elections once a year instead of current two times. He also wants to hold Duma elections in March 2011 instead of December to expand the break between parliamentary and presidential elections to one year. “It will help hold the presidential campaign in 2012 more efficiently and in a quieter regime,” he said.

http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=14981362&PageNum=0

President Yanukovych: Ukraine will overcome main economic problems by end of this year

April 2, 2010 Kyiv (UKRINFORM) Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has said he believes that the country will see economic growth at the end of 2010. He said this at a meeting with the leaders of parties and Ukrainian public and political organizations on Thursday, the presidential press service reported. "Before the end of the year, we will overcome main problems in the economy. I'm convinced that at the end of this year, we will see confident growth," Yanukovych said. He noted that significant steps had been taken during the last month in order to stabilize the situation in the country and that the world had responded to these changes. "The process that is running in Ukraine gives hope that we will gradually get out of the swamp, in which we're currently bogged down, and that we'll finally give an adequate response to the current challenges," he said. "It's currently impossible to stop the stabilization process in our country. We will resume stability in the country step by step. We will improve the situation in the economy step by step," Yanukovych said.

http://www.ukrinform.ua/eng/?topic=true