#49|Dec03|2010

#51

The Richest Ukrainians Hot issue on Dec.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE KYIV POST

41&$*"- 0''&3 Only $ * per month

17

Limited time only!

th

* at the fixed rate ($1=7.9 UAH), w/a full year subscription

Anniversary To subscribe to the Kyiv Post: call Natalia Protasova: +38 044 234 6503 e-mail: subscribe@kyivpost.com http://www.kyivpost.com/newspaper/subscribe

www.kyivpost.com

vol. 15, issue 49

December 3, 2010

Libyan leader likes Ukrainian ‘nurses’ Muammar el-Qaddafi, the eccentric Libyan dictator, is described in leaked U.S. diplomatic reports as having a staff of four Ukrainian “nurses” and never traveling without his senior one, Galyna Kolotnytska, to take care of his needs. See story on page 14.

Russia’s Batman and Robin U.S. diplomatic cables describe Russian President Dmitry Medvedev (R) as playing “Robin” to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s “Batman” and speculate about Putin’s wealth in the nation described as a “virtual mafia state.” See story on page 2.

Firtash, Mogilevich ties In a Dec. 8, 2008, meeting, then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor allegedly wrote that gas-trading Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash told of needing permission from alleged Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich to do business in Ukraine during the lawless 1990s. Firtash denied the remarks. See stories on pages 8-13.

INSIDE: • Ukraine-related WikiLeaks. Page 14.

Putin’s mouthpiece U.S. diplomats describe ties between Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who “appears increasingly to be the mouthpiece of Putin” in Europe. U.S. Defense Secrety Robert Gates wrote on Feb. 8: “Russian democracy has disappeared and the government is an oligarchy run by the security services.“

Inside: 234-6500: Kyiv Post main number

News Æ 2, 10 – 15 Lifestyle Æ 19 – 29, 32

234-6503: advertising advertising@kyivpost.com

• Ex-Naftogaz spokesman alleges corruption in gas trade. Page 8-9.

• Ex-U.S. Ambassador Taylor’s cable about meeting with Firtash. Pages 12, 13.

• Firtash denies Mogilevich remarks; won't discuss conversation with Taylor. Page 11.

• Taylor: Firtash accuses Lazarenko of 1996 murder. Page 15.

• U.S. diplomat suspicious of bank's ties to RosUkrEnergo. Page 10.

A wild wedding A U.S. diplomat invited to a wedding in Russia’s Dagestan describes a drunken party where guests threw wads of $100 bills at child dancers.

One of the guests, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, reportedly danced clumsily with a gold-plated automatic gun and gave the happy couple five kilograms of gold.

Opinion Æ 4, 5, 16, 17 Employment/Real Estate/ Business Æ 6 – 9, 18 Classifieds Æ 30 – 31

234-6300, 234-6310: newsroom news@kyivpost.com

234-6503: subscriptions subscribe@kyivpost.com

2 News

DECEMBER 3, 2010

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Vol. 15, Issue 49 Copyright © 2010

by Kyiv Post The material published in the Kyiv Post may not be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. All material in the Kyiv Post is protected by Ukrainian and international laws.

The views expressed in the Kyiv Post are not necessarily the views of the publisher nor does the publisher carry any responsibility for those

Tomorrow’s News

Christmas tree to brighten up central square

A girl reacts as she examines a stuffed bear during the New Year’s and Orthodox Christmas festival in the center of Kyiv on Jan. 4. (AFP)

views. Газета “Kyiv Post” видається ТОВ “ПаблікМедіа”.

Щотижневий

наклад

25,000

прим. Ціна за домовленістю. Матерiали, надрукованi в газетi “Kyiv Post” є власнiстю видавництва, захищенi мiжнародним та українським законодавством i не можуть бути вiдтворенi у будь(якiй формi без письмового дозволу Видавця. Думки, висловленi у дописах не завжди збiгаються з поглядами видавця, який не бере на себе вiдповiдальнiсть за наслiдки публiкацiй. Засновник ТОВ “Паблік-Медіа” Адреса видавця та засновника співпадають: Україна, м. Київ, 01034,

Kyiv will put up its last natural Christmas tree on Dec. 15, but in retro style at its traditional spot on the south side of Independence Square.

It will be lit on Dec. 18.

This year’s Christmas tree will consist of 1,600 to 2,400 pinetree branches and will be decorated with Soviet ornaments dating to the 1950s, said Oleksandr Bryhynets, a Kyiv city council culture committee member.

The council member also said next year’s tree will be plastic: “This should stimulate ecological civility in Ukrainians,” said Bryhynets. “Many of our fellow citizens, having seen that the nation’s main tree is made of plastic will think about preserving our nature and will instead place fake trees in their homes.”

Meanwhile on the same day, Mironova Gallery and Helen Marlen group will showcase artist Roman Zhuk’s art installation consisting of illuminated sculpted stars across the street on the north side of the square in an art project titled “Stars of the Future.”

Wednesday, Dec. 15 Compiled by Mark Rachkevych

вул. Прорізна, 22Б Реєстрацiйне свiдоцтво Кв № 15261(3833ПР від 19.06.09. Надруковано ТОВ «Новий друк», 02660, Київ, вулиця Магнітогорська, 1, тел.: 559-9147 Замовлення № 10-6849 Аудиторське обслуговування ТОВ АФ “ОЛГА Аудит” Mailing address: 01034, Kyiv, 22B Prorizna Street Kyiv Post main number: 234-6500 Advertising: 234-6503 Subscriptions: 234-6503 Newsroom: 234-6300, 234-6310 Fax/Tel.: 234-3062 http://www.kyivpost.com Editorial queries: news@kyivpost.com letters@kyivpost.com Subscription queries: subscribe@kyivpost.com Advertising queries: advertising@kyivpost.com З приводу розмiщення реклами звертайтесь 234-6503 Відповідальність за зміст реклами несе замовник

Pynzenyk, ex-finance minister, calls Tymoshenko ‘destructive force’

BY P ET ER BYR NE BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM

Former Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk delivered a withering critique of Yulia Tymoshenko, his former boss, to the U.S. ambassador earlier this year, according to a U.S. Embassy cable published on Dec. 1 by WikiLeaks.

Decrying her as a “destructive force” who “simply wanted to consolidate power in her own hands,” Pynzenyk said he believed that her tendency to favor “adventurous populism” meant that she would “continue to work against reform.”

U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine John F. Tefft’s report of the conversation is posted on the WikiLeaks website without Pynzenyk’s name. He is described in the cable only as a “former Tymoshenko insider” and the name is redacted. But an article in German magazine Der Spiegel, which obtained original copies of the cables, identifies the insider as Pynzenyk, a respected economist who served from

Former Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk

December 2007 to February 2009 as finance minister in Tymoshenko’s government. Pynzenyk could not be reached for comment.

Pynzenyk left the government after clashing with Tymoshenko over budget policy.

Tefft writes that Pynzenyk “appeared

to deliver his message not in anger, but in sorrow for the country and frustration at his inability to convince Tymosehnko to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the economic crisis to reform.”

He added that Pynzenyk’s “indictment of Tymoshenko was particularly damning.”

Instead of using the crisis that hit Ukraine in 2008 as an opportunity for genuine reform, Pynzenyk said, she had “wasted the opportunity in favor of populism and a simple desire for allembracing power.”

The meeting on Feb. 22 came after Tymoshenko’s defeat in an election to President Viktor Yanukovych, but before her dismissal as prime minister.

Pynzenyk raised concerns that she would “continue to work against reform”: “Her argument would be that she and her government were able to make all domestic and international payments during the crisis without implementing what would amount to painful reforms for the public.” He

added that in this way the International Monetary Fund, which stepped in with a $16 billion standby loan to prop up Ukraine’s finances, had “actually harmed Ukraine,” as it prevented the government and the public from suffering too badly from the crisis.

Pynzenyk describes Tymoshenko’s leadership style as authoritarian. She made policy decisions “without listening to considered advice’;” it was “difficult to understand Tymoshenko’s logic most of the time;” her decisions were “normally guided by ‘adventurous populism,’” which she saw as a tool to “consolidate power in her own hands.”

With all of this in mind, Pynzenyk said the best hope for Ukraine was preterm parliamentary elections, which he suggested would benefit [Deputy Prime Minister] Sergiy Tigipko and [former Verkhovna Rada speaker] Arseniy Yatsenyuk.”

Tymoshenko’s spokesperson Marina Soroka said on Dec. 2 that she had not yet read the cable and therefore could not respond.

U.S. cables lift mask on Putin’s ‘corrupt autocracy’ MOSCOW, Dec 2 (Reuters) – Vladimir Putin rules Russia by allowing a venal elite of corrupt officials and crooked spies to siphon off cash from the world’s biggest energy producer, according to a picture painted by leaked U.S. diplomatic cables.

The stars of the U.S. Foreign Service cast “alpha-dog” Putin as Russia’s paramount leader, presiding over a system where greed and oil money decide everything. Laws mean nothing. U.S. diplomats speculate about Putin’s personal wealth and repeat Moscow rumors that the former KGB spy has assets abroad and links to Russia’s lucrative oil export trade.

Putin has denied amassing a vast fortune while president and has dismissed speculation about his personal wealth as snot smeared over paper. His spokesman on Thursday told Reuters the “simply ridiculous” claims in the U.S. diplomatic cables were based on unverified rumor. “These are simply rumors, with neither facts nor argu-

ments. Simply nothing,” Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said by telephone.

“But if we suppose that these are genuine telegrams, then one could only wonder that diplomats write such rubbish.”

The U.S. cables present Russia as a “corrupt autocracy” where money has replaced Communism as the driving ideology for the elite since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union. “People are paying bribes all the way to the top,” U.S. Ambassador to Russia John Beyrle paraphrased an unidentified source as saying in February 2010, in one of the cables published on the website WikiLeaks.

The source, whose name was obscured in the documents, described a system in which the security services, police and local politicians collected bribes in a well organized protection racket that reached the top levels of the Kremlin. «They need money to get to the top, but once they are there, their positions become quite lucrative

money making opportunities,» Beyrle's cable said.

Western executives say the biggest barriers for business in Russia are alarming levels of official corruption, mounds of red tape and the arbitrary rule of law. Corruption, which plagued tsars and communist general secretaries for centuries, blossomed as the Soviet Union collapsed and is now a way of life for many Russians, from small bribes paid to traffic police to multi-million dollar kickbacks for officials who hold sway over the $1.2 trillion economy. But never before have U.S. assessments of Russia's giant system of kick-backs been made so public at such a sensitive time, just when President Barack Obama is battling to repair better ties with the Kremlin.

U.S. Ambassador Beyrle, in a cable to Washington from November 2008, repeated rumors that Putin was linked with Swiss based trader Gunvor. «The company is rumored to be one of Putin's sources of undisclosed wealth,»

Beyrle wrote, citing oil traders. In another cable of the same period, he said Putin was rumored to be an owner of Gunvor, though he gave no hard facts to back up the claim.

When asked about this statement, Putin spokesman Peskov said: “This is a completely stupid claim without any support. These rumors have been aired repeatedly but they have been repeatedly denied. It is rather ridiculous.” A Gunvor spokesman said: “It is just repeating old rumors. They are over two years old and the questions of things like who owns Gunvor are now a matter of public record.”

The company has previously said its two main shareholders were its founders, Gennady Timchenko and Torbjorn Tornqvist, and that a small stake belongs to an employee trust.

Timchenko has repeatedly denied media speculation he was a close friend of Putin. It was not possible to verify if the documents were genuine.

Vladimir Putin

www.kyivpost.com

3

December 3, 2010 Advertisement

European Business Association News

*O 'PDVT

,EADERS 4ALK Leaders Talk: Meet the New EBA Board Members!

!

T THE %"! !NNUAL 'ENERAL -EMBERSHIP -EETING HELD ON .OVEMBER VOTING FOR THE EIGHT NEW "OARD MEMBERS TOOK PLACE (ERE WE ASK THE %"!lS NEWLY ELECTED "OARD MEMBERS ABOUT THEIR PLANS AND PRIORITIES IN THEIR NEW ROLE

MAURIZIO Patarnello, 'ENERAL $IRECTOR

.ESTLE 5KRAINE

,,#

&IRST OF ALL WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THE VOICE OF THE ALL %"! MEMBERS IS HEARD

BY THE "OARD 4HE %"! IS A LARGE ORGANIZA TION WITH MANY REPRESENTATIVES AND THEY ALL HAVE DIFFERENT ISSUES SO WE WANT TO COLLECT THESE ISSUES AND MAKE SURE THEY ARE ADDRESSED BY THE "OARD 7E WOULD LIKE TO BE THE VOICE OF ALL THE DIFFERENT INTERESTS OF THE "OARD MEMBERS AND ALL THE %"! MEMBERS ESPECIALLY IN THE DIA LOGUE WITH THE AUTHORITIES .ESTLE IS A LARGE ORGANIZATION IN 5KRAINE WITH MORE THAN EMPLOYEES FACTORIES AND PRESTIGIOUS 5KRAINIAN BRANDS SUCH AS 4ORCHYN 3VITOCH AND -IVINA IN ADDITION TO MANY INTERNA TIONAL BRANDS .ESCAFE .!.

0URINA +IT +AT .UTS .ESQUIK #OFFEE -ATE "YSTROFF

&ITNESS ETC .ESTLE CAN BRING TO THE "OARD THE PERSPECTIVE OF A COMPANY THAT HAS BEEN INVESTING IN 5KRAINE FOR MORE THAN YEARS 7E ARE COMMITTED TO 5KRAINE AND WE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING .ESTLE QUALITY AND .ESTLE .UTRITION (EALTH AND 7ELLNESS TO OUR CON SUMERS 7E WILL VOICE OUR EXPERIENCE IN THE "OARD AND WE WILL MAKE IT AVAILABLE FOR ALL THE MEMBERS p LARGE MEDIUM AND SMALL ENTERPRISES -Y LONG EXPERIENCE IN DEVELOP ING COUNTRIES AND IN REPRESENTING .ESTLE IN SEVERAL BOARDS WILL HELP ME TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE LIFE OF THE %"! "OARD

www.eba.com.ua

OF ALL WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON ENHANCING THE BUSINESS CLIMATE IN THE COUNTRY AND THE %"! IS ONE OF THE MOST EFFICIENT ORGANIZATIONS IN 5KRAINE WITH REGARD TO ACHIEVING THIS GOAL -Y SECOND OBJECTIVE IS TO REPRESENT THE %"!

IN PUBLIC AND GOVERNMENTAL CIRCLES IN ORDER TO CONVEY THE VOICE OF THE BUSINESS COMMU NITY -Y THIRD OBJECTIVE IS TO HELP THE %"! TO BECOME AN EVEN MORE INTERESTING AND USEFUL ORGANIZATION FOR ITS MEMBERS &INALLY ) PLAN ON PROMOTING THE %"! BRAND IN INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS CIRCLES AND ATTRACTING NEW MEMBERS

SINCE THE POWER OF THIS ORGANIZATION IS NOT ONLY IN THE CUMULATIVE INTELLECTUAL POTENTIAL OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED BUT ALSO IN THE NUMBER OF ITS MEMBERS

RINAT Starkov, #// !RCELOR -ITTAL +RYVIY 2IH

) THINK THAT THE PREVIOUS "OARD ADDRESSED SOME VERY IMPORTANT QUESTIONS AND WE HAVE TO CONTINUE THIS GOOD TRADITION 7E WILL SET UP OUR PRIORITIES ON THE FIRST "OARD MEETING 3O FAR ) SEE THAT 5KRAINE HAS DYNAMICALLY ADVANCED IN DEVELOPMENT OF ITS POLITICAL AND LEGISLATIVE SYSTEMS AND AS THE %"! "OARD MEMBERS WE CAN AND WE HAVE TO INFLUENCE THESE PROCESSES

KRZYSZTOF Siedlecki, #OUNTRY -ANAGER

!STELLAS 0HARMA %UROPE

) THINK THAT WE MUST NOT CONFINE OUR ACTIVI TIES ONLY WITHIN THE COMMUNITY OF MANAGERS AND BUSINESSMEN /NE OF THE REASONS WHY ALL THE NEW LAWS AND INITIATIVES OF THE 5KRAINIAN GOVERNMENT ARE HINDERED IS THE LOW LEVEL OF PUBLIC AWARENESS ON A NUMBER OF ISSUES FOR ALEXEI Kredisov, EXAMPLE THE ISSUES OF FREE TRADE WITH %UROPE AND THE %UROPEAN 5NION IN GENERAL ) THINK -ANAGING 0ARTNER

THAT THE ABOLISHMENT OF ENTRY VISAS TO THE %5 %RNST 9OUNG IS OF VITAL IMPORTANCE FOR THE 5KRAINIAN PEOPLE

SINCE FREE TRAVEL WILL PROMOTE BETTER MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING ) WOULD LIKE TO PUT FORWARD (AVING BEEN REELECTED AS A "OARD MEM THE EDUCATIONAL FUNCTION OF THE %"!

SINCE IT IS BER ) PLAN TO CONTINUE IMPLEMENTING THE VERY IMPORTANT TO RAISE POPULAR AWARENESS ON PREVIOUSLY ESTABLISHED SET OF OBJECTIVES &IRST HOW COMMON PEOPLE IN THE %5 LIVE

4HINGS TO KNOW

Agrochemical Dialogue Initiated

O

n November 25-26, 2010, the EBA Agrochemical Committee (AC) held the International Workshop on Anti-Counterfeiting, Registration of Pesticides and Agrochemicals and Container Management System with participation of the European Crop Protection Association (ECPA). During this two-day discussion, the crop-protection industry representatives expressed their views and concerns on the issues of plant protection products’ registration, container management, data safety and intellectual property rights protection.

)BOT #FTUNBO )FBE PG UIF &#" "HSPDIFNJDBM $PNNJUUFF At this workshop supported by the ECPA and together with the local authorities here in Ukraine, we addressed issues of fake products in the market, patents, and intellectual property rights. If you look at the fake products, once we’ve found a fake product in the market, we go to court, of course, but in the end there is no proper facility to destroy these fake products. Having a facility is one thing; another is who pays for fake product destruction. Here you need to have a certain regulation in place and a destruction facility – these are basic things.

In August this year the police informed that in the Cherkasy region there were 100 tons of counterfeit chemicals discovered. These are the products of unknown origin, with unknown contents, unregistered, and they constitute a potential risk for people and environment. The police informed that the products (marked with labels and holograms of famous brands) are badly packed, some are leaking. Almost all the companies-members of the Agrochemical Committee are affected. Until now none of AC companies was allowed to see and examine these counterfeit chemicals.

One more striking case was discovered by the staff members of the Special Department for AntiCorruption and Organised Crime of the National Security’s Office in Bila Tserkva, Kiev Oblast - 74 tons of counterfeited products. We are grateful to the Police and the National Security Office for doing such a good job.

(FSIBSE .VFMMF $IBJS PG $&& 1PMJDZ 5FBN &$1" We want to intensify the dialog between our crop protection industry and the authorities in Ukraine in order to find reasonable solutions, which are good for the authorities and acceptable for us as an industry.

Besides bringing our products to the market of Ukraine, which is regulated by the registration of plant protection products (PPPs) and where we are in discussion with authorities regarding issues on protection of data and intellectual property rights, we have two specific problems.

ECPA is very much concerned about growing volumes of fake products entering the territory of Ukraine and, in particular, about recent counterfeit cases in Talne, Cherkassy Oblast, and Bila Tserkva.

ECPA is asking Ukrainian authorities to pay particular attention to these cases.

The other problem is to develop a system of empty containers disposal after our products are used by

the farmers. This is a logistical question, which has to be solved. Now, there are no clear mechanisms for container collection. The present system (collection and disposal by authorities) does not work in our opinion and has to be improved. We cannot find a solution in one day, but it is important that we have started this discussion and that we will continue the dialog which should result in concrete actions and effective measures.

(FSPME .BSUJ $IBJS PG &$1" "OUJ†DPVOUFSGFJUJOH &YQFSU (SPVQ The first step for success in fighting counterfeit products in Ukraine is for authorities to get together and realize the problem. They should discuss what each of them can do and how they can cooperate better. The producers can help as well by conducting trainings on how the original product looks like.

There should be collaboration between enforcement agencies, regulators, law makers, and industry.

Raising awareness on the dangerous effects of the counterfeit agrochemicals among the people and the farmers is also important. Some farmers simply do not understand the risk they put their businesses under by using counterfeit pesticides. They risk their health, their soil and their incomes.

,BUSJO 'FMTIBSU $IBJS PG $&& 3FHJTUSBUJPO (SPVQ &$1" The topic of data protection, intellectual property rights and the registration of crop protection products in Ukraine is a very sensitive one. We have a problem that intellectual property rights are not observed in Ukraine the way they are observed, for example, in the EU. There is a patent law, which surely can be used in order to observe the intellectual property rights. So, the legislation exists; now it only has to be enforced.

It would be good to have at least basic standards, because, Ukraine is a developed country and a good business partner for European companies. It would probably be for the benefit of Ukraine to start looking a little bit more into these issues of intellectual property rights and working on them.

3PCCZ 4DISFJCFS "EWJTFS (PWFSONFOUBM "GGBJST &$1" If you don’t protect intellectual property there will be no innovation anymore. We are working for an industry, which is investing a lot of money for research and development; this is what we call intellectual property.

In developed countries there are two ways to protect innovation: one is what we call commercial secrets or confidential business information, and the second way - protection of test data. This is relevant only for certain products and certain sectors like ours, since we are required to submit to the state a dossier to show that our product is safe for human beings and for the environment. When you take a lot of costly tests to prove safety of the product, you do not want any of your competitors to get this information for free. That is protection of test data. Ukraine joined the WTO two years ago and signed all the agreements – one is called TRIPS (Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights). In TRIPS there are articles saying that you have to protect this confidential business information or trade secrets on the one hand, and you have to protect test data on the other hand, and Ukraine has agreed to all this. Now we hope that Ukraine does implement and enforce it.

2%')/.!,.EWS

The European Parliament urges the EU Member States to cancel visa processing fees for Ukrainians

New Telesens development helped the ING New York City Marathon 2011 participants complete their applications via mobile devices

The European Parliament has welcomed Ukraine's long-term ambition to become the EU Member State. According to the resolution on Ukraine adopted on November 25, 2010, during the Strasbourg plenary session, Ukraine may apply for the EU membership like any European state that respects human rights, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law and adheres to the principles of freedom and democracy.

For several years the participants of the famous ING New York City Marathon have been registering using the portal developed by Telesens and its American partner, Avologic Inc. This Marathon is held annually by New York Road Runners (NYRR) at the beginning of November and is one of the biggest sport events of the year.

At the 14th EU-Ukraine Summit, the European Parliament agreed on the Action Plan towards visa liberalization for Ukraine and urged the Member States to cancel Schengen and national visa processing fees for Ukrainian citizens. As the first step towards a visa-free regime, the European Commission has been appointed to work on Euro-2012 travel facilitating measures.

Registration for the ING NYC Marathon 2011 has already begun. The number of participants registered during the first few hours has significantly increased in comparison to that of the last year. The reason for increased activity of the marathoners – in addition to the growing popularity of the competition – is a new service, advertised before this year’s event. This service, supported by Telesens’ solution, provides an opportunity to apply for participation in the race using mobile devices.

7E LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR FEEDBACK AT

PGGJDF!FCB DPN VB

4 Opinion

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Editorial

NEWS ITEM: Ukraine received an action plan from the European Union that, if achieved, would allow Ukrainans to travel visa-free to member states for short visits of 90 days. The deal was signed during the Nov. 22 EU-Ukraine Summit in Brussels, Belgium, but includes conditions that most people don’t expect Ukraine to meet. President Viktor Yanukovych, however, said the country will fulfill the requirements by the first half of 2011. The agreement shows that Ukraine will have to become more democratic, fight corruption, strengthen its borders to prevent illegal immigration and emigration, improve human rights and prevent identity theft through state-of-the-art security features on passports.

Economic Aid

Visa-Free Travel

Free Trade Agreement

The ongoing publication by WikiLeaks of more than 250,000 secret or confidential U.S. diplomatic cables has brought howls of criticism and calls for criminal investigations from governments across the world.

Private diplomatic conversations, they say, should remain secret. But too often, too much is kept hidden by governments who are working on the people’s behalf at the people’s expense. The balance has tipped towards secrecy in the world and, in that context, the WikiLeaks phenomenon can be seen as a natural reaction to the self-interested clampdown of government information by bureaucrats everywhere.

Sometimes, people just have a basic right to know with whom their representatives are meeting, what is being discussed and the conclusions being drawn.

Even though our friends in government might disagree, we think Ukraine is much better off knowing what has been released about the nation thus far in documents obtained by WikiLeaks whistleblowers.

It is, unfortunate, that WikiLeaks took first aim at the United States, one of the most open nations in the world. We hope that just as much intensity goes into uncovering the secrets in authoritarian regimes such as Russia, North Korea and China, as well as in closed governments, such as Ukraine’s.

America will easily withstand the sometimes embarrassing disclosures and may even become stronger because of it. In most cases, the dispatches show that diplomats were genuinely trying to act in the best interests of the United States and the countries in which they were working. The same cannot be said for many governments across the world.

Ukrainians, for instance, can now decide whether or not to believe former U.S. Ambassador William Taylor’s account of his Dec. 8, 2008, meeting with RosUkrEnergo’s gas-trading billionaire Dmytro Firtash, or whether Firtash’s denials have greater credibility.

All Ukrainians and those interested in the nation should be alarmed at Firtash’s remarks in which he allegedly admitted needing permission from reputed Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich to do business in Ukraine during the lawless 1990s.

For years, many people have suspected that Mogilevich played a role in RosUkrEnergo, the gas-trading intermediary whose very existence seems to run counter to the nation’s financial interests and need for transparent, accountable government.

Now, more than a year after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin himself criticized RosUkrEnergo as providing slush funds for politicians, the public learns that the No. 2 person in the Moscow Embassy sees Mogilevich – an indicted fugitive on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List – as involved with RosUkrEnergo.

There are many other astounding revelations that confirm suspicions, such as Firtash’s reputed statement to Taylor that ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko ordered the murder of a parliamentarian in 1996 over a business dispute.

Still, 14 years later, no one’s been charged with ordering the crime as Lazarenko remains imprisoned on a money-laundering conviction in the United States.

There are many other revelations to come. Some will be titillating, others boring. The conclusions drawn in them come from fallible human beings who, for the most part, are simply trying their best to understand the country in which they are operating.

While government must guard legitimate secrets and sources, much of diplomacy is not about cloak-and-dagger spying. It is about building relationships and encouraging democratic values, economic prosperity and human rights.

If these WikiLeaks disclosures prompt governments to tighten secrecy and clamp down on security, that would be the wrong lesson and the wrong response.

Diplomats would then operate in isolation from each other, not knowing what conclusions their counterparts are drawing in other places. The public would not be as well-informed as they are today because of WikiLeaks.

Especially in Ukraine, whose governments have made opaqueness and corruption part of the standard way of doing business, people deserve to know who is running the nation – both in government and in the economy. This will inevitably help Ukrainians make better choices for themselves and for their nation.

In the end, no matter how undesirable the release is from the perspective of U.S. diplomats who thought they were making candid but confidential assessments, these cables have intensified public interest in international relations. This is a good thing by itself.

Moreover, the WikiLeaks phenomenon can contribute to the international mission that the United States has championed – the campaign for greater freedom and transparency.

We can only hope that diplomats of all countries will keep doing their jobs and continue to call it as they see it – no matter who sees their conclusions.

Such crucial information is especially vital for Ukrainians, who aren’t getting much help from their own government or business leaders in understanding how their country is really run.

Europea n Union member ship

Wiki truths

“If you manage to get to the very top, you can pick whatever you like – even visa-free travel.”

European Union

Ukraine

Letters to the editor Kyiv Post should be more balanced Dear editor, My name is Abe Lyons. I am an American living in Ukraine and receive whenever it comes out. I really enjoy the insights and the other stories that your journalists risk life and limb for on a daily basis to report. The world and Ukraine are benefitting from your great work.

However, I am a bit concerned with the color in which you tend to paint your articles. That is to say, most of your staff are clearly not fans of President Viktor Yanukovych. The tone in many articles is heavily geared against the work that

Yanokovych is doing.

I did very much enjoy your article in a recent edition which allowed for components on both sides of the issue to have their say. This was a step in the right direction. I myself am not a journalist, but I do know that there are always multiple ways to see the same issue.

As such, please keep in mind that however horrible Yanokovych may be in your eyes, there is always the other side. It also seems to me that the job of a journalist is to present the information from an unbiased point of view

at times: simply giving the facts and allowing the reader to make their own informed decision on the matter. Now, I recognize that this is easier said than done. I am not sure if we can even actually report as such, but we can try.

This is not meant to be a hate letter.

I will continue to read the quality paper that you all produce. Please, however, take more opportunities. Thank you, and remember that the middle is always an optimal place to be.

Thanks, Abe Lyons Rohatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast

Taxi drivers ripping off Kyiv visitors Dear editor, I picked up the Kyiv Post when I was in Kyiv recently. It was a good read. As a recent visitor to Kyiv, which I loved and have recommended to my friends here in the United States, can I, however, make one remark - and that is about the taxi drivers.

We accept that, as tourists, we will be overpriced. Every single fare we took within Kyiv was always 100 hryvnias.

However, we felt cheated when we were charged a fare of 200 hryvnias from the Kyiv main railway station to Independence Square. The taxi driver had his meter on and showed it to us. Clearly, it was a fake.

We trusted him and the system, which was our mistake. It was the only sour moment of a lovely week in Kyiv. Despite this, we found the people of Kyiv friendly and the city a real eye-opener. Much more interesting than Moscow!

Yours faithfully, Michael Burton London. England

Lozynskyj article does great disservice Published by Public Media LLC Jim Phillipoff, Chief Executive Officer Brian Bonner, Chief Editor Deputy Chief Editors: Katya Gorchinskaya, Roman Olearchyk Editors: Alexey Bondarev, Valeriya Kolisnyk, James Marson, Yuliya Popova Staff Writers: Tetyana Boychenko, Peter Byrne, Oksana Faryna, Natalia A. Feduschak, Olga Gnativ, Kateryna Grushenko, Nataliya Horban, Vlad Lavrov, John Marone, Olesia Oleshko, Yura Onyshkiv, Iryna Prymachyk, Mark Rachkevych, Nataliya Solovonyuk, Maria Shamota, Irina Sandul, Svitlana Tuchynska Photographer: Oleksiy Boyko. Photo Editor: Yaroslav Debelyi Chief Designer: Vladyslav Zakharenko. Designer: Angela Palchevskaya Marketing: Iuliia Panchuk Web Project: Nikolay Polovinkin, Yuri Voronkov, Maksym Semenchuk Sales department: Yuriy Timonin, Yulia Kovalenko, Maria Kozachenko, Ilya Lvov, Elena Symonenko, Olga Ryazanova, Sergiy Volobayev Nataliia Protasova, Subscription Manager Svitlana Kolesnykova, Newsroom Manager Anastasia Forina, Office Manager

IT team: Viktor Kompanieiets, Oleksiy Bondarchuk Dima Burdiga, Color Corrector Igor Mitko, Transport Manager Maryna Samoilenko, Chief Accountant Tanya Berezhnaya, Accountant

To inquire about distribution of the Kyiv Post, please contact Serhiy Kuprin at kuprin@kyivpost.com or by phone at 234-6409

Dear editor, I was both amazed and deeply disappointed by the offensive and highlyuninformed tone taken in the recent opinion piece by Askold S. Lozynskyj entitled “How insensitive bigots continue to play Ukrainians and Jews against each other.” [Kyiv Post online, Nov. 8, http://www.kyivpost.com/news/ opinion/op_ed/detail/89252/] Lozynskyj does a great disservice to the Ukrainian people when he uses language that is both anti-Semitic and ignorant of historical facts when he

tries to argue that there is an inherent anti-Ukrainian bias in the Jewish community or in the Jewish media.

While relations between the Jewish community and the Ukrainian establishment and the government are remarkably improved over past decades, the reality is that for the entire history of a Jewish presence in this country, we have been victims of countless pogroms, latent anti-Semitism and the murder of tens of thousands of our Jewish brothers and sisters. The role of some Ukrainians as perpetrators in the Holocaust must never

be denied but we also recognize that there were many Ukrainians who actively worked to save Jews and their heroic actions must always be highlighted.

The bottom line which Lozynskyj fails to appreciate is that for us ever to create a lasting sense of positive co-existence between Jews and the Ukrainian people, we must first confront history’s realities, however painful they might be, rather than ignore them.

Sincerely, Oleksandr Feldman Member of the Verkhovna Rada, President of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee

Feel strongly about an issue? Agree or disagree with editorial positions in this newspaper?

The Kyiv Post welcomes letters to the editors and opinion pieces, usually 800 to 1,000 words in length. Please e-mail all correspondence to Brian Bonner, chief editor, at bonner@kyivpost.com or letters@kyivpost.com. All correspondence must include an e-mail address and contact phone number for verification.

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Does Ukraine really want to be sovereign nation?

Editor’s Note: This is the sixth installment in a series of special reports written by George Friedman, chief executive officer of Stratfor, a geopolitical risk analysis company based in Austin, Texas. The firm is a Kyiv Post partner. Friedman traveled to Turkey, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Poland in the last month. This installment is based on his Nov. 22-24 visit to Ukraine.

The others can be read be read at www.stratfor.com

Asking to be ruled Ukraine was, oddly enough, shaped by Norsemen, who swept down and set up trading posts, eventu-

VOX populi WITH SVITLANA KOLESNYKOVA

Do you think President Viktor Yanukovych’s veto of the tax code was a stalling tactic or an attempt at genuine compromise?

Maria Yefremova, chief accountant “I understand the position of private entrepreneurs, who barely make enough to pay for their daily bread.

But I also understand the state’s position. Many businesses abuse the privileged, lower tax rates given to small businesses to evade taxes.

As an accountant, I would say that a stable tax system is needed to attract investment. And constant amendments should be avoided. Please pass this message to Yanukovych!”

G E OR G E F R I E D M AN

The name “Ukraine” literally translates as “on the edge.” It is a country on the edge of other countries, sometimes part of one, sometimes part of another and more frequently divided. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was divided among Russia, Poland and the Ottoman Empire. In the 19th century, it was divided between Russia and Austria-Hungary. And in the 20th century, save for a short period of independence after World War I, it became part of the Soviet Union. Ukraine has been on the edge of empires for centuries.

My father was born in Ukraine in 1912, in a town in the Carpathians now called Uzhgorod. It was part of Austria-Hungary when he was born, and by the time he was 10 the border had moved a few miles east, so his family moved a few miles west. My father claimed to speak seven languages (Hungarian, Romanian, Slovak, Polish, Ukrainian, Russian and Yiddish). As a child, I was deeply impressed by his learning. It was only later that I discovered that his linguistic skills extended only to such phrases as “What do you want for that scrawny chicken?” and “Please don’t shoot.”

He could indeed make himself understood in such non-trivial matters in all these languages. Consider the reason: Uzhgorod today is on the Slovakian border, about 30 miles from Poland, 15 miles from Hungary and 50 miles from Romania. When my father was growing up, the borders moved constantly, and knowing these languages mattered. You were never sure what you’d be a citizen or subject of next or who would be aiming a rifle at you.

My father lived on the edge until the Germans came in 1941 and swept everything before them, and then until the Soviets returned in 1944 and swept everything before them. He was one of tens of millions who lived or died on the edge, and perhaps nowhere was there as much suffering from living on the edge than in Ukraine. Ukraine was caught between Stalin and Hitler, between planned famines and outright slaughter, to be relieved only by the grinding misery of post-Stalin communism. No European country suffered as much in the 20th century as Ukraine. From 1914 until 1945, Ukraine was as close to hell as one can reach in this life.

Opinion 5

A relative of a victim of Josef Stalin’s Soviet repression cries during a commemoration ceremony in the forest outside the small village of Bykivnya near the capital of Kyiv in 2009. More than 100,000 Ukrainians were shot and buried there between 1936 and 1941 during the murderous Stalin regime that came to an end with the dictator’s death in 1953. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

Æ‘Our land is great and rich, but there is no law in it. Come to rule over us.’ ally ruling over some local populations. According to early histories, the native tribes made the following invitation: “Our land is great and rich, but there is no law in it. Come to rule and reign over us.”

This is debated, as Anne Reid, author of the excellent “Borderland: Journey through the History of Ukraine,” points out. But it really doesn’t matter, since they came as merchants rather than conquerors, creating a city, Kyiv, at the point where the extraordinarily wide Dnipro River narrows.

Still, few historians doubt that some offer of this type was made. I can imagine inhabitants of what became Ukraine making such an offer in ways I can’t imagine in other places. The flat country is made for internal conflict and dissension, and the hunger for a foreigner to come and stabilize a rich land is not always far from Ukrainians’ thoughts. Out of this grew the Kievan Rus, the precursor of modern Ukraine,

People celebrate the declaration of Ukraine's national independence near the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv on Aug. 24, 1991. Ukrainian statehood has not turned out as well as many nation had hoped. Despite centuries of striving of nationhood, Ukraine is faced with de facto limits on its sovereignty. (UNIAN)

Russia and Belarus. There are endless arguments over whether Ukraine created Russia or vice versa.

Suffice it to say, they developed together. That is more important than who did what to whom.

Consider the way they are said to have chosen their religion. Volodymyr, a pagan ruler, decided that he needed a modern religion. He considered Islam and rejected it because he wanted to drink. He considered Catholicism and rejected it because he had lots of concubines he didn’t want to give up. He finally decided on Orthodox Christianity, which struck him as both beautiful and flexible. As Reid points out, there were profound consequences: “By choosing Christianity rather than Islam, Volodymyr cast Rus’ ambitions forever in Europe rather than Asia, and by taking Christianity from Byzantium rather than Rome he bound the future Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians together in Orthodoxy, fatally dividing them from their Catholic neighbors the Poles.” I suspect that while Volodymyr liked his drink and his women, he was most concerned with finding a balance between powers and chose Byzantium to create space for Ukraine.

Ukraine, Europe, Russia Ukraine is on the edge again today, trying to find space. It is on the edge of Russia and on the edge of Europe, its old position. What makes this position unique is that Ukraine is independent and has been so for 18 years. This is the longest period of Ukrainian independence in centuries. What is most striking about the Ukrainians is that, while they appear to value their independence, the internal debate seems to focus in part on what foreign entity they should be aligned with. People in the west want to be part of the European Union. People in the east want to be closer to the Russians. The Ukrainians want to remain independent but not simply independent.

It makes for an asymmetric relationship. Many Ukrainians want to join the European Union, which as a whole is ambivalent at best about Ukraine. On the other hand, Ukraine matters as much to the Russians as it does to Ukrainians, just as it always has. Ukraine is as important to Russian national security as Scotland is to England or Texas is to the United States. In the hands of an enemy, these places would pose an existential threat to all three countries.

Therefore, rumors to the contrary, neither Scotland nor Texas is going anywhere. Nor is Ukraine, if Russia has anything to do with it. And this reality shapes the core of Ukrainian life. In a fundamental sense, geography has imposed limits on Ukrainian national sovereignty and therefore on the lives of Ukrainians.

From a purely strategic standpoint, Ukraine is Russia’s soft underbelly. Dominated by Russia, Ukraine anchors Russian power in the Carpathians.

These mountains are not impossible to penetrate, but they can’t be penetrated easily. If Ukraine Æ16

Lyudmyla Nikolayeva, pensioner “I definitely think our president will take some steps to improve the tax code.

Let the government work on it and make a final version. If it’s no good, then people can protest.”

Volodymyr Kupriyanov, journalist “It was made to kill time.

It’s a political game. I think those protesters standing on Maidan now need to unite their efforts and make a single list of requirements. There is no unity there.

People don’t know whom to listen to.

There are different camps and trade unions rivaling.”

Tetyana Smulska, administrator “I think the president is stalling for time. He will not compromise. The government will complete all they wanted to achieve. I doubt something will come out of this protest. But it will be very good if it does.”

Marta Dobrianska, physician “In my view, vetoing the tax code was the wrong decision.

The veto was needed only because people fear the worst instead of carefully reading the tax code or understanding it. I think the protesters are wrong. They are protesting just because someone has given them orders to do so.”

6 Business

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Shady deal appears in works as state sale nears of Ukrainian International Airlines

BY J O H N M A R ON E MARONE@KYIVPOST.COM

Ukraine’s privatization authorities continue to sell off attractive state assets in backdoor deals at bargain basement prices.

The government needs cash and wants to show that it’s pushing through market-oriented reforms such as privatization to get it. But the few deals conducted by the country’s State Property Fund, in charge of selling state assets to private investors, smack of old-style corruption and mean less silver for the national coffers.

Privatization supremo Oleksandr Ryabchenko announced last month that the State Property Fund would sell off the state’s majority stake in Ukrainian International Airlines, the country’s second largest carrier, without an auction.

And the price for the 61.5 percent share package in the major airline? No less than Hr 250 million, or about $31

million, Ryabchenko assured journalists on Nov. 22. Not only does this figure seem low for an airline that posted more than $371 million in sales in 2008, it’s not clear where Ryabchenko came up with the price tag without holding a tender.

But more importantly, the Kyiv Post has learned from lawyers and privatization specialists that the State Property Fund might have been able to auction off the asset in an open tender, despite Ryabchenko’s protestations to the contrary.

Ryabchenko insisted that the State Property Fund’s hands were tied by the airline’s charter, which stipulates that minority shareholders have the preemptive right, or first dibs, to buy out other shareholders such as the state. “According to the charter, despite the fact that we have 61.58 percent, our decision [to hold an auction] has to be agreed by at least one other private shareholder,â€? Ryabchenko told journalists. “We proposed changes to Æ18

ÆOn the move OLEH SHAMSHUR

A Ukrainian International Airlines plane. (www.flyuia.com)

Send On the Move news to gnativ@kyivpost.com, or contact Olga Gnativ at 234-6500.

Send business photos and press releases to: news@kyivpost.com, or contact the newsroom at 234-6310.

ELENA POLISCHUK was

has joined the PBN Company as a senior counselor for investment and public affairs. In his new post, Shamshur will lead the firm’s business practice advising investors entering the Ukrainian market and counsel those already invested to meet government and regulatory challenges. Prior to joining the PBN, Shamshur was Ukraine’s ambassador to America from 2005 to 2010. Earlier he was deputy foreign minister of Ukraine and head of the European Union department. He was awarded the rank of minister-counselor and served in Ukraine’s mission to the European Union in Brussels and to the United Nations in Geneva. Shamshur earned his doctor in philosophy in history from the department of international relations and law at National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv.

ALINA PLUSHCH

appointed head of public relations at the InterContinental Kyiv hotel, a part of InterContinental Hotels Group. In her new position, Polischuk will be responsible for the promotion, marketing and public relations of the hotel. Polischuk has over 10 years of experience in relationship management with multinational companies in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Before joining InterContinental, she worked as marketing and public relations director at Quintessentially, an affiliate of a London-based private members club and lifestyle group. Polischuk also led the external affairs at Amway corporate office in Ukraine and Russia. Polischuk holds a Master of Business Administration from the Hult International Business School, Boston, Dubai, Shanghai and a diploma in public relations from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, London.

has become a partner for corporate finance and capital markets of the INTEGRITES, a Kyiv-based international law firm. Prior to joining INTEGRITES, Plyushch worked for Vasil Kisil & Partners, a leading Ukrainian law firm and Norton Rose, a London-based law firm. Plyushch has represented the interests of major public companies such as Kazakhmys, an international natural resources company, Petropavlovsk, a London-listed mining and exploration company located in Russia, and Bahamas Petroleum Company, an off-shore oil and gas company. Plyushch specializes in corporate law, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Plyushch holds a master’s degree in law from British Law School and a degree from the Ukrainian Academy of Advocacy in Kyiv. Plyushch has a certificate of right to advocacy in Ukraine and is a member of the Royal Law Society of England and Wales.

DAIJA SNAKE has become a teacher at Key Language School.

Before joining Key Language School, Snake has worked, studied and resided in the U.K., Central Europe and Japan.

He has 10 years of experience in teaching English as a second language.

Snake has also worked as a proof reader and translator for several high-profile entertainers.

Snake has obtained a master’s degree in liberal art studies with major in anthropology and foreign languages from Nassau Community College in New York.

We y V

e

T

+ (38) 044 228 73 70

ukraine@moveoneinc.com www.moveoneinc.com

kiev@interdean.com www.interdean.com

The best way

TO REACH

PLAN YOUR MOVE TOGETHER WITH US

the largest group of English-speaking Ukrainians

Advertise in the 3 Svyatoshynska str.

03115, Kyiv, Ukraine T./F.: +380 44 502 3929

46/608 Dalnytska str.

65005, Odesa, Ukraine T./F.: +380 48 734 8888

kimet@merlin.net.ua

'PS GVSUIFS JOGPSNBUJPO DBMM

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Business 7 Political winners, losers of tax code debacle

Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych talks to demonstrators protesting against a proposed tax code, while Prime Minister Mykola Azarov (R) stands nearby in Kyiv on Nov. 27. Thousands of small business owners rallied against tax changes, forcing parliament on on Dec. 2 to change the legislation in an attempt to meet protesters’ demands. (Andriy Mosienko)

Mykola Azarov To begin with, it was strange to see Prime Minister Mykola Azarov being put in charge of fixing Ukraine’s tax system. After all, he headed Ukraine’s tax administration for many years and is considered the architect of the current notoriously corrupt and abused tax system. It is equally fitting, therefore, that he receives much of the blame for this, the second botched tax reform effort this year. It was hardly a surprise that Azarov, known for his bullheaded management style, did not take into consideration the interests of millions of citizens who make a living in small- and medium-sized businesses.

Viktor Yanukovych President Viktor Yanukovych has tried to deflect the blame to Azarov, telling the premier during their joint visit to protesters in Kyiv on Nov. 27 that small businesses’ concerns need to be taken into account. But by putting the trusted bureaucrat in charge of government in the first place, Yanukovych deserves an equal, if not larger share of the blame. Despite suspicion among protestors that any changes will only be cosmetic, Yanukovych managed to promote the message that he is taking the concerns of small entrepreneurs into account.

However, the tax code is linked with the president as the first of many major overhauls he has pledged. This is not a promising start.

Yanukovych bows to protesters, crafts changes to tax code

BY Y U R I Y ON YS H K I V ONYSHKIV@KYIVPOST.COM

Ukraine’s parliament hastily, on Dec. 2, rubber-stamped tax code amendments submitted by President Viktor Yanukovych amid mounting pressure from thousands of protesters. Many of them are small business owners that said the government’s existing draft tax code – approved by lawmakers earlier this month – would bankrupt them and was unfairly tilted in favor of the rich.

Parliament’s vote came hours after government negotiators claimed to have struck a deal with the protesting entrepreneurs to keep a relatively small flat tax in place. Afterwards, Economy Minister Fedir Yaroshenko enthusiastically said the cabinet and the entrepreneurs united in “one team.”

But the protest organizers, a grassroots group of small business advocates and union leaders, denied having struck a compromise with Yanukovych’s administration, and remained camped on Independence Square late on Dec. 2. They pledged that larger protests were planned in coming days because the president had not met their main demand – completely vetoing the current draft tax code and agreeing to write a new one from scratch in cooperation with small businesses.

“We are not happy with these changes,” said press secretary of the Kharkiv regional entrepreneurial union Serhiy Fisun who is representing the protesters led by Oleksander Danylyuk.

Fisun said the protesters are not going home until all their demands – vetoing the entire tax code, developing totally new document, and a national referendum on dismissing parliament – are met.

Yanukovych vetoed the tax code on Nov. 30, just three days after meeting

Æ New code hastily OK'd on Dec. 2; protesters vow to stay on streets with protesters.

“I share people’s concerns that in this tax code entrepreneurs’ rights are significantly limited and tax administration’s rights are excessively increased,” Yanukovych said on Nov. 30, referring to clauses in the tax code which would treat taxpayers as guilty until they prove themselves innocent.

But the president did not clearly state whether he will address the protesters’ other big concerns.

They see the tax code as unfair for essentially cutting taxes on big businesses, including the president’s oligarch backers, while increasing the tax burden on smaller firms.

The protests “strongly damaged Viktor Yanukovych’s mission to carry out reforms that wouldn’t impinge on the oligarchs,” said Vadym Karasyov, a political analyst and former adviser to ex-President Viktor Yushchenko.

Still, it remains unclear whether Yanukovych’s administration will fill the budget gap by increasing the tax burden on Ukraine’s bigger businesses and richest classes of citizens.

Iryna Akimova, first deputy head of the Presidential Administration, told parliament that the president tried to take people’s concerns into consideration.

Yet, opposition Bloc of Yulia

Tymoshenko deputy Nataliya Korolevska said numerous shortcomings regarding regulations of small businesses still remain in the tax code.

Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the problem with the tax code was that some of the minor negative points overshadowed its positive side. “We have poorly informed the public about the document,” he said.

Earlier, representatives of small enterprises said final victory had not yet been achieved.

“We won’t be happy with cosmetic changes,” said they in a statement issued following Yanukovych’s decision.

The protesting entrepreneurs demanded more than two hundred articles to be changed in the tax code – more than half the entire document.

Azarov said the changes should be made in the next few days, but the protestors say this is impossible.

Speaking earlier this week, Volodymyr Fesenko, director of Kyiv Gorshenin Institute of Management, said that the thick-skinned presidential team is not used to giving out any concessions, and will not want to signal acceptance of defeat.

“The president might submit some minor amendments to the parliament that will be quickly adopted and then the tax code will be signed,” he said, adding that this might defuse protests sufficiently that people would start to head home.

Vasyl Yurchyshyn, an economics analyst at the Razumkov Center, says the authorities will still struggle to improve Ukraine’s standing in the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business” survey, where it is ranked 145 out of 183 countries.

Others are more skeptical about the anti-tax code blitzkrieg wanted by small businesses.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost. com

Sergiy Tigipko Deputy Prime Minister Sergiy Tigipko was one of the co-authors of the recently adopted tax code, and even said the government should adopt the tax code without consulting with taxpayers. Recent local elections showed his support plummet to d 6 percent from 13 percent in the January presidential elections.

As the leading government member who is from the president’s Party of Regions, Tigipko could be a fall guy. Mykhailo Brodsky, head of the State Committee on Entrepreneurship, is considered another potential scapegoat.

Yulia Tymoshenko Leader of the opposition Fatherland party, Yulia Tymoshenko unsuccessfully tried to insert herself as the leader of the anti-tax code protests in a bid to repeat her success as a leader in rallying protesters during the 2004 Orange Revolution. Although the tax code saga has hit her opponents hard, she was unable to pull the protesters representing small businesses completely onto her side.

Suspicious of all political camps, they have so far remained non-partisan. At the moment she is neither a winner nor loser in this process, remaining an outsider in the tax code battle between the authorities and the small entrepreneurs.

Oleksandr Danylyuk One of the leading organizers of the protests of small and medium enterprise representatives, Oleksandr Danylyuk seemed to be on the verge of becoming a major political force.

But in the past week of protests, bitter rivalries erupted between Danylyuk and other protest leaders. He has been accused of trying to hijack the protest for personal gain, a charge he denies. Still, analysts say that with Ukrainians tired of mainstream political figures, a weak political opposition and increasingly authoritarian government, Danylyuk and other protest organizers have a strong chance to join the next generation of Ukrainian political leaders.

Ukraine’s small businesses, civic society Weeks ago, it seemed like the government’s tax code would be adopted swiftly into law, hitting Ukraine’s small- and medium-sized businesses hard. They would have seen their tax burden increased sharply, while taxes are cut for big businesses. But they took to the streets in a flurry of grassroots protests that were disorganized, but big enough to make Yanukovych’s team blink over the issue. If their resolve remains strong, they could very well force the government to accept their demands. Their success could inspire Ukrainians across the board to force leaders into delivering reforms that benefit the nation overall, not a select group of politicians and oligarchs. Such a scenario would equate to a huge boost for civic society in Ukraine.

8 Business

Business Sense WITH SERGEY KUUN NEWS@A95.COM.UA

December 3, 2010

Editor’s Note: Business Sense is a feature in which experts explain Ukraine’s place in the world economy and provide insight into doing business in the country. To contribute, contact chief editor Brian Bonner at bonner@kyivpost.com

Import schemes in energy market cost state dearly As demonstrations remain camped in central Kyiv this week to protest a tightening of the tax regime, there are plenty of ways for the government to plug the budget gaps.

One would be to clamp down on the improper import of crude oil and motor fuel, which could cost the budget $450 million this year.

Most fuel traders and market players – including multinational energy giants Shell and TNK-BP – agree that today the business environment on Ukrainian energy market is intolerable and seriously damages businesses of international investors in this sector.

Since August, select companies have been exclusively granted permission to import goods into Ukraine absolutely tax-free. As a result, a torrent of imported crude oil and motor fuel has entered Ukraine, distorting competition and causing notable underpayments to the state budget of the country, all of which ruins the investment climate of Ukraine.

Over four months, 1 million metric tons of motor fuel and 460,000 tons of crude oil have been imported under the preferential scheme, accounting for up to 60 percent of total fuel imports.

On top of that, some “importers” bring fuel in the country simply bypassing customs.

These import schemes have already cost the state budget almost $350 million ($320 million from tax-free import and $30 million from smuggling) of unpaid taxes this year, which may soar up to $450 million by the end of 2010.

This scheme was “legalized” by writs

by Avtozavodskiy Court in Kremenchuk in central Ukraine that allowed individual importers, including the UkrainianPolish company Taystra and its subsidiaries (Livella, Link, Triumvirat and others) – to import goods without paying value-added tax, excise tax, customs fees and any other taxes.

The court based its controversial decision on some provisions of the law

Æ Select companies have permission to import goods absolutely tax-free, costing state budget hundreds of millions of dollars on foreign investments, which came into effect in 1992.

However, the court somehow ignored the fact that the law’s force was terminated back in 2000 by Ukraine’s parliament.

Also, according to a decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in 2002, the law on eliminating discrimination in the taxation of domestic businesses is the basis for the refusal to grant tax incentives and cancel existing ones.

Meanwhile, all other law-abiding foreign and local investors in Ukraine – both producers and importers – are still paying all applicable taxes and fees in a timely manner and in full.

Those investors are put on the edge of survival because the subsidized taxfree import is impossible to compete with – its price advantage ranges from $180 to $340 per ton (depending on kind of fuel).

Providing individual market players with unprecedented tax incentives undermines the very grounds of transparent and fair competition and threatens current multibillion foreign investments in this industry as well as discourages any further ones.

Such activities also breach numerous international obligations, including ones given to the European Union, all of which give any investor a right to seek protection of its investment in Ukraine in international courts.

First, the World Trade Organization membership agreement prohibits Ukraine from using taxation, direct or indirect, and/or unjustified state aid for discrimination or granting preferences.

Second, the Kremenchug court’s decision is not in line with Ukraine’s intentions set out in the memorandum with the International Monetary Fund to “improve tax administration with aim to strengthen tax discipline, fight fraud schemes and eliminate tax pits (tax evasion mechanisms).”

Third, implementation of such measures effectively violates the European Union-Ukraine partnership and cooperation agreement, core principles of the European Energy Charter and energy community treaties in the fields of competition, customs control, taxation, investment protection and state aid.

To resolve the issue once and for all, the government of Ukraine can appeal to the Ukrainian Supreme Court, demanding that it terminate the illicit decision of the Kremenchug court.

There are also other mechanisms of tackling the problem, which all, in fact, require nothing more but the political will of the Ukrainian leadership to be implemented.

Sergey Kuun is an oil and fuel market expert at A-95 Consulting Group in Kyiv. He can be reached at news@a95. com.ua.

In case you missed them, read the last five Business Sense columns by experts online at kyivpost.com Nov. 12 with Michael Lee, independent agricultural specialist: “Nation should not be in rush to lift moratorium on sale of farmland” Oct. 8 with Michael Willard, chairman of Willard, a public relations and advertising company: “Paying for news only feeds corruption”

Oct. 22 with Dario Marchetti, chief executive officer of Danone Ukraine: “Helping milk-producing ‘babushkas’ organize”

Oct. 15 with Nataliya Mykolska, senior associate at Kyiv-based law firm Vasil Kisil and Partners: “Businesses should be more proactive to benefit from WTO”

Oct. 1 with Leonid Antonenko and Nikolai Sorochinskiy, senior associate and an associate with Asters: “Judicial overhaul: Good news for investors or not?”

Longtime Naftogaz spokesman: In siding with intermediaries, officials betray national interests B Y PE TE R B Y R N E BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM

Dmytro Marunych worked from 2004 to June 2010 as deputy head of the press office of state-run energy monopoly, Naftogaz Ukraine. Working at the state oil and gas company under various presidents and governments, he had a unique inside view on what he describes as the murky dealings at play: how officials and their business backers put personal gain ahead of national interests, driving what was once a big taxpayer into a big burden. The 34-year old Kyiv native recently founded the Institute of Energy Research, a nonprofit organization devoted to studying energy issues involving Ukraine and other former Soviet states. The Kyiv Post sat down with him on Dec. 1. All government officials and gas traders named have denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly refused to discuss the isssues in depth.

KP: How do you explain how Naftogaz, which in the early 2000s was regarded to be profitable and a big contributor to the state budget, today finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy?

DM: There is a very simple answer.

The first reason is the increase in natural gas import prices by Russia over the last five years. The second reason is the inability, or lack of desire, of Naftogaz and top Ukrainian officials to work in the interests of Ukraine, that is, to negotiate the purchase of natural gas supplies directly with Gazprom, without intermediaries. Rather than making their way to Naftogaz or state coffers, most of the profits derived from natural gas imported from Central Asia during the early 2000s were deposited in offshore accounts of intermediaries involved in the deals.

Natural gas during the early 2000s from countries in Central Asia could be purchased for around $40 per 1,000 cubic meters. European countries, meanwhile, were paying around $150. Profits [made by Naftogaz] on the price margin were used to subsidize gas prices on the domestic market. The margin disappeared after Russia’s state-run energy company Gazprom prevented Ukraine from importing gas from Central Asia, forcing Naftogaz to pay the market price while continuing to subsidize domestic gas consumers. As a result, Naftogaz sought loans and wound up a debtor. The departure of former President Leonid Kuchma in late 2004, and the arrival of a pro-western leadership, coincided with the end of cheap gas for Ukraine.

KP: Were intermediary energy companies – in a way – sucking profits away from Naftogaz?

DM: Yes. This was obvious to everyone. Permission for them to enter the [natural gas] market was granted by the highest of government officials. For example, Kuchma allowed Eural Trans Gas (an energy trading company registered in Budapest whose ownership remained

Dmytro Marunych

a mystery until Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash came out years later claiming to be the owner] to enter the market. These deals were cut instead by top government officials in Ukraine.

KP: And with their Russian counterparts?

DM: I’m less familiar with the political situation in Russia, but the facts speak for themselves. For example, if we take Eural Trans Gas and its successor, [Swiss-registered] RosUkrEnergo (50 percent owned by Russia’s Gazprom, with 50 percent owned by Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash along with a partner), we see that it is a joint venture half-owned by Russian state controlled companies.

KP: Would Naftogaz have performed better if such intermediaries had not been allowed to enter the market?

DM: Of course. If there had been no intermediaries, Naftogaz would not be in the untenable position it finds itself in today - forced to return 12 billion cubic meters of gas to RosUkrEnergo.

KP: Would you say that such middlemen, which earned hundreds of millions of dollars annually, acted as parasites by feeding on profits that could, or should, arguably have been Gazprom’s, and perhaps also Naftogaz’s as part of a joint business?

DM: Yes, of course.

KP: Let’s go back to 2003 and 2004. How profitable was Naftogaz then and how much did the monopoly contribute to the state budget?

DM: Naftogaz was then one of the most profitable companies on the market, contributing 8-9 percent of the total state budget revenues. The reason, again, is because of the relatively low price for gas from Central Asia. At the time, there was no reason for the monopoly to seek outside funding. But the sudden increase in price for imported gas starting in 2005, combined with the policy of continuing to subsidize natural gas in Ukraine and the involvement of intermediaries over time, have Æ9

www.kyivpost.com

Business 9

December 3, 2010

Ex-Naftogaz spokesman: National interest betrayed Æ8 brought the monopoly to the brink of bankruptcy. The last three years have been particularly difficult.

It’s difficult to get an accurate picture of where Naftogaz stands today because 2011 financial plan for the monopoly, which has reportedly been approved by the government, has not been made public. This is Ukrainian reality: the state’s energy monopoly is being managed personally by top government officials, but for the personal benefit of them or their close associates, not the state.

KP: Who, namely, contributed the most to the demise of Naftogaz?

DM: Our non-profit [organization] is primarily focused on examining the energy sector, rather than assigning personal responsibility for failure.

The financial situation of Naftogaz has continued to decline steadily since 2003, in part because former President Viktor Yushchenko’s refusal to do away with intermediaries, namely RosUkrEnergo. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s temporary elimination of intermediaries in 2009 was a positive step, making Naftogaz the sole importer of natural gas with at least a realistic financial plan. If she had stayed in the driver’s seat, the monopoly’s prospects would have been better than they are today. Yushchenko and today [President Viktor] Yanukovych, who reportedly received material benefits from intermediaries, certainly must share the blame.

KP: What do you think about RosUkrEnergo?

DM: Without any sizeable assets, RosUkrEnergo came out of nowhere in 2006 and made hundreds of millions of dollars in profit. I don’t know for sure, but rumors circulated in 2006 that “payoffs” were a motivating factor for Yushchenko and top aides to use RosUkrEnergo as an intermediary for supplying gas to Ukraine.

KP: Did you ever see RosUkrEnergo founder Dmytro Firtash or company officials in

Æ Dmytro Marunych says bribetaking, corruption dominate natural gas trade at expense of state needs the Naftogaz building?

DM: Yes. I have a photo from 2004 of him standing in the office in front of a map with then Naftogaz head Yuriy Boyko (Boyko is currently Energy Minister and is seen as close to Firtash.

He served on RosUkrEnergo’s board in prior years). I also saw Yushchenko’s brother, Petro Yushchenko, after his brother became president in 2005.

KP: What do you think Gazprom’s objective has been vis-a-vis Ukraine since 2000?

DM: Their overriding objective has been to control Ukraine’s gas transportation system. Pipelines that would bypass Ukraine, such as South Stream, are extremely expensive projects. In the long run, it would be much more cost effective to renovate the Ukraine’s natural gas pipeline system. Gazprom and Russian political leaders these days doing little to conceal their goal, that is to gain control over Ukraine’s pipeline. And due to the policies of top Ukrainian officials, as I have described them, Gazprom is today much closer to attaining control of Ukraine’s gas transportation system than ever before.

KP: Why is that?

assistance from international lending institutions, such as the World Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or the European Union. No one at Naftogaz has formulated, much less proposed with an honest intent for success, any joint program with Europe to lure investment and refurbish the gas transportation system. In the short term, Europe may find it easier to ignore the problem and deal with Russia directly.

It’s in Europe’s long-term interests, of course, for Ukraine to follow the same rules and procedures for purchasing gas followed by European Union members. But I don’t think you can find any influential group in Europe today that is eager to become involved in our country’s murky and messy energy sector games.

In a 2004 photo, current Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko (L) and his close ally, Dmytro Firtash, the billionaire co-owner of shady gas-trading intermediary RosUkrEnergo. (Courtesy)

DM: Because Naftogaz has never been weaker than it is today. The monopoly needs a large injection of fresh money – billions of dollars - to refurbish its pipelines.

KP: Do you think Yanukovych and his inner circle – including top officials that are close to RosUkrEnergo’s Ukrainian co-owner Dmytro Firtash, work more on behalf of RosUkrEnergo’s interests, then than national interests and Naftogaz?

DM: I don’t think it’s a secret that Firtash became a political ally of Viktor Yanukovych before the 2010 presidential elections. I think that Yanukovych and his allies are simply seeking economic gain from their dealings with the intermediary. After all, it’s clear that money has made its way to Yanukovych’s political campaigns, and to this Party of Regions.

KP: Do you think the objective of Ukraine’s current leadership is the total destruction of Naftogaz, and to play into Russia’s interests this way?

DM: One scenario is for Naftogaz

to be broken up into separate state holding companies, but the problem that will remain is what to do about Ukraine’s gas transportation network.

This will allow Gazprom to further consolidate its influence over gas transit to Europe. I don’t think that Yanukovych will take any decisions to change the situation fundamentally. We can expect RosUkrEnergo to gradually reassert itself as an intermediary as the plight of Naftogaz continues to worsen.

KP: Do you think the nation’s current leaders will act in the interests of Ukraine?

DM: I think Boyko will act in the interests of RosUkrEnergo, as he has already demonstrated. Yanukovych, on the other hand, will go back and forth between supporting RosUkrEnergo and defending national interests. He’s the president, after all.

KP: Are there risks for Europe if Naftogaz folds, allowing Gazprom to take control over Ukraine’s gas pipeline?

DM: Of course, but what can the Europeans do? Naftogaz hasn’t floated any viable programs seeking funding

KP: Give us your 10-year forecast.

DM: Russia and Gazprom will control Ukraine’s gas transportation system.

Gas distribution within Ukraine, meanwhile, will be privatized and a gas trading market will evolve. RosUkrEnergo, which is today firmly entrenched, will be a big player.

KP: Do you think the involvement of gas trading intermediary companies represents high-level corruption?

DM: Yes. This is obvious.

Yushchenko’s associates filled the bribe-taking vacuum left following the departure of Kuchma in 2004. I don’t think Yushchenko personally received bribes, but sources have told me that his closest associates did.

KP: Do you think you will be harassed or face repression for talking openly about what you have observed at Naftogaz for all of these years?

DM: No, I certainly hope not.

I am a Ukrainian citizen who has spent years working in the gas industry. I have every right to express my views about the energy sector openly as an expert.

Kyiv Post staff writer Peter Byrne can be reached at byrne@kyivpost.com

10 News

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Yushchenko’s failure forces America to change course

BY U W E K L U S S MA NN © 2010 DER SPIEGEL.

The U.S. wants to lure the Ukrainians toward the West -- but how? The victors of the Orange Revolution have failed, and U.S. diplomatic cables show that dealing with the new president has been far more difficult. The country has become the stage for a proxy conflict with the Kremlin.

When seeking a productive working relationship with an undesired newcomer, it is best to have a plan.

On Feb. 23 of this year, John Tefft, the American ambassador in Kyiv, was preparing a plan for the arrival of U.S. National Security Advisor James Jones. On the occasion of the inauguration of the new Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, Jones was to convey a generous offer of friendship: The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama “looks forward to working with you across the full range of issues,” Tefft’s brief suggested Jones tell the new Ukrainian leader.

Jones, who had fought against Moscow’s allies in the Vietnam War, was seeking to strike a diplomatic blow against the Kremlin, by making Yanukovych into a U.S. partner.

The Ukrainian was to bring his nation closer to the West. Tefft, above all, wanted to see Ukraine’s security and economic policies brought into line with Western ideas. Financially,

the highly indebted country would have to tighten its belt. “Encourage Ukraine to work with the International Monetary Fund to cut government expenditures.”

An analysis of leaked diplomatic dispatches shows how the U.S. had long been trying to loosen Russia’s grip on Ukraine.

For years, however, they had been throwing their support behind Yanukovych’s political rival, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. Now, though, Yanukovych was in power. And he was a well-known friend of the Russians. The U.S. wished to prevent the nation of 45.8 million inhabitants from re-establishing close ties with its giant neighbor.

Staggering to election In a run-off ballot for the presidential elections on Feb. 7, the populist Yanukovych had defeated his opponent Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, the flamboyant icon of the 2004 Orange Revolution [the street protests that overturned a rigged presidential election that year]. Incumbent Yushchenko had already been knocked out of the running during the first ballot in January when he only attracted 5.4 percent of the votes.

Yushchenko, a former chairman of Ukraine’s central bank, was first elected to the presidency during the 2004 Orange Revolution with 51.9 percent of the vote – thanks in part to millions of dollars from the U.S.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych meet as part of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., on April 12, 2010. (Courtesy)

But his plan to lead the country as quickly as possible into NATO lacked the support of a majority of Ukrainians. Furthermore, he made Russia his enemy. And the power struggle with Tymoshenko also weakened his position.

The parliamentary elections in 2006 saw Yushchenko’s bloc win less than 14 percent of the votes. Two months before the ballot, the U.S. Embassy had heard from someone close to the president that his party organization “was in complete shambles” and “would stagger to the election.”

After the Russia-Georgia war of 2008, the Bush administration tried to give their chosen ally Yushchenko fresh political impetus by demonstrating their support for him. In September of that year, Vice President Dick Cheney traveled to Ukraine.

‘Reputation as visionary’ In a dossier prepared for Cheney, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv praised the beleaguered Ukrainian leader. “President Yushchenko has a reputation as a visionary and is the one Ukrainian leader who has had a solid unwavering commitment to seeing Ukraine in NATO and the European Union,” the dispatch reads.

After Obama succeeded George W. Bush, however, the new leadership at the U.S. State Department began to have doubts about the “visionary” Yushchenko. According to a memo from May 22, 2009, the new US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was alarmed.

A member of the National Security Council had returned from Kyiv and reported that his impression was “that the government lacked the political will to solve Ukraine’s economic problems.”

Clinton noted that Ukraine’s “political and economic instability was playing into Russian hands.”

Ambassador Tefft knew, from private conversations with the Ukrainian ambassador to Moscow, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, that the Kremlin did not have any favorites for the Ukrainian presidential elections in 2009/2010.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. National Security Adviser James Jones (L) on Nov. 15, 2009. After Viktor Yanukovych came to power, Jones sought to make the Ukrainian president a U.S. partner. (AFP)

According to a U.S. dispatch, the former employee of the Soviet Foreign Ministry had said that “Putin likes Tymoshenko, but doesn’t trust her; the Russians trust Yanukovych more, but they don’t especially like him.”

Wasting opportunities The U.S. had its own doubts about Tymoshenko. They were confirmed after Ambassador Tefft received a Feb. 22 visit from retired Finance Minister Viktor Pynzenyk, a political ally of Tymoshenko’s, who complained that Tymoshenko was a “destructive force.”

He said she “simply wanted to consolidate power in her own hands’’ and accused her of “wasting the opportunity for reform that came with the economic crisis.”

The more apparent it became that Tymoshenko was going to lose, the closer Tefft tried to get to Yanukovych, a man formerly regarded as persona non grata by the U.S. At a friendly meeting with the U.S. ambassador, Yanukovych – a man the West had long considered to be a slave to Russia’s interests – made vague indications that he was open to U.S. advances. “In a private discussion with Ambassador Tefft, Yanukovych held open the prospect of continued military cooperation with

NATO and spoke of cooperation with Ukraine’s military industrial sector,” the diplomat reported on Jan. 29.

Tefft hoped that his informant Gryshchenko might become foreign minister under Yanukovych, which he did. That “would indicate a pragmatic approach that would seek to put relations with Russia on a positive footing without burning bridges to the West,” he wrote.

The Americans had already written off their long-time favorite Yushchenko – a man who then-U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright smiled widely at during a 2000 meeting as a grandmother would her favorite grandchild.

In his classified dossier for National Security Advisor Jones, Ambassador Tefft only devoted one line to his political obituary: “He is widely blamed – not least by many who voted for him in 2004 – for his poor management, incessant quarrelling with Tymoshenko at the expense of national interests, needless antagonizing of Russia and his penchant for seeking declarations of membership from NATO and the EU.” The rights to reprint this article from the leading German newsmagazine Der Spiegal were purchased by the Kyiv Post. © 2010 Der Spiegel. The article can also be found at http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,732276,00.html

U.S. official: Austrian bank’s ties to RosUkrEnergo suspicious; possibly ‘front to provide legitimacy’

BY M A R K R AC H K E VYC H RACHKEVYCH@KYIVPOST.COM

Another batch of confidential U.S. diplomatic cables released on Dec. 1

by WikiLeaks disclosed concerns that one of Austria’s largest banks took bribes to disguise the business interests of a wanted Russian mobster and a Ukrainian billionaire gas trader.

The previously confidential messages, written by America’s former deputy head of mission in Austria Scott F. Kilner, also described the Austrian authorities as feeling “uncomfortable” with the bank’s role in Ukraine’s gas deal with Russia.

Dated December 2005 and February 2006, the messages said that Viennabased Raiffeisen Investment AG, and its parent company Raiffeisen Group, was probably “a front to provide legitimacy to the gas company that we suspect he [U.S.indicted Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich] controls, RosUkrEnergo.”

The Austrian investment bank

was the authorized representative of RosUkrEnergo when it was first formed as the monopoly gas intermediary that supplied billions of dollars of Turkmen gas to Ukraine until former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko removed it as an intermediary in January 2009.

However, Raiffeisen Investment then said it only managed RosUkrEnergo and that its beneficiaries were “unknown businessmen.” They were later revealed to be Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash and Ivan Fursin, a close associate of Serhiy Lyovochkin, President Viktor Yanukovych’s chief of staff, who hold 45 percent and 5 percent ownership, respectively, through Centragas.

RosUkrEnergo ”makes direct payments of $360,000 annually to each of two Raiffeisen Investment executives in ‘consulting fees.’ We assess that the payments probably are bribes for RIAG to maintain the front for Mogilevich,” reads one of the cables.

The Austrian banking group could not immediately respond to inquiries.

Other secret diplomat cables have quoted Firtash saying he needed and received permission from Mogilevich to enter the gas trading business. Also, the cables said Firtash and Mogilevich were linked through ostensible offshore company vehicles either by joint ownership through former spouses or through Firtash heading companies in which Mogilevich’s former spouse was the shareholder.

In turn, one cable said the Austrian authorities were “uncomfortable” with Raiffeisen Investment’s involvement in RosUkrEnergo and that company’s role in the Ukrainian-Russian gas deal.

“The [Austrian] foreign ministry is ‘uncomfortable’ that an Austrian bank is in the middle of the [Ukrainian-Russian gas] controversy,” read one cable.

Russian state-owned oil and gas company Gazprom is the remaining 50 percent shareholder of RosUkrEnergo.

However, the cables said the Austrian authorities had investigated Raiffeisen for wrong doing and said they “didn’t

A U.S. diplomat suspected that Raiffeisen Bank was a front to legitimize RosUkrEnergo gas trader.

uncover any improprieties”.

“Raiffeisen Investment AG also conducted a strenuous due diligence review of the unnamed RosUkrEnergo inves-

tors. Neither Raiffeisen Investment’s internal due diligence nor an independent due diligence by the U.S. risk consulting firm Kroll had revealed derogatory information or links to criminal activity, including to Seymon Mogilevich,” one cable stated.

U.S. risk consulting firm Kroll was recently hired by the current Ukrainian government under President Viktor Yanukovych to investigate embezzlement by the previous government, headed by ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

In 2001, Kroll was hired by the Labor Ukraine Party, then backed by billionaire Viktor Pinchuk, the son-in-law of thenPresident Kuchma. The investigation was supposed to focus on who killed journalist Georgy Gongadze on Sept. 16, 2000. Its results were widely dismissed as an attempt to whitewash the case and absolve Kuchma from suspicion.

Kyiv Post staff writer Mark Rachkevych can be reached at rachkevych@kyivpost. com

www.kyivpost.com

News 11

December 3, 2010

Taylor: Firtash touts Firtash denies Mogilevich Yushchenko as ‘close ties; won’t discuss cable friend and confidante’

BY V L A D L AV ROV LAVROV@KYIVPOST.COM

BY Y U R I Y ON YS H K I V ONYSHKIV@KYIVPOST.COM

Dmytro Firtash, the controversial co-owner of gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo, said he is closely acquainted with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and was his adviser during gas crises with Russia, according to a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv published on the WikiLeaks website on Dec.1.

The connection, which Yushchenko has always denied, was mentioned

by Firtash in a conversation between then-U.S. Ambassador in Ukraine William Taylor and energy tycoon Firtash on Dec. 8, 2008, a meeting that took place at Firtash’s initiative.

Yushchenko’s press secretary Iryna Vannykova could not be reached for comment.

In a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with the ambassador, the Ukrainian oligarch acknowledged his connection with Yushchenko, describing himself as a “close friend and confidante” of the former Ukrainian president, who served one five-year term before being soundly defeated in his re-election bid in January. Firtash claimed to have “loyally served” as an unofficial adviser to Yushchenko during tense gas negotiations with Russia and political crises dating to the 2004 Orange Revolution.

In the course of the conversation, the controversial gas trader

said he had met with Yushchenko at his dacha three times during the week preceding the meeting with the ambassador. The meeting came less than one month before Ukraine was consumed by a gas crisis when Russia cut off supplies.

According to Taylor’s cable, Firtash also described his success in thwarting plans to form a coalition between Viktor Yanukovych’s Party of Regions and the party of then-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his nemesis, who removed RosUkrEnergo from the Russia-Ukraine gas trade in January 2009 following Tymoshenko’s brokering of a deal with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Firtash told Taylor he was trying to talk Yushchenko into striking a coalition deal between his Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense faction and Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, describing such a step as “the only way to unify Ukraine during the current political and economic crises.” That, he added, should prevent Ukraine’s divisiveness which Moscow is trying to cultivate and take advantage of.

During his presidency Yushchenko always denied any involvement in Firtash’s business and RosUkrEnergo’s selection as a gas intermediary between Russia and Ukraine in 2006.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost. com

Read full text of ex-U.S. Ambassador William Taylor's cable on Page 12

Dmytro Firtash, the controversial Ukrainian billionaire gas trader and businessman, denied comments attributed to him by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor during a meeting between the two men on Dec. 8, 2008. Specifically, Firtash denied any business ties with alleged Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich.

A statement issued Dec. 2 on Firtash’ s behalf read: “The briefing with Ambassador Taylor was private and confidential and Mr. Firtash wishes to respect the privacy of that meeting. Furthermore, Mr Firtash is not going to respond to statements allegedly contained in documents that - by the admission of those promoting them - were stolen from the United States government, in violation of federal criminal law, by people who are themselves now fugitives.

“Mr. Firtash provided the ambassador with a private and confidential briefing on a variety of issues and addressed questions the ambassador put to him. However, following the regrettable and unlawful publication of documents purporting to be the ambassador’s confidential notes of the meeting, Mr. Firtash feels obliged to clear up any subsequent mistranslation or misunderstanding of their meeting.

“Mr. Firtash has never stated, to anyone, at any time, that he needed or received permission from Mr. Mogilevich to establish any of his businesses. Moreover, Mr. Firtash has stated many times, publicly, privately

and on the record, that he knew Mr. Mogilevich, but has never had any partnership or other commercial association with him. Mr. Firtash has always maintained and repeats, once again, that Mr. Mogilevich has never had any holding or other direct or indirect interest in Eural Trans Gas, RosUkrEnergo or indeed any of Mr. Firtash;s other commercial or business interests.”

However, Taylor gave a different account.

The cable, published by WikiLeaks on Dec. 1, contains references to Firtash admitting that he did not only knows Mogilevich, but also “needed and received permission from Mogilevich when he established various businesses.”

Firtash, a co-owner of RosUkrEnergo, the gas intermediary that supplied imported gas to Ukraine between 2006 and 2008, downplayed his ties to Mogilevich by citing the lawless environment in Ukraine during the 1990s, according to Taylor. Firtash, Taylor wrote, said it was simply not possible to have a meeting with a Ukrainian government official without also meeting an organized crime figure, as the country was ruled by the “laws of the streets.”

Another WikiLeaks cable released on Nov. 29 by weekly magazine Russian Reporter on Nov. 29 also linked fugitive Mogilevich – who is on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List – and RosUkrEnergo.

“Independent analysis suggests that some members of the security services are allied with various organized crime structures or turn a blind eye to the

activities of known criminals… For example, crime boss Sergei Shnaider (better known as Semyon Mogilevich) not only enjoyed freedom of movement in Russian and official protection, but he was brought in by Gazprom to managed gas sales to Ukraine through the shady RosUkrEnergo venture. Only when he lost his political cover, for reasons that are unclear… he was arrested in January 2008,” writes Eric Rubin, the U.S. deputy chief of mission in Moscow in an April 2008 memo addressed to FBI director Robert Mueller.

Taylor said Firtash identified himself as an ally of then President Viktor Yushchenko and a foe of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. In his conversation with Taylor, Firtash allegedly called her an “accomplished oligarch who had made deals with Moscow that would leave Ukraine vulnerable in the future.”

Taylor also said Firtash presented himself as a political player who was trying to get Yushchenko and current President Viktor Yanukovych together, while trying to keep Yanukovych and Tymoshenko from forming an alliance.

Taylor writes with skepticism about Firtash, calling his aims “clearly selfinterested”and trying to “portray a positive image of himself.”

Yet, for Zeev Gordon, a long-time lawyer for Mogilevich, explained Firtash’s remarks about “getting permission from Mogilevich to start various businesses” as a reference to the billionaire’s early steps in Ukrainian business, not the energy trade.

Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov can be reached at lavrov@kyivpost.com

12 News

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Taylor: Firtash needed OK from Mogilevich to go into business Editor’s Note: The following is the entire secret cable allegedly written by former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor about his two-and-a-half-hour meeting on Dec. 8, 2008, with Dmytro Firtash, a notorious Ukrainian billionaire who in this conversation reportedly admits his business ties with alleged Russian crime boss Semyon Mogilevich, on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List of international fugitives. The secret cable, among the more than 250,000 U.S. diplomatic communications to be released by the WiliLeaks whistleblower website, is reprinted in its entirety below. The cable is dated Dec. 10, 2008, and is headlined: “Firtash makes his case to the U.S. government.”

The meeting took place only three weeks before Russia shut off natural gas supplies to Ukraine, causing a three-week standoff between Ukraine and Russia. Firtash was at the center of the dispute as co-owner of RosUkrEnergo, a shadowy intermediary which exclusively imported Russian gas into Ukraine. At the time, former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko – accusing Firtash of corruption – was trying to squeeze RosUkrEnergo and other intermediaries out of the bilateral gas trade.

1. (S) Summary and Comment: Controversial Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash, best known as co-owner of gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo, called upon the Ambassador on Dec. 8.

Firtash did not explicitly state why he requested the meeting, nor did he ask the U.S. government for anything, but he spoke at length about his business and politics in a visible effort to improve his image with the U.S. government.

The soft-spoken billionaire, arguably one of Ukraine’s most powerful people, expressed strong support for President Viktor Yushchenko and equally strong contempt for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. He claimed that he had thwarted a coalition between the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and the Party of Regions at the last minute, and was now working to build a coalition between Yushchenko’s supporters and the Party of Regions.

In a lengthy monolog, Firtash

described his evolution as a businessman from his beginnings as a food trader to the creation of RosUkrEnergo.

Firtash claimed that Tymoshenko was working with Russia to eliminate RosUkrEnergo, and cited examples meant to prove that she was making political concessions to Russia to gain its support to do so. He acknowledged ties to Russian organized crime figure Semyon Mogilevich, stating he needed Mogilevich’s approval to get into business in the first place. He was adamant that he had not committed a single crime when building his business empire, and argued that outsiders still failed to understand the period of lawlessness that reigned in Ukraine after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He said he cared truly about Ukraine, and saw Russian business interests overtaking the economy as the biggest threat to the country’s security.

Comment: Firtash’s arguments and

allegations are clearly self-interested; he sees Tymoshenko as a clear threat to his business. End summary and comment.

Firtash seeks to improve his image 2. (C) Ukrainian billionaire Dmytro Firtash, best known as co-owner of controversial gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo, sought a meeting with the Ambassador on Dec. 8.

Accompanying Firtash to the meeting was political consultant and American citizen Zev Furst, and Andras Knopp, the Hungarian-born number two at RosUkrEnergo. Firtash never specifically stated why he had sought the meeting, nor did he extend any specific requests to the Ambassador, but in the course of the conversation it was clear he tried to use the meeting to portray a positive image of himself. Furst said he was attending as a “friend and adviser” to Firtash and during the course of the meeting stated that the U.S. government might have misperceptions about Firtash. At one point during the meeting, Firtash began to talk about “mistakes he might have made,” but diverted the conversation when Furst waved him off.

Firtash’s support for President Yushchenko...

3. (C) In the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, Firtash told the ambassador that he was not a public person, but had recently been pulled deeper into Ukrainian politics. He

admitted that he has “loyally served” as an unofficial adviser to President Yushchenko during tense gas negotiations with Russia and political crises dating back to the Orange Revolution in 2004. He reported that he met with Yushchenko at his dacha (cottage residence) three times in the last week at the president’s request. He described himself as a close friend and confidante of the president -- someone the president can trust totally. In his view, Yushchenko made a possibly fatal political error during the Orange Revolution in that he and Tymoshenko propagated the concept of two Ukraines -- an orange, more democratic Ukraine, and a blue Ukraine represented by the Party of Regions and more focused towards the status quo. He added that this divisiveness throughout Ukraine is exactly what Russia hoped to cultivate in order to control Ukraine. Firtash felt the only way to unify Ukraine during the current political and economic crises was to form a coalition between the president’s supporters and the Party of Regions in order to stop what he termed, “Tymoshenko’s plans to offer up the country to Russia on a silver platter.” (Note: On the evening of Dec. 9, the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko, Our Ukraine/People’s Self Defense Party, and the [Verkhovna Rada speaker] Volodmyr Lytvyn bloc formed a coalition, keeping Tymoshenko in power and rebuffing Firtash’s hopes for a coalition between the president’s supporters and the Party of Regions. End note.)

...And contempt for Tymoshenko 4. (C) Firtash defined Tymoshenko as an accomplished oligarch who had made deals with Moscow that would leave Ukraine vulnerable to Russian oligarchs in the future – something neither he nor Ukrainian billionaire and Party of Regions backer Rinat Akhmetov could stand by and watch happen. Firtash referred to Tymoshenko’s title of “gas princess” as a misnomer; he explained that Tymoshenko did make lots of money off of a corrupt, perpetual gas debt scheme during the 1990s, but she knew nothing about the gas business.

XXXXXXXXXXXX to give the false impression that she was not actively involved in business. He believed that Tymoshenko’s hatred for him stems from Tymoshenko’s missed opportunity to develop her own RosUkrEnergo back in 2005, when she was prime minister for the first time.

5. (C) Firtash stated that he felt Russia was strongly supporting a Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Party of Regions coalition and that such a coalition was about to be finalized on Dec. 7, with only Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych needing to sign.

He claimed that he torpedoed the coalition at the last moment by convincing Yanukovych that an alliance with Tymoshenko would never last.

Firtash recounted that on Dec. 6, Tymoshenko was on nearly every Ukrainian TV channel and in every newspaper, prophesizing that a Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Party of Regions coalition agreement would be signed on the evening of Dec. 7. Firtash was visibly delighted as he recounted how he used his television station INTER to air an interview in which Yanukovych refuted Tymoshenko’s claim that a Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko and Party of Regions coalition was a done deal (Ref A). Responding to a question by the ambassador on whether he worked with Akhmetov to derail a Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko/Party of Regions coali-

Dmytro Firtash

tion, Firtash said that they had worked separately, even if they were pursuing the same goal.

6. (C) Firtash said he and Akhmetov both wanted a coalition between the president’s supporters and the Party of Regions. He claimed that he had brokered a subsequent meeting between Yanukovych and Yushchenko for the evening of Dec. 8. He was not sure if Yanukovych and Yushchenko could form a new coalition, but saw it as the only way out of Ukraine’s prolonged political strife.

From humble beginnings...

7. (C) Firtash described himself as a simple person who grew up in the village of Synkiv in Ternopil Oblast in western Ukraine. Firtash explained he had very humble beginnings -- his father taught driver education and his mother worked in a sugar factory. He added that since his parents hated communism, they did not benefit from valuable contacts that could have helped him get into a university, which was his childhood dream. Firtash said he shared his parents’ disdain for the Communist Party and only agreed to join the Communist youth movement Komsomol after being locked in a party member’s office for two days without food or water.

8. (C) Firtash told the ambassador he attended an occupational institute before be drafted into the army in 1986 and studied to become a fireman after completing his military service. In 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed, Firtash stated his parents thought it was the end of the world and he was concerned about making a living during unpredictable times. He added that he felt he was “between two countries – one that had ended and one that was beginning.” He described his future as unknown, stating he was “living in a country with no laws and no taxes.”

Firtash also described himself as a “natural businessman” without a university education who “had a nose” for business opportunities, and who would make the best of the uncertainty.

9. (C) (Note: The Ukrainian newspaper “Ukrainska Pravda” researched Firtash’s life and reported that Firtash was not highly educated, but was a highly decorated soldier who had used his contacts to build a canned goods and dry milk business which shipped goods first to Uzbekistan. According to press reports, Firtash’s first wife and business partner Mariya Kalinovska was given credit for Firtash’s first business success. This business then turned into a profitable canned goods production factory and a transportation company registered in Germany. Firtash Æ13

www.kyivpost.com

News 13

December 3, 2010

U.S.: Firtash admits ties to Mogilevich, alleged Russian crime boss Æ12 and Kalinovska were married from 2002-2005, with Kalinovska reportedly receiving a large divorce settlement, despite efforts by former Fuel and Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko to misrepresent the true scale of Firtash’s wealth. End note.)

...to powerful oligarch 10. (C) Firtash gave a detailed account of how he got into the gas business.

Firtash explained that his food and commodities business, which he started in Chernivtsi in western Ukraine with his wife, Mariya, was first called KMIL, and later expanded into High Rock Holdings. Due to his commodities business, he became acquainted with several powerful business figures from the former Soviet Union. Firtash said he met Ukrainian businessman Igor Bakai in Turkmenistan who was selling cars in Ashgabat, but had bigger plans. According to Firtash, Bakai convinced then Ukrainian President [Leonid] Kravchuk to give him permission to buy gas exclusively for the Ukrainian market in Turkmenistan.

Firtash noted that Bakai’s success also sparked Firtash’s interest in the gas business. (Note: In 1993 Bakai then formed the Respublika company, which later became Intergas, which set the precedent for profitable gas trading between Turkmenistan and Ukraine.

Bakai would go on to be the first Head of Ukraine’s state oil and gas company Naftohaz from 1998-2001. End note.)

11. (S) Firtash also described the gas business in Ukraine during the mid-1990s as particularly dangerous.

Firtash said that then Prime Minister Pavel Lazarenko had hired criminals to run the Ukrainian government and used his position as prime minister for corruption. He added that Tymoshenko headed Ukrainian Energy Systems, where she earned her fortune. Firtash claimed that Lazarenko, Tymoshenko and Lazarenko’s assistant, Igor Fisherman, divided and conquered the Ukrainian gas market. He stated that Lazarenko ordered the killings of Donetsk Governor Yevgen

Scherban in 1996 and the head of Itera in Kyiv for not sharing Lazarenko’s gas business philosophy. (Note: Igor Fisherman was known in the Ukrainian press as Mogilevich’s right hand man who was also High Rock Holding’s financial director during the late 1990s.

End note.)

12. (C) Another such businessman was Igor Makarov, who founded the Itera gas trading company in 1992, which provided Turkmen gas to former Soviet republics. Firtash claimed that Makarov hired a former KGB head as his security chief to direct Makarov’s gas trading empire in Central Asia.

Firtash recounted that he gave Itera food commodities through High Rock Holdings, which Itera used to buy gas in-kind from Turkmenistan. Makarov then paid Firtash in cash with the proceeds of his gas sales. According to Firtash, Makarov refused to pay Firtash $50 million in 2001, which drove Firtash to explore his own gas trading business, ousting Makarov at the same time.

13. (C) According to Firtash, he hired Hungarian-born businessman Andras Knopp to negotiate new gas trading deals with Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Since these Central Asian countries trusted Firtash as a reputable businessman, they agreed to sign with Firtash’s EuroTransGas company, leaving Makarov’s business in ruins.

14. (S) Firtash also recounted that Makarov invited him to dinner in Kyiv in January 2002, shortly after Firtash had signed the gas deals with Central Asia. Firtash added he went to that dinner not knowing if he would be beaten up or even killed for having taken Makarov’s business from him.

According to Firtash, Makarov was there with his head of security, Semyon Mogilevich, Sergei Mikhas, from the Solnstevo Brotherhood, and a Mr. Overin when Makarov told Firtash he would regain his gas business as easily as Firtash had taken it away. Firtash walked away from the meeting alive, and credited his ability to keep his life

and his gas business to his good reputation among Central Asian leaders.

15. (C) According to Firtash, by 2002, Eural Trans Gas was the sole transporter of Turkmen gas to Ukraine. (Note: According to media reports, by 2005 Firtash had already created a gas trading empire that allowed him to easily transition into RosUkrEnergo. In addition, Firtash owns majority shares in companies in Ukraine, Estonia, Russia, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Tajikistan, and Austria all under the umbrella of the Group DF which he formed in 2007 (Ref B). He also owns 61 percent of the Ukrainian Inter Media Group which owns or co-owns 7 television channels and the Ukrainian News Agency. By 2006, Firtash’s estimated worth was over $5 billion, but most experts believe that Firtash had lowballed his true worth and estimated it was in the tens of billions. In his conversation with the ambassador, Firtash gave no indication of the scope of his wealth. End note).

Future of RosUkrEnergo 16.

(C) When asked about Tymoshenko’s promise to rid Ukraine of RosUkrEnergo, Firtash responded by making a link between Tymoshenko and Russia. He argued that the prime minister was seeking Russian support to get rid of RosUkrEnergo, and was making concessions to Russia to accomplish this goal. He specifically cited what he said was her silence on the August events in Georgia, her avoidance of a stand on the Holodomor and the issue of the Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, as examples of the political concessions she was making to Moscow. Firtash acknowledged that he was having more and more problems with Russia. He alleged that the Russians had already excused a $600 million debt that she owed from her previous gas business that could be used as pressure to get concessions from her. If Moscow really wanted to get rid of RUE, Firtash added, it could do so as long as Tymoshenko was at the helm.

Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor met for more than two hours with RosUkrEnergo co-owner Dmytro Firtash on Dec. 8, 2008.

17. (C) Responding to the Ambassador’s question, Firtash said Ukraine’s current gas debt to RosUkrEnergo was near $3 billion, adding that the debt was owed directly to RosUkrEnergo and not to Gazprom. In his view, Ukraine could only clear the debt to RosUkrEnego in gas since it didn’t have enough cash to pay outright. He added that according to the RosUkrEnergo charter with Gazprom, any shipments or supplies of gas to RosUkrEnergo must be confirmed by two signatures on a gas transfer document – one signature from Gazprom -- the other from RosUkrEnergo (Firtash). Firtash argued that if he does not sign the gas transfer document, then legally there is no proof that gas has been supplied to RosUkrEnergo or Ukraine, so Gazprom forfeits its ability to demand payment from RosUkrEnergo, thus keeping RosUkrEnergo in the gas arrangement for some time. He estimated that Ukraine would have to pay RosUkrEnergo 12 billion cubic meters of gas to settle the debt.

This could be done by transferring Ukrainian gas already in storage to RosUkrEnergo, bringing RosUkrEnergo’s reserves in storage in Ukraine up to 23.5 billion cubic meters, since RosUkrEnergo already has 11.5 billion cubic meters in storage (Ukraine’s maximum storage capacity is 34 billion cubic meters).

The gas would normally be exported to Europe at market prices, which despite falling world gas prices would still be very profitable. Firtash hinted that if RosUkrEnergo was removed with Russian approval, Ukraine would most likely attempt to take or steal all of RUE’s gas in storage.

Ties to Russian organized crime 18. (S) The ambassador asked Firtash to address his alleged ties to Russian organized crime bosses like Semyon Mogilievich. Firtash answered that many Westerners do not understand what Ukraine was like after the breakup of the Soviet Union, adding that when a government cannot rule effectively, the country is ruled by “the laws of the streets.” He noted that it was impossible to approach a government official for any reason without also meeting with an organized crime member at the same time. Firtash acknowledged that he needed, and received, permission from Mogilievich when he established various businesses, but he denied any close relationship to him.

19. (S) Firtash’s bottom line was that he did not deny having links to those associated with organized crime. Instead, he argued that he was forced into dealing with organized crime members including Mogilevich or he would never have been able to build a business. If he needed a permit from the government, for example, he would invariably need permission from the appropriate “businessman” who worked with the government official who issued that particular permit. He also claimed that although he knows several businessmen who are linked to organized crime, including members of the Solntsevo Brotherhood, he was not implicated in their alleged illegal dealings. He maintained that the era of the “law of the street” had passed and businesses could now be run legitimately in Ukraine. He underscored the importance of unifying Ukraine politically in order to reduce the influence of Russian organized crime bosses on Ukrainian businesses.

TAYLOR

14 News

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

WikiLeaks reveals sensitive U.S. talks

BY P E T E R B Y R N E , M A R K R AC H K E V Y C H AN D J A M E S M A R S ON

Whistleblower website WikiLeaks published a slew of U.S. State Department cables that shed light on foreign diplomacy toward Ukraine, the transit of Russian gas to the European Union via Ukraine, and the partiality of Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi for blonde Ukrainian nurses.

While some 1,139 diplomatic cables from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv have yet to be published, messages from other embassies give a revealing insight into the behind-the-scenes maneuvering on Ukraine.

With most of the Kyiv communications still to come, and only a small percentage of more than 250,000 previously secret or confidential messages so far released publicly, there is likely to be plenty more revealed in the coming months.

Cables authored outside Ukraine published by WikiLeaks by Dec. 2 detailed how: • Britain’s Prince Andrew told the U.S. ambassador in Bishkek that Russia had pressured Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and other regional leaders not to recognize Ukraine’s 1932-3 Holodomor famine as an act of genocide; • the U.S. raised concerns with senior Russian officials about Moscow’s respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders, suggesting that it posed a threat to the “reset” in U.S.-Russian relations; • France opposed offering Ukraine an action plan toward membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2008, citing an unwillingness among members to defend it from external attack, which the U.S. suggested pointed to de facto French support for a Russian “sphere of influence.”

The cables released by WikiLeaks date from Dec. 28, 1966, to Feb. 28, 2010, and were authored by diplomats at 274 embassies, consulates and diplomatic missions across the world.

According to statistical information published on its website, about 1,800 communiques discuss Ukraine. Iraq is the most frequently mentioned state, in 15,365 reports, of which 6,677 originated from the country. Turkey, Iran, Israel and China were the next-most frequently discussed countries.

Moscow-based Russian Reporter news site published a few of 200 cables which its editor said it had received from WikiLeaks. Some of these give details of U.S. reactions to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008; one message suggests that Russian state gas company Gazprom asked alleged crime boss Semyon Mogilevich to oversee natural gas deliveries from Russia to Ukraine via gas intermediary RosUkrEnergo. All parties deny connections with Mogilevich.

U.S. defends Ukraine A picture emerges from the cables of the U.S. frequently sticking up for Ukraine in Moscow and warning Russia to respect its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Russian Reporter published a cable authored by Kurt Volker, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO, following the August 2008 full-scale Russian invasion of Georgia, which seems to

A Russian armored troop carrier moves with soldiers next to a house set on fire by South Ossetian militia on August 18, 2008, in the Georgian village of Kvemo-Achebeti, some 5 kilometers from Tskhinvali, Georgia. The 2008 conflict provoked fears about Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's dismissive remarks about Ukrainian sovereignty.

(AFP)

confirm reports of Putin questioning Ukraine’s borders.

In April 2008, Putin was widely reported to have scolded then-U.S. President George W. Bush, who pushed Ukraine’s NATO membership ambitions despite strong Russian opposition. “Do you understand, George, that Ukraine is not even a state,” Putin allegedly told Bush then during a heated exchange.

At the April 4, 2008, NATO-Russia Council Summit in Bucharest, the cable reads: Putin “implicitly challenged the territorial integrity of Ukraine, suggesting that Ukraine was an artificial creation sewn together from territory of Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, and especially Russia in the aftermath of the Second World War. He stated, ‘the Crimea was simply given to Ukraine by a decision of the Politburo of the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee. There haven’t even been any state procedures regarding transfer of the territory, since we take a very calm and responsible approach to the problem.’ Putin claimed that 90 percent of inhabitants of the Crimea are Russian, 17 out of 45 million Ukrainian citizens are Russian, and that Ukraine gained enormous amounts of its territory from the east and south at the expense of Russia. He added, ‘if we add in the NATO question and other problems, the very existence of the state could find itself under threat.’”

Volker added that Putin’s comments “take on profound new meaning in light of Russian military actions in Georgia. … NATO needs to be mindful of the connective tissue between events in Georgia, Putin’s threatening language on the territorial integrity of its neighbors, and Ukraine’s (and Georgia’s) MAP [Membership Action Plan] aspirations.”

Ukraine and Georgia had been denied a Membership Action Plan at NATO’s summit in Bucharest in April 2008, but were told that they “will become members.”

Volker discusses the split between NATO allies over why Russia acted in Georgia: “The German-led allies argue

that the Bucharest decision on eventual membership provoked the Russian aggression, while most others (including the new members and Canada) see it as we do: that Russia interpreted the denial of MAP [Membership Action Plan] as a green light for action against Georgia.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Alexander Vershbow last year again raised concerns with senior Russian officials over Moscow’s respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and borders, suggesting this could damage attempts to reset U.S.Russian relations.

and reiterated the U.S. commitment to the sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity of Georgia, Ukraine and other partners in the region.” He added that the U.S. didn’t see RussianUkrainian relations as a “zero-sum game.”

The cable continues that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin responded that “Ukraine is Russia’s closest neighbor, and is a ‘key partner’ in international activities. Russia is not trying to influence Ukraine, but wants a stable Ukraine and a secure neighborhood. He also said that Russia cannot ignore attempts to depict it as a major threat to Ukraine.”

Concerns over Russia

Alexander Vershbow

In the Oct. 6, 2009 message,Vershbow criticized as “counter-productive” Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s vitriolic open letter of August 2009, which attacked then-Ukrainian counterpart Viktor Yushchenko’s “anti-Russian” policies.

The cable followed meetings between Vershbow and a number of senior Russian officials. According to the communication “Vershbow emphasized that Russia’s efforts to assert a regional sphere of influence posed a threat to the reset in bilateral relations,

More than 100 confidential U.S. diplomatic cables were released concerning the five-day military conflict between Georgia and Russia in August 2008.

Originating mostly from Tbilisi, Georgia and other diplomatic posts, the cables showed the fight was not Georgia’s original intention and chronicled how the conflict sent shockwaves around the world.

“All the evidence available to the country team supports [Georgian President Mikheil] Saakashvili’s statement that this fight was not Georgia’s original intention,” reads a cable by former U.S. Ambassador to Georgia, John F. Tefft, who is now posted in Kyiv. “Key Georgian officials who would have had responsibility for an attack on South Ossetia have been on leave, and the Georgians only began mobilizing Aug. 7 once the attack was well under way.”

They also showed how quickly the geopolitical reality changed in the region and amplified Ukraine’s precarious position given that Russia used vessels from its Black Sea Fleet leased from Ukraine in Sevastopol during its assault on Georgia and the fact that Ukraine had supplied Georgia with air defense systems and arms.

They furthermore contrasted Ukraine’s lack of military security in comparison with other countries securely in NATO and part of the

European Union who denounced Russia’s aggression and lamented the dangerous precedent Russia set for using force when protecting “its citizens” in other countries.

Russia has discredited itself as a peacekeeper in the “near abroad” and its justification of “protecting its citizens” is a worrying precedent, read one cable.

The cables point to European Union and NATO countries scrambling to respond with a unified voice. They demonstrated how older EU countries were more cautious in denouncing Russia’s “disproportionate” response to Georgia’s provoked attack of South Ossetia and how former Soviet satellite countries and republics like Poland, Slovakia and the three Baltic countries had called for more stern public diplomacy actions against Russia’s use of force during its land, sea and air assault of Georgian territory.

“Georgian military officials have privately expressed deep disappointment with the U.S. and the West for not providing more support against the Russian attack,” read one cable.

Several cables mentioned how newer EU countries like Poland were using Russia’s aggression as a reason for promoting Ukraine’s NATO accession and give it a “membership action plan” at a Budapest summit later in 2008.

“Not surprisingly, the two camps drew different lessons for Ukraine: one urged rapid NATO membership, while the other called for neutrality and warned against provoking Russia,” a cable stated.

“In response to a question, [Latvian State Secretary] Normans Penke said that NATO must move faster on MAP for Ukraine and he hoped that events in Georgia also spurred Ukraine to ‘finish its homework,’” said a cable from Latvia.

The outcome of the Russia-Georgia war scuttled any hopes Ukraine and Georgia had for NATO membership as Russia cemented its claim to the region as its sphere of influence.

Holodomor threats Ukrainians learn in another brief, dated Oct. 29, 2008, that Russia pressured Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and other regional leaders in 2008 to not recognize the Holodomor famine, which killed millions in 1932-1933, as genocide against the Ukrainian people.

According to a cable from the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Britain’s Prince Andrew, a frequent visitor to the region, said that Aliyev had received a letter from Russian President Dmitry Medvedev “telling him that if Azerbaijan supported the designation of the Bolshevik artificial famine in Ukraine as ‘genocide’ at the United Nations, ‘then you can forget about seeing Nagorno-Karabakh ever again.’”’

Nagorno-Karabakh is a separatist region on Azerbaijan’s border with Armenia.

Prince Andrew said other leaders had received similar “directive” letters.

The interventions by Medvedev are evidence of the extraordinary lengths that the Kremlin was prepared to go to in order to prevent international recognition for the Stalinordered famine, which claimed most of its starvation victims in Ukraine, whose rural residents resisted Soviet Æ15 collectivization.

www.kyivpost.com

U.S. documents reveal Russia’s threats over Ukrainian sovereignty, view of Holodomor Æ14

Former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko campaigned at home and abroad for acknowledgement of Holodomor as genocide, a move opposed by Russia. The debate was a major factor in spats between the two presidents, as Yushchenko defined Ukraine’s history in ways that were sharply at odds with Soviet and Russian interpretations, at least under Putin.

France dents NATO hope One cable from Paris reveals French reasoning behind its failure to support Ukraine’s NATO aspirations.

A senior French government adviser told the United States in 2008 that it would “not have a great appetite” for offering Ukraine an action plan for membership to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

According to the message, Philippe Errera, strategic affairs adviser to then-French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, told Joseph Wood, deputy assistant to the U.S. vice president for national security affairs, that offering a Membership Action Plan (MAP) would be a “serious decision” because of NATO’s Article 5, which treats attack on one member as an attack on all.

He added that “NATO may not be ready for Article 5 guarantees to Georgia either.”

Wood responded that France’s “hesitation regarding Article 5 commitments implies a de facto ‘sphere of influence,’ because Russia is the only possible menace to Ukraine or Georgia.”

The exchange, dated January 2008, shows the divergence of views between leading NATO members ahead of the organization’s summit in Bucharest in April that year.

As a result of the summit, both Ukraine and Georgia were told they

News 15

December 3, 2010

Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi reviews an honor guard during a welcoming ceremony at the presidential office in Kyiv on Nov. 4. (UNIAN)

“will become members of NATO” but were not offered a MAP or given a concrete date.

Then-Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko attempts to gain a MAP were strongly backed by U.S. counterpart George W. Bush, but resistance was reportedly met from France and Germany.

A leader’s taste On a lighter note, a brief authored on Sept. 29, 2009 by the U.S. ambassador in Tripoli, details information received by U.S. diplomats that that Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi is accompanied on trips by a “voluptuous blonde” Ukrainian nurse.

Gene A. Cretz, U.S. ambassador to Tripoli, wrote that Qaddafi “relies heavily on his long-time Ukrainian nurse, Galyna Kolotnytska, who has been described as a ‘voluptuous blonde.’”

She is said to be one of four Ukrainian nurses who travel with the Libyan leader to “cater to [his] health and well-being.”

The cable hints at romantic ties between Qaddafi and Kolotnytska.

“Some embassy contacts have claimed that Qadhafi (sic) and the 38-year-old Kolotnytska have a romantic relationship. While he did not comment on such rumors, a Ukrainian political officer recently confirmed that the Ukrainian nurses ‘travel everywhere with the Leader,’” Cretz wrote.

The cable describes how Qaddafi cannot travel without Kolotnytska, “as she alone ‘knows his routine.’” In one incident detailed in the communication, arrangements were made to ferry the nurse by private jet from Libya to Portugal to meet Qaddafi during a reststop on his trip to the U.S.

Taylor: Firtash blames notorious 1996 murder on ex-premier Lazarenko B Y Y U R I Y O N YSH K I V ONYSHKIV@KYIVPOST.COM

RosUkrEnergo’s co-owner Dmytro Firtash in 2008 blamed former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko for the murder of businessman and lawmaker Yevhen Shcherban, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor wrote in a diplomatic cable published on the WikiLeaks website on Dec. 1.

“He (Firtash) stated that Lazarenko ordered the killings of Donetsk Governor Yevhen Scherban in 1996 and the head of [gas trading company] Itera in Kyiv for not sharing Lazarenko’s gas business philosophy,” reads the U.S. ambassador’s cable, referring to a conversation that took place on Dec. 8, 2008.

Firtash issued a statement on Dec. 2 refusing to discuss much of what he talked about with Taylor; Lazarenko has always denied involvement in Shcherban's murder.

In the mid-1990s, Shcherban was among the richest people in Ukraine, a prominent and influential member of parliament. He and his wife were assassinated at Donetsk airport in November 1996 by several men posing as police officers who drove up to his private jet and sprayed automatic fire on the passengers.

Prosecutors said the hit on the businessman was intended to eliminate competition for control of Ukraine’s natural gas industry. In 2002, eight men were arrested and tried for the murder. All of them were found guilty, with three receiving life sentences.

This is not the first time Lazarenko was implicated in the murder. Law enforcement officials claimed that Lazarenko, who in August 2006 was convicted and sentenced to prison in the U.S. for money laundering, hired the eight men to kill Shcherban.

Firtash, according to Taylor, describes the gas business in the mid-1990s as “particularly dangerous” and added that Lazarenko was hiring criminals to manage the government and used his position as prime minister for corruption. The gas tycoon also claimed Tymoshenko, who removed RosUkrEnergo from the Russia-Ukraine gas trade in 2009,

Yevhen Shcherban

Pavlo Lazarenko

along with Lazarenko and his assistant Igor Fisherman “divided and conquered the Ukrainian gas market,” the cable said.

He said Tymoshenko made a fortune while heading Unified Energy Systems, an energy trader, explaining that she “made lots of money off of a corrupt, perpetual gas debt scheme during the 1990s, but she knew nothing about the gas business.”

Asked by Kyiv Post about the cable on Dec. 2, Tymoshenko said she had read the text but did not elaborate on the details.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at onyshkiv@kyivpost. com

General partner

Choose the best businesses in Kyiv

Awards Ceremony Host

The Awards Ceremony will be held on Jan. 27

Vote on www.kyivpost.com until Jan. 9 and get a chance to win a certificate for a weekend for 2 persons (comfort room) in

*Best of Kyiv award winners are chosen by the votes of readers and the panel of experts, while the special category

21 categories 111 companies 3 special awards* individual winners – Spirit of Kyiv, Business Person of the Year and Ten-Year Award – are chosen by the Kyiv Post.

16 Opinion

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Friedman: Nation is on edge yet again

Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in November 2004 to support the presidential candidacy of Viktor Yushchenko and overturn an election rigged for challenger Viktor Yanukovych. The Orange Revolution succeeded.

(Kyiv Post file photo)

Æ5 is under the influence or control of a Western power, Russia’s (and Belarus’) southern flank is wide open along an arc running from the Polish border east almost to Volgograd then south to the Sea of Azov, a distance of more than 1,000 miles, more than 700 of which lie along Russia proper. There are few natural barriers.

For Russia, Ukraine is a matter of fundamental national security. For a Western power, Ukraine is of value only if that power is planning to engage and defeat Russia, as the Germans tried to do in World War II. At the moment, given that no one in Europe or in the United States is thinking of engaging Russia militarily, Ukraine is not an essential asset. But from the Russian point of view it is fundamental, regardless of what anyone is thinking of at the moment. In 1932, Germany was a basket case; by 1941, it had conquered the European continent and was deep into Russia. One thing the Russians have learned in a long and painful history is to never plan based

on what others are capable of doing or thinking at the moment. And given that, the future of Ukraine is never a casual matter for them.

It goes beyond this, of course.

Ukraine controls Russia’s access to the Black Sea and therefore to the Mediterranean. The ports of Odessa and Sevastopol provide both military and commercial access for exports, particularly from southern Russia. It is also a critical pipeline route for sending energy to Europe, a commercial and a strategic requirement for Russia, since energy has become a primary lever for influencing and controlling other countries, including Ukraine.

This is why the Orange Revolution in Ukraine in 2004 was critical in transforming Russia’s view of the West and its relationship to Ukraine.

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, Ukraine had a series of governments that remained aligned with Russia. In the 2004 presidential election, the seemingly pro-Russian candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, emerged

the winner in an election that many claimed was fraudulent. Crowds took to the streets and forced Yanukovych’s resignation, and he was replaced by a pro-Western coalition.

The Russians charged that the peaceful rising was engineered by Western intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and MI6, which funneled money into pro-Western NGOs and political parties. Whether this was an intelligence operation or a fairly open activity, there is no question that American and European money poured into Ukraine. And whether it came from warm-hearted reformers or steely eyed CIA operatives didn’t matter in the least to Vladimir Putin. He saw it as an attempt to encircle and crush the Russian Federation.

Putin spent the next six years working to reverse the outcome, operating both openly and covertly to split the coalition and to create a pro-Russian government. In the 2010 elections, Yanukovych returned to power, and from the Russian point of view, the danger was averted. A lot of things went into this reversal. The United States was absorbed in Iraq and Afghanistan and couldn’t engage Russia in a battle for Ukraine. The Germans drew close to the Russians after the 2008 crisis.

Russian oligarchs had close financial and political ties with Ukrainian oligarchs who influenced the election.

There is a large pro-Russian faction in Ukraine that genuinely wants the country to be linked to Russia. And there was deep disappointment in the West’s unwillingness to help Ukraine substantially.

Orange Revolution

Nazi soldiers burn the homes of Ukrainian people during the Second World War. (may9.blox.ua)

On the day we arrived in Kyiv, two things were going on. First there were demonstrations under way protesting government tax policy. Second, Yanukovych was in Belgium for a summit with the European Union. Both of these things animated the proWestern faction in Ukraine, a faction

that remains fixated on the possibility that the Orange Revolution can be recreated and that Ukraine must enter the European Union. These two things are linked.

The demonstrations were linked to a shift in tax law that increased taxes on small-business owners. The main demonstration took place in a large square well-stocked with national flags and other banners. The sound systems in place were quite good. It was possible to hear the speeches clearly. When I pointed out to a pro-Western journalist that it seemed to be a well-funded and organized demonstration, I was assured that it wasn’t well-organized at all. I have not been to other Ukrainian demonstrations but have been pres-

Æ Putin spent six years trying to reverse Orange Revolution ent at various other demonstrations around the world, and most of those were what some people in Texas call a “goat rodeo.” I have never seen one of those, either, but I gather they aren’t well organized. This demonstration did not strike me as a goat rodeo.

This actually matters. There was some excitement among politically aware pro-Westerners that this demonstration could evolve into another Orange Revolution. Some demonstrators were camping out overnight, and there were some excited rumors that police were blocking buses filled with demonstrators and preventing them

from getting to the demonstration.

That would mean that the demonstration would have been bigger without police interference and that the government was worried about another rising.

It just didn’t seem that way to me.

There were ample police in the side streets, but they were relaxed and not in riot gear. I was told that the police with riot gear were hidden in courtyards and elsewhere. I couldn’t prove otherwise. But the demonstration struck me as too well-organized. Passionate and near-spontaneous demonstrations are more ragged, the crowds more restless and growing, and the police more tense. To me, as an outsider, it seemed more an attempt by organization leaders and politicians to generate a sense of political tension than a spontaneous event. But there was a modicum of hope among anti-government factions that this could be the start of something big. When pressed on the probabilities, I was told by one journalist that there was a 5 percent chance it could grow into a rising.

My perception was that it was a tempest in a teapot. My perception was not completely correct. Yanukovych announced later in the week that the new tax law might not go into effect.

[Yanukovych did, in fact, veto the legislation on Nov. 30] Clearly, he did not regard the demonstrations as trivial.

Regardless of whether he would finally bend to the demonstrators’ wishes, he felt he needed to respond.

European dreams On the same day the demonstrations began, Yanukovych left for Brussels with talks about Ukraine entering the European Union. From where I sat, as an American, the European Union appeared at best tarnished and at worst tottering.

The troubles the European Union was facing did not strike pro-EU Ukrainians as changing the basic game.

There was no question in their Æ17

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Opinion 17

Friedman: Ukrainians dream of sovereignty without confronting what it really means Æ16 mind that they wanted Ukraine in the European Union, nor was there any question in their mind that the barriers to entry were in the failure of the Ukrainians to measure up. The idea that EU expansion had suffered a fatal blow due to the Irish or Greek crises was genuinely inconceivable to them. Nothing that was happening in the European Union impacted its attractiveness or its openness. It was all about Ukraine measuring up.

In many countries we have visited there has been a class difference for EU membership. The political and economic elites are enthusiastic, the lower classes much more restrained. In Ukraine, there is also a regional distinction. The eastern third of the country is heavily oriented toward Russia and not to the West. The western third is heavily oriented toward the West. The center of the country tilts toward the West but is divided.

This division defines Ukrainian politics and foreign policy. Yanukovych is seen as having been elected to repudiate the Orange Revolution. Supporters of the Orange Revolution are vehement in their dislike of Yanukovych and believe that he is a Russian tool.

Interestingly, this wasn’t the view in Poland, where government officials and journalists suggested that Yanukovych was playing a more complex game and trying to balance Ukraine between Europe and the Russians.

Whatever Yanukovych intends, it is hard to see how you split the difference. Either you join the European Union or you don’t. I suspect the view is that Yanukovych will try to join but will be rejected. He will therefore balance between the two groups. Certainly, NATO membership is off the table for him. But the European Union is a possibility.

I met with a group of young Ukrainian financial analysts and traders. They suggested that Ukraine be split into two countries, east and west. This is an idea [that] certainly fits in with the Ukrainian tradition of being on the edge, of being split between Europe and Russia. The problem is that there is no clear geographical boundary that can be defined between the two parts, and the center of the country is itself divided.

Far more interesting than their geopolitical speculation was their fixation on Warsaw. Sitting in Kyiv, the young analysts and traders knew everything imaginable about the IPO market, privatization and retirement system in Poland, the various plans and amounts available from those plans for private investment. It became clear that they were more interested in making money in Poland’s markets than they were in the European Union, Ukrainian politics or what the Russians are thinking. They were young and they were traders and they knew who Gordon Gekko was, so this is not a sampling of Ukrainian life.

But what was most interesting was how little talk there was of Ukrainian oligarchs compared to Warsaw markets.

The oligarchs might have been way beyond them and therefore irrelevant, but it was Warsaw, not the European Union or the power structure, that got their juices flowing.

Many of these young financiers dreamed of leaving Ukraine. So did many of the students I met at a uni-

versity. There were three themes they repeated. First, they wanted an independent Ukraine. Second, they wanted it to become part of the European Union. Third, they wanted to leave Ukraine and live their lives elsewhere.

It struck me how little connection there was between their national hopes and their personal hopes. In the end, it boiled down to this: It takes generations to build a nation, and the early generations toil and suffer for what comes later. That is a bitter pill to swallow when you have the option of going elsewhere and living well for yourself now. The tension in Ukraine, at least among the European-oriented, appears to be between building Ukraine and building their own lives.

Æ Oligarchs threatened

by EU rules, while ties to Russia are easier Sort of sovereign But these were members of Ukraine’s Western-oriented class, which was created by the universities. The other part of Ukraine is in the industrial cities of the east. These people don’t expect to leave Ukraine, but they do understand that their industries can’t compete with Europe’s. They know the Russians will buy what they produce, and they fear that European factories in western Ukraine would cost them their jobs.

There is nostalgia for the Soviet Union here, not because they don’t remember the horrors of Stalin but simply because the decadence of Leonid Brezhnev was so attractive to them compared to what came before or after.

Æ Nation’s deepest problem is what to do with its sovereignty Add to them the oligarchs. Not only do they permeate the Ukrainian economy and Ukrainian society but they also link Ukraine closely with the Russians. This is because the major Ukrainian oligarchs are tied to the Russians through complex economic and political arrangements.

They are the frame of Ukraine. When I walked down a street with a journalist, he pointed to a beautiful but derelict building. He said that the super-wealthy buy these buildings for little money and hold them, since they pay no tax, retarding development. For the oligarchs, the European

Union, with its rules and transparency, is a direct challenge, whereas their relation to Russia is part of their daily work.

The Russians are not, I think, trying to recreate the Russian empire. They want a sphere of influence, which is a very different thing. They do not want responsibility for Ukraine or other countries. They see the responsibility as having sapped Russian power.

What they want is a sufficient degree of control over Ukraine to guarantee that potentially hostile forces don’t gain control, particularly NATO or any follow-on entities. The Russians are content to allow Ukraine its internal sovereignty, so long as Ukraine does not become a threat to Russia and so long as gas pipelines running through Ukraine are under Russian control.

That is quite a lot to ask of a sovereign country. But Ukraine doesn’t seem to be primarily concerned with maintaining more than the formal outlines of its sovereignty.

What it is most concerned about is the choice between Europe and Russia. What is odd is that it is not clear that the European Union or Russia want Ukraine. The European Union is not about to take on another weakling. It has enough already.

And Russia doesn’t want the burden of governing Ukraine; Ukrainian sovereignty doesn’t threaten anyone, so long as the borderland remains neutral.

That is what I found most interesting. Ukraine is independent, and I think it will stay independent. Its deepest problem is what to do with that independence, a plan it can formulate only in terms of someone else, in this case Europe or Russia. The great internal fight in Ukraine is not over how Ukraine will manage itself but whether it will be aligned with Europe or Russia. Unlike the 20th century, when the answer to the question of Ukrainian alignment caused wars to be fought, none will be fought now. Russia has what it wants from Ukraine, and Europe will not challenge that.

Ukraine has dreamed of sovereignty without ever truly confronting what it means. I mentioned to the financial analysts and traders that some of my children had served in the military.

They were appalled at the idea. Why would someone choose to go into the military? I tried to explain their reasons, which did not have to do with wanting a good job. The gulf was too vast. They could not understand that national sovereignty and personal service cannot be divided. But then, as I said, most of them hoped to leave Ukraine.

Ukraine has its sovereignty. In some ways, I got the sense that it wants to give that sovereignty away, to find someone to take away the burden.

It isn’t clear, for once, that anyone is eager to take responsibility for Ukraine.

I also did not get the sense that the Ukrainians had come to terms with what it meant to be sovereign. To many, Moscow and Warsaw are more real than Kyiv.

George Friedman is chief executive officer of Stratfor, a geopolitical risk analysis company found at www.stratfor. com

Russian (R) and Ukrainian military personnel march in Kyiv during a parade marking Victory Day in World War II on May 9. (UNIAN)

Kyiv demonstrators shout slogans in protest of tax legislation on Dec. 2.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych vetoed a tax bill that sparked mass protests and parliament on Dec. 2 passed new amendments. Critics say the legislation would have increased the tax burden on the poor, but not the rich. The government defended the legislation as necessary to fund pensions.

Ukraine’s tax laws are complicated, making tax evasion rampant in a nation that raises only about $30 billion in revenues annually. (AP)

People carry the European Union flag during Europe Day celebration in Kyiv in April. Polls show the nation supports joining the EU. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

18 Business

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Insiders say state airline may be sold for less than its worth Æ6 the charter that would allow the sale, but no one supported them.”

But critics of the deal argue that the State Property Fund had a great opportunity to change the airline’s charter while implementing Ukraine’s new law on joint stock companies, which was passed last year but gives companies until April of 2011 to fully comply.

“Instead they [the State Property Fund] left it [the preemptive right clause] in and now they say their hands are tied and they cannot hold an open auction,” according to Olexander Bondar, first deputy head of the Ukrainian parliament’s special control commission on issues of privatization.

A spokesperson at the State Property Fund said the company’s charter prohibits an auction before minority shareholders are offered a chance to buy, and that’s that.

Scott Brown, an attorney at Ukrainian law firm Frishberg and Partners, said that because Ukraine’s new law on joint stock companies does not make the preemptive right clause mandatory, the State Property Fund, as the airline’s majority shareholder, should have been able to take out the clause during compliance changes to the airline’s charter.

During these compliance changes, which turned Ukrainian International Airlines from a closed joint stock company into a private company, longtime minority shareholders such as Austrian Airlines (over 22 percent) and the European Bank for Reconstruction

Oleksandr Ryabchenko, head of Ukraine’s State Property Fund. (UNIAN)

and Development (almost 10 percent) began to make their exit.

At the same time, Ukrainian businessman Aron Mayberg, who headed the supervisory board of Ukraine’s other leading airline Aerosvit until November of last year, began to consolidate his stake in the airline.

Repeated attempts to reach Mayberg were unsuccessful.

Mayberg is now to all intents and purposes the only other shareholder in Ukrainian International Airlines besides the Ukrainian state, sources

close to the company told the Kyiv Post. Austrian Airlines has already left, and the EBRD is on its way out, the sources said.

During his Nov. 22 press conference, Ryabchenko himself all but acknowledged the advantage Mayberg was given in the company. “It would be more profitable for us to sell the share package in an open tender, but not for them [i.e. Mayberg and the exiting shareholders],” Ryabchenko told journalists.

And that advantage will be primar-

ily predicated in the price Mayberg is expected to pay in deal expected this month.

Privatization watchdog Oleksandr Bondar, himself a former State Privatization Fund chief, called the sum of Hr 250 million ridiculously low.

“If they were going to agree a single price with a single buyer, they could have at least made it a fair one,” he said. “No one knows how much the company is worth because it’s never been put up for auction, but if you take into account all the aircraft, buildings and other assets alone, this figure is of course inadequate.”

The entire airline has been valued in media reports as high as $150 million – Hr 1.2 billion – with internationals such as Lufthansa, Aeroflot, Air France and Turkish Airlines once seen as potential bidders However, it’s not clear if any of these airlines are currently interested in buying Ukrainian International Airlines or how much debt the state-owned carrier has, Bondar acknowledged.

Ukrainian International Airlines Executive Vice President Richard Creagh said he and the rest of the management are happy with the government’s decision to finally privatize its stake, which is expected to cut bureaucracy and open up new sources of funding.

“I think that privatization will go towards greater growth,” Creagh said, recalling, however, that the expected sale is still not a done deal.

If the State Privatization Fund does

sell Ukrainian International Airlines this month, it will still be a drop in the bucket of the government’s loft privatization plans.

The State Privatization Fund had only fulfilled its privatization plan by 9.3 percent, or Hr 588 million, this year as of November, Ryabchenko said during his press conference.

But more importantly, the sale will represent yet another highly questionable disposal of state assets by the current government.

In June 2010, the government sold a 76 percent stake in big locomotive maker Luhanskteplovoz to Russian Bryanskiy Zavod in an auction for $51.8 million, or almost $7 million less than the same buyer paid for the plant three years earlier. The 2007 sale had been cancelled by a court decision because the only two bidders were both part of Russian Transmashholding and the sales price was tens of millions of dollars less than the company’s market capitalization at the time.

The State Property Fund has also announced that it will auction off state telecoms giant Ukrtelecom, the country’s monopoly provider of fixed-line communications. However, critics have already pointed out that the tender conditions set by the State Property Fund exclude major international investors who have expressed interest in the asset. "The only way this government knows how to sell assets is through the back door,” Bondar said.

Kyiv Post staff writer John Marone can be reached at marone@kyivpost.com

Lifestyle

www.kyivpost.com

Food Critic

Blunt, erotic and obnoxious writing

by Irena Karpa

WITH ANTONINA ARMASHULA

Big difference between dining abroad vs. in Ukraine

BY O LE SI A O LE SH KO OLESHKO@KYIVPOST.COM

At first bite, her writing seems dense, dotty, suicidal and deluded. But if you keep at it, you may understand what appeals to Ukraine’s youth.

Writer, TV host and singer Irena Karpa is anything but a clichÊ. Just like many young people, she uses foul language and speaks her mind on just about anything, be it sex or politics. Unlike most of her peers though, she is not afraid to put it all into writing. Æ25

Writer Irena Karpa (M) is the enfant terrible of Ukrainian modern literature.

Apart from blogging her many thoughts, she models, hosts TV shows, travels, raises a child and sings in the band Qarpa seen in this photo. (www. irenakarpa.com)

234-6300, 234-6310: newsroom news@kyivpost.com

Æ23

December 3, 2010

Play | Food | Entertainment | Sports | Culture | Music | Movies | Art | Community Events

234-6503: advertising advertising@kyivpost.com

Dive into Kozak history with this rare find at the bottom of the Dnipro River

234-6503: subscriptions subscribe@kyivpost.com

$PNJOH 4PPO ,B[BLITUBO Nauryz, Constitution Day, Dec. 17 To be an advertising partner for World in Ukraine, please contact advertising@kyivpost.com or call 234-6503

In France, the minute you walk into a restaurant, a waiter will offer you a glass of champagne.

In Italy, Paolo and Roberta will suggest both a glass of water and champagne in between gossip. In Kyiv, however, you’ll be prompted to get a freshly-squeezed juice at best. On the one hand, it’s great if waiters care about our health, but somehow I feel it has to do more with the price of drinks on offer than anything else. A single glass of juice in Kyiv can get as expensive as a glass of Mumm in Paris.

This little observation got me thinking of the subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences between Ukrainian and foreign restaurants. Here’s my short list.

Apart from the aperitif, what else can raise an eyebrow if you are more used to spending your hard-earned euro on the streets of Tokyo rather than near metro Politekhnik Institute? Try asking for a green salad to go with your main. “What do you mean: green salad?

Do you want grilled vegetables? Or we can serve rice,� is the most typical answer from almost any waiting staff I’ve met in Kyiv.

How about a glass of tap water?

Well, cross that one off too. If you are asking for tap water in Kyiv, it means you’ve just landed in Boryspil and haven’t read your Lonely Planet yet.

Next come cheese platters, which should be a relatively safe dish to order. Some camembert and blue go really well with port and crackers and perhaps a silly we-will-rule-the-world-one-day discussion, which usually matures towards the end of your meal. In Kyiv, however, your cheese platter will come as a starter most of the times, when you are still too sober to be taking over the country’s leadership.

Another grudge that I hold against the eateries on this side of the Danube River is the violation of my choice to skip the main course. Why can’t a girl have her starter and then go directly to desert? Do waiters always have to reinstate for the whole room to hear it. “So, you will only have a carpaccio and then tiramisu?

Can I still convince you to try our chicken or a potato puree? No? Oh, ok then,� she would say, rolling her eyes and giving me a sigh.

Somehow I always feel that I am this annoying small redhead who orders the cheapest items on the menu and occupies the seat of a big Ukrainian man who would have paid for five steaks and a bottle of vodka by now.

But that’s all peanuts compared to the waiting time Æ27

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Kyiv to host title bout

A boxing world title will be on the line in Kyiv as Chechen Zaurbek Baysangurov faces off against Columbia’s Richard Gutierrez for the vacant IBO light-middleweight belt. Baysangurov, 25, is coming off the back of a convincing threeround win over Portugal’s Eugenio Monteiro on the undercard of Vitali Klitschko’s bout with Shannon Briggs in Germany in October.

In his first world title fight, Baysangurov comes up against veteran Columbian Gutierrez, 32.

Baysangurov holds a record of 24 victories and only one defeat, while Gutierrez has 26 wins, four losses and one draw.

The fights are organized by K2 Promotions, a firm set up by Ukraine’s world heavyweight champions Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko. The event will take place in the Ice Arena at the Terminal Brovary shopping and entertainment center. As well as the main bout, it features undercards packed with Ukrainian fighting talent.

Saturday, Dec. 4, 6 p.m., Terminal Mall, Brovary, 316 Kyivska St., 200-1317. Tickets: Hr 50-300

(courtesy)

Argentinean tango

Sunday, Dec. 5

Belgian chocolate, French perfumes, Argentinean tango. These are known internationally for their excellence. You’ve most likely regaled on chocolate and seduced wearing sexy perfume, but have you tried real tango?

Premium Argentinean dancers Silvio Grand and Mayra Galante come to Kyiv for the second time. Their passion on stage will be accompanied by Russian tango orchestra Soledad Orquestra. For more authenticity, they brought a special Argentinean music instrument, a bandoneon, which is reportedly an exact copy of Astor Piazzolla’s instrument.

Sunday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., Budynok Ofitseriv, 30/1 Hrushevskoho. www.tangogrand.com.ar. Tickets: Hr 100-500

Wednesday, Dec. 8 – Thursday, Dec. 9 (musicplace.screaming.net)

(chechenfighters.com)

Saturday, Dec. 4

Legendary musical Notre Dame de Paris This may sound too good to be true. After 12 years of silence, the original cast of the legendary musical Notre Dame de Paris is back together.

The famous story of a hunchback and Esmeralda was adapted for stage in Paris in 1998.

The musical claimed rapturous success. According to the Guinness Book of Records, Notre Dame de Paris had the most successful first year of any musical ever. It had been translated into many languages, including German, Lithuanian, Russian, English and Polish.

The famous song Belle held first place for 33 weeks on French music charts and was later named the best song of the half-century in France.

Don’t miss this spectacular show by Garou, Bruno Pelletier, Helene Segara and other big stars accompanied by 60 musicians of symphonic orchestra and a 40-member choir.

Wednesday, Dec. 8, Thursday, Dec. 9, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylkivska. Tickets: Hr 100-5000

Saturday, Dec. 4

(courtesy)

20 Seven Days

Plan ahead Sophi Ellis-Bextor is a 31-year old English singer, composer and model. After starting off as lead singer of the indie rock band Theaudience, she went solo in the early 2000s. Her indie days are over, and she is now into electropop, house and disco. Performing perfect dance floor fillers, she’s not to be missed in Kyiv.

As for her modeling career, together with Kate Moss she became the face of Rimmel cosmetics in 2008 and recently renewed her contract.

Saturday, Dec. 4, Crystal Hall, 1 Dniprovsky uzviz, 288-5069.

Tickets: Hr 400 Anna Netrebko is a Russian soprano opera singer whose talent earned her an invitation from almost every top opera house in the world.

Netrebko started as a cleaning lady in the famous Mariyinsky Theater in St. Petersburg but was soon gathering full house with her concerts.

In 2007, Time magazine mentioned her among the 100 most influential people in the world.

Sunday, Dec. 5, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylkivska.

Tickets: Hr 180-6000. www.annanetrebko.com In between fighting snow on the streets and chasing Christmas presents, find an evening for special holiday music. Christmas Melodies is a cocktail of best-known international music pieces from the world’s prominent composers: Bach, Hendel, Mozart and Tchaikovsky – among others.

Ukrainian New Era orchestra is in charge of infusing the Christmas spirit.

Friday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m., Cultural center Master-Klass, 34 Mazepy, metro Arsenalna, 594-1063. Tickets: Hr 50 Toni Braxton’s life is anything but boring. The American soul and R&B star knows the celebrity lifestyle drill too well. First ravished by fans and wanted at every party, she succumbed to oblivion squeezed out by other stars.

After a short period of silence, she regrouped and bounced back up.

This gorgeous singer won six Grammy awards, sold 40 million album copies and made the world hum with her “Un-break My Heart” hit. The problem with Braxton though is that she is not a very good accountant. The star has gone bankrupt twice, getting into millions of dollars worth of debt.

Sunday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylkivska.

Tickets: Hr 250-2950 30 Seconds to Mars is an American alternative rock band. In 1998, brothers Shannon and Jared Leto started their family band, with other members joining throughout the years. The band’s name comes from a thesis written by one Harvard professor, which the singers found online.

It talked about the exponential growth of human technology and implied we were indeed 30 seconds away from planet Mars. The band felt it was a perfect way to describe their music.

Sunday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Mizhnarodny Vystavkovy Tsentr, 15 Brovarsky prospekt. Tickets: Hr 400-700

Holiday bazaar For a taste of Christmas in a vibrant pot of cultures, head to the Holiday Bazaar organized by International Women’s Club Kyiv.

In its 18th year, the fair presents ethnic food, souvenirs, clothing and whatever other trinkets from more than 30 embassies in Ukraine. It’s a good opportunity to get an unusual Christmas gift from faraway lands without having to travel anywhere.

A traditional grand raffle is a good chance to win airline tickets, car rental certificates and home electronics, among other precious gifts. IWCK is known for its charitable work, and the Holiday Bazaar is their main fundraiser of the year. All the money collected will be spent on noble causes - such as, for example, helping children with Down syndrome.

Saturday, Dec. 4, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 33 Velyka Zhytomyrska St., 234-3180, www.iwck.org. Entrance fee: Hr 30

Compiled by Nataliya Horban and James Marson.

www.kyivpost.com

Movies

Live Music

The scene from comic documentary ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop.’ (www.trespassmag.com)

ZHOVTEN 26 Konstyantynivska St., 205-5951 www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua Exit Through the Gift Shop Dec. 3-8 at 3:15 p.m., 8:10 p.m.

Dec. 5 at 12:05 p.m.

Sorry, but I Want to Marry You Dec. 3-4, 6-8 at 2:10 p.m., 5:55 p.m.

Dec. 5 at 1:35 p.m., 5:55 p.m.

Phantom Pain Dec. 3, 6-8 at 4:05 p.m., 9:40 p.m.

Dec. 4 at 12:20 p.m., 4:05 p.m., 9:40 p.m.

Dec. 5 at 11:45 a.m., 9:40 p.m.

THE MASTER CLASS CLUB 34 Mazepy St., 594-1063, www.masterklass.org/eng If Paris Were Told to Us Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.

White Christmas Dec. 9 at 7 p.m.

EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP Language: English with Ukrainian subtitles Documentary/Comedy. UK (2010) Directed by Banksy Starring Banksy, Thierry Guetta, Space Invader An eccentric French shopkeeper becomes a documentary filmmaker in Los Angeles. He wants to find a notorious British graffiti artist, Banksy, and befriend him. Banksy, however, is a tough cookie. His street art mocks politics, religion and social structures through witty visual images sprayed on the houses and pavements. He keeps his identity secret and doesn’t let camera capture his face. His real name is believed to be Robert or Robin Banks.

Dubbed as the world’s first street art disaster movie, the film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shephard Fairey, and Invader, among many other famous graffiti artists at work.

SORRY, BUT I WANT TO MARRY YOU Language: Italian with Ukrainian subtitles Comedy/Drama/Romance. Italy (2010) Directed by Federico Moccia Starring Raoul Bova, MichelaQuattrociocche, Francesco Apolloni The story is a sequel of the romantic comedy “Sorry, But I Love You.” Despite a big age difference, Alex and Niki decide to get married.

She’s a bubbly teenager and he’s hitting his 40s working in the advertising agency. It’s all fireworks at the start, but with the wedding day around the corner, Niki starts doubting if she’s doing the right thing. The film seems like a fresh light comedy good to cure winter blues, if just for one evening.

Lifestyle 21

December 3, 2010

WHITE CHRISTMAS Language: English with English subtitles Comedy/Musical/Romance. USA (1954) Directed by Michael Curtiz Starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney After the World War II, two soldiers, Bob Wallace and Phil Davis start a sing-anddance duet. When they meet a sister act, they decide to go to the Vermont skiing resort to put a Christmas show together. The lodge owner happens to be the lads’ former general. A series of romantic exchanges ensues as you would expect from the good old days holiday classic. The music is written

by Irving Berlin, the author of “God bless America”, the unofficial anthem of United States.

IF PARIS WERE TOLD TO US Language: French with Ukrainian or Russian subtitles History. France (1956) Directed by Sacha Guitry Starring Françoise Arnoul, Jeanne Boitel, Gilbert Bokanowski This beautiful old classic tells the story of Paris from its early days. Director Guitry dresses up as the ghost of King Louis XI to tell his modern-day students about French royalty and people on the streets. There is Charles VII and Agnes Sorel, the establishment of a printing house, the Louvre at the time of Francois I, St. Bartholomew’s death, the murder of Henry III by a monk, the trial of Marie Antoinette, Paris Commune, the Dreyfus

Russian singer Inna Zhelannaya (www.club.foto.ru)

CINEMA

BUDYNOK KINO 6 Saksaganskogo St., 287-7557 La Petite Jerusalem Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. affair and many, many other events to recall.

LA PETITE JERUSALEM Language: French with Ukrainian subtitles Drama. France (2005) Directed by Karin Albou Starring Fanny Valette, Elsa Zylberstein, Bruno Todeschini In Parisian suburbs, young and beautiful Jewish woman Laura has to choose between her heart’s desire and her family. She falls in love with a Muslim co-worker, which her strict Jewish family is unlikely to accept.

Laura has to convince sister Mathilde, her Orthodox husband, their four children and their Tunisian mother that she's got a good man. See how she gets on.

PHANTOM PAIN Language: German with Ukrainian subtitles Drama. Germany (2009) Directed by Matthias Emcke Starring Til Schweiger, Jana Pallaske, Stipe Erceg Mark is an excellent storyteller and a handsome man. He spends all his free time traveling on a bicycle, surviving on odd jobs, boozing and accidentally breaking hearts.

Unreliable and constantly broke, he even evades parental duties with his daughter Sarah (played by Til Schweiger’s own daughter, Luna).

His life changes dramatically after the accident where he loses his leg. In addition, Mark faces a new challenge : He falls in love.

ART CLUB 44 44B Khreshchatyk St., 279-4137, www.club44.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 8 – 10 p.m.

Dec. 3 Crazy Friday: G-Sound, Hr 50 Dec. 4 Inna Zhelannaya (Russia), Hr 100 Dec. 5 Soiuz 44 Jam Session, free admission Dec. 6 Lela Project (jazz), free admission Dec. 7 Winter Jazz Nights: New generation, Hr 30 Dec. 8 Jim Morrison Birthday Party: YouCrane, Prime, Hr 40 Dec. 9 Balkan Party, Hr 20

Dec. 9 Mojo Jo Jo, free admission

DOCKER’S ABC 15 Khreshchatyk St., 278-1717, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m.

Dec. 3 Chilibombers, Tres Deseos, Hr 70 Dec. 4 UkrayinSKA, Partizanskie Vytivky, Hr 70 Dec. 5 Vostochny Express, free admission Dec. 6 Mojo Jo Jo, free admission Dec. 7 More Huana, Hr 20 Dec. 8 The Magma, Hr 30 Dec. 9 Rockabilly Party: Mr. Och & His Root Boys, Hr 30

PORTER PUB 3 Mazepy St., 280-1996, www.porter.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 7:30 p.m.

Dec. 3 Yuhym Dym, Dec. 4 Tysha Dec. 5 RomaNika Dec. 8 Maks Tavricheski Dec. 9 Juke Box

DOCKER PUB 25 Bohatyrska St., metro Heroyiv Dnipra, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m.

Dec. 3 Tabula Rasa, Red Rocks, Hr 70 Dec. 4 Antitela, Mr. Och & His Root Boys, Hr 70 Dec. 5 Foxtrot Music Band, free admission Dec. 6 Lemmons, free admission Dec. 7 Tres Deseos Latino Party, free admission Dec. 8 Rockin’ Wolves, free admission

BOCHKA PYVNA ON KHMELNYTSKOHO 4B-1 Khmelnytskoho St, metro Teatralna, 390-6106, www.bochka.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9-10 p.m.

Dec. 3 Hutsul Kalipso (rock), Hr 40 Dec. 4 G-Sound, Kalvados Dec. 7 Bochka Jack Pot ¼: Extra! Extra! vs.

Chaika Joly, Hr 30 Dec. 8 True Colors Dec. 9 Tabula Rasa, Vytivky, Hr 60

Other live music clubs: PIVNA NO.1 ON BASEYNA, 15 Baseyna St., 287-44-34, www.pivna1.com.ua JAZZ DO IT 76A Velyka Vasylkivska St., 599-7617, http://jazz-doit.com.ua DRAFT 1/2 Khoryva St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha, 463-7330 KHLIB CLUB 12 Frunze St., www.myspace. com/xlibclub CHESHIRE CAT 9 Sklyarenko St., 428-2717 O’BRIEN’S 17A Mykhaylivska St., 279-1584 DAKOTA 14G Heroyiv Stalinhrada St., 468-7410 U KRUZHKI 12/37 Dekabrystiv St., 562-6262.

Compiled by Alexandra Romanovskaya and Svitlana Kolesnykova

22 Lifestyle

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Winner of Spirit of Kyiv award calls on others to give back to community

BY O K S A N A FA RY N A FARYNA@KYIVPOST.COM

Curtis “B.J.” Bjelajac won the Kyiv Post’s first-ever Spirit of Kyiv award last year.

This year’s winner will be announced on Jan. 27, at the newspaper’s 10th annual Best of Kyiv awards.

Bjelajac, a 42-year-old American citizen known as “B.J.,” served as the president of the Kyiv Lions Club between January 2009 and March 2010, during which he managed to help the service organization raise $165,000 for charitable projects – a record amount that came amid last year’s sharp economic downturn.

The money got spent on about 20 projects in and around Kyiv. For instance, $50,000 was spent to purchase equipment for the Ohmatdit Children’s Hospital. A similar amount went for renovation and equipment at the pediatrician department of the neurological institute in Kyiv.

Bjelajac, pleasant in manner and quick with a smile, was something of a consensus choice as exemplifying the best of the Spirit of Kyiv. He said winning the award helped raise the profile of the Kyiv Lions Club.

“In association with the Kyiv Post, the Kyiv Lions Club enhanced its reputation as a reliable charity organization in Kyiv,” Bjelajac said. “For me it was very flattering. I was extremely proud to win the award, especially because other

people were nominated for it, including [lawyer] Bates C. Toms and [American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine president] Jorge Zukoski, both amazing people. Now I feel even more responsible to always try to do my best to support Kyiv and people who live here.”

So what qualities is Bjelajac looking for in the next Spirit of Kyiv winner? He hopes the Kyiv Post chooses a person who is actively trying to enhance the quality of life in as many ways as possible.

“They should not just take, they need to give back to the city,” B.J. said.

“To live here in Kyiv, to make money and give nothing to the city and then leave, I don’t believe that is the Spirit of Kyiv. I think the Spirit of Kyiv appears when a person arrives to the city and then makes it a better place because of the job he's done.”

As a past president, Bjelajac’s continues to take part in Lion’s Club activities. At the moment, he is helping to organize a Christmas fair to be held in Vyshenky village near Kyiv on Dec. 5. The money raised will go towards Lions Club projects and New Year’s presents for children from orphanages and boarding schools.

Bjelajac works as chief financial officer of the Science and Technology Center of Ukraine. The organization redirects Ukrainian scientists that used to work with weapons of mass destruction to work on peaceful applications.

The Spirit of Kyiv winner arrived

ÆI think the Spirit of Kyiv appears when a person arrives to the city and then makes it a better place because of the job he’s done. in Ukraine from the American state of California in 1997. Bjelajac came as a volunteer of MBA Enterprise Corps, an organization which deploys recently-graduated MBAs from the top 52 U.S. business schools for long-term volunteer assignments with the goal of driving growth in emerging economies worldwide. Bjelajac helped Ukrainian businesses work on the transition to market economics. He consulted on how to write business plans and apply accounting systems.

During his first time in Kyiv, Bjelajac met his wife. Together they are raising a daughter and are expecting a second child. Once or twice a year, Bjelajac visits the United States, but would prefer to stay in Kyiv.

“I miss my friends and relatives in the U.S., but I don’t miss the United States. My life is here now,” he said.

“My family and I are committed to Ukraine, and for the next 10 years we want to live here. My wife and I would like our children to learn the three

languages of their family -- Ukrainian, Russian, and English.”

Bjelajac’s grandparents moved to the United Stated from the former Yugoslavia before World War II for economic reasons. “I am second-generation American,” Bjelajac said. “Some of my father’s family was from Slovenia, my grandmother was from Croatia and grandfather was Serbian.”

His surname in Serbian means “white.” But the word is so hard to pronounce that Bjelajac does not mind if colleagues call him just “B.J.” He’s been answering to the nickname since he was age 9, when there there was another boy named Curtis on his soccer team. The coach distinguished the two boys by calling Bjelajac “B.J.” and it stuck.

“When I moved to Kyiv, cooking became something I did more than in the United States. We like to cook spicy things like Thai and Mexican food,” Bjelajac said. “We live near Shevchenko Park and like to walk there very much.

Curtis “B.J.” Bjelajac

We enjoy going outside Kyiv for different ‘shashlyk’ restaurants where they have children’s playgrounds.”

“B.J.” is a man content with his place in life. “Kyiv is an amazing city, with very cool people, and we are here because we want to be here,” he said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at faryna@kyivpost.com

Penguins and politics in works of Ukraine’s top contemporary writer

BY N ATA L I A A . F E D US C HAK FEDUSCHAK@KYIVPOST.COM

Writer Andrey Kurkov has been traveling Europe promoting his books. At 49, he is possibly Ukraine’s best-known writer. With his novels translated into 25 languages, including English, his covers have regularly appeared on European best-seller lists.

Gone are the days of writing luxuriously, Kurkov told an audience at Lviv’s book festival in September. “I’ve learned to travel everywhere with a notebook computer. I write in hotels, in planes.”

Kurkov gained international recognition after the 2001 publication of “Death and the Penguin.” It is the story of a Kyiv writer named Victor who adopts a depressed penguin from the zoo and who writes obituaries of people who are still living, containing coded messages to the mafia for their next hits.

That was followed by other books including “A Matter of Death and Life,” “The Good Angel of Death,” “Penguin Lost” and “The President’s Last Love.”

Most of his works are available in English. His acclaim is now so widespread that Kurkov has been asked to be a juror for several literary awards, including Great Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize.

Success, however, has been hard won.

Kurkov, whose first attempts at literature came in childhood poems about the deaths of his pet hamster and Vladimir Lenin, spent years trying to get published abroad. When he finally

Andrey Kurkov presents ’Milkman in the Night’ in Kyiv on Feb. 18, 2008.

(UNAIN)

did receive a positive response, Kurkov spent the next several days feeling lost because the effort of getting published outside his homeland had become the rhythm of his life.

Nowadays, however, Kurkov spends much of his time helping to promote other writers. An ethnic Russian, Kurkov has become a passionate proponent of Ukrainian-language books and authors.

“The Ukrainian-language market is growing much faster than the Russian,” he said during an interview with the Kyiv Post.

In part, that is because a new crop of Ukrainian-language writers – Irena Karpa, Liubko Deresh, Serhei Zhadan

– are producing works , sometimes surreal and esoteric, which have struck a chord with younger audiences. “They prefer this kind of literature,” Kurkov said of contemporary Ukrainians.

Reading books in Ukrainian has also become a form of “protest” for many young people who are opposed to the policies of President Viktor Yanukovych and the current government, which continue to undermine the Ukrainian language, Kurkov said.

The Ukrainian-language novel is popular in eastern Ukraine and Ukrainian is becoming fashionable at universities. “I’m optimistic Ukraine will never become more Russian than it was,” he said.

ÆKurkov’s acclaim is so wide-spread he’s been asked to be a juror of the prestigious Booker Prize in the U.K. Kurkov, whose novels betray a political undercurrent, has not shied away from criticizing the current administration. He said president is “not educated enough” and that “the Russians are pushing Yanukovych into an awkward position” because they are not showing Ukraine preferential treatment.

“It’s easy to judge Russia because it’s predictable,” he said. Its goal “is to recreate the Soviet Union.”

The political situation that has developed in recent months is “probably more sad than dangerous,” he contends. “It’s more or less obvious that the opposition isn’t united, but is a group of ambitious people.”

Kurkov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, to a mother who was a doctor and a father who was a test pilot.

He moved to Kyiv as a child and the capital has been his home for decades.

Married to an Englishwoman, he is the father of three children.

Kyiv and its multiples layers are at the heart of many of Kurkov’s books and he has been known to give guests tours of the city on occasion. “For some, Kyiv is a part of an exotic world,” he said.

Kurkov has written 13 novels and 5 children’s books. His latest work, Sadovnyk iz Ochakova, published

by Folio this year, tells the story of a 30-year-old man who puts on an old police uniform that transports him back in time and place to 1957 Ochakiv, where numerous surprises await him.

Kurkov writes in Russian since it is the language with which he is most comfortable. He wrote one story in Ukrainian this year for a book about dreams that was published by Ivan Malkovych, the renowned children’s book publisher.

Despite his international acclaim, Kurkov seems underappreciated at home. His recent experience in France promoting “Milkman in the Night” highlights the difference between how other countries and Ukraine honor their writers.

When he was in France, Kurkov gave numerous media interviews and appeared on the nation’s leading television stations to talk about his work.

During the Lviv book forum, he was asked at the last minute to present a talk. Still, Kurkov is determined to forge on and continue taking his laptop on the road. “I want to help promote new writers,” he said.

Kyiv Post staff writer Natalia A. Feduschak can be reached at feduschak@ kyivpost.com

www.kyivpost.com

Lifestyle 23

December 3, 2010

Fragments of the retrieved 18th century Kozak boat seen in Zaporizhya on Nov. 18. (UNIAN)

Kozak boat discovered in Dnipro River

BY T E T YA N A B OY C H EN KO a n d R O M A N F E S C H EN KO BOYCHENKO@KYIVPOST.COM AND FESCHENKO@KYIVPOST.COM

Archaeologists retrieved a rare treasure in November from the bottom of Ukraine’s Dnipro River near the city of Zaporizhya. After waging wars some 300 years ago, a Kozak (Cossack) boat rested, waiting to be discovered under water off Ukraine’s largest island and historical stronghold Khortytsya.

Historians regale in the new finding, claiming it to be the only well-preserved artifact of 18th century Ukrainian shipbuilding. Sediment apparently helped preserve much of the boat’s structure, making it much more than a retrieved pile of wood. The story of Ukraine’s first freedom fighters, which can be traced behind the water-soaked beams

and masts, is what makes this find truly special.

The boat is like a time capsule representing an important part of Ukraine’s history. Historians think the boat participated in the 1735-1739 Russian war against the Turks and most likely was part of the Dnipro Flotilla.

It was discovered at Zaporizka Sich, a fort compound established

by Ukrainian Kozak warriors in the 16th century on the Dnipro islands.

It was a place where enslaved peasants could find shelter and join the free-spirited warriors. Fighting Turks, Poles and Russians in different times, this group of Ukrainian diehards eventually grew into a strong republic – a prototype of the independent Ukrainian state.

The reason for unleashing the war in which the boat allegedly took part were

Khortytsya Island, the kozaks’ stronghold in the 16-18 centuries, is now a popular tourist destination (top). One of the reconstructed cossack boats sails during a festival in Sevastopol in this file photo (bottom). (UNIAN)

numerous attacks by Crimean Tatars, the Ottoman Empire vassals, against left-bank Ukraine, which was then controlled by the Russian Empire. The war was also a part of Russia’s campaign to gain access to the Black Sea. Cossack vessels were the main force to resist Turkish galleys in the Black Sea. With a capacity to carry up to 40 people onboard, it is 17 meters long and 3.4 meters wide. “Even though it was an ordinary vessel back in the 18th century, it is the only Kozak boat of this type we have now,” said Andriy Denysenko of the Khortytsya National Park.

Valeriy Nefyodov, the chief nautical archeologist who commanded the boat’s retrieval, believes such vessels gave rise to modern marine infantry.

“Due to its small size, high speed and maneuverability, such boats served

Restaurantmuseum The perfect place for relaxing,business meetings and corporate events

Guests

are welcome to visit:

billiard and a launge bar

Proletarian delicious cuisine, business lunches 12.00-15.00 and live sports events.

two halls

Call 200-18-81 www.trc-bolshevik.com

as tactical and strategic vessels,” said Nefyodov. “It is no wonder why they gained numerous victories over Turkish ships.”

After the war, the Dnipro flotilla, which included more than 300 ships back then, was disbanded.

All the Kozak vessels returned to the northern part of Khortytsya Island, where they were based. “As no one looked after the ships, they started to sink,” Denysenko says.

When archaeologists retrieved the wreck, they were impressed with its craftsmanship.

They called it “The Oak” because of the type of wood used to make its hull and sheathing. The wreck itself does not resemble much of a boat today, but after some restoration works it will join other Kozak-related discoveries in the museum on Khortytsya Island. There

are more than 60 other archeological sightseeing attractions on the island along with nice parks and recreation sites.

How to get to Khortytsya To get there from Kyiv, take the Kyiv–Zaporizhya train (Hr 131) or Kyiv–Zaporizhya bus (Hr 125). A taxi from the Zaporizhya railway station to Khortytsya Island costs Hr 20. The admission fee is Hr 6. Some Kozak boats are displayed in the restoration hall (southern part of Khortytsya Island, close to the Zaporizhska Sich horse cavalry theater) free of charge by prior arrangement.

Kyiv Post staff writers Tetyana Boychenko and Roman Feschenko can be reached at boychenko@kyivpost.com and feschenko@kyivpost.com

24 Paparazzi

December 3, 2010

www.kyivpost.com

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend at a Kyiv ball

Singer Anna Sedakova

Paintings drawn by children are on display in front of the orchestra before they go to auction

Playboy star Iryna Olhovska (standing)

Æ

A glamorous reception, a charitable cause and a symphony orchestra came together to create the first diamond ball in Ukraine, “The Glam Classic Fair,” on Nov. 26. The jewelrystudded event took place in Kyiv’s National Philharmonic. A modern lighting system was ordered especially for the ball to make the whole building shine brightly. Like its predecessors held in Monte Carlo, Nizza, San Trope, and Miami, Kyiv’s ball was aimed not for dancing but for charity. Ukrainian and foreign bohemia gathered to buy pictures made by children suffering from cancer. Some Hr 100,000 was raised to buy special equipment for the state children's Okhmatdyt clinic in Kyiv. (Roman Hrytsenko)

Reporter Aleksandr Lukyanenko (L), promoter Anastasia Shyrokova (C) and socialite Natalya Okunska

If you want Kyiv Post Paparazzi to cover your event, please send details or invitations to news@kyivpost.com or contact photo editor Yaroslav Debelyi at 234-6500 Singer Olena Vinnytska

Olympic gymnast Liliya Podkopayeva

Celebrity reporter Kateryna Osadcha (L) interviews dancer Vlad Yama Apple pie by dancer Vlad Yama

Singer Oleksandr Ponomaryov (R)

Celebrities show off their cooking skills Ukrainian celebrities showed they can not only work on stage, but in the kitchen as well. On Nov. 24, singers and dancers flocked to the Story Cafe on NaberezhnoKhreshchatytska St. to show their sleight of hand with salads, soups and cakes. Sadly, the Kyiv Post wasn’t allowed backstage to see them wearing aprons and fussing over recipies. Snapping pictures of veal carpaccio and ratatouille, however, was allowed. Story Cafe has incorporated these star-studded recipies into its menu along with French, Italian and Japanese dishes. Check out this eatery if you are on a date with a model, starlet or someone into glitz and glam of show-business. (Serhiy Zavalnyuk)

www.kyivpost.com

Lifestyle 25

December 3, 2010

Karpa’s six novels show what appeals to nation’s youth Æ19

Picture this: The 29-year old skinny brunette-turned-blond shows up in a night club to meet her fans and announce her will. “I leave my new novel to my agent, a collection of wines to my husband, jewelry to my daughter and savings to dog shelters,� said Karpa tossing the script to the agent at the end. Startling as ever, she lands at the table releasing a happy sigh. Speaking with the Kyiv Post, she explains that this “will� is to be part of a new television show called The Last Day of My Life. “The initial idea is to have me dying, after choking on a bead in a cup of coffee,� she said.

What happens next in the program is still a secret but the type of death she painted seems quite boring for a person who’s trying to live a non-trite life.

Karpa has written six novels to date, selling more than 50,000 copies altogether, which is not bad at all as far as Ukrainian book industry standards go. Her characters travel through Asia and Europe looking for trouble and romance. With no strings attached,

ÆHer characters travel through Asia and Europe looking for trouble and romance. With no strings attached, they break up with each other as soon as someone smells commitment. they break up with each other as soon someone smells commitment and continue promiscuity.

In “Freud Would Cry,� “The Pearl Porn� and “Bitches Get Everything,� a plot is hard to trace. A mixture of travel notes and philosophical flashbacks, her fiction – largely based on personal experience – reads a lot like a blog. “There are many prolific female bloggers willing to disclose their private life for a larger audience,� said literary critic Vira Baldyniuk. “But while they are daydreaming about a writer’s career, Karpa will publish a couple of new books, record CDs and even

Irena Karpa poses in front of the barbed wire in Sikkim, Himalayas, North India.

(Courtesy)

spare some time to take part in public protests.�

Karpa doesn’t shy away from erotic scenes and dirty language. “You wouldn’t advertise her books in the children’s section of a bookstore,� said Svitlana Skliar, Karpa’s publisher.

The word “porn� in the title of one of Karpa’s books made Skliar send the book to the National Commission for Morality, a government body designed to review entertainment and culture artifacts on the grounds of morality and social benefits. Bureaucrats categorized it as “erotic literature,� which meant that certain financial privileges allocated to Ukrainian writers were revoked. Yet Skliar was not upset about it. Neither was she daunted by the profane language and sex slang. “This kind of literature is not forbidden,� said Skliar. “It only requires smart selling strategies.�

Just like her literary alter egos, Karpa lives a reckless life. She can cancel her plans for the day, grab a backpack and leave for Katmandu. She swirls in the world’s cultural melting pots feeling at home in Berlin bohemian hangouts, cheap huts in Nepal and Parisian hostels. She doesn’t necessarily like everything but she is willing to try anything.

The post-Soviet generation with gluttony for material things and disdain for a human kind annoy her the most. “People here are aggressive without any reason,� Karpa explained. “The post-Soviet transformation is still underway, but it’s hard to restore

Writer Irena Karpa likes shocking exposures both in her books and in photos such as this photo session in the lavatory. (www.irenakarpa.com)

values such as individuality, sexuality, and the ability to live in harmony with other people as well as with nature.

During Soviet days, people were told they are rednecks. You know what’s really scary? They believed it. Now they show the world that they are rednecks who got money to burn.�

Baldyniuk said Karpa occupied a vacant niche in Ukrainian literature that was screaming for a bright, bold and outspoken personality. She writes in the Ukrainian language, but you can read her in Russian, Bulgarian, Czech, Polish and Dutch already. “She is a successful writer who did smart publicity. She tried herself as an artist, columnist and TV host,�

Baldyniuk said. “Given all that, some might call her superficial. I personally think that she is a very hardworking person and some sort of an embodiment of the American dream in Ukraine.�

Not everyone agrees.

Vira Agiyeva, a literature professor at Kyiv Mohyla Academy, described

INDIAN CUISINE sutra.restaurant@gmail.com – No smoking zone – Wi fi

Kiev • Metro Station "Politekhnicheskaya" 3 Gali Timofeyevoy Str. ("TMM" building) 5693766 • 0630779999 • 0970779999

285 87 08 285 99 99 569 55 18

Provide this coupon to receive a 15% discount every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

From 9 a.m. till 3 a.m.

www.uruk.com.ua 11, Yaroslaviv Val Str !

Karpa as “a product of show business� that can wither away at any moment.

Apparently conscious about such a risk, Karpa seems to regularly tweak her stories to respond to her audience’s changing habits. The lead character of her new book – to be released next year, is a single mother living in Kyiv.

Unlike her other works, this one is a love story about one woman who actually nails down her love. This change of pace from frivolous roaming to a happy family life mirrors Karpa’s own experience. Last year, the writer married American businessman Norman Hansen. She has since given birth to a daughter.

Tying the knot may have affected some of her attitudes, but her style seems untouched.

Her music and books are never meant to please. They are merely a personal statement full of outrage and self-irony. Those listening or reading are free to take it or leave it.

Kyiv Post staff writer Olesia Oleshko can be reached at oleshko@kyivpost.com

26 Paparazzi

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

From left: Julien Calvar and Guillaume Lagrave from UkrSibbank, BNP Paribas Group

French Ambassador Jacques Faure Designer (L) greets designer Diana Dorozhkina

A night of French wine and networking

Milan Pajevic, President of Kyiv Cigar Club (back)

Sports presenter Serhiy Polkhovsky (R) with spouse

Æ

The international community in Kyiv regaled with special French red wine from this year's harvest on Nov. 24. Legend has it that the wine called Beaujolais Nouveau was something of a cult in the French bistros and bars surrounding Beaujolais and Lyons back in the old days. The wine – thin and fruity in flavor, is fermented for only a couple of weeks before it’s released on the market. Wine lovers in Kyiv were only too happy to honor the tradition and celebrate it with much fanfare.

The Hyatt hotel in the capital center welcomed some 800 guests throughout the evening. Apart from the free and constant flow of red, attendees pampered their taste buds with French cheeses and networked with influential decision-makers. The event was sponsored by the French Embassy and the French Business Association in Ukraine, ACFAU. (Vitaliy Pavlenko)

If you want Kyiv Post Paparazzi to cover your event, please send details or invitations to news@kyivpost.com or contact photo editor Yaroslav Debelyi at 234-6500 Singer Iryna Ryzhova presents a shawl imprinted with Kyiv landmarks

Kyiv gets a new concept brand

Guests chill in the Heaven night club waiting for the show to begin

Singer Dmytro Kandai

Superheroes creative agency threw a party at the night club Heaven on Nov. 25 to introduce a new concept brand for the city of Kyiv.

Hip models and singers catwalked in T-shirts and shawls bearing the letter K, stylized as an online backward button. “Kyiv. The City to Come Back” is a slogan designers want tourists to remember when they first walk along Khreshchatyk strip and see ancient golden domes against the city’s skyline. At the same time, you may spot an inverted heart in the K symbol. Creators infused the brand with all sorts of colors from green polka dots to black and white graphics. The idea of dressing up Kyiv is still in the works. If you want branded souvenirs and more, support it online at www.kiev. superheroes.ua/en/ (Roman Grytsenko)

Designer Viktor Konovalov

Singer Lyuba Yunak

www.kyivpost.com

Lifestyle 27

December 3, 2010

Best gallery picks Textile artist Valentyna Royenko, a.k.a. VALYA , spent the last 10 years in California creating unique works from silk and thick felt. Thinking of the American obsession with plastic surgery, VALYA created a five-meter high image of an old woman from felt. Her white wrinkles are painted on the wall opposite to the one where it hangs, creating a visual effect of reflection. “Everything But Memory” is an exhibition that implies change in everything, including physical appearance. Memory, however, is the only thing that stays the same.

Tseh Gallery, 69 Frunze, 351-1450, zeh.com.ua, until Dec. 24 Annoyed by the reality he sees in photographs, Oleksandr Lyapin decided to give his old images a new look. Together with 12 Ukrainian artists, he first photoshopped them and then created a whole new layer using regular and felt-tip pens and brushes. Calling the exhibition “Kill the photography,” Lyapin said he wanted to switch off the gloom reality in reportage photos by meddling with the image.

Ya Gallery on Horyva, 49B Horyva St., 492-9203, www.yagallery.com.ua, until Jan. 11 (closed Sundays)

Ukraine’s restaurants have many surprises in store. Slow service is one of its many sins that could make you walk out vacating a seat to the birds outside as seen in this September photo. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

Armashula: Amateurism abounds in Ukraine’s restaurant industry Æ19 for your order here. Anywhere from Auckland to Austin, you will be served your dish within 20 minutes maximum. Having visited a couple of kitchens abroad, I assume they manage it by hiring the right number of chefs and waiters. They also efficiently organize and write menus with fewer pages than any of Fedor Dostoyevskiy’s novels.

If I am served in the matter of 10 minutes in Kyiv, I never eat it. Mostly likely, it was somebody else’s order that’s been sitting on the kitchen top for the last two hours. Call me paranoid, but I can sometimes hear an evil laugh coming from between the doors along with the leftover.

I recently had a meeting with a friend in a pizzeria over lunch. Everything arrived after a whopping hour of waiting and in a pretty strange order. When drinks and bread were served last during this gastronomic ordeal, we seriously considered rolling up our sleeves and helping out those poor souls in the kitchen.

As much as I wanted to keep this story void of criticism of Ukrainian restaurants, I have not succeeded yet.

But I am sure there are some positives to explore! Vodka and cocktails

are usually cheaper here than in Oslo or London, for example. If you are a smoker, enjoy the best seats in our restaurants. My condolences to nonsmokers who are usually forced to squat in the basement or at the table marked as non-smoking in the room full of nicotine poison.

Another benefit, although as a woman I should not be mentioning it, is that it won’t take you much time getting a beautiful girl in Ukraine for a date and a bite of a filet mignon together. But it’s so obvious and widespread here that I simply can’t deny it.

Don’t forget about dirty dancing, live music, karaoke, drunken fights and improvised catwalks. Where else would you get so much entertainment in one place?! It would have been perfect if not for the slow waiters, kitchens and amateur restaurant managers.

Antonina Armashula is a co-founder and marketing director of Mark Tapley Ltd., consulting company in Kyiv.

Armashula is a culinary devotee who turned her passion for food and wine into a mission to spread love for cooking and dining among young Kyivans. You can read her blog in Russian at www. edok.in.ua.

Bottega Gallery invites to escape the reality into the imaginary world of 12 artists.

In “Where Fantasies Can Take You,” they implement their unconscious desires into paintings and sculptures. To leave your mark in this phantasmagoria, you’re encouraged to leave an anonymous comment in a guest book, telling about your own world of dreams.

Bottega gallery, 22B Mykhaylivska St., 279-5353, www.bottega-gallery.com, until Dec. 16 (closed Sundays and Mondays) Let the holiday season begin! A collection of hand-made dolls and Christmas decorations is on display in Parsuna gallery. Check out hand-made Christmas angels, Father Frost and a Snow Maiden, glittering trees, cuddly animals, ballet dancers, princesses and clowns. “Toys for the Prince” exhibition is what you need to warm the spirit and empty the wallet in time for the holidays. Some dolls and decorations are for sale.

Parsuna Gallery, 43 Horyva, 425-2415, (097) 494-0865, www.parsuna.com. ua, from Dec. 8 “Illumination” art project unites 11 young artists, who work in completely different techniques, from oil paintings to video installations. Oleksiy Khoroshko and Sergiy Petlyura will put big, post-Soviet checkered, shopping bags at the entrance. Andriy Sidorenko will reconstruct a pebbly beach, with towels, changing rooms and videos of the sea shore. Mykhailo Barabash will create a sculpture of a man from flowers.

Art work made by gifted orphans will be displayed as part of this exhibition.

The institute of problems of modern art, 18D Schorsa St., 529-2051,529-2051, until Dec. 30 In the center of Kyiv, there is a derelict house: all communal services are out of order, ceilings, floors and walls are cracked and rotten and may fall apart at any moment.

But its residents are not moving out because they have nowhere else to go. They have been appealing to city authorities for 20 years but to no avail. Photographer Yevgenia Belorusets spent three years taking pictures and interviewing the residents to raise a curtain on the housing crisis on 32 Gogolivska St. British Guardian paper took notice and awarded Belorusets for her work. We wonder who’s going to help the squatters.

Visual Culture Research Center at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, 2 Skovorody St., www.vcrc.ukma.kiev.ua/en, until Dec. 22 Black and white photographs of a burned down forest seem almost like graphics.

Lesya Malska captured on camera what’s left from the wildfires. Her images look almost like mathematical drawings of something other than black stumps and scorched earth. Surveying the subject of alienation, the artist calls on people to wake up to nature and look after it.

The Small Gallery of Mystetsky Arsenal, Lavrska 12, 288-5140, www.artarsenal.in.ua, until Dec. 19 The work of Matviy Vaysberg is honored in the retrospective exhibition “Fragments of time.” The gallery covers 25 years of his creative pass as a painter, graphic artist and book designer. He illustrated books of such authors as Sholem Aleichem, José Ortega y Gasset, Carl Jung, Soren Kierkegaard and Fedor Dostoyevsky.

His every scenic loop is an excursion into the history of art and literature.

Dukat Gallery, 4 Grushevskogo St., 278-8410, www.dukat.in.ua, until Dec. 26

Compiled by Alexandra Romanovskaya

28

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Vote early but only once for Kyiv’s best providers of services and goods 2EADERS OF THE +YIV 0OST ARE INTEL LECTUAL NETWORKERS LAUNCHING NEW IDEAS DEVELOPING BUSINESS AND SHAP ING PUBLIC OPINION 4HEY ARE ALSO mCULTURE PRENEURSnp THE PEOPLE WHO ACTIVELY DEFINE THE CULTURAL SCENE /NCE A YEAR THEY PICK THE BEST IN THEIR FIELD OF EXPERTISE HONORING ACCOMPLISHMENT AND INSPIRING OTHERS TO FOLLOW SUIT 4HE +YIV 0OST ANNOUNCES THE START OF ITS TH ANNUAL m"EST OF +YIVn SURVEY WHICH AIMS TO IDENTIFY AND HUNT DOWN THE BEST VIXEN AND FOXES ON +YIVlS BUSINESS AND SOCIAL TRAILS )N ITS CELEBRATORY TH POLL

READERS AND EXPERTS ARE ENCOUR AGED TO VOTE FOR LEADING COMPANIES IN SECTORS 0ICK YOUR FAVORITE BANK AND YOUR PREFERRED WATERING

HOLE ONLINE AT WWW KYIVPOST COM UNTIL *AN 4O OUR TRADITIONAL CAT EGORIES WE ADDED FOUR NEWCOMERS -"! PROGRAM PUB CLOTHING CHAIN AND A NON PROFIT NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION (ERElS HOW IT ALL WORKS )NITIAL NOMINEES ARE HAND PICKED BY THE +YIV 0OST EDITORIAL STAFF 4HEN AN EXPERT PANEL REPRESENTED BY LAST YEARlS NOMINEES SCREENS THE LIST 4HEY VOTE IN EACH CATEGORY TO NARROW THE SELECTION DOWN TO FIVE CANDIDATES 4HEN READERS HAVE A CHANCE TO HONOR THEIR FAVORITES ONLINE CASTING HALF OF ALL RANKING POINTS TOWARDS THE FINAL SELECTION 2ESULTS ARE DETER MINED BY PAIRING UP YOUR VOTES WITH THOSE OF EXPERTS 7HAT HAPPENS NEXT IS THE MOST

List of TOP 5 nominees for Best of Kyiv 2010 1.

BEST INVESTMENT COMPANY

a.

Concorde Capital

b.

Dragon Capital

c. d.

e.

Pedersen & Partners

b.

InterContinental Kyiv

b.

Lavinia

7.

BEST TELECOMMUNICATIONS/ INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER

c.

Opera

c.

Polyana

d.

Premier Palace Hotel

d.

Premium Wine

Horizon Capital

a.

IP.net

e.

Radisson BLU

e.

Wineport

Renaissance Capital

b.

Kyivstar mobile

BEST RESTAURANT

Troika Dialog Ukraine

c.

MTS connect

BEST ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL

18.

e.

13.

a.

Belvedere

2.

BEST BANK SERVICES

d.

Ukrtelekom

a.

British Council Ukraine

b.

Concord

a.

Alfa-Bank

e.

Volia

b.

British International School

c.

Fellini

b.

Citibank

8.

BEST MOBILE OPERATOR

a.

Golden Telecom

Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS)

Goodman

OTP Bank

c.

d.

c.

e.

Le Grand CafĂŠ

d.

Raiffeisen Bank Aval

b.

Kyivstar

d.

London School of English

f.

Lipskiy Osobnyak

e.

UkrSibbank BNP Paribas

c.

Life

e.

Speak Up

g.

Nobu

3.

BEST TAX/AUDIT SERVICES

d.

MTS

14.

BEST MBA

h.

Oliva

a.

Baker Tilly Ukraine

e.

Utel

a.

Edinburgh Business School

i.

Pantagruel

9.

BEST FREIGHT & FORWARDING COMPANY

b.

International Institute of Business

j.

Santori

International Management Institute (IMI-Kyiv)

19.

BEST PUB

a.

Arena Beer House

d.

Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS)

b.

Belle-Vue

c.

Docker Pub

f.

Wisconsin International University in Ukraine

d.

Golden Gate

e.

O’Briens

b.

Deloitte & Touche

c.

Ernst & Young

d.

KPMG

a.

DHL

e.

PricewaterhouseCoopers

b.

Kuehne + Nagel

c.

G e n e ra l p a r t n e r

4.

BEST LEGAL SERVICES

c.

Maersk Logistics

a.

Baker & McKenzie

d.

Raben Ukraine

b.

Clifford Chance

e.

TNT Express

c.

CMS Cameron McKenna

BEST CAR SALES DEALER (BY HOLDING GROUP)

15.

BEST PRIVATE HEALTH SERVICE

BEST CLOTHING CHAIN

DLA Piper Ukraine

10.

20.

d.

a.

Laura Ashley

e.

Magisters

a.

AWT BAVARIA

a.

American Medical Centers

b.

Mango

f.

Vasil Kisil & Partners

b.

Honda Ukraine

b.

Boris

c.

Marks & Spencer

5.

BEST REAL ESTATE SERVICE

c.

Nissan Motor

c.

Eurolab

d.

United Colors of Benetton

a.

Blagovest

d.

Toyota Ukraine

d.

ISIDA

e.

Zara

b.

Colliers International

e.

Winner

e.

Medikom

c.

DTZ

11.

BEST PASSENGER AIRLINE

16.

BEST INSURANCE COMPANY

21.

BEST IMPACT, BY NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION

d.

NAI Pickard

a.

Air France-KLM

a.

Allianz Ukraine

e.

Park Lane

b.

Austrian Airlines

b.

AXA Insurance

a.

Children of Chornobyl Relief & Development Fund (CCRDF)

b.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance

c.

International Women's Club of Kyiv (IWCK)

6.

BEST HR AGENCY

c.

British Airways

c.

INGO Ukraine

a.

Ancor SW

d.

Lufthansa German Airlines

d.

Providna

b.

Brain Source International

e.

Ukraine International Airlines

e.

PZU Ukraine

c.

Golden Staff

12.

BEST HOTEL

17.

BEST WINE BOUTIQUE

d.

Kyiv Lion’s Club

d.

Hudson Global Resources Ukraine

a.

Hyatt Regency Kyiv

a.

Good Wine

e.

Victor Pinchuk Foundation

DELICIOUS PART OF THE m"EST OF +YIVn EVENT 7E HONOR WINNERS DURING AN EVENING OF FINE DINING AND PARTYING

Æ The award ceremony will be held on Jan. 27.

H o s t o f t h e awa rd s ce re m o ny

C l i f fo rd C h a n ce i s a g u a ra n to r o f f a i r vo t i n g

SPECIAL AWARDS The Spirit of Kyiv award will go to the person who best exemplifies generosity in community involvement to make Kyiv a better place to live.

Nominees: Leigh Turner Anna Derevyanko Jorge Intriago Maria Kresa Mykhaylo Wynnytskyi Bate C. Toms Sergiy Oberkovych Brian Mefford Business Person of the Year award will go to the person who had exceptional success.

Nominees: Nick Piazza Jorge Intriago George Logush Bjorn Stendel 10-Year Anniversary Award will go to the person who has made the most outstanding contributions to life in Ukraine for the past decade.

Nominees: Tomas Fiala Natalie Jaresko Jorge Zukoski Richard Creagh Eric Aigner David & Daniel Sweere Michael Bleyzer

Vo t e o n w w w. k y i v p o s t . c o m a n d g e t a c h a n c e t o w i n a c e r t i f i c a t e f o r a l u x u r y w e e k e n d f o r 2 p e r s o n s i n BOARD OF EXPERTS Nick Cotton (DTZ) Alex Sokol (American Medical Centers) Serhiy Boyko (Volia) GĂśkhan Ă–ztekin (Tike) Jorge Intriago (Ernst & Young) Ihor Predko (Deloitte & Touche) Andriy Krivokoritov (Brain Source International)

Yana Khoziainova (Hertz) Adam Mycyk (CMS Cameron McKenna) Oleksandr Nosachenko (Colliers International) Robert S. Kossmann (Raiffeisen Bank Aval) Ron Barden (PricewaterhouseCoopers) Karen McPhee (InterContinental Kyiv) Olena Berestetska (Aquarium) Alexa J. Milanytch (CCRDF)

Anna Derevyanko (EBA) Mykhaylo Radutskyi (Boris) Michael Kharenko (Saenko Kharenko) Tetyana Kalyada (TNT Express) Alla Savchenko (BDO) Myron Wasylyk (The PBN Company) Tetyana Zamorska (KPMG) Martyn Wickens (Pedersen & Partners)

Olga Karpova (International Institute of Business) Peter I. Metelsky (KUEHNE + NAGEL) Nick Piazza (BG Capital) Yuri Lutsenko (Leo Burnett Ukraine) Olga Karasevych (Ancor SW) Svitlana Shynkarenko (Adwenta Lowe) Jared Grubb (Clifford Chance) Oleksiy Didkovsky (Asters)

Stuart McKenzie (Pulse) Maryna Bodenchuk (Providna) James T. Hitch, III (Baker & McKenzie) Tomas Fiala (Dragon Capital) Oleksiy Aleksandrov (UkrSibbank) Harald Hahn (Lufthansa German Airlines) Philippe Wautelet (AXA Ukraine) Kateryna Skybska (DOPOMOGA Staffing Company)

For more information, please contact Iuliia Panchuk at panchuk@kyivpost.com or by phone at +380 44 234-30-40

www.kyivpost.com

Paparazzi 29

December 3, 2010

Ballet stars on one stage in Kyiv

Ballet dancer Viktor Ischuk (L) greets Valerie-Anne Creps of Moet Hennessy

Æ

Ballet lovers enjoyed the evening of luminous presence and technical precision by leading artists from Ukraine, Russia and Lithuanian companies in Kyiv National Opera House on Nov. 28. Pieces from eight famous ballets, including “The Nutcracker,” “Le Corsaire” and “Giselle” were a rare treat for the Kyiv audience. Artists from Russia's Bolshoi Theater, Stanislavskiy Musical Theater, and Imperial Russian theater performed together with best Ukrainian dancers.

One of the lead male ballet dancers from Ukraine, Viktor Ischuk performed perhaps the largest number of acts. The audience gave him standing ovations as he sprained his ankle during the Ukrainian folk dance, hopak. The ballet was followed by a private cocktail in the Opera restaurant. (Courtesy)

The scene from the ballet ‘Swan Lake’

The scene from the ballet ‘The Sleeping Beauty’

Ballerina Yelizaveta Cheprasova from Mariinsky Theater (R)

The scene from the ballet ‘Shaherezada’

Dancers grace the stage for the final bow

Guests in the Opera restaurant mingle with ballet dancers during the champagne and cognac reception.

Y

I

V

30 Employment

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

How to place an Employment Ad in the

4XFEJTI 5SBEF $PVODJM JO 6LSBJOF PO CFIBMG PG B 4XFEJTI DPNQBOZ 4$" )ZHJFOF 1SPEVDUT

Kyiv Post

XIJDI JT POF PG UIF XPSME T MBSHFTU QMBZFST JO QFSTPOBM DBSF QSPEVDUT BOE UIF HMPCBM NBSLFU MFBEFS JO JODPOUJOFODF DBSF QSPEVDUT JT MPPLJOH GPS IJSJOH PG

By Fax, Phone or E-mail (from 9 a.m. to 6p.m. Ask for Nataliia Protasova)

Tel. 044 234 6503 Fax. 044 234 6330 e-mail: protasova@kyivpost.com Prices for ads (hrn.)

Size (mm)

B&W

Color

15 boxes 260Ă—180

11 931

15 907

9 boxes 155Ă—180

7 158

9 544

4 boxes 102x120

3 333

4 444

3 boxes 49Ă—180

2 500

3 333

2 boxes 102Ă—58

1 666

2 222

1 boxes 49Ă—58

833

1 111

All prices are given without VAT and Tax on Advertising.

DLA Piper Ukraine, LLC, a part of DLA Piper, an international legal practice, is looking for an ASSOCIATE TO JOIN ITS TAX PRACTICE.

PUBLIC AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS MANAGER FOR UKRAINE AND KAZAKHSTAN AREA OF RESPONSIBILITY AND AUTHORITY: t %FWFMPQ UIF 3FJNCVSTFNFOU PG JODPOUJOFODF QSPEVDUT JO 6LSBJOF BOE ,B[BLITUBO t $SFBUF TFDVSF JNQMFNFOUBUJPO PG -PCCZ QMBO GPS EFWFMPQJOH 3FJNCVSTFNFOU TZTUFNT and Care Standards t *OGMVFODF EJSFDUMZ PS JOEJSFDUMZ EFDJTJPO NBLFST BOE MPCCZ GPS TPMVUJPOT BOE MFHBM BDUJPOT BJNFE BU TVTUBJOJOH JNQSPWJOH SFJNCVSTFNFOU BOE DBSF TUBOEBSET t #VJME DPNQFUFODF BSHVNFOUBUJPO BSPVOE SFJNCVSTFNFOU t 4VQQPSU BOE DPPQFSBUF XJUI 4BMFT 5FBN UP NBYJNJ[F PVUDPNF REQUIREMENTS: t 'FNBMF PS NBMF t 6OJWFSTJUZ FEVDBUJPO t 'MVFODZ JO &OHMJTI 6LSBJOJBO 3VTTJBO t .BUVSF QFSTPO BCMF UP UBML UP UIF BVUIPSJUJFT BCMF UP NBOBHF PUIFS QFPQMF JO QBSUJDVMBS PGGJDJBMT PG IFBMUIDBSF BVUIPSJUJFT BOE PUIFS GVODUJPOBMJTUT BCMF UP NBOBHF UIF DPOGMJDU BOE EJWFSTJUZ QFSTPO XJUI FYUSFNFMZ IJHI FUIJDT BOE WBMVFT EZOBNJD BOE GMFYJCMF QFSTPO XJUI IJHI JOUFSQFSTPOBM TLJMMT PSHBOJ[BUJPOBM BOE TUSBUFHJD BHJMJUZ DPNNVOJDBUJPO BOE QSFTFOUBUJPO TLJMMT UJNF NBOBHFNFOU t &YQFSJFODF JO EPJOH MPCCZJOH QSFWJPVT FYQFSJFODF XJUI SFJNCVSTFNFOU TZTUFNT VOEFSTUBOEJOH PG 13 BOE MPCCZJOH UPPMT t ,OPXMFEHF PG )FBMUIDBSF JOEVTUSZ VOEFSTUBOEJOH PG )FBMUI $BSF TZTUFNT PG 6LSBJOF ,B[BLITUBO XPVME CF BO BEEJUJPOBM BTTFU VOEFSTUBOEJOH PG JNQBDU PG JODPOUJOFODF PO IFBMUI BOE FDPOPNJDT 1MFBTF TFOE ZPVS &OHMJTI MBOHVBHF $7 DPWFS MFUUFS BOE QIPUPHSBQI UP Ukraine@swedishtrade.se CZ .POEBZ UI PG %FDFNCFS

AGRO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY

Main requirements: I. Ukrainian university degree in Law (additional training in Finance/Accounting/ Tax is a plus) II. Professional experience in Tax 3+ years (Big 4 experience is a plus) III. Fluency in English, Ukrainian & Russian IV. Excellent research and analytical skills

Simferopol, Ukraine

Please submit your resume to Julia Fetisova, HR Manager, in confidence on Julia.Fetisova@dlapiper.com

POSITION SUMMARY For our trading company in Ukraine we are currently looking for

Chief Accountant to provide efficient tax accounting, regular reporting to official authorities, and representing business interests during external audits.

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) will have primary responsibility for the successful implementation of the business plan including achieving the annual sales targets set by the board and for the management of day to day operations of Agro Capital Management (ACM). The goal of the company is to work in close collaboration with its shareholder Mennonite Economic Development Associates (MEDA) of Canada, MEDA Ukraine, local suppliers and its local partnerships including a farming association and an agricultural extension service provider. The start date is expected to be February 2011. The position will be located in Simferopol although frequent travel will be expected between the regions of Crimea, Zaporizhia and Kherson. The CEO will report directly to the Chairperson of the ACM Board of Directors. A competitive salary and benefits package will be offered to the successful candidate.

Key requirements: • University degree in Accounting, Finance • Relevant work-experience (Chief/ Deputy Chief Accountant position) • Hands-on experience of participation in tax litigations, external audits • Proficiency in TAX accounting • Commitment to continuous professional development • Composure under stress, result oriented, team player

SALES MANAGER

QUALIFICATIONS s ! MINIMUM OF TEN YEARS EXPERIENCE IN MANAGEMENT PREFERABLY IN 5KRAINE demonstrated successful experience in entrepreneurship, creative problem solving, private sector experience s $EMONSTRATED SOLID CORPORATE OPERATIONS EXPERIENCE IN CREATING BOARD policies, risk management, preparing financial statements and reporting, board relations, staff management, executing business strategies. s $IRECT EXPERIENCE IN WORKING WITH TARGET CLIENTS IN AGRICULTURAL SECTOR smallholder farmers, small agricultural enterprise. s 0OST GRADUATE EDUCATION IN RELEVANT DISCIPLINES BUSINESS FINANCE MARKETING

economics s !SSOCIATED CREDIT EXPERIENCE DEALING WITH MICRO SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED enterprise s $EMONSTRATED ABILITY TO MOBILIZE STAKEHOLDERS INTO PARTNERSHIPS AND ALLIANCES

lead and facilitate collaborative processes an asset. s &LUENCY IN 5KRAINIAN AND 2USSIAN IS ESSENTIAL WITH INTERMEDIATE LEVEL OF %NGLISH

We offer job in a professional and international organization with a competitive remuneration package.

If you are interested in this position, please send your CV via e-mail hr.ukraine@adm.com.

For more information please call +38 048 7965722 Every day, the 29,000 people of Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) turn crops into renewable products that meet the demands of a growing world. At more than 240 processing plants, we convert corn, oilseeds, wheat and cocoa into products for food, animal feed, chemical and energy uses. We operate the world's premier crop origination and transportation network, connecting crops and markets in more than 60 countries. Our global headquarters is in Decatur, Illinois, and our net sales for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2010, were $ 62 billion.

In Ukraine ADM operates an oilseeds crushing plant in Illichivsk, Odessa region as well as originates oilseed, trades vegetable oil and meal.

For more information about our Company and our products, visit

We offer a challenging opportunity to work for Ukraine’s leading English-language newspaper.

Requirements: Strong presentation skills Positive attitude Good communications skills Understanding of how to sell in print and online Ability to learn quickly Knowledge of Word, Excel, Internet Explorer programs Work experience in FMCG is preferable.

Sales experience is helpful, but not required.

Good English level Salary based on qualifications.

Please send your CV, including salary requirements, with “Sales manager� in the subject line to: hr@kyivpost .com

PLEASE SEND COVER LETTER AND RESUME IN ENGLISH TO SERGE AT slevertchiasson@saronafund.com BY MONDAY, December 20th at 5:00 PM SIMFEROPOL TIME (GMT + 2 HOURS). Salary range will be US$40,000 to US$65,000 per year + potential for performance bonus dependent on experience.

www.adm.com

%JQMPNB #" *OUFSOBUJPOBM 6OJWFSTJUZ

.BTUFS JO *OUFSOBUJPOBM #VTJOFTT 6"

*"4 (""1 SFQPSUJOH DPOUSPMMJOH JOWFTUNFOU QSPKFDUT BQQSBJTBM EVF EJMJHFODF BOE SFQSFTFOUBUJPO JOUFSOBUJPOBM FYQFSUJTF J F *#3% 6, $ZQSVT TUSBUFHJD CVTJOFTT QMBOOJOH EFWFMPQNFOU TUBSU VQ TBMFT BOE QSPDVSFNFOU UFDIOJRVFT DPOUSBDU OFHPUJBUJPO CPUI JOUFSOBUJPOBM BOE MPDBM ESBGUJOH BQQSPWBM BOE BENJOJTUSBUJPO NPOJUPSJOH NBSLFU BOE MFHJTMBUJPO TFOJPS NBOBHFNFOU GMVFOU &OHMJTI

JOOB NBOFUT!HNBJM DPN

Professional CEO MINI

1SPGFTTJPOBM $&0 (FOFSBM .BOBHFS PS )FBE PG 3FQSFTFOUBUJWF PGGJDF 1SPEVDUJPO #VTJOFTT BENJOJTUSBUJPO 4UBSUVQT 1SFG JOUFSOBUJPOBM PS GPSFJHO DPNQBOZ 'MVFOU &OHMJTI (FSNBO ZPVOH@VLSBJOF!CJHNJS OFU

General Management MINI

RESUME

. 1I% NFEJDBM CBDLHSPVOE ZFBST DMJOJDBM FYQFSJFODF ZFBST FYQFSJFODF XJUIJO QIBSNBDFVUJDBM JOEVTUSZ BT NFEJDBMŠNBSLFUJOH NBOBHFS EFFQ LOPXMFEHF PG OBUJPOBM CVEHFU NBSLFU TFFLJOH B DIBMMFOHJOH QPTJUJPO JO JOUFSOBUJPOBM DPNQBOZ )JHIMZ NPUJWBUFE BOE SFTVMU PSJFOUFE TZTUFN BQQSPBDI HMPCBM WJTJPO

Š Š PMFLTB !NFUB VB

Finance/Management MINI

RESUME

RESUME

RESUME

' */%*7*%6"- 3644*"/ MBOHVBHF MFTTPOT GPS GPSFJHOFST "MM MFWFMT TUBSUJOH GSPN $0/7&34"5*0/"- .*/*.6. 53"/4-"5*0/4 &/(Š364Š6,3 6OJWFSTJUZ EFHSFFT JO -JOHVJTUJDT BOE &DPOPNJDT (PPE FYQFSJFODF * BN MPPLJOH GPS EJSFDU BHSFFNFOUT XJUI DVTUPNFST OBUBMJB !J VB

Š Š Š Š /BUBMJB

Medical Management MINI

RESUME

Personal Teacher/Translator MINI

/FFE NPSF UIBO QBTTBCMF &OHMJTI TPGU TLJMMT 3FDFOU .#" HSBEVBUF XJUI ZFBST PG FYQFSJFODF JO *5 JOEVTUSZ TFFLJOH GVMMŠUJNF FOUSZŠ MFWFM QSPEVDU NBOBHFNFOU DPOTVMUJOH BOE NJEEMF NBOBHFNFOU PQQPSUVOJUJFT JO ,ZJW $POUBDU WJB WMBEZTMBW TPMPEPWOZL!HMPCBM UŠ CJSE FEV PS DBMM

Š 8JMM DPOTJEFS PGGFST PG

QFS NPOUI

www.kyivpost.com

Education/Classifieds 31

December 3, 2010

on

Get your free copy of the Fridays in the following places:

5 ( * 'SJEBZT ŠB #FTBSBCTLB 4RVBSF

-F (SBOE $BGF .V[FZOZ -BOF

*M 1BUJP

4BLTBHBOTLPHP 4USFFU ŠB #FTTBSBCTLB 4RVBSF /BCFSF[IOPŠ,ISFTDIBUZUTLB 4USFFU 7FMZLB 7BTZMLJWTLB 4USFFU

1SFNJFS 1BMBDF

Š 5BSBT 4IFWDIFOLP #PVMFWBSE

3BEJTTPO #MV

:BSPTMBWJW 7BM 4USFFU

4PIP

"SUFNB 4USFFU

0q1BOBT

5FSFTIDIFOLJWTLB 4USFFU

.POBDP

ŠB 7FMZLB ;IZUPNZSTLB 4USFFU

*OUFSDPOUJOFOUBM LZJW " 7FMZLB ;IZUPNZSTLB 4USFFU

1MBOFUŠ4VTIJ

4BHBZEBDIOPHP 4USFFU ,ISFTDIBUZL 4USFFU 7FMZLB 7BTZMLJWTLB 4USFFU 7FMZLB ;IZUPNZSTLB 4USFFU

9OUR FUTURE STUDENTS MIGHT SEE YOUR AD

4IPLPMBEOJUTB

4BLTBHBOTLPHP 4USFFU $IFSWPOPBSNJZTLB 4USFFU " #BTFZOB 4USFFU -VOBDIBSTLPHP 4USFFU %OJQSPWTLB /BCFSF[IOB 4USFFU -VHPWB 4USFFU " "SUFNB 4USFFU (SZTILB 4USFFU

HERE

'PS NPSF JOGPSNBUJPO BCPVU XIFSF UP HFU ZPVS DPQZ PG UIF ,ZJW 1PTU HP UP IUUQ XXX LZJWQPTU DPN OFXTQBQFS EJTUSJCVUJPO

+9)6 0/34

% $ 5 # !4 )/ . 3 % # 4 )/ .

Classifieds 3&"- &45"5&

4&37*$& are you interested in:

4XJTT 3FBM &TUBUF 4XJTT $PNQBOJFT

,

,

1 2 3

35 65 80

50 90 110

Pushkinska 1 Chervonoarmijska 2 Pushkinska 2

40 60

1000 800

Baseyna

Pushkinska Lysenko

2

Franko

2

65 1500 60 1500 52 1600

Voloska

2 2

70 50

1300 1500

' 0 3

Mezhygirska

3

90

1800

Kostyolna

90 2100 110 2400

3 & / 5

Kreschatyk

3 3

Striletska

3

100 3200

Yaroslavov Val 3 V. Zhytomyrska 6

105 1900 170 5000

Horkogo

5

200 2800

Chervonoarmiyska

8

420 8000

Tarasovskaya

7

280

Gonchara

2

72 185000

' 0 3 3 & / 5

' 0 3 3 & / 5

' 0 3 3 & / 5

' 0 3 3 & / 5

5000

ŠSPPN BQBSUNFOU BU ,ISFTDIBUZL 4USFFU JO 1BTTBHF 8FTUFSOŠTUZMF SFOPWBUJPO GVMMZ FRVJQQFE BOE GVSOJUVSFE QFS NPOUI *OOB

7FMQJEB 3FBMUZ OP DPNNJTTJPO

1I Š Š &ŠNBJM 7FMQJEB!J DPN VB t -JQLZ SPPNT N GM SFOPWBUFE VOGVSOJTIFE t -JQLZ SPPNT N GM SFOPWBUFE VOGVSOJTIFE t 'SBOLP 4U SPPNT N GM SFOPWBUFE VOGVSOJTIFE

-VYVSJPVT BQBSUNFOU 1FDIFSTL GVMMZ GVSOJTIFE QPTTJCMF FNQUZ FRVJQQFE TRN %OJQSP WJFX NPOUI 7MBEJNJSTLBZB 4U 0QFSB UXP CFESPPNT Š 7*1 SFOPWBUFE TR N SPPNT OFX CVJMEJOH VOEFSHSPVOE QBSLJOH Š UFM

Immigration & work in Canada Visit www.saskimmigration.com Contact Warren Green greenw@telusplanet.net (044) 278 61 24 Member of Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants

Ironing service in Kiev - Free delivery (certain areas) - Overnight turnaround - Hangers, covers included - Staff known by EU diplomats - 8 USD per 1kg - min.order 5kg (067)9337808

Work Permits for Non-Residents Residency Permits, Tax IDs Company Registration, Nominal Directors Legal Support, Tax Reporting & Accounting info@megaprime.com.ua +380-50-070-2126, Perfect English

Linguistic Center "EnjoyClub" offers you fun time spending at our club through sightseeing, discussion clubs and various activities with our members.

Part time jobs are possible. k.berkovskiy@enjoyclub.com.ua, tel. 0504690995

English speaking driver with own car. Rent on hourly or daily basis.

Long driving experience.

Good knowledge of the city.

067 501 22 95 Igor

#SJUJTI &OHMJTI UFBDIFS OFFEFE 1SFGFSBCMZ XJUI UFBDIJOH DFSUJGJDBUFT 5FM

Interpreter, pretty female 30y.o.

Guide. Assistant. Help in any business. Accommodation. Transfer. www.kievcenterapartments.com +38 093 185 80 94 Irina

please ask: ESC Eastern & Swiss Consulting GmbH www.esc-consult.ch

Yaroslavov Val

Reytarska

English speaking driver in Kiev.

Transfers, sightseeing - 20 euro per hour. "D" class car, air cond., DVD. Evgeniy. mobile: +3806367207-07 e-mail fo@ukr.net Skype: gorbulinskiy.

' 0 3 3 & / 5

' 0 3 3 & / 5

' 0 3 3 & / 5

"QU JO DFOUFS ,SFTIBUJL TRN Š #BTTFZOB TRN Š 3JWFS -JOF TRN Š PUIFS PQUJPOT TBMWBEP!VLS OFU

&OHMJTI

 ËÎĂ?ÅÊÅÓ½ ÂŹĂ?ÂÉÙÂĂ? ÂŹÂ˝ĂˆÂ˝ĂŽ ĂŒĂ?Ă‚Ă ĂˆÂ˝Ă€Â˝Ă‚Ă? Âż ½Ă?Ă‚ĂŠĂ Ă? ĂŒĂ‹Ă‰Ă‚Ă–Ă‚ĂŠĂ…Ă‚ ĂŒĂˆĂ‹Ă–Â˝Ă Ă™Ă› É ĂŒĂ‹Ă ÂžĂ?Ă?ÅÇ ĂšĂˆĂ…Ă?ĂŠĂ˜Ă’ Ă?Ë¿½Ă?Ă‹Âż Ă?Ă‚Ăˆ ÂŽĂ‚Ă?ÀÂÆ Â?ʽĂ?Ă‹ĂˆĂ™Ă‚ÂżĂ…Ă” 3FOU ,JFW BQBSUNFOUT 'VMMZ GVSOJTIFE BQBSUNFOUT JO UIF DFOUSF PG ,JFW $BCMF 57 *OUFSOFU DPOEJUJPO XXX SFOULJFW OFU (PPE QSJDF GPS HPPE DMJFOUT Š QFS EBZ

' 0 3 3 & / 5

Luxury office

.FDIOJLPWB 4USFFU N SPPNT CFESPPNT KBDV[[J QBSLJOH XFTUFSO TUBOEBSE GMPPS IFBUJOH NFUSP TUBUJPO ˆ"STFOBMOB˜ 64% 5FM PS

XXX LJFWDJUZSFT DPN VB

for rent - 200 sq.m Completely autonomous

Prestigious and convenient location

,SVHMPVOJWFSTJUFUTLB 4USFFU SPPNT N OFX CVJMEJOH NPEFSO TUZMF CBUISPPNT VOGVSOJTIFE VOEFHSPVOE QBSLJOH 64% 5FM

PS

XXX LJFWDJUZSFT DPN VB

1SPGFTTJPOBM SFBM FTUBUF TFSWJDF -VYVSZ GMBUT GPS TIPSU BOE MPOH UFSN SFOU * XJMM PGGFS ZPV UIF CFTU MJWJOH QMBDF BU ZPVS GBWPSJUF MPDBUJPO *OFTTB

Direct from owner No commission!

066 295-81-56

4"7& /"45:"q4 -*'&

/BTUZB ,PUPWB IBT CFFO EJBHOPTFE XJUI BDVUF MFVLFNJB 4IF IBE B TVDDFTTŠ GVM CPOF NBSSPX USBOTQMBOU JO *TSBFM UXP NPOUIT BHP /BTUZB JT JO B SFMBUJWFMZ TUBCMF DPOEJUJPO OPX GPS UIF GJSTU UJNF JO NBOZ NPOUIT " TUFQ BXBZ GSPN SFDPWŠ FSZ TIF TUJMM IBT UP HP UISPVHI B SFIBCJMJUBUJPO QFSJPE 5IF ,PUPW GBNJMZ VSHFOUMZ OFFET UP DPOUJOVF UIF USFBUNFOU 1MFBTF IFMQ TBWF UIFJS EBVHIUFSqT MJGF

Psychologist (Ba & MSc, Essex, UK) Counselling in English Children Parents Adults 17 Mezhygirs’ka str. (Podil), off. 15 lyubarevich@gmail.com 067 938 37 36 Victoria

.PSF JOGPSNBUJPO

1-"$& '03 :063 "% UFYU CPY TJ[F Ò ÉÉ QSJDF 6")

IUUQ XXX EPOPS PSH VB JOEFY QIQ NPEVMF IFMQ BDU TIPX D JE IUUQ GPOEEBSJOB DPN SV DIJME OBTUZBŠLPUPWB OFXT

$POUBDU /BTUZBqT WPMVOUFFS *SZOB Š Š Š #BOL EFUBJMT #FOFGJDJBSZ ,0507" 0-&/" 7"4:-*7/" /"45:"q4 .05)&3

%FQPTJU NPOFZ PO B CBOLJOH BDDPVOU

1SJWBU#BOL "DDPVOU .'0 $PEF

1MFBTF IFMQ IFS UP IFBS UIF XPSME MJLF BMM XF EP BOE HSPX VQ XJUI B CFUUFS DIBODF JO MJGF 8F FYQSFTT TJODFSF HSBUJUVEF UP UIF ,ZJW 1PTU

#FTU CBSHBJO "EWFSUJTJOH JO UIF $MBTTJGJFET TFDUJPO

32 Photo Story

www.kyivpost.com

December 3, 2010

Ukrainians remember Holodomor victims Ukrainians on Nov. 27 commemorated the 77th anniversary of the end of the Holodomor, a famine orchestrated by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin that starved millions of Ukrainians to death. The precise number of victims is unknown, but estimates are that between three and seven million people died in Ukraine from forced starvation during forced collectivization and repressions conducted by Soviet authorities in 19321933.

Thousands of Kyivans expressed their sorrow and honored the victims by lighting a candle on their home windows or at a ceremony (1) held at the Holodomor Monument (3) in downtown Kyiv at Mykhailivska Square. People of all ages (2, 4 ,6) gathered to pay tribute to victims of the great tragedy.

Crowds also gathered near the Holodomor Memorial in Park Slavy (5). Costing Hr 133 million, the monument was erected two years ago upon the orders of exPresident Viktor Yushchenko. As president, he unsuccessfully tried to build broad international support to recognize the Holodomor as a malicious act of genocide directed at wiping out the Ukrainian people and their desire for independence. His efforts were opposed

by Russia’s leadership, which viewed Yushchenko’s position as an attempt to blame Russia. They argue that the Holodomor was a common tragedy for all citizens of the Soviet Union, noting that other Soviet republics also suffered. Ukraine’s current Moscow-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych, has sided with the Kremlin’s view of the Holodomor.

The debate over whether the famine was an act of genocide directed against the Ukrainian people will likely go on for decades. Ukraine, by far the hardest hit, continues to suffer the long-term consequences of having a large share of its ethnic population wiped out by the tragedy.

Story by Nataliya Horban Photos by Yaroslav Debelyi, AP

1

2

4

3

6

5