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vol. 16, issue 1-2
January 14, 2011
Selective Justice Authorities target Tymoshenko allies for investigation... BY P E T E R B Y R N E BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM
Ukraine’s authorities stepped up arrests of political opponents over the winter holidays, amid growing international concern that the nation is sliding down an authoritarian path one year into the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. In recent days, Ukraine’s law enforcement authorities arrested more than a dozen nationalist activists on suspicion of hooliganism, and are investigating a handful of participants from last fall’s tax protests. This post-New Year’s surge in activity by Ukrainian law enforcement doubles the number of oppositionists currently behind bars. Last year, nearly a dozen Æ16
...as they ignore major crimes BY V L A D L AV R OV LAVROV@KYIVPOST.COM
The “selective” justice being employed by Ukrainian authorities – as recently noted by the United States and the European Union – involves not only a crackdown on former officials from the government of ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The other part of the “selectivity” involves ignoring, it appears, numerous cases involving people close to the current government. Different rules, it seems, apply to different political camps. Take the case of Serhiy Demishkan, the son of a government official who is reportedly a close friend of President Viktor Yanukovych. He is accused of murder, but has been released on bail, while former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, under investigation for Æ13
INSIDE: • More protests coming.
The Kyiv Court of Appeals on Jan. 5 rejected former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko’s request to be released from jail after his arrest on suspicion of improper use of public funds while in power. Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (shaking Lutsenko’s hand) attended the hearing. Tymoshenko and her allies say they are facing political persecution from President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration. (Oleksandr Prokopenko)
Page 2
• More Tymoshenko allies face criminal charges and investigations. Page 17. • Insiders fight over Kyiv monopolies. Page 9.
Inside:
News Æ 2, 11 – 14,16, 17 Business Æ 6 – 10 Opinion Æ 4, 5, 14, 15
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Employment/Real Estate/ Lifestyle Æ 19 – 28, 32 Classifieds Æ 30, 31
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JANUARY 14, 2011 Vol. 16, Issue 1-2 Copyright © 2011 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 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” Головний редактор Брайан Боннер Адреса видавця та засновника співпадають: Україна, м. Київ, 01034, вул. Прорізна, 22Б Реєстрацiйне свiдоцтво Кв № 15261(3833ПР від 19.06.09. Передплатний індекс ДП Преса 40528 Надруковано ТОВ «Новий друк», 02660, Київ, вулиця Магнітогорська, 1, тел.: 559-9147 Замовлення № 11-3095 Аудиторське обслуговування ТОВ АФ “ОЛГА Аудит” З приводу розміщення реклами звертайтесь: +380 44 234-65-03. Відповідальність за зміст реклами несе замовник. Mailing address: Kyiv Post, Prorizna Street 22B, Kyiv, Ukraine, 01034 Advertising tel. +380 44 234-65-03 fax +380 44 234-63-30 advertising@kyivpost.com Editorial staff tel. +380 44 234-65-00 fax +380 44 234-30-62 news@kyivpost.com Subscriptions Nataliia Protasova tel. +380 44 234-64-09 fax +380 44 234-63-30 subscribe@kyivpost.com Distribution Serhiy Kuprin tel. +380 44 234-64-09 fax +380 44 234-63-30 distribution@kyivpost.com Marketing Iuliia Panchuk tel. +380 44 234-30-40 fax +380 44 234-63-30 marketing@kyivpost.com
EU warns Belarus, threatens sanctions AP — The European Union warned Belarus on Jan. 12 that it faced a return of sanctions after its crackdown on protests, while the Minsk government said it hoped that the response would not take ties to a point of no return. EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed solidarity with opponents of President Alexander Lukashenko who were detained after a disputed Dec. 19 election provoked huge street protests, and she called for their immediate release. In a statement after meeting Belarussian Foreign Minister Sergei Martynov, Ashton said the EU was looking into “appropriate measures” in response to the government crackdown and aimed to reach a decision by the end of the month. The 27-member bloc imposed sanctions on Belarus after a disputed ballot in 2006 but suspended them in 2008 to encourage democratic reforms in the country. EU states have been debating reinstating a visa ban on Lukashenko and other officials. A source who attended a meeting between Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Jan. 12 said the Italian leader had said he would no longer oppose this. Martynov told reporters it was premature to say how Belarus might respond, but stressed Minsk’s efforts to maintain balanced ties between its EU neighbors and Russia, and added: “We would hope that in taking their decision the EU would think of not making a decision of no return … in the relationship between Belarus and the European Union.”
2 News
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January 14, 2011
New protests kick off year Jan. 14
Jan. 17
Jan. 22
A police officer shows destruction of Josef Stalin monument in Zaporizhia on Jan.1.
Demonstrators protest tax code at Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv last year.
People celebrate Unity Day in Kyiv on Jan. 22, 2010
The leaders of several grassroots organizations have announced they will picket the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street on Jan. 14 to protest the recent arrests of members of nationalist groups. Authorities in recent days have arrested more than a dozen activists from the Tryzub organization, which claimed responsibility on Dec. 28 for decapitating the bust of Joseph Stalin in Zaporizhia. However, the group -- which played an active role in protests against the adoption of the tax code – denies blowing up the statue on New Year’s Eve.
Government critics promise to return to the Presidential Administration on Jan. 17 to protest alleged law enforcement harassment of the leaders of anti-tax code demonstrations. According to Oleksandr Danylyuk, a leader of those protests, law enforcement authorities have been harassing activists from the tent encampment erected on Independence Square on Nov. 22, the 6th anniversary of the democratic Orange Revolution that overturned a rigged presidential election in 2004. Hundreds of people slept in the tent city until police dismantled the encampment on Dec. 3.
On Unity Day, which marks the reunification of western and eastern Ukraine in 1919 after World War I, civic leaders and ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko have called on citizens to gather in Kyiv to support demands for early parliamentary elections. Attending a bail hearing on Jan. 4 at Kyiv’s Court of Appeals, Tymoshenko said staging a peaceful revolution to topple the president and government would be necessary if parliamentary elections are not held this year. “It’s either fresh parliamentary elections or revolution,” Tymoshenko said.
Danylyuk: We must preserve democracy BY P ET ER BYR NE an d KAT YA GR USH ENKO BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM AND GRUSHENKO@KYIVPOST.COM
Olekander Danylyuk, a 29-year-old native of Kyiv, shot to national prominence as an activist and leader of grassroots protests at the end of 2010. Not widely known until this fall, when he surfaced as a leader of a protest campaign against proposed tax changes tilted against people of modest incomes, he traces his activism to the 2004 Orange Revolution. Back then, he was just one of the millions of young Ukrainians who united against presidential election fraud. A lawyer, human rights advocate and poet, Danylyuk heads the All-Ukrainian Center for Business Assistance, which he founded in 2005. He calls the center “a network of collective security” that lobbies the interests of small- and medium-sized business. Danylyuk graduated from the Kyiv National Economic University in 2003 with a master’s degree in law and studied business and law as an intern in the Czech Republic, France and Ukraine. Danylyuk authored a poetry book, titled “Praetorians: After and Before the Revolution,” published in March 2009. His poems reflect upon how politicians betrayed the goals and principles of the 2004 Orange Revolution. He aims to inspire citizens to not give up, but rather become more active in defending the cause and their own interests. The Kyiv Post sat down with Danylyuk on Jan. 11 to talk about future plans for protest actions and the authorities’ actions against those who took part in last fall’s protests. KP: What can you tell us about criminal charges reportedly brought against tax code organizers and protesters? OD: Police opened two cases on the grounds of “damage to the property” (damage of the granite tiles on Kyiv's main square) and “damage to the cars.” None of which is a serious criminal offense so no one should be jailed. Over a half-dozen activists who participated in the demonstrations have been questioned by police, who identified individuals with a history of problems with the law who took part in the protests. Two of them were arrested. The police expected the “suspects” would testify that protest organizers
gave them money to damage public property. We have information that the police put pressure on some people to say that opposition deputies paid them to raise a ruckus. The authorities, in so doing, attempted to discredit the protest movement by demonstrating to the public that the protests were organized by a group of ruffians. When we met the police on Dec. 30 they said that they have a concrete plan to put in prison all the leaders of the protest before Christmas. Our office in Podil was under surveillance. None of the actual protest organizers have been arrested yet, however. Our position is to defend all protesters at the rallies against police harassment. There are no grounds to arrest anyone because, as far as we know, no crime was committed. KP: How many indictments are you aware of? OD: Police issued four official summons to appear for questioning. The suspects, including me, are in touch with the police investigators by phone. KP: Presidential candidate Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s Front for Change Party on Jan. 11 announced it would provide free legal counsel for tax code protesters facing legal problems. OD: Well, I can say that Yatsenyuk knows how to get in touch with us, but he hasn’t provided any useful assistance to date. I think he just saw an opportunity to get into the media. We view the announcement as a public relations stunt. We would appreciate it if Yatsenyuk, who is a parliament deputy, stood up in parliament and asks human rights ombudswoman Nina Karpacheva about police harassment of tax code protesters, including members of the nationalist Tryzub group, who have been recently arrested. Tryzub was the only political organization that actively supported the proposal to hold a national referendum to dissolve parliament. Tryzub members participated in the effort, handing out leaflets and talking to people locally. KP: What future demonstrations are planned? OD: We are planning a rally outside the Presidential Administration on Jan. 14 to protest harassment of Tryzub members and another action to protest police harassment of tax code protesters
OD: Becoming a politician is not the idea that drives me. My goal is to create a powerful civil society platform that would be a watchdog for the politicians. Any government that is not watched has a natural tendency to violate the interests of people.
Oleksandr Danylyuk
and opposition politicians on Jan. 17. We expect both rallies to be well attended. KP: What is planned for Unity Day on Jan. 22? Are you coordinating the action with former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who on Jan. 4 called on her supporters to turn out for the rally? OD: We have initiated meetings to discuss preparations, but consolidating our efforts has been difficult so far. We support the “opposition” that publicly recognizes the illegitimacy of the parliament and president and condemns the Constitutional Court decision reversing 2004 amendments to the Constitution. Usurpation of power is a criminal offense, and we do not recognize Ukrainian politicians who have ignored the betrayal of democracy. KP: Why do you think the opposition doesn’t unite? OD: I think the government is mulling whether to hold parliamentary elections in 2011. It’s one case when the opposition fights the regime to survive and another case when they start their election campaign and see other opposition leaders as their competitors. With all respect to Tymoshenko and Lutsenko, we would like to unite to save democracy in Ukraine, not to salvage political reputations. We understand that since we don’t have another oppositional political elite they have the best chance to return to power and that prospect doesn’t worry us. KP: As a young pro-democratic activist do you have any ambitions to become a politician yourself?
KP: Do you agree with the ultimatum by Tymoshenko: Early elections or revolution? OD: We fully agree with it. It’s obvious that the government won’t allow us to conduct a referendum to dissolve parliament and impeach the president. This president and parliament were not elected [under the 1996 Constitution]. Thus, they were not elected under their current mandate. There are simple principles of delegating power in democracies. It’s very understandable in old democracies. Any second-year law student who has studied constitutional law questions the legitimacy of Ukraine’s president and parliament. We anonymously asked 10 university professors. They all said it was illegal. The Constitutional Court should have issued immediately the decision for new elections. But the professors are all afraid to speak out. And this is understandable because they work for state universities. The human rights non-governmental organizations that live off of Western grants say it’s not their business to comment. KP: Ukrainians, however, seem to be tired of revolutions and politics. The uniqueness of the tax code protest was that people rallied to defend their economic freedoms, not to support political colors. How would you muster public support? OD: Well, the government helps us now with their obnoxious policies. Any person who doesn’t want to emigrate from Ukraine should understand that this is the only way. The reason for the country’s problems lies in who is at the top. When we were protesting against the tax code, we actually didn’t expect that the curtailing of economic freedoms would be accompanied by the curtailing civil liberties. Kyiv Post staff writers Peter Byrne can be reached at byrne@kyivpost.com and Katya Grushenko can be reached at grushenko@kyivpost.com
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January 14, 2011 Advertisement
European Business Association News
,EADERS 4ALK
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Leaders Talk: Doing Business in Ukraine in 2011
New Labour Code Considered
7
E CONTINUE THE PUBLICATION OF %"! MEMBERSl OPINIONS ON BUSINESS RELATED TRENDS AND PERSPECTIVES THAT THE BUSINESS COMMU NITY IS GOING TO FACE THIS YEAR
What are your forecasts for doing business in Ukraine in 2011?
MEANS THAT THE ROAD FOR THE ULTRA URGENT REFORMS IS OPEN THE QUESTION IS WHETHER THE 0RESIDENT IS READY TO MOVE ON AND WHAT KIND OF MODEL HE WILL IMPLEMENT ON THE WAY 0OLITICAL WILL WAS A RARE BEAST RECENTLY TODAY ITlS IN ABUNDANT SUPPLY 3O THE FORECAST NOW IS QUITE SIMPLE p WE HAVE TO SEE WHETHER THE 0RESIDENT WILL GO THE WAY OF REFORMS TOGETHER WITH BUSINESSES OR UTILIZE THE ENORMOUS POWER CONCENTRA TION FOR SHORT TERM AND LOCAL GOALS WHICH ESSENTIALLY IS NOT WORTH IT
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o 4HE PREFERRED SLOGAN FOR p m)NVEST IN AND DO BUSINESS EASILY IN 5KRAINEn 0OST CRISIS ECO NOMIC STABILIZATION COUNTRYWIDE ADMINISTRATIVE POLITICAL AND TAX REFORMS GOVERNMENT FORECASTED '$0 GROWTH WITH A CAPPED INFLATION LEVEL AND A CONSTANT HRYVNA EXCHANGE RATE p ALL THESE SET AN OPTIMISTIC TONE AND MAKE FOR POSITIVE INVESTMENT PLANS FOR BUSINESS IN WHETHER FOR MULTINA TIONAL COMPANIES OR LOCAL SMALL BUSINESSES 4HE REAL ESTATE MARKET AND CONSTRUCTION SECTOR AS WELL AS THE METAL AND ENERGY INDUSTRIES ARE STARTING TO REVIVE 4HE 5KRAINIAN LABOUR MARKET IS PASSING THROUGH ITS POST CRISIS UPDATE PHASE COST OPTIMIZATION REMAINS CRITICAL BUT COMPANIES ARE RECRUITING FOR NEW POSITIONS AND INVESTMENT FOR THE FUTURE IS NOT JUST IN PLANT BUT IN ONE OF 5KRAINElS GREATEST ASSETS p ITS PEOPLE 4RAINING IS BACK ON AS WE RESOURCE AND SKILL UP &OR EXAMPLE IN THE )MPERIAL 4OBACCO 5KRAINE TEAM EXPANDED WITH NEW POSITIONS AND WE HAVE ALREADY DEVELOPED OPTI MISTIC PLANS FOR WHICH WE HAVE NOW LAUNCHED
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o &OR THE FIRST TIME IN THE LAST YEARS EXECUTIVE BRANCH HAS CONCENTRATED ALL POWER IN 5KRAINE .ONE CAN BE FREE OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE 0RESIDENT AND HARDLY THERE IS SOMEONE WHO COMPLETELY CON TROLS HIM !S SUCH THE 0RESIDENT HAS RECEIVED A COMPLETE RESPONSIBILITY OVER THE ECONOMICS PARLIA MENT LEGAL AND TAX SYSTEMS AND MILITARY 7HICH
he necessity to modernise labour regulation of Ukraine, which is predominantly governed by the existing since 1971 Code of Labour Laws, has been among the legislative priorities for years. The Draft Labour Code aimed to modernize and unify the existing labour related laws in Ukraine has been registered by the Parliament of Ukraine back in 2007 and its continuous revision lasts since then. The Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine has established the working group in order to revise the Draft Labour Code of Ukraine No. 1108 dated 10 December 2009. The work on the Draft Labour Code has been initiated by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The working group chaired by the Minister of Social Policy Mr. Sergey Tigipko represents the different sides of social dialogue and aims to find solutions for the most acute and problematic issues relevant to the Draft Labour Code.
Councellor, Vasil Kisil & Partners
o 4HE PACE OF BUSINESS IN SHALL SPEED UP %CHOES OF CRISIS WILL FADE AWAY %CONOMY OF 5KRAINE MUST GET BETTER &OOTBALL BECAME THE NAME OF THE GAME &OR TOURIST SECTOR CONSTRUCTIONS AND COMMUNICATION WILL BE A BUSY YEAR 2EAL ESTATES AND &-#' SHALL ENJOY GROWTH AS WELL 0HARMACEUTICAL SECTOR p MY PLAYGROUND p WILL GROW NO DOUBTS 3O OVERALL THERE IS A RATHER OPTIMISTIC PICTURE BUTc )T CLEARLY DEPENDS ON 5KRAINIAN GOVERNMENT HOW MUCH WE WILL STRUGGLE TO ACHIEVE THIS PROGRESS 7E EXPECT LARGE NUMBER OF LEGISLATIVE CHANGES TO COME p WILL THEY BE COHERENT AND CONSISTENT /UR CURRENT EXPERIENCE WHISPERS THE ANSWER ALSO BEGINNING WITH mCn p CONTROVERSIAL 1UE SERA SERA WHATEVER WILL BE WILL BEc
7E ALSO EXPECT FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF THE 5KRAINIAN TOBACCO MARKET ITSELF ALTHOUGH NOT NEC ESSARILY IN OVERALL CONSUMPTION NEW FORMATS NEW BRANDS AND BRAND VARIANTS AS WELL AS OTHER TOBACCO GOODS WILL BE LAUNCHED (OWEVER WE ALSO HOPE NOT TO SEE EXCESSIVE TAXATION CHOKING OFF A KEY BUDGET CONTRIBUTOR !S FOR COUNTERFEIT AND CONTRABAND TOBACCO GOODS THESE ARE EXPECTED TO DECREASE DUE TO IMPROVED COORDINATION AND CONTROL ON THE PART OF THE AUTHORITIES WITH OUR FULL COOPERATION 4HIS CAN ONLY HELP BUILD 5KRAINElS INTERNATIONAL REPUTA TION AS IT SEEKS BETTER TRADE DEALS WITH THE %5 AND A VISA FREE REGIME
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The EBA takes active part in this process and, since we have been consistently underlining the need to improve labour relations system in Ukraine, we hope this work will yield positive results for the business community.
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www.eba.com.ua
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S THE YEAR STARTED THE %UROPEAN #OMMISSIONER FOR %NLARGEMENT AND %UROPEAN .EIGHBOURHOOD 0OLICY hTEFAN &ÔLE HAS VISITED 5KRAINE !MONG OTHER VERY IMPORTANT ISSUES RAISED DURING THE VISIT THE BUSI NESS CLIMATE WAS A PART OF THE #OMMISSIONERlS AGENDA AS WELL )N THIS RESPECT WE ARE HAPPY THAT HE MET THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN 5KRAINE REPRESENTED BY THE %"! AND CONSIDER THIS MEETING AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF THE MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN BUSINESS AND THE %5 DECISION MAKING BODIES !T THIS MEETING THE %"! PRESENTED THE BALANCED OPINION ON DOING BUSINESS IN 5KRAINE 4HE BUSINESS REPRESENTATIVES BOTH OUTLINED POSITIVE CHANGES OF AND DESCRIBED CHALLENGES THE BUSINESS COM MUNITY FACES IN THE COUNTRY 4HE #OMMISSIONER WAS INFORMED THAT UNFORTUNATELY THE KEY PROBLEMS FOR BUSINESS CORRUPTION COURT SYSTEM LAND SYSTEM 6!4 REFUND CURRENCY REGULATION CUSTOMS AND TECHNI CAL BARRIERS FOR TRADE STILL REMAIN WITH ALMOST NO PROGRESS (OPEFULLY THE 5KRAINIAN AUTHORITIES LIKE THEIR %5 COLLEAGUES WILL CONTINUE THE DIALOGUE WITH BUSINESS AND AT THE END OF THIS YEAR WE WILL BE ABLE TO ACKNOWL EDGE IF THIS DIALOGUE HAS BEEN A SUCCESS AND LED TO IMPROVEMENT OF BUSINESS CLIMATE
4HINGS TO KNOW Consumer Electronics Import Facilitated The State Customs Service confirmed that no additional permits from the State Security Service are needed for consumer electronics importers, previously facing many difficulties during the customs clearance. In reply to the EBA Consumer Electronics Committee appeal, the State Customs Service circulated among all its regional offices the official clarification confirming that no additional permits from the Security Service of Ukraine are needed for customs clearance of consumer electronics. Also the Security Service of Ukraine informed the EBA that additional official clarification will be addressed to the State Customs Service, in that internal customs instruction will be circulated among regional customs offices.
T
he Draft Labour Code No. 1108 of December 10, 2009, which has been prepared for a second reading in the Ukrainian Parliament and which represents a complex regulatory instrument incorporating respective laws on vacations, collective bargaining agreements, remuneration of labour, and collective labour disputes, has considerably strengthened the employers’ position in labour relations. At the same time, the employees’ rights have not been significantly curtailed in comparison to the OKSANA Voynarovska current labour laws and regulations. Therefore, the Draft Labour Code creates a much better balance between the interests of employees and employers. However, some aspects of the Draft Labour Code have been criticized by both trade unions and employers’ associations. The Draft Labour Code expands the list of legal grounds for termination of employment by the employer, including breach of confidentiality undertakings, breach of work safety rules effective at the employing company, and infringement of shareholders’ rights by the company’s executive officers. It also provides flexible mechanisms for employment of foreigners: employment permits are not required for CEOs of foreign investment companies. The most controversial provision of the Draft Labour Code covers the work time duration. In particular, it increases the maximum work day up to 12 hours and the maximum work week up to 48 hours. Such practice does not comply with the best European practices applied in the context of work hours.
Chair of the EBA HR committee, Director CTC
E
very business needs people who are honest and productive. So the new Labour Code must support such people and provide the opportunity for the employer to protect him/herself from those employees who are dishonest and/or unproductive. I prefer to see the clear and transparent legal determination for the following: productivity, business results, personal business responsibility and business contract with employee, performance development plan, honest behaviour, author rights, confidential YAROSLAVA Butenko information, the right to be employed by competitors, compensation package, performance review etc. We need to understand and play business and competitive rules, not the Soviet ones.
Senior Manager, Human Capital group, Ernst & Young
T
here are a lot of critics of the Draft Labour Code in the mass media; they say that it allegedly worsens the position of employees in comparison with the current legislation. I would like to concentrate on the positive aspects of the document. The Draft Labour Code reflects almost all the norms of the current Labour Code that provide for constitutional rights to labour, rest, social security, etc. At the same time, it introduces new norms that make the act rather progressive and up-to-date. In HALYNA Khomenko particular, protection against discrimination in the labour sphere is extended to take into account such additional criteria as age, health (including HIV/ AIDS status) and family status. The norms for compensation of overtime and night-time work have been increased. The Draft Labour Code introduces penalties for late payment of salary that are to be imposed on the employer for each day of delay. A new concept of outbound secondment of Ukrainian employees is stipulated in the draft Code; this requires more development, however. Much has to be done, and we still have a chance to suggest amendments and improvements to make the Labour Code efficient and “modern�, as Mr. Tigipko put it at a working group session in late December.
7E LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR FEEDBACK AT
PGGJDF!FCB DPN VB
4 Opinion
January 14, 2011
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Editorials
Speak up Belarus’ deranged dictator, Alexander Lukashenko, has been displaying reprehensible behavior since taking power in 1994. He is suspected of involvement in the disappearances – and probable murders – of political opponents in the 1990s. He’s jailed foes, suppressed dissent, held rigged elections and monopolized power in all its forms. Still, the West thought it could coax him into democracy. The International Monetary Fund even loaned this bandit $3.46 billion. The European Union lifted travel bans on him and gave aid. But as Lukashenko’s theft of the Dec. 19 election and horrible crackdown on peaceful demonstrators shows, there is no compromise to be won with this dictator. Hundreds were jailed and many were beaten – including his top rival, Andrei Sannikov. Western policy should be to do everything possible to help Belarusians get rid of him before his brand of hateful, anti-democratic rule spreads any further. With Russia and Belarus led by authoritarian regimes, President Viktor Yanukovych – seeing the West’s impotence – is emboldened to behave the same way in Ukraine. At last, however, the world is catching on to the slide toward authoritarianism under way since Yanukovych took power on Feb. 25. Freedom House, a respected international human rights watchdog, has downgraded Ukraine from a “free” to a “partly free” nation. The Heritage Foundation, in its annual index of economic freedom, ranked Ukraine last of 43 nations in Europe. The group found a deteriorating investment climate and deepening corruption. What the West can do to reverse the decline in freedom and democracy is a vexing problem. Unlike Russia and China, nations too big and too powerful to harm with economic and other sanctions, such measures may be more effective when applied to the small nation of Belarus. Yanukovych must also be warned that Western aid and ties are imperiled if he does not start to curb his authoritarian impulses. Perhaps the EU should consider banning travel to member-state countries for top officials in Yanukovych’s administration. Polish leaders have demonstrated democratic leadership in responding to Lukashenko’s excesses. Poland is leading the way by advocating easier European Union travel for Belarusians and by offering to allow Belarusian students to attend Polish universities. At a minimum, the European Union should re-impose its travel bans on top Belarusian officials and cut off aid that benefits the government in Belarus. Recent statements warning Yanukovych against punishing political opponents, made separately by the U.S. government and EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, are helpful. Democracy is in retreat globally at the moment, but it remains a universal human desire – not just an idealistic Western value. Democracy, freedom and human rights will all rise again if everyone speaks up, does their part and refuses to be intimidated.
“I am really cleaning up this place.”
Welcome change It took a long time, but Britain’s leaders may have finally awakened to the threat the nation’s deeply flawed libel laws are posing to free speech everywhere – not just in the United Kingdom. London has become the “libel tourism” capital of the world for abusive laws that have provided cover for billionaire oligarchs and others to bully news media organizations into silence through costly lawsuits. For the second time, through different ownership and editorial teams, a Ukrainian billionaire has taken issue with something the Kyiv Post has written. In 2008, Rinat Akhmetov amicably settled a lawsuit against the newspaper involving an article he disputed. In 2010, Dmytro Firtash filed a lawsuit and has thus far refused the newspaper’s standing offer for him to counter anything inaccurate or unfair in a July 2 article on the gas trade. The fact that Firtash has chosen to litigate tells us that the RosUkrEnergo co-owner is more interested in silencing the Kyiv Post than in setting the record straight. The U.K.’s libel laws put the burden of proof on the defendant, not the plaintiff, a reversal of a fundamental principle of justice. They also put greater value on a person’s presumed reputation in the U.K. than on protecting free speech involving public issues. And judges have accepted jurisdiction for anything written on the Internet, even if – as in the Kyiv Post case – both plaintiff and defendant are based elsewhere. But in a most welcome speech on Jan. 7, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg promised to ask parliament to end the abuses. “Our aim is to turn English libel laws from an international laughing stock to an international blueprint,” Clegg said. His full remarks on this topic are on page 15, but we also highlight his statement that foreign claimants should not be able to bring “cases against foreign defendants here to our courts – even if the connection with England is tenuous.” Our sentiments exactly.
NEWS ITEM: Ukrainian General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka claims he is embarking on a “war against corruption,” but critics say his criminal investigations amount to nothing more than hounding political opponents close to ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. More than a dozen Tymoshenko associates are jailed, charged or being investigated for alleged wrongdoing while in office. “Everyone is equal before the law,” Pshonka said. “We will deal with each transgressor according to the law.” However, it is not hard to find many cases – new and old – of grand-scale financial and other crimes that are unsolved and appear to be ignored by law enforcement. (Drawing by Anatoliy Petrovich Vasilenko)
In power for a year, Yanukovych has put nation on right path A L EXA ND ER F EL D MA N
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, Oksana Gritsenko, Kateryna Grushenko, Nataliya Horban, Yuliya Ivakhnina, Vlad Lavrov, Olesia Oleshko, Yura Onyshkiv, Kateryna Panova, Iryna Prymachyk, Mark Rachkevych, Nataliya Solovonyuk, Maria Shamota, Irina Sandul, Svitlana Tuchynska Photographers: Oleksiy Boyko, Joseph Sywenkyj. 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, Elena Symonenko, Sergiy Volobayev Nataliia Protasova, Subscription Manager Svitlana Kolesnykova, Newsroom Manager Anastasia Forina, Office Manager
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While Ukraine still faces many challenges, 2010 was without doubt a year of progress, with new President Viktor Yanukovych carrying out key reforms much to the surprise of his critics. Stability has returned, the economy is on the up, and foreign policy is being carefully balanced. From being an unreliable, inconsistent, unstable country Ukraine has become dependable, consistent and progressive. On Jan. 17, 2010, Ukraine entered a new chapter in its history when the 2004 Orange Revolution [which led to Viktor Yushchenko’s election as president after a rigged election favoring Yanukovych was overturned] finally ran out of juice. The first round of the presidential election reflected the deep disappointment of Ukrainian’s toward their one-time
Æ President inherited a nation on its knees economically and politically; he’s done a great job hero, Yushchenko, and on Feb. 25 his rival, Yanukovych, took over Ukraine’s leadership. Yanukovych inherited a country on its knees both economically and politically. Not only did he find an overflowing in-tray and a to-do list as long as his arm, but he also found himself faced with the job of convincing the somewhat cynical West that he would be a credible leader, and not a tool of the Kremlin. Æ15
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.
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Opinion 5
January 14, 2011
VOX populili
Letters to the editor
United Kingdom readers sound off on Kyiv Post ban in response to libel law Editor’s Note: On Dec. 14, in response to a libel lawsuit filed against the Kyiv Post in London, the newspaper blocked United Kingdom users from accessing its website because British courts have taken a wide interpretation of jurisdiction, allowing foreigners to bring lawsuits for anything on the Internet that is accessible to U.K. readers. The libel law is draconian in its restrictions on free speech. A movement is under way for change. More information can be found at www.libelreform.org.
Newspaper risks ‘alienating’ admirers Dear Editor, As an admirer and regular reader of the Kyiv Post, I have to say I think you are shooting yourselves in the foot over this one [decision to ban United Kingdom traffic to the newspaper’s website]. Such bans invariably stifle freedom of speech - the very thing, you contend, you are concerned about. As I understand it, such libel laws in the United Kingdom are under active review by the government and both leading politicians and
media organizations have voiced their concerns. By implementing such a ban on web traffic from the U.K., the Kyiv Post runs the risk of alienating its admirers and achieving little or nothing in return - far better for the Kyiv Post, along with other media outlets, to actively campaign for contentious libel laws in the UK to be rescinded. With this in mind, it is important that its voice is heard. A ban does nothing to enhance this. Quite the opposite.
In my view, you have made a mistake and the best course of action is to immediately recognise it, win respect by acknowledging the fact and then proactively campaign for the judicious amendment of all such laws that curtail freedom of speech, wherever in the world they may be, (and there are plenty of candidates). Kind regards, Steven J. Hutchings Editor, Sidmouth Herald Exeter, United Kingdom
‘Please remove ban;’ Kyiv Post needed in U.K. Dear Editor, Please remove the ban on access to the Kyiv Post from the United Kingdom. it is the way that many people who work or have family connections in Ukraine keep in touch. A free and accessible press is vital to the evolution of Ukraine towards becoming a real and open democracy. This ban cuts you off from a country where many have the best intentions for Ukraine. Best wishes, Bill Wimbledon Cardiff, United Kingdom
Why deny readers access to ‘excellent’ coverage?
Ban does not help cause of free press, libel reform
Dear Editor, While I am entirely sympathetic to your objections to the abuse of United Kingdom libel law by libel tourists, I am not convinced that this [blocking Kyiv Post access to the U.K.] is the best way to highlight the issue, or to drum up support for U.K. libel law reform. You might consider, instead, directing readers in the first instance to your note of protest, including the link to libelreform.org, and then allowing
Dear Editor, Libel law at least allows the challenge of an issue in open court in a fair democratic societies were the truth is not state controlled and orchestrated by a puppet Russian government. In the United Kingdom journalists are free to work without fear of the [Security Service of Ukraine] SBU or police interviews and beatings to intimidate them and report without fear to their families and homes. The
them to click through to kyivpost.com. Otherwise, all you are doing is denying readers who happen to be based in the U.K. - whether they are British or not of access to your excellent coverage of Ukrainian news. Best regards, Franklin Steves Political Counsellor European Bank for Reconstruction and Development London, England
Kyiv Post is an independent source of news to those in the United Kingdom and alienating them will only cause the fight for free press in Ukraine to go further underground. Maybe you should rename the Paper the “SBU Post.” Regards, Simon Martin Assessor Highbury College Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Kyiv Post needs support of its U.K. readers, ban only makes it harder for them to help Dear Editor, In late 2009, as I was preparing to move to Ukraine, I discovered the Kyiv Post online as an excellent and informative source of news and information on current affairs and political developments inside the country. The broad range of subjects covered and the frankness of the articles helped me “lift the lid” on Ukrainian life and the well-written English language articles triggered an interest in people, places and topics which I had never known about before. Once I had arrived in Kyiv, the weekly printed edition quickly became a “must read” for me as it probably did (and is) for many other foreigners living in the city. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that I read the paper over-to-cover almost every week for most of the year and I hope I am much better informed because of it. For this reason, and because I continue to follow events in Ukraine with considerable interest that I am disappointed with the recent decision to block all United Kingdom users from accessing your site. Whilst I sympathize with the Kyiv Post’s position on this issue and I agree that the UK laws need updating to prevent them from being abused, I am not convinced that muzzling yourselves and restricting access for everyone in the UK is either correct or necessary. By blocking those of us in the UK who care about Ukraine, you lose your ability to influence debate here in the UK
or to initiate discussion on the many important issues facing Ukraine today. Other UK citizens like myself will miss the opportunity to learn about the country and at a time when the UK and Ukraine should be coming together, they will (thanks to a lack of information) grow further apart. There is no other English language news like the Kyiv Post. Such action also punishes your partners and advertisers by denying them exposure to a UK audience. Finally, I would ask if it is necessary or fair to punish one segment of your readership (based purely on nationality) for a law with which the Kyiv Post disagrees? Is it not similar to the Economist or the Financial Times blocking access to Ukrainian citizens because of the new tax code, or because of Ukrainian government’s own record on freedom of speech? If the Kyiv Post is opposed to the U.K. libel laws and if it makes a clear and well argued case against such laws people who read your paper will agree, and if they agree and feel strongly about the issue they are free to sign the petition and to contact their elected representatives. Such campaigns may be cumbersome and slow to take effect, but with the right level of support (which this campaign appears to have) things can be changed and the laws can be updated. In fact, with a new government in place in Westminster who are keen to hand power back to the people you might find renewed political support for such changes.
According to the website of the U.K. parliament, libel legislation was discussed on Dec. 1. Answering questions on issues including libel tourism, Jonathan Djanogly, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State explained that the government is currently reviewing the law on defamation and as part of this review it is considering the problem of libel tourism. Interestingly he explained that “research conducted in the context of the libel working group’s consideration of this issue did not show a significant number of actual cases involving foreign litigants in the High Court in 2009.” However, he did acknowledge that major problems arise “from the threat of libel proceedings by wealthy foreigners and public figures, which is used to stifle investigative journalism, regardless of whether actual cases are subsequently brought-hence the fact that the number of cases alone might not accurately reflect the extent of the problem.” The UK government are therefore “considering possible options carefully” and looking at ways to “tighten the rules and practice in order to head off inappropriate claims at the earliest possible stage, in cases where court permission is required to serve a defamation claim outside England and Wales.” If this is achieved, would this not solve the problem? So, to liberate your news, to keep UK readers informed about Ukrainian affairs and to keep up the pressure on
the UK government, can I suggest the following as a compromise: 1. Wherever and however possible, urge everyone in Ukraine (or anywhere in the world for that matter) who supports you to write to the UK embassy urging them to highlight the importance of this issue. 2. Encourage readers (especially UK readers) and interest groups to write to their elected representatives (http:// www.theyworkforyou.com makes this very easy) 3. Remove the ‘block’ on your website but keep a re-direct in place which takes online readers to a holding page which explains your concerns and asking them to sign the petition at http:// www.libelreform.org/sign. Once they have seen this page - let them continue to your site as usual. You certainly have my support on this issue, and I am happy to sign the petition, but please, liberate your news. There could be any number of issues on which you need the support of UK readers (even if we are small in number) and it is far better is you work with us instead of against us. After all, an eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind. Ian Bearder Oxford, United Kingdom P.S. for a complete transcript of the parliamentary debate, see: h t t p : / / w w w. t h e y wo r k f o r yo u . com/debates/?id=2010-1201b.930.0#g930.1
WITH NATALIYA SOLOVONYUK
What do you think about the crackdown under way in Belarus by President Alexander Lukashenko and should Ukraine do anything about it? Could this happen here? Oleksandra Maday Advertising “I am negative about the events in Belarus. Lukashenko suppressing people. But I think that in our country this cannot happen. [President Viktor] Yanukovych could not have become a ‘second Lukashenko.’ We should not support Lukashenko. We need to, like other countries, to call for the release of political prisoners in Belarus.” Oleksandr Sayenko Sociologist “The whole world understands why this is happening in Belarus, and such actions by the authorities should not be happening in any country in the world. I think that now in Ukraine such events are possible. I have a negative attitude to this situation. Although Lukashenko is president, there is a need to show him that he is going too far. We must urge Belarus to free people who just wanted to defend their choice.” Valentyn Ruzhetsky Pensioner “I have a negative attitude towards such events. I think that now, in our country, something like this might happen. We, as neighbors, should call on Lukashenko to be more democratic…” Iryna Sobolevska Accountant “I believe that violence always begets violence. We could conceivably have this in Ukraine. Ukraine [should] not interfere in their internal affairs. Our government should put things in order at home first.” Olha Stepanyscheva Pensioner “We still have to remain neutral in this regard. Ukraine, I think, is far from such events. We are not afraid of arrests or violence when out on the Maydan [Independence Square].”
6 Business
www.kyivpost.com
January 14, 2011
Business Sense
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
WITH JORGE ZUKOSKI
Grain export quota allocation lacks transparency, fairness After poor weather conditions led to a poor grain harvest, the Ukrainian government introduced limits on exports until the end of last year, before extending them to the end of March. Licenses to export the extra 1.5 million metric tons of corn and 500,000 tons of wheat under the new quotas, allocated this week, were handed out in the same way as the original allowances in November – with disregard for transparency and equity. On Dec. 31 it was announced that the deadline for grain exporting companies to apply for the next round of grain export quotas to the Ministry
of Economic Development and Trade was Jan. 6. The procedure required the presentation of a set of documents, one of them being a certification by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food confirming that the applying company actually owns the stocks of grains that they would like to export. Without such confirmation a company was not allowed to apply for part of the quota being allocated. Unfortunately, the same situation that happened in November has been repeated, highlighting that the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food once again issued confirmations selectively.
ÆOn the move SERHIY CHORNY has been appointed co-managing partner in Ukraine for Baker & McKenzie, a leading international law firm. Before becoming co-managing partner, Chorny was head of the group’s banking, finance and capital markets practice in Ukraine. He is also a member of the Kyiv-based firm’s European Banking and Finance Steering Committee and European Securities Steering Committee. Chorny joined Baker & McKenzie’s Kyiv practice in 1993 and became a partner in 1998. Chorny received his first law degree from Kyiv State University, and also gained a Master of Laws from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom.
Some companies received confirmations on time; however, others did not. There was no explanation given as to why the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food applies different rules to different market players. Among those that were refused the confirmation are reputable international grain traders, such as Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Commodities. It is curious that they are among the same companies that did not receive timely stock confirmations from the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food during previous process of quota distribution in November last year.
Ukraine in strengthening its balance of payments, increase exports and employment while satisfying increasing global demand for food products. Instead, these investors are being frustrated by unclear and non-transparent quota distribution process and unfair treatment. Jorge Zukoski is president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine, one of the largest business organizations. Zukoski can be reached at president@chamber.ua. The article is an adapted version of an open letter sent to Prime Minister Mykola Azarov on Jan. 10.
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.
SERHIY PIONTKOVSKY
LEONID ZHUKOTSKY was
has been appointed co-managing partner in Ukraine for Baker & McKenzie, a leading international law firm. In prior years, Piontkovsky headed the Kyiv-based firm’s energy, chemicals, mining, infrastructure, real estate and construction practices. He joined Baker & McKenzie’s Kyiv practice in 1995 and became a partner in 2001. Piontkovsky received a doctor of law degree from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations and a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School in the United States.
KONSTANTIN GUSAROV was
appointed manager of sales and marketing in the display and graphics department of 3M Ukraine, a subsidiary of global innovation company 3M. In his new post, Zhukotsky will lead 3M’s development of traffic safety systems and commercial graphics in Ukraine and also will lead the promotion of 3M’s brand image in these fields. Before this post Zhukotsky worked for three years as a managing director of BASF, a chemical company, and for one year he was the head of the BASF AG representative office. Zhukotsky started his career in 1999 when he established the Degussa AG representative office and managed the business as a head of representative office till 2007. Zhukotsky graduated from Kyiv International University of Civil Aviation with a bachelor’s degree in organization and air transport management.
appointed general manager of a private joint-stock company LINIK, TNK-BP’s Lisichansk oil refinery. Prior to this post, he was the director of the commercial department of refinement business unit at TNK-BP Management in Moscow. Gusarov started his career in TNK-BP at Orsknefteorgsintez as head of the planning and performance management group. Later he worked at the commercial department of refinement business unit in TNK-BP’s Moscow office. He also held the position of head of planning and investment of the oil-related service unit and worked as a financial director of the engineering business unit at Integra Company, a provider of onshore oilfield services. Gusarov graduated from Orenburg State University with a degree in finance and credit. He also has qualified from cost optimization and international accounting standards trainings at Deloitte and Ernst & Young.
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This situation is simply unacceptable for the legitimate business community that strives to operate transparently and in accordance with internationally accepted business practices. The lack of transparency and perceived road blocks to companies in the process of grain quota allocation is seriously impacting investors that the government is claiming to want to attract and retain. These companies could be important players in bringing international expertise and capital to the agricultural complex helping Ukraine to become more competitive in this important sector of the economy that would assist
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Business 7
January 14, 2011
Ukrainian coal mines show new promise with investors BY J O H N M A R ON E
Ukraine’s vast coal sector has long been characterized by too much state ownership, too little development and some deadly mine disasters. But this picture is about to change, as rising domestic demand for electricity captures the interest of foreign capital. Coal mining, despite its negative environmental image and infamous safety record, is making a comeback as a source of power in Ukraine. And foreign investors are helping to facilitate the industry’s recovery, and may introduce cleaner and safer technology as they pursue higher productivity and profit. Last month, Sadovaya Group, a Luxembourg-registered holding company representing two underground mines and other coal industry assets in eastern Ukraine, took in just over $30 million from an initial public offering (IPO) of 25 percent of its shares on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Sadovaya Group boasts fourth place among Ukraine’s largest private producers of energy coal, used in power stations, which differs from the coking coal used in the steel-making process. The company’s co-owner and founder, Oleksandr Tolstoukhov, is a former manager at Ukraine’s Alchevsk Steel Mill in the early 1990s. Tolstoukhov now owns 38 percent of Sadovaya Group, with the remaining 37 percent in the hands of his partner Serhiy Stetsurin. The company will use the external equity financing from mostly institutional investors, in addition to its net profit of $7.9 million for the first nine months of last year, to modernize and develop its mines, equip its coal waste recovery and enrichment facilities, and expand.
In the mean time, Sadovaya is now Ukraine’s only foreign-listed coal mining company, and only one of a handful of public energy coal companies from Eastern Europe, including Russian Kuzbass Fuel Company, Czech New World Resources, and Polish Bogdanka, according to the analytical department at BG Capital, the lead manager for the placement in Ukraine.
Foreign interest But investor interest in the coal business is even more far-reaching. Last October, the world’s largest coal producer, Coal India, completed a $3.4 billion IPO. Other large-scale international mergers and acquisitions activity in the global coal market is in the making. Action is expected to pick soon in Ukraine, which has a large coal sector with vast untapped deposits but desperately needs modernization. Coal is the only energy source whose share in primary energy consumption has grown globally in the last decade, according to research recently published by energy giant BP. This makes coal producing countries such as Ukraine potential destinations for foreign capital. “Foreign investors have declared serious interest in Ukraine’s coal sector in 2010, while this interest was rather sporadic previously,” said Roman Topolyuk, an analyst at Kyiv-based investment bank Phoenix Capital. In addition to Polish investor interest in Sadovaya, the Czech Republic’s New World Resources recently announced that it was considering the purchase of coal mining assets in Ukraine. “The major reason for such interest is that Ukraine has rich reserves of coal (34 billion metric tons), putting the country in 6th place globally,” Topolyuk said. The bulk of Ukrainian coal, both energy coal and coking coal,
A Ukrainian miner shovels coal at the Makiyivka mine outside Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, in 2004. (AFP)
can be extracted with substantial profit, he added. In 2009, Ukraine extracted 72 million metric tons, making it the world’s 12th largest producer, according to BG Capital. That same year, however, only around 7 percent of Ukrainianproduced coal was exported, Topolyuk said. Ukraine could have exported more but current levels of production are largely absorbed by domestic demand, he added. “In 2010, we expect an 11 percent increase that would turn into 5.9 million metric tons to be sold abroad,” said Topolyuk. The country’s main export markets are Bulgaria (1.48 million metric tons) and Turkey (0.92 million metric tons) but also other countries in Europe, as well as Brazil, India and Russia. But already countries with even larger appetites such as China, the world’s largest producer but a net importer, are knocking at the door. Ukraine’s coal industry and China’s State Development Bank signed a framework agreement on financial cooperation in September 2010 during Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych’s visit to China. Under the agreement, Ukraine’s coal ministry presented to the Chinese side a package of seven investment projects with an estimated cost of more than $1 billion, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Domestic demand
Zasyadko coal mine workers dig graves at a cemetery near the mine in Donetsk on Sept. 21, 2006, one day after their colleagues were killed in an explosion caused by a gas leak. (AFP)
Analysts at BG Capital also emphasize the growing domestic demand for Ukrainian energy coal, predicting that it is expected to increase by 60 percent over the next five years. “Domestic demand for electricity is forecast to rise by 3-4 percent annually, but the country’s nuclear reactors, which supply around half of the country’s power, are going to have to start being shut down next, at least long enough to have their life cycles extended,” BG Capital analyst Alexander Paraschy said. Hydro-electricity plants are maxed out, and alternative fuel such as solar and wind are still in their infancy. So thermal plants, which run on mostly coal but also natural gas and heating oil, are well placed to fill the gap, he added.
But for coal to pick up the slack left by Ukraine’s nuclear industry, thermal plants, which currently account for about 40 percent of the nation’s electricity, would need investment to significantly increase output. Moreover, as some 60 percent of Ukraine’s 150plus coal mines are still under state control, many will have to be privatized in order to improve efficiency. Last month, Ukraine’s Energy Ministry published a list of over one dozen state coal mining companies that it considers attractive to investors. The list follows pledges made by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych last year to open up the sector to privatization. Other mines could be leased out long term or be included into a joint venture between a strategic investor and the state, Topolyuk said.
over by well-connected business interests; less profitable ones which are de jure owned by the state but de-facto rented out to private businessmen who are less than concerned about miner safety or the environment; and purely state-owned ones “which are the scariest of all.” In November 2007, an accident at Ukraine’s Zasyadko mine in Donetk claimed the lives of over 100 miners – the worst coal mining disaster in the country’s history, but by no means an isolated incident. “No one takes responsibility,” Omelchenko said, referring to Ukraine’s state-owned mines. One of the main threats to safety comes from the practice of paying miners by the amount of coal that they produce rather than by the hour, forcing them to break safety
Æ Top Ukrainian coal company recently listed in Warsaw; Czech group could buy local mine Cleaning house An influx of investment could help lift an increasingly heavy burden off state coffers, which continue to heavily yet non-transparently subsidize coal mines. Ukraine’s government reported that that average losses for coal mines grew from $4 per metric ton in 2004 to $33 per metric ton in 2009. And out of Hr 10.8 billion in 2009 budget financing ($1.4 billion, or 3.5 percent of the country’s consolidated budget expenditures) into state mines, only 4 percent was directed for investment programs, the ministry acknowledged. Volodymyr Omelchenko, an energy analyst at Ukrainian think tank Razumkov Center, said the state’s current management of the majority of the country’s coal mines is a recipe for corruption and disaster. He said there are three kinds of mines in Ukraine: private ones that are profitable and were long ago taken
rules to earn a decent wage. Bringing in a foreign investor could improve the situation with miner safety as well as environmental protection, but only if the government were to draft and enforce appropriate operating regulations. Topolyuk said investment received from future IPOs and other forms of foreign investment should go toward the purchase of newer equipment, “which provides higher productivity and safety, implying stronger profits and sustainable operations.” Investment should also go towards modernization of infrastructure and the opening of new coal seams to meet rising demand. “The Ministry of Fuel and Energy outlined an anticipated 2011 increase in demand from power plants by 12 percent to 36 million tons. Therefore, the average purchase price is expected to climb by 19 percent to Hr 675 ($85) per ton.”
8 Business
Russia to build two nuclear reactors in western Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine’s parliament gave the green light on Jan. 12 for a joint project with Russia to build two nuclear reactors in western Ukraine, financed by a multi-billion dollar Russian loan. Ukraine already operates 15 nuclear units at four nuclear power plants, and nuclear energy covers about a half of its electricity needs. But most power units were built in Soviet times and should reach the end of their working lives within the next 10 to 15 years.
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January 14, 2011
The agreement, signed in April 2010, calls for construction of two Russiandesigned units at the Khmelnytsky plant, each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts. Russia is to issue a loan to pay for the nuclear equipment it supplies to the project. Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said last year that the loan could reach $2 billion, while one Russian official put it at “several billion of dollars.” Ukraine’s relations with Russia have
Ukraine has approved a multi-billion-dollar deal that will see Russian companies build two new nuclear reactors in western Ukraine at the Khmelnytsky Nuclear Power Plant (below).
improved since Yanukovych won a presidential election last February, and the two countries have boosted ties in energy, security, industrial and aviation sectors. In September, Russian nuclear fuel maker TVEL won the right to build a nuclear fuel plant in Ukraine by 2013. State-owned TVEL, the single supplier of fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants, had competed for the contract with U.S. firm Westinghouse, owned by Japan’s Toshiba.
Ukraine extends grain export quotas as lower harvest numbers posted (Reuters) – Ukraine has extended grain export quotas to include the first quarter of 2011 and increased the volume to 4.2 million metric tons from the initial 2.7 million, according to a government resolution published on Dec. 28. The resolution was adopted by the government on Dec. 6 but has
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov
Azarov: Time to lift ban on agriculture land sales (Kyi Post staff) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov threw his weight behind the privatization of farmland, including sale to foreign investors, in a bid to improve productivity. Azarov’s comments in a Jan. 6 interview with news agency InterfaxUkraine came after President Viktor Yanukovych’s top aide Serhiy Lyovochkin said in December that the moratorium on land sales could be lifted in 2011. “Ukraine is facing a situation in which it is unable to provide itself with foodstuffs,” Azarov told InterfaxUkraine. “Who could have thought that we’d see the day when Ukraine had to buy and import meat? Who could have seriously thought about that 20 years ago?” The Ukrainian government last year imposed limits on grain exports in an effort to prevent a rise in food prices. Ukraine, historically referred to as the “Breadbasket of Europe,” is blessed with rich agricultural soil and good weather for farming. But Azarov said huge investment is needed to modernize out-of-date farming technologies, and in turn boost the nation’s economy. The prime minister said the government’s aim was to turn land into “an investment resource” over the next two years. Striking a more protectionist note, however, Azarov said the amount of land that foreigners can acquire may be limited by new legislation. “How do we prevent somebody buying our land cheap and so on? Let’s say this issue is to be addressed to lawmakers. All these models could be created to make it quite natural for there to be a limitation on foreign citizens’ rights to buy, let me stress again, our land on a large scale,” he said.
not been published or enforced as yet. Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said in late December that the government was reconsidering previous plans to extend grain export quotas to the second half of the 2010/11 season. But late in December, Prysyazhnyuk
said the government had extended the quotas, set to expire on Dec. 31, until March 31, 2011. Ukraine’s economy ministry in December proposed that the government issue additional quotas for exports of 500,000 tons of wheat and 1 million of maize to end-March. The initial grain export quotas
allowed exports of 500,000 tons of wheat, 2 million of maize and 200,000 tons of barley until the year-end. Ukraine, which exports barley, wheat and maize, was likely to harvest about 40 million tons of grain in clean weight in 2010, down from 46 million in 2009 due to a severe drought.
Coal smuggling case ends in favor of ArcelorMittal (Reuters) – A court in Ukraine has dismissed charges of coal smuggling against the local unit of ArcelorMittal, the company said on Dec. 27. “All charges of attempted smuggling, brought up earlier by the State Customs Service and the Security Service of Ukraine, have been dropped,” the company said in a statement. In September, the former Soviet nation’s customs service seized 100,000 metric tons of coking coal imported by ArcelorMittal’s smelter in the city of Kryvy Rih saying it had declared a false price for it.
The company denied the charges and filed a motion to drop the case against it. ArcelorMittal said the coal would now be returned to it. In a separate case in October, Ukraine’s state prosecutor filed a lawsuit against ArcelorMittal for an alleged failure to meet its investment obligations but the case has since been dropped. ArcelorMittal bought the Ukrainian plant for $4.8 billion in 2005, making it the biggest foreign direct investment deal in Ukraine since independence in 1991.
ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel producing company, is the largest investor in Ukraine. It acquired the nation’s largest steel mill (above) in 2005 for a whopping $4.8 billion in a tender that is still regarded as the only major privatization auction held by Ukraine in a transparent manner.
Azarov: Nation must modernize steel industry (Kyiv Post staff) – Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the government needs to stimulate investment in its vast steel industry in order to remain competitive on world markets. Steel, along with chemicals, is one of Ukraine’s main exports, and the country’s economy is highly sensitive to fluctuations in global prices and demand. A drop in demand for steel in 2008 was a
key factor in the depth of Ukraine’s economic crisis. “The technological backwardness of our industry is a death sentence for the country,” Azarov said on Jan. 5. “If within the next few years we do not solve the problem of the innovative restructuring of this sector, the pace of advancement of metallurgical industries in the world will not leave any chance to native plants to hold their own on
the market.” He said the government should provide “essential help and maximum support” for investment projects in the steel sector. The country’s steel plants are concentrated primarily under Russian ownership or in the hands of Rinat Akhmetov, the country’s richest man and a lawmaker from the Party of Regions, which backs President Viktor Yanukovych.
Price of Russian gas rises to $264 per 1,000 cubic meters in 2011 first quarter (Reuters) – The price for Russian gas imported by Ukraine will rise by 4.7 percent to about $264 per 1,000 cubic meters (tcm) in the first quarter this year, Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted a government source as saying on Jan 10. Ukraine bought Russian gas at about $252 per tcm in the fourth quarter of 2010. Independent analysts said last month that Russian gas prices were likely to rise to an average of
$280-$290 per tcm in 2011 due to a jump in oil prices. In line with a 10-year deal between Ukraine’s energy firm Naftogaz and Russian gas giant Gazprom, gas prices are reviewed every quarter taking into account the price of crude oil and oil products. But Ukraine’s government has said it wants to cut prices as market realities have changed. Russia has said it could give Ukraine a discount if it gets a stake in its gas
pipeline network – a trade Kyiv has been so far reluctant to make but one which, according to analysts, is now seen as possible. Ukraine’s strategic gas pipeline system transports 80 percent of Gazprom gas bound for Europe. A deal last April between Ukraine and Russia already gave Kyiv a gas price discount in exchange for an extension of a lease for the Russian navy in a Ukrainian Black Sea port.
Government to put price on Ukrtelecom (Reuters) – A Kyiv consultancy has been commissioned to evaluate the Ukrainian government’s stake in fixedline giant Ukrtelecom to allow a sale to go ahead with only one bidder, the state property fund said on Jan. 10. Late last month, Ukraine put off the privatization auction of the government’s 93-percent stake in Ukrtelecom because Austria-based investment firm Epic was the sole bidder. The auction had been planned for Dec. 28 but could not be held because legislation prevented it going ahead with only a single bidder. The evaluation by Ostrov, an independent consultancy, which must be carried out within the next 30 days, should clear the way for a new date to be set for the sale and for it now to go ahead. The government previously put a price of $1.3 billion on its stake. The asset sale should be the biggest by the government since President Viktor Yanukovych came to power last February. Ukrtelecom, which controls about 80 percent of Ukraine’s fixed-line market and has a relatively small mobile business, earned $6.1 million in the first half of this year, compared with a loss of $16 million in the same period of 2009.
www.kyivpost.com
Business 9
January 14, 2011
Prized Kyiv monopolies target of insider wars BY S V I T L A N A T U C H YN S KA TUCHYNSKA@KYIVPOST.COM
With Kyiv’s eccentric and controversial Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky now serving a mainly ceremonial role, the lid is being lifted on some of the deals that happened under his rule – and what’s beneath is proving very murky. The new city administration – led by pro-presidential appointee Oleksandr Popov – is battling to reclaim through courts prized city assets after it emerged that one company, Novy Region, had acquired large stakes in several leading municipal companies that were never officially, or at least transparently, privatized by the city. But concerns have been raised that shares in the lucrative and prized cityowned companies, including utilities with monopolistic positions on the market, could be resold to insiders close to President Viktor Yanukovych’s team at below-market prices, as happened when he was prime minister in 2006. Experts said municipal companies that provide everything from electricity, heat, water and sewage services desperately need investment and could benefit from private ownership. But they warn that stocks sold in shady deals to well-connected businessmen could bilk a cash-starved city budget, while generating big profits for the new owners without improvement in services. The news that some of Kyiv’s biggest companies no longer belong to the capital city has been announced in a steady trickle of statements posted on the city administration’s website since last summer. They reveal how from May 2009 to spring 2010, a company called Novy Region bought stocks of several of the largest municipal companies: 28.46 percent of city gas provider Kyivgas, 25.4 percent of water supply and drainage company Kyivvodokanal, 80 percent of construction company Kyivmiskbud and 51 percent of the biggest chemical fiber manufacturer in Ukraine, Kyivhimvolokno. Later the shares in Kyivmiskbud and Kyivgas were sold to Cyprus offshore companies. Each valued at least in the hundreds of millions of dollars, these companies were never put up for privatization in a transparent manner. Moreover, politicians and analysts are pointing the finger for the dodgy deals at Chernovetsky, the ultimate city manager whose supporters in recent years also enjoyed a majority in the city council. “The deals were made as usual in Ukraine – behind closed doors,” said Denys Moskal, deputy head of the Kyiv city council’s property commission. He added that in some instances, the deals were carefully concealed through innovative means. Ukrainian legislation requires them to be announced publicly through statements published in newspapers. But somehow, when the deals were revealed through such statements, all copies of the municipal newspapers announcing them were purchased by insiders early in the day, effectively leaving no copies available for the public to read and learn about the transactions. Experts say that Novy Region looks like a classic front firm. According to the State Statistics Committee, it was founded in June 2008 as a publicly traded company. Mykhailo Pirotsky is registered as the head of the company, but a call to
Technicians monitor electricity supplies at the central control room of Kyivenergo, the Ukrainian capital’s monopoly supplier of electricity and heating for apartments. (PHL)
Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky (left) and city administration head Oleksandr Popov are together on June 15, 2010. (Ukrainian photo)
a number registered as his contact was answered by a young woman who says she is a student and has never heard of Novy Region or Pirotsky. There is no sign of the company in the building where it is registered, Barbyusa St. 40 in Kyiv, and neighbors say they have never heard of it. Chernovetsky’s opponents on the Kyiv city council allege that the company is linked to the mayor’s son-in-law, Vyacheslav Suprunenko. He is also a member of city council. Soon after being elected Kyiv’s mayor in 2006, Chernovetsky faced rising accusations by opponents of corruption. One of the most prominent cases involved a flurry of land auctions, where valuable plots were sold by the city council at privileged prices to companies whose ownership remains hazy. Several of his high-ranking subordinates from the city administration are being investigated by prosecutors of involvement in corruption dealings. Suprunenko could not be reached for comment while Kristina Chernovetska, his wife, has previously denied “any
criminal allegations” against him. Through a spokesperson, Chernovetsky declined to comment. The mayor himself has yet to face any charges, and many doubt he will. “He is a smart man. With a loyal majority in the city council, he made sure all decisions were voted there,” said Volodymyr Sivkovych, a lawmaker from the Party of Regions who initiated a parliamentary investigation into Chernovetsky earlier in 2010. “As far as I know, there are not even any documents signed by Chernovetsky” himself in suspicious dealings. The new city administration seems determined to get the stocks back. Since September courts have recognized all of the deals as illegal, and ordered the shares in the companies to be returned to municipal ownership. However, according to deputy city mayor Oleksandr Puzanov, current stock owners have no intention to surrender: “In some cases appealing processes are in progress, in others they are about to start,” he said. In a country where most privatiza-
tion deals are conducted with little transparency, many fear that the stocks saga is not over. The new administration has appeared less keen to chase down the 12.73 percent it used to own in Kyivenergo, the monopolist for generating, transmitting and distributing heat and electrical power in Kyiv. The stake was sold in a complex deal in 2007, apparently not an official privatization, then resold several times, finally ending up controlled by Trelodia Investments, a limited company registered in Cyprus. “We figured it is meaningless to try to return these stocks. 12.73 percent doesn’t really influence that much,” says Puzanov, adding that instead the city is trying to “find a compromise with the shareholders.” According to Puzanov, the state owns 50 percent plus one share in Kyivenergo, with the rest controlled by three Cyprus-registered companies, including Trelodia. The city administration appears unwilling to get back the 12.73 percent of Kyivenergo. Meanwhile, the DTEK energy holding of Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, a propresidential lawmaker, announced late last year that it had boosted its stake in Kyivenergo. But it did not make clear where it acquired the stake. DTEK, an Akhmetov-owned company, announced on Dec. 9 it had increased its stake in Kyivenergo from 24.9 percent to 40 percent. A spokesman for DTEK refused to reveal where the stock was purchased. Puzanov said he didn’t know how this purchase affected the other owners’ stakes. Ivan Plachkov, a former head of Kyivenergo and ex-energy minister, claimed Akhmetov controlled Trelodia. According to two other sources in the energy business that declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, Akhmetov owned the shares before through offshore companies, and the transfer to DTEK was a way to formalize ownership. A spokes-
person for DTEK said the company will not comment on its possible links with Trelodia. General Prosecutor Viktor Pshonka says an investigation is underway into the recent share dealings involving Kyiv’s municipal companies. He has promised to reveal who was behind the “shadow privatization” in the “very near future.” Meanwhile, for millions of Kyivans the news of municipal companies passing back and forth between owners via nontransparent deals shows that a lack of oversight exists over companies that provide services crucial to their daily lives. Analysts say it also means that tariffs will grow as owners try to boost profitability to cover past losses incurred through murky deals, or milk the companies flat out, while doing little to improve services. And so, the lack of transparency in the privatization process and ownership does directly affect citizens,
Æ Still unclear who makes money on utilities according to Plachkov. He added: “In developed countries, monopolies like Kyivenergo, Kyivvodokanal and others are either owned by the state, the city or a public company with thousands of share holders. But as long as the state is weak, large and mostly shadowy companies will continue to rule the country.” Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at tuchynska@kyivpost.com
10 Business
www.kyivpost.com
January 14, 2011
Vanco restarts search for Black Sea energy BY V L A D L AV R OV LAVROV@KYIVPOST.COM
Back in 2006, it came as a surprise to many when Ukraine’s government announced that a Houston-based energy company called Vanco Energy had won a landmark exploration and production tender to explore Ukraine’s Black Sea shelf. Many experts saw the potentially multi-billion-dollar exploration and production project as an effort to unlock the last large offshore hydrocarbon reserve in the region. But somehow, a relatively small company in Vanco, which originally had as its partner U.K.-based JNR Eastern Investments Limited, was chosen by a government commission over multinational oil giants as Shell and ExxonMobil. Few knew then that a longstanding saga over the project was just beginning. Over time, disputes escalated between Ukraine’s government and Vanco, which found backing in the form of at least one highly influential Ukrainian businessman. But the squabbling bogged down the project, a strategically important one for a country that desperately needs Western investment to tap into fresh hydrocarbon reserves. As a consequence, a country which should have long ago diversified supplies for its energy-intensive economy remains heavily dependent on Russian suppliers. Early on, JNR, representing the interests of investment banker Nathaniel Rothschild and his family, sold its interests in the Vanco-led project to undisclosed investors. When the production sharing agreement with Ukraine’s government was signed in late 2007, it assigned the project’s implementation to Vanco’s subsidiary, Vanco Prykerchenska. The company is registered in the British Virgin Islands, making its beneficial ownership hard to determine. Questions about Vanco Prykerchenska’s ownership eventually became a major bone of contention. Instead of the backing of the Rothschild group, which added up to the bid’s profile, new companies stepped in. But many experts and politicians claim their ultimate beneficial ownership has never been clearly revealed. Among them was DTEK, the energy holding controlled by Ukraine’s wealthiest billionaire, Rinat Akhmetov. Less clear is who stands behind obscure Austrian investment company Integrum Technologies, as well as a company named Shadowlight Investments. The latter is allegedly owned by Russian businessman Evgeniy Novitsky. But many question whether he is acting as a front for others. Vanco International, which won the tender originally, turned out to be only a 25-percent shareholder in the project. Leading the charge in sounding alarm bells over the murkiness over the project’s ownership was Yulia Tymoshenko. She vehemently opposed the deal while serving as prime minister in 2007-2009, and even suggested at times that Russia’s Gazprom may have a hidden interest. She did all in her power to block the project and return the potentially large hydrocarbon fields to state control. She claimed that “Ukraine had given all of its [Black Sea shelf] wealth to one company” set up by proxies to hide the real owners. Her government ultimately revoked the production sharing agreement.
In 2007, then-President Viktor Yushchenko, Vice Prime Minister Andriy Kluyev and Vanco chairman Gene Van Dyke sign a production-sharing agreement allowing Vanco to start exploring for natural gas and oil on the Black Sea shelf. Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko opposed the deal, but Vanco is now back in business. (Mykola Lazarenko)
Vanco Prykercheska challenged the move in a Stockholm arbitration tribunal, but the process lasted just long enough to see a change in Ukraine’s government. Unlike his predecessor, President Viktor Yanukovych -- backed by Akhmetov – wants to revive the project. It was Yanukovych’s government that, when he served as prime minister in 2007, signed the production sharing agreement with Vanco. But this happened after Vanco brought in new partners in the form of a company controlled by Akhmetov and firms whose ownership remains unclear. Soon after Yanukovych won the 2010 presidential election, his government announced it would ink a peace agreement with the Vanco project, allowing it to finally start seeking oil and gas on the nation’s Black Sea coast. In December, Vanco postponed its arbitration case against Ukraine for three additional months. In the hopes of revealing more about the talks under way and the project’s future, the Kyiv Post turned to Jim Bown, Vanco Prykerchenska’s president. In an interview, he discussed his expectations and readiness to start exploration, as well as the controversy surrounding the company and its ownership.
Jim Bown, Vanco Prykerchenska’s president
KP: Are you ready to accept a peace agreement from Ukraine’s government? JB: We are already doing that. Of course, the “peace” needs to be a part of the right settlement agreement. We are at the end of this very long process. But all the way through, since we started the arbitration in June 2008, we said that we wanted to talk, not to arbitrate. And it’s very fortunate that with the recent change of government, we were finally able to talk, because the previous government wasn’t interested in talking to us at all. In terms of economic development of Ukraine, if our project is successful, more people will come in, there will be more tenders and eventually Ukraine’s
KP: What kind of investment is needed for the exploration work? JB: When Vanco won the tender, it committed the investment of $330 million for the first eight years, but as of 2010 the estimated figure has escalated to more than $500 million, mainly due to the increased costs of drilling deep water exploration wells. For example, Turkish Petroleum, Petrobras and Exxon recently drilled a deep water well just south of Ukrainian sea border, close to the area where we will work. We understand that it wasn’t a major oil discovery, even though everybody thought it would be. It also took longer to drill than expected. According to the estimates, the well cost will be between
Black Sea will get very busy with lots of exploration work. Our project won’t make Ukraine independent on its own, but … the economic rewards for Ukraine are massive. But for this we need to start the exploration process [because] no matter what anybody says, nobody really knows what’s down there. We can estimate, but until we actually drill a well in 2,000 meters of water, we will never really know.
$120-$150 million. And we’ve got six wells to do by the end of the eight-year exploration program. KP: Why do you think the production sharing agreement was cancelled by the government in 2008? JB: There was no legal or commercial basis for what happened, just politics. I cannot believe that the former prime minister even now keeps referring to four college students [as the company’s proxy owners]. There indeed were five, not four girls, the fifth one being a junior lawyer with Chadbourne & Parke law firm. This firm was asked by Vanco to handle the registration process for the Vanco Prykerchenska representative office, which included its registration with tax authorities. For somebody like me to do that, it would’ve been a nogood use of my time. Therefore, the lawyers talked to [international consulting and auditing company] Ernst & Young on issues of tax registration and Ernst & Young used four of their own juniors to run around Kyiv with all kinds of documents handling the tax registration of Vanco Prykerchenska’s representative office. And they were under the control of a young girl lawyer at Chadbourne & Parke. These are the girls who were quoted by Yulia [Tymoshenko] as the four college students who’ve been assigned the project under the power of attorney. KP: But doesn’t all of this speculation arise from the fact that Vanco Prykerchenska seems to be a little non-transparent as far as beneficiary ownership goes? I have tried to look up its registration and ownership documents in databases like LexisNexis and others and found none. This is, of course, because the British Virgin Islands, where it’s registered, is an offshore haven where companies are often registered to conceal beneficiary ownership. Can you tell me more about this company?
JB: Vanco Prykerchenska was established in August 2007 to be the vehicle that was going to do this project. As you recall, the original tender was won by Vanco International, which negotiated and signed the production sharing agreement. But this international holding company is a clumsy vehicle for doing this specific in-country project. So, with the government’s approval, the project was assigned to Vanco Prykerchenska, a smaller and more flexible company. It was registered in the British Virgin Islands for tax purposes; not to avoid taxes here, but to make it more efficient from the international taxation point of view. There are four main shareholders – Vanco, DTEK, a private investment fund called Integrum, and a private investment fund called Shadowlight. Shadowlight is owned by Evgeniy Novitsky, who used to be president and is still on the board of Sistema, one of Russia’s biggest companies [among others controlling MTS telecoms giant]. He is a high net worth individual and wanted to be involved in this project. Integrum is owned by Andriy Ivanov who is a well-known Ukrainian businessman [the president of Kyiv Investment Group with main interests in Kyiv real estate]. Editor’s Note: The quote naming Ivanov was later retracted by Bown with the following explanation: “Integrum is a subsidiary of a company called “Private Fund Safety Privatstiftung,” which is a large Austrian investment holding based in Vienna, whose beneficial owner is Wilfried Goll. I do not know for sure, but I guess that Ivanov may have an investment interest in Private Fund Safety Privatstiftung – hence my slight confusion.” KP: When Vanco won the tender back in 2006, it bid jointly with Rothschild’s JNR, which back then added certain respectability to the bid. But when the production sharing agreement was signed, it looks like Russian and Ukrainian investors, whose identities are not totally clear, replaced JNR. This looks a bit like the situation with [the once-murky ownership of Swiss-registered gas trader] RosUkrEnergo, doesn’t it? JB: Absolutely not. The tender was completely open and transparent and we won legitimately and at the time the PSA agreement was signed everybody knew what was going on, even though these details weren’t made public. But when Ms Tymoshenko came on board, she started to look for political reasons. Maybe she just didn’t like my investors. KP: Why did JNR exit the project? JB: I don’t know for sure, but I am not surprised that they did. In October 2006, in collaboration with government specialists, we submitted a perfectly good PSA to the government, which the government people eventually said they didn’t like. Then, they decided to prepare their own document. It took them about six months to come up with. It seems to me that when you are looking at up to 18 months of negotiations, they probably said that this isn’t for us. Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov can be reached at lavrov@kyivpost.com
www.kyivpost.com
News 11
January 14, 2011
Soviet era portraits and memorabilia can be found in the theater in Prypiat, a city that was once home to approximately 45,000 people that was evacuated after Chornobyl’s Reactor Number 4 exploded in 1986. (Joseph Sywenkyj)
As 25th anniversary nears, Chornobyl critically short of cash BY O L E S I A OL E S H KO OLESHKO@KYIVPOST.COM
CHORNOBYL, Ukraine – In April, Kyiv will host a Twenty-Five Years After The Chornobyl Disaster: Safety for the Future international forum that expects attendance of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon as well as top officials from the European Union, America and Canada. Ukraine’s government wants money – lots of it. But it is not clear whether the West, worried about corruption, will provide the resources. Urgent action is needed. Chornobyl experts say that there are still 200 tons of nuclear fuel buried under the wreckage of the exploded block 4 reactor, thus the timely construction of the new shelter is crucial. A hastily built sarcophagus after the April 26, 1986, accident is crumbling and leaking radiation, despite fixes in 2008 that extended its lifespan. The budget for building a new one is some
$783 million short of the $2 billion needed. Moreover, another $184 million are needed to process nuclear fuel. However, Western aid to the tune of millions of dollars may have been misspent in the last 25 years. To date, for instance, the General Prosecutor’s Office has launched more than 60 investigations into allegedly misspent aid. At the same time, the Ukrainian government said it doesn’t have the resources to do the job alone. “It’s not a solely Ukraine’s problem,” Emergencies Minister Viktor Baloha said on Dec. 12. “This is the problem of the entire international community.” Baloha said he expects Western democracies to come up with the money to finish construction of a new containment cover by 2015. However, the project has a history of delays. In 2007, Ukraine signed a deal with France based Novarka consortium,
General view of the “sarcophagus” covering the destroyed 4th power block of Chornobyl’s nuclear power plant Feb. 27, 2006. (AFP)
which was supposed to build the protective shield over the destroyed reactor in 4-5 years. Then-President Viktor Yushchenko asked in October 2009: “Why is there an empty [construction] site today?” By September 2010, Novarka had started embedding metal pillars that would support the arch components over the damaged block 4 reactor. The new safe confinement is designed as a 108-meter tall and 150-meter long arch that looks like a huge airplane hangar. Most of the money for containment of the radioactive waste is coming from the European Union, while Ukraine contributed $6.2 million in 2010. Aside from the containment, people who still reside in contaminated areas near the plant also still face high levels of poverty and limited employment opportunities. Walking the streets of the ghost town Pripyat, Alla Aksionova, a correspondent of “Chornobyl Bulletin” recalls what
the life looked like there 25 years ago. “Look how people lived here [before the 1986 explosion]: this city used to have a perfect infrastructure, high quality buildings and great schools, people who worked there had prestigious and well paid jobs” Akionova said. “Then one day they lost everything.” The town that used to be Chornobyl satellite during the Soviet times is a place of ruins where wild animals from the nearby forests roam. Pripyat belongs to the first contamination zone (Chornobyl’s 30 kilometer radius) and still remains too contaminated to be revived. But the other, outer zones can be revived and reintegrated into normal life, but not without international aid. One of the key donors sponsoring social projects is the United Nations Development Program, which has donated $4 million since 2002 for treating the consequences of Chornobyl disaster.
The UNDP projects are meant to unleash the economic potential and rebuild social infrastructure in towns and villages that belong to the second, third and, especially, forth zone. Helen Clark, the UNDP administrator who visited Chornobyl Dec.12, underlined the necessity for monitoring of contamination in the radiation affected areas and open the area for safe life when it’s time. “Safety is a priority” Clark said. “When there is safety there is a potential for economic development. I hope this region will be back to normal life one day. It’s the Ukrainian government and local communities who will define the revitalization measures and the UN will be there to help.” Meanwhile, some 3,500 people still work at the station that stopped generating electricity and closed in 2000. They live in the town of Slavutych and commute to Chornobyl daily. Kyiv Post staff writer Olesia Oleshko can be reached at oleshko@kyivpost.com
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Check out the winners of the 10th annual contest
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in the Kyiv Post on Jan. 28
The award ceremony will be held on Jan. 27 Winners among online voters will be drawn from a lottery at the award ceremony on Jan. 27. Their names will be published at www.kyivpost.com/projects/best2010/ on Jan. 28 and in the Kyiv Post on Feb. 4.
The prizes are:
Kyiv Post would like to thank all the readers and experts who helped making challenging choices!
a certificate for a luxury weekend for 2 persons in one of two certificates for a dinner (up to Hr 400 w/t alcohol) at
*Best of Kyiv winners are chosen through voting by readers and panel of experts, while the special category of individual
winners – The Spirit of Kyiv, Business Person of the Year and 10-Year Award, are selected by the Kyiv Post.
12 News
www.kyivpost.com
January 14, 2011
Hero one day, but not the next: Stepan Bandera debate flares Reuters – Ukraine on Jan. 12 officially scrapped the hero status newly conferred on a wartime nationalist leader, a move likely to fuel tension between the pro-Russian east and the nationalist west. Former President Viktor Yushchenko sparked the ire of east Ukrainians a year ago, shortly before leaving office, by posthumously declaring World War Two nationalist Stepan Bandera a Hero of Ukraine. Bandera was the ideological leader of nationalist fighters who fought for independence in western Ukraine in the turbulence leading up to the outbreak of war and beyond. Bandera, who was assassinated by the KGB in 1959, has near-saint status among many people there and thousands of Bandera loyalists flock to the capital Kyiv every year and march hrough the streets in his honor. But this sentiment is not shared by those in the Russian-speaking east of Ukraine who hold views of Soviet history which are closer to those of Moscow. Yushchenko’s award sparked anger in Russia, where Bandera is regarded as a fascist, and from Poland, where he is blamed for organising the mass killings of Poles. The Simon Wiesenthal centre also expressed outrage, saying Bandera was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Jews.
Demonstrators on Oct. 14, 2009, in Kyiv mark the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought Soviet and Nazi soldiers during World War II to secure national independence. UPA leader Stepan Bandera (1909-1959) is shown (L). At right, in a Jan. 22, 2010 file photo, then-President Viktor Yushchenko (L) hands Stepan Bandera, the grandson of the late nationalist leader, the Hero of Ukraine award in Kyiv. (Yaroslav Debelyi, Mykola Lazarenko)
In a statement on Jan. 12, the office of President Viktor Yanukovych, who took over from the pro-Western Yushchenko in February and has tilted policy more towards Russia, said the honor conferred on Bandera “has been found invalid by a court ruling.” This appeared to foreshadow the announcement of a decision by the
supreme administrative court which has the authority to scrap presidential decrees. Yushchenko hit back, saying the move was a “gross error” by a presidency that “should be working for uniting society not dividing it.” Yushchenko’s press secretary, Iryna Vannikova, quoted him as saying:
“Attempts to re-write Ukrainian history and belittle Ukrainian heroes to please the Kremlin and Moscow with hired decisions of court, will only incline people against these authorities.” Another sign of the recurring regional tension in the ex-Soviet republic surfaced on New Year’s Eve when a new monument to Soviet dictator Josef
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On Jan. 10, a few hundred activists of the “Preserve Old Kyiv” campaign gathered in front of a historic building on 1 Yaroslaviv Val (1,3) to express their concern over the future of the landmark, often called “The Baron’s House.” Their anxiety was triggered by the recent demolition of an historic mansion on 1 B Sahaidachnogo St.(4) The more-than-one-century-old building was torn down during the night of Dec. 30. In January 2009, the mansion was excluded from the government’s list of
historical heritage buildings, making the demolition legal. According to reports, a new office building is going to appear on the hills instead. In the response to the protest, Viktor Vechersky of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism assured that “The Baron’s House” will not be destroyed. It was built in 1896-1898(2). Since the early 2000s, the privately owned building has been empty. Story by Nataliya Horban Photos by Yaroslav Debelyi, courtesy
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Stalin was blown up in a city in central Ukraine. Though most Ukrainians see Stalin as a symbol of Russian oppression, communists in the town of Zaporizhya had erected the monument there in his honour last May. It was blown up on Dec. 31 -- the eve of Bandera’s birthday. The incident was later officially described as “a terrorist act.”
www.kyivpost.com
News 13
January 14, 2011
Big cases ignored Æ1 abuse of office in a case that involves $30,000 at most-, remains behind bars. With such varied treatment, the authorities are fueling claims of persecution. Meanwhile, evidence implicating top officials close to Yanukovych in corruption appears to be routinely ignored by prosecutors and police. Yanukovych’s administration appears much more intent on chasing Tymoshenko for alleged abuse of power by spending hundreds of millions of dollars in government money on pensions, instead of on energy efficiency, as it was earmarked for. Meanwhile, such cases such as the investigation of billions of dollars in central bank aid – allegedly misused by banks and top officials in the wake of the 2008 global financial crisis – appear to be going nowhere. The following are some of the most obvious and striking alleged corruption cases where authorities appear to be taking a softer position than the hard line taken against Tymoshenko and her allies:
Accused killer free Serhiy Demishkan is the son of Volodymyr Demishkan, who is reportedly a close friend of Yanukovych and heads Ukravtodor, the state monopoly responsible for development of the country’s road network. The elder Demishkan is also a member of parliament representing the pro-presidential
lating the maximum duration term for investigation. Andriy Mamalyga, who represents the victim’s family in court, is pessimistic that this case will ever reach a verdict, due to the fact that Demishkan’s father is now a government official. Volodymyr Demishkan denied interfering on his son’s behalf. But Mamalyga predicts that the case against Demishkan “will simply disappear” along with the many other cases of alleged corruption and wrongdoing since Ukraine became a nation in 1991.
Yanukovych's palace Mezhyhirya is the name of a cozy area near the village of Novi Petrivtsi, some 20 kilometers from Kyiv that most Ukrainians never heard of a decade ago. This all changed back in the early 2000s, as then-Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych developed a liking for this place, located right on the shores of Kyiv Sea, a reservoir, and moved in to a state mansion located there. What started as a rather modest stateowned house with 1.5 hectares of land was transformed into a gigantic private clubhouse with 138 hectares of land. The former state residence and surrounding land are now privately owned or leased by a number of obscure companies or foundations paying the state very low rental fees. And Yanukovych lives there. Evidently, they don’t mind Yanukovych using the property, while the president himself doesn’t feel it necessary to answer how he or companies close to him acquired the estate.
Stadium cost overruns
Serhiy Demishkan
Party of Regions. His son Serhiy is charged with committing a murder in October 2007. According to the indictment, Demishkan and his two accomplices kidnapped Kyiv resident Vasyl Kryvozub, 62, the director of a small airline, as they tried to force him to give Demishkan one of the planes belonging to Kryvozub’s company. When Kryvozub refused to do so, Demishkan and his accomplices allegedly murdered him by throwing him in an irrigation channel with a radiator tied to his back. If proven guilty, Demishkan could face a life sentence. However, the Kyiv Appellate Court, where the trial started in September 2008, in late 2010 released Demishkan on bail. At the same time, the prosecution requested additional investigation, despite the fact that Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka – also a close Yanukovych friend – in 2007 had, as a deputy prosecutor, signed Demishkan’s indictment before submitting it to the court. Now, the prosecutor’s office has to decide which authority will investigate the case further, while the victim’s family plans to submit an appeal to the European Human Rights Court for vio-
Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium, the venue for the Euro 2012 football championship final, may need $550 million for reconstruction. Since the signing of a contract in 2008, costs have more than doubled. By the time the games are played, the funds spent may be much closer to the $1.5 billion world record – set by London’s Wembley Stadium. After all, as Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov admitted last May, it’s impossible to say how much the stadium will end up costing due to the lack of necessary projectrelated paperwork, which makes it sound more like a corruption sinkhole. At least one criminal case has already been opened in relation to the misuse of funds during the reconstruction of Olympic Stadium. Last May, Dmytro Chernyavsky, who served as an interim general director of the stadium, was – according to media reports – detained temporarily on charges of embezzling state funds. According to Delo newspaper, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General suspected Chernyavsky gave out a contract worth $70,000 for consulting services that had been already done and paid for. Earlier, the parliamentary commission investigating reconstruction of the stadium found that – during the currency exchange operations under Chernyavsky’s management – the state incurred losses totaling Hr 4.3 million ($543,000). Just two months later, Chernyavsky married Ekaterina Bogolubova, daughter of billionaire Gennady Bogolubov, one of Ukraine’s richest men. Neither the General Prosecutor’s Office, nor the Security Service of Ukraine, which started this case, returned the Kyiv Post’s request for information, breaching the 30-day
deadline provided by law that they have to respond to press inquiries.
Violence in parliament The fight in parliament that took place on Dec. 16 shocked even the most cynical of Ukrainians. Watching members of the Party of Regions violently battering their opponents who blocked the podium made one wonder not only if the Ukrainians should continue paying their taxes, but also if these people should be isolated from the rest of society. The most obvious question that one might ask is if any of these people will be persecuted, especially given that at least two of the most aggressive ones – Dmytro Salamatin and Mykola Zlochevsky – hold government jobs. They have already asked parliament to dismiss them, as it is against the law to serve in parliament and as a government official, which should solve the problem of their immunity from prosecution, which being a lawmaker provides. But prosecutors seem more inclined to go after the opposition members who were beaten. Prosecutors have opened a criminal case on interfering with a statesman’s work. At the same time, deputy general prosecutor Yevhen Blazhyvsky mentioned the possibility of opening a criminal case related to the 2007 blocking of parliament’s electric switch room, which also was carried out by opposition members. There has been no mention of the fact that the pro-presidential Party of Regions spent large chunks of 2009 blocking parliament.
Shady spending National investment projects, providing state financial support for various innovative projects like alternative energy and nanotechnologies, are heavily promoted by the current government. There is also considerable money involved. In the next three years, nearly $10 billion will be borrowed under state guarantees to finance Ukraine’s high-tech breakthrough. Early on in the project, the transparency of the process in which the loans are granted is being questioned. According to documents published by Ukrainska Pravda website, nearly $25 million was allocated to a Zaporizhia-based enterprise that manufactures solar batteries. It is reportedly linked to First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev. According to the report, the government also plans to allocate over $100 million to build a number of solar power plants in Crimea, again to a company reportedly linked with Klyuyev.
Good roads for VIPs Road construction in Ukraine lately seems to be as arbitrary as rulings made by the nation’s notoriously corrupt courts. In the last six months, Ukrainians witnessed top dollar being spent to build great roads not used by a large share of Ukrainians, but that lead to elite estates belonging to top officials. According to media reports, the eight-kilometer state-ofthe-art highway to the residence of Viktor Yanukovych in Mezhyhirya cost around $6 million. A similar phenomenon occurred during the repair of the highway passing through an elite suburb of Koncha Zaspa, where many of Ukraine’s wealthiest and most influential people live. The renovated part of the road stops exactly at Koncha
Ukrainian parliament deputies of pro-presidential majority attack opposition members during session in Kyiv on Dec. 16. Several MPs were hospitalized following the violence.(AFP)
Zaspa's limits, around four kilometers short of the town of Obukhiv. This even caused an argument, captured on video, between First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev and Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov, with the latter accusing Klyuyev of building a personal highway to his own mansion. Klyuyev denied this.
Bank scandals galore Refinancing of banks by the National Bank of Ukraine at the height of 2008 financial crisis was aimed at stabilizing the financial system and keeping the banks from bankruptcy. While banks did remain afloat and even recorded nearly 100 percent increase in their top managers’ salaries, the national currency devalued more than 50 percent. Yulia Tymoshenko, as prime minister,
Æ Nation has no shortage of allegations, crimes that could be investigated accused the central bank of foul play during the refinancing. According to her information, instead of strengthening their reserves, the banks used the central bank money to buy up foreign currency, thus devaluing the hryvnia even more and giving it as loans to their own companies. Getting these funds required kickbacks of around 10 percent, according to Tymoshenko. Her accusations specifically singled out Nadra Bank, which overall received more than $1 billion in bailout money, much more than any other Ukrainian bank. The general prosecutor’s office issued an international search warrant for the bank’s board chairman Ihor Gilenko, who in mid-2010 was found in Russia. As of December, Ukrainian authorities still don’t appear to have come up with a solid plan on how to arrest him and punish other top managers and shareholders of the bank for misuse of funds.
Expensive presents A Cadillac received by the Interior Ministry from an unnamed sponsor last March is hard to describe as anything else but a bribe. In fact, this is exactly the explanation that Interior Minister Anatoliy Mogilev gave, after Hennady Moskal, an opposition lawmaker and former deputy head of the Interior Ministry, alleged that luxurious Cadillac Escalade, worth more than $100,000, was Mogilev’s birthday present from his colleagues. Who exactly gave this present to the police and whether he expected anything in return remains unclear. The luxury SUV was subsequently transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and, reportedly, was used to transport Stefan Fule, the EU’s enlargement chief, during his latest visit to Kyiv.
Gas conflicts RosUkrEnergo, a Swiss-registered gas trading firm which between 2006 and 2009 served as a monopoly supplier of gas to Ukraine, last year won a case against Ukraine in Stockholm Court of Arbitration. The ruling, later upheld by domestic courts, ordered Ukraine to return 12.1 billion cubic meters of gas worth more than $3 billion to the company, which is coowned by Russian state energy giant Gazprom and Ukrainian oligarchs Dmytro Firtash and Ivan Fursin. The gas, which had been acquired in a complex debt-purchase deal with Gazprom in 2009, is being gradually returned to RosUkrEnergo. But many still question whether Ukraine’s government did enough to win the court case. Huge conflicts of interest abound, primarily involving Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, who served on RosUkrEnergo’s board of directors. Moreover, Tymoshenko as prime minister repeatedly alleged that Firtash and Fursin represent the interests of Yanukovych’s inner circle. Yanukovych’s chief of staff, Serhiy Lyovochkin, admits to being close friends with both Firtash and Fursin. If these aren’t serious enough for prosecutors to investigate, then there is a raft of cases left over from the presidencies of Leonid Kuchma and Viktor Yushchenko, covering the last 17 years in national history. Many of those unsolved cases and mysteries can be read online at www.kyivpost. com in the special 2008 project called “Ukraine’s Greatest Crimes.” Kyiv Post staff writer Vlad Lavrov can be reached at lavrov@kyivpost.com
14 Opinion/News
www.kyivpost.com
January 14, 2011
Archaic libel laws in United Kingdom harm free speech J OH N KAMPFNER
There’s nothing like a boob job cream to get readers going on an important issue. The case of Dr. Dalia Nield, one of the United Kingdom’s leading plastic surgery consultants, goes to the heart of the problem with English libel law. Dr. Nield took issue with the company producing the cream, which claimed to increase a woman’s cup size. Her remarks, in a national newspaper, produced a familiar outcome – a threat of action from Britain’s legal establishment. A citizens’ advice bureau has been threatened for challenging the conduct of a fraud-prevention firm. An official at a south London borough is being sued for comments allegedly made about a local headmaster in emails between himself and a civil servant. These cases and more attest to a culture in the U.K. of the citizen critic being prevented from airing concerns on matters of public interest. For decades England’s defamation culture (Scotland’s is marginally better) has been skewed towards the claimant – usually the rich, the powerful and quite often the plain dodgy. This is not an issue confined to the rights of journalists and writers. I could have mentioned the talismanic case of Simon Singh, or Mumsnet, or Sheffield Wednesday football fans, or the cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst, who is being dragged through the courts for remarks he made at a medical conference in the United States about the clinical trial of a heart device. So far, so terrible: and yet, after a year-long lobbying campaign, the law is set to change. This spring the Coalition Government launches its draft Defamation Bill – the first serious attempt to rebalance the law for generations.
Editor’s Note: On Dec. 14, in response to a libel lawsuit filed against the Kyiv Post in London, the newspaper blocked United Kingdom users from accessing its website because British courts have taken a wide interpretation of jurisdiction in these matters. The libel law there is draconian in its restrictions on free speech and a movement is under way to change the libel law. More information can be found from The Libel Reform Campaign. (libelreform.org) RosUkrEnergo co-owner Dmytro Firtash filed the lawsuit (http://www.kyivpost.com//data/files/Dmytro%20Firtash%20complaint.pdfin response to a July 2) Kyiv Post article “Gas trade leaves trail of lawsuits, corruption.” (http://www.kyivpost.com/search/?S_TEXT=gas+trade+leaves+trail+la wsuits&DO_SEARCH=Search). The Kyiv Post denies Firtash’s accusations.
Politicians have come a long way in a short space of time. When the Libel Reform Campaign was started in November 2009, only the Liberal Democrats supported change. Jack Straw, then Justice Secretary, said originally he did not know what all the fuss was about. Straw’s complacency ran in the face of the evidence, but also a groundbreaking report by the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of parliament. In the course of a long inquiry, many of its members changed tack. Its report on libel, privacy and press standards in February 2010 struck an eloquent balance between free expression and the duties of the media. The members of parliament criticized the Labour government for not tackling libel tourism, and the damage to the country’s reputation. They described the fact that U.S. states were introducing legislation to defend American citizens from U.K. courts as “a humiliation for our system that the U.S. legislators should feel the need to take steps to protect freedom of speech from what are seen as unreasonable incursions by our courts.” Straw responded by launching a Justice Ministry working party in which Index on Censorship (of which I am chief executive), English PEN and Sense About Science played a leading role. All three main parties went into the 2010 election promising radical reform, and within months that process had begun. First, in the Lords, the indomitable civil libertarian Lord Lester launched his own private mem-
ber’s bill on libel. Lester’s bill marked a quiet revolution. Its remit was broad: to introduce a statutory defence of responsible publication on a matter of public interest; clarify the defences of justification and fair comment; require claimants to show substantial harm and corporate bodies to show financial loss; and to deal with libel tourism. In a nod to the 21st century, the bill also sought to address the problems of the Internet age, including multiple publication and the responsibility of internet service providers and hosts. This was immediately taken up by the government, led by Justice Minister Lord McNally, who recently told the first anniversary meeting of the campaign that Britain’s laws were “not fit for purpose.” McNally’s government bill, which develops Lester’s work, will be published by late March, ushering in a six-month period of pre-legislative scrutiny. From that point the battle will move from the principle to the detail. The forces of resistance – the claimant cabal – will do everything it can to maintain its profit margins. According to an Oxford University report in 2008, the overall cost of a defamation case in England and Wales is 140 times higher than the European average. These law firms will lobby to water down and possibly even reverse the bill’s most important provisions. Our critics suggest that our campaign is a proxy for “big media.” We are not. We speak for more than 40 civil society groups. The U.K.’s main newspapers are capable of looking after themselves. We aim to make it harder for oligarchs and sheikhs to use English courts to stifle
free speech around the world. We aim to repair a body of law that has seen countless individuals and voluntary organisations either sued in court or forced into apologizing for and retracting comments, articles and books, even though they have done nothing wrong. Legal firms deliberately string things along in order to drain the defendant of energy and cash. The cases that do not make it to court are often more alarming than the ones that do. Libel is not a zero sum game. Nobody sensible wishes to abolish it, to allow a free-for-all in which reputations are impugned without any right to redress. The issue is balance and proportion. Nor do we ignore the other attendant issues such as the reputation and standards of the media, or that other fundamental human right, to privacy. Our organisations will shortly be conducting separate research to help develop alternative dispute mechanisms for people who seek redress in a less confrontational forum. Considerable work lies ahead to ensure that the final legislation, due to be enacted in 2012, does not lose sight of the fact that the U.K. currently has one of the most repressive libel regimes in the Western world. Its effects are felt far and wide. Anyone, anywhere can be sued in a London court for anything said in any language – as long as the defendant can prove a “reputation” in the U.K. (Second home? Child in boarding school?). It is no wonder that the U.S. Congress followed New York and other states and signed into law measures that protect Americans against English libel judgements. Three weeks ago, Ukraine’s top English-language publication, the Kyiv Post, said it was blocking all web traffic from the U.K. to insulate itself from Britain’s “draconian” laws. That word “humiliation” seems more apposite than ever. John Kampfner is chief executive of Index on Censorship. To sign the libel reform petition go to www.libelreform. org. This article originally appeared in London’s The Independent on Jan. 6.
Britain’s Clegg vows to end ‘libel tourism’ by foreigners NI C K C L E G G
Editor’s Note: On Jan. 7, British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg gave a speech in London in which he vowed to improve free-speech protections in the United Kingdom, including preventing abuse of the nation's weak libel protections by foreign plaintiffs.
In opposition my party made clear that we wanted to see English libel laws reformed. Almost exactly a year ago I made that case in a speech to the Royal Society. I argued that English libel laws are having a chilling effect on scientific debate and investigative journalism.
Of course, individual citizens must be able to protect their reputations from false and damaging claims; and we can’t allow companies to be the victim of damaging, untrue and malicious statements. But, equally, we want public-spirited academics and journalists to be fearless in publishing legitimate research. Not least when it relates to medical care or public safety. The test of a free press is its capacity to unearth the truth, exposing charlatans and vested interests along the way. It is simply not right when academics and journalists are effectively bullied into silence by the prospect of costly legal battles with wealthy individuals and big businesses. Nor should foreign claimants be able to exploit these laws, bringing cases against foreign defendants here to our courts – even if the connection with England is tenuous. It is a farce – and an international embarrassment - that the American
Congress has felt it necessary to legislate to protect their citizens from our libel laws. This Government wants to restore our international reputation for free speech. We will be publishing a draft defamation bill in the spring. We intend to provide a new statutory defense for those speaking out in the public interest, whether they be big broadcasters or the humble blogger. And we intend to clarify the law around the existing defenses of fair comment, and justification. We believe claimants should not be able to threaten claims on what are essentially trivial grounds. We are going to tackle libel tourism. And we’re going to look at how the law can be updated to better reflect the realities of the internet. Separately, we are also going to address the high costs of defamation proceedings. As part of that we have published a consultation paper
on proposals by Lord Justice Jackson to reform civil litigation funding – and in particular no-win, no-fee arrangements – to make costs more proportionate, more fair. Our aim is to turn English libel laws from an international laughing stock to an international blueprint. So, to sum up: the restoration of every day liberties; counterterrorism measures that uphold liberty while protecting security; free citizens able to see into, and speak out about, the organizations that affect their lives. It is a liberal approach to freedom; a British approach to freedom. It forms an important part of our programme to rebalance the relationship between the state and its citizens. Our predecessors will be remembered as the government who took your freedoms away. We want to be remembered as the ones who gave them back.
UK experts debate libel law’s threat to global free speech B Y R O LA N D SY LV E STE R Spec i al to the Ky i v Pos t
LONDON – United Kingdom libel law, considered hostile to legitimate free speech internationally, was the subject of a Jan. 11 debate in London. A packed house at the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn sat in for the discussion “Libel Law: In the Public’s Interest.” It was chaired by noted lawyer Helena Kennedy, who said the U.K. law has a chilling effect on public debate. “People fearful of libel end up not writing about matters that should be in the public domain,” Kennedy said. Evan Harris, a former member of parliament who is promoting changes to the law, said draft legislation will be ready in March. “I wouldn’t describe the current law as claimant friendly or even defendant hostile, but it is free speech hostile, it is chilling in many ways,” Harris said. One of the main problems is the cost of defending libel suits. The U.K. uses “conditional fee arrangements” whereby solicitors can recover double their fees from a defendant if the claimant wins the case. In cases that go to trial, this can mean legal costs of more than $1.5 million. Razi Mireskandari, speaker and managing partner of a law firm specializing in media litigation, said “claimants are now in the driving seat and their lawyers can make too much money out of these sorts of cases.” Victims of the current system are numerous. As well as the much-publicized phenomenon of “libel tourism,” in which foreign claimants have brought defamation cases in U.K. courts in disputes that take place in other nations, other problems were cited. Harris said the onerous libel law has harmed the work of scientists, researchers and others. “The editors of even peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly journals find that they can’t afford the investment of two or three of their staff’s salaries to contest a case,” Harris said. Speaker Kevin Marsh, executive editor of the BBC College of Journalism, provided a counterpoint. Marsh said that “not all journalism is honest, well-sourced, fair-minded or in the public interest.” He said malicious accusations are made by U.K. journalists “who have lost touch with the idea that they’re trading about honesty and their honestly checked facts.” In the Internet age, Marsh said that “once you’re libeled, you’re pretty much libeled forever.” Panelists such as Mireskandari said that damage awards should be lowered. Harris also said “libel tourism” could be reduced by judges dismissing “trivial yet bullying claims from powerful claimants.” Speaker Charles Gray said settlements need to be encouraged. One way might be for judges to assess the case before having it heard by a jury. Gray, however, said that “the problem of libel tourism is grossly exaggerated.” Roland Sylvester is a freelance journalist based in London.
www.kyivpost.com
Opinion 15
January 14, 2011
Feldman: President doing better job than predecessor Æ4
The new president wasted no time in launching efforts to turn Ukraine’s fortunes around. Lip service was replaced by actions, a long-awaited reform package was launched, stability returned after years of political squabbling and following two years of economic decline the economy is slowly getting back on track with growth for the last quarter of 2010 at 4 percent of gross domestic product. Relations with Russia, which under Yushchenko hit rock-bottom, have been normalized and ties with the European Union have intensified. Ukraine finally received an action plan for visa liberalization and is entering the last stages of negotiations for an association agreement and deep free trade agreement. While foreign policy achievements are commendable, the most important changes have taken place internally with Kyiv undertaking long overdue systemic reforms. State procurement reform, previously one of the most corrupt areas and a breeding ground for the misuse of administrative power and fraud, has been tackled and is now in total compliance with European norms and standards. Reform in the energy sector has also taken place. A lack of transparency and rules allowed for large-scale corruption which significantly contributed to the 2008 gas crisis with Russia. A new gas law introduced European standards in transparency and brought Ukraine into the EU Energy Community Treaty. These develops should mean gas wars are a thing of the past. Numerous laws were also adopted in order to open reforms in the area of justice and home affairs including protection of personal data, the creation of a state administration for migration, and the adoption of legal acts necessary for the fight against drug and human trafficking. However, further reform is necessary in order to be fully in compliance with EU laws is this area, particularly regarding the rights and protection of asylum seekers. Work in this direction
Æ ‘The most important changes have taken place internally’ with long overdue reforms. – Alexander Feldman has already begun and should be completed in the first part of 2011. Yanukovych has also embarked on administrative reforms, introducing substantial changes to the structure of executive power. The number of central executive authorities was reduced from 112 to 63 while the number of members of the government was cut from 36 to 18. By the end of the process, government staff numbers will be slashed by more than half. Additionally, the new system for managing ministries has been streamlined, bringing it closer to EU models. It introduces differentiation between political appointees and public administration posts as well as opening the way for a qualitative change in substance for public services, and the quality of services the state delivers to its citizens. Of course, not all reforms have been welcomed. The new tax code was highly controversial and resulted in street protests. Given this discontent, the president vetoed the code which was then further discussed and amended before finally being adopted. The new code simplifies tax procedures, ensuring automatic reimbursement of VAT as well as widening the tax base to guarantee a more balanced state budget. It should also result in some of the not insignificant loopholes in current tax legislation being closed. The president is also working to fully shake off stereotypes associated with him by the West which his
opponents continue to manipulate to their advantage. Recent allegations directed at him claiming restrictions on media freedoms, spying on nongovernmental organizations, and abusing of administrative power are taken extremely seriously and thoroughly investigated. Ukraine has a tradition of being a leader of democracy in this region, with a vibrant and active civil society and this should be maintained and strengthened further in line with Ukraine’s EU ambitions. Ukraine has nothing to gain by allowing democracy to be eroded away. After a year in office, the president’s popularity remains stable at around 45 percent and comparable to when he was elected (almost 49 percent). This is in stark contrast to his predecessor. Yushchenko came to power with 52 percent of voter’s support, which dropped to 14 percent – 19 percent after a year. Visible improvements in the country including more money in pockets, better public transport and increased political stability have contributed to this. However, while the Yanukovych team has made a good start, if Ukraine’s transformation is going to succeed in the long term, increased Western support is crucial. If the government manages to consolidate democracy and produce good governance and economic growth, it will serve as a powerful example in a region that desperately needs positive examples. The West will find itself with a
From left, Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, President Viktor Yanukovych and Prime Minister Mykola Azarov remember the Nazi massacres of more than 30,000 Jews at the Babyn Yar gravesite outside Kyiv in September 1941. Behind them, second from left holding flowers, is parliamentarian Alexander Feldman. (Mykhailo Markiv)
reliable partner in a strategically critical region. However, Ukraine has a long way to go and this road is not an easy one with reforms becoming increasingly painful and expensive which could prove difficult to sell to the population. Unfortunately, unlike the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans, Ukraine’s leadership does not have at its disposal the strongest political weapon for beating back protests in order to overcome the difficulties of transition – namely an EU membership perspective. If the EU is serious about supporting Ukraine’s leadership in transforming the country, it needs to go beyond nice words. Giving Ukraine a membership perspective would facilitate the reform
process for the next five to seven years. However, given it is a rather divisive issue among EU member states, it far from clear whether the EU is ready to take this step. If the answer is yes, then we can be certain that the efficiency of Yanukovych’s government, together with a European perspective, will make a significant difference both inside and outside Ukraine. If the answer remains no this will again be evidence of the EU’s shortsighted approach, not only towards an increasingly important European partner but to the entire region. Alexander Feldman is a member of the Ukrainian parliament and founder of the Institute of Human Rights, Prevention of Xenophobia and Extremism.
16 News
www.kyivpost.com
January 14, 2011
Corruption probes look like political reprisals to many Æ1 allies of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko were arrested, and investigations into her and allies continue at high pace. The president and his team continue to steadfastly deny allegations that the arrests and probes are politically motivated, despite recent conclusions reached by the European Union, U.S. and leading international democracy watchdogs – all of which in recent weeks expressed growing concern over anti-democratic tendencies, including the muzzling of media and use of the judiciary as a political persecution tool against oppositionists. In its annual assessment of the global state of democracy released on Jan. 13, Washington-based Freedom House downgraded Ukraine from “free” to “partly free.” It’s a status last held by Ukraine before the pro-democracy 2004 Orange Revolution when massive protests by citizens overturned a rigged presidential vote in favor of Yanukovych. Yanukovych is widely regarded to have beat Tymoshenko fairly in last year’s presidential contest. But one year into his rule, “Ukraine suffered from deteriorating levels of press freedom, instances of election fraud, and growing politicization of the judiciary,” Freedom House concluded. Two weeks after the United States raised similar concerns, a senior European Union official warned Yanukovych’s administration on Jan. 11 that closer integration with Brussels rests on adherence to the core EU principles of democracy and media freedoms. Wrapping up a two-day visit to Kyiv that included meetings with Yanukovych, his political opponents, independent journalists and human rights activists, Stefan Fuele, the EU’s
enlargement commissioner, said that Brussels – the 27-nation bloc’s administration capital – shares concerns expressed recently by the U.S. In the Dec. 30 statement, the U.S. raised the spectre of “selective” prosecution of Ukraine’s political opposition as media freedoms are curtailed. “I certainly share [this] impression” Fuele said, noting he raised the issue in talks with Yanukovych and others. “I do not want to speculate at this time on repercussions” that could follow should Ukraine stray from democracy, he said. Fuele stressed that Brussels was eager to pursue closer ties with Ukraine, that it could be flexible in talks over free trade and associate membership agreements. But he stressed that the EU could not compromise on core “values” such as democracy. The international scorecards on Yanukovych’s first year in office are in. They paint a negative picture – not only in straying from democracy, but also in failing to improve Ukraine’s horrible investment climate and tackle rampant corruption. Released on Jan. 12, the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, compiled by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal, dropped Ukraine from 162 to 164 out of 179 countries between Uzbekistan (163) and Chad (165). The Global Corruption Barometer released in December by Transparency International, a Berlin-based corruption watchdog, ranked Ukraine’s judiciary system – which Yanukovych claims to have reformed last year – as the most corrupt in the world. Hyrhory Nemyria, a former deputy prime minister under Tymoshenko, accused Yanukovych in a Jan. 12 statement of hurting Ukraine’s image by exhibiting “authoritarianism” and “incompetence.”
Critics say pre-trial detention abuses rampant Officials in Europe and the U.S. have for years said pretrial imprisonment is a serious problem in Ukraine, where scores of politicians, including Yulia Tymoshenko, and their acquaintances have faced arrest and pre-trial imprisonment during the early 2000s. According to human rights groups, the regular practice of using lengthy detainment to pressure political opponents, as well as regular citizens, has been revived under the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych. Experts say that, unlike in established democracies, where the accused are guaranteed a speedy and fair trial and the presumption of innocence, Ukraine treats alleged wrongdoers as guilty until proven innocent. According to Ukraine’s criminal procedure code, a relic of Soviet “prokuratura”-style justice adopted in 1961, law enforcement agencies may detain a suspect for three days without a warrant, after which an arrest order must be issued. Ukraine’s courts may extend detention without an arrest warrant for an additional 10 days and thereafter grant extensions in increments of two months for a maximum of 18 months. Yevhen Zakharov, head of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, said lawenforcement agencies continue to jail suspects without bail arbitrarily to extract evidence used against detainees. “Courts often extend detention, at the behest of prosecutors, to allow police more time to obtain confessions,” he said. European, U.S. and United Nations officials have said pre-trial detention procedures in the current code create conditions for secret persecution, which contradict European human rights practices, and lead to protracted criminal cases. • The European Commission for Democracy through Law, better known as the Venice Commission, in opinions published during the 2000s said the current code does not provide for competitive examination of evidence during the pre-trial investigation and restricts the rights of an individual without sufficient guarantees against arbitrary actions. • The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe during the 2000s repeatedly urged Ukrainian officials to redraft the code in line with the standards of the Council of Europe, which are backed up by the European Convention on Human Rights and the practices of the European Court of human rights. • The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention made the same recommendations, saying in its February 2010 report the perceived lack of independent and effective control over the detention process by the judiciary, and unlawful restrictions on pretrial detainees, such as denying them contact with their families before trial, remained key problems. • The U.S. State Department in March 2010 echoed the same concerns its annual Human Rights Report, which said Individuals often remained in pretrial detention for months or, in some cases, years.
“Yanukovych has guaranteed Ukraine the last position among European countries in the ranking of economic freedom (made by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal), the largest decline of democracy among all the countries of Europe in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy 2010, and a fall of 42 positions down in the ranking of freedom of speech, conducted by the Reporters Without Borders,” he said. In their statements, the US and EU raised concern that the so-called anti-corruption investigations by Yanukovych’s law enforceers were “selectively” targeting Tymoshenko and other opposition groups and that widespread allegations of corruption involving the current administration were being ignored. The Dec. 30 U.S. statement came after prosecutors launched more than a dozen criminal investigations against members of Tymoshenko’s 2007-2009 government, including herself. They are suspected of misspending money while in power. Some were arrested last summer and have yet to be tried. Others, such as the nation’s former top cop, ex-Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, were arrested just ahead of the New Year. Others face investigations. Yanukovych announced before the holidays on Dec. 23 that “up to 30” criminal cases had been initiated against former Tymoshenko and members of her government. Late last year, Ukrainian prosecutors formally charged Tymoshenko with misspending $300 million in state funds while serving as prime minister in 2009. Tymoshenko, who lost last year’s presidential election to Yanukovych, denies wrongdoing and insists the charges against her are intended to divert attention from corrupt dealings of Yanukovych’s administration. Two Ukrainian human rights organizations came to her defense late last year, urging Yanukovych to end political persecution. Opposition politicians and democrats insist that Yanukovych trampled Ukraine’s constitution in a bid to monopolize political power since his Feb. 25 inauguration. The only election held under his watch – the local contests on Oct. 31 – fell short of democratic standards, international observers charged. The Moscow-friendly Yanukovych is also accused of bringing Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit of influence, and of trying to establish a Kremlin-style authoritarian regime. Yanukovych has repeatedly denied such allegations. His administration describes the investigations as legitimate attempts to combat corruption. Sources said that, during meetings with journalists and human rights activists, Fuele was presented with evidence that media were being muzzled and that alleged corrupt dealings involving presidential allies were not being investigated. Touching on the issues during his Jan. 11 press conference, Fuele said: “In the 21st century, democratic government cannot exist without an independent judicial system and media. This is a question of moral leadership.”
Fresh arrests Tymoshenko’s camp along with nationalist and grassroots groups have announced protest rallies in Kyiv on Jan. 14, Jan. 17 and Jan. 22. According to Oleksandr Danylyuk,
European Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele, after a news conference in Kyiv on Jan. 11. (Joseph Sywenkyj)
who helped organize large rallies nationwide against adoption of a new tax code in late 2010, selective criminal prosecutions extends to members of the nationalist Tryzub organization, which supported the months-long grassroots campaign. Police on Jan. 10 arrested more than a dozen Tryzub members for illegal possession of firearms after an explosion on New Year’s Eve destroyed a statue of former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in Zaporizhia. Tryzub took credit for decapitating the bust on Dec. 28, but it has denied blowing the same
Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych
statue up days later. Danylyuk said law-enforcement agencies have also gone after a half dozen tax code protesters. “It’s a witch hunt,” he told the Kyiv Post on Jan. 11. “The police expected the ‘suspects’ would testify that protest organizers gave them money to damage public property. We have information that the police put pressure on some people to say that opposition deputies paid them to raise a ruckus,” he said. “It is a public relations exercise to discredit the government critics.” Police on Jan. 13 searched the apartment of Olena Bilozerska, a journalist, seizing her computer, camera and other electronic equipment. Police spokesmen said Bilozerska is suspected of posting a video to the Internet on New Year’s Eve showing fire being set to the pro-presidential Party of Regions office in Kyiv. Berkut riot police weeks earlier stopped and questioned journalists from Korrespondent magazine and the Ukrainska Pravda website. Some media
experts linked the incidents with a state-run campaign of media intimidation. Yanukovych spokeswoman Hanna Herman has denied the allegations and reiterated the president’s support for a free press. But a study published early this year by Kyiv-based media watchdog Telekritika found mounting evidence of censorship and slanted coverage by leading television channels. News programs are increasingly putting a positive spin on Yanukovych’s administration, ignoring allegations of corruption linked to his team, the study found. In turn, opposition groups are routinely reported on in negative fashion. Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych on Jan. 10 denied instructions have been given to bully journalists or to punish political adversaries. “A person who commits an illegal act will have to deal with the consequences. This applies to former and current government officials,” Lavrynovych said during an official visit to Poland on Jan. 10. “[Tymoshenko] is involved in a number of criminal cases dating back to 1999, including some in European countries and America. Her trial will be fair and impartial.” Volodymyr Yavorskiy, executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, doesn’t think so. “In the majority of the cases, the former officials gained no benefit from the decisions they made." He added that charges of “misuse of official position” against many former officials are vague. “Many of the cases show signs of being selective against members of the former government, but similar activities are being carried out by the present ministers with impunity,” he said. As an example, Yavorskiy cited the violation by government officials in picking a company to audit the activities of Tymoshenko's government without conducting a tender, as required by law. The auditor was paid millions of dollars with public funds, he said. The High Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, headed by Leonid Fesenko, a former deputy in the propresidential Party of Regions, would hear complaints against the alleged infraction. But few think the new court is impartial. Mykola Pshonka, the prosecutor general’s brother, was appointed deputy chairman of the court in December, when Fesenko pledged to council deputies in his native Luhansk: “While I am in charge of the high court, none of you will have any problems.”
www.kyivpost.com
News 17
January 14, 2011
Numerous investigations target Yanukovych’s foes BY P E T E R B Y R N E BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM
Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, led by the state prosecutor’s office, are investigating dozens of cases involving former nationalist groups, tax code protesters and members of the previous government on a wide array of charges, ranging from hooliganism and embezzlement to abuse of office. Here is the rundown of some of those facing criminal investigations in the President Viktor Yanukovych administration:
Yulia Tymoshenko
Bohdan Danylyshyn
Yulia Tymoshenko, former prime minister, is being investigated for alleged abuse of power during her tenure as prime minister. The original charge against her involves the misappropriation of $425 million in government funds allotted for environmental spending. Tymoshenko denies all wrongdoing. She has said she transferred the money to cover the country’s massive pension arrears.
Yuriy Lutsenko Yuriy Lutsenko, leader of the Ukraine Without Kuchma movement in 2000 and former Interior Minister 20052009, on Dec. 27 was arrested on charges of abuse of office. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry announced on Oct. 21 that it is investigating possible abuse of office by Yuriy Lutsenko, who headed the ministry from 2005-2009. A source within the ministry quoted by the daily Segodnya newspaper said investigators are looking into the payments of Hr 165,000 to Lutsenko’s driver while he was minister. Lutsenko has denied any wrongdoing.
Bohdan Danylyshyn Bohdan Danylyshyn served as economy minister under Tymoshenko, who left office on March 4. He is alleged to have abused his official powers, incurring Hr 14 million in losses to the state during a tender for building a parking lot for Terminal D of Kyiv Boryspil Airport. Only one company bid for the contract. Danylyshyn is also accused of illegal purchases of fuel for the army in 2008. In August 2009, law-enforcement authorities asked Interpol for an international arrest warrant. The Czech police on Oct. 20 arrested Danylyshyn. But reports emerged on Jan. 13 that Czech authorities had granted Danylyshyn political asylum. If true, the development is a major blow for Yanukovych, a sign that more people internationally view his "anti-corruption" campaign as targeted against political enemies.
Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko greets supporters at the Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv on Jan. 13. Prosecutors launched a criminal case against Tymoshenko, accusing her of abuse of power by misspending government money when she was in power. She denies the charges. (Oleksandr Prokopenko)
Ihor Didenko
Tetyana Hrytsun
Ihor Didenko is the former first deputy head of Naftogaz Ukraine, the state’s oil and gas monopoly, under Tymoshenko. He is also held in connection with the ownership dispute over the same 11 billion cubic meters of gas. Didenko has been held in pre-trial detention in Kyiv since July.
Tetyana Hrytsun occupied the post of first deputy head of the State Treasury while Tymoshenko was prime minister. She is accused of misappropriating Hr 800 million worth of tender fees for the privatization of the Odesa Portside Plant from September 2009 to April. She has been held in pre-trial detention since July.
Taras Shepitko Taras Shepitko worked as the deputy head of the energy department of the State Customs Service and is also involved with allegedly abusing his office by customs clearing the transfer of 11 billion cubic meters of gas. He has been held in pre-trial detention since July.
Mariya Kushnir Mariya Kushnir, the former acting director of the accounting department at Naftogaz Ukraine, is the fourth suspect in the criminal case involving the disputed Russian natural gas. She is accused of using her position to benefit third parties. She was detained in September in the Russian city of Volgograd and is awaiting extradition to Ukraine.
Anatoly Makarenko
Oleksandr Turchynov
Anatoly Makarenko headed the State Customs Service under Tymoshenko. He is currently being held in pretrial detention, accused of abuse of authority resulting in losses to the state. His alleged crime is wrongful appropriation of 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, seized for the state from gas trader RosUkrEnergo. As much as $5 billion in gas and fines is at stake for Ukrainian taxpayers. After President Viktor Yanukovych took power, an international arbitration court ordered Ukraine to return the gas to RosUkrEnergo, whose Ukrainian co-owners have close ties to the presidential administration. Makarenko has been held by police since June in Kyiv’s Lukyanivsky pre-trial detention facility.
Oleksandr Turchynov, former first deputy prime minister for Tymoshenko, is a witness in the case involving the disputed 11 billion cubic meters of imported gas. Turchynov has been summoned on numerous occasions for questioning by the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU.
Valery Ivashchenko Valery Ivashchenko, the former acting head of Ukraine’s armed forces under Tymoshenko, is accused of illegally selling state property belonging to the Feodosiya Ship Repair Factory. The property was transferred to private entities. State prosecutors claim Ivashchenko’s activities resulted in the loss of Hr 17 million. He has been held in pre-trial detention in Kyiv since August.
Anatoly Makarenko
Tatyana Slyuz Tatyana Slyuz is the former head of the State Treasury. She is accused of abuse of office during the privatization of Odesa Portside Plant. A warrant for her arrest was issued in July. Meanwhile, she remains No. 10 on Tymoshenko’s Batkivshchyna Party election list for the Khmelnytsky Oblast council.
Ihor Didenko
Viktor Bondar
Oleksandr Turchynov
Mariya Kushnir
monopoloy. Kyiv’s Pechersk district court on Dec. 30 extended his pre-trial confinement until Feb. 23.
They deny blowing up the statue on New Year’s Eve.
Heorhiy Filipchuk Heorhiy Filipchuk, former Environment Minister, was arrested on Dec. 15 on charges of abuse of office, becoming the third minister from the Tymoshenko government to face criminal charges since her opponent Viktor Yanukovych came to power in February. His detention followed an audit into the previous cabinet’s affairs ordered by Yanukovych’s allies which they say has revealed misuse of funds obtained from selling carbon emission rights under the Kyoto protocol.
Viktor Bondar Viktor Bondar, former deputy customs chief and Transportation Minister in Yulia Tymoshenko’s government has been charged for his alleged involvement in allegedly assisting in the deliberate destruction of private property. State prosecutors have forbidden him to leave Kyiv until they conclude their investigation.
Evhen Korniychuk Evhen Korniychuk, former deputy justice minister, was taken into custody by state prosecutors on Dec. 22 for allegedly exceeding his authority in 2009 “in matters relating to Naftogaz Ukrainy,” Ukraine’s state gas and oil
Tryzhub organization The nationalist Tryzub organization said police on Jan. 8 rounded up over a dozen members for unlawful possession of fire arms in Ivano-Frankivsk region. Members of the group claimed responsibility on Dec. 28 for decapitating a bust of Joseph Stalin in Zaporizhia.
Oleh Akhtyrskiy Oleh Akhtyrskiy, one of the organizers of Tax Code nationwide protests, was arrested in Kyiv on Dec. 30 for damaging tiles on Independence Square, where protesters pitched tents on the 6th anniversary of the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a rigged presidential election that year.
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No sweat finding a bath house in Kyiv
A Russian banya is the most popular type of a steam house in Eastern Europe. Hot and wet, it cleanses skin, drives out toxins and provides a relaxing experience. Whipping with switches made of birch or oak twigs improves blood circulation. (Reuters) BY N ATA L I YA H OR B AN HORBAN@KYIVPOST.COM
Sweat bathing has been popular in Ukraine for centuries. One of the earliest mentions of a banya, Ukrainian for a steam house, dates back to 945, when Princess Olha was left to rule Kyivan Rus after her husband Ihor was killed by a rival tribe. Another tribal chief asked her to marry him in the hope of getting his hands on her land. The princess was more cunning than he may have expected and asked him to
wash himself in the banya first. The unsuspecting chief agreed to test the steam house, but once inside, he was locked in and burned alive. This little story should probably warn you against going to relax in a bath house with an angry girlfriend. But other than that, going to the banya should be a healthy relaxing experience. There are many types of steam houses in Kyiv that differ in temperature, humidity and design. Prices range between Hr 100-250 per hour for a
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group. They are usually open 24/7 and provide a separate private room just for your group of friends. Although Slavic bathhouses have a reputation as promiscuous places, they can nevertheless be a great place for clean fun. And they're good for you. The banya improves blood circulation, cleanses skin and reduces the amount of toxins in your body. Make sure you drink enough water before going in as the body loses a lot of liquid through intensive sweating. Although drinking beer and other alcohol in the bath
houses is believed to add more fun to the experience, don’t give in. Alcohol works as a depressant, causing blood to move slowly and nerve endings to shut down, and therefore counteracts the benefits of the steam and can be quite dangerous.
Russian banya The Russian banya is a wooden room with an oven filled with stones. It is considered to be quite extreme due to hot and heavy steam with temperatures ranging from Æ23
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Book w Review WITH JAMES MARSON M MARSON@KYIVPOST.COM
U.S. historian i rethinks Soviet and Nazi horrors As Hitler’s eyes turned to the east in the late 1930s, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain questioned the sense of intervening in a potential war “in a far-away country between people of whom we know nothing.â€? Decades after the far-away lands east of Berlin and west of Moscow were soaked in blood by Soviet and Nazi terror, most people continue to know little about what happened there. World War II’s victors spoke. For the West, the war was the story of the Allies’ heroic defeat of Nazi Germany, as well as the enemy’s persecution of victims, primarily the Jews. For the Soviet Union, the narrative described the victory of the socialist system, empowered by the rapid industrialization of the late 1920s and early 1930s. But who would speak for the period’s losers – not on the battlefield, but the 14 million civilians who were shot, starved and gassed in modern-day Ukraine, Poland, Belarus, western Russia and the eastern Baltic coast, while Hitler and Stalin were in power? Timothy Snyder’s powerful Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin takes up the challenge by seeking to force a dramatic shift in the narrative of Europe’s bloody mid-20th century. First, when it happened. When Hitler set out to eliminate Europe’s Jews at the start of World War II in pursuit of his racial utopia, he wasn’t being original. Stalin had already wiped out at least three million Ukrainian peasants in the 1930s as part of a forced famine aimed at destroying Ukrainian nationalism, which he perceived as a threat to his Soviet utopia. Second, where and how it happened. Most Soviet citizens weren’t killed in the gulags of Siberia, but starved in the Ukrainian countryside and German prisoner-of-war camps located in the bloodlands. By the time the gas chambers at Auschwitz came on line in 1943, most of Europe’s Jewish victims had already been killed further east. Some of them had been gassed in death camps; most had been sprayed by bullets and dumped into pits. After the end of the war, most of the bloodlands fell behind the Iron Curtain, and the history remained buried. Snyder is meticulous in digging it up, then placing it all within a single historical frame. For Snyder, the Soviet and Nazi killings were two parts of one whole. The bloodlands – including, significantly, Ukraine’s black earth – were central to the realization of Hitler’s and Stalin’s competing utopian visions. Stalin wanted to use the collectivization of agriculture, Æ22
(mary_wilson.images6.com)
Friday, Feb. 4
Dream girl Mary Wilson
Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 26-27
Mary Wilson was a founder and singer of the legendary girl band the Supremes. Topping the American charts with soul and blues songs through the 1960s, the band was breathing down The Beatles’ necks. The Supremes fell apart in the ’70s, but Wilson carried on singing their songs. An award-winning movie “Dreamgirls,” featuring singer Beyonce, was based on the Supermes’ success story. Today Wilson takes active part in charity and community work, addressing various humanitarian problems. She is also a writer and a motivational speaker, giving “Dare to dream” speeches around the world. Wilson will bring to Kyiv her collection of costumes “The Story of the Supremes from the Mary Wilson Collection.” It will be open for viewing in Ukrainian House from Feb. 4 to Feb. 14 free of charge. Friday, Feb. 4, 7 p.m., National Music Academy, 11 Khreshchatyk St., metro Maidan Nezalezhnosti, 279-1242. Tickets: Hr 100-800
(Courtesy)
Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode
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January 14, 2011
(parusa.by)
20 Entertainment Guide
Saturday, Feb. 5
Georgian ballet Sukhishvili
English musician Andy Fletcher, better known as Fletch, co-founded legendary British band Depeche Mode. In Kyiv, however, you’ll see him as a DJ. For 17 years, Fletch has played bass-guitar and synthesizer in the band. Yet after being offered the chance to improvise on a DJ set during a concert, he got the hang of it. Reputed to slack off the bands main gigs, he continues mixing up good old Depeche Mode songs on his own. Saturday, Feb. 5, 11 p.m., Crystall Hall, 1 Dniprovsky Uzviz St., 288-5069. Tickets: Hr 290-2490
Bold, courageous, historic and unpredictable. The National Georgian ballet Sukhishvili comes to Kyiv once or twice a year, but it’s never enough. Their colorful and energetic performances have proved a hit with audiences across the world. On Broadway, they were honored with “The Best Show of the Year” award in 1990. To dance in Sukhishvili, you need to be a top-notch acrobat. Dancers seem to mirror each other perfectly, as the synchronicity of the moves is flawless, be it a salto trick, jump, or knife juggling. Sukhishvili ballet has been around for over 65 years, and no matter where they go, they gather large crowds. If you want to see the performance, you'd better hurry up as tickets always sell out fast. Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 26-27, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylivska St. Tickets: Hr 80-1200.
Thursday-Friday, Feb. 10-11
The seemingly perpetual winter holidays will finally end with Epiphany on Jan. 19. Celebrating the baptism of Christ in the Jordan, some church-goers will plunge into ice water in the hope of washing away sins. To observe this and other customs, go to the open-air museum Mamayeva Sloboda for the closing of musician Oleh Skrypka’s winter edition of “The Country of Dreams” festival. Apart from ice dipping, enjoy Ukrainian folk dances, ethnic food and music by folk bands TopOrkestra and Foma. If you want to observe winter swimming in the wild, head to Hydropark. If you are lucky, you may even catch some politicians trying to wash away their wrongdoings, in front of the TV cameras, of course. Wednesday, Jan. 19, 9 a.m., Mamayeva Sloboda, 2 Dontsya St., 361-9848, 590-5555, www. krainamriy.com. Tickets: Hr 10 children, Hr 40 adults, “The Winter Tale,” an exhibition of ice sculptures, is still on despite the mild weather outside. Right now the figures of birds and animals are not in the best shape, so come visit when the frost takes over again starting Jan. 15. The ice park also has a skating rink, sledging hills and an ice-climbing mountain. Open till Sunday, Jan. 23, 10 a.m.10 p.m., Spivoche Pole, near Kyiv Pechersk Lavra, www.lidshow.org.ua (in Ukrainian and Russian), 229-1940. Tickets: Hr 40 adults, Hr 10 children.
(www.rachelhoward.com)
Winter fun with Oleh Skrypka, ice sculptures and skaters
Ten-Man Choir To get a feel for Russian Turetskiy Choir, close your eyes and quadruple Freddie Mercury’s voice. The 10-man strong band traces back to 1989 when musician Mikhail Turetskiy got together with his friends to revive and promote Jewish religious music. Some eight years later, the choir expanded its repertoire adding folk songs and various cover versions of popular modern Russian and Western songs from Queen and The Beatles, among others. Thursday-Friday, Feb. 10-11, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylivska St. Tickets: Hr 100-2000
Compiled by Nataliya Horban
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January 14, 2011
Movies
Live Music A scene from the ‘Rashevski’s Tango’ film, which interlocks faith, dance and self-identification. (www.dissidenz.com)
Talented dancer Jerry Travers comes to London craving fame. His producer Horace Hardwick teaches him a few dance moves late at night in a fancy hotel, much to the annoyance of Dale Tremon, who has a room downstairs. The furious girl comes upstairs to demand silence, yet the minute her and Jerry’s eyes meet, they fall for each other. The most successful collaboration of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the movie became a well-known classic. It is nostalgically referenced in many feature films, such as The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985) and The Green Mile (1999). SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL Language: English with Ukrainian subtitles Biography/Drama/Music. USA (2010) Directed by Mat Whitecross Starring Andy Serkis, Tom Hughes, Clifford Samuel A biopic of Ian Dury, the lead singer of the British band the Blockheads, is a nifty patchwork of Dury’s turbulent life on and off stage. As a young kid he contracted polio and had trouble walking all his life. Yet the disability never took over Dury’s mind. Defying skeptics, he established himself in the 1970s as one of the founders of the punk-rock scene in Britain. Dury didn’t coin the phrase “sex & drugs & rock & roll,” but put it into the language through his 1977 hit song, which was a mode of life for many at that time.
THE RASHEVSKI’S TANGO Language: French with Ukrainian subtitles Drama/Romance. France (2003) Directed by Sam Garbarski Starring Natan Cogan, Ishai Golan and Mosko Alkalai Prepare to explore boundaries of religion, loss of faith and the complexity of following Jewish traditions in the West through the story of one Jewish clan in Belgium. The plot unfolds with a funeral of Rosa, the wife of Rabbi Samuel. Rosa hated religion but loved tango, which led to her
Entertainment Guide 21
separation with Samuel. As the family flies in for the funeral to Israel, they revisit their memories from Auschwitz, question Jewish heritage and think what lies ahead for them without Rosa, who was holding the family together. TOP HAT Language: English with English subtitles Comedy/Musical/Romance. USA (1935) Directed by Marc Sandrich Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Edward Everett Horton
ZHOVTEN 26 Kostyantynivska St., 205-5951 Sex & Drugs & Rock &Roll Jan. 15 at 1:55 p.m., 5:35 p.m. Jan. 16-17 at 1:40 p.m., 5:35 p.m. Jan. 18 at 3:30 p.m., 7:30 p.m. Jan. 19-20 at 3:30 p.m., 5:35 p.m. MASTERCLASS CINEMA CLUB 34 Mazepy St., 594-1063 Top Hat Jan. 20 at 7 p.m. BUDYNOK KINO 6 Saksaganskogo St., 287-7557 The Rashevski’s Tango Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
Best classical picks
Maria Khmelyova (L) of Co-maha band and Anastasiya Plis. (www.restoran. ua)
ART CLUB 44 44B Khreshchatyk St., 279-4137, www.club44.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 8 – 10 p.m. Jan. 14 Co-maha, Hr 50 Jan. 15 Red Rocks, Hr 50 Jan. 16 Soiuz 44 Jam Session, free admission Jan. 17 Silver Tone Jazz, free admission Jan. 18 Winter Jazz Nights Trumpet Battle: Dennis Adu vs. Dmytro Bondarev Jan. 19 Vzroslyi Band, Reggae Disco, free admission Jan. 20 Rock Pod Shuboy Party DOCKER’S ABC 15 Khreshchatyk St., 278-1717, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m. Jan. 14 Tabula Rasa, Goodlife, Hr 70 Jan. 15 UkrainSKA, Red Rocks, Hr 70 Jan. 16 Vostochny Express, free admission Jan. 17 Second Breath, free admission Jan. 18 More Huana, Hr 20 Jan. 19 The Magma, Hr 30 DOCKER PUB 25 Bohatyrska St., metro Heroyiv Dnipra, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m. Jan. 14 Ot Vinta, Tres Deseos, Hr 70 Jan. 15 Antitela, Partizanskie Vytivky, Hr 70 Jan. 16 Foxtrot Music Band, free admission Jan. 17 Lemmons, free admission Jan. 18 Tres Deseos Latino Party, free admission Jan. 19 Rockin’ Wolves, free admission
Jan. 20 Karnavalnaya Zhara, 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. Jan. 14 Zavodnoy Apelsin, Carte Blanche Jan. 15 Ruki v Briuki, Hot Guys Jan. 19 Carte Blanche Jan. 20 Chill Out PORTER PUB 3 Mazepy St., 280-1996, www.porter.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 Gravity Jan. 15 Midnight Blues Jan. 16 Yuhym Dym Jan. 19 Ivan Bliuz Jan. 20 Abbey Road 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
Have a lifestyle tip for us? Hosting a party or an event? Have an opinion to express about what’s going on in Kyiv? Sunday, Jan. 16 – The ballet “Swan Lake” by Peter Tschaikovskiy, 7 p.m., National Opera, 50 Volodymyrska St., 2791169. Tickets: Hr 20-300
Tuesday, Jan.18 – “Love Messages” from Franz Schubert compositions performed by Kyiv Soloists, 7 p.m., National Philharmonic, 2 Volodymyrsky uzviz. Tickets: Hr 20-70
Tuesday, Jan.18 – The ballet “The Nutcracker” by Peter Tschaikovskiy, 7 p.m., National Opera, 50 Volodymyrska St., 2791169. Tickets: Hr 20-300
Thursday, Jan. 20 – The ballet “Carmen Suite” by Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin, “Bolero” by Maurice Ravel , 7 p.m., National Opera, 50 Volodymyrska St., 279-1169.Tickets: Hr 20-200
The Kyiv Post welcomes tips and contributions. Please e-mail your ideas to Lifestyle Editor Yuliya Popova, at popova@kyivpost.com. Please include e-mail address and contact phone number for verification.
22 Lifestyle
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January 14, 2011
Buddha’s tooth, waterfalls and temples of Sri Lanka Sri Lankan women weed vegetable fields. During the dry season from December through June, they wear long clothes to cover themselves against the tropical sun. Although the temperature may drop to 10 C at night, the sun emerges hot in the morning near the equator. (Vadym Voityk)
Editor’s Note: If Egypt has lost its exotic appeal during sluggish Ukrainian winters, take a trip through Asia with the help of our four-part series. After hiking and swimming in waterfalls in Sri Lanka, we’ll take you on a journey to Malaysia, Laos and the Yunnan province in South China. BY S V I T L A N A T U C H YN S KA TUCHYNSKA@KYIVPOST.COM
Sri Lanka was not originally on my list of destinations, as I did not expect it to be much different from India, where I’ve already been a few times. But then I was seduced by the low-cost carrier Air Arabia flying to Malaysia via Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. A dedicated fan of Asia, I didn’t hesitate and booked the tickets. If this is your first time in Asia, stay over in Colombo for at least a day feel the pulse of a big Asian city. Then get a ticket to one of Sri Lanka`s most beautiful mountain towns, Nuwara Eliya. I took a morning bus and was blown away by the views of rugged landscapes and roaring waterfalls during the four-hour journey. A serpentine road weaves through stunning mountains and hills peppered with glistening green tea bushes, past locals
Sri Lanka, a former British colony, is a predominately Buddhist nation of 20 million people. (Alex Filatov)
carrying baskets of fruit and vegetables on their heads. In Nuwara Eliya, colonial British buildings, parks and colorful street markets embellish the rural scene. Right in the town center, locals sell expensive brand name clothes for very decent prices. Rumor has it that they steal them from factories, which produce them for export to Europe. Hotels arrange mountain and waterfall tours. For an extreme four-hour, uphill hike, try Adam’s Peak. I also visited a local tea factory, where they grow and process the world’s best Orange Pekoe tea. From Nuwara Eliya, I strongly recommend taking a train along one of the most beautiful train routes in the world. Old wooden stations, squeaking stairs, 1950s pictures on the walls – the railways seem to have stepped out from the pages of old children’s books. Small cargo trains take you to the touristy village of Ella after a three hourride through the heart of the mountains. The best place to take in the view on the train is on the floor at the entrance to the carriage looking out. Locals take over the floor as soon as they jump on the train, but I was bold enough to occupy one immediately when it was vacated by a local man.
When in Ella, go swimming in the waterfall and trek to the caves in the mountains. If you stay longer than two days there, you risk getting sucked in by its tacky souvenir shops, Western cafes and watering holes. For a cocktail of ancient temples and modern Sri Lankan landscapes, head to Kandy. This was an old capital of the last remaining independent kingdom in Sri Lanka when the Portuguese had conquered the coastal regions. Check the Royal Palace and the Temple of the Tooth where Buddha’s tooth is believed to be kept. Every year in the midst of the dry season, followers take the tooth out of the temple and carry it through the city. Locals believe that the tooth has the power to summon rain. The president and all high ranking officials take part in this traditionally lavish procession. I was amused to talk to the locals and find out that even Sri Lankans with different denominations, for example Christians, also believe in the power of the tooth. If you long for a little beach rest after this trip, head to Negombo, the town swimming in a marvelous lagoon in the Indian Ocean. While lazing on the sand, look out for fishermen pulling out huge nets full of fish from the ocean.
‘Bloodlands’ focuses on lands between Russia and Germany Æ19 particularly in Ukraine, to transform the Soviet Union into an industrial power. “For Stalin, profits from grain exports in 1933 were more important than the lives of millions of peasants. He decided that peasants would die, and he decided which peasants would die in the largest numbers: the inhabitants of Soviet Ukraine,” Snyder writes. Hitler wanted to clear the land to be worked by German farmers to feed his hungry Reich: “Like Stalin, Hitler tended to see Ukraine itself as a geopolitical asset, and its people as instruments who tilled the soil, tools that could be exchanged with others or discarded.” By comparing the mass slaughter carried out by the Nazi and Soviet regimes, Snyder is not looking to establish answers to the banal question of who was worse, or what similarities existed between the systems and their ideologies (although these do emerge). Instead, he is reminding us that while we can view them in isolation and choose whether to compare, hundreds of millions of Europeans who experienced their rule could not. The focus is shifted away from German and Soviet decision-making (without ignoring them) and onto the ground where reality was forced to conform to ideology. A comparison of the two regimes should not just seek
If you're craving delicious Asian cuisine, don’t get your hopes up for Sri Lankan food. It’s good, but lacks the variety of ingredients, spices and elegance common in Indian, Chinese and Malaysian food. As for the tea, if you are not an Orange Pekoe lover, you wouldn’t be impressed with local specialties either. But don’t despair, since the best tea and food in the world are to be found in our next stops – Malaysia, Laos and Southern China. From Negombo, it takes only 20 minutes to the airport where you can fly to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, with Air Asia for aroud $80. Kyiv Post staff writer Svitlana Tuchynska can be reached at tuchynska@kyivpost.com
Trip essentials • Flight Kyiv – Colombo (Air Arabia, one way) – $400 • Double room in a mid-range hotel in Nuwara Eliya –$13-20 • Double room* in Negombo – $13-20 • Meal in Sri Lanka, per person – $1-5 • Bag of local coffee (250 gr) – $0,7-2 • Silk scarf – $5-15 • Train ticket from Nuwara Eliya to Ella, per person – $1-7
A fisherman rests on the Indian Ocean beach in Negombo with his fishing nets nearby. (Vadym Voityk)
to explain the crimes, Snyder insists, but “embrace the humanity of all concerned by them.” We see the dilemmas and horrors facing those who inhabited the bloodlands – how they survived, collaborated, resisted, loved, hoped, watched, lived and died. He tears the historical narrative from the hands of Stalin and Hitler, and places it in the hands of the victims. This is all underscored by Snyder’s powerful prose: He is not only a skilled historian, who brings together hundreds of sources in several languages, but also a sharp and moving writer. The book is packed with statistics, but they do not overwhelm, as the reader is continually reminded of the individual stories behind the figures. “It is perhaps easier to think of 780,863 different people at Treblinka: where the three at the end might be Tamara and Itta Willenberg, whose clothes clung together after they were gassed, and Ruth Dorfmann, who was able to cry with the man who cut her hair before she entered the gas chamber,” he writes. If the Nazi and Soviet regimes turned people into numbers, “it is for us as humanists to turn the numbers back into people.” Snyder is doing just that by giving them a voice, bringing people in “far-away” countries such as Poland, Belarus and Ukraine much closer and challenging not only how we remember what happened, but also how we view Europe today. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder Bodley Head (U.K.) / Basic Books (U.S.), £25 / $29.95. 524 pages.
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Lifestyle 23
January 14, 2011
Choose from five types of sauna to warm up this winter Æ19 70 to 90 degrees Celsius. The higher bench you choose, the hotter it gets. When you can’t bear the heat any longer (maximum 15 minutes,) you come out and jump into a pool of freezing cold water or, for more authenticity, into piles of snow. Don’t forget to use one of the woolen caps needed to protect the head from overheating. One other classic characteristic of the banya is the venik, a switch made of twigs from certain trees, like birch or oak. These switches are soaked in cold water first, and then are used to whip the whole body. It improves the blood flow to the skin and rejuvenates it. “A venik in the banya is more valuable than money,” says one Russian proverb. As the temperature in banya can be hard to handle for some people, consult your physician first.
Finnish sauna A Finnish sauna in Finland is in no way different from the Russian banya as Finns also enjoy it hot and steamy. But for some reasons in our part of the world the name “Finnish sauna” usually refers to a dry and hot bathhouse. The temperature is usually higher than in a Russian banya (about 90-110 C), but the low humidity makes it easier to tolerate heat.
Turkish hamam The word hamam comes from Arabic for “hot,” but it is milder than other bath houses, as the temperature inside climbs up to only 40-60 C, with 60-80 percent humidity. Floors and walls of the Turkish bathhouse are made of stone and heated with a special system of hot pipes. The only unheated part is a ceiling, which is usually shaped as a dome to prevent the cold water drops from dripping down. Bathing in the hamam comes in a few stages. First, you spend half an hour wrapped in a towel in a warm room, waiting for your pores to open up. In the next room, which is a little hotter, you lie down on large marble benches. There you get scrubbed head to toe and covered with a soapy foam, which you will then wash away in a pool. Next comes a special room where you relax, drink some herbal or green tea and socialize.
Roman thermae “Are you sweating well?” was a phrase used by ancient Romans instead of a greeting to express concern about the health and well-being of the other person. Romans loved their marble steam houses, which they called thermae. It is the most damp of all bathhouses as the humidity level can go up as high as 100 percent with the temperature
Roman baths are the most damp of steam houses. (www.select-a-room.com)
After heat and steam in Russian banyas, diving into snow is an exciting experience. (Reuters)
around 43-48 C. The steam house usually has two pools with hot and cold water to chill in after intense sweating.
Infrared sauna If other types of bathhouses have been around for centuries, the infrared sauna is a fairly new concept.
In the Turkish hamam, foamy massages are popular. (www.millenniumtravel.si)
Following the discovery of infrared light, the Japanese came up with the infrared sauna in the 1960s. Infrared light is all around us, as it is generated by any object with temperature above absolute zero (–273 C.) The heat in infrared saunas allegedly goes deeper inside the human body and generates more sweat than the heat in other banyas. It also apparently helps lose more weight, but not all doctors would agree. As the temperature inside reaches only 40-60 C while the humidity is low, many infrared saunas have installed audio equipment to provide entertainment while you look after your health. Kyiv Post staff writer Nataliya Horban can be reached at horban@kyivpost.com Useful links for finding a bathhouse in Kyiv (only in Russian): www.sauny.kiev.ua www.laznya.kiev.ua www.bany.com.ua www.banisauni.com.ua
24 Lifestyle
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January 14, 2011
These people make Kyiv a better place to live Three awards for individual achievement will be presented during the 10th annual Kyiv Post Best of Kyiv award ceremony on Jan. 27. The other 21 prizes go to top businesses and one non-profit organization. The individual awards are the Spirit of Kyiv, given to the person who generously helps make Kyiv a better place, the Business Person of the Year award for exceptional success and the 10-Year Award for the most outstanding contributions to life in Ukraine for the past decade. Winners for the individual awards are chosen by the Kyiv Post, while a combination of online voting and expert tallies decided the 21 business or organization awards. Here are the nominees for individual awards in the Spirit of Kyiv and Business Person of the Year Categories. The Kyiv Post will profile the 10-Year Award nominees in the Jan. 21 edition:
Spirit of Kyiv
Bate C. Toms, the founder of the eponymous Kyiv-based law firm, is an American attorney who has used knowledge gained from Cambridge University and Yale Law School to help businesses sift through Ukraine’s murky legal environment since the early 1990s. Those are high marks in themselves, but he is also making a noticeable mark on the country through non-profit activities. He leads an effort to digitize Ukraine’s most significant and historic materials, making them available in libraries and universities across the globe. He’s also the president of the British-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and is an avid cricket player.
Britain’s Ambassador to Ukraine Leigh Turner enthusiastically engaged in Ukrainian life when he arrived in June 2008. He has hosted charities at his residence. He blogs regularly about the importance of democratic institutions. And he often takes trips outside Kyiv to visit places like Chornobyl and the castles of western Ukraine to get a better understanding of Ukraine’s tumultuous history. Turner often makes public appearances to promote Ukrainian literature, improvements in the Ukrainian judicial system and other projects supported by the British Embassy.
Under Anna Derevyanko’s leadership, the European Business Association tripled its size to 750 companies since 2003 and, consequently, has become the biggest association for foreign businesses in Ukraine. It has six regional branches -- in Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zhytomyr – and a representative in Brussels. The EBA has tried to keep Ukraine’s government honest by lobbying for legislation that meets European standards. The Zhytomyr native is active with the Foreign Investors Advisory Council and the Council of Investors.
Gregarious Ecuadorian Jorge Intriago has promoted Ukraine’s integration with European Union through lobbying and as an adviser to several economic ministers. He has served seven years as the European Business Association vice president, one year as the president and always has had a seat on the board of directors. “I have put a lot of time into the EBA,” Intriago told the Kyiv Post. He currently is a partner at the Big Four accounting and auditing firm Ernst & Young. In 2010, Intriago was Ernst & Young’s second highest performing partner in the Commonwealth of Independent States. “It was by far my best year yet,” Intriago said. He has advised government officials on various issues, including current state security chief, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, when he was the economy minister. Intriago also advised Serhiy Tigipko in 1997 when he was the minister of economic reform. “I mostly helped them devise investment climate strategies and even organized a listening tour for Khoroshkovsky around the country to talk with local governments and businesses,” he said. Intriago is often the top bidder at charity auctions held by the Lion’s Club, Lawyer’s Association and other non-profit groups. Intriago has also been nominated for the Business Person of the Year special award.
While it’s fashionable for corporate social responsibility activities to focus on one-off orphanage donations, Maryna Krysa’s Help us Help the Children Foundation is involved full-time. Krysa provides aid and relief to orphanages, holds educational and health-improving summer camps, runs a scholarship program for gifted orphans, raises awareness on human trafficking, and supports and trains orphanage staffs. Annually her organization reaches more than 3,000 orphans at up to 100 children institutions.
Canadian Mychailo Wynnyckyj prepares Ukraine’s next generation of business and social leaders at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy. He directs the institution’s doctoral school, heads its sociology masters program and leads its president’s master’s in business administration program. A sociologist by training, he is a youth counselor for Plast, a boy scouts group and a member of the Lviv Brotherhood, whose activities include running a semi-private nursery school allowing children to engage in a Ukrainian language environment.
Founding partner of Gvozdiy & Oberkovych law firm Serhiy Oberkovych vigorously encourages his staff to conduct pro bono work. “About 5 percent of our workload consists of helping people who normally cannot afford legal services,” said Oberkovych. One of his pet projects is helping former first lady Kateryna Yu s h c h e n ko ’s Children’s Hospital of the Future by conducting contract analysis and helping out on land and procedural issues. He also helps ex-President Viktor Yushchenko’s Ukraine 3000 Fund, which promotes Ukrainian culture and language. “We take on small cases that help single mothers on social issues and also large-scale projects,” he said. Some things are actually free thanks to Oberkovych’s generosity and belief in giving back to the community.
H. Brian Mefford has offered party building, election and campaign skills training on every side of Ukraine’s political aisles for more than a decade. An Arkansonian, he headed the International Republic Institute’s Kyiv office until 2009. He has since become an independent political consultant being part of an international team of political advisors to Viktor Yushchenko’s 2010 bid for re-election among other campaigns.
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January 14, 2011
Lifestyle 25
Business Person of the Year George Logush, vice president of Kraft Foods, is an American of Ukrainian roots. He says Ukraine has always been a “great laboratory” for demonstrating how business can succeed and give back to society. As head of Kraft’s operations in 12 countries in the region headquartered in Kyiv, Logush has shown that investors can expand and succeed in Ukraine – even in times of crisis. He saw net revenue jump 23 percent in 2010 to $500 million. He has led a number of charity and public initiatives. Together with his wife, Tetyana, he has managed a popular literary competition, “The Coronation of Word”, now in its 10th year. Logush was recently re-elected to the board of the American Chamber of Commerce, which represents 650 companies and is consistently ranked one of Ukraine’s top chief executive officers.
Chicago native Nick Piazza turned a small, money-losing investment bank in BG Capital to one of the largest market makers for Ukrainian companies in just two years. As the chief executive officer of Ukraine’s largest foreign listed investment bank, Piazza ensured it made a profit for the second year in a row. BG Capital is only one of two investment banks to hold foreign placements for Ukrainian companies in 2009 and 2010. It also expanded in Georgia by facilitating the placement of Euro bonds and has been a brokerage leader in post-crisis deals. “It was a great learning experience, rebuilding the company from scratch,” Piazza said on Oct. 10.
alcohol discount
NEW BOMBAY PALACE
Indian cuisine Unlimited beer free of charge
33-A, Druzhby Narodov blv. 285-99-99, (067) 44-77-666
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Former grain trader Bjoern Stendel took the plunge in 2010 and launched his own business start up and troubleshooting firm. He led grain trading titan Alfred C. Toepfer International’s Kyiv office from 1999 to 2009. In 2009, Stendel also received an award from former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for “his personal contribution to promoting the investment climate of the food production sector and for his high professionalism.” Stendel, as general director of Toepfer in Ukraine, had also placed high in rankings by business magazines as one of the best top managers in the agro-industrial sector.
By MARK RACHKEVYCH
26 Community Bulletin Board
January 14, 2011
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Publication of items in Kyiv Post Community Bulletin Board is free of charge. The newspaper will print as many submissions as space permits, but notices must be no more than 30 words, except for the people in need section. Advertising of paid services or commercial ventures is prohibited in this space. Permanent items must be resubmitted every three months. Deadline for submissions is 3 p.m. Friday for the next issue. New listings are boldfaced. Please e-mail news@kyivpost.com or contact lifestyle editor Yuliya Popova at 234-6500.
Business clubs – 4 listings
Sundays at 3 p.m. at St Catherine’s German Lutheran Church, 22 Luteranska Street, a five-minute walk from Khreshchatyk. Bible study on Tuesdays at 7.30 p.m. Please call Graham at 098-779-4457 for more information, www.acny.org.uk/8592. Î You are invited to the St. Paul’s Evangelical Church. Roger McMurrin is its founding pastor. Music for worship is provided by the Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Worship services are held every Sunday at 2:30 pm at the House of Artistic Collectives (Veriovka Choir Hall, 4th floor) at 50/52 Shevchenko Blvd. Call 235-4503 or 235-6980. Î International Church, Kyiv. English and Spanish Bible study classes. We invite you to weekly services at 10.30 a.m. Saturdays at 13A Miropolskaya St. (metro Chernigovskaya, second stop by a tram Boichenka. Central entrance of twostory building). Telephone: 38-093-757-6848, 542-3194. Î Word of God Church offers Bible study every Sunday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. Sunday school, nursery for children. For more information call: 517-5193.
Î The Business-English Center meets on Sundays at 3 p.m. for a series of business English skills workshops. For more information, call Alex at 234-0871 or email: e-club@i.com.ua or visit www.etcentre.com.ua. Î A new gentlemen’s club is always open for well-educated, successful members (free admission) to combine establishing business relationships with unconstrained socializing. Please contact us: vadym_n@ukr.net, kobserg@yahoo.com, (067) 7406820 Sergio. Î The British Business Club in Ukraine meets every Saturday for business discussion and once every month for networking. Membership is by invitation only and is open to individuals and companies. Please email: administrator@bbcu.com.ua. Î Free English discussions about Internet marketing. Bold Endeavours, a British marketing and web development company, welcomes senior marketing managers/directors to an English language discussion group about search engines and Internet marketing at noon on the first Saturday of each month. Call 221-9595, or register online at www.bold.com.ua.
Public speaking – 6 listings
Î International Baptist Church invites you to our English language worship services (Sundays at 10 a.m.). We are located near Vyrlytsya metro in the downstairs hall of Transfiguration Church, 30B Verbytskoho. http://livingvinechurch.googlepages.com. Î The Evangelic Presbyterian Church of the Holy Trinity invites you to our worship service, held in Ukrainian and Russian with simultaneous English translation. We meet each Sunday at 50-52 Shevchenka Blvd., #402 (4th floor). Worship begins at 11 a.m. Sunday school for adults begins at 9:45 a.m. Pastor Ivan Bespalov: tel. (044) 287-0815; (097) 317-9598; e-mail: ivanbespalov@gmail.com. Î Kyiv International Bible Church, an English-language evangelical nondenominational church meeting at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays at 34A Popudrenka, between Darnytsya and Chernihivska metro stops. Contacts: 501-8082, or kievIBC@ gmail.com. Î International Christian Assembly meets at 57 Holosiyivska St. Services are held every Sunday: 9 a.m. till 11:30 a.m. For further information contact: Paul, +050-382-2782, www. icakiev.com
Support groups – 5 listings
Svetlana: 067-907-1456 or email: consonance-s@ukr.net. Î Student Embassy Project invites students to join intercultural events in Kyiv, Lviv and Ternopil. The initiative is aimed at international students’ integration into Ukrainian society, youth leadership development, intercultural dialogue. To learn more please e-mail us at studentembassy@gmail.com or visit: http://studentembassy.org.ua. Î The Kyiv Rotary Club meets on Tuesdays at 7 p.m. at Andreyevsky Prichal restaurant, 6 Bratskaya Str. For more information, please contact Nataliya Rodovanskaya at 067296-5672 or n_radov@yahoo.com. Î The International Women’s Club of Kyiv (IWCK) welcomes women from around the world to join our support network and participate in our extensive social and charitable programs. For more information, see our website www.iwck.org, call or e-mail the IWCK Program Coordinator Galina Timoshenko at 234-3180, office@iwck.org. Address: 39 Pushkinska, #51, entrance 5, door code 250. Î The Rotaract Club Kyiv meets on Thursdays at 7 p.m. at the Ukrainian Educational Center, Prospect Peremohy,#30, apt. 82. For more information, please email: president@rotaract-kyiv.org.ua or visit our website www.rotaract-kyiv.org.ua. Î Democrats Abroad Ukraine is the official organization of the Democratic Party in Ukraine; connecting Americans with U.S. politics and the Democratic Party; registering, informing, and motivating voters; supporting U.S. candidates, holding events, and fundraising. To join, email info@democratsabroad. org.ua. Î The Kyiv Multinational Rotary Club welcomes all Rotarians who are in Kyiv and new potential Rotarians. Our meetings are conducted in English and are held every Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel, Yaroslaviv Val St. 22. For a map and further information please consult our website at: http://kmrclub.org. Î The Kyiv Lions Club is one of 45,000 Lions Clubs around the world. We raise funds and provide services to help those most in need in our community by supporting charities in our chosen sectors of giving: children, the disabled, and the elderly. We meet on the second Monday of every month in the downstairs bar of the Golden Gate Irish Pub at 7 p.m. For more information contact Paul Niland at 044-531-9193 or paul. niland@primerosfunds.com.
English clubs – 11 listings
Î Dnipro Hills Toastmasters Club would like to invite success-oriented people to learn and develop public speaking, presentation and leadership skills. Join us Sundays from 10 to 11 a.m. at Kyiv Business School, 34 Lesya Ukrainky Street, metro station Pecherska. For detailed information, please, check our website www.dniprohills.org.ua Î EBA Toastmasters Club invites enthusiastic, goal-oriented people to learn and improve their communication and leadership skills in friendly learning and supportive environment. We meet every Monday at 7.30 p.m. at American Councils at Melnykova, 63. For more information, contact Svetlana Nesterenko at lana_svk@ukr.net or call 067 220 77 55. More information can also be found at: www.ebatmc.blogspot.com. Î Top Talkers Toastmasters Club is happy to invite ambitious and enthusiastic people to learn by doing. Together we will discover inner potential in public speaking and leadership in each of us. We meet every Tuesday at Kraft Foods, 23 Yaroslaviv Val St. at 7 p.m. Please check our website www. toptalkers.org Î American Chamber of Commerce Toastmasters Club invites English speaking business professionals to advance their presentation and communication skills in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. We meet each Wednesday at 7.30 p.m., at the Microsoft Ukraine office, 75 Zhylyanska St., Floor 4, Business Center Eurasia. To receive further details on the club and its membership, please contact our club vice president for membership, Anton Stetsenko at 093-609-5161. Î Kyiv Toastcrackers Club, a part of Toastmasters International, is a worldwide organization that helps men and women learn the arts of speaking, listening and thinking through effective oral communication. We invite new people to benefit from the meetings on Wednesdays, at 7 p.m. at the House of Scientists, 45a Volodymyrska St. For more information see www.toastcrackers.kiev.ua.
Î Divorce mediation, commercial mediation, consulting on diagnostics of conflict resolution in organization. Ukrainian Mediation Center, www.ukrmedation.com.ua Please contact Oksana Kondratyuk: 066-758-66-44, delo2@i.ua. Î Individual consultations, psychological support in divorce, family relations, stress management, health issues, relaxation, self-esteem, personal development. Call Elena: 097-294-6781. Î Alcoholics Anonymous English-speaking group meets Saturday/Sunday at 12.30 p.m. and Tuesday/Thursday at 7 p.m. at various locations. Contacts: aakyiv@ukr.net, 096-4600137 (friend of Bill) for details of meeting location. Î Counseling/advising in relationships, personal growth, body/ mind/spirit matters. Well-known Ukrainian psychologist counsels expats in English and French in the center of Kyiv (Lyuteranska). See www.hohel.kiev.ua or call 050-595-3686 between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Î Individual psychological counseling for Russian and English speakers. Family issues, mood disorders, anxiety, depression. Psychological Rehabilitation & Resocialization Center. Call Elena Korneyeva, 050-573-5810, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., or e-mail: kornyeyeva@rambler.ru.
Social, sport and health clubs – 2 listings Î Volleyball group, expats and locals, seeks new players, male or female. Skill levels, advanced beginner to intermediate. We meet on Sundays, 11 a.m., near Livoberezhna metro. For more info, send email to vbkiev@gmail.com Î Kiev Hash House Harriers club meets every second Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Lucky Pub, 13 Chervonoarmiyska St. (near Lva Tolstoho metro station). For more details, visit the website at http://hashhouseharriers.kiev.ua/
International clubs – 9 listings
Î English-Russian Conversation Club for adults. People of different ages are invited for international meetings. Mini-groups, individual approach. Making new friends. Conversational trainings. Email: engrusglobe@i.ua Î Sprout Christian International School is looking for native English-speaking volunteers who are enthusiastic and love working with children to help in pre-school and English club starting coming September. For more details please call ASAP: Natalie Istomina: +067 501-0406, +093 798-9840. Î Wave Language School offers free English speaking clubs to the public. Join us on weekends from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. or 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 p.m.– 3 p.m. or 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays. Please contact us by email if you are interested: info@wavelanguageschool.com. We hope to see you soon – everybody is welcome. Î Free English practice at conversation club, regular meetings on Fridays at 7 p.m. near Akademgorodok metro. English native speakers. Interesting topics for discussion. Everyone is invited. Join us at 76 Irpenskaya str., off.31. http://english. in.ua/, 229-2838. Î Free book & DVD exchange. Hundreds of English books and movies. Bring one, take one at the Phoenix Center. Address: metro Pecherska, 2 Nemyrovycha-Danchenko, University of Technology and Design, blue 14-storied building, 3rd floor. Hours: Mon-Fri 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Sat noon until 1:30 p.m. Î Native English speakers. Meet the best and the brightest in Kyiv, well-educated, ambitious, and talented young people 20-30 years old. Share your English skills and make new friends. Everyone is welcome to visit for free. We also organize picnics, balls and excursions. Five days a week at different locations. Please contact Mark Taylor at jmt260@hotmail.com for more information. Î Free speaking English club in Irpen on Saturdays at Lan School. Call 093-623-3071.
Î Talkers Toastmasters Club invites those interested in improving their public speaking, communication skills, English and creative abilities to join its meetings on Saturday mornings at 11 a.m. Please, check club’s website at arttalkers.wordpress.com, call 096-565-6229 or e-mail: arttalkers@gmail.com
Î Improve your English-speaking skills and have fun. Be prepared to speak English most of the time with native speakers. Conversational club, thematic discussions on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information please contact Vadym. email: vadik_s@ukr.net or call 066-767-4407.
Religion – 8 listings
Î Free international conversation club on Fridays at 7 p.m. at English Language Center. Interesting topics for discussion, studying the Bible sometimes. Join us at 4B Kutuzova lane office No. 106 (m. Pecherska) and 76 Irpenska, office No. 31 (m. Akademgorodok. The ELC LTD. Tel. 5811989, 229-28-38. http://english.in.ua Î Are you a native English speaker? We are glad to invite you to join our English-speaking club. Call 067-620-3120 (Olga) or e-mail Olga.Bondar@atlantm.com.ua Î Stolypin Club (Kiev) meets every third Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m. at various locations. It is a non-profit public organization uniting Kyiv’s citizenry, including prominent business representatives, politicians and the liberal professions. The club is private, but opens its doors and its spirit to the wider community, affording the public a chance to partake in certain events alongside club members and guests. Please contact Tamara Avdeyeva at 096-462-4646 or assistant@ stolypinclub.org.
Î Christ Church, Kyiv. We are the Anglican/Episcopal Church, serving the English-speaking community in Kyiv. We meet
Î Welcome to the friendly atmosphere of a French-speaking club. We meet once weekly on Saturdays or Sundays for conversation practice and movie sessions. Please contact
Î Free English/German conversation club on Sundays. Druzhbi Narodiv 18/7, office No. 3. Everyone is welcome. Tel: 529-75-77.
People in need - 7 listings Î Nastya Kotova, 15, has been diagnosed with acute leukemia. She had a successful bone marrow transplant in Israel two months ago. Nastya is in a relatively stable condition now for the first time in many months. A step away from recovery, she still has to go through a rehabilitation period. The Kotov family urgently needs $12,000 to continue the treatment. Please help save their daughter’s life.
More information: http://www.donor.org.ua/index.php?module=help&act=show &c=1&id=1170 http://fonddarina.com/ru/child/nastya-kotova?news#72 Contact Nastya’s volunteer, Iryna: 096-373-89-71. Bank details: Beneficiary: Kotova Olena Vasylivna (Nastya’s mother) Deposit money on a banking account: # 4405885014676768 PrivatBank Account #: 29244825509100 MFO: 305299 Code: 14360570 Î Maksym Nalivkin, 12 years old, needs your help. The boy had suffered from cerebral haemorrhage and further subarachnoid hemorrhage, which led to 3 brain surgeries and constant artificial pulmonary ventilation. Since March 2010 the boy has been held at the resuscitation department, for 2 months he’s been out of coma, there are slight positive changes that give hope. He still needs a long-term rehabilitation; however his family already spent their savings on treatment. In case you have any possibility to support them, Maksym’s family would much appreciate it. Contacts: Mother Elena Nalivkina - mob.tel.: +380 99 625-2475 Father Arkadiy Nalivkin - mob.tel: +380 50318-5499; tel: +380 552 22-2806; email: nag.box@gmail.com; skype: arkady_g. nalivkin; ICQ: 8423832 Webpage: http://nag.pp.net.ua/ Bank details for hryvnia transfer: Bank: Черноморское отделение Херсонского филиала «Приватбанк» МФО Code: 305299 ОКПО Code: 14360570 Account: 29244825509100 Purpose of payment: 4627085825848787, Nalivkina Elena Nikolaevna, ИНН: 2596602804 Multicurrency account (U.S. dollar, euro): BENEFICIARY: NALIVKIN ARKADYY, Kherson, Ukraine ACCOUNT: 2620001696644 BANK NAME: JOIN STOCK COMPANY "THE STATE EXPORTIMORT BANK OF UKRAINE" (UKREXIMBANK), KHERSON BRANCH SWIFT: EXBSUAUXKHE BANK ADDRESS: 46, RADIANS'KA STR., KHERSON Maksym’s family also appeals for advice - any useful contacts of rehabilitation professionals, recovery programs, as well as charity organizations or grant programs for such cases. Î Two-year-old Vanya Chornozub from Kherson Oblast has brain cancer. Since no clinic in Ukraine was able to cure him, he has been transferred to Germany for further treatment. Due to the efforts of many people, two years of therapy brought very good results. Vanya is getting better. But his parents are very short of money to pay for further treatment. His parents appeal to anyone who can help support Vanya’s treatment. Contact person: volunteer Olga Kopylova : +380-67-234-1225 Webpage www.donor.org.ua/index.php?module=help&act=s how&c=1&id=870 Details for money transfers: PrivatBank Account: 29244825509100 Bank branch location code: 305299 Code: 14360570 Details of payment: card replenishment: 4405885012914724, Chornozub À.À., support for son’s treatment Î Sofia Sydorchuk, 3,5 years old, needs your help urgently. The girl has recently been diagnosed with myeloblastic leukemia, she is in hospital, the intensive chemotherapy department. Sofia needs to undergo a course of medical treatment that consists of 4 blocks of chemotherapy (one block has already been done). It is difficult to determine the exact cost of the treatment at this stage; our best estimate is around Euro 200,000. After chemotherapy Sofia needs to move to a specialised rehabilitation clinic in Israel or Germany. Sofia’s family hopes for your support, each day they do treatment and tests. You can make a donation via one of the following options: (1) Donations made through a bank transfer Banking details for transfers in Hr: Beneficiary: ÀÒ “Ukreksimbank” Account: 2924902234 Bank of the beneficiary: ÀÒ “Ukreksimbank” MFO code: 322313 EDRPOU code: 00032112 Payment purpose: receipt of funds to the account of Sydorchuk D.V. 0001025541 (2) Donations via web-money Z351457992891 R639870369876 E252216931289 U585571766822 (For instructions on transferring the money via web-money please refer to: http://webmoney.ua/withdrawfunds/) Î The Down Syndrome Ukrainian Organisation gathers parents who have trisomic children, in order to help them raise their kids, and aims at changing the public perception of the disease. The Organisation is now opening a Center for Early Development of the Children with Down Syndrome in Kyiv. The association has recently launched the operation “Serebrenaya Monetka” (Silver Coin) in order to raise funds for the center. Transparent boxes have been displayed in the 100 branches of UkrSibBank (the subsidiary of the French BNP Paribas group) in Kyiv, in order to collect the small coins that everybody has in their pockets. All donations are welcome. Details can be found at http://www.downsyndrome.com.ua/; http://www.ukrsibbank.com. The operation will end on March 19th. All the proceeds of the operation will be used to buy equipments and furniture for this Center.” Hryvnya account: BENEFICIARY: Vseukrainskaia Bkagodiyna Organizatsia Down Syndrome ACCOUNT: 26007265663400 MFO 351005 UKRSIBBANK
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Photo Story 27
January 14, 2011
Through painstaking precision, Lviv’s icon restorers revive Ukraine’s precious gems NATA L I A A . F E D U S C HAK FEDUSCHAK@KYIVPOST.COM
LVIV, Ukraine – It will take months of delicate restoration for the Madonna’s face on the 14th-century icon to be seen again. The process will include a chemical analysis of the work, gluing the icon’s cloth foundation back to the wood and then a painstaking effort to lift centuries of grime. Helping icons live again is all in a day’s work for restorers at The Andrey Sheptytsky Lviv National Museum. Considered some of the best icon restorers in the world, this group of 40 dedicated individuals has tackled difficult projects. Overall, the museum has some 4,000 icons, which have been collected over several decades. Some of them are currently on tour in the United States. The first icons were purchased by Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky of the Greek Catholic church, who established the museum in 1905, while others were obtained over the years. Although some date back to the 14th century, the majority of icons in the restorer’s coffers are from the 16th century. Their sheer numers and the process involved in refurbishment means that restorers work on several projects at a time. Volodymyr Mokriy, who heads the museum’s restoration branch, said all of the icons that have come to the museum need restoration. “We look after them daily,” he said. Some icons need just minor work, like ridding air pockets that have developed where the canvas on which the
Visitors look at icons in Sheptytsky Lviv National Museum in Lviv. (UNIAN)
icon’s image is painted has separated from the wood by carefully gluing them back using a syringe. This process usually takes several days. Others require large amounts of time, sometimes years before the restoration is complete. With Madonna’s face, the restorer will fill in spaces of chipped paint with acrylic, matching colors as close to the original as possible. At the end of a process that requires both science and heart, the icon, “Mother of God Hodigitria,” will relive its previous glory.
Lyubomyr Mahinsky, the department’s assistant head, has been restoring one icon for a year-and-a-half now and only small portions of it are complete. The icon had been x-rayed, and an older more professionally painted image had been discovered underneath the current impression. After a museum council approved the measure, he was tasked with expunging the new image while restoring the older one and repairing defects. Mahinsky said the restorers are
struggling with the renovation. The problem is in the gluing process; no matter how much they try, the procedure fails and restorers aren’t able to obtain the desired result. “It has eluded us for five years,” he said of the icon. Still, the restorers contend there is no icon that can’t be renewed. “No matter how old, they are restorable,” said Mokriy. One of the misconceptions people have when they see icons that have darkened with age is that the paint is at fault. In reality, however, it is the var-
nish. Mokriy said iconographers used a component based on egg-yokes. Once it is cleaned by restorers, vibrant colors often shine through. Iconographers “used natural products. The environment plays a role,” he said. The restorers’ work often puts them into intimate contact with their predecessors. On a recent visit to one of the restoration labs in Lviv, restorer Iryna Melnyk said they sometimes get angry with their professional forebears, who sometimes painted over well-executed icons either because they were short on supplies or felt an icon was just too old for that era’s taste. Mokriy said today’s restorers can tell when iconographers had a slip of the hand, or even too much to drink, as they worked. For instance, some figures were painted with six fingers. It appears, however, iconographers sometimes painted scenes just for themselves. One of the icons in the restorers’ studio boasts a hunting scene with a rider on a horse that would never be seen by the public. The dome of a church in the village of Stary Vitkiv hosts the drawing of a woman’s figure – breast, lips and other intimate parts – painted into a leaf. Despite these discrepancies, the icons are a constant reminder of the richness and depth of Ukrainian culture. “We are identified in these icons,” said Olena Sychaha, a restorer. “The Ukrainian nation isn’t lost. It remains.” Kyiv Post staff writer Natalia A. Feduschak can be reached at feduschak@ kyivpost.com.
28 Paparazzi
January 14, 2011
Ukrainians pick their X Factor
Participants of the X Factor singing competition grace the stage on the closing night. Show host Oksana Marchenko (L) and second runner-up Maria Rak.
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Winner Oleksiy Kuznetsov (front).
Æ
The Ukrainian version of the international singing contest for aspiring talent “The X Factor” finished on Jan.8. Oleksiy Kuznetsov, nicknamed Boxer for his bulky physique, beat 11 other contestants in the 11-week long competition. The 19-year-old from a small village in Donetsk Oblast studies singing in the music college. His cash prize of Hr 2 million he said he would spend on his father who's confined to bed. The X Factor has been arguably Ukraine’s most popular show gathering millions of viewers in front of the TV screens for months in 2010. (Courtesy photos) A panel of judges (from left): music critic Sergei Sosedov, singer Yolka, rapper Serega and TV show host Ihor Kondratyuk.
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29
January 14, 2011
Find out the winners of the Best of Kyiv 2010 competition on Jan. 28 2EADERS OF THE +YIV 0OST ARE INTELLECTUAL NETWORKERS LAUNCHING NEW IDEAS DEVELOP ING BUSINESS AND SHAPING PUBLIC OPINION 4HEY ARE ALSO mCULTURE PRENEURSn p THE PEO PLE 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 TH ANNUAL m"EST OF +YIVn SURVEY IS FINISHED )TS AIM WAS TO IDENTIFY AND HUNT DOWN THE BEST VIXEN AND FOXES ON +YIVlS BUSINESS AND SOCIAL TRAILS )N ITS CELEBRATORY TH POLL READ ERS AND EXPERTS WERE ENCOURAGED TO VOTE FOR LEADING COMPANIES IN SECTORS 9OU HAVE BEEN ASKED TO CHOOSE YOUR FAVORITE BANK AND YOUR PREFERRED WATER ING HOLE ONLINE AT WWW KYIVPOST COM 4O OUR TRADITIONAL CATEGORIES WE ADDED FOUR NEWCOMERS -"! PROGRAM PUB CLOTHING
G e n e ra l p a r t n e r
CHAIN AND A NON PROFIT NON GOVERNMEN Acco u n t i n g p a r t n e r TAL ORGANIZATION (ERElS HOW IT ALL WORKS )NITIAL NOMINEES WERE HAND PICKED BY THE +YIV 0OST EDITORIAL STAFF 4HEN AN EXPERT PANEL REPRESENTED BY LAST YEARlS NOMINEES SCREENED THE LIST 4HEY VOTED IN EACH CATEGORY TO NARROW THE SELECTION DOWN TO FIVE CANDIDATES 4HEN READERS HAD A CHANCE TO HONOR THEIR FAVOR H o s t o f t h e awa rd s ce re m o ny ITES ONLINE CASTING HALF OF ALL RANKING POINTS TOWARDS THE FINAL SELECTION 2ESULTS WERE DETERMINED BY PAIRING UP YOUR VOTES WITH THOSE OF EXPERTS 7HAT HAPPENS NEXT IS THE MOST DELICIOUS PART OF THE m"EST OF +YIVn EVENT 7E HONOR Beer partner WINNERS DURING AN EVENING OF FINE DINING Fl owe r p a r t n e r AND PARTYING
Æ The award ceremony will be held on Jan. 27.
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
Troika Dialog Ukraine
c.
MTS connect
BEST ENGLISH LANGUAGE SCHOOL
BEST RESTAURANT
e.
13.
18. 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
Goodman
OTP Bank
a.
Golden Telecom
Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS)
d.
c.
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
b.
Deloitte & Touche
BEST FREIGHT & FORWARDING COMPANY
International Institute of Business
j.
Santori
Ernst & Young
9.
b.
c.
BEST PUB
d.
KPMG
a.
DHL
Kyiv Mohyla Business School (KMBS)
19. a.
Arena Beer House
e.
PricewaterhouseCoopers
b.
Kuehne + Nagel
Belle-Vue
4.
BEST LEGAL SERVICES
c.
Maersk Logistics/Damco
MIM-Kyiv (International Management Institute)
b. c.
Docker Pub
a.
Baker & McKenzie
d.
Raben Ukraine
Golden Gate
b.
Clifford Chance
e.
TNT Express
Wisconsin International University in Ukraine
d. e.
O’Briens
c.
CMS Cameron McKenna
BEST CLOTHING CHAIN
d.
DLA Piper Ukraine
e.
c.
d.
f.
10.
BEST CAR SALES DEALER (BY HOLDING GROUP)
15.
BEST PRIVATE HEALTH SERVICE
20. a.
Laura Ashley
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 AIRLINES
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)
6.
BEST HR AGENCY
c.
British Airways
c.
INGO Ukraine
b.
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
a.
Ancor SW
d.
Lufthansa German Airlines
d.
Providna
b.
Brain Source International
e.
Ukraine International Airlines
e.
PZU Ukraine
c.
International Women's Club of Kyiv (IWCK)
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
Winners among online voters will be drawn from a lottery at the award ceremony on Jan. 27. Their names will be published on the website at www.kyivpost.com/ projects/best2010/ on Jan. 28 and in the Kyiv Post on Feb. 4.
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)
The prizes are:
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)
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 Maryna Krysa Mychailo Wynnyckyi Bate C. Toms Sergiy Oberkovych H. Brian Mefford Business Person of the Year award will go to the person who had exceptional success. Nominees: Nick Piazza Jorge Intriago George Logush Bjoern 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
a certificate for a luxury weekend for 2 persons in
one of two certificates for a dinner (up to Hr 400 w/t alcohol) at 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) Alla Konyaeva (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
30 Employment
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IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunities for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. In addition to its investment work, IFC executes a large program of Advisory Services (AS) focused on private sector development. For more corporate information please visit www.ifc.org IFC in Ukraine is looking for qualified candidates to fill in the following Kyiv based positions:
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Agri-Banking Specialist Ukraine Agri-Finance Project The Agri-banking Specialist will work on the improvement of bank’s credit policies, development of risk assessment tools for bank officers and new products for agribusiness in order to achieve the project’s objectives - to strengthen banks capacities to assess and provide loans to agriculture. The Candidate should be a banking professional with experience in agri-lending, be able to develop a successful strategy to achieve project objectives leading to advisory services agreements with Ukrainian banks. S/he should contribute to the development of risk assessment tools for banks, perform managerial and financial analyses of bank clients, and provide training for bank officers. S/he should interact with clients with professionalism and confidence. The position requires fluency in English, Ukrainian and Russian.
To get more information and apply for Agri-Banking Specialist position please go to www.ifc.org Closing date for applications is January 20, 2011.
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Legal Consultant Ukraine Food Safety Project
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The Project is aimed to decrease food safety related risks and increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian food processors in three key sectors (meat, dairy, bakery). The short term Legal Consultant will advise the Project and its stakeholders in all legal aspects related to food safety and will contribute to improvement of selected regulations and harmonization of Ukrainian legislation with international best practices.
United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime is looking for
The Candidate should have at least 3 years work experience in food safety law area, experience in drafting laws and normative acts, understanding of the food safety and agricultural sector, its legal framework and major stakeholders, excellent analytical skills, with a creative and innovative outlook, ability to work in a team and independently, well-organized, self confident and energetic, fluency in English language would be an asset.
NATIONAL HIV/AIDS OFFICER Major responsibilities:
To apply for Legal Consultant position please send CV and Cover Letter to UkrHR@ifc.org by January 20, 2011.
VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) invites applications from highly qualified, energetic, proactive and experienced professionals for the posts of INFORMATION AND PUBLIC AWARENESS SERVICES OFFICER, SC (HUMAN SECURITY FOR INDIVIDUALS AND COMMUNITIES IN CHERNOBYL-AFFECTED AREA) whose main responsibility will be to plan, contribute to and coordinate the communication activities related to the International Conference, ensure that all communication products/ outputs are produced in a timely manner and are of high quality. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 25/01/2011
Post requirements: Ukraine
PROCUREMENT MANAGER, FTA (UNDP COUNTRY OFFICE) who will be responsible for effective delivery of procurement services in order to obtain the best value for money. He/she analyzes and interprets the financial rules and regulations and provides solutions to a wide spectrum of complex issues related to procurement. DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 16/02/2011 For detailed job descriptions and in order to apply for these and other vacancies please visit http://undp.org.ua/ jobs, complete the UN PERSONAL HISTORY FORM* (P-11) and attach it to the on-line application. UNDP Office in Ukraine 1, Klovskiy uzviz, Kiev 01021
V A C A N C Y ANNOUNCEMENTS
Project coordination, budgeting and reporting; Assist with the development of national capacity building strategies with regard to the HIV/AIDS prevention and care among IDUs and prisoners; Networking with governmental, non-governmental, private sector and other development organizations in the subject area
Leading International Non-Profit Organization
Non-profit specialized in public health systems has started activities in Kyiv, implementing SPS (Strengthening Pharmaceutical Systems), a USAID funded program.
SENIOR TECHNICAL ADVISOR STA is responsible for managing all activities of the program. The STA is the primary liaison with the USAID Health Team, the Ministry of Health, the HIV/AIDS and TB Centers, and the other stakeholders involved with pharmaceutical/commodity management activities. Plans and carries out SPS activities to address priority pharmaceutical and commodity management needs. Supervises staff, coordinates timely delivery of products and activities. QUALIFICATIONS 1. Advanced degree in health related field 2. Familiarity with public health systems in Ukraine and understanding of key TB/HIV and pharmaceutical management issues 3. Experience managing HIV/AIDS, TB or other health programs 4. Experience coordinating programs supported by international agencies (USAID) 5. Fluency in Ukrainian and English
RATIONAL DRUG USE SPECIALIST The RDU Specialist leads activities related to medicines quality assurance, safety and their rational use. Provides technical assistance to the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders in pharmacovigilance (PV) and rational drug use, focusing on TB and HIV/AIDS. Assist in the design and implementation of drug use or other related studies. Ensures timely delivery of products and activities. QUALIFICATIONS 1. Advanced Professional Degree in medicine, pharmacy, or other public health related discipline 2. Significant work experience in pharmaceutical management and/or public health with relevant experience in improving rational use of medicines, and pharmaceutical services 4. Experience working with the MOH and national level organizations 5. Fluency in Ukrainian; English reading proficiency desirable
Visit the Employment Opportunities section of our website at www.jobs-msh.com to apply online.
Master degree in public health, social science, management Two years in management of HIV/AIDS prevention and care programmes among IDUs and in prison settings at national and international level. Fluent English and Ukrainian.
Deadline for applications: 6 pm, 28 January 2011 For more information please visit http://undp.org.ua/jobs
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32 Photo Story
January 14, 2011
www.kyivpost.com
Folk traditions come alive on Christmas
1 As the Orthodox tradition goes, Christmas in Ukraine falls on Jan. 7. The day starts with church services all over the country (3) followed by concerts and festive games in city and village central squares. People in western Ukraine tend to show more consideration for ancient traditions by donning traditional clothes and singing carols. In the Carpathians, villagers went from home to home caroling despite deep snow in the rugged environs (4). They must be admitted in every home and treated with food or money because their songs are believed to bring luck. In Lviv, residents carried a Christmas star (1) in remembrance of the stars, which guided the Magi to the place where Jesus was born. The celebrations continued with 15,000 bread rolls baked for the occasion (2). In Chernivtsi, carolers donned various costumes (5) for a traditional vertep or a street theater involving religious and secular themes. In Kyiv, the folk festival devoted to religious winter holidays is still on in the Mamayeva Sloboda open air museum with the next event scheduled for Epiphany on Jan. 19. Story by Nataliya Horban Photos by AP, Unian, Ukrainian Photo.
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