#47|Nov19|2010

#51

The Richest Ukrainians

Eurovision blues While many nations pay for the performances of their stars at the annual song contest, many Ukrainian singers go in debt to get to the show. Below is Svitlana Loboda, Ukraine’s 2009 Eurovision entrant.

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Hot issue on Dec. 17

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Anniversary rsary

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vol. 15, issue 47

November 19, 2010

Tymoshenko: Yanukovych covering up roles of Kuchma, Lytvyn in Gongadze murder

BY BRIAN BON N ER BONNER@KYIVPOST.COM

Ex-Prime Minister Yulia said Tymoshenko she believes ex-President Leonid Kuchma and cur-

rent Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn should be put on trial for ordering the Sept. 16, 2000, murder of jourG nalist Georgiy Gongadze. w are talking about my personal “If we positio as a citizen, it is that Kuchma position and L Lytvyn ordered the murder of

INSIDE: • Excerpts of Tymoshenko interview, page 14.

Gongadze,” Tymoshenko said in a Nov. 17 interview with the Kyiv Post. “And President Viktor Yanukovych is today doing everything possible to cover this up, to protect them. They are people from the same team.”

For the last decade, Kuchma Æ15

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko

Gryshchenko: A seasoned diplomat with tough mission

BY BRIAN BONNER A N D Y U R I Y O N YSH K I V BONNER@KYIVPOST.COM AND ONYSHKIV@KYIVPOST.COM

Demonstrators shout slogans on Nov. 16 to protest the government’s new tax law in Kyiv. Entrepreneurs say the code, passed by parliament on Nov. 18, will increase the tax burden for small enterprises. (AP)

Tax revolt gains steam on revolution’s anniversary

BY K AT E RY N A G R U SHEN KO AND P E T E R B Y R N E GRUSHENKO@KYIVPOST.COM, BYRNE@KYIVPOST.COM

Six years after the start of the democratic Orange Revolution, Ukrainians are taking to the streets again. This time, their ire is focused not on overturning a rigged presidential

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election – as it was in 2004 – but rather on scuttling the adoption of a new tax code that entrepreneurs say will drive all but the largest companies out of business or into the shadows.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted the government’s tax proposal on Nov. 18, with support from 269 lawmakers, a clear majority in the 450-seat body. But

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lawmakers said they will still consider and debate possible changes to the legislation.

Protest organizers vowed to step up their demonstrations if parliament passed the code touted by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov. Their focus will then shift to convincing President Viktor Yanukovych, elected this year after being denied the presidency dur-

ing the 2004 Orange Revolution, to veto the legislation.

Citizens nationwide have for months protested against the code, which critics claim could put millions of people out of work. Tens of thousands gathered on Nov. 16 in Kyiv and on city squares across Ukraine. The largest crowds turned out in Khmelnytsky, Lviv, Luhansk and Kharkiv, Æ7

Opinion Æ 4, 5, 16 –18 Employment/Real Estate/ Business Æ 6, 7, 11 – 13 Classifieds Æ 30 – 31

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Kostyantyn Gryshchenko has had the job of representing his nation during some of its toughest times.

He served as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States from 2000-2003, during the height of international condemnation of exPresident Leonid Kuchma, allegedly caught on tape with his subordinates plotting numerous crimes.

Gryshchenko’s nation sent him to Moscow as ambassador from 20082010, when the Kremlin waged a public campaign against ex-President Viktor Yushchenko, who irked Russian leaders by relentlessly (and fruitlessly) promoting NATO membership and a less Russian-friendly view of Ukrainian history.

Gryshchenko also served as the nation’s foreign minister from 20032005, during the tumultuous times of the Orange Revolution, when Ukraine’s democratic fate hung in the balance until street protests succeeded in overturning a rigged presidential election, leading to Yushchenko’s election on Dec. 26, 2004.

Now he serves as the top diplomat in a nation led by a president, Viktor Yanukovych, and a political party, the Party of Regions, with whom he is very comfortable. After all, Gryshchenko served as Æ8

2 News

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November 19, 2010

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Vol. 15, Issue 47 Copyright © 2010

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

The views expressed in the Kyiv Post are not necessarily the views of the publisher nor does the publisher carry any responsibility for those views. Газета “Kyiv Post” видається ТОВ “ПаблікМедіа”.

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Tomorrow’s News

NATO meets in Portugal President Viktor Yanukovych declined an invitation to attend the annual NATO summit in Lisbon, Portugal, Ukraine’s Ambassador to NATO Igor Dolgov announced on Nov. 16.

Instead, Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko will represent Ukraine at the 28-member military alliance’s gathering. More than 40 heads of states and governments will witness a new NATO mission statement unveiled for the next 10 years. Yanukovych’s Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, will attend.

On Nov. 15, NATO’s Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels that the summit’s key issues will include a new strategic concept, Afghanistan, the upgrade of relations with Russia and NATO’s missile defense.

Ukraine recently said it has no intention of joining NATO, preferring instead to take a “non-aligned” stance militarily, a position seen by Yanukovych as critical to restoring good relations with Russia. But Ukraine still cooperates with NATO. Russia, which has historically cooper-

Nov. 19-20

Constitutional Court to rule on dates of next elections At 9 a.m., the Constitutional Court will announce its ruling on when the next elections will be held for parliament, the presidency, the Crimean parliament, local councils and municipal seats, Interfax-Ukraine reported.

The court ruling comes amid confusion after Ukraine re-adopted the 1996 constitution earlier this year, reverting to strong presidential rule and changing the terms of public office. Political speculation has accompanied the anticipated court ruling. Parliamentary elections could take place as early as 2011, since under the 1996 constitution, parliamentarians serve four-year terms.

The last parliamentary election took place in 2007. The Constitutional Court has been considering this case since Nov. 11.

Nov. 19

The entrance of the building where leaders of NATO member countries will gather in a summit on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20 in Lisbon, Portugal. (AP)

ated more extensively with NATO than Ukraine, pledged on Nov. 3 to boost cooperation with NATO in Afghanistan and consider a joint missile defense shield, after a meeting Medvedev and Rasmussen.

Ukraine’s military is currently engaged in eight international peacekeeping missions in seven countries, including NATO operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan, according to the Defense Ministry.

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Patriarch Kirill to arrive, with usual controversy The leader of Russia’s Moscow-based Orthodox Church will on Nov. 20-23 make his fourth visit to Ukraine since his election to the post in February 2009. Controversy again hovers over Patriarch Kirill’s trip in Ukraine, where many Orthodox followers have chosen to follow a Kyiv Patriarchate.

The Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra (Monastery of the Caves) is at the center of the dispute for the visit to mark the 75th birthday of Metropolitan Volodymyr, aligned with Moscow. Most of the religious buildings located on the Lavra’s compound belong to the Moscow Patriarchate.

However, three museums located on the compound -- containing more than 400,000 historical artifacts – are being forced to move out by the end of the month. According to Lidiya Orel, who works for one of the museums located

on the Lavra’s compound, the issue escalated after Kirill was made head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Kyiv’s city council voted in July to transfer city ownership of the three museums to the national government.

The Cabinet of Ministers then soon made a decision to move the museums out by the end of November.

“Politicians want to transform the Lavra from a spiritual to a pseudoecclesiastical compound by using the vacated museum buildings as cells for monks and hotel rooms for VIP pilgrims,” said Oleksandr Bryhynets, a Kyiv city council member with the Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko.

The three museums are facing a similar fate to the Historical Museum of Kyiv, which was made to move out of the Klovsky Palace in 2004 to make way for Ukraine’s Supreme Court. All

Nov. 20-23

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill releases a dove during a mass prayer service on St. Volodymyr hill in Kyiv on July 27. Patriarch Kirill returns for his fourth visit to Kyiv on Nov. 20. (UNIAN)

250,000 of the museum’s artifacts, some dating to the Stone and Bronze ages, have been kept stored in boxes on the fourth and fifth floor of the House of Ukraine on European Square.

This week, Tymofiy Kokhan, deputy culture and tourism minister, promised

Compiled by Mark Rachkevych

not to kick out the museums until another place can be found.

The Moscow Patriarchate of the Orthodox Church, one of the largest religions in Ukraine with millions of followers, has more than 9,000 priests.

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3

November 19, 2010 Advertisement

European Business Association News

*O 'PDVT

,EADERS 4ALK Leaders Talk: This week we asked the EBA members – recent successful entrants to the Ukrainian business market – about their experience with operating in our country.

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ERE THE %UROPEAN "USINESS !SSOCIATION TAPS INTO THE KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERTISE OF SOME OF THE COUNTRYlS MOST SENIOR BUSINESSMEN AND BUSINESSWOMEN 7E ASK THE QUESTIONS THEY DO THE TALKING AND HEAR IN ,EADERS 4ALK WE BRING YOU THE ANSWERS

ANDRIY Dubetsky, #%/ 7ARSAW 3TOCK %XCHANGE 2EPRESENTATIVE /FFICE

!S ) SAID ) WASNlT DISILLUSIONED AT ALL AS ) WAS QUITE REALISTIC IN MY EXPECTATIONS AND EVALUATIONS FROM THE VERY BEGINNING 4HERE WAS A NICHE IN THE MARKET WHICH WAS LIT ERALLY WAITING FOR US AS WE WERE AND ARE PROVIDING THE BUSINESS WITH THE ALTERNATIVE AND CHEAP SOURCE OF FINANCING COMPETITIVE TO BANK LOANS WHICH ARE EXTREMELY EXPEN SIVE IN 5KRAINE 4HE MAIN OBSTACLE WHICH PREVENTED US FROM GETTING THE FAST RESULTS IN OUR ACTIVITIES IN 5KRAINE WAS OF THE OBJECTIVE NATURE p THE GLOBAL CRISIS WHICH FROZE THE FINANCIAL MARKETS WORLDWIDE

IGOR Bogdanov,

7HAT MADE 5KRAINE AN ATTRAC TIVE INVESTMENT DESTINATION FOR YOUR COMPANY

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-ANAGING $IRECTOR .OKIAN 3HINA ,,#

4HE 7ARSAW 3TOCK %XCHANGE ALWAYS ASPIRED TO A POSITION OF LEADER WITHIN THE 7HEN AND HOW DID YOU COMPANY ENTER #%% REGION AND ITS BUSINESS PLANS AND LONG TERM GOALS DIRECTED TO ENHANCING THE FOREIGN THE 5KRAINIAN MARKET INVESTORSl AND ISSUERSl BASE WERE REINFORCED /UR COMPANY STARTED WORKING IN 5KRAINE IN

BY ITS DYNAMIC GROWTH AND IMPRESSIVE MARKET IN THE PERIOD OF ACTIVE GROWTH OF AUTOMO INDICATORS BILE MARKET "EFORE OUR COMPANY WAS REP -OREOVER THE 7ARSAW 3TOCK %XCHANGE RESENTED BY A NUMBER OF DISTRIBUTORS (OWEVER

HAS ALWAYS CLEARLY DECLARED ITS GREAT INTER WHEN THE MARKET STARTED TO DEVELOP DYNAMI EST IN 5KRAINIAN MARKET ESPECIALLY WITHIN CALLY THE COMPANY AUTHORITIES DECIDED TO OPEN THE FRAMEWORK OF GLOBAL 5KRAINIAN 0OLISH THE OFFICIAL REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN +YIV PARTNERSHIP WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE (AS YOUR START UP BEEN A SUCCESSFUL HIGH PRIORITY OF 0OLISH 'OVERNMENT ONE )TlS ALSO QUITE OBVIOUS THAT 5KRAINIAN ENTERPRISES INTERESTED IN ATTRACTING CAPITAL ON THE STOCK EXCHANGES CANNOT DO THIS IN 5KRAINE AT THE PRESENT MOMENT THEREFORE HAVE TO SEARCH FOR SUCH A POSSIBILITY ABROAD 7E BELIEVE THAT THE 73% OFFERING THE TRANSPARENT REGULATIONS WIDE AND DIVERSI FIED INVESTORSl POOL PROBABLY IS THE BEST PLACE FOR SUCH DYNAMIC AND FORWARD THINK ING COMPANIES

!S ) MENTIONED WE ENTERED THE MARKET IN

WHEN 5KRAINIAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY WAS ONE OF THE MOST DYNAMICALLY DEVELOPING IN %UROPE 7E WERE THE FIRST WESTERN TYRE COMPANY TO START OWN OPERATIONS IN 5KRAINE AND CLEARLY EXPECTED TO BE PART OF THIS GROWING MARKET AND USE THIS CHANCE TO GET THE LEAD ING POSITION IN TYRE INDUSTRY AMONG WESTERN BRANDS 7E ALSO PLANNED TO DEVELOP OUR 6IANOR TYRE CENTRE NETWORK AS ONE OF KEY DISTRIBUTION 7HAT WERE YOUR EXPECTATIONS BEFORE CHANNELS !S OF TODAY TYRE CENTRES FOR AUTOS

ENTERING THE 5KRAINIAN MARKET 6IANOR 4RUCK #ENTRES FOR TRUCKS FUNCTION IN "EING 5KRAINIAN ORIGINALLY LIVING AND 5KRAINE AND ONE NEW 6IANOR )NDUCTRIAL CENTRE WORKING HERE FOR MOST OF MY LIFE )lVE BEEN FOR SPECIAL VEHICLES HAS BEEN OPENED (AVE YOUR BUSINESS PROJECTIONS BEEN FULLY AWARE OF p LETlS SAY SOME PECULIARITIES OF RUNNING A BUSINESS IN 5KRAINE AND HAD REALIZED AND WHAT OBSTACLES TO BUSINESS GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE LOCAL MARKET AND OPERATIONS DO YOU FACE PEOPLE /N THE OTHER HAND p NOW WHEN ME 7E ACHIEVED THE AIM OF BECOMING THE LEADERS IN AND MY COLLEAGUES FROM 7ARSAW LOOK BACK OUR SEGMENT BEFORE THE CRISIS AND EVEN MANAGED TO WE CLEARLY SEE THAT *UNE WASNlT mTHE IMPROVE OUR SHARE DURING CRISIS TIME 4HE BIGGEST BESTn MOMENT TO OPEN THE 2EPRESENTATIVE CHALLENGE FOR US WAS DRAMATIC DEVALUATION OF LOCAL /FFICE IN +YIV 7ITHIN SEVERAL MONTHS THE CURRENCY IN AUTUMN !LSO THERE COULD HAVE WAVE OF FINANCIAL CRISIS HIT THE WHOLE WORLD BEEN CONCERNS THAT 5KRAINIAN CONSUMERS MIGHT NOT AND 5KRAINE CRUSHING ALL OUR HOPES FOR BE READY TO ACCEPT THE CONCEPT OF 6IANOR TYRE CENTRES DYNAMIC GROWTH AND IMMEDIATE RESULTS "UT THE SUCCESS OF THE NETWORK IS EVIDENT p TODAY

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4HINGS TO KNOW The eight new EBA Board members will be elected at the Annual General Membership Meeting (AGMM) of the European Business Association, which will be held on Thursday, November 25, 2010.

The AGMM will feature debates with the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine Mr. Sergey Tigipko, the IMF Resident Representative in Ukraine Mr. Max Alier, and the Country Director of European Bank of Reconstruction and Development in Ukraine Mr. AndrÊ Kßßsvek. The debaters will discuss economy related topics and focus on the economic forecast for the year of 2011.

Pension reform is to be introduced in Ukraine

T

he necessity of the pension reform implementation in Ukraine has come to a head, especially in light of the alarming demographic trends. The outdated Soviet-era inherited solidarity pension insurance system – with its high pension fund deductions (35-38 %) and the one-size-fits-all approach toward further pension payments – cannot perform under the current economical and demographic conditions.

In the majority of the developed states the three-pillar system of pension insurance is functioning: where the first pillar is the compulsory solidarity system (state-run pension insurance), the second pillar – the compulsory funded system (personally funded account in addition to minimal pension provided by the state), and the third pillar – the voluntary funded system (provided by non-state pension funds and life insurance companies).

The Public Council of the State Commission for Regulation of Financial Services Markets of Ukraine has recently approved introduction of the Conception of the second pillar (the compulsory funded) pension insurance system. This Conception is to be conveyed to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Parliamentary Committees shortly and public listening shall be held as well. In this regard, the EBA Life Insurance Committee members shared their view on the pension reform introduction based on the European experience.

$IBJSNBO PG UIF #PBSE 1S+4$ *$ 4&# -JGF 6LSBJOF Most discussions of the necessity of pension reform in Ukraine become focused on the demographic situation in the country, YERMEK in which the solidarity Kadyrbayev system is not able to provide 12,0 million army of pensioners.

Unpopular among the population measure - increasing the retirement age, so aggressively adopted in France, as we saw just a few weeks ago, for Ukraine - a necessary step. 2010 was the last nail in the coffin of solidarity system - this year women born in 1948-1952 (former Soviet Union post-war fertility boom) began to retire. On the other hand, current social tax is one of the highest in Europe and leads to tax evasion.

The sharp decrease of the tax base upon current unacceptably high social tax exhausted the resources of the replenishment of the Pension Fund. Current budget deficit of pension fund in 2009 of 13.1 billion hryvnia, next year will increase by 2 times - up to 26.6 billion. Only an overall reform of the pension system could save the situation, but it should be done today.

$00 'PSUJT -JGF *OTVSBODF 6LSBJOF 1S+4$ Taking into account that todays’ pensioners in our country are doomed to a miserable existence, and those who are going to retire in the near NINA Guzei future have even less bright prospects confirmed by demographic projection, we can confidently say that pension reform is needed as soon as possible. Now a lot of

discussions are held on the topiŃ which way of pension reform to choose – a solidarity system or a system of personal endowment accounts. Taking into consideration a low financial culture of our population as well as absence of a transparent state control system over the activity of the Pension Fund, the most effective can be a system where an employer deducts a part of contributions into the State Pension Fund and a part into personified accounts of the insured people in pension funds. Personal accounts in the Pension Fund and, as a consequence, direct dependence of the amount of pension on these endowments will stimulate not only bringing out salaries from the shade, but also will stimulate service record’s increase and, in particular, pension age increase, which is now a foundation stone for our people.

%JSFDUPS PG 0QFSBUJPOT 1;6 6LSBJOF -JGF *OTVSBODF The solidarity system, which currently exists in Ukraine, has become outdated to the point that it requires immeMARINA Naumova diate reformation.

According to the demographic data, today we have 4 pensioners for every 10 working persons. The demographic dynamics in the country shows that unless the pension system changes, by 2050 the number of retirement age people will increase twice. Consequently, the pension will continue to decline.

We believe that the solution is the introduction of a second pillar of pension system – obligatory personalized pension savings.

People should take responsibility and take a direct part in shaping their pensions throughout their labor activity. Also, pension funds should not be exposed to the risks associated with the payment of lifetime annuities.

In this regard, we see the following mechanism to ensure life-long benefits from the accumulated assets at the second level: after the retirement age the entire amount of accumulated funds is to be transferred to the life insurance company, which will provide the calculation and payment of personified pension.

$IBJSNBO PG UIF #PBSE +4*$ p*/(0 6LSBJOF -*'&q Following the results of the survey, conducted by “INGO Ukraine LIFE� PJSIC among the employees of foreign enterprises this autumn, 86% NATALIYA of respondents have Nev`yadomska acknowledged their desire to get the additional non-state retirement benefits. The great majority of respondents hopes for their employers in providing the pension insurance support and agrees to get a share interest (co-payment). Taking the survey results and a considerably increased number of insurance consulting requests from the corporate businesses, we can suggest that the attitude toward non-state retirement insurance in Ukraine has changed.

There is a need to introduce new social benefits, such as risk insurance and accumulative life insurance, for the employees.

Consequently, from the side of employers we can foresee the new approaches toward the social policies and the possible compensation packages extension, which would include accumulative pension insurance.

7E LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR FEEDBACK AT

PGGJDF!FCB DPN VB

4 Opinion

November 19, 2010

Editorials

In solidarity You can only milk a starved cow so many times before it groans loudly and drops dead.

Fortunately, representatives of small- and medium-sized Ukrainian businesses had the strength to send a loud and clear message at some of the biggest protests that the country has seen in years. The message: They are humans, not cows, and they are not going to drop dead or fade away. Nor are they going to be milked or bilked anymore – in this case through higher taxes – by a corrupt, oligarch-backed regime. We support them and here’s why.

Indeed, Ukraine is in dire financial straits. Already standing at $7 billion, the pension fund deficit continues to grow sharply. Budget revenues have long been bled dry by corruption and tax evasion. The solution, however, should not fall disproportionately on the lowest echelons of society. Mathematically, many of them simply can’t survive if they are forced to pay higher taxes.

Who should carry the burden for now? The nation’s vast financial woes are rooted largely in the uncontrolled greed of the political and business cronies running this nation. They, therefore, have the financial muscle and moral responsibility to carry the nation’s burden. In an ideal Ukraine, the playing field would be level. The nation would have a big middle class capable of paying their fair share in taxes and contributions to the pension fund. But this is neither realistic nor morally acceptable today. Moreover, President Viktor Yanukovych’s tax reform plan is liable to shrink the middle class further because of regressive taxes. It raises the burden on small businesses, while cutting taxes for big companies.

This is immoral.

As millions of Ukraine’s citizens struggle to make ends meet, the elite seems to be buying more expensive cars, building bigger mansions and becoming more detached from the nation’s hard realities. For now, budget coffers should be filled through progressive income and other taxes, based on the ability to pay.

The financial mess that Ukraine is facing is rooted in history – including the shadowy privatizations from the past, when most of the nation’s prized assets were sold off to insiders at fire-sale prices, raising little for now-depleted state coffers. Not only are the benefactors increasing their wealth with each passing day of double-digit inflation that hits the common man hard, they are saddling Ukraine’s poorest with the burdens while they hide their fortunes and play offshore.

Protesters may be asking themselves why they should pay taxes to a government led by this president. On one hand, he calls for corruption to end. But, on the other hand, Yanukovych still can’t explain where he got the money and legal means to acquire and live luxuriosly at the Mezhyhyria mansion outside of Kyiv.

Look in mirror President Viktor Yanukovych had a very theatrical day on Nov. 17, ahead of a key Nov. 22 summit between Ukraine and the European Union at which free trade and visa-free travel will be discussed. The occasion was the National Security and Defense Council meeting, where Yanukovych called “the crisis of the public’s confidence in the authorities” as the biggest national security threat. Over nearly 20 years of independence, the situation has not gotten any better,” Yanukovych said. “Unfortunately, it’s getting worse.”

The president also allowed a rare public scolding of Prime Minister Mykola Azarov to be televised. “And when I hear you, Mykola Yanovych [Azarov], speaking at government meetings and saying that we’ve achieved something, that everything is fine, and that everything will be fine, I’m telling you, tell the truth. Show people the graphs that you are showing me as to what is happening in the world.

There’s no need to tell tale,” Yanukovych said.

All of this smacked of staged government, taking a page out of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s choreographed scoldings of subordinates.

Mr. President, the reason why people don’t trust government is that state assets get privatized non-transparently, high-level crimes are never solved and leaders such as you are not seen as acting in the public interest. Ukrainska Pravda online news site has done a masterful job of exposing how you, Mr. President, improperly acquired a lavish mansion from the state. You have also never been taken to task for the 2004 rigged presidential election that would have put you in power but for the Orange Revolution. Your government is dominated by self-serving oligarchs who look upon Ukraine as a playground to be ruthlessly exploited.

If you want the nation to get a true picture of events, then Ukraine will need a robust and free news media, honest and transparent privatizations, strong public information and anti-corruption laws, a progressive tax system and an end to the legal impunity and immunity enjoyed by public officeholders.

In short, Mr. President, look in the mirror if you want to see what’s wrong with the nation.

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NEWS ITEM: Kyiv Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky lost some of his powers this week when President Viktor Yanukovych appointed ally Oleksandr Popov head of the city’s executive branch.

Although Chernovetsky will remain mayor until 2012, he will have the mainly figurehead role of presiding over city council sessions and taking part in the drafting of the city budget. All the executive power is in Popov’s hands. The demotion came on the same week that Prime Minister Mykola Azarov compared Chernovetsky with the Queen of England, saying the mayor plays a similarly symbolic role. In other news, city authorities said that this year’s main Christmas tree on Maidan Nezalezhnosti (Independence Square) in Kyiv may be decorated with expensive Swarovski crystals. They said the decorations will be subsidized by sponsors, but did not elaborate on the deal.

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“Isn’t this lovely? Now I have time to be a Santa as well, and put Swarovski crystals on the Christmas tree.”

Ukraine is in thick of worldwide criminal services industry PAUL CRISTIA N RA D U

East European criminals and corrupt politicians have found in offshore havens a tool so perfect that it has permanently changed how business is done in the region. By using offshore laws that stress secrecy over everything else, including crime prevention, they have been able to set up networks of offshore companies where they can hide their assets from police, launder their money and evade taxes all at the same time.

They have learned the arcane business art of forming offshore companies – firms registered in another county by a non-resident – then hiding behind proxies and complicated nested business structures that stretch across continents.

Criminals in the Balkans have used offshore companies as fronts for drug trafficking, money laundering, weapon smuggling, monopolizing industries, privatization fraud and corrupting politicians and government officials. Worldwide, they are used by Mexican drug lords to launder money, terrorism groups to wage war, Iran and North Korea to evade sanctions and run guns and a host of other criminal acts yet undiscovered.

According to the Tax Justice Network, more than $250 billion is lost each year in tax revenues from wealthy individuals and criminals who hide their money in offshore accounts.

That is money that by rights should be going toward better education, health care and infrastructure. On top of that, around $1 trillion – often money that corrupt leaders have stolen – flows out of developing countries into offshore accounts and wealthy banking centers.

“Whether it was logging, or diamonds, or oil, we realized

Æ Nobody knows how much of the offshore trade is legitimate, how much is criminal it was a missing link – in every single dirty deal we ever looked at, there was a bank and a front company in a secrecy jurisdiction, or more than one,” said Anthea Lawson, head of the Kleptocracy Team at London-based watchdog Global Witness.

Law enforcement does not do well in catching and charging those who use offshore havens to commit crime. Their hands, they say, are tied by business-friendly laws in offshore havens that guarantee secrecy and are seemingly designed to evade taxes.

Criminal services industry “I don’t know a single big business in Ukraine which is owned transparently and doesn’t use non-resident companies,” said Yaroslav Lomakin, who started Honest & Bright, a Moscow consulting firm. Lomakin himself has been in the business of registering offshore companies.

According to the Ukraine’s State Tax Administration, trade with offshore locations grew 54 percent to $1.6 billion in the first half of 2010. Three quarters of that trade was with the British Virgin Islands, which accounted for almost 5 percent of all Ukraine’s exports. Æ18

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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November 19, 2010

What role will nation play in 21st century Europe?

Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of special reports by George Friedman, founder and chief executive officer of the U.S.-based Stratfor geopolitical intelligence firm. Future articles will be based on travels that Friedman and his wife, Meredith, will make over the next few weeks to Turkey, Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Poland.

A view from the International Defense Industry Fair in Ankara, Turkey, on May 22, 2007. Stratfor chief executive officer George Friedman sees Turkey, Ukraine’s Black Sea neighbor, as an emerging regional – and even world – power in the 21st century. (AFP)

The border between the Russian empire/Soviet Union and Europe is divided into two parts. The Carpathian Mountains form a rough boundary between the Russians and the rest of Europe from Slovakia to the south. These mountains are not particularly tall, but they are rugged, with scattered villages and few good roads. The Carpathians have belonged at various times to all of the countries in the region, but the Carpathians are not easily controlled. Even today, bandits rule parts of it. It is not impossible to move an army across it, but it is not easy, either.

The northern part of Europe is dominated by a vast plain stretching from France to Moscow. Except for some river barriers, it is the route of Europe’s conquerors. Napoleon moved along the plain to Moscow, as did Hitler. Stalin returned the way Napoleon and Hitler came.

Reshaping after World War I

Intermarium

World War I created a radically new architecture in this region. The Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires collapsed, the Russian empire was replaced by the Soviet Union, and the German empire was overthrown and replaced by a republic. Indeed, the war didn’t end for them in 1918. It went on as the grip of empires reluctantly subsided and the new nations struggled within and among themselves.

The collapse of empires allowed a range of nations to emerge as independent nations. From the Baltic states to Bulgaria, nations became nation-states. Many of the borders and some of the nations were fixed by the victorious powers at Versailles and Trianon. They invented Yugoslavia, which means “land of the southern Slavs,” out of a collection of hostile nations. They reshaped their borders. If France, Britain and the United States shaped the region, the Poles saved it.

Following World War I, Poland re-emerged as a sovereign nation. The Russians had capitulated to Germany in 1917 and signed the Treaty of BrestLitovsk in 1918, which ceded a great deal of territory, including Ukraine, to Germany. With Germany’s defeat, Brest-Litovsk lost its force and the Russians tried to regain what they had given away in that treaty. Part of that was Poland. In 1920, a climactic battle took place in Warsaw, when an army led by Polish Gen. Jozef Pilsudski, who had struck an alliance with Ukraine that couldn’t work, blocked a Soviet invasion.

Pilsudski is an interesting figure, a reactionary in some ways, a radical in others. He was, above all else, a Polish nationalist, and he understood that Russia’s defeat by Germany was the first step to an independent Poland. He also believed that Polish domination

of Ukraine — an ancient ploy — would guarantee Poland’s freedom after Germany was defeated. His attempt to ally with Ukraine failed. The Russians defeated the Ukrainians and turned on Poland.

Pilsudski defeated them.

It is interesting to speculate about history if Pilsudski had lost Warsaw. The North European Plain was wide open, and the Soviets could have moved into Germany. Undoubtedly, the French would have moved to block them, but there was a powerful Communist Party in France that had little stomach for war.

Pilsudski had another idea. Germany was in shambles, as was Russia, but both would be back.

An alliance in place before they revived would, in Pilsudski’s mind, save the region. His vision was something called the Intermarium — an alliance of the nations between the seas built around Poland and including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Finland and the Baltic states. This never came to be, but if it had, World War II may never have happened or could have played out in a different way.

Russian-German relationship In many ways, this matter doesn’t rest in these states’ hands. It depends partly on what Russia wants and plans to do and it depends on what Europe wants and plans to do. As always, the Intermarium is caught between Russia and Europe. There is no southern European power at the moment, but in the north there is Germany, a country struggling to find its place in Europe and in history.

In many ways, Germany is the mystery. The 2008 and Greek crises shocked the Germans. They had seen the European Union as the solution to European nationalism and an instrument of prosperity. When the crisis struck, the Germans found Æ16

Party of Regions puts Ukraine back on European Union agenda AD R I A N S E V E R I N

Since the election of Viktor Yanukovych as president of Ukraine on Feb. 7, the country has been very much back on the agenda in Brussels. The new president and members of his government have become regular visitors to the Belgian capital.

Contrary to their public image in most European

VOX populili WITH VALERIYA KOLISNYK

Do you think the minimum wage of 907 hryvnias ($115) is enough and, if not, what should it be? Do you know anybody living on this sum?

Nataliya Rekhtiashvili pensioner “It is absolutely impossible to survive on this money. At least once a month, a person should afford going to the theatre, buying a magazine or visiting an exhibition, despite the first-need expenses. I know people who try to survive at Hr 830. But subsistence should be at least Hr 1,800.”

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

A borderland is a region where history is constant: Everything is in flux. The countries we are visiting on this trip (Turkey, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine and Poland) occupy the borderland between Islam, Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. Roman Catholic Hapsburg Austria struggled with the Islamic Ottoman Empire for centuries, with the Ottomans extending northwest until a climactic battle in Vienna in 1683. Beginning in the 18th century, Orthodox Russia expanded from the east, through Belarus and Ukraine. For more than two centuries, the belt of countries stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea was the borderland over which three empires fought.

The Cold War was the last clear-cut confrontation, pitting Russia against a Western Europe backed by the United States. This belt of countries was firmly, if informally, within the Soviet empire. Now they are sovereign again.

Russia is far more powerful than it was 10 years ago. The European Union is undergoing internal stress and Germany is recalculating its position. The United States is playing an uncertain and complex game.

I have been accused of thinking like an old cold warrior. I don’t think that’s true. The Soviet Union has collapsed, and U.S. influence in Europe has declined.

Whatever will come next will not be the Cold War. What I do not expect this to be is a region of perpetual peace. It has never been that before. It will not be that in the future. But to understand the future, we need to begin in the past, not with the Cold War, but with World War I.

Opinion 5

countries as politicians who want to bring the Ukraine closer to Russia once again, the government has repeatedly stressed that its strategic long-term goal remains accession to the European Union.

The fact that Yanukovych’s first foreign visit was to Brussels, not Moscow, was a clear signal of this. The president was outspoken during an October public meeting in France, where he said: “Ukraine will never give up the policy of European integration ... After all, the European idea has become the universal unifying motif for the Ukrainian society. Therefore, I personally believe a united Europe is and will be the best response to the challenges of the present day.”

The previous government repeatedly stressed its

engagement to the strategy of European integration.

But during the five years of Viktor Yushchenko as president, and almost three years of Yulia Tymoshenko’s government, not much progress was made.

The constant fights between the government and the president had a disastrously negative effect on the many good intentions of the 2004 Orange Revolution [the peaceful protest that overturned a presidential election rigged for Yanukovych]. The movement was supposed to bring change to Ukraine, including reforms necessary to bring Ukraine closer to integration with the European Union.

It may, therefore, seem understandable that many vers are questioning if this new “pro-Russian” Æ10

Viktor Petrovych, promoter “If you live in depths of the country, from where I am, the subsistence may be fair. But not in Kyiv.

I used to live on Hr 600 back in the university, though. If you take into account current prices, the minimum subsistence should be no less than Hr 2,000.”

Oleksandr Melnyk, electrician “No way!

Utility bills alone take around Hr 400. What is left then – enough for bread and water only? The sum should be Hr 1,500 per person. That, in my opinion, would be enough to pay the bills and eat.”

Tetyana Babych, dentist “This subsistence gives no chance to survive.

Utilities, balanced food, rent, fare, finally, the need to live comfortably, let alone luxuriously, all these require more than Hr 907. I’d say Hr 2,500 would be alright.

Anything below is mere survival.”

Viktor Krushenytsky, student “Renting, food, clothes are great issues for me.

Pensioners can live at this cost, I think. When a person does nothing and stays at home, in my opinion, Hr 907 may be enough, even in Kyiv.”

Vox Populi is not only in print, but also online at kyivpost.com with different questions. If you have a question that you want answered, e-mail the idea to news@kyivpost.com

6 Business

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Ukrainian firm to supply Interpol with ID cards

TruckForce network to expand into Ukraine

Ukraine’s EDAPS consortium, a hi-tech producer of passports and identification documents, has partnered up with ENTRUST, a U.S. company that provides identity-based security solutions, to provide secure ID documents to Interpol, the global police network. Interpol General Secretary Ronald K. Noble (center) is seen standing alongside top executives from EDAPs during this photograph taken on Nov. 9 when the contract was announced. He said: “The INTERPOL e-Identification Card and e-Passport Booklet developed by these two global leaders provide the highest security credentials.� The contract is seen as a landmark deal for EDAPS, which produces Ukrainian passports. Company officials said that landing a customer in the ranks of Interpol is a strong sign of trust and confidence in the quality of their products. (Courtesy)

Goodyear Dunlop Tires, the representative in Ukraine for the international tire producer and retailer, has teamed up with a Kharkiv-based company called Omega-Avtopostavka to develop a network of tire service centers across Ukraine for tractor trailers and other commercial vehicles. The partnership announced on Nov. 10 that the tire service chain they are expanding in Ukraine will be a part of the TruckForce network. Established in 2001, the TruckForce network already includes more than 1,600 service centers in Europe. About 16 TruckForce service centers (above) of various qualities have already started operating in various Ukrainian cities under the DK-TruckForce brand. The newly-formed partnership said the chain will be expanded and upgraded in the near future. (Courtesy)

ÆOn the move JIM PHILLIPOFF, the media & telecom director of the ISTIL Group, has been named as general director of ISTIL Studios. Phillipoff will also remain the chief executive officer of Public Media, the company which owns the Kyiv Post, one of Ukraine’s leading news sources. The appointment follows the resignation, for personal reasons, of former ISTIL Studios director Dmitry Kotelenets.

ISTIL Group owner and Kyiv Post publisher Mohammad Zahoor said: “We are sorry that Mr. Kotelenets decided to leave us, but we are confident that Mr. Phillipoff will continue to develop our studio as one of the best producers of content in Eastern Europe.� ISTIL Studios is a state-of-the art TV and film production studio. Phillipoff is an American native with a B.A. in international relations from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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.

GORDON STEIN was appointed chief financial officer at Cadogan Petroleum, a London-listed hydrocarbon exploration and production company whose assets are located in Ukraine.

Prior to joining Cadogan Petroleum, Stein worked as chief financial officer and founder of Vanguard Energy Limited, an oil company focused on the North Sea and North Africa. Stein has also worked as chief financial officer at Regal Petroleum, a London-listed hydrocarbon company whose production assets are primarily based in Ukraine.

Stein has over 21 years experience in the upstream oil and natural gas sectors of the UK, Ukraine, Tunisia, Venezuela, Algeria and Turkmenistan.

Stein is also a member of the Chartered Institute of public finance & accountancy.

VALENTIN BOINITSKY was

EUGENIA SMAZHENNA

appointed head of public relations and marketing at the Ukrainian branch of Global Logic, international software research and development company. In his position, Boinitsky will be responsible for external and internal communications and for developing the brand of Global Logic in Ukraine. Prior to Global Logic Boinitsky was a government and corporate relations and communication expert at Astelit, which offers mobile telephone network services in Ukraine under the Life:) brand. Boinitsky has prior experience as head of Public relations at Kyivbased marketing agency Pulse and at British Council in Ukraine.

He graduated from National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv. He also holds an international degree from the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations.

has become the head of external and internal communication at Ukraine’s Bank Forum, which is owned by leading German bank Commerzbank.

Prior to joining Bank Forum, Smazhenna worked for three years as account manager at The PBN Company, an international strategic communication consultancy. She also worked at a London-based public affairs firm called The Open Road.

Smazhenna holds a master’s degree in public affairs and lobbying from Brunel University in London. She also obtained a master’s degree in public relations from the institute of journalism at Kyiv International University.

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Business 7

November 19, 2010

Yanukovych next target of tax protesters on Nov. 22 Æ1 where many business owners and entrepreneurs took part. Protest organizers, who call themselves the strike committee, said more than one million people took part nationwide.

So far, Yanukovych isn’t budging and has been dismissive of the protesters.

Opening a National Security and Defense Council meeting on Nov. 17, he said rallies against new taxes are organized by people accustomed to working outside the law. “A transparent process for passing the tax code is under way. When I look at the speeches of business representatives… They are demanding that we keep loopholes in legislation so they can avoid paying taxes,” he said.

Earlier this week, Iryna Akimova, deputy head of the Presidential Administration, said she would read the code only after it is finally adopted in parliament. “It makes no sense to discuss it now, because lawmakers may still make lots of changes,” Akimova said.

In a statement issued on late Nov. 17, the strike committee demanded the tax code be withdrawn altogether.

“The authorities have forgotten that tax pressure [in addition to the rigged presidential election] triggered the same backlash in 2004. I think the start of our next campaign will refresh their memory,” strike committee member Oleksandr Danylyuk, head of the AllUkrainian Center for Business Support, said on Nov. 18. “We will gather three million signatures to hold a no-confidence referendum on parliament. If Yanukovych signs the code, we will seek to remove him from office as well.”

Tax code’s critics The new code makes hundreds of thousands of small companies and individual entrepreneurs no longer eligible for a simplified system that has allowed them to pay a single, relatively low tax rate. Some say it also hands more powers to the tax police.

Many employers ask their employees to register as private entrepreneurs so that they can pay a single flat tax – currently between Hr 20 to Hr 200 per month – and the employer avoids costly payments to the pension fund

address the crowd. We have never had such an impudent government as this one.”

Opposition support

Tax protest leader Oleksandr Danylyuk talks to the crowd outside parliament in Kyiv on Nov. 18.

The next demonstration will take place on Nov. 22 outside the Presidential Administration on Bankova Street. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

assessed against official employees.

The new code limits those who fall under the single tax – such as taxi drivers, hair dressers, accountants and others. For many professions, the single tax looks set to rise to Hr 600.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine has also complained that the law would “greatly hinder” legitimately operating companies which deduct royalties in line with internationally accepted principles.

“Failure to change the law will damage the investment image of Ukraine in the eyes of foreign investors,” the chamber said in a letter addressed to Akimova on Oct. 20. The letter warned Ukrainian subsidiaries of international businesses in Ukraine will recover additional tax costs via the increase of the price of goods, works and services.

According to Anders Aslund of the Washington-based Peterson Institute, the new code is good for big companies and bad for small ones.

“A five percent dividend tax for big companies is a big advantage and could lead to Ukraine’s leading companies actually being based in Ukraine and not in offshore accounts,” he told

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Nov. 16. “It’s good to reduce the corporate profit tax. However, the two big drawbacks are that the simplified tax is being reduced … and another worry is that ordinary international accounting principles are not being introduced.”

Another revolution?

The standoff between the pro-Yanukovych parliament and government, on the one hand, and millions of angry taxpayers, on the other, could trigger civil unrest.

Volodymyr Fesenko, director of Kyiv Gorshenin Institute of Management, said that if lawmakers adopt the tax code in its current form, the president will have to defuse the tension. “My prediction is that parliament will adopt the tax code and that the president will make a knight’s move: He will veto the bill and send it back for revision,” Fesenko said.

However, Vice Premier Sergiy Tigipko told Channel 5 TV that the tax hikes were necessary because of conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund for $15 billion in new loans to Ukraine’s government.

“Increases in utility rates and a hike

to the minimum retirement age are necessary for Ukraine to receive more IMF credits,” he said. “We are going to have to make unpopular reforms.”

Grassroots protest Danylyuk, who heads the All-Ukrainian Center for Business Support, said the protests are organized by non-government organizations and civil society groups nationwide.

“Our plans are drafted by a steering group in Kyiv and voted on by electronic mail,” he said, adding that only he and Oksana Prodan, who heads the committee to protect entrepreneurs in the shadow government, are authorized to speak on behalf of 50 organizations supporting the protests.

Non-partisan Danylyuk said organization leaders are leery of politicians trying to score points with the public.

“Politicians always want something in return. Ours is a truly grassroots movement. Small merchants and entrepreneurs have united over this cause,” Danylyuk said.

“None of the pro-presidential parliament lawmakers that are pushing the tax code would come out and

Opposition political leaders have urged Danylyuk and his group to keep protesting.

“What’s most important is that you not stop,” Yulia Tymoshenko told demonstrators outside of parliament on Nov. 16. “If they press the button and adopt this tax code, we must continue the fight. After parliament adopts the tax code, the president has to sign it.

Therefore, our next step should be to go to his palace and tell him not to sign it.”

Ukrainian Social-Democratic Party leader Yevhen Korniychuk also supported the protests, saying adoption of the new code would prompt many small and medium business to stop paying taxes and go into the shadows, as they did during the 1990s.

“According to specialists, today hidden unemployment in Ukraine is 15-20 percent. After approval of the tax code, the number of unemployed could double, and the state would have to provide subsidies.”

Korniychuk was joined by Anatoliy Kinakh, head of the Ukrainian League of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and a member of Yanukovych’s Party of Regions.

“The tax code contains provisions which totally destroy the system of small and medium business, leading to job cuts and paying wages under the table. This, in turn, will create social tension and undermine the public’s confidence in the authorities,” Kinakh said on Nov. 17.

Mykhailo Brodsky, head of the State Committee on Entrepreneurship, summed up government’s problem on Nov. 18. “The dilemma is that Ukrainians live in debt. We are bankrupt. Businessmen don’t want to pay taxes and the elderly receive tiny pensions. Tomorrow, pensioners will take to the streets demanding Hr 1,500 instead of Hr 700. State workers and teachers will be the next to protest.

There’s no end to this vicious cycle.”

8 News

November 19, 2010

Gryshchenko: Democratic Ukraine is ‘moving forward’ Æ1 adviser to then-Prime Minister Yanukovch from 2006-2007. He also once took part in the upstart Republican Party with current Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, a close associate to a very powerful group of tightly connected politician-businessmen in this nation: Serhiy Lyovochkin, the presidential chief of staff; Valery Khoroshkovsky, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) chief; and Dmytro Firtash, the billionaire owner of energy trading intermediary RosUkrEnergo.

Gryshchenko’s immediate task is to keep the world convinced that Ukraine is committed to democracy and ultimately belongs in the European Union.

Those diplomatic skills will next be tested on the international stage in Brussels on Nov. 22, during the Ukraine-European Union summit.

Expectations are not high for concrete results in the European Union’s administrative capital – not even among Gryshchenko himself, who is only talking about making progress on the central issues of free trade and visa-free travel for Ukrainians.

Gryshchenko’s defense of Ukrainian democracy may prove to be a tough sell among critics who consider the Oct. 31 elections as undemocratic, who are alarmed at the monopolization of power by the president’s party and who remain chagrined at the ongoing trampling of rule of law.

Moreover, nearly 20 years into national independence, Ukraine’s international image remains bedeviled by sinister crimes it cannot – or does not have the will to – solve. Among them are the 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze and the 2004 near-fatal poisoning of ex-President Yushchenko. Also, in the words of such top administration appointees as SBU chief Khoroshkovsky, “corruption at all levels’in Ukraine continues to harm the nation’s progress.

The following are excerpts from the Kyiv Post’s Nov. 16 interview with Gryshchenko: Kyiv Post: Ukraine has been hit pretty hard with assessments of the Oct. 31 local elections as undemocratic. Do you expect this to hurt your chances in Brussels during the European UnionUkraine summit on Nov. 22?

Kostyantyn Gryshchenko: It was the first time that we had local elections separate from national elections where we have invited international observers. It is an unprecedented demonstration of openness and desire to have an international assessment based on actual facts and also on the standards that are being applied elsewhere. We are still searching for a better system of a legal framework for the elections to be held in the future. That’s why the president [Viktor Yanukovych] after the elections issued a decree where he formed a special group to formulate proposals for the election code which would govern both local and national elections in the future. And while we will be listening very carefully and we will take that we think is the wisdom accumulated in the democracies, the decision will rest with the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian parliament for that.

KP: So you will defend these elections as democratic and transparent?

KG: I think we already have this general appraisal that these elections, while having their deficiencies or

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantin Gryshchenko at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kyiv on Nov. 16. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

things to improve, essentially reflected the will of the people.

KP: Do you agree with the U.S. assessment that this was a setback from this year’s presidential elections?

KG: No, I talked specifically with the U.S. officials. They have made a very clear point that the official position of the U.S. is reflected in the statement that was issued by the [U.S.] Embassy here and posted on their website. And it said that the local elections were not up to the level of the standards set by the presidential elections. As I said, it’s local elections. It’s a different set of issues and a different set of circumstances. So, from that perspective, clearly we need many things to be improved upon on how it’s done on the local level. And that is something that is taken seriously and that is why the president has decided to develop and then to adopt the election code that would be an answer to these deficiencies.

KP: But these elections were conducted under the president’s legal framework, his own law which...

KG: As I said, that was reaction to the previous criticism to what was previously seen as something needed to be rectified. And you know the parliament tried to address the issues which were on the foreground of the criticism in previous elections.

KP: Do you see how bad it looks for Ukraine? The question is whether Ukraine has the will to be a democratic nation and when the first elections under Yanukovych, who is still tarnished by the rigged presidential election in 2004, does not have democratic elections...

KG: 2004 is a separate issue. We have seen practice of democracy in the last five years when the competition between the political forces or among them who formed the previous govern-

ments and previous coalitions clearly showed the limits of what one can expect from demagogues when they come to power. Again we have had fair, transparent, democratic elections at the beginning of this year. They were attested to be such by all the observers coming from different nations and institutions. We believe that it provides the current government with the mandate to move on with the agenda of reforming the country, of improving the social, political, and economic standards that would bring Ukraine in what we hope a very short time to be the standards which are common in the European Union nations. That is our ambition.

KP: The harshest critics of Ukraine say – well, it’s the old thing that [Russian Prime Minister Vladimir] Putin told [U.S. President George W. Bush] on the sidelines of a NATO conference a few years back: ‘George, Ukraine is not a real country.’ Some see Ukraine as failed state, not fully sovereign...

KG: Well, do give me any example of who is saying that.

KP: Putin for one.

KG: Well, I am not sure. I was not there. And it’s not something he has ever said publicly. Who else?

KP: Numerous critics.

KG: Failed state?!

KP: Yes. The harshest critics are talking...

KG: Harshest critics from where?

KP: From the West, from inside.

KG: Oh, come on. Give me a name that will resound in my ears as some authority. Come on... A failed state. It’s so ridiculous. I do not believe that it would even meet the minimum standards for a reply.

KP: Isn’t lack of economic

independence a sign of a failed state?

KG: Economic independence is something which does not exist in an interdependent world any more. If China would stop sending shirts and other things which are important to the hygienic health of everyone, the U.S. would totally be at loss what to do. Is it economically independent? It isn’t. We are independent in a sense that we have ability and we have not the ideal, but still a sustained growth in the economy based on the human potential of this country first and foremost. We obviously need to mobilize agricultural potential, transit potential and many other things. But the fact that we are essentially moving forward is something that I believe most or all of Ukraine should be proud of.

KP: Some of your critics feel that private business interests – RosUkrEnergo partowner Dmytro Firtash, Energy Minister Yuriy Boyko, Security Service of Ukraine chief Valeriy Khoroshkovsky, presidential chief of staff Serhiy Lyovochkin – allegedly the members of the energy group, are dominating state policy. And you are right in there as an ally. How do you respond to criticism that you are their foreign minister and not Ukraine’s?

KG: I must say that I was born in the family of diplomats. My father came from World War II, entered the university in 1949. [He then joined the] diplomatic service.

I am not an ally of anyone. I work for the president, for the president of Ukraine, who was elected through fair and free elections.

KP: What about your membership in the Boyko’s Republican Party?

KG: I am not a member of a party.

KP: Any more?

KG: For a long time. I was an adviser

to the prime minister in my professional capacity. I know people in Europe, in the U.S. back from 1990s. Look at my biography at least.

KP: We have ... closely.

KG: Well, your question. I would simply pass it. Because it is ridiculous.

I don’t think that I need to answer that because my credentials and my CV show that I became foreign minister the first time when it was the most difficult challenge, that is Ukrainian foreign policy, and not because the president knew me or was my buddy. It was because I could deliver on the diplomatic mission as it was formulated at that time.

KP: If Ukraine is democracy now, did you consider it a democracy when you were Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S. under [President Leonid] Kuchma?

KG: There was criticism and a substantial part of it was grounded in facts.

But to say that it was not a democracy, I am convinced, would be a mistake.

And now, it’s clearly much better.

KP: You’ve talked about the difference between consolidation and monopolization of power.

Most people would say that, when one party controls the executive, legislative and courts, that’s monopolization.

KG: In most parliamentary systems, if you get a majority in parliament, you can push the country along the path that you promised the electorate. The judiciary is separate, but essentially the executive and legislative branches are together. So, what we have right now is not inconsistent with European tradition at all. It’s a very competitive system. We do have [Fatherland party leader and ex-Prime Minister] Yulia Tymoshenko at the weekly shows and we all know that from the point of view of political influence, it’s mostly TV that is the most efficient tool.

KP:

You

made

great Æ10

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November 19, 2010

9

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November 19, 2010

Gryshchenko: Nation on path to fully integrate into Europe Æ8 points in response to our question about a failed state.

And I go back to that. One measure of a successful state is solving crimes...

KG: Do not confuse the two notions – successful state and failed state, because I totally disagree and cannot accept the whole notion of a failed state, except in few very limited corners of the world.

If you start talking about combating crimes, a successful state, I have been to the [United] States the first time in my adult life in the 1970s. I could not walk the streets. You are telling me that the U.S. was a failed state then?

KP: We are talking about politically tinged crimes. Are you tired of representing Ukraine and having diplomats ask you ‘who killed journalist Georgiy Gongadze?’ (in 2000) and ‘who poisoned exPresident Viktor Yushchenko?’ (in 2004) and ‘what about privatizations?’ Are you tired of these questions?

KG: Frankly ... I am not hearing that many times when I am traveling.

KP: The diplomats don’t bring it up any more?

KG: No. Because the expectation of solving many unresolved famous crimes, incidents, mysteries is something which is always a concern and always creates serious emotions in that sense. Gongadze... we know who killed him. [Former Interior Ministry General Oleksiy] Pukach was arrested at last.

I would say that, with this particular case, we would like a full, clear picture, but it’s moving. I cannot say that it is not moving. Maybe everyone would like it to have been resolved two, three, four, five years ago. Many people in the U.S. that would reflect on what happen to [U.S. President John Kennedy, assas-

sinated on Nov. 22, 1963]. My father died with full conviction that something else happened rather than what was an official version. And so millions also share this view.

way of making this nation competitive, proud and comfortable with itself.

There is only one way of doing it. That is to fully integrate European attitudes and values. But Europe is also a variable kind of structure. The Swedes and Sicilians are of a different nature. But they are still all Europeans. Romanians and British are as different as we are from any Asian nation for that matter.

KP: As a citizen, would you say there is enough evidence to try [ex-President Leonid] Kuchma for ordering the murder of Gongadze?

KG: As a citizen, I am convinced that one cannot simply easily throw things along these lines as it was done in 2005, 2006. People who were floating these kinds of notions, easily passing accusations, now have to face serious fact-based accusations themselves.

KP: Do you think there are enough facts to try these two for ordering the murder?

KG: As I said, I believe it’s not up to me or up to you for that matter to pass these judgments. It’s up to the courts and people who are qualified to do so.

KP: And you have faith that the system will follow the evidence where it goes?

KG: Yes, I do. Because there is tremendous expectation to have these issues brought to a logical end, but based on law and the very strict application of the judicial procedures.

KP: Who is the most recent foreign diplomat that asked you about that?

KG: I think that all the diplomats know the facts and know that the Ukrainian government, within the limit is provided by legislation, the investigative bodies are doing their utmost.

So, what should they ask me? It is the job of investigators. And it’s not done in public. It’s done in a manner that

Ministry of Foreign Affairs

reflects the standards and expectations of any legal system in a democratic society.

KP: What is the most Ukrainians can expect from the EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels? You said many times that joining the EU was important. Now membership seems further away than ever.

Would you agree with that?

KG: No. KP: Why does it matter that Ukraine is part of the European Union?

KG: I am fully convinced that the situation is changing, and for the better. Europe is comparatively becoming smaller. It is not a group of nations that imposes on the rest of the world the model which is the only successful one.

We now have different models of economic development. But we do know that the model for us is the European one. We need to find an efficient

KP: What agreements will you bring back from the Brussels summit?

KG: First and foremost, our relations with the EU are less dependent on any or every summit. The summits are a regular feature. What is important about this is that this is the first summit with President Yanukovych president.

It is the first summit when the configuration of leadership of the EU is also different. We are looking forward to progress on the visa free dialogue.

KP: Will something be signed on that?

KG: As I said, we are looking forward to progress. I believe it will happen. Second, we have had impressive forward movement on the deep and comprehensive free trade agreement.

But it will also take time. The issues are difficult. Such negotiations, by definition, are not easy for certain sectors of the economy. Even if you have full political will to move ahead, we still need to address the issues of employment of thousands of people, of the compensating mechanisms and other important technical issues. But we have good experience from the World Trade Organization negotiations.

Energy [relations will also be discussed]. We recently joined the European energy community. It brings us much closer to European Union standards.

We have had seven visits to Ukraine

by European commissioners in the last half year. It’s unprecedented. We have never had such intensity of our exchanges with the EU. Why? Very simply. They know that they can deal with the team here, that they do not waste their time by coming here. Because after five years of repeated sirens, appeals or songs, they simply want to have very rough negotiations -- something to agree upon and then to implement. That’s something we are offering.

KP: Jose Manuel Pinto Teixeira, the EU ambassador to Ukraine, last year said it looks like business does not want free trade here. Have you changed his mind? And is that the biggest obstacle to the free trade agreement?

KG: All businesses want free trade for their exports, but none want free trade for imports that compete with them. There is nothing Ukraine specific, nothing unique to our country.

One needs to engage them not simply on a regular but on a permanent basis, to explain, and if they have to suffer, then you need to have certain compensation provided for these particular sectors.

KP: When do you think Ukrainians will travel to Europe without a visa? Any expected date?

KG: No expected date. Ask the Europeans about that…we are doing our utmost. We are pushing so many laws to parliament that are prerequisites for this. It will be done in a very short time frame.

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at bonner@kyivopst. com and staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv at onyshkiv @kyivpost.com.

Severin: Europe needs to give Yanukovych support for European Union integration Æ5 president and his government can succeed where their “pro-Western and pro-European” predecessors were not able to achieve real progress over the past five years.

It is true that Yanukovich and his government have not made the European integration process the sole priority of Ukraine’s foreign policy. They have also made a great effort to once again normalize relations with their other big neighbor, the Russian Federation. This was an absolute necessity after the “gas wars” with Russia, which seriously destabilized the economic situation in Ukraine. But stabilizing relations with Russia was also to the advantage of millions of households in the European Union which were already once threatened with a very cold winter because of these bad relations between Russia and Ukraine.

Instead of depicting the current leadership of Ukraine and their Party of Regions as pro-Russian, it would seem more appropriate to identify them as simply pro-Ukrainian and to support them in their wish to seriously make progress in all aspects of European integration.

Ukraine - like Poland or Romania - will need strong support from its

European partners to advance on the path of further integration with the European Union. This also means that the Party of Regions and the current government are given a real chance.

The group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament has taken the decision to - as it is described in the memorandum of cooperation signed on Oct. 14 - “further develop and intensify the contacts between our organizations with a view of supporting the Party of the Regions’ ambition to strengthen Ukraine’s integration process towards the European Union and to further reinforcing the Socialists & Democrats parliamentary group’s support for this ambition.”

This memorandum must be considered as an expression of a wish of one of the biggest political groups in the European Parliament to take the responsibility of working together with the biggest party of Ukraine. This means that we will jointly organize seminars and meetings on topics which are of practical importance to further Ukraine’s integration process towards the European Union; that we will organize meetings and round tables on

One of the many street demonstrations during the 2004 Orange Revolution.

(File photo)

political cooperation, parliamentary procedures in the European Union and the strengthening of political participation.

This cooperation will certainly be to the benefit of the political work of the Party of Regions, but it will equally be to the benefit of the European Union to help the Party of Regions to be a reliable partner in Ukraine’s European integration process. This does not mean that the Socialists & Democrats has now welcomed the Party of the Regions as a member of its political family, like the

European People’s Party did in 2007, when it included both the Our Ukraine movement of Yushchenko and the Fatherland party of Yulia Tymoshenko as organizations with an observer status in their political movement.

The memorandum is not a declaration of ideological affiliation.

Nevertheless, it is hoped that their cooperation will also encourage the Party of Regions to stand up for and to defend the values of social democracy in Ukraine. This memorandum

gives us also the possibility to “create a forum for a frank and open discussion about the political situation in Ukraine and to assist the Party of the Regions in their wish to overcome the current situation of party-political confrontation and to establish democratic cohesion in Ukraine, including the strengthening of the democratic institutions and rule of law as well as the further free development of the media,” as the memorandum states.

It is almost shocking to see how some European People’s Party members of the European Parliament uncritically take on board the political slogans from the Ukrainian opposition, thus importing the Ukrainian mud-fighting in the European political arena, instead of trying to establish a democratic political cohesion in Ukraine.

It is now up to the Social & Democrats group in the European Parliament and to the Party of Regions in Ukraine to transform this memorandum for cooperation into effective action to the benefit of Ukraine and to the benefit of the European Union.

Adrian Severin is a Romanian member of the center-left Socialist & Democrats in the European parliament.

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Business Focus 11

Imports hurt by poor roads, lack of proper warehouses

BY O L G A G N AT I V GNATIV@KYIVPOST.COM

It’s a simple question: Why don’t Ukrainians have a wide range of fresh vegetables and fruits all year round at decent prices? But it is hard to answer.

The answer is connected not only to the weather and underdeveloped agriculture, but also with a challenging set of logistical problems – including poor roads, lack of warehouses and an unpredictable customs service.

All of these factors keep the Ukrainian market for fresh vegetables and fruits under-supplied. Warehouses for special purposes – such as storing fresh, chilled and frozen goods – are especially in short supply.

According to Colliers International, a global real estate consultancy, Ukraine has 200,000 square meters of warehouses capable of cold storage. Most are near Kyiv.

At the same time, from available Colliers International reports, in 2008 countries like Russia had 18 million square meters of cold-storage warehouses, Germany had 16 million, and France nearly 10 million. “To satisfy Ukraine's current demands, the country would need to have 600-700,000 square meters,� says Oleg Kalensky, a management consultant in logistics and retail.

Among the most recent openings of cold warehouses, Raben Group – an international logistics operator – opened in October a 4,200 square meter logistics center and support network for fresh products in the Brovary area near Kyiv. “Next year we plan to double fresh products storage because the market is largely undersupplied,� said Dmytro Yatsunskiy, a Raben Group spokesperson.

Logistics experts say fresh vegetables and fruits are difficult to store safely for long. Freezing the produce can make them inedible. Apart from temperature conditions, fresh products need to be transported in containers with air vents. “The air vents are kept open during transit, not for temperature reasons,

Æ Why so little fruit, vegetables in winter? but for the fact that a constant flow of fresh air will allow the products to retain freshness,â€? said Emilio Riccio, professor of logistics and chairman at Society of International Logistics and Operations. “The deficiency may well be more in the matter of experienced or trained personnel rather than warehouse design.â€?

Riccio said that unreliable customs procedures can also hamper successful imports.

The warehouse segment was hit hard by the real estate downturn in 2008-2009. “Two things occurred simultaneously: the demand fell to almost zero and the supply grew by 80 percent of already existing stock,� said Arkadiy Vershebenyuk, director of the industrial agency department at Colliers International Ukraine. “That is why, for the moment, the supply of [regular temperature] warehouses is still higher than the demand,�

Vershebenyuk said. “As for special warehouses with low temperature or specific climate (i.e. for fresh products, dairy and pharmaceuticals) – the demand/supply gap in not so large and there is room for new projects.�

Vershebenyuk says the demand for cold-storage warehouses is largely driven by the development of retail.

Within the next two or three years, development may be also driven by the growth of big transportation hubs in regions, such as Dnipropetrovsk for eastern Ukraine, Odessa because of its Black Sea port and Lviv and Ternopil in the western region. Still, market insiders do not expect the situation to change in the near future.

Consultant Kalensky said other

How many fruits and vegetables do we eat? (million tons per year) 2009

2010*

Fruits Hungary (10 million citizens)

0.41

0.42

Poland (39 million citizens)

1.58

1.62

Russia (140 million citizens)

5.68

5.97

Ukraine (46 million citizens)

0.98

1.16

Starchy Roots Hungary

0.61

0.59

Poland

4.49

4.47

Russia

10.14

10.53

5.65

5.75

Ukraine

Vegetables Hungary

12.14

Poland

4.29

4.19

Russia

11.40

12.01

Ukraine

5.65

5.75

* Forecast Š2010 Euromonitor International

1.23

A worker drives a cart with fruits and vegetables in the refrigerated warehouse in Brovary, near Kyiv. This warehouse was recently opened by the international logistics company Raben Group. Raben has built a 4,200 square meter logistics center and support network to satisfy a huge market demand for cold-storage warehouses. (Courtesy photo)

obstacles are the poor state of roads and difficulties in obtaining permission to build warehouses.

The cost of constructing refrigerated warehouses is also higher than regular ambient ones. All of this means a poor return on investments and retards foreign interest in developing modern storage places in Ukraine.

So that is why Ukrainians have less vegetables and fruit to choose from than desirable outside of the local growing season. “If you want to have fresh products on shelves, you need to have them shipped directly into outlets (by milkruns) in 12-24 hours, which increases the transportation costs by 40-50 percent or more than a regular scheduled delivery within a distribution model,�

Kalensky said.

Euromonitor, an international market research consultancy, said Ukraine consumed 983,700 tons of fruits in 2009, 5.6 million tons of vegetables and 5.6 million tons of starchy roots. “In Ukraine the share of temperature-sensitive products in the consumer basket grows year on year,� Kalensky said. “Still it is lower than the European average of 25 percent.�

Kyiv Post staff writer Olga Gnativ can be reached at gnativ@kyivpost.com.

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All types of warehouse operations any level of complexity

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12 Business Focus

Nation needs to tap its potential as logistics hub

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

Standing near a big map of Ukraine, students proudly answer that their country has a unique geographical position at the crossroads of Western Europe, Russia and Asia. Yet this position is not being exploited for full trade benefit. And the situation is not likely to change soon, because of bribes and poor logistics.

“The possibility for Ukraine to become a regional logistics hub within the next 5-10 years looks almost nonexistent,” said Oleksiy Balabushko, a World Bank economist in Ukraine.

“However, the trade and transit potential of Ukraine is immense. But the long-term efforts of both government and businesses are required to fulfill it.”

Balabushko is one of the authors of a trade and transit study by the World Bank. Among the nation’s problems are unreliable and slow logistics services, as well as expensive and scarce warehouse capacity. Other reasons are legal uncertainties with land ownership and building permits.

But the top reason is bureaucratic border-crossing procedures and corruption.

Another World Bank study ranked

Æ Improved border operations, fewer bribes would reduce transit costs, lower prices for consumers of imports Ukraine 102nd among 155 countries in the logistics performance index. In 2010, Ukraine got the same absolute score as in 2008 research, but the nation’s rank over the last two years has dropped from 78th to 102.

“It means Ukraine has not changed while other countries have been conducting reforms,” Balabushko explained.

“In other words Ukraine lost its competitiveness in trade and transit, in comparison with other countries.”

The research compared trade logistics in different countries in terms of customs’ operation, infrastructure, international shipments, logistics competence, tracking and tracing and timeliness. Its customs operations dragged the rating down further, with this cat-

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

egory coming in 135th place among nations, according to the research.

“This is really a significant issue which restrains logistics development in the country,” said Sergej Omeljanjuk, director at AsstrA for Ukraine, an international logistics company.

Omeljanjuk, who previously worked in Belarus, compared logistics in the two countries.

“Only a few years ago, Belarus lost the competition with Ukraine in transit shipment volumes,” he said. “Then some Western clients, afraid of difficulties in the work with Belarusian customs, signed their transport documents with the remark ‘transit through Belorussia is forbidden.’ Now the situation has been changing.”

Omeljanjuk said that a new wave

Logistics performance index 2010 1 Germany

4.11

2 Singapore

4.09

15

United States

3.86

26 Czech

3.51

Republic

3.44

30 Poland 93 Georgia

2.61

94 Russia

2.61

102 Ukraine

2.57 2.35

131 Tajikistan 155 Somalia

1.34

Rank

Source: World Bank.

of customs nightmares in Ukraine has contributed to a 20 percent decrease in railway transit through the country in the first nine months of 2010. At the same time, international railway shipments through Belarus increased 12 percent.

Logistics performance is strongly associated with trade expansion, export diversification, the ability to attract foreign direct investments and economic growth in general. Obviously, the nation’s economy improves with better transit.

The World Bank has found that – even without any significant new investment – improved border operations and fewer bribes could cut Ukraine’s indirect logistics costs by $5 billion, and direct logistics costs, such

as freight hauling, by $1 billion. This will lower prices for consumers.

“In the fast-moving consumer goods sector, the end price of the goods highly depends on how effective logistics is organized,” said AsstrA's Omeljanjuk.

“If stocks in warehouses are formed correctly and there are no delays in the delivery of goods to the shelves, then retailers do not lose on stitched goods and can sell goods cheaper up to 30 percent.”

If Ukraine develops its potential as a transit country, it will find not only more investors, but also schoolchildren drinking better and cheaper fruit juice at lunch.

That’s why logistics matters.

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

Two big shopping malls to be built soon in Kyiv

BY MA RK RACH KEV Y CH RACHKEVYCH@KYIVPOST.COM

Dozens of shopping malls have sprouted up across Ukraine in the last decade, pushing aside smelly and disorganized Soviet-style open air markets. Bringing new brand names and forms of entertainment, these venues have already reshaped the way Ukrainians shop and relax.

But this is only the beginning, developers say, pointing to two new shopping mall projects on the horizon – the biggest yet for Ukraine. They will each have more than 100,000 square meters in space.

Scheduled to open its doors by spring 2012, in time for the European soccer championship, Ocean Plaza is being built next to the Lybidska metro station, just south of downtown Kyiv, where pedestrian traffic is estimated at 100,000 per day.

Another shopping mall being built on Ukraine’s ring road will dwarf existing competition.

Billed as Panda Park, it will be 217,000 square meters in area complete with a 22,000-square meter grocery hypermarket, a 12,000-square meter furniture store, a nine-screen movie theater, a bowling alley, fitness center and a theme park for families.

Plans envision that Ocean Plaza will have 131,000 square meters of commercial space. The complex will include various forms of entertainment and a food court. A Real grocery hypermarket and nine-screen IMAX movie theater will anchor the complex

An architectural design of the yet to be completed Ocean Plaza shopping mall. (Courtesy)

from both sides, according to the Ukrainian Trade Guild, the exclusive agent for both shopping mall projects.

Officials from the group said the formal schedule envisions that Panda Park will open in 2013. But, they added, developers are pushing as fast as possible to speed up the process so that doors can open before the Euro-2012 soccer championship.

The total cost of the Ocean Plaza shopping mall is estimated at $150 million, said a spokesperson for K.A.N. Development, the mall’s developer and same company that built Arena City shopping center in downtown Kyiv.

Plans to build a shopping mall at the Lybidska metro station date to 2000, but bureaucratic barriers got in

the way. Transelektro, the Hungarian company which first planned to build the mall, sold its 75 percent stake in the project in 2006 to an unknown Ukrainian company.

Ukrainian Trade Guild is currently holding talks with potential tenants for Ocean Plaza, which include worldrecognized brands who’ve yet to enter Ukraine’s market. They are, Saks 5th Avenue, H&M, Starbucks, House of Blues, Disney Store and Burger King, among others.

Plans envision that Ocean Plaza’s underground parking lot will have space for a whopping 5,000 cars.

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

www.kyivpost.com

Business Focus 13

November 19, 2010

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Business Focus is the Kyiv Post’s spotlight on companies, industries and services in Ukraine.

The stories on the news pages of Business Focus are written by Kyiv Post editorial staff members, but the lists of companies are paid advertisements. For more information about publishing your company's information in our list, please contact the advertising department at advertising@kyivpost.com. Key to abbreviations: WND – would not disclose.

For participation please register at www.economistconferences.co.uk/event/inside-ukraine/3907

14 News

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Tymoshenko: Tax protest ‘could ultimately bring’ president down K Y I V P O S T S TA F F

After a painful defeat to ViktorYanukovych in the Feb. 7 presidential election, exPrime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko has recovered and is ready to challenge what she considers to be the president's misguided policies. While on the defensive for much of the year, with aides the targets of ongoing criminal investigations, she is back on the offensive. She is enlivened by the grassroots demonstrations that have sprouted on the streets over Yanukovych’s tax proposals. Tymoshenko once again sees an opportunity to rally the masses, much like she did during the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a rigged presidential election. The Kyiv Post caught up with Tymoshenko for an interview in Kyiv on Nov. 17.

Kyiv Post: How important of a development are the recent big protests by small- and medium-sized business against the Ukrainian leadership’s tax code?

Do you see this, perhaps, as possibly a last-ditch attempt by the nation’s citizens to break the strong grip over this country by the oligarchs and their loyal leadership? After all, citizens have shied away from going to the streets for years after losing faith in the nation’s political leaders. But here they are again in big crowds, in a grassroots effort that is not this time led by big political leaders.

Yulia Tymoshenko: I see this as a turning point in the fight for Ukraine’s independence, democracy and freedom. Very symbolically, it is happening on the eve of the anniversary of the Orange Revolution [Editor’s note: Bigger protests are planned for Nov. 22, the 6th anniversary of the Orange Revolution, which overturned a presidential election rigged for current President Viktor Yanukovych.]

These protests are happening because small- and medium-sized business – with their very survival under threat – have made a decision to not put their heads down, to not emigrate out of the country. Instead they have gathered strength and courage to take the brave route, to fight and stand up for their interests. This is a noteworthy and important step in the history of Ukraine.

Leading up to this, there was without a doubt a lot disappointment with political leaders. But people have regained their courage and put fear aside. This is a sign that there is hope for Ukraine.

I am in complete solidarity with them. My political team is maximally supporting their position in parliament.

The current tax code was put together to serve oligarch clan interests who have abused the system for personal gain. Through it, they now want to unfairly pass on the financial burden by imposing higher taxes not on themselves, but on small- and medium-sized business which are struggling to survive. This situation is like a bomb waiting to explode. Ironically, it was set in motion by the current administration and could ultimately bring them down.

The protesters will succeed if they stick with it. Their will and strength is much stronger than that of the clan regime running Ukraine today. I believe this is the beginning of the end of this Ukrainian leadership.

KP: More specifically, what can your role be in this movement?

You appeared at the Nov. 16 protest, but it seemed that the pro-

Ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko (R) listens to a crying woman during a rally in front of Ukraine’s parliament in Kyiv on Nov. 16.

In the biggest anti-government protests for months, some 10,000 demonstrators gathered outside of parliament, where debates began on new tax legislation that critics say harms small entrepreneurs.(AFP)

test leaders were not so eager to have you and other politicians taking a lead role. They say their fight is apolitical, that they don’t want politicians hijacking it for personal gain.

YT: I think Channel 5 has complete video coverage of my conversations with participants of the protests. I think these videos will portray a better picture of the situation than spin being spun by the pro-presidential regime. I walked through the crowds and spoke with people. I think these video reports show that people see us in union and this as our joint plight. They asked me to help protect them, and to lead this fight. They asked for a renewal of Maidan (Orange Revolution-style protest). They asked for help in helping to organize and systemize their movement. We will hold talks with their leadership on uniting our efforts.

KP: But what we hear from leaders of these protests, such as Oleksandr Danylyuk, they don’t want politicians, including you, to take over and turn their fight into a political one.

YT: My conversations with the crowds demonstrate that they support me. This could be just the position of certain leaders involved.

KP: So, you are confident that you are ready and capable to lead this movement most effectively and attain a result? Does it have to be you, in particularly, or other politicians or a group of politicians supporting these protests?

YT: I am confident that consolidation is under way in the political realm … not of sellout politicians, but consolidation of citizens that want to fight and defend their interests, in partnership with my team. I would like to remind everyone that our political team has led the charge from the very beginning against this administration’s so-called tax reform efforts.

KP: Are you saying that these

protesters can’t succeed without backing from a major political party?

YT: It’s a two-way street. They have established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. But they recognize that it is not enough to go on the streets.

They recognize that it is crucial to have the political element in place to join and support them. But we are aware that the pro-presidential Regions Party is trying to corner and sabotage the efforts of these protesters, in part by putting in place synthetic leaders who could divide the movement and make the crowds feel that their effort has failed. I will not allow such manipulations to succeed.

KP: What kind of tax code are you proposing?

YT: It would include these main points. Firstly, the tax militia must be disbanded. It is not needed. Our political team proposed such measures in the past.

Secondly, simplified tax regime must be preserved. It is used by people who barely survive financially, often working several jobs to make ends meet.

These are often people who do not have big revenues for their business, but create jobs that employ people that have nowhere else to turn to. You can’t look for extra sources of tax revenue from those that are barely surviving, barely keeping their families afloat.

Thirdly, we need to pool all of the complicated and separate social fund payments into one single social pension fund payment. And the rate needs to be cut sharply. The current rate is too high. It keeps incomes hidden in the shadows, prevents them from being legalized. By reducing it, you can bring it all out into the open and increase the tax base and overall revenues.

Fourth, this government’s proposed tax code sets up a clash between businesses on the simple tax regime and those in the regularly tax regime, making it complicated for them to do business together. This is destructive.

Fifth, tax privileges for big businesses, tax evasion and abuse through offshore tax havens, must be rooted out.

Sixth, we need to give businesses a fair opportunity to defend themselves in disputes with the tax administration.

The rights of the tax administration must be sharply reduced from current levels while the rights of businesses need to be increased substantially, so that they can have a fair chance in the courts. And in this system, we can’t allow any kinds of aggression or intimidation from the side of the tax administration until a court decision is made. In contrast, the tax code being proposed now establishes nothing short of a system of repression.

In terms of income tax, we have supported a differentiated tax rate system that taxes the rich more than the poor.

We also support extra taxes on luxury items, like huge villas and estates.

In contrast, what do we see now? A last minute rush to adopt the tax code months before it is to take force. The richest and biggest companies, with their special accountants, will have less trouble adjusting. But the poorest echelons of society will not have this luxury. When introducing such big tax changes you need to properly explain and give time to adjust.

KP: What category (the rich or middle class) do you personally fall into as a taxpayer? You have been asked many times in the past about your personal wealth.

Many of your critics point to your days as a leading player on Ukraine’s gas trading market, and say you are extremely wealthy. Your family seems to live a wealthy lifestyle, but your official tax filings don’t show this wealth.

YT: All of Ukraine’s law enforcement authorities, which are today and have long been under control of the current administration, have roughly investigated me and my family for many years. If there are any claims, they have all the instruments at their disposal to make their case and charges.

Before I became a politician, I was the head of the largest private company in Ukraine. (Tymoshenko headed

United Energy Systems of Ukraine, which controlled gas sales in much of the country when Pavlo Lazarenko, convicted in the U.S. of fraud and money laundering, served as prime minister and her political ally). The money was made and declared and this did not disappear.

But I have now been in politics for some 13 years. They have counted each kopek that I earned. And found nothing. I wish that Ukraine’s other politicians had to pass the same ‘cleansing tests’ that I have endured.

So, I spent half of my career in business, and half in politics. I think it’s time to inspect those officials who never officially spent a day in business, or show any income, but have palaces in Crimea, for example. I don’t have any of this.

KP: But your critics say such people have been, most recently, in your team. Investigations by Ukrainian journalists published in Ukrainska Pravda, for example, describe lawmaker Anton Yatsenko, who has been a member of your faction in parliament, as the so-called mafia head of the State Procurement Agency, where corruption was reportedly rampant. Another political ally and allegedly neighbor of yours, Mr. Kovzel, has headed a middleman company that generates large profits as a middleman controlling, as a monopoly, cargo shipments on the state railway.

YT: Let’s take this step by step. Our political team led the initiative to adopt a new law cleaning up the tender process at the State Procurement Agency.

It was approved with the World Bank.

And we adopted it in 2009 when I was prime minister. We cancelled what was adopted before, the law on tender processes, which existed. Our party voted unanimously, including Mr Yatsenko.

But tell me: why is the current administration talking, just making accusations? They need to act. When I was prime minister, I did not have an ally in the general prosecutor. He was Æ15

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News/Opinion 15

November 19, 2010

Æ14 an ally of Viktor Yanukovych, appointed for the job as part of an agreement with then president Viktor Yushchenko. And a Yushchenko ally headed the Security Service. And he was loyal to Yanukovych.

As then, they today have all the powers at their disposal to investigate. I did not have any support in any investigations where we uncovered wrongdoing.

Today, Yanukovych has control over all of law enforcement and the courts.

And so, they are investigating Yuriy Lutsenko (interior minister under Tymoshenko’s government and a current ally) in connection with a meager Hr 40,000 violation.

Meanwhile, the current government is spending millions from the state’s stabilization fund to pay top international law firms that were hired by the government to uncover wrongdoings against me, their political opponent.

We know that the International Monetary Fund wants Ukraine to cut wasteful expenses, to narrow the budget deficit. But why is nobody seeing what is going on [with the RosUkrEnergo case and at the] Olympic Stadium reconstruction project in Kyiv? When I was prime minister, the cost of this project was Hr 2.4 billion, and I was urging for it to be cut by an additional 40 percent because I saw that the cost of this project had been artificially inflated.

But this Friday I saw the government doubled the cost of this project to Hr 4.5 billion. This is obviously rooted in corruption, siphoning budget funds out through inflated costs. As such, this reconstruction will end up costing twice as much as the much better quality stadium that was just recently built from scratch in Donetsk.

KP: Still, despite all of this, it seems many citizens and protesters on the streets remain very much disappointed in all of Ukraine’s politicians: in you, former President Viktor Yushchenko as well as Yanukovych. They hear such corruption allegations each day, but nobody is prosecuted.

Moreover, I think that many people think that members of your team were also engaged in such corruption.What guarantees can you provide that it won’t happen again?

YT: I want to completely deny the thesis that I took something from the state when I was prime minister.

KP: If not you, then perhaps members of your political team were involved in corruption?

YT: I’m sorry, but if all they were able to find with all their control over law enforcement and the courts is a Hr 40,000 charge against Lutsenko … [and a few other smaller cases against other members of my government], then we have to ask … why they haven’t found anything bigger despite all of their attempts.

Ultimately, no other political team is facing or would survive the investigations and checks that our team has been battered with.

Thus, I would ask the protesters on the street not to be tricked by the dirty PR, but to unite – foremost now as we are on the eve of a parliamentary elections – in defense of the country’s future.

KP: How confident are you that the next parliamentary election

Pa rli am en ta ria n

Tymoshenko: Nation should curb power of oligarchs, restore freedom of speech will be held in 2011, and not in 2012? [Editor’s note: Due to this fall’s switch back to Ukraine’s previous constitution, the Constitutional Court and parliament are to decide soon whether the next parliamentary election is to be held in 2011 or 2012.)

YT: You can’t be sure of anything with the current administration in power. Thus, I didn’t say I am confident that the next election will be held in 2011. But I am confident that, according to any sober interpretation of the constitution, it should be held in 2011.

KP: How will you and your supporters respond if Ukraine’s leadership moves the election back to 2012?

YT: My team is preparing for the election to be held in March 2011. I believe the elections will happen on this date. And according to the constitution, the electoral campaign has to start on Nov. 22. The current leadership, I think is contemplating whether to hold the election in 2011 … quickly rushing into it before their popularity falls further, or whether to move back the parliamentary election all the way back to 2015.

You see, they don’t see Ukraine as a country, with democracy and freedoms for citizens. They see it as a mega-corporation of their own, and it’s a joint stock closed company. And all the resources and population is their assets.

KP: But isn’t the average citizens also to blame here because they are not taking or buying their shares in this would-be corporation, nor are they demanding dividends?

YT: I remember very well what it was like in the Soviet Union. We didn’t have rights, democracy or freedoms, but we had the basics and lived happy lives because we simply didn’t know how much better life can be .We didn’t know what we were being deprived of.

This was our happiness. We were told that the rest of the world lived in horrible conditions.

You know, this is why the free media and objective reporting that is disappearing under Yanukovych is so crucial. Without it, citizens don’t know that they have the right to a larger share, be it rights or the wealth of their nation.

Today, we know that about a third of the population has access to Internet media, where they can find objective information. But unfortunately, some 70 percent still rely on television channels which have become brainwashing instruments again. Thus, they are vulnerable to the false illusions that today Ukraine has a prosperous economy with massive rebuilding under way, that there is stability, not corruption. They are thus being manipulated by these illusions being spread on the airways, such as that Ukraine’s president today is greeted with the highest honors by the entire world.

If we want to start honestly reforming the country, we need to start not with the tax code, or land reform, and the like. We need to start with the fundamentals: bringing back freedom of speech, cutting the influence of oligarchs and establishing a just court system. Yanukovych has done the exact opposition. Our team has the will and political strength to come in and get it done.

Tax Code

Small Business

NEWS ITEM: Thousands of protesters across the nation took to the streets this week to protest the government’s tax code under consideration by parliament. Representatives of smaller businesses said the government’s tax code is so onerous that many of them will lose their enterprises if it is enacted into law. But they appeared to be fighting a losing battle when President Viktor Yanukovych said on Nov. 17 that the protests are organized by those who “work outside the law” and who are resistant to the government’s attempt to “patch the legal loopholes.”

Tymoshenko believes Kuchma, Lytvyn ordered murder of Gongadze Æ1 and Lytvyn have consistently denied any involvement in the murder of Gongadze and have never been charged with any crime. Meanwhile, since becoming president on Feb. 25, Yanukovcyh and other top administration officials have pledged to finish the investigation left undone by two predecessors – Kuchma, who ruled from 1994-2005, and ex-President Viktor Yushchenko, who served from 2005-2010.

Tymoshenko’s unequivocal remarks are certain to intensify the scrutiny of how Yanukovych and his chosen prosecutor general, Viktor Pshonka, ultimately resolve the Gongadze murder investigation.

The unsolved murder – complete with allegations of cover-up and involvement of top-level officials -continues to harm Ukraine’s attempts to present itself internationally as a civilized democratic nation.

When asked the basis for her opinion, Tymoshenko cited numerous reasons: • leaked testimony from ex-Interior Ministry general Oleksiy Pukach, imprisoned for more than a year as the suspect who carried out the actual murder; • tape recordings made in Kuchma’s office before Gongadzes’s murder, in which top administration officials discussed with Kuchma the need to silence the crusading journalist; • various statements by prosecutors in the last decade; and • a note ostensibly left by the late Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko, killed from two gunshot wounds to the head in 2005. Kravchenko, whose death was officially ruled a suicide, allegedly left a note in which he claimed to be a victim of Kuchma’s intrigues.

“Based on all of these facts and doc-

Æ Despite suspicions, ex-premier worked with Lytvyn uments, society has reached the clear conviction that Kuchma and Lytvyn ordered the murder,” Tymoshenko said.

The latest official word from Pshonka, appointed Nov. 4 as top prosecutor by Yanukovych, is that the Gongadze case will go to court in January.

Suspect Pukach, a former Interior Ministry general, went in hiding for several years before his arrest in Zhytomyr Oblast on July 21, 2009.

Authorities say he has confessed to the crime, while his lawyers have said that he also implicated Kuchma and Lytvyn in the murder. He ran the ministry’s foreign surveillance unit at the time of Gongadze’s murder.

Prosecutors also this year said that Kravchenko ordered Pukach and his subordinates to kill Gongadze, but many -- including Tymoshenko -- believe the ultimate order came from Kuchma through Lytvyn, then the president's chief of staff.

Last month, Oleh Musienko, the former lawyer for Pukach, told the Ukrainska Pravda online news source that the suspect’s testimony provides ample reason for Kuchma and Lytvyn to stand trial for the killing.

In 2008, three former police officers with the Interior Ministry were convicted of involvement in the crime

and are serving prison sentences.

They are: Col. Valeriy Kostenko, Col. Mykola Protasov and Maj. Oleksandr Popovych.

In October, the prosecutor general replaced Oleksandr Kharchenko, the head of the investigative group in charge of the Pukach case, with Vladyslav Hryschenko.

Tymoshenko’s opinion that Lytyvn was an accomplice to Gongadze’s murder did not prevent her from working with him when he was parliament speaker and she was prime minister, most recently from 2008 to March. Before Yanukovych’s election as president on Feb. 7, Lytvyn’s minority faction in the Verkhovna Rada aligned with Tymoshenko’s parliamentarians and other groups to form a tenuous ruling majority.

Tymoshenko defended her involvement with Lytvyn as a matter of political expediency to help the nation overcome the global economic crisis that started in the autumn of 2008 and caused gross domestic product to plunge 15 percent in 2009.

“I have not changed my position as a citizen of Ukraine. But I am not the general prosecutor and can’t lead the investigation or make charges,” Tymoshenko said. “When I was prime minister, in the middle of a huge economic crisis, I did everything possible to unite Ukraine’s politicians as much as possible to deal with the challenges at hand, to adopt anti-crisis legislation. I didn’t have a choice of who to choose from in terms of political allies. President Viktor Yushchenko was then sabotaging my government’s work. Yanukovych was doing the same. The only choice was to work with part of Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine party and Lytvyn.”

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at bonner@kyivpost. com

16 Opinion

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Friedman: Post-Cold War era ends; what will come next? Æ5 that nationalism had reared its head in Germany as much as it had in other countries. The Germans didn’t want to bail out the Greeks, and the entire question of the price and value of the European Union became a central issue in Germany. Germany has not thought of itself as a freestanding power since 1945. It is beginning to think that way again, and that could change everything, depending on where it goes.

One of the things it could change is German-Russian relations. At various times since 1871 and German reunification, the Germans and Russians have been allies as well as mortal enemies.

Right now, there is logic in closer German-Russian ties. Economically they complement and need each other.

Russia exports raw materials; Germany exports technology. Neither cares to be pressured by the United States.

Together they might be able to resist that pressure. There is a quiet romance under way between them.

For Poland, the specter of a GermanRussian entente is a historical nightmare. The last time this happened, in 1939, Poland was torn apart and lost its sovereignty for 50 years. There is hardly a family in Poland who can’t name their dead from that time. Of course, it is said that this time it would be different, that the Germans are no longer what they were and neither are the Russians. Whatever the Poles think and say, they must be nervous, although they are not admitting it.

Admitting fear of Germany and Russia

would be to admit distrust, and distrust is not permitted in modern Europe.

The Romanians are in a different position. The Romanians are buffered against the Russians by Ukraine and Moldova, and their sense of unease should be lower. Unlike the Poles and the North European Plain, they at least have the Carpathians running through their country.

What about Ukraine?

But what are we to make of Ukraine?

Their government is pro-Russian and trapped by economic realities into strong Russian ties. Certainly, the increasingly German-led European Union is not going to come to their rescue. The question in Ukraine is whether their attempt to achieve complete independence is over, to be replaced by some informal but iron bond to Russia, or whether the Ukrainians still have room to maneuver. It seems from a distance that there is little room for them to breathe, let alone maneuver, but this is a question to be put to Ukrainians. They will, of course, vigorously assert their independence, but it will be important to listen to what is not said and what is answered by small shrugs and resignation. There is no more important question in Europe at the moment than the future of Ukraine.

For Romania, this is vital because its buffer could turn into its boundary if the Russians return to the border.

This is why Moldova matters as well.

Moldova used to be called Bessarabia.

When Stalin made his deal with Hitler in 1939, part of the deal was that Bessarabia, then part of Romania, an ally of Germany, would be seized by the Soviets. This moved Romania farther from the port of Odessa, the critical port on the Black Sea, and across the Dniester River. Bessarabia remained part of the Soviet Union after the war. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Moldova became independent, stretching from Romania to the eastern bank of the Dniester. The area east of the Dniester, Transdniestria, promptly seceded from Moldova, with Russian help. Moldova became a Romanianspeaking buffer on the Dniester River.

Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. Its primary export is wine, sent mostly to Russia. The Russians have taken to blocking the export of wine for “health reasons.” I think the health issue is geopolitical and not biological.

If Moldova is an independent, proEuropean state, Ukraine is less isolated than the Russians would like it to be.

There was a reason why Stalin wanted to take Bessarabia from Hitler. That consideration has not dissolved, and the Russians are acting to isolate and pressure Moldova right now and, with it, Romania.

My visit to Romania and Moldova is to try to get a sense of how they view the situation in Ukraine, what they think Russian intentions are and what they plan to do — if anything. Romania is oriented toward the European Union but is one of the many countries in the union that may not really Æ17

A crowd in Australia celebrates the end of World War I on Nov. 12, 1918.

(Photo courtesy John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland)

Advertisement

“EDAPS” has developed equipment for production of biometric documents.

O

ne of the basic requirements of the European Union to be satisfied by Ukraine regarding visiting the Schengen zone countries without entrance visa is introduction of passports with biometric data of theirs holders. The “EDAPS” consortium has been repeatedly stated its readiness to launch the production of such documents at any moment. On November 9, 2010 “EDAPS” has one more time clearly demonstrated this “operational preparedness”.

At the press hall of the “Our Product” information agency the consortium’s experts presented their own industrial system destined for work with biometric data and personalization of electronic documents. The system includes equipment for biometric data processing (photo, finger-prints, and signature) and installation for laser engraving and electronic personalization for the documents. Experts of the Consortium have demonstrated to the journalists the system in its operation – from the procedures of biometric data recording up to printing of a document.

It turned out that process takes less than 5 minutes.

Such equipment is reasonably considered to be one of the most high-tech and super sophisticated for development and

manufacturing. Thus, there are just few companies in the world that are able to produce it. Moreover, the leading expert of the Consortium Vladymyr Vozny meeting the journalists has specified that analogues of the presented equipment were simply absent. “Unlike our competitors, the “EDAPS” Consortium develops lasers and their use technologies without any help. Also we are the world leaders in development of the holographic protection.

So, regarding the security, our products simply have no analogues in the world” as it was noted by Vladymyr Vozny.

All these statements are firmly substantiated. Quality of the “EDAPS” products is supported by reaction of participants of the International Conference and Exhibition on protected printing INTERGRAF that was held in October in Barcelona.

Georgy Beilin, member of the committee of directors of the “EDAPS” Consortium says that “participants of the exhibition were double-shocked”. For the first time when they have found out that all the element base of the equipment was of the Ukrainian origin. For the second time when it was clarified that the entire complex was made in Ukraine.

At the symposium of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that

was held early in November in Montreal, this organization acknowledged to be Bristol fashioned the electronic passports and ID-cards developed by the “EDAPS” consortium.

Just another acknowledgement of the highest level of the Ukrainian equipment was manifested some days ago. On November 8, the General Assembly of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) that was held in Doha (Qatar) has approved an initiative on introduction of electronic (biometrical) documents for its personnel: passports and identification cards. By direct vote there was approved resolution giving the open passage to implementation of the said documents developed by the Ukrainian scientists and technologists.

The stand of the “EDAPS” Consortium was visited by the INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Anatolii Mogiliov. Just at the stand Mr. Noble presented his personal (including biometric ones) data for printing of the electronic ID-card.

Nevertheless, the acknowledgement of the highest level of the Consortium’s design is not limited to the approving comments of partners and competitors. This

equipment already works, and also over the Ukrainian borders. “EDAPS” is a developer of a unique identification system for diamonds and jewelry, manufacturer of certificates for the world-famous De Beers Company.

In April 2008 the “EDAPS” Consortium was announced as tender winner by the Kenyan government for development, supply, installation and commissioning of the firmware complex “National Demographic Centre”. “EDAPS” became a winner of the contest among 25 international companies. As early as in February 2009 the Consortium has presented to the Kenyan government a ready project.

Now Kenyans use identification cards of the Ukrainian origin with Ukrainian software, and the government offices provide recording and control with methods developed by our experts. The Consortium also produces driver licenses for such multimillion country as Pakistan.

And the last but still important fact. The cost price of the Consortium’s products is 2-3 times less than its analogues from the competitors. This means that Ukraine at introduction of identification documents is absolutely free from supply of imported technologies and personalization equipment from abroad.

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Friedman: For U.S., Turkey's emergence as power is helpful Æ16 belong there. Unlike the Poles, for whom history and resistance is a tradition, the Romanians accommodate themselves to the prevailing winds.

I doubt that they will do anything to save Moldova and anger Moscow, but it is not clear whether Moldova is in danger. Still, this much is clear: If the Russians are reclaiming Ukraine, then Moldova is an important piece of territory, not only to protect Ukraine but also to create options toward Romania and southwestern Europe.

Turkey is a place I have gone to several times in the past few years and expect to revisit many times. In my book, “The Next 100 Years,” I argued that Turkey will be a great power in the next 50 years or so.

It will be no one’s pawn, and it will be asserting its interests beyond its borders. Indeed, as its power increases in the Balkans, Turkey will be one of the forces that countries like Romania will have to face.

I will be interested in hearing from the Turks how they view the Russians (and, of course, Iran and the Arab countries as well as Central Asia).

Russia as seen through the eyes of its neighbors is the purpose of this trip, and that’s the conversation I will want to have. Poles, Ukrainians, Romanians and Moldovans will all want to talk about Russia. The Turks will want to discuss many issues, Russia perhaps least of all.

Geopolitical theory In the end, I am going to the region with an analytic framework, a theory that I will want to test. It is a theory that argues that the post-Cold War world is ending. Russia is re-emerging in a historically recognizable form.

Germany is just beginning the process of redefining itself in Europe, and the EU’s weaknesses have become manifest. Turkey has already taken the first steps toward becoming a regional power.

For the United States, Turkey’s emergence is beneficial. The United States is ending its wars in the region, and Turkey is motivated to fill the vacuum left and combat radical Islam. Those who argue that the Turkish government is radically Islamist are simply wrong, for two reasons. First, Turkey is deeply divided, with the powerful heirs of the secular traditions of Kemal Ataturk on one side. They are too strong to have radical Islam imposed on them. Second, the Islamism of the Turkish government cannot possibly be compared to that of Saudi Arabia, for example. Islam comes in many hues, as does Christianity, and the Turkish version derives from Ottoman history. It is subtle, flexible and above all pragmatic. It derives from a history in which Turkish Islam was allied with Catholic Venice to dominate the Mediterranean. So Turkish Islam is not strong enough to impose itself on the

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The suggested donation 800 UAH per person no charge for children 12 and under

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Opinion 17

November 19, 2010

Lubomyr Markevych 0503310421 lubomyr.markevych@gmail.com

secularists and too urbane to succumb to simplistic radicalism.

While the United States can welcome a powerful Turkey, the same can’t be said for a powerful Russia, particularly not one allied with Germany. The single greatest American fear should not be China or al Qaeda. It is the amalgamation of the European peninsula’s technology with Russia’s natural resources.

That would create a power that could challenge American primacy. That was what the 20th century was all about.

The German-Russian relationship, however early and subdued it might be, must affect the United States.

It is not clear to me that the American leadership understands this.

Washington’s mind is an amalgam of post-Cold War cliches about Russia and Europe and an obsession with terrorism. This is not a time of clear strategic thinking in Washington. I know that the Poles, for example, are deeply concerned that Washington doesn’t understand the issues.

I have no power to shape anything, but for Washington to support Poland they need to be shown a path. In this case, I am going to explore the theory that Pilsudski brought to the table, of the Intermarium. I regard NATO as a bureaucracy overseeing an alliance whose mission was accomplished 20 years ago. From an American point of view, moving France or Germany is both impossible and pointless. They

Geopolitical journey with George Friedman

have their own interests and the wrong geography. It is the Intermarium — Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and perhaps Bulgaria — that represents this generation’s alliance. It blocks the Russians, splits them from the Germans and gently limits Turkey’s encroachment in southeastern Europe.

The Intermarium countries remain infatuated with the European Union and NATO, but the infatuation is declining. The year 2008 and Germany’s indifference to these countries was not pleasant, and they are learning that NATO is history. The Poles must be the leader of the bloc and the Romanians the southern anchor. I think the Poles are thinking in these terms but the Romanians are far from this idea. For me, a U.S.-backed Poland guarding the North European Plain, with Slovakia, Hungary and Romania guarding the Carpathian approaches, would prevent what the United States should fear the most: an alliance between Russia and Germany plus Western Europe.

Nothing, of course, could be further from Washington’s mind. Washington still thinks of Russia as the failed

state of the 1990s. It thinks of the European Union as having gone over a speed bump from which it will recover.

But mostly, Washington thinks about Afghanistan. For completely understandable reasons, Afghanistan sucks up the bandwidth of Washington, allowing the rest of the world to maneuver as it wishes.

It is the charm of the United States that powerlessness and obscurity is no bar to looking at the world and thinking of what will come next. I am not making strategy, but examining geopolitical forces. I am not planning what should be, but thinking about what will likely happen. But in doing this I need a reality check, and for this reality check I will start in Romania.

This article by George Friedman, the founder and chief executive officer of U.S.-based Stratfor, a geopolitical analytical service, is republished with the author’s permission. His series of articles, “Geopolitical Journey,” can be read at www.stratfor.com . This installment can be found at http://www.stratfor.com/ weekly/20101108_geopolitical_journey_ part_2_borderlands.

18 Opinion

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Radu: Rich, powerful, corrupt create ways to evade taxes Æ4

Ukraine is typical of countries in Eastern Europe and the Balkans where a team of six reporters for the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found hundreds of large companies registered in offshore locations. Each country has a robust industry that sells offshore services to businesses and individuals. It is a mundane industry filled with accountants, company formation agents and lawyers who spend their time devising complex schemes for hiding the real ownership of companies or assets.

The real product of this offshore registry is a sinister secrecy. The workers of this offshore registry business arrange for the proxies or the bearer shares used to hide the real owners.

They care little who they are working for and are careful not to ask.

Law enforcement experts call it the criminal services industry.

“A company is basically an alternative identity. If you form a company for one or two thousand dollars, that’s a whole new identity and it can’t be linked back to anything or anyone,” said professor Jason Sharman, an expert on offshore havens for the Center for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University in Australia. “It’s very handy to launder money, evade tax, take a big bribe, or even finance a terrorist organization.”

Industry insiders defend what they do, saying there are legitimate business reasons for the services they provide and that just a few bad apples among the many honest people they serve have tainted their reputation.

That is not what the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found during a six-month investigation of offshore registries in Eastern Europe. Posing undercover as businessmen, the reporters received in repeated consultations, sales meetings and online applications detailed advice about how to cheat on taxes. One reporter was even asked for a cut of his illegal profits.

Laszlo Kiss, the agent who asked for a cut, operates one of the region’s largest offshore registry agents called Lamark Tax Planning Consult SRL in Bucharest.

Kiss was arrested

by Romanian police weeks after he met with an Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reporter working undercover for crimes related to his offshore business including tax evasion, money laundering and setting up an organized crime group.

Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found not a few bad apples, but an entire industry willing to help organized crime launder illegal earnings, avoid taxes and hide from law enforcement. That regional industry is part of a network of offshore agents who working worldwide providing services to people engaged in transnational crimes that include weapons’ smuggling between North Korea and Iran.

Business model Offshore registry firms are one-stop shops that, for a fee, will do everything from filing tax and annual reports to acting as the director of a client’s company. They often work with a registration firm in the offshore country with connections to local government officials. They may provide proxies to serve as directors. They will help a client issue shares and can find proxy shareholders. They might set up bank accounts. If law enforcement or journalists come sniffing around, the trail often ends with them.

They will also help set up companies in other countries that will own,

A panoramic view of Wilmington, Delaware. The U.S. state earns $700 million annually in company registration fees and is considered a destination for tax evaders. (Courtesy)

Æ ‘I really don’t know any legitimate reason for offshores.’

In the British Virgin Islands, a luxurious Caribbean Sea resort island and major offshore tax haven, serves as the destination of 5 percent of Ukrainian commodities exports, most of which are considered fictitious. (Courtesy)

– Lucy Komisar, offshores expert

be owned by or work with the client’s company. In this way, they set up a network of companies that are seemingly independent -- but owned by the same person. This confusing arrangement more thoroughly hides ownership and thwarts accountability. They usually do this over the Internet and within a matter of hours or days and without a question. If they ask for identification, they will almost never verify the information they are given.

Offshore or next door While tax dodges are probably as old as taxes themselves, modern offshore tax havens date from the 1920s and 1930s, when Bermuda and Liechtenstein passed laws for offshore companies and trusts. After World War I, many European countries raised taxes to rebuild their shattered countries and money soon flowed into low-tax countries like Switzerland, which had suffered no war damage. Many countries eventually found the advantages of low taxes in attracting money or businesses to their banks. Secrecy laws also helped especially in small countries which found that the fees for such services could prop up their economies.

Today, England, the United States and some European countries are replacing the more exotic Caribbean or Indian Ocean Islands as the tax havens of choice. On the Tax Secrecy index, the U.S. state of Delaware is listed as the No. 1 offender by the Tax Justice Network. Delaware earns $700 million per year in company registration fees, a significant part of its budget.

“The situation (in the U.S.) isn’t as

awful as it was three years ago, but it’s still pretty bad – even worse that the places you see in thriller movies like the Cayman Islands or the Bahamas. The U.S. has been pretty robust in making sure that other countries live up to these standards, but they have been lax about applying the same degree of rigor to themselves,” said Sharman, the expert on offshore havens for the Center for Governance and Public Policy at Griffith University in Australia.

Nobody knows how many offshore companies there are worldwide and because of differences in definitions of what a haven is exactly, more than a third of countries worldwide have been used for offshore purposes. The Internet gives any mom and pop store anywhere in the world the capability to set up offshore banking and holding companies.

Enforcement troubles Criminals simply do not fear a legal crackdown. Hampered by offshore secrecy, law enforcement -- especially in Eastern Europe – has no talent working across international boundaries and figuring out the real owners of companies cloaked in proxies.

Governments scrutinize the offshore industry and blame it for aiding criminals, but do little about fixing the problem. Organized crime has found common cause with business organizations to squash any efforts to radically change offshore laws. Some countries only pay lip service to efforts to provide greater transparency. Some keep on promising important actions and nothing else.

Defending business The offshore industry has said it is primarily used by legitimate businesses. As Fidelity Services, an offshore registry agent in the Seychelles says: “Many high-taxing, high-spending governments would like everyone to believe that offshore companies are only used by fraudsters, terrorists and crooks. That’s completely unjustified. While there is always a rotten apple in any box, 99 percent of all business transacted through offshore companies is completely legitimate.”

In meetings, registry agents said wealthy individuals need to shelter their assets from extortionists, crooked businessmen and corrupt governments.

Some registry agents freely admit they don’t care who uses them. “We are only selling the instruments to the clients. Whether they would play correctly, or use them for illegal purpose, is their own business. We don’t see and we don’t want to see this,” said Ivanna Pylypiuk, managing partner with International Consulting Group a company that promotes offshore accounts for “tax minimalization.”

Sharman partially agrees: “It’s a good-faith effort to make it as easy as possible for small businesses to register companies with a minimum of paperwork, a minimum of hassle, and a minimum of expense,” the professor said. While he understands the desire for deregulation, “making it as easy as possible for businesses also makes it easy for criminals.”

Nobody knows how much of the offshore trade is legitimate and how much

is criminal. But part of that depends on what people consider legitimate.

“I really don’t know any legitimate reason (for offshores). The companies will tell you that a legitimate reason is reducing their taxes and that’s legitimate. I think that cheating on your taxes is not legitimate,” said Lucy Komisar, a writer who specializes in financial crime, offshores and organized crime.

Komisar also takes issue with the argument that wealthy individuals need to hide their money offshore to avoid being kidnapped or extorted. “The account being available to law enforcement is not the same thing as being open and available for public inspection. … Or the other example they use is the opposition person in the repressive country, who doesn’t want the government to take his money. In a repressive country, the ones who have money tend to be the ones in government.”

To stop the use of offshore havens by criminals requires giving up loopholes, something business organizations have worked hard to prevent.

“The same mechanisms allow tax evasion, tax avoidance, corruption, and organized crime money to flow -- it’s all the same. While we’ve left these loopholes open because it’s beneficial to multinationals and to the rich, to be able to structure their money to minimize tax, we let a hell of a lot more go on under this,” said Lawson of the Kleptocracy Team.

Paul Cristian Radu, based in Bucharest, Romania, is an executive director with the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

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

November 19, 2010

Editor’s note: Eating out in Ukraine is a gamble. To bring you honest food reviews, Kyiv Post writers go to restaurants unannounced, pay for their own meals and never accept favors from restaurateurs.

Spanish cafe is a rare treat in heart of capital city

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Alyosha, Ukraine’s entrant in the Eurovision 2010 song contest in Norway, went $450,000 in debt to finance her non-winning performance. (AFP)

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Æ22

Food Critic

Going deep into debt to become a star

Europe’s most popular singing event, Eurovision Song Contest, may be fun and play onstage. Yet offstage, the annual glitzy talent show leaves some of its participants stranded in debt. At least in Ukraine.

Singer Olena Kucher, a.k.a Alyosha, is still paying the price for her performance of a single song -“Sweet People” -- in Norway during this year's Eurovision. She scrambled into the 10th position, leaving 29 other contestants behind. Not bad for a starting talent with vocals resembling those of American Pink.

Yet the party was truly over when Alyosha realized she had a nearly half-million dollar debt to repay to get her to the show. Æ22

Celebrate Thanksgiving Day on Nov. 25 with our mouthwatering turkey recipes

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Arbequina was discovered by chance. A tiny Spanish restaurant in the heart of Independence square is a very welcome misfit to an otherwise tasteless lineup of cafes and food courts for tourists in the city center.

When I first saw it, I had to pinch myself. An airy, sage terrace framed by a stone banister welcomes you to a small Mediterranean world inside the 1950s Stalin apartment house.

A black chalk board announcing specialties of the day and wicker chairs with blankets mark the entry to what could easily be a dining room in a Spanish home.

A large counter has a drooling selection of cheeses, olives, ham, and deserts. Legs of Spanish pigs hang succulently from the ceiling. Friendly service, non-smoking policy and a rare-for-Kyiv menu send positive vibes that this cafe’s owners know their craft very well.

They brand it as an eco-eatery with an emphasis on organic, fresh and healthy foods.

Choosing a table for two by the window, we struggled with an order because we wanted it all.

Homemade pies that looked like quiches with very thin pastry crust finally beat other entries. What I would call a quiche Lorraine is a heartfelt creamy bake with ham, eggs and cheese. A mushroom pie was filled with seasonal forest mushrooms of well-defined fleshy texture and taste. Those were not your regular cultivated champignons but much sought after by mushroom hunters, boletes. The third option is four cheeses. A generous slice costs Hr 35, but you may want a side salad to go with it.

In the appetizers department, tapas are a treat. Goat’s cheese with beetroot (Hr 64), warm mushroom salad (Hr 62), anchovies with a tomato salad (Hr 38) and chicken liver pate (Hr 45) all sounded tantalizing. I opted for a cucumber and Pekinese cabbage salad with ham (Hr 54). It was a very light side order sprinkled with olive oil from arbequina olives, which gave name to this restaurant. For the party of four, think of ordering seafood paella for Hr 390.

A pretty simple decor in fading sage and yellow, wooden furniture, tile floors and a wall painted in the likes of a village stove – all retain the simple charms of Mediterranean eating philosophy.

Arbequina’s ham selec- Æ25

20 Seven Days

Energy shot from Japanese drummers

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Monday, Nov. 22

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November 19, 2010

Tuesday, Nov. 23-Wednesday, Nov. 24

If this concert doesn’t make you want to dance and applaud thunderously, then there’s something wrong with you. An explosive mixture of folklore dances, ballet and theater staged by legendary choreographer Igor Moiseyev is a must see. Born in Kyiv, Moiseyev spent most of his life dancing in famous Bolshoi Theater. In 1937, he founded his own ballet troupe which has been winning audiences worldwide: from Parisian Grand Opera to La Scala in Milan. Moiseyev died three years ago, but his mastery lives on.

With the program “Folk Dances From Around the World,” the troupe of more than 80 professional actors and folk dancers will also grace Odesa, Zaporizhzhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Kharkiv in November.

Nov. 23, 24, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylkivska St., www.moiseyev.ru. Tickets: Hr 80-1500.

With a combination of heavy accordion, melodic piano and loud drums, Ninn Ozera, a French singer of Ukrainian origin, will take you from Kyiv to Paris on a musical voyage.

Born to a Ukrainian ballet dancer and a street drummer from Monmartre, Ozera celebrates different cultures in her performances. Ozera’s singing style is often called chamber pop.

Acoustic Indian rhythms through a bamboo flute, American country autoharp, Greek cimbalom, and French folklore blend with Slavic lyrical singing during Ozera’s concerts.

Tuesday, Nov. 23, 7:30 p.m., Actor’s House, 7 Yaroslaviv Val St., www.af.od.ua/intr/news/82ninn-ozera. Tickets: Hr 70.

British Film Festival rocks on with a series of music documentaries. Project Music.Doc presents biographies of some of the best British music icons. Interviews with Ian Curtis, Sting, Bjork, Johnny Depp, David Bowie, and Bono, among others make documentaries an exclusive music treat.

Until Sunday, Nov. 21

Folk dancing from around the world

Wednesday, Nov. 24

British rockumentaries at their best Scott Walker: 30 Century Man American-born Scott Walker has emerged as one of the most enigmatic pop singers in the U.K. Frontman of The Walker Brothers and ‘60s teen idol, he was among the first to adopt the electric bass guitar. Walker’s reclusive personal life and his successful singing career were always at odds with each other. David Bowie co-produced the film to help declassify Walker’s stage enigma. We learn little about personal matters such as depression and a drinking problem but everything about his style and albums.

Friday, Nov. 19, 7 p.m., Ukraina cinema, 5 Horodetskoho St., www.kino-ukraina.com.ua. Tickets: Hr 40.

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten Punk rock, like any other form of protest, has its leaders. Mick Jagger, Jim Jarmusch, and Bono have a common guru, musical godfather Joe Strummer. In 1970s, Strummer’s punk rock performances were much more than just a form of protest. His band The Clash made a revolution in the British musical history. The movie by Julien Temple shows Strummer not only as a rock legend, but as a real communicator before, during and after his success. The film was awarded the Best British Documentary in 2007.

Saturday, Nov. 20, 7 p.m., Ukraina Cinema, 5 Horodetskoho St., www.kino-ukraina.com.ua. Tickets: Hr 40.

Glastonbury Back in 1970, Glastonbury was just an ordinary cow farm. Now it’s one the largest green field open-air festival of contemporary performing arts in the world. English dairy farmer Michael Eavis first opened his farm for some local music acts the day after rock guru Jimi Hendrix died. In a year, Winston Churchill’s granddaughter, Arabella, decided to support the event and made the entrance free of charge. Over 12,000 people came to listen to David Bowie’s rock and Joan Baez’s folk and country music. The film details the full history of the legendary festival, tickets to which are snapped within minutes as they go on sale.

Sunday, Nov. 21, 7 p.m., Ukraina Cinema, 5 Horodetskoho St., www.kino-ukraina.com.ua. Tickets: Hr 40

jazzru.wordpress.com

A trip to Paris with Ninn Ozera

Tuesday, Nov. 23

(Courtesy)

Japanese drummers will swirl with music, dance and enigmatic Far East culture for one night in Kyiv. For more than a decade, 11 drummers - both male and female - have been beating their unique drums, called “wadaiko.” Each of them has been carefully made from animal skin and old bark. Some of the instruments are reportedly 300 years old. Yamato group has given more than 7,000 concerts to date.

Nov. 22, 7 p.m., Palats Ukraina, 103 Velyka Vasylkivska St., www.yamato.jp.

Tickets: Hr 80 – 1500

Jazz meets Chopin, Dargomyzhsky Ukrainian and Russian jazz bands will put a modern spin on two heavyweights of classical music: Alexander Dargomyzhsky and Frederic Chopin.

Ukrainian jazz trio Lebedeva, Ionenko and Fantayev will prime the stage with their new program “In search for Chopin,” dedicated to the 200th anniversary birthday of a famous Polish composer. “Funeral march” and “The Polonaise” are among Chopin’s most often played works.

In the second part of the concert, trio Kondakov, Gayvoronsky, Volkov from St. Petersburg will perform their compatriot Dargomyzhsky’s music. One of the greatest composers of the 19th century, Dargomyzhsky is mostly famous for his operas “Esmeralda,” “The Stone Guest,” and “Mermaid.” Until the age of five, the future music genius was mute, which had a great influence on his music style later on in life.

Nov. 24, 7 p.m., Master Class cultural and educational center, 34 Lavrska St., www.jazzinkiev.com, www.masterklass.org. Tickets: Hr 100

Compiled by Iryna Prymachyk

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Lifestyle 21

November 19, 2010

Movies

Live Music

'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Part 1' is the seventh film in the magic saga based on the novels by JK Rowling. (www.moviewallpapers.ne) HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. PART 1 Language: English Action/Adventure/Fantasy. USA (2010) Directed by David Yates Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman Harry Potter is on a threshold of the most important battle in history of the magic world. The Dark Lord’s power grows stronger, as he claims power over the Ministry of Magic and Hogwarts school. Harry, Ron, and Hermione race around the world searching for the rest of Horcruxes, special amulets capable of defeating Voldemort. Trying to finish principal Dumbledore’s work, they find out about the existence of the three most powerful magic objects: the Deathly Hallows.

The young magician’s saga is getting old now: Only two more films to go and Harry Potter will be history, albeit a magic one.

TIMER Language: English with Ukrainian subtitles Comedy/Drama/Fantasy. USA (2009) Directed by Jac Schaeffer Starring Emma Caulfield, Michelle Borth, John Patrick Amedori New technologies have gone so far ahead, that now you can implant a timer into your wrist, which will tell you how much time is left till you meet your soul mate. Oona has one of these magic watches. One day she meets Mikey in a supermarket, and the pair falls in love with each other. Oona can’t be more confident that her retailer is the one and only she’s been waiting for. Not so fast, baby, your timer can screw things up big time.

CESAR Language: French with Russian or Ukrainian subtitles Drama. France (1936) Directed by Marcel Pagnol Starring Raimu, Pierre Fresnay, Orane Demazis

Honoré Panisse finds himself in the company of friends, family and a priest. They are all ready to make public confessions knowing it’s got to be the truth and nothing but the truth. Panisse, however, can’t force himself to tell his son Cesariot that he’s not his real father. He leaves it to his wife Fanny who announces a man by the name of Marius to be the real Dad. Without telling anyone, Cesariot travels to another town to see his father. He pretends to be a journalist to ease the first contact. The film is the last part of the trilogy based on Marcel Pagnol’s 1930s theatrical plays.

A PASSAGE TO INDIA Language: English with English subtitles Adventure/Drama/History. UK (1984) Directed by David Lean Starring Judy Davis, Victor Banerjee, Peggy Ashcroft Adela Quested sets on a journey to India with her future mother in law. Upon arrival, they befriend Dr. Aziz Ahmed. Everything goes well until one day the three of them decide to go on an excursion to see the real India. When they return, Ahmed is falsely accused of something that happened during their journey and will endanger their friendship. Based on the E.M. Foster’s novel of the same title, the film shows the cultural clash of the East and West in the colonial India.

ROOM IN ROME Language: English with Ukrainian subtitles Drama. Spain (2010) Directed by Julio Medem Starring Elena Anaya, Natasha Yarovenko, Enrico Lo Verso On vacation in Rome, Russian blonde Natasha meets Spanish brunette Alba. The night before Natasha's departure to Moscow, they end up in one room. The following hour and a half are nothing but a conversation packed with every possible cliché about Russia and female dreams. The only upside to a plot - that’s almost insulting to one’s

ZHOVTEN 26 Konstyantynivska St., 205-5951 www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua Timer Nov. 19-24 at 9:30 p.m.

Nov. 19, 22-24 at 2:15 p.m., 5:55 p.m.

Nov. 20 at 12:25 p.m., 4:05 p.m.

Nov. 21 at 2 p.m.

Soul Kitchen Nov. 19, 22-24 at 12:25 p.m., 4:05 p.m.

Nov. 20 at 2:15 p.m., 5:55 p.m.

Nov. 21 at 12:10 p.m., 5:50 p.m.

Room in Rome Nov. 19-24 at 7:45 p.m., 9:35 p.m.

THE MASTER CLASS CINEMA CLUB 34 Mazepy St., 594-1063, www.masterklass.org/eng César Nov. 23 at 7 p.m.

A Passage to India Nov. 25 at 7 p.m.

BUTTERFLY ULTRAMARINE 1 Uritskoho St., 206-0362, www.kino-butterfly.com.ua Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows. Part 1 Nov. 19-24 at 8:10 p.m. intelligence, is that both women remain naked throughout the whole show. Apart from having sex, they share secrets and cheesy stories, which make the audience burst with laughter instead of sympathy. The film is a cinema adaptation of Matias Bize’s novel “In Bed,” where main characters were a man and woman sharing careless fun despite one of them being engaged.

SOUL KITCHEN Language: German with Ukrainian subtitles Comedy. Germany (2009) Directed by Fatih Akin Starring Adam Bousdoukos, Moritz Bleibtreu, BirolUnel Greek chef Zinos Kazantsakis runs a dilapidated restaurant on the outskirts of Hamburg.

A couple of regulars help keep it afloat, but it’s not enough to survive. Kazantsakis’ personal life also lacks excitement.

His free spirited brother is released from prison. His friend tries to steal his eatery by setting the Greek up with sanitary and tax inspections.

His girlfriend breaks up with him to make things even worse. Feeling his lowest low, he thinks that the only way out of it is to hire a new chef.

The movie won Best Film Prize and Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Band Dymna Sumish plays a mixture of psychedelic rock, punk and grunge. (www.hurtom.com) ART CLUB 44 44B Khreshchatyk St., 279-4137, www.club44.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 8 – 10 p.m.

Nov. 19 Carte Blanche, Hr 50 Nov. 20 Depeche Mode Tribute Party, Hr 50 Nov. 21 Soiuz 44 Jam Session, free admission Nov. 22 Jazz: Bloomband, free admission Nov. 23 Autumn Jazz Night Piano Battle: Natalia Lebedeva vs. Serhiy Davydov, Hr 50 Nov. 24 Switch on the light, Love’n’Joy, Hr 30 Nov. 25 Rock: Dymna Sumish, Hr 60 DOCKER’S ABC 15 Khreshchatyk St., 278-1717, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m.

Nov. 19 Tabula Rasa, Bangladesh Orchestra, Hr 70 Nov. 20 Ot Vinta, Tex-Mex Company, Hr 70 Nov. 21 Vostochnyi Express, free admission Nov. 22 Tex-Mex Company, free admission Nov. 23 More Huana, Hr 20 Nov. 24 The Magma, Hr 30 Nov. 25 Angie Nears, Hr 30 DOCKER PUB 25 Bohatyrska St., metro Heroyiv Dnipra, www.docker.com.ua Concerts traditionally start at 9:30-10 p.m.

Nov. 19 Motor’ Rolla, Mr. Och and His Root Boys, Hr 70 Nov. 20 UkrayinSKA, Red Rocks, Hr 70 Nov. 21 Chill Out, free admission

Nov. 22 Lemmons, free admission Nov. 23 Tres Deseos Latino Party, free admission Nov. 24 Rockin’ Wolves, free admission Nov. 25 Animals Session, 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.

Nov. 19 Jake Box, Hot Guys Nov. 20 MRK: Dmitriy ‘Murik’ Muravistkiy’s Project, Hr 60 Nov. 23 Bochka Jack Pot 1/8: The Pollock vs. Washing Tones, Hr 30 Nov. 24 Red Rocks Nov. 25 Post Scriptum, Rikoshet, Hr 35 Other live music clubs: PORTER PUB, 3 Mazepy St., 280-1996, www.porter.com.ua PIVNA NO.1 ON BASEYNA, 15 Baseyna St., 287-44-34, www.pivna1.com.ua JAZZ DO IT 76A Velyka Vasylkivska St., 599-7617, http://jazz-doit.com.ua DRAFT 1/2 Khoryva St., metro Kontraktova Ploshcha, 463-7330.

KHLIB CLUB 12 Frunze St., www.myspace.com/xlibclub CHESHIRE CAT 9 Sklyarenko St., 428-2717.

O’BRIEN’S 17A Mykhaylivska St., 279-1584.

DAKOTA 14G Heroyiv Stalinhrada St., 468-7410.

U KRUZHKI 12/37 Dekabrystiv St., 562-6262.

Compiled by Alexandra Romanovskaya and Svitlana Kolesnykova

22 Lifestyle

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November 19, 2010

Time for a Thanksgiving turkey

BY K AT YA G O R C H I N S KAYA GORCHINSKAYA@KYIVPOST.COM

Thanksgiving Day – a primarily American holiday celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November – offers a fantastic excuse to open turkey-eating season. It’s often a short one, just more than a month for many, through Christmas.

History tells us that wild fowls were a part of an impressive three-day feast organized by European colonizers of North America with native Indians to celebrate the first harvest in 1621. Thanksgiving did not have a set date for more than two centuries, an oversight corrected by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. He proclaimed that November is a good time to eat turkey, and history proved him correct.

Eating venison is another option. But in the modern world, deer are difficult to stuff – even if you manage the feat of hunting one down first. So, turkey remains the top choice giving thanks.

Ukrainian turkeys are slightly different from what you encounter in the United States or other fowl-loving nations. Unlike the typical roundish shape of American turkeys, Ukrainian birds are longer, slimmer and kind of stretched out - rather like models, actually.

Cooking turkey If you’re a novice in handling fowls, here’s a way to do it. A turkey is ridiculously easy to cook. You can almost never spoil it. I have cooked dozens of turkeys, weighing from three to 12 kilos, and only mucked it up once.

First, you need to know the weight of your turkey to figure out the cooking

time. You need to cook the turkey for at least 20 minutes per kilo of weight.

Give it 30 minutes per kilo if you cook it with stuffing inside.

If the bird comes from a supermarket, the weight will be indicated on the label. If you’re buying it at the market, your babushka will weigh it for you. An alternative place to buy is the shop at an actual turkey farm, Indelika, a short drive out of Kyiv to Brovary.

Their website address is http://www. indelika.com/wheretobuy/. Their price is Hr 26.5 per kilo at the moment.

Apart from the turkey, you will need salt and pepper, plenty of thick foil, and some butter and bacon. Begin by warming the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (That’s 350 degrees Fahrenheit). Place the fowl on a roasting tray, season really well and rub in some butter. You can use olive oil, if you prefer.

I like to wrap the wings and legs in foil to make sure they don’t burn. This is done for the sake of appearance more than anything else. Next, cover the breast with plenty of bacon and wrap everything in foil. Don’t make it too snug; the foil might stick to the skin.

Cook the turkey for the calculated time, checking that juices run clear from the leg at the end of the cooking time. Use a long knife or a skewer to check.

Also, remember to peel the foil and bacon off for the last 30 or 40 minutes of cooking time to give the bird that suntan you see on the Internet pictures.

Other essential bits If you place some carrots, parsnips and onions around the turkey before put-

Huge round-shaped American turkeys are a rare find in Ukraine. (flickr.com)

ting it into the oven, you will get roast vegetables on the side in one go. But if you turkey is a giant one, add the vegetables about an hour before the end of the cooking time.

When you lift everything out of the baking tray, the remaining juices and goodness can be used to make gravy.

For that, you simply need to add some water and flour and boil it the lot on the stove until it thickens. It won’t take more than just a few minutes. Make

sure you scrape every little bit from the bottom of the tray – that lovely stuff is what makes the gravy.

You can add some bits of turkey for a lumpy gravy, as well as stock and spices such as rosemary and orange peel for flavor.

If you want to make stuffing, you will need white bread, onions, sage and rosemary, dried apricots and raisins.

Additional ingredients like walnuts, celery, apple, orange peel or actual bits

of oranges are optional. You can add chopped up sausages and bits of liver to make a non-vegetarian option.

To make the stuffing, chop everything up, sautee the onions and liver (if using) in a frying pan. Then mix all the ingredients up, add some water or stock to bind it, but don’t make it too wet. Season well, and then stuff the birds or cook separately in the oven spread out on a baking tray. You will know the stuffing’s ready when it starts to brown on top.

Cranberry sauce can be cooked way in advance. All you really need is cranberries and sugar. But I also add cinnamon, orange peels and cloves to give the sauce a little twist. Wash your cranberries, put them in a pan and add enough water to cover them. Then boil slowly, adding one spoonful of sugar at a time, until the sauce is as sweet as you want it.

If you happen to find fat, American football-shaped cranberries, it will be easy to figure out when the sauce is cooked. They will disintegrate after about 10 minutes of boiling. But the smaller, round Ukrainian cranberries are a tough lot, they will not fall apart.

You can keep them whole or puree in a blender to make a smooth sauce. I prefer to keep the spices in when I blend the sauce.

There is no evidence, of course, that the original Thanksgiving table had any of these lovely foods on it. But that really should not stop us from cooking a juicy turkey and all the lovely bits on the side and giving thanks for what we’ve got.

Kyiv Post deputy chief editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at gorchinskaya@kyivpost.com

Financial support for singers lacking from national budget Æ19 “We have basically paid from our own pockets for the nation’s reputation,” said Vadym Lysytsia, Alyosha’s producer. Together with his 24-year old starlet, Lysytsia fumes when it comes to discussing their bill from Oslo, made possible he said by promised sponsorships that never materialized “It was all so inspiring in the very beginning, but when the show was over everybody forgot their promises and I was refused help,” Alyosha said.

“Today I’m pretty depressed over my huge debt.”

Her budget included $50,000 for a video filmed in Chernobyl, $220,000 for a promotion campaign around Europe and $1,600 for a designer dress, among other expenses. Governments are supposed to cover participation fees, travel and all other frills as required

by Eurovision rules. It appears that “Ukrainian government has been failing to deliver for the seventh year in a row,” according to Lysytsia.

His words ring true for many former contestants from Ukraine. Their attempts of raising funds were sometimes more original than songs presented.

Singer Oleksandr Ponomaryov pioneered the big European gig in 2003 in Latvia. Saving on travel, he was busing to the capital of Riga instead of flying.

Ukraine’s agent provocateur, Svitlana Loboda, mortgaged her flat to scramble and raise $100,000 to perform and strut in black-leather underwear.

Ironically, her performance of “AntiCrisis Girl” in 2009 cost her hundreds of dozens of dollars that “the state

Svitlana Loboda, Ukraine's Eurovision entrant in 2009, mortgaged her flat to cover participation fees. (AFP)

failed to cover.”

“I had to give all I had and even more,” said Loboda, refusing to monetize the total cost of her singing and sexy acrobatics. Only after a very busy tour in Europe, which ended just a couple of months back, she said was able to settle her debts and finally live up to her “anti-crisis” headline.

Alyosha, however, still has a long way to go. Among other companies, she has to pay her dues to the CFC Consulting agency, which has led singer Ruslana to victory in 2004 contest.

“It’s still a secret to me why singers who represent Ukraine and carry our national flag are not supported by Ukrainian government,” said Gennadii Kurochka, CFC’s managing partner. “In Georgia, the government gives millions

of dollars to support Eurovision. They understand that Eurovision is like the Olympics.”

In Ukraine, however, Eurovision financing is one of many eyesores.

“Unfortunately, there are no funds in the state budget for it,” said Walid Harfouche, deputy head of the National State Television Company, which claims broadcasting rights to the contest.

“Each year national winners have to fund their participation themselves on international stage.”

Presidential deputy chief of staff, Hanna Herman, could perhaps add more clarity to Alyosha’s predicament but refused to do so. In March, Herman announced publicly that the government would help cover Eurovision expenses.

Alyosha’s producer, Lysytsia, thinks that geopolitics is to blame: “[They] don’t need Eurovision at all because we are heading towards integration with Russia, not Europe.”

The song “Sweet People,” which calls on people to stop polluting the Earth, turned out quite bitter for Alyosha at the end of the contest. Yet the singer kept it on the tour program across Europe to raise awareness about both ecology and her debts.

It’s a pity Eurovision doesn’t allow politically charged lyrics in its popculture orgy of song and play. Ukraine’s contestants would have been inspired like no other.

For more information on Alyosha: www.alyoshamission.com Kyiv Post staff writer Iryna Prymachyk can be reached at prymachyk@kyivpost. com

www.kyivpost.com

Lifestyle 23

November 19, 2010

Experimental theater by the New Yorker of Ukrainian origin NATA L I A A . F E D U S C HAK FEDUSCHAK@KYIVPOST.COM

New York theatre director of Ukrainian origin Virlana Tkacz has come full circle. Years ago, when she worked towards her graduate degree, an advisor suggested she find a “quick and easy topic” for a part of her thesis. Perhaps there was a Ukrainian theatre director that wasn’t well-known and little had been written about them, he said.

Little did Tkacz know that her advisor’s suggestion would lead to a yearslong exploration of Les Kurbas, the experimental theatre director who worked in Kyiv in the 1920’s, and whose life would be a metaphoric launching pad for her own career.

“I remembered that my grandfather had talked about someone he had met at the University of Vienna. His name was Les Kurbas,” recalls Tkacz.

“I went to the library and was real happy to find only two books on him. I could read them and throw something together in a snap.”

She has used this kernel of opportunity to grow first into a university paper and then to break new artistic ground in theater. Her early shows heavily featured Ukrainian themes: “Explosions” interwove documentary material from the Chornobyl nuclear accident and explored society’s ambivalence to technological power. Then, there were “Blind Sight” based on the life of blind writer Vasyl Yeroshenko and “Forest Song,” rooted in Lesia Ukrainka’s work of the same name.

Much of her expression has come through the Yara Arts Group, a troupe Tkacz founded 20 years ago, and finds its home at the internationallyrenowned La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in New York. Over the years, Tkacz has evolved into one of America’s most innovative theatre

directors, as well as a conveyor of cultures unknown to many in the West, both through plays and in a recently published book called “Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation.”

Born in Newark to Ukrainian parents, Tkacz attended a Ukrainianlanguage school as did other children of Ukrainian immigrants. But unlike many who eventually cast off their roots, Tkacz, who speaks fluent Ukrainian, immersed herself in it and grew to love Ukrainian literature.

It was Kurbas and the world he inhabited, however, which proved to Virlana Tkacz

be the starting point for Tkacz’s career.

Through his theatre groups, Young Theater and Berezil, Kurbas broke new ground in Ukraine staging political and philosophical plays as opposed to purely entertainment shows.

“Writing the thesis on Kurbas, it’s all connected to the multicultural stuff,” said the 58-year-old Tkacz of her work.

“I do what I do because I grew up in Newark [New Jersey] where everyone spoke another language.”

Through Yara, Tkacz has created

avant-garde plays that have been called a “luscious experience” and “what theatre should be and rarely is” by some of New York’s toughest critics.

In 1991, she and Yara’s actors had put together a show titled “A Light from the East,” which incorporated writing from Kurbas’ diaries, as well as the poetry of Pavlo Tychyna, Ukraine’s premier writer in the 1920’s.

Working on a shoe-string budget, Tkacz brought 14 actors from the U.S. and Canada to then- Soviet Ukraine to perform the play. The timing couldn’t have been more ironic; the play was shown in Kyiv during the week of the attempted Soviet coup in 1991 and played to standing-room-only audiences in the capital and in Lviv.

It also proved to be a fitting tribute to Kurbas, who like many other intellectuals and artists was destroyed by Josef Stalin in the 1930’s.

Part of Tkacz’s mastery is that her productions are original, collaborative efforts where everyone is a part of the creative process. Instead of a script, Tkacz starts with a kernel of an idea and then grows the production from there. “It’s more like gluing things together,” said Tkacz of her directing style.

When asked, Ukraine’s vocal treasure Nina Matvienko said that Tkacz is unlike anyone she’s ever worked with in her homeland. “Virlana gives us a little idea and we should find ourselves in this,” said Matvienko, who performed in Tkacz’s latest production, Scythian Stones. It premiered in Kyiv and New York earlier this year. “She supports, she pushes…This [directing style] is not characteristic in our region.”

The collaboration between actors and musicians is one reason why Tkacz has been able to break through the language barrier. Her productions are international in that they are multi-

From left: Susan Hwang, Ainura Kachkinbek kyzy and Maria Sonevytsky in Yara Arts Group’s performance of 'Scythian Stones.' (Margaret Morton)

lingual and understandable to a wide audience because of visual and musical effects.

Tkacz has increasingly moved away from her Ukrainian roots by incorporating or focusing on other cultures in her work. “Waterfall Reflections,” for instance, was created with Matvienko and explored notions of identity in a changing world and wove together family histories, myths, ancient songs and contemporary poetry by Ukrainian and American women.

In 1996, Tkacz started working with indigenous Buryat artists from Siberia, which led to the creation of six original pieces on the region’s legends, shamans and Mongols.

Tkacz undertakes extensive cultural exploration, going sometimes to extreme limits to understand other peoples and their heritage, said Kenzhegul Satybaldieva, one of Kyrgyzstan’s most famous performers. Satybaldieva played the title role in Yara’s “Janyl” production in 2007 and was a lead character in Scythian Stones.

When “Janyl” was being constructed, she and Tkacz traveled on an old Soviet bus “down torturous passes” to

the Chinese-Kyrgyz border to see the area where Janyl Myrza lived. A real figure who became a legend, Myrza was a woman warrior; her story has been handed down for generations in Kyrgyzstan.

“The Kyrgyz soldiers saw us and wanted to detain us,” Satybaldieva recalled. But after hearing about the purpose of the trip, they ended up accompanying the group on its research trip.

Despite her other-culture explorations, Kurbas remains close to Tkacz’s heart. She has spent recent weeks traveling around the U.S. and Canada promoting “Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation.” While the book explores Kyiv as a theatrical capital and the artistic production of its many diverse groups, Kurbas remains at its heart.

“I am still deep into this topic that I thought I would be done with in a ‘snap,’” Tkacz said.

To find the schedule of Yara’s performance, check www.brama.com/yara/ Kyiv Post staff writer Natalia A. Feduschak can be reached at feduschak@ kyivpost.com.

24 Community Bulletin Board

November 19, 2010

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.

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. ĂŽ 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 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 European Business Association 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 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

Support groups – 5 listings 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, 096-460-0137 (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. ĂŽ 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 www.h3.kiev.ua.

International clubs – 9 listings 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 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 soci al and charitable programs. For more information, see our website www.iwck.org, call or e-mail the IWCK Program Coordinator Yaroslava Neruh at 234-3180, office@iwck.org. Address: 39 Pushkinska, #51, entrance 5, door code 38. 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. ĂŽ 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. ĂŽ 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. ĂŽ 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 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. ĂŽ 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. ĂŽ Free speaking English club in Irpen on Saturdays at Lan School. Call 093-623-3071. ĂŽ 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. ĂŽ 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 ĂŽ 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 ĂŽ Free English/German conversation club on Sundays.

Druzhbi Narodiv 18/7, office No. 3. Everyone is welcome. Tel: 529-75-77.

People in need – 4 listings Î Bohdan Shinder is only five years old but has already spent more than a fifth of his life in a hospital. His diagnosis is abdominal cancer.

The boy has already undergone numerous treatments but a comprehensive examination revealed residual metastases in his bones.

His last chance is MIBG-therapy.

On Nov. 29, the clinic of Goethe University in Frankfurt is ready to operate him. The cost of the treatment is 20,000 euros.

Bohdans' family needs your support to save their child.

Contacts: Mother, Elena Shinder +38 068 172-6045 Father, Anatoliy Shinder +38 068 205-1621 Anna Zakharina, volunteer +38 067 548 40 40 Website: http://www.donor.org.ua/index.php?module=arnews &act=show&c=1&id=7828 Bank details for money transfers: ‘PrivatBank’ transit account 29240825525601 â€˜ĐœĐ¤Đžâ€™ Code: 315405 â€˜Đ—ĐšĐ&#x;О’ Code: 22772795 Payment purpose: for transfering to the card account 4405885013938268 PrivatBank Receiver: Shinder A.M. Tax code: 2675302415 You can also make transfers in Euro, dollars, roubles, web

money, yandex with the help of Charity Fund 'Alisa'. Please indicate surname of the child you support: http://www.alica. kiev.ua/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=3& Itemid=62 Î Maksym Nalivkin Maksym Nalivkin, 12 years old, needs your help. The boy suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and further subarachnoid hemorrhage, which led to three brain surgeries and constant artificial pulmonary ventilation. Since March, the boy has been held at the resuscitation department. For two months, he’s been out of coma. There are slight positive changes that give hope. He still needs 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 – 099-625-2475 Father Arkadiy Nalivkin – 050-318-5499; also: 055-222-2806; email: nag.box@gmail.com; skype: arkady_g.nalivkin; ICQ: 8423832 Webpage: http://nag.pp.net.ua/ Bank details for hryvnia transfer: Bank: Đ§ĐľŃ€Đ˝ĐžĐźĐžŃ€Ń ĐşĐžĐľ ОтдоНонио ĐĽĐľŃ€Ń ĐžĐ˝Ń ĐşĐžĐłĐž фиНиаНа ÂŤĐ&#x;риватйанк ĐœĐ¤Đž Code: 305299 ОКĐ&#x;Đž Code: 14360570 Account: 29244825509100 Purpose of payment: 4627085825848787, Nalivkina Elena Nikolaevna, Đ˜Đ?Đ?: 2596602804 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. ĂŽ Nastya Dytiyatkova is only one year old. Her diagnosis is double sensorineural hearing loss, which means that she can’t hear the sounds that will enable her grow as a normal child.

Currently there is only one solution: Cochlear implant. It will allow the baby hear voices of her parents and learn how to speak. This kind of implant could be obtained free of charge, but the state can afford only 20 such operations per year. We are at the end of a 500-patients queue, but doctors say we must operate immediately. The surgery costs 23,000 euro, but it’s more than we can afford. Please, help our family and baby Nastenka hear the world like we all do.

Contacts: Nastya's Parents: Roman Dityatkov Tel. +3066-26577-13, Galina Dityatkova Tel. +3066-112-91-71 Website: www. help.mama.biz.ua Bank details: Bank of beneficiary: PrivatBank Code 299781850 MFO 305299 Account: 26200603467917 Beneficiary: Dytyiatkova Halyna Payment Details: non-repayable financial help for Dytiatkova Halyna Onyx Card Bank of beneficiary: Raiffeisen Bank Aval Code 22761811 MFO 352093 Account: 26251898 Card # : 9890 0900 1431 2073 Beneficiary: Dytiatkiva Halyna Payment Details: non-repayable financial help for Dytiatkova Halyna ĂŽ Vanya Chornozub 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 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: 067-234-1225 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

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Business clubs – 4 listings 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.

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Lifestyle 25

November 19, 2010

Best gallery picks Painter Ilona Silvashi narrates a catchy autumn fairy tale. In the wet, rainy megalopolis lives an obscure spirit. Sometimes you can see it through a misty window or feel his touch on your cheek. He’s transparent and elusive, like the autumn fog in the morning. Silvashi gives it a bear-like face. Check out the “Kiss of a Bear� exhibition in the Bottega Gallery.

Bottega gallery, 22B Mykhaylivska St., 279-5353, www.bottega-gallery.com, until Nov. 25 (closed Sundays and Mondays)

Dervishes are known as spiritual vagabonds and ascetics in the Muslim tradition.

Photographers Olesya Bondareva and Mauri Pasanen tell a story of their modern lifestyle in the exhibition “The Last Dervish of Kazakhstan.� They spent some time living in the home of Bifatima Dauletova, who’s believed to be one of the last healers in Kazakhstan, before being allowed to capture rituals on film. Dauletova lives in the village of Ungurtas, which became a center of pilgrimage for many Dervish followers. She will appear at the opening on Nov. 19 at 3 p.m. to show some of her craft.

Art-Bureau, 25B Sofiivska St. (entrace through the arch), 095-628-2879, www.artburo.com.ua, Nov.19 - Dec. 2

Seasonal flowers and food in Arbequina restaurant seen on Nov. 16. (Yaroslav Debelyi)

Spanish ham, olives and cheese come fresh and with smile Æ19 tion is one of the highlights. It has two most popular types: Serrano and Iberico. Jamon Serrano comes from the so-called white pigs, whereas Iberico meat grows on special black pigs, also known as pata negra, or a black foot. Ages ago, in the mountains of Spain, farmers have rolled fresh hams in sea salt and hung them from their rafters to cure. After a year – sometimes years, of curing, they were ready to be carved in paper-thin slices to enjoy as a snack or a proper meal with wine and cheese.

In Arbequina, ham comes in a variety of options from Hr 52. Two toasted sandwiches with a heap of Serrano slices on the bed of tomato pure and olive oil are a treat for two (Hr 70.)

Arbequina also likes its fish, which, as owners say, comes from fresh catches in Odesa. Grey mullets, plaice, anchovies and other Black Sea inhabitants come for under Hr 100. If you are used to ocean fish, beware that Ukraine's produce has a very distinct fishy taste that only large amounts of lemon can save.

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A brand new art gallery opened next to a luxury boutique Sanahunt in the center of Kyiv. Planning to exhibit the cream of modern art, Sanahunt gallery started with controversially famous Damien Hirst from the U.K. The retrospective exhibition has a vibrant selection of his work covering his contributions to date.

Sanahunt Gallery, 8/16 Grushevskogo St., 270-7127, until Dec. 5

only in Russian right now, also has beef and turkey steaks, lamb dishes and all kinds of homemade breads with cheeses.

For deserts, we had a carrot cake and a pumpkin pie, both very generous portions for Hr 35 each. Although succulently fresh, the pumpkin bake lacked spices, whereas the carrot cake was sweeter than expected. Nuts-and-honey bars with a cappuccino for Hr 25, however, prompted nothing but delight.

Arbequina’s format of a city cafe is new for Kyiv where hunger can be lulled to sleep either in large-scale restaurants or fast food courts. Yet, its pricing scheme can be beyond your average worker’s budget.

There are special lunches during week days, which restaurateurs refuse to call “business� despite the industry habit. Ukrainians sometimes treat these meals as a mass cooked product from leftovers. Arbequina's on a mission to defy the trend changing menus daily with seasonal produce and charging Hr 79 for the offer.

In addition to its daily breakfasts, Arbequina is about to add brunches.

For cheeses and olives from Spain, head to Arbequina’s grocery located in the Besarabka market.

Kyiv Post Lifestyle Editor Yuliya Popova can be reached at popova@ kyivpost.com

Stanislav Streltsov adores women in his series of monochrome photographs on display in Soviart. Explore the world of perfection with female portraits and erotic photos in his “Magnetism� series. Some of Streltsov’s femmes seem too good to be true, but tastes differ. Perfect beauty can be boring to some, yet divine to others.

Contemporary Art Centre “Soviart�, 22A Andriyevsky descent, 425-2219, 425-1079 until Dec. 2, www.soviart.com.ua

PinchukArtCentre presents the works of 21 young artists shortlisted for the international Future Generation Art Prize founded by billionaire Victor Pinchuk. From painting and photography to installation and film making, the exhibition is a feast of contemporary art from all over the world. Only one Ukrainian painter, Artem Volokitin, made it onto the list. The winner will be picked by an international jury in December and awarded $100,000 for his work. Aside from young talent, the gallery opens Japanese Takashi Murakami’s personal exhibition “Emperor’s New Clothes.�

PinchukArtCentre, 1/3-2 Chervonoarmiyska/Baseyna, Block A, 590-0858, www.pinchukartcentre.org, until Jan.9 (closed Monday)

“Lightness� art project in the Tsekh Gallery is dedicated to Juliette Binoche.

Painter Mykola Bilous met the famous French actor in April and decided to put his emotions on canvas. Check out his impressions of Binoche inspired by the film “The Unbearable Lightness of Being,� an adapation of Milan Kundera’s novel.

Tsekh Gallery, 69 Frunze St., (068) 118-5157, www.zeh.com.ua, Until Nov. 20 (closed Sunday, Monday)

Michel Comte’s personal photo exhibition at Brucie Collections presents portraits, action shots and nudes of world-famous celebrities, including Mickey Rourke, Naomi Campbell, and Robert Downey Jr., among others. Comte learned photography on his own while studying to be an arts restorer in Switzerland. He made his name taking pictures of actors, models, artists and sports stars for various glossy magazines. Working for the International Red Cross, Comte shot in war zones around the world. Photographs featured are available for sale.

Brucie Collections, 55B Artema St., 353-1234, www.bruciecollections.com, until Dec.13

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Arbequina restaurant Hours: 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.

4 Borysa Grynchenka St., metro Maidan Nezalezhnosti, tel. 223-9618

Compiled by Alexandra Romanovskaya

INDIAN CUISINE sutra.restaurant@gmail.com

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– No smoking zone – Wi fi

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

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26 Lifestyle

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

Photo albums have gone digital and online, with a host of new services to preserve memories in an Internet age (www.giftbutik.ru)

Gadget Guru

How to make a photo book O KS A N A FA RY N A FARYNA@KYIVPOST.COM

Summer has passed, leaving you with gigabytes of photos stored on your computer. To keep those memories intact, there is one solution: Design and print your own photo book.

In the West, standard paperback photo albums went into oblivion a decade ago. A couple of online photo services helped to replace rectangular prints with picture books, where pages come already embedded with photos, instead of sleeves to fill in. FineBook, CyfroBook and SuperPhoto are three common websites in Ukraine that should help you write your own photo novel. Apple’s application for organizing, editing and printing photos, iPhoto, is not yet accessible in Ukraine, so stick to our instructions to get the most out of the local web pool.

FineBook The FineBook service seems the easiest of them all and offers a special

anti-dust hardcover in good quality.

The service is user friendly but it’s only available in Russian. Follow these three steps to create your own photo book.

At www.finebook.com.ua, download and install the free FineBook program.

Secondly, design a photo book using this program. You will have to make a selection from ethnic, photo album, portfolio, pictures, wedding, travel and graduation types. For sizes, choose between 20x15, 25x20 or 28x28 centimeters. Then, select the photographs you want to print by dragging and dropping them into your photo book.

Add descriptions to the photos if you like. The standard size is 20 pages, but you may beef your book up to 60 for an additional cost.

Thirdly, order the photo book with a single click and wait for a FineBook representative to call you. If you live in Kyiv, your memory album will be delivered in about five days. You can pay the company representative on the spot.

Hardcover, 20 pages: 20x15cm, landscape – Hr 175 25x20cm, landscape – Hr 250 28x28cm, square – Hr 300 FineBook has a pretty good discount system if you order more than five books. www.finebook.com.ua

CyfroBook CyfroBook is the cheapest hardcover on the market. It costs from Hr 99 to Hr 212 for basic 24 pages. You can go up to 96, though. A key disadvantage to their service is long-winded instructions in Russian that may get you confused. A special editing feature, Cyfrolab Professional, will put a smile on your face if you are an advanced user.

Hardcover, 24 pages: 20x15, portrait and landscape – Hr 99 20x20 – Hr 115 20x30, portrait – Hr 121 30x20, landscape – Hr 133 30x30, square – Hr 212 www.cyfrolab.com

SuperPhoto SuperPhoto offers the most expensive image program of them all. Apart from hardcover, you can choose between paperback and leather covers. The album’s pages are not stitched together: they are arranged like a glossy magazine.

SuperPhoto is Windows and Apple Mac OS compatible and can fit as many as 120 pages in your book. To download the program, you need to install Rar Archiver first.

Hardcover and leather-style, 24 pages

21x15 – Hr 195 21x21 – Hr 275 21x30, portrait and landscape – Hr 295 30x30 – Hr 515 Paperback, 24 pages 21x15 – Hr 105 21x21 – Hr 135 21x30 – Hr 195 www.superphoto.com.ua

PhotoBook PhotoBook service is available in English. Windows and Mac OS are both compatible with the program, but you’ll have to register to start copying and pasting. The cover, however, will be old school again: PhotoBook comes with a front page sleeve where you can paste a photo of your choice. Otherwise, go with a standard, no-image cover.

Maximum number of pages is 40, and the book can be as large as 42x30, or A3 size.

Spiral and paperback books are also available as well as calendars, postcards and posters with your photos.

Hardcover, 20 pages: 21x15, portrait – Hr 130 30x21, landscape and portrait – Hr 230 42x30, landscape – Hr 260 Spiral, 20 pages 21x15 portrait – Hr 100 21x30 landscape and portrait – Hr 150

42x30 landscape – Hr 240 Paperback, xx pages 15x21, portrait – Hr 130 21x30 portrait – Hr 150 http://myphotobook.com.ua

Albomchik The service of www.albomchik.com.ua is limited to Russian at first glance but you can switch its software to English when downloading. The program is available both for Microsoft and Apple Mac OS. Hardcover, 40 pages: 21x15 – Hr 220 21x21 – Hr 320 30x21, landscape – Hr 340 21x30, portrait – Hr 350 30x30 – Hr 590 Leather-style cover, 20 pages: 21x15 – Hr 195 21x21 – Hr 280 21x30, portrait – Hr 300 30x21, landscape – Hr 320 30x30 – Hr 450 Paperback, 8 pages 21x15, landscape – Hr 59 21x21 – Hr 89 21x30, portrait – Hr 99 www.albomchik.com.ua

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

www.kyivpost.com

Photo Story 27

November 19, 2010

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Art auction takes place for charity Ukrainian modern artists auctioned off some of their work on Nov. 13 to help organize the arts festival for orphans and children from disadvantaged families in December (4).

The auction took place in the old armory-turned-museum Mystetsky Arsenal, which at the same time hosted Ukraine’s biggest annual art fair, Art-Kyiv.

More than 30 Ukrainian artists discounted their lots to half their original price to encourage high-profile bidders (8). It must have inspired some Ukrainian celebrities and politicians who spent a total of $200,000 during the event.

Eugenia Carr (5), daughter of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, was the festival’s honorary president. She spent $3,500 on Stepan Ryabchenko’s print on canvas “Moon Visitors” and $3,000 on Masha Shubina’s triptych “Bazaar.”

Carr invited Natalia Korolevska, the deputy from Tymoshenko’s opposition party Batkivshchyna. Attending with her 9-year-old son Rostyslav (1), they bought Viktor Pokydanets’ painting with a football for $3,500 (3). Rostyslav plays in the national Dynamo Kyiv junior football league.

The most expensive lot – the two-meter high “Whirligig” by Arsen Savadov for $75,000, did not find a new home during the auction. Oleksandr Roitburd's painting "Lao Tse, Confucius and a Frog" fetched $25,000 from an anonymous bidder.

Cheaper lots were in higher demand. Olympic champion in gymnastics Liliya Podkopayeva bought a painting from Stepan Ryabchenko’s series “'A Smile' from Computer Viruses” for $3,500 (6). Podkopayeva attended the auction together with businessman Viktor Kostyrko (7).

Serhiy Vlasenko, the attorney and lawmaker from Tymoshenko’s party, and his fiancée, TV host Svitlana Ryzhuk (2) bid for the oil and digital print on canvas “Sheep” by Yuriy Solomko and bought it for $10,500.

Funds raised will be used to bring more than 300 children from across Ukraine to Kyiv for the Dec. 2-5 Follow Your Dream festival. In its fourth year now, the talent show aims to raise awareness about disadvantaged children in Ukraine and calls on people to consider adoption. “Our final goal is to have no vulnerable children in Ukraine at all,” Carr said. Over the years, some 20 kids have found new homes thanks to the festival.

Story by Oksana Faryna. Photos by Natalia Kravchuk

7 8

28 Paparazzi

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

British film fest

The cake is brought in to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the British film festival.

Guests enjoy champagne at the British film festival's opening

Gallery owner Pavlo Gudimov

Film director Nick Whitfield

Stephen Clarke, head of British edUKation Center

Singer Jamala

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Many English speakers flocked to Ukraina cinema hall on Nov. 11 to watch the opening of the 10th British Film Festival in the capital. Famous London collage artist Vicki Bennett opened the event with the video-art performance “People Like Us. Genre Collage,” which tells a surreal story about 20th century films. This year’s festival brought a selection of five comedies, documentaries about music icons and master classes on how to make films on a shoe string. London DJ Goldierocks launched a weekly radio show featuring best British music at Prosto radio on 102.5 FM. (Oleksiy Boyko)

If you want Kyiv Post Paparazzi to cover your event, please send details or invitations to news@kyivpost.com or contact photo editor Yaroslav Debelyi at 234-6500 Student Rodion Yevtushenko plays saxophone

British International School principal Phil Billing

Svitlana Zhuganenko (L) receives an award certificate from British Ambassador Leigh Turner

School is over Graduates celebrated exam results at the British International School on Nov. 9. British Ambassador Leigh Turner hosted an awards ceremony for some 15 students and their families. They passed Cambridge international examinations in summer, but results came in just now. High marks put students on a fast track to United Kingdom and other international universities. The British International School is attended by students from 30 nations. (Oleksiy Boyko)

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Senator Apartments (6 Pirohova ST.; 62/20 Dmitrievska St.) Staff Service Solution (1-3 Frunze St.) Student Travel International (18/1 Prorizna St.) Ukraine-Europe Linguistic Centre (20B Kominterna St.) UkrAVTO (15/2 Velyka Vasylkivska St.) Ukrsibbank (14 Pushkinska St.) Via Kiev Lufthansa City Center (172 Horkoho St.)

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Kraina Kavy (5 Spas'ka St.) La Bodeguita del Medio (21/20 Yaroslaviv Val St.) La Casa Del Habano (13 Klovskiy Spusk) Le Cosmopolite (47 Volodymyrska St.) Le Grand CafĂŠ (4 Muzeiniy Lane) Leo Club (20 Parkova Doroha) Leonardo (2 Besarabska Square) Luciano (33V Dehtiarivska St.) Lun Van (26 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St.) MaLLina (27B Sahaidachnoho St.) Marokana (24 Lesi Ukrainki Blvd.)

Marmaris (40 Hlybochyts'ka St.) Monako (20A Velyka Zhytomyrska St.) NatĂźrlich (3 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St.) Neopolis (19 Skovorody St.) New Bombey Palace (33A Druzhby Narodiv Blvd.)

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Shokoladnitsa (53/80 Saksahanskoho St., 48 Velyka Vasylkivska St., 1/2 Baseina St., 31/27 B.Khmelnitskogo St. 4 Lunacharskoho St., 33 Dniprovska Naberezhna, 12 Luhova St., 58/2A Artema St.) Shooters (22 Moskovska St.) Soho (82 Artema St.) Stina (2 Besarabska Square) Suare (11 Artema St.) Sunduk (22A Prorizna St.) Sutra Bar (3 TymoďŹ ivoi St.) Svitlytsia (13B Andriivskyi Uzviz) Tike (31A Sahaidachnoho St.) Timeout (50 Horkoho St.)

To Dublin (4 Raisa Okipna St.) Trans Force (34B Moskovsky Prosp.)

Tsarske Selo (42/1 Ivan Mazepa St.) Under Wonder (21 Velyka Vasylkivska St.) Uruk (11 Yaroslaviv Val St.) Varenichna Pobeda (14 SoďŹ ivska St.) Verona Pizza (71E Konstantinivska St.; 1 Lv.Tolstogo St.) Videnski Bulochky (25B Sahaidachnoho St.; 14/1 Instytutska St., 14 Mechnykova St.; 1-3/5 Pushkinska St.; 107/47 Saksahanskoho St.; 34 Lesi Ukrainki Blvd.; 20 Esplanadna St.) Viola’s Bar (1A Taras Shevchenko Blvd.)

Warsteiner Pub (4B Horodetskoho St.) Wolkonsky Keyzer (15 Khreshchatyk St., 5/7-29 Taras Shevchenko Blvd.)

Yakitoria (27A Taras Shevchenko Blvd.; 27 Lesi Ukrainki Blvd.)

3PORT #LUBS 5 Element (29 Elektrykiv St.) Favorit (6 Muzeiniy Lane) Kiev Sport Club (5 Druzhby Narodiv Blvd.)

Planeta Fitnes (10 Kropyvnytskoho St.)

(OTELS Adria (2 Raisa Okipna St.) AttachĂŠ Hotel (59 Zhylianska St.) City Park Hotel (20 Vorovskoho St.) Diarso (5 Velyka Kiltseva Doroha) Domus Hotel (19 Yaroslavskaya St.) Express (38/40 Taras Shevchenko Blvd.)

Gorniy Ruchey (66 Michurina St., village Gora, Boryspil region) Hotel Dnipro (1/2 Khreshchatyk St.) Hyatt (5A Alla Tarasova St.) Impressa Hotel (21 Sahaidachnoho St.) Intercontinental (2A Velyka Zhytomyrska St.) Kozatsky (1/3 Mykhailivska St., 2/32 Antonova St.) Kozatsky Stan (Boryspilske Shose, 18 km) Khreschatyk hotel (14 Khreshchatyk St.) Lybid (1 Peremohy Prosp.)

Opera Hotel (53 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St.) Oselya (11 Kameniariv St.) President Hotel (12 Hospitalna St.) Premier Palace (5-7/29 Taras Shevchenko Blvd.)

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

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%DUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS Business School MIM-Kyiv (10/12B Shulyavska St.) British International School (45 Tolbukhina St.) British skylines (16 Khreshchatyk St., 10G Larysy Rudenko St.) DEC school (19 Obolonska Naberegnaya) International Institute of Business (8A Brest-Litovskyi Highway) Kyiv International School (3A Sviatoshynsky Lane) Master Klass (34 Ivan Mazepa St.) Pechersk International School (7A Viktora Zabily St.) Runov school (30 Velyka Vasylkivska St.) Speak Up (14 Kotsiubynskoho St. 25B Sahaidachnoho St., 4 Lunacharskoho St., 136 Peremohy Prosp., 14 Vasylkivska St., 26 Lesi Ukrainki Blvd., 3-a Gryshka St.) Sterling Business School (7 Nesterivskiy prov.)

The London School of English (39 Polytehnichna St.) Valerie’s school (14 Mykhailivska St.)

"USINESS #ENTERS Arena (2A Baseina St.) Artem (4 Hlybochytska St.) Cubic Cente (3 Sholudenko St.) Diplomat Hall (59 Zhylianska St.) Eurasia Ukraine (73-79 Zhylianska St.) Evropa (4 Muzeiniy Lane) Evropa Plaza (120 Saksahanskoho St.) GOOIOORD B.V. (34/33 Ivana Franka St., 36 Ivana Franka St.,11 Mykhailivska St., 52B Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St.) Horizon Park (12 Amosova St., 4 Grinchenko St.) Illinsky (8 Illinska St.) Khreshchatyk Plaza (19A Khreshchatyk St.) Kiev-Donbass (42/4 Pushkinska St.) Podol Plaza (19 Skovorody St.)

30 Employment

www.kyivpost.com

November 19, 2010

VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) invites applications from highly qualified, energetic, proactive and experienced professionals for the posts of

Ukraine

PROJECT MANAGER (SC, PIMS 3056 CC FSP REMOVING BARRIERS TO GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS MITIGATION THROUGH ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN THE DISTRICT HEATING SYSTEMS, PHASE 2) who will be responsible for managing the day to day activities of the Project (planning, management, implementation, quality monitoring & closure) and coordinating project activities with ESCO-Rivne business developmental needs and strategies.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 29/11/2010 DRIVER (FTA) who will provide reliable and safe driving services ensuring high accuracy of work to the operations and programme staff in the CO, Consultants and Experts and UN staff on mission.

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS 25/11/2010 For detailed job description, application for these and other vacancies as well as download of UN PERSONAL HISTORY FORM* (P-11) please visit http://undp.org.ua/jobs.

All interested candidates should 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

Commercial Assistant

A donor-funded Project is looking for

ACCOUNTANT/FINANCIAL MANAGER Responsibilities: Ensure proper financial management, daily accounting transactions, financial records keeping and reporting in accordance with good accounting practices.

Duties include budgeting and financial analysis, managing and monitoring, monthly payroll, payables and receivables, liaise with the HO

A U.S. GOVERNMENT PROJECT IMPLEMENTER, MPRI, AN L-3 DIVISION With a field office in Kyiv, is currently looking for a U.S. citizen to serve as

OFFICE MANAGER

This position involves handling administrative and procurement responsibilities, supervising a staff of four Ukrainian employees, and coordinating the activities for TDY consultants. The position offers compensation within a range of FS-4 to FS-6, depending upon experience.

A wide range of candidates will be considered, but preference will be given to those with previous experience/responsibilities in office administration, logistics, and procurement. Please email a cover letter and resume to Marc Cagle at marc.cagle@l-3com.com by November 30, 2010.

For more information please visit www.mpri.com

AGCO, Your Agriculture Company (NYSE: AGCO), was founded in 1990 and offers a full product line of tractors, combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage, tillage equipment, implements and related replacement parts. AGCO agricultural products are sold under the core brands of ChallengerÂŽ, FendtÂŽ, Massey FergusonÂŽ and ValtraÂŽ, and are distributed globally through more than 2,700 independent dealers and distributors, in more than 140 countries worldwide. Retail financing is available through AGCO Finance. AGCO is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA. In 2009, AGCO had net sales of $6.6 billion.

Visit www.AGCOcorp.com for more information.

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• The Embassy seeks a full time employee as of 1st March 2011 in its commercial section. • The section acts under the conditions set by the Trade Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and is part of the worldwide TC network. • Promotion of Danish business activities in Ukraine generally takes place on a paid for service basis. The employee and the section have a yearly earning target (results in bonus if reached). • 3FRVJSFNFOUT Relevant business degree and must have a minimum of three years employment experience from the Ukrainian private sector.

Knowledge of market conditions in Denmark desirable.

Good understanding of business processes in Ukraine, ability to seek opportunities for Danish business in Ukraine. Excellent communication skills. Good computer literacy.

-BOHVBHF TLJMMT Must be fluent in English, Ukrainian and Russian.

Knowledge of Danish or related Nordic language will be regarded as extra qualification. • The job offers a competitive salary as well as possible corporate medical insurance. • Only applications with the necessary requirements above will be considered.

Applications, including CV, cover letter and any questions should be sent to head of the commercial section Soren Hansen: TPIBOT!VN EL Deadline Friday the 26th of November 2010.

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ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT/SECRETARY Responsibilities: General administrative and secretarial support to the COP and project staff, faxing, e-mailing, making copies, distributing incoming calls, distributing and filing documents, receiving visitors, other clerical support Skills and qualifications required: - Fluent English writing and speaking - Good administrative and communications skills - Previous experience with donor-funded projects in related position is a plus

Please send your CVs and cover letters to uppp2010@mail.ru

by November 26 COB

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IREX seeks a qualified professional to fill the position of Library Outreach Coordinator for the Bibliomist program. This position will serve as a liaison with libraries that are part of the Bibliomist program or are interested in participating. This position requires a librarianship background and will be located in Kyiv.

FORD REGIONAL SALES REPRESENTATIVE Main Responsibilities: • Establishing and supporting effective relations with Dealers; • Dealers’ audit, control and coaching; • Regular visits to Dealers.

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Library Outreach Coordinator

Official Importer of Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo, Porsche in Ukraine

Finance/Management

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Employment/Classifieds 31

November 19, 2010

Major Requirements: • Fluent English and Ukrainian; • 3 years of experience in sales; • Excellent communication and organizational skills; • Business negotiations’ skills.

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We offer work in a dynamic international Company in the team of open-minded, thinking out of the box professionals.

Please send your CV: ksemaka@winner.ua, or contact us by phone – 585 63 00 (ext.133)

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Description of Responsibilities: • Coordinate contests to select libraries to participate in the Bibliomist program. • Serve as the primary Bibliomist liaison with rayon and city library systems participating in the Bibliomist program. • Assist the Partnerships Coordinator in tracking program developments on the oblast-level through coordination with the program’s oblast representatives. • Advise the team on various aspects of the relationship between Bibliomist and libraries and on issues related to library development in Ukraine Qualifications: Candidates must have at least 2 years experience working as a librarian in Ukraine, with direct experience providing innovative library services to users and have a strong command of English.

A full description of responsibilities and required qualifications can be found at http://www.bibliomist. org/news/news23.htm

To Apply: Please email your cover letter and resume in English and salary history with the subject line “CSD/ LOC/MU� to resumes.gl@irex.ua.

No phone calls please.

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Immigration & work in Canada Visit www.saskimmigration.com Contact Warren Green greenw@telusplanet.net (044) 278 61 24 Member of Canadian Society of Immigration Consultants

Psychologist (Ba & MSc, Essex, UK) Counselling in English Children Parents Adults 17 Mezhygirs’ka str. (Podil), off. 15 lyubarevich@gmail.com 067 938 37 36 Victoria

Work Permits for Non-Residents Residency Permits, Tax IDs Company Registration, Nominal Directors Legal Support, Tax Reporting & Accounting info@megaprime.com.ua +380-50-070-2126, Perfect English

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32 Photo Story

A sculpture of a hanging man by Viktor Sydorenko arrives from the French Albert Benamou gallery.

November 19, 2010

Modern art thrives in ancient Kyiv

www.kyivpost.com

Painting of Napoleon Bonaparte with a monkey face comes from Illya Chichkan’s series of famous people painted as monkeys.

The former Soviet armory Mystetsky Arsenal hosted an international art fair Art-Kyiv on Nov. 8 – 14. Over 30 galleries, both homegrown and foreign, presented their craft for commercial or just visual consumption. Organizers say that some 45,000 people attended the grand exhibition, where street art, video installations and films were high on the program. It was one of those rare occasions when taking pictures of presented art works was allowed. Granted this freedom, visitors went wild taking pictures of everything, from a five-meter high sculpture of world heavyweight boxing champion Volodymyr Klitschko to the portrait of Napoleon with a monkey face.

Story by Nataliya Horban Photos by Natalia Kravchuk Children enjoy drawing on special plazma screens installed around the museum.

Installation Incubus from St. Petersburg.

A little girl poses in front of Arsen Zavadov’s paining.

Sculpture ‘Alice’ by Oleksandr Oleksiyiv refers to things odd and dreamy in ‘Alice in Wonderland’ novel.

Boxer Volodymyr Klitchko is five meters tall in sculptor Oleksandr Oleksiyiv’s imagination.