kyivweekly_march_26___april_1__2010

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UKRAINIANS STRIVE TO SERVE THE COUNTRY • 2 Iss.11 (376)

www.kyivweekly.com

March 26 – April 1, 2010

SINSE

2002 NEWSPAPER

ALL ABOUT UKRAINE

WORLD

EU dreamers to get top-notch PR fodder 4

FINANCE

Who will give Azarov money?

The World Bank knows at least three sources of a effective budget cuts

7

TRAVELLING Chernihiv – a Black Monk City

YANUKOVYCH NEEDS STELMAKH

New president has good reason to cooperate with the NBU governor of the Orange Revolution 6

EU EAGER TO HELP UKRAINE, NOT SURE HOW • 2

13

SPORT PHОТО: UNIAN

WHY

Chernihiv conceals as many secrets as Egypt’s Valley of the Kings

Haye day looms large

14

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2 TOP NEWS Last week Defense Minister Mykhailo Yezhel signed the order on the new draft to national army service. 26,000 draftees born in 1985 1992 will don their military cammies this April May. Military authorities say the num ber of citizens willing to serve in the army has exceeded the num ber of vacant spots over the last few drafts. Today, at the very start of the draft campaign the num ber of candidates for each vacan cy in the army is 6 7 people. Last fall in Dnipropetrovsk there were 18 candidates for each vacancy.

On March 28 Ukraine switches to daylight savings time PHОТО: AP

Ukrainians strive to serve the country Besides the sparsity of the drafts themselves (on average less than 1,000 draftees in every oblast) the General Staff attributes such a number of candidates to ma terial factors: it is difficult to find jobs for high school gradu ates that were not accepted into university.

Army recruits earn a salary of UAH 200 – 300 on top of room and board. In many depressed regions parents convoy their sons to enlistment offices to make sure they are recruited to serve the country.

Price of a soldier, UAH/year

PHОТО: UNIAN

Drafted private (infantry)

Private on contract (infantry)

Salary

3,080

Meals

12,779

0

Uniform etc.

2,789

2,789

Healthcare

193

193

Bath/laundry

2,509

0

Utilities

222

0

Transport (leave, discharge)

195

0

Draft expenses

124

0

21,891

21,863

Total

18,881

On Sunday, March 28 at 15:00 Kyiv time daylight savings time will take effect in Ukraine when the time on our clocks and watches should be moved an hour ahead.

As a reminder, we traditionally “spring forward” on the last Sunday in March. People in more than 100 countries in the world adjust time in the spring and fall.

In the opinion of experts, this allows for a more rational distribution of electricity and usage of daylight. In a number of countries the time switch date is determined taking into account regional particularities. The spring and fall procedures of calculating time was first introduced in 1908 in England with the aim of economize money and a more rational distribution of electricity.

Source: Ministry of Defense

Clients revisit investment funds

EU eager to help Ukraine, not sure how A source inside diplomatic circles in Brussels says the European Union wants to help Ukraine without forcing it to make a choice between the EU and Russia with a reference to current talks between ministers of foreign af fairs of EU member countries with respect to Ukraine.

“There is a consensus in the Foreign Affairs Council on the need to assist Ukraine without pushing it to make a decision between the EU and Russia,” ac cording to a source at UNIAN. The source informed that several

ministers pointed out that they are receiving “mixed signals” from offi cial Kyiv. In particular, the source said ministers of Bulgaria, Poland and Cyprus stated this.

The source also said a number of ministers pointed to the fact that Ukraine cannot simultaneously be a member of a Customs Union with Russia, Kazakhstan and Be larus and enter a free trade agree ment with the European Union.

In the course of these talks, the is sue of rendering assistance to Ukraine in reform of the gas sec tor was also raised.

Ukraine should not hurry to create a free trade area with the European Union, French Ambassador to Ukraine Jacques Faure told the Investhazeta.

The envoy said the creation of the free trade area with the European Union would pose risks to some industries of Ukraine's economy. "If your country is not prepared for this, this can have essential impact on the country," he said. Ambassador Jacques Faure said the date of signing of the agreement depends on the effectiveness of the bilateral negotiations.

Earlier, President Viktor Yanukovych said he expected Kyiv and EU member states to introduce visa-free regime and a free trade area by March 2011.

In March clients invested more money in open investment funds than they withdrew for the first time since the start of the financial crisis. The main source of money put into investment funds is physi cal persons residents. They invest ed UAH 2.3 mn into mutual funds in the period March 3 10.

Kinto, Parex Asset Management Ukraine and Dragon Asset Man agement are the leaders in terms of attracted funds.

“Basically, old clients are returning to mutual funds. They have experi ence in making such investments and are seeing how the domestic stock market is growing at an un precedented pace. At the start of

PHОТО: A. GUDZENKO

PHОТО: AP

France warns Ukraine against free trade zone with EU

the year it grew by 46%. The temp tation to earn super profits is great, but one must understand that this is a game for investors with strong nerves. The fact is that the Ukrain ian market is currently overheating and will get even hotter. No serious analyst dares to forecast the mar ket’s foreseeable future. In other words, they are leery afraid to pre dict further growth or will nose dive at the first unfavorable sign.

And although one can quickly withdraw their money from open funds, there is nevertheless a risk of the market crashing even faster,” says President of the Ukrainian Analytical Center Oleksandr Okhrymenko.

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Iss.11 MARCH 26—APRIL 1, 2010 www.kyivweekly.com

Russia eyes Ukrainian pipeline condition and requires major repairs. How ever, in 2002 the creation of consortium had already been discussed, but then nobody blaimed it on the need of repairs, but the stumbling block was a new branch Bo horodchany Uzhgorod gas pipeline with a capacity 142 billion cubic meters of gas per year. Ukraine would like to build it and Rus sia is quite satisfied with what already exists in Ukraine,” says the president of the Center for Economic Development Oleksandr Paskhaver. “National consortium actually means, where would be the border Russian gas transit to the EU. If it included the west ern countries, as planned by government of Yulia Tymoshenko in the past year, this tran sit would begin at the Ukraine Russia bor der, but in Azarov version, it still would con tinue to start at the western border of Ukraine, meaning Ukraine will still be liable for any disruptions of gas supplies in the EU regardless of their causes," argues Paskhaver.

PHОТО: PHL

"The law on passing the gas transportation system in concession after the creation of gas transportation consortium is practically ready," said the first vice premier Andriy Kliuyev. Only Russia that in response are to review the disadvantageous contract signed on January 19, 2009 with Ukraine would join this concortium. Specifically, the price of gas should not be significantly higher than in Belarus, because our economies are quite similar. Now the gas price for Ukraine is US $305 per thousand cubic meters, while Belarus pays just US $168. However, Russia will easily win over the decline in prices of cross border rates with a help of Ukrainian consumers. One of the conditions of the gas consortium with Russian is passing the rights for gas trade on the territory of Ukraine to Russian Gazprom.

"The need for gas transportation consor tium is usually explained with the fact that Ukrainian gas transport system is in bad

UEFA: Kyiv will host EURO 2012 final Kyiv will host the EURO 2012 final match despite the delays in reconstruction of the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex, reported UEFA Chief Executive for EURO

2010 Martin Kallen. “I believe the reconstruction of the complex in Kyiv will be finished on time. Maybe not in June 2011, but in July or August,” he added.

Porsche is the most reliable “Those of who are deeply convinced that the shortest distance between point A and point B is a straight line obviously have never driven a Porsche”

PHОТО: AP

The authoritative company J.D. Power published its an nual rating of the reliability of automobiles compiled on the basis of a survey of more than 52,000 car owners from different countries of the world.

Porsche proved to have the least defects, breakages and claims to driving convenience.Meanwhile,the Jeep,Volk swagen, Suzuki and Land Rover were rated the most whimsical and unreliable vehicles.

The J.D. Powers rating features a new indicator showing to what extent the reliability of a vehicle exceeds the ex pectations of consumers. Models of Cadillac, Ford, Hyundai,Lincoln and Mercury are the leaders in this par ticular indicator.

“Although only three models among the top twenty in sales in Ukraine – Toyota,Honda and Mercedes – this rat ing is fully realistic for Ukrainian motorists. Demand for foreign models in the medium and upper class segments has again appeared for the first time since the onset of the crisis General Director of the Ukrainian Association of Automobile Importers and Dealers Oleh Lazarenko be lieves. Sales of BMWs in February increased by 1.5 times over January, Land Rover – 3 times and Mercedes for the first time since the beginning of the crisis took 19th place in the Top 20 most sold vehicles in Ukraine.”

The Cabinet is planning to re-privatize three banks which have been nationalized recently, Vice Premier Serhiy Tihipko told VI annual investment conference in Kyiv. He said the government has “an accurate understanding” that the money from the state budget which have been spent to bail out these banks, should return the national coffers.

To which extent major Ukrainian banks are Ukrainian-owned?

(total capital of Ukrainian banks and banks with foreign investments)

Last June, the Tymoshenko government decided to recapitalize three commercial banks: Rodovid, Ukrahazbank and the bank Kyiv. The Ministry of Finance issues internal bonds worth UAH 9.5 bn to buttress the authorized capitals of the three ailing banks. In July, the ministry thus became the owner more than 99.9 % in Rodovid, 84.2 % (UAH 3. bn) in Ukrahaznank and 99.9 % (UAH 3.6 bn) in Kyiv bank. The aggregate debts of these banks against external creditors made more than US $ 1 bn at that time.

"In my opinion these very people would become the new owners of the state banks,” believes Viktoria Kernesh, an the analytical expert of Interfon Investment Fund. “In fact, they will buy out their banks from the state at the nominal price, which is far below the cost of bail out of these banks paid by the state. The difference between the price of their return to their former owners with a help of the state will be the price that the government - or rather the taxpayer paid for the crisis of the national banking system,” added Kernesh. One must agree that it is not quite clear why the citizens of Ukraine havr to save the capitalists from the state budget.

PHОТО: PORSHE.RU

Govt set to sell bailed out banks

Automobiles that don’t break down Model

Place in the liability rating in 2010 (2009)

Porsche

1(11)

Lincoln

2(8)

Buick

3-4(1)

Lexus

3-4(3)

Mercury

5(5)

Toyota

6(4)

Honda

7(10)

Ford

8(13)

Mercedes

9(19)

Source: data of J.D. Power and Associates

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4 WORLD WORLD NEWS US House approves sweeping healthcare overhaul The House of Representatives gave final approval to a sweeping healthcare overhaul, expanding insurance coverage to nearly all Americans and handing President Barack Obama a landmark victory.

Republicans and industry critics said the bill was a heavy-handed intrusion in the healthcare sector that will drive up costs, increase the budget deficit and reduce patients' choices. The new system will remind of that already existing in Western Europe.

Republicans claim it will be based on “socialist” principles, reported Reuters.

Democrats claim it would require most Americans to have health coverage, give subsidies to help lower-income workers pay for coverage and create state-based exchanges where the uninsured can compare and shop for plans.

EU dreamers to get top notch PR fodder Text: Tetiana Smetanina Komentari:

T

he numerous requirements set by the EU prove the reluctance of Brussels to support the integration of our country in the Euro pean community. Even if official Kyiv fulfills all the requirements, the EU will find new reasons to fur ther hinder the introduction of a visa free regime and creation of a free trade zone with Ukraine

Thieves stolen the sign from Auschwitz get punished The court in Krakow convicted the thieves of infamous gate sign Arbeit macht frei ("Work Liberates") from Auschwitz concentration camp. The three Poles, two of whom are brothers, are sentenced from a year and a half to two and a half years in prison. They fully admitted their guilt, so court went on a fast track scheme. Another two theft accomplices remained in detention until the end of the process. The sixth defendant is a Swedish neo-Nazi, who according to investigators ordered the sign is expecting the extradition to Poland.

EU exports torture equipment European companies are blamed for exporting equipment for torturing or other types of inhumane treatment around the world. Representatives of human rights organizations Amnesty International and the Omega Research Foundation claim that EU countries should fulfill their obligations to combat torture. In 2006, the EU was the world's first to establish rules prohibiting the international trade in the equipment the only practical application of which is the implementation of the death penalty, torture or other forms of inhumane treatment.

Dominance of English irritates Sarcozy

Yanukovych’s administration on Bankova St is already working on a plan of promoting achievements in cooperation with the EU, though it prefers to keep silent as to whether this plan is realistic or not

The establishment of a UkraineEU free trade zone has been postponed for reasons beyond Kyiv’s control

Formal consultations on the free trade zone (FTZ) between Ukraine and the EU began back in 2007. Notable is that in contrast to Kyiv, Brussels has ap proached this issue with great delicacy and pragmatism. Immediately after con sultations began Ukraine’s Ministry of Economy received a hefty package of wishes from the European Business Association, the chief lobbyist of the EU. The European Commission sets these requirements when creating an FTZ. To accomplish the goal,Kyiv has been of fered to privatize some strategic enter prises in the telecommunications, trans port and energy sector and remove non tariff barriers for 95% of all industrial and agricultural goods produced in the country. The remaining 5% are to be attributed to the group of "most sensi tive" commodities and get a 3 5 year transitional period for eliminating exist ing restrictions. Also, Kyiv was required to lower customs duties, which are alleg edly four times higher than in Europe, to the EU level. Interestingly, the European experts included in their calculations the duties that were in force until 2002, i.e. before they were lowered in the process of Ukraine’s WTO accession.Among the specific requests is providing European companies a free access to Ukraine’s public procurements, reducing the peri od for the registration of trademarks

and introducing a special mechanism for resolving trade disputes. Europeans then very aggressively lobbied the liber alization of the access for their compa nies to Ukraine’s financial services mar ket. Perhaps one of the most odious requirements was changing the ap proach to banking supervision with re spect to non residents, in other words binding the standards of the NBU not to the capital of Ukrainian banks that are 100% foreign backed, but rather its par ent company. This would allow them to provide huge loans to large Ukrainian corporations. According to the laws in effect at the time, a bank could not issue a loan of more than 25% of its capital.

Naturally, in the current crisis condi tions this requirement is no longer rele vant. However, Brussels may seriously reconsider this after the recovery of the EU financial system.

And finally, this long list was richly spiced with vague wishes such as radical reforms of the judiciary and legal systems,strength ening the fight against corruption and protection of investments. Naturally, the level and depth of reforms will be assessed in the EU and a final decision will be made about their desire to continue negotia tions. It is a shame that the Ministry of Economy formally showed interest in the wishes of domestic producers only after receiving the EU requirements. Moreover, a list of reciprocal requirements that the Ukrainian side was to negotiate has never officially been made public.

By the end of 2009, Ukraine managed to conclude talks on two fronts, namely cus toms cooperation and the origin of ex ported goods. Specifically, Ukraine pro hibited the re export of goods from other EU countries under the guise of its own

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has criticized the dominance of the English language in politics, diplomacy and culture. He emphasized that “it is the popularity of the English language that has become the international language of communication that poses a threat to the French language, not a decline in the popularity of the latter”. At the same time, Sarkozy said he was not declaring a war against the English language.

Swiss pilot Riccardo Mortara and his co-pilots beat a speed record for a round-the-world flight in a small aircraft weighing 9,000 to 12,000kg, reported Swiss 24 Heures. Mortara circled the globe in under 67 hours.

His business class jet Rockwell Sabreliner 65 took off from the airport in Geneva at 7:12 a.m. local time Friday, flew around the globe and landed at the same airport on Sunday at 5:06 p.m.

62-year-old Mortara, his son 28-year-old Gabriel and 26-year-old Flavien Guderzo spanned a distance of 36,900 km at a minimum speed of 647 km/h in 57 hours and 57 minutes. The plane crossed the air spaces of 33 countries and made 10 stops for re-fuelling.

PHОТО: AP

Round-the-world record challenged and beaten

products. In addition, commercial criteria were agreed for every each commodity group (for example, the maximum per centage of imported raw materials). An other victory of Ukrainian negotiators was that they managed to soften Brussels’ stance on the adaptation of Ukrainian phytosanitary standards to European requirements. However, this achievement seems very doubtful, given that products, especially agricultural ones, not corre sponding to European standards will sim ply not be permitted into the markets.

Moreover, certain positions in 20 catego ries have yet to be agreed – and the EU has not even presented its wishes in two of those categories. But the intention of the European Commission to include the pro visions of the Doha round of negotiations with the WTO frameworks in the future free trade zone deal with Ukraine is noth ing other than mockery. These negotia tions started back in 2001, when members of the world trade club intended to regu late trade relations. It was assumed that developing countries should lower trade barriers in the agricultural sector.In recip rocation, developed countries would re duce the amount of agricultural subsidies.

This would create equal competitive opportunities for all WTO member coun tries.But so far none of the sides have made concessions, believing it is their system of agricultural subsidies and tariffs to be the most effective for domestic producers.

Last September, the G20 expressed its determination to conclude these talks in 2010. However, this not the first time such statements have been made and today the likelihood of compromise is as low as nev er before. Indeed, in times of crisis each country is a selfless advocate for the inter ests of its domestic producers. Therefore, even if Kyiv scrupulously complies with all the requirements put forth by Brussels, Ukraine will still wait long for a free trade zone with Europe. Another stumbling block in the talks is the legal formalities re lated to public procurement procedures.

So far,none of the versions of the procure ment law adopted by the Rada have worked well for the Europeans.

In closing, on the one hand the establish ment of a Ukraine EU free trade zone has been postponed for reasons beyond Kyiv’s control, including due to the constant carping of European officials about fulfill ment of the commitments Kyiv has taken.

The picture with the possible introduction of a visa free regime for Ukraine is quite similar. Even if our country spends mil lions on introducing passports with bio metric data, creating a common immigra tion authority and strengthening the fight against illegal migration, the desired fast demarcation of borders will most likely fail. To do this we also need the desire of our neighbors who are reluctant to move in this direction.The Russians simply slow down the process and the Belarusians are working in unison with Russia. KW

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5

Russia sells strategic deposits

EDITORIAL

PHОТО: AP

The Russian government is selling strategic oil deposits in the Trebs and Titov oilfields in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (NAO) with total reserves of 200 mn t for the first time in its history. The Ministry of Natural Resources promised to prepare documents for the sale of these deposits at the end of March or beginning of April. It has already been established that the deposits will be sold on auction rather than on tender. Russian oil companies have long expressed their interest in these assets. In the opinion of experts, Rosneft and Lukoil, which may go into an alliance with Gazprom Neft, will be the main contenders.

The Trebs and Titov deposits are among the largest explored continental oil reserves in Russia. The reserves at the Trebs deposit are 78.12 mn t of oil and in Titov deposit – 132.8 mn t in the A, B and C1 categories.

Pipes of peace

Brussels wants control over national budgets

PHОТО: AP

The European Commission wants to control budget planning in certain EU countries in order to introduce changes to the Euro Stability and Growth Pact.

European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Olli Rehn pointed out that at the moment all EU members inform the commission only after their budgets are passed, which in his opin ion is too late.Rehn noted that erroneous trends that contradict the norms of the pact can only be detected in time if the commission participates in budget planning for certain European countries.

The Finnish commissioner criticized Germany’s budget policy, ex plaining it includes no actual plans for consolidation of financing for reducing the national debt after 2010, reported Die Deutsche Welle. Rehn condemned the demands for stricter punishment of such budget violators as Greece, where the deficit is currently 12% at a maximum permissible ceiling of 3%. He said it is better to take precautionary measures than to apply stricter punishment.

WHO: drug resistant TB spreads all over the globe

Mirror cracked

PHОТО: AP

Multiple drug resistant tuberculosis killed 150,000 people in 2008 and infected between 400,000 and 500,000 people globally, according to the estimates of the World Health Organization. The WHO said the numbers suggest this difficult to cure infection is spreading and said there is an urgent need for countries to set up laboratories to fight it, reported Reuters.

The so called MDR TB is particularly widespread in Russia, Tajikistan, China and India, the WHO said in a report. The report also said a particularly difficult to cure form of tuberculosis known as highly drug resis tant TB or XDR TB is also spreading fast. “Almost 50 percent of MDR TB cases worldwide are estimated to occur in China and India. In 2008, MDR TB caused an estimated 150,000 deaths,” the WHO report said.WHO defines MDR TB as an infection that cannot be eradi cated by the antibiotics isoniazid and rifampicin.

PHОТО: AP

Benedict XVI “ashamed” of pedophile priests Pope Benedict XVI apologized before a USA visit last week for Irish Catholic priests accused of paedophilia.

As hundreds of new allegations of sexual abuse surface in the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI said that he hoped a forthcoming letter to Irish Catholics would help “repentance, healing and renewal.” He said the Irish church had been “severely shaken” by the allegations and he was “deeply concerned.”

Ever since Viktor Yanukovych’s victory at the recent election, it has been expected that Kyiv and Moscow would put gas cooperation high on their agenda. Although there was surprise that the matter was not discussed during Yanukovych’s recent visit to Russia, Premier Mykola Azarov confirmed on 19 March that a high-level delegation will visit Moscow this week to discuss gas. He said one of the aims is to review gas contracts.

Yanukovych’s recent proposal to set up a trilateral consortium involving Russia and the EU to run and upgrade Ukraine’s gas transport system caused a stir. Some saw it as an attempt to torpedo the South Stream project, the main rival to Ukraine’s gas transport system, even though completion is a long way off. The project aims to build a pipe to take Russian gas under the Black Sea to Europe, bypassing Ukraine.

However, it seems Ukraine is serious about the consortium. First Deputy Prime Minister Andriy Klyuyev confirmed on 19 March that Ukraine plans to grant a concession on the use of the transport system after a gas transport consortium is formed. He noted that a draft bill is almost ready and that the pipeline would remain in state ownership. Current legislation bans its transfer into foreign ownership. Klyuyev noted the need to raise Ukraine’s attractiveness as a transit country, otherwise after the construction of the Nord Stream and South Stream pipes, “our gas transport system will not be needed by either EU states or Russia”.

The day before Deputy Prime Minister Serhiy Tihipko stressed that during the talks Ukraine could avoid making political compromises with Russia in exchange for a compromise on the price of gas. “We have a transit price and we should not make any political or property concessions,” Tihipko stressed. And that is the key point.

Though Yanukovych won tactical points recently by suggesting that Russian gas transit to Europe via Ukraine be doubled, thereby making the pricey South Stream project almost economically pointless, Ukraine needs to tread a fine line. It must ensure that any shortterm advantages attained are not outweighed by long-term political or economic disadvantages. After all, we still have the spectre of the long-term gas deal struck in 2009 between counterparts Putin and Tymoshenko which raised the price paid by Ukraine. The Kremlin has since warned Kyiv against attempts to revise the deal.

So UEFA, the European football governing body, has imposed a life ban on a match-fixing referee. It’s high time action was taken to clean up Ukrainian football. The culprit, Kyiv referee Oleh Orekhov, received the ban from football last week for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, with UEFA stating that Orekhov had breached “principles of loyalty and integrity”.

However, it did not specify the particular matches in which he helped to influence results. This comes in the wake of an investigation by fraud officers in Germany, which looked into more than 200 matches played in a dozen countries. UEFA President Michel Platini had earlier promised to act against those involved in corruption.

At the same time, Orekhov should not be made a scapegoat. After all, the investigation comes in the wake of even more serious allegations about rigging of World Cup matches in 2006. In the same year several top flight Italian clubs were severely punished. This latest probe found a Bulgarian referee not guilty of wrongdoing in connection with illegal betting.

Bribery, corruption, doping, match-fixing and other types of cheating are widespread in sport around the world, including the Olympic movement. The boom in various types of sophisticated match betting, aided and abetted by wall-to-wall satellite TV coverage from around the world, have only helped to make temptation more prevalent.

Sadly for Ukraine, such corruption to some extent mirrors society.

Though bribery of referees in sports is no secret, things can be done at the level of national legislation or sports federations to root out conflicts of interest. A magnate owning two clubs which will be opponents is an obvious example. Referees in Ukraine are now paid better than ever. The end of Orekhov’s career should be a signal for the Football Federation of Ukraine to get its house in order and help the authorities to get the country ready to stage the Euro-2012 football tournament. Newly-appointed Sports Minister Ravil Safiullin and football chief Hryhoriy Surkis will also have to end their feuding. And the signs look good. Safiullin said on 19 March that he is ready to work with Surkis in one team for the sake of Euro-2012 as long as the latter shares his vision. The eyes of the world will be on Ukraine and it will be a great opportunity to really put the country on the map.

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6 FINANCE & MARKETS WHY

Cabinet Will Go Easy on Taxes The Cabinet of Ministers does not intend to raise taxes in 2010, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said in Donetsk. “We have no need for this and, most importantly, it is not economically expedient to continue the policy that was implemented last year. There should be no further increases in taxes.

Therefore, we will approach these issues very carefully,” he said “We will support everything that will help reviving the domestic market,” Azarov said. According to him, Ukraine also needs to create a large middle class. “That is an economic requirement. If we want the economy to be stable, our task is to ensure that most of the people are prosperous. We will do everything that will lead to realization of this task,” Azarov said.

YANUKOVYCH NEEDS STELMAKH New president has good reason to cooperate with the NBU governor of the Orange Revolution

Fitch Upgrades Outlooks for 9 Ukrainian Banks

Text: Yuriy Shcherbyna

The Fitch international rating agency has revised the outlooks for nine Ukrainian banks from Negative to Stable, the agency said. The decision came on the heels of the agency's revision today of the outlooks on Ukraine's longterm foreign and local currency IDRs to Stable from Negative. The change in Outlooks on UkrSibbank, Ukrsotsbank, Forum, ProCredit Ukraine, Pravex and VTB Ukraine reflects the reduced likelihood of a downgrade of Ukraine's Country Ceiling ('B-') following the change in the sovereign Outlook. The Country Ceiling of Ukraine, which reflects transfer and convertibility risks, constrains the banks' Long-term foreign currency.

Komentari:

Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih Lost UAH 120 Mn Last Year The Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih mining and metallurgical plant (Dnipropetrovsk oblast) finished 2009 with estimated UAH 120.026 mn in losses, the company announced in a statement.

The plant's net revenues reduced by 34.85% or UAH 7.703 bn to UAH 14.4 bn in 2009 over the previous year. Product shipments dropped by 1.202 mn tons or 21.32% to 4.436 mn tons in 2009, compared with 2008. Exports accounted for 83% of the plant's total volume of sales in 2009.

It exported goods to 61 countries in 2009 (75 countries in 2008). Its main markets in 2009 were in the African, Middle Eastern, Persian Gulf, and CIS regions as will as in the European Union and Turkey. Arcelor Mittal Kryvyi Rih is the largest producer of rolled steel in Ukraine. It specializes in production of elongated rolled products, including steel reinforcing bars and iron rods.

Oil Refineries Cut Output by 34% In Feb In February, Ukrainian refining plants reduced petroleum refining by 34% compared to January, to 623,300 tons, a source in the Fuel and Energy Ministry told Ukrainian News.

In February, all operating refining plants decreased petroleum refining compared with January: CJSC LiNIK by 13.8% to 320,600 tons, Ukrtatnafta company (Kremenchuk, Poltava region) by 20.7% to 268,900 tons, Halychyna refining plant (Drohobych) by 10.1% to 33,800 tons.

Odesa refinery, Naftokhimik Prykarpattia (Nadvirna, Ivano-Frankivsk region) and Kherson refining plant processed no oil stock in February.

In February 2010, refining plants decreased petroleum refining by 5.4% compared to February 2009.

H

aving initiated a flash like renewal of the executive branch of power, the new president has decided to preserve the position for the country’s chief banker. Strongly bound by the dirty evidence there is against him, Volodymyr Stelmakh will be good to play any role – be it the negotiator with the IMF or the scapegoat

The five years Stelmakh has served as the governor of the country’s central bank ended on December 16, 2009. At that time, then president Viktor Yushchenko did not seem to be in a hurry to dismiss the NBU governor, since the country’s chief banker skill fully resisted the wishes of then pre mier Yulia Tymoshenko. In addition he aptly fulfilled his part what con cerned the commitments before the International Monetary Fund in terms of the size of money emissions and gold and currency reserves.

The dismissal of Stelmakh after the vic tory of Yanukovych in the presidential election was an expected thing, as the Regionals harshly criticized the NBU governor over the last year.“The person who caused the sharp collapse of the hryvnia should be dismissed,” said rep resentatives of the PoR in December.

Current Vice Premier Borys Kolesnikov in the autumn called to interrogate the chief banker “on devaluation” charges.

The current Emergencies Minister Nestor Shufrych was the first to divulge information about the high salary of the NBU governor. “Had the NBU dis played a principled position and not met the (government) half way,the con sequences for the country’s economy and finances would not be as disas trous,” current Premier Mykola Azarov said two weeks ago.

Now, the moods in the white and blue camp have changed.“At this stage, I had no plans replacing the NBU governor,” Yanukovych stated at a Cabinet meeting last Friday and asked Azarov not to make any more statements about other possible candidates for the position.

By extending Stelmakh’s tenure, the president aims to kill two birds with one stone

PHОТО: UNIAN

ECONOMY NEWS

“The government’s task is to calm down the market and creditors. Changing the NBU’s management – when some, though shaky stability has already been achieved – would lead to new destabiliza tion. Though Stelmakh has not enjoyed great publicity and has been subject to harsh criticism, he certainly has solid ex perience working with the IMF. The mis sion won’t have to get acquainted again with all representatives of the Ukrainian side.Moreover,Stelmakh is a guarantee of succession of the NBU’s policy, which is definitely a plus at the negotiating table,” says Vasyl Yurchyshyn, Director of Eco nomic Programs at the Razumkov Cen ter.Experts note that the IMF has positive impressions of the operation of the NBU: unlike the outgoing government, Stel makh’s institution fulfilled all require ments of the fund in loan cooperation.

The second reason is the uncertainty of the candidacy of the future NBU gover nor among the members of the PoR.The current coalition has no guarantee that a new person, even if the candidacy is put forth by the president, will obtain the re quired number of votes, say certain peo ple close to the Regionals.

On the one hand, there are many willing non professionals. On the other hand, many professionals that are capable of ef fectively managing the institution do not want to work there.

It is worth mentioning that Stelmakh in principle did not have particular con flicts with the white and blue. First of all, he consistently opposed Ty moshenko, which is a merit in and of it self. Secondly, with his own efforts and the efforts of his first deputy Anatoliy Shapovalov,he effectively protracted the liquidation of Nadra bank, which could soon become the property of one of the current president’s favorites Dmytro Firtash. Thirdly, nobody can deny that the hryvnia devaluation that took place, also with knowledge of Stelmakh, con siderably strengthened the positions of exporters, the demand for products of

which had sharply dropped on world markets. Such “services” are not easily forgotten in a decent company.

The Regionals have a lot of compromis ing information against the NBU gover nor, which keeps him on the hook. This primarily concerns schemes of refinanc ing of banks in the beginning of the cri sis. Stelmakh would have been happy to retire. He is over 70 now. But the white and blue pushed him against the wall and said: stay, because this is what the country needs,” a source close to the NBU told the Komentari weekly.

He says that by extending Stelmakh’s tenure, the president will kill two birds with one stone. “On the one hand, if everything goes well with the IMF and if emission does not lead to substantial in flation, they will say: you see, we put a great professional.Azarov,by the way,was comfortable working with him during Yanukovych’s second stint as premier. On the other hand, if emission leads to the collapse of the hryvnia and negotiations with the IMF fail or there are other prob lems with monetary policy, there is a jus tification. After all, just look where Ty moshenko led the country? Even Stel makh cannot do anything and they could easily dismiss him as being professional ly unfit,” said the source.

“To collapse the hryvnia, including in the materialistic interests of the business wing of the party in power and then dis missing Stelmakh because he failed to fulfill his task of preserving stability of the national currency is only a part of the plan. It is more about not taking full re sponsibility for the country for a long as possible.“One’s own men”are already put in all governmental positions and all their mistakes will tarnish the work of the gov ernment. But in case of failure of the main project – making ends meet in the new budget – this stain will become im possible to remove.That is why Stelmakh is the lightning rod that must be used to the fullest,” believes the deputy chairman of one commercial bank. KW

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Iss.11 MARCH 26—APRIL 1, 2010 www.kyivweekly.com

7

Who will give Azarov money?

D

espite the assurances of our statesmen that global re forms are on the top of the agenda, will hardly be the government’s primary tasks. The first challenge for the Cabinet is to find who will give money to Premier Mykola Azarov.

The second challenge is to find the right targets in order to bal ance national finances in accordance with the desires of Presi dent Viktor Yanukovych and “particularly needy” ministers

Cut pensions The World Bank knows at least three sources of effective budget cuts.The first source is the pen sion mini reform. Experts are unanimous on the optimality of the plan proposed by the WB in its report Strengthening Ukraine after the Economic Crisis published last week.“An unre formed pension system and aging population will lead in the long term perspective to a situ ation where in 2055 every working citizen will have to support 1.43 retirees,” says the report.

“This means those people that today are gain fully employed will be paid pensions of 10% of their average salary in 25 years. The average global index is 30 40%,” noted Natalia Leshchenko, an analyst at the Bureau for Eco nomic and Social Technologies. In any case, those reforms proposed for the foreseeable fu ture (first six months of 2010) should be aimed at resolving current problems.

First of all,it is critical that the pensions of work ing retirees, whose social assistance exceeds the subsistence level, be reduced. Secondly, they should limit maximum pensions in absolute sums rather than the 12 minimum levels.Third ly, they should gradually do away with “special pensions” by first deferring their payment until a person reaches retirement age and then trans fer people eligible to receive benefits to a gener al pension plan.Fourthly,freeze special pensions of civil servants paid from the national budget.

Fifthly,the 1% raise in pensions for women that have worked for 20 years and men that have worked for 25 years should be eliminated.

Oleksandra Betliy, a leading expert at the Insti tute of Economic and Social Research, says the total deficit of the Pension Fund in 2009 has reached UAH 63.5 bn. UAH 15 bn of that sum is the difference that was compensated by short term loans issued by the National Treasury of Ukraine.UAH 13.8 bn is the fiscal deficit result ing from the rise in unemployment and reduc tion of the labor payroll fund.“In 2009 pensions were raised by 10% on average, while the pay

PHОТО: PHL

The current minimum monthly wage in Ukraine is UAH 744

Text: Yuriy Shcherbyna, Viktoria Poda Komentari:

roll was only cut by 1%,” she commented. The remaining UAH 34.7 bn represent expenses that were earmarked to cover various pensions of government officials, civil servants, judges, prosecutors and other people entitled to bene fits.“In order to cut these pensions,a decision of the parliament,not the government,is required.

Ex finance minister Viktor Pynzenyk tried on a number of occasions to submit to the VR the issue of limitation of maximum pension sums for consideration, but at different times differ ent factions did not support it. They are clear ly concerned about own personal financial well being. Moreover, there is a serious lobby of law enforcers and the military, who retire early and receive substantial lifetime financial support. The coalminer lobby also has signifi cant clout in blocking the cancellation of high pensions,” Betliy argues.

Raise taxes The second way of leveling the budget is to change fiscal policy.WB experts proposed that several measures be taken simultaneously.The first is eliminating (or at least minimizing) VAT breaks and special tax regimes. In 2008, Ukrainians were granted over UAH 16 bn in tax breaks, not including indirect losses from delayed payments. At the end of 2008 and be ginning of 2009 another dozen decisions were made to give anti crisis privileges to different sectors of the economy.In 2009,tax breaks ex ceeded UAH 20 bn.Of that sum approximate ly 50% of payouts go to cover VAT privileges.

At the same time, the sums declared for com pensation are increasing several times faster than VAT revenues to the national budget.

The second recommendation in the sphere of taxation is reconsideration of a simplified tax ation system that only small enterprises can take advantage of it.

The main problem the government faces is where to cut expenditures to resolve the problem of the exorbitant increase in social standards

Pay your own gas bill Western experts proposed balance the bud get by raising gas tariffs,as this would save bil lions on subsidies to Naftogaz Ukrainy. The experts recommend raising the prices of gas and heating supply services by a minimum of 100%.WB Country Director for Ukraine,Be larus and Moldova Martin Raiser said,“This is not only for households.Let us attain a bal ance. Currently, industry pays 2009 prices, while Ukraine pays 2010 prices.There is a sig nificant difference in these prices.”

That was when money to cover the operat ing deficit of Naftogaz was more than 2.7% of Ukraine’s GDP. There are plans to charge consumers approximately UAH 25 bn. Tak ing into consideration the political aspect of this issue (namely, the possible elections to local councils), the WB proposed the Cabi net to make some unpopular decisions. For this a special provisional body should be formed on the national level to devise a mechanism for setting tariffs and recalcu lating them for the regions – and will be liq uidated by the end of the year. Noteworthy is that this proposal is testimony to the fact that the World Bank has finally started to take into consideration political factors in its recommendations to Ukraine.

In addition,a proposal was made to raise the subsidization threshold from the current 15% to 30% of total household income to avoid placing an extra burden on the poor est strata of the population. The thriftiness of such an approach is obvious – last year authorities spent approximately UAH 200 mn on subsidizing housing and utilities ser vices and gas purchases. If the threshold is raised and prices are hiked, experts forecast that subsidies will be increased to a maxi mum of UAH 650 mn.

Last year Naftogaz was allocated more than UAH 10 bn to ensure low gas prices and an additional UAH 2 bn in subsidies to com pensate the difference in tariffs. So, if tariffs are hiked (which, by the way, Vice Premier Serhiy Tihipko already stated inciting the protests of the communists), this would mean savings of at least UAH 6 bn for the na tional budget. If such measures are not tak en, WB experts say the budget deficit from the sale of electricity this year could be as high as 2% of the GDP this year. KW

INFO Will the Cabinet be able to raise social standards?

The current minimum monthly wage in Ukraine is UAH 744.

However, since this January according to Law No. 1646-VI “On Setting the Subsistence Level and Minimum Wage”, the minimum wage was supposed to be UAH 869 and starting from April 2010 – UAH 884. The situation with minimum pensions is similar (UAH 695 and UAH 706 in January and April) and the subsistence level (UAH 701 and UAH 839).

Officials in the government assure the national budget of 2010 will take into account all the social needs of the population. In addition, bonuses that were not paid for several months will be evenly distributed by the end of this year will also be paid. “We will find UAH 24-28 bn to raising social standards. Of course, we cannot guarantee the raises envisaged, but there will be not cuts in salaries and pensions.

We will pay them on time,” said Tihipko during a recent TV appearance.

Betliy says the most the government will agree to is raising minimum wages and pensions according to the inflation rate on a quarterly basis.

“Though these raises are negligible, it will be possible to say that the promises have been fulfilled and the new government is no worse than the previous one. There was simply no money left to do more,” the expert said.

Salaries will not be raised across the entire rate scale.

“As international experience showed, only low-income groups really must be supported during the economic crisis,” added Leshchenko.

One of the ways of economizing is cutting expenditures on the state bureaucratic apparatus. Political decisions –to cut expenditures on the salaries of the president and the administrative apparatus, labor payments, government vehicles and their maintenance is not likely to result in a reduction in spending. Ideally, if expenditures in every ministry and institution of the civil service are cut by 20%, UAH 38 bn can be saved from the total UAH 194 bn spent on public administration in 2009. Be that as it may, it is not likely that everybody will zealously dedicate their time and efforts to fulfill the president’s wishes.

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The whole world knows about Chornobyl.

But few people even in Ukraine know that for nearly a quarter of a century some kind of an independent country has existed in the Chornobyl zone. It is the size of Luxembourg with its own border, with rules for receiving citizenship, its own immunity to the economic crisis and a complete absence of red tape at all levels and branches of government

Radioactive T

oday, around twenty people and all of them elderly live in the vil lage of Paryshev situated about ten kilometers from Chornobyl.

We came here accompanied by Police Major Yaroslav Homenskiy. Paryshev is one of the most densely populated villa ges in the Chornobyl zone with a popula tion of 150. The population of Chornobyl is about the same All of these local residents have earned the right to live and die on their native soil. They were evicted and then returned. They were again evic ted and returned again illegally, secretly crossing the border. And so it continued until the Zone Administration acknowledged defeat and issued a regulation On the Life of Residents of the Chor nobyl Exclusion Zone. A shop on wheels comes once a week to supply the so called self settlers with basic food, matches, soap and other staple commodities. The local police visit them not to enforce law but to ask whether assistance is nee ded and if so – what kind of.

Those that returned to the zone are mostly elder ly people. Each of them had their own reasons, but they all had to adapt to the lives their ances tors lived on the land they cultivated. Beekee ping, animal husbandry (poultry and pigs), fi rewood in the stoves in their homes became the content and meaning of their existence. Their li fe throughout the year is subject to the calendar of Mother Nature. As one of the residents of the zone said,“There is no such notion of time. The re is no rush here.”

A primeval silence reigns here. A person involun tarily shudders when it suddenly is interrupted by the buzz of a chainsaw. A grandpa wearing a quilted jacket stands behind a gate.“To hell with

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EXCLUS IVE

P H O T O

S T O R Y

ve Citizens PHOTO: Anna Voytenko TEXT: Vitaliy Chaliy

this sharp toothed anti Christ bastard! It drives me up the wall,” says the old codger, pointing his chainsaw towards the garden.“Cut down all the birches in the valley. Oh how beautiful they were.

Gave lots of juice.”

Behind the house are signs of war between the old man named Ivan Semenyuk and a beaver.

The conflict began when the water in the canal that flows next to the garden where the beaver lives dried up. One morning the pond that Ivan had dug with his own hands long ago, had bred fish in and sat on the banks of every mor ning with his fishing pole got empty. All that was left were dying fish flipping their tails on the silt bottom of the pond. But the beaver’s canal was full again.

The livid Ivan caught the beaver in a trap. But when he and his neighbor took the beaver to give it the axe, the poor animal exuded “tears the size of hail almost like a human being”. The old cod gers felt pity for the beaver and released it. When the sentimental neighbor tried to pet the beaver goodbye it bit off his finger and now Mykola “has nothing to pick his nose with”. Now, the un grateful beaver is threatening the birch trees be hind Ivan’s house that provide the grandpa with excellent juice.

The village of Zalissya, unlike Paryshiv, is the le ast populated in the Chornobyl exclusion zone.

There is only one resident, a woman by the na me of Rosa Otroshko. She is without exaggera tion unique and should be an object of scienti fic research.

After graduating from high school she entered the Taras Shevchenko National University, and than worked as a teacher of Russian language and literature until her retirement. She never married and did not have any children. She says smiling,“I had thirty kids in each of my classes

and the class register became my husband,” She survived despite radiation, harsh living con ditions and ice water in which she stood up to her waist whole night and half a day when the ice in the swamp gave in. Help came only the next day. Rosa lost consciousness when she saw the flashing lights on the roof a vehicle. When the police officers ran up, she had no pulse. Much to the surprise of doctors and fellow patients that wagered their hospital cutlets on when Rosa would eventually pass away, she survived and re turned back home to Zalissya.

When parting, Rosa dedicated a poem to us and wrote it down on a piece of paper. For some rea son, the poem was in German.

We returned from the 30 km Chornobyl zone thinking that people there are special. Not picky, strong willed and good natured.Was it radioacti vity that makes them like this. KW

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10 SOCIETY Text: Tatiana Voronetska Komentari:

B

PHОТО: SHUTTERSTOCK

ritish researchers from the New Econom ics Foundation recently studied the economic balance of some well paid jobs that are use less to society and also ended up proving the great benefits of some low paid jobs. Famous for their ex traordinary views, these experts refuted the idea that an employee receives in come equal to his contribution to the economy. The Ukrainian newspaper Ko mentarii applied this approach to Ukrainian society and found non pres tigious jobs bring benefits up to UAH 10 for each hryvnia spent on them, while senior managers receiving the highest salaries in the country bring only losses of 38 UAH for each hryvnia they earn

Kindergarten nanny Officially, this job is titled “assistant to a kindergarten teacher’’. These nannies re ceive around UAH 850 a month. Some cit ies add to this sum from local budgets, but not all towns and villages can afford this luxury. Even in Kyiv, nurses in most kinder gartens earn under UAH 1, 000.

The average salary in Ukraine is about UAH 1,877, but studies show women earn on average 15–20% less than men. Thus for women the average salary is around UAH 1,595.Given that one day care worker tends 17 children on average, her role as a nanny in watching the children can be assessed as 30%, so the benefits from her job are around UAH 8,100. So, for one salary paid by the state to a nurse, the state receives around UAH 9,5 back.

MOST USELESS PROFESSIONS

THE

IN UKRAINE

Hospital nurses Hospital nurses earned an average of UAH 650 a month last year — just the minimum subsistence wage. However, the simple wet cleaning which nurses perform on a daily basis reduces the chances for infections by 50%. The official number of people infect ed this way is around 5,000 annually.

WHO reports such diseases are transferred by 8,7 to 21% of patients depending on the country. The average Ukrainian hospital has about 950,000 patients a month. So, if a nurse keeps at least two people from getting infected, her social impact for the state will be equal to UAH 2,760. That is, each hryv nia paid saves the state at least UAH 4.2.

Top bank managers In most countries bankers are blamed for almost all the consequences of the crisis,be cause of their risky games behind the reces sion. While it would be unfair to blame Ukrainian bankers for all their country’s wrongs, their activity before and during the first months of the crisis did in many ways worsen the situation.

Despite this, Ernst&Young re ports salaries in the banking

sector have continued to grow. If the aver age salary of the chairman of a Ukrainian bank in the past was about UAH 75,000 a month, it grew to UAH 118,000 just in the first three months of 2009. At the same time the salary of the ordinary top mana ger for the same period increased from UAH 22,700 to 43,000 UAH — not in cluding bonuses. As of mid year 2009, 184 banks operated in Ukraine with 9,000 top managers. The cost of this army amounts to nearly 13 bn hryvnia. So, one hryvnia earned by a banking director cost Ukraine a full UAH 38.

Hospital nurses earn UAH 650 — just the minimum subsistence wage

Traffic police

Tax consultant It is difficult to assess the effect of tax con sultants activities, because they say the ulti mate goal is not tax evasion or the violation of tax laws, but merely the rational distri bution of resources to optimize taxes. Be that as it may, from the standpoint of the state the result of their work means a loss of tax revenue. Typically, tax consultants work according to three principles. The first is an hourly wage, when the consultant works as a tax auditor. Second is the development of an optimization plan that costs around UAH 7,000–15,000 for an average Ukrain ian company. Third is implementing the plan and supervising it.

The fact is that often tax consultants speci fy the minimum cost of supervising an ac tivity, but if the effect is significant, they can earn up to 10% of the money saved on tax es. That is, one received hryvnia can mean the loss of 10 hryvnia for the state. KW

Public gain from every deducted hryvnya/pound

Ukraine

Managers of Advertising Companies

PHОТО: PHL

One may only guess what traffic police real ly “earn’’, but according to official statistics, a senior inspector who has served under five years earns UAH 1,200 a month, while those in uniform more than five years earn UAH 1,500. In 2005, when «reorganiza tion’’ was seen as taking traffic police off the road, the lack of control over drivers lead to a 25–40% increase in road accidents, ac cording to various sources.

Losses from road traffic accidents make 1.4% of GDP according to the official data, but experts from the World Bank say it makes around 3.5% of GDP annually. That is,even at minimal percents this accounts for UAH 11.9 bn. The increasing number of ac cidents by 25% will costs UAH 2.97 bn to Ukraine. Today traffic police number nearly 23,000 employees, with 15,300 of them offi cers in the road patrol service. So, annually their combined salary is UAH 275.4 mn.

This means that one hryvnia spend on a state inspector brings UAH 10.8 to the state.

consumption by at least 2%. International ex perts believe this «adver tising» promotion in Ukraine was not supported by real income and was simply funded by loans. In 2008, the loan market loans for physical persons increased by 114 bn hryvnia and with 2% of this (or UAH 2.28 bn) was thanks to the work advertising companies.

Experts say that the 30 top leaders of the advertising companies make up to 80% of the market. The monthly income of senior leaders in the market ranged from U.S $8,000 to $10,000, which is approxi mately UAH 40,000–50,000. Given a dozen such people in a company, their total annual income is UAH 180 mn.

This means that one hryvnia earned by top advertising management company costs society UAH 12,6.

While advertising companies do con tribute to the economy, they also push consumption often not backed by in come. For example, experts say 25% an nual growth in the pharmaceutical mar ket is simply due to the large scale of ad vertising expensive imported medicines that are not in fact always necessary. In as sessing the role of advertising in the actu al consumption will be based on the fact that the company customers do not pay more for the services of advertisers the fi nal advertising revenues. In 2008 accord ing to State Statistics Committee, Ukrain ians actually spent UAH 564.2 bn on goods and services. During the same peri od, the All Ukrainian Advertising Coali tion reported that the turnover of the ad vertising market was UAH 11.5 bn. In other words, advertising increased actual

Bank management Advertising companies Tax lawyers Kindergarten nannies Hospital nurses Traffic inspectors

minus 38.0 minus 12.6 minus 10.0 plus 9.0 plus 4.2 plus 10.8

Bank management Advertising companies Tax lawyers Kindergarten nannies Hospital nurses Employees at garbage disposal plants

minus 7.0 minus 11.5 minus 47.0 plus 9.4 plus 2.3

The UK

plus 11.0

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IN PERSON

Iss.11 MARCH 26—APRIL 1, 2010 www.kyivweekly.com

11

Celeste Wallander: If there is a certain challenge for Ukraine or a threat, the U.S. will examine the corresponding measures in the context of a certain scenario

C

eleste Wallander, an adviser to Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic Primary campaign and a well known expert on Russia, former di rector of the Russia and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and now Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and a mem ber of the Council on Foreign Relations told us why the missile defense systems are designed, why the relations between Kyiv and NATO are positive and what the point was of reload in the dialogue with Moscow

KW: It is impossible to convince Russia that NATO is not going to attack it. Mos cow is well aware of this. As we know, any actions of NATO and the U.S. in European countries trigger a negative reaction in Russia. Did officials in Wash ington resign themselves to the down fall of “reload”?

C.W.: I cannot agree with your use of the term “downfall of reload” in your question.

First of all, reload is not a policy. Reload im plies an attempt to change the status quo of Russian–American relations. At the end of 2008, the relations between our countries were very negative and caustic – not only due to the conflict in Georgia, but also in its context. We found ourselves in a situation where it was impossible to discuss even those issues in which we achieved funda mental consensus, such as the non prolifer ation regimen and control over weapons of mass destruction, not to mention those is sues on which we failed to reach an agree ment. Reload was a moment when we said: “OK, we have changed the atmosphere and

KW: The Ukrainian parliament adopted

a draft resolution calling for the rein forcement of guarantees of Ukraine’s national security. Some claim that the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances is only a declaration. What actions should Kyiv expect from the U.S. in case any other guarantor country fails to fulfill its obligations?

C.W.: We made it clear that the Budapest Memorandum is construed as an important document for the U.S. In the context of our mission for strategic partnership with Ukraine, we repeatedly stressed that we are serious about our relations with Ukraine and, in particular, noted that Russia also gave similar guarantees and assumed the corre sponding responsibilities.Under the circum stances of a certain challenge or threat to Ukraine, the U.S. will examine the corre sponding measures in the context of a partic ular scenario or case. No abstract specula tions will clarify this discrete stand.

KW: Relations between NATO and the

PHОТО: I. DOBROVOLSKIY

KW: People talk much about the prolon gation and reform of the START 1 pro gram, but for Ukraine the future of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) is very relevant. Taking advantage of the fact that the effective pe riod of the treaty had run out, Russia is regrouping its forces and justifies its move by the need to regulate the situation in the Caucasus and force Georgia to peace. In view of the present day realities, this could be dangerous for Ukraine.

Hence, the question arises: when will the mechanism of control over conventional armed forces be restored in Europe?

C.W.: We believe the CFE is very important for Europe. It is viewed as the cornerstone of European security and I think this is cor rect. The date was not defined. For this rea son, we still have to discuss proposals for continued cooperation with our allies and partners taking into consideration the changing priorities for security in Euro pean countries. Clearly, the main objective is finding ways to bring Russia back into the framework of CFE treaty commitments.We have no intentions of simply waiting for this to happen. We will actively seek such opportunities in close collaboration with our allies and partners. Moreover, we are prepared to open discussions of the ideas concerning the regimen of control over the armed forces based on the regimen treaty, which would correspond to the needs of Europe and U.S. interests.

KW: The deployment of missile defense components in the Black Sea remains in the works and international agreements envisage the stationing of the U.S. Navy.

Are there any plans to resolve this issue?

C.W.: There are currently no plans for deployment of any components of the sys tem in the Black Sea on permanent basis.

Text: Oleksiy Kaftan Komentari:

will see whether we can move forward.” At the same time, we continue to maintain our position when discussing such controver sial issues with Russia, including those con cerning Russia’s attitude towards the sover eignty, territorial integrity and independ ence of its neighbors and the consequences of the war in Georgia. We expect Russia to fulfill its responsibilities, such as those envisaged by the Cease Fire Plan intro duced by French President Nicola Sarkozy.

Hence, the process is ongoing and we have

Ukraine-NATO: either the wife is not in the mood or the husband is too tired made certain progress, but we still have no agreement on the Strategic Arms Reduc tion Treaty (START). There are many tasks ahead of us and I think it would be very pre mature to say that we have failed to execute them.

KW: The opportunity of using the Sevas

topol rocket attack alarm system, the location of missile defense systems on the Ukraina cruiser and the participa

tion of Ukrainian experts of the Piv denne Design Bureau in the develop ment of the system discussed during the visit of the director of the Missile De fense Agency Lt. Gen. Henry Obering to Kyiv. Will there be further developments on this issue?

C.W.: Our main objective according to our plans is to concentrate on cooperation with our NATO allies. At the moment, we have no plans of deployment of any FAPs be yond NATO borders nor on Ukrainian ter ritory.We discussed a number of variants of the construction of missile defense systems but we did not examine Ukraine in the con text of our solutions for the FAPs. KW: Notwithstanding, the deployment of

missile defense systems is likely to pro voke a negative reaction in the Kremlin.

C.W.: We are totally frank with Russia. We held briefings on this system for the Rus sian government. I cannot comment on Russia’s reaction to such decisions, but it seemed at that time that we gave a clear explanation if why such a system is needed, how it should function and what its resour ces are.We will continue to inform the Rus sian government and explain that the sys tem will not undermine the capabilities of Russian nuclear weapons and was not de signed for this purpose.

Ukrainian government hark of an unhap py marriage: either the wife is not in the mood or the husband is too tired. Unhap py couples resolve their problems either by legal counsel or the advice of a sex ther apist. What choice does Ukraine have in this case?

C.W.: I agree that the progress in relations be tween NATO and Ukraine is not as funda mental as many Ukrainians had hoped for.

Let us not forget that Ukraine has made its contribution to many NATO programs, including peacekeeping missions in the Kosovo conflicts and the fight against piracy in the Mediterranean Sea. Such participation is not always reported on the front pages of print media, but as for the defense sector, which I am responsible for and which I can comment on, Ukraine – NATO relations are solid, healthy and active. As to NATO mem bership, there are issues that need to be dis cussed. Mind you, our approach has always been very pragmatic.We commend Ukraine’s compliance to NATO standards and its con tribution to NATO missions in the interests of the country’s national security. If the Ukrain ian people choose NATO membership one day, they will deserve such a choice. Such ac tions benefit the national security of Ukraine regardless of the choice of its citizens.

KW: When you speak of Ukrainians vot ing in favor of NATO membership, do you mean through a nationwide referendum?

C.W.: There are no demands as to the inter nal procedures in the country concerning its decision on NATO membership. The choice of such procedures is a sovereign right for any country. In short, NATO has no requirements or prescriptions to the way the Ukrainian people and government con firm their choice. KW

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12 UKRAINICUM

Terror a la Kyiv Text: Serhiy Petukhov Weekly.ua PHОТО: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Why revolutionary terrorists failed to blow up a single bomb in Kyiv

T

here is nothing surprising in re ports that an attempt to blow up the motorcade of incumbent President Viktor Yanukovych during his inaugura tion was false. Indeed, a hundred years ago, when bombs of revolutionary activ ists were exploding throughout the Rus sian Empire, Kyiv was a truly "enchanted place" for terrorists as their dynamite simply fizzled out

Terror against tsarism was announced by Socialist Revolutionary Party, commonly known as Esers. The Central Committee pronounced death sentences to the “tsar’s satraps", which were carried out by the par ty’s Fighting Organization (FO) under the leadership of a Kyiv pharmacist named Mikhail Gershuni.

Gershuni personally handpicked suicide bombers. He needed fanatics that were for bidden to leave the crime scene.The terrorists were obliged to use the courts as a platform of propagating social revolutionary ideas, while their indifference to death was a way of fright ening the government. In other words, these were fanatics that had no guilt complex and would go right to the bitter end.

The first terrorist acts organized by Ger shuni were successful. On April 2, 1902 in St. Petersburg a gunman dressed as an officer shot Interior Minister Sipyagin right in the hallway of the ministry.In July,another gun man in the Tivoli Park in Kharkiv wounded the local governor Prince Obolensky.In May 1903, the governor of Ufa Bogdanovich was shot dead in the city park.

Gershuni, who personally supervised the attacks, shuttled between Ufa and Geneva to report his work to the Central Commit tee. Much to his misfortune, he decided to pay a visit to Kyiv on his way to Switzerland.

Grigoriy Gershuni

Failure of engineer Darnitsiyenko

PHОТО: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Gershuni sent a telegram from Ufa to Kyiv.

When switching trains in Voronezh, he sent another telegram. Both of them were ad dressed to Rosa Rabinovich, who at the time owned a surgery located near the Bessarab skiy Market in Kyiv.The clinic was always full of suspicious persons and the local police had put Rabinovich under secret surveil lance.When she received a telegram in which it was written "Dad will come tomorrow" signed by one Darnitsiyenko, the police

Fortunately, Kyiv has not seen such a wave of terror as Petersburg.

A bomb attack on the carriage of exchequer and the debris of the carriage of the Grand Duke Sergey Aleksandrovich (on the right)

Kyiv Governor General Nikolay Klejgels

immediately staked out the train stations in Darnytsya, Boyarka, Kyiv 2 and Kyiv 1.

The prudence was very a propos. At the Darnytsya station nobody alit from the train.

But on the right bank of the Dnipro River at the Kyiv 2 station, a gentleman wearing an engineer’s cap jumped from the train onto the platform. He bent down to tie his shoes and professionally checked whether he was being followed by police agents.

This move gave him away.The agents did not have a photograph of Gershuni, but one of them noticed the suspicious look on his face as he was tying his shoes. The engineer had a squint in his eyes and the police were aware of his defect. When Gershuni went down Vasylkivska St. from the end station at Lybid ska to the office of Rabinovich,the agents had no doubts about his intentions. Gershuni al so realized that he was caught. One senior agent wrote in his report that the subject un der surveillance bought a glass of lemonade, but was unable to drink it because his hands were shaking from fear.

Happy-go-lucky Dragomirov After Gershuni was arrested, the Esers com pletely altered their tactics. They decided that shooting unsuspecting individuals in the back was nothing short of trivial ban ditry. This was when dynamite bombs be came the trademark of terrorists.

The Central Committee gave the terrorists three main assignments.In St.Petersburg they had an order to kill Minister of the Interior Vyacheslav Pleve, in Moscow – Governor General Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich, in Kyiv – Governor General Nikolai Kleigels.

The latter was a true gift to the SRs. Prior to him the Russian tsar for many years was rep resented by General Mikhail Dragomirov, whom Kyiv residents were very fond of.

The agents knew that the public execution of Dragomirov would for them be a politi cal faux pas. But in 1903 the general fell ill and went to spend the last days of his life in peace at his family estate near Konotop. He was replaced by Kleigels, the former gov ernor of St. Petersburg.

Kleigels’ move to Kyiv was preceded by a scandal.The general was informed that some French woman with a dubious reputation was boisterously carousing with officers of the guard. Without inquiring which of the officers was covering her,Kleigels ordered the madam to leave St. Petersburg in 24 hours.

The general was summoned by Com mander in Chief of the Guard Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich and was repri manded in front of the duke’s adjutants.This is how the general ended up in Kyiv not even realizing that the femme fatale had saved his life. Revolutionaries hunted down Trepov, who replaced Kleigels as the governor gen eral of St.Petersburg,to a deadly heart attack.

The next governor Von der Launitz was assassinated.

On the day of the planned assassination the terrorists turned away for a second and Klei gels’ carriage raced right past them. Anoth er day the police kept a close eye on a parcel in their hands with a bomb. There were dif ferent reasons for the failure. One day a Cos sack terrorist couple disappeared into thin air without notifying their supervisor named David Baryshansky. It turned out that one Boris Savenkov, who organized the terrorist acts in St. Petersburg and Moscow, took Kyiv under his control.

Love and bombs

Cossacks from Belarus Compared to St. Petersburg and Moscow, where Pleve and Sergei Aleksandrovich were transported in their carriages under heavy security and constantly changed their sched ules and routes, the task of the terrorist bombers in Kyiv was child’s play.

Kleigels always left the governor's palace lo cated on Institutska St. in an open carriage without any guards. The palace was burned down in 1920 during the retreat of the Poles from Kyiv.A police security guard was always on duty at the front gates of the palace. But the terrorists could simply wait for the gen eral’s carriage down on Kreshchatyk St. and toss a bomb right into the general’s lap.

To execute this mission the revolutionaries hired a two Cossacks (a couple) from Be larus. But time passed on and nothing tran spired. Pleve fell victim to a bombing in St. Petersburg and Grand Duke Sergei Aleksan drovich was blown to smithereens by a bomb right on the Klemlin square in Mos cow. In Kyiv the plans were disrupted.

PHОТО: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Bloody debut

PHОТО: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

PHОТО: WIKIPEDIA.ORG

For the revolutionary merits terrorist Savinkov (centre) became a commissioner in the Provisional Government.

The second on the right – Alexandr Kerensky

In Geneva, Savenkov recruited immigrants from Western Ukraine named Mania Shkolnyk and Aaron Shpeizman. He was afraid of engaging activists in Kyiv as there was a risk of the local police knew who they were. But the atmosphere in Kyiv played a cruel joke on them.

“While walking down Kreshchatyk when Shpeizman and Shkolnyk were supposed to stake out Kleigels, I rarely saw them on ground,” Savenkov wrote later. “When I met them in the evenings, I expressed my sur prise on more than one occasion. They gave different excuses for their failed attempts: one day Shpeizman fell ill, on another day Shkolnyk had a headache from the street noise. Despite their excuses, I suspected that they were hiding something from me.”

As it turned out, the young couple was hid ing their intimate affair from a member of the Central Committee. This became clear when Savenkov invited Mania for a date alone without Speizman and asked for an explanation.

Mania cried: “Ok, Ok... I'll tell you all ... But for God's sake do not let Aaron know.”

“What's the matter?”asked Savenkov."Aaron does not allow me. He doesn’t want me to throw the bomb ..." said Shkolnyk. "But you were not supposed to throw a bomb. That was his job. You're only his emergency part ner," Savenkov tried to explain. She replied, “He doesn’t want to do the bomb job either.”

We must pay tribute to the legend of revolu tionary terror named Boris Savenkov. He let an enamored couple escape and reported to the Central Committee that the plan of the Kleigels had failed.

For almost ten years of revolutionary terror, left wing extremists organized 263 terror at tacks killing and injuring more than 4,000 people. But the terrorist bombers never again appeared in Kyiv, where love is stronger than death. In 1909, the Central Committee of socialist revolutionaries re nounced its terrorist activity and dissolved the fighting organization.

Prior to the October Revolution of 1917, political terrorism returned to Kyiv only once.In September 1911,one Dmitry Bogrov shot Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin in the Kyiv Opera House. But this assassina tion was believed to be organized by anarch ists and is a separate story altogether. KW

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TRAVELLING

Iss.11 MARCH 26—APRIL 1, 2010

Text: Maryna Kryvunchenko

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PHОТО: SHUTTERSTOCK

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www.kyivweekly.com

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CHERNIHIV A CITY OF A BLACK MONK C

hernihiv is an old city worth visiting for many reasons. Firstly this town was in his day the capi tal of a mighty principality and used to be among the biggest European towns with a size of the modern day France in 12th 13th century. Secondly, this area is an archeological treasure of Ukraine. Thirdly, where else you can see the Black Monk ghost that for many years puzzles Ukrainian scientists and adventures

Peter I presented the cannons to the town in recognition of the bravery of the Chernihiv Cossacks

bones decorated with patterns. By analyzing the impact patterns on the bones,experts have even been able to reconstruct the music com posed in those ancient times.

Chernihiv still has the spirit of the fortress,de spite losing its military importance and abol ishing back in 18th century. The fortifications were leveled to the ground at the beginning of the 19th century and a park with a boulevard was arranged on their place. Now it is a recre ation zone popular with the locals and a tour ist symbol who call it Val (meaning fortifica tions) more out of tradition.

One of the Val sites is twelve cast iron cannons, which were placed on gun carriages overlook ing the slope of the hill on the site of the for mer fortifications.

The legend says that four biggest cannons were presented to the city by Peter I in recognition of the bravery of the Chernihiv Cossacks dur ing the war against Swedish invaders. We will

make no effort to disprove this legend because the old story is a highlight of the town history.

Among other Val attractions is the Historical Museum and the Art Museum, as well as the Ancient Chernihiv Exposition by the Nation al Architectual and Historical Park.

The most mystical and visited places in Cher nihiv are the legendary St. Anthony’s Caves at the Holy Trinity St. Elias Monastery, one of the oldest sites from the times of the Kyivan Rus. A monastery was built approximately in 11th century after the visit of St.Anthony who founded Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.

For centuries, local monks have been work ing on the cave complex under the monas tery. These catacombs have been the site of many phenomena for which there is no sci entific explanation. In 1970, the famous Black Monk, a ghost in a long black robe, made his first appearance.

Most visitors to the caves experience in creased vitality, a feeling of euphoria and the correction of abnormal heart rhythms, so from time immemorial, people from all over Ukraine have travelled there to be cured of various ailments.

Besides the caves, the Holy Trinity St. Elias Monastery boasts the Holy Trinity Cathe dral (1679) and the Church of the Presenta tion (1677) boasting a 58 metre bell tower that offers a fascinating view of the city. No wonder this picturesque land has inspired such writers as Taras Shevchenko,Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolay Gogol, Mykhailo Kotsyu bynskiy and many others.

Not only the town, but also Chernihiv region has a lot of sites to be proud of. From 1669 to 1708 and again from 1750 to 1764 Baturyn town was the residence of Hetmans Samoy lovych and Mazepa and the last Ukrainian hetman,Kyrylo Rozumovskiy.Their residence is ramshackle, but still fascinating.

The partially preserved 10th century Yuriev’s House of Prayer is the second most important monument of the Kyivan Rus period, after St Sophia’s Cathedral, and draws visitors to Os ter town in Chernihiv Oblast.

Another popular ancient town of the region is Nizhyn that was first officially mentioned in 1147. It was once the site of trade fairs, a Cossack community and a former Greek colony in Ukraine. KW

TRANSFER TIPS The best way to get to Chernihiv is by car along the Kyiv-Chernihiv road or by public shuttles from the Lisova metro station.

The two-hour trip costs around UAH 30.

PHОТО: UNIAN

Chernihiv conceals as many secrets as Egypt’s Valley of the Kings and has survived several invasions.In 1992 based on the archeological discoveries the town officially celebrated its 1300th anniversary, while it was first official ly mentioned in the historical chronicles in 907. In the 11th 13th centuries, it was the capital of the Chernihiv principality de stroyed by the Mongol Tatars in 1239. Dur ing the 14th 15th century the town was con trolled by Lithuania and Poland. Later on it became a part of Russian Empire.

Some believe that town was named after its founder Cherniha warrior. However, local people prefer the romantic legend about a girl who threw herself out of a window in order to escape the marriage against her will.Her fa ther was Prince Chorniy who is believed to be the founder of the town and was buried there in the Chorna Grave.

preserved there. The Cathedral of St Boris and St Hlib was built in the 12th century on the foundations of an even earlier building.

The Tsar Gates, built at the beginning of the 18th century on the orders of Hetman Ivan Mazepa still stand there. The 18th century St Katherine’s Church housing the Museum of Folk and Decorative Arts is considered to be the symbol of Chernihiv.

The Chernihiv area is a paradise for historians and researchers.Ancient settlements left a great heritage for the modern people. Tourists are coming here to the ancient tools and pieces of art,as well as the musical instuments.The most famous and interesting piece of the collection of the Chernihiv Historical Museum is a “noisy bracelet”similar to a castanet made of the six mammoth

13

Most of architectural attractions are locat ed here in Dytynets,a historical area in the centre of town. The earliest settlements appeared here at the beginning of the first millennium and during the 8th 12th centuries the town was fortified and embarked with a wall.

Chernihiv historical treasure is the 11th century Church of the Transfigura tion of Our Savior. One of the oldest cathedrals of the Kyivan Rus and present day Ukraine built by the legendary Prince Mstislav the Brave. The weapons of the Kyiv princes and the battle colors of Chernihiv Cossack regiments are also

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Seven wonders of Chernihiv

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14 SPORT

Haye day looms large Text: Semen Zaporozhets Weekly.ua

Vitaliy Klitschko

Wladimir Klitschko

Citizenship: Ukraine Age: 38 Alias: Dr. Ironfist Height: 6'6’'' Reach: 80’ Weight Division: Heavyweight Record: 41 fights, 39 wins (37 KOs), 2 losses Estimated purse per fight: from US $5 mn

Citizenship: Ukraine Age: 33 Alias: Dr. Steelhammer Height: 6' 6'' Reach: 81'' Start of career: 1996 Record: 57 fights, 54 wins (KOs 48), 3 losses (KOs 3) Estimated purse per fight: starting from US $5 mn

His opponents

His opponents

David Haye

Aleksandr Povetkin Citizenship: Russia Age: 30 Alias: Russian Vityaz Height: 6' 2'' Reach: 75'' Start of career: 2005 Record: 19 fights, 19 wins (14 KOs), no losses Estimated purse per fight: starts from US $1 mn

Pros: quick technical boxer with a hard punch and an impeccable win-loss record Cons: medium-sized (only two bouts in the superheavyweight ), does not withstand punches well, psychologically unstable, too cocky Achievements: European champion, undisputed world heavyweight champion, WBA world superheavyweight champion Strongest opponents defeated: Jean-Marc Mormeck, Monte Barrett, Nikolai Valuev

Pros: strong punch, aggressive style, classic trainer (American Teddy Atlas) Cons: medium-sized, not enough experience, cannot judge strength from a distance and often tires in the final rounds Achievements: Olympic champion (Athens 2004 in the heavyweight category), amateur world champion (2003), European champion (2004). Official contender for the IBF belt Strongest defeated opponents: Larry Donald, Chris Byrd, Eddie Chambers

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Citizenship: United Kingdom Age: 29 Alias: Hayemaker Height: 6' 3'' Reach: 78'' Start of career: 2002 Record: 24 fights, 23 wins (21 KOs), 1 loss Estimated purse per fight: starting from US $2

Odlanier Solis Citizenship: Cuba Age: 29 Alias: La Sombra (The Shadow) Height: 6' 1'' Reach: 79' Start of career: 2007 Record: 16 fights, 16 wins (12 KOs), no losses Approximate purse per fight – from US $500,000 Pros: aggressive, feisty and technical without a loss in the professional ring Cons: medium-sized, does not have enough experience and has never fought a top-class opponent Achievements: Olympic heavyweight champ (Athens 2004), three-time world champ in Olympic boxing. Must fight Ray Austin to gain the status of an official contender Strongest opponents defeated: Julius Long, Monte Barrett, Carl Davis Drumond.

James Toney Citizenship: U.S. Age: 41 Alias: Lights Out Height: 5' 10'' Reach: 72'' Start of career: 1989 Record: 83 fights, 72 wins (KOs 44), 6 losses, 3 draws Estimated purse per fight: starting from US $0.8 mn Pros: huge experience, lightning quick and mobile Cons: small dimensions and size, a disposition to excess weight. Eccentric , scandalous and was disqualified for drug use Achievements: legendary boxer, was world champion of different versions in four weight categories, but was never a super-heavyweight. Very popular in the U.S. and is in 5th place in the WBC rating Strongest defeated opponents: Evander Holyfield, Dominick Guinn, Fres Oquendo

Samuel Peter

David Haye has been offered a choice to fight either one of Ukraine’s Klitschko brothers.

On the flipside, the KO brothers have no choice – one of them has to send Haye down on the canvas

T

he recent bout between Wladimir Klitschko and Ameri can “Fast Eddie” Chambers and the fight between Vitaliy Klitschko and Albert Sosnowski of Poland leave an open question as to the careers of the KO brothers in the ring. The ques tion is very simple: which of them will put up their dukes against Britain’s David Haye for the WBA champi onship belt, the only world title that the KO brothers do not hold In professional world boxing there are a dozen organizations that post their ratings and put up their cham pionship belts for contention. But only four of them are regarded the most important and prestigious: The World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC), the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and the World Boxing Organi zation (WBO).

At present, the world heavyweight champions are Wladimir Klitschko (IBF and WBO), Vitaliy Klitschko

(WBC) and David Haye (WBA). Kl itschko Jr. successfully defended his ti tle against WBO champion Eddie Chambers on March 20 and is sched uled to face contender for the IBF belt Aleksandr Povetkin.

Klitschko Sr. is scheduled to fight Eu ropean champion Albert Sosnowski on May 29 in Helsenkirchen, Ger many. Who Vitaliy will go up against after that has not been determined.

But one thing for certain is that both the Klitschko brothers dream of meet ing Haye in the ring in the foreseeable future. Haye will fight American John Ruiz in Manchester on April 3.

Although it is a taboo in the sport of boxing to “look one’s opponent in the back”, Vitaliy Klitschko and David Haye have all the chances of beating their next opponents and agree to meet one another in the ring.Vitaliy is hoping that his younger brother will let him butt into line to face Haye out of respect.

KW examines the most probable and interesting variants of the upcoming fights of the Klitschko brothers. KW

Citizenship: Nigeria Age: 29 Alias: Nigerian Nightmare Height: 6'2'' Reach: 77'' Start of career: 2001 Record: 34 wins (27 KOs), 3 losses Approximate purse per fight: from US $1 mn Pros: strong and fast punch, tremendous endurance Cons: monotonous movement in the ring, static Achievements: in March 2008 he took away the WBC world champion belt from Oleg Maskaev, but then lost it to Vitaliy Klitschko, who made his comeback to the ring in October of the same year.

Overcame a psychological crisis, successfully revived his career and today is an official contender for the IBF title (after Povetkin).

Strongest opponents defeated: James Tony, Jamil MacLain, Oleg Maskaev

David Tua Citizenship: New Zealand Age: 37 Alias: Tuamanator Height: 5' 10'' Reach: 70'' Start of career: 1992.

Record: 54 fights, 50 wins (43 KOs), 3 losses, 1 draw Approximate purse per fight: US $700,000 Pros: strong punch, huge experience, aggressive style Cons: small dimensions and long breaks in his career (due to financial problems) Achievements: held simultaneous second degree belts in different versions. Today is third in WBO ratings and highly popular among boxing fans Strongest opponents defeated: John Ruiz, Oleg Maskaev, Michael Moorer and Hasim Rahman

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16 TOP BILLBOARD

Iss.11 MARCH 26—APRIL 1, 2010 www.kyivweekly.com

BORN THIS WEEK

CROSSWORD

March 26 1

Tennessee Williams, an American playwright who received many of the top theatrical awards for his works of drama

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Ukrainian House March 31 – April 2

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March 28

Sport Palace March 31, 19:00

April 1 Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist known for his "hierarchy of human needs" concept, the founder of humanistic psychology

Apocalyptica is a Finnish symphonic metal combo from Helsinki, Finland, formed in 1993. The band is composed of classically trained cellists and, since 2003, a drummer. It has no vocalist as a permanent member. The band initially became known for their covers of wellknown trash metal bands switching then to composing their own music.

Apocalyptica’s music cannot be subjected to common classification. Using only cellos, the musicians obtain a much heavier and extreme sound than the majority of bands with traditional for rock style guitars.

The band has played approximately 850-1,000 concerts during their career in about 50 countries. At the moment, Apocalyptica are putting the finished touches on their newest studio album, titled 7th Symphony, which will be released in the summer of 2010

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March 30

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The exhibition – fair will feature the works of folk art masters from different regions of Ukraine. Visitors will have an opportunity to admire ceramics from Opishnya, Poltava Oblast and Havarechchyna, Lviv Oblast. Folklore fans will be able to purchase Hutsul blankets, traditional shoes and flutes. Hand-painted Easter eggs – the symbol of joy and belief in resurrection of Christ – will be the center of attention.

Those who study the Ukrainian Easter eggs find the symbolic drawings depicting fire, water, earth, etc.

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EXHIBITION

March 29

Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr., the 45th US Vice President from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2007

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Easter Fair

March 31

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Quentin Jerome Tarantino, an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor

Eric Patrick Clapton, an English blues-rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer

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Elle Macpherson, an Australian supermodel, actress, and businesswoman

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Diana Ross, an American singer and actress.

Vince Vaughn, an American film actor

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53. Ark builder 54. Profusion 57. Small drum 61. Come-on 62. Novelist Vidal 63. Kind of acid 64. Not shut tight 65. Peruse 66. Smiling 67. Tyne of “Cagney & Lacey” 68. Charitable donations 69. Tugs

24. Meal for the humble?

26. Bard’s river 27. French novelist Andr 28. Greek war god 29. Clipped 30. Chief city of northern Nigeria 32. Get by 34. Neat as __ 35. Tiny parasite 36. Discharges a debt 39. Big exhibition 40. Given to procrastination 43. Backing for actors?

45. A singing Jackson 47. Peculiar 48. Wonder drug for men 50. Leaves for lunch?

51. Nigeria’s capital 52. Wall painting 53. Requirements 55. Coward in the theater 56. Stuff 58. Noggin 59. Sow sound 60. Business records: Abbr.

1. Jeer 6. Washer cycle 10. Suffix with auto 14. __ Lumpur 15. Inventor Elias 16. Trademark 17. Pyromaniac’s crime 18. Egyptian goddess of magic 19. Level 20. Aquarium acquisition 21. Emotion 23. Hankering 25. Deceived 26. Morocco seaport 29. Knitter’s purchase 31. Creator god of the Incas 33. Pack down 37. Lyric poem 38. Fainted 41. Actress Zadora 42. “The Untouchables” hero 44. Nearness 46. Witches’ get-together 49. Aircraft 50. Saturday by the Seine

Down 1. Three-handed card game 2. Remedy 3. Malt kiln 4. Sunshine State 5. Zealots 6. __ kebab 7. Prepare to be shot 8. Victor’s pronouncement 9. Get snug 10. Merciful 11. Roamed 12. Ten per cent taker 13. Role for Silverheels 22. It’s opposite IX on a clock face

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