The Ukrainian Weekly 2008, No.38

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Helsinki Commission hearing on Georgian crisis – page 3. • The Ukrainian Museum begins the fall season – page 8. • And the winner of the Narbut Prize in philately is... – page 13 HE KRAINIAN EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit association Vol. LXXVI No. 38 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2008 $1/$2 in Ukraine Ukraine’s military exports up, Democratic coalition collapses while armed forces lack funds Tymoshenko Bloc and Party of Regions by Zenon Zawada move to further reduce presidential powers Kyiv Press Bureau by Zenon Zawada Tymoshenko Bloc (YTB) deputy Andrii KYIV – While Defense Kyiv Press Bureau Portnov to draft the numerous bills curtail- Minister Yurii Yekhanurov is ing the president’s authority. complaining that he doesn’t KYIV – The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc “If a citizen violates traffic rules, he is have enough money to feed and the Party of Regions of Ukraine lunged held responsible. And if a person violates Ukrainian soldiers, the forward in their campaign to further reduce the nation’s fundamental law, and does it nation’s military hardware President Viktor Yushchenko’s authority by intentionally, it’s obvious that punishment exporters are selling more passing a bill at the September 18 parlia- should be provided for,” he added. abroad than ever, particularly mentary session that imposes a prison sen- The Tymoshenko Bloc, Party of Regions to the Russian Federation. tence on the president for illegally dismiss- and Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) “Funds for feeding the ing the Verkhovna Rada. mustered 349 votes to pass the imprison- armed forces of Ukraine are The legislation is an attempt to prevent ment bill, more than two weeks after the available only through Mr. Yushchenko from dismissing same factions passed laws that stripped the October 31,” Mr. Yekhanurov Parliament before it can override his vetoes, president of his last remaining powers, told a September 9 press UNIAN/Oleksander Yurchenko which is what the Party of Regions accuses namely control of the Ministry of Foreign conference. “No funds or Ukrainian Defense Minister Yurii Yekhanurov visits him of doing in April 2007, when he dis- Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the food are available after a frigate in Sevastopol in late August. He recently missed the Verkhovna Rada as the coalition Security Service of Ukraine. November 1.” said the Defense Ministry is so underfunded it will was collecting a constitutional majority to The president said he will veto the laws Indeed the soldiers will have to cut back on armaments spending in order to supersede his vetoes. be fed, Mr. Yekhanurov feed soldiers. which diminish his authority on the grounds The move came just two days after the that they are unconstitutional. said, but the funds for food collapse of the Democratic Forces Coalition will be drawn from the ministry’s arma- factories than Ukraine’s own Defense That the same factions threatened to that had created a ruling majority out of the imprison the president should he try to dis- ments budget. Ministry does. Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc miss Parliament again indicates they are Meanwhile, Ukrainian military exporters, In 2007 the Russian military-industrial and the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. confident they can override the president’s the majority of which are state-owned enter- complex bought 25 percent of Ukrainian “It’s obvious that national interests place vetoes, said Yurii Syrotiuk, a parliamentary prises, raked in an unprecedented $1 billion exports, most of which were parts to build the defense of the Ukrainian Constitution analyst with the Open Society Foundation in sales in 2007, according to Mykhailo armaments and vehicles, Mr. Samus said. foremost, and not tolerating the trampling in Kyiv. Samus, assistant director of the Center for For example, all of the Russian military’s of the fundamental law,” said Oleksander When Rada Chair Arseniy Yatsenyuk Army, Conversion and Disarmament helicopters use engines produced by the Lavrynovych, a Party of Regions (PRU) Research in Kyiv, which is financed largely Motor Sich Engine-Building Plant in lawmaker who teamed with Yulia (Continued on page 5) by Western clients. Zaporizhia, he said. The biggest exporter, UkrSpetsExport, Motor Sich Board Chairman Viacheslav reported record sales of $300 million in the Bohuslayev is a leader and financer of the same period, he said. Figures on revenues pro-Russian Party of Regions of Ukraine and profits are not publicized, defense (PRU) and a fervent opponent of Ukraine’s Crimean Parliament recognizes experts said. membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Since the fall of the Soviet Union, both Organization (NATO). separatist regions of Georgia Russia and Ukraine have been among the Although no laws forbid Ukrainian biggest suppliers of military hardware to the exporters from selling finished weapons and by Zenon Zawada former Soviet republics, Asia, Africa and vehicles to Russia, its larger neighbor has no Kyiv Press Bureau Latin America. need for such purchases, Mr. Samus said. Simultaneously, Ukraine’s armed forces “Russian armed forces don’t need to buy KYIV – The Parliament of the are among the most poorly financed in finished products from Ukraine,” he said. Autonomous Republic of Crimea, con- Europe and can’t afford most of their “They make their own guns, tanks, destroy- trolled by the For Yanukovych bloc, voted domestically manufactured military hard- ers and bombers. But they use a lot of overwhelmingly on September 17 to recog- ware, which includes arms, vehicles, parts Ukrainian parts.” nize the independence of South Ossetia and and repair services. Despite the dependence of the Ukrainian Abkhazia, asking Ukraine’s Verkhovna Sales earned by the state-owned export- military-industrial complex on exports to Rada to do the same. ers are taxed for the state budget, but not Russia Mr. Samus said there’s no need to The resolution was supported by 79 out earmarked for the Defense Ministry. For fear the Ukrainian-produced hardware will of 90 deputies (10 were absent and eight example, UkrSpetsExport paid 100 million eventually be used against the Ukrainians voted against). The Parliament’s Tatars hrv ($20.6 million U.S.) in taxes in 2007, who manufactured them. “The Russians use voted against the measure, while the fierce- Mr. Samus said. most of these (Ukrainian) parts in their ly pro-Russian Yalta City Council lent its The government’s paltry financing of the exported products, such as rockets for China endorsement. armed forces, 9.9 billion hrv ($2 billion) in and helicopters for Venezuela,” Mr. Samus “In conditions of military aggression, 2008, amounted to only 1.1 percent of the said. committed by the Georgian leadership Gross Domestic Product, Mr. Yekhanurov Incidentally, the tiny state of Georgia is against the people of South Ossetia, and complained, while the Russian Federation among Ukraine’s biggest clients for military ceaseless attempts oriented toward the over- earmarked 7 percent of GDP for its military hardware, buying 6 percent of exports. throw of the lawful government of the and Turkey set aside 5 percent. The 9.9 billion hrv ($2 billion) military Republic of Abkhazia, the Verkhovna Rada As a result, no more than 5 percent of the budget that Mr. Yekhanurov inherited, which of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea Zenon Zawada military hardware produced by Ukraine’s he said was the smallest amount relative to expresses its support for the people of Crimean Tatar Mejlis Chairman 300-plus factories, most of which are state- GDP since Ukrainian independence, was Abkhazia and South Ossetia in their right Mustafa Jemilev (seen here in a photo owned, is bought by the Ukrainian govern- drafted by the pro-Russian government of for self-determination and supports the from December 2007) said Kyiv should ment. The rest is exported overseas. former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, actions of the Russian Federation in ensur- regard the Crimean Parliament’s The biggest customer is the Russian which cut spending from 10 billion hrv in ing the security of the republics of Abkhazia September 17 recognition of Abkhazian armed forces, which buy more than four and South Ossetian independence as a times the military hardware from Ukrainian (Continued on page 22) (Continued on page 5) “disturbing signal.” 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2008 No. 38 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Russian passports: Parties buying up billboards OU-PSD says no proposals received KYIV – Ukraine’s main political parties KYIV – The chairman of the Our Moscow’s geopolitical tool have already started preparations for pre- Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc, term parliamentary elections, it was report- Viacheslav Kyrylenko, said on September by Taras Kuzio list of Ukrainian politicians and business- ed on September 11. Proof of this can be 15 that his bloc had received no proposals men banned from entering Russia. It Eurasia Daily Monitor from any faction on the creation of a new includes the head of the Our Ukraine – seen in the fact that representatives of vari- September 15 coalition. He said only that the coalition People’s Self-Defense (OU-PSD) bloc, ous political forces are buying up billboard space. Parties are booking billboards with between the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc (YTB) The official protest by the Russian Viacheslav Kyrylenko, Petro Yushchenko and the Our Ukraine party had ceased to Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on (the president’s brother and a OU-PSD the expectation that early elections will exist. Mr. Kyrylenko said that the YTB had September 11 over the allegedly deputy), the governors of Kyiv and take place in December. The Single Center “done nothing to return to the coalition.” He “unfriendly” attitudes of the Ukrainian Kharkiv oblasts, the head of the parlia- party and Our Ukraine have already paid failed to predict the format of a new coali- authorities to Russia was met by a stern mentary Committee on Foreign Affairs (a for outdoor areas beginning in early member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc), October,” said Artem Bidenko, head of the tion.

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