INSIDE:• Verkhovna Rada commission reports on the Gongadze case — page 2. •A Ukrainian American journalist’s book about Chornobyl — page 5. • Volodymyr Klitschko’s latest victory makes him a contender — page 19. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXIII HE KRAINIANNo. 40 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2005 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine AsT fifth anniversaryU passes, President announcesW appointees Gongadze case still not over to hisby Zenon new Zawada team inM governmentr. Stashevskyi and Mr. Yekhanurov are Kyiv Press Bureau like-minded thinkers, Mr. Stoyakin said. Appearing to fulfill his commitment to KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko remove wealthy businessmen with con- formed most of his new government by flicts of interest, Mr. Yushchenko September 28, selecting a team he relieved trucking magnate Yevhen expects will work pragmatically and Chervonenko from the post of transporta- without the vicious in-fighting their pred- tion minister and David Zhvania from the ecessors engaged in. emergency situations minister post. To serve that cause, Mr. Yushchenko Yet, Mr. Yushchenko tapped another mostly chose appointees that belong to businessman, Viktor Baloha of the Our his Our Ukraine People’s Union party or Ukraine faction, to replace Mr. Zhvania. its allies. Mr. Baloha is a partner in a family busi- Of 24 Cabinet positions, Mr. ness, Barva, which engages in wholesale Yushchenko has replaced eight. Another trade of food products. He served as oblast 12 ministers will remain; among them administration chair for the Zakarpattia are two switching their job titles. Oblast. In his Who’s Who in Ukraine sub- Mr. Yushchenko has yet to name mission, Mr. Baloha stated that he was replacements for three positions, includ- chair between May 1999 and June 2001. ing that of justice minister, which was “In the place of one businessman, anoth- held by American-born Roman Zvarych. er is appointed,” Mr. Stoyakin commented. The president also created a Ministry of “He hasn’t separated business and poli- Construction and Architecture. tics, because to some extent everyone in “The government of Mr. Yekhanurov will government has their own business inter- be one of stability and understanding, with- ests,” said Ivan Lozowy, president of the out large-scale plans for reform,” said Vasyl Kyiv-based Institute of Statehood and Zenon Zawada Stoyakin, director of the Center for Political Democracy, which is exclusively financed Two Gongadze supporters light their candles on Independence Square during Marketing, which is financed by clients who by Ukrainian business donations. a September 16 vigil marking the fifth anniversary of his murder. pay for political research. “Yushchenko will Mr. Yushchenko also signed an order be the ideologue, and Mr. Yekhanurov will relieving Mr. Zvarych, Culture and by Yana Sedova and Zenon Zawada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn and Mr. be the implementer,” he added. Tourism Minister Oksana Bilozir and Kyiv Press Bureau Yushchenko’s entourage “did every- Independent National Deputy Health Minister Mykola Polishchuk thing to prevent this case from being Stanislav Stashevskyi became Ukraine’s without naming their successors. KYIV – It has been five years since heard in the Rada or the mass media.” first vice prime minister, replacing Mr. Zvarych began lobbying for for- Heorhii Gongadze’s gruesome slaying. These people believe wholehearted- Anatolii Kinakh, who took Petro mer Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko in Three of the four suspected in his ly that the Gongadze matter “is Poroshenko’s position as secretary of the murder await trial, while the Security buried,” Mr. Tomenko said. National Security and Defense Council. (Continued on page 17) Service of Ukraine is still trying to track In response, Mr. Yushchenko took a down Oleksii Pukach, the man suspect- very defensive stance on his administra- ed of strangling Gongadze to death who tion’s performance, repeating that is believed to be hiding in Israel. “more has been done in the last five Tarasyuk says sacking of Cabinet After the first month of President months than in the previous four years.” Viktor Yushchenko’s administration, it Ms. Gongadze also demanded the was process of political ‘catharsis’ appeared progress was under way. resignation of Procurator General However, after eight months, the Sviatoslav Piskun, calling on him “to by Andrew Nynka have a lot of strategies. We sometimes arrests of three suspects are the only note- stop his legal stupidity and non-profes- are lacking consistency in implementing NEW YORK – Nearly two weeks after worthy achievements. Gongadze’s head sionalism.” She is particularly opposed those strategies.” President Viktor Yushchenko sacked his has yet to be found, his body has yet to be to his decision to divide the criminal Moreover, the “economy, the fiscal Cabinet, Ukraine’s top diplomat said the buried, and Ukrainian prosecutors have investigation into two phases, criticiz- and monetary systems and the stock country was stable and undergoing a yet to arrest a single person responsible ing it as a “political manipulation.” exchange don’t mind these events and democratic process akin to political for organizing or ordering the murder. The first phase, which Mr. Piskun continue to run smoothly,” Mr. Tarasyuk “catharsis.” Considering that Mr. Yushchenko announced was completed on August 1, said during a speech at Columbia The change in the government, made declared the Gongadze investigation involved investigating and arresting those University’s School of International and by Mr. Yushchenko on September 8, has was a “matter of honor” for him per- who carried out Gongadze’s murder. Public Affairs on September 21. The not destabilized Ukraine, acting Foreign sonally that “required immediate The second phase will investigate those economy, he added, had slowed through- response” from the Ukrainian govern- Affairs Minister Borys Tarasyuk said. out all of Europe. who ordered the murder, Mr. Piskun said. Rather, the move is part of a process of ment, Gongadze’s advocates believe Observers say the decision to divide While Mr. Tarasyuk’s comments paint- not enough has been done so far. “self-cleaning of authorities,” and an ed an optimistic picture of the situation in the case appeared as though Mr. Piskun effort to “return to the ideals and princi- “I am very worried with the presi- were under political pressure. Ukraine, experts and analysts who focus dent’s position in this matter,” ples of the ‘maidan,’” the foreign minis- their work on Ukraine characterized it in As early as May he said in an inter- ter said, referring to Kyiv’s Independence Myroslava Gongadze, the slain jour- view with Ukrayina Moloda, a daily more uncertain terms. nalist’s widow, said at a September 9 Square, the focal point of the Orange “I hope that President Yushchenko is national newspaper, there would be “a Revolution. Kyiv press conference. “I feel there is common trial for those who committed able to take advantage of the political still no political will to call into Those ideals and principles largely crises in Kyiv to put Ukraine back on the the murder and its organizers.” revolve around rooting out corruption account the orderers of this crime.” Defending his subsequent decision, track to democracy, justice and the digni- Mykola Tomenko, the former vice and reforming Ukraine so that it is more ty that the Orange Revolution demanded Mr. Piskun said he divided the investiga- in line with Western European standards prime minister for humanitarian affairs, tion in order to expedite the case’s trans- this past winter,” said Mark von Hagen, echoed her concerns a few days later, of democracy, he explained. the Boris Bakhmeteff Professor of declaring that Verkhovna Rada (Continued on page 4) In that regard, Ukraine is not lacking in strategies, Mr. Tarasyuk said. “We (Continued on page 13) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2005 No. 40 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Parliament commission says Kuchma Yulia speaks of political plans has long regarded Ms. Tymoshenko as an anti-Russian politician, but her new role as was behind Gongadze’s abduction KYIV – Former Prime Minister Yulia a possible counterweight to Ukrainian Tymoshenko said on the 1+1 television President Viktor Yushchenko “is a very by Jeremy Bransten cles about alleged high-level corruption. He channel on September 26 that she is plan- valuable quality” in Moscow’s eyes, NTV RFE/RL Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova Report was abducted in Kyiv in September 2000. ning to regain her post after the 2006 par- commented on September 26. In an inter- His decapitated body was later found in a liamentary elections, ITAR-TASS report- view with the Ukrainian television station A Ukrainian parliamentary commission forest outside the capital. ed. Answering a question about her politi- 1+1 on September 26, Ms. Tymoshenko investigating the murder of journalist Weeks later, recordings said to be made cal allies in the elections, Ms. said she intentionally came to Moscow to Heorhii Gongadze dropped a bombshell by one of Mr. Kuchma’s bodyguards were Tymoshenko said they will include – apart protest her innocence now that she no on September 20 when it officially con- released in public and played in from members of her eponymous bloc – longer enjoys diplomatic immunity, adding cluded that former President Leonid Parliament. The so-called “Melnychenko former State Secretary Oleksander that she did not see any other officials Kuchma organized the reporter’s abduc- tapes” shocked many who heard them. On Zinchenko, ex-Security Service of besides investigators. (RFE/RL Newsline) tion. The commission also accused current the recordings, a voice resembling Mr. Ukraine chief Oleksander Turchynov and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Kuchma’s tells another man, who sounds ex-Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko. Tymoshenko Bloc expels deputies Lytvyn – President Kuchma’s former chief like former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii She added that she will also hold talks on of staff – of instigating the kidnapping.